Happy Birthday Week

It's birthday week at our house.Don't you just love the LSU Garden Gnome. I didn't even know they existed. It is a gift to  DS to his Dad. Thursday was DH's day and Saturday is our oldest son's day. Since this week was a bit wild for both of them, we celebrated last Sunday. Sorry, I forgot to take photos, but the  meal and cake were fabulous:) Today, the landscapers arrived to do the work in our front yard. A tree needed to be removed, shrubbery replaced and sod added. DH was in his element. For years, we've done all the work ourselves. His treat this year was to hire someone else to do the work. 

A finished job!

Giveaways around Blogland!

Mary at Quilt Hollow has a copy of the book Country Comfort by Cheryl Wall. Cheryl has a second book coming out in the Summer of 2012 with Martingale & Company. Enter the giveaway, visit Cheryl's website. If you need a long-arm quilter for your quilts, Mary does AMAZING work.

Pat Sloan is hosting a Blog Hop for her new book, What A Novel Idea. Visit Pat's post on Monday. There is still time to visit all the blogs, but Friday is the last day.
Tuesday – 4/19/11       Carrie Nelson: - lavieenrosie.typepad.com

Wednesday  – 4/20/11
Victoria Findlay Wolfe – bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com/ 
Amy Ellis –amyscreativeside.com/

Thursday – 4/21/11
Amanda Herring – thequiltedfish.typepad.com/the-quilted-fish/ 
Barb and Mary at Me and My Sister – meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/

Friday – 4/22/11
Gudrun Erla – gudrun.typepad.com/
Erin Gilday – http://patchworkunderground.com/blog/

Please remember to enter my giveaway for a Lapel Stick.

Double Nickles and a Give-Away

1. 
   

Double Nickels!

The number 55

The Year 1955 

All of these  are important in my life. I was born in the year 1955. This is the year I celebrate 55 years of "a life of many blessings."  Double nickels reminds me of "nickels", quilting charms, 5 inch squares, charm packs. 

Not one,

But TWO charm packs!

Double 55's, Double Nickles, Double Charm Packs!  Please help me celebrate my birthday this week by participating in my blog give-away. When we visited the quilt shop in Blue Ridge on Monday, a new fabric line just spoke to me. It's by Moda, of course. The fabric line is "Blessings" by Brannock and Patek. I wanted to keep the charm packs for me, but I have already so many "blessings" in my life. You, my quilting friends in blogland, have been a wonderful blessing this past two and a half years since I began sharing my life with you as "The Quilting Booklady." 

My 2010 birthday give-away is 2 charm packs (double nickels) of Moda's Blessings by Linda Brannock ( my quilting  friend Carmen's mother) & ; Jan Patek, a bit of yardage from Blessings and a Scnibble pattern. The two charm packs and the yardage could be used with any of the Schnibbles patterns.  

Please leave a comment sharing with me the traditions or special blessings you enjoy in celebrating your birthday. One year, I attended an aerobic dance class (my first and last) to celebrate my day. Most years, I now try to take a long walk in the morning to celebrate and reflect. I love having cake to celebrate birthdays. German Chocolate is one of my favorites. My family often has a special dinner to celebrate in the evening. Sometimes we go out to eat at a restaurant. Sometimes, we cook a special meal. Grilled steak or salmon are two of my favorites. My sister-in-law often joins me one of the days in the week of my birthday for lunch and lots of visiting. A quilt shop visit is often on the agenda for my special week. This year should be no different:)

I'd love to have you become one of my blog followers. Becoming a follower or letting me know that you are already a Follower, will add an additional chance to win.

Thanks for helping me celebrate this special "Double Nickel" year ! I'll announce the winner sometimes next weekend. Take care!

Places to Visit

Well, blog places to visit that is.  My friend Brenda celebrates her birthday this month. She has an awesome give-away to help celebrate this event. Visit her blog The Quilting Cowgirl and leave a comment to get your name in the drawing.

Another neat place to visit is the blog for The Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop.  Melisa, owner of Sweet Home Quilt Shop has a super give-away, a Sweet Treat bag.  The shop hop is March 26 - March 29th and includes nine wonderful quilt shops in the metro Atlanta area. Melisa and the other shop owners are asking for feedback on shop hops - what you like best what you like least and ideas from other shop hops. Hop over to this blog, make a comment and get a chance to win. Please mention that I sent you so I have a chance at a Moda Mini Honey Bun Bake Shop Box (that's a mouthful)

I think I'll hop on up to bed. I'm reading Eldest, the second book in the Eragon series. On a cold night like tonight, curled up in bed with a pile of quilts and a good book is the best place to be.

   

Our Baby is 18

Gosh, I can't believe it's been over a week since I've posted.  This is just not my Winter to be organized and motivated.  Oh well......   

Last week marked a milestone for my husband and me. Our baby celebrated his eigtheenth birthday last Wednesday. He wanted to eat-out that evening. We had some gift cards that we had received as gifts so he choose Outback Steakhouse which was one of our gift cards. Our oldest son,  Jason,  joined the celebration. Jason lived with us this past year while getting settled financially and emotionally from his divorce. He is now in an apartment so it was great visiting with him, too. 

On Friday, Michael and a group of friends went to one of our malls for dinner and a movie. They returned to our house for an all-nighter with video games and lots of food. I spent the better part of the week picking up snacks, drinks etc. for their celebration. The fellas were great. They didn't sleep, but kept the noise down so that we could. The ate almost everything in sight including an entire cookie cake our friend Kathy baked for the occasion.  After cooking breakfast for the crew, they returned home to sleep. 

It's so hard to believe that our little one has grown-up. He has been a blessing in our life. Our years have been enriched with his presence. Happy Birthday, dear Michael!

