Winners of Quilt Diva Giveaway!

And the Winners Are.........
Drawn by random number From Random.org

Trish who said:
I would love a pattern with penguins in it. i have made quilts for my 4 children and am going to be agran for the first time in the next few weeks ans would really like to make a quilt for my first grndchild

Crys who said:
Hi, some years ago my husband gave my 2 friends and I the name of the "Sew Whats". We would get together once a week and sew and sometimes more laughter than sewing. We happened to see your Bugs quilt at a shop and we were in love. We decided to make the quilt and donate it to WAGS of Wisconsin for their annual raffle. All proceeds were to go to a child who needed a service dog. My friend Linda did all the cutting and ironing, while my field Carol and I did all the sewing. We took it to a local long arm quilter who quilted it for half price as we were donating it. We all felt that we were "Diva's" for completing the quilt. The ironic thing is a friend of Carol's won the raffle and gave it back to Carol. It came full circle and a child got a service dog. I now live in Georgia and return to Wisconsin in June to visit, hit the quilt stores and just laugh as the Sew Whats are back together. Your designs have inspired us and I hope to get the dogs done one of these days and donate it to another worthy cause. Crys Mongiat

cnuland who said:
I love mice - I haven't found too many fabrics with cute mice in them.

This was so much fun, we are going to do it again in July! Stay posted for another giveaway next month.

I loved getting to read all of your ideas and comments and I guarantee that some of those ideas are going to make it into my designs! To the three winners, please email us at info@amybradleydesigns.com to claim your prizes. Note to Trish, we do have a quilt with penguins in it, it is called Penguin Paradise, here is a picture, you can purchase it here on our website if you are interested. http://www.amybradleydesigns.com/penguin-paradise.html

To cnuland, we don't have any fabric with mice in them, but we do have a mouse block that is part of the Ballerina Kitties set, you can purchase it separately here and I have included a picture below. http://www.amybradleydesigns.com/ballerinamice.html

How do I do it?

You might wonder how I come up with such stunningly lifelike characters as the Quilt Diva. I do have a wild imagination, but you have to start from somewhere. One of the perks of working at Amy Bradley Designs is the modeling experience. My employees who are also my children are delighted to help me by posing especially when I remind them of all the motherly sacrifices I have made for them. I don't remember promising not to put the pictures on the internet for all to see, but they probably didn't think I was technologically capable of doing so! I will share several of myself as well to be fair.

This is a hand and leg shot, sometimes I have a hard time drawing the hands and feet of my characters so a photo helps a lot.
This is me fighting other imaginary quilters over a box of fat quarters on sale. This design hasn't been published yet.

Here is me holding an imaginary umbrella (actually a dog ball thrower) and my arm around my imaginary friend, this pose is for the Bountiful Beauties quilt, you can see the result below

My daughter Ashley pushing an imaginary shopping cart filled with fabric, this design hasn't been published yet.

Me holding my imaginary inner-tube for the Bountiful Beauties quilt.

And here is the result, can you see the resemblance? These girls have Kansas tans just like me! When we come across these photos in the computer, we always laugh so we thought you might too.

Calming Colors

I just got done doing a couple of designs in these spring colors. I love these colors!

Summer Exercise Anyone?

I love my summer exercise program! Its a small group .... of about 800 people! Its a community program called "Dog Days" after the founder Red Dog Gardner. Best of all it is FREE and it has been going strong for 26 years. It is wonderful because all sizes and all ages are welcome. If you want to do all the exercises for the day you can. You can also walk instead of run or do half of what they give you to do and nobody will judge you. I love this part! It is a lot easier to exercise when you have all these cheerleaders around you. It's insane the amount of exercise we do in the heat but you do it because you have this force of people around you that are all doing it too. If you come 25 times you get a t-shirt too!

Here is a sample workout from http://reddogsdogdays.org/index.php

Stretch
Roll Out
Touch toes, right, left & center
Hurdler right then left
Hamstring right then left X 2
3 upper body push ups
11 jumping jacks
11 toe touches
11 push puts
2 laps
11 jumping jacks
11 volleyball jumps
11 push ups
11 dogs right then left
11 donkey kicks left then right
11 crunches
11 leg lifts
11 sit ups bent legs
11 spread ums – 10” up then 20” up
Marine drill
11 push ups
2 laps, 1 step – girls on west side, boys on east side

I was antiquing with Terry Thompson www.terrythompson.com and Laurie Simpson www.minickandsimpson.com at a Moda retreat when I bought this antique Steam Roller. If it could only work and iron All of my fabric!

I saw an ad in a magazine that has spools of thread in a bubblegum machine. That got me thinking....I have one of those (or maybe more after all I am a die hard collector). I had fun collecting some old buttons and wooden spools of thread. Like I needed an excuse to go antiquing!!!! The hunt is the most fun. That definitely goes for fabric too. My husband just shakes his head in amazement when I come back from one of these hunts.

Quilt Diva Giveaway!!!!!

Yea! I am doing my first giveaway on my blog, this is the best part of blogging! I love it! So, my giveaways are three Quilt Diva prize packs which each include a Quilt Diva fat quarter stack, a Quilt Diva pattern, a pack of Quilt Diva notecards, and a magnetic Quilt Diva notepad. To enter, simply post a comment to this entry and tell me either why you are a Quilt Diva (for example, you have made quilts for all of your 37 grandchildren) or an idea that you would like to see me design (for example, monkeys playing guitars). I will pick three comments at random and will announce the winners on Friday June 19th so be sure to check back then to see if you have won!

Wedding Anniversary

My 13th anniversary was Monday. My present from my husband is new gutters for my building and house. Don't laugh...it's right after gold and silver. We are painting the house this summer and I am changing house colors. I am absolutely thrilled with my present. He also gave me flowers and dinner. Early on in our marriage I told him never to give me a present that you had to plug in. That idea has totally been thrown out. I now want boring basic things like new guttering! I can't wait now to have the house painted.