Bloggers Quilt Festival

I am pleased to be participating in the

BLOGGERS QUILT FESTIVAL

and the quilt I have chosen to tell you about

was designed for

Robert Kaufman

Well, actually, they asked for one quilt, and we ended up with three quilts

and a pattern book

"Moondoggie & Gidget"

There was "Moondoggie's Quilt", "Gidget's Quilt" and

"A Day at the Beach"

I agreed to do the project, my good dog of 7 years became ill,

and took his last breaths

all within the same week.

But I had a fabric line in front of me

and a project to complete.

So I did what any quilter in the history of quilting would do.

I made quilts to honor Moondoggie.

And while the fabrics are all but gone, and the quilts have been passed on

to others that loved Moondoggie too,

the legacy of making quilts

out of love

and out of sorrow

still remain.

Thank you for letting me share these quilts one last time.

BeginAgain

2010

natalie.

beyond the reef

...in Giving we Get...

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

come visit us at

ROAD TO CALIFORNIA

Thursday - Sunday

January 14-17

On Sunday, the show is having a

SALE-abration

11:00 - 3:30

so we are participating by giving back

GO RED - GO PINK

(just for Sunday's Sale-a-bration)

proceeds for the specially packaged red and pink fabrics

will be donated to support heart health awareness

and breast cancer awareness

in addition to that

moondoggie and gidget 

pattern books

will be $8.00/book (regularly $14)

with 100% of the purchase price being donated to

Lab Rescue in Southern and Central California.

Long live dogs.

Long live women.

Long live quilters that realize

it is in giving that we truly get.

BeginAgain

2010

natalie.

thanks for making our part of this celebration a real celebration of life

please come and visit us

booth 302,304, 306

How do you Play? aka: remember the slinky

How do you play?

This has become very important to me.

And it should be important to you as well.

Because a life in balance - well, enough said, right there.

Just that, as Julian would say.

I just finished reading an article in American Lifestyle magazine,

"The Way We Were; The Way We Played"

About the slinky.  Mr. Potato Head, and the Slip 'n Slide.

Remember those?

Well.

Every day has it's toy.  It's play.  And it seems way too complicated in today's world.

Insert cable, plug this into that, power up.

It doesn't have to be much - - really - - lessons from the dog - - even a ball found washed up on the beach - - 

The hose.  

(okay, okay, I know - - water conservation and all that - - so, if you water the lawn, do it in your shorts and squirt your neighbor, or your son or daughter, or something to make it play-ful)

The point is to PLAY.

Don't exercise, go run around in the park; PLAY.

Don't cook, have Girls' Night.

Don't go to a business seminar, have a Slumber Party.

Play.

Give yourself permission to Play.

Check out Rose Hughes' blog.  They have a day every week in which they try new things.

Play.

Take life down a notch.

Smile.  Laugh.  Sing.  Whistle.

I heard someone - an expert - on the morning business news.

He was profound.

Wanna know what he said?

He said that the one thing that was a proven fact, was that EVERY recession we have ever had.....

has ended.

Well, there you have it!!!!

Smile. Laugh. Sing. Whistle.

Take life down a notch.

Relax and Play.

And if you have read the blogs in the past, you know I am the one to encourage you to use a different color.

Make something with a different technique.

Make a nice tidy block and take your rotary cutter to it and make it something new.

Go to a local quilt show - flower show - kite festival - car show.

They're all gonna be cheaper than a movie, drink, popcorn, candy and dinner.

And probably more healthy - walk the quilt show, kite festival, car show.

But most of all, make sure you take the time to get out.

Get out.  Get going.  Get.

Play.

(moondoggie at his finest...frisbee!!!!!)

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

sparkle and shine

2009

Natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Bloom. aka moondoggie and gidget for Robert Kaufman

You  know, I must say.

I have written this article more than once.  I tried to post it last week.  Or was it the week before?

I actually have written it three times before...and the computer, or the universe, ate it.

But I am nothing if not persistent, so I am writing it again.

When a flower is a bud, it does not say, "Nope, no, nosiree.  I'm not going to blossom.  That's it for me.  I'm just going to stay a bud."  It does what it does.  What is intended for it.  It blossoms.  And most times, no matter what type of flower you see unfold, don't you just look at it and say, 'wow'.  Doesn't it just take your breath away to see the rolling hills of California, usually a soft golden brown, or sometimes a rolling green, suddenly erupt intoa field of Lupine purple or the brilliant orange of the California Poppy?

Nope.  No bud ever says, 'no, I won't go'.

And kids.  They don't say no very often.  Climb that tree?  Sure.  Jump off the roof?  Okay, I'll try.  Eat sand?  YUM...Sand.  I asked a friend of mine, "When did we stop eating sand?"  And, being a lifeguard, he replied, "I still do."  I can just see him walking up to some 15 month old kid at the beach, bending down to have a moment with the kid, and being offered a fist full of sand - with that look...you know the look...proud, happy, gleefully delighting in...yum...sand.

Finally, dogs.  I have a friend, hULa.  She wakes slowly.  BUT.  When she wakes, she wakes wagging her tail.  Thump, thump, thump on the floor.  That deliberate, 'yep, I'm awake and life is goooooood!!!'  Come on.  You get it by now, right?

But when do WE bloom?  Or do we say, 'Nope, no, nosiree.  I'm not going to blossom.'  Now, please.  I'm not suggesting anyone jump off of the roof or eat sand.  Legal disclaimer here.  But why not throw some purple into that brown tone on tone quilt?  Why not work in a color palette that's new?  Why not try some raw edge machine secured applique or quilting?  You think you are accomplished.  You know your craft.  But you are just a bud waiting to explode in all of your brilliance.  Sparkling, life.

Wag your hULa tail.  Erupt in your own talent.

Bloom.  Be brilliant.  Be.

be.do.create

2008

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

Natalie.

natalie@beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

PS - here's a little create for you - - the gidget kit from the moondoggie and gidget series of quilts designed from the Robert Kaufman Island Sanctuary line of fabrics - - proceeds benefit Labrador Retriever Rescue in California - - in honor of Moondoggie