Best of 2018 Linky

I like participating in Cheryl's "Best of" Linky Party as it creates the opportunity and motivation for me to look back and see how my year of blogging and quilting has been. 

 My "word" for 2018 was CREATE. But....in reflection, well, THAT didn't really happen now did it. I find myself wondering, how can so much happen in a year, and yet, so much not. In review, I did finish seven quilts, but if I were to be honest, it was more a year of self growth than creative expression. It's not the details that matter so much, but truly the lessons learned. My lesson being that of acceptance and choosing to move forward and authentically begin to creatively define myself not as a teacher, or even as a mother, but a creative women who's esteem is independent of these outgrown roles. So today, I reflect upon 2018, grateful for my lessons learned but planning to be more authentic in 2019.

#1: My little buddy asking to teach him how to sew.

I cherish my relationship with this little guy and am so grateful for his presence in my life.

As I move forward, I will continue to cherish the fact I am a grandmother and value that I have grown to understand my role as such. I offer my daughter and grands comfort and wisdom. They need that kind of grounding in their busy, busy lives. I offer that. Lucky me.

#2: Hubby and I discovered a new hobby we  really enjoy together. As I move forward, I'm so grateful we found Golf as it challenges us and finds us laughing a lot. But most of all, I've grown to appreciate that the one childhood wish I had, that came true, was that I married my best friend. This man truly completes me. He is so patient, so kind, so wise. He makes me a better me. 2019 will find us selling our home and downsizing and really just having fun within that process. We're excited!

#3: Our Annual Piggy Bank Challenge continues for it's 6th year!

As I move forward, I'm grateful there are still a few others of you that like to save spare change as much as me. I'm grateful that even though I haven't been really "quilty" this year, that you continue to follow and join in on the challenges and linkys I offer. Thank you!

 

#4: Our Eye Spy Swap was a huge success.

Receiving 1,758 views, this was just so much fun! I move forward, valuing the community we have in our blogging world and commit to continuing to be an active part of it.

 This swap lead to...my favorite finishes of the year. They all make me smile as I think about the five energetic boys they were each created and gifted to over the past year.

#5: Career Transition. Retired Quilts and yes, Jackson.
As I move forward, I'm so grateful I had the confidence and opportunity to move into a mentor role at work and thus, start to value the time this has created for me to perhaps expand myself creatively outside of work. Time has been presented as an opportunity to embrace new found freedoms as for the first time in thirty years, I'm truly living without the obligations of children. I'm liking it. And, of course, there's always comfort found in having a loyal companion like my Jackson by my side.

So there you have it: The 5 Best Lessons learned here at Val's Quilting Studio. I want to thank all of you who have become my blogging friends over the past years.  I also want to welcome you if you are new to my ol' spot here in blogland. Please take a look around, and if ya are even a little bit inspired by what ya see, I hope you'll follow too. In the meantime, happy holidays to you all and thank you Cheryl for hosting this party. Click on the picture below to check out everyone participating and celebrating:

Let the Sorting Begin!

Opening all these will be like Christmas in July!

And with our afternoon temperature hitting 100 degrees...

this will be the perfect afternoon project as I begin to sort them out on our cool basement floor.

And thank YOU guys for a fun swap!

Ya gotta like Jeanna's "paper dividers" .

But really, a BIG thank you to everyone for participating in our eye-spy swap. You guys are the kindest people. Your notes and little surprises made opening all the packages truly feel like Christmas morning. You can each look forward to some fun happy mail next week as I plan to have all your returns in the mail on Monday, the 9th.

Also, attention piggy bank savers:

TOMORROW we count our change!!

Thank you for Participating!!

 

Our 2018 Eye Spy Swap is well underway.
Everyone's busy seeking and cutting fun fabrics.

I wrapped my two sets up this morning and will start to look forward to receiving all yours in the mail. Thank you so very much to everyone who was able to participate in this round.

Our Swap is closed.

Click HERE to read all the details and perhaps think about joining us.

Future happy mail to come.

FORE!

Hubby and I have spent the last two days enjoying an extra long weekend together.

We visited local golf courses and enjoyed dining in new restaurants.

Warm Springs Golf Course  Boise, Idaho.

A change of scenery is always refreshing.

But with that said, luckily I didn't hit anyone with a golf ball, but while catching up on emails this morning I realized we have FOUR  TWO  ONE  ZEROspots left in our Eye Spy Swap.

It's not too late to join us.

Click HERE to read all the details and perhaps think about joining us.

.Double spots are still available too.

Just send me an email: vworksofheart@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who has joined the swap. 

