and the giveaway winners are......

..... hopefully going to be very happy with their prizes. I so enjoyed the comments that were shared and I truly wish everyone a glorious Christmas season. The reason I didn't post sooner is because I was busy wrapping gifts so I could get them mailed off to my family to the north. I was also pouting because the Packers lost the game today. I guess I shouldn't pout though,  it's the first game they lost this year.
Anyway, I also want to get the prizes mailed off to the lucky winners....

The first winner is Mippy and she will receive the $20.00 gift card Congratulations Mippy, I hope you enjoy treating yourself to something fun and unexpected. 

The second winner is Iluvmybugs and she will receive the big stack of wool squares. I would love to see what she will make with them wouldn't you. 

Thank you to everyone for entering and perhaps you won on another blog in the blog hop party. Thanks once again to Michele from quilting gallery for putting this all together and a happy birthday to www.quiltinggallery.com

Tomorrow it's time to bake some Christmas cookies!

Holiday giveaway..... with a little extra something

Do you like gift cards? How would you like a $20.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble?  Then you'll want to enter my new (and long overdue) giveaway and perhaps you'll be the one to win it.
In this giveaway I wanted to give a gift that everyone can use and I'm sure that you can find something fun there to treat yourself to.

The $20.00 Barnes & Noble gift card will come in a little handmade gift card holder (yes, I made it)  that you can keep, or reuse to give a gift card to someone on your list. (yes, you can even re-gift this gift card - I won't tell).

This is to help celebrate the 4th birthday of QuiltingGallery.com the host of the Blog Hop Party. Happy 4th Michele and thanks for throwing the party!  There are oodles of other fabulous blogs participating in the Blog Hop Party with oodles of other great giveaways. Click here or over on the link box to the right for the Blog Hop Party to join in if you want to have fun hopping around.
But wait there's more......

Also for this giveaway there will be a second place winner. The second place winner will receive a stack pack of 35 100% Wool 5"squares, after all, this is a blog about creative pursuits.
p.s. just so you know, Woolfelt by National Nonwovens is made in the U.S.A. Hooray for that.
If you're not a stitcher or you don't want to win the Woolfelt charm pack just put a note in your comment and we'll draw another winner. 

So how do you win one of these giveaway prizes? All you have to do is answer the question  "what is your favorite part of the Christmas season" That's it. I'm not going to make you jump through a bunch of hoops.  You do need to post your answer on this (Dec. 9th) post but you have until Dec. 17th to do so. The winners will be chosen by random and announced Dec. 18th. 
Good luck and be sweet and share this event with your friends. If this is your first visit to my blog welcome and read on there's more........

An extra little something for all of my creative friends.....

I put a free download on my site for the instructions on how to make these holiday napkins ties. They're easy and you still have plenty of time to make them to add a cute little accent to your holiday table or to give as a gift.  Click here to get the free project download.

holly and sleigh bell napkins tie

gift box napkin ties

 Now I have to go get busy in the studio with some Christmas gifts I'm making and finish trimming the tree.  Have fun and savor the moments of the Christmas season - Linda

Rotary cutting - the Stitch-a-Long with Linda

Do you have your rulers, mats and cutters at the ready??

I hope you've had a chance to gather your fabrics for the Stitch-a-Long with Linda but if your still waiting for a shopping order to arrive, fear not. This is going to be an easy and relaxed Stitch-a-Long. I am posting the cutting instructions for those that might be all set to go already, and if that's you,
I don't want to keep you waiting. Did you pop over to the Quilters Showcase blog to enter the giveaway? If you just got here to my post today you may want to scroll down and read a few of the previous posts too.

* for starters we are going to assume a usable fabric width of 42" a.k.a. *wof

Here we go.....From your focus print fabric: 

  

cut 6 strips 4-1/2" x wof *width of fabric

Trim 2 border strips to 34" long

Trim the other 4 border strips to 30"long

Yes, I know that's 6 border strips, you'll see as we go.....set these aside for now.

Cut 3 more strips 4-1/2" x *wof from the focus print

 and cut strips into 24  (4-1/2") squares

    

From the dark fabric cut 2 strips 4-1/2" x *wof. Cut strips into 15 (4-1/2") squares

Also from the dark fabric cut 2 strips 2-1/2" x *wof.

From the light fabric, cut 2 strips  2-1/2" x *wof

From the remaining 4 fabrics, cut 6 strips from each of the fabrics.  Cut strips 1-/12" x *wof.

