The late Saturday Night Report (on the Friday Night Sew In)

Hello out there Blogland Neighborhood! It's still Saturday right? (Well, we figure it's still Saturday SOMEWHERE, so therefore we aren't late with our Saturday report of our Friday Night Sew In project ! (see how you can rationalize ANYTHING ?!?!?!!!!! and we here at MBIAJ Headquarters should know because we are EXPERTS at rationalization !!!!!:)

OK, anyhow here's how we spent our Friday Night Sew In......







....a little piecing .....

















...and a little fusing to make .....
















.....a little quilt!! ... well, it's a little wall hanging and it's a little not quite finished!











......but it HAS to be finished by Sept 29th! Why? Well because this is a sample for a class I'm teaching (YIKES!) of my wall hanging Practical Magic that is in the current Sept/Oct issue of Quiltmaker magazine . I am scheduled to teach it at The Quilted Crow in Lehighton, Pa. The Quilted Crow is a fairly new quilt shop and the owners, Jane and Cindy , are two of the NICEST gals you'd ever want to meet! So, if you're in the area, you should pop on in for a visit!

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Blogland Happenings ......

Good morning and TGIF Blogland Neighborhood! Well, there's always lots of activity and creativity going on in the Blogland Neighborhood ....and this month is no exception. We here at MBIAJ pride ourselves in having our finger on the pulse of the Neighborhood .... having a nose for the latest news .... (OK, so sometimes we miss stuff and don't have a clue what's going on .... OR we're the last ones to know what everybody else is talking about .... but our motto has always been " Better Late than Never" !!!!) BUT.... this time we're right on top of things !!!!! Look what Kitty discovered on Gudrun's blog while blog hopping last night .....





....she's having a fall themed designer blog hop !! (zip on over to her blog and leave a comment because if you do, you'll be entered into a give away for some FABRIC ..... a big pile of very pretty FABRIC !!!) Kitty is so excited about it (and about fall weather and Halloween) that she even dug out her witch's hat to wear to tell you about it! (before she even gets her glasses fixed!)



....the blog hop starts Sept 27th and runs through Oct 6th.











......and in other news, tonight is the Friday Night Sew In for Sept hosted by Heidi


...the MBIAJ Sewing/Quilting Dept feels strongly that they should participate in this tonight because they are (as usual) WAY behind on a project that has a deadline coming up WAY TOO SOON !!! YIKES !!!

OK .... we're off to try and get Kitty's glasses fixed , along with about a zillion other things .... and hopefully the Sewing/Quilting Dept will get to do some sewing tonight!

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

"The Lost Quilter" ....

Good morning Blogland Neighborhood! One of the things we love to do here at MBIAJ Headquarters (besides stitching, drawing , and eating chocolate) is .....





.....READING !!!








We just started reading this Jennifer Chiaverini book "The Lost Quilter" and are thoroughly enjoying it (which we knew we would since we read and enjoyed alot of her other books).



......and speaking of "lost quilters" ..... has anybody seen Kitty? She went into the MBIAJ fabric stash awhile ago looking for some fall fabrics for a new project she's determined to start (ignoring all the half finished summer projects ...) and we haven't seen her for a day or two .....(sigh) guess we better go look for her.....




....OH LOOK !!!! There she is ..... LOST in a sea of fabric !!!.....










......PHEW!!! She made it out OK ..... but I think she broke her glasses .....














......yes ... Kitty , the original "Lost Quilter" !!!






How about you? Does it take survival skills to enter and leave your sewing room/fabric stash without getting LOST ?!?!????
The "MBIAJ Decluttering Dept" better get busy that's all there is to it !!!!! We should have a yard sale .... but that would require even more time and energy.... ugh!!!

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Happy Changing Seasons !

Happy Labor Day Weekend Blogland Neighborhood! This marks the unofficial end of summer .... (officially, it's still summer for 3 or 4 more weeks ... or at least that's what the calendar says). So, the leaves are beginning to change and fall ....


....on the flowers who aren't ready to give up summer yet .







... and the kiddos are back in school (or will be soon!) .....and, the MBIAJ Decorating Dept gets ants in their pants to start making a few little changes here and there to ......



...usher out the season we're getting kind of tired of .....











.....and say "come on in!" to the season we're looking forward to !!!









.... new (so easy to make it's embarrasing) wool felt "sunflower" candle mats up close....


