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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Winners and Grinners

The winners of my blog giveaways were:
  1. Tabitha (commenter #19), a newer quilter in Ohio who won Pineapple Fabrics' four jelly rolls of Painter's Palette Solids, and a mini Painter's Palette color card
  2. Martha (commenter #11) who won a PDF of her choice from Landauer Publishing
  3. Kim (commenter #2), a very good Iowa friend who won a digital copy of Curated Quilts.
I thought these were wonderful, highly-desirable giveaway items - thank you to my generous sponsors! - so I was surprised at the lower number of comments than in past giveaways. Most often I've had more than 100 commenters. For these giveaways there were 56 commenters for fabric and 27 commenters for digital items. It's evident that interest in social media platforms has changed. The once wildly popular blog giveaways have been replaced with easier and faster Instagram giveaways.

Still, I want to extend my thanks to all of you for entering, and especially for your lovely comments. I could spend a whole day replying! And thanks for your stick-to-itiveness at reading blog posts. Mwah! 😘

Sewing has been happening here in a random sort of way. I'm jumping among several WIPs - AKA not finishing anything. The current project that has my attention is the Slopes quilt I stopped working on last May. It's a pattern in Amanda Jean's book No Scrap Left Behind, and is made from string scraps. I stopped working on it because I was running low on color scraps, especially purple. However, thanks to a generous offer from Amanda Jean (CrazyMomQuilts) herself, she sent a bunch of purples she had collected.

Now that I've begun this rainbow plan, if I piece it as is, Slopes will be wider than it is high! I've been playing with another scrappy block made with a Bloc Loc ruler called "Triangle in a Square." I could insert these blocks between a few rows to make the quilt "taller."

They would fit in those empty spaces. But I haven't settled on anything. I'll play more today.

After sharing in my giveaway post that I was celebrating nine years of blogging, and that my first blog post was about making pavlova for Australia Day, I started craving pavlova! I decided to make it again and followed the easy recipe here on Allrecipes.com.

First, whip the egg whites into a meringue, and then puddle the meringue in a 9" circle onto parchment paper. To get the circle, I drew around a cake pan on the back of the parchment paper.

After it's baked, it looks like this, prettily cracked.

Whip a carton of heavy whipping cream - I didn't add sweetener, but you could - spread it on top of the meringue, and finish it with fruit that's been flavored with a little vanilla, balsamic vinegar, and sugar (that's also a recipe).

Cut a slice. Oh my! Quite honestly, I had to eat two slices. I also shared with Dan and neighbor-quilt-y-friend Becky. I need to make this more often! It's so good.

Two weeks ago, when I was getting ready to fly to Kansas City, I packed my 64" X 80" Rainbow Strings quilt (string-pieced onto telephone book pages) in my suitcase. Once in KC, I quietly handed off the quilt to my nephew's wife and asked only that I get a picture of their daughter with the quilt. Look at how they came through! What a precious picture of 14 month-old Maddie. Isn't she a doll? As a quilt maker, it's heartwarming to know a quilt is appreciated and being used.

Did you get to see the eclipse of the moon this morning? I saw it, but barely. Tonight is when we get to see a super moon (that's when the moon is nearest the earth, called a perigee) and a blue moon (a full moon happening twice in a month). This is my layman's photo of the moon rise over my house last night, a day before the super moon/full moon. I hope you get to see it tonight. I'm sure it will be awesome.

And speaking of natural wonders... it's been cold here in Florida this winter. This morning we woke to a temperature of 39 degrees. It's not the first time we've been in the 30s either! If you're planning to make a wintertime get-away to Florida, be sure to pack your Cuddlduds! Linda

16 comments:

  1. What a precious photo of sweet Maddie on her new quilt! Those are the photos that keep a quilter's mojo going. Isn't it strange that so many quilter's stashes are low on purples, it's such a lush color and blends so beautifully with so many others.

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  2. Wonderful photo of a darling girl with a beautiful quilt. Nice that you can share that. She will love that quilt forever.

