Monday Evening Edition! Free Kindle Cook Book!

Holidays ’round the corner!

Do you do cookie swaps with your family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc?

I get tired of the same ole same ole. Chocolate chip. Oatmeal Raisin – let’s shake it up a bit!

I just came across another Gooseberry Patch freebie and downloaded it..Cookie Swap!

Product Description:

Everything you need to know to host a cookie exchange!

You'll find easy-to-follow how-to's with a handy checklist to make swapping a cinch, clever invitations and a recipe card to copy and color, tried & true recipes plus nifty ideas for packaging and presenting cookies.

Try nutty butterscotch squares, chocolate-vanilla swirl cookies, magical creme wafers, chocolate peanut butter secrets and more, including recipes for fudge, caramels and hard tack candy too!

Besides, the cover image just looks darn appealing, doesn’t it!?

As always, check before clicking to order as what was free earlier may not be now.

No affiliation, just a happy kindle reader sharing the bliss!

Workshop Day in Albuquerque!

Of course I had to spell out Albuquerque just because I love spelling that word!'

Yesterday was our Oklahoma Backroads workshop with the New Mexico Quilting Association ---and we had a full class!

It was a full day of digging in the scraps, playing with value and color placement and trying new things. Push the color boundaries, go for the clash, enlarge the comfort zone, and dare to admit what the ugliest piece in your scraps is…..hold it up….and tell us what it is from, and why it is still IN your stash! And then SEW it into something!

It was amazing to see how one person’s ugly was NOT deemed ugly by the person sitting next to them, and the stories of the fabrics were so varied.

One quilter was gifted a scrap bag of mostly tropical/island type fabrics and batiks by a friend and was being challenged to use them.

Another quilter was making a commissioned quilt for a friend who had lost her husband….the quilt was being made from his clothes and included everything from denim to plaid to stripes, and even solids. A true memory maker!

Some quilters found that what they THOUGHT they liked as their palette just paled in comparison when they left the more “clashy” fabrics out, and they were bound and determined to go back to the stash when they got home and throw some more wild things back IN to their quilts to give them more life!

There was something to learn for everyone….even me! It was great to get to know these ladies, who they are, how long they’ve lived here, how long they’ve been quilting, what they do for a living, and how they have made New Mexico their home.

Our room was great, though we were close quarters, everyone had ample space and we had terrific daylight from the bank of windows in the back. I kinda liked the semi-circle set up, it made me feel like I could get around to everyone as needed!

I took pictures from both ends of the room hoping to get everyone in here at some point!

Take a stroll through the pictures in the slide show below. You can’t really see the color and detail just by the thumbnail photos alone!

		OK Backroads, Albuquerque, NM 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I’m off to spend the day in Santa Fe, but I”ll be back in Albuquerque by evening for an evening lecture/trunkshow here…..I hope to get LOTS Of pics!!

Sunday Night Edition! Free Kindle Book!

So ---- This is a bit delayed because I am in Mountain Time Zone here in Albuquerque, not in Eastern Time in North Carolina, so as I post this, some of the eastie coastie folks have probably already gone to bed and may miss this!

I just got back to my hotel room after a MAHVELOUS dinner of New Mexican food…..red and green chile on the side please! I am so stuffed, I’m ditching my belt and undoing that top button the jeans!

Anyhow….just downloaded this one:

Raphaela’s Gift by Sydney Allan is free today from the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 4 customer reviews.

Category: Contemporary Fiction

Book Description:

One desperate father.
One determined therapist.
A very special little girl.
And the gift that will change their lives.

Dr. Garret Damiani, a master at denying his feelings, is determined to heal his daughter. When he arrives at Mountain Rise, a camp for autistic children, he is cold, distant and uncomfortable. But Garret’s self-protective tactic is difficult to maintain when he confronts Faith LeFeuvre, their art therapist. She is secretly fighting her own battle, yet when she meets Garret and his daughter, an instant and potent bond draws her to them. With steadfast determination, she sets out to heal the Damiani family and force Garret from his spiney shell…not knowing in the process she will also heal herself.

Can a love forged in the heat of a sultry summer survive the pressure of adversity and past tragedy or will it shatter into fragments?

Not sure if it is free on Nook yet, but it might be so check there. I have a friend with an autistic son and I’ve seen what she’s gone through fighting every day in raising him, so this is a story I am greatly interested in, I thought you might be too!

Tomorrow is going to be my busy day. I’m headed to Santa Fe in the morning for a morning guild meeting—That’s about an hours drive from Albuquerque --- and then headed BACK to Albuquerque for an evening guild meeting here. Busy Busy Busy! But should be great for some beautiful New Mexico scenery too!

Tuesday I’m back up to Santa Fe for a workshop there, and Wednesday..it’s pack it all up and head back home again! It’s my LAST guild teaching gig of the year! This year has flown SO fast, hasn’t it?

And then…it’s count down to cruise time! YEAH BABY!!

Show & Tell Sunday!

It’s been a while since we’ve done this, and I’ve been going through emails with attachments while chillaxing in my hotel and I thought it would be great to do some Show & Tell!

I love the pictures that you send of the quilts you’ve made and the story that goes with them. Sometimes the story really shines through the quilt, so by all means don’t forget to include the story! I can't promise when I'll post the show and tell quilts, or if I"ll post them all, but I do the best I can!

First up!

