Winner!

Yep, here it is, post number 400! And we have a winner!

As I've received comments in my email from my blogiversary post, I've moved them into a separate email folder. When I closed down the contest, I had 92 entries. I thought I'd use a random number generator, but when I checked out a few online and "tested" them, I didn't really like the way they generated numbers. So I used the old-fashioned kind of number generator. I cut up pieces of paper and numbered them 0 to 9. I did that with two sets and put them into a ceramic bowl and carried them out to my husband. After setting down a piece of KFC fried chicken and wiping off his greasy fingers, with great ceremony he reached into the bowl and first pulled out a "5" and then pulled out a "2"--the winner was the person who posted (or emailed me directly) the 52nd comment. I know--this is probably the boring part for you, but I just wanted to explain the selection process.

And the WINNER is: PAM A. FROM NY! (Pam1228)

Pam commented:

"Happy Blog a Versary!!! I just found your blog and enjoy your "tales"... so funny!!! Your quilt pieces are just beautiful!"

I guess flattery WILL get you somewhere, Pam!

I can't email Pam directly because the address line says "noreply-comment." Pam please email me with your snail mail address so I can get the bunny quilt mailed out to you. If you click on my blog where it says "view complete profile" in the sidebar and then click on "Email" in the upper left box, you can email me directly.

Thank you all for joining in my Blogiversary celebration! I wish I could send a quilt to each of you, but all I can send you is my thanks and my gratitude for stopping by to visit me in Blogland every so often!

Blogiversary Contest is Closed!

I'm closing the contest to new entries and hope to select and post a winner soon! Unfortunately, we came home from work to find our house had been burglarized--nothing major, we think, but we're waiting for the police to arrive. Argh! At least all my sewing stuff appears to be safe! LOL! I'll fill everyone in on the "excitement" later! And sometime tonight, I'll post a winner, so please check back.

Have You Ever . . .

changed your clothes at the end of a work day, only to find you had been walking around all day with one of those dryer sheets stuck inside your pant leg? No, no, of COURSE I've never done that! But if I had, I imagine it would have felt exactly the way it felt today.

It was the oddest feeling, and on several occasions when I could do so discretely, I touched, patted, and/or looked at the inside back of my left pant leg. Nope, nothing there. Extremely odd!

When I was standing buck naked tonight, drying off after my bath, and I had the same weird feeling, I had to conclude that it must be a muscle or a tendon or something pulling slightly along the back of my calf. Maybe I strained it quilting, 'cause that's about the most exercise I get. I sure hope it goes away soon. I expect I look kinda silly walking down the hallway at work, lifting and shaking my leg every few steps.

Mary's In the House!

The buzz right now seems to be all about Mary--Mary Engelbreit's new fabric line for Moda, that is! I've been a ME addict for years, so I'm pretty excited about the fact that she and Moda got together!

My cow-loving BFF Red Geranium Sharon recently had a Mary giveaway on her blog, and I was sorely disappointed she didn't draw my name. But since my expectations weren't exactly high on that one, I went ahead and ordered myself a jelly roll:

. . . and a length of black-with-white-polka-dotted fabric. I came home today to find it had arrived in my mail along with a couple other goodies.

My love affair with Mary began back sometime around the late 1980s. The Wild Child was little and cute back then (not that she's not cute any more, because she is!) and I came across a darling girly dress pattern and coordinating fabrics by Daisy Kingdom. As it turned out, the fabric was designed by Mary Engelbreit. I bought enough fabric to make two dresses, and I still have a bit left--

Sadly, I found the fabric faded quite a lot when it was washed--and that just about broke my heart seeing those cute little dresses all faded! I don't know if I'll ever use the fabric I have in anything that may need washing, but I'm sure I'll find a use for it one of these days.

Then, as many of you probably remember, several years ago Mary began designing for Cranston. This was not too long after I started quilting, and because I was still shopping for fabric at JoAnn's and WalMart occasionally, I have some of those fabrics in my stash. And I don't mean to say it's a poor quality of fabric, because I don't really think it is. I DO know, though, that very few quilt shops carried it because the other large stores could sell it so much cheaper.

So now Mary's moved on to Moda and is snuggling into the quilt shop shelves, and I'm so happy to see her there! But I'm even happier to see her snuggling into MY shelves! The upcoming Christmas line looks awfully cute too!

