Happy New Year!

I certainly hope this year is better than 2012 was. I lost one of my cousins in June. Dave was only 53. He died of heart failure. I miss him. He was such a good man. He never married or had a family of his own, but everyone in our small town loved him. 

We also lost Midget, our old Norwegian Elkhound. He was 14 years old. such a good old boy. He was always my shadow. I cried all day the day we lost him. I still miss him. Rest in peace old boy.

 We lost both of my female rabbits. Sassy and Sara were both due to have babies when the terrible heat wave hit. I did everything I could think of, but I couldn't save them. Now Sammy is a pet. I just haven't had the heart to get any more rabbits. I guess raising rabbits isn't for me. Sam will just be my pet. 

We had a terrible problem with coons getting our chickens. They were literally tearing our chicken house roof off and pulling the chickens off the roost. We spent a couple of weeks stalking the chicken house during the night. Even bought a baby monitor and put it in the coop. We finally had to put tin down over the shingles of the roof to keep the coons out. We lost 3 roosters and 3 pullets before we got this stopped. Didn't lose any ducks. I guess they are too noisy.  So now I have 8 hens, 2 roosters, 2 drakes, and 7 duck hens. We bought waterers that I plug in to keep the water from freezing. Choring in the winter is not easy. 

So as you can see, 2012 was not kind to us. I am hoping and praying for a much better 2013!  I have made some goals that I hope to reach this coming year. Of course, not all of 2012 was bad. I decided at the end of Sept. that I had to lose some weight and start getting healthy. Since then, I have lost almost 20 lbs. I have been exercising and feel much better. The holidays have been rough, but I actually have done better this year than ever before, on not eating lots of junk. LOL  Kevin joined me on the weight loss journey. He has lost over 40 lbs. Yeah, I know! Guys lose faster that girls. Not really fair, is it. LOL

My goals for 2013
 1. Get healthy
 2. Lose 50 lbs
 3.Learn to knit socks. I have a book and knitting needles ordered. 
 4.Make a Carpenter Star for mom's 75th birthday.
 5.Make a quilt for my niece and her fiance who are getting married in October. 
 6.Finish up the 2012 BOMs that I fell behind in.
 7.Raise a large vegetable garden.
 8.Get back into juicing at least once a day. 
 9.Last but not least by any means, read my Bible more consistently.

  This is a pretty good list for me. Now to just stick with it. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe new year. We are getting a snow storm here, so hopefully most people will stay in off the roads tonight.  
           
 

Merry Christmas!

Hello all my bloggy friends! I am sure it is shocking to see me post. LOL I haven't been much into blogging this year. But I won't get into all that right now. I just wanted to wish you all a very

Merry Christmas!

We had our family celebration on Saturday. Sure was good to see all the kids and grandkids. Carolyn and Bob hosted. I must share a picture of Carolyn's Christmas tree. She loves birds and has her house full of bird cages. No room for a tree. 

The grand babies are no longer babies. Here is Miss Ava, smiling for grandma.

Miss Maddison ignoring me as usual. LOL

Miss Izabella sporting a new hair cut.

Mr. Ashton and Mr. Noah, cousins and best buds.

They are growing up too fast. (grin) I hope to be back to blogging at least a couple of times a month in 2013. Things happened in 2012, and I just wasn't feeling it. Also Facebook kind of kicked blogging out, but I do enjoy the blog, so I'll be back. 

Merry Christmas and blessed new year!!

  

So many projects buzzing around my head.....

.......that I don't know where to start. Do you ever do that? I want to make a Carpenter's Star quilt for mom for her birthday next May. I know I need to get that started. I have pulled the fabric. Does that count? LOL

I recently won a Bento Box pattern and I'm itching to start on that. I bought a bunch of fat quarters at Joann's last weekend to add to my collection. I actually went back the next day to get a pair of Gingher scissors and bought about 12 more lighter colored fq. (grin)

I also picked up these fabrics, the fabric that looks like boards for my future 'When Nature Calls' quilt, and the butterflies because I thought it was beautiful. I just couldn't resist it.

I would love to get the top done on my Trip around the World quilt. I have a big tote bin of flimsies just waiting to be quilted. I need to create a pattern for a quilt for my niece for her wedding Oct. 2013. I have numerous BOMs in the works. EEEHHHH! It is all getting so overwhelming. LOL So what do I do? I pull a panel that I won a couple of years ago, played around in EQ7, till I came up with a pleasing design to add to the panel, and got it all cut out. It is sitting here waiting on me to quit playing on the computer and get to sewing on it. LOL I haven't taken any pictures of the panel yet. I will when I get the blocks sewn around it. Quilting is what I do for fun, so why get all stressed about it? I have decided to just work on what I feel like working on, whenever the urge hits me. LOL

So, how did you like this whole rambling post about nothing really? LOL Thanks for visiting. Please come again. Have a great day.