That will be 24  1-1/2" strips all together

 Okay - that's all the cutting for now. That was easy wasn't it.
Soon we'll start stitching and that's easy peasy too!

Featured designer at Quilters Showcase

Hi all, just wanted to let you know that I will be the featured designer for the next 2 weeks over at the Quilter's Showcase blog. Hooray! I had an interview with Kathleen that will be shared as the feature continues. They are also doing some giveaways so you'll want to get in on that. Kathleen will also be linking to the Stitch-a-long so you can find it here or on the Quilters Showcase blog.
She is also stitching up one of my favorites but I'll let her share that with you.
This quilt is from my Bar nine pattern and the pattern is included in the first giveaway.....

I'm heading into the studio for now and tomorrow I will be posting the cutting instructions for the Stitch -a-long with Linda.  I hope you get busy picking out your fabrics!

The lucky winner is.....

The lucky winner of the $60.00 shopping spree by random number generator is comment #1- Jen.
Congratulations Jen and it would be fun if you let us know what treasures you decided to buy on your shopping spree. Watch your e-mail for the details Jen, and thanks to all that entered and for revealing your favorite or not so favorite chores.
Frankly, I liked Karen's favorite chore of putting away quilty purchases!

play like you mean it....Linda

Glamor shot

Even though it has been steamy hot outside, hubby and I always try to make some time in the relative cool of the evening hours to go outside and see who may be out and about. One of our favorite visitors has been making frequent visits lately and it may have something to do with the fact that we just brought home a fresh bag of tasty peanuts!!! This is "baby" the fox squirrel that first appeared as a baby - hence the really original name -LOL 
She is a real hoot and very fast so good pic's are a challenge but I did finally manage to get this glamor shot.

Of course bunnies are always hopping about too.  Actually there were 3 outside my office window the other night but dinner was cooking so I didn't take the time to snap their group photo. This one looks like he's out of a scary movie - ever see "Night of the Lepus"? Google "night of the lepus movie if you're curious.

Living in SW Florida we have our share of interesting bugs too - this critter was making his way across the driveway I thought it was very interesting. It's a Giant Palm Weavil and he must be happy here because we have a lot of palm trees.

Those are this weeks visitors although on rare occasion we have had brief visits by bears, bobcats and even and Emu that came strolling through one day!

Well now I am off to tackling today's to-do list which includes glamorous things like laundry, grocery shopping, packing orders and I believe I have a nap scheduled also. I am also very close to finishing the quilting on one of my small quilts and I want to finish that and get the binding on. I'll post a pic when it's done.

Don't forget you have until noon tomorrow to enter my giveaway for a $60.00 shopping spree at any of the many CSN online stores. All you have to do is post a comment on my July 14th posting to be entered. The winner will be picked tomorrow around mid day by random number generator and you have very good odds of winning! Good luck!

New "U-pick" giveaway

Is it Wednesday already - gosh time sure flies when you're having fun. I have been promising you a new giveaway and I have finally got it all set for you. I meant to post earlier but I came home from work and decided to have fun cleaning the bathroom sink first!

I know, I know, I'm a wild and crazy woman, what can I say.
Maybe tomorrow I will clean off my desk, hmmmm then again, that might be more fun than I can stand!
Well this is going to be brief because I have a pan of brownies that are cooling on the counter and someone has to test them.

Now about the new "U-pick" giveaway.....

This time you will be able to choose your giveaway prize. Just like at the U-pick strawberry fields, it's always special when you can select just the right ones. The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive a $40.00 $60.00 "certificate" to spend at any of the 200 CSN online stores on anything you want!
OMG they have so many stores to choose from, I know I could do some real damage to my wallet  in housewares. If you click on the bathroom sink link above it will take you to their bathroom sink selection - go figure - LOL  So go have a look around and start thinking of what you would spend your $40.00  $60.00 prize on.
Now...... to enter in the giveaway post a comment to this blog post (July 14th) and tell me your favorite household chore. A winner will be chosen by the great and powerful random number generator. BTW, You have until August 1st to post your entry - good luck! Sorry, but this giveaway is only available to those living in the USA.

lazy day updates

 It's the 4th of July today - Happy Independence Day! This year we're just playing it lazy. It's raining and it looks as though it's going to keep raining. It's a good day to do inside things like watch some tv, nap, quilt, and update my blog!