And, by the way, did you happen to notice the background of my first few photos? Yes, the rabbit and tulip wallhanging is now bound and ready to be claimed by the lucky winner of my giveaway! If you haven't entered already, scroll on down to my Monday post where I announce my belated blogiversary and leave me a comment. Get your comments in by 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Thursday, March 13th! I expect to randomly pick a winner and reveal the name between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Happy quilting!

Not Much Going On

Oddly enough, I don't have much to write about tonight. I stayed home sick from work today with a stomach bug, and so my world shrunk to a small, fairly boring space without a whole lot of mental stimulus. I'm feeling fine again tonight, and I'll head in to work tomorrow--whatever it was seems to have passed. Today I read a little, slept a little, and quilted a little. I didn't actually finish anything, so I don't have anything to show you. Aren't I boring?! ROFLOL! But I suspect you came here looking for a little amusement, so I'll give you a weird little snippet of a dream I had today when I was napping--that's about the best I can muster up.

In my dream, my friend Eileen from Maryland had come to visit. While she was here, my husband brought home a few new pets--right in the middle of some kind of BBQ party we were hosting, so there were a lot of people around, and we were all out in the backyard, which was an enormous space unlike the real thing. He set these pets down on some kind of sofa-type piece of furniture in the yard, and when I went to look, there were two baby puppies and an owl. I remember thinking it was a kitten, but when I tried to pick it up, I found it was an owl. So what do you think that means?! I suspect it just means I was sick! LOL!

I'm currently working on getting the binding on the rabbit wallhanging--if you haven't done so already, don't forget to leave a comment on Monday's blog post so you can get into the drawing!

Edit: Wednesday morning. I was just doing a little blog surfing and I saw a photo of an owl on Doe's roof. Mostly she was talking about Mary Engelbreit fabrics and new magazines. I think my dream owl led me to Doe, and the owl is telling me to get some ME fabric and magazines. Well, I have a jelly roll on order, but I guess I'll have to do something about the new magazines. Dream interpretation can be kinda fun!

Life's Little Speed Bumps and Other Road-Related Oddities

Kind of a weird title, I know, but I was thinking about some of the miscellaneous things I wanted to write about and that seemed to tie them all together in a somewhat ragged little bow.

So Sunday, with about 45 minutes left before we had to leave for dinner with friends, I wrote out the directions for the Gardener's Touch quilt. I went back and tried to justify (pull the text out to the right margin in block format) the paragraphs and all of it disappeared. Just then, I saw Blogger save my blank page. Now, I should tell you that I've done this before by accident a couple times when I was new to blogging, and I swore I'd never do it again. Argh! One of these days before too long, I'll muster up the patience to write them all out again, so if you've been waiting for me to post these directions, please be patient a little longer. Of course, this whole incident was the complete and total reason why I NEEDED three margaritas with dinner.

Daylight Savings Time has totally messed with my schedule. I'm a night owl by inclination, so having to get up earlier just isn't right. (And why can't we just turn the clock BACK 23 hours?) Saturday night I stayed up until 2 a.m. playing with fabric, and when I went to bed, I had to turn the clock ahead to 3 a.m. Then I read a book until 4 a.m. before I turned out the light. Perhaps it's not surprising that I slept until something like 11 a.m. on Sunday. Sunday night it was sure hard to go to sleep, but I managed it around 2 a.m. Getting up at 7 a.m. Monday was a struggle, but I really, REALLY didn't want to be late for work. So just as I was about ready to leave and running only a couple minutes late, my older cat (who was sitting on the kitchen counter looking at me) puked up a stomach full of water all over the edge of the counter, down the front of the dishwasher, and into my other cat's food dish and the surrounding floor. ARGH! Well, of course I was late to work.

As I was driving from work Monday night to the quilt shop for the Christmas List BOM class, I saw a car driving down the street with what looked like a wobbly tire. It got me thinking about how cool it would be to have a car with hubcaps that are mounted in such a way that they appear kind of skewed and off kilter. Just as a joke. Wouldn't that scare all the other drivers to death, thinking you were going to lose a tire at any second? I bet you wouldn't have many drivers pass you--or maybe they'd speed up and pass real fast. At least none of them would just lurk in your blind spot! I'd really love to buy an older, cheap, but still running car and paint it to look like a quilt. With lopsided hubcaps. That's not weird, is it? Did I hear someone mutter "poor white trash"?!

