One Piece at a Time: February 2011

And the WINNER is

Brenda, who also just turned 50, what a fun coincidence!

She wrote

"I just turned 50 on Sunday. Hard to believe that 50 years have gone by. Thanks for giving gifts on your birthday. Happy happy birthday! My favorite way to celebrate is by going out to dinner and then havingcake and ice cream."

Thanks to everyone for playing along. Check back later this week for a new ruler tutorial and chaance to win!

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Thanks!

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely lovely birthday wishes. I had a wonderful day. I will share more on the touching gift my children gave me later on. For now, just know that I shopped for fabric (it was mostly pink) relaxed, had a taco party with my extended family and ate A LOT. Luckily, I don’t have to buy bigger pants. My design wall is empty this Monday since I haven’t gotten too much done these past few days. I will announce the GIVE-AWAY winner later on when I recover a little from my chocolate cake/girl scout cookie/Oscar hangover.

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The AWESOME Story

I can think of no better way to begin the next 50 years of my life than by watching this!

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The Fabulous 50 GIVE-AWAY

By this time tomorrow I will be fifty. I want to thank all of you who have written such lovely messages this week…it has been really great. And to show that appreciation I have a GIVE-AWAY! Here are a couple of pictures:

To enter just leave a comment telling us all what your favorite way to celebrate YOUR birthday is and I will pick a winner on Monday.

Don't Forget: Today is the last day of the Aurifil Blog Hop!

Todays websites are:

Sew Cal Gal www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/
I have a notion ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/

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A great video...go PAT

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The WINNERS are

Julee, who wrote:

“I find that my hand applique is very relaxing. Really like the block and thanks for the giveaway.”

And

Cindy, who wrote:

“Quilting! In fact, doctor prescribed quilting. Yep, said I had to keep stress level down and immune system strong to keep a pesky health issue at bay. I went home and said "honey, the doctor said I need to quilt". “

Thanks to everyone for playing along.

Check back tomorrow for a BIG GIVE-AWAY!

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Making Flowers...the VIDEO

Is everyone enjoying the Aurifil Blog Hop as much as I am> I have to say this is a nice way for people like me (ones who hate driving) to have the fun without having to spend a whole day driving around. Today's stops are:

* Stitchen heaven http://blog.stitchinheaven.com/blog/
* Quilting Gallery quiltinggallery.com/

I did a little video on how I made the pink flowers for my Aurifil Blog Hop block. Part of why I find applique relaxing is that all my shapes are made like this.

Enjoy.

I will post the thread winners a little later today!

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R is for RELAXING

When people ask me why I like to appliqué so much I usually tell them “because it’s relaxing”. If they are quilters they usually get it. Non crafty people usually look a little dismayed and take a few steps away from me. But IT’S TRUE! Applique is very relaxing…especially when you have a really nice thread like Aurifil. Ever since I have been appliquéing with Aurifil thread no one has heard any cursing coming out of my sewing room, seriously! This thread almost never tangles and knots up. There are never any thick blubs to mess up your stitching and the thread just sucks right in to you fabric so you can hardly even see it. I even got a bit swoony when Pat asked me to do this Blog Hop.

Today I have two packs of thread to give away.There is one spool of each of the weights of cotton that Aurifil makes and one spool of wool. Just leave a comment telling us something you find relaxing and I will pick a winner with my handy dandy random number generator.

Here is your link for downloading my block:Relaxing Roses

Download Relaxing Roses

The other person for today is

Thimbleanna at www.thimbleanna.com

So head on over there after you leave your comments here.

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An Issue Near and Dear to my Heart...um literally

Since I am turning 50 this Saturday I can't help but remember that my mom died of breast cancer when she was only 51.I found this video from TED last week and I hope you guys take time to watch it because it might just save your life and I want to keep you guys around as quilting buddies for the next 50 years.

on a happier note are you guys having fun with the blog hop?If you have no idea what I'm talking about see the previous post.

Todays stops are

* Pink Chalk Studio pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/
* Lizzie B Girls dreamlaughcreate.blogspot.com/

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First Ever Aurifil Blog Hop…and ..um..my last week in my 40’s

Big things are happening here in my little world. First, today is DAY 1 of the first EVER Aurifil Blog Hop.
I want to thank Pat Sloan for asking me to be a part of this. Here’s the scoop: visit nine blogs and pick up 9 patterns(mine is pictured above) to make a lovely 9 block quilt. Leave comments on all nine blogs to enter the drawing for this (try not to swoon too much)