A Day With The Grandkids

Yesterday was a pre-back-to-school day for me and the grandkids, Gianni and Will. We went to Chuck E Cheese!!!! Okay school starts in Arkansas in the hot August day of the 19th. This was a place to play in the cool. I grabbed a table next to the games, sat down with my magazine and let them go. My job was to watch the front door and exits and keep up with the tickets from each child. They had a fun day and I had a relaxing, though noisy time reading. A good day all around. Next week school starts and maybe I can start having fun with adults or kids my own age???

It has been a really long time since my last post. Not that anything is wrong, it is just that I have been so busy living my life and having fun that I have just not stopped long enough to share with anyone what has been going on. Let me just summarize (because it would take too long to write it all). My life has consisted of Will and Gianni in sports and just hanging out with them. Will and I are doing great on art and Wii. He played baseball at the first of the year. Gianni and I quilt, sew, play games and she is heavy into softball (go Thunder Black). Her softball is pretty much year round. Bill and I don't miss a game.

Traveling is my other favorite thing to do. I went on a 2 week trip by bus to "The Low Country", which was too short of a trip to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA. Both places are on my list to visit again and see so much more of while I am there.

Some friends and I spent our week at Cedar Hill, TX again at The 1890's House there.

Another friend and I went to Biloxi, MS to the Antiques Roadshow. No you won't see me on TV, but we had a great time and I got some good news about my great grandmother's quilt and my cameo collection. We went through Vicksburg and that is another place that is on my go back to list. During our trip we didn't miss any antique malls, or flea markets. My friend Brenda is the owner of Blue Suede Shoes where I work a couple of days a month and have booths. She navigated and I drove, so we didnt' miss any of the many malls on the way there and back.

Okay I guess everyone knows I am okay and really just having fun living a full life. I want to thank God for every day that he gives me and the joy that all the people I love brings into my life. I will try to do more blogging. Thanks for reading this short summary.

I Had to Have the Bird

Have you ever seen an item at a flea market or antique mall and kept passing it by, but it wouldn't get out of your mind. That is what this little metal bird was to me at Blue Suede Shoes Antique Mall. Everytime I was in there working or just looking around I would pick it up and think it needed to "fly" home with me. So last week I gave in and brought it home. Now where did I want to put her. Well it happened that the same week I had gone to some yard sales and found this little pottery bench for a quarter. Don't they look cute together on my mantle.

When I told my friend Pat (www.birdnestontheground.blogspot.com) about the bird (before I bought it) she emailed me back that she had a vision of me leaving the mall and white birds flying around my head. We thought this was so funny, but you would have to know us to know it was funny. Anyway it made me decide that the bird was meant for me. This may begin a new collection for me of bird and bird related things. Birds have always been special to me.

I hope ya'll enjoy looking at my little shabby chic bird as much as I do. Everytime I look at it, I smile.

The Rest of the Challenge

Okay this is the rest of the challenge pieces that were done by the friends in our quilt group. There have been request to see what others have done. Of course I posted mine first. Sometimes you just have to "blow your own horn", especially if you really enjoyed what you were doing and like the results.

The first one at the top is Kelley modeling the apron that Pat (http://www.birdnestontheground.blogspot.com ) did. Now Pat was really working out of her comfort zone because Kelley gave her black and white fabrics in her bag. If you go to Pat's website you can see how her colors differ, if you don't already know.

The second is a wonderful needle case that Sherry did out of some bright fabrics I gave her. She said I didn't give her enough to work with, but what she made is perfect as far as I am concerned. Sherry's is our crazy quilt maker so you know that these bright colors weren't necessarily her palette either.

The last one on the top row is a dressed doll that Jim made for Pat and as usual was done so excellently and creatively. He has more doll heads that he wants to dress. Now Jim can work with anything that you throw at him.

The Daffodil Pillow was done by our artist Bibi for Jim. She paints and that is definitely her strong point. Her dolls are so creative and she loves to experiment. Bibi made a box also out of fabric, but I did not get a picture.

This bottom one is what Kelley made for Sherry. Kelley's favorite pattern ever since she took a class from Alex Anderson is this little postage stamp and so the fabrics that Sherry packed in her sack were perfect to make this little wall hanging.

We all had so much fun with this challenge that we are planning on doing another one soon.

Thanks for looking and have fun!

