The Big Day....

Hello Everyone,

Today is the day where I announce the winners of my birthday giveaway. First off, I want to say that I am blown away by all of you! Thank you so much for the wonderful birthday wishes, you are all very kind. I had a wonderful day, last Tuesday. I am still making my way through all the comments and trying to respond to each individual. I have visited many new blogs and love all you talented and crafty people.

I hope that you will continue to come back to my blog for inspiration as well. Now for the big moment. I received a total of 359 comments. So I decided to use the random number generator.

Here are the numbers that were picked.

Now for the winners.... I decided to do it in chronological order starting with the number 34. The reason is this is the way I had to count through the comments. So the winner of the Holly Jolly Jelly Roll and Charm Packs is Linda of All Stitched Up. Congrats Linda!

The winner of the Quilt Diva Jelly Roll is Deborah from Caitty Quilts. Congrats to Deborah!

The winner of the Material Obsession Book is Bec Clarke of Bec Clarke Blogspot. Congrats Bec!

The winner of the signed copy of Bird of Paradise is Barb. Congrats Barb!

Now for my secret 5th prize that I mentioned. There is one winner. I went back to my post called Design Wall Love and drew a random winner from the comments on this post. Here is the pick...

It is Teresa from Stitchin Friends! Congrats to Teresa! Now you may want to know what the prize is, because I have done this before and find it very rewarding and fun for me and the recipient, I will quilt for Teresa up to a Lap Size Quilt, provide the batting and pay for the return shipping. I just love doing this!

Congratulations to all the winners! I hope you will take the time to stop at all their sites for some quilty good inspiration.

Now I am off for a few days to Kutztown, PA for the folk festival. Lots of quilts in the quilt barn. I can't wait! See you over the weekend!

Until Next Time.....

The Big Day....

It's Time To Celebrate!!!

Hello Everyone,

Well, yes today is a day for celebration! Why, you ask, it is my birthday. I would like to share my blessings over the year with YOU, my readers. I cannot begin to tell you how many of you have given me wonderful inspiration, tips, suggestions, and just have touched me throughout the past couple of years.

In honor of that and to show my appreciation, I would like to have a big giveaway! It will run ALL week long and end on June 30, when I will draw the winners!!! I have 4 prizes and yes, one secret one. So let's take a peek!

The first is a wonderful jelly roll and two charm packs. It is the Holly Jolly fabric by Sandy Gervais that you can not get any more. I thought this would be perfect for "Christmas in July".

The next is a Quilt Diva jelly roll, by Amy Bradley. These are such fun colors by a fun lady.

The next is the highly sought after book Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. This is such a great book with lots of inspiration.

And last but not least, since I have been on a paper piecing binge, I thought I would share my love of this skill with you. I have a signed copy of a Judy Niemeyer paper piecing pattern. It comes with all the foundations to make this lovely quilt.

So now the rules:

1. Just leave a comment on this post between now and Midnight June 29, 2009.

2. If you have a preference for one prize you may let me know.

3. Spread the word, and that is all you need to do!!

I guess I should also say, I MUST have a way to get in touch with you, make sure there is a way to e-mail you, please.

Good luck to everyone, and thanks for being a reader of my blog!!

Until Next Time.....

It's Time To Celebrate!!!

Design Wall Love

Hello Everyone,

I have to say I have been busy the last week and lacking on my blog reading. So today I vow to get caught up.

But first an update, for those of you who remember or participated, pillowcases were delivered to the Hole in The Wall Gang Camp. A total of 1,600 pillowcases. Thank you all for your generous donations. Our goal next year is 2,000!! So I will be putting a call out for some more help. You can read an article about it here. All I can say is that they were absolutely thrilled!!

Also, my website has had a slight MAKEOVER!! So go check it out. I think it is a little simpler now. Let me know what you think. While you are there be sure to look at the customer quilts under Recent Additions. They are just beautiful!

Now for some pictures! I know a lot of you have been watching my progress on yet another Judy Niemeyer quilt. Well I am happy to say that I am almost done!!

Loving the stars.....

Mmmmm... raspberry and chocolate batiks a yummy combo!

Top right corner....

Top left corner....

The entire (well almost) quilt on my design wall. Unfortunately, my wall is not long enough. There is an outlet that you just can't cover up. So the bottom border sits on my table.

