Oh, goodness, this is different!

I came here to make a post about our new rabbits, but now I find everything on Blogger has changed. Yikes! i do not deal well with change. Dang it. Now I need to learn everything over again. Why can't they just leave things like they were? You know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!  Well anyway, I am going to use this post to try to figure things out. If this works, I will introduce you to our new additions. I am going to go find a picture to add so I can see if it works. Here is a picture of Madsion taken in March when she and her  daddy visited us.

Now for a few Easter pictures. (Might as well see if I can post multiple pictures.) Noah loves to dress up.

Ava with her egg haul. LOL

Ashton gave me a big smile.

Izabella with her Pebbles' hair style. LOL

We had a good time and a wonderful egg hunt. We had a BBQ, our first of the season. I warned everyone about the tics and sure enough, some of the kids found a tic or two on themselves. This is the country, not the city. LOL After dinner and the egg hunt, we all went up to visit my MIL in the nursing home. She was thrilled to see everyone. I am very proud of this picture. It includes all of our kids and grandkids except Maddy with MIL.

Ok, I will try to identify everyone. Back row left to right: Jon, Jeremy (Cathryn's husband), Bob (Carolyn's husband), and Isaiah. Front row left to right: Ashton, Hazel holding Noah, Carolyn holding Izzie, MIL, Cathryn holding Ava.  And because I couldn't decide which picture I liked better.....

Now to see if this works. If it does, then it may be easier than the old way. LOL I will try later to make another post. I have piddled so long with this one, that I don't have time to do another one at the moment. Thanks for visiting. Please come again and have a wonderful evening.

Kevin's Christmas Lap Quilt

This week has been a stressful week. It has rained almost continuously since Monday afternoon. We did have a few hours break yesterday and today so far. It rained most of the night, though. So of course it is way too wet to do anything outside.
 Last week a deer ran into the side of the car while Kevin was coming home from work. It is dented, but we will live with dents. Hopefully the crazy deer survived. I am thankful my sweetie was not hurt and no significant damage was done to the car.
This week, the driver's side front wheel bearing went out of our car. Our only other vehicle is an old, old pickup that is on its last legs and drinks gas like nobody's business. Kevin was able to take the old truck and get the car parts. When I went to bed Wednesday night, I prayed to God to just give us a couple hours of sunshine and no winds on Thursday morning, so we could get the work done on the car. It costs us at least $20  day when Kevin has to drive the pickup to work. We got up Thursday morning, to lovely sunshine and calm winds. We got the bearing thingy put on in less than 2 hours. As we were putting the tools up, we noticed that the wind was really picking up and the clouds were once again rolling in. Our God is so amazing! He gave me exactly what I asked for. (big grin)
Yesterday and today has been spent trying to figure out some of mom's paperwork. Evidently some of it got lost in the mail. (Either that or she misplaced it. Don't know which.) She was about to lose a bunch of her benefits. I am so thankful to my sister-in-law, Gina, for going and taking care of this for mom when I just couldn't right now. (Big sigh) Maybe life is going to calm down for me now. I sure hope so. I have been too stressed to even sew any. Not good.
Anyway, I figured I'd better share pictures of Kevin's Christmas Quilt that he didn't get till the end of Feb. LOL Here it is.

Please do not look too closely at the intersections. LOL I bought those 5" charms at Walmart. It was in a pack or 100 precuts. Hmm, I had Kevin help me lay them out in what he thought was a pleasing look. I never even thought to measure these squares. I just picked them up and sewed away. LOL Well, they are definitely not cut square. Once I figured that out, I almost just put the whole project away, but Kevin really liked these fabrics, so I continued on. He said he didn't care if the squares didn't all meet just right. I bought some extra fabric for borders and finished it . No way I was going to rip all those squares out, trim them, and sew them back together.  So be aware if you buy one of those $10 packs of 100 precut 5" charms from Walmart, they are not all cut true.

I had thought about trying to machine quilt it, but decided that would be more work than hand quilting it. LOL It would have helped if I had not gotten bored with it. That is why it took me so long to finish. All those similar fabrics and quilting 'X's just got boring after a while. Sorry no pictures of Kevin holding it. He would rather have a tooth pulled than get his picture taken. LOL But Callie sure gave her approval. This was within minutes of finishing it. LOL

Here is the back of it with Callie and Aeris both laying on it. I think Kevin had been laying on the bed, using it. When he got up he just threw it off himself. Didn't take our ladies long to find it. LOL

Well, that is it for today. Thank you for visiting. Please come again.

I had a birthday!

