Blog Birthday in the Park and a Giveaway!

1 Year

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Time to Throw a PARTY in the PARK!!!!

It doesn't matter that it's the middle of winter. Philadelphians play outside ALL year long!

Fairmount Park

One of the world’s largest city park systems begun by one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, The Park (4,180 acres) is the largest landscaped park in the U.S. We walk, we run, we bicycle, we rollerblade, or we drive along Kelly and West River Drives. 

And the Art Museum! One of the top five in the country with the world’s greatest collection of Impressionist works, as well as the Rodin Museum.

We have Boat House Row, where the local universities store their boats for their crewing teams,

  

And you know who else we have?

 LONNI ROSSI!!!!! 

Her studio is right here and she has created an amazing line of fabrics celebrating Fairmount Park! I'm staring at it now. It has gorgeous tree silhouettes, leaves tinged with gold, soothing luminous ripple designs, and in three colorways - afternoon, midnight, and spring. It truly captures the feel of a beautiful city park.

Isn't this a beautiful table runner design? Don't you love it? It features Lonni's Fairmount Park Line using fabrics from the Fairmount Park Afternoon and Fairmount Park Midnight colorways. You can download the pattern for free here, at Andover Fabrics. You can order the fabrics here at Lonni Rossi's website. 

Or you can win this giveaway!  

I stopped by  her studio today and fell in love, again, with her work. She had on display this table runner, and it is a breath stopper, and so easy to make! You gotta try it! Just today, they started to sell some Fairmount Park Quilted Table Runner Kits, and I just had to get one for you.

The give away is for the kit which includes all the fabric you need to make this beautiful 25" x 65" table runner/wall hanging, including the back. All you need to provide is thread, batting and a bit of fusible webbing.

All you have to do is:
 

1. Leave a comment. (You can talk about whatever you like).

2. Make sure I can contact you. (Be careful about commenting through Google Plus, they don't always allow me to reply back). If I choose your comment but can't reply back to you, I'll random choose again.

3. Live on Planet Earth in a place with a Post Office. (This is open to International Visitors).

4. Comment to this post before Saturday, February 9th, which is when I will run the Random Generator and choose a winner. 

Good luck, and thanks for visiting!

 

Modern Mystery Round Robin 2013

This year I signed up for 1 round robin. This will be my only round robin or swap for 2013 because I have plans to learn how to free motion quilt. Already it has started off quite well. This week I received this block from Kim. I'm not supposed to show you the work I will do, but since this is the first month and I haven't started yet, I can show you her block. Since it is a mystery, the positioning of the block, is the only clue I can give you today on what my plans will be.

 The block I will be sending out this morning is entitled "Under the Sea". I remember buying the fish fabric from the PX in the 80's when we were stationed at Lindsey Air Station in Wiesbaden. To keep myself busy on a train to Munich, I cut out the fish and hand basted them to prepare for applique, then set them aside for 24 years. When looking through my fabrics searching for an idea for this round robin, I came across them again.  Those fishy eyes stared at me as if to say, "Glug, Glug," fabric fish speak for "Ann it's time.  Release us."

I think the background for the applique reminds me of a snorkeling journey I enjoyed in Key Largo a few years back. Beautiful, tiny fish swimming through kelp and coral in bright colors but still muted from the sea water. I'm hoping my group will keep their additions in the cooler end of the color spectrum to continue that feeling.

February is my get it done month. I have at my desk at work a 7" block to embroider and embellish during my lunch breaks for Masha in Moscow. I have at home Laura's quilt back in the frame ready to continue quilting after dinner. The guilt of not finishing these 2 projects is blocking my muse.

This past Saturday marked this blog's 1 year anniversary!  As soon as I can, I will be hosting a giveaway to celebrate - so keep checking in!

Liebster Award Goes To...

 

One of my favorite bloggers, Audry from Quilty Folk has nominated me for the Liebster Award! the Liebster Award is an award for new bloggers  with small followings who fit the requirement of having less than 200 followers and happen to be doing something the nominator really likes.

