WHIRL into WINTER giveaway fun!!!

YIPPEE....Debi is hosting another fun MAJOR giveaway.(Read the rest of my post here to get in on MY giveaway and then.....click on the little snowflake guy on the right side of this blog to get to the rest of the giveaway blogs by way of Debi's page.) She has recruited many bloggers to participate and I am one of them. The number of bloggers doing this is more than 50! Each of them is hosting a giveaway. Isn't that TERRIFIC? This makes it easy for you to enter...you go to her blog and look at the list...click on each blog that is having a giveaway and follow that person's instructions to take part. You will have oodles of chances to win lots of prizes! Try your luck and see how you do! You have nothing to lose and a lot of nice things you may win.
NOW.........then......
My prize will be awarded (to a name drawn at random) on January 15. I will be giving away four fat quarters and a pattern and probably a few other goodies, too. I can't show them yet as I don't HAVE them yet, but will show a picture of them here as soon as I shop for them (probably on Sunday).

For now, leave a comment TOMORROW on the January 1 post only, telling me what your most favorite quilting project was. Only enter once and on THAT post...duplicate posts will not be counted. Also, the content of your answer does NOT determine if you are a winner or not...I'm just thinking it will be fun to hear your answers and you must answer the question to be in the drawing. ALL the names, regardless of the answers, will be part of the drawing and one lucky person will be the winner. OH...yes.....if you have a blog, mention my giveaway on your blog and put a link on YOUR blog to mine and I'll enter your name twice in my drawing. (Tell me in your comment that you are doing this so I will know to give you two chances in the drawing.)

Don't worry if you do NOT have a blog, because you can still enter. Just make sure you don't sign your comment as anonymous and that you have an email address connected with your profile. I will post the winner's name here on January 16, but I'd also like to email that person directly, too. (If someone's comment is anonymous, their name can't go into the drawing, unfortunately.) I am willing to ship international so you out-of-the-USA gals are welcome to join the fun.

So...let's all whirl into winter together for some fun with Debi's huge giveaway event! Leave your contest comment here TOMORROW and then click on the snowflake on the right sidebar and enter at the other blogs listed there!

A new beginning and some giveaways......

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan

A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~Author Unknown

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things. ~John Burroughs

As one year comes to a close and another is about to begin, I have posted a few New Year's quotations for you to enjoy......a couple that are whimsical and one that is a bit more reflective and introspective. In my December 22 post, I put a few ideas down for resolutions I am going to make regarding my quilting. Some of you said you were going to join with me and make some quilting resolutions, too. I'm hoping to hear about them soon.

The next two days will have posts here that may allow you to WIN something.....VERY late tonight (or extra-early tomorrow morning) a post about the Whirl Into Winter giveaway being run by "Debi Quilts" and in which I'm participating and giving a prize....and the following day, my Pay It Forward fun that will allow SIX of you to win a prize made by me! So I hope you will stick around for all the good times that lie ahead here! AND...may 2009 be a kinder, gentler year to ALL of us....filled with peace and good health.

Isn't this the cutest garnish???

There is a new Chinese/Japanese restaurant near us. We tried it the other night and the food was excellent. Instead of ordering take-out, we ate there and the food was beautifully presented (and the atmosphere in their dining room was very nice). The food was on square plates and mine had a few garnishes but my favorite was this little bird made from carrots. He was SO cute that I asked for a little box to take him home...didn't have my camera with me...and wanted a photo of him. I'm sure we will eat at this place again. (I like the little cucumber garnish, too...and wanted to make note of how to do that one...doubt I'd be able to duplicate the bird!!!)

Look at the cute and happy kiddies......

The top photo shows from left to right...back row: our daughter, my husband, me, and our son-in-law. In the front are the two grandkids on Christmas day at our daughter's house. (The little one is the one I spoke about several days back on this blog...the one who cut her hair!!!) The next few pictures show them playing nicely by each other all day long with some of their new presents! And the last one is just my husband and me with the two little ones. We had a very nice day with them.

A gift "report"....

