Count it all JOY!!

the fun continues . . .

2012-02-16T07:15:00.000-06:00

It's gray, cold and rainy this morning ... it promises to be the perfect kind of day to stay curled up with a good book or an old movie classic ... and a cup of Earl Grey! Who's in?

The past few days, on the other hand, was full of sunshine. I've wanted to share this bouquet with you for days . . .

My sister sent it for Valentine's Day. Talk about sweet!! Especially for a chocolate lover like me -- it won't last long around here. And look -- even the "vase" is chocolate! I think the term, "death by chocolate" may apply here. LOL!! This would be a fun bouquet to craft up.

Speaking of crafting up, I wanted to help Ellie make a Valentine for her mommy. Sawyer and I have done hand crafts for Valentine's Day for the last two years, so I thought perhaps Ellie and I could do feet crafts (especially since hers are so darling). Jason had taken this *terrific* shot of her foot . . .

So I decided to put that sweet, little foot inside a little heart and made a stitchery out of it . . .

Just a little something-something. It was fun. I'd never used the chain stitch (which outlines the heart) before. And I tucked a snapshot of the photo I used into the back of the frame, just so she'd have the reference for it. Joc was real pleased with it!

And I was real pleased to spend my afternoon holding and cooing over Miss Ellie. Every time I go over there she's more and more awake and alert and she's grown!

Right down to her feet!

We had some fun conversations yesterday. Look at those bright eyes and chubby cheeks!

Her eyes are holding onto the blue ... Joc is blue-eyed and Jason is brown-eyed ... so we're waiting to see if Ellie's color changes or remains blue. And her new hair coming in is lighter.

I think all my playing wore her out . . . check out at those sweet little cupid's bow lips!

And a shot of my beautiful Jocelyn with her beautiful girl.

Tonight is guild night ... yay!! We've got master instructor Lisa Binkley coming in to discuss adding sparkle and texture to quilts by bead embellishment! It should be a lot of fun -- I'm really looking forward to it! She does some incredible work and it's worth a visit to her website to check it out.

And that's it for me ... stay warm and dry today!

tid bits . . .

2012-02-15T07:15:00.001-06:00

Stitching and sewing has been slow this week, but I keep hanging on to the fact that this time next week, I'll be packing up and getting ready to head to Scottsboro, Alabama, and the Grand Oak Retreat for five day and four nights of sewing, laughing, eating, and more sewing. Whoohoo!

I did get some crafting finished. One project will have to wait another day before I'll share . . . and I finished this sweet little silhouette of Sawyer (which was one of my secret projects from Monday):

Have you ever tried to convert a picture into a silhouette? I used the instructions I found at Loo-la-bee Simplicity. It's not difficult, per se, but it is tedious and time consuming (if you're really paying attention to detail). But the end result is so worth it!!

My plan was to fit this to a frame Kim had hanging on her living room wall and surprise her with it -- I knew she'd wanted one. The surprise was on me, though ... when I got to their house on Monday evening, I found that she had taken down the whole arrangement to redecorate!

Oh well. She loved it (as did little man -- he was quite fascinated with it and knew it was "Sawyer") and I'm sure I'll see it hanging when the redecorating is done.

I also crafted a sweet little card for my Valentine. I got to thinking about Valentine's Day and how as a child we spent a week carefully crafting all the cards we were going to give out, and how much they meant because they were crafted with love ... and I decided I wanted all my cards from hereon out to be done that same way. Crafted with love.

And I made some sugarless heart cookies as a treat for my darling man . . .

He was really pleased! They turned out nicely and had a lovely flavor. I got the recipe from one of my favorite tea blogs . . . Tea at Prim Rose Hill.

And then there was his Valentine to me . . .

Oh definitely, I know I'm spoiled!!

Today is an Ellie day ... I can't wait to hold her again! Joc told me on Monday that she was weighing in at nine pounds -- gracious! I may not recognize her today -- LOL! Today is also our first Wednesday at the new church and I'm looking forward to it. I need to get this show rolling!

a love story . . .

2012-02-14T10:42:00.000-06:00

Sawyer and I had such a fun night, last night. We decided that we wanted to make his mommy and daddy a special Valentine. I'd seen an idea on pinterest--from Squash Blossom Babies -- about turning a toddler's scribbles into keepsake art, and I thought it was perfect for Sawyer and a homemade Valentine! Instead of following her idea of cutting out figures with the exacto knife, I pre-printed the words I'd want to cut out on plain paper, in outlined block letters.

Sawyer was all about doing some art work. I brought some washable markers. I think perhaps a new experience for him? They sure looked cute on him. Yes, I did mean "on him"!

I used blue painter's tape to tape the paper to the table (to keep it from moving or getting *crumpled* up.) I think he was doing a close-up inspection to see if he missed a spot.

Oh yeah -- we were having a big time -- I do love this darling boy!

He was most fascinated with the caps. Very, very fascinated. After he finished coloring, I cut out the letters and glued them on a big, white heart:

It made for a very cute Valentine -- and he was very pleased with it! I freehand cut the hearts out of the random colored space. And the hand print at the bottom was a last minute decision ... his hand were *covered* in marker so I got it damp and he happily pressed it onto a piece of plain paper and then cut it out. He thought that was pretty fun.

After we finished up with that, we made paper hats ... errr ...

Snowflakes, I mean. It seemed appropriate given the weather last night!

And we finished up our table time with his first TV dinner! I had told Kim that I had such fond memories of when I was a child ... when my folks were going out and we were going to have a babysitter during the dinner hour, we'd go to the grocery store and get to pick out our own TV dinner. I thought it would be fun to get one for Sawyer. I picked out a Kid's Cuisine with fish sticks, tater tots, macaroni and cheese and corn. He ate it all -- it was a fun treat!

And that's my Valentine's story for the morning.

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU!

shades of things to come . . .

2012-02-13T07:00:00.009-06:00

I do love design wall Mondays. And I'm having such fun with the guild's 25th Anniversary BOM, too. I got the third block finished up over the weekend. It was fun and not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I really think it turned out great . . .

So here's the first three on the sashing fabric:

And here's the December block ... I like the little nine-patch block in the center of the star. This should be another interesting block to work on.

The December fan colors are (what else?) red and green . . .

So here are my color picks for the block:

I've also got two *secret* projects underway . . .

Sorry the photos aren't that great, but I purposefully cropped and blurred them ... I don't want them to be recognizable ... perhaps later this week I'll share some final project photos!

In the meantime, check out Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and see what project photos are up from design walls all over blogland.

For me this will be a busy, busy week. Tonight I'm having dinner with my darling Sawyer while his mommy and daddy celebrate Valentine's a little early. Who knows what's in store for tomorrow . . . and then Wednesday I'm hopping over to see Ellie (and Jocelyn). Thursday is guild and then it's Friday! Wow...where did the week go?!? LOL! Happy Monday!

stash (report #7) and dash . . .

2012-02-12T14:53:00.000-06:00

This was going to be my hit and run entry for today. Until I couldn't get my numbers to play nice and I had to (yes, I had to) go back and figure out where my mathematical error was. I finally did figure it out and without further ado, here's my stash report for this week:

Used/donated this week: 0.0 yards
Used/donated year-to-date: 3.25 yards
Purchased/added this week: 2.25 yards
Purchased/added year-to-date: 9.75 yards
Net used/donated for 2012: -6.5 yards

No finishes this week, so my used/donated figure didn't change. But it's coming, oh yes, it's coming!! I'm linked up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times ... head over to check out how other folks did for the week.

one or two things . . .

2012-02-11T11:15:00.003-06:00

I should be outside. But I'm not. It is COLD! Where did winter come from all of a sudden?!? And why today, the first work day of the year? There are snow flurries, for Pete's sake! LOL! Actually it wouldn't be so bad if the wind wasn't a factor ... the wind chill has our temps in the single digits. Brrrr!! I guess if you're operating a chainsaw or a log splitter or hauling wood, it helps ... but not much!

I can hardly believe Ellie is already a month old . . . the weeks have flown by, but not without being documented!! Joc had a terrific idea for capturing Ellie's first 52 weeks in pictures . . .

Teeny, tiny!

Baby power!

So serious!

So *round*! Check out those thighs and that sweet baby belly!

Each week she lays Ellie out on a different yard of fabric and Jason gets the shot and digitally adds the "week" onto her plain, white onesie! Isn't that clever ... and cute?!! I asked Joc what she was going to do with FIFTY-TWO YARDS of fabric at the end of the year (glad that's not in MY stash report!) and she told me, among other things, that she might like a quilt made out of it! What a fun, scrappy quilt that will be to make!! She's been busy pinning lots of ideas for that fabric onto her Pinterest. Oh yes, I think we'll be busy!

This is Ellie's one-month-old photo:

This will be the monthly photo shoot spot for the next two years. It will be fun to watch Ellie grow bigger than her owl!! *baby love sigh*!

I got a special treat in the mail yesterday. Melissa, from The High Altitude Tea Duchess had posted on her blog that she was yearning to do a little letter writing and would love to send a handwritten note to anyone who wished one. I dearly love handwritten correspondence (receiving *and* sending) and so I signed up immediately!

My note from Melissa arrived in yesterday's mail and was such a treat and fun to read. And it inspired me . . . I'd love to do the very same thing. If you'd enjoy receiving a handwritten something in the mailbox, leave me a comment saying so and I'll touch back with you for the particulars. No strings, no gimmicks ... just some pretty stationary, a handwritten note and a stamp. :)

I guess I need to head back out into the COLD and see about grilling some hotdogs! At least I get to work under the pavilion, near the fire!!!

fluffy, food, and fashion . . .

2012-02-10T07:25:00.022-06:00

Yesterday was a fun day ... of course, any day spent with my kids and grands is going to be an awesome day! Interestingly enough, Joc's beautiful cat, Leia, was very interested in me yesterday. I think having a baby in the house has rather put her in her place a bit. She's looking for attention from people she doesn't generally seek it from.

Which would be anyone but Joc and Jason! But she certainly moved in closer . . .

And closer . . .

To me yesterday! She really is so beautiful -- and her fur is so soft, fluffy and inviting. Kitty-loving!

For lunch I made the quinoa-avocado salad and it was *very* good! I cut the recipe in half and it made plenty for the two of us for lunch and left us both with a little bit (I had mine for dinner, too).

As always, I made a few adjustments to the original recipe (found HERE). This is what I came up with:

Quinoa-Avocado Salad

1 cup quinoa, cooked per pkg directions, chilled

6 oz Sweet Corn, just barely thawed

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced on the bias

1 plum tomato, 1/4-inch dice

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, cubed

1/3 cup Olive Oil Vinaigrette

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions: Add cooked quinoa, corn, cilantro, green onions, and tomatoes to mixing bowl. Fold in avocados and dressing; mix until well-combined. Season with salt and pepper; serve.

It was very easy to make, too. I've been looking for quinoa recipes and have found three or four that I'm wanting to try. Todd doesn't care for avocado or cilantro, so this one is out for him or at least, would need to be modified.

Of course, the main show of yesterday was Miss Ellie!

Joc has fallen in love with smocked gowns and dresses, and two that she had ordered came in yesterday. This little white outfit was *so* precious that we had to have a fashion show (even though it's a little big still).

Do we look great together? I'm sporting a pretty new top, too! (A sweet gift from my Mom!) Ellie's a natural at this modeling thing.

Of course, we see what the cameraman (Joc) was really focusing on! That's okay -- it's to be expected, right?!

And here's Ellie with her beautiful mommy!

And turnabout is fair play, right? This cameraman also had focused interests!

I just adore baby feet!!

Today will be a busy one ... our fifth annual board meeting this morning and then prep for the Camp MACOBA workday tomorrow (I hope we don't have snow for it) and tonight we're headed out for a informational/vision meeting for the future of Joc and Jason's church. Whew!! I had better take my hand work with me in the car so I can get some stitching in on this busy day!!

ending well . . .

2012-02-09T08:48:00.000-06:00

I received a fun *squishy* in the mail from my darling friend Pat, of A Little of This and a Little of Pat. I've enjoyed Pat's friendship for a while and she really is a kind and thoughtful lady, as well as an excellent quilter!!

In the package were lots of fun fabrics ... perfect things for an "I Spy" quilt!! There was also a Lapel Stick for me to give a try *and* Pat knows me so well ... two little heart frames for the sweet faces that have captured my heart; Sawyer and Ellie!

Thank you *so* much, Pat!!