As you can see in the above picture, I made a design decision to make have the border chocolate and half raspberry. I kind of like the look and am slowly but surely piecing all the units together.

I have really been enjoying paper piecing of late. But after this one, I must get started on my Spooktacular Halloween Swap that Jane is hosting. I have the fabric ready to go!

My next post will be on Tuesday, so keep an eye out! I have something special planned for my readers!

Until Next Time.....

Design Wall Love

The Colors of Inspiration

Hello Everyone,

First I wanted to cover just a bit of business. I promised you a slideshow in my last post, just click here and turn on your volume (if you would like to hear the music). Lots of quilty goodness!

Also, my newest Podcast episode is NOW available, click here or go to my sidebar and click on the link to listen to some great tips. You can also check out my June Newsletter here. Lots of stuff going on!

Now on to more fun stuff and some great colorful inspiration. I recently finished this Pineapple quilt that I began about 7 years ago. Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge for a closer look.

I had the body of the quilt done, it was just waiting for a border to be sewn on... talk about procrastination. About 7 years to get that task done. Then another 3 months to quilt.

Another 3 months to bind. Boy, I am just a slow poke. Either that or it just wasn't top priority.

I do love it though. You can tell these are older fabrics too. They are definitely calicoes. I don't think I own any of those anymore.

I really like the quilting that I did, it was a floral edge to edge pattern. Now speaking of flowers, I took my camera outside on the one sunny day this week and took snapshots of some of the flowers growing around my home.

First up, my wonderful pink petunias in hanging baskets.

I just love them! They bring a smile to my face every day and remind me that spring is here.

Petunias in my window boxes too. I have window boxes on every window. It just cheers up the house and makes up for such a long dreary winter.

Pink Geraniums. Can you tell I love pink???

A white iris...

A beautiful purple bearded iris, just look at that color...

My Baptista is blooming. Hubby calls this my asparagus plant, because when it first starts to come up it looks just like it.

The next 3 photos are from the retreat that I was on. These iris were at the entrance of our retreat building and had the morning dew on them. I had to take some pictures and was really pleased with the outcome.

You can really see the dew drops...

Look at that pool of dew in the center of the iris. Very cool!

I hope that this colorful post brings you some wonderful inspiration!

Until Next Time....

The Colors of Inspiration

Just Plain Fun!

Hello Everyone,

Last weekend, my friends Pam, Justine and I went on a wonderful quilting retreat in Chester, VT. This was our second year at this retreat and we had such a fantastic time. Lots of fun with old friends and new. Plenty of inspiration to be had. I wanted to share just a few pictures with you. Hopefully, by my next post I will have a slideshow of the retreat containing TONS of inspiration for you.

For now, Justine, Pam and I welcome you to our retreat...

Country Treasures is a phenomenal quilt shop in Chester, VT. The shop owner Sue, is full of energy and ideas. We just love her and ALL her staff. They certainly make you feel like you are part of the family.

The next photo is of one of the projects I was working on. I can't show the other as it is part of the Christmas in July Swap. Sorry, no sneak peeks!

Pam is hard at work or is she hardly working??? LOL. She certainly is happy anyway.

Justine working on her "Design Floor". She did lots of that! Justine was definitely the overachiever for the weekend.

More of Justine's projects on the "Design Floor". I have a feeling many of us have a design floor.

Now onto the cocktail hour which we coupled with a show and tell. Each year, Country Treasures asks us all to bring show and tell. Well, guess what I brought... my 4th of July quilt! I just had to....

And of course, my picnic quilt. That is the lovely Mary Jane helping me hold my quilts. She works at Country Treasures and is such a hoot! We love you!

Justine showing her recycled jeans quilt. Yay, Justine GO GREEN!

Pam showing her beautiful diaper bag. She did an impeccable job making this.

Justine showing her market bag and the fabric garlic bulb her sister had made for her years ago. A perfect embellishment for this bag.

Justine's completed quilt top from the retreat! Such a show off, but we love her!! You know it too!!

So there is your little peek into our retreat weekend. Check back on the next post for a slideshow.

If you would like some more inspiration, 4 new quilts were posted here in my gallery. Hopefully, by my next post, I will also have my June newsletter and Podcast out too. So if you haven't signed up for the newsletter, just go over to my left sidebar and click on the newspaper.

Until Next Time....

Just Plain Fun!