Favorite Halloween Costume

My quilting friend, Gretchen at Stella Bella Quilts is celebrating her birthday this Friday. To celebrate she is having a birthday give-away. Gretchen shared a picture of her favorite Halloween costume, ISIS,  from her childhood. We didn't have "real" costumes at my house growing-up. We also didn't have many photographs. My favorite costume was in 1991. My school celebrated by dressing as  book characters. Most of the staff dressed in white with black dots. We were "101 Dalmatians."  which was first a book before it was made into a movie.  My son, Michael, was born in 1991. For his first Halloween, he was a dalmatian, too. Here we are together for his first "Trick or Treat."

And The Winner Is.....

Sorry about the delay in my birthday give-away drawing. It's just been "crazy" busy here. In addition to a hectic schedule, we've had some computer issues. 

I put everyone's entries on a slip of paper. Put the

 paper in a bowl. I attempted to have Rusy, our Dachshund, do the honors, but he was more interested in the "

treat" I hid in the bowl. Finally, my son did the honors. Sue R. from North Winds Quilting in Maine is the winner. Sue, please send me your address. I'll get the package in the mail.

Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday! I loved visiting your blogs. I loved seeing which quilting book/magazine/quilters that you chose for your favorite.

Happy Quilting!

Sharing Favorite Quilt Books

It has been great fun reading the comments and checking blogs to discover the favorite quilting books of blogging friends. 

Pat at the blog Bell Creek Quilts e-mailed me to see if it was ok to post favorite quilt patterns. This drawing is  all about sharing our love of quilting so I said sure. Pat posted pictures of several quilts she had made from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website and Mary Johnson's Mary Quilts website. Pat's post is a great tribute to these two incredibly generous quilters. I have "religiously" followed their blogs for a number of years. Bonnie's blog is Quiltville's Quips & Snips . Mary's blog is Making Scrap Quilts from Stash. Great blogs! Great quilts.

Maggie's favortie book is Garden Party by Cynthis Tomazewaki. It is one for applique lovers especially lovers of flowers.

Sue R. at North Winds Quilting (also owned by a dachshund) chose Jinny Beyer's Color Confidence for Quilters as her favorite. She has a picture of a fabulous quilt she made from the book.

Julia shared the same title as Lori in South Dakota. Her favorite is Big Book of Best-Loved Quilt Patterns.

Margo at Heart in His Hand Quilting  selected Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston's book Collaborative Quilting as her favorite. Her quilt Colorful Waves is from this book.

Sewinsharon's favorite is Charm Quilts With Style by Bobbie Aug and Sharon Newman.

Mary at My Needle and Thread by Mary posted a fabulous snowman quilt Sampling of Snowmen from her favorite book Winter Whimsies by Suellen Wassem. 

Laura at Pine Ridge Quilter  chose Liberated String Quilts (one I actually own) by Gwen Marston. Her quilt from that book is awesome.

Quiltma has two favorites, I Can't Believe I'm Quilting and Quick Quilt Tricks by Billie Lauder.

Brenda, ( who helped me spend some of my birthday $$$$ this morning at Sweet Home),   "The Quilting Cowgirl" listed two favorite quilt books. Stack A New Deal by Karla Alexander and Creative Quilt Collection Volume 1 from That Patchwork Place. Brenda's quilt from Stack A New Deal was a fantastic gift.

I have started a list of all these titles. I have several to search for and possibly add to my quilting library. Thanks ladies for helping me celebrate my birthday. It's been a great two days actually. Hate to limit the celebrating to just one day:)

There is still time to get your name included in the drawing. We will pull the winning name sometime later tomorrow. I did pick up a new charm pack from Sweet Home this morning. I love anything and everything by Three Sisters. This one is Shangri-La. I'm having trouble parting with it.

Trying Not to Whine

Pollen. Springtime in Atlanta is magically beautiful. It is my favorite time of year. Pollen in Atlanta is brutal. I've completed the entire allergy/allergist routine for years and years. I'm faithful with medications and indoor environmental controls. This year the pollen just seems to be taking it's toll. Add to the mix that we have four weeks of school left. State testing has been the last two weeks. It's all been draining. Ok. That's out of my system. I have faithfully read blogs this week, but haven't felt up to posting a comment or creating a new post.

This week has been the week of birthdays. Last Saturday, we had our crawfish boil with our dear friends and neighbors, Kathy and George. Kathy is from New Orleans. George is from Meridian. Monday, was my husband's actual birthday. We ordered Chinese and had a semi-party.  Wednesday was our oldest son's birthday. We all went out to eat at a  Mexican restaurant. Thursday was the Spring Band Concert for our youngest son. Saturday was the Spring carnival for my school. My son and I volunteered for a time to help our PTA group. These are the ladies that help me at book fair time. 

Michael, my youngest son, is back from New York City. The high school band takes a trip every two years. They don't bring instruments. It is just a tour/fun trip. He had a blast. The highlight of the trip for him was a visit to the Nintendo World shop. Video games especially all things Nintendo are his passion. He purchased a T-shirt that he proudly wore to school on Monday.  We all have our obsessions. Michael's is videogames. My husband's is cooking/grilling. He owns six bar-b-que pits. Jason, our oldest son, loves music especially gus guitar and music by The Beatles. Of course, my obsession is quilting/fabric/sewing machines. 

The end of the month is closing in on me. I set a goal to finish one quilt a month. I have been working on two projects. Step 2 of Orange Crush and my Christmas Toile quilt. I'm pushing ahead to finish the top for Christmas Toile. I'm sewing the rows together. I've been working on it off and on since November. This will be a big finish. It used quite a bit of fabric. I pinned all the rows last night. I'm hoping to get the top assembled today. It's another busy week with lots of end-of-year activities. Here's hoping I meet my goal.

Have a wonderful, relaxing Sunday!