Help Get The Word Out–Another Stolen Quilt!

Everyone, I need your help.

I just got word from a friend that fellow scrap quilter, Sally Schneider, has had a quilt stolen.

You’ve helped before getting the word out to your blog, your email lists, your facebook pages, your online message boards. Can you please link your blog to my post, send the link along to your email lists and quilty friends, post my link on your facebook pages? We need to get the word out on this one!

Here is the news I received:

Please be on the lookout for Sally Schneider’s “Farmer’s Daughter” quilt. It was last seen on January 26, 2012 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was being shipped to Martingale & Company, home of That Patchwork Place. It was to be included in her book that will be published in January 2013.

This quilt is 95″ by 95″. It combines the scrappy look with cream. The background is Moda Grunge. This quilt is machine pieced and machine quilted.

If you find this quilt, please contact Sally immediately at sally@sallyschneider.com.

I was just IN Albuquerque this past fall. Such a beautiful place, and I hate to think of anyone who would DARE steal a quilt from a traveling quilt teacher/lecturer! It just makes my blood boil, and my heart break for Sally.

This is what Sally had to say via her facebook page:

Bad news today -- one of my quilts was stolen from it's bin -- Farmer's Daughter, a queen-size quilt is missing. Looks like my ta-done list is back to a ta-do list -- I'll need to make a new one. I'm so sad that someone would steal a quilt.

This is all the info I currently have, but if I find out anything more I'll let you know.

Please help us out by sending this post link and info wherever you can!

Sadly yours ---

It Finally REGISTERED!

Well, sometimes that means that I’ve finally figured something out, or maybe gotten a clue on something I was being pretty clueless about – but in this case…..

I want you to look at my header banner picture up there --- yes that one…top of the blog.

Do you see anything different? Look closely!

I’ve had something in the legal process for what seems like months and months and months now, and it’s true…it HAS taken that long.

The registration with the filing of my QUILTVILLE trademark is FINISHED.

This letter just in from my lawyer:

This means that your trademark has gone through the process, and is now formally enforceable against infringing parties.

You can now put a Register “R” symbol next to the QUILTVILLE name wherever you advertise
it.

If you know of anyone who is infringing on your QUILTVILLE trademark rights, please let me know and I can schedule a time to
discuss Cease & Desist options that might be available to you. Please keep in mind that you can stop others with similar services whose names are confusingly similar to QUILTVILLE, not just the “QUILTVILLE” itself anywhere across the United States.

This is probably the best thing to happen to me in a long while. And it’s a quiet hoorah because there isn’t any infringing going on at present, but still, this was a necessary step in protecting not only myself, but the name of my business.

I have celebrated by putting the Circle R here on the blog, AND on the banner of my website.

Oh happy day!

I’m off to the chiro to find out who won those hershey’s kisses --- Oh, I hope it’s me!

iPhone-O-gram! Guacamole time!

I haven't really had many foodie posts lately, but sometimes I just can't resist!

After my massage DH drove into Winston Salem with the suggestion that we grab a bite out to eat.

I swear, Chilis has the bestest crispest tortilla chips hands down. And the roasted corn guacamole ain't half bad either.

Add to that unlimited refills of unsweet iced tea with lemon and my relaxation destination is complete!

Tonight--more hand quilting maybe??

Bonnie

Afternoon Edition: Free Kindle Book!

This just in:

The Fifth Avenue Series Boxed Set by Christopher Smith is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received a perfect 5 out of 5 stars based on 7 customer reviews.

Category: Mystery & Thriller

For the first time, all three books in the international Top 100 best-selling FIFTH AVENUE series are now available in one boxed set! Look for the fourth in the series, PARK AVENUE, in 2012.
Over 800 pages!

BOOK DESCRIPTIONS:

FIFTH AVENUE:

Look beneath all the power and all the wealth that represents New York City's Fifth Avenue, and you'll find greed, blood, revenge. In the international best-selling thriller "Fifth Avenue," each intermingles within a revered society that is unprepared for what's in store for it when one man finally strikes in an effort to destroy another man for murdering his wife thirty-one years ago.

