More on Jen and Jan's Blog Hop

As I've been reading the blogs of other participants in Jen and Jan's blog hop, I've been learning and having great fun seeing the mini quilts. Below is the list of all the participants, including me. I did not expect to be added to the list so quickly. What a sweet girl that Janice is!

Jen Rosin  A Dream and a Stitch
Kate Heads at Smiles From Kate
Jennifer Fulton at Inquiring Quilter
Karen Thurn at Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats

Melva Nolan at Melva Loves Scraps
Vicki at Vicki's Crafts & Quilting
Julie Stocker at Pink Doxies
Anja Clyke at Anja Quilts
Diann at Little Penguin Quilts
Jayne at Twiggy & Opal
Susan Arnold at Quilt Fabrication
Leanne Milsom at Lizzie the Quilter
Sandra Walker at Mmm! Quilts!

Janice Holton at Color Creating & Quilting

Sola at Alice Samuels Quilt Co

Jennifer Strauser at Dizzy Quilter

Amy Gerlich at Amy Scrap Spot

Sharon Denney Parcel at Yellow Cat Quilt Designs

Tami at Sew Much for Free Time

Suzy Webster at Adventurous Applique & Quilting

Tish Stemple at Tish's Adventures in Wonderland

Susan Gordon at Sevenoaks Street Quilts

Anne Boundy at Said With Love

Barbara Wootie at The Flashing Scissors
Jan Welander at Making Scraps

Mary Marcotte at Fleur de Lis Quilts

As I visit each blog, I've been adding the minis to my Pinterest board. Check out all the minis together here.

Jen and Jan's Mini ~~ a little finish

Shot of the mini hanging in the
wisteria. The smell is wonderful
and I could not resist! 

or what I'll call a delayed finish. I joined a quilt along earlier this month or maybe back in February...whenever the two girls said, "Hey, wanna play?" I've had plenty of time, but you know, there are things like work getting in the way. So I procrastinated. For a long time. And suddenly there it was.  

I actually started earlier in the week so that I would not be frantic on Thursday or Friday. Lot of good that did me. Thurday I got home (as Marley said) "very later" than I was supposed to. So no sewing. On Friday I started with a migraine at school. An hour later my principal refused to let me drive home but insisted that I go. One phone call to Richard and I was on my way.  But again no sewing. I woke up much later and sent an email to Jan to let her know that she needed to pull me from the list. 

"Little Pink House"

Detail of the quilt hanging on the line

Oh, the guilt. I really have a problem with broken promises. After sleeping about 19 hours I felt much better and decided to get on the mini. And this is it. Not as pink as I hoped it would be--this color is too muddy--but I've already decided that it will have to do. While I was cutting out the pieces, I kept thinking of John Mellencamp's song, "Pink Houses," (1983)which can be patriotic or not, depending on your outlook. Here's the chorus in case you want to sing along. 

Oh but ain't that America, for you and me
Ain't that America, we're something to see baby
Ain't that America, home of the free, yeah
Little pink houses for you and me, oh for you and me

Guess where the title of mini came from. Maybe the muddy pink is the right color after all. 

Jan and Jen had so many people join in the fun that they split the quilters into two days. Some posted yesterday and some today. I hope that you'll go see the sweet minis that were created.

I'm not sure that the button works, so here are the links:

Jen's blog A Dream and A Stitch

Jan's blog Color, Creating, and Quilting

Linking up with

Crazy Mom Quilts 

This is my second link for the week on Amanda Jean's linkup. 

See the first one--a tutorial of the quilted scrap baskets--here.

Monday, Monday / So good to me...

"Solicitude"--finished last week

Woohoo! Back at work and all went well. Returned home and played in the studio for a couple of hours. Rich cooked. After supper I graded (some) papers. I've spent the last couple of hours visiting a blogs. What more can a quilter ask for? 


If I haven't visited you recently, I'm sorry. I have been trying, but now there are so many great blogs that I'm struggling to keep up. If you have a system, I'd sure appreciate knowing how you manage to keep up with reading and responding to all of the bloggers you've come to know. 

I'm shutting my brain down for tonight, but goodness I had a fantastic day. If you need some interesting quilt reading, visit any of these linky parties that I joined over the weekend. You will not be disappointed, except that you can't visit everyone who linked up. I know this because I've tried.

Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

My Quilt Infatuation

Off the Wall Fridays at Creations Quilts Art Whatever

Faith and Fabric Design for TGIFF

Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Fabric Frenzy Friday for Fort Worth Fabric Studio

NOTE: Song lyrics from "Monday Monday"
 by The Mamas and The Papas

Sew [sweet] Preeti

I am We are all aware that quilters are wonderful, giving, extraordinary humans who do much to make the world a better place. We sew for those we love--quilts, clothing, home decor--little gifts that say "I love you."

If we are truly giving, we may make a quilt or two to send off to the victims of a great tragedy. Maybe we send dresses to Africa, or blankets for Project Linus. Perhaps we donate handmade items for a local group to sell. Maybe we are brave or smart, and we begin something that takes a life of its own.

Most importantly we do something. Something concrete. Something that those who receive our meager gifts can touch. Feel. Hold. Something that warms them. Something that clothes them. 

There's a quilter who takes this "world" business quite a bit much farther than most of us. Almost every quilt she has made has been for someone else.  Meet Preeti Harris of Sew Preeti Quilts.

Recently Preeti wrote about her trip to India to visit her sick mother. She also wrote about their relationship and about her relationship with her husband. I've followed her blog for some time, popping in to see her quilt progress and to learn a bit about her Indian culture. 

I left a few words of encouragement. Perhaps I gave advice that was not asked for. Maybe I even pushed stressed featured my Pro-Life, Marriage-Is-Sacred, Catholic agenda. Who knows what I said? It was (and still is) me. If nothing else, I stay true my beliefs.

Today this was in my mail. Preeti, the darling of blogland, wanted to thank me for my comments! A couple of fat quarters, some thread and the best smelling sandalwood soap. You can't imagine how good that fabric smells! I may never wash it. 

If you have not read Preeti's blog or seen her quilts, you want to visit Sew Preeti Quilts. Go. Now. You'll be thrilled and will likely learn something about making the world a better place.

Say hello from me!

!!! NEW !!!

Have you noticed the new look of Fleur de Lis Quilts?
It's been a couple of weeks in the works. I haven't a clue how to save the changes without actually making the changes happen. So there's no big reveal, just a change here and there when I get a moment steal an hour to work on it. 

Aside from the big difference of the newer, cleaner photos across the top (figuring out how to do that was difficult interesting), there are a few other changes or additions.  

• The tutorials page is organized! Check that out because I worked really hard.
• A new linky party page is available for those followers who like to crash a party or two.  They are arranged by weekday so that it's easy to figure out who, what, when, where AND every party has a link. I've been working on this page for a while and have over 50 links, but if you know of  an error or a party that I've missed, please shoot me a note or email. 
• I've added a poem or two to my poetry page. The poems are all original and penned by me.
• I don't know how many tips/techniques were up the last time you visited the page, but I now have 11 and plan to add more. By all means, check back.
• Finally, I hope you visit my quilts page. Nothing there has changed but while I'm tooting my horn... 

In other words, hang out a bit, look around, leave comments, ask questions, join in the conversation. If you'd prefer, you can still send me an email at mary.marcotte@gmail.com. 

And as always, thank you for coming. I'll gladly visit your blog and follow, especially if you leave me a note. In fact, for that, I'll comment on your blog as well, and I generally have lots to say.  

How to spend a Saturday night

Do you know what takes about three hours out of your life? One decision. One. That's all. In my case it was the decision to update this blog. Three hours. Three. That's a number you know, 3. 

You know why it takes three whole hours? Because I can't learn a lesson from a mistake by doing it once. I have to make that mistake again.  And again. And sometimes it takes another one three, okay, four times. I mean, I do eventually figure out the problem. Usually. 

But graciousness sake's alive. Three hours. And let us not forget the headache. Literally. There was a doozy coming on after three hours of fixing my self-imposed problems.  So it's done. Well, I can't fathom that I would right now, this minute, spend any more time fixing. Because I almost like what I have. Almost. I mean I'll live with it for tonight.

Finally, eight collages (Thank you PicMonkey), three hours, a headache, and a Jason Statham kill-everyone-except-the-girl movie later (Richard is a fan, apparently) and I can take two asprin and say goodnight.  Oh wait, go back to yesterday's post and find out how to give your unloved unwanted blocks and WIP's up for adoption--possibly to someone willing to finish them for a deserving charity organization.   Now goodnight.

Quilty 365 for February

I'm not sure I should even write February since it's the only month in which I've made circles. But this will keep alleviate some confusion.  (Okay, maybe.)  I actually announced that I'd decided to become involved with Quilty 365 on Feb. 13, but the first date of making the circles must have happened around the first. 

Since those dates, I'm made a few circle blocks. I chose to use some woven plaids and solids that I've had for quite some time now. 

At first I sewed plaid circles onto the solids. After I announced that I'd been sucked in become involved with the project, I decided to switch up the game and put solid circles on plaid squares. I wanted to mix it up just a little. 

Turns out that I made way more this way than I intended. Way, way more.  Big blocks with big circles. 

Small blocks with small circles. A few stripes. Some odd plaids that aren't regular wovens, but plaids none-the-less. Way more than I intended wanted.

There we have it. Well, I don't know how many, exactly, there are. I haven't counted. (yet)  I'll just say lots of plaids and still far from 365. However, the chances of maybe catching up exist since most days I sew two blocks. I have sewn as many as four or five some days a time or two. 

Linking up with

March Quilty 365 Linkup at Quilty Folk