Good news, bad news and an announcement.

The good news is that Mr Fixit has gallstones.  The bad news is that Mr Fixit has gallstones.  This is good news, as the suspicion was that it might have been cancer.  The bad news is that he now has to have 2 operations to firstly remove some which have escaped from his gall bladder, then he will have to have his gall bladder out.  It could have been so much worse though.

Now the announcement.  SewCalGal is having A Golden Quilter awards ceremony.  Here is what she says on her blog here:

Anyone can nominate a candidate who has made a difference in the world of quilting. Key awards will be given for the following categories for 2009 that are the most inspiring :

1) Designer:
2) Teacher/Instructor:
3) Author: Most inspirational
4) Quilt Store (physical)
5) Quilt Store (online)
6) Best Long Arm Quilter
7) Most Innovative new product (physical item)
8) Most Innovated new product (software item)
9) Most influential person in the world of quilting to-date, aka "Lifetime Achievement".

If you haven't yet submitted your nominations, you can submit via email or by posting a comment on this blog.  Visibility to all announcements will be made March lst, when votes for winners of the Golden Quilter Awards will be accepted...and entries to a March Golden Quilter Awards giveaway will also be accepted.
    
Do go and enter your nominations, you might even win a prize if you do.

Finished...........

...... well, almost.  I've still got to put the binding on.  This is the quilt that Dad claimed at the end of last year.  It was made from a jelly roll and a pattern from Kim Brackett's book "Scrap Basket Surprises" and I quilted it yesterday.

I used an allover design which was chosen by Professor, who happened to be here when I was trying to decide what pattern to use.  It is somewhat more dense quilting than I usually do but I am very happy with the result, and so was Big Bertha I think, cos she didn't skip any stitches at all!

Happy anniversary .........

........ yes, we were married 43 years ago on Valentine's Day. The date was chosen by Mr Fixit.  "Aah, how romantic" I can hear you saying.  Sadly, no, not romantic at all.  His reason was that if we got married on that day, he would never forget our anniversary.  Well guess what?  He forgot our first anniversary, until my mother reminded him!  I can promise you he's never done it again though!

Happy birthday to me - again..........

....... The postman came down my path yesterday with a huge box in his hands.  It was addressed to me and was from my bloggy friend Yuki.  I couldn't think what it was.  Well, when I opened it, just look at what was inside:  there was loads of gorgeous batik fabrics, some great patterns, a ruler set that will be really useful for doing triangle-rectangle thingies, some wonderful shower gel (which isn't in the picture cos it's already being used so is in the shower room) and some fun teabags.  Each bag has a funny joke or quote on the tag - things like "well-behaved women rarely make history" .  I love it all.  Thank you so much Yuki.

A mathematical puzzle ...............

........... so, here I am with 15 blocks in front of me.  8 of Block A and 7 of Block B, all with a directional print in the centre.  I want to turn these into 3 rows, 2 as block A, Block B, etc and 1 starting with Block B.  How many errors can I make when it's late and I'm suffering with a cold and a bad throat?  We tried to work it out last night, but when we got to something like 192 to the power of............. my eyes glazed over and my brain stopped working.  Actually I don't think it was working in the first place, which is why I made so many mistakes.

Have you seen..........

............ this fabric?

My friend Bilbo, a quilter with the biggest stash in the world, is in desperate need of a yard or two of this. 

You can read more about her desperate plea on her blog here.  She's searched Quiltshops.com, most of the big stores and even googled, all to no avail, so now she's appealing to her quilting buddies.  Obviously, she's happy to pay the current price for it, so if anyone has some lurking around their sewing area that they don't want, please would you consider liberating it and sending it to here?

Since I feel a bit responsible, cos it was a comment from me that had her dig out some unfinished blocks that use this fabric, I thought I'd better send out an SOS too.

An important announcement..........

Ms Polkadotsandrickrack and I have decided to proclaim this week as a "no housework" week, where we are all free to just have fun with our quilty friends.  Good idea don't you think?

Since it's February ......

......... and it's Mr Fixit and my wedding anniversary this month, I decided it was time to change my snowy header and background.  Hope you like the new one.