Glimpses and a GIVEAWAY! (5/30/2013)

Hi hi!  Boy have I been busy! 

Here are a few glimpses of what has been going on here, but not all - I'll post more later.

Booty from Quilter's Safari Shop Hop 2013

Farmer's Market Haul - fresh beets and beef bones

Baby Jackson's Quilt almost done

Olive and Provolone Loaf from Cheeseboard Collective in Berkley

The big news is that I have a Travelling Stash Box to giveaway! 

Katie over at Snuggle Up with a Dish from Karma keeps tabs on all of these travelling boxes - THANK YOU KATIE!!

Here is what popped out of my box.

12 FQ, 8 half yards, 2 full yards, 1 yard+, 11 orphan blocks, 150 charm squares, 1 paper piece kit, 3 stamped cross stitch pillowcases, 2 types of lace trim, 1" elastic, 3 spools of navy fusible bias tape, straight pins, hand needles, measuring tape, seam ripper, 3 quilting patterns, 4 clothing patterns, 1 bag pattern, 1 Christmas trim pack, bag of DMC floss, 4 cross stitch patterns and a "learn how book"

Fabric

Patterns

More patterns

And here is what I took.

And here is what I added.

8 FQ, 3/4 yard, 2 quilting patterns, white marking pencil

Interested in some of this fun booty?  Here are the rules for the Travelling Stash Boxes - read them and if you're up to the challenge, leave me a comment telling me your favorite vegetable and I'll put you in the drawing!  My followers get an extra entry, just let me know in a separate comment.  I'll draw Wednesday June 5 at 6pm PST.  Good luck! 

Here's some Linda love for you from my trip home last weekend.

woof woof meow!

Yay!  I am finally touching down from orbiting the moon!  Not really, but with all the travel I have been doing and will be doing, it seems like I am a stranger in my own sewing room!  But happy times - its my day to participate in the Holiday Lane Blog Hop!!!

First, I want to say Thank You to Madame Samm for putting this on and an even bigger THANKS to Pauline for hosting - the two of you are awesome :o)

Here are the rest of the bloggers I am sharing my day with today:

Cindy's Crafty Creations

Woolie Mammoth

Lily Patch Quilts

Insanity Defense

Ginger Snaps Quilts

quiltingbydawn

Scrapbook-Chickadoodle

Mama Spark's World

Marla's Crafts

Annie Oak Designs  YOU ARE HERE :o)

Count it *all* Joy

Stitching by the Lake

A Stitch in Time

Make sure you check them out and leave lots of bloggy love!!!

And here is the link to Jillily Studio where the pattern for Holiday Lane resides and a ton of other cool stuff too (check her out!).

Here's the pillow-top!  It isn't finished since I want to hand quilt this (handwork for the trip to Hawaii maybe?)  But I did get the layers quilted in the ditch around the houses. 

I found the starry night fabric at Joann's - it is this great heavy black with sparklies all over it.  It reminds me of the night sky on the farm that I grew up on - neighbors were miles away and the light pollution was nil.

Instead of some fancy stitching on the felt to keep it down, I just stitched a line down the middle of each felt piece with the hope that with use, the felt will fluff out a little bit.

I do have a giveaway too! 

I always try to save the scrappies and pieces from my projects and usually make something little out of them when I am done.  I have the corner pieces from the house tops that I will be making into a mug rug this week after I buy a new iron (did I mention my iron shorted in my hand - glowed in my hand! and started to smoke?  Never saw me move that fast down the stairs and out the front door!)

I want to know what your favorite Holiday beverage is. 

Mine is probably Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider - that is liquid crack to me. 

I could drink that year round, maybe I'll ask Josh to make me an apple cider helmet :o)

I'll leave the drawing open until Friday at midnight Mountain Time.

Them rules:

Anyone can enter, I'll ship it international :o)

You can only win if you are a REPLY Commenter!  This means you need to have an email attached to your profile OR leave me your email in the comment.

For one entry - leave me a comment on your favorite holiday beverage.

For another entry - be a follower and leave a comment telling me so.

Now, off to check out the other bloggy folks and their Holiday Lanes.

woof woof meow

Wicked Winner! (11/1/2012)

Wow, what a great blog hop! 

Wicked was fantastic, all the blocks and projects – too cool :o)

Mdm Samm said we had 363 pics!  That. Is. Crazy.

All of the great feedback I got on my project was very welcome…Thank you!  At the end of my post I mentioned a giveaway.  All you had to do was tell me who your favorite Land of Oz character was and/or be a follower.  I’ve got a winner! 