Finished a little wall quilt.

I really enjoy taking my redwork pieces and turning them into little wall quilts. I usually use simple designs and just go with what feels right. Then I hand quilt them just as simply. I finished hand quilting this little quilt last week. I really love how it turned out. I sent it to a sweet friend and she loved it as well.

I found this cute star fabric for the binding. I used an iron on label from a book I have. Then I embroidered over the lines. I love the way the label turned out. Here is the back.

Here is a closeup of the label.

I don't normally do a lot of hand quilting during the summer because it is so hot with a quilt in my lap, but I was missing it. I did ok with this little quilt in my lap. It was good to get back to it. Now I can hardly wait till fall when I can get back to doing what I love. LOL

Last week, I did some cleaning and after taking quite some time to get the printer/scanner/copier clean, decided it needed a cover. So I found a piece of fabric, took some measurements, cut out the squares on the corners, and sewed it up. It fits perfectly.

Afterwards, I found some 2 1/2" squares and decided to just play with them. I made 4 patches, then sewed them together. I used the leftover fabric from the printer cover for the borders.

I still had a few scraps left, so I sewed until they were all used up, then added muslin to make a backing for it. I think I am going to machine quilt it for Buddy. He likes to lay on our bed. So I can put this down for him to lay on.

Well, I guess this will do for today. I won a Bento Box pattern last week. I bought a bunch more fat quarters at Joann's over the weekend and want to get started cutting it out. Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

It's our 35th anniversary!

Sometimes it is hard to believe that Kevin and I have been married for 35 years. We have raised 5 children and still love each other. It think that is something to be proud of. Kevin does not like to have his picture taken or posted online, so I will respect his wishes. He had to work today, so no plans. I did send him a Snickers bar in his lunch with a little love note wrapped around it. (grin)  Maybe we will do something this weekend.

I finished the July block for the Aurifil Designer BOM. It is called Colors of Summer by Sarah Fielke. I even figured out how to do a Colonial knot to represent the grains of sand.

I am doing the Temecula summer quilt along. I am using a bundle of 5 fat quarters. This is kind of fun. It will be a small wall hanging when done. I think a new block is posted every Friday through August. I still have to do block 3 because block 4 will be out on Friday.

Please excuse my ironing board cover. I am in dire need of replacing it. LOL

Look Bren, what I found at Walmart. It is a lap desk. I am loving it. I use it when I embroider and when I am quilting on a small wall quilt. It is so nice to use when sitting in my rocker.

Before I forget, this is Thimbleberries Day. I have not done very well with this for the past few months. It seems like there is always something going on at the last of the month. I am still working on Sunflower Glory.

I am making some headway. It will eventually get done. LOL I am thinking about doing a hand applique around the sunflower. I can't remember if I used wonder under or heat 'n' bond lite. If the heat 'n' bond, I will have to machine applique it. That stuff is too tough to hand sew through. Anyway, here is where I am on this project.

I have also been working on my Borders and Promises BOM. Almost caught up with it. Yesterday I worked on my Farmers Wife blocks. I am doing the Barristers Block Sew Along. Randy has given us a break till August, so I figured I'd try to catch up. Why am I always behind? LOL

Isaiah stopped by for a while. I always love to see my kids. Even if it is only for an hour or so. I was able to catch up with him.

Well, that is all for today. Thanks for visiting. Please come again. Have a wonderful evening. I'm praying for rain. We have some in the area, so I hope we get some.

I Love Aurifil Thread!

My summer has not been great, but I will talk about that another time. Our whole state is in a drought condition and it is so hot here. It has been 107* for highs for the past couple of days. Tomorrow is town day. I am hoping to get my groceries and get home before the heat gets hideous.

Since it has been so hot, I have spent my time sitting in the a/c doing some embroidery. I finished the June block for Thoughts in Threads and have the July block prepped and ready to work on. Since I am behind on my Promises and Borders, I have been working on it.
Here is block 6 of Thoughts and Threads....

While cruising around the net, I found a free block of the month stitchery. It is Aurifil's Desighner BOM and hosted by Pat Sloan.  Hmmm, since I had won some Aurifil saize 12 thread, I decided to give it a go. Oh my goodness, this thread embroiders like a dream. I am loving it. Of course, I don't have quite all the colors I need, so I use my DMC to fill it.  I will share my blocks so far. Sorry, I didn't look up the links, but you can google. (grin)
Jan.'s block is called Snowbird, by Roseann Kermes....

Feb.'s block is Snow Much Love by Sherri K. Falls.

March's block is called Spring if We're Lucky by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

April's block is April Showers by Gail Pan.

May's block is called Maypole Dance by Thimbleanna.

June's block is Summer Flowers by Pam Kitty Morning.