Santa was good to me this year. I got a lot of nice things......peppermint scented large Yankee candle jar.....very nice spice candle and pedestal with cardinals on it (which I love since we have them in our yard).....some excellent photographs....a Snow Baby figurine......soft pajamas and a matching robe...a new watch....to name a few. But...I know most of you are interested in knowing what kind of "quilty" gifts I got. Most are pictured here. I got 3 Moda charm packs (American Primer, Gypsy Rose, and Recipe for Friendship)......a book I'd requested (Fat Quarter Cottage by Heather Mulder Peterson).....a woolie pattern I'd wanted (Itty Bitty Button Pictures by Bonnie Sullivan)...and a gift card to Joann's. Oh, yes....got a copy of the latest issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, too...lots of good ideas in there. I also got a Jim Shore quilty-looking snail votive candleholder (see his picture above) to add to my newly-begun collection of Jim Shore figurines! Isn't he cute? I think he needs a name....any suggestions from you kind folks who read my blog would be appreciated. I'm very happy with everything I got and it seems I can have a very cozy winter with my candles and soft jammies as I stitch my new woolie creations!

Ta.....Da.......the wall-hanging

Many of you have heard me talking about my daughter requesting a wall-hanging that she wanted to look "old world Italian"...and I figured something kind of like a marble floor pattern. She had specific colors in mind. I made it as part of her Christmas gift and yesterday my husband got it hung on her wall for her. This was him doing that.

This is it when he had the sofa back in place. I'm thinking I could have made it longer,
but it does look nice on her wall.....and she is happy with it
and the colors look good in her room.
The last picture shows it up closer...not close enough to see the quilting
or the detail (burgundy piecing) in the brown border.
BUT...it will give you an idea of how it looks.
I'm glad she likes it as I'm not such a good designer.
This is a simple design but it looks nice and
doesn't overpower her room at all...which is good.

We had a very nice day....

We had a very nice day yesterday.......tiring, but very nice. We loaded up the car early in the morning and were on our way by 7:30......took us a little less than 2 1/2 hours to reach our destination (our daughter's house) in NJ. The grandkids were very happy with their gifts (as were our DD and her husband.) We were happy with our gifts, too! We had a nice dinner and then left to return home about 5:30. By the time we got home and picked up our dog from the kind friends of ours who volunteered to watch him, we were exhausted! We decided to hold off until this a.m. to open our own gifts here.....too tired to stay up and do that last night. I promise tomorrow or the next day to fill in more details and post some photos, too. Hope all of you had a nice day, also.

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones....

May the true meaning of Christmas bring peace

and joy to your heart today and all through the coming year!

So, my friend....have you been naughty or nice?

Word has it that Santa is getting ready now to make his big trip tonight. I hope you are on his "nice" list (because if you aren't, it's a little late now)!!! I'm sure you are, though! What is it you hope he will bring to you this year? I, of course, am hoping for anything to do with quilting. A gift certificate to the quilt shop is always good.....or maybe one of the books or some of the charm packs I was looking at a few weeks back. (Or maybe the gift certificate AND a book or pattern AND some charm packs!!! That's not too much to ask...right?) Oh....and I also do love the Jim Shore figurines with the quilt-like painting done on them. I truly hope Santa has packed just the right thing for each of you, too! And I hope the gifts of peace and joy are the ones that come in the biggest abundance...enough to last the whole year through.

If it's not made (or bought or wrapped) now.......

Here's the story at our house...if it's not finished being made....or if it's not bought...OR if it's not wrapped now, it is NOT getting done this year. I am through with it. As someone famous once wrote (can't recall WHO)....."It is what it is". I still have the couple of last-minute foods to prepare, but other than that, I am done. YAY!!! I have a whole 36 hours or so to just sit back and relax and maybe read or enjoy Christmas music or sew FOR MYSELF. Oh, wait...what's that you say? Oh, yes....I only have until 2:00 tomorrow afternoon to do all this relaxation and enjoyment stuff as I must leave then to do music at two church services. Okay......so I only have a little more than 24 hours. It's more time than I thought I'd have just a day or so back, so it's all good! LOL I hope all of you are in good shape now and able to get a little bit of "ME" time for yourself. We women deserve that, ya know? I mean...after all, we are the ones who usually engineer the happening of Christmas in our families (or at least it's that way in every family I know about)....so we need time for ourselves. Be sure to take at least an hour today and tomorrow for YOU, okay? Promise????

Let's think ahead to NEXT YEAR....