When one is nominated for the Liebster Award, along with giving a thank you speech, the award winner must

• Answer 11 questions posted by the person who nominated me
• List 11 random and hopefully not too weird facts about myself
• Nominate & tag 11 new bloggers with 200 followers or less 
• Write 11 questions for the bloggers I nominate.

So, to answer Audry's questions,

1.      Coffee, tea or soda?

*        It has to be coffee. Ahhhh, coffee.

2.      Name one guilty pleasure.

*        Carolyn Hax Articles on Washington Post.

3.      What is your favorite quilt blog?  Please do not name Quilty Folk.  I want you to be honest.

*        I honestly don’t have a favorite.  I love all my babies the same. But I tend to be attracted more to the

*        Smaller blogs

*        Of home quilters

*        Who post Fantastic photos

*        Who don’t whine or complain

*        Who don’t post those annoying advertising icons

*        Who don’t market products on a regular basis to try and make money.

*        Who write of their lessons learned from errors as well as their triumphs.

4.      What is the last thing you bought for yourself, not your children, husband or family.

*        I’m assuming fabric doesn’t fall in this category. Does a new toothbrush count? My old one wore out. I don’t have a husband, so the money I earn is used for all of us.

5.      What is your favorite dessert?

*        Warm Apple Strudel topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream, served with a steaming cup of premium roast, freshly ground cup of coffee with a dash of cream, while sitting in a cozy comfy chair in a cool, hipster cafe.

6.      What make, model etc. is your sewing machine?  What would you buy if the sky was the limit?

*        I sew on a 14 year old Janome DC5124, with 25 stitch patterns. A solid starter machine, but my quilting interests have outgrown it. If I were to be given the machine of my dreams? The latest Bernina.

7.      Where do want to live when you grow up?

*        Someplace where it will take a little longer for global warming to impact it. Norway? Yukon Territory maybe? I don't like hot climates.

8.      Describe yourself in 3 words.

*        Friendly, Artistic, Empathetic.

9.      Did you get all organized after the first of the year or are things the same as always?

*        I’m always organized. I purge and clean several times a year out of habit.

10.  How often do you buy a new purse or wallet?

*        Once every 7 years, usually when the lining is torn or an ink pen bleeds.

11.  If you had to totally give up buying one color of fabric, what color would that be?

*        Beige, but I would miss her.

11 Random facts about Ann.

This isn’t easy. It was hard to think of even 1! Makes me wonder if I even know who I am.

1.      I use public transportation 95% of the time and I like it.

2.      I sometimes sneak Ben & Jerry’s ice cream into the house so I don’t have to share with the kids.

3.      I’ve moved to a new location 20 different times since 1969.

4.      I get a little nervous when my earthly possessions accumulate to greater than 3400 pounds.

5.      I love Dim Sum.

6.      I love to learn new languages, although it’s much harder now to do so, and I can’t remember much of what I used to know.

7.      I sometimes will walk into Lord & Taylor’s and gaze at all of the beautiful designer handbags, jewelry, scarves, shoes, dresses and such and then declare out loud, “there is truly nothing in here that I want.” Then I walk back out.

8.      I loathe shopping for clothes.

9.      I lived in Germany for 5 years.

10.  I only own 2 pairs of shoes. But I really should get another pair for backup.

11.  I gave my daughter a fancy SLR camera for Christmas, and then I borrow it all the time.

11 Questions for the Bloggers I Nominate

1.      When did you start quilting?

2.      Do you think of your quilting as an art or as a hobby?

3.      Have you traveled much in your life?

4.      What color dominates your fabric collection?

5.      If you could dress up like a gypsy and go to work, would you?

6.      What’s your favorite yogurt flavor?

7.      After you have paid off your debts and taken care of your family needs, what would you do with yourself if you won the lottery?

8.      Introvert or Extrovert?

9.      Which is the career you wanted to pursue and for one reason or another didn’t?

10.  Who is your role model and why?

11.  Do you remember your dreams?

And now for the 11 bloggers I have nominated for the Liebster Award. Unfortunately, I could only come up with 5 blogs I read that have less than 200 followers.

1. Spilling Energy 

2. Sew Cook and Travel 

3. caribou crossing chronicles 

4. Cozy Handmade 

5. nancy near philadelphia