recent posts from specific category w/ thumbnail to display in footer

I want a title, date and thumbnail of my recent posts from the category “blog” to appear in my footer, siimilar to this side (they have it in the sidebar though) https://i56.tinypic.com/30a9nhx.jpg

I’ve tried this hack, btu it also genereates an excerpt which is not what I want, as it gets too long t ofit in my footer:

<?php
query_posts(‘showposts=4&cat=114’);
while(have_posts()) : the_post();
?>
<h4>” rel=”bookmark”><?php the_title(); ?></h4>
Posted on <?php the_date(); ?>
<div align=”left” valign=”top”><?php the_excerpt(); ?></div>
<div align=”right”>” rel=”bookmark”>Read More</div>
<?php endwhile; ?>