Louis Ryan is that man. George Redman, his wife, two daughters and their close friends are his targets. Both men are self-made billionaires who came from nothing to stake their claim to Fifth Avenue. But when Louis Ryan hires an international assassin to literally rip the Redman family apart, a series of events that can't be stopped catapults them all through a fast-paced, hard-edged thriller in which nobody is safe.
Secrets are revealed. Sex lives are exposed. The Mafia get involved. And George's two daughters, Celina and Leana Redman, come to the forefront. More than anyone, it's they who are caught in the throes of their father's past as Louis Ryan's blind desire to kill them all takes surprising turns in his all-out effort to see them dead.

RUNNING OF THE BULLS:

TWELVE PEOPLE TARGETED FOR DEATH...
Five years ago, each person sold out to the SEC and took the stand against Maxmilian Wolfhagen, a man who robbed the world of billions. Now, with Wolfhagen out of prison, each is dying a grisly death.

TWO ASSASSINS WITH ONLY 48 HOURS TO CUT A SWATH OF MURDER AND REVENGE THROUGH NEW YORK...

Time is tight and the challenges are massive--but so are their ruthless skills.

MARTY SPELLMAN IS ON THE CASE...

Hired to investigate Wolfhagen, private investigator Marty Spellman soon learns that all isn't what it seems as the twists pile up along with sheer number of the dead. His life is put on the line. His family is threatened. No one is who they appear to be. Who can he trust as the bulls of Wall Street start to run as the two assassins fully ignite their killing spree?

FROM MANHATTAN WITH LOVE:
An outcast billionaire’s daughter is caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

An international assassin questions her sanity when she falls in love with the very assassin she’s charged to assassinate. What happens when each collide? Chaos. Murder. Love. Revenge. And redemption.

In this taut, 35,000-word novella, which is a prequel to the upcoming third novel in the Fifth Avenue series, “Park Avenue,” both women come together for the first time in an explosive story that threatens each of their lives, particularly when one woman breaks her own rules and dares to fall in love.

In “From Manhattan with Love,” she soon learns what she always feared. When it comes to real danger, there’s nothing more dangerous than love itself.

RAVES FOR CHRISTOPHER SMITH:
***PLANET KINDLE ON CHRISTOPHER SMITH***
"Fifth Avenue, the first novel by penned Christopher Smith, is a fantastic first effort and was the reason I was simply unable to put my Kindle down over this Christmas period. And I would go as far to say that it ranks as one of the best first novels I’ve ever read."--PLANET KINDLE

***P.M. RICHTER ON CHRISTOPHER SMITH***
"Fifth Avenue. A big, big novel. A blockbuster? Yes. A bestseller. It should be. The author, at the beginning of the novel, thanks the people who introduced him to the 'real' Fifth Avenue. I suspect the real one could not be as interesting or engrossing as this novel. ...This is a highly recommended novel. It deserves the five stars." --P.M. RICHTER

Double check before clicking that it is still free before purchasing!

Ask Bonnie!

I received a couple of questions through email and the comment sections after my post the other night sent via iphone-O-Gram while hand quilting. I thought this morning would be a good time to answer them!

The first question was about my pink and brown Jane Stickle variation that I was hand quilting on. So here is a little history:

I had already finished ONE “Dear Jane” made in the traditional way. I started it in the late 1990s while still living in Idaho. It moved with me to two different locations in Texas, and finally to South Carolina where I finished the hand quilting. At that point in time I was giving myself ONE HOUR a day of hand quilting to get it done. ONE HOUR. Just pick one. Be it morning, or evening, do not sit down unless you are going to stitch on that quilt! And yes, you can finish the hand quilting of a big quilt in an hour a day! There is a link to that first Dear Jane version of the Jane Stickle quilt HERE.

