holy treasury!

Check these out:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=45150

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=44909

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=42628

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=42483

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=42536

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=42657

What a blessing to have so many folks appreciate my quilts! Thanks to all!

the handmade birthday

Today we are going to a very special little girl's birthday party. Holly (the little girl's mom) and I were pregnant together- Lauren (the little girl) is two months younger than Layton. Here's what I made her for her birthday. I hope she likes it!

Here are a few pics of Layton and Lauren

Itty Bitty Quilty

Here's a new listing in my quilt shop....

And some new fabric in my fabric shop.....

I almost forgot! CONTEST RESULTS!

O.k. so, it's wordless wednesday today but I totally forgot, until about 2 minutes ago, that it is also fabric giveaway day!! So, I went to random.org and since I am still completely illiterate on how to print my screen I copied and pasted what it said:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

4
Timestamp: 2009-02-26 02:35:05 UTC

So, who is #4???? :)

Wordless Wednesday- First Blooms

my poor hyacinths

Honestly, my poor Hyacinths don't stand a chance growing here. It used to be that my problem was slugs ans snails- they LOVE to eat the buds of the blooms before they open. They pretty much assure that my hyacinths won't get over 4 inches tall! Now, not only do I have the slugs and snails but I have a very curious 11 month old.....

Here's what they are supposed to look like:

And here's what mine look like from the slugs and snails:

And after Timber gets to them:

Note to self: dig up Hyacinth and re-plant somewhere behind a fence.

sew much fabric!

I think I officially have too much Mary Engelbreit fabric. I had 2 jelly rolls, 3 charm packs and a ton of yardage from the Recipe for Friendship collection. So far I have made, a lap quilt, a table topper, a table runner and a wall hanging- and there is still fabric left over- a lot of it! Once they're listed my shop, it is going to look more like the Mary Engelbreit shop rather than anything else!!

would if i could

A friend of mine, Mandi (I've mentioned her before), had a screen shot of her Etsy sign in page that said, "longwinterfarm you have 50 items to leave feedback for." Those are some hefty and impressive numbers!
I am proud to say that before yesterday ended my sign in said "mountainhomequilts you have 1 item to leave feedback for." I wish my "print screen" button worked or that I had some clue as to how to put a picture of it here on my blog, but I don't. Guess I'm not that computer literate! Anyway, one sale on my first day back was FABULOUS- it made my day! It made me feel as though I'd never left. So thank you nice customer- I really appreciated it. You made me smile. ♥

back in business

Today is the day! My Etsy shop is back up and running. I still have a few more quilts to list so stay tuned for that!
As promised, I'm going to do a little giveaway here to celebrate the re-opening.
I have a ton of fabric- I mean bunches. And who doesn't love fabric? Especially when it's free!? I'm going to give away another HUGE box of scraps to one lucky winner. The scraps range anywhere from little cuts to pieces nearly considered fat eighths. Most of the scraps are from Moda with a little Andover, Free Spirit, Red Rooster and other fabric manufactures' thrown in.

Here's how you win: visit my shop and let me know what your favorite quilt is and why. Simple as that. Leave a comment with your selection along with a way for me to contact you. I'll pick a winner this coming Wednesday the 25th.

***I apologize but the contest is only open to US residents; unless the entrant would be willing to cover shipping cost (you'd be surprised how much a box of fabric costs to ship overseas!)***

jackpot!

Look what I found at our 2nd hand store today for $10!!!

Thursday's Recipe- Homemade Salad Dressing

A friend of mine gave me this recipe for salad dressing and OH MY GOSH, it is soooo good. It's "I can eat it by itself with a spoon" good. I thought I'd share it with you so that you can try it for yourself!

***When I share recipes I won't type out "organic" before each ingredient but know that it's implied!***

1 clove shallots
1-2 cloves garlic
1 c balsamic vinegar
2 c oil (your choice, but I use olive)
1 c raw honey
salt and pepper to taste

Put vinegar, shallots and garlic into a blender and blend until you can't see any chunks. With blender on, drizzle oil in slowly. Then pour in honey and salt and pepper, continue blending until everything is mixed well. Let the dressing sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Store in fridge when not in use.

I store mine in a mason jar with a plastic lid. I like to take my dressing out of the fridge about 20 minutes before we eat so that it can come to room temperature. Shake well before use.

wordless wednesday- fakin' you out

horses on a hill quilt

I love it!

This Friday!

This Friday, the 20th, I will be re-opening my Etsy shop! Yahoo! I am so excited! I have 8 brand new quilts to list plus 3 that are in the works and soon to be completed. I'll be having a little giveaway to celebrate the re-opening so make sure that you check back in on Friday to see what that's all about!

p.s. how cheesy is my banner? ;)

tree topping

When you live in an area that is pretty much considered a rain forest, it means you have lots of rain and lots of trees. We are trying to top some of the trees in our backyard to make more light available to the new garden this summer. Gavin and I got to do some great work on Saturday. Here's what it looked like,

the before shot

Gavin- a.k.a. stud man

Log go bye-bye

All the brush I stacked that morning- not including the afternoon!

Our garden- which closely resembles a pond right now

and so starts my valentine's day

Gavin and I are spending Valentine's day outside today working. We're going to be topping several trees in the back to add light to our garden. The kids are now at Nana's house and before we started the trees, I wanted to take a few quilt pictures. It is actually NOT pouring down rain this morning and Gavin is home to help with holding up quilts.........I turn my new camera on and.........dead battery. Swell. I didn't really want to take pictures of like 8 quilts anyway right?