I finished up the inner quilting on one of my MOC blocks. I decided with this one that it makes sense to stitch-in-the-ditch around that square that encompasses the inner block. Which means I'll now have to go back and do the other six blocks I'd already completed. But that's okay. I'd rather have it *right* for me, than just finished.

At a later date I'll have to walk through my thinking on how I'm quilting this ... and get some feedback!

Yesterday didn't end up being all slow going ... I did head out to spend the evening with my Sawyer Graham! See what greeted me as I walked up to the house?!

I have to admit I felt pretty special!!

I tried to capture the perfect profile shot to do another cameo . . .

I'm hoping one of these two will work for it! I had found a great tutorial for converting ordinary photos into cameos. I'll fool around with it later.

We had a fun evening playing around. He likes to look through the opening between the living room and the kitchen.

He's growing up so fast I can hardly stand it!

At one point he got on his little rocket scooter. He kept reaching behind him and patting the little white tail fin and saying something to me.

It took a little while, but I finally figured out he wanted me to sit behind him and go for a ride! LOL! Oh, little man -- would that I could!!

At dinner I tried to capture a few. When the orange light from the camera hits his face, he knows a picture is getting ready to be taken and he grins his cheesiest grin!

After I showed him this one, his grins got cheesier . . .

And sillier . . .

I don't think he can show anymore teeth than he is ... seriously, I think every single tooth he has is showing in that last shot! We were both laughing so hard -- I'm glad this kid has got a great sense of humor!!

After dinner we did a little coloring. As you can see, he's got his serious side, too.

Until finally it was time to get into pj's. Sawyer headed right for the rocking chair ... he wanted me to sit in his lap.

Bless his little heart! He's quite the adorable little fellow!

Today I'm headed to see my Ellie! And I'm making Joc and I a Quinoa-Avocado Salad that I found on Pinterest that looked quite yummy, and I'm also making them Chicken Packets for dinner. Should be a fun day (and I'm really glad Ellie got her *tumultuous* day out of the way earlier in the week)!!

Lastly ... I'm gearing up (and really excited) for our Stitcher's Quilting retreat in less than two weeks ... besides the normal stuff (sewing machine, iron, projects, etc.) what do you *absolutely* have to have with you when you go on a quilting retreat?!

:)

slow to go . . .

2012-02-08T10:45:00.002-06:00

That's me today . . . slow to get moving, slow to get motivated. Todd and I worked hard on administrative stuff yesterday, to ensure everything (budget, minutes, financial reports, etc.) was ready for Friday's board meeting. We also got a call yesterday evening ... Cornerstone Baptist Church in Fayetteville, TN, will be our next church assignment! Yay! But today I'm just taking it easy.

I may be having a slow today, but Joc sure didn't yesterday. She sent me an e-mail that had me laughing for hours (I'm still chuckling about it)! I responded and told her she needed to cut and paste that e-mail into a blog post, without changing a thing.

She did. It's right HERE. *Definitely* worth a read -- especially if you need a laugh for the day (or two) . . .

Or a reminder of how sassy a sweet little bundle like this can be!

lots of happies . . .

2012-02-07T07:00:00.024-06:00

With the annual board meeting for our ministry on Friday and a workday up at the camp on Saturday, my days for the rest of the week are going to be pretty busy getting things ready. Yesterday was my free day -- though not a lot of quilting got done. But who cares? Look who I got to hang out with!!

She's getting so BIG! She's able to fill some of her cutie-pie clothes now. Her tummy is rounder, she's longer, and her cheeks are filling out, too. And Jason says her second chin is growing, as well! LOL!

I pulled up this shot from my camera and immediately tears welled up in my eyes. People are always saying how much Joc and I look alike, but I think my girl is far more beautiful than I. But in this picture ... I saw a young me, holding my Jocelyn.

So precious! Look at that squinchy brow ... she's got such a serious and intent gaze!

Joc was sweet enough to snap one of me holding the darling girl ...

Look how happy she is to be in the arms of her Neesey (Or gosh -- it just occurred to me that it could be the change of scenery from one photo to the next -- in the one above, she's gazing at mommy; in the one before, she's seeing me -- LOL!)

Know what else was a happy yesterday?!? Getting this parcel in the mail -- from HUNGARY!!

I won Edit's anniversary giveaway, and she'd offered a choice from several lovely things she'd created; I had chosen the fabric tulips. They are even prettier in person than pictured. I'm so tickled!

I've got a vase that's perfect -- I just have to figure out where I tucked it away. You wouldn't think it would be hard to find things in an RV, but you'd be *very* surprised at the nooks, crannies, and hiding spots there are!

Ah, but the fun didn't stop there. Edit, who's really darling and quite fun to chat with, didn't stop with the tulips. She wanted to share with me some things from her county and culture, so--after finding out that we shared a love of cooking, as well as quilting--she also included this lovely Hungarian cookbook!!

And look at this sweet inscription!

And she also included this bag of Hungarian paprika!! I *love* paprika and use it in a lot of my cooking, so this is a real treat! Unfortunately, the bag got a little tear in it in the shipping process and paprika spilled out into the box. Ooops! Luckily, paprika dusts off very easily and it wasn't a whole lot that spilled. Whew!

I loved her little notes, to help me understand how to use everything!

She also included these three tubes of spices -- the bottom one is a garlic cream, the middle one is a red pepper cream, and then the top is is evidently very spicy. I *loved* the note on this one:

"Sting! Hard! A tiny 'gulyas'" Ummm, I think this one might have a little bite to it!

Such a darling package and such fun going through. I made vegetable beef stew yesterday and used my new Hungarian paprika in it -- it was delicious, too!! If you have a moment, you should really stop by her blog. She's a very talented seamstress and quilter and I enjoy her blog. And though google translate doesn't always do it justice, some things, like sweet friendship, overcome language barriers easily!

Szép napot!!

trekking along . . .

2012-02-06T06:55:00.002-06:00

Here's what's on the design wall (table, iron, bed ... whatever the case may be) this week:

Got block two of the HQH BOM whipped up and out of the way! It's a very pretty block. I also found the *perfect* fabric to sash these HQH babies . . .

I wanted something silvery to go with the theme of 25th anniversary (which is typically referred to as the silver anniversary).

I think the blocks are going to look great framed in this pretty fabric, especially with the black stripping to connect the panels. I'm playing around with an idea to incorporate my challenge quilt into this piece (which means after the June challenge, I'd have to take the binding off that piece and then go from there). I'm still playing with that. I like the idea, though, of having the two commemoration pieces merged into one.

Do you ever just get so many ideas about where you want to go with different pieces and quilting that they're just jumbled up in your brain?! I couldn't sleep one night last week for thinking of how I wanted to quilt this one and different fabrics and the backing. Crazy!

Here's the pattern for the next block (November's):

And these are the November colors:

So after picking through my stash, here are the fabrics I've selected for the block:

The lighting in this photo doesn't do that brown batik justice -- it's a beautiful piece of fabric! (Thanks, Mom!) I'll use it for the focal leaf, use the tonal white for the background and the yellow for the corner squares. Should be an interesting block to piece ... I'll really have to focus on precise piecing for this one.

I mentioned sleepless nights. Here's one of the ideas that kept me tossing . . .

I thought it would be fun to quilt the sashing with fans, similar to the HQH logo. The sashing will be about 2.5" wide. What I haven't decided on is whether or not I'd hand or machine quilt them. The fans around the square I drew in paint and then set them up in a graphic. The three on the far left I hand drew. I'm not so sure, judging by my hand renderings, that machine quilting those is the way to go! I still haven't decided what to do in the centers. Or even what fabric to back it in. Aye-yi-yi!

Ah well, those are thoughts and decisions for another restless night. LOL! In the meantime, definitely head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times and check out the rest of the design walls out there this Monday!

I'm also linking up to What a Hoot's BOMs Away Monday! Fun stuff!

Me? I'm headed over to spend the day with Ellie and Joc! I'm taking the makings for a big pot of vegetable beef stew -- a favorite of mine!

Have a *terrific* Monday!

stash report #6, under the wire . . .

2012-02-05T18:35:00.000-06:00

Busy Sunday! Todd and I visited a new church this morning, and it looks like this may be our next assignment! One of the things they asked me about was women's ministry and what verse(s) did I feel best represented my views of women's ministry. Without hesitation I could respond, "Titus 2". Evidently that was the answer they were looking for. We're praying, the pastor and his elders are praying, and we should know something in the next few days. Whoohoo!!

My stash has evolved a bit (just a bit) so I definitely wanted to get this one in . . .

Used/donated this week: 0.0 yards
Used/donated year-to-date: 3.25 yards
Purchased/added this week: 3.5 yards
Purchased/added year-to-date: 7.5 yards
Net used/donated for 2012: -8.25 yards

I will say that what I purchased, I purchased for projects I am working on, so it's okay. Right? Right.

As usual, I'm linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times. Head on over to check out how everyone else fared this week!

And now I'm off to make something chocolate. I have a deep craving!

sweet days . . .

2012-02-04T09:17:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was one of those *squishy* days ... lots of baby-loving going on. I love the back of baby's heads. All downy and sweet and tiny ... and they smell *so* darn good!

She's filling out very nicely, which I think you can see from this pic! She's up over eight pounds now! Grow, Ellie, grow! (But not *too* fast, please.)

Ellie and I managed to catch a little cat nap together on the couch in the late afternoon.

She fits quite nicely right there! Although I'll admit it was tough holding my phone to get the picture I wanted to capture.

Earlier in the day, Kim had texted me this photo of a budding Rembrandt:

Or perhaps a budding Picasso, in his "blue period"!

The first shot was followed closely by this one, in the tub. I adore the expression on his little face!! Such a sweetie pie! Kim did say she now had two masterpieces ready for hanging. I've no doubt!

Needless to say, I didn't finish quilting my block . . .

It's about halfway there, I'd guess. I've got two and a half more hearts and then the big square and the little squares. Tonight, maybe. And then on to the next one!

This quilt was the model/display quilt for the BOM of 2011 (which is what I'm quilting). Unlike prior BOMs that Patches and Stitches has done, this one wasn't meant to be a quilt-as-you-go project, but since when do I do something the way it was intended to be done?

I liked the blocks, but didn't care for the center, which is why my finished quilt will look very little like this one!

We've got rain, rain, and more rain coming in today, so I imagine it will be a quiet one, just Todd and I, up at the Camp. Campers start coming in again in a couple of weeks, so I'm happy to take advantage of the solitude while we can!

Happy Saturday!

just a'stitching . . .

2012-02-03T07:00:00.009-06:00

Mostly this week I've been doing hand-stitching, working on the My Orange Crush blocks. I finished the first of the four that I prepped last Friday, quilted with the hearts . . .

And then I decided on a second stencil . . .

And now the second block is marked and ready to go.

I really like quilting this way because I can easily take it with me and work on it in the car (if Todd's driving) or while I'm watching a grandbaby (if they're asleep, and I can take my eyes off of them). Plus I can easily work on them while I'm doing my 40 minutes of ultra sound treatment each day and in the evenings, while we're watching TV or Todd's playing on the xbox.

Really, given all the times I can work on them, there's no excuse for them not to all be done by now!

Fiddle-dee--dee . . . there's always today!

Oops, maybe not ... today I'm off to spend a day with Ellie and Joc. And I forgot to get a new marking pen when I was out on Tuesday, so I'll probably take care of that, too. And run by Bed, Bath & Beyond to pick up some coffee for the Keurig. And who knows what else. Maybe the weekend? I'm not betting on it. LOL!

Happy Friday!!

win / win . . .

2012-02-02T15:00:00.001-06:00

I had the pleasure of spending time with my Sawyer last evening! He and I had dinner together -- Italian.

Well, pizza. That's Italian though, right?!

He ate more than I did. Almost three whole slices. *And* a whole cup of milk, too! He's a great eater. And most of his food finds his mouth!

His little foot isn't so little anymore ... at least not compared to baby Ellie's dainty little feet! Of course, Sawyer's no baby anymore either. And definitely not dainty! This kid is all boy. Want to know his response when I told him I thought he probably needed a bath before I'd nibble his toes?

"That's okay, Neesey. I'll nibble 'em myself." Well then.

We had a little block action before going to bed, too. It was a fun evening. He hung out in my lap for most of it! Definitely a win for me!

My other win arrived via USPS from Barb of Bejeweled Quilts by Barb!

The first thing I pulled out of the envelope was this lovely note and pre-cut fusible hearts.

Sweet, aren't they? I'll find a way to put them to good use prior to the 14th!

And then I pulled out this . . .

Isn't it gorgeous? I love it! And I know just where I want to put it, too . . .

