" I LIke" Thursdays #16 ---the last of 2016

1. I Like my TV-watching-reading-cuddle quilt. It is flannel and about 50 X 60.   I like needing a quilt because the weather is chilly, because I'd rather be cold than hot.

This quilt was made with a simple block. After I arranged them the way I liked I appliqued flannel hearts on them. Puh-leeze note the pieced in flannel dog and cow fabrics!
Check out the back...

2. I like getting fabric from friends... who know my taste!  Nancy  gave me the lush flamingos and Mary
gave me the birch with cardinals and drinks fabric.




Totally taking me by surprise was this from my good friend Gayle at mangofeet  who said "this little piggy wanted to live with you!" Her pig quilt is awesome!

3.I like cows! Boy howdy do I like cows! Lookie what else my friend Nancy gave me...

a Box O'Cows. (ooooo the bovine dancers! The little one with a tail handle needs to hold pins!)

She collected them for years, and somehow moved on to pug collection. Hmmm, interesting. Her car is called the pugmobile and she is called pugmom. I'm seeing a connection.
Look at the dancing couple... aweeee

4. I like my husband being home for the week between Christmas and New Year. We have the gift of time. We've spent it watching dvd's and home stuff and museum going and lots of walking.

5. After spending 2 hours that felt like ten minutes in an exhibit of Medieval objects at the Walters Art Gallery in downtown Baltimore, Mr. Not Afraid of Color suggested a trip to Dick Blick art supplies. He knows how I feel about art supplies! One of my favorite stores full of fun and possibility. I looked through all books, trinkets for artists, brushes, paints, and stopped at a display of pencils.
Recently I watched a tutorial comparing prismacolor pencils (which I use, love) to Faber Castell pencils. Prismacolor is wax based and FC is oil based. There are differences in application and blending.

Dick Blick had open stock, so I chose 4 favorite colors of FC to try, and 3 colors of watercolor pencil to try, just for Science,you know. Just doing my bit to add to information out there! (snicker) I work on paper as well as fabric with these pencils. The prismacolor have been good to me on fabric when heat set. I'll let you know how they compare.

6. I like this book of my entire first year of blogging.  Wow does it look good in print! My husband figured out the logistics and included a dedication that means a lot to me.

I have several books in me to write but am reluctant to call myself a writer. I've written short stories, long letters, humorous interpretations of my dog's opinions, and almost 800 blog posts.  I keep notebooks of my stories that my husband has read but I have not published yet. I aspire to be a published author.
His dedication made me realize I am a writer. I write. I use words to convey meaning and feeling in much the same way  I paint or quilt.

Pignolis, red cherry, and amaretti cookies from Vaccaros in Little Italy Baltimore

7.I sometimes include food items here. Today I will be general and say I like food.
 Recently on a visit to Air and Space museum, we rode in an elevator driven old school by an attendant. I asked him between floors if he got a Christmas gift.
He chuckled and said "yes, some clothes and... food".
He looked a bit sheepish and said he guessed not many people would include food as a gift.
I said I do. It's a gift to have enough to eat, then beyond that, food I like to eat.
I agreed with him about food. I left the elevator with a renewed sense of gratitude.

8. Just before Christmas on another shop around Frederick, we stopped in three stores with specialty food. We got homemade pimento cheese spread, (I LOVE that) some special drinks made with sugar not corn syrup, and these tiny mints.

Very special, very French, very powerful! I would not have bought them for myself but lingered over them, and my husband indulgently bought them for my stocking.

9. I'm thankful to have a generous husband who looked and found items I needed like quality magnifiers to wear doing handwork, tripods to hold my camera for doing tutorial videos, and a big surprise a mini ipad. I have a serviceable old one that is big and heavy and won't run current games or apps. It was fine, I'm no techie. Guess he wanted me to leave his ipad mini alone!

10.I love old buildings and architecture. Recently we visited the old patent office which now houses the Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian Art Museum. The building is amazingly beautiful, unlike the square sterile style building of today. Thank goodness someone valued it and saved it from being knocked down and replaced with yet another boring squared off building. Functional without beauty or grace. People need beauty to remain human.

***I want to send my condolences to Mickie at 3poodles blog. She usually links here but...Her beloved standard poodle Seamus was taken by cancer over the holidays. I have to believe Cole welcomed him to Heaven, they compared stories of their cancer battles and their people. They are together chasing critters, and telling each other stories of their funny people, and how much they miss us***

*** I just found out another poodle passed. D'Art another beautiful boy, over at Forest Poodles. Too many poodles left this year... too many beloved sons. We feel the grief with you Eliza***

If you also played along and did an I Like post, let me know and I'll include a link. I like that this idea is catching on and thankful that so many of you are also doing posts of likes.
Please enjoy a visit to these folks who also did one:
1.http://littlepenguinquilts.blogspot.com/
2.
3.

That's it for today. What did you find to like this week?