Scary Stuff?

Here is an email I recently received.

You’ve received this email because you have content in Google+ for your personal (consumer) account or a Google+ page you manage.
This is a reminder that on April 2, 2019 we’re shutting down consumer Google+ and will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted.
Downloading your Google+ content may take time, so get started before March 31, 2019.
No other Google products (such as Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive, YouTube) will be shut down as part of the consumer Google+ shutdown, and the Google Account you use to sign in to these services will remain. Note that photos and videos already backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.
For more information, see the full Google+ shutdown FAQ.
From all of us on the Google+ team, thank you for making Google+ such a special place.
Google LLC 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google+ Page, product or account.

Anybody else get this message on e-mail?  I'm not doing it!  I may be a nonblogger soon, but I'm not doing it. Junk having to do with the computer is just getting to be too much trouble for me. I've enjoyed reading my old blogs from time to time.  Lots of good memories that I won't be able to read anymore after April 1.  Or is this an elaborate and nasty April Fools day prank?  They sure chose a bad day for a change over.  So if there is anything on my blog that you want to see, look now or be disappointed.

Hugs,
Terri

Around the World Blog Tour (Hop)

I was reading blogs this morning and came across the Around the World Blog Hop written by Beth at Love Laugh Quilt, That reminded me... I was supposed to write one today! I was invited by Sarah at  Confessions of a Fabric Addict. (Check out her blog. Lots of pretty quilts and great stories.)

By way of introduction... I'm Terri and I enjoy quilting - especially paper piecing. I also love Halloween, Harry Potter and my Hubby... not necessarily in that order.  I make up lots of little plants to give away at Halloween in our diorama of the greenhouse in the movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . The trick or treaters love that they get a little plant along with their candy. We love doing it, too.

We are supposed to show some pictures and answer some questions... Here goes.

Jazzy Snowballs 2013 Pattern from a Quilter's Newsletter or QuiltMaker Magazine in like 2010 or so.

 

Paper Pieced Butterflies from a pattern from Claudia. I don't see the same butterflies there anymore, but there are some shown in the gallery, so they must have been there once - right? Why she would take them down, I don't know, but they are beautiful and I enjoyed making a bunch of the 9 designs that I bought.

 

Simpler paper pieced butterflies - from the book 365 Paper Pieced Quilt Patterns (or something like that. All my books are packed away, and have been for over a year, so I can't check out the name. We are getting ready to move, and it has taken a year for our house to be sold. Finally, last weekend our buyer found our house! She sounds excited to buy it. I'm quite happy for her, but now I have to find one in Washington state that I like. Help!)

 

A red (Ford Anglia) for a blog friend's hubby.

Paper pieced, of course, from a Harry Potter pattern from Jennifer .

Donation blocks for a QoV for Alycia.

 

Grandson's I Spy quilt which is now my header on the blog.

Hubby's 70th birthday present. Made right under his nose for a QoV - or so he thought!

Paper pieced hexies for a QoV - still a WIP

 

This one being worked on as a quilt for H2H Happy Chemo

I'm late on the deadline by months... sorry. So many other things going on here.

 

Granddaughter wedding quilt finished in June 2014

I tried 2 other designs before I liked this one for them. 

 Most recent finish - a doll quilt for the Mrs. Claus project.

(See the button in the side bar.)

 

 

a UFO

 

 

 

Apple cores paper pieced UFO

 

 Another paper pieced UFO

Dolly quilt made and sent years ago for the Mrs. Claus charity

a star for the female astronaut making a quilt

 

A quilt for my latest granddaughter (she is 8 months old and I started this 4 months before she arrived!) .. pink, white and lime green. Paper pieced of course... and I've been picking the paper for a year in between all kinds of other projects. I just recently restated it, and will be working on it as well as the other projects below.

 

 

In the works, tomatoes

and carrots. Paper pieced veggies - produce in process. Lol

 

 

 Below are the two projects I'm working on now. 2 "I love you" ASL symbols for a friend. 

This one needs some fixing... I messed up and added the wrong color on the bent finger, which makes it look fat. Can't have that!

 

And now the questions.

 

What am I working on?

See the above pictures. The hands should be in the snail mail today. Still a lot of work to do on the veggies. I'll show pictures of the finishes after the recipients get their gifts.

 

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Well, obviously, it's different because I did it.

Then there is the fact that any quilt is different from another in the design, colors and fabrics chosen and the pattern choice... and they are all unique in the arrangements of the blocks, too. You can try to make something exactly as another has designed, but there will always be the unique differences... fabric cut here and not there... the quilting is always an identifier. Then there is the label - mine says made by me and yours says made by you. LOL

 

Why do I write/create what I do?

