Find The Good

I am so thankful to live in a place that has seasons. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite. There is so much I love about each one. And just when I start to get tired of the one I'm in the weather changes and I have a new season to enjoy. by BenteMalm~quiltdesigns
So as we say goodbye to fall and head into winter I thought I would share a few flickr favorites of fall trees.

Playing in the leaves is a great fall past time. Hearing them crunch beneath your feet. Building big piles to jump and play in. Throwing them up and letting them rain down on you are all great fall pastimes.
by Comfortstitching

Watching the leaves blow in the wind. Seeing them fall from the trees in swirling patterns. The last desperate ones clinging to the tree giving it their best fight before letting go.

by Vickivictoria's

All the fall beauty. Vivid leaves in red, orange and gold are a wonder to behold. Watching the mountains behind my home come to life, or a drive through the Columbia River Gorge can truly take your breathe away. I hear New England is stunning at this time of year. Someday I will go and revile in it's glory.

by Bearpawandbearpaw's
The drop in the temperatures and cool nights after summer's heat. Getting to pull out the quilts and snuggle up in them. Gathering with friend and family to celebrate the bounty we enjoy. And more time to be indoors to make more snugly quilts.

Gingerquilts

What do you find good about fall?

Just a Reminder

It's black Friday and as we head into the official start of the Christmas season, I've been making little spools. I was inspired by the cute spools I had seen by Nanette and Jacquie. Thought they could serve as a reminder not to get to tightly wound up in all the hustle and bustle. But to unwind and enjoy the season. I have a plan for these but they were so cute I'll have to make more cause I'm thinking they'll make a delightful quilt.

What do you like to do to unwind during the holiday season?

Bloggy Neighbors

Speaking of neighbors, Beth at Love, Laugh, Quilt is doing something fun on her blog. She is creating bloggy neighborhoods. You create a house block and send it to her. For every nine to twelve she collects she will draw a winner and that lucky person will win these blocks to create their own neighborhood of house from bloggy friends. I'm so excited. I sent off my house block and I'm crossing my fingers that I will get a whole neighborhood in return. With Thanksgiving tomorrow I wanted to get my BFF blocks done and sent off so that my dear bloggy friends, Karen and Mary, would get their blocks before the end of the month. I thought a friendship star was perfect for Karen and our BFF exchange. Because I was lazy and didn't want to do the math to figure out a 8" friendship star Mary gets this one. I'm really happy with it. It looks much more striking in person.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Find the Good

I chose quilty neighborhoods for this weeks Find the Good.By sandyb72357 I live in a great neighborhood. Where when we moved in my new neighbors not only helped us move, one of them brought us dinner.
By LauraJ_Sews
Where when the snow flies it's not unheard of for someone to shovel the sidewalk all the way down the road.
by imalisawork
Where if you find in the middle of making dinner you are missing a necessary ingredient all you need to do is call a neighbor and dinner is saved.

by Treewhimsy
But that's not all. Every year for Christmas instead of exchanging gifts we pool our money. Buy supplies to make quilts. A few of us get them ready. Then on the weekend before Thanksgiving we meet at the local church and tie quilts. Everyone comes; children, teens, and adults. We enjoy each others company while we tie the quilts. When they are done we donate them to humanitarian relief. It makes for a wonderful day.

by byneedleandthread
What do you love about your neighborhood?

100 Quilts for Christmas

Aunt Spicey and Kim from Swim, Bike Quilt are doing a wonderful thing. They have started 100 Quilts for Christmas.


They are encouraging everyone to donate a quilt to a child in need between now and the 15th of December. One of their suggestions for ideas of getting quilts for these children was to find quilts that you had not previously found a home for so I went through my three trunks that I store my quilts inAnd made a little pile to donate to Happy Chemo. Cause darn if that rotten disease doesn't effect children. I knew Ginger will find them a good home and someones stay in the chemo lab will be a little better.

Please join Aunt Spicey and Kim in there quest to donate 100 quilt for Christmas. Thanks!

Find The Good

After a family discussion on being grateful. And how being grateful helps us in our lives. I've decided to make Mondays, Find the Good Day.

Now the weather is changing here. It's getting dark earlier and the tempature is dropping. We are heading into one of my favorite times of the year. Yes, I love winter. One of my favorite things about winter is having hot cocoa. Wrapping my hands around a warm mug and sipping the chocolate sweetness make me smile. So for my first Find the Good Day I've chosen mug rugs. They combine two of my favorite things, quilts and cocoa. So...

Wake up

By Jewel's Arm Candy

Get a cup of cocoa

By beccaj74
Prepare yourself for a treat.
by mamacjt

Of lovely things

by AllieKatmom And go find the good in the world.

By lynnesetaLet me know what you find!

Quilt Recipe

Take a scrap of fabric you love.

(I had to show you a swatch cause I cut mine up before I took a picture)Use it's color scheme. Cut into strips ranging from 1"-2 1/2"

Combine with Jodi's method for making scrappy patchwork blocks.

Mix and match blocks.

For a happy quilt top.

