Weekly Theme Quilt Along , Book Review

Love is in the air and this is the blouse I made  to wear on valentines day.  I love the fabric and hershey's kissses too  especially with almonds.

I was surprised when I received  e-mail from Charlene over at " t'was brillig and" that my Christmas Ornaments block had
won the weekly theme contest. To that end I recommend you give it a try. If you want to see what the weekly theme contest is all about go to quiltinggallery.com and click on the link that say's weekly theme contest.

And the icing on the cake are the Quilters Cookbooks  I received for joining contest. The recipes in the book are irresistible
and the book also includes photos of beautiful quilts. The title "quick and easy recipes"  say's it all.  I was charmed by the editors relationship to cooking and quilting. She said "there never seems to be enough time to quilt that's why the book is called quick
and easy so we can get back to quilting".   There are recipes from over 100 quilters and include dishes like "Red and White
Chili, Cheeseburger Meatloaf, Crandberry Chicken Bake,  all the way to  pure bliss desserts.

Any new book get's  me excited  especially when it is a gift. I was the luckly  winner of Tiny' hobbyhoekje (blog)  book giveaway, Color and Cloth during the blog hop party giveaway.

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This book made me weak in the knee's as I read about the connection between color and cloth. Good writing on color sure does
make a difference and this book does just that. Mary Coyne Penders take you step by step in what you need to know to
answer the question that most of us wonder "what will my quilt look like". She tackles topics as varied as making a color wheel, visual texture and building a fabric collection

The book opened my eyes to the many ways to use color and cloth in my quilts. I like the fact that the book includes skill
building exercises. I have not completed all the workpages but when I do I will beable to use the book as a reference. Although
published in 1989 the book is well worth exploring.

Enjoyed the quilt guild meeting this morning.  There were over 60 quilters attending and I was a new visitor. Now that my workload is reduced I will have time to visit again.

Peace, love, and art,
Angela

Sharing Blog Hop Party Goodies and bits and pieces

Here are pictures of the wonderful packages I received in the mail from the blog hop party in December over at Michele Foster's
blog, http://www.quiltinggallery.com/


                                                           Sleigh full of Goodies

The book "Color and Cloth" fabric and postcards
     

 

                         

Sun-Printed fabric and Merit badges

                 

Coordinating fat quarters and pattern

I am a happy camper for winning these goodies and thank the bloggers who sent them to me. I joined bacause I was curious but

never in my wildest imanigation  about being a winner. 

On the home front 2012 is off to a good start. Find time to sew a little bit but spend the bulk of time picking up the pieces

from the restoration work I had done in late Nov. and Dec. new roof, carport ceilings,  and inside ceilings. Most of the damage was from the floods we had in early spring. Overall pleased with the work done and give  credit to my dear brother who

orchestrated all of this.

Classes at the U of M began  on Tuesday and we have been very busy at the bookstore where I am working during rush. The days go by fast and I  am amazed at the price of books today, the average price per semester being $700. But a nice incentive is the buy back option at the 

end of the semester where the student can sell the books back to the store.  This is a great incentive and oh how I wish this was an

option back in my day .

Peace, love, and art,

Angela

Happy Holidays, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year

                             

I love everything about the holidays. When I was a child we started preparing for Christmas shortly after Thanksgiving. We put the decorations up 2 weeks before Christmas and took the tree down before 12am New Years eve. Mom and dad are
gone now and  I have started a tradition of  celebrating Kwanzaa the African American holiday celebrated from December
26  through January 1.  Kwanzaa is a Swahilli term that signifies " first fruits of the harvest".


For the past several years I have joined  a kwanzaa swap by sending fabric postcards and exchanging kwanzaa blocks.
Here is the fabric postcard I made for the exchange.  A ear of corn is stenciled on felt. The  corn (muhndi) is placed on the mkeka (woven straw mat)  to symbolize  celebration of children,  community, and family.
                                                                
Kwanzaa Fabric Post Card

                                    

Over the holidays I will be quilting the Kwanzaa top I made for my neighbor and upstarting several other holiday projects.  It is never to early to start Christmas projects . I got a head start on Christmas dinner but brother and I had dinner at a friends house.  I miss dad so very much as this is our first Christmas without him. He loved Christmas and always helped out with the cooking.  I hope you are enjoying your holiday with family and friends and may it be filled with joy and happiness.

Peace, love, and art,

Angela

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