And speaking of which, a little further along, I passed a house decorated for Easter. It's a small house with a small yard. This is one that was all done up for Christmas awhile back too. For Easter they have a 15 foot tall blow up Easter Bunny! Or maybe it just looked 15 feet tall because I was so startled. Do you remember THIS POST? I'm thinking with some bunny ears and a puffy tail . . . . Anyway, this yard had more than a ginormous Easter Bunny. The entire front yard was jam packed with Easter decorations. So many that I really didn't get a good look. Maybe I'll need to go back--with a camera.

At the quilt shop, Lindy (the owner) had displayed a male and female bunny sitting on a bench in the shop window. She always has the coolest stuff! This pair was holding hands and dressed up in people clothes. I think I could see a tag on the back of one, so maybe they're for sale. I really need to get a photo to show you because I don't know how to describe them. The faces were made with what looked like maybe leftover pieces of moth-eaten fur and suede. The hands looked kind of skeletal--I'm not sure why, but I kept thinking of an armadillo. Two other gals and I were standing out front admiring these creatures, unable to quite decide whether they were the coolest things we'd ever seen or the most grotesque. Well, sometimes it's just about the same thing, isn't it? Or is it just me?!

If you haven't done so already, don't forget to leave a comment on yesterday's blog post if you want to get into the drawing for the rabbit wallhanging! Be sure to comment on that post before Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time because I'm hoping to draw a name and post the winner around 7 p.m. that night. Thanks for stopping in!

A Belated Blogiversary to Me!

In typical fashion, I'm late for my blogiversary! A couple weeks ago, I looked to see when I had started my blog, and for some reason, I thought it was March 10th. I just looked again and it was actully March 7th. So, I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! But instead of the White Rabbit, I'm celebrating with a small brown rabbit hopping through the tulips--

Leave a comment on this post. If you're commenting as "anonymous" or just don't have a blog, make sure to include something to identify you--mother's maiden name, guilty secret, whatever. First name, initial of last name, and city should work well. I'll have a drawing Thursday night to celebrate my one year anniversary in Blogland and the person whose name I draw will get the rabbit wallhanging, which measures 24-1/2" x 19"--and I promise it WILL have a binding on it by then. Interestingly enough--to me anyway--I think my post on Thursday when I announce a winner just might be my 400th. That's a whole lotta talk about not too much of anything!

Thank you all for stopping in, reading, and commenting on my blog this past year--I've enjoyed getting to know a bunch of kind, great, and/or crazy people who I wouldn't have otherwise met!

Thimbleberries "Camp"

I mentioned yesterday that I had attended Thimbleberries "Camp" at one of our local quilt shops and had changed the pattern I was making. Here's the kit I bought and didn't make because I was tired of trees--

And here's what I made instead, using mostly the fabrics from the kit. The pattern for the star block pattern is from the new Pint Size Traditions II Thimbleberries book.

I was a little too tired last night to tell you much about the camp, but it was a lot of fun. They fed us--corn chowder, 9-can soup, jello fruit salad, bread, and brownie sundaes--yum! We also were given Easter goodie bags that contained a few pencils, a packet of fabric wash, and a couple Tootsie Rolls. Quilt shop ladies always seem to understand the need for a few sweet treats to keep us going, don't they? And speaking of treats to keep us going, they also suprised us with charm packs of the Lakeside and Lodge fabrics along with a Miss Rosie Schnibbles pattern. Cute stuff!

My weekend projects are coming along. Besides that Thimbleberries quilt top, I finished another small top--I'll show you that one later. And I got my house cleaned. It used to be that I could take a good part of the day cleaning and procrastinating along the way, but I found that if I only allow myself a specified period of time, I get it done much faster and can get back to playing a lot sooner. We have a small house but I have a lot of very valuable (not!) "stuff" that needs to be cleaned and dusted, so I figure two hours is enough to get it all reasonably clean. Whatever's not done at the end of two hours, just doesn't get done--so far, I've managed to get everything done by the end of the two hours.

Tomorrow my husband and I are meeting our friends, Terry and Lisa, and taking my sister-in-law Kathy out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATH!) I might not get quite as much done this weekend as I first thought, but I'm sure looking forward to getting together with our friends. Oh, and not having to cook dinner--did I mention that I'm really looking forward to not having to cook dinner too?!

A couple of you were interested in the measurements for the Gardener's Touch quilt blocks, so I'll try to get those posted tomorrow (Sunday). Don't forget to spring forward if you're in an area that goes to Daylight Savings Time!

Yes, I'm One of "Them"

"Them"--the overachievers. But I guess I don't have to tell you this news flash because although I don't really think of myself that way, I think some of you do judging by the comments I get! ROFLOL!

Tonight I went to a local quilt shop for a Thimbleberries "camp." We had received our kits for the quarterly project a few weeks ago and we were supposed to cut them before class. Last night I got out my kit, and as much as I think the project is really nice, I was just darn tired of making trees--a main element in this particular pattern. So I pulled a couple of Thimbleberries books off my shelf and searched for something that appealed to me a little more.

The colors in the kit were green (yep--trees!), red, blue, white, and a floral border fabric that has a lot of blue in it. Mindful that summer will be here before I know it, I decided to set the green aside and just use the red, white, and blue fabrics along with the floral border fabric. Then I got busy making two and a half trillion half square triangles. Okay, maybe it was just 144 half square triangles--it just seemed like two and a half trillion. Tonight I assembled them into nine blocks. Tomorrow I need to decide how I want to set them, because they're WAAAAY too busy butted up against one another.

Despite the fact that it was after 10 p.m. when I left the quilt shop, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got my shopping done. Now I'm set to hunker down in the Sweat Shop all weekend and sew my fingers down to nubs. See, this is how I get a lot done! LOL!

Remember that bunny quilt I mentioned the other day? I have about a half of a bunny left to applique and then I'll be ready to get the borders on it.

Since I haven't cleaned house for nearly three weeks (another little trick for getting a lot of sewing done!), I guess I'll have to take a few hours out of my weekend to take care of these pesky little chores.

Then there's another little project I'm thinking about. And did I mention that I'd surely like to get the Gardener's Touch quilt top pinned and quilted? And did I mention that if I have even a slim hope of getting everything I'd like to get done, I'm really, really going to NEED that hour I'm going to lose this weekend because of Daylight Savings Time?!

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, would anyone be interested in me giving the cutting sizes for the alternate (Irish Chain) blocks in that Gardener's Touch top? I know there are a lot of nice largish florals out right now that could be used for the plain floral squares, so if there are a couple of you who are interested, I'll post that info.

Time for me to go to bed. I figure maybe I can afford to catch an hour or two of sleep this weekend. Tomorrow I'll post a photo of some sort of these blocks I worked on tonight so you can see what I'm yammering on about. Happy weekend!

Disgruntled Again!

Remember last week I mentioned that I was a disgruntled employee because I realized that 29 days in the month of February meant that I was working an extra day that I hadn't had to work in the past three years? Which, of course, effectively reduced my rate of pay when my monthly salary was converted to an hourly wage?

Well, today one of the women I work with told me that Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend. You know what that means? We spring forward! So, not only did we work an extra day last week, but this week, we lose an hour of our weekend! ARGH! I mean really--is that fair? You'd think that if there was any justice in the world, the powers that be would put into effect a law that says during leap years, Daylight Savings Time is to commence at 3 p.m. on the Friday before the date when Daylight Savings Time would normally begin in non-leap years. Is that really too much to ask?

Now I have to figure out what hour I want to give up this weekend. Normally I'd be happy to give up an hour of cleaning house, but since I haven't cleaned house for the last couple weeks, I'm pretty sure I can't give up one of THOSE hours. I guess I could give up an hour of sleep, but those hours are pretty minimal as it is. Well, I WAS going to shave my legs this weekend; I guess I COULD give that up, so there's a good 15 minutes gained. And maybe if I don't change out of my PJ's all weekend, I could recoup another 10 minutes. Brushing my teeth? No, I think I'd better not try to skimp there. Cooking? Well, that's possible. Obviously this is going to require some thought and planning.

What hour are you planning to give up?