Motivated & Inspired

I must admit I've been on the pity pot a lot this year. My health has not been the best and it has made me tired and grouchy. Which makes every other little problem I face ten times worse it seems and wah, wah, wah! Well, while I was running on the elliptical the other morning listening to a talk by Gaylamarie Rosenberg she said, "It takes more effort to be negative than it does to be positive." That hit me like a ton of bricks. For someone that has had limited energy why was I spending so much time on the pity pot. I know I feel so much better when I get my focus off me and on to better things. That's why I joined Tina's (forgive me but it's Trisha's they're sisters and I got mixed up) charity quilts for my birthday last May. I've met my commitment. I probably should have made that number higher. It's also why I send my orphan blocks to Sylvia so she can make all these beautiful quilts. My orphans find homes and she is able to help more people.But when I read Marilyn's post on stash manicure I wanted to be more like her. I want to make quilts like this. I think it would be so cool to see the back of my Suburban looking like this. So that they can wrap someone in need with a quilty hug. Like Marilyn did for these orphans in Kazakhstan.
So I'm forming my plan. I've contacted Ginger, from Happy Chemo, another truly inspiring woman. You should check out her sight and read her amazing story. I met her in the infusion lab and she made my first visit to that dreaded place so much better. So I feel a need to give back to her and her wonderful cause. I'm getting the word out, I know I can't do all this by myself. I've signed up to be over charity quilts in my guild next year. I'm working to get women in my church to help out. I'm putting it here not only to let you know if you want to get involved(quilters are some of the most generous people I know). Ginger told me that Happy Chemo has gotten bigger and she is no longer just in Utah. More importantly so that I'm accountable. I really want to make this happen. I'm excited and feeling better than I have in a long time.

Good Mail~Good Times

Recently I won a giveaway from Spoonful of Sugar Girls. It arrived yesterday with these additional goodies. DD is begging for the cute little pad of paper and pen. I'm thrilled with the new Emery boards and isn't the card wonderful. What I won was a pattern to make these cute little ornaments. As soon as DD saw it she wanted to make them. Fortunately we had a little extra time yesterday so I helped her and her friend make them.

We had a delightful time making them. They were so excited to be sewing. They do a great job. Look how pleased they are with their handiwork. Thank you Lisa and Sarah for the wonderful gift we truly are enjoying it.

Oh, I almost forgot to let you all know who our lucky winner is. My random number generator was DD and she picked #12. So the lovely Hetty is our winner. Congrats Hetty. Becky will be in touch with you to give you your info so you can log on and enjoy all that is Patchwork Posse.

Matyroshkas and More

When I saw these little cuties made by sycamorepictures I thought what a fun gift for my DD's friends. I found a tutorial here. I cut out the pattern and made a foundation out of some cheap lightweight fabric I had because I wanted my matyroshkas to be scrappy. I took all the little pieces out of my newly organized scrap bins and had fun piecing the backs and fronts of these fun little dolls. My DD wants to embroider the faces on. I'm so excited that she wants to sew and I'm happy that she is willing to help with her friends gifts. We are planning on putting a little treat in the dolls apron, that is also a pocket. How clever is that? Also the very generous Becky from Patchwork Posse has given me a 3 month membership to Patchwork Posse to give away here today. She has also posted an interview with me on her blog. Check it out if you want to know a little more about me and my quilty obsession. To win just leave a comment on what gives you quilty inspiration.

On Your Mark

Now that my scraps are all sorted and easy to find and use, I've done a little mindless sewing. This next year in Primary our theme is 'I know the scriptures are true.' As birthday gifts for the children we wanted to give bookmarks and scripture marking pencils. With that in mind I sewed strips together until they were about 6" wide. I put this on top of some batting and a solid corresponding color on back and made a little quilt sandwich. I quilted this with organic lines running vertical through the strips. Then I took my rotary cutter with the pinking blade and pinked the top, bottom and one side. Next I cut them into bookmarks about 2" wide. Now I have a rainbow of bookmarks ready to give to some pretty great kids next year. Speaking of book marks, have you read any good books lately? I'm always looking for a good read. Next to sewing it is the one thing that really relaxes me. It's what I do every night to unwind before bed. That and a mug of hot cocoa. It's my weakness. I love hot cocoa. If you have a good read that you could recommend I would really appreciate it.

And the Winner is

I know everyone is wanting to know who the winner is but forgive me if I make you wait a moment. I want to share some good new with you. Guess what! I'm the featured designer on Patchwork Posse. I feel so honored. They have such a fun site. It is full of friendly quilty camaraderie. There are great block of the month projects to participate in, lots of discussion on all thing quilty, interviews with designers, and fun patterns like the one I designed for them. This is my 'Easy as Pie' quilt. I hope you will go check them out. Now for what you have all been waiting for the winner of this fun scrap bag full of a rainbow of scraps.I went to Psychic Science and put in the numbers 1 to 209. I can't believe I had so many people interested in this scrap happy bag. Thank you all for participating. And the number it generated was....

5
Random numbers generated Nov 1 2010 at 7:7:43 by http://www.psychicscience.org/ Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

So Ms. Pinsandneedles is our lucky winner. She said,

"Wow! I love the scrappy quilt on your header! I would love to share your scraps with you. It would help me in the Sew Scrap Along.Thanks for a chance to win!"

Congrats Ms. Pinsandneedles so happy to help you with the Sew Scrap Along.