Friday, July 01, 2011

Late Night Edition–Free Kindle Book!

I just got back from Karen’s…had a blast of a day! And while I was trying to catch up on email, etc….((Wow! Lots of comments for the free pattern give away..Yeah!!))......I came upon this freebie. It says Free July 1st. That’s today! There is only a couple hours left of July 1st where I am sitting, a few hours later if you are on the Westie Coastie..so I’m sending this out here quickly.

I love intrigue, and the description caught me!

A Cure to Die For: A Medical Thriller, by Stephen G. Mitchell, is free in the Kindle store -

Book Description:

A genetically engineered cure for the common cold turns out to be a cure for cancer. It threatens to put a major pharmaceutical company, along with about half the medical community, out of business. They will stop at nothing to destroy it before it destroys them.

Amid harrowing kidnappings, manhunts, political and corporate intrigue, Wall Street corruption, drug addiction, suicides, arrests and terrifying escapes--in the Montana wilderness, in the high-tech world of Houston, Texas, in the political cesspool of Washington, D.C., in the teeming jungles of Mexico and on a 26,000 square mile Indian reservation--a man and a woman fight to survive the perilous journey where the fate of a healthy planet hinges on the survival of a tiny seed.

A crisis of medical and corporate greed sweeps the country. The government and the media conspire with the medical industry to keep a miracle drug off the market. The book is a medical thriller that is part adventure, part mystery and part love story; a novel about two people who stand against a broken world.

I just downloaded mine. If I don’t like it…well, the price was right, right?!

We had so much fun today, We are headed back over to Karin’s house Saturday morning ((Tomorrow!!)) to DO IT AGAIN!

When I walked in the front door a bit ago, Ferris Beuhler was on TV.....LOVE THIS MOVIE! When the "Shake it Up Baby" parade started, I had to run into the living room and dance it out with DH....whoowhooo!

That's enough for one day..I’m off to bed….

Night all!

For The Love Of Yellow! ((Giveaway!!))

I do love yellow…I admit it! Anywhere from pale butter yellow, all the way to marigold, and everywhere in between. As a quilter, I am all about the punch colors! And for me, yellow is right up there with cheddar and red! And yes, there is a Giveaway at the bottom of this post, but you gotta read all the way down there to get to it. No skimming!

So I’ve been kitting up stuff to take to Oregon with me, and you can see here my wide array of yellow solids. My question for this quilt kept going back to this:

Do I want to stick with ONE YELLOW ((The SAFE route, right?!)) For the Florabunda quilt, or do I want to let loose with different yellows as in the antique quilt that started this whole MUST MAKE NOW craze?!

I’m leaning toward different yellows. I really am. When I look at the quilt with ONE yellow…blocks join in the corners to form one big yellow square with 4 seams in it. If I am going to have 4 seams there anyway, why not add a bit of something to make that piecing worth while?

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I’ve got 4 blocks sewn. Yes. Only 4. I know some are nearly ready to put their whole tops together, or get the binding on --- and I’m straggling at 4..but hey! It’s progress! Subee just posted that hers is DONE! YankeeQuilter's are well on the way!

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See how the two different yellows come together in the center? I like that. Where when it was one yellow, it was just not as interesting. So I’m going to go with it!

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Here are my 72 blocks worth of floral strips, all cut and ready to go! I still have to cut the yellows, but will get to that.

All this yellow got me thinking about the other yellow quilts I’ve made, and I went upstairs to the guest room closet to pull this one out:

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The pale yellow looks even more faded in this picture, but the paths ARE yellow! I made this grandmother’s flower garden, every stitch by hand, in the regular “add a 1/4” seam and just piece it the regular way” style. I’m thinking of when it was started…we bought our first home in 1992….and I know I started it before that. I remember tracing the templates on the fabric and cutting them out one at a time when Jeff was TINY. Jason was in swim lessons --- and I’d bring this with me and stitch the blossoms during the lessons. So it dates around to 1990 and a bit after. Funny how you can date quilts by where you lived when you were making them?

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Do you recognize some of these prints? Oh, some were definite FAVORITES of mine! This quilt also taught me why I should never use warm and natural batting for a hand quilting project! >_< It was like quilting through cardboard! My how things have improved since then! You’ll notice there is no binding. I simply turned the front and the backing 1/4” to the inside and blind stitched it closed, and then went back and quilted 1/4” from the edge of the quilt to finish.

Yellow in antique quilts always makes me giddy! Here are some I’d love to share with you!

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Look at these golden yellow sashings for this great country style 9 patch! There is an idea for you….have some blocks that need to be set? Try yellow!

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Lovely 6 pointed star with yellow background! I love how the yellow just adds the “HAPPY” element! Yellow, Aqua and Red? Yes please! And throw in some pink for good measure!

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I loved the shape of these dresden plates! Of course, I would have scrappied them up a bit, but yellow is a great background for this 1940’s quilt!

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I just love the shape of these dresdens! Flat blade/round blade/flat blade/round blade…Cool, yeah?

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Now THIS top has my heart! I’ve been a string piecing fool over the past year, and I’m still not making much of a dent! Isn’t this just so classic against that yellow? YES PLEASE!

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And this one is a bit grainy, but I think you get the idea! How simple! Scrappy split-4-patch blocks with alternating yellow squares….LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

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And what is not to love about a gorgeous scrappy wedding ring on solid yellow?!? What really caught my eye and made me smile is that some of the rings follow a pattern, some do not…and the red/white 4 patch connectors all turn different ways. DOUBLE YES PLEASE!

So are you wanting to sew something yellow?! I have here up for grabs….a pattern and template to get you started!

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This pattern and template can be yours just by leaving me a comment below! The template makes a 4” mini windmill block. You could go to town on your scraps…and punch it up with some YELLOW! Are you game?

I’ll draw the lucky winner after the fireworks on 4th of July. That’s Monday….we’ll give it the long weekend to make it available to all!

I’m off this morning for a SEW DAY at Karen’s! Lisa and Miz Shelby will also be joining us! Have a great Friday everyone!