We have a Winner

Random Generator picked a winner!  I had to go to all the posts where I mentioned the giveaway and tally up how many entrants I had and then give them a number. Then to RG for a pick.  And my winner is Barbara Woods of Wont-to-bequilter . Congratulations, Barbara! I have sent you an email. Please send me your snail mail and I'll get the book out to you.

Thank you to all who entered my giveaway.  I tried to go to all the blogs represented by your entries.  It was fun and I saw some wonderful eye candy.  I plan on next year remembering to sign up for GYB early enough to be included in the official roster. Vicki did a wonderful job of helping bloggers grow their blog and meet each other in Net Land.
Vicki will have the link up all year, so there's plenty of time to meet new bloggers and share your blog with them.

WIPs Be Gone Week 7

Can you believe that? Week 7 of 2015! I can't.  I'm happy to report some progress was made - well at least a little bit on 3 wips.

Another flower for Wip #3. I wish I'd had more of the green to fussy cut those hexagons around the bunny(they're more green than they look).  It seemed appropriate to make him the center with those hearts around him.  Happy Valentine's Day, Saturday.

My cranes (wip #4) got another border around them. This block is now ready for some batting and quilting and then piping and the back.

Every day I try to quilt some on WTBQ #1.  The first two photos show the back with the fabric motifs and the ghost quilting from the front on the second two.  I'm also putting a flower in each of the centers of some of the 6" blocks.  Now to do the first border.  It will have quite a bit more ghost quiting to fill in the white spaces.  Please give me tips on how to take a photo showing the quilting on the back. As you can see from the one's I've posted - I hardly have a clue.

Lastly, and this isn't about quilting - lol - I've rediscovered frozen vegetables.  No more boiling for me! I saute onions, peppers, garlic, waterchestnuts - or whatever combo/accent I want to add to the frozen veggies  in a bit of oil or butter.  Then I add them to the pan and saute for about seven minutes on low.  They taste so good!  Below I tried corn, green peppers and onions.  It was a hit.  I tried chopped collard greens and waterchestnuts - another hit (I put a 1/2 tsp of sugar to counteract the slight bitter taste of these greens).  Then there is mixed vegetables with a bit of garlic and cilantro. Give it a try. Tell me of any other combos you come up with.

How are you doing on your wips?  Would love to see - doesn't have to be a finish, but we'll admire those, too.  Linky below - remember it doesn't have to be a new post, just one that shows your WIP.  Ends Monday, midnight. Since I finished a flower I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Friday, Lizzie's Free Motion Mavericks and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? Lots of eye candy there.

An InLinkz Link-up

This N That Week 6

First, the Grow Your Blog giveaway is still on - ends February 14th.  Go here to enter to win the book. 

Second, my stash report is not much to crow about - used only .02 yards for another block for my friend: 

I saw this Twinkle Star at Angela's SoScrappy blog and fell in love with it.  I'm putting together a Christmas quilt and I wanted to find a star and this is it! This one is 6 inches square when finished.

I also now have a photo of those three blocks I made last week.  I was trying to use up two fat quarters and was able to get three blocks out of them.  

I did donate some fabric to my Guild - another 1.5 yards out, so my new YTD total is 15.48 yards. Not bad for week 6.

Hope she can use them:

These are on my design wall.  The quilt that was there is being quilted.  I've finished the grid and SITD work.  Now I will start the FMQ.

Let me show you how I hope to fill in some of those larger spaces:

I wanted to use as motifs some of the elements of the background material. So before I cut up the last of the fabric for the last border, I photocopied the length of fabric.  Then on the front side, I matched up partial flowers and stems to fill out with ghost quilting - Linda of Linda's Landscapes heard of this technique in a Martha Ginn article, example seen here.  After finding some spaces and the motifs I wanted to add, I traced them on freezer paper and cut them out.  Because I abhor taking out those itty-bitty pieces  when I stitch over it, I cut apart my motifs whenever I can so that I am stitching around the motif than through the FP.

Here's one I've cut out and you can see the cuts.  I have to keep the paper in tack so that the pieces stay together.  Here it is ironed onto the quilt top.

The one on the bottom left needs to be cut out. The one on the top left doesn't have to be completely ironed down as half the flower is there to guide me.  Hmmm. Looks like I need to continue that stem in the center top.  Photos are so helpful as we make quilting design decisions.

I'm linking over at Judy's Patchwork Times,  Esther's WOW, Lyn's BOMs Away, and Lizzie's Free Motion Mavericks.  Go check them out.

Blessings as you start your new week.