Progress....finally

I just had to prove to my cousin that I actually WAS working on the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt for her son/my Godson this afternoon! :)

Ya know, when it comes to "family projects," it just always seems as though they get put on the back burner, stuffed behind some other quilt that I just *have to* make. But not today my lovelies!!! Today, I make progress (by actually starting) this quilt! Yahoo!

My goal is to finish the top by the end of today.

Quilt Preview- Recipe for Friendship

I had the best sewing day, yesterday, that I have had in quite a while. This quilt top went together so smoothly. It totally made my day! Plus, once it was done, I was so in love. I used a charm pack, a jelly roll and some yardage from Moda's Recipe for Friendship collection by Mary Engelbreit.

This quilt is so cheery and perfect for spring! I set the squares on point. The setting triangles were giving me some trouble since I'm horrible at math and I didn't have a pattern to follow. My friend Tiffany of Warm N Fuzzies sent me this link and saved the day!

I finally figured out what I was going to do for a border on my Civil War Crossing Quilt. Here's what I came up with. I'm going to bind this one with the plain brown that I used as the inside border.

Wordless Wednesday- Rainy Day Fun

parting is such sweet sorrow

Time to do a little bit more cleaning out of my fabric stash. I went though my tower of charm packs and decided what I was and was not going to keep. The one's I've decided to let go, I listed in my Etsy fabric shop. It is so sad to see fabric go but so nice to make a little more room in my cupboard so that the doors aren't busting at the seams! All of these charm packs are from Moda Fabrics.

Shangri-la Wovens charm pack

Look and Learn charm pack (this one was super hard to let go of!)

Portobello Market charm pack. I actually have 2 of these.

Cotton Blossoms charm pack

These charm packs make quick and easy patchwork quilts. If you can sew a straight seam, you can make a patchwork quilt. Just sew the pre-cut blocks together, add a border, or leave the border off and your quilt top is complete! It doesn't get any easier than that. Great for the beginning quilter as you don't need to have all the cutting supplies to make a quilt top!

Quilt Preview- Civil War Crossing

Here is another quilt I will soon have in my Etsy shop. I'm getting a little anxious about re-opening so this one may not make it to completion before I do. If not, it will be added soon afterwards.
This quilt is made up of Moda fabric (big surprise.) I used the Civil War Crossing collection because I am mad about reproduction fabric. I tend to keep reproduction fabric to myself though, hording it for my own personal quilts. But this one, I decided to share; how nice of me! :)

I'm still a little stumped on the border I'm going to add. I was thinking about 2.5" x 5" strips sewn together lengthwise and then added onto the quilt for a border. Most of you probably can't picture that if you're not a quilter, and even if you are a quilter I probably just explained it so poorly that you're having problems as well. I'll let you know what I decide later!

mmm....lemons

I really like lemons. I always have. I can eat lots of them plain. And apparently this is a trait that I have passed on to my kiddos too......

singing the birthday song

Ever since Layton turned two, he is obsessed with having a birthday, and having candles and singing the birthday song. We don't have dessert all that often but each time that we do he proclaims, "Birthday!!!" and wants me to get out candles and sing. So, I figure, why not? I mean, he's only two and this seriously brings him so much joy. Each time that we have dessert (like last night) I get out a candle and light it up, sing him happy birthday as he grins from ear to ear waiting to blow it out.

And now, I'd better go, Layton is eating my Burt's Bees lip balm........

Quilt Preview- School Days

Here's a preview of a quilt that will be included in the reopening of my shop at the end of this month. The center is a panel from the Thimbleberries School Days collection. It would be prefect as a year end gift for that special teacher. I wasn't sure how much I liked the whole quilt until it was quilted. Now, I think it's just adorable! The sunflower quilting pattern through it makes it so cheery.

Oh, and my Urban S quilt is nearly bound and it is SO FABULOUS! No really, it is. It's not my "style" of fabric but this was another quilt where once the quilting was completed, I just totally fell in love with it.

the Lord blesses

So you know that little secret that I was talking about? Well, the cat's out of the bag now so I can freely share! My sister in law, A'Lissa is pregnant!! Yahoo! Happy dance! I'm going to be an auntie! I am beyond thrilled. Plus, TWO of my good friends just found out they were pregnant too. The water around here certainly has something in it. How fabulous is the Lord to bless us with so many babies? Perfect, little babies. Thank you Jesus!!!!

Wordless Wednesday- Two Hammers

i have a little secret

but I can't share it quite yet. Look at what I bought for it today........

from sheknitsamy Yay!

you know what that means

Yes. That means more quilts to bind. It really is my least favorite part of quilting- I'm sure I've said that before. And the kicker this time is I have to bind my Urban S quilt. 344 inches of binding all wrapped up into a nice little bundle just waiting to be sewn on. Plus my Tiny Tots quilt and my Thimbleberries School Days quilt. What feels like having to pin the binding 1 gazillion times is probably only more like 100. Once I actually get the binding sew onto the quilt I don't mind the hand stitching part. I actually enjoy it.

If you want to get it finished, you have to get started, right? So I guess I need to sew these puppies on. Once it's done I'll be delighted!