Silver and Gold...

I've been a busy girl. Kes is finally tolerating Fezzik to the extent that she doesn't bolt from the room when he tries to lie down next to her. They even play together a little bit, too. It's really wonderful for me because I can actually steal little blocks of time in the studio without worrying about what they're doing.

Yesterday, I began assembling the nine-patch blocks into the quilt top that will become Spring Magic. Twyla has chosen this quilt as the first name I pulled in the 500th Post Giveaway. I'll complete all the piecing today, and then I'll spend the weekend quilting both Twyla's and Charlene's quilts.

I'm not surprised that Twyla liked this fabric. It reminds me of her vintage vibe, and I'm sure it will fit right in at her house. I'm hoping that Charlene will like the look of her quilt in her Pacific coast home, too!

I really appreciate all the wonderful friends, both "silver" and "gold"*, who entered the drawings and left such sweet comments for me. I just want to let you know that I'm going to do something a little different through the end of the year.

I'm planning a few other drawings, but they'll be for those of you who regularly read and comment on my blog. I'll write my regular daily posts, but I'll occasionally close with a surprise drawing that will only be for people who comment on that day.

So, don't feel bad if you didn't win this drawing. Perhaps the next one will be lucky for you! I know that my life is better because you're in it.

*PS. In case you don't know the reference to "silver" and "gold"...When I was a young girl scout, we used to sing the song..."Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."
Love you all! xoxo

Time To Announce The Winners...

Start with jelly roll 2 1/2" strips, join them in sets of three. Then cut the trios into 2 1/2" sections and you're ready for the next step. The beginnings of the Spring Magic quilt.
Join three sets of three for a nine-patch block! These blocks will be bordered in white and then joined to create the quilt top for the second giveaway quilt.

Both quilts will be finished over the weekend, and then I'll share photos with you before they're shipped to their new homes.
Here's one more look at the Whispering Windmills quilt top that will also be completed this weekend.
It's also going to a new home...soon to be determined. I decided that I'd let the first person whose name was drawn decide which quilt she wants, and then the second winner will receive the other quilt.

TIME TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS!!!

The first number that was chosen by Random.org is:

Twyla of Two Crazy Crafters

Twyla has chosen the Spring Magic Quilt

Here's her winning comment:

Twyla and Lindsey said... Donna, I enjoy just about everything you write about but if I were to pick my favorites, I do enjoy seeing your knitting and your patterns that you create yourself. Thank you for your generosity! Twyla

The second number drawn is:

Charlene of My Heart's Ease

Charlene will receive the Whispering Windmills Quilt

Here's Charlene's sweet comment:

Charlene said... Donna, Congratulations on 500 Posts!!!! Isn't that amazing that we have this wonderful link to so many other inspiring supportive souls? I am thankful every day for having my blog & all the wonderful friends like you that I have met. I am a follower. I would love to win your beautiful lap quilt but, most of all thank you for having this beautiful inspiring place for us to come visit. Your friend Charlene

Congratulations, girls! Twyla, please contact me asap to choose your quilt. Then I can come back to this post and let the rest of our friends know which quilts you and Charlene have won. Thanks, Twyla and Charlene for leaving such lovely comments, too!

Thanks a million to everyone who participated in the giveaway. I'm so happy to meet all the new friends who have visiting since the start of the celebration. I hope you'll continue to visit and leave comments so that we can get to know each other better!

Blessings to each and every one of you!

What Makes Me Happy...

I'll tell you what makes me smile - what makes me happy. Fabrics...Moda Fabrics. Here are all the fabrics I need to create a new quilt. Two charm packs and six yards of coordinating fabric for sashes, binding and backing. Moda's "Happy" line will be perfect to make a beautiful lap quilt for myself or as a gift for someone else. (Don't look at the bottom of my blog, but there are only 86 days left until Christmas Day!) Honestly. Isn't this a cheerful fabric line?
Another option...Moda "Pure" charm packs and the entire line in fat quarters. I also have two charm packs of Moda basic white 5" squares that can be used in any design if I need more squares. I know this collection is going to become a quilt large enough to double as a tablecloth!

