Christmas quilts

Believe me, I am NOT ready for Christmas! I am one of those last-minute gals! BUT I am ready for cooler temperatures! It has been in the upper 90s here all week, with HIGH humidity! (Great week for David to go to Boy Scout camp, huh?!? Poor guy!)

Anyways, I have listed two embroidery quilts on Etsy, if you would like to take a peek... You can find the link to my Etsy shop on my side bar. :o)

First is the Christmas Village Embroidery Quilt:

And then the Christmas Baskets Embroidery Quilt:

If you do your own machine embroidery, these embroidery designs are from Sew Terific.

Thanks for visiting!

Pincushion Swap

I received my Pincushion Swap today! What a great pick-me-up! My package came from Sinta at Pink Pincushion! (How appropriate is her name?!) She sent a lovely rose pincushion, a *quilty* nail file and a Yo-Yo maker! I really love the fabric she used, and the extra-large button! She really paid attention to my likes! I can't thank you enough, Sinta! Hugs to you! :o)

Since we are on the subject of the Pincushion Swap, I never posted the picture of the pincushion I made for the swap - it went to Laurie at Indulge Your Shelf! She said she liked purple and green, so I ran with that theme. I included a quilted heart pincushion, some snowflake appliques and 2 vintage Sunbonnet Sues that were rescued from an old quilt (with matching embroidery thread, so she can add them to something new). This swap was really fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Father's Day - revisited

I have made quilts for all of my adult life, but just started trying to sell quilts online around the year 2000 or 2001. Of course, back then, there wasn't Etsy and things like that, so I just had my own little site on Homestead. Visitors were few and far between. And the only people I *knew* online at that point, was family members. So of course, when I would put new things up for sale, these were the people I would tell, hoping they would pass the info on to folks that they worked with, etc., to spread the word.

Amazingly enough, fairly soon after I started my site, I had my first sale. It was just a small throw quilt, but I was SO excited! It was to a gal that my Dad worked with. He brought me her money, and I gave him the quilt to deliver. I couldn't have been more thrilled! I have sold many more quilts since then, and made many good friends online. Of course, that little quilt was just a distant memory...

Fast forward to 2008... Shortly after my Dad passed away, my mom brought me a bag of something she had found while cleaning out my Dad's office. (He had a small room at home that he called his office - he didn't work from home, it was where he would go to read. Three of the walls were bookshelves overflowing with history books. I have his roll top desk from his office, where he would sit and read every night.)

After all these years, it turned out that MY DAD had bought that little quilt. He had tucked it away and never told me that he had actually bought it from me, not a gal at work. It was his way of helping me out and encouraging me.

After I got the quilt from Mom, I took it apart (it was only tied) and hand-quilted it and have it on display here in the living room. I havent had the heart to make a new label for it yet. Somehow I want to explain the significance of it.


I miss my Dad.

Father's Day

Father's Day is an emotional day for me. On the one hand, I am a lucky lady, for my children have a wonderful Dad. I couldn't ask for anything more for my kids. Jim came into our lives when the trio were about 5 years old and anyone that didn't know, would never know that he isn't their *real* dad. (The trio are 11 now, so he has been here for most of their lives at this point.) And what is a real dad anyways? I think Jim is more of a real dad to the trio than anyone else. And then Jimmy came along... Which just added to the joy of our family!

And on the other hand, Father's Day makes me sad. I lost my Dad to a heart attack, a little over a year and half ago. I still miss him desperately. It has been harder than I ever could have imagined, and I am still not sure that *it gets better*. I was the youngest girl of three, and Dad was the one person I could always count on. He never judged, he just loved me. Jim is alot like my Dad. :o)

So Happy Father's Day to my dear husband, Jim, and Happy Father's Day to my Dad.

Shabby Roses BOM - block 1

I finished up block one of the Shabby Roses BOM. I used the fabrics and embroidery threads that Beatrice sent me in our FRIENDS swap! I LOVE how it turned out! :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Thrift Shop

We had to go up to the thrift shop yesterday to see if they had any shorts that would fit David, before he goes off to Boy Scout camp next week. (His first time going to overnight camp - for a week!) We only found him one pair of pants, but...

Look! The craft bin was 50% off yesterday! WOO HOO! I got all these items for $1.66! There were two pieces of the hand-crocheted lace stuck down in the thread, what a treat!

Jimmy always gets so aggravated - the trio have a full size basketball hoop in the driveway, and it is a usual summer day activity for them all to be out there playing. But poor Jimmy gets left out. So yesterday, he got his own hoop! He is SO happy!

Thanks for visiting!

BOMs

I finished up the Gail Pan BOM and the Verandah Views BOM for June. I am really, really enjoying these. This is the Gail Pan block.

These are the fabrics I have chosen from my stash for the Gail Pan BOM quilt. I have not added any borders to my blocks yet. I want to wait and see what she designs and then decide what fabrics to use... :o)

Here is the Verandah Views BOM for June... :o)

Here is a new silly pic of Jimmy. He is watching tv with JJ, our black cat... Doesn't JJ look happy? :o)

Thanks for visiting! :o)

P.S. If you liked the Thread Rack that Jim made, that I showed a few weeks ago (here), we now have them up on our Country Scrap Quilts site! :o)

FRIENDS swap

I received a lovely package from France yesterday! It was from Beatrice for our FRIENDS Swap! (I have never received mail from France before! Pretty cool for a small-town girl like me!)

We are both going to be making the Shabby Roses BOMs, so she sent me a starter kit for it! Background fabric, absolutely beautiful roses fabric for the applique, embroidery floss, needles, even some lace and a cute pattern!

I had so much fun getting to know Beatrice! And I am just thrilled with what she sent! It will make my Shabby Roses blocks so much more special, knowing that the fabrics were chosen by her! Thank you SO MUCH, Beatrice!

Ta-Da or Boo-Hoo?

Sadly, the time has come for Jimmys first hair cut.
But look, on his first birthday, he was still bald!

I know, I know, now it was overdue. But who wants to cut off all those adorable curls?!?!?

There were no tears shed during the hair cut, at least not by Jimmy, so that was quite an accomplishment... :o)

Boo-hoo...

Ta-Da! Here is a handsome boy! :o)

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. In case any of you were wondering, Jimmy is 2 years, 5 months old right now... :o)