twenty one dollars....

(this post is a bitch-fest and I'm long winded. I've calmed down a bit, but when I think about it my blood begins to boil all over! So you're forewarned.)

$21 dollars is what this quilt went for at the silent auction.

 Do I think my work is so fabulous that it warrants a ton of money? No. But come on! All you fellow quilters out there know the time and money that goes into making a quilt. I wanted to help the school. That was my intention all along.

Let me tell you how it went.

I get to my daughter's school. I see all the baskets of great stuff that is up for silent auction. Each basket has a list of it's contents and the value of the basket. Just about every single basket had a starting bid of around $10. TEN dollars for stuff that was valued at $100,  $200, $250 and up!

To top that off, each bid can only be increased by $1-$5 higher than the last bid. WHAT?? Are you F'in kidding me?? This is a fundraiser for the school! 

I come to my quilt that I donated. Starting bid: $10. Value: $50. Wait...WHAT?? The materials alone cost me close to $100. So I spoke with the lady running the silent auction part. I told  her that I made the quilt the value needs to be at least $150. So she changes it to $250 giving me some credit for my 20+ hours of labor on the damn thing. I look, the bid is currently $11. O.M.G.

I take my girls around the festival to play some games for a while. I go back to the silent auction items. The quilt is now up to $20. I see a lady sitting in front of it. I don't think much but find it odd that she is just sitting there. I hear the lady running the auction with the bullhorn make an announcement that there is 30 minutes left on auction items. More time goes by....lady still sitting in front of quilt. Bullhorn lady (the chick running the auction) looks at lady/friend sitting in front of quilt and says, "when I give the 30 second warning, write my name down for $1 more that is on there right now!

wait a minute...WHAT did I just hear??

I look...

lady sitting in front of quilt has one arm on one side of sign-up sheet, her cell phone on the sheet and her sweater on the other side of the sheet. 

At that point it all comes together.

She had her friend post up in front of the quilt, somewhat hide the sign up sheet, and then make sure HER name was on it last for the $1 higher bid!

This is a woman that is working at the fundraiser to help raise money for the school. 

Auction ends. Quilt sells for $21 to the lady running the damn show. 

I was furious and I left. 

Today, the President of the Parent Teacher Committee (who is my friend, who asked me to donate the quilt in the first place) speaks to me and apologizes about what went down. She wanted to give me the money for the value of the quilt. I refused. Apparently 4 other people approached her today complaining about what they witnessed with the quilt. One of my other friends asked me where the sign up sheet was for the quilt yesterday because she wanted to bid on it but never saw it.

There is a chance this woman could read this post as I included my blog info with the quilt. 

and I hope she does

and I hope she is embarrassed 

and ashamed of herself

as she should be

Thank you for taking the time to read this if you've made it down this far. I'm fuming over this and being able to vent to fellow crafters with big generous hearts, helps. Ok, I feel better now!

The Price is Right

This is a non-quilting/sewing post. I just have to share about my Price is Right experience!

A group of us from my spouse's group went to Price is Right on Monday.

It's a whole lot of standing around in lines. Once you get into the studio, the actual show taping is a little over an hour.  It's much smaller inside than it appears on TV. 

One of the girls from our group made it to contestants row.  

Then she placed a $700 bid on a Xbox and 6 games.

Ding.Ding.Ding.

Someone got the bid right on the nose!

Yep,  it was her! So she got $500

Then she moved to her game and she didn't win :(

BUT she got to spin the wheel and got 90 cents!

She was the runner up in the showcase!

First showcase was a bunch of trips and a Cadillac!

Of course the guy kept it. 

Her showcase was a trip to Las Vegas, New York, and Spain plus $3,000 cash.

Unfortunately, she was over, so the other guy won. But she still won $1200 and it was a blast and such a fun experience!

Episode airs June 7th, 2011

when you get to the end of the 1st line, there is a green screen that you get your picture taken in front of.  Then they offer these pictures to you for $20. My friend still had her phone at this time, so she snapped a picture of ours. (I'm the goofy one in the middle!)

FUN weekend ahead...

