This Giveaway is now closed!

Hubs is always appreciative when I give him gift ideas of things I really want. He doesn't like to shop and it makes his life so much easier. For Mother's Day this year I requested something very specific and even sent him the link to the item and posted a copy of the page from the magazine right next to the computer monitor so he'd get it right. I wasn't taking any chances!

And what did I ask for you ask?

I requested this fabulous 2 foot Mariner's Compass Barn Quilt block from Classic Metal Company to adorn our house. I love it, I love it, I love it!!!

It hangs perfectly between the 2 office windows and now there is no doubt at which house in our neighborhood the quilter lives.
But hubby surprised me that day and not only did I receive the Mariner's Compass Barn Quilt but I also received this 2 foot Americana Star Barn Quilt.
Hubs hung this one between the garage windows (we have a side load garage) but now that it has been up for a number of weeks I'm thinking that it isn't big enough for the space and it needs to be replaced with a bigger one, either the 3 foot or 4 foot size. I'd move this one to hang between the library/playroom windows on the other side of our front door. For the replacement block, I'm strongly considering the Ohio Star or the LeMoyne Star block. My birthday is coming up in a few months ya know.
I chose to request these specific Barn Quilts from Classic Metal Company because of Mark's fabulous reputation and the terrific quality of his products. I love, love, love these barn quilts. I know, I said that already. But it is true! They are all made from heavy-weight steel and are all powder coated for years and years of great looks. I've seen other similar products elsewhere before and they don't measure up to these by a long shot.

Not only are all of his Barn Quilts available in the standard 1 foot (12 " x 12") and 2 foot (24" x 24") sizes but he also makes them in custom 3 foot and 4 foot sizes. Plus each one is available in a number of color options: Satin Black, Navy Blue, Dark Red, Creamy White and Dark Green so there is an option to coordinate with every decor.

Because I truly believe in the Made in America movement as also evidenced in my recent participation in the American Made Brand Blog Tour, I am happy to tell you that Classic Metal Company's Barn Quilts and all the hardware available to hang them are also completely made in the good ole USA. 

So far there are 13 Barn Quilt blocks available as well as a Greeting Sign and 2 napkin holder designs (I've already told hubby that the Black Mariner's Compass one is also on my wish list for my birthday). Just look at the wonderful options he has for you to decorate your home with, inside and out.

In addition, Classic Metal Company has recently come out with (2) ruler holders which are equally fabulous. At this point in time they are available in either an American Country block or a Sister's Choice block, again in your choice of colors Red, Black or Green.
And if that isn't enough, Mark also makes Barn Quilt Minis in Brass or Copper just perfect for decorating your quilting themed Christmas tree during the holidays or displaying elsewhere all year round.

As usual, there are always giveaway entries from No Reply Bloggers so if you are in doubt, make sure to leave your email address. Those that don't aren't even entered into the drawing. Many people still don't realize that they are in fact NRBs but if you never, ever receive replies on comments you leave on other's blogs, than that is proof that you need to fix the problem. Not everyone replies to commenters but many of us do as much as possible.

Even if you don't win this time I hope that you too choose to decorate your house with one or more of these fabulous Barn Quilts. They truly are a work of art.

My normal routine has been anything but normal over the past 4 weeks. I feel that I've been rushing between things but thankfully now I get the chance to slow down, regroup and plan what is to come. The end of June and beginning of July saw me quickly making tote bags for the teachers end of year gifts
 and sew together most of the kids art quilt for Sunshine's school.
Plus there was Jammer's class picnic (I was a class mom this year) and Sunshine's Pre-K graduation.
Within days of then end of the school year, we headed out on vacation to Orlando.We had a terrific visit with one of Sunshine's China sisters who lives in the area.
 This year we only went to Legoland (which is fantastic BTW if you haven't been there yourself)
 Jammer loves being the master of the maps.
 And both kidlets were excited about the new Star Wars section of Miniland.
 This park is all about the kids 2-12 and we will definitely be going again in the future.
 We also spent a morning playing some mini golf. Hubs and I lurve mini golf (I don't play big people golf myself.)
 The kidlets did much better this time at actually playing but there was still a lot of golf-hockey going on too.
 After that we indulged Jammer's wish for go-carting. Here he got to drive one himself on a smaller track. We also did a lot of laps on the bigger track...one grown up with one child each and since both of us were driving it was impossible to take pictures of the action.
 We also fed the baby alligators while we were there.
 Sunshine needed a boost to be able to see over the fence and properly aim her fishing pole feeder at the critters.
 The only other part we visited was Sea World. We missed this park on our last trip to Florida and since our kids are animal fanatics this was of course a hit.
 They saw lots and lots of animals!
 And we of course roe a few rides. My feerless rollercoaster loving girl went on every one she was big enough for.
 But most of our trip was spent in the pool just swimming and more swimming.
 Sunshine made amazing progress and quickly gave up using her swim belt, was brave enough to even swim under water a bit and both of them jumped in canon ball style over and over and over and...you get the idea.
 Now that we are home and the normal routine has returned I'm back to working towards crossing items off my To Do list. On that list is:

Quilting and binding the Spellbound quilt for Sarah's Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge. My quilts are being sent to her for her group's October trip to help Hurricane Sandy survivors so I got a bit of a break on the deadline plus I had to wait for Penelope's upgrade to get done before I could load this on my frame.
 I also need to quilt and bind the EMS/Fire quilt. My boss decided not to hold the raffle during the industry trade show a few weeks ago so I got another reprieve on getting it finished. The forecast for that weekend wasn't pretty (our booth was outside) and so the expected turnout for the show wasn't as usual and there was no way we would have raised what we had hoped for at that event.
Instead he decided to promote it more amongst our customers and at a couple of upcoming industry trade shows and have the drawing at the last one.