So many fun fabrics are being posted to our Flickr group! that we'll have 

some very happy mail to look forward to at the end of the month. Stay tuned!

Let the Cutting Begin!

Everyone's been cutting and posting their eye spy pictures on flickr for us all to see, I thought I'd better get busy cutting myself. So after an inventory of my own stash, since I take two spots in the the swap, a trip to JoAnnes was needed. I scored a bunch of eye-spy fabric in their 70% clearance section and splurged on some novelty prints I couldn't resist. I spent about an hour and half yesterday afternoon watching a movie and cutting and will finish today.

Thank you to everyone who has joined our swap this year.  I already have packages coming in! But we still have seven spots left. So if ya know of anyone who wants to join us,
please pass the details on to them:  

OUR SWAP IS CLOSED!

Really, what better way to collect 200/400 different Eye-Spy fabrics than by swapping with fellow blogger friends. Click HERE to read about our Eye Spy Swap and perhaps think about joining us.

I'll end with the most recent text from our daughter of our newest grand-guy using his quilt.

He's six months old already! Grands sure seem to grow even faster than our own kids did. 

The linky party that let's you rejuvinate OLD blogging posts.

This week's theme: Quilt Storage.

Click HERE to share yours and check out some neat cabinets used. 

2018 Eye-Spy Swap is CLOSED!

Hey Guys! What better way to collect 200 different Eye-Spy fabrics than by swapping with our fellow blogger friends. Welcome! This is the official opening post for sign-ups!

All spaces have been filled.

Here are the details of our swap:

1. Swap Spots: This is a double swap. You can sign up for a maximum of two spots...but the fabrics for each spot needs to be different. Each spot gets you 200 squares, enough to make an Eye-Spy Quilt that is a about 46" x 48" . There are 36 spots available. This swap is closed.

2. Yardage: Each spot will find you committing to buying or destashing and cutting a 1/4 yard of 10 different I-Spy fabrics.

3.I-Spy Fabric: We are looking for fabrics with objects on them. Please be sure to use high-quality cottons. (Thick, soft, not see through...) You need to be able to tell what you are looking at within a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" square. NOTE: Depending on your fabric choice, you may need to buy more than 1/4 yard in order to get an object into each 4"cut square. You can click HERE to see good and poor examples of eye-spy fabrics cut. Fabric must be unwashed, ironed and from a smoke free environment. Here's an example of some of mine from the last swap: 

4. Flickr Group: In order to avoid duplicates,have fun search for those unusual and obscure prints then upload pictures of your fabric choices to the  2018 Eye-Spy Flicker group  as soon as you can. Also, you can check the group before purchasing too. If you are unable to post to the Flickr group, email me your picture and I will add it.

5. Cutting Your Fabric: From each fabric you will cut 20 4" squares. Don't worry, if you end up one or two squares short of your fabrics, it's okay to trade in another fun fabric to replace them. Just make sure there are no duplicates.

6. Sorting: Please be sure to sort your squares into 20 piles that have 1 of each of your 10 fabrics. 

7. Stacking: Then please stack your 20 piles together once they have been sorted using a piece of scratch paper between them. Do not put individual piles into individual baggies. Click HERE to see what your stacks should look like.

8. Shipping: Ship them to me by June 22nd. Put your whole large stack into a ziploc bag, and include an index card with your name, mailing address and email address. (In a rare case I read where someones envelope opened during shipping. This method saved her blocks and she got them back!) You must also include a self-addressed stamped envelope so your charms can be mailed back to you. In addition, please triple check that the postal person put the stamps on the return envelope for you and that there is at least the SAME amount of postage that is on the envelope you are shipping to me. I will not be billing anyone through Paypal. During the swap if your return postage isn't sufficient, I will let you know by email and hold your charms until I receive the difference from you. Using a flat rate envelope for both is really the best = no problems. 

9. Your 200 Squares: Once I receive them all, I will sort and return your Eye-Spys within two weeks

10. You Ready??? Are you serious? Can you meet the deadlines? (As I want to make sure everyone gets their squares in a timely manner.) Okay, then here's what ya need to do to sign-up:

EMAIL ME:

(vworksofheart@gmail.com)

Subject line: Eye-Spy Swap

Your name

One or two I-Spy Spots Wanted

Mailing Address

Email Address

Blog Address

11. Confirmed! I will return email you and confirm that you are in the swap, at which time I will include my "ship to" address. 

Okay! Let's get started!

Send me that email and grab the "button"  below to help spread the news to your blog readers.
Hopefully I didn't miss any details. You are welcome to email me with any questions.

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

"Eye-Spy" Swap is Coming!