Okay, fellow quilting pals...let's think ahead to next year...as in 2009....as in only just 9 days from now!!! I was surfing the internet today during a tiny break from sewing and found a blog on which the gal listed some Quilter's New Year's Resolutions. (She had a really good list......go to her blog and check it out. You may have to scroll down to find the list...it's in her December 21 blog post.) I see some things on her list I've already done....and some that are just too much for me to consider or don't interest me at all. I'm thinking it may be a good idea to write up a few REACHABLE resolutions for my quilting for 2009. So....here goes.....I am thinking one resolution might be to select a certain # of my favorite quilting books (maybe 4) and make at least one thing from each of those books during 2009. This seems to be a nice idea rather than to let those books sit there so lonely on my bookshelves! I may also pick 4 from among my many patterns and try make each of them. Another resolution is to PUT FABRIC AWAY AFTER USING IT!!! I seem to have the bad habit of folding it (neatly) and placing it in a basket and then...before I know it, the basket is filled to the brim and it takes me awhile to put it all away in my stash cabinet and drawers. I think the key to making resolutions is not to make ones that are unattainable...and I think those few I mentioned are "okay" ones for me. I was thinking to do more, but then I'll get carried away and won't do half of them!!! LOL Do you care to join me and make some quilting resolutions and share them here?

Some gifts for friends.....

These are a few of the gifts I've made recently for friends. I enjoy making the pretty dish towels and will soon be making some with appliqued shapes on them. Here are two of the dish towels I've done lately as well as a tissue box cover done in snowman fabric. (Click on the photo to see it better.) I have enjoyed making these things and hope the people who get them will enjoy having them.

A hairdresser in the making???

I had two girls and neither of them ever took scissors to their hair. Well....the youngest granddaughter did that this week AND also managed to trim the hair of two little friends, as well. (Don't let anyone ever tell you kiddie scissors won't cut hair and that kids can't do it QUICKLY!!!) This child is bright and is 4 1/2 years old now....you'd think she would know better. She was actually proud that she got all their hair cut and didn't hurt anyone in the process. BUT...when she was made to look in the mirror at her own hair, she decided she's not ready to make a career of this yet!!!

Part 2 of holiday tour in New York City....

Standing outside the TODAY show studios (after they were off the air for the day).

Tree in Rockefeller Center...ice skating rink in forefront of photo.

Granddaughter looking in amazement at huge dinosaur in Toys R Us in Times Square area.

One of the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue....all the windows are animated and WONDERFUL.

Granddaughter enjoying corn on the cob at lunch after doing a lot of sightseeing that day!

A little Christmas tour of New York City.....PART 1

Since this is so picture-intensive, I'll break our NY trip up into a couple of posts. The above photo shows the MTV building in the area of Times Square. You can see there are many restaurants beneath the space used by MTV for its studio. (You should be able to click on each photo to enlarge it and see it better.)

The photo above is the section of buildings in Times Square that you will see on TV on New Year's Eve. If you look closely, you will see the tower at the top from which the Waterford ball is "dropped" at midnight. (We were there on January 3 and things in Manhattan were all cleaned up by then.)

There are all kinds of things to be seen in NY....and nothing is surprising. This couple was just slowly waltzing across the street and photos were being taken. It could have been for a magazine or some kind of ad, but it looked like it was just a regular couple on their wedding day, truthfully.

Above is St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. This photo shows the relative size of the cathedral in relationship to the height of other buildings and to people. The last photo today shows one of the many altars inside the cathedral. I think this may be the main altar, but I can't recall for sure. Tomorrow I'll post photos of the area around Rockefeller Center (and the big tree there).

Great new webpage for quilters....

Connie in California has begun a great new page for quilters that has a LOT of resources on it. She has lists of quilt teachers (with contact info) and it is a LONG list...she has a list of quilting blogs (and was nice enough to contact me that she was putting my blog on that list)...a listing of quilt shops...quilt shows....listing of retreat places, etc. She also encourages quilters to contribute ideas, articles, dates of their guild's special events, and things like that. It promises to be a fun place. The name of this is Quilt Qua (and there is an explanation to the name on her webpage.) You can reach it by clicking here. I am going to put her Quilt Qua icon (also seen above) on my sidebar and HOPE I can get it to link to the webpage...if not, I'll work on figuring that out. Take a look at the great job Connie has done...I'm sure you'll like what you see there.

Productive day yesterday.....

Yesterday I spent most of the day sewing on gifts for the holidays. Because some of those folks look at my blog, I can't show photos....yet. I will show them after the gifts are received, though.

My guild is having a UFO day at the January meeting. The way this works is.....those who wish to participate in it sign a "contract" 9 months before this particular meeting. On the contract, you list the UFO's you will complete and show that day. Well...I put 4 items on my contract and have NONE of them completed. My hopes of getting any of them done are fading quickly....since the meeting date is January 5. I am consoling myself by saying that I will shorten show-and-tell time by having a few less items there that day....and then everyone can get home sooner!!! LOL (The last time we had this UFO meeting, the show and tell was VERRRRRRRY long....I mean almost excruciatingly long.....and some were unable to stay for the whole thing.) I think, though, this year the plan is to only show a favorite one or two items instead of ALL the UFO's you completed. (Some gals last year had 10 or more items to show.)