No this isn't our dog. This is Maggie my brother-in-laws dog. She obviously isn't a morning dog. I took this pic (when we were in Wisconsin for my nephews wedding) and it was about 7:00 am. She is usually quite peppy but this was as active as she was going to get at 7:00am.

This is a pic of me, my BIL and my nephews on my DH's side. You can see Maggie is awake now.

Here is my nephew that got married (my late brothers son) and his bride to be before the wedding...

 They are such an adorable couple and I'm sure they will have a lifetime of happiness together. My brother would be very happy with Logan's choice, she is a sweetie.
Here's a pic of the wedding. It was raining right before the ceremony and then it stopped, and then it started up again right after, and then pretty much rained the rest of the day and evening. However- it didn't put a damper on the day. The wedding was lovely and the reception was wonderful. It was held at a hall/restaurant that is well known for receptions and they have a huge old brass bell above the staircase that they ring for the bride and groom.

This is a pic of my niece dancing against her will LOL. She doesn't like to dance but she had to when the bridal party had their dance.  The bride and groom danced almost every single dance :)
Unfortunately the flash on my camera stopped working - oh-oh low battery.
Here are the newlyweds when they made a stop at our place on their way to Key West for their honeymoon.

Well, if I am going to get that nap in I better get going......
A new giveaway is in the works for everyone and I hope to get it up and going within the week.....If everything pans out it promises to be one you don't want to miss.
Enjoy the holiday!

Today's the day....

Sorry I have made you wait, but I was out in the lawn pulling weeds this morning. Doesn't that sound exciting and glamorous????
Actually, it can be very meditative - in small doses!
So anyway, thanks so much to all of you for your sweet comments, your  mentions and links and I am sorry I can only choose one winner.

The winner of the Sweet Vintage giveaway, by random pick, is Miniature Quilter. Congratulations!

I hope you will find good use for your vintage fabrics, trims and what-nots.
This is a mini four patch I made with some feedsack scraps....

Watch your e-mail from me so I can get your shipping address to send your prize out to you.
I enjoyed discovering  great new blogs from some of my new visitors and I hope you will stop by again to see what I have to share with you.
I do have a really fun new product to share with you later but I didn't want to delay this post any longer.
I also tried to get a picture of a really cool dragonfly that settled on the deck earlier but when I came back out with the camera he had taken off already. I think it was a Florida green pondhawk - very striking and quite large - it looked a lot like this one...

 

I'll keep my eyes open for it again. This is a little quilt I made of a dragonfly using angleina fibers on the wings.
Hope your day is filled with a bit of wonder.......

you say tomato....

I say - wow do I have tomatoes!
My Roma tomatoes have really taken off since the weather warmed up. Fortunately, my mom shared this yummy recipe with me and so I will share it with you. My DH really liked it too.

Skillet tomato/zucchini melt

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

2 T olive oil

2 zucchini  - peeled

2 tomatoes  - sliced

1-1/2 tsp. basil

salt and pepper

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

approx. 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

In a 9" skillet saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly opaque, don't burn the garlic!

With slotted spoon remove the mixture from skillet and set aside.

Slice the zucchini and arrange in bottom of skillet. Add the onion/garlic mixture on top of the zucchini.

Sprinkle with the basil, red pepper, dash of salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat until zucchini is just tender (not mushy).

Place sliced tomatoes over the cooked zucchini and cover the skillet again. Cook about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the shredded cheese and cover again until cheese is melted. 

mmmmmm, good!

I'm going to make this again tonight along with BBQ chicken.

I have another great tomato recipe I'll share soon. Now I have to go get some work done.

I will be posting the winner of the Sweet Vintage giveaway this Sunday, you have until midnight on Saturday to leave your comment on my April 9th  blog post to be entered.

plum crazy!

Those crazy squirrels are at it again! Well, okay we may encourage them a bit.
We finished off a jar of peanut butter (yes, making cookies again) and we thought the squirrels might enjoy cleaning out the jar.....we were right.

I missed getting our buddy "Spot" while she was enjoying the jar, but I was laughing too hard to think about the camera. This other little fella came along and was more than happy indulge while being photographed. Needless to say there were some skirmishes going on over the jar. They are just plum crazy. Speaking of plum crazy...