Love it, love it, love it!!

Todd and I had errands to run this morning (which is why my post is so late in coming today). One of the things we needed to do was go by the RV place and pick up some parts. While we were there, I talked Todd into looking at the 2012 Cedar Creek 5th wheels with me. Just to see what's new. Oh, there's something new, all right . . .

It's not a rush-right-out-and-buy-it kind of thing. But it's definitely a keep-in-mind-for-the-future kind of thing!

ufo's past and present . . .

2012-02-01T08:07:00.003-06:00

So I have some good news and some great news and some not-so-good news. All of it involves UFO's -- linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times today. Let's start with the not-so-good news. I didn't finish my January UFO. It's really no surprise; I had a baby quilt that HAD to be finished and a granddaughter born ... priorities, right?

The good news involves that same quilt. I fell in love with that quilt the first time I saw the display quilt hanging at my LQS. I think it's just beautiful and I wanted to make it just like (almost) the one hanging. I had no intention of allowing it to slip into UFOness for five years. It was cutting down the center and attaching the sashing that stopped me cold (you've got to remember, these pieces are already quilted and it had to FIT into an already set center). But this month I conquered my fear and got that center part done. So I *know* this quilt will be a finish for 2012 and though it wasn't finished in January, I do consider it a success!!!

The great news?!? Judy picked UFO #1 as the February project and that's Jocelyn's wedding quilt!! YAY!! I had already promised Joc that it would be a priority and that I would take it with me to retreat (which is this month). Perfect and GREAT timing!!

I did spend the day with my darling Ellie. Oh I could sit and hold her for hours . . . which is *precisely* what I did yesterday! Oh what sweet, sweet moments!

I promise she does open her eyes, but when she does, I'm talking to her and playing with her and there's no room for a camera. LOL!

Baby feet!

Baby power!!

Baby snuggles!

And finally, I had to share this gorgeous quilt. One of the ladies in our Stitcher's Group brought it with her last night. She appliqued the entire quilt ... and then sent it off to Cashton, Wisconsin to have it quilted by an Amish lady.

Almost three years to the week from start to finish. What gorgeous, gorgeous work. The quilter is Karen, pictured holding the quilt up on the right. She's won quite a few blue ribbons with her quilts over the years and has had them juried into major quilt shows. I have no doubt this one will find its way into that circle!

Wednesday's random word of wisdom? Hand wash your cookware. It will make it last longer!

busy, busy, busy . . .

2012-01-31T08:25:00.002-06:00

I'll be right upfront about this ... it's going to be a long post with lots of pictures. I've been so inspired and so (sew) BUSY!!

But first things first, I wanted to share about my doctor's visit yesterday morning. Thank you for all your kinds wishes yesterday -- it went well. After looking at the x-rays, the doc said that the bone growth was progressing nicely and the new growth was encompassing the donor bone. I mentioned to him that I had some discomfort when walking on the heel.

He looked at the x-rays again and noted that the screws do jut a little ... and he brought up last visit's x-rays to see if they were in the same place. They were, which is good; it means that the screws haven't moved from being walked on ... they just stick out a little far. If the discomfort continues, he might go in later on (4-6 months) and remove them. Nice!

He will see me back in two months. During that time I'm to progress to boot-free, full weight bearing walking, starting with an hour a day (which I'm doing right now -- LOL!), and to let pain be my guide as to how much or little I do. And to continue the ultra-sound treatments. So, good appointment. As an aside, when I asked him about his weekend, he told me it was a good one: he'd been fly fishing in Utah on Sunday and snow boarding on Saturday, and jetting about on Friday. Heh. Glad I could help. Hahaha!!

From there we went to one of my all-time favorite places for breakfast . . .

Cracker Barrel!

Yesterday was busy, full of meetings and errands. I did find an unlikely smile popping up . . .

Everything here thinks it's SPRING! I'm afraid they're all in for a rude awakening. Perhaps not, but I don't think winter has given up the ghost yet!

Okay, on to quilty things. First up, NewFO projects! I started and finished the quilt for Ellie:

I started the HQH 25th Anniversary BOM:

I was going to do a mock-up of the tiled pinwheel block I'd first drawn and then put into EQ:

But when I printed it out, it looks so complicated, I need to go back and see if paper piecing it might be easier. I did simplify it by making it just three colors instead of the original five ... that will cut down a little on the bits and pieces, at least for a mock-up block.

And I was *completely* inspired by a piece of art work done by the daughter (Heather) of one of my dear friends (Reda):

When I asked Heather if I could use her painting as a basis for a quilted wall hanging, she said no problem, she'd been inspired by something else! Okay then!

Looking at our flatscreen, I decided I not only wanted it that size, but that it would be the perfect cover for the TV when it was not in use (which is more often than not) and it would give me a terrific place to hang it.

Then I printed out the Scripture (which I'll eventually use to trace onto my fabric to be embroidered) on blank paper and taped it together so I could sketch it out. Mind you, my drawing abilities aren't top notch, but I think it gets the general idea across.

Then I spent some time trying to figure out how to translate this onto fabric. Applique? Fusing? Oh wait ... what about faux applique? That's something I've wanted to try, too! So I got out a little piece of scrap fabric and my colored pencils and went to work . . .

Here's what it looked like after putting on the textile medium to set it. I didn't have a brush and it would definitely need to be spread more delicately, but I think I like the look of this. I would stitch the verses on my four back ground fabric quarters (the green, blue, pink and grey) and then stitch the quarter panels together, and then draw the tree and leaves. I'll probably need to buy more colored pencils -- you have to press really hard to get the color!

I'm linking up HERE at Cat Patches for the NewFO's. There's been some really gorgeous new and interesting work going on that worth checking out!

And then I'm happy to report that I *did* work on the Free Motion Quilting challenge. Yay!! After lots and lots and LOTS (and lots and lots) of drawing out the leaves on paper . . .

I finally bit the proverbial bullet and put needle to fabric sandwich. I think this was a tough design to start with, and it went against what I'd been previously taught in FMQ (that the space you are going to stitch in should always be in front of your needle), so I had some overcoming to do.

One thing I always struggle with is ... nope, I drop my feed dogs (in fact, I need to remember to pop them back up) ... I always, without fail, forget to lower the pressure foot! It cracks me up and it always takes me a minute or two to figure out what's wrong!

I did find Leah Day's suggestion for using a self-threading needle to immediately bury your thread endings incredibly helpful, and I also was encouraged to see Frances Moore, in the tutorial video, stop and start ... in my mind I've always thought that FMQ equaled continuous, non-stop motion. Duh -- it's so much easier when you can stop and reposition your fabric!

I also found that the gloves really, really made a positive difference. My level sewing space if very small, so I definitely need to have a good handle (haha--pun intended!) on my material as I work with it.

It's not great, but it's much better and I do feel a little more confident in my abilities. I should really spend 15 minutes a day practicing FMQ ... practice makes perfect, after all! For the FMQ challenge I'm linking up over HERE at SewCalGal's blog for the January entry. Right now there are over 250 quilters who have participated!!

Okay, that should do it for me for today. I'm headed out to do a little [silver] fabric shopping (and I want to get one of those self-threading needles) and then I'm going to spend some quality time with my darling Ellie (and her mommy) and then tonight it's off to a Stitcher's Group sewing circle! A pretty darn good day laid out, if you ask me!

my design wall is singing . . .

2012-01-30T06:45:00.002-06:00

Well, not really. But if it could, it would, because I've been keeping it relatively busy here of late!

This week I've got my first HQH 25th Anniversary BOM up there, and I'm very pleased with the look of it.

Here's the pattern for the second block:

Here's the colors for the second month (our guild year runs September through August):

And here are the three fabrics I picked:

I'll use the orange and the cream tonals for the stripes, and the black for the corner triangles and the center appliqued square.

This is so much fun! (I've decided, 2012 is going to be the year of Fun Quilting.) I mentioned yesterday that I had a project that was begging for new fabric ... I think I need to find some tonal silver or light grey with a sparkley thread of silver running through it. I mean, since 25 is the "Silver Anniversary", right?! I'll use that as the sashing. I don't think, after some careful consideration this past week, that I want to use it for the FMQ challenge. Which means I need to figure something else out for it and pretty darn quick!

Last, but not least, I also have this . . .

It's not on my design wall. Yet. And I'm not sure what I'll do with it or how, but a quilt WILL come out of this. It's been bouncing around in my head forcefully enough that I had to at least get it on paper!

Be sure to stop by Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to see what's up elsewhere!

As for me ... headed to the doc's and **really** hoping to hear happy news!! Have a TERRIFIC Monday!

stash report #5 and an a milestone . . .

2012-01-29T08:00:00.004-06:00

Well, not in the (necessarily) normal sense of a milestone. But it *was* one nonetheless . . . both for me AND for Sawyer. Yesterday was his first visit to the fire station! Oh MY but we had a good time!!

He was jauntily dressed for the adventure, too!

He was excited to be off in the car with me and even more excited that it was Paw-paw we were driving to see. He wasn't quite sure of what to make of the station, when we pulled up, except that across the street there was a big school bus parked, quite a number of tractors, and a plane. The garage doors were closed so he couldn't see the fire trucks ... yet.

We went in and he clung to his Paw-paw. All these strangers greeting him and talking to him like they knew him! It must have been a little overwhelming (which isn't a bad thing for a rambunctious nearly two-year-old, if you know what I mean). Todd took him around to see the station and introduced him to the crew. Sawyer wouldn't say much (except, Paw-paw and Neesey), but he did give all the guys a fist bump. He's cool like that.

Then we went into the truck room . . . talk about your two-year-old shock and awe! I heard that breathless little, "Whoa!" quite a number of times as they explored the trucks and turned on lights and opened "secret" compartments. It was such a sweet evening. And Sawyer ate like a fire fighter, too. Grilled chicken, baked beans, potato salad and rolls. And don't you know that boy cleaned his plate and ate off mine, too!

It was a milestone for me too . . . my first outing with him since the surgery! Whoohoo!! I've been getting along pretty nicely without crutches or the roller and just the boot for about the last four-five days. I was supposed to be working on being full-weight bearing in the boot by ... TOMORROW! I did it! I go back to the doctor's tomorrow morning for more x-rays and we'll see where I am. Whew.

Stash this week? It stayed the same. I must say that's getting rather boring. I've not purchased a single bit of fabric so far this year and it's chafing me a bit. I do see a purchase in the very near future, because I'm working on a project that is just *begging* for something I do NOT have in my stash. What's a quilter to do? Shop, of course!! Anyway, here are the numbers:

Used/donated this week: 0.0 yards
Used/donated year-to-date: 3.25 yards
Purchased/added this week: 0.0 yards
Purchased/added year-to-date: 4.0 yards
Net used/donated for 2012: -0.75 yards

As usual, I'm linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times. Head on over to check out how everyone else fared this week!

This is the day that the LORD hath made; I will rejoice and be GLAD in it!!

quilt of another color . . .

2012-01-28T07:00:00.003-06:00

After Thursdays headaches (even though it all worked out in the end), I chose to NOT work on The Pineapple Quilt yesterday. I figured that was best for both my sanity and the quilt itself. Most definitely.

Instead I worked on some other projects. My Orange Crush being one of those. All sixteen of the blocks are completed and four of them are sashed (and quilted). I needed to put a dent in this, so I resolved to get all the corners blocks sashed. I'm pleased, then, to be able to show this:

Yay! Only the four corners will be sashed in the purple ... the remaining blocks will be sashed in the orange.

And I even got one marked for quilting . . .

For this one I chose a looping heart pattern. This should give my hands something to do in the evenings and when I'm doing my ultrasound treatment on my foot!

Today is all about the guild's newsletter . . . and this evening? I'm so excited! It's family dinner night at the fire station, so Sawyer and I are going to go have dinner with Paw-paw and the rest of the crew. It will be Sawyer's first trip to the fire station ... and I can't wait!! You can bet my camera will be busy, busy, busy!

trifaulta . . .

2012-01-27T07:00:00.011-06:00

If a trifecta is a run of three wins or grand events, then you can imagine what a trifaulta is, right? Yeah. That was my yesterday.

Well actually I'm not sure when it started. Because for the life of me I cannot remember which project it was that I cut into the black yardage that was set aside for my January UFO -- the Pineapple Quilt. There was a hole cut out from one end, and a huge square cut out from the other. Seriously?! Ugh. I'd purchased that material in 2007 and faithfully preserved it for that project. Ugh again. I hope I have enough! Fault number one.

