October 30, 2009

Two years ago today, my Dad passed away. These two years have been the hardest of my life. I am SO thankful that I have Jim, by my side through all this. I couldn't have made it through this without him.

I would like to introduce you to Teddy. When I was 6, I was in the hospital for eye surgery. I got out of the hospital on my 7th birthday. My Dad hated hospitals. He came to see me, but could never stay more than a few minutes. (I am sure it did not help seeing his baby getting surgery.) But he brought me this bear. This makes Teddy 32 years old. I LOVE teddy bears. I still have my two favorites from when I was a kid, Teddy and Brownie (I will show him some other time.) Teddy is well loved, as you can see. I just had to replace his feet paws because the one lost all its fabric and the stuffing came out. I love Teddy.

As promised, here is my Psalms 23 bracelet, that I received from Tricia at Notes of Sincerity. (If you missed it, you can read about our exchange on my Gifts From Friends post.) This bracelet has been a comfort and came at exactly the right time. Thank you again, Tricia.

The Lord is my Shepherd, (white)

I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green (green) pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters (blue),

He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness (clear) for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (black)

I fear no evil; for You are with me,

Your rod and Your staff (brown) they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil (yellow); my cup overflows (purple).

Surely goodness and love (pink) will follow me all the days of my life;

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord (gold) forever.

Psalms 23
(Version from Tricia's Etsy shop)

I love you Dad! I cannot believe it has been two years. I wish time could have stood still. I am glad the last time I saw you, you were happy, and that I told you that I loved you. And as always, you said *me too*.

gifts from friends

This week is not my favorite week, as we are coming up *too quickly* on the 2nd anniversary of my Dad's death. But I have some very dear friends out there in blogland. Their gifts have arrived over the last few days. They weren't gifts because they knew I would need cheering up, but isn't it amazing that it works out that way...

First, I received my gifts from my Stitchers Angel. I didn't get a card with it, but it came from A. Armstrong in England. (Yeah! I heard from Anne, my Stitchers Angel! Here is her blog: An Cala Quilts.) There is a long, double-handed oven glove. A needlecase, and a lovely heart with cute beadwork attached. And rose candles!

Here is the closeup of the needlecase (with a clever magnetic closure) and the lovely heart! Thank you so much A Armstrong! These gifts will be treasured always!

I also received some Christmas ornaments! I am participating in a Christmas ornament swap thru a quilting swap group, and received these BEAUTIFUL ornaments! Thank you again, Althea! These are beautiful and will be displayed proudly on our tree!

And last, but certainly not least, is Tricia from Notes of Sincerity. Tricia and I have been talking back and forth for awhile, about Dads, especially. I had been wanting to get her Psalms 23 bracelet that she offers on etsy, and as we were talking, we decided to work out a trade. I sent her an embroidered pillow, one of my totes bags and a little fabric basket as a bonus... In return, I received her BEAUTIFUL Psalms 23 bracelet. She included earrings for the girls, and they just love them! She made Elizabeth's in orange and white, and Anna's in pink and purple, their favorite colors.

She also sent me this lovely keychain - pink and roses, just my style! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Tricia! Your friendship has been a blessing to me!

You are probably wondering where the BEAUTIFUL Psalms 23 bracelet picture is? I will show it to you in a special post on Friday... :o)

Hugs to all my friends and friends-to-be out there! Thanks for visiting!

Happy Houses quilt top

Earlier this year, I participated in the *Happy Houses* block swap. I finally found the perfect fabric to use for sashing for the blocks! Yeah! For quite awhile, I didn't know what to use, because the blocks are all do different. The fabric I found looks like grass! :o) And then I went thru my stash and chose 20 different prints to use as sashing corners. To me, it looks like little spots of flowers between the houses. :o) I love these Happy Houses - they really do make me happy! :o) Now the quilt top is in my hand-quilting stack. Then it will go on the back of the short sofa... :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Shabby Roses Block #10

Block 10 for Shabby Roses is Believe:

Thanks for looking!