But first, I thought I’d tell you the results of our uber scientific Oz character poll

Top three vote getters:

Scarecrow

Elphaba/Wicked Witch

Tin Man

Honorable Mention (tie):

Cowardly Lion

Toto

Some other loved characters:

The Patchwork Girl (books)

The Coroner in Munchkinland (movie)

Ozma (play)

We had 73 votes for favorite character!  Doesn’t really surprise me that the cuddly ones were tied at an even number of votes – we quilters do love our furry ones!

Now, on to the giveaway and the winner.  The giveaway was for 6 orange and black fat quarters, colors chosen in honor of Halloween (and the Beavers, win-lose-or-draw).

The winning # as chosen by Mr. Random Number Generator is #118:

Janarama

“The Wizard of Oz ... one of my all time favorite movies. My favorite characters are the munchkins. Ding dong the witch is dead.

I love your quilt. Yes, the back is beautiful also.”

Thank you for the comment Janarama!  And the jury is still out on whether I am glad you got that durned song stuck in my head, “ding, dong….the evil witch is deeeaaaddd!”  Grrrrr.

The package is on its way!

Thank  you, everyone for a great hop – I am looking forward to sharing my current projects with you this weekend!

woof woof meow

A Wicked Day! (10/25/2012)

Hello everyone!  Welcome to AnnieOak Designs' day on the Wicked Blog Hop - I am very excited to share what I put together for you.

First, I want to say Thank You to Madam Samm and Wicked Wendy for organizing and hosting this Wicked Blog Hop.  Click here for the whole schedule - all 8 days worth of some wickedness that is scary great! 

I am sharing this Frightful Friday with the following bloggers. 

 In Stitches & Seams

Sew.Darn.Quilt

Quilt Monster In My Closet

Lieselfriends-Di... Handnäher

The Learning Curve Quilts And Such

Qreative Quilts And Quests

Sew Many Yarns

AnnieOak Designs  <---That's MEEEEEEEEEE!

Searching Out Simple

Sheila's Quilt World

Val Spiers Sews

Robin - That Other Blog

Make sure you visit all their freaky-cool sites and leave some bloggy love!

When Madam Samm and Wendy announced this blog I jumped at it.  Thinking I would do some creepy-crawlies and bats on a wall hanging, I set out looking for some ideas and patterns.  But...my mind kept going back to a play I had heard about.  You guessed it, "Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz".  Now, I had and still have, only HEARD about it.  Never seen it, never read the book, never even checked it out on the web.

While looking for my creepies and crawlies, I came across this book from That Patchwork Place, Spellbinding Quilts: Wizards, Witches and Magical Characters to Paper Piece.  Uh, can you saw right up my alley????  So, I bought the e-version and flipped through the patterns for some inspiration.  There were a couple of neat little configurations, but nothing really jumped out at me.

Back to the Wicked Musical image searches.  And BAM!  There was a great selection of photos of the background and this dragon. 

www.cheechunfoo.com

And there was this photo of the two witches.

www.glogster.com/sunshineskittles

I had the inspiration and the ideas, so off I went to my graph paper and after drafting a quick sketch of what I "wanted" to do, I headed off to Fabric Depot.  Remember the post where I gave you a sneaky-peaky of the Boo-ty I got there?

Here is what I came up with for the dragon.

And Glinda, the Good Witch of the South.

And Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.

They all went together for a quick quilty snap-shot of the stage and the Wicked name.

I did FMQ on the entire thing and had a blast doing it.  There is echoing,

 some regular meandering and some angular meandering

and scales on the dragon.

The back looks just as cool as the front, don't you think?

Now, what is a blog hop without a giveaway right?  I am going to be giving away 6 fat quarters of orange and black fabrics to one lucky winner to help celebrate the end of the Wicked Blog Hop and Halloween (oh and the fact that the Beavers are 6-0 right now!).

All you have to do is:

1.  Leave a comment on your favorite Oz character (Wicked or Wizard of Oz).

2.  For a second entry, be a follower and let me know!

Please, please, please: No-Reply Bloggers make me sad, sad, sad.  I love all of your comments and when I can't reply back (or send a great giveaway gifty), I get sad.  Booh.  So, leave your email if you are a No-Reply Blogger and actually want a shot at the giveaway.  I'll ship anywhere - all my followers rock!  I'll pick a winner 1 November.

So, remember to visit all the other Frightful Friday bloggers and leave bloggy-love.  And make sure you come back on Nov 1 to see if you won the giveaway!!!

woof woof meow

100 Followers Giveaway WINNER (10/22/2012)

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying the Wicked Blog Hop that started today; Mdm Samm and Wendy have done a great job getting this off to a fearsome start!