One of my sweet friends from Faith, Hope and Cherrytea blog left a comment on yesterday's post:

i do have a question ~ Donna did you really actually have a jelly roll of fabric that you had not unrolled to see what was in it? that is too unimagineable to me! WoW ~ you must have been WAY busy to let that sit undiscovered :) ... glad you liked what you found !

I'm so glad you asked, girlfriend! Actually, I have multiple jelly rolls, honey buns and dessert rolls that I've never opened. Now, if you're wondering why, I can explain.
Don't they look gorgeous all lined up in my studio cabinet drawers? Once I unroll them, I can never roll them back up so they look as nice, so this way they can sit snuggled in the drawer, teasing me, until I chose one to use. (I usually purchase a little coordinating yardage for future use, too.)

I love the flash of colors that greets me when I open the drawer. In this one, I have jelly rolls tucked in with honey buns along the leading edge of the drawer. Full.
In this one, a mix...jelly rolls and a honey bun that matches one of the rolls. Most of my polka dot fabrics live in this drawer until I pull them to use, too!
As long as I'm on a roll (Sorry. I couldn't resist), this is another drawer full of fat quarters and sweet treat boxes, each holding two different mini honey bun rolls.

Please don't contact medical professionals. I already know I have an addiction...a serious, incurable attraction...to fabrics and
sweet, little, rabbit-like puppy feet that grow into...
sweet, well-worn, good, old dog feet. Feet that tell you where they've been. Feet that have run or walked miles and miles more than I ever have. Feet that smell of freshly-cut grass, good earth, and...tacos. Really! Smell a dog's foot for yourself sometime. Kes' warm feet often remind me of the smell of tacos. Kessie's "taco feet".I had to take a sewing break yesterday, as I'm the official creator of concert posters and programs for the North Port Concert Band (and the North Port Orchestra). I needed to set up the template and create the program for the Band's first concert of the season. I finished the job, so I'll be able to get back to sewing today.
Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to sign up for my 500th Post Giveaway. If you haven't signed up yet, you only have until 9 pm (Eastern time zone) to enter. Click here to read about it if you want to participate.
I want to thank everyone who has been leaving comments for me, both for my daily posts and my giveaway post. I promise you that I have read each and every sweet thought you have shared with me. I really try to respond to everyone, but I hate to admit that time - and the recent volume of comments - have gotten away from me this month. I, regrettably, haven't been able to get back to all of you. I hope you won't hold it against me, and beg you to bear with me as I regroup and get back on track.

I am so grateful for all the new friends that have been visiting Brynwood, and I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you better - through your own blogs (which I do actually visit) and through our correspondences (especially if you don't have a blog). If you don't share your email address in your signature preferences, it's a little harder or impossible, to get back to you.
You can always leave your email address if you'd like a personal response.

I'll be back tomorrow. I'm sewing those giveaway quilts. I need to be able to ship them out soon! Don't worry. You'll all see photos of the quilts as soon as I can finish them!

As You Wish...

I hadn't opened up the jelly roll of fabrics for the second giveaway quilt until yesterday. I am drooling just looking at all the feminine colors and patterns in this line. What do you think? Even if you didn't choose this fabric collection in the poll, I hope you won't mind a quilt using them if you win.
You can click on the photos to enlarge them. Really! I want you to take a closer look and let me know what you think. They're going to be really fun to cut and put together. And, if you win the drawing and decide that you don't want this quilt, I'll be happy to make up a quilt for you using the fabric collection you selected. As you wish. I want you to be happy. (You'll have to wait a little while longer to receive it, of course. I can't just snap my fingers and have a finished quilt, you know!)

I can see myself falling for the finished quilt. I might have to make one for myself just like it! We could have matching quilts! When you use it, you could imagine the two of us using this as the tablecloth for a tea party where we'll share a cup of tea and a biscuit as we get to know each other better.
I called this quilt choice "Garden Whimsy" for the poll, but it's actually Moda's "Spring Magic" line. I hope you won't mind if I call the quilt "Spring Magic" from now on. Perfect for a quilt for this Fall. Ahhh, the irony of it makes me giggle.
This is what I see when I look out my studio door into the hall these days. Upside down corgi. I have to stop everything, pick him up and smooch him all over his little face. Is it any wonder that it's taking me a while to get my tasks accomplished? I know...You've got no sympathy whatsoever. I should have known better than to get a puppy when there were giveaway quilts to be sewn.

