Today Pat Sloan is the featured quilt artist! She has a free pattern on her site for a festive holiday pillow. Check it out, and leave a comment on her blog. She even offers a kit to make the pillow! (The pillow is bigger than it looks — the pattern calls for a regular size pillow. Cool!)
–Sue
Minnesota quilter Celine Perkins has a block featured in the upcoming issue of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks from Today’s Top Designers, Collectors Edition, and today on her blog she shows us a cute table topper made using that block. Celine is known for her easy patterns and great directions, so it’s definitely worth checking out. And I am soooo looking for that magazine next time I’m out — it looks like a winner! (Be sure to leave a comment on Celine’s post. Prize? A copy of the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks publication. Ooooh, pick me!!!)
Congratulations, Celine, on being included in this issue.
–Sue
Today is Minnesota’s own Terry Atkinson’s turn to share a project on the CCC blog hop. She has an easy gift idea on her blog today. You’ve probably seen some of Terry’s patterns and books, and she is a wonderful designer.
Be sure to add a comment to her blog. Add a comment to all 12 CCC blog hop hosts, and you will be entered in a special drawing.
–Sue
This is a Tri-Colored Heron. They are much smaller than the Great Blue Herons we see at home, but they are just as striking.
Besides the blue-gray feathers, they have long, shaggy brown feathers on their back and white and brown on the front of their long necks.
Click on the puzzle below to see if you can put im back together again!
I took many, many photos while at the Texas Gulf coast a couple of weeks back. The birds there never disappoint me! These photos were taken at the birding center, quite late in the day. It’s my favorite time to take photographs, as the low sunlight imparts a golden glow to most everything. (I’m sure mornings are equally beautiful, but they come so early!)
Here is a white ibis on the boardwalk railing. A face only a mother could love, and knock-kneed to boot! His face, beak and legs really are pink.
The teals were pretty bountiful this fall. Here is one soaking up a little late-day sunshine:
This pelican was stretching his wings. Because he was in the shadow of kind of an island in the middle, it almost looks like a black-and-white photo.
–Sue
Today is Iowan Sandy Gervais’ turn to share a project pattern, and it’s a cute table topper (but I see it as a small wall hanging for Christmas). It is a little embroidery, a little wool felt, a little rick-rack — how could it be cuter?
Each of the 12 designers are also posting favorite Christmas memories and recipes, so take a look at the list of designers (with links) on Sandy’s blog if you have time to do a little browsing and walking down a few memory lanes! Very fun…
And be sure you sign up once on each person’s blog to be entered for some grand prizes!
–Sue
Sunday’s Stash Report: Two Michael Miller Fairies Panels bought = 1.35 yards in. One baby I Spy quilt kit given away = approximately 2 yards out.
Monday’s Design Wall report: Same quilt as last week (JudyL’s Frames quilt), patiently waiting for attention. I am putting my Aunt Bert’s quilt on the longarm today, so finally some action in the sewing room! Woo-hoo!!! And those Fairies panels I bought? They are going into a small decorative throw for my mom. They are just adorable, and would make a super-easy, super-fun baby quilt with some bordering, as long as the baby’s a girl!
Weather Report: I know, you didn’t ask, but I just want to tell you all how fabulous it is in Minnesota today, November 9th. 58 degrees and sunny. It’s more like May.
Places-to-Visit-on-the-Web Alert: Remember the Minnesota Blog Hop earlier this year? There’s a new one that started today with 12 quilt artists from across the country, each taking a turn sharing a project with us, the lucky readers. Today Gudrun of GE Designs is featured. Be sure to check out her cute quilt-as-you-go tutorial for the holidays, and leave her a comment (be sure to read and fulfill the requirements in your comment) to be entered in a drawing. I’ll be listing each day’s featured artist on my blog, so feel free to stop by for the link. Good luck!
Family News: DS#3′s big old van had a close encounter of the deer kind this weekend in Wisconsin, and he’s now a full-time pedestrian. No injuries to the people involved. Don’t ask about the venison deer…
– Sue
for choosing my picture!
Vicki Welsh of Fieldtrips in Fiber used (with permission, of course!) my dragonfly photo for one of her color studies. Check it out — it made me look at this photo in a whole new way to see where she found those colors!
Vicki’s blog is one I read regularly. She has interesting lists she compiles from her blog reading, she does fabulous fabric dying and offers her wares through her shop on Etsy, takes great bird and nature pictures, plus she’s one of 13 fiber artists working on a 2-year-long creative challenge, Fiberaction. (When you visit her Etsy shop, check out her quilt backs — I think they are fabulous, and I plan to use one for the front of a whole-cloth quilt.)
We are experiencing some unseasonably warm weather for November 7th here in Minnesota — in the 60s!!! Enjoy your Saturday. I’m meeting a friend for breakfast in an hour, then back home to do a little window washing, which is a good thing since I take so many photos out our windows!
–Sue
Today I thought I would just share a few pictures from Texas. These are from Mustang Island’s Port Aransas, and we have a fabulous birding center right in town — my favorite place. I really wanted to get to the National Seashore on North Padre, which is only a half hour from us, but we just ran out of time. Oh, well, next trip…
Here is a Great Egret coming in for a landing. I was up in kind of an observation tower when I took this photo:
And another pelican picture — this guy is coming in for a landing also.
And speaking of landings, this was our view as we were coming into Minneapolis:
We broke through one layer of clouds, and we were in a clear space between the clouds. Very cool:
This trip we saw millions of either small butterflies or moths. They had kind of the coloring of a Monarch, but not quite. Must have been migrating. I have also never seen so many dragonflies.
You know how you often see them flying “together”? They were impossible to photograph in flight, at least for me, but here is a pair at rest:
Something else we saw at the birding center that we hadn’t seen before was this blue crab. He was very big, and you can see by his “dust” trail, he really does move sideways!
–Sue
Nothing new done over and above what I reported earlier — two pairs of socks finished this past week.
I have a BIG UFO DEADLINE coming up the first week in December. Our Wednesday stitching group has a PhD program going right now (Projects half Done), and I chose a challenging one to finish. (I’m always so optimistic.) Some years back, I started an Afternoon Tea quilt. The blocks are quite small, I think 10″, with lots of pieces. I have I think 23 blocks done, five to go, then it’s set in a zig-zag setting.
This has to be DONE done (quilted, bound, done done done!) the first week in December. It will be fabulous to get it completed as it is one of my older UFOs. And it’s for ME.
I also owe DS#3 a quilt, and it looks like he will be closing on his first house the end of this month. I am doing JudyL’s Shine On Bayou Cane for him, and have quite a bit of work to do on that one as well.
So what am I doing today? I’m hurrying to get my postings done so I can go to a LQS with a friend and then out to lunch! Of course. Makes perfect sense to me.
–Sue
(I sense an intervention coming…)
