And the winner is...

The 29th of January is here and as promised, I'm here to announce the winner of my 4th blog anniversary giveaway.  

Lori, of Humble Quilts is the winner.  Congratulations, Lori!  Here's what I'll be sending you as soon as I get your snail mail address.  

Thank you all for participating.  I wish I had a gift for each and every one of you!

Something I can share with you all is this recipe for a Bavarian Apple Torte that I made yesterday for the first time...and I assure you, it won't be the last!  It is absolutely delicious and easy to make as well.

Bavarian Apple Torte

Crust

1/2 C butter

1/3 C sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 C flour

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.  Blend in flour and spread dough in the bottom and 1/2" high around the sides of a 9" spring form pan.

Filling

2 - 8oz pkgs of cream cheese

1/2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Mix well and spoon into pastry lined pan.

Topping

1/3 C sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 C sliced apples, peeled
1/4 C sliced almonds

Combine sugar and cinnamon and toss with apples.  Spread apples over cream cheese mixture and sprinkle almonds over top.

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350F and bake for 30 minutes.

~  *  ~ *  ~  *  ~  *  ~

After making the crust, I spooned the cream cheese filling on top.

I tossed the apples with the sugar and cinnamon...

then spread them over the filling and sprinkled the almonds on top.

After baking, I allowed it to completely cool on a wire rack and then removed the spring-loaded side ring. 

It is absolutely delicious and you can be sure that this recipe will be added to my favorites.  I think I might even try a different fruit the next time I make it...like blueberries and strawberries tossed with a bit of sugar.  Yummo!

Ollie and Frankie were snoozing by the fire while the torte was baking until I opened the oven door to take it out.  I think the yummy aroma got to them too!

Ollie has completely recovered from his surgery.  He and Frankie are up to their usual antics and for them, it's business as usual.

4th Blogging Anniversary Giveaway

The giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to all who participated!

On January 29th, 2009, I started my blogging journey.  Where has the time gone? 

So much has happened in our lives over the past four years.  Upon reflection, the good things have far out-weighed the bad and for that, Mr. Painted Quilt and I are indeed thankful.

Who needs to write a book when you have a blog?  From time to time I like to scroll back over some of my older posts and do a little reminiscing.  When doing so I have found myself experiencing a gamut of emotions from from huge smiles to sappy tears but that's just me being me...sappy wus that I am!  *wink*

What I am most grateful for is ALL OF YOU!  Without your kind words of encouragement, shoulders to lean on and unending support, my life wouldn't be as full as it is today.  I have made some very close friends from all over the world and to all of you special people, a GIANT hug.

Having said that, and as a small token of my appreciation, I'd like to offer these small gifts to one of you.

A needlecase that I designed and made, filled with little treasures.

  
Inside, you'll find some of my favorite Jeana Kimball's embroidery/redwork needles...

as well as a pair of cute embroidery scissors and a magnetic needle minder.

Here's the inside...everything you'll need for a little stitching.

To participate in my giveaway, just leave me a comment at the end of this post.  It doesn't weigh a whole lot so to those of you who live outside of Canada or the US, please join in as well because I will definitely ship internationally.

Remember, if your email address does not appear on your profile that means your settings are set to "no reply" and I won't be able to contact you.  As a result, your name will not be included in the draw which will take place on January 29th.

In closing, I'll leave you with this picture of Ollie and Frankie in their favorite place by the fire in the kitchen.  We've sure needed that extra heat these past few days because it's been unseasonably cold, snowy and windy.  Brrrrr.

Aahhhhh...warmth!

Ollie was neutered yesterday and although he was very groggy and unsteady on his feet when we brought him home, he was back to his normal self this morning after a good nights' sleep and is doing fine.

 

I've been busy...

Honest!

My goodness the time does fly when you're having fun!

You guys are too, too funny.  Just today I received 5 emails asking how we were all doing because I haven't posted in a while.  But as the title to my post says, I've been busy...honest!  

So to Sydney in NY, Janet in Quebec, Doris in Ohio, Libby in Maine and Shirley in MA, everyone in the Painted Quilt household is fine and we're all doing well...and thanks for asking!

It's snowing again today.  I think we're supposed to get around 4-6" by the time this evening rolls around.

Just when the snow from our previous dumping had all but disappeared, early this morning we woke up to to see more of the white stuff.

It was bitterly cold yesterday unlike the almost spring-like weather we experienced over the last four to five days.

So what does a gal do on a blustery snowy day?  Why stay indoors and sew, of course!

  
For the past week and a half I've been busy working on another BOM for you all which I hope to have ready for release on the 1st of April.  Other than saying it's going to be FREE and that it will run for six consecutive months, I'm not going to give you any other hints except that "Scrappy" is a part of it's title.

Well, maybe I'll show you a very little sneak peek...

  
I still have two of the side borders to attach and then the piecing of the top will be complete.

Now just the piecing will be complete.  Then comes the fun part of embellishing by adding different textures and doo dads and I can't wait!  I'll have until the end of February to complete the top because that's when my friend Alice who does my longarm quilting will be back from her Florida vacation.  As soon as she returns, I'll be sending it off to be quilted.  

Are you excited?  I am!

