Foto Finish - Flowers

The optional theme for this weeks Foto Finish at Cat Patches is flowers.

The hardest part of this one is deciding which flowers to post. Out of one window, I have beautiful bougainvillea

On two sides of the house I have hibiscus

And then there are the ever present impatiens

But the clear winner is this guy who decided to bloom just in time for this Foto Finish

I love my orchids. I lost a lot of them in a freeze two years ago, so the survivors are really special to me.

Don't be jealous, we will be in the high 80's next week, the mosquito plane is already flying and I had a centipede crawl across my toes, sure signs that summer is going to be long and hot. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Dana

March Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Is time flying by for everyone or is it just me. I had plenty of time to do this, then no time. 

March's challenge was from Ann Fahl, who really has a style I like. If you check out her work she has a lot of gorgeous quilts showing that style.

Her challenge pretty much gave a few examples and set us free to explore other options from stippling. I liked what she had to say and although I followed the examples she gave, I can see myself trying other shapes and just making it my own.

Not great, but I didn't practice, just jumped in. I love the little loop de loops, they are fun to do and add such a nice touch of whimsy. I went ahead and threw in the daisies, hearts and leaves just to see what I liked and the daisies won. 

Although I'm having trouble finding time to practice these, I am going back and working on them. I just finished a quilt where I used the vines and leaves from January in the sashing, it looks awesome. (Yeah, I know, where's the pictures? I'm working on it.)

Thanks for stopping by,

Dana

Foto Finish - Green

Lovely green is the optional theme for Cat Patches Foto Finish this week. You'd think that would be easy but I kept going through my pictures and finding lots of green. Since I like nature shots I have so much. I finally decided on this guy, I like the way he blends, he's a chameleon, so he's supposed to, but I also really like the lighting that changes the shade of green. 

Pretty cute, right? 

I hope you like him and I hope you'll hop on over to Cat Patches to see what everyone else came up with.

Thanks for coming by,

Dana

Foto Finish - Something You Don't See Everyday

The optional theme this week over at Cat Patches Foto Finish is Something You Don't See Everyday. 

This was going to be my picture for last week, but it works for today too. Time has not been on my side lately.

This sign is just up the road from me and I could see it everyday, if I wanted to go to the mainland, ugh.

You really don't want to break down on that road, especially at night.

Thanks for stopping by,

Dana

Just a Quick FYI

I'm sure you all know that tomorrow March 17th is International Quilting Day. In honor of that The Quilt Show has a opened their doors to everyone so we can watch quilt videos for free. It will run through the weekend starting today. 

I used to watch Simply Quilting years ago, before I was even a quilter. I just loved Alex Anderson.

So my family has been warned, count me out, I'm watching as much as I can for the next 3 days.

Because I read blogs for the pictures, here's one of my favorite quilts.

Time To Vote and a Quick Question

Wow, life has really been getting in the way of my computer time. I'm barely finding time to catch up on reading blogs. But I do want to remind you to vote in the Golden Quilter Awards. You have until the end of March to get your vote in. Don't you just love being asked for your opinion? I usually voice it, but I'm not asked that often ;)

While I've got you here, let me ask you a quick question. I've been asked to add a name to a finished quilt. I'm thinking machine embroidery, then hand sew that to the back. Anyone have any other ideas? Sometimes the easiest stuff just goes right past my brain. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Dana