Quilt Group Challenge

Our monthly quilt/beading group decided to have a challenge. Everyone was given a bag and ask to put items in it for us to trade the next month. It was an "itty bitty" bag, but we were able to put quite a bit into the bag. The trade was done randomly so no one knew who got whose bag. We were instructed to take the contents of the bag, plus we could add items to make something for that person using the contents of her bag. Okay does that make sense?

Anyway I got my friend Bibi's bag and decided to use her items to make this crazy quilt. The middle flower is copied from an old postcard onto Jacquard's Silk for Ink Jet Printing.

The top picture is the back of the crazy quilt pillow/hanger and the second picture is the front.

We all had a lot of fun with this challenge and the results were amazing from each individual. Later I will post the other challenge results.

Thanks for looking. Comments are appreciated.

Friends Make You Feel Good

This lovely heart pincushion was given to me by a very dear friend this weekend, because she knew that I was very upset and she wanted me to feel better. Well, how can you NOT feel better when someone out of the goodness of their heart gives you a handmade gift like this? Thank you dear Pat - a better friend no one can have.

Happy Valentines Day

This cute little Valentine is sent to all of you for a very sweet, happy Valentine's day. I found this little jewel at the antique mall where I have booths and where I get to work a few hours a month. The problem is when I work, I don't have time to shop!!!! Alas!

The inside of the card says:

DON'T WRITE TELEGRAPH
DON'T TELEGRAPH
GO IN PERSON!
(THAT'S MY MOTTO AND IT GETS RESULTS)

Snow Again & Quilting

This picture is of my crushed gazebo. We had about 5 inches of snow, very slushy, very heavy snow. The snow was beautiful and for us Arkansans very confining. There is just no going for us old folks. Our snowflakes were huge most of the time and fell quickly.

Being confined to the house has been really nice. I have gotten some much needed rest and some of my quilting projects done. What I have done I can't show because it is part of a mystery quilt that our guild is doing. I have mentioned it before. When it is finished I will be able to post.

Bill, my husband, has been home this week. He goes into his computer room and I head for my sewing room. We each have our own end of the house and it works out well. I guess we are practicing for the day he finally retires.

Tomorrow I hope to be confined again so that I can do some more projects. Maybe something shareable.

Think Red Today

There is a lot of talk about "red" today. It is Heart Day and the heart is something that is on my mind a lot - if I let it. You know you read all the articles about how to prevent heart disease, but they need to write more on what to do once you have it - not that I would probably follow them that much anyway. Apparently I ignored the ones before, although mine is probably a hereditary condition with unknown factors.

May I just say again how blessed I am each day that God gives me to spend with family, friends and even acquaintances. It seems that I still have purpose in life or God would not allow me to still be here.

So today, have some fun, think RED and remember me and all of those who are stuggling with heart diseases.

May all of you have a blessed day.

Snow, Ice and Quilting

This is my igloo car after the southern ice storm because ice and sleet was all that dropped. here.

My front door was so iced over I could barely see out and it wouldn't open all the way. So what do you do when the weather won't allow you to go out?

Well I decided it was time to visit my sewing room and work on some blocks for projects I have started this year. This is my 6" block for a Mystery Quilt that the Saline County Guild is doing this year.

Then I had to do a 12" block for the same Mystery challenge because this quilt is not a mystery to me since I am one that is working on the project with my friend Fay Poe.
The block below is a finished block for a $5.00 quilt that is going on at Pinwheel fabrics (our local quilt shop). If we finish each month's block on time and take it on the due date and time to the shop we get the next block, pattern and fabric at no charge. Of course the fact that when I turned this block in I spent $80. in the shop doesn't count. The pieces are cut and ready to sew together for the next block and I will show it later.

It has been a very enjoyable snow day. I had a lot of fun playing in my sewing room today.

I'm Okay

A few people have emailed me that they were wondering if I am okay since, as you can see it has been last October since I have posted. I am not sure what has happened except time and things keep getting in the way. There are no new pictures to share, no projects to record, although I am doing some quilting.
Most of us in Arkansas are in the throes of an ice/snow storm and if we are smart we stay in the house and build a fire. That was what I did today. Sadly my tummy decided to act up today and so I didn't feel like working on anything. I slept most of the day, read and watched "If Walls Could Talk" and my taped cooking shows. Maybe tomorrow I will wander back to my sewing/craft room and work on a couple of project blocks I want to keep up with. Take a few pictures and share them.