Of course, y'all know that DHMom started showing dogs when she was 5! :)
I'm honoured that you parted with your first Kuvasz item ... gosh he's a hungry pup!
I think I am up to 16 now for the Siggie Blocks ... soon can do something with them!

Oh what a cute birdie ... will the others be birds of a feather with a bit of the FFC fabric, perhaps in different places? or be different? Great assortment of blocks for your sampler. The WOW even looks like the WOW in the siggie.

JeanieG ... ITA with DHMom ... hints please!!! or perhaps pics of the WIP and let the guessing games begin! My crystal ball is in the shop for a tune up! :D

CarrieM ... you need a Kuvasz too! Put one with your dogs, and it'd be like Salt and Pepper!!!

CuppieD ... Isn't this group quite a creative bunch? Speaking of creative ... I just looked at your link, and my oh my, you are the Creative Queen!!! Excellent work!!!

Yes! I was 5!!! I toddled around the ring on stubby little legs with a dog larger than myself. Actually ... the stubby little legs part was only last year :)

Second birdie is a little different. I'm swapping the solid and the FQ fabric. I'm going to face this one the opposite direction and I'm using a darker brown for the legs. The third one I think will be a duplicate of one of the other two ... which ever I like best. All three will have a different WOW to keep with the varied WOW theme in the sampler (actually white on beige).

What you neglected to tell, was that you did not toddle ......... you hopped on that poor dog, as though riding a pony! :D


Just what I was thinking about the birdies ... and heck, maybe there'll be a new version for #3! :)

What a brilliant idea and clever way to get friends together, communicating and making memories!

Rainy rainy day .... I've put my house plants on the deck to soak up some of Mother Nature's sweet drink.

I think I'll sew more birdies!!!

The best thing about rain ..... sew your little ♥ out!!!!!

Maybe there'll become a whole flock of birdies?
(pssssssst one could fly north!!!! :D)

What fabulous items being made from the friendship fabric. Chapter's doesn't have the Fat Quarter Bag book so I guess I wait until my next vacation in the US, order it from Barnes and Noble or Amazon and have it waiting for me when I arrive.:) Like I need more craft books. lol

My tree is progressing slowly. During coffee breaks at work I am buttonhole stitching along all the applique. It's a really slow process but I'm happy with the look. Why not at home you ask? Because I am working on a cross stitch project with 154,250 stitches. I plan to do one page of the design per month and that will take 36 months. And I'm already behind on May. :(

W4Me ... Yes, indeed! Some pretty creative people here!!!! And you;re one of them ... how about a photo update of your FFC project? And too, you can always show us your x-stitch, as insane as it is beautiful! :D

QuiltE - not much of an update. I'm only as far as the first leaf. :(
As to Mind If I Hang Out, here is a link. This is what it will look like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46696371@N07/8557665854/
And this is page 3 of 36 almost complete:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46696371@N07/8803252939/
Come on, you had to suspect I had a warped sense of humour, not? After all, I'm the one who made a quilt with material with hearses on it, and also designed and made a Frankenstein quilt.

The Friendship Tree is the most mainstream thing I've done in ages. :) Thanks QuiltE.

W4Me ... I *gasp* every time I even think of your 154,250 stitches and 36 pages. The colours are beautiful for that sky and nice that you are seeing some good detail show up. (note I am not telling the others much ... *giggle* let them see for themselves! :)) As for your tree ... sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone and doing mainstream, is GOOD!!! And look at how wonderful it is ......... though I still want to see the one leaf that's been blanketed!!! :)

W4Me ... a very detailed piece!! I can (almost) see how many different browns/grey's went into the tree trunk. Going to be lovely.

A small flock of friendly birdies.

I still have a good size piece of the FQ left ... wondering what block I should make with it!!

ACK!! I just noticed I missed the seams on the top bird. Drat. My seam ripper is broken. Will have to fix that when I replace it. Drat.

DHM - thank you. In one section of 100 sttches, there were 28 different colours! But, lots of detail because of it.

Love your bird friends. They look fabulous.

What a lovely flock!
Are you putting all the Tweets into your Scrappy Sampler?
Or are you now thinking of a project just for the Tweets?

Beautiful bird blocks, amazing cross stitch design, and beautiful dog friendship block, all are awesome.

QuiltE have you been to the PO recently, you should have received my signature block by now, (just wondering)

MiraB ... I'm all caught up except for any mail that came today. Will likely go to the PO tomorrow/Tuesday. You're lucky to have a Postie that does house calls!! :D

these will go into my scrappy sampler that I started over a year ago ... and gave up on.

Anael .. you might remember that sampler. I think we both gave up on it. The "Just Takes 2" sampler!! I gave up because there were so many errors on the blocks. It got to the point that we were all scared to start a block until a few weeks after the blocks were posted, coupled with their "make it bigger and whack it off" method with directions that had us whacking off almost half of the block! Such waste.

anyway ... I'd really like to finish that sampler, and I did not continue the downloads - so I need to come up with my own blocks.

DHMom ... What a terrible experience that must have been. Have you been following Anael's Ode to Mom quilt ... same concept with random block sizes for a sampler. And it's delightful!

