Playing Tag with My Friends!

Looks like I got tagged by my friend Michele over at Quilting Matters! She sent over a bunch of questions to answer so I really had to start thinking.

1. What is your favourite book?
Hmmm... I read a LOT so it's hard to have a favorite. I'm currently reading Hunger Games.

2. If you could have dinner with one person, living or dead, who would it be?
My grandmother. She died before I got married so she never got to see my hubby or my kids.

3. When you free motion quilt, do you drop the feed dogs or quilt with them up?
I don't do much FMQ yet but I have tried both ways. I don't see a huge difference in either way myself.

4. What is your proudest quilting moment?
I recently finished a twin size quilt that I sewed and quilted on my little home machine!

5. When did you know you were hooked on quilting? I have been sewing for years but a friend invited me to a guild meeting and I loved the pieces I saw. I knew I was hooked the first time I actually finished a quilt from start to finish by myself! 

6. What is your favourite place in the world? Why? I like being in the mountains with no tv, and no place to be. A good book, and a fireplace are all I need (um, and maybe a sewing machine after a week or so!).

7. What is a little known fact about you? Well, a little known bloggy fact is that I sing.  I sang in church from the time I was 5 but I trained and sang more musical theater and classical in high school and college.

8. If you were given $1,000 that you could spend on anything for YOU, what would you spend it on -- clothes, shoes, fabric? Something else? Ooh...$1000? Part of me would want to buy a really nice sewing machine, but part of me would want to take a trip. 

9. What is your favourite quilt that you made? I personally like X Marks the Spot. I created a block that I have not seen before and I really like how it came together.

10. What is your favourite quilt that someone else made? I love this Fibrations quilt. It is the first one shown in the post.

11. If you could be any character in a book, which one would it by and why? This is probably silly, but Hermione from Harry Potter. She was intelligent and loyal, a romantic but a fighter for what she believed in.

Now, I have a list of questions and a list of people who are supposed to answer them!

Here are my questions:
1. Musicals or plays? And what are your favorites?
2. Do you have any "hidden" talents that have not made it into your blog?
3. Are you a reader? If so, what are you reading right now?
4. What is your favorite time of day?
5. Do you save the selvages from fabric? Have you ever made anything with them?
6. What is your favorite quilt you've ever made?
7. What color comes up most often in your quilts?
8. Do you play music while you sew? What songs get you motivated?
9. What's the worst injury you've ever suffered?   (I have to answer this one myself...I suffered a tri-mallelar fracture back in in 1998. I have 7 screws and a plate in my left ankle to hold together my tibia and fibula...the broken heel just healed!)
10. Do you come from a large family or a small family?
11. Have you always lived in your current hometown? If not, how far away do you live from the town where you were born?

Who needs to answer these questions? Why these lovely people right here:

Lindsay @LinzSews
Kelli @Seriously...IthinkItNeedsStitches
Cheryl @Teapots2Quilting
Julie @DistantPickles
Mrs.Pickles @MrsPicklesGarden
Michelle @QuiltsFromMyCrayonBox
Richard @RichardQuilts
Allegory @SewAllegorical
Amy @ThreadRobin
Cassie @CassiesCrafties
Rebekah @TheThompsons

Blogger Making Me Testy...

I woke up this morning to find that my blog was missing. Not just a post...the WHOLE BLOG! I was NOT a happy camper. I just looked at my dashboard and it didn't list my blog. Before I could check to see if it was showing up on the internet, I got an email from Michele over at Quilts from my Crayon Box emailed me to ask if I knew my blog had disappeared. Thanks for watching out for me Michele!
It ended up being fairly simple to get Blogger to fix it, but... I find it interesting. I have gotten very few spam comments in my blog in this year that I've had it. I also have comment approval set up on my blog. Then Blogger puts this word verification thing on all the blogs, which I remove. All of a sudden my blog disappears? And when it reappears there are two spam comments and one weird spam one that got through to my comment approval page? I don't know what all of it means but I'm just glad it's over. Hopefully no more troubles!
I finished Twin quilt number 1 but I have to take pictures so I will post again later today with the pics. Have a great day!

Turning off the Dreaded Word Verification on Your Blog!

I got tickled over at Lucy over at Charm About You with her blog post about how she abhors the wonderful new word verification blogger has installed on our blogs. She even went so far as to create a button...

How cute is that? What a hoot! Don't know if you have word verification, or don't know how to turn it off if you do have it? Well, let me give you some simple instructions.

1. From your Dashboard, click Settings. Can't find it? Look at the top under Manage Blogs. The name of your blog should be under that. It should be the middle link button under your blog name.

2. When you arrive at the Settings page, click Comments UNDER the Settings tab. This is a subpage under Settings, not the main Comments page at the very top.

3. Scan almost to the bottom of the page and you will see "Show word verification for comments" with the options yes/no. Choose 'no'.

4. At the very bottom of the page, be sure to choose "Save settings".

You're done! Very easy. No big deal. And lots of happy followers not having to jump through hoops!

A Hit of a Party and an Award! Woohoo!

The birthday party for Little Man was a success. And let me tell you, there is nothing like a birthday party where all you do is show up! We did the jumpy party and all I did was bring the cake. They provided all the paper products, a room, juice, I added ice cream, and the kids jumped until they were pouring sweat! And the best part? I didn't have to clean it up! I just packed it all in the car and came home. Whew! It kind of makes me think of that old Rice Krispie treats commercial where the woman throws flour all over herself like she's been working hard in the kitchen when the treats are supposedly nothing to make. "Here you go dear! I threw together this huge jumpy party for complete with decorations and a helper!" Uh, yeah...NOT!

Okay, so after that we get home and I'm checking through my emails and bloggy comments only to come across this. Wonderful Michelle over at Quilt Matters gave me the Liebster blog award!

How sweet is that?! She is so fabulous and she makes such beautiful projects. I am still dying to participate in her current Colour My World Challenge (if I could just get some other things finished!).

The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to their favorite blogs with under 200 followers. The Liebster Rules are:
1. Post about your win on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
3. Copy and paste the award to your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.
5. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

This was incredibly difficult to do...just 5? Wow. Well, I chose bloggers that give me inspiration in their frequent posts and who provide wonderful and consistent comments that always help egg me on to do more and better.

1. Lindsay @ LinzSews
2. Michele @ QuiltsFromMyCrayonBox
3. Allegory @ Sew Allegorical
4. Mrs. Pickles @ MrsPicklesGarden
5. Angie @ SummerfieldQuilts

Thank you so much to all these ladies who inspire and encourage in so many ways!
And I have to add that the only reason Michele didn't make it in my list is because she already got the award!  Her comments are always so encouraging and make me feel good about the projects I make!