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by Terry
Is January already gone???? Can you believe that? 1/12th of the
new year is already behind us! I don't know about you, but a good
portion of my month was spent without electricity and water. What's
that mean? NO HEAT and NO QUILTING! I was without water
for three (3) days and without electric for eight (8). It seemed like
an eternity. There were two (2) things that saved me: 1) I
have a four-wheel drive vehicle that will get me anywhere, and 2) I began
working again doing tax preparations for 2006. In fact, if you need
someone to do your taxes for you, I am fast, reliable, and less expensive
than most others!
Contact me for more information, if you are interested.
I made a huge dent
in quilting stuff after Christmas and the first week of January! And it's
a good thing!
My activities, as far as quilting are concerned, have almost ground to a
halt due to working during the tax season. That is not good as far as
my quilting and social life go, but it is very good financially. As
most of you know, I had major heart surgery last year, with no health
insurance, and I'm climbing my way out the exorbitant hospital and doctor's
bills. At this rate, I may begin to see a light at the end of the
money tunnel by 2010. LOL
Updating the Quilting
Passion Web site is still in progress, and due to its size now (and it
continues to grow!) and the fact that I have no free time these days, it may take me some time to convert it all over to the
new format. I know that I still
have several broken pages out in cyberspace and if you come across one,
please send me an
e-mail
so that I can fix it. Or if I've moved a page and you can not find it,
let me know
and I'll point you to it. I appreciate your patience with me as my
virtual dust is being spread about!
It has been freezing cold here. Due to the ice storm we had a few
weeks ago, the vast majority of our trees have no tops in them! The
ice was too heavy and on too long and the top portions of trees just simply
could not withstand the weight and so they snapped off. Which is one
reason we had no electricity. It is also why we had no land-line
telephone service. Our trees look like the Jolly Green Giant took a
chainsaw and trimmed them off evenly. It is a strange sight, indeed.
As you may remember from the December eNews, I launched an online quilt store,
YOUnique Designs, and have a few
products ready to go. The stained glass project that I'm making for
mom did not get finished in time for Christmas and is now slated to be her
Mother's Day gift. :) It will be a new pattern sold there, as will my photo memory
quilts for my sons. I've finished the Quiltendar™ and have it and
the January pattern ready to go and am working on the February, however I
simply have not had time to launch it! I also have two (2) BOMs planned on
that site, one of which began in January (Floral
Appliqué), so if you like appliqué, be sure to check it out. I
also plan a BOM to begin sometime this year on the QP site. Two out of the three will be
free! All of the items I have available for purchase are
listed on the
Order Form, however, and if you find something you're interested in and
can't find it, just let me know. You may be asking why in the world
I'm opening another site? Simple answer; Well, actually two
answers. First, I want to keep the Quilting Passion site non-profit
and second, I need another source of income to keep myself healthy!
So,
what are your plans for 2007? Are you staying busy and warm? Did
January fly past you, too?
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That
2007 is Oklahoma's 100th birthday?
That there is a tax credit available to everyone that owned a
telephone and/or cell phone in which you paid taxes for long-distance
service between February 28, 2003 and August 1, 2006? Be sure to
remind your tax service to give you the credit and ask for details
about the two (2) options available to you for claiming it.
That there are several holidays in February?
-
The
1st is
Groundhog Day,
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February 12th is Lincoln's Birthday,
-
Valentine's Day is on the 14th,
-
President's Day is on the 19th,
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Ash Wednesday is on the 21st, and
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The
22nd is Washington's Birthday.
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The Quilting Passion electronic
Newsletter is a free monthly
publication that keeps subscribers up-to-date on news that may
include:
-
Fabulous new
quilting Web sites that have been "discovered",
-
Exciting new
patterns that are available for free on the Web,
-
Quick and easy
projects,
-
New patterns from
Terry,
-
Mystery Quilt
updates from Terry,
-
Updates on
what's happening at the
Quilting
Passion University,
-
What's happening
on the
Quilting
Passion Forum,
-
Quilting events, -
Updates on the progress of the
QP Forum Charity Drive, -
Updates on special projects, -
Updates on new
Contests,
Challenges, and Activities,
-
Updates to the
gallery, a showcase of quilts made using patterns and from
projects hosted by this site,
-
Changes to the
QP
Web site,
-
And much more!
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Do you have any announcements that you feel would be of
use to the eNews? Perhaps a quilt show, a new grandbaby, etc.?
If so, please let me know and I'll squeeze them into the next edition
of the eNews. |
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Receive an e-mail
notification when a new issue of this electronic newsletter (eNews) is published by
joining the mailing list. Membership is free. To
subscribe, simply
send an
e-mail to Terry.
To subscribe to the
Mystery Quilt mailing list, simply
send
an e-mail to Terry.