"Ma'am. Put the puppy down, and slowly back away. That's right, ma'am. Put the puppy down." Nothing like a dose of the Puppy Police to get a girl back on track. "Serve and protect, ma'am. We don't want any spoiled puppies around these parts."

Whispering Windmills...

By Saturday, Kes and Fezzik were getting more comfortable with each other, and they finally settled down in the same room so that I could concentrate on my sewing.

Over the weekend, I sewed together the blocks for the whispering windmills pattern for the 500th Post Giveaway quilt. (I actually took the day on Sunday to tidy up the studio a bit so there was no sewing progress.)
I hope the winner isn't a perfectionist, because even though I try really hard, every once in a while one of the squares is just a little bit off.

I added a 6" border of the Fig Tree salmon-colored fabric and am now considering whether or not I'll add a final border before sandwiching the batting and backing to assemble it. I'll look at it again today and decide.I have the results of the poll and am pleased to announce that the winner, with 44% of the vote, is the Garden Whimsy assortment. I'll start working on this quilt later in the week, so I have the pattern established and you'll be able to see what the quilts will look like. Thanks for voting everyone! I really appreciate your help making up my mind.
Fezzik joined us (Handsome, Kes and me) for a swim on Sunday. He ran laps around the pool while we were swimming. Then, we laughed and chirped at him, while he barked poolside. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer and just jumped in! Of course, Mom was there to make sure he was ok, and the little bug swam right over to the shelf and stood there with Kes. He's a bit too short to hoist his back end out of the pool, so we gave him a boost, but he liked it enough to do it a couple more times. We're confident that he'll be a real swimmer, and once he's a big boy. By then, he'll be able to get himself out of the pool without our help.

You Get To Vote...

GARDEN WHIMSY

I've been trying to decide which fabric assortment I should use for the second giveaway quilt I'll be making. Then it occurred to me...But, of course!...Why don't I let my friends chose which they'd prefer to win? Takes all the pressure off me!

PATCHWORK SWEETNESS

So, if you look up on the top of my right sidebar. (Go look...I'll wait.) There. See it? I've used one of Blogger's cool gadgets to run a little Brynwood Needleworks poll.

All you have to do is just check out each of the photos on this post and decide which you'd like to win as a quilt if your name were chosen for the current 500th Post/500th Follower Giveaway.

LUCKY CHARMS

The name I've given each collection is right below its respective photo. Pick your fave and then vote. I'm giving you five days to decide and then I'll get to sewing on the second lap quilt. I should be finished with the first one by then.

Have fun deciding. I'll be back with some wonderful new things to show you tomorrow!

Good Thing I'm Not A Cat...

You know what they say about "curiosity", right? Good thing I'm not a cat! It could have ended up badly!

I've been eyeing up those fabrics since I pulled them for the 500th Post Giveaway quilt. I've been so curious to find out what they'd look like since I chose the design I wanted to use. Now I'll share with you the one and only block I've made so far.

I cut and stacked the four fabrics and then I simply couldn't resist sewing, cutting, seaming, squaring and pressing just one block. Heavens, I'm loving the look of this block, and I'm hoping that you're equally as excited at the prospect of winning a lap quilt from me in this design. The finished blocks are 6" square. Aren't they just the sweetest combination?
I haven't chosen the fabric for the second lap quilt that I'll give away if we reach 500 followers, but I'll chose that collection when I return from my trip.

Thanks to all of you who have already commented, are Brynwood friends, and posted about my giveaway on your own blogs. I hope that my lap quilt will be a worthy token of my appreciation. I'm just sorry that only one person can win. Good luck to each of you!
If you haven't seen the information about the giveaway yet...Where have you been? lol Click on the giveaway button to find out how you can enter if you haven't yet done so. I'll be getting ready for my trip...

Hey Shell, only four more sleeps!

A Joyful Obsession...

I was really busy yesterday! I finished the Williamsburg Consort pillow project, so I'm set to go to Virginia now. (Well, except for packing, cleaning the house before we leave because I don't like coming home to a messy house, and last minute errands.) I'm happy with the way it turned out, and hope that this, too, will generate more for the scholarship fund.