Have a safe and happy last (un)official weekend of summer ! Here comes autumn !!!!

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Penn State move in day ...

Good Monday morning Blogland Neighborhood! Well, our first birdie has left the nest (sob ). This past Saturday was move in day at Penn State U and we survived it ! Things went very smoothly (thank goodness) in spite of the chaos of THOUSANDS of students trying to move in all on the same day !!!! We even finished the lugging and carrying of stuff up to Matt's 5th floor apt early enough to spend part of the afternoon walking the campus with my nephew Dan, who is a freshman there this year.









What a beautiful campus ! Lots of big old trees and then this building "Old Main" (also big and old !)

















....and here are my boys standing on the steps of "Old Main" .....Evan, Matt, and their cousin Dan . (Evan says he may join Matt and Dan here at PSU next year after he finishes high school this year ..... how can my baby be a senior in high school this year ?!?!?!? More sobbing !!!)

So, two big things accomplished ..... Matt is all moved in at college AND......









....the MBIAJ Sewing /Quilting Dept finished ..... yes FINISHED Matt's graduation quilt in the nick of time (into the wee hours of the morning as per usual) for him to take it with him on move in day !!!! (SEE !!! There it is ... folded up at the foot of his bed ..... bottom bunk with red comforter .... TA DAAAAAAA!!!!!)

Have a good Monday everybody!
Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

OK ..... BACK TO WORK !!!!!

Good morning Blogland Neighborhood ! Well, Kitty has partied herself out , gotten over her hangover and now is back to her old bossy self. But, she's right .... we need to get back to work here at MBIAJ Headquarters because ....




..... Moonbeams Boy Matt is heading out to college in 2 days !!!! (SOB!)






....look! he already has his thinking cap on ! (FYI those are clean underwear on his head .....)

Matt has commuted to a local branch campus of Penn State for the past 2 years while living at home... So, now he will be moving out to the main campus and living in an apartment with 5 other guys ...... can't even imagine the filth that will accumulate in that apartment! Anyway, since Matt is going to be living in an apartment (instead of a dorm) he'll need .....




..... EVERYTHING !!!! (note the bathroom cleaning products I bought with the optomistic thought that those boys will actually USE THEM TO CLEAN THE BATHROOM !!!! .... Matt informs me though that I am sadly mistaken .... they don't plan to clean ANYTHING .... EVER !!!) I'm sure that the aroma surrounding their apartment will be "enjoyed" for at least a 10 mile radius from the epicenter ..... we'll call it "o de boys' apartment stench" ....it may even cause nostrils to flare at a 20 mile radius !!!!

......OK ... gotta go ... Kitty is tapping her foot because not only do we have to finish the shopping and packing up of the college boy, we have to get the binding on ....






...this graduation quilt that was started by the MBIAJ Sewing/Quilting Dept 2 years ago when Matt graduated from high school !




Speaking of long over due projects (aren't we always!!) .... here's a quick peak at a another one ....





.....FINALLY finished this smock apron (which is only a year and a month late) ... we were aiming for this to be finished LAST summer for my mother's birthday .... SHEESH !!!

OK ... now we REALLY have to get going !!!! (the sewing/quilting dept is DETERMINED to get that quilt finished for Matt to take with him to school on Saturday!)


Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

WE'RE STILL CELEBRATING !!!!!

Happy weekend Blogland Neighborhood ! Well, we're STILL celebrating here at MBIAJ Headquarters and still wonderiing if we'll wake up tomorrow and come to the conclusion that we just dreamt it (i.e our "Practical Magic" quilt design in the Sept/Oct Quiltmaker Magazine )

But , happily it's not a dream ! Tonight while at the mall, I went into ....



Barnes and Noble and strolled (well, practically RAN) to....









....the craft/sewing/quilting magazine section ..... and ..... THERE IT WAS !!!! (I have it circled and starred ) ..... can't see it? .... wait ....






LOOK !!!!! (right there towards the top in the middle of the picture )



......so I just HAD to open the magazine to take a picture of it there on the magazine stand !!!! and here is my design !!! "Practical Magic" !!!! FOR REAL !!!!












OK !!! Back to the celebration !!!! Kitty is about to lead the conga line, but first she has a few words to say .....
"THANK YOU to Quiltmaker Magazine for choosing this design !!!!! and THANK YOU everybody for your very nice comments !!!!"

......OK EVERYBODY CONGA .....

Be back soon !
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)