More Winnings...

A big thank you to Lavender Ridge.  Don't you just love those bright pinks and blues?  My granddaughter did.  Hmmmm...I might have to make something for her with them.  These winnings were part of the Fall into Fall blog hop too.  It is so much fun to win!

I won!

Look what I won!  It's the Nostalgia Honey Bun from Inchworm Fabrics.  Their blog was one of many that had giveaways going for Fall.  It's always fun to win something.  The fabrics are really delicate.  They'll make a lovely quilt. Thanks to all the quilting bloggers who participated in the fun blog hop.

Candy, candy, and more candy

Today is Sweetest Day....who knew?  Did you get candy?  More importantly, did you GIVE candy.  After all, that is the true origin of Sweetest day....to give candy to cheer people up.

Sweetest Day started in Cleveland in 1922.  Herbert Birch Kingston was a philanthropist and candy company employee who wanted to bring happiness into the lives of orphans, shut-ins, and other people generally forgotten.  He got together some friends and began to distribute candy and small gifts to the underprivileged.  His friends included two famous actresses of the day.  Movie star, Ann Pennington, gave boxes of candy to 2200 Cleveland newspaper boys to thank them for their public service.  Another popular movie star, Theda Bara,  distributed 10,000 boxes of candy to people in the hospitals in Cleveland.  She also passed out candy to all the people who came to watch her film in a local theater.

Started as a regional holiday, Sweetest Day is now observed on the 3rd Saturday in the month of October, across the country.

It's just a nice way to warm up our taste buds for all that Halloween candy soon to come.

Celebrate!

There's a holiday just about every day, if you look for one.  Today is National Bring Teddy Bear to Work Day.  It's a day for celebrating the Teddy Bear and the joy, and stress relief, it brings to children of all ages.

 Now I know all about Teddy Bears.  I still have the one I grew up with although I must admit he's a bit worse for wear.  My daughter has hers and had a difficutl time explaining to Mackenzie that it was "Mommy's bear".  That's because Mackenzie has several bears along with assorted other stuffed animals, all of which bring her joy, although there is only one Bear.  She makes every effort to bring one bear or another with her whenever she can.

 I don't plan on actually taking a bear to work, but I think I will try to carry the spirit of National Bring Teddy Bear to Work day with me.  We all can use a little stress relief now and then, and what better than to bring a bear to mind whenever things get a little crazy.

Local, Not Global

The world has gone global with the internet and international industry.  We can buy and sell across the country or overseas at the click of a button.  But what about our local economy?

 Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not abandoning shopping on the internet.  I'm all about a good bargain, and finding unique things I don't see in the local store.  But when it is the same product, to buy it locally, from a PERSON, makes a huge difference.  Your local purchase puts dollars to work in your community.  Someone gets a paycheck, which they in turn, hopefully, also spend in your community.  The tax money goes to your local school system, etc.

While no one wants to say we are in a depression, and I'm not sure how economists define that anyway, it is clear that our economy is struggling.  Just about everyone I know is having to belt tighten and pinch pennies.  Government stimulus dollars won't help, if we send our own dollars out of our communities.

That's it.  That's my soap box stand for today.  So go check out your local farmer's markets, your local stores, and your neighbor's small businesses.  It'll be good for you, and good for your community.

Quilting Challenges

October had some design challenges for my quilting.  The first was the variable star for Block Lotto.  It was a lesson in value.  The background was supposed to be light, while the star was made from medium and dark fabrics.  I tried to ignore color and just look at the value of the material.  The first thing I found was that I didn't have many pieces of material in color that would be considered light in value.  That's something I will have to remedy.  The other thing I realized was that even neutrals like beige were not necessarily light in value.  Interesting challenge.  I hope these two blocks came out okay.

The other challenge was a for my Stay at Home Robin.  This is always a challenge in that I have no idea where we are going.  This month we were supposed to add a 3x9 strip to the left side.  I had a great piece of print that I knew I wanted to use, but as I laid it along side the quilt so far I realized I had a couple of problems.  One was that I had used sharp points and also curves already.  So I wanted to find a way to incorporate both shape elements in this piece.  The other thing I wanted to do, was to spread the hint of green a little further.  Here's what I came up with.  Hope it works.

Both were fun and made me think.