Sooooo . . . I pulled out the center today to trim it down. I'd chalked the corners, got my ruler out and . . .

Whacked away! Haha . . . no, that was not fault number two. Thank goodness!

Next I chopped up the quilted red for the sashing . . .

And then I pinned all four pieces onto the center . . .

That's when I realized fault number two. I had just spent an hour carefully pinning all these pieces together only to remember that I'm NOT supposed to pin/stitch the pieces together until I've attached the strips that cover the zig zag stitches. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

So . . . I abandoned the pinning for a minute and went in to dutifully cut my strips from what's left of my black fabric. It's been so long since I've completed a QAYG project, I'd forgotten a lot! I had to measure strips I'd already sewn down to know how wide to cut my strips. I got my number, once again grabbed my ruler, cut out my eight strips, and turned on the iron to press them in half.

That's when I hit fault number three. The strips were too narrow. Crumb! I hadn't taken into account the 1/4" (doubled) -- instead of 1-1/8" wide they should have been 1-5/8" wide. And my black fabric is dwindling! What do I do!

I forged ahead. I went ahead and left everything pinned the way it was and zig zag stitched my pieces down.

And then instead of folding my strips in half, I folded each side in a 1/4" to leave me with 5/8" strips. And then I hand stitched both sides of the strips down. On all eight of the seams (four front, four back).

So here's my thinking. Yes, it took a lot of extra time, but I saved precious black fabric ... yeah. All four inches.

BUT . . . I am this much closer to a finish now!

catching up . . .

2012-01-26T07:12:00.002-06:00

Would you believe I spent all morning with Ellie and all evening with Sawyer and I did not take a single picture?! I was having too much fun to stop and get the camera. Gosh, words cannot express how blessed I feel!

The forecasters are calling for a pretty heavy rain system in our area today and expecting 1 to 3 inches of rain. Considering we've had 10 inches of rain over the last two weeks and the ground is completely saturated, that means flash flooding. After Monday's rain, all of the local creeks and rivers were well out of their banks. I'm sure that any rain we get will cause more. We're under flash flood warnings for the next 24 hours. Yikes! Luckily we sit up very high and usually don't even have puddles, but the lower road coming in and out of the camp does flood and it looked like a pretty swiftly moving creek bed itself until yesterday! Also luckily, no severe weather is expected in this system. That allows me to breathe a tad easier.

That being said, today will be a good day to stay put and catch up. (Well, weather plus the fact that Todd will be driving the PT Cruiser and I'm not comfortable working the manual transmission of the truck yet, with my foot.) Anyway, there's laundry, housework, office work, blog reading, a guild newsletter and my January UFO that all are requesting my attention today.

And as they say, there's no time like the present, so . . .

an exercise in binding . . .

2012-01-25T06:55:00.000-06:00

I try to learn something or add a new skill to my quilting with each quilt I make. Ellie's quilt was no different. With Ellie Has My Heart, I decided to play with a new toy ... my binding tool by TQM. I purchased it in Knoxville last summer, at the AQS show, but I haven't used it yet. I've bound a couple of projects, but either they were too small or I forgot about it until it was too late.

Anyway, this time I remembered I had it and how frustrating the two meeting ends of the binding always are to me. From my first quilt, I've just always fit the beginning of my binding into the end and stitched it down that way. But it's so bulky and it irritates me to have to do that. When I saw the binder tool demonstrated at the show, I knew it was perfect for me!

The thing is, you have to remember you're going to use it before you stitch your binding onto your quilt. You have to mark a 12" space on your quilt edge and start and stop your binding on those marks, leaving 10" of extra binding at both ends to work with.

The binding tool has lines on it to indicate where you mark your left and right sides and the diagonal line for cutting. There's even a little notch which helps you match up your two sides for pinning and sewing.

Then stitch up using a 1/4" seam . . .

Press down the seam and fold . . .

And voila, you can't even tell where my binding begins and ends now!

It was very easy to use (once I had it figured out) and did a marvelous job. And I'd give clearer instructions here, except there's really no need. I did a search for a video tutorial -- it had been a tad long since I'd seen the live demo and I couldn't quite figure it out -- and the video demo done by The Missouri Star Quilt Co. is well done and made short work of the explanation.

I was so pleased with how the binding looked.! I won't be forgetting about it the next time I bind a quilt, that's for sure!

My Ellie girl seems to be well-pleased with the binding job too . . .

What a sweetheart!

a picture's worth . . .

2012-01-24T08:22:00.000-06:00

take twenty-five . . .

2012-01-23T06:30:00.003-06:00

Heading towards the design wall today is a special block. Our guild (Heritage Quilters of Huntsville) is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and in recognition of that milestone, we are doing a BOM that features 10" blocks with 25 pieces.

Since I do the newsletter, I'm very familiar with not just our logo . . .

But also with the color scheme of our logo that changes monthly . . .

Since the chairman of the 25th Anniversary Committee suggested we go scrappy with our blocks, I thought, "Why not go scrappy in HQH's monthly color scheme?"

And then I thought, "Why not put each block together as a quilt-as-you-go project and then use it for the FMQ challenge?!?" Great idea.

So here is the first block (I'll do the second option) . . .

And here are the colors I'll use for it . . .

I love it when a plan comes together!

I'm headed to Jocelyn's today to play with Ellie . . . y'all head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to check out additional design walls!

Happy Monday!

stash report #4 and grandbabies . . .

2012-01-22T10:25:00.006-06:00

Well, I think I'm going to call this one done and credit the yardage this week. This is all I've got left to do on Ellie's quilt (I imagine you can guess how I'll spend my afternoon)!

That being said, here's my report for the week:

Used this week: 2.75 yards
Used year to date: 3.25 yards
Added this week: 0.0 yards
Added year to date: 4.0 yards
Net used for 2012: -0.75 yards

Head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to see what other folks did with their stash this week!

Now on to fun things, like grandbabies and presents. My darling friend Cathy, from Eagles' Wings Quilts, sent me a little "happy grandbaby" package! She knitted the most darling, darling sweater and cap set with tiny heart buttons! Isn't this just precious?!

The yarn is so soft and the colors are just wonderful. And even though it was a newborn size, Ellie will have to put on a few more pounds before she can wear it without being swallowed up in it! But since she's gaining about 5 ounces every couple of days, we'll have her in it in no time!

Cathy also send a little treat for me! Knowing my penchant for buttons, she sent along this cute little set of Canadian buttons . . .

So (sew) fun! I love the little moose and the hockey stick (I love ice hockey) and the Mounty's hat! Thank you, Cathy -- you know I'm grinning from ear to ear!

And so is Ellie . . .

Sawyer wanted to get a closer look. Perhaps a bit *too* close, judging by Kim's face!

He decided to pal it up with Uncle Jason . . . the only person he hadn't seen holding Ellie, if you get what I'm saying! (Plus Uncle Jason had the cool remote...it's a guy thing.)

I caught this one of mama and baby at naptime. So sweet!!

Okay, now I'm off to bind! YAY! And go Ravens!

fnsi results . . .

2012-01-21T20:26:00.001-06:00

Finally! We were out the door just after six (I know, right?!?! Six o'clock on a Saturday morning!) to do a conference; went from there to show our house; headed from the house to take care of next week's grocery shopping, and got home just in time to unload/put away groceries and make dinner. Whew!

My FNSI was dedicated to finishing the hearts! Yay!!

But I couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided it looked funny having Ellie's monogram in one of the big hearts and leaving the others empty, so I'm going to rectify that. I've quilting "Ellie" into one of them and now there's two more to fill. Probably one with her date of birth and an "I ♥ U" in the other. Hopefully, I'll finish those up tonight.

I love how this quilt looks with the little hearts quilted in the sashing! It's so sweet. The dark spots are where I blotted out my quilting marks. Oops . . . it looks like I missed a few!

Okay, enough from me. There's a bowl of ice cream calling my name. And I'm fairly certain there's an early bedtime in my future, too.

And tomorrow I'll bind and toss this darling into the wash. On Monday it's Ellie's!

Ciao!

friday mish mash . . .

2012-01-20T10:21:00.000-06:00

No Ellie pics or quilt pics or Sawyer pics today .... I left my camera at Ellie's house (go figure) along with all the darling pictures I'd taken yesterday! Oh well, if I wasn't going back over there today, it would give me a great excuse to do so!!

I will share that if you're a quilter and you've not seen Stitched the Film, you really should. It was wonderful! It was funny and interesting and gave me a whole new perspective on the trials and tribulations of getting a quilt juried into a major show. Though I just saw it last night at guild, I'll no doubt purchase it for my own movie library (and watch it while sitting in a much more comfortable chair)!

On top of the movie, I won the name tag raffle last night which was our featured Gadget Girls gadget for January ... The Steady Betty! I tried them out last night and was very impressed. I'll definitely put my winnings to good use on my acrylic rulers and templates!

And finally, I am going to quilt my way through hearts for tonight's Friday Night Sew In. It's not too late ... head on over to Crafty Vegas Mom to sign up ... there are over 150 participants so far! Click on the FNSI button to link up.

Happy Friday!!

hip-hop-happenings . . .

2012-01-19T09:39:00.005-06:00

Last night Kim dropped Sawyer off to spend some time with us ... he was needing some Paw-paw time! First thing they did? Head out on the golf cart. Of course!

It was cold enough that they didn't stay gone long (not because Sawyer was cold, but because Todd was). I had so much fun watching Sawyer and Todd interact last night. Sawyer is such a sweet and loving little guy!

And no one can resist his hugs and kisses -- he gives them quite freely, too!

He stayed with us for dinner. I was *so* impressed ... he cleaned his plate not once, but twice!

He's not only a very good eater, but he's got pretty good table manners, too. Seriously. He's so good about keeping his food on his plate and he wants a napkin to wipe his hands on. Dinner was fun.

After dinner we cleaned up and got him into his pj's. And what pj ensemble is complete without our orange hat?!?

He cracked me up ... we put on music after dinner and had some dance time (and he plays a mean air guitar, too). After about the third song, he'd come over and pull me off the couch ... like he wanted to dance with me. But no. He wanted *me* to dance while he kept beat in Paw-paw's lap. So silly! We enjoyed our evening with him immensely. I've missed having him over and spending the night; I'm glad the healing process is to the point we can start scheduling those things again!

I'm not finished with Ellie's quilt, but it's coming along. I had this beautiful pink, variegated thread that I thought would be perfect for quilting in the solid pink.

I quilted her monogram into one of the big hearts ... I'm thinking I may go ahead and fill the other three hearts, too. I used a stencil for the big hearts . . .

But I decided to go free-hand with the smaller hearts. I've got two-thirds of the sashing quilted. I should be able to wrap up the little hearts and get binding on it over the weekend.

That's the plan, anyway. I'm off to Jocelyn's today and tomorrow, and we've got a church conference Saturday morning AND we're showing our house on Saturday afternoon. YAY!!

Tonight I'm headed to our monthly guild meeting. The program tonight is a showing of Stitched the Film. I'm really looking forward to seeing it ... along with driving there and seeing all my stitching buddies!

Okay, so as much as I've got to do, I guess I'd better get off and outta here!

a delightful surprise . . .

2012-01-18T08:56:00.003-06:00

I became fascinated with Civil War fabrics midway through 2011--right around July--when my Stitcher's Group decided to do a block swap using CW fabrics. I've admitted before that up until that time, I really had no interest in CW fabrics, thinking they'd be dull and dark; and I've admitted how wrong I was!

After shopping for fabrics for this swap -- picture HERE -- I totally fell in love with CW reproduction fabrics and decided to to a little investigating into the fabrics and what people did with them. That search resulted some fabulous finds, one of my favorite being Barbara Brackman's blog, Civil War Quilts. On each Saturday of 2011 she posted a block and tied the block's name into the history of the Civil War. Each block was crafted in CW fabrics and included wonderful instructions for recreating the block (it was a quilt along, for those who got in on it early enough).

33 Indiana Puzzle

I found the entries (and the blocks and the fabrics) fascinating and immediately subscribed to the blog. Since I didn't find it until late in August, I new I wouldn't be going back and making all the blocks, but for several weeks I truly enjoyed pulling up the Saturday post and thumbing through my CW fabrics and reproducing the blocks. Then September rolled around with the weekend conference, followed by the Jamboree, followed by my foot surgery and while I continued to read and enjoy the weekly blog posts, I didn't make any more blocks.

35 Star of the West

But I made three ... the two above and this one:

#36 Kentucky Crossroads

And all of them I uploaded to the Flickr group associated with the blog, which generated some nice chatter and led me to some other interesting blogs . . . but I really didn't think anything more about it.