Yes I did.  It was Mar. 2nd and I had a good time. Kevin took that day off to spend it with me. The first thing we did was go look at John Deere mowers. Yep! We bought a mower on my birthday. Does that mean it is mine? LOL I will definitely be using it. It was delivered last Wednesday. Kevin is seriously in love. LOL He has been mowing up a storm all weekend. I took pictures before we got it all dirty.

Please excuse the mess behind it. That will soon all be cleaned up. Am I the only one who slacks during the winter and lets trash pile up? Then I have to spend several days in the spring to get the mess cleaned up. Oh well. I guess I need the extra exercise. LOL

I am so glad that we decided to go with our local dealership. We had planned to go to Lowes, but decided to check out the local dealer. This is an upgrade from what we had planned to get, but Kevin loves it and we had the extra money, so we went with it. They even delivered it for free. Also, we helped a company in our own county and added tax money to our area. (grin) Kevin worked lots of overtime to save the money for this mower. I am so happy that he is so happy! (grin)

I received a couple of packages from some wonderful friends for my birthday. First I received this from Bren.

This is a fat eighth bundle of Stonehenge, a desk top needle threader (Bren knew I needed this.) and a gorgeous needle book that she made for me. Look what I found when I opened it up.

These are stork scissors. Aren't they the cutest scissors ever?

Here is the backside of the needle book. I happen to know that Bren struggled with making this. I am so proud of it. Thank you, so much, my dear friend. You know I love everything.

By the way, the background you see is Kevin's Christmas lap quilt that I finally finished for him. I'll share more of it next time.

I also received a wonderful package from my sweet friend Cyndi. Look what she made me.

Sorry for the bad picture. Cyndi did a great job on this pin cushion and thread catcher. I have already used it and it works great. Maybe this picture shows the color a little bit better. It is such cute fabric.

Inside the thread catcher, Cyndi tucked a charm pack each of Urban Cowgirl and Rouenneries Deux. These are both from Moda and just gorgeous. Thank you, so much Cyndi. Even after all you have gone through this year, you still remembered me. It means a lot.

Well, I guess that is enough for now. I have been so busy. I have lots to share, but better hadn't load any more pictures on here. Don't want Blogger to have a hissy. I am working on several BOMs. I am getting ready to sandwich Raggedy Annie and Friends. I am going to quilt it with Perle cotton using the big stitch method. Kind of excited to be trying something new. I have lots to do outside. Spring is here! Spring is here! It is so glorious to wake up in the morning and hear the birds singing.  We have ordered our chicks and Kevin decided he wanted some ducks. So I have my duckling order all ready to go. Oh my gosh! They are not cheap! Oh well, I got what he wanted. (grin) We have the garden started.  I have started a new way of eating. I read about pink slime added to our hamburger. Hmmm, can't seem to eat any since then. LOL So I'll show you my solution in a later post. LOL Isaiah and Madison visited. Of course I took pictures. (grin)  Now don't you just love how I am teasing you all. You will have to come back to my blog to see what I'm talking about. LOL Now it is bedtime. Thank you for visiting. Please come again. Everyone have a wonderful start to your week.

Promises and Borders

Thank you all for your kind 'welcome back's to me. I have missed blogging. I haven't even commented on blogs much in the past couple of months, but I'm trying to change that before I get waist deep in the garden. LOL It is raining here, but 60*. Such weird weather for the end of Feb. Makes me wonder what kind of a summer we are going to have. Last summer was so hot, I hope this isn't a repeat.

I am working on several BOMs this year. Not really a surprise, huh? LOL Anyway, so far I am keeping up. I thought I'd share Promises and Borders with you first. Oh my goodness, I am loving this BOM. It is from Jenny at Elefantz. I picked out the fabrics and have them already cut to size. Here is the first block.

This is a closeup of the verse.

Here is block 2.

A closeup of block 2....

Jenny used variegated floss, so I went to JoAnn's and bought some with a coupon. I like embroidering with this.

Aren't these the cutest blocks? I love embroidering the Bible verses. I can hardly wait for the next block to be released, which should be in a couple of days.

Thank you for visiting. Please come again. You all have a wonderful day.

I Am Finally Back!

Now I just hope I can remember how to make a post. LOL I took a long, 2 month break. I always have trouble getting back in the groove after Christmas and this year was no different. I have been working on some things and will show those soon. I just didn't feel like writing about anything, I guess. Several times I came to my blog and intended to post, then shut it down without doing anything. I think I needed the break because I feel like it is time to come back now.

