200 Followers Celebration Giveaway

"Friends are like fabric - you can never have enough!"
                                                ~author unknown

It's Monday!  Like you needed to be reminded.  How was your weekend?  My Saturday was busy but Sunday was rather restful.  Saturday morning was our normal run to the Farmer's Market where I probably over bought because of not being able to go the previous weekend. I felt like I was in a fresh produce drought last week - lol.  Next we were off to the Cruise 99, a car show being held downtown.  There were some absolutely spectacular cars on display (pictures further down in the blog).  Then to lunch and on to our ALS Support Group meeting.  There we said good-bye to our case manager of 5 years and met the incoming case manager.  Two hours later we were on the road to Petsmart - have to feed Weasley and Snickerdoodle!  And finally home about 4:30.  A very full day and I was pooped.  Sunday was much more relaxing even if it was wash day.  We were able to sit outside for a couple of hours enjoying the Sunday paper and a cup of coffee.  I managed to complete one more hexagon flower for my GFG quilt (picture on One Flower Wednesday) and started assembling the garden.  We caught up on some shows on the DVR (we're over a week behind) and just generally vegged.

Photo Of The Day:

Coast Redwood in our backyard

Coast redwoods range from southern Oregon to central California, extending not more than fifty miles inland- only as far as the coastal climate has its influence. Fog plays a vital role in the survival of these trees, protecting them from the summer drought conditions typical of this area. They also need abundant winter rain and moderate year round temperatures. In ideal conditions a coast redwood can grow 2-3 feet in height annually, but when the trees are stressed from lack of moisture and sunlight they may grow as little as one inch per year.  We have 7 of these trees in our little backyard.  This is my attempt at bringing the mountains to our valley home.

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Here are a few of the cars that we saw at the car show on Saturday:

 This last car belongs to a friend of ours.  He completely restored the car by himself (except for the paint job).
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Friday's mail brought me my first block from the Australian Block Swap.  An envelope arrived from Cathy, who lives in Golden Grove South Australia.  She sent me a beautiful green and white block in the Blazing Arrows block that I requested.  She included a post card "Greetings From Adelaide" with a picture of the Rundle Mall.

Isn't it pretty!?!

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As I previously mentioned, I was able to start assembling my Garden for my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  My 'stepping stones' are just a plain white but I thought that it was the best way to really make the bright colors of my flowers pop.

I can't even imagine how many flowers or stepping stones it will take to make a full quilt.  But I haven't set myself any time limits and am thoroughly enjoying creating each and every flower.

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This giveaway is now closed.  The winner will be announced Monday, October 18, 2010

200 FOLLOWERS!!  I can't believe I now have over 200 followers.  Thank you all for deciding to follow my rants and raves, creations and failures, hopes and dreams.  Calls for a celebration - don't you agree?  How about another giveaway?  Would you like some fabric?  How about these.............

This is a set of 5 - 1/2 yard cuts of fabric from the line called "Indian Summer Style" by Hoffman California International Fabrics.  These are really pretty fabrics!  You can't really tell it but each piece of fabric is highlighted with sparkly gold in the leaves (I just couldn't get a decent picture - sorry).  You could win 2 1/2 yards of fabric to add to your stash!  Here is what you have to do to enter:

1.  Leave me a comment on this posting - anything you want to say.  Let me know why you quilt, or what you are doing today, or what the weather's like  -  I think you get the idea

2.  And, if you would like a second chance to win this fabric, blog about this giveaway and come back here, leave me a separate comment and tell me that you did and include a link to your blog.  This must be done in a separate comment or you won't get two counted entries.

That's it!  Simple enough don't you think?  This giveaway will close Sunday, October 17th at 6:00 pm PST.  The winner will be selected using random.org.  I will announce the winner on Monday, October 18 in my posting for that day.

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GIVEAWAYS

Kati over at The Blue Chair is having a great giveaway.  She is giving away personalized blog business cards (a $50 value) and four fat quarters of Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry.  This ends Oct. 13th.

Molly from Molly's Place is giving away a subscription to McCall's Quilting. Not sure when this one ends.

Have you checked out the Fall Into Fall Bloggers Giveaway?  There are around 140 blogs participating and 8 businesses all holding a giveaway.  Make sure you check them out!  I still haven't made it all of the way through the list!

And, of course, don't forget that I, too, am participating in the Fall Into Fall Giveaway.  You can enter my giveaway HERE.  In this giveaway I'm giving away a darling quilt kit!!
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Final Thought

When I started this blog I thought having just 5 followers would be an amazing accomplishment - and, even then I thought I would have to beg family members to sign on.  Once I reached 100 followers I thought that would be the top goal I could attain.  But you all have made me so happy by becoming my followers, whether daily readers or if you just stop by for the occasional visit.  I am blessed to have each and every one of you in my life.  So many of you already seem like close friends just from our little comments to each other via email.  I know that I won't ever meet the majority of you, but I want you all to know I honestly do appreciate your comments and friendship through my daily journeys called life.  You bring a special sunshine to my day!!  Thank you all so very much for becoming a follower of Stray Stitches!!

My First Flower!

