Let's Get Acquainted, shall we?

Hello friends who are visiting for the first time! I am so happy to be part of this fantastic hop! I've discovered quite a few new blogs throughout this summer and fall & I'm a little sad to see it end. Fellow bloggers to visit this week:
Cynthia from A Quilter by Night
         Stephanie from Smalltown Dreamz
         Cynthia from Quilt Doodle Doodles
         Diane from From Blank Pages
         Laura from Waffle Kisses
         Mary Ann from Rocknquilts
         Angela from Angela B
         Jaime from Stitches to Sprinkles
         Allegory from {sew} Allegorical
         Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts
         Lynne from Bouts Choisis
         Nat from Made in Home
         Francine from Mocha Wild Child
         Lyanna from Purple Panda Quilts
         Stacey from The Tilted Quilt

Let's see... my name is Francine and I live in a tiny Pennsylvania town called Nottingham. It's a big enough town for a post office, but a small enough town that there's NEVER a line - sweet! I've been quilting for about 15 years, but I never followed any rules until maybe 5 years or so ago. Know what happened? My results got a lot less holey and ugly lol. That leads me to the most important thing I've learned about quilting - the 1/4" rule... I used to think that 1/4" was too big and a waste of fabric and didn't realize that was the reason my quilts often pulled apart. My poor niece has a flannel quilt that has so many seams open it looks like a rag quilt darnit! She (& her parents) can never say anything bad about it, but she is on my list for a new quilt someday before she's grown.

My fave quilting tool are these little thingies for marking HST lines. Drawing the actual sewing lines works much more accurately for me.






My blogging tip is this : if you haven't posted in a week, month or year - don't apologize! We all have a life and you shouldn't feel guilty about it! I hadn't posted in a month, oops! Sorry.  Just kidding - I've been working on baby quilts and swaps and swaps and swaps. Good grief - Flickr has taken over my life!



1. Modern She Made - this swap  is coming to an end and here's what I came up with using Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow, Kona Celery & Essex Linen in Navy: A lined tote bag with quilted pocket and a mini quilt.

2. Sewn Together Bee - this will be my first foray into paper piecing - yikes! My bee mate sent really awesome instructions and has even offered to walk me through it on Skype - Flaun is incredible.

I'll share more later.. I also spent some time on STUPID Amazon buying books. I bought this book a week or so ago

and then the next time I was on Amazon, I had this book in my suggested box, so I bought it

So, the other night, I cozied up on the couch - ready with my trusty cup o' clips for marking faves

Have you noticed anything funny yet? It's the same ^%$#@ BOOK!!! Would anyone be interested in this book as a giveaway? Leave me a comment & I'll pick a random winner this Saturday. Thanks for sticking around!

I'll leave you with this - a sign I saw the last time I visited Jack in the Box in TX

 love, Francine