Pay It Forward - Kreativ Blogger Award

I still can’t believe I was awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award from my dear friend Alyssa at Alygatr’s Everywhere. I am so honored and now I am excited to pass it on those blogs that I enjoy and admire. First let me say that blogging has introduced me to more friends than I ever thought possible – what a beautiful world blogging is!!!

Let’s see the rules of the Kreativ Blogging Award say that I have to tell you seven things about me that you don’t know. Hm-m-m-m-m-m.

1. Big T and I were college sweethearts and have been married for a very, very long time. (A really long time!)
2. I could eat my weight in bar-b-que ribs. The good gooey finger licking kind that gets all over you. Throw in a few French fries and I’ll think I died and went to heaven.
3. I love pineapple pie. (I must be on a food kick.) It was always a special treat on my birthday. (I don’t care for cake.) Last year M made me one for my birthday and when she served it, I asked her where the top crust was. She looked at it and said “I knew I forgot something.”
4. My birthday is my favorite day of the whole year. I know that’s being really selfish of me – but it’s true.
5. One year in a doubles bowling tournament I won the prize for “lowest score”, “highest score” and “most improved player”. It’s the only sports event I ever succeeded at. My trophy took a place of honor on the bookcase for several years. (I was also accused of sandbagging. I just told them they were jealous.)
6. I didn’t start sewing until two years ago. I have always knitted and crocheted but never sewed anything worth showing or keeping. I actually took the “learn to quilt class” as a way to meet friends when we moved to North Carolina. (My knitting is magic it grows and grows. I made a twin afghan for my daughter to take to college. It now fits her queen sized bed.)
7. I do not particularly like to cook. Big T and I do most of the cooking together. That’s the only way he knows he is going to get a real meal. Probably if it were up to me, we would be on a straight cold cereal diet. Even worse than cooking is the dreaded question “what are we having for dinner tonight”?

Ok now you know ALL about me - what else do I have to do? Pass the award on to seven blogs that I follow on a regular basis. My seven awardees are (drumroll please):
Lace Hearts
Boutiqueaholic
Loft Creations
Sugar Spun Quilt
Lazy Gal Quilting
Q is for Quilt
Anieman Designs

Now the final direction to Pay It Forward (if you should wish to do so):

1. Copy/paste the Kreativ Blogger Award picture onto your blog

2. Thank the person who awarded it to you and post a link to her/his blog

3. Write 7 things about yourself we might not know

4. Choose 7 other bloggers to award

5. Link to them

6. Notify your 7 bloggers of their award

Thank you Alyssa. (I think I’ve said that several other times this week.) Please visit her shop on Etsy and enjoy her work – the flowers are exquisite.

The custom diaper bag is finished and on its way to its new owner. I hope she’s as pleased with it as I am. It was going so smoothly until I discovered I put the top bands on upside down. I even had the top stitching done. But I must admit it does seem to work better with all the pattern pieces going in the same direction.

The quilt wall is covered and the batting is securely fastened down just waiting to be hung. He was going to hang it Sunday as planned but other family commitments took priority. Right now it is laying in the middle of the floor in my home studio (aka sewing room). This is the last piece before my room is finished with the make over.

I also finished my would-be table runner turned tote bag string quilt challenge project. (Try saying that 10 times). That will make two entries in the “no strings attached challenge” and 5 finished new projects in 2010. ‘Chick and Chic’ is now posted on Hummingbird Treasures. I am so proud of myself, it is the 28th of January and I haven’t bought any fabric or new machine embroidery patterns yet this year. (The diaper bag doesn’t count because she provided the fabric.)

Daughter M is my model. Isn't she lovely?

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie

My Alygatr Day

Yesterday was the day of OMG surprises all the way around and they almost all had Alygatr’s name on them. First, I opened my valentine swap and found out my blogging buddy was my valentine partner (more about my beautiful gift a little later on); then I found out I had received the Kreativ Blogging Award (again compliments of Alygatr) and as I was reading her blog – OMG there was my Peter Rabbit quilt featured on her Etsy favorites. Last, but not least, Big T bought the quilt wall ‘board’ and screws today. Today should be THE DAY!

From now on days full of surprises around my house will be called “alygatr days”. What fun for an entire day.

Last Thursday I lost all my ‘followers’ on my blog. I was sad as if I had lost my best friends. I kept checking back every once in awhile to see if they had magically reappeared or if they had fallen into the black hole of blogging. Today, you are all back and seemingly in good health. Don’t scare me like that.

Big T and the Dude crashed their big model airplane on its first flight (which went nowhere but down). The smaller but much cheaper plane flew higher and further than they thought it would. The Dude had to chase it across the soccer field with the remote to control(?) it. They spent the last 45 minutes throwing rocks and sticks into a pine tree that had eaten the plane. Persistence paid off and the small plane returned home with them. The large plane has assumed a place of honor in a corner of the garage – future to be determined.



