admin April 19th, 2010
just quick pictures….before it is summer and it is really too late….a little bit of spring color, and that’s about it…
Hershey’s, Jelly Beans, Fabric, Linda’s newest little doll, a Puki, Glow in the Dark Zombies, plastic eggs…pretty typical Easter at the Hansen’s house….have a great day!
admin December 24th, 2009
And the day I have given myself to read all your wonderful comments! I have really enjoyed the glances I have snuck at the comments coming in for my 200th Post Extravaganza. I have been very surprized at the comments regarding the word “bungalow” but I will not reveal my thoughts on that until after the drawing is over tonight. A BIG NOTE here regarding comments on my blog…..it is set up so that I need to look at them before they get posted in order to prevent spam, so don’t think that you haven’t posted a comment when you thought you did. It is probably just setting in the queque waiting for me to approve it…and since I am often at work, where I don’t have the time to go in and do that, often they will wait until evening.
So I hope that everyone doing their last minute Christmas shopping will be calm and relaxed, cause you know it really will be okay if everything isn’t perfect….maybe even better, right? I mean look at Mr. Moon here…peaceful as can be with a giant ”mole” shaped like an upside down heart… 
okay so that comment is weird, but I needed a caption for this picture. Tell you what if you send me a better caption (and THAT won’t be hard, I will send you some brand new fabric love from the latest lines) So you could call this giveaway number two!! Deadline for a caption will be New Year’s Day….I will post a picture of the prize for this one between now and New Years Day!....so start thinking up something clever and charming, okay?!
Later my friends! S.
admin December 20th, 2009
(that’s “I Love a Cool Giveaway”) get it??
Okay so here it is the BIG 200th post!! I think it took me awhile to get here…longer than 2 years I know…Is there a standard for this sort of thing? I dunno about that, but I do know that in Blogland, the 200th post signifies a big party and giveaway!!
First the “party”...I thought I would just share some quick pix of our home at Christmas time…this year without an indoor cat…which to us is a very good thing. There are a lot of pictures, so I am posting them in a smaller format…if you want a closer look you can just click on the photo for a better look…
Hope you enjoyed the tour!!
Here’s a quick gift wrapping or giving idea that is sorta “green” I have had some projects where I took the quilting out past where it needed to be, and I had some scraps that were just too big for me to throw away…
And I had some extra craft bags that I over bought for gifts for my staff at work….so a little clipping here, a little glue there and….. 
five little gift bags….(which, actually I am passing on to you in the prize packs listed below)...
And here are the prizes…. I have started (again) to clean up the studio, and I have been saving up a bunch of stuff to giveaway..
Prize #1 
Prize #2 
Prize #3 
Prize #4 
Prize #5 
Prize #6 
Prize #7 
And here it is just in time for Christmas…well the New Year really….. I will leave the drawing open until Midnight December 24th Pacific Standard time, and then sometime on Christmas day I will choose the winners. But I want to do something a little different for this giveaway…a little word association please…so here is your task…you have to answer the following questions to be eligible to win:
1.) when you think of the word “bungalow” what comes to mind? words, colors, textures, images, thoughts, things along those lines.
2.)same concept for the word “cottage”..what comes to your mind with that word?
and 3.) would you rather spend a holiday weekend at the bungalow or the cottage?
These questions aren’t too tough, I hope. I am gonna tweet this post too, cause I want to hear what everyone has to say. Winners will be handpicked by me, and I will be looking for the most descriptive responses to my questions…(I don’t sound too much like a high school teacher do I?) So let the comments and answers begin…and before I sign off, I want to thank you so much for stopping by the Blue Nickel…sometimes I don’t get in here too often myself, but I always enjoy my time in Blogland with you all..I will be more active again once my day job winds down in the next few weeks. As my friend Jona mentioned recently, having a job, no matter how stressful, is a very good thing these days…a very good thing indeed.
^
———Aha!! And you thought you were leaving!! One last photo to share progress on the Sis Boom So St. Croix project for Free Spirit… here part of it is on the design wall… 
Now, now I am signing off, and YOU can start leaving comments and telling all your bloggin’ buds about the Big Giveaway!! I will likely be adding little bits to the prize packs this week so there will be surprizes too!
admin November 10th, 2009
Hey I am part of another blog tour, and I wish I could be more “with it” right now as I write, but I have been working extreme retail hours in Christmas prep work on top of my everyday work. 77 hours last week, so please bear with me as I try to share the fun news….