To be
removed from a mailing list, send an e-mail to the appropriate address
(given above) with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject area. |
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Terry Crawford
2136 E 4675
Pryor, OK 74361
http://quiltingpassion.com/
quilting@quiltingpassion.com |
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The new Desktop Wallpaper Calendar is
heart-themed for February.
There are two (2) different versions of it; one with the seasonal
graphics overlaying it and one without. This wallpaper celebrates
Valentine's Day, and just as I began in January, I am providing the
block pattern
for you that was used in the quilt calendar. It is a very simple
pattern that has endless possibilities due to placement, color choices, and
fabric selections!
I have also been in contact with
Jodie Davis
and there is a good possibility that Quilting Passion could become a testing
site for a new venture that she is launching for her online quilting
television shows. QNN
is great! If you haven't checked it out, please do so. You can
watch quilting shows any time you want; all via the Internet. Internet
and quilting: Two of my favorite hobbies and QNN gives me the best of
both worlds!
If you are looking for simple wallhanging patterns for either Valentine's
Day or St. Patrick's, be sure to check out the
QP Featured Projects!
Upcoming Events:
For a listing of known quilt shows, birthdays, anniversaries, and other
events, please refer to the Quilting
Passion Calendar. If you have an event you would like submitted,
please
contact me!
Enjoy these small bites of information!
-
Muskogee,
Oklahoma native
Barbara Gorton, 74, was recognized on January 27th, along with 39
other Oklahoma quilt makers, as part of Oklahoma's centennial celebration.
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A
quilt show commemorating the Oklahoma Centennial is on display at the
Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Quilts range from
utilitarian to fancy. These were made during the early statehood
years when Oklahoma was being developed.
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Electric Quilt 6
is out. Have you taken a look at it?
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Underground Railroad Code for quilts a legend?
Many saying now that it's a myth?
Slave Code Quilts Deemed a Hoax? That's what's being said across
the Internet at this point in time! These are just a few of the
articles that I ran across; there were many more. Can you believe
this? This topic would definitely be an attention-grabber at a
quilter's luncheon!
-
And then,
there are still
believers in the slavery quilt code! And there are even
teachers teaching about it in our schools. What do you believe?
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Alex
Anderson, dubbed the "Queen of Quilting", has now taken her show to the
Internet, after hosting Simply Quilts on
HGTV for 11 years.
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Many people
want Wal-Mart to keep their fabric department and quite a few campaigns
have been launched across the USA in an effort to make Wal-Mart more
aware. Here's
one perspective of the opinions of people in the North Central
Arkansas area, which is almost "home" to Wal-Mart! Hello, Wal-Mart.
Wake up and smell where those all-mighty dollars really come from!
And dash across the USA to
Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ to hear how outraged those citizens
are!
-
Read this
writer's
view of her quilting stash. A whole lot of rambling as she
rambles from one end of the "do I or don't I keep collecting fabric"
spectrum!
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Have you
wondered about
quilting and taxes?
-
Quilting
icon
Kaye Wood launches her 40th television series on PBS!
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Has the
enduring value of the
AIDS Memorial Quilt "lost its punch"?
I plan on offering quite a few free patterns to subscribers of the via
YOUnique
Designs Newsletter. If you haven't signed up for it, please feel
free to do so!
There
are plans to kick off a "Block of the Month" series for
2007 on Quilting Passion. Watch for details
later this month! This will be a simple series that can be used to make a sampler,
similar to the previous BOM sampler
series that I did.
The Quilting Passion Web site has quite a few
free
patterns that I have designed over the past few years, plus these that I
have done this past month. Please take a look and see what you can
find to spark your creativity!
I ran across this pattern a few days ago and
think it is a very striking quilt. The pattern name is what first
caught my attention, but then the design also captured my interest!
The
Road To Nowhere, by Shelley A. Hanson, is a great-looking quilt that
appears to be simple in design!
Although the next mystery is still a few weeks off, you can begin thinking
about it! I have a couple of ideas roaming around in my head and can't
decide if I want to do the one for Easter or the one for spring.
If you would like to view previous mysteries, then be sure to check the pictures of quite
a few finished mysteries in
the Gallery below!
The Gallery has had
a lot of new additions (and I mean a lot!), so
when you get a chance, take a look at all of the fabulous quilts made from
our readers over the past few months. A very special thank you to those who
share their finished projects with me, but most importantly, to those of you
that use my patterns! YOU are the incentive that keeps me designing!
Did you realize that?
If you have made
a quilt using one of the patterns on this site, please share a photo with me
so that I can add it to the gallery? When submitting the photo,
provide your first name and state that you live in. I'd certainly
appreciate it! |
The forum is such a blessing to me (and a few of you, too, I believe!