Until I got an e-mail from Barbara Brackman herself. Wow! That was cool enough as it was, but what was even cooler was that she wants to include my rendition of the Kentucky Crossroads block in the book she's creating from the project. See the original from Barbara's blog HERE.

HOW COOL IS THAT?!?

Of course I said yes (of course!) and emailed the completed documentation right back to her. She says it will be about a year before the book is ready to hit the shelves, but when it does, a photo of my handiwork will be in it! Wow!

I promise I won't get a big head or anything. LOL!

what a grand(baby) day . . .

2012-01-17T08:13:00.000-06:00

You've got to figure, given that I was able to drive and did indeed drive my happy self to see *both* of my precious grandchildren yesterday, that today's post would be laden with pics of said visits.

You figured correctly. :)

I started out the gate of the camp and took it as a great sign that our neighbor's cows were out and seemed to watch me roll down the road.

Those cows would come in handy, later.

I spent a lovely afternoon with Jocelyn, Jason and especially Miss Ellie. Thank you Jason for capturing this darling shot of Ellie snuggling with her Neesey! I'm pretty sure she was grinning in her sleep.

Princess Leia also put in several appearances. Evidently she's not as enamored with Ellie as I am.

She's also quite vocal about it. Poor thing. She experienced a lot of trauma as a baby cat, so she's not real trusting of humans. It's taken her a long time just to allow me to pet her. And now they want to bring a *baby* into her home? Oh the indignity. :)

Jason also captured this shot of the lovely flowers my folks sent to Joc as well as this darling card one of Jason's aunt sent. I think everyone's in on the Ellie color scheme!

See the little birdie in the flower arrangement? So cute! The bird, the flowers and the cat would all come in handy again later, too.

So I just spend a quiet afternoon, holding Ellie and marveling over her precious little self.

Such a precious, tiny little foot! Hmmmm. It appears I'm not the only one watching over her . . .

Yikes!

All too soon it was time to head out. But then I got to spend my evening with this precious (bigger) bundle of energy:

When I got there, Sawyer was very excited to answer the door and see me . . . but the first words out of his mouth were, "Paw paw?" as he looked around me to see if Paw paw was coming up the walk too! I can't be jealous -- I love it that he's in love with his Paw paw!

He spent about an hour in my lap, looking at pics on my phone and camera. Oh the fun we had looking at cows, flowers, cats, birds, Ellie, Paw paw and Sawyer! He's so sweet and loving ... and BUSY! During my visit he not only sat and looked at pictures with me, he also colored (very intently) at the table . . .

He put on his hat and watched his favorite show, Caillou . . .

After dinner, he danced and played his guitar to music while watching pictures of himself . . .

After he got his pj's on, he got on his rocket and road it all around the place . . .

He's such a character! I think it's safe to say that *both* he and I slept soundly last night! I got absolutely NO sewing done yesterday and make no apologies for it either! Today I'm back to the hearts on Ellie's quilt.

It's grey and rainy here and with the warmer temps, there's a small threat of dangerous storms, but I know where I'll be when I need a ray of sunshine today . . . looking back through yesterday's pictures!!!

Have a happy Tuesday!

design wall whoops . . .

2012-01-16T07:00:00.008-06:00

Do you really want to know what's on my design wall (or bed, as the case was last week)?? Let's just say nothing's changed except the sheets. I just didn't get to the pineapple quilt, which is really a shame, because guess what I found??

The part of the pineapple quilt that still needs to be cut pieced, quilted and sashed . . .

The BORDER! YiKeS!!!!

The big floral print will actually be stitched to a wider strip of black, and the quilted pineapples will be at each of the four corners. On the display quilt, the corner pineapples were appliqued, like the center, but I found this wonderful Sulky green holoshimmer quilting thread and wanted to use it . . .

It was a bit of a bear to hand quilt with, but I think the final look was well worth it. The photo just doesn't do it justice! Here's a shot of the finished display quilt (done by Patches & Stitches):

I also finished all the stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on Ellie's quilt and have decided to fill the sashing with little hearts (thank you for all the wonderful input!) ... that too will be well worth it! Head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to see what others have up on their design walls today.

Todd thought he was being funny when he took this picture . . .

That's me, with two shoes on (!!!!) getting ready to drive for the first time since before my surgery on September 29th! I drove him a couple miles down the road to the post office and back. He wanted me to go out for a test drive, with him in the passenger seat, to make sure it didn't cause pain or distress and so he'd feel comfortable sending me out on the road.

I passed ... guess where I'm headed today?!? Lunch with one grandbaby and dinner with the other!

How much better could a Monday get?!?

stash report #3 and query . . .

2012-01-15T07:00:00.002-06:00

My stash report final numbers are much the same as last weeks. Nothing in, nothing out, so there you have it.

Used this week: 0.0 yards
Used year to date: 0.5 yards
Added this week:0 .0 yards
Added year to date: 4.0 yards
Net used for 2012: -3.5 yards

Hopefully I'll have a finish this week and there will go a couple of yards! Per usual, linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times.

I have almost finished the stitch in the ditch quilting on Ellie's quilt. I only have the two half blocks on the sides and the quarter block in the top right quarter to go. Then I'll do the hearts in three of the large blocks and Ellie's initials in the fourth. But I got to looking at it and thinking that little hearts in the sashing would be so cute ... I kind of drew it out ... of course I'd use white thread and not black (hahaha!) so it wouldn't look as heavy and dominant as it does in the pic below.

I dunno. It would add a couple of days, but as long as I have it done by Thursday, I'm okay. Any thoughts?

Kim sent me this photo the other day ... Sawyer wearing his fleece hat! Yay!!!

He's such a precious little fellow. And yes, that's snow on the car. We had enough flurries to give us a little excitement!

Here's another Ellie capture by our friend Mary Ellen, from Lighthouse Photography.

I think definitely this pictures says it all.

why'd the chicken cross the road . . .

2012-01-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

To escape having to machine quilt, of course!

I admit it. I'm a BIG road-crossing chicken. I had Ellie's quilt all prepped and reading for quilting (remind me to share sometime, about the hazard of using basting spray in an RV master bedroom near the carbon monoxide detector). I'd looked at lots of different options for quilting it ...

I'd admired Leah Day's (of The Free Motion Quilting Project fame) Hearts & Spirals design some time ago and thought it would be cute on Ellie's quilt:

Barbara over at Cat Patches suggested this fun free-motion quilting pattern called Bottom's Up Hearts by Nichole Webb:

And Michelle, at Michelle's Romantic Tangle (which is where I got the idea for this quilt to begin with), whipped up her heart quilt just so she could quilt it with this Swirly Heart FMQ design -- another one by Nichole Webb:

I watched them, I practiced each of them on paper, and I *even* got my machine ready. I really thought perhaps this quilt would be the one ... that I'd work up my courage and put a quilt under the machine and do some cute free motion hearts all over this quilt.

But I just COULDN'T do it! I'm hand-quilting it. Hand-quilting is safe to me. I'm stitching-in-the-ditch around the hearts and blocks and all the interior patches. And in three of the four 5" square, I'm going to quilt hearts, and in the fourth 5" square, I'll quilt Ellie's initials. I'm not worried about durability; I hand-quilted Sawyer's baby quilt, too, and it goes in the washer regularly and hasn't a pucker. Plus I'm using a nice, heavy YLI quilting thread. From the durability aspect, hand-quilting will be fine!

I've got all this year to practice FMQ ... I wasn't comfortable practicing it on Ellie's quilt! Ah well. The weather is cold and perfect for snuggling up under a quilt to be quilted. It should be finished and ready for the washer early next week! Oh, and by the way? Ellie is quite happy to be home . . . check out that dimple!

superstitious stitching . . .

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

In honor of it being Friday the 13th, I thought I'd share this list of Stitcher's superstitions that was published in our guild's newsletter in August, 2010. I stumbled across the list when the newsletter became my job and thought it would be fun to post here. Originally the list was found on Quilts by the Creek.

These superstitions were gathered from different sources and references regarding quilting superstitions.

1. If you begin a quilt on Friday, you'll never live to finish it.
2. NEVER quilt on Sunday. [It is the day of rest.]
3. Bad luck to break a thread.
4. Stitch a spider web in a quilt and bring good luck.
5. Never make a perfect quilt because only God can make something perfect.
6. While sleeping under a quilt for the first time and you dream, your dream will come true.
7. If you break a needle while quilting, the next baby will be yours. (Oh my good gravy ... I did this not too long ago ... Todd will NOT be happy to hear this one!)
8. Don't put the last stitch in the quilt unless you want to become an old maid.

I got curious and decided to do a little quilt superstition googling. Here's some other superstitions I found . . .

• After a quilt is completed, the quilter should sleep with the quilt one night and then give it to the special person it is made for.
• When a person is ill, it is said if they sleep with a quilt, all the love from the quilt will heal them.
• Never make human figures on a quilt. It is believed the figures will walk and visit you at night.

I found another interesting post on quilting superstitions and lore on Rikstacket.

Any other superstitious quilters out there?? Anything you will or won't do on Friday the 13th?!

Mmwaaahahahahaa!!

:)

book giveaway . . .

2012-01-12T20:45:00.001-06:00

Several folks have expressed interest in the quilt as you go method of quilting. You would be *very* interested, then, to learn that Gene Black of Gene Black an Alabama Artist, is hosting a giveaway for this book:

Finish (almost) Any Quilt: A Simple Guide to Adapting Quilts to Finish As You Go (Volume 1), by Marguerita McManus. And it will be autographed! Hop on over to Gene's blog to check it out!

(And Pat, thank you for the head's up!)

:)

a wee bit behind . . .

2012-01-12T09:30:00.004-06:00

Yes, I'm behind just a bit. My supper menu for the week has been completely disregarded, my blog reading is WAY behind, the sewing room has been ignored, the laundry looks to be piling up, and my picture taking is *woefully* below the norms.

Because I've found (and I remember this conundrum with Sawyer, too), that I can hold this darling, beautiful little girl **or** take pictures of her. But definitely not both. And given the opportunity . . .

I'm sure you can guess which option I choose!

But I *would* be remiss to not include a message to my sister ... the baby of my three younger sisters ...

♪♫ Happy birthday ♪ to YOU! ♫♪

♫♪ Happy ♪ birthday to YOU! ♪♫

♪♫ Happy birthday dear ♪ LAURA!!!! ♫♪

♫♪ Happy ♪ birthday ♪ to ♪ YOU!!! ♪♫

♪♫ And many more . . . !!!!! :)
(Welcome to my decade!)

a tender promise fulfilled . . .

2012-01-11T08:30:00.005-06:00

Note: I started composing this entry on Thursday, June 2, 2011:

This morning I did my quiet time and worked my day's lesson in the Beth Moore Bible study I'm doing -- Stepping UP: A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent. Today I wrapped up the lesson on Psalm 126; in fact, I posted that psalm, as well as my version of it, today -- June 2, 2011. The two-part part lesson (started yesterday and completed today) was very encouraging and uplifting. Probably my favorite so far!

Psalm 126 talks about the return to Jerusalem, after being in captivity for so long, and how wondrous and jubilant and excited the children of Israel were to be heading home. And it also speaks to the future -- they were looking forward to reaping joy out of their tears; blessings out of their pain. In one of the exercises yesterday, Beth had participants draw out a time line, and label it according to the time line of the psalm. I chose "Good Times," "Where I am Now," and "Future Good Times." Nothing fancy about that. Then later on, she had us go back and fill in underneath the time line, something from our own lives that represented each of the labels. I did that. My time line looked rather like this . . .

You can see that my children figure prominently into my happy memories, my current worries, and the happy promises I'm counting on God to fulfill. On both the current worries front and on the future happies, Joc was top of the list. At the end of yesterday's lesson, Beth had us turn to Jeremiah 29:11:

"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

And she told us to "choose with every part of your being to believe it."

And then in today's lesson, she wrapped up our study of Psalm 126 and had us write our own version of the Psalm, which I did. I was so moved by my study and the meaning of this Psalm in my personal life, that I went ahead and blogged both the original and my version.

When I posted the entry and pulled up my blog, I noticed my Jocelyn had a new post on her blog. Can you guess what it was? Simply Psalm 126. I was blown out of the water that we'd both been there . . . and commented to her right away. But it wasn't until tonight, after leaving her home from our fun pool day with Sawyer & Kim, that I found out why she had posted it. As she walked me to my car tonight she finally blurted, "I'm pregnant!" Oh God, You are SO very good!

to be continued . . .