The pink and brown one came to be because I was teaching the class at a quilt shop in South Carolina, and darn it if you don’t NEED to do block demos when teaching the class! I wanted to do something different, so I drafted up the Storm at Sea setting to go with the blocks instead of doing plain sashing and cornerstones. I also added a color scheme. I used a collection of chocolate fabrics from South Africa, scrappied up my double pinks ((Yes, just added scrappied into the dictionary too!)) and used ONE background fabric, an ivory shirting print with a little pink design. I wrote some about my journey of “In The Pink” HERE.

Over the past few years that I’ve been hand quilting on this ((Oh, is it 4? Is it 3? Oh dear --- I can’t remember when I basted it!)) it has been a very hit or miss situation because I’ve had so many other deadlines that have taken up my available time. I love this quilt. I want it finished --- I’m trying to put the “one hour a day” rule into place when I’m home, but we all know that isn’t always going to happen because so often that “one hour” has to go somewhere else.

This I do know --- I LOVE the peaceful “all is right in my world” feeling I get when I can simply sit with it and pull that thread through the quilt, one needle load of stitches at a time.

The next question was about the kind of hoop I use to hand quilt with.

I have tried every kind of frame/hoop system out there. I think you need to try them all to find out which is right for your body and the way you quilt. I’ve tried 3 rail frames….and I found I am happier when I can turn a hoop so I can quilt in the direction that is most comfortable for me. It’s easier on my wrist that way. So – I have a large Hinterberg 3-rail floor frame for sale here in NC if anyone wants one--- contact me!

I’ve also tried a rotating hoop on a floor stand. I could never sit in a way that was comfortable for me and I didn’t like having that stand between my knees. I also have one of those for sale if anyone in NC wants one. It’s also Hinterberg. I’ve got two sizes of hoops that go with it. I won’t ship these items, so they’d need to be picked up.

What works for me the best, is to sit in my recliner with my feet up, all nice and cozy --- with a simple hoop in my lap. No stand, no nothing.

I have two of these hoops in two sizes. The one on the quilt above is a 17” heavy-duty plastic hoop that has a non-slip groove in it. I used to use wooden hoops, but they come apart where the screws go through that extra wood piece that holds the hoop tight. ((Whatever you call that)) OR – when traveling with wood hoops I’ve even BROKEN them. I had to get duct tape on a cruise once to hold one together so I could continue to quilt on the cruise. The plastic ones have NEVER broken on me!

These hoops have the label of “Morgan Products” on them, and they come in various sizes. If I am flying, and planning on hand quilting in my seat on the plane, I use the 12” Morgan hoop.

Yep, I checked, and Amazon carries these. They can also be ordered directly from the manufacturer HERE. No affiliation, just what I like to quilt with. They are molded, non-slip, and I like that the part where the screw is is NOT going to separate from the hoop because it is PART of the hoop. A plastic hoop also means NO SLIVERS or no rough wood to catch my thread and or batting edges....those wood hoops are not always smooth.

I also had a question on the thread I like to use for hand quilting.

I like the YLI threads. They are one of the “FEW” that still have wooden spools! I love the feel of the thread, how it doesn’t shred back on itself, and it doesn’t twist and tangle and knot while quilting. And yeah, it might look silly, but a simple ponytail holder over the spool keeps the thread from winding off by itself. YLI is also a Carolina product --- their plant is just south of me in Rock Hill, SC. Thread made in the USA? I’m all for that.

And while we are talking about thread – we can talk about needles! There are so many choices out there, but these are what work for me:

Roxanne #9 Betweens

I know that people love 10s, 11s, 12s in hand quilting needles….but I have what some would call “MAN HANDS”. I’m a tall, big girl….so I go with the 9s. I can get nice small even stitches. I don’t shoot for 20 stitches an inch. I just strive for my own rhythm and try to be even, but not focus on small. Get that rocking motion going, and it is what it is. I think smaller fingers can make smaller stitches – at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! I also like that these needles are a bit more “stout” than others – they don’t bend right off the bat. The eye is large and is easy to thread, and let’s face it, I like the little tube they come in with the cute seashell on top! 50 in a package is a steal too.

