How Lucky Can You Get?

I really enjoy participating in all of the blog hops that Madame Samm comes up with.  I have only made blocks for 2 of them, but I always visit the blogs on the hop and see what everyone is doing.  It's a great way to get ideas and to find blogs you might enjoy reading.  Sometimes when I stop to make a comment, I notice other comments that sound interesting and I check out the blogs of the quilters who wrote them.  That's how I found The Slow Quilter.  I liked a comment that she made on my favorite blog Vroomans Quilts.  The rest is history.  I enjoy The Slow Quilter's warm, friendly style.  I always feel like she is bringing her quilts and lovely bags to my house and sharing a cup of tea with me.  Obviously, many other people enjoy reading her blog because she is almost at 100 followers.  I won the R/W/B blog hop giveaway at the Slow Quilter's blog.

It included some beautiful batik fabrics.

The Slow Quilter collects turtles and sent a beautifully carved wood turtle from Malawi, Africa to guard the fabric and make sure it got to its destination.     It has a bottle opener on the under side.  When I was a nursery school teacher at the Nature Center, we had many animals who were injured and could not be released into the wild.  My favorite was a one eyed Eastern Box turtle named Willi.  Although this turtle has 2 perfectly good eyes, he is now called Willi.

Included in the package was a special surprise.  This wallet is made in Ghana from recycled water containers.  It has a velcro closing so it is not only environmental sensible, it's also very practical.

Thank you Slow Quilter for the lovely giveaway and for sharing your work and wry sense of humor on your blog.  Stop by and have a visit with The Slow Quilter.  You'll be glad you did.  Just don't read her post on Underwear Dust if you have a mouth full of liquid, it may end up on your key board.

Welcome Christmas Blog Hoppers

Thank you Madame Samm and Lesley for putting together another fun blog hop for all of us to enjoy.  I'm embarrassed to admit, I've been so busy I have only been able to visit a few blogs during this  hop.  Hopefully, I can catch up and see them all this weekend.  Welcome!  Please come in and take a look at my Christmas tree.  Doesn't it smell wonderful?

Two years ago, Denise at Just Quiltin with Denise Russart organized a swap featuring a snow globe block that she designed and distributed for free.  I loved each of the 8.5 inch blocks that I received.  I must have loved them so much that I put them in a treasure chest and buried them, because I can't find them or the pattern we used.  Using Denise's block for inspiration and a cake plate to trace the shape, I came up with my own 12.5 inch version.  Although Denise is not one of the stops on the blog hop, visit her blog to download a gorgeous butterfly quilt she is sharing.

I'm sorry for the poor quality of the pictures of my blocks, but I snapped them at 11:00pm.  Hopefully, I will be able to edit the post and put in better quality photos tomorrow.  The snowman is machine embroidered on the tree print fabric.  I think they look kinda sorta like the real thing if you squint.

Sally over at Sew Wonderful has a great tutorial for the Disappearing 4 Patch, also known as the 4 to 9 patch block.  I decided to put a wintry spin on the block by adding some Redwork snowmen. Charming Station Embroidery offers free Redwork machine embroidery designs of snowmen and clever sayings to go with them.  Over 200 of their free snowmen designs are available to download for machine embroidery.   I embroidered the snowmen on 10 inch squares and trimmed the squares to 7 inches with the snowmen centered on the square.  Major error!!!  I did not take into account that when creating the 4 patch block you cut one inch from the seam both vertically and horizontally.  As you can see, the snowman with the song book is too close to the edge.  I embroidered the squares before we left for vacation so it was too late to embroider another block.  I love the block, but when I get back to my embroidery machine he will be replaced.   I am showing this block as a cautionary tale and to remind myself that Sister Diane Marie  was right 49 years ago when she told us that geometry/math is an important skill.  If only I had paid attention.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to visit the other blogs scheduled for today.

Creations On The Island
That Other Blog
Sunshine Girl
Hallbrook Designs
The Recipe Bunny
Sisca At The Other Blog
Polka Dot Classic
Ariane Quilts
Katie's Salt Marsh Path (you are here)
The Cuddle Quilter