My 100 Followers Giveaway ended last night at midnight and I have a winner randomly picked for you!

The random number for the 100 Followers Giveaway was #5:

Terry @ a quilting blog

I'm already one of your happy followers...congrats on reaching 100+!!! Thanks for the sweet giveaway!

Congratulations Terry!  I’ll be sending the package out to you as soon as I get your mailing info, I’ve sent an email to you :o)

Thank you all, again, for being such great followers!  I’ll see some of you around the Wicked Blog Hop and hopefully you’ll all visit and enter the giveaway on my Wicked day, October 26!

woof woof meow

Leafing Another Blog Hop Behind...and a Winner!!! (10/11/2012)

Well, Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop, put together and hosted by Mdme Samm and Cherry was great!  So many different interpretations of Fall, has me waiting for the trees outside my office window to hurry up and change already!!!  It has been cooler and foggy in the mornings, so maybe soon :o)

In my post I mentioned a giveaway and now is the time for the winner. 

5 FQ of Fall fabric

I had 195 comments - thank YOU very much! 

Mr. Random picked #170:

Pauline from Quilt n Queen

Good morning, the tossed 9 patch is a fun, fast and easy block. Can't wait to see it after it comes off the long arm. It will be a beauty! Happy stitching, Pauline

Congratulations Pauline!  I'll be emailing you for your address shortly!

Thank you again to everyone for stopping by, commenting and becoming folowers!  I've got over 100 now, so it is time for another giveaway this weekend.  I'll post it up on Sunday :o)

Thanks again -  woof woof meow

Leafs Me Happy!!...oh and a Giveaway (10/2/2012)

It is my day on the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop!!  Yay!  My second one and I am really having a fun time with it :o)

Thanks to Mdm Samm at Sew We Quilt! and Cherry at Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio for putting this Blog Hop together and hosting the whole she-bang!  Thank you thank you!!!  Here is the whole schedule and here is the schedule for today:

Mrs.Pickles Garden

Gingersnaps Quilts

Petit Design Co

A Passion For Applique

AnnieOak Designs (that's ME!!!!!)

Michelle's Romantic Tangle

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Krislovesfabric

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

Make sure you check out the other blogs and give lotsa bloggy love!!!

Now on to my block(s) and project.  Using 5 Fall fabrics

and a paw print blender (not pictured), I put together a tossed 9-patch.  I used the Eleanor Burns pattern and she does a great little video on how the pattern is put together (and how to do her swirling centers!).

I didn't get any photos of the blocks before they got put together, but here is one of the blocks zoomed in:

See the smaller blocks that were the 5" blocks cut into quarters?

 Then I added a small inner border of the paw print to frame the whole thing.  I used the left over 5" squares and cut them in half, mixed them up and sewed them back into the outer border.

Here is a close-up of the quarter block:

 I can't wait to get this on the long arm!

I call the quilt "Disappearing Harvest"

 A couple close-ups of my favorite parts of one of the fabrics I used:

Happy Cornucopia

Gobble Gobble!

Now on to the giveaway :o)

I am going to give away 5 FQ of the fabrics I used (but not the paw print - I am running low and can't bear to part with it)!  To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is leave a comment!  You need to be a reply-blogger, if you aren't, be sure to leave your email address in the comment.  For a second entry, be a follower and leave a comment telling me you are a follower!  I'll draw a winner on Thursday October 11.

Easy-peasy :o)  I hope you enjoyed my blocks and good luck on the giveaway!  Make sure you check out the other bloggers today and throughout the rest of the hop! 

Hop hop hop :O)

A Giveaway Winner! (9/26/2012)

Sorry this is late - I got into an accident Saturday afternoon on my motorcycle and haven't been up to typing much!  Thank you to everyone who participated in the Dots on Dots Blog Hop and for the wonderful comments and NEW followers too! First the finished runner. 

I had fun making this!  Definitely going on my table :o)

On to the Giveaway Winner:

Katherine  September 10, 2012 9:36 AM

Beautiful! Stars and dots... does it get any better than this? I don't think so! lol

Your tablerunner is going to be a stunner.

Thanks for sharing and being a part of this hop!

Congratulations Katherine!!!  Your FQ are in the mail and you should see them soon!

Off to the sewing room - I have my next hop due on Oct 2!!!  Gonna take me a while, but I'll get it done.  Stay safe folks!!!

Dotty Stars and Giveaway (9/10/2012)

Hello fellow blog hoppers!  Today is the first day of the Dots on Dots Blog Hop hosted by Corrie of Quilt Taffy and Mdm Samm of Sew WE Quilt!.  Both are fantastic blogs and resources and I am excited to be part of this Blog Hop - I've lurked for a while and decided to jump right in, so I hope my first attempt goes well!  I know all the other particpants are awesome, make sure you check all their blogs out and give them some bloggy love too! 

