{give-away!}

To "celebrate" my comeback to the bloggy world, I'm giving away two FQ bundles (just ordered from two of my fave Etsy shops)! Yay!

The bundle on top is 3 fat quarters from the Amy Butler "Daisy Chain" collection (yum!). The bundle on the bottom is 4 fat quarters from the Anna Marie Horner "Good Folks" collection (dah-rool!).

For a chance to win, just leave a comment here between now and Friday, April 3rd. It doesn't have to be a l-o-o-n-g comment - just a "hey-hawdya-do" will be fine! I'll announce both winners Saturday morning, bright and early. And then, just a few days later, you'll have these luscious fabs in your hot, little hands!

Here's hoping that you'll take a sec and say "hi!" :)

{creative constipation}

That's what my dad always called it. That's what you suffer from when you have a whole bunch of ideas, the tools you need to make them come to fruition ... but don't have the oomph to get the project started. Or if you're just totally distracted. Like I am right now.

Everything's perfect. Hubby took the kids (and few of our neighbor kids) to the local Air Show (@ Tyndall Air Force Base). The house is quiet. Buddy-the-Wonderdog is sleeping in his bed next to my desk (or faking it), basking in the sunshine peeping through the windows. The laundry is sorta done. The sink is empty. Everything's *perfect.*

But I sit here amongst 20 boxes worth of luscious fabric and trims (what I've managed to unpack - still have at least 15 large boxes of *more* sitting in the garage, calling my name) - and all I can focus on are the missing members of my craft supply family. Where is that gorgeous spotty-dotty fabric I bought a month before the Big Move? What box is my poor, lonely, bin 'o jumbo rick-rack sitting in?

{the pic you see is just the fabrics I'm playing with for a project in mind - keep an eye out for that, please! - the trim is just my quickie-grabbag - I've got *oodles* more in another bin}

Anyone else ever suffer from {creative constipation}? Ever have the planets in perfect alignment but just can't get started?

Just curious.

{my new babies}

Since I did all the legwork in buying our new (er ... new to *us*) home, as a reward, I got a new (again, new to *me*) embroidery machine -- a Janome Memory Craft 9000!

I've *always* wanted one, but never felt that I either deserved it or had earned it. Finally, after only about a gajillion years of sewing (and *loving* it!) have I come to the conclusion that an embroidery machine is a worthwhile acquisition -- and this whole "sewing thing" (as my family puts it) isn't just a fad.

One of the things that *really* excites me about my new embroidery machine is the fact that I have *always* wanted to design my own embroidery motifs. I figure, if I'm going to take the time to pick out a pattern, modify it, tweak the fit, sew it up in a lovely fabric (AKA, truly make it *mine*), then why in the world would I want to *have* to use someone else's embroidery design?!

Sew, I've already got the software I need to be able to digitize my own designs. I know that's not the end all, be all, to creating my own embroidery designs - so I'm doing my best to learn, trial and error-style, what makes a great design. Once I learn that, I'll start sharing my designs (if you're interested!). :)



Also joining the "creative" family is my new Brother 1034D serger. This baby is, actually new. A luxury that I would have normally have gone without, but again, after a gajillion years of sewing, I think this is one purchase that'll "pay for itself" over time.

I already have lovely visions of neatly serged seams on knits (I *love* knits, but hate finishing the seams with a regular sewing machine) and quickie finishes on napkins and such.

*contented sigh*

Both of my new babies are beautiful -- and only after a few weeks, I'm already hooked!

*btw, both images were snagged off the 'net. The Janome pic is from epinions.com & the Brother pic is from the Brother website. Tomorrow, when the light's (hopefully) decent, I'll take some pix-ies of my own! For now ... I'm just too durn excited to wait!*

{new blog} and some updates

Since there's a million in one chance that you'll happen across my blog and wonder what the heck I'm talking about - much less might have known me in my previous incarnation as "And Sew On" - I'll give a quickie rundown.

Some time ago, I had a blog called "And Sew On." For a while there, I had oodles of freebies, plans for an eZine dedicated to crafty-sewy goodness (with a healthy emphasis on quilting) and an email list of over 400 sewy-crafty-quilty friends who wanted in on the 'Zine-O-rama. Then, one day in January there-abouts, I disappeared (to those who emailed me, thank you! your emails helped me get through a really rough time!).

Since an explanation is in order, here's what's been going on since January '08:

1. had a "mild" stroke (more details on that later, if anyone's interested).
   
2. laptop with the eZine DIED and died HARD (still recreating everything -- still have every intention of DOING the 'Zine!)
3. bought a NEW laptop (with two redundant hard drives -- one internal, one external)
4. did LOTS of drawing and doodling whilst recuperating ... and whilst watching my new lappie chug as it backs up EVERY file to an external drive.
   
5. bought a HOUSE!! Yay!!
6. started working on designing my first dedicated sewing room/design studio (Yay!! 200 sq feet! all MINE!!)
7. redesigned my blog! Yay!
8. wrote this post! ;)

Sew, for whatever it's worth, I'm back. And barring any other horrible incident or illness, I'm back for good. And I'm busy designing (ask my hubby) and crafting. I'll have some goodies to share with you soon, I promise.

I really hope you'll stop in and see what I'm up to!