I realize I need to get a picture post on here soon.....more interesting that way, so I'll try for that tomorrow.

A spectacular book....GREAT gift....

A few months back, I became aware of the work of an absolutely gifted photographer who is a native of Delaware. He worked for National Geographic around the world for many years, but recently turned his attention towards making a wonderful book about the wildlife in Delaware. It is filled with glorious pictures as well as informative text. I ordered this book and am so happy with it. This would make a perfect gift for any nature lover you know...or just for anyone who enjoys seeing quality photographs. For any who might be interested, click here.

How was your weekend?

I can't believe there is just one more weekend until Christmas. My husband is in a small band and they had two Christmas parties to play on the weekend. One was a brunch that I attended...very nice....I've gone to this one for about 4 years now. The rest of my weekend was spent working on the medical typing I do part-time as well as various pre-Christmas chores. (You know the ones....wrapping.....cleaning...finishing the decorating.....making lists of what is yet to be done.) This week there are a few holiday luncheon get-togethers that will be fun....and I really have to finish a quilted item that is for a Christmas gift. Will show it AFTER it's given to that person as I want it to be a surprise. So...how was YOUR weekend?

A Sunday Silly.....

Just a little "silly" to put a smile on your face. (Click cartoon to enlarge it.)

Did you ever do this???

Over at Pat Sloan's Yahoo group, she got us talking about donuts the other day....all kinds.....Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kremes, store-made, and even ones made with refrigerator biscuits. (This boy seems to be having fun doing just that.....found his photo online.) I also found a website that has many fun recipes for using those refrigerator biscuits.....including the donuts, of course. If you want to check it out, click here.

Thrift shop goodies....

I just love, love, LOVE bargains...don't you? And...I love to check out thrift shops and yard sales and things like that. A few posts back, I told you about the neat, computerized light display my husband did here for the holidays. We have a food-collection bin out front each night. Today I took two full bags of the donated food to the food pantry, which is right by a thrift shop. SOOO...like a magnet, I was pulled into the thrift shop.

For Christmas Eve when I play bells at church, I had been looking for a white or cream-colored sweater (since we have to wear black and white). You'd think it was easy to find such a sweater, but it's not, I have discovered! (And...the few I found were horribly expensive...a purchase I can't justify since I won't wear it that often.) Well...lucky day for me....I found one at the thrift shop....very nice knit....extremely soft...great quality...with a pretty cowl neck AND it was only $1 as part of a buy one/get one special. What a FIND!!! Can you imagine??? I was a happy camper...for sure. I also got a two-piece sweater set (in mauve).

AND...I got two older (but nice) quilting books. That's them in the picture in this post today. The patterns in them are what attracted me...especially the patterns in the machine applique book. There are nearly 80 pages of patterns in that one book alone!!! WOW....fun times ahead for me!

So...I got all those goodies (the sweaters AND the books) for a total of just $4.75 today. I sure am glad I decided to go in there after making that food drop-off!!! :)

Tea towel fun.....

After looking at Nanette's blog and her tea towels the other day (and hearing from many others elsewhere about tea towels), I got a couple at the LQS yesterday. I kept it simple at first, but I want to progress to doing some like the shop samples with cute applieques on them. This is a photo of the first one I did.....little jingle bells and holly on it. You can click on it to see it enlarged and see the little jingle bells a bit better. I like it and think I am now bitten by the tea towel "bug!!! NICE gifts and fun to do and look at in the kitchen, too. The ones at the LQS are extremely nice quality....and I'm looking forward to buying more of them soon.

Do you love words and sayings????

I am one who loves to read (and collect) nice quotations and neat sayings about things of interest to me. Yesterday I came upon a webpage (part of someone's really nice website) that has lots of sayings and poems about quilts. I thought some of you may want to take a look. All you have to do is click here.

My cookie decorators.....

Emily and Jessi had a good time decorating cookies. I had pre-baked some sugar cookies. I had sprinkles (but somehow did NOT have green) and I got a set of decorating MARKERS for writing and drawing on icing. (Don't waste your money on those. From the experience I had with the girls, they don't do a good job...NOTHING like is shown on the picture on the package!!!) Anyway.....here you can see some of the "action". We don't have a final picture as I guess DH didn't take one of that. I can assure you, though, they did NOT look Christmasy. Fun was had, though, so that's the important part, right...and they DID taste good. (No photos of the cookie-eating, either....SORRY about that!)