I have the fabric cut for the diaper bag and have memorized the directions. Now I need to let my subconscious put it together in my sleep before I put needle to fabric. Don’t laugh - I save myself a lot of headaches that way. My subconscious makes the mistakes so I don’t have to. Of course, this does tend to cause a few sleepless nights just lying there letting my mind wonder where it may. I need to finish this by the end of this coming week (self-imposed deadline) so I start to work on machine embroidering her reversible bedspread.

Tomorrow will be dedicated to the sharing the Kreativ Blogging Award. I have to think of seven things you would want to know about me. The Dude thinks I should let him write that list. That might be kind of fun but I reserve the right to edit his list.

And now (drum roll please) my gift from Alygatr in the infamous valentine swap. Isn’t it beautiful!! I love it. It is hanging in a place of honor for all to see as soon as they come in. I do not have anything else like it. She is a very talented and creative lady. Please visit her shop on Etsy to see that talent for yourself.

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie

Completed Projects

I actually made it in and out of Linderella’s yesterday without buying anything. I was there with a friend to pick out fabric for a custom diaper bag and managed to leave without any fabric, patterns or notions. I was so proud of myself – such self control. LOL
The poll is closed on salad/appetizer/soup question. Appetizers did not fare as well as I thought. Soup and salad were actually a tie with the same number of votes. I still prefer the soup but Big T would rather have a big salad.

My first entry in the “no strings attached challenge” is finished. I call this one “Desert Sunset” because of the play of the oranges on the mottled brown. I will post this one on Hummingbird Treasures this afternoon. This gives me one entry in the challenge (complete with great prizes).

Still no quilt wall – the Dude was here with us for three days and no serious work got done. Big T and the Dude were busy with “boy/man” stuff like flying model airplanes, taking yogurt cups hostage with the BB rifle (a real Red Ryder BB rifle), and gluing feathers on the arrows. Oh yeah, and the normal afternoon bowling tournament on the Wii.

The custom valance I did to match the antique quilt and the pillow bolster I made in the fall was evidently a great success. She stopped by yesterday with a thank you note to let me know how much they liked it. Whew! I’ve been holding my breath on that one. We left for the holidays in California the day after Big T hung the valance and I have been waiting to hear. It doesn’t show as well as I would have liked from these pictures but it was a lot of fun (and work).

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie

Organization and USP's

I am so excited! We bought the shelving units for my sewing room (home studio) today and agreed where things will be going. I can actually begin work up there tomorrow. I have to do some major closet reorganizing before Big T can put up my shelving units. I have been dreaming about arranging and displaying my fabric collection (and making it much easier to work with). I am eager to get the physical, organizational work finished so I can return to my projects (which are stacking up). I think in addition to UFO’s (unfinished objects) and WIP’s (works in progress) I need a category of USP’s (unstarted projects). Am I the only one who feels this way?

Speaking of which, I just read a blog from a fellow quilter who kept track of every project she completed in 2009. I was so impressed with her tally, but when I started counting my projects (the last 8 months of 2009) I was amazed at what I had accomplished. I think we are all that way. Someone else’s accomplishments always sound bigger or better than our own.

I met a new friend from Bulgaria yesterday, Nevita. Audrey from Audreys Country Crafts highlighted Nevita’s shop over the weekend. Nevita has beautiful hand knit items. Please check out her blog site and her online store to learn more about her. I personally would like to learn more about ‘gobelin tapestry’ – just the name fascinates me.

My books on ‘easy stained glass quilts’ arrived while we were in San Diego. I sat down to peruse them as soon as I opened the package. I’m really not sure that they looked all that easy though – the jury is still out. Two of the three books looked very good; the third one did not grab my interest as much but I will give it another read to be sure.

I am having so much fun learning new and different ways to be creative. One of the projects swimming in the back of my mind is a way to show the ‘financial crash of 2009’ through contemporary quilt art. I visualize this in a black and white strip quilting technique. This one, of course, would be dedicated to Big T. I don’t know how many hours I have put in at night working on that one in my subconscious state. I have it almost finished in my sleep, while I have yet to put rotary to cloth in consciousness.

January is always quiet and a good time for thinking and organizing. I would rather think than organize, but I need to take advantage of the latter. My immediate target is the sewing room (also known as home studio). I will post pictures when it is finished. I will also remove the vacation status from my online store, Hummingbird Treasures, tomorrow and see what improvements (or changes) are needed there. There is now a 'subscription box' in the sidebar which will notify you by e-mail when a new posting is added to this blog. I look forward to seeing all of you there.

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie