Things I Won!

Remember when the Quilters Gallery Blog Hop was happening? Well I was fortunate to win from two different bloggers. This prize/present/gift - it feels like a gift was sent by Christine Mann from Quiltersdiary.com. She sent a DVD by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins of Piece O' Cake Way. It is "Teach You to Applique."  Sounds like I have an evening with a bowl of popcorn and learning how to applique. Fun!

Christine also sent me two Thimbleberries' "Warm & Cozy charm packs. I see another charm tote bag in my future. I have the perfect pattern for them.

Thanks so much Christine!

Another giveaway I won from Butterfly Threads Quilting. Diane designs patterns. Isn't her "Mr. Knott's Neighborhood" pattern adorable?  I love, love all those bright cheery houses. And look I have a fat quarter she sent for a green house.

Thank you Diane, and Michelle from Quilters Gallery for sponsoring the Quilters Blog Hop Party.

Last evening I attended the Charlotte Modern Quilt Guild's meeting. Oh what a fun evening we had. Everyone needs to meet our dynamic, happy, zany, and fun President, Bianca.

She came up with a game where we were divided in groups of 10. She read a story that had "right" and "left" throughout the story. Every time she read right or left you passed a fat quarter (each was given a fat quarter) to the person to your right or left as heard in the story. The speed increased and the number of rights and lefts increased. The fat quarter left in your hand was yours to take home. Tah dah! this was the fat quarter I won - well sort of!

Above are two Shona Congo bags that I purchased. The fabric is high quality and has fled with them when facing danger and had to be on the run. I was so touched and inspired by these 4 gals who sew with limited resources having many odds against them living in a land of many hardships. There are a couple of videos showing them sewing with treadle machines and singing as as they make their wonderful things. In their words from their website - shonoacongostore.com, " Shona is a group of 4 young women from Eastern Congo, facing significant physical disabilities, but also facing life with a huge amount of determination and hope, not to mention excellent sewing skills."Go and be inspired! They will encourage you!

Catching up After 2 Very Busy Weeks!

My goal was to have this baseball t-shirt quilt finished by the end of March. I was being motivated to finish with the assistance of several WIP Challenge linky parties. But here it is mid-April and it's not completed! It's just the way of life where things pop up that change priorities. Maybe before the end of April.

By the time last Friday rolled around I was exhausted and stressed to the max. I needed some stress re-leasers.  So I took my dog for a walk on a beautiful spring day with camera in tow.  Here is the first picture showing a sign of spring but it also was inspiration to weed and clean up. Notice the poison ivy with all the leaves and a few weeds.

Continuing walking down the street I captured a picture of these beautiful pink tulips. The soul sure can be soothed with a walk enjoying the things of nature. There were many creatures too, a rabbit hiding himself not to be seen, birds twittering in the trees beginning to bloom, and a woodpecker pecking away at a tree.  Now I was able to return home and complete my work.

How do you like my new desk? Since it was a bit larger than the table I was working off I had to rearrange my quilting studio/office again. I purchased a wireless keyboard so I can place my laptop on the left side of my table and have workspace to spread out papers and documents. The center drawer is a pull out drawer with the front that can opens outward. I love the fact that I can lower my arms and shoulders and have better posture while at my desk.

Here is a picture of me dressed for church. I am down 3 dress sizes. Whoop! Whoop! How did I do it? Changed the foods I ate and exercised. I quit counting calories. Even though I was eating 1200 calories a day and exercising everyday for 1 1/2 hours I was not loosing weight! So, I began to eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts, continued to eat some red meat but less of it, more chicken, turkey and fish, upped the fish oil tablets and gave up processed foods such as flour, white rice, and packaged foods. Now I only exercise 45 minutes to 1 hour a day, 3 times a week vs. 5 times a week.

I hope the next time I write a message I will have a finished quilt to show!  Thanks for stopping by.

Chip It!

Now that I have become a Pinterest addict I have seen many of these color cards that are so wonderful. So I decided to explore it a bit. Sherwin Williams has a website where you can download a picture of a setting of your preference and it will pull all the colors that you can use to recreate a room or a quilt. I have been wanting to do something to bring out different colors in my living room and was surprised by some of the colors. I want to use more greens and other colors to make it more eye appealing. Try it is fun at Chip It.

I took a picture of a pillow that is made of the same fabric in my window treatments against a love seat that I have. I was very surprised with some of the colors that chip it showed.

The colors printed are lighter than what is shown in the chip it card above but are still in the same family. Daring, Torchlight and Rockwood Jade are brighter colors. I have a Judy Niemeyer Mariner's Star quilt pattern and think I will see how I can incorporate these colors! A wonderful quilt in these colors as a wall hanging would bring life to my living room, as well as other items too to pull it all together.