Lovely Blog Award

Sometimes I get emails from some of my blogging friends that make me blush! I was nominated not once, but twice by two lovely bloggers for the One Lovely Blog Award! Does that mean that my blog is doubly lovely? HA! First I received an email from Marly who blogs at Marly's Quilts. She told me she didn't care if I participated, she would still read my blog :) How could I not participate?! Then, Sandra who blogs at Musings of a Menopausal Melon, sent me an email to tell me she was nominating me. She said she didn't care if I was nominated already, she was adding me to her list. How sweet is she? :) 

So here's the deal, I need to write 7 things about myself that you might not know (hmmm.... not sure you want to know some of it! LOL) and nominate 10 blogs for the Lovely Blog Award. I'm nominating people and then emailing them. Why? Because I am picking my top 10 blogs whether they like it or not! LOL They can chose whether or not to participate :) I think the best part of this little game of tag is finding new blogs! I read a lot of blogs. Picking 10 was not easy

I'll share some pictures along the way to keep it interesting :) Come back in a day or two, I'll be adding more details about these pictures soon! 

Yup, the maple quilt is under the needle!

Here we go, seven things you may not know about me. . . hmmmm, still not sure how much of this you really want to know!

1. I get up at 2 a.m. most weekday mornings to go mountain bike riding with my husband and the pups. Why so early? There's a routine that happens during our mornings and for us to hit the trail and be back home in time for my husband to get to work, getting up this early is a must. . . not always appreciated or liked, but a must :)

The best picture I could find of the set up... These are two happy pups and I'm not sure what that look is on my face! LOL This picture was not taken in the morning :)

2. I have had two careers. I was a chemical dependency/family therapist for eight years and I was an intellectual property paralegal for almost 20 years specializing mostly in trademark search and prosecution and patent prosecution. Research has always been my passion and I was able to do a TON of that during my legal career. That passion for research has not ended - I still use those skills but now instead of researching law, I research quilty things :)

NOT my quilt, my picture. . . how is this for quilting eye candy??

3. I'm not a fan of chocolate (I know) and if I have to chose between sweet and salty, salty wins every time! My husband, HUGE fan of dark chocolate, his stash is safe with me :)

4. We keep our diet as clean as possible. I read labels, only buy organic fruits, vegetables and meats and mostly shop around the perimeter of the store. A handy little tip for those trying to clean up their diet :)

Again, NOT my quilt. . . I took the picture. . . where might I have been??

5. We do not have a television in the house. It has been about 10 years since the last working TV broke and it was never replaced. I don't miss it at.all. I read all of my news on the computer and we watch movies (mostly documentaries) on Netflix or Youtube.

6. I love a good conspiracy theory!! I can't help myself. Maybe it is the researcher in me, maybe it is the rebel in me but I have spent hours going down various conspiracy theory rabbit holes. Sometimes I end up thinking this might have validity, sometimes I get a good chuckle but I enjoy reading about the process of how conspiracy theories are hatched and how they develop over the years. Conspiracy geek, guilty as charged :) 2012 anyone? 

Again, not my creation but does that quilting make you drool?? I'm drooling!! :)

7. I may not have a TV but I do not like to be in a quiet house. Audible is my best friend :) I listen to mostly non-fiction books. My favorites are true crime. My most recent listen was "Chasing the Scream" a documentary about the war on drugs. Having been a participant in this war (as a chemical dependency counselor), this was an extremely eye opening and thought provoking book. If you have been touched by any kind of chemical dependency (including alcoholism) or are or will be raising teens, I highly recommend this book! (Not an affiliated link.)

There is your little peak into my non-quilty life. . . although I did sneak in how some of them relate back to my quilting ;)

I might have a new obsession. . . go to Laura Murray Designs to find out more! This is NOT an affiliated link :)

On to the list of my top 10 blogs. This was an extremely difficult list for me to make! I have WAY more than 10 blogs that I read every.single.post. It goes without saying that Marly and Sandra's blogs are two of them but since they nominated me, their links are already in this post. . . see how I snuck two more in there?? :D Sharing only 10 makes for some difficult decisions!! I have thrown in a couple of blogs that even though I have had little or no contact with the author - I get SO much inspiration I just have to list them! I have noted these blogs and given a brief description. I have not for the others, just because they are all around awesome blogs of quilters who are keeping it real, sharing their journey, sparking conversation and providing great tutorials and of course, major eye candy ;) Here they are in alphabetical order:

Helen @ Till We Quilt Again

Jasmine @ Quilt Kisses

LuAnn Kessi. A blog on which I have never commented (shame on me!). LuAnn publishes pages from her quilt design sketch book in addition to her quilted works. If you are in need of ideas, inspiration or just a little eye candy (and who couldn't use that??), head over to LuAnn's Thread Shack and have a look around. You won't be disappointed.

Patsy Thompson @ Patsy Thompson Designs. This is one of those, never commented on her blog but never miss a post! If you are looking for tips, tricks and design inspiration for FMQing, Patsy has you covered with her posts and her Youtube videos! 

Preeti @ Sew Preeti Quilts

Renee @ Quilts Of A Feather

Ruth @ Charlie and Ben's Crafty Corner

Vicki's @ Vicki's Crafts

Wanda @ Exuberant Color. This is another blog on which I have left very few comments but I do not miss a post. Wanda is extremely generous with her vast knowledge of color. I love watching her work through the color placement process and have learned a TON from her!

Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl. 

There you have it! My nominees for the Lovely Blog Award. Like I said, I don't know if everyone will do a post about the Lovely Blog award and I know that some of these Lovely Blogs have already been nominated. I do encourage you to head over to their blogs and check them out, whether they post in connection with this award or not - they are all worth the time! :)

Until next time (when I will share where I have been the past three days. . . it's quilt related I promise and you might have gotten a clue by some the pictures in this post!) keep on quilting!