Our neighbor called ( no - she's not crazy) with some water heater problems and so my dh and I  headed over to check it out. While we were there I noticed some fruit of some sort on one her large trees that I hadn't seen before. Turns out they are Japanese plum trees. I've never had Japanese plum...are they tasty!!! I am now plum crazy! (not exactly a state secret)

She sent me home with the ripe ones we could reach and told me to come back for all I want as they ripen. I will surely take her up on that.
It also seems my dh got her water heater working again. Yay!
It's been a rainy day so far and so no sun printing for me today.....I did put some printed squares and kits up for sale in my etsy store.
I guess I will do some dusting - oh fun - and some laundry - more fun - and then hopefully get into the studio for some stitching time. Oh - here's some more craziness....
Look what my hubby found out in the garage while he was cleaning up out there.
Yikes -  it's a black widow spider, now deceased.

Thankfully our garage is away from the house and I have never seen one in the house - you would have heard the scream. Well, enough craziness for now, I need another yum yum plum.

In case you missed it...there is still time to enter my Sweet Vintage Giveaway. You have until April 24th to post a comment to my April 9th blog post to be entered. If you blog about it or facebook about it, leave a separate comment for each and get more chances to win. 

One of my FB friends (Robin) is having a fun giveaway at her blog  - check it out !

Sweet Vintage Giveaway

I know, I know,
I have been so bad about blogging with you lately - I think I was suffering from blog block and I think it's becaue I've been buried under loads of paperwork and tax prep.
Hey  -  I still have 6 days. LOL
I told you I was a recovering procrastinator :)
But anyway, while I was working, I was gazing longingly out the window and I was thinking spring and flowers and sweet things like that. So I went into my super special secret cupboard and pulled out some feedsack treasures to share with you. I love feedsacks and have been collecting them for some time. My hubby's aunt sends me some now and then. Leftovers from the family farm and I am so honored to get them. His grandma made him and his cousins all matching pajamas made from identical feedsacks. (I'll try to find the picture) I was also given a box of quilt pieces she had started. They were tumbling blocks and I went to work setting them together in some sort of order and then I added borders. Now I just need to get off my duff and quilt it!

I also made this small wall quilt with my feedsacks using one of Darlene Zimmerman's patterns. This too needs to be quilted. Gosh, I hope I live to be really old so I get these done.

So, on to the giveaway..... If you win the Sweet Vintage Giveaway you will get these eight 8" genuine feedsack charm squares, these asst. vintage look trims (about 1/2 to 1 yard pieces), a few little crocheted flowers, a pretty flowered quilt label, a cute mini quilt hanger, my recipe for yummilicious old fashioned sugar cookies (see April 4th blog) and of course a vintage scottie dog cookie cutter.
Here's how to enter......

To enter the giveaway,  post a comment to this post. If you want to increase your chances of winning.... blog about it or share it on facebook and leave me yet another comment telling me about it. I will be announcing the lucky winner on Saturday April 24th so you have until then to leave your comments.
Good luck everyone!
Now it's time to get into the studio to accomplish some stitching :)

Quilt Day download

What are you doing to celebrate National Quilt Day??? 

Do you have plans to attend an event, get together with friends to stitch,  go shopping for fabric, or start a new project? Maybe you're participating in one of the many group charity projects.

Here are just a few projects you can get involved in:

project linus

a million pillowcases 
quilts of valor
quilting for peace

In celebration of National Quilt Day, I did stitch up a great little table topper and.....

 you can download the instructions for free from my website! It's a fabulous way to spread the joy of quilting so tell your friends too.

Also.... on Monday I will be starting a new giveaway! Spread the word.

OMG, I have been out goofing off with my family that is visiting and have been so bad about blogging. I will have some fun stuff to share once I sit still long enough to share it! Hope you have a wonderful quilty weekend!

Valentine Giveaway winner

Thank you one and all for leaving such endearing comments and for putting up with the extra task of finding the pink thistle. You are all so sweet and worthy of winning but alas the winner for this Hello Valentine giveaway is the Happy Cottage Quilter!
CONGRATULATIONS!
I will be e-mailing you so I can get your address to send out your prize.
Also of note, I will be having a guest blogger on the blog this Saturday and I hope you will stop and check it out. Her blog topic is "you inspire me" and I am looking forward to seeing her post. So stop by Saturday sometime and have a look-see.
I am also working on a free pattern for you to download from my website and I will let you know when it's up and ready. It should be soon, but this week has turned out to be crazy busy.

