Thanksgiving and Being Thankful

I was contacted by SewCalGal to let me know about another Giveaway, which looks absolutely wonderful. Go here to see the rules. She is dong this for Thanksgiving and it got me thinking. We do not have Thanksgiving here in Scotland, and I think it is a great pity that we do not. We (I) have so many things, for which to be thankful, and we (I) take so many things for granted. So, at the end of my posts, I am going to put a little thank you, for something that I see or that has happened recently. You can ignore it, if you want, but it is just my way of paying back and to say I am grateful. So today ...

Thankful Thought - There are an awful lot of things I am really thankful for today, but the one uppermost is that all the teddies for the Mercy Ships are finished (said with a BIG grin ). I have heard from the Mercy Ships, and the boxes should have arrived in Holland and from there they will go onto Togo, to be distributed to the patients. I also want to thank all the people in the island who made this possible. A grand job!! Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Till next time.

tich

UFO and Another Giveaway

My Bernina sewing machine embroidery module is working its socks off at the moment. No pictures yet, but I will take some soon, to show you what I am making. I pulled out a couple of UFOs to finish off, recently. I have a lot of these Shoofly blocks lying about. I used to teach Patchwork for Beginners, when I lived on Mainland Scotland. This was one of the first blocks I used, to show how to sew shapes together. I sewed on a border and stipple quilted the block. I am more used to very close stipple/vermicelli quilting, but I made it much further apart this time, to see what it looked like. I like it. I am going to make it into a cushion, but will have to wait till Monday or Tuesday to finish it, as I want to put some cording round the edge. I might be lucky and get some in Kirkwall, when I go over on Monday.

One of my favourite blogs is Nebraska Views. Lynn is such a talented lady, and she passes on what she knows in a great blog. Recently she blogged about the sites Quilter Blogs and Quilting Bloggers. I went across to these sites and spent ages looking at loads of wonderful blogs. I joined both sites, and the hits on my site have increased significantly. They are great sites and I thoroughly recommend them. Thanks, Lynn.

Have a look at Bejeweledquilts. This is the last week for the Inch Worm fabric giveaway. It is fabulous! Fabric to make the jars for the quilt below, and there is still time to win the quilt as well. It would look so nice in my hall! I want it! (See below)

Must go and have a cup of tea.

tich

Sewing, Dancing and Hoping!

I have actually been sewing this week. We were in Kirkwall on Monday for the dentist, and I was supposed to go over again on Thursday for a Christmas shopping trip. The weather turned nasty and I wimped out. I am all right on the ferry with winds up to 40mph, but the forecast said there was going to be gusts up to 58mph, and my stomach lurched at the thought of it! Just as well I didn't go. There was torrential rain for most of the day, as well as high winds, so I stayed at home, baked in the morning and sewed in the afternoon. You've already read about the *** jellyroll, but I had just under half of it left and a full white one, and my friends will tell you I don't like getting beat. Stubborn is not the word for it. I had a think and started cutting. Above are three pieces of leftover fabric. I might show you tomorrow how far I have progressed.

This has been a strange week for weather. One day we have glorious sun and the next torrential rain. We had the Harvest Home Dinner Dance on Friday night, and from the beginning of the week the forecasters were predicting gales and flooding. for most of the UK. On Friday there were 120 flood warnings out for England and Wales alone. The Harvest Home is to celebrate a successful harvest. We had roast beef, clapshot (potatoes and turnip mashed together) mixed veg, beetroot and gravy, then pancake with a gorgeous caramel sauce and cream, tea/coffee, shortbread, a chocolate and a double of your choice (whisky, rum, vodka etc) all for $10 each. Then we had the dance. The original band cancelled, as they were worried they would not get back home for a few days, if the storm was a bad as expected. The band was made up of people who had not really played together before, but what a night. We stayed right to the end (2am) and had a great time. One of my friends, who was down in England, phoned to say their neighbour's car floated away. We have had high winds, but nothing like what was expected.

There are a few great Giveaways just now. Look at this new business and Giveaway -

The niece of fellow blogger Barb from Bejeweled Quilts by Barb has opened a new, on-line store. Click the picture to follow the link to the goodies. Barb is also giving a Giveaway, and what a Giveaway, to celebrate the new store opening! Go here.

Best of luck (but I want them!).

tich