I can be tired and you help re-energize me. I can be despondent and
you bring a smile to my face. I can be sad and your antics cheer me
out of my gloom. I can be feeling drained of inspiration and a
compliment from one of you suddenly sends my brain soaring into the design
wind yet again. I can be happy and share my world with you. I
can feel like giving something and you let me teach through a new pattern, a
mystery, a new article, or a new design. The forum is part of my
world now and I look forward to "seeing" each of you every time I log on.
I feel as though I know most of you even though we've never met. Ah,
the power of the Internet.
Since
opening the forum in September 2001, we have had 6,969 people to join, up
from 6,885 people a month ago.
That doesn't include guests! This means we have had 84 new members
join in January (as of the 28th). Lurkers are always welcome, and of
course, if you feel the need to type and share, we love reading it! The goal of the forum is to provide an environment where
people can come to learn, enjoy, share their projects, and keep up with
what's going on our quilting and personal worlds. I feel blessed that
many of you choose to spend your precious time with us!
A few of our monthly projects include:
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FQ
Drawing, which returned in October and it, as well as November, was a HUGE success!!!!!
January is underway!
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Block Party, which debuted on
January 1, 2007, after being on vacation for a long time!
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Charity
Projects,
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Fabric
Swaps,
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Block
Swaps,
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Noodle Swaps.
Special Projects in progress right now include:
The "Round Robin Charity
Drive", or RRCD continues to grow and has quickly become one of the
most popular activities on the forum. We have donated a total
of 1,289 quilts since March of 2002, 25 of those in 2007!
420 were donated in 2006
alone! All of you involved in the project are simply amazing!
January was designated as our month to finish unfinished charity quilts.
We do this each year in an effort to get "caught up" and rev up for the
coming new year. I hope to see a lot of activity in February!
I know you've heard it before, but you can help
our Charity Project just by using a Yahoo search engine! I would appreciate it if you begin using this search engine on a
regular basis and also encourage your friends, co-workers, and family to use
it, too. Be sure to select "Quilting Passion Organization" when you do
a search for us to get credit! The search engine is named
GoodSearch.
Instead of typing the Web site in every time you want to use it, it is
simple to make it your default search engine by following these simple
directions
to change the default search provider:
- Open Internet Explorer.
- Left-Click the arrow to the right of
the Search Options button (it's located next to the magnifying
class icon).
- Click Change Search Defaults.
- Click on Find More Providers.
It should open a window that has this address:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/searchguide/en-en/default.mspx
- In the new window, there is a
yellow/orange area on the right, titled Create Your Own.
In the top blank area, paste in this address:
http://www.goodsearch.com/Search.aspx?Keywords=TEST
- In the second blank area, type in a
name for the search engine, such as Good Search.
- Click Install.
- Click Add in the new
window.
- Left-Click the arrow to the right of
the Search Options button (it's located next to the magnifying
class icon).
- Click Change Search Defaults.
- Select the name of the one you just
added, Good Search (or whatever name you used).
- Click Set Default.
- Click OK.
Again, please use
GoodSearch and recommend it to everyone!
There are numerous block and fabric swaps going on, so if you're in the mood
to sew, feel free to jump right in! There are also a couple of monthly
drawings that you can play in: The
Fat Quarter Drawing and the Block
Party.
We just finished a
huge project
too:
-
Quilt Pink Event. This was done in two parts, on the forum and
also locally (Pryor, OK). Even though one was on the Internet and
the other wasn't, they both benefit the same organization:
Susan
G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I collected 28 blocks from the
Pryor area (including the
Pryor Patchers Quilt
Guild) and 65 from the forum, for a total of 93 blocks! This one
is still on the burner, even though the blocks are finished. There are
currently 8 quilts in progress, thanks to this! These quilts will be
auctioned on eBay around
May 2007, by the American Patchwork &
Quilting® magazine. A
super huge "thank you" to each of you that submitted blocks!
I am collecting photographs of the finished quilts and they should all be
posted in the March edition of the QP eNews.
Classes are being planned for 2007; watch for details in February. One
that is definitely in the works is a Quilt As You Go (QAYG) class!
Plans to kick it off are slated sometime this spring. This class got
put on the back burner due to my busy and very hectic schedule right now.
Do you have any
suggestions for a class?
The debut of the 2007 Quilting Passion
BOM is coming within a few weeks! As soon as I calculate the fabric
requirements, you'll be the first to know!
Be sure to view
the Announcements/Events calendar in the middle column and take note that
February 11 through 17 is the Quilting Passion
Make A Quilt Week, with the 17th sharing the Make A Quilt Day with
Project Linus. Watch for event details on the
QP Forum and also on the QP Home Page.
Any new ideas roaming around in your head that you'd like to
share with me?
Ideas for mysteries, swaps, new patterns, anything?
I am excited about the new year, and shocked that it seems to be going by so
quickly. I can hardly wait for warm weather and the first signs of
spring! Spring is my favorite time of the year.
It is my desire
that each of you have a wonderful and prosperous new year!!!
Happy
quilting,
Terry
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