Today, January 11, 2012, it's time to complete this entry:

I've waited a long, long time to be able to say that Eleanor "Ellie" Pearl Merkel was born January 10, 2012, at 4:26 p.m. Weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 18 inches long, she's precious and perfect ... mommy, daddy and baby (and Neesey!) are all doing well.

The first four photos taken by our dear friend Mary Ellen of Lighthouse Photography.

Yes, God is so very good!

:)

the flip side . . .

2012-01-10T06:30:00.000-06:00

May I make a confession? I've never pieced the back of quilt I've made. Ever. With the exception of the quilts I've made in the quilt-as-you-go method, all my quilts have had whole-cloth backs.

Until now!!! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do on the back of Ellie's quilt. At first I thought I wanted to do it in flannel or minky, but I didn't have enough of anything in my stash, and I really, strongly wanted this quilt to be made with fabrics I had on hand. So I decided to piece it (yikes!) with the leftover fabrics from the nursery.

Tah-dah!! When I'd first seen the pink and white fabric Joc had selected for the curtain panels, I fell in love with it immediately! It made me think of a fancy, gilded bird cage ... which was the perfect compliment to the exotic birds in the fabric that was part of her nursery bedding. So I pieced the back to give that look of the birds in the cage, bordered by that beautiful solid pink.

Here's a shot from the nursery of the pillows, the lampshade and the curtains. The quilt will be perfect in this room!

I will bind it with this dark purple piece leftover from Joc's wedding quilt.

Can you see the hearts in it?! It's just perfect for this quilt!! I'm so excited ... I can't wait to get quilting on it!

And I can't let this post go without acknowledging my new favorite number . . .

ROLL TIDE!!!

(And happy Tuesday!)

:)

put the design wall to bed . . .

2012-01-09T06:30:00.003-06:00

I'm really excited about my design space this morning. I've made some great progress over the last week and things are moving along.

This project wasn't even in my thoughts last Monday. But when I saw it on Michelle's blog, I fell in love with it and just knew I wanted to make it for my darling Ellie. I finished piecing the top last night:

I love how this turned out!! I also really like the sashing in the pink, too. I was worried the hearts wouldn't stand out nicely, but I think they do. Since I'd used a lot of scraps of fabric with sentimental value, I wanted to use some from Everett's nursery fabrics, even though they didn't really fit the color scheme. But I didn't want to do that with out checking with Joc and making sure it was okay. I was so tickled when she was so pleased with the idea.

Now I've got to piece a back (which will probably be all from the fabrics we used for her curtains and one more of Everett's owls) and decide how I'm going to quilt it. It won't be ready by the time Ellie is born, but it will be well on its way. All of a sudden I had the urgent need to make sure there was an Ellie quilt in the works before she was born. I can't explain why I couldn't do it any earlier, except to say that I just couldn't. This will be called Ellie Has My Heart. :)

The other thing on my ... mattress top ... this morning is The Pineapple Quilt's center (January's UFO project). These are the two pieces I've got to work with next.

I'll have to trim the center piece and then sash it in the red (both pieces are already quilted).

I love the center. I'm pretty certain that it's my all-time favorite piece of work.

I hand appliqued and quilted it (unlike the blocks and the sashing, which I machine quilted). I used a very colorful variegated thread for the quilting in the black, so it really pops!! Looking at it makes me *smile*!

It's appropriate that I've got it all laid out on my bed . . . I'll need to keep it up here (like this) to figure out how much needs to be trimmed off the center block. As much as I love the center, you can understand why I'll be anxious about cutting on it. One wrong snip . . . LOL!

I'll have my hands full for the rest of the month, so I really hope I have some time to work on this and get it finished! It's just so gorgeous, I can't wait to have it on my bed instead of that yucky old brown thing that came with the RV!

Be sure to stop by and check out what others have up on their design spaces this happy Monday morning over at Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times!

stash report #2 and nursery tour . . .

2012-01-08T14:50:00.001-06:00

I made good progress on the Ellie's Got My Heart quilt yesterday, though I didn't finish piecing the top. I'd planned to, but I got a visit from this little fellow . . .

(And his mommy and daddy, too!) I had the opportunity to spend the evening with them at their house, so I gratefully took 'em up on it! I got to give Sawyer his little fleece hat. He doesn't like new hats (he has to see them on his head first and get used to them), but I could put it on his baseball cap. Which was pretty cute, too.

He's such a charmer! I imagine my grandchildren will be able to get me to do just about anything for them. LOL!

It was so funny ... Kim pulled out this chair (for herself) and also Sawyer's little brown chair (for him). He climbed into her chair so she went to sit in his. "No, no, no, mommy!" He said as he pulled her away from his chair and sat in it. As she went to sit back in the bigger chair, he dove for it. It was quite amusing (to me, anyway)!

Jocelyn texted yesterday afternoon and said she'd finished all the final touches on the nursery and there's a nursery tour on her blog! It's *so* cute! If you want to check out a complete scope of Ellie's darling digs, you may do so HERE. I really loved the little pillows and the deco lampshade. What a bright, fun, and happy room. :)

Stash report!! I'm linking up with Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times for stash reports in 2012. We'll see how I do. For this week, it's not so bad. My intake was all fabric given to me, by Jocelyn, for specific usage -- so it will also be outtake, shortly.

Used this week: 0.5 yards
Used year to date: 0.5 yards
Added this week: 4.0 yards
Added year to date: 4.0 yards
Net used for 2012: -3.5 yards

This afternoon I'm headed back to the quilting bunk room to finish up the heart flimsy. Time to get a movin'!

:)

how'd that happen . . .

2012-01-07T08:07:00.003-06:00

What a great trip we had! We actually left late Thursday afternoon, because the radio show starts at 7:00 a.m. and it's a two and a half hour drive to Birmingham ... we decided we'd rather drive the night before and not get up until 5:30 a.m., instead of having to *leave* the house at 4:00 a.m. Yikes!

Not long after we started our trek, it was dark, so I pulled out my hands-free beam 'n read so I could continue to stitch. It's plenty bright enough for me to see what I'm working on (and in this pic it's only on 3 LED). Todd assured me several times that the light didn't bother him at all.

Before we'd left, I had decided to go ahead and take all the panels that needed handwork, just in case. We had the drive down, down time in the hotel (Todd had brought his XBox, so it was hand work or read), time I waited while he conducted the interview, and then the drive back. I was so glad I had done that, because on the way down there, I finished one of the full panels and one side of the shorter panels.

By the time we pulled into Birmingham and near our hotel, it was going on 8 p.m., and we were both hungry. We spotted this sign . . .

A Milo's! Neither of us had ever eaten at a Milo's, but their sweet tea is good, so we decided we'd get a couple of burgers and give something new a try. I got a double cheeseburger, fries, diet coke and an apple pie. I was very glad I got that apple pie, because . . . well, let's just say it was my main course. We definitely won't ever do Milo's again. LOL!

Our next stop was our last stop for the night . . .

The Best Western! We had a terrific room -- very comfortable and very roomy! Todd hooked up his XBox and I curled up on the bed to start stitching some more. Do you want to know what I found?!?

I was done stitching.

I had no recollection of doing any of the hand stitching on this piece, but evidently I'd done quite a bit. How funny it is that the pieces I chose to work on were the only pieces that needed stitching. Even the back side of the short panel I'd worked was already stitched down. Huh. I'm sure glad my Kindle was charged and ready to go! Anyway, since the bed was king-sized, I figured I'd lay out the panels and take a couple of photos.

This will be a pretty decent sized quilt once it's all put together. There's a 6" border that will be attached, after I've gotten the center piece figured out and attached. What you're seeing above is actually four different panels.

In this photo I've separated the panels so you can see what I'm working with.

The two long panels are the top and bottom rows. Once I've got my center piece sashed, I'll attach it to the two short panels, and then attach the top and bottom rows to it. I still can't believe it was as far along as it was. The only thing I can figure is that I stopped working on it because I knew that once I'd finished the hand work, the only thing left for me to work on would be that dreaded sashing the center. Haha!

Anyway, the next morning we were up and enjoyed a nice shower (that's what this fulltime RVing girl enjoys most about an overnight hotel stay) and a *great* buffet breakfast, and then we headed over to the studio.

The show was lots of fun and it's rather like you're sitting there listening in on a three-hour long conversation between a bunch of guys who are very good friends. Lots of hilarity. And they all made their way over and chatted with us between segments.

And of course we had our pictures taken with them after the show. It was good fun and I'm glad we went.

From there we high-tailed it North to Gardendale, Alabama, where Todd was interview the pastor of Gardendale First Baptist Church. The interview usually takes between sixty and ninety minutes, and I'd told Todd that I'd be happy just sitting in the car, reading and checking e-mail and playing games on my phone. So he went in and I stayed put in the parking lot. How were we to know that the pastor of FBC Gardendale was a very chatty fellow and that Todd would be gone for two and a half hours?!? LOL! It was okay -- I enjoyed all my Kindle time and played a couple of great games of Cribbage on my phone. But I was very, *very* hungry after all that waiting . . . and since Todd had gotten such a great interview we decided a trip to our favorite interstate restaurant was in order . . .

Yay for Cracker Barrel restaurants!!

Today will be a quiet day; Todd's working and I'll be playing with Ellie's heart quilt -- the perfect activity for a cold, rainy day. In the meantime, I'm going to share a darling clip that's totally captured my heart . . .

Click here if video doesn't load.

How good is that, right?! Oh how it makes me smile!

:)

travel = handwork . . .

2012-01-06T06:30:00.003-06:00

Todd and I are in Birmingham today to sit in the "golden ticket seats" at the Rick & Bubba Show. I'm so excited . . . I cannot wait!

We've listened to the guys for years. Their show is syndicated and heard all over the place, including Alaska! The guys are hilarious ... and we're kind of hoping, since it's a Friday and the BCS bowl game is on Monday, that maybe, just maybe Lou Holtz will make an appearance. Haha!

I've been trying to get tickets for ages ... they're free, but they go FAST!

After the show, we are heading down the road to Gardendale First Baptist Church.

Todd is going to interview the pastor there for his 100 Pastor Project. While Todd conducts his interview, I plan on working on stitching down the connecting strips on one of the rows of The Pineapple Quilt. This is my UFO project that needs to be finished for January.

Each block is 18" square, so the row is about 6' wide. If you're not familiar with the quilt as you go (QAYG) method, it's very simple and finishes quickly.

In the above picture, you can see that I've machine attached the cover strip much like the first side of a binding is attached. That's done on both sides (see below photo) ... with the strips sewn on the opposing blocks. (I.e., the strip above is machine stitched to the red block on the front and will fold over and be hand stitched onto the front of turquoise block. The second strip is machine stitched to the back of the turquoise block--which is the dark blue--and then folded over and hand stitched to the back of the red block--which is the purple.) Then once the strips are attached, the two blocks are butted up against each other and zig-zag stitched together.

Once the strip is hand stitched down (like applique or binding, with tiny, hidden stitches), it will cover the zig-zag stitches that connect the block and look like sashing.

So today may be a long day, but I'll have plenty to keep me occupied while I wait. Tomorrow I'll be back in the quilt room, ready to continue working on Ellie's Got My Heart quilt!

:)

rulers and grandkids . . .

2012-01-05T06:30:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a day of rulers and projects for my grandbabies (two of my favorite things). First I pulled out my June Tailor Fancy Fleece ruler . . .

And I finished up Sawyer's fleece hat!

This was so much fun to make ... and so easy! I used the ruler to cut the triangles and the wavy strips for the pom-pom up top.

Less than 45 minutes! Gosh I hope it fits his little head. LOL!

And then I pulled out my June Tailor Shape Cut ruler . . .

Because -- YIKES -- I haven't yet made a quilt for Ellie. Partly because this time Joc didn't have me make all of the crib bedding and what she got included a quilt, so there wasn't the need for me to make her a quilt that matched everything. But then I saw this baby quilt that Michelle at Michelle's Romantic Tangle had done, and I fell in love with it. So after a couple of quick e-mail exchanges with Michelle, I pulled a couple dozen different pink, purples, and blues and started cutting 3" squares.

Michelle used a solid white as her border fabric, but I had this Kona Medium Pink that I want to use. It's the fabric we used--along with this darling pink and white--for the nursery curtains.

Isn't it sweet?! We also used the combo to make a cute little accent pillow, too.

So, here's as far as I got. Well, not really ... I've got about half of it pieced.