Pattie in San Diego!

This is Pattie’s Little Monkey!

She writes:

Hi Bonnie-

Here is a photo of my finished quilt. I call it Little Monkey on My Back since once I started making the blocks I got addicted and ended up making enough for a large lap quilt. It was quite fun to scramble through my scrap bin to cut up piles of small shapes and then match them up to form blocks.

Thanks for your blog!

Pattie in San Diego

Pattie, I love how the blocks seem to change with the value placement of the fabrics! FUN FUN FUN! The bright colors are so great too! Thanks for sharing!

Next up is Priscilla and her Pineapple Blossom quilt!

She writes:

Bonnie,
Attached is my quilt top. After completion and a few days away from the top, I am happy. I was even happier when I saw the picture. The white border does the top justice. I did notice one error in the top, so, as soon as I noticed it, that error got fixed. Just could not handle
knowing that something was wrong.

Thanks again. I hope to take another class when the guild sets up
another one with you. I really had a great time.
Thanks again.
Priscilla F

Priscilla was quite the power sewer! One of those I refer to as the “Silent but deadly” type…she sewed and sewed in her quiet little corner and by the time class was over she was SO CLOSE to having it all done! I love the florals she used for this top!

Our next show and tell is from Naomi B! I love her Scrappy Trips quilt!

It says around the border, “Lydia’s House – Changing Lives, One Piece At A Time!”

She writes:

Bonnie, a couple from my church have surrendered to full time mission work in Eastern Kentucky. Dee will be running a home that will open at the end of October, 2011, for unwed mothers from the ages of 18 - 28. The home is an old boarding house which has been renovated for this purpose. Rick will be working repairing homes and other handyman type work in the area. I wanted to make them a quilt to hang in the home, which is called Lydia's House, from the reference in Acts 16:15. As I hope you can tell from the pictures, the inspiration was your pattern for Scrappy Trips Around the World.

I call this quilt Scrappy Trips to the Mountains and added words in the border-- "Lydia's House--Changing Lives One Piece At A Time." If you would like to know more about how Lydia's House came about, you can read about it at lydiashouse.com.

Thanks for all the free patterns and information on your website and blog. I am a faithful reader, and look forward each day to reading about your adventures. When I first seriously began thinking about quilting, I began looking on the internet for quilt patterns. When I found your site, I fell in love with scrappiness, and have not looked back since.

By the way, I did reference you on the label, but was unable to get a picture of it.

I just know that Tonya will love seeing this quilt too! It’s WONDERFUL! And such a great cause too. I wish Lydia’s House lots of luck in its endeavors!

Faith from Quilt Therapy emailed me a while ago about using Strip Twist as a hand out for their shop hop! Of COURSE!!

And here is the result!

she writes:

Hi Bonnie,
Whew! Hop the Blues is over. The last time we corresponded was in May, when I shared with you that I had chosen your Strip Twist for our shop hop sample. Thank you so much for your design, I am attaching a photo of the sample we made that inspired so many of our hoppers. You should be getting a lot of emails and/or hits on your website and blog. My store had 262 shop hoppers and the majority of them asked for information on your pattern.

I'm not very good with this whole attachment/email thing but I think it worked.
Thanks again,
Faith
Quilt Therapy
LaGrande, OR

Don’t you just love that outer border fabric? It’s fabulous! And the inner chinese coins border is a great way to use up the strip ends too. YUMMY!

And this one….I have to post this one…because it is one we are working on today here in Albuquerque! It’s Oklahoma Backroads!

I love how the golds and oranges just shine in this! What a great quilt! This one is made by Claire B who writes:

Hello
here is my finished quilt of Oklahoma backroads
thank you for your website, very instructive and inspiring
Claire

Thanks for sharing your quilt, Claire!

I think there is room for ONE more, don’t you?

This one is My Blue Heaven by Barb L!

Barb writes:

Dear Bonnie;

Last November I attended your workshop in Rochester Hills, MI. I had signed up to do "My Blue Heaven" and was concerned that I would not have sufficient blue fabrics in my stash to complete the entire quilt! (I just don't buy blue fabric - so I thought) I did, however, pull out several fabrics and cut into the 2 1/2 strips required.

By August the top was completed and there was still more "blue" in the pile of strips. Hmmmm - then I needed to choose a backing - and there in my stash was 6 yards of blue Cranston print that I had purchased for something special (can't remember what THAT was) before my daughter graduated from High School in 1986. It must have been waiting for just the right quilt.

One year ago today my uncle passed away - and I wanted to do something special for my aunt. No one loves blue more than Maxine Aldrich and no one was a more devoted Boston Red Sox fan than Bert, so this quilt was just the ticket to tell the world much they are loved.

My brother is visiting Sugar Hill, NH this week and agreed to take it to Maxine. Had a call from her this morning to tell me how surprised she was, how much she loves it and is showing it off every chance she gets!!!! Check out Harmans Cheese and Country Store on Facebook or harmanscheese.com to see what a beautiful home this quilt will have.

Thanks for a great class and for such inspiration. (I see I have more blue fabric... in amongst the others, so have more projects in mind).

So funny!! Just when you think you are out of blue…TADA!!! Of course, I don’t think a quilter can EVER have too much blue!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and tell these ladies have shared with us! I get so inspired when I see the quilts that you have made….thank you for sharing them with ME and in turn, ALL of us!