A little secret --- sometimes I’m just DYING for a topic to talk about on here. Sometimes, day after day, coming up with something new that you will find interesting is not easy --- it leaves me writing about things like hershey’s kisses giveaways at the chiropractor for instance! Or way too much info on how my eldest son became the best Valentine’s gift ever! So if there is something you’ve always wanted to know – please ask! I’m happy to have a topic to write about that might be of interest to more than just you. Because if you are thinking it, and wanting to ask it – chances are you are not the only one. Help a girl out, won’tcha? ((Yep, just added won’tcha to the dictionary too, can take the girl out of Minnesota, but you can’t take the Minnesota out of the girl!!))

Wednesday will have me doing things like buying my airfare for a visit to Davenport Iowa at the end of March! Working on some more book edits. Piecing those border units I’ve been working on into pairs ---and just enjoying a quiet day home by myself. Jeff is doing well back in school. Jason and Kim are happy and figuring life out in South Carolina. My sciatica pain seems to be receding, and we’ll keep working on that.

Oh, and I almost forgot! I’ve got a massage appointment this afternoon! BLISS! ((I guess this means I need to shave my legs?!?))

Better get to it!

Evening Edition: Free Kindle Book!

I asked at the receptionist’s counter at the chiropractor if I had won the valentine guessing game for the hershey’s kisses, and she said they won’t know until they count them TONIGHT…and winners will be notified tomorrow.

TOMORROW?! But that’s NOT valentine’s day! What good then is the smelly romantic candle and the sexy romantic music CD and all of those foil wrapped roses tucked in amongst the hershey’s kisses in that vase?!

Gifts like this kind of lose their “ooomph” when the winner is drawn after the fact, don’t you think? LOL! So my next appt is on Thurs, and I’ll find out if I won then --- oh the suspense if it all!

I met up with Jason and Kim at Ikea --- and I was good, really good! We had lunch in the cafeteria and visited before hitting the floor. While they shopped for book cases and shelves and other stuff they needed, the only thing I left with was this:

A 6 plugger outlet!

And I didn’t even buy it. Jason laughed at me when I pulled it out of the cart, leaving all of their stuff behind and he said –”Put that back in here and let me take care of it” It was all of $3 or something like that.

But I felt so special with my Valentine’s Plug-In gift! And then while standing there in the aisle at Ikea, I told him that HE was the BEST Valentine’s gift of all! “Really??” he aked. “Really!” I said. “Just take today and count forward 9 months…” His birthday is November 10th. The light blub moment was priceless. “Oh, mom – you shouldn’t have told me that….oh ewww…you’ve forever warped Valentine’s Day for me, I’ll never be able to think of it any other way!” Revenge is sweet isn’t it? LOL! This just made my day.

I guess I’ll go put the 6 plugger outlet where I need it to be, behind the quilting machine….and spend some time back working on the border units for Midnight Flight. Loving how this is coming together -----and loving that I still have 5 days left at home before I have to go anywhere.

So on to the freebie part of the post:

Camp Follower by Suzanne Adair is free today in the Amazon Kindle store, and has received an average user rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 8 customer reviews.

Category: Historical Fiction / Mystery & Thrillers

Book Description:

A deadly assignment. A land poisoned by treachery and battle. She plunged in headfirst.

Late in 1780, the publisher of a loyalist magazine in Wilmington, North Carolina offers an amazing assignment to Helen Chiswell, his society page writer. Pose as the widowed, gentlewoman sister of a British officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons, travel to the encampment of the British Legion in the Carolina backcountry, and write a feature on Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton.

But Helen’s publisher has secret reasons for sending her into danger. And because Helen, a loyalist, has ties to a family the redcoats suspect as patriot spies, she comes under suspicion of a brutal, brilliant British officer. At the bloody Battle of Cowpens, Helen must confront her past to save her life.