In celebration of half way through deployment our Officer's Spouses Club always plans something BIG. The squadron my husband is assigned to deployed in February on the USS Ronald Reagan. My hubby left December 26th to Afghanistan for 8 months.  So I'm a little over 1/2 way, but since he's still assigned to The Black Eagles, I'm still a part of the group. 

So TONIGHT 16 of us are taking one of these:

to go here:

Saddle Ranch Chop House on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, CA

 to have and do some of this:

Then hopefully, I won't feel like this:

Then...on Monday, I'm going here!:

I will keep you all posted how the Price is Right went and if myself or any of my friends were called to "COME ON DOWN!"

"Salt Water Taffy" scruffily quilt

Another scruffily quilt. Yes,  I love this pattern. It's easy, it's fairly fast, and I have yet to see one that I don't like. 

I was approached by a friend who is also the President of the Parent Teacher Committee at my daughter's school asking if I'd be willing to make and donate a quilt for a silent auction fundraiser benefiting the school. Of course I said yes. 

I went through my stash and pulled these fabrics. The tutorial for this quilt can be found here.

I altered the pattern a little bit. First off, I didn't use a layer cake, charm pack and jelly roll. Since I was using yardage, I cut the large squares 10.5", the middle square 5.5" and the center square 3". 

 For the binding I tried something new. I wanted to create a "scruffily" binding. So I attached the folded part to the edge of the back side of the quilt and then folded it over to the front, and then machine stitched it to the front. In doing this it created the effect I was looking for and I'm pleased with the end result. I did realize something though, I will never machine stitch the binding on quilts anymore. As it is much faster, to be blunt,  I just plain ol' suck at it. So I'll do the finishing by hand from now on out!

quilt measures 57"x66"

Pay it Forward Selectees

So I got 7 people interested in participating.  I had to pick 3. I wrote all your names down on little pieces of paper and drew 3. 

Here are the three people I will be making a special homemade item for:

1.) Trish

2.) Amber

3.) Madison

I'll be sending you guys emails in a minute!

I'm super excited! 

ok, so here's the deal...I have 365 days to send you your special something. When you receive my gift made especially for you, you need to then "pay it forward" and make something special for three other people...and on it goes....

I want to thank all the people who were interested in participating and I wish I could make something for everyone...but that would just be too hard for me right now.  (hubby is deployed and has been since Dec.; when he gets home in Aug. we are immediately moving from CA to RI. So needless to say,  it's going to be c.r.a.z.y. here in a few months!)

"Love in a Mist"

 It's done and I really, really like it.

Measures 35"x39"

"Love in a Mist" blocks made with "It's a Hoot" by MoMo

White is an Ikea Dvala sheet

Backing & Binding is Tina Givens: Tropics

Quilting: all hand quilted with white, yellow, pink and charcoal #8 perle cotton thread

(In this picture, my lines look a little wonky. It's because I have it laying on my bed and my down comforter is under it kinda bunched up. Ooops!)

Pay It Forward....Wanna play?

I was selected by Jennifer as one of her "pay it forward" people! I'm super excited about that!! 

Anyway, now I need to pay it forward to three of you! Maybe I'm suppose to do this after I receive the pay it  forward gift myself, but I'd like to get started now. 

Here's how it works...

I have 365 days to make three of you a handmade, special something. (I promise you will like it, or at least I hope you will).

Then YOU will need to Pay It Forward to three people.

See!? Fun, huh?! 

If I only get three people interested, then I'll take the three. If more are interested, then I'll pick three. 

So tell me, Would you like to participate? If you would, let me know why. I'll pick the three people on Friday. (or if there is only one...then you will be a pretty lucky person!)

"Sea Glass"

I love this quilt.

It's probably one of my favorites.

I made this for a friend that is going to have a baby boy. Her baby shower is next Saturday.

The fabric is a variety from my stash, some from Joann's and most from Little Island Quilting's giveaway that I won a little while ago.

I quilted it doing straight lines 1/4" from each seam. It's backed with a flannel print from Joann's which I forgot to pre-wash. (I never pre-wash any of my fabrics except for flannel.) This quilt is so crinkly and I have no idea if it's because of not pre-washing the flannel or not. But I love it!
measures: 37.5" x 46"