Here's today's schedule:

Cat Patches

Busy Bee Quilts

Stitch by Stitch

Mary on Lake Pulaski

Just Let Me Quilt

[Amy's] Crafty Shenanigans

PolkaDotClassic

AnnieOak Designs (that's me!) 

Blueberry Moon

The full schedule can be found at Quilt Taffy here.

Now on to what I did.  I've been wanting to make a table runner for a while so I thought this would be a great opportunity.  I pulled out my trusty block book and went to work finding a star I liked.  I chose the Fifty-Four Forty or Fight block and sketched out the table runner in my notebook.  Figured out the amount of fabric and off I went.  I needed four colors to make the block work.  I am a JoAnn fan when I need something quick (a trip to a LQS would be an entire day and I am not shy about admitting that), so I wandered over and found these three coordinating dots fabrics and a navy to pull it all together.

Since the table runner called for three 12.5" unfinished blocks and some borders, I cut everything out.  Never used my Tri-Recs rulers before and turns out, they are pretty handy.  Thanks Nancy!

Then off to sewing. 

Fifty-Four Forty or Fight Block

I said I wanted a table runner right?  Well, I also wanted to try my hand at machine quilting with my Juki and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity (plus it seemed like a lot of work to get the thing on Diane's longarm for a lot of little work).  I pin basted it and being the control freak that I am, sketched the block out in my notebook and played around with the quilting designs until I liked what I had on the paper.

On with my machingers and off we went!  I started by stitching in the ditch around the stars and doing a dotty/pebbly motif in the navy areas around the stars.   

Pebbly Navy (sorry - the flash is aweful)

And this is as far as I got. 

Almost all the way!  2 out of 3 blocks done.

Ran out of thread.  This being my first attempt at machine quilting on my Juki I neglected to over-purchase my thread.  So, I am not going to the store tonight, so it lays unfinished, hanging over the bannister staring accusingly at me every time I go up and down the stairs.  I will get it done!  I has been too fun to do and I want to finish it before I start on my next project.

Now to the giveaway.  Since I am a stasher I ALWAYS buy more fabric than I need for a project.  What if I mess up a block?  What if I want to add to the pattern as I go?  Gotta have the wiggle room right?  Right.  So, I am giving away a fat quarter of each of the four fabrics I used for the table runner.

Just leave a little comment in the comments section and I'll pick a random winner at the end of the Dots on Dots Blog Hop, September 21.  For an extra entry, be a follower and leave me another comment telling me you are a follower.

Now, your next assignment is to check out the rest of the lovely blogs on the Dots on Dots Blog Hop!  Don't forget to leave bloggy love!

Leafs Me Happy and Giveaway! (8/10/2012)

Its Friday!!  And I am so glad :o)  Josh is home and my birthday is Monday so I plan on some fun stuff this weekend - Farmer's Market, hiking, dinner out, motorcycle ride...the list goes on.  Hopefully I can fit some sewing in there since I have a Tetris block burning a hole on my sketchpad right now!  But for now, I have a few things to tell you about, a blog hop and a giveaway!

Cherry at Cherry Blossoms and Mdm Samm at Sew We Quilt have announced a Fall themed Blog Hop in October:

I have a ton of fun following the blog hops so I joined this one too.  I think it is a great way to keep myself sewing and the inspiration is awesome!  So, check it out and maybe join yourself? 

All you gotta do on your day is:

1. Make an unfinished block 10.5 or 12.5

2. USE any Fall fabric in any colour as long as it's FALL colours

3. Give your project a name...suggestions:

Fall escape

Turning a new Leaf

SAD summer is Leafed...lol

4. Take nice photos

5. Do a giveaway or don't ( optional)

6. Place your creations on your scheduled day by midnight E.S.T.

7. BE a cheerleader for all those who participate!

If you want to sign up, email Cherry with your "I'm IN!..." in the subject line.  Yay!

The second thing I wanted to tell you about is a giveaway over at Maureen Cracknell Handmade.  I discovered Maureen while I was on Jackie's blog and have been intrigued ever since.  She makes all kinds of projects: quilty and crafty!  One of her sponsors, Canton Village Quilt Works, is offering a 6 fat quarter bundle of the new Art Gallery Fabric's Oval Elements. 

A couple of my favorites: Peacock and Tangerine

Simple to enter and fun too!  Head on over to Maureen's and check it out.

I hope you all have a great weekend - supposed to be great weather here, I hope it is for you too!