Praise for Camp Follower, nominated for the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Historical Mystery/Suspense and the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction:

“Adair wrote another superb story.” — Armchair Interviews

“Full of details, a unique historical perspective, an elaborate plot, and outstandingly strong characters, Camp Follower is a historical mystery with something to please everyone.” — No Name Café

“Adair takes her reader on an exciting adventure, filled with historical fact wrapped around an intriguing plot.” —The Midwest Book Review

“The smells, sights, and sounds of the Revolutionary War in the Carolina Back Country have nowhere been better depicted than in this thrilling novel of conflict and suspense. Suzanne Adair is a gifted storyteller, and her latest book deserves a wide audience.” — John Buchanan, author of The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas

I love ANYTHING to do with NC history since I live here ---so I can’t wait to read this one! It was still free when I clicked it a bit ago. Double check before clicking that it is still free for you because this can change without notice ---

Enjoy your Tuesday Evening!

More Valentine’s Fun!

My buddy Pat Sloan is having a fun giveaway on her blog and I thought you’d like a chance to go enter!

There is a gorgeous FQ bundle of Amy Butler “LARK” fabrics and a LINKY PARTY! Also up for giveaway --- Aurifil thread and exclusive radio show ear buds.. on Pat’s Blog today!

Go have some fun with it! I’ve already commented to win--- you know I need that THREAD! I’m on my way to enjoy my grown up kids --- Spreading me some Valentine’s Love IKEA style!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

“I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.”

HAHAHAHA! So true!

I am thinking back to when as kids we would make valentines in school…..or holders, boxes and bags to contain the valentines that were given to us by classmates – the anticiptation of what would end up in our little “mail” boxes by the end of the school day was almost as infectious as Christmas!

Remember covering shoe boxes with paper doilies, construction paper, glue and glitter? Great memories!

And those conversation hearts, that always seemed to end up tasting like soap, but we loved the colors and the sayings!

It’s going to be a full Valentine’s Day here --- I’m headed back to the chiro for a 10am appt. Did I win the chocolate kisses? I have no idea! Thanks to all of you for guessing along with me, I’ll let you know whether I did or not!

This afternoon I’m headed to Charlotte to meet up with Kim and Jason --- Hmmmmmm….if I leave a bit early would there be time to swing over to Gastonia and hit Mary Jos?!? Honestly….I should stay on track and get more of the book edits done. Those are hanging over my head! Besides the fact that I need more machine time than I need more fabric, that's for certain!

My Sweetie knows how much I love pink roses, and he surprised me with them on Sunday so I could enjoy them the full week of Valentine’s before I leave for Fort Myers and Naples Florida on the 20th! The little table topper is one an online group did as a Valentine’s swap when I lived in Texas. It comes out Every February 1st and stays the entire month --- I’m ashamed to say it’s the full extent of my Valentine’s Day decorating ---but I love it!

Have a Sweet Day, Everyone!

iPhone-O-Gram! How many kisses??

How many kisses do YOU think are in this vase?? You too can win the vase, the foil wrapped chocolate roses, the candle in the holder and the romantic music cd--lol!

This is a sneaky picture taken at the reception area while checking out after my chiropractic appointment today.

I go back tomorrow---this place is a hoot!

Bonnie

PS---either the kisses have been settling in that vase, or someone has been snacking on them! The volume is a bit "down" from Friday ;-)

Which Ikea Lamp?

Must be an IKEA thinking kind of day. I got a message from MaryAnn G asking which lamps I use for my sewing machines and I am happy to oblige with the info!

She writes:

Bonnie,

I am really enjoying Orca Bay--my first mystery. I work at it when I can, and am enjoying the process even though the mystery has been solved!

I was wondering what little Ikea lamp you have used/seen. I am heading near an Ikea store at the end of the week, and would like to check them out.

My Virginia Bound and Star struck quilts are living at my sister, Teri's, until she has time to quilt them for me. Soon I hope to have lots of "Bonnie" at my house.

Everytime I visit Shipshewana, I remember what fun we had the afternoon after the Camp Mack retreat.

MaryAnn from Cincinnati.

