And The Winner Is...

I want to thank everyone who left comments and sent emails for my 100th post celebration drawing! Hubby assisted in the drawing. I have enjoyed meeting new bloggers, reading comments from those who do not have blogs and emails I have received. If your blog is new to me and I haven't visited yet, I will be soon! So, I guess you want to know who has won the little quilt? Ok!!
It is Lori (Mountain Woman At Heart)! Congratulations! Lori send me your mailing information please! Once again I would like to thank everyone who took the time to leave a comment or send an email. It is so much fun to read all of them. I try to email a comment back but if you have the noreply setting of course that is impossible! I did write quite a few emails and hit the send button to only realize then there was a noreply setting in place. Yikes!

Born Free!

Yes, the critter has been set free! When Hubby got home tonight from work he got right to work getting this raccoon ready for transport.

We drove for over a half an hour to the perfect wooded area for this critter to roam free. Hubby used long boards to open up the trap. I stayed in the truck and took the photos...someone had to stay in the safety of the truck!

The critter is seeing it's first glimpse of freedom. Boy did it take of fast! I couldn't get a photo of him taking off out of the trap.

If you look closely at the middle of this photo you will see the striped tail. I was able to get a photo of the raccoon waddling off into the woods! As the raccoon disappeared from view Hubby and I sang "Born Free!" If you are old enough to remember the movie about the lions you will know what we were talking or guess I should say singing about! Hubby is setting the trap again tonight just in case the raccoon had a buddy!

The Critter has been found!

Look what was in the live trap this morning!

Hubby had been putting peanut butter and marshmallows out at night and in the morning the bait would be gone but the trap not sprung. We didn't know which kind of critter was enjoying it's nightly feast, but something needed to change! I had so many fellow bloggers offer baiting ideas to catch this critter but A Simple Quilter actually did a little research and found a list of foods that attract different kinds of critters. It seems that the spice Anise has a very strong pull for raccoons but not for skunks or other furry pets. Hmmmmm...sounded good to me. I bought some yesterday and look what happened! Hubby also worked on getting the trap to spring a little easier, so I guess the two combined did the trick! The raccoon is now sleeping away the day under the tree where it will be in shade all day. Tonight after Hubby gets home from work we will be relocating this critter to a wooded area where it will be much happier. I will be too!

Don't forget about my 100th post give-a-way that I mentioned in my earlier post!

100th Post!

Wow! This is my 100th post and I am celebrating with a give-a-way!

This is a small wall hanging that I made with 30's reproduction fabrics. The picture doesn't quite do this little quilt justice. I used two different cameras, natural sunlight, shade and indoor shots to come up with photo that at least showed the fun colors of this piece. Some days it seems like I can't take a good picture no matter what I try! So, back to the give-a-way! All you have to do to be entered into a drawing that will be held this Saturday (August 30th) is to leave a comment on this post or email me. Feel free to mention this give-a-way on your blog. Let me know about it I will enter your name in the drawing five more times!

I am now off to sew for a couple of hours in my Summer Palace. Nice weather is almost over here and I am trying to take every advantage of being out in the Palace that I can. I have been working on some log cabin blocks that I will be posting about soon. Thanks again for helping me to celebrate my 100th post!

Is There A Critter Around?

We are on the Critter Patrol around here. I picked up this live trap the other day in hopes to catch that rascally raccoon that paid my Summer Palace a visit a while back and gave it some extra ventilation. If you are new to my blog or have no clue to what I am talking about you can read about it here. We have had evidence that the raccoon is still around, so maybe we can relocate this critter to a wooded place that it will be happier in. This morning Hubby reported that he caught something over the night. It was a cat. Hmmmm wonder if that same cat will be back to get more tuna? Time will tell!

Aside from quilting away on The Monster I was able to get a few more Civil War Diary blocks done this past week. I am disappointed in the green and purple block. Is is the top right block. The photo doesn't show the true colors. I tried three different locations to get a clearer photo of the blocks but this was the best I could come up with. Anyway, there isn't enough contrast between the purple and green fabric to do this block justice. Oh well, I doubt if I make it over again.

I will keep every one up to date on the Critter Patrol! Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't become a cat fest out there!

As The Quilt Frame Turns,,,,

Yes! I was able to turn "The Monster" down in the quilt frame this week! I always feel that it is an occasion to celebrate when ever I can turn the quilt down the frame, but this time it was even more fun then usual. I can finally see the border heading my way to be quilted. Yippee!

I had quite a bit of time to quilt away on the Monster this week. Tuesday evening I was quilting along when the power started to fade in and out. That happened a few times and then the power went totally out. I realized that a thunder storm had moved in, and quickly. I had been watching/listening to a DVD and didn't realize we were in a storm watch. I went to the door and was amazed at the strong winds blowing the trees, the constant lightening and the neighbor's recycling garbage flying down the street. Dear Hubby joined me in watching the storm. When we saw the sky turn green we decided we should be down in the basement. We stayed there a little bit and headed back upstairs to watch the storm some more. At midnight a tornado warning siren woke us up and we headed to the basement again. In the morning we were still without power, and to make a long story short, a tornado touched down about two miles away from us, and there were many downed trees just a few blocks away from us. The tornado destroyed about 20 homes and damaged at least 300 more. Some people had their power restored just yesterday. Aside from loosing power for about 15 hours the only damage we received was the power supply in our main computer was fried. That can easily be fixed. For this I am very thankful! While our power was out I had to stick around home and babysit our generator that was keeping our freezer and fridge going. What was I to do? I quilted away on "The Monster". I didn't need power to do that! If life gives you lemons - make lemonade!

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I was able to spend some time in the Summer Palace and sew on my Civil War Diaries quilt blocks. This photo does not do the fabrics justice, but it was the best I could come up with today.

So, three more blocks down. I refuse to even think about the number of blocks left to be made. I just want to enjoy the process and not worry about when the finish will happen.