I have July's block done but guess I haven't uploaded it yet. I am using a charm pack of Urban Cowgirl by Urban Chicks for Moda for the sashings. Cyndi sent this to me for my birthday. I am having so much fun stitching these blocks.

Well, I need to run out real quick and do my evening chores. I try to wait till it drops below 100* before going out. I also need to get my grocery list ready for tomorrow. So I'll get this posted. Thanks for visiting. Have a great night.

Handmade Gift Exchange

It is so hot here right now. They are saying we have not had temps in the 100s in June since 1988. Well, we have had several this year. I believe it is right at 106* right now. Way too hot for me. The heat with the little amount of rain we have had is going to do in the garden, I am afraid. I have been spending my days sitting in the a/c doing some embroidery. It is too hot to have a quilt in my lap.

I joined a Handmade gift exchange this month. I sent my gift off to my giftee last weekend, so I am hoping she has received it by now. Anyway, I figured I'd share it with you all. I found the pattern for this little wall quilt in the Summer 2011 copy of Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts. It is called Tweet Others with Kindness by Kelly Mueller. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Here it is on the back of our front door.

I did a hand blanket stitch around each applique piece with Perle cotton. I hand quilted it. Here is the back. It is hard to see the quilting because the backing is so busy. Oh well. As you can see, I even put hangers and a label on it.

I hope my giftee likes it. I need to check on the animals' waterers  so I will go ahead and post this. Thanks for visiting. Please come again. Have a good evening.

Thoughts in Thread

This has been a very busy month. I have a project in progress that has to be done by the end of the month, but I can't show it just yet. I have also had lots of outside work to do. We have finally gotten a little rain. Not really enough, but every little bit helps. I am also slowly working on my BOMs. Of course I am behind again. LOL What is new. I don't remember if I have shared any of these blocks or not, but if so, you get to see them again. LOL This BOM is called Thoughts in Thread by Val Laird. It is so cute.

Here is block one....

Here is block two...

Block three....

Block four...

Block five in progress....

Block six is cute as can be. It has an owl in it. (grin) I still need to get the block made and trace the design on it.

Look what my honey made for me yesterday morning. Our Sassy rabbit is due on June 26th and Sara on July 8th. So Kevin made me these nest boxes. They should be plenty roomy enough for our does and their litters.

Please overlook the stuff in the background. Our microwave recently bit the dust and we still need to get rid of it, plus Kevin sat the propane bottle up on the deck for some reason. Hmmm, I guess I should have moved things before taking the picture. LOL

We spent most of Saturday getting the big chicken house ready for my young pullets. Kevin got the gate posts set for their run. Now we just need to build the gate and check out the fence. Then their run will be ready for them. They are loving all the space. I go down to their house and just sit and watch them.

Hard to believe they have grown this much in just 6 weeks. The ducks have grown even more, but I didn't get a good picture of them.

Well, that is all for today. I need to get back to work. Thanks for visiting and please come again. Have a good one.

Borders and Promises

I am caught up with Borders and Promises. I really am loving working on this BOM. It is too warm to sit with a quilt in my lap quilting, so I have been doing embroidery when I have time to do some handwork. This has been a very busy spring. Not so much right now, though. We need rain bad. So, since it is so dry, don't need to mow and no gardening. Not even the weeds are growing. Of course the chicks, ducks, and rabbits keep me busy, but that is just a couple of times a day.

Anyway, back to Borders and Promises....I have already shared blocks one and two with you. Here is block three...

Block four....

I just finished block five yesterday. I have had the embroidery done for a while, but needed to sew the sashing on it.  Here it is.....

I think these are going to make a very pretty small quilt.

I also did some sewing yesterday. My poor sewing machine thought I had abandoned it. LOL I was supposed to be repairing a rip in Kevin's shirt, thanks to Sassy, but never did get around to that. I made Kevin a bag to carry his headphones in. Then I decided I needed a case for my Sony MP3 player that actually fit. I made a case for my first player. Then when I bought this one, it was too long to fit into the case. I gave the old player and case to Kevin. I finally got around to making a new case for mine. I just used a few scraps. Here is the front of it.....

I left an opening in the bottom left corner for the headphones to plug into the player. Here is the back of it, hooked onto the arm strap....

Here it is opened up. It fits perfectly and works great when I go on a walk.

I love it when I can create something that we need that would cost at least $20 to buy.  Kevin loved his bag for his headphones so much that he asked me to make him another bag to keep all his recharging cords in. Let's see he has a laptop, Sony MP3 player, Zune, Kindle, Pad, and Palm. So yes, he has a lot of cords to try to keep track of. LOL He is the King of electronic gadgets. LOL
I hope you all have a good day. It is nice here today, only in the 70's. Supposed to be a good chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. I am praying we get it. Thanks for visiting. Please come again.