The hearts will show up better (I hope) when the solid pink is bordering all the piecing. There are some really nostalgic pieces of fabric; I used three different purples from Joc's wedding quilt, some blue and violet fabric and a dark pink fabric I'd used for a sister's craft day, before Todd and I got married (sixteen years ago). I also included some of the print from the nursery curtains, and some from the blocks I made for my mom's Grand Hands quilt.

Now I have to decide if I'm going to do like Michelle and use the halved and quartered 9-patches or the solid Kona Pink around the edges. I'm leaning to the solid ... just for time's sake! This baby will need a quilt from her Neesey next week!!!

Linking up with Katherine's Corner and her Favorite Things blog hop! :)

:)

and speaking of . . .

2012-01-04T07:50:00.002-06:00

Joc and I had a marvelous day yesterday ... we were quite a pair; both hobbling around (although for very, VASTLY different reasons). But we made TREMENDOUS progress on the projects we set out to accomplish. With the exception of a few very minor touches, the nursery is fairly complete and looks completely adorable. Joc heads to the doctor today and they will set a date for Ellie's arrival sometime next week. I will be on pins and needles, waiting to hear from her this morning!

And speaking of family, I got some fun quilty things for Christmas. My mom sent me this darling, darling fishy fabric, along with a fishing stitchery pattern and some cute, cute embellishments!

My Todd is an avid fisherman ... seriously, the man loves to fish like I love to quilt ... and I've been meaning to make a pillow cover for his back pillow for ages -- this is the perfect fit!

And speaking of embellishments, I also got this dear little book from Kim & James:

One of my fellow guild quilters had brought this book in (along with her crazy quilt) to show me earlier in the year. I knew this was a book I'd like to have in my quilting library. (A crazy quilt is *definitely* on my quilting bucket list.)

And speaking of crazy, Still Crazy After All These Years (a Paul Simon hit) happens to be the theme of our guild's challenge this year, in honor of the guild's 25th anniversary. While I'd been ~~tormenting myself~~ pondering and reflecting over what I could submit, nothing really had jumped out at me.

It wasn't until I was thumbing through the embellishment book and thinking about how the guild's 25th anniversary and my 50th birthday years coincided, that an idea began to take shape . . . but that's all I'll divulge on that for the moment!

And speaking of guilds, a friend of mine from the guild, Barbara B., has just started blogging about her joy of quilting. Barbara's an avid and incredibly talented quilter. In fact, I've taken several of her classes at the LQS. She also was the chair of our guild's 2009 Quilt Show, *and* she's had a quilt juried into the 2010 AQS show in Paducah, and has one she collaborated on entered in the upcoming Road to California show! Please check out my friend's blog (and maybe say hello and that I sent you) HERE.

And speaking of friends, my darling friend, Edit, from Hungary, is having a one year blogiversary celebration! She's got a lovely giveaway going on and you'll want to be sure to check it out -- HERE. You'll want to turn the Google translate on for her blog, but it's well worth it. Edit does some amazing quilting and I've truly enjoyed getting to know her and seeing her gorgeous work!

And speaking of work . . . I have some I need to attend to. I'd better get off of here and get busy!

Happy Wednesday!

:)

giving the boot the boot . . .

2012-01-03T06:30:00.019-06:00

Well . . . booting it for night time wear, anyway. Which is enough!! I was rather counting on be able to sleep without any restraint when I went back to the doctor's office two weeks ago, but that was not to be. I don't think I spoke much about that appointment. I was rather disappointed with how it ended up, and I didn't really want to talk about it. But yesterday, finally, I was able to go back to limited weight-bearing (in the boot) and to TAKE IT OFF to sleep! Best night's sleep EVER. (In the last fourteen weeks, at least!) I go back for xrays and a check at the end of the month and during that time I'm to work toward becoming fully weight bearing in the boot. Pain is the indicator -- if I have it, stop doing whatever I'm doing that's causing it. And when I've able to get in a shoe and press on the accelerator and the brake without pain, I may drive. Whew.

Sawyer, James and Kim came over for a visit yesterday. Sawyer had not seen his Paw-paw since Christmas Eve and he really wanted to see him! When his Paw-paw asked him if he wanted to go for a ride, Sawyer didn't need to be asked twice -- he was at the door!

In fact, he wasn't just ready to go, he was ready to DRIVE! I wish I'd captured him holding onto the steering wheel. He's not even two and he's ALL boy!

James had to physically move him so Todd could get into the driver's seat! And it was a very cold day, so they bundled in coats, hats, and blankets.

And more blankets . . .

But they came back happy and red-cheeked and ready for naps. LOL!

Today Joc is picking me up and we're headed to her home to work on curtains for the nursery, as well as a couple of pillow covers and another minky changing pad cover. It should be a fun day. The nursery is looking awesome! She and Jason put a lot of work into it over the last week/weekend, and it's darling!

Cute grouping of photos, frames, and art work over the changing table.

The adorable bedding she got (via Kim's win) from Coochicoos.

And I love this vinyl wall art and the cherry blossom mobile over the crib -- Joc made the mobile. It's so precious!

We'll have fun today, putting on the finishing touches!!

when old is new again . . .

2012-01-02T06:30:00.008-06:00

So. On my design wall this first Monday morning of the new year is an old project. In fact, this is the oldest project I have. I decided to take up Judy Laquidara's "12 in 2012" UFO (UnFinished Object) challenge and yesterday she announced that #5 on our lists would be the UFO we should finish for January. Ummm... according to my UFO 2012 page, my #5 quilt is this one . . .

Rut roh. The Pineapple Quilt.

Actually I guess it's not really as bad as it seems in my head. This was a BOM project from Patches & Stitches in 2007. I love the wild color play in this quilt! In fact, it was seeing this quilt and wanting to participate in the BOM that got me to finish my 2006 BOM from Patches & Stitches -- which also happened to be my very first quilt.

The Pineapple Quilt was a queen-sized quilt-as-you-go project. And it's not all that far from being completed. All the blocks have been pieced and quilted and they've been lined up into rows and sewn together. I think I need to hand-stitch the edging strips down between blocks, but that's really a simple matter of a couple of evening's work. Good work to have on hand while I'm waiting for a baby to be born!

My center is finished, too ...

The center was optional to the project, but since it was one of my favorite parts of the quilt, I had to do it! It looks better in person -- I think this photo may be pre-quilting.

What's tough is the next step . . . adding the red sashing to the center, and making it square up to fit inside my rows.

I think this photo was taken from the sampler quilt in the shop.

My red sashing is quilted and ready ... I've just never worked up the nerve/courage to fit it around my center and cut it to size. Once this is done, I'll stitch my rows together and sew on the borders (which are ready). Then it will be a simple matter of binding, because the quilting part is done.

All right January, one less UFO will be in my coffers, come February 1!

Check out who else might have a UFO re-visiting their design wall by visiting Judy's Patchwork Times.

Yesterday was quite lovely. The rain from the early morning gave way to sunshine and every glistened and sparkled just like the first day in a new year should. I got things out and together for today's wall and post. I did a little reading . . . a very interesting book called The Minimalists Woman's Guide to Having it All. I don't know that I agree with everything she says in the book, but she makes some great points and suggestions and I'll probably end up sharing more about it later in the week/month.

My split pea soup came out nicely -- it's a nice crock pot recipe -- and was good for lunch and dinner. I also had a few of my new favorites . . . the graham cracker toffee cookies (or candies -- I'm not sure which is more appropriate). I sent the rest of with Todd to the fire station. No need in keeping the whole tin here. That's just trouble waiting to happen!

I did some housekeeping, made some notes in my planner, planned our menu for the coming week and made a grocery list, and wrote out my thank you notes and some other cards, all while I watched a couple of movies. I watched Steel Magnolias (I was struck by the fact that no one stands when the bride walks the aisle in Shelby's wedding -- I'd never realized that in the hundred times I'd watched it before), The Devil Wears Prada, Little Shop Around the Corner (the original You've Got Mail), and Beauty and the Beast. Yup. It was a marvelous day. :)

And guess what? It's MONDAY -- my *favorite*!! Have a terrific day!!

:)

stash report #1 . . .

2012-01-01T21:12:00.000-06:00

I decided to track my fabric intake and use for 2012. Since all the reading I've been doing about minimalism and my resolve to finish up a number of projects I already have in the works, perhaps I'll actually end the year in negative yardage!

Anyway, here goes my first report of the year:

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 0 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 0 yards
Net Used for 2012: 0 yards

Linking up with the Stash Report post at Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times!

happy 2012 . . .

2012-01-01T08:30:00.002-06:00

Today will be a quiet day ... I'm putting my traditional split pea soup in the crock pot and I'll probably spend the day doing a little of this and a little of that ... some reading, some stitching, some reflecting, and maybe a good movie.

The morning is grey and rainy, but it's not dampening my enthusiasm for this year - for ushering in the new! As the Lord said through His prophet Isaiah:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Isaiah 43:18-19

Happy New Year! :)

auld lang syne . . .

2011-12-31T11:22:00.002-06:00

I completely cannot believe that today is the last day of 2011. Not that I mind ... I'm rather ready to be done with this year and start 2012, new and fresh, with its new promises, new goals, new experiences. :)

To that end, I've been thinking about my goals for the coming year. I always hesitate to make resolutions. I like goals instead. Why? Look at the definitions . . .

resolution: 1. A firm decision to do or not to do something.

goal: 2. The end toward which the effort is directed.

With the first, one wrong move and your so-called 'firm' decision is gone completely awry. But with the second, there's leeway. There's opportunity for gain and the ability to correct a misstep. The first is so harsh and unforgiving, while the second applauds my efforts toward the end, not just the achievement. Yep, I'm a goals girl all the way.

One of my goals is to become more organized. In all aspects of my life . . . family, ministry, quilting . . . I function so much better when order is prevalent. One of my Christmas gifts is going to be a big boost to this goal. A new, incredible 2012 Planner!

Isn't it pretty?! And it's personalized!! My Jocey got it for me for Christmas. It's from erin condren and I just love it! Joc had gotten herself one earlier in the year and fell in love with it so much that she got one for me and one for Kim, too.

It's set up very nicely with plenty of pages for notes and lists and whatnot. At the beginning of each month, there's a spot for monthly goals and to do's (which fits perfectly into my idea of setting goals for the year).

There's also a month-at-a-glance page at the beginning of each month. I really like this for birthdays and anniversaries ... dates I need to be prepared for (with cards or a gift), not just reminded of.

And then each week is spread over two pages, giving lots of room for appointments, daily notations, etc. And, each week has its own spot for weekly goals and to do's. I swear this book was created just for me!

At the back of the planner is the requisite 'important numbers' list (which I do fill out because --*gasp*--what would I do if I didn't have my phone with me, or worse yet, lost all the numbers in my phone?!?!? (Just a side note here . . . in the spot for the Babysitter's number, I wrote in, "I am the babysitter!")

There's also pages of stickers for marking special days. There are pre-printed stickers for birthdays, doctor appointments, parties, games, hair appointments, etc., and lots of blank, create-your-own stickers. Fun stuff.

There's also a folder page, to tuck in important documents or receipts, as well as a zipper pocket.

And Joc got me some really cute return address labels that match, too! (That's what is in the big pink envelope.) I think this planner will be an important tool to helping me stay organized and on track. But, like any other tool, it's only useful if it's used, right? :)

That's a pretty nice goal for now. I want to think about where I want to be at the end of 2012 and make some more goals. I'll share them as I make them. :)

Todd and I went gallivanting about town yesterday. We both needed some cards, and we needed to exchange a gift (for a smaller size -- yay!), and we had Princess Buttercup (my pretty yellow PT Cruiser) washed, and we had a nice lunch out together, and we needed a new skillet. Badly. So we headed over to Bed, Bath & Beyond and picked up this beautiful thing . . .

It's 12" wide and 5 quarts deep. If you'll look closely, you'll see that it doesn't even fit all the way on the stove, with another pot back there! For it's maiden cook, I made homemade spaghetti sauce in it last night. Yum. And to go with the spaghetti, fast and easy garlic bread knots.

Tonight we're headed to Lighthouse Baptist Church to enjoy fellowship with some dear friends. Todd works tomorrow, so we won't stay until midnight -- just long enough to visit and wish folks a happy new year. We'll probably ring the new year in, in our dreams . . . which is fine with me!

Happy New Year; here's to 2012!

:)

totally tea-lightful . . .

2011-12-30T07:00:00.003-06:00

I do believe my family knows me to a "tea"! I was thoroughly spoiled in the tea department over Christmas; I really did score big! Todd, among (lots of) other things, got me two tins of Harney & Sons teas that I'd wanted ... the Chocolate Mint and the Holiday teas. Yes!