She didn’t have to remind me who she was – I already knew! We met up in Shipshe a couple years ago ((Could it be that long already?!)) and scrounged through the bulk foods grocery together, dug through the boat in the basement at Lolly’s together, had lunch and an all around great day. Who could forget?!

I stopped at the IKEA just south of Washington DC heading home on my way down I-95 on Tuesday and picked up a couple more lamps myself. There is a nice big IKEA right off the interstate at Potomac Mills in Woodbridge.

THIS is what you are looking for in the lighting/lamp section on the bottom floor at Ikea. This is the one with the heavy round circular base – price? About $10.00 And it is much brighter than those little bright bendy lights you have to attach to your machine with sticky hooks.

Here I am sewing using this lamp ((Had to get the pink one, dontcha know?! And as a Minnesota born girl, I just had to ADD that DONTCHA to the dictionary! LOL!)) It’s got GREAT light that shines way out in front of the needle….love that long bendable neck on it.

It packed easily in my bag and came with me up to PA and MD this last trip too! ((It’s OFF in this pic though.))

It comes in a clippy version too. ((Yep, just added the word CLIPPY to dictionary too! :cD )) So far I’ve only used one of these on my longarm machine, clipped to the handle….when doing things like using white thread on white fabric, or black thread on black fabric, the best way to see what you are doing is to SIDE LIGHT the area you are working on. Side lighting with this lamp is AWESOME. The light bulbs do NOT get hot….they are nice and bright. Here’s the pic of a white one clipped to the long arm handle:

Price for the Clippy Version? About $14.00 or so. Nearly broke the bank there --- could buy about 4 of these for the price of ONE of those bendable bright lights that have to stick to your machine.

And Ikea must really be on the brain for more than just myself and MaryAnn! Look at the message I got today:

Jason and Kim want to meet up at Ikea TOMORROW! Spending part of Valentine’s with my son and his sweetheart? Priceless – I’ll be there with bells on. I wonder what I will find to come home with me? Maybe this time I’ll actually TRY the Swedish Meatballs in the cafeteria. ((Hey, I’m a cheap date!))

PS--if you go, don't forget THIS! It's milk chocolate with crunched up butterscotch pieces in it...HOLY. MOLY!!

Memory Baskets!

I decided that yesterday was THE DAY to resurrect a project and push it to completion. You see, some tops --- I’m fine with them being “just tops” for a long time. A completed top has reached a stage where it is fine to rest a while. But then comes the time where the push to be a “REAL QUILT” niggles and naggles at me and I have to do it.

If you’ve followed me since the beginning you’ll remember how this quilt came to be. My friend Lucy lives in Haarlem, the Netherlands --- and we started doing these blocks together as a joint project, across the seas. We decided that we’d kit these up, and any time we cut a basket, we’d cut two identical ones--"One for you, one for me" and send them to each other – just the pieces --- so we could do our own sewing. It was SO FUN to have little envelopes of 10 baskets or so at a time arrive in the mail! This project had no deadline, and it was a good thing.

I think we started them before I went back to Massage Therapy school, but they quickly became my lunch time project. I’d applique the handles during my lunch at school, much to the interest of fellow students --- of course they already looked at me like I was the grannie of the group, I was 42 when school started – most of them were around 20! Boy, were those fun times. Can that really be that long ago already? I guess it can!

By the end of the school week I'd have a bunch of basket handles ready to go, and I'd assemble the blocks as Leaders & Enders in between other projects until I had all 180 baskets I needed to complete the quilt. When Lucy made her first visit to the US in 2004 or was it 2005? We spent part of our time sewing our baskets together at my house in between bouts of fabric shopping. Great memories!

In searching back-posts for more on this quilt ---I came across THIS POST stating where you can find a 4.5” block. It’s a place to start for you. I have no immediate plans to draft this up as a free blog pattern. There are many tiny basket patterns already out there, or you could use EQ to size any basket down to a size you want.

THIS POST was when I finally got the yucky original VERY BROWN border off, and put the wild piano key border in there. Oh, there is a picture of Oscar in that post. I miss him so much.