In addition these are what are the other things on that To Do list:

1. Complete and mail the June Primary Bee blocks. I'm still waiting to hear what the July block will be.

2. Get caught up on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. I need to make the May - Green, June - Yellow and July - Red blocks.

3. Finish piecing and then quilt and bind the kids art quilt for Sunshine's school. They were happy to have it hanging at the school for a few weeks for everyone to see the progress so far but now it is time to get it done and hung permanently in the school's lobby.
4. Paint my kitchen. I'm embarrassed to admit that now just over 3 years in this new house and we still have 3 rooms that haven't been painted. The kitchen paint color has been the hardest to decide on based on the 1st floor layout and the way the open concept rooms come together and after numerous sample testings, I've finally found the perfect one.

5. Paint the kids bathroom and the dining room - after the hubs finally gets the wainscoting up that is.

There are other things on my list but that is all I'm tackling in the coming weeks. Wish me luck in getting them all done.

Stunning Stitchin Sunday resumes this afternoon and you won't want to miss the giveaway that starts tomorrow. See you back here then for the fun announcement.

Of course I got way behind again in reading blogs. The end of the school year activities followed almost immediately after by our vacation didn't leave much time for browsing through quilt blogland. But now that I'm home I'm working on catching up on what everyone has been doing. Yesterday I saw that Val of Val's Quilting Studio has issued a challenge.
She calls it the Piggy Bank Savings = Money for Quilting Challenge. While driving to work and then later to pick up the kidlets at summer camp, I thought about it and while I'm not going to follow her challenge to the letter, I thought that I could participate in my own way.

You see...I've been hunting for a new purse for a very, very long time and still can't find one that I like. My old one has seen better days and desperately needs to be replaced. I've been using my Just Right bag when I can (I love it so) but it just isn't big enough for everyday.

I wanted a really fun "piggy bank" to use and started thinking about buying one just for this purpose but that doesn't make sense since the idea is to save money, not spend it to save more. Oh well....if I come across something perfect at a yard sale at a real bargain, perhaps I'll get it but in the meantime I'm going to use this antique Atlas mason jar.

I admit it. We got behind making the Primary Bee blocks for April and May. Life happens ya know and when the To Do list got too long, something had to give. I don't like being late for anything but it really couldn't be helped. The April blocks were finished in May and have arrived at their destination and the May blocks are done too and have been sent on their way.

First up were the Bento Box blocks in the requested colors of Purple and Yellow. As is typical, Sunshine was willing to spend some time sewing first. Step one was to sew all the various parts together.

She does an excellent job of matching up the pieces just right.

Her grip on the pieces as they feed through the machine is still a bit too strong but we are working on it. I think that once I let them totally sew on their own with a different machine, they will get that part better.

She is really great about removing the pins just before we get to them.

And here she is with the finished Bento Box block for Lisa's daughter. We hope she liked it.

Jammer was ready to go next. We did the same thing, sewed together all the parts and then sewed the parts into bigger parts.

He too still needed some guidance so that the seams come out fairly decent.

Bento Box block number 2 was done.

Over the past weekend we got the blocks done for May. Heather's daughter requested the Pennsylvania block in Turquoise and White. Sunshine went 1st again as usual. Those small hands still have a death grip on the pieces but little by little she is getting better.

 Here favorite part is clipping the threads.

 She is left handed so I still can't figure out why she insists on using the right hand to cut when we sew together.

 All done and one very proud girl itching to sew some more.

 After some convincing, Jammer was willing to come up to my studio to get his block done too. That boy some seriously long eyelashes! Unfortunately the mosquitos think he's pretty tasty too. 

 He asked if he could work the foot petal himself and he actually did it really well, going decently slow so that he could keep control of what he was doing. He even guided the fabric almost completely by himself with much less help from me.

 I'm a proud momma. And he is proud that he is doing more without my assistance. I can see him totally sewing on is own before long. He's even getting good at holding the seam in place as he pulls the pins and guides it under the needle.

 He was really excited about this accomplishment and I was excited for him.

I think I'm going to figure out where I can move my mom's old Singer Abby to so that the kidlets can sew more on their own. There really isn't any space in my studio but I want to be nearby. The machine in the table is heavy so it isn't something that I can just pick up and move all the time.

Next up are the blocks for June, a Churn and Dash in Purple and Blue.