I've been a little remiss in sharing with you this beautiful little quilt that my BBFF (best blogging friend forever ) sent to me for Christmas.  This is the third little quilt that Mary from Quilt Hollow has gifted me with over the years and I have to say that I think this one is my favorite.  The colors are perfect! 

Isn't it just over the moon and back?  Mary knows my tastes so well, perhaps because our tastes are so similar.  Thanks again, my friend.

The boys were cuddling by the fire again this morning...

ZZZzzzzz 

and when it got too hot, they moved here...

Think we should tell her that we need a bigger bed?

I guess while I was upstairs sewing, the boys must have had a little domestic because when I came back down,  Frankie was here...

and Ollie was back here.

Even though they are best buddies, they do need their own space...just like us humans, huh?  *wink*

I hope that you all are enjoying the weekend as we are!

Tidying Up!

My sewing studio was starting to look like a war zone again so I decided that today was the time to bite the bullet...pardon the pun...and start to reorganize and tidy up!

Late last spring, our neighbor was having a garage sale and when I saw this shelf, I thought it would be a perfect addition to my studio.  Well it sat in our workshop waiting to be brought indoors since then, gathering dust and fly poop!  

This morning I asked Mr. Painted Quilt if he could bring it indoors because it was going to be a necessary element in my tidying up process.  I forgot to take some before pictures but I do have some after shots of what my studio looks like now.

Starting with the "new" shelf...minus the dust and fly poop of course...here is my CLEAN studio.  

Most of the fabric that is folded on this shelf has been purchased in the last month or so and was just piled on or near my cutting table just waiting to be put away.

Next are several photos of my sewing corner.  The table in the center of the room in the photo below is my cutting table.

This was my Mom's Featherweight which I use from time to time when I have a lot of chain piecing to do.

The Hoosier is a great place for storage...

and next to it is a part of my scissor and pin cushion collection.  I use the pine desk for storage as well.

Lastly is the bookcase that houses my books and patterns and next to it are stacked crates holding more fabric.

Everything is neat and tidy once again making it so much more conducive to being creative and productive.

In my last post I mentioned that Darlene was designing a mystery quilt for our guild and decided that she would open it up to everyone by posting the instructions on her blog once a month after our meetings which you can read about HERE.  

A bunch of friends got together at the library on Saturday to work on various projects.  I worked on the mystery quilt and managed to get all the snowballs done.  Yesterday I pieced together and completed the center medallion so my homework is done.  The sad part is that I will now have to wait until next month for Part 2.

I used only Civil War and antique reproduction fabric scraps that I won on Cyndi's blog a little while ago.  Cyndi owns a shop called Busy Thimble in Litchfield, Maine and she specializes primarily in these types of fabrics which just happen to be my favorites too!

We just started the mystery quilt so there's lots of time to join us!

When we woke up this morning, it was snowing lightly and was a bit on the cold side.  After their breakfast, you know what Frankie and Ollie were up to...

Why snuggling by the fire, of course!

You know you're old when...

You know you're old when you can't stay up past 10 p.m. on New Year's eve.  


Mr. Painted Quilt had an excuse because he spent a good part of Monday outdoors with Ollie cleaning up after the snow storm that blew in on Sunday.  

Thankfully one of our neighbors has a tractor who clears our driveway but not the walkway, paths and deck and let me tell you, there was a lot of snow.  We probably received about 10-12" but it was difficult to tell because of the strong winds that resulted in huge drifts that resembled sand dunes.

I took this photo early yesterday morning and you can see the mounds of snow that drifted against one of our barns.  And let me tell you, it's as cold as it looks!  Brrrr!

I usually start to de-Christmas-ize on the day after Christmas but for whatever reason, not this year.  Yesterday, Mr. PQ brought in the empty plastic bins from the workshop where we store them and I spent from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. packing everything away.  I even had to start a new bin because of the stuff I purchased at the after Christmas sales!

I cleaned, dusted and vacuumed as I went along and what took the most time was cleaning up the dry needles and leaves that fell from the natural greenery arrangements as soon as they were touched.  While they were on display in their containers, they looked and smelled wonderful but when it came to disassembling them...what a mess!

So now that the holidays are over for another year, it's time to focus on finishing up old projects and starting new ones.

I never did get Mr. PQ's second sock finished so that's what I'm now working on in the evenings.  I just managed to turn the heel which means I'm in the home stretch and my goal is to have it finished by Sunday night.  Hopefully I can stay on track.

My friend Darlene who is President of the Fundy Tide Quilter's Guild has designed a mystery quilt and she will be presenting the center medallion to the members at tomorrow night's meeting.  In addition, she will be offering the patterns and blocks on her blog on the first Friday of every month, the day after our meetings.  

If you'd like to read more about it, just click on the link to Darlene's blog here...Quilts by Darlene.  In her post she has given us a sneak peek of the first block.  I know I'll like it because Darlene and I have very similar tastes when it comes to color, fabric and design.

We all have tons of projects to work on but at a block a month, I figure it'll be stress-free and do-able.  This will be my first mystery quilt and I'm looking forward to it.  So come on and join in, won't you?  The more the merrier!

Although the snow has stopped falling, it has turned cold and the winds continue to howl.  By now you all know where you can find Frankie and Ollie...cuddling by the fire, of course!

Men...they're so predictable!  *wink*

ZZZzzzzzz

Happy New Year, my friends!