I shipped out some orders and my September ATC for the Blissfull ATC Swap group, and then late day, I got a phone call to tell me that the quilt I made for our master bedroom is quilted and ready to pick up. I'm not sure I'll have time to bind it before we leave on our trip, but if I do, I'll photograph it on our bed for you.
I finished this project, too. I can only give a peek right now. I will be shipping it out today, and hope that my Victorian Cuff Swap partner likes it. Once she receives it, I promise I'll show you the entire finished cuff. It's going to a new blog friend living in England, and goodness, I sure hope she loves it!
One of the comments I received yesterday on my giveaway post was this one from Lisette:

Ok, what would I like to see in a next entry. I would really love (t0) hear why you are so crazy about the acorn.

Hugs,
Lisette

Thanks for asking! I've always been a country girl, preferring a quiet woodland path of a nature walk to the hard concrete sidewalks and noise in town. I always found myself gravitating to the oak trees on my explorations. I love their size, majesty and beauty. They convey feelings of age and protection to me.

When I conceived my design business, Brynwood Needleworks, Kes' grandmother, Bryn was the inspiration for the name. Memories of those oak trees with their acorn treasures inspired one of my requirements when I hired our friend, Bob Fehring (who owns Artel' Design Studio in Waupun, Wisconsin) to design my logo.That was in 1989, and since then, I can't pass up anything "acorn" without considering whether or not to add it to my collection. Even the real ones that are regularly sent to me from my blog friends are prized gifts . I add them to a beautiful, big vase in the studio where they are precious reminders of old and new friendships. My friend, Michelle Palmer, coats hers with gel medium to keep them dark and shiny. I think I'm going to do that, too (after I get back from my trip).

So, Lisette. There you have it. My explanation for a joyful obsession...just one of many collections! Thanks again for asking!I'm overwhelmed with your kind comments and entries in my 500th Post Giveaway! I have been reading every single comment and want to thank everyone for your lovely words. So much so that I have another surprise for you...

If, in the course of doing this giveaway, we reach 500 friends (followers), too...I'll add a second drawing for a second lap quilt! I'll chose another fabric collection and post it tomorrow - just in case.

So, if you haven't done so yet, and you're so inclined...please share my giveaway on your blog. Not only will you earn another chance in the drawing, but if we get to 500 followers, you'll also earn a second opportunity to win a lap quilt. hee hee Are you happy yet?

It's Official. Today Is My 500th Post...

I've been thinking about this for the past ten days and how I wanted to celebrate it with you. I can't celebrate appropriately without telling all of you what an inspiration you've been to me. Your comments and friendships have made Brynwood Needleworks blog a fun place for me to be.

As I've visited your blogs, I've been inspired, humbled and challenged to be a better writer, photographer, crafter, quilter and seamstress. I'm consistently in awe of your own efforts and want you to know how you affect my daily life. Your comments have been uplifting, educational and humorous and, although I don't always write back, I want you to know that I read every single one.

So, in light of those things...How do I thank all of you who follow my blog, either by commenting or just reading about my projects or my thoughts (or Kes' thoughts)? Five hundred posts representing five hundred nearly consecutive days of my life? I know this is going to have to be something special...I've decided that I'm going to create a very special lap quilt for one lucky friend of Brynwood. If you read Kessie's post over the weekend, you know that I have quite the copious assortment of beautiful fabrics. I've chosen this selection to make a lap quilt just for this occasion.

So, here's how you can enter your name in my 500th Post Giveaway:
• You must be a follower (friend) of my blog to participate. If you aren't already a public follower, you can join now. Tell me that you follow me in a comment for one entry
• Leave a separate comment telling me what you like reading about on my blog for another entry.
• Take my button (below), share my giveaway on your blog and leave a link back to your blog post about my giveaway in another comment for a third entry.
You will only receive as many entries as you leave separate posts in my comments section here. Please don't do all three things in one comment, or you'll only get one entry. We don't want that, now, do we? Also, be sure that I have a way to reach you if you're the lucky winner.

Because I'm going to be away for a week and won't have any sewing time, I'm going to leave the giveaway open for a while...You will have until September 30th at 9 pm to enter, and I'll announce the winner on October 1st.
THE DRAWING IS NOW CLOSED. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO LEFT A COMMENT!!!