Last spring I was invited to participate in a special publication of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks from Today’s Top Designers….so I said “sure!” and sent in two blocks for them to choose from. Well I made it in…just barely at #95, but I am in! So fun saying that I am in the 100 “Top” designer’s club…..but I know there are alot of other big names that didn’t have blocks in there, but it is fun to say that I am in there anyway!
I didn’t make the cover, but I am in and that is pretty cool with me. Here is the block I made mocked up into a quilt:
I didn’t name the block, but I do rather like it. It was fun to be featured in this issue with 99 other great designers. I really like how the robin’s egg blue and cheery cherry red play together in this block. The fabric is from Lecien, a company which seems to be growing quite a bit in the marketplace and I am glad because they have some very wonderful fabrics. Check them out!
Another cool thing that Quiltmaker is doing with this issue and the blog tour is a big giveaway! I was asked to send something to them to help with their prize pack, and I sent in this sample pack of Moda 10” squares that I had extra of…all in nice fall/winter colors…..
So be sure to follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour daily Nov. 9-13 at quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures for inspiration, ideas and giveaways galore! Look for 100 Blocks from Today’s Top Designers in your local quilt shop, or purchase it at www.quiltmaker.com/100blocks (yeah that is “official” publication speak for head on over to their site to sign up for the marvelous prizes and more.) Oh and all comments on this post are also eligible for a prize from Quiltmaker too…so tell me what you are up to and how you are preparing for the holiday seasons ahead. I will randomly draw a name using the random number generator and then Quiltmaker will send you a copy of the magazine…and I think you also get thrown into their drawing for some of the other cool stuff designers and companies donated…Like I said I am a little loopy right now, so if I am even somewhat coherent, we are all pretty lucky! 
Well, I really would like to share more folks, but I am exhausted from work, and I still have more to do at Workville, so I need to leave Blogville once again. But breifly before I leave here are some pictures of a nice little autumn tableau we have going on here at Shiloah Cottage—cause I know you peeps like the pictures!
My mother in law made and painted these houses over 20 years ago….aren’t they incredible?? and they open up and have details inside too!! They are definitely a treasure!
And for those of you who read ALL the way through posts like these, I have another prize to give away…after I get the first name to send to Quiltmaker, then I will draw another name and send you a free copy of the magazine and some 10” squares to add to your stash…
admin April 12th, 2009
In case you were wondering….God didn’t cancel Spring this year…it was just a little delayed. The first few pictures are from a few weeks ago…..
and these are from yesterday….. 
I am so glad every year God sends a reminder that a fresh start is available every year and more importantly every day…..Here’s to your fresh start today….This last picture is photoshopped to the max, and I am really lovin’ how it came out…..
Happy Easter everyone!
Bon Matin, Scott
admin April 4th, 2009
What you are about to see will hopefully delight and not disturb you. Please don’t think I did all this work overnight….Actually these pictures have been sitting in a file on my desktop labeled “pictures to put on website” or something akin to that. I have enough desktops full of stuff, and I thought I would try some spring cleaning here with a series of not-necesarily related photos. So enjoy and feel free to comment as needed. There are actually some more pix to post…so there will be a part II. (there are some still trapped in the camera come to think of it, so there will always be something to pull out of the logjam)...
Here is a Round Robin I did with some of the guys from QuiltGuy....I dit the last round with the pseudo-star-flower sorta look. 
Detail below. I had the applique round, and I am not particularly fond of applique. Actually I love OTHER peoples applique, just not mine. I don’t have the paitence I think.
This is another Round Robin from the QuiltGuy group. Again, since I was the last one in possession of the quilt at this time, I did the round of 60degree triangles around the blue-9-patch border.
Two great books that Linda got me for my birthday and/or Valentine’s day. I can’t remember which now. Both are TERRIFIC books!
Our old directive board from when we ran a vintage clothing/antique smalls shop on our property. I love the worn look of this….I have very fond memories of the days we kept that shop going…..
New ironing surface reinvention….before this area was a simple fold up ironing board—-ricktey, no storage underneath, and it was noisy when I would iron late at night, and this room is right over our bedroom, so it would sometimes keep Linda awake.
Different angle. I love Anna Maria’s stacked books covering the ironing surface. The wooden section actually needs to be taken out and painted white/grey/pale green/ or blue ( I haven’t decided yet) so nothing is totally secured yet. 
The little cubby holes underneath served two purposes. It got the ironing surface higher and more comfortable for me to iron, and it adds storage capability…I am delighted with it. I have an extra cutting mat in there, and if I need to trim something at the pressing time, I can just whip it out and get it trimmed right there.
