BOMs Away Monday - Ruffled Roses, it's a Thesis, Di!!!, & a couple snaps

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately. 

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

So, yesterday my intention was to get the baskets for Ruffled Roses all assembled and added around the quilt center, but when I had the last connecting seam to sew on the 4 sides, my piecing machine's dogs quit working. ::razz::   I spent quite a bit of time online trying to resolve the issue, but it's just going to need the repair shop. I really didn't want to break down my other machine before I finish the FMQ on the quilt currently at that station, so this is as far as I got on my BOM work:

Oh, and this far on the very last of the swag border blocks, which I was using as a leader/ender with the baskets. These get sliced into 3 strips, each, that are then assembled for the swags.

So, while that was not so successful, my thesis was!! This was my defense committee - I've worked with two of them before, but the others were new to me. They really liked my work. In fact, I was a little taken aback at how they kept encouraging me to take it further and to publish portions of it in professional journals. It was nice to sit in there with the feeling that they were only offering suggestions to make it better rather than trying to trip me up or anything like that. Today I'm doing my final read-through for typos/etc. after the edits I made, and it'll all be FINISHED and in the hands of the binders by tonight!

Dr. Tallman, Dr. Koepp, me, Dr. Biggs, Dr. Wells

And when I said yesterday that I needed to snap some pics for my BOMs Away blog post, I got an "Oh, no!" comment from my daughter that she'd signed for a package from Australia for me while I was away for the thesis defense. Whaaa!!??  When??  Poor Di (of Snippets 'n' Scraps) - the package had been here for about a week without me even knowing it! She'd sent me a fun "Pay It Forward" gift!! 

 First I pulled out a great necklace made from balls of felted wool of various colors. I really love this, and it will be fun to wear with turtlenecks on cold days! The colors will work fantastic for Thanksgiving season as well as the later holiday times. 

Then, I pulled out my very first mug rug.  :D  This is the perfect little quilty smile to start breaking up the boredom of my side wall at my quilting corner. Adorable simplicity with a happy feeling in just the right colors!

That empty wall has been driving me nuts for the last few weeks, but I'm always too busy with other works to stop and make a mini or two to put up there. 

AAAAND!!!!  She sent a personal-size package of TimTams!  

Now, I've seen people talk of these, but never ever had one. They are most delicious! For my U.S. friends: imagine an Oreo-type construction with rectangular chocolate biscuits, but with a good fudge filling instead of the Oreo filling, all covered with yummy milk chocolate. Such a nice treat from Australia.  :D

Thank you SO MUCH, Di!!!!!
I'm excited about an idea to send back.  ;D

P.S. It's been too busy around here for me to make a separate post about significant family happenings - I just love these shots somebody caught of my girls at the Taekwondo Master's Challenge:

Marissa performing her traditional poomsae:

and Devon holding a board for Kaven's creative breaking routine:

We all five participated: Scott, Heather, and I did board breaking, and Devon and Marissa did the poomsae. I was busy as a volunteer all around my event, though, so no pictures from me.

And the last shot for this post: My funny boy, Navarre, keeps compulsively licking the condensation and frost off the windows when I raise the shades in the morning. (I get SADD, so keeping them closed to hold in the heat is not an option.) 

If you've seen the movie "How to Train Your Dragon," you can understand why one of his nicknames is "Toothless"!

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How about you? Have you worked on any of your BOMs?  :)