Christmas Stockings

When I went up to the LQS the other day, she said they were collecting Christmas Stockings to send to the troops, so she gave me the simple pattern and I made a few today. They didn't have to be Christmas fabrics, so I chose patriotic fabrics and pretty roses fabric that I had in my stash. They were quick and easy to make.... :o) And since I had the camera out, Jimmy wanted his picture taken with one of his race cars... This is his *SMILE* face... :o) Gotta love his shirt!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Sandwich Bags and Snack Bags

I made some more sandwich bags and snack bags -- these are for the kids and dear hubby... :o) Here are their sandwich bags:

Anna chose the owl fabric (she wanted elephants, but we couldn't find any), David is the Boy Scout fabric, Elizabeth chose Chicago Bulls basketball, and the Army print is for dear hubby... :o)

Here are their snack bags, I think these are really clever. :o)

This is looking into the snack bag. It folds up so that when you open it, you only open the top, and reach in for your snack. (To wipe it clean, you can open the whole thing.)

This is the snack bag, laid out flat, with the top open:

And here is the snack bag, all the way opened up. You fold up the bottom, then the sides. Those all velcro together. Then you close the top and velcro it down. Like I said, I think these are really clever... :o)

Thanks so much for visiting!

Christmas Star Little Quilt

Even after making all those centerpieces, I still have some of the Christmas fabrics left!!! So I made two of these Christmas Star little quilts. (And I still have fabric left over!)


These were made with the *Rapid Fire Hunters Star petite star template and pattern by Deb Tucker. I really like how this layout makes a stars-in-a-bigger-star pattern. There are actually many layouts and color options given with the pattern. I really liked that you made the pieces bigger and then cut them down with the included template - that always helps with those pesky triangles and points! :o)

These are going up for sale at our Country Scrap Quilts site. I think they would like nice as table toppers, over a chair, or displayed on a wall. :o) They are 28 inches square.

I got the storage bags that I ordered this week, so I am off to make more *green* sandwich bags and snack bags for the kids... Thanks for visiting!

Happy Birthday, Dad

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I miss you more than I can say!
I love you!

Ball Jar stitchery

I finished up this little Ball Jar stitchery this week. I LOVE IT! Of course, for those that know me, this is especially cute, because our last name is Ball... :o) Here it is up on the wall, right inside the front door. This is one of the Quilt Block Frames that Jim makes to sell... If you would like to take a look at some of his woodworking items, you can go to our site, Country Scrap Quilts. :o)

Thanks so much for visiting!

What is it?!?!?

Sooo... What is it?! Is it a stack of Fat Quarters? Hhhmm... Sorta looks like it, but Nope!
Here is one, partially unfolded...

And all the way unfolded... Any ideas?!?!

They are *green* sandwich bags! They are two layers of fabric, and a layer of a heavy-duty food storage bag. Fold them up, add some velcro, and ta-da! A sandwich *bag* and place-mat, all in one. (The plastic is on the *inside* where the sandwich goes.)

These are one of the most clever ideas that I have seen in a long time. These were for a customer, for Christmas gifts for her grand-kids. But I am going to be making ALOT of these, as soon as I get more storage bags. I am excited about these, can you tell?!? :o)

I hope everyone is having a good week! Thank you for visiting!

Christmas centerpieces - finished

I finished up the Christmas centerpieces for my customer. (You can see when I first posted about them here.) I *LOVE* these! I had made extras, so that I had some to give away or sell, but my customer decided she wanted all of them that I had made so far! So she is taking all 14 Christmas ones, and then she had me make a red themed one and a purple themed one... :o)

The fabric in the center of this one is my favorite. This photo also shows the decorative hand-quilting that I added. I used a dark red quilting thread. THey finished to just over 20 inches across at the widest points.

Here they are, all stacked up... :o)

Now to make some more to give away and possibly sell... :o)

I will be back tomorrow to show another project that I am working on for the same customer... :o) (She is trying to get some Christmas things crossed off her list.) Thanks for visiting!

Angel Hugs - Hugs Swap...

Look what I received from my Angel Hugs - Hugs Swap partner, Lisa! The hugs were a mug hug and a mug rug. :o) She did a lovely job on the embroidery and the fabric is GORGEOUS! (I am a pink girl!) She also made me a cute yo-yo keyring. I will hang that on my thread rack, so I can see it every day... :o)

Thanks so much, Lisa. I am so glad we got to be Hug partners! (Go visit her blog, here! She does gorgeous ribbon embroidery, too!)

I am finishing up the decorative hand-quilting on the last two Christmas centerpieces today, so I hope to have pics to post of those tomorrow... :o) Thanks for visiting!