Catching up...

Crazy to think that it is practically August already.  This year has gone by insanely fast!  Lots has happened since my last post (over a month ago...ewww).  Not only quilty goodness but I've been doing a little self-improvement lately.  I have lost 50 pounds in the last few months...who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?!?!  Love you Sparkpeople!  A friend recommended this site to me probably last year some time and I just got around to checking it out.  It is amazing and better yet it's FREE!!  So in my new life I exercise regularly and eat right.  In fact, on August 6th I will be participating in my first 5K.  That is HUGE for me as I was never a runner.  I am very lucky in that my husband has been hanging with me through all of the crazy training I've been doing.  He's looking pretty good himself lately.  ;)

So back to craftiness.  Here are some pictures of some of things I've been working on since my last post:

 It was finally my month in the 12 Month bee and I know it's been done a million times before but I requested a string block using Tina Givens Havens Edge line.

Here is one of Julie's 12 Month blocks.  I can't wait to see how this finished quilt turns out.

Julie's second block.

Here was another block for Julie but this was from the Christmas bee.  I'm a little upset because the white was sort of off-color and I hope she'll still be able to use it.

One of the other ladies in the Christmas bee wanted a Christmas village and requested a block similar to this.  This block was blatantly "inspired" by this photo.

For a second block I pieced a little schoolhouse.

This was made as a gift for my stepmom.  Unfortunately this is the only picture of it finished that I have.  It was my first time trying the wedding ring pattern...it was ok...don't know if I would like to make a whole quilt top using it.  :)  On another note I used Aurfil 12 wt in my machine to quilt it & it was FANTASTIC!  I wish I knew where to get more of it.

This block and the next are for Alix in the Aqua & Orange bee.

Most definitely my biggest finish lately is my Hands 2 Help charity quilt ( & it was even done on time)!

By piecing the back I was able to use up practically all of the fabrics my partner sent me for the quilt.

This was all I had left of her fabric before I added the palm tree strips to the binding.

If you are interested in seeing some of the other fabulous quilts made for the Hands2Help charity organized by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict you can check it out by clicking on the button at the top of the left sidebar.

Wish me luck next weekend!  I hope everyone has a great week!

Cassey

Testing, testing...1...2...Is this thing on...

For months now I have been ruthlessly stalking a handful of blogs that have quickly become high on my daily must-read list.  During that time I have entered many a contest and I've even won a few.  Recently I started thinking to myself that I am sure that bloggers have giveaways to get more followers...but then I started thinking that there may also be another advantage that bloggers hope to gain with giveaways and that would be the people entering the giveaways will blog about said giveaway on their own blogs and link back to the giveaway...gaining the initial blogger more readers.  I'm just figuring this out now.  I know, I know, I'm a little slow.  Then I started to wonder if by not having a blog maybe I was being rude.  So I have decided to try it out.  I don't expect to have many readers but I'll give it a try for awhile.

To get started I'll post a few pictures of things I've made so far this year.

Cape for my niece

Pin Cushion from a kit sold by sewtakeahike

Place mats made using a pattern from this awesome book

Place mats made from this tutorial