December 11, 2005!! YIKES!! That’s when I wrote this post –the original top was done but I hated the borders! Good call to remove those.

So let’s get this top turned into a quilt! And this is where we throw in something fun:

Sandi D gifted me with several yardage-long-lengths of fabrics that she had been given when I was in San Diego in January.

Was she just sharing the love, or was she finding an easy way to get rid of it? LOL!! See these Liberty Ladies?! Do you remember this fabric? It was actually a “Quilt For The Cure” ---Beehives are a sign of industry, wheat sheaves are a sign of prosperity. The cornucopia is a sign of abundance. Ladies with togas and spikey crowns and sheilds? Well….I’m not sure about those…… let’s look closer!

Uhoh! What’s that I see on her ANCHOR?! ((ANCHOR? What is the anchor supposed to symbolize?!))

HOLY MOLY! It’s another MILLENIUM FABRIC!! LOL!! Anno Domini MM = The Year 2000!

Uh. Yep. Selvage proves it!

There wasn’t enough yardage to use it for the WHOLE back, but there was enough to use it as a panel down the back center. I mean, seriously? Where else would I use this stuff?? It would be a hard one to match the print on too, if I were to sew two panels of it together…..do I really want to match seams on pointy-crown-wearing-ladies?! I’ve got some left, I can do the hanging sleeve in that too. As I think about it....Lady Liberty symbolizes so much of my life now that I've reached the magic age of 50! It's a good fit, don't you think?

The baskets are SMALL. And that made choosing a quilting pattern difficult. I originally thought I’d hand quilt this, but come on, who am I kidding? I chose a little tear drop pattern called Holly’s Hearts by Urban Elementz. Of course, I was so careful to make sure that the ladies heads were pointing the same direction on the BACK of the quilt as the basket handles were facing on the FRONT of the quilt, and forgot that the panto was going to stitch with the top of the pattern at the other end of the machine…Whooops! So now the hearts are upside down. Do I care? Not really. What is it they say? Done is better than perfect!!? I was SO not going to unstitch that quilting!

Two special blocks--- The first light pink one--that is the fabric that I made a dress from for DH’s and my 1st date in 1981. There are very few scraps of that left --- but I mean it when I say that when I got married my scraps came with me! The second pink basket – that’s the one that Lucy signed for me. She has one I signed for her in her quilt-to-be too.

The quilt came off the machine last night. Today’s job? Trimming it up, and choosing a binding. With baskets in this much variety, there are so many different ways that I can go. I’ve picked out a few choices here:

I do know that I do not want more BROWN in this. I’m all browned out! There are quite a few purple baskets in the center, as there are blue, red and green. But the one I’m leaning the most toward is the purple-y burgundy at the far right. It’s barely got a design on it – it’s black vines on burgundy. It’s warm, it’s deep, and it isn’t busy against the busy piano key border. And best of all? It’s NOT brown! :cD What do you think?

I’m headed back to the crazy-chiro office this afternoon! This means I get to put in more guesses to win that huge vase full of hersheys kisses and the candle ;c) Can’t wait! :cD

Evening Edition-- Free Kindle Book !

This is a disjointed post.

I’m thinking on a couple of things. First at the top of the list have you checked out ALL the link-ups on last Monday’s Mystery Link-Up post?

It is the last one we are holding for Orca Bay – and I’m so sad to see it over! It’s been so fun to visit each one and discover new bloggers, new friends, new ideas for the same quilt we were all making!

This was SO cool, all the way through November til now. You can click HERE to get back to the post. Pour yourself a hot cuppa something yummy, and settle in and visit!

The next thing on my heart is my sadness over the passing of Whitney Houston. Oh, I have heard such varying things from "What a sad loss of such a beautiful voice”, to “What did she expect? She did it to herself, she made her bed and can lie in it.” And my heart weeps for her family, her loved ones, and most of all for Whitney herself.

It's sadder than sad. She had so much potential – but perhaps she never believed in herself enough to see that she deserved to make a better choice. I don't believe in speaking ill of the dead, nor in rubbing their noses in it after the fact. What good does that do?

