A Comforting Hug for Mary

My cousin, Mary, suffered the worst loss that a Grandmother can.  Her beautiful Granddaughter was born with special needs.  She stayed here longer than expected, because of the Love and Care from a wonderful family.

I live about two hours away and felt helpless when I heard the news that she was gone.  I prayed for her immediate family and knew that only time would lessen their pain.  I can't be there to give Mary a comforting hug, when she needs it.  And I know there will be many, many days that she will need comforting.  I decided to make her a quilt, to wrap her in my love and comfort on those days.

This is the quilt that I made for Mary and I hope that she feels my arms around her, when she uses it.

                                                        Dragonfly Dreams for Mary

Mug rugs for the New Year

Happy New Year, Can you believe it is 2011?  If you are like me, 2010 blew through like a speeding car.  I was looking at my postings and realized that I did not post once in December.  I was shocked.  What happened?  I promise to do better.

I did do a little quilting last month.  Making mug rugs and using selvedges has been rolling around in my mind for a while.  So, why not do both.   As I have said before, I belong to a  new quilt bee.  We are three members strong.  I joined a bee to do exchanges and round robins, but we need a few more members or those robins are going to be flying in tight circles.  We exchanged gifts for the holidays and this was one of the goodies that I put in their bag.

A mug rug made from selvedges.  I searched high and low for polka dotted cups.  I found these at Pier 1 and they, also, had beaded coasters with colored bells.  Our bee is called, "Night Divas", so I thought that we needed a diva coaster.

This is Carol's mug rug.  If you look in the top right corner, you will see a selvedge with Night and under it, one with Diva.  She started and named our bee, so she got the only Diva selvedge that I could find.

This is Judith's mug rug.  She has always had a poodle and loves dog fabric.  Top right has paws and the words, Little Paws and Ruff.

This mug rug is mine.  Notice the black and white skull fabric.  The selvedge says, "Bad to the Bone".  This is from the pirate quilt that I made for my son.


I wish each of you, a Happy, Prosperous, Quilty New Year.

Giveaway Winner Announced

It's finally here.   The day I get to announce the Winner of  My First Giveaway. 

Drum Roll//////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The winning number was picked from this hat by DGS.

#12  MyDearJaneJourney is the winner.  She will receive an email from me today.

Congratulation !!!!!!  WooHoo!!!!!  Confetti falls and the crowd goes wild!!!

Thanks to everyone that left comments and became followers.  I plan a giveaway every three months.  I promise to make the next one bigger and better.  Please check back often.  I was told by Administrator of Quilting Board that I can not say the word giveaway, so I will not be able to remind you of my next one.

I hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving, had a wonderful holiday filled with all the things that make you happy.

First Giveaway - CLOSED

I am new to blog land, but I have noticed that other bloggers have Giveaways.  What a great idea!  I plan to have a giveaway once a quarter or every three month.

So, on November 29th, I will give the quilt pattern pictured below to a lucky winner.  All you have to do to enter, is leave a comment on any of my blog entries. ( One comment limit per blog entry, please)  If you are a follower, you earn an extra entry.  Make sure your email address is on your comment or there is a link to your email.  I will only send you an email if you are the winner.

Deadline for entries is November 28th at midnight.

WooHoo!!!  Let's get this started.  Good Luck to each of you.

A paper pieced quilt pattern called "Be Colourful Blooming Tale by Jacqueline de Jonge"

Moon Dance Quilt

Sometimes I just need to sew.  I don't want to figure or think hard, just sew, mindlessly.  This is the perfect quilt pattern for that.  An added bonus is, I get to dive into my container of scraps.

If you want this pattern, it is by Lyn Brown.  She has graciously made the pattern available on her blog.  You can go to MoonDance Swap Quilt to download a pdf of this pattern.  She, also, has a picture of this quilt in Batiks.  We are playing strip poker with Batiks at our next retreat.  Hmmm, sounds like a plan.

Houston International Quilt Show

WoooHooo, It is finally here.  I have my ticket for Wednesday Premiere Night and all day Friday.  The Ladies and Gents from QuiltingBoard.com are wearing friendship blocks and/or Selvedge with dots.  I hope to see some of the members in person that I have messaged and exchanged squares and blocks with.

I attended Premiere Night and shopped for five hours.  Note to self, most of cash left with vendors at show, go to bank before Friday.  Haven't even looked at Quilts.  They don't go anywhere, but the vendor merchandise does.

I won the wonderful book below at the free raffle by Make It University.  My name was even picked by Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts.  I watch her show every Saturday on our PBS channel.  I can't wait to try out some of the fabulous ideas for making an art journal quilt.  As a winner, I was asked to sign the Graffiti Wall.  What a Hoot so far!!!

These are the two ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) that I will trade (Friday)  on the wall near Make It University.  You can trade one for one, ATCs, Small Quilts, Inches and Art jewelry.

Mine are fused cloth, seed stitched, buttons and three colors of ribbon whipped around edges.

Halloween Wallhangings

I finished up a Halloween wallhanging that I have been working on for years.  I had fun piecing the background, then I did a little applique and put it away.  My hang up was appliqueing the ghost and finding a skeleton that was the right size to lay in the doorway.  This year, I fused on the ghost and decided that my skeleton would be dancing out of the doorway. Problem solved.

The pattern is called, "Halloween Haunt", by Barb Sawyer.  It is 20" x 23" in size.

Earlier this year, I purchased a pattern called, "Spooky" by Judydidit Designs.  It is part of her Small Celebrations line.  The background is pieced and then the other elements are fused on.  I finished it in two settings.  No applique, Yeah!!!!  It is 21" x 24" in size.

Neither have been quilted and probably won't be for this Halloween, but next year for sure.  They are too cute to stay in the closet.

May your Halloween be full of treats.