I fell in love with Harney & Sons teas after trying their Royal Wedding tea, which is marvelous.

My sister, Julia, included a box of mulling spices for tea in her gifts.

I can't wait to brew a pot of black tea and give this a try -- I bet it smells heavenly!

My sister, Cynthia, gifted me with these *darling* tea spoons (which I've shared before, but they're so cute they're worth a second mention) . . .

Aren't they pretty and feminine?

And I love the messages inscribed on them: Hi Tea, <3, and Good Morning Sister. So sweet -- I love stirring my tea (and coffee) with them!

And my sister, Laura, gifted me with this pretty little box from Williams & Sonoma:

And what do you think was in it but the sweetest little Christmas petite fours!

Chocolate, vanilla and jam filled little cakes -- yum -- I need to get the girls over here pronto for a tea party!!

My Sawyer-boo knows his Neesey, too. He gave me this darling wreath of teas!

His mommy made it. Isn't it nifty? And full of some of my favorite Twining's teas -- I'd had a hankering for a good cup of English Breakfast tea, too!

Kim and James also got me the Hot Cinnamon Spice tea I wanted from Harney & Sons.

Mary, from Quilt Hollow, turned me on to this particular blend and got me hooked!

Kim and James also got me a new book . . .

I've had this on my wish list forever. I already love Emilie Barnes' books, but to have one illustrated by Sandy Clough is a real bonus! I've followed her Sandy's Tea Society site for quite some time ... I even did Secret Sippers back in the day when they did that! Such fun and very sweet.

In addition to all that, my Secret Santa (who I found out just last night was Kris, from Lavender Quilts) gifted me with some lovely tea and tea cookies (which I blogged about here) and then I gifted *myself* with a renewal of my Tea Time Magazine subscription.

I just read today on facebook that they are making their magazine available for the Nook reader. *sigh* But not the Kindle ... not yet. Oh well. This tea enthusiast has been collecting Tea Time Magazine since its premier issue in the Fall of 2003 ... and I've kept every issue since! They're small and don't take up *too* much room in the RV.

Okay, so there you have it ... my tea immersion therapy! It should be enough to last me through to Mother's Day, at least! *giggle*

happy and bright . . .

2011-12-29T16:40:00.001-06:00

So another hodge-podge post from me today. Since that's rather like my life, I guess I shouldn't be surprised! First I wanted to do a little housekeeping (so to speak). I had a number of lovely comments on my Holly Jolly Topper tutorial post and quite a few requests for the pdf of the template, which pleased me *greatly*! But several of the folks who left a comment requesting the template were the dreaded "noreply" bloggers. I can't tell you how badly I feel when this happens! So just in case any of you are reading, I wanted you to know that I didn't ignore you, I just had no way of contacting you! If you are: astitch, rwallis6, or whistlebet57 (Elizabeth), please e-mail me at denisepanter (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send that template off to you right away!

Next, I wanted to share this little gem:

This is the 'happy light' I referred to in yesterday's post. My sister got this for me for Christmas. It's AWESOME! I tend to struggle with SAD (seasonal affective disorder) in the winter months, particularly in January/February. I know how much I need LIGHT in order to feel ... effective. That's tough enough during the winter months with it's short days and gloomy skies, but even tougher in the RV with its tinted windows. My happy light is just the thing I need to boost my spirits and give me that sense of 'bright' I need!! I'm really loving having it!

You know what else brightens my spirits? Freshly painted toes!! Joc and Jason gave me some lovely peppermint foot scrub and cream for Christmas and I put it to use last night. I scrubbed to my heart's content and then lathered up with the cream and put my socks (and boot) on before tucking in for the night.

This morning my feet were so smooth and nice, they definitely deserved a fresh painting in my favorite hot pink! You'll just have to trust me that the toes on my right foot are as pretty in pink as those on my left foot. LOL! And the hot pink Tweetie Bird pj pants are a gift from Todd -- the perfect thing to wear on a quiet, stay-at-home, chilly day!

Guess what? ANOTHER bright spot! When Todd brought in the mail the other day, there was a sweet little package ... for ME!

C. Joy, from Joy & Comfort, had won a giveaway from Cat Patches' Occupy Your Sewing Room giveaway. When she won, she e-mailed me to say that since she'd learned of the giveaway from reading my blog, she wanted to share her prize with me!

It was charm squares in this darling Little Apples print by Moda! Is that not the sweetest thing? So very generous and kind! I'd found a cute little pillow on another blog ...

Little Bluebell. Isn't this darling? I think the Little Apple charms will work quite nicely in this cute little pillow top!

You know what else brightens my day? The thought of starting a new quilting project. Or projects!! Barbara, over at Cat Patches, had the brilliant idea of a creating a challenge where you started new projects ... dipped into your quilting bucket list, so to speak!

I've been thinking about some things I want to try and here's the list I've come up with so far:

1) A tee-shirt quilt (for my niece).
2) A rag quilt.
3) A faux applique quilt.
4) I want to do something with photos on fabric.
5) I'd like to do a piece that's artsy.
6) I have a darling pattern for a quilted football I'd love to make in my favorite team colors! And I'd really like to make several of them to giveaway!
7-12+) I want to design a table topper (preferably in EQ) like my Candy Corn and Holly Jolly Toppers, so I have a different one for every month. This would be about nine different quilted toppers I'd need to create!

I know there are other processes out there I'd love to try, but this will do for a good start! I'm going to link up with Barbara on her What's on your 2012 NewFO To Do List?. Be sure to stop by and check it out ... you may even want to play along! I understand there are some fun prizes for participants!! (And that's a day-brightener for sure!)

:)

traveling treats . . .

2011-12-28T11:14:00.000-06:00

Yesterday Todd and I had lots of errands to run, among which was drop off cookie plates to our neighbors. We'd planned to do that on Christmas Eve, on our way to Joc's house, but the day got away from us and there just wasn't time. So yesterday we went a calling!

This year I tried some new treats in addition to some old favorites. I always include Apricot Shortbread Thumbprints, because those are a family favorite. I also do sugar cookies, chocolate chips, and candy cane cookies as stock favorites. This year I did no-bake cookies (because they're easy and so good) and I added the ginger oatmeal cookies I first made HERE. Yes, I thought they were that good! And I tried a new recipe ... one for Praline Graham Crackers ... which was SO good (and so stinking easy) I know I'll make it again! I try to put a nice variety of shapes, textures, tastes and colors on the plates. One went with us to our family Christmas Eve party and one went with Todd to the fire station when he went in on Monday (that's a long standing tradition). I do love the holiday baking!

I tried another new recipe this holiday season -- appropriately enough named Firehouse Crackers. Todd and I had never had them until the open house event at the MBA. Todd fell in love with them. He likes saltines anyways, and these were nice and SPICY! I got the recipe and made them to go with a cheese ball (another new and great recipe I found) for our family party. He took the leftovers in with him on Monday and brought home none. These will go into the recipe book for future (and frequent) use!

Yesterday was dreary and grey (a right smart day to use my happy light) and we didn't see the sun all day long ... until it set.

If you look closely you'll see a bright red speck center photo, just beneath the tree tops. Finally the sun made its appearance. I barely managed to capture a shot of it before it disappeared completely. It was a big glowing ball and Todd and I sat watching it, entranced, before I thought to grab my camera.

Today is filled with ministry work and putting some normalcy back into place!

:)

a tad different . . .

2011-12-27T08:13:00.002-06:00

So it was *going* to be a quiet, stay-in-your-jammies kind of day, but around 11:30, I got a better offer. Seriously. James called and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out with them ... and then he added the clincher ... "Sawyer would love to spend time with you!" LOL! Do you think I wanted to stay home alone after that?!?! NO WAY!

I don't know what I was thinking, though. I left the house without my purse, which meant I didn't have my camera. Just my phone. And while Sawyer can be entertained for quite a while with the phone, the phone's camera doesn't take the greatest pictures. Of course, that doesn't stop me from taking (or sharing) them!

He had just gotten up from his nap. He was very intent on eating his snack of apple slices and vanilla wafers. Very intent. He's still holding his "puppy" closely, too.

I think I got a good shot to convert to a silhouette, too. I love playing with those! I saw a craft on Pinterest for a silhouette ornament. I'd like to give that a try!

Sawyer had a pretty good Christmas. James & Kim said he didn't know what to do with the wrapped presents ... he mostly played Santa, delivering boxes and packages. Until they were unwrapped and then he was ready to PLAY! Another funny thing? Evidently he was most interested in the clothes he received. Especially a new pair of shoes and a couple of hats. This boy will be GQ! :)

Me? Oh I had a terrific Christmas! I'll share photos and commentary later on this week. A nice mix of gifts this year -- some tea things, some women's ministry things, some candles and nice-smelling things, some quilting things, some books, DVDs and a planner, and some clothing things. Really a well-balanced and well-rounded Christmas haul!

I never really shared my Christmas decorating in the RV. Life has just been so hectic with the leg and all. (And besides ... it's an RV ... I decorated it pretty much the same as I did last year. LOL!) But I did want to share this one little corner . . .

The tree is a tree my Pop made out of tin cans, many moons ago. The Santa was given to me when I was a young, young thing -- like forty-something years ago. And the PUMPKIN is red. And the Alabama Crimson Tide are headed for the BCS, so I had to leave up my tribute! Yes, I'll have had a pumpkin on display through four months, when it's all said and done. And if Alabama wins on January 9th?

I'll put heart stickers on that bad boy and leave him up through February, too!!

:)

last one of the year . . .

2011-12-26T06:50:00.001-06:00

So today is the last Design Wall Monday of 2011. I cannot believe how quickly this year has passed. Wow! This week I just have some odds and ends on the wall ... wrap-ups, if you will. First, I've still got a little fleece project I'm working on. I'm using my Fancy Fleece ruler on it. See my fun triangles?!?

That ruler is the bomb-dot-com! There are so many fun things it makes easier! I'll use a couple of them on the above project.

I've also got to finish cutting out the sashing and the backing for My Orange Crush quilt. I keep saying that, don't I?

Okay, so my goal is to have all the blocks ready for quilting before the year's end. There. I said it.

Joc delivered a last signature block for her wedding quilt. Her cousin and his wife had been here for the wedding, but for some reason had missed signing a guest block. We sent one to them to sign and Joc got it back over the summer, and just got it to me. This is why I haven't finished that quilt.

Yeah. Anyway, if you read my UFO for 2012 post, you know that this quilt is on the radar for a wrap-up, in the very near future!

I hope everyone had a happy and merry Christmas!! Todd and I enjoyed a lovely, quiet day together, after spending a marvelous Christmas Eve with Kim, James, Jason, Joc and Sawyer. What a sweet family I have; I love spending time with them! I can tell you I was thoroughly spoiled by my family, my husband and Santa! I'll post more on that later in the week . . . for now I wanted to share my two favorite light displays of the season. These two yards were side-by-side:

Haha!! Gotta love it. And you've also gotta love all the industrial quilters out there who've got stuff up on their design walls this Monday morning. Head on over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times to check it out.

Today I'm going to curl up in my *new* Snuggie and have a quiet day. Peace be with you!!

all i want . . .

2011-12-22T20:20:00.004-06:00

Todd and I spent yesterday getting our ministry's holiday newsletter printed and out for mailing. I love working on our newsletter ... we're so busy! LOL! If anyone's interested, here's the link:

Restoring the Church Ministries Newsletter Volume 3, Issue 2

It takes a second to load, but it's an eight page pdf, so that's probably why.

Today, after enjoying the staff Christmas party at the Madison Baptist Association, we got all the newsletters off and in the mail. Now all I've got left is a little shopping, some baking and some wrapping. In the event I don't get back on here before Christmas (which is really hard to imagine), I wish you all a truly Merry Christmas, filled with the light of Christ and the peace that passes all understanding.

Joy to the world! the LORD is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart, prepare Him room,
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n and nature sing,
And heav'n, and heav'n and nature sing.

Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He come to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, and wonders of His love.

Third Day - Joy to the World

tah dah . . .

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000-06:00

Today's the day! I'm guest posting at Sew We Quilt. Whoohoo!!

Hop on over there and check out my tutorial for this cute little Holly Jolly Topper.

And if you're over here from over there, thanks for dropping by! Don't forget to leave me a comment if you'd like me to send you a pdf of the project template (or even just to say hello). And I sure don't mind new followers, either!

Happy Holly-days!

:)

Count it *all* JOY!!