I only hope and pray my children know how much I love them, and know they are worth the world to me, and love and respect themselves enough to never walk the path that Whitney couldn't get herself out of once she found herself hooked. I think it would be every parent’s nightmare to watch an adult child take wrong turn after wrong turn, and the only thing you can do is love them in spite of their choices and hope that they will start to choose differently.

I will miss her. I will miss her ethereal voice, and put it down as a tragedy. My friend and I were talking about Karen Carpenter the other night, and how there has never been another voice like hers since either. Anorexia. A desire to be what the public wanted to see, what was acceptable to others….bad choice. Sad choice. We have lost so many wonderful talented people who should have been kinder to themselves, should have loved themselves more. How is it that WE can expect so much from people and not see that they have feelings, hopes, fears, dreams as fragile as the next person? Do we expect too much from those who give of their talents so much that the fame and media pressure pushes them over the edge, and then we blame THEM for their actions? What part do WE play in the tragedy of those who choose to take their own lives, or make choices that ultimately end their lives? And then we tsk tsk tsk and rub their noses in it. I'm so sad.

I know it’s deep. I wish the world would have been kinder to these two ladies. I wish that they had felt worth it, felt loved, just as they were, without having to fit some mold that society forced them into. I wish they had felt strong enough about themselves and who they were to make a better choice.

Do you love YOURSELF enough to make a better choice? I hope I can show that kind of strength. Do *I* love myself enough to make a better choice? Sometimes it's not easy.

This is how I choose to remember Whitney:

Beautiful lady, I'll carry the echo of your voice within my heart.

And on to our freebie book! This was still free for me a minute ago when I clicked it after finding it. Check before clicking that it is still free for you.

The One You Love by Paul Pilkington is free today in the Amazon Kindle store

Genre: Suspense/Mystery

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Emma Holden's nightmare has just begun. Her fiancé vanishes, leaving the battered and bloodied body of his brother in their London apartment. Someone is stalking her, watching her every move.

And her family are hiding a horrifying secret; a secret that threatens all those she loves. In a desperate race against time, Emma must uncover the truth if she ever wants to see her fiancé alive again.

With over 300,000 downloads worldwide, The One You Love is a fast-paced suspense mystery, full of twists and turns, following in the tradition of writers such as Nicci French and Sophie Hannah.

Holding a Wake ----

Yesterday we joined a bunch of DH’s work staff and their families, and trekked over to Wake Forest University to watch the Demon Decons get TROUNCED by the Clemson Tigers!

We had high hopes at the beginning of the game….the one thing I can say for Wake Forest is that they have TEAM SPIRIT! And it is infectious. You can’t help but root for them because the cheer team, the dance team, the band and all others put so much into it.

I think our favorite part of the whole game was watching the pee-wee basketball league of 8 to 10 year olds play a game during half time.

Watching these little guys try so hard to dribble that ball, to get it across the court, to grannie shoot a basket ---one little kid was bound and determined to make a goal for the OTHER team…he didn't want to take the ball back down the court to his OWN team’s hoop…he wanted to shoot it at the closest one!

The whole crowd was yelling “Wrong basket….go the OTHER WAY!!” And when the light bulb finally went off for him, everyone cheered as he dribbled that big ball down the court to go attempt a basket in the “RIGHT” hoop. TOO CUTE!

And it reminded me that this is what sports should be about. This is why we love college sports while not really paying attention to professional sports. Some of the joy just goes out of the process when there is money involved. When it is a job, instead of a love.

SO --- our team got SLAUGHTERED! But we had a wonderful time, and came home with DOOR PRIZES, after all, it was Free T-shirt Day!

It’s a pretty gastly picture! But we were having a good time. And the best treat of all? ICE CREAM! Wake Forest’s colors are yellow/gold and black. And they had Oreo Cookie ice cream that they had colored yellow with the black cookie bits in it----FUN! Should have taken a pic of that, but I was too busy eating it!

It was a great way to spend the evening with DH’s co workers and their families….I hope we can do it again!