Whew!

I didn't expect such a big response to my give-away! How gratifying :- )

As a result I decided to make a second green bird to give away:

I'll announce the two winners on Sunday. Good luck to everyone who entered! And remember, you have until Saturday at 7 (Pacific time) to put your name in the hat.

I have finished the preemie quilt for January:

Of course I had no more of either of the prints I used in the original Shoo Fly blocks. It was a real challenge to find something else that would work with the existing top. I'm actually pretty happy with the way it turned out. It has an overall red, white, and blue look that I think is very appropriate for this historic month.

See you on Sunday!

Birds of Change Give-Away

What a day! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from the television coverage of the inauguration and subsequent activities to even do this post! But my little flock is ready to take flight, and they are anxious to get underway.

( You should be able to click on this picture for a closer look.)

All the birds are pieced on both sides. For example, this is one side of the yellow bird...


And this is the other side:

Sometimes I used the same fabrics on both sides of the birds, sometimes I didn't. They were made out of my recently re-organized scrap bags (sorted by color). I really had a lot of fun making these.

I knew I wanted to give one bird away on my blog, but which one? After much deliberation I finally decided to hold back this green bird to offer up to one of my blog readers.

Leave a comment - on this post only please! - by Saturday 24 January, 7 pm Pacific Time, and I will enter you in a drawing to win this bird. I'll need to be able to get back to you via email to let you know you're the winner, so be sure to fill out the comment form accurately. :- )

Oh, I almost forgot! There's a list of other blogs giving away Birds of Change over at CreativeKismet. I hope you win the one you want - as long as it isn't also the one I want!

National Day of Service

There's so much going on here in the USA today and tomorrow! In case you've been living in a cave (in which case, how did you get out and find access to the world wide web?!) today is a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and tomorrow is the historic inauguration of our newest President. We have been encouraged to use this as a day of service. To that end Cheri over at Jovaliquilts has invited quilters to work on a quilt that will be donated to the charity of their choice. Unfortunately, I've spent most of the day feeling like I'd drunk too deeply from this cup:

(DD and family gave this to me for Christmas. It was one of my favorite gifts this year.)

I did, however, pull out a small UFO that has been on my mind to turn into a preemie quilt.

The hospital I donate my preemie quilts to wants them to be at least 24" x 30". This top currently measures 26" square. My plan is to make some flying geese units to create borders for what will become the top and bottom of the quilt, thus bringing it up to size. Well, actually it will end up a little bigger than it needs to be but that's okay. So when I'm feeling better this will do double duty as my January preemie quilt and my bit for our national day of service.

I was hoping to post my Birds of Change give-away today because I know it's already the 20th on the other side of the globe. Not happenin'. Tune in again tomorrow, dear reader, to find out how my birds turned out and how you might be able to win one :- )

It's A Bird!

Come into the birthing room for a sneak peek at one member of my little flock as it makes its way into the world:

It's all so surgical. I even use hemostats to help with the delivery. ;- )

I'll be sending most of my nestlings to Regina at Creative Kismet for the Birds of Change Exchange. Remember to stop by on the 20th though (that's only a few days away!) because I'll be taking applications (via comments) for a new home for one particular winged messenger.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd show you one of the few gifts I made this Christmas. Remember the Dilbert tie I found at the thrift shop? I first showed it in this post. Well, I turned it into a decorative pillow for my sister. Dilbert is one of those cartoons she really identifies with. I didn't think the black and red color scheme would work in her home decor all that well but she loves the pillow. Score!

And the back...

We've received our tasks for week two of Jump Start January. I swear, it's like Diane is holding a mirror up to my face that shows me all the things I've never seen in myself before! Amazing.

Monday Morning...

And it feels like it. I guess I used up all my energy working on my assignments for the next coaching session (which will be done via email). Oh, I also started on my birds for the Birds of Change Exchange. I'm on my fourth version of the pattern I originally drew. One bird turned out particularly dorky. Not sure what I'm going to do with him! You don't get to see pictures until the day of the give-away. Unless I change my mind between now and then ;- )

Hmm... You may not be getting any pictures today. I'm getting error messages when I try to upload photos... Guess Blogger is having a Monday Morning too.

Maybe I'll go make another bird and try again later... or tomorrow. See ya then!