giggleface studios

Greetings From North Dakota

Another 50 States block finished up!

My favorite part...the Wild Horses! I tried to give the manes and tails some dimension by using two different colors of browns and grays. I think it turned out okay, but maybe next time I will use a variegated thread or, I could just keep just practicing. But for now I am satisfied!

This weekend while I was at the Quilt-A-Fair I came upon another great idea turned into a book: Get Your Stitch on Route 66: Quilts From the Mother Road. If state postcards/stamps aren't quirky enough for you check out these patterns of icons on this famous highway. They had two different quilts made up, one embroidered in black and the other embroidered with color, and both of the quilts and fabrics were fantastic. Alexander Henry has an awesome Route 66 fabric that is perfect for these types of quilts!

I guess this book is going on my list of 'Projects That Will Someday Be Done'!

Welcome to Trick or Treat Street

Look how cute this Halloween fabric is! I am so excited about it, that I could just....SCREAM! I spent this weekend with "The Girls" in my family, and went to a Quilt-A-Fair.

Two booths in I found this great Halloween fabric panel from Sherri Berry Designs. I fell in love with the colors in the fabric because they are slightly different than your normal Halloween colors, although my photos aren't showing them too well here...sorry for that!

The great thing about this panel is that it is a pretty good size, which means you have a ton of possibilities of things you can do with it. You can leave it as is, or cut it up on the dotted lines and make your own creations!

I figured as I wound my way through all the booths that I would come upon some greats Halloween fabrics to incorporate into my panel...and I did...THIS WHOLE CUSTOM QUILT KIT!

Aren't these just the most delicious fabric combinations ever? They had this quilt made up and on display as a wall hanging and a table runner. I went crazy-nuts over it and ran pushing and screaming (okay not really, but in my head I did) to get my hands on the kit!

Not only does it have a decent amount of fabric, but it has another panel and other ideas included! So now I have...count em' TWO panels to play with. Some of the ideas in the kit are a garland out of the individual 'Trick Or Treat' letters, and making Treat Bags with the corner squares...too cute! Now I can make the whole SHA-BANG!

I have never really been one to decorate for Halloween, but this year I am a lunatic about it! I found these beautiful crows (a secret love of mine, Halloween or no Halloween) at the craft store and thought they would look wonderful on my bookcase. I also have plans to make this Witch's Hat and this Patchwork Pumpkin. This Hocuspocusville quilt will have to wait until next year unfortunately! They had all of these projects wonderfully displayed at Maggie Mae's booth. She could see that I was drooling over them and told me that a group of ladies bought the Witch's Hat pattern and made them all up and now they get together often to have a Witch's Tea Party....doesn't that sound like a Cackling Good Time?

I'm off to cutting and stitching, while I still have a little time before the kids get home from school!

Mr. Scrappy-Pants!

This is Mr. Scrappy-Pants...He is fleece and flannel and very squishy! It's getting to be that time of year again when all the cozy fabrics come out of the closet and get made into wonderful, scrumptious things.

Mr. Scrappy-Pants even has a little scrappy pocket to hold his treats in...

And long arms for hugging! He will be finding a new home with the Toy Society if I can pry him from my kids arms...and then mine!

That's always the hardest part!

**************** UPDATE *************

MR. SCRAPPY-PANTS IS MISSING!

When my children returned home from school today they spied Mr. Scrappy-Pants on the shelf. My daughter asked if I was going to stick him in a plastic bag and give him away. When I told her I was giving him to the Toy Society, she ran upstairs with him under her arm yelling "Don't Worry Mr. Scrappy-Pants, I'll save you, and hide you so Mom can't find you".

Hmmmm...He is nowhere to be seen!

Estes Park & Elk Mating Season

This weekend we went up to Estes Park for a small get-away! I love Estes Park because it's about an hour and a half away, and just the right amount of driving for the kids. As you come into Estes Park they have on the side of the road this scenic overlook. We were quite lucky since it was still early in the morning (Thanks to the Honey for pushing us out the door at the crack of dawn) that we had the overlook to ourselves, so the kids could do a little exploring and climbing around. Before heading on down the road, I made the kids do the "family pose". I wonder how many people have had their pictures taken in this exact spot?Thousands, maybe even Millions!

As we came cruising down the mountain into town, we came to a screeching halt! What is going on? The traffic is crawling along and I'm starting to get annoyed and the kids are getting fidgety until we see this Magnificent bull elk standing in the middle of the road!

He was calling his herd of females and calves across to the other side. He was very aggressive and vocal.

Why?