New Giveaway - Hello Valentine

Hello Valentines,

This giveaway is a sampler of sweetness.....
for all of my sweet visitor friends that stop by to say hi and browse a bit even on busy days.
Sweet words, sweet fabrics, sweet tooth, sweet stripes ....

There are eight 8-1/2" pink dot fabric charm squares, a cute pink bookmark that reads "stay calm and have a cupcake", a cute striped zippered (pencil) case, Valentine cupcake papers, pink kitty marshmallow candies and a bag of sweetheart candy.

This time around to enter in the giveaway you need to pop over to my site and find the little pink thistle flower (not the large one on the home page) and tell me where you found it. Post your comments to this posting ( Jan 27th) only.
You have until Feb 3rd to post your comment to this entry.

BTW...Don't count on reading the first few entries to find out where the thistle is because I'm going to move it around. It won't always be in the same place. .....and sweetly diabolical?

The winner will be chosen at random and I'll post the winner on Feb 4th. and then pop your Hello Valentine giveaway in the mail to you.

Good luck xoxo

BFF's bundle up

It's getting chilly outside and so the BFF's now have their new winter/Christmas wardrobe!
Here is the newest BFF paper doll quilt pattern. It is up on my site so you can order right away.
This pattern not only has delightful winter/holiday outfits and hairdo swap-pliqués to mix and match but it has oodles of fun festive holiday trims to decorate the quilt with. All of the appliqués, even the trims, are removable swap-pliqués so you can change them around anytime and they fit any BFF quilt.
Here's a peek at some of the swap-pliqués.



More shopping.......
I just found out about a brand new online shop called Inch worm fabrics.
They carry Kona Bay, Seattle Bay and Moda fabrics. Check them out when you just have to have fabric!
Don't forget to post to the Nov. 19th post to enter the giveaway. Monday is the last day to enter.

new winter giveaway

It's my birthday and to celebrate that plus the new release of my BFF Winter Holly Days paper doll quilt pattern I'm posting a new giveaway for you!
This one will prepare you for the chilly months ahead. There's a colorful pair of festive socks to keep your tootsies warm, a happy snowman mug to fill with flavored coffees, (peppermint, chocolate caramel, chocolate cinnamon almond) and a felt basket with some FQ's of flannel to add to a winter stitching project.
As with most giveaways post a comment to this post Nov. 19th. and you'll be entered but...... if you link my site www.thistledownquilts.com to yours (and tell me where to find it) you'll be entered twice.
I'll be announcing the lucky winner December 1st. Good luck and keep warm.

The Wooly winners are.....

drum roll..............

Mary (on the lake) and Sara!
Congratulations to you both and please send me an e-mail with your mailing addresses so I can get your prizes popped in the mail so you can get stitching!
Thanks to everyone that participated, don't fret there will be more giveaways in the near future.

Giveaway starts today - really

Sorry about yesterday, just when you think you're organized....oh my.
Anyway here is the giveaway I should have posted yesterday.
You will get 6 lovely autumn color pieces of WoolFelt™ and a fat quarter of a cute Halloween print. The wool pieces are approx. 12" x 17"
This should help get you inspired to get a head start on your Fall projects.
It is almost August after all, OMG!
To get a chance to win this giveaway just leave a comment here on this post. Too make it even more fun, I am going to give away 2 identical gifts so there will be 2 lucky stitchers that can win this giveaway.
So tell your friends and best of luck, you have until August 15th to post your comments.

The next giveaway?

Heavens! With all the tomatoes on my vine I may be including tomatoes in my next giveaway!
My grape tomatoes are exploding with the little buggers and my regular (Sebring) tomatoes are keeping right up. Seriously, I may have to take up canning now. Yikes!
Yesterday some of the grape tomatoes started turning red. I'm so excited. I think I'm going to make a nice pasta, tomato, and basil toss for dinner one night this week if enough of them are ripe. Hopefully some of the big tomatoes will ripen soon too.




Then I need to think about what to make with my RED peppers. I've been harvesting my green bell peppers right along and have had some wonderful stuffed peppers with them. This being my
first time growing bell peppers I left some on the plants to ripen into red peppers and here they are. This was taken a couple of days ago and they have now all turned a deep beautiful red.....Yummy!




Sorry I haven't been posting very regularly but I have been in a design frenzy, facing some deadlines and trying to get our taxes done too, arghhh I need a 27 hour day, with the extra hours devoted to sleep.
I'll post again soon....really