Golly...yet another contest!!!!!

Okay....you really need to go put a comment on Pat Sloan's blog. She is having a contest to see if she can get 300 comments on one particular post of hers. She is going to give a prize anyway (even if there are fewer comments) but the prize pool gets bigger if she can get 300 comments. She has wonderful prizes, so if you want to have a little fun, go leave a comment. The topic is what makes you feel Christmasy, so be prepared to let her know your feelings about that. (It's also interesting and lots of fun to read what others have written so far...up to about 75 comments last time I checked.) So...come join the fun. You will find it by clicking here.

Oh...a giveaway by Freda's Hive....what FUN!

Nanette and daughters are having a 7-day giveaway on their blog Freda's Hive. This is Day 2 of signups and you will need to read her December 7 post to get all the rules. It's a really fun giveaway, so why don't you pop over to her blog and leave a comment! Tell her you found her by reading my blog, okay?

Some photos to share.......

The above photo is me with 4-year-old Jessica on my lap.
Emily (8 years old) is on the lap of Tara (my daughter).
I usually don't think to get photos that include me as many
times I am the one taking the photos!

Above is me with Emily and Jessi.

The last photo shows Emily and Jessi watching my husband
work a marionette for them. Our dog (Pepi) is trying to
figure out if that marionette is alive or not!

More photos another day of the girls decorating sugar cookies on Saturday.

Fun weekend....and a contest to enter.....

I had a very nice weekend with my daughter and two granddaughters (photos to follow tomorrow). I'm trying to catch up on some blogs now before I turn in for the night and came across a really nice giveaway contest being done right now by Bec in Australia. Click on her name in the previous sentence and hurry on over and read about it and enter...even though more entries will mean less chance for me to win.....LOL

Weekend plans.....

What are your weekend plans? My daughter and the grandkids are coming here this a.m. They don't get to visit that often. Even though we live less than 3 hours apart, things interfere with their making more frequent visits......daughter and SIL's work schedules, the one granddaughter's activity schedule, etc. It should be a fun day and evening. They are looking forward to seeing (and hearing) Grampy's light show tonight, and I think we will go visit Santa, too, at his little house on the main street in downtown Lewes. I won't have much time for sewing or computer, but I don't mind when it's because of a reason like their visit. Hope you all have a nice weekend, too. Will be back with you here late Sunday night or on Monday morning!

Look what my friend did.......

Kaye, one of the gals in our neighborhood quilting group, was given some old quilts by her sisters that her mother had made years ago. They were in very bad shape with fabric that was in no way going to be totally restored. She painstakingly took them apart and used some of the blocks to give to the family members who had received these quilts originally. The above 3 photos show blocks from one of the quilts. The piece with 4 blocks will go to one of the nephews and the 2 smaller pieces will go to his young children. The pieces don't look crooked in person....we just didn't have them hanging right for the quick photos we were doing (and the bigger one will have a couple more hanging loops added to it, too). Kaye managed to get the label off the big quilt and has that on the back of the larger piece, too. I'm sure Kaye's family appreciates the time she so lovingly invests in this so they can still have a piece of their dearly beloved grandmom in their hearts and homes.

Is it just my imagination, or......

Is it just my imagination, or are many of us behind the eight-ball this year when it comes to holiday decorating? From my own circle of friends, it seems everyone is behind where they'd like to be (and some are even considering giving up and not doing much decorating this year). I am seeing some of that "feeling" in the blogs I'm reading lately, too. I'm thinking part of the reason might be that Thanksgiving was so very close to the end of November this year....giving us only 3 days after that until December was upon us. I'd prefer to think that is the reason as the only other reason I can come up with is.....the general feeling of anxiety and sadness that seems to exist due to the present economic climate in our country. (I'd hate to think any of us would let that stop us from enjoying the personal satisfaction we get in our homes each year from seeing our much-loved favorite decorations surrounding us.)

Let me know the status of decorating in YOUR home, okay? Here, at our house, I am more behind than usual...and I'm blaming the fact that December came too soon. That's MY story...and I'm sticking to it!!!

Label-making fun today.....