We have had a wonderful winter, with warm temps and very little snow. I believe we are working towards setting a record for warmest winter ever. Now it feels like spring is here. We have watched the squirrels play like crazy today. The geese have been flying north all week and the grass is starting to green up. No robins, yet, though. We are thinking about the garden. I have my seeds ordered. I also ordered some baby chicks. They aren't due to arrive till the first week in May, though, so we have plenty of time to get their brooding area all ready.

The family is all doing well and all the furbabies are getting feisty in hopes that spring is here. LOL I have been working on some projects, but that Kindle sure has detoured me. LOL I get started reading on a book and can't put it down till I am finished. I am back to reading again. I have always loved reading, but put it on the back burner for a few years. I read on the computer and quilted. Now I am trying to work a little of everything in to my day.

I finished the Dec. block of Birdie Stitches. It was another fun block.

  After I got it embroidered, I decided to go ahead and put the blocks together in a top. This was such a fun BOM to do. I am working on several more BOMs, but more about them another time. Here is the top after I got it together.

I'll share some closeups. It is too big to get the whole thing closely. This is the Jan. and Feb. blocks at the top and the Apr. and May at the bottom.

These are the Feb. and Mar. blocks at the top and the May and Jun. blocks at the bottom.

Here are the Jul. and Aug. blocks at the top and the Oct. and Nov. blocks at the bottom.

Finally here are the Aug. and Sep. blocks at the top and the Nov. and Dec. blocks at the bottom.

Here is another view of the whole top. Then I am done with pictures today. (grin)

I feels good to be back. I am going to try to make a post or two a week, but gardening season is coming up, so that may not happen. Sometimes life just gets in the way. LOL If anyone is still out there reading this, thank you. Everyone have a good day. I'll be back in a day or so with another project I am working on. I figure as slow as I am, I better just share one project at a time. LOL

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my blog friends. You all mean the world to me. I hope you all have a blessed day with your families. Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you. 

More Gifts I Made....

Today I will share some of the gifts I made for our family. Everyone got something, even though some were pretty small gifts. (grin)  But before I do, I want to tell you that I got the lovely redwork design on the previous post from a free download on Allie's blog. She is always putting free things up for us to use. Sorry Allie, that I neglected to give you credit.

Some of the gifts I will share here were free projects found on the net. I will give credit where I can. Some were printed off a while ago., and if their web address does not show up in the printed copy, I can't share where to find them. Sorry.  I made Carolyn a set of dish towels. I just bought a pair of white flour sack like towels, added fabric to two ends, and appliqued a hen and a rooster on them. I also added a crocheted dishcloth. She really liked them. I found these on Joanna Figueroa for Fig Tree and Company's site.

I bought fabric to make Cathryn a Bow Tucks bag last Christmas, but never did have time to make her one out of the special fabric I bought. When I told her about it last Christmas she said she could use some place mats. I remembered this, so I made her these quilt as you go place mats. I found these on Gudrun's blog.  Cathryn loved them and said they would work perfectly in her house.

Here is a closeup of one of them.

I gave Hazel the Daisy Star quilt. It is a Judy Laquidara free pattern.

All of the guys got neck pillows. I believe I found the directions and pattern for these on the Connecting Threads site under their free projects.

I made Kim, Jon's girlfriend a Sassy Bag from Lazy Girl Designs. Jon said she loves green and small bags, so I figured this pattern would be perfect for her. I think it was. I found these two fabrics in Walmart a few weeks ago and fell in love with them. I think I have enough to make my Kindle case from the leftovers. (grin)

The inside of Kim's bag....

The back of it....

I will share the gowns/pants I made for the grandkids and mom's gift next time. Now on to some more Christmas pictures......
Noah walked in looking so handsome.

Madison wouldn't put down this cookie, even to open gifts. LOL

Hazel holding Izabella. Hazel's hair is normally really curly, but she straightened it for the day. It was pretty, but I love her curls. (grin) I'm a mama, what can I say? LOL

Kim fits in good with our family. You can always tell a good person when the kids love them. Ava laying across Kim....

Ashton......

That is enough for now. I am not sure how I managed it, but I am now following my own blog. LOL  I worked quite a bit on Kevin's quilt yesterday. I plan to do some more hand quilting on it today. I am really enjoying this. The pressure is off and I can relax in front of the tv with the quilt in my lap without feeling like I should be doing something else to prepare for Christmas. (grin)  I think I will post this now and get back in my rocker and do what I love doing. Thank you for visiting. Please come again. Have a wonderful day. Oh, I also want to throw out this. If you still need a guy's gift, these neck pillows are quick and easy to do and all the guys loved them.  Talk to you all later.