A "finish"......sort of........

A few times, I've mentioned a cottage block swap I'm in....a year-long project involving 12 of us. We each chose a month and made 12 cottages for that month (using fabric appropriate for that month) and sent them to the others. We began in May. My month was February and yesterday I finished my 12 February cottages. Here is a picture of them:
And here is a picture of a few of them close-up.......the door, sky, roof, and window on each is from the same fabric, but otherwise, I did vary them a bit. Each person will get a tiny red heart-shaped button to use as a doorknob (to be attached after their project has been quilted). They should go in the mail on Monday. They were fun to make!
These are the 10 cottages I have so far......January is the top left one...then February....still need to get March and April....and then the rest continue in order....shell fabric for May...roses in June...patriotic in July.....beachy fabric for August, etc. Pretty cute, huh? It will be fun to turn them into a quilt...I'm thinking a lap/throw-sized quilt will be nice to have.AND......Stephanie from "A Ditchin' Time Quilts" nominated me for the Lemonade Stand blog award.......Thanks, Steph!!! I am honored that you think my blog is good enough for that award. I am to pick 10 others, but....since I keep up with more than 150 blogs now, I cannot possibly choose the 10 "best".......so if you are reading this and IF I am a regular reader/commenter of YOUR blog, considered yourself nominated, okay....because, you know I only read GREAT blogs!!!! :)

The Sisterhood Award and OTHER good news!

A few days back, I was given the Sisterhood Award by Barb in American Samoa. (Click HERE for her blog...it's a good one and she makes SO many nice things and shows them on her blog). I was very flattered by her comments about me and very much appreciate her thinking of me when passing that award along. I noticed that in recent days this award has been making the rounds and many of the blogs I'd have nominated for it were already receiving it. The very name of this award (which Barb altered to be the Sisterhood AND Brotherhood Award so she could give it, deservedly, to one of our male quilting friends) and its spirit have caused me to make this decision. I am awarding this to ALL the blogs I read (as well as the blogs I have yet to discover). I believe all the blog writers have the same desire...to reach out in friendship to others. To me, that means that all blog writers are deserving of an award for Sisterhood/Brotherhood! I'm grateful for the many friends I've made since blogging.....and I'm sure all the rest of you who have blogs feel the same way. SO...my "sisters" and "brothers" in Blogland.....congratulations to ALL of us for making the world a happier, more fun place to be!
AND...my other good news. Remember my not-very-old (less than 7 months old) Janome sewing machine was having some serious problems and went for repair? The local (somewhat local....about 40 minutes from here) dealer/repair people sent it to Janome's main place in NJ. I found out yesterday Janome is shipping out a new machine for me as I guess mine was deemed to be a "lemon" and was still under the full one-year warranty. I am hoping this will mean a new warranty period starts with this new machine. (I'd think that would be the case, don't you?) I'll have to ask about this when the new machine arrives to the dealer and I get called to pick it up from them.

Double-duty this time.....

Okay....another award but from TWO fellow bloggers this time......got it from Kathy and from Barb. (Please check out their blogs by clicking on their names...they are both nice gals!) Barb jokes that this award is more like a punishment as it involves a lot of THINKING...and I'm suspecting she is right about this. So...here goes...I am supposed to list 10 things that people may not know about me and then 5 addictions.

1. When I was little (about 6 years old), I discovered I could write...in "script" my name upside down and backwards and my folks used to have me entertain people with this "talent".
2. The first time I tried lobster for dinner was at a very nice revolving restaurant in Hawaii and I HATED it....and at that price, it was pretty upsetting.
3. I have met Paul Simon and Phil Donahue (at shows in New York City). We aren't on close terms, though....hehehe
4. When I was little, I was petrified of fireworks and would hide under a blanket (no matter how hot it was) and hold my ears. Now I love them.
5. I wanted to be a teacher from an early age and succeeded at doing that...taught elementary school and ran a CCD program for 12 years....then taught ESL (English as a Second Language) to adults and LOVED that. (Retired now.)
6. There was a time when, out of necessity, I sewed all the clothing my daughters and I wore. Then I didn't touch the sewing machine for years as sewing became a chore and wasn't fun for me.
7. Someday I'd like to go on an Alaskan cruise and would also like to take a long (no time limit) road trip across the United States.
8. There aren't many cooked vegetables I like......mostly like only corn, green beans, waxed beans, peas, and carrots.
9. I was a baton twirler in high school.
10. I am totally afraid to drive in a city environment and won't do it no matter what. (Well...maybe if someone paid me a million $$$$???)

AND...now for my 5 addictions.......
1. Chocolate
2. Some salty snacks (like Doritos, pistachio nuts, etc.)
3. FABRIC and other quilting and wool-felt supplies (including patterns and books)
4. Blogging and email
5. Doing crafty things with the grandkids (which isn't often as they don't live nearby)

I am supposed to name 8 others for this and it's hard as a lot of my blogging friends have already had this.......SO....if you are a blogging friend of mine (who comments here regularly...you know who you are)...and you have NOT received this award yet, please consider yourself NEXT to receive it (and let me know when you are posting it on your blog, okay?)

......another award....thank you!

A new blogging friend, Sharon, in NC, has graced me with a blogging award. It is a beautiful award and the sentiment expressed by it is very nice. I will repeat what she said in her blog (when she received the award and was asked to pass it on), "It is such a blessing to be able to find new friends almost daily on the internet, through our blogs." YES...it is and thank you, Sharon, for blessing me with having you for a new online quilting friend and for thinking of me when you were passing this award along.

You can read about this award below and see how I am passing it along.



This, I believe, is a blogging award that originated in Portugal and this is what it says about the blogs who are given this award.....

"This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are extremely charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award."

OKAY...now comes the hard part. I try to keep up on a very regular basis with more than 100 blogs now and all of them are very special and are "owned" by very caring, creative people who are only too happy to be friendly and reach out to meet new people. HOW do I choose just 8?? All my blogger friends deserve this award. I had recently received another blogging award and I think, rather than burn out those same people by asking them to then pass another award along, it is only fair that I not include any of them and choose 8 different people this time, so my list is below.....in no particular order. (OH...as in the past, I'm not passing the award on to any blogs of the professional quilters I follow....Judy L, Pat S, Lynette A, etc........I know their time is SO limited to deal with this kind of thing...so I'll just pass it along to everyday people like me). If you are NOT on this list, don't feel badly.....kind of hard to choose just 8 out of more than 100, but know that in my heart, you are ALL winners!!!

My list (please visit their blogs if you haven't already):

Stitchin with Peg - Peg
A Legacy of Stitches - Sandi
Fabric N Fiber Fanatic - Sara
Quilting with Debi - Debi
Upstate Lisa - Lisa
My Needle and Thread - Mary
Not So Plain Jane - Rachel
Hooked on Needles - Mary Grace

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!