Not too long ago, Pat Sloan (the favorite designer of many of us quilting bloggers) had a virtual retreat for label-making. It was terrific to come away from that weekend with so many finished labels....ready for me to write on them and put them on quilts as soon as I finished a quilted piece. The little neighborhood quilting group we have was impressed with those labels. Since I have a good supply of stamps, fabric markers, brushes, and paints, we met here today for our own label-making session. These are photos of some of our fun today. First, we see Linda looking for just the right stamp for her first label.
Next we have Joann, busy as a beaver, working on one of her labels. She went right to work and had a lot of fun doing this. I'm sure some of her labels will find themselves on quilted things she makes for her two-year-old granddaughter.
Linda, Sherry and Joann concentrating on their work here. (Somehow I didn't get a photo of Kaye hard at work....I think she was washing off her stamps when I took this picture.)
I guess each gal made an average of 5 or 6 labels. Of course, I didn't think to take a photo of ALL of them, so I had to take one after they left of just a few that were still drying here...click to enlarge the photo... (top to bottom, left to right....holly leaves and berries, strawberries, a quilting lady done with markers, a snowman, a snowflake, shamrocks, and a pumpkin & kitty). Once they all dry, they will be finished in a variety of ways....some with borders.....some will be "pillowcased". I showed them some of the ideas we got at Pat S's "retreat" and they liked a lot of what they heard. They especially like the idea of having a supply of ready-made labels available to them at all times. We will get together to do this again in the future, I'm sure.
And....of course.....our sewing group get-togethers include some kind of food-sharing. Sometimes it's lunch and today it was a few little pastries, coffee, and tea. Above are Kaye, Linda, Sherry, and Joann. We missed our other girl, Ann, who is dealing with some chronic health issues right now and we hope she is back with us soon.

The Guild's Auction and Luncheon

Yesterday was the quilt guild's auction and pot-luck luncheon. (We have two auctions a year....a "treasure" auction where folks bring in quilting and craft items they no longer want in June, and this one where the items are all finished items......handmade or store-bought....that are suitable for gift-giving.) A good time was had by all. I am relieved to report that there WERE bids on my scarf and I believe it was sold for $10. (I always worry that nobody will like what I've donated and there will be no bids on it!!!)

The luncheon, as always, was spectacular. We don't sign up for any categories, so it always amazes me that there is a wonderful variety with no extreme duplications.....from appetizers right on through to desserts....and yesterday was no exception.

This was the first month of our year-long Secret Sister program, too. I hope my gal enjoyed her gift package from me. I got a nice one from MY Secret Sister (trail mix, a snowman candle, and 2 batik FQ's in shades of blue)...and have no clue yet who she might be. We do this until November, when we will reveal ourselves and go out to lunch as a group.

What a nice surprise!

What a nice surprise for me today. I was honored to get the "Kreativ Blogger" award from a nice blogging gal in New Hampshire named Sara. (Visit her blog by clicking on her name, okay?) Since I am a new blogger, it is fun to find that news of my blog is getting out....and then to get one of the blogging awards so quickly.....that is REALLY fun! Of course, there are "responsibilities" that go with the nomination. They are as follows....

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.

2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog.

3. Nominate 5 blogs. (This is hard as I like SO many blogs! I also decided not to nominate any of the professional designers for their blogs Pat Sloan, Judy Laquidara, Lynette Anderson, etc......just ordinary gals like me!)

4. Put links to the blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Here are my picks:


1. Amanda in Kentucky "Busy Little Quilter" -- she has posted some really wonderful quilts and she has taken the time to write me detailed instructions on how to do things when I was starting my blog.
2. Nancy "With Thread in Hand" -- she makes interesting posts and on quite a regular basis and has been helpful to me when I've asked questions about blogging.
3. Kathy in Delaware -- she is the one who first encouraged me to start a blog and told me I could do it...and she was right! Thanks, Kathy!
4. A mother and daughter team and both their blogs.....Val and Jenn in Washington. They post such great family photos and I enjoy their blogs (although they need to post more often!!!)
5. I had such trouble as I wanted to choose SO many more, but I decided on Kathy in Maryland, the only non-quilter in this list. She is a grandmom like me who struggles to get with the modern technology and she has done nicely with her blog in the short time she has had it.

I hope you visit all these blogs (by clicking on each gal's name) and tell them I sent you! Bloggers all love to get comments and know that people enjoy their blogs (and, especially, their photos). I wish the "rules" let me choose a lot more....because there are many bloggers I read daily who have inspired me a lot, but this is it for now. If you are one of my blogging friends and I didn't nominate you, please know it was a hard call.....and just because you might not have made this list, please know that I do love your blog, too!