Short answer: to use up all this fabric! lol

No, really I don't know what I would do if I didn't have something creative to do... clean house? Ugh! It might be necessary once in a while - like when the dust bunnies start to attack... but really, cleaning (incessantly) is for the people with no imagination or skills. I write my blog to join in the community of quilt bloggers. I've learned a bunch from this community, and shared a few thoughts. I enjoy the write/create (most of the time....)

 

So I think this does it for the blog hop/tour. I wish I had 3 in line to carry on from me, but I don't. If there are any visiting who would like to host one - please do.

 

Have a lovely week of sewing.

 

Hugs,

Terri

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Friends!

Last week I was reminded to write a new post by one of my favoritest blog followers. (Thanks for caring, Shay.) Seems I haven't in a while. Oh dear... It's not because I'm so busy. There really isn't any busy going on here. There have been a bunch of people walking through my house, and some who have come through 3 times in one day - at an Open House.... which looks really promising, but no offer yet. Cross your fingers for me, will you? I've been packed up nearly a year already, and really yearning for my rubber stamps and the knitting, oh and my fabric which is boxed and in complete disarray and the quilting books I can't seem to find!

There has been a little progress on the secret projects, but I can't show that, yet.

Not much for blog subjects. 

Here's a (token) picture of the sewing room...

 

And some other random pictures...

 

Here's an old fashioned quilt kit I'm assembling for the married grandgirl.  She'd like to learn....Yay!  I'd love to be there to teach her. There is needle and thread, pins, scissors and ruler, the blocks I made for her quilt that I didn't finish, and a quilting magazine (with directions for making a quilt in the back pages). I guess I need to add a marker that she can use to apply a sewing line to follow while sewing. Then the hard part... finding a box to ship it all in.

 

Here's some fabric I bought this week, I'll like it best when it is cut up into small pieces.

 

Here is my orange rose blooming. It's been in this pot for years, poor thing. I started it from a stem from a bouquet from Costco. Sometimes that works.

 

Here's my youngest Silk Oak... from seed.

 

And finally a Hoya that nobody wanted at Halloween last year. Since then it's grown 3 long vines... sooooo pretty and interesting. It "looks" for a place to support it's habit (of growing). One day the growing tip is here, and another day it's way over there. (In this picture it is the reddish vine in the immediate foreground.) I tell my hubby that it's a body snatcher, coming for him. He reads his paper in the chair where I took the picture. OOOOO he's so scared... NOT!

 

Thanks again for caring whether or not I blog... I appreciate it.

 

Hugs,

Terri

 

Aftermath of FMQ Try and the Giveaway Winner Announced

Here's how my FMQ try turned out:

And from the front

 

 

**********************************

 

 

In other news - the Magpies are back! They nearly died out here from West Nile Disease a few years back, so we are happy their numbers have increased to this bunch. They played nicely with the crows and took turns eating the old bread we threw out for them all. You don't see that very often in nature.

 They are quite camera shy. I tried to get more pictures this afternoon, and every time I raised the camera (even from inside the kitchen) they flew away. Given a few minutes, they were back, and again as the camera went up.... off they went.

 See the crow in the neighbor's yard. They feed them, too, and another neighbor next door to them.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Now down to work!  Here's the hat. (We do things low tech here.)

 

Filled with names.  All the comments and all the followers, too.

Here's the name picker....

Jean (from the follower list) is the winner!

 

Congrats to you. Thank you for being a follower. Your 14 fat quarters goes into the mail tomorrow, if I can determine a snail mail address for you by that time.

 

Thank you all for playing along. I had fun and learned a lot of new tips for FMQ. I hope you all had fun here, too.

 

Have a fun rest of your weekend.

Hugs,

Terri

Winner named later...

The winner of the Fabulous Fourteen Fat Quarters will be named later.... this afternoon. Here it is now 10 a.m.

I just wanted to tell you about Val's latest idea. Go to her blog - you can use the Piggy Bank link that is currently at the top of my right side bar. She'll tell you all about it. I'm saving my coinage for something big... My hubby promised that when the house sells, I get a long arm quilting machine!!! (Sell, Baby, Sell!) There will be other costs having one of those. Extra thread, maintenance, etc. So I'll be joining Val in her Piggy Bank Challenge. (My rule will be "No Bills") That should take a load out of my purse.

So in anticipation of the name of the winner....
Hugs,
Terri

Announcing: Shay and I try FMQ - together half the world apart!

The giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all your great tips and comments. A winner will be announced Sunday afternoon.
It was her idea!

Tomorrow on the 4th of July, we are trying something new, and we will need help!!!!!!!!!!!! So stop back and see what you can do to  help us with Free Motion Quilting.

For today, I am offering a giveaway of Fourteen Fabulous Fat Quarters cut from some of the shopping I did at Fabric Depot in Portland Oregon. Most are batiks, I like batiks. You can see the fabrics on this previous post. (I'm quite new to this, so bear with me...) To enter the drawing, go to Shay's blog and leave a sweet comment... Her link is Quilting in My Pyjamas.

For a second chance to win please sign up to follow my blog and leave a comment saying you are a follower. I have some lovely followers already. (Even  though you are entered, please leave a comment.)

Come back on the 4th and comment on the FMQ... especially if you have a neato tip... and you'll have a third chance to win! I'll announce the winner sometime after the 4th. I don't know how long it will take to figure out the winner. (Like I said, I'm new to this.)

Exciting, right?

See you tomorrow.
Hugs,
Terri

You've gotta see this....

Go to see Janeen's blog - do yourself a favor. Especially if you paper piece. She is showing a bee eater bird that is amazing! Of course, she has other patterns that are amazing... you can see those, too.

Have a quilty weekend,
Hugs,
Terri

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Hi, I'm Terri (or Theresa, depending on the occasion). You are friends, so please call me Terri.

I've been blogging for almost 4 years now. I especially love reading your blogs! (My reading list is waaaay longer than the one on the right column... Did you notice that you can have two completely different lists - one on the blog, and one on the dashboard reader's list? Changing one does not update the other.)

I love quilting (especially paper piecing). Some examples

 

The above patterns are from 365 Paper Piecing Patterns (a book that my Sister gave me for Christmas eons ago, and it's been like my paper piecing bible).

 

 

The above patterns were purchased from Claudia. They are more difficult, but sooooo worth the extra patience

 This is (easy) a kiss (not yet finished) from my paper piecing tutorial at Making Kisses. The pattern is from QuiltMaker Magazine.

 

 

Harry Potter Paper Pieced blocks (free patterns from Fandom in Stitches) 

Fandom has other patterns, too, like Disney Princesses, Lord of the Rings, Super Hero patterns - all free!

 

More Harry Potter Paper Pieced blocks.

So you know I love paper piecing, but I also love plants, Halloween, Harry Potter and that Hubby of mine... not necessarily in that order. I especially like to make quilts for charity.  Right now I'm trying to make a quilt for my first Grandgirl who is getting married in June. I changed my mind on the design 3 times, and even after 50 blocks into it, changed to another design and started over. I still don't like it. Can I change my mind again?

The quilt I'm showing for the Festival is the "I Spy" I made for my most recent grandson, good ol' #8.  He will be 2 years old late in August. Here's a picture of the quilt - It's also my banner right now.
I'm trying to get into the Blogger's Quilt Festival with Amy's Creative Side today. Couldn't find the linky party...

It has been my banner on this blog since last August... my most recent finish (shame on me). When I finish something else I'll put that one on the banner.

As proud as I am of this quilt, I'm prouder of my baby trees. I've started quite a few from pits or seeds. I have two fruit bearing apricot trees, a ginkgo, and a magnolia, silk oaks, Osage oranges and an elm. There are also oaks started from acorns. At Halloween we give away little plants (as well as candy) and seeds I've gathered from my yard and neighborhood. Here are some portraits of my babies.

 Above there are 4 or 5 Osage Orange trees (fruit not edible), 2 Sweet Gum trees and a morning glory vine trying to unite them all.

 On the potting table the Elm, Day Lilies (also from seed!) 2 Cork Oaks (from acorns) and a geranium and butterfly bush (from cuttings).

 On the right: my newest Silk Oak from seed - isn't it darling?

 amongst Lavender cuttings and Rosemary cuttings ..

 one of 5, a Cork Oak - a mighty tree in a drink cup.

My best for last - The taller is the Southern Magnolia, and the 6 leaf 3 year old Ginkgo on the right.

We are in the moving mode, so lots of stuff is packed up - just waiting to sell our house in CA.  We need to move to a bigger but cheaper house where the cost of living is lower... I know - don't hold my breath. We still haven't picked out a place to go... We've lived here 15 years, and like it, so it's really hard to sell and move away.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment if you like.  I'm good at reading them, but I'm sorry to say, I'm not so good at responding - unless you have a question.

Please stop by again - soon.

Hugs,
Terri