"When life throws you scraps, make a quilt!"
                                                           ~author unknown

It's the first day of September!  Can you believe the summer months have gone by so fast?  I know the hot temps still linger, but at least there is now hope for cooler things to come.


Today I will share one of my favorite birds to enter my yard - the Western Scrub Jay

The Jay comes into my yard to eat the unsalted peanuts that I place out daily for him and his friends.  Researchers have studied the ability of scrub jays to hide and remember seeds.  I constantly find peanuts hidden in my garden and also in places you wouldn't think that they would use - a bag of potting soil, an empty watering can, between two bricks, and more.  My two mini doxies also find these hidden peanuts and are quite talented at removing the shell so they can eat the peanut inside.  This species of Jays are known to feed on parasites on the body of mule deers (something we don't have around her), hopping over the head and body of the deer to get them.  A group of Jays are known as a "band", "cast", "party", and "scold" of Jays.  They certainly are one of the few colorful birds we have around here.

Yesterday I was able to sew my previously finished row to the rest of the top and finish 2 more blocks on my Minnesota Stars Quilt.  Only 3 more to go and I will have a completed quilt top! 

I recently joined a blogging group called One Flower Wednesday.  The only requirement is to complete at least one hexagon flower every Wednesday and to post your progress at least once a month.  You can join this group by either clicking on the link above or on the button on my side bar. 

I am so excited to be starting my first Flower Garden quilt.  My inspiration came from my Grandmother's quilt that I shared in a previous blog.  But here is a picture of it again in case you missed it the first time around.

My favorite quilt made by my paternal Grandmother

I have been following the excellent tutorial, Hand Sewing Hexagons, presented by Jaybird Quilts.  Julie Herman does a wonderful job of explaining the step by step process of hand sewing hexagons and has clear, precise photos to aid in the learning process.  Julie does such a fantastic job that I'm not even going to try and match her tutorial with one of my own.

I have only created one flower so far.  I am trying to resist the urge to sit down every afternoon to create more and more flowers until the SIL's Christmas Stocking is finished.  I know that if I quit working on the stocking now, it may well be several more Christmases that he will have to use the ugly store bought stocking he has had to use for the last several years.  This hasn't stopped me from going through my stash of fat quarters and scraps picking out fabrics for future flowers.  I am going away from the traditional by selecting bright colors and also creating single petal flowers instead of double row flowers.  My goal is to have no two flowers be the same. 

I purchased Quilt Patis as suggested by Julie in her tutorial.  This saves from having to cut out paper templates and they really don't cost that much considering they can be used repeatedly.  I had ordered them through a quilt store up the valley but they were back ordered.  After a 10 day wait they called and said that they were unsure of when they would get a new supply.  So, I just ordered straight from the home source at The Home Of The Original Quilt Patis.  I called and talked to a very nice person who completed my order in no time.  I received the templates 4 days later! 

I selected the 1" hexagon templates for my flowers.  My grandmother's are 1 1/4"  hexagon finished size, so I went with the smaller instead of the larger 1 1/2".  Besides, the 1 1/2" hexagon templates were on back order (they aren't any longer according the website) and I didn't want to wait any longer.  The day I received the templates, I immediately pulled out a couple scraps, traced around the templates and cut away.  I even did a little fussy cutting!  Following Julie's directions, the flower went together easily.  Here is my first ever hand sewn hexagon flower...............

Can you see that there is a ladybug in the center of each petal?

Next I need to decide what color of fabric to use for the hexagons separating the flowers.  Green?  Blue?  Yellow? ???????  I couldn't decide so I have ordered a collection of Light Solid Sampler, Light Samplers, Mirage Muted Samplers, Tone on Tone Charms, and Sugar Coated Charms all from my favorite online store, Connecting Threads.  I figured this would give me a good idea of what was available and I would be working with the real thing and would not have to guess if my computer was showing me the true color.  Those should arrive some time this week. 

Here is just a sampling of some of the bright scraps I will be working with:

"Not again, Mom!"  says Snickerdoodle

These are my "babies" Snickerdoodle and Weasley, long-haired mini daschaunds being covered with just the beginning of the scraps I started throwing in their direction for future flowers.  I have a very large stack now along with numerous fat quarters that I pulled from my enormous  somewhat large stash.

As you can tell, I am very excited about starting this project.  So each Wednesday, you will be able to view at least one new flower I have created (or maybe more than one).  This will definitely take me some time to complete, but I'm in no rush.  I figure it won't get boring working with a different fabric for each flower, and with the bright colors it will certainly be cheerful.

Have you heard of any new giveaways?  Or, perhaps, you are having a giveaway that you would like me to include in my blog.  If so, drop me a line and I will include it (and sign up for a chance too!). 

GIVEAWAYS

Lacquer Wear For Tips And Toes is having a birthday giveaway.  She is giving a way lots, and lots, and lots of great stuff.  Check it out.  This ends September 30th.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We've made it to the middle of the week and now it's a downhill slide to the three day weekend.  If you have a giveaway that you would like me to post, please contact me.  Remember, when I reach 50 Stitching Companions (followers) I will host my second giveaway!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!