catching up

Here's Marianne and Elinor holding down the cowboy dog quilt before the binding went on.

Here are photos of it completed. It's raining here today so these are indoor shots. I was trying to show the quilt pattern but you can't hardly see it even when you are looking right at the quilt. Oh well, I liked the idea of it. I used the Stetsons & Boots pantograph which was fun even if it's hidden :-)

Dawn awarded me the Beautiful Blogger Award last week. Which I must say felt kind of fun :-) My blogging is at a fairly slow pace with the intent of participating so that I'm not just an invisible lurker gleaning all the inspiration from quilters adding so much to the quilting world. And trying to add something that hopefully inspires someone else. The award comes with some tasks to keep the fun of it passing. To mention the blog award and who gave it to you with a link to their blog. To share 7 interesting things about myself. Hmmm. And to nominate 7 other blogger sites that I enjoy.

Interesting things about myself....probably only in the eye of the beholder but here goes. I've been a nurse for 32 years, mostly in the ICU.

I work in the ER now but still feel like ICU is a better fit for me.

I am looking forward to retirement in 7 yrs and 46 weeks :-)

Animals of most any kind stir my heart. Life without dogs and cats would be too hard to live.

I live on the beautiful Central Coast of California and sometimes pretend I'm really in Maine. yea, explain that one!

Anne Tylers' Ladder of Years is one of my most favorite books as the main character sort of inadvertantly 'runs' away and starts a new life. The idea is always in the back of my mind. Except no one traveling with 3 dogs and 2 cats inadvertantly goes anywhere :-)

I love to sing worship music really loud when I'm alone driving my car.

Now for blogs I love to read...A Simple Girl, Eclectic Quilter,Magnolia Bay Quilts,Quilt Hollow, Lazy Gal Quilting,JulieK Quilts, and Crazy About Quilts.

There are actually many more so please consider yourself all awarded by me as wonderful blogging friends. Feel free to pass on this award to others that inspire you or just enjoy the recognition. It is always good to blog without obligation...even if I can't figure out how to get that little BWO sign with the crow on it to show up on my blog page...

quick post to announce the winner

I am home from a busy day in the ER where I seemed to have to admit all my patients. This is not the usual. We like to send people home and happier. Not happening with me today though. Anywho...I'm headed back there early in the morning so I am making a quick announcement here for the Happy first Anniversary giveaway. Thank you so much for all the fun and sweet comments. It has been a fun and fast adventure.
So Mr Luckypup was eager to help pull the names out of the hat and I am happy to announce that Marj from Eclectic Quilter is the winner of the pattern and fabric. This turns out to be a very cool way (at least for me, anyway) to celebrate her kitty, Bandit, coming home from the hospital with improved health. I haven't met Bandit personally, of course, but I know he is a big help in the quilt room :-) So Congratulations to Marj and Wahoo! Bandit, I'm so glad you are home again and doing better!
More later...when the days are opened up for stitching.

First year anniversary

What an interesting year it has been! I have learned from blogging (HTML strike outs, and hyperlinks :-), studying, and from bloggers. For a celebration giveaway, here is a pattern and some fabrics to get started honoring all those cats that help us out in our quilting endeavors.

And to celebrate all those sweet canines keeping our feet warm and our creative efforts dogged, here's a fabric collage of pups in carrying bags.

I will be posting the winner of this giveaway next Thursday so leave a comment if you are interested. Thank you to all who have read, commented and encouraged me through the year. I'm enjoying the blogging quilt community immensely.

Baby quilts

I delivered three baby quilts this week though I forgot to take a picture of one of them. They have flannel, chenille and corduroy fabrics in them and I quilted them with floral pantographs. Fast, easy quilts with fun baby colors and fabrics. Two were given to infants but the third one (not shown) was given to a boy almost a year old and he gave me a smile and a little squeal :-) Quite a charming response!

Mariner's Compass

I tried to post on this the other day and made a goof so let me try again.
A couple of weeks ago, I was the winner of a giveaway hosted by Yuki. The pattern and fabric were included to make this Mariner's Compass block which is paper pieced and finishes at about 12". I set about to sew this and found it challenging. It took me about 4 hours to complete and I was shocked pleasantly surprised to see that the outer circular edge fabric and compass actually came together smooth enough! Thank you, Yuki. I would never have gotten around to trying one of these blocks without your gift and inspiration.
Yuki is fortunate to have lovely feline helpers in her studio and I want to thank Snowflake (her beautiful white cat) for picking me as the winner of the giveaway :-)

Twinkle

Splurged with buying just a small amount of Kaffe Fassett fabric recently and made the quilt pattern shown at my favorite LQS, Quilter's Cupboard. I made only enough blocks for a small quilt and because I'm such a genius and purchased eighth of yard swatches instead of quarter yard...I shrunk the block size also. It worked out though and I loved being able to sew it up very quickly. The pattern is called Twinkle and I enjoyed sewing up all these bright fabrics.

It still needs to be quilted so I'll post it again and show you the gorgeous green fabric I am using for the back....it's called Cactus by Kona Bay Cottons.

messing with blog pictures

Yesterday I added Picasa to my tool box and set up a quilt album slideshow to play on my blog. It is best at the bottom of the page because of the narrow width on the side of my blog template. Would love for you to check it out :-)


I've been busy sewing and have some partially done projects but today I want to show a couple of sweatshirts that I appliqued for my mom. She is so tiny that I wished I had made the dog smaller but it looks cute on her anyway. She is always cold even when working away in her garden so she wears sweatshirts all year long.

P.S. If you want to add Picasa to your blog too...right click on the pictures and it pulls up a link for you.