This area of the studio used to just store boxes and well….junk…now Linda has a nice place to sit on the IKEA futon and if we ever need a space for someone to sleep, it would be tight, but we could rearrange it and get a space made. I like to sit here too sometimes. It is a great place to hide from the kids as it is behind the quilting machine and frame, and you can’t see this area from the main area of the studio too well.
Another view…notice this was taken on a snow day!
Here we sneak over to Linda’s side of the studio to see this old apron on the dressmaker’s dummy…I am sure she should have a name, but I don’t think she does. Just stylish accessories.
I just LOVE this vintage fabric. So many things going on!
So that is phase one of the Blue Nickel Studio PC Desktop Clean Up (BNSPCDCU for short)....
Until next time mes amis! (Paul, you can correct my French if you need to…which you probably do)
Scott
admin March 31st, 2009
I saw this on a bumper sticker for some society or website, and I loved it so much I appropriated it for this entry of pictures from our woods that I took last fall…while there was still some green out there.
Mimi was concocting things for fairies here…..moss wine or something of that nature…
Okay, and technically this is from a different forest in September, which I didn’t HAVE to tell you, but I thought I should. It is much “greener” than the other pictures as it was September and not November which explains part of it. This plant also is associated with more year round water than our woods….and makes me think of mosquitos! But I love the look of this plant…so primeval to me….
There is beauty in everything….sometimes you just have to keep looking….that is true in nature and in people too…
Don’t forget to look for the beauty today!
admin March 17th, 2009
A continuation of the last entry’s theme.
a call for clothespins!! 
I wish I could say these pictures were taken today…they were not. Today it snowed in some outlying areas (ie at my “job”), was rainy and cold here at home, and one of our ducks died. So the pictures are from a much more beautiful day….I could have shown pictures of the dead duck, but then I am not sure how many of you would come back, eh? Dead ducks are not good for a design business…unless you are working up some advertising for the local Asian food market.
Hope your day is going fine, and you get some time to create.
Keep sewing, keep happy!
admin March 8th, 2009
Okay so that was yesterday and the snow is mostly gone already, but here is a brief pictorial display of the day and all that I got done. It felt like a lot at the time, and I thing I am getting a lot done today, but not as exciting stuff to show….yet….
the snow begins in the afternoon 
the doll quilt swap begins with round 6....this time I will not be late!...the top was finished yesterday …. the main accomplishment of snowday!
Made mostly with scraps from the Good Folks Quilt I did back in October last fall….LOVE this line!
Here is a photo of some hand-dyed fabric. Looks even better in person… 
Here are this year’s fun challenges….My friend Jovita has this monthly challengething goin’ down. Here are my January exercises…
January #1 
And January #2…do you see my mistake in this one??...I had to fix it today before I quilted it…. 
My girl Mimi did her own version of the January one…she was bored one night, so I had her pick the fabrics and color an exercise sheet, and this is the top….
Here is my February go…. 
They all are in the process of being quilted and bound this week…I will probably add buttons and other stuff to them…but I wanted to share them, as I told Jovita that I would…I plan on using the hand-dyed blue above with some greens in my March challenge…when she gets it posted!
This quilt is an old one I made in my “country” phase, and was the first thing that I put on the quilting machine….I had a friend come over and try to show me somethings about quilting, but the machine was acting up badly and she was going fast, so it really just didn’t look that good….
SOOOOO…...
I cut it up! Now it is going to be made into a little art book, and I will add all sorts of stuff to it as I go…kinda one of those make lemonade things you know…
And the snow really did stick, but not too bad…it was gone by this afternoon…. 
And I have a ton of pictures that I need to get off my desktop and in here…so come on back…I am on vacation from my “job-job” so I hope to bring you a lot of entries this week….to make up for the lack of them in December and January…
Keep sewing, keep happy!
admin February 22nd, 2009
So Linda found this birdhouse discarded in a blackberry bramble next to the road…WHO would throw away such a treasure…She gave it to me for Valentine’s day…isn’t she romantic…
of course this side of the roof had all these little nails sticking out where the shingles had been….what to do?? hmmm…
Ahh….that’s better!!
I was so smitten with Anna Maria’s photo shoot with thread that I decided just yesterday to take some old spools that were given to me “because I sew” and take them out for their own photo session!
Here are some more good times with the birdhouse.
what a fun day….there is more to do with thread than just sew…who knew? More shots from this session later..they had a great time in the wisteria!