Spending most of my day off right here:

 Yes! Buried in eye-spy squares as I sew to finish my May OMG and get it on the quilting frame.

Speaking of Eye-Spy Blocks!

Sign-ups for our Second Eye-Spy Swap here at Val's Quilting Studio open this Friday, June 1st!! In the meantime, here's a few things to keep in mind while you search for your eye-spy fabrics:
  You will need ten different fabrics with recognizable prints within a 3 1/2" square.  
Below are examples of blocks I threw away.  Once these are sewn together the objects are almost unrecognizable for a small person to tell you what they are looking at.

Here's a couple of good examples of the "object" centered and recognizable:

Here's a good example of all-over prints that work too:

Annnd, here's a close-up of my WIP:

I hope today's post helps as you begin to select fun eye-spy fabrics for the swap. 

Mark you calendar to stop by this Friday, June 1st, for swap details and sign-up information.

It's going to be a fun swap with great Happy Mail for us all to look forward to!

PS:  Help me spread the word! Add this button below to your blogs and posts. This will be a double swap...meaning with a maximum of  36 "swap spots" available, you'll be able to sign-up for a maximum of two regular swap spots if you want...but the fabrics for each swap will need to be different. Okay...Happy collecting!! I hope you'll think about joining us.

Tuesday Archives #196: Guess it's time for a break...

Wow! Okay I missed my own linky party. 

Seriously....if that's not a sign I don't what is.

It's May...and May is always full of surprises for a teacher.

Personally, I've been thrown off course this past week.

Too many changes at work and at home...all at the same time.

Nothing bad. But never-the-less change and adjusting to the fact things will be different.

June first I'll also be on summer break...which means yet, another change. 

 I find myself tranquil on my days off as I enjoy mornings of movie watching, afternoon walks, and evenings sitting on the patio with a glass of wine having BBQ dinners with my hubby. No sewing. 

See...all good, but sometimes it just takes time to find your balance of things once again.  Butttt....

while establishing new routines, I did randomly finish my sixth stash busting project for the year.

Another square in a square quilt as I de-stashed a cute little bundle of fat quarters:

This finished as a 36"x 48" quilt top that I'll complete into a cute little baby stash quilt. 

And right when I thought my Mother's Day Weekend would be spent alone (due to the change in my husband's work schedule) I was completely surprised by a visit from our two very favorite little people in the world! I truly had what I would describe as a "perfect day".

Our new grand guy is a very happy six month old.

And I spent the entire morning "playing" with this special guy.

I biked as he enjoyed his new "Spiderman" scooter...endlessly. 

We talked. We shared. We laughed. We played.

Our daughter knew exactly how to spoil me this Mother's Day.

With all that said,  I'm going to take a little blog break as I allow myself time to wrap up my 29th year of teaching, adjust to my husband's new work hours, and look forward to my upcoming summer break. I can't wait! I am going to put together an eye-spy swap in June and we'll also be celebrating our 200th Tuesday Archives Linky Party with a $25.00 Gift Certificate from Fat Quarter Shop! How fun! I'm still set on meeting my May OMG and will busy myself making this fun baby eye quilt as I set out to establish new routines.  Sometime this kind of easy, fun sewing is exactly what we need. Anyhoooo....
Thanks for visiting and for your continuous support as bloggers and quilters.
I'm looking forward to catching up with all your blogs and going on's as June arrives, and hope you'll think about joining in on our Second Eye-Spy Swap this June here at Val's Quilting Studio.

Click over to here to read the details about this unique, weekly linky party. (You can also check out all our past Tuesday Archives themes by clicking right here.)

The linky party that let's you rejuvinate OLD blogging posts.

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.

May OMG: Eye Spy Baby Name Quilt

This Fall we have a few friends expecting babies thus, I'm going to dig into my stash of Eye Spy squares and turn them into a Eye Spy Baby Name Quilt as my May OMG.

I'm setting out to have it sewn, quilted and binding complete by this month's end.

Uh Oh!...but with that said, that's also going to deplete my stash of Eye Spy squares:

Anyone interested in an Eye Spy Swap this June (Next month!)???? Peek HERE to see one I've made in the past and another I made for our grand guy: click HERE. Then, click HERE to read about our past swap here at Val's Quilting Studio. It was fun to collect blocks from all over the country:

Comment to let me know if you are interested and if I get enough interest, I'll get the swap organized.

Linking and joining everyone at: 

I specialize in edge to edge pantographs with over 100 designs to choose from.

Check out my Long-Arm Quilting page for details.

I offer FREE Return Shipping on all quilts in the U.S.A.