Annual November Brown Bagger Weekend, The Award Edition, Part 1

Hello Dear Blogging Friends,

This month, I'll be blogging backwards. In other words, I will get you caught up on my most recent activities first, then I'll go back and fill in all those blank spaces with posts about the Houston Quilt Festival as well as the November Quilt of the month.

A big Thank You to all my Brown Bagger buddies who were in Cape Cod this past weekend with me. For me, personally, it was our best weekend ever. I felt that everyone made an effort to be inclusive and there was a lot of love and laughter.

Sally gave me a present in honor of my 300th blog post. I'll be doing two give-aways soon to thank my readers for their tenacity in reading the first 300 (I'm up to 319). Thank you Sally! For your lovely gift, you receive the Most Likely to Appear in the Blog First award.

When you own three pugs, you receive a lot of pug gifts.
This is my third What the Pug mug, but I need at least nine more for a complete set of 12.

In no particular order, here are some highlights from our annual November weekend.

Biggest Achievement Award goes to Joanne S. for finishing the nine (yes, nine) quilts that her great niece asked (commandeered) her to make for Christmas gifts.

Notice how happy Jo looks in this picture!

Project Rescued from the Dust Bin Award goes to Nancy D.'s lovely bag from hell (named by Nancy D., herself). This bag is a Patrick James pattern. I've been warned by several people that his patterns are complicated. Nancy took a class to make this bag, but her instructor was new and gave Nancy bad information. Luckily Pat was able come to Nancy's rescue and the bag was finished! It is a beautiful bag. Nancy is giving away the pattern if anyone is brave/foolish enough to try it.

Although painful to make, the final product is beautiful!

The bag has pockets galore!

Most Admired Quilt Top in Progress Award goes to Joan S.

Joan is making this quilt for her son, who is moving to New York. Everyone was in love with the Kaffe Fassett striped cottons. Several of the Brown Baggers commented that this was the perfect quilt to make for the man in your life.

Funniest Project Award goes to Pat for her nunsense zipper bags.

Pat ordered this nun fabric from Spoonflower. They are gifts for some old friends from Catholic School days. One of the other girls suggested that she line them with ruler fabric! Too funny!

If you're not familiar with Spoonflower, I encourage you to check out their website. You can design and produce your own custom fabric as well as buy other's custom fabric designs.

The Don't Try This At Home Award goes to Joannie C.

Here is intrepid photographer Joannie standing on a chair to get a good
picture of her project. Luckily, she emerged unscathed from her daring exploits.

This is Joannie's finished project. Isn't it pretty?
She did the lettering with her embroidery machine.

Joannie made this American Flag table runner for her niece's future mother-in-law. Joannie is planning her niece's wedding shower with her.

Most Sparkly Quilt Award goes to Kate, who tempted us all with her glitter wand. At least three of us admitted to owning one and not knowing where it was... ever do that?

Kate added Swarovski crystals to her beautiful quilt. This is Kate's original design, Peace on Earth. You can purchase it as a pattern from her website or as a kit in her Etsy shop. Tell Kate that you found her through PugMom Quilts!

The Smart Aleck Quilter Award goes to Karen. We celebrated birthdays for Karen and Cheryl at our weekend. Karen put her birthday blocks together. Guess who forgot to bring theirs?

Notice anything funny about this photo?

Karen left me a space for the three birthday blocks that I owe her.
Very funny, Karen.

Most Versatile Quilter Award goes to Kim G., who finished at least three quilt tops over the weekend (she's fast, and it's hard to keep track of her, she could also qualify for Most Prolific), that included a Day of the Dead baby quilt, a dress quilt, and her Kaffe Fassett birthday blocks.

In a single weekend, Kim goes from grinning skulls...

... to pretty party dresses

...to gloriously colored birthday blocks!

Most Patient Blog Readers Award goes to you my dear blog readers, excluding Kim G. and Cordula, who complained vociferously about my lack of blogging over the past two weeks, for being patient while I was so busy. As well as for wading through this entire post.

Sorry, this is so long, I've got lots more for tomorrow!

Linking up on Tuesday to Freemotion by the River. Linking up on Friday to Richard and Tanya Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Crazy Mom Quilts. Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy