So, first of all, I had to write all of your names down. And then, I had to put them in a little, tiny, container (after first emptying out the push pins that normally live in it. What else would you put in such a tiny container, I ask you?)

And then, I enlisted the help of Beloved Spouse to do the drawing:

Resulting in... *drum roll*





So, Quilterbear, Cyrstal and Fiercefemme, I need the following information from you:

1. What is your favourite children's story?
2. What are your three favourite colours in order of preference?
3. What is your favourite animal?
4. Briefly describe your physical self
5. What is your mailing address?

Email this information to me at divaquilts@gmail.com, and post the Pay It Forward contest to your own blogs; and over the next week, I will get busy making you a hand-made something.

Whee! :)

I finished the quilt I was working on!

Okay, techincally, I realize that it's now May 1, and not April 30 anymore, but in reality I haven't been to bed yet, ergo, it's still April 30. Right? Right.

Since it's 1:15 in the morning and I have to get up at 6:00 to go to work, and since I have not yet trimmed all the threads, I'm not posting a picture - but I did manage to complete three projects for Spring to Finish.

Mis-steps
A Day at the Zoo
and
Oma's Purse

I won't be posting pics tommorrow, because it's Beloved Spouse and my date night, but over the weekend expect to see it.

Yay! :)

Does anybody else remember that Marvin Gaye song, "What's going on?" It has no bearing, actually, on what I'm about to write, but I typed that into the title box and I suddenly heard him singing in my head. He still is, as a matter of fact...

Anyway! First of all, welcome to my new followers! I gained four over the last couple of days and I'm very excited. Thanks for joining me here in the sweet spot. :)

As for what's going on: well I didn't quilt last night because BSP called me at work and asked if I wanted to go and see The Soloist. Because I've been sewing and quilting practically non-stop since Friday night, I thought that in the interests of our marriage, I should take a break. ;) Well worth it - we both loved the film.

Tonight I did a bit more quilting, but I can feel one my headaches beginning to build, so I must go to bed. This of course, means that it's more than likely that I won't finish this one for the Spring to Finish challenge. *domage*

However, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of what I'm working on. (sorry about the colour - I had to darken the picture so you could see the quilting - curse indoor pictures!)

Remember when I said the other day that I quilted "seemingly thousands of flowers". I realized tonight as I quilted another 50 or so - that by the time I'm done this quilt, there may very well be a 1,000 free motion flowers. (please excuse my threads not being clipped.)

Plus, a wholllllllleee lot of parallel lines. Another quilt top I've got in th can that I was going to work on next was going to have lots of flowers too, but maybe I'll take a break from flowers for a little while after this one. (!)

I'm going to wrap this one up, however, and begin on the commission quilt very soon.

But now, I must go to bed and rest my sore head.

Talk to you soon!

Okay, technically, it's not actually Monday anymore, but I was very busy in the sewing room (I'm sure most of you will understand) and I got a little distracted by the seemingly thousands of free motion flowers I just quilted. (My shoulders are owwie!)

But on to the giveaway -




As you can see, it's "Pay it Forward"!

I'm changing the rules a wee tad though, the person from whom I won my prize (Sandra at Pepperberry & Co) did a drawing, and I'm going to do the same. Because I don't have very many readers (I only have 6 followers so perhaps there may be 12 readers in total!); I'm going to wait to do my drawing on Sunday, May 2, so you have until Saturday, May 1 to enter. The original rules though are as follows: the first three people to comment on my blog, win a hand-made prize from me, and they must then host the same contest on their blog and so on.

I'll put together a package for each of you containing at least one hand-made item, a treat and something practical.

One comment gets your name in the draw, and if you link to your blog, come back and tell me you've done so, and you'll get your name put in the draw again.

Good luck! :)

Oh! And - if you get a chance, you should totally check out Sandra's blog - she's got a really fresh, humourous way of writing and lots of lovely eye candy!

Saturday was a long and productive day - I did in fact, manage to finish one more project in the "Spring to Finish" challenge I've been blogging about this month.

It was the quilt I've been referring to as "The Ugly Black One" (that's what I've been calling it ever since I made it, about this time last year). It was my second quilt ever, and it was quite a disappointment after the triumph I had experienced with The Green One .

I blogged about my pitiful attempts with "The Ugly Black One"; but sadly, that didn't motivate me to do anything with it. Jacquie's challenge finally "forced" me to get working on it. The poor dear really was an ugly little thing, wasn't it?

Never fear, I made it better when I pulled it out on Saturday, not least, by adding another border to make it a useable size (boy! It was quite long, but it was SKINNY!)



And then I quilted that border using my own version of a stippling/meander - I'm not sure what to call it - I never actually "stipple (i.e. make those little puzzle shapes) and I don't "meander" (I don't cross lines because I like the challenge of a continuous line) but whatever I decide to call it, I did it in the outer border.



It was much more challenging to add a border to an already quilted piece than I could have forseen, and I must admit that there was some cussing going an as I worked on it.

However, I finally finished it - and although it's still not my favourite, it is no longer called "The Ugly Black One". *hee* As it is full of mistakes and based on my (sad) version of courthouse steps pattern, Beloved Spouse suggested I call it "Mis-Steps".



After that extemely long process (much, much, MUCH longer than I expected or planned); I wanted to do something easy and fun - so instead of finishing another UFO, I made a new quilt top. Yay! And I managed to finish both Mis-Steps and the new top yesterday. I pieced the backing and binding today, batted and pinned and even began quilting the new one, so I hope that I'll be done this it by the end of the week in time for the end of the Spring to Finish challenge. I really hope I'll get it done - two pieces would be very sad to show for a month, wouldn't it? :/

And, if you got to the end of this very long post, you're about to be rewarded.

Tommorrow, I'm going to post about my first giveaway!

I'm excited, are you excited?

:)

It's 8:30 in the morning on what's shaping up to be a stunning Saturday (27 degrees today - or 80 if you live in the US - mind boggling weather for Ontario in spring); and I have the house to myself for the day.

My plan was (and is) to sew all day, but I had wanted to work on some spring to finish projects., but my mind this morning is full of the possibilities of green and white.



(Quilt made by Feed Dog in 2007)

I really can't afford to be distracted this way - I have a commission quilt that is due on May 23!!!! - the worst part of it is that the one and only instruction I've been given is that it's to be "insprired" by the quilt I entered in the Bloggers Quilt Festival, but not be exactly like that.

Are those instructions a dream or a nightmare?

It reminds me of (a hundred years ago) when I was doing my master's degree and for one of my courses, the only instruction the professor gave us (for the entire 100% of the course mark) was to "Write a creative, intelligent response to *name of tome*" I agonized over that assignment, writing and re-writing; eventually, the day before it was due, I decided everything I'd done was derivative drivel and I started fresh, handing in my assignment at the end without so much as a read through! I'd worked 18 hours, writing madly through the night, and hoped it was good. When I eventually got my mark, it was an 89.

I hope that that anecdote is not indicative of how this commission project will go, and that I get a better mark than 89!

But in the meantime, I'm off to my sewing room to do... what? :) I guess I'll figure that out when I get there.

Perhaps I'll set up my sewing machine on a table in the sunshine later this afternoon...

In any case, I hope you have a productive and fun Saturday, and if not, just fun. Either way, make it beautiful!