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  3. well, thank you for the photo of the moon. I read that on the east coast we really were not going to get the full lunar eclipse, so I skipped getting up at 630
    Congratulations on your 9 years. I am just glad I found you.
    I know lots of people love free patterns or pattern books. I have so many pattern books I am tripping over them
    I want some of that pavlova. I would make it, but I have already been oinking out on corn bread and other treats. I will have to do MORE treadmilling and less sewing, then. Somehow it would be great if we could treadmill and sew. Then all of us would be buff.

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  4. Cool pics! Thank you for having blog giveaways. I didn't win this time, but I still appreciate the giveaway. I only enter on blog giveaways. I don't Facebook or Instagram. So it's nice of you to have the blog giveaway. Have a happy day!!

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    1. I hope you read my reply to this comment. I'm sorry you didn't win either, but in fact, if I had chosen your name, I wouldn't have been able to contact you (unless you included your email address in your comment) because you are a "no-reply commenter." Many people who comment on my blog posts don't know they are "no-reply." If you are entering other bloggers' giveaways, I would suggest you check your Google profile to see what you need to do to make your return email address show. I sure hope you read this! I don't want you to be missing out. :-)

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  5. It's been the strangest winter! Cold back there in Florida, and weirdly warm here in Colorado. Just bizarre. :) Really love your rainbow strip diamonds, and what a totally adorable photo.

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  6. Yes, it’s been cold here in Tx, too! I’m glad I packed my cuddle duds! I’m loving your scrappy projects! So bright and cheery in the rainbow colors. That baby is adorable on your quilt! Does your heart good!

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    1. P.S. that Pavlova looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Congrats to all the winners, what a celebration! Glad to see you've pulled out the rainbow again! Yum, the pavlova looks delish!

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  8. Congrats to the winners, and oh that Pav looks delish! Love the little doll on her quilt too!

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  9. Congratulations to all the winners! I love blogs and long ago realized I would never be a good blogger so I try to a good reader and comment pretty often. This Pavlova looks so good, I think it will have to be my Super Bowl dessert.

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  10. Congratulations on nine years of posting. I missed the giveaway post as I am just not able to get on as often as I used to. Funny, I thought when I retired I would have more time for blogging!! Seems I stay on the run with the grandkids, quilt guild and other stuff. Cute Maddie does look happy about her quilt.

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  11. Maddie is adorable!!! What a cutie pie!! :^) We didn't get to see the eclipse out here, cloud cover. I was up at 5:30 so was really hoping.
    Your Pavlova looks so yummy, I need to try and make it and I am sure one slice will not be enough.

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  12. Happy for the giveaway winners :o) I think it's great that you held the drawings through your blog - if people want to win a sponsored giveaway I feel like there should be be a bit more investment on their part then just Instagram madness. (Sorry, but I have a love/hate - use it because it's necessary relationship with Instagram). When I participate in the blog hops for Quiltmaker Magazine I've noticed a drop in blog visits, too. I think people just don't take the time to blog themselves, or to visit blogs as much anymore. I find this to be a shame because I think we learn so much more about each other this way. It is possible to say that I think there is too much sharing on IG? Yet, if you don't share and get liked/commented, and do the same to those you want to follow, then IG doesn't show those friends in your feed in a timely manner. Not a rant from me, just processing the facts.

    Love the sweet picture of your great niece! Perfect quilt for her to be loving :o) Hope you are having fun working on some of your projects. The colder weather makes sewing so appealing!

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  13. I've never eaten pavlova but that may change soon. It sure looks good! The moon was covered with clouds here but I did get up at 5am to check on it - just in case! Darling baby on the quilt! That's all I ask for, too. I made lots of baby quilts in 2017 and can tell you I get photos regularly of all of them in use. It's also fun seeing them randomly appear in Facebook posts and on Christmas cards. It makes me SO HAPPY! We are expecting 12" of snow before this current storm passes. At least your cold doesn't require shoveling! Have a great weekend.

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  14. Your rainbow strings quilt looks perfect for little Maddie. It would be such a nice quilt for anyone of any age. I've never heard of pavlova, but what's not to like.

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