DHM, tell me how you're going to do that! I still have those blocks somewhere hidden. Yes I did give up on it too because of the same reason. Every time I see her site with new designs I click it away. Never want to start anything ever again from there. Did you ever see a finished sampler? I didn't but I have to admit I never took the time to look for one.
I love your birdies!

What an amazing cross stitch design! I embroider the opposite: fairies :D

QuiltE, that's a thought! Why didn't I think of that? LOL I must admit I have but the Just Takes 2 blocks are very well hidden and I didn't want to think about them because of this bad experience!

............ and now you can blame DHMom for making YOU think about them ... and any repercussions that come as a result! Bad DHMom! :D

LOL QuiltE, because of the lovely weather I've been outside all day and didn't give the Just Takes 2 a second thought. I will deal with the problem when I find them again.

.... you just did!

Anael ... I'm going to choose my own blocks from Quilters Cache, EQ7, or where-ever ... like the birdie block. I saw a pic of the block and put it into my PInterest account to save for future reference. The opportunity just came along!! Using the pic, I sketched it out in EQ7 and viola .. blocks for my sampler. I need to play around with the blocks that I have done to see what combination of sizes I need to complete a decent size quilt. I'm in the same quandry with another mixed size sampler from my boomerang group. I'm particularly fond of mixed size samplers :)

And no ... I will not be visiting either of the "Just Takes 2" sites for block patterns. Especially because by now the blocks are retired and I would have to pay for them. No way I'm giving them a cent.

I did just the other day see some completed Just Takes 2 quilts when I did a Google Image search. I was thinking if there were any blocks that I absolutely loved and I could re-create them in EQ7 (I really liked Grandmothers Compass - which is the block that drove us both over the edge after the ladies posted two corrections to the block and there were STILL complaints of it not finishing to the correct size).

I wasn't ... but I just went and searched for it and found it! It's a beauty! I even spied the red print fabric that she was using in the Just Takes 2 sampler on one of her Ode blocks :) I might have to steal the wreath of flowers block for my sampler ... love that block!!

Great purse Jeanie! your blue fabric is a good match.

Jeanie, wow, what a gorgeous purse! I love the color combination! You did a great job :)

DHM, that Compass block is beautiful but like you I won't pay a cent for the pattern. I tried to draw the block in EQ5 but with no success.

Fabulous purse/tote JeanieG.

JeanieG ... How impressive!!! And the first purse in the FFC! What a perfect blue with the coordinating flowers. Is that a bow tucks? Sure would like to see the inside and what you did there! :D


DHMom and Anael ... any chance the Grandmother's Compass has a look alike in the Mariner's Compass blocks? You two will figure something out! Must take a look at the Wreath again!

JeanieG ... love the purse! The blue is such a good compliment to the FQ we are using. Well done!! I've got the Mini bow-tuck pattern ... just haven't made one yet.

QuiltE ... I'll have to look and see if the Grandmothers Compass is in EQ7 ... if not I can probably make one. This is what it looks like.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]416073[/ATTACH]

One piece of fabric can bring PEACE to people all around the world. You all have just proved it. All items are so thoughtful and well made. Hugs to all of you.

OOOoooooooohhhhh!!!! QuiltE!!! my fabric knows what it wants to BE!!! oooooh!!! FUN :D Im going to make you wait and suffer for this one :D :D :D

Hi Ladies, I also started Takes2 I downloaded all but missed one... I havent pulled it back out yet, I should and do what I can, make it work and see if I can make lemonade!

DD, you're a very brave woman :D :D Which one did you miss?

JeanieG - fabulous and functional.

QuiltE has been nagging/begging me to put up a progress photo of The Friendship Tree. The buttonhole stitch is a slow go but I worked on it for a while yesterday. The tree is now over 1/3 complete. Each leaf takes me between 30 and 40 minutes to outline so there are 7 hours plus to go just in leaves. Yikes. Here is the tree as of last night:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]416325[/ATTACH]
And a close-up of some of the stitching:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]416326[/ATTACH]
Next photo will not be until the outlining is completely done, no matter how much QuiltE whines. :)

Such great ideas-Jeanie love the bowtuck bag--I was thinking of making a bag as well. Nice color combo--but then blue is a favorite color. DHM cute birds. Like you I've had that pattern waiting to be sewn. Looks like you've found the perfect spot for it. mirabelle and g_59 great sewing bags! W4me lovely stitching on those hearts.

And mine is still waiting to be cut!

JeanieG ... thanks for the extra pics! Those ones didn't go fuzzy, maybe try the other again? Looks like a practical purse and loving the colours would make it one I would use constantly!

DHMom ... Grandmother's Compass is beautiful! Lots of challenge there with the curves!

DDamsel ... Not fair! I can't wait!!!!!!!! :D

DDamsel, DHMom and Anael ... maybe the three of you should have a challenge on that completion? and for the innovations you can do with the orphans?

W4Me ... absolutely spectacular!!!! Great colour matches for the floss to the fabrics. As for nagging/begging, it was all for your own good, for the praise, and encouragement to continue on!!! Typical accountant ... have it all converted into the #s and how long it will take!!! :D:D:D

OKSGlad ... not that you don't have a gazillion things to do ... and a trip to get ready for! :D All in good time!

oksewglad - thank you.

QuiltE - Thank you. With all the Aurofil thread I bought late last year, something was bound to co-ordinate. As to the accountant crack, was there a point? :D