The Best Way To Start The New Year

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of 2010

The Good part of 2010 was
the birth of my grandson & living only 13 miles from him!
meeting fellow bloggers Linda & Doris at a quilt show
having a healthy family
attending my nephew's wedding
getting together with all my family at Christmas
visiting friends & relatives in May and October
having my brother return from Kabul
and my DH who is such a wonderful guy I couldn't do without
The Bad part of 2010:
the death of my boss and very dear friend, Fr Paul Strittmatter, S. J


And the worst of 2010 was the death of my father. But now he is back with mom and he has no more pain or suffering.

More of the Bad:

my car was hit by an uninsured driver a week ago

I lost my job (of 17 years) in November

I am already tired of looking for a job

I am not getting lots of sewing done (like everyone keeps asking)....it's hard to do anything at this time.

And the Ugly

was my basement until I finally got some of the clutter tossed out.

And taking care of my grandson and his mom the last couple of days cos they had the flu, and the baby couldn't keep anything down. He was so miserable. But he's on his way to feeling better. He kept a bottle down tonight. Wow, can 1 little baby make an ugly mess and a lot of laundry when he is sick.

So good by to 2010, I won't miss you! Here's to 2011 and a new start with a new year!!

In memory of my Father & my best friend and anyone you have lost this past year.

I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below

with tiny lights like heaven's stars reflecting on the snow.

I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear

but the sounds of music can't compare with the Christmas choir up here.

I have no words to tell you of the joy their voices bring

for it is beyond description to hear the angels sing.

I know how much you miss me, I see the pain inside your heart

for I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

I can't tell you of the splendor or the Peace here in this place.

Can you just imagine Christmas with our Savior face to face.

I'll ask Him to lift your spirit as I tell Him of your love.

And then Pray for one another as you lift your eyes above.

So have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear

and be glad I'm spending Christmas in Heaven with Jesus Christ this year.

Merry Christmas to everyone, may God bless you this holiday season.

The Monster Quilt

I took this quilt for show and tell at the last guild meeting. I kept calling it a monster quilt because it is about 105" square and it was hard to unfold and hold it up. Some sweet lady asked me why I thought it was a monster because she thought it was pretty.

The pattern is called Old Hickory. It's for my daughter who picked out the brown and blue colors.

Are you ready

for Christmas?? I'm not. I always seem to need to do one more thing or get one more gift or bake something. Oh well, it always turns out great no matter what. This is a Christmas quilt I made 3 years ago. I hadn't made a flying geese quilt before, but I really love how it turned out.

There are holly leaves quilted in it. I don't think they show up too good because it's an all over pattern. If I do another quilt with this pattern, I'll remember to have something specific quilted in the larger blocks.

And here is Carson meeting Santa for the first time. (Notice how I can usually sneak a pic of him in my posts). I don't think he's too excited this year, but should really have a good time next year. He is 5 1/2 months old now.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Winners

Giveaway Winners:
1. Sandie-call me crazy
2. Linda
3. James-Linda
4. Notes of Sincerity
5. Happy Cottage Quilter
6. Stormy days
7. Marcia

I will be emailing you for your address. Thanks for visiting my blog. I'll have another giveaway soon.

A Giveaway

I was going thru piles of fabric and I really need to get rid of some things. This is only a small bunch. I'll have more, but I'm still sifting thru the closets. I'll number them in case there is any pile you'd really like...just leave it in your comment.

1. This is a Thimbleberry kit someone gave me and I am not a huge fan of Thimbleberries. There will be some extra pieces and scraps included.

2. This is a kit for a swag bag with the instructions. But you can take it apart and do what you want with it. Be creative!

3. Some are Christmas scraps along with various others.

4. A couple of oriental prints, fat quarters I think, and some yellow scraps.

5. Don't know the name of these 2 fabrics, but they are coordinates. The stripe is about 1 1/2 yards and the flowers about 2 yards. The color is pretty true in the picture.

6. The light fabric on the bottom is 2 fat quarters. The tulips is about 1 1/2 yards and the other one is about 1/2 yard, it is a long piece cut from the excess of a backing.

7. I don't know what this fabric is but there is a little more than 3 yards. It has a texture sort of like searsucker. It's lightweight.

OK so I had to sneak in a picuture of my grandson. Here he is talking to papa.

After I took the picture this is the look he gave me!

This post got a little long, but I still have something to ask. Have any of you "won" a giveaway and then never received the prize?

Or is it just happening to me. I have "won" 2 books on different blogs and a mini quilt-postcard type quilt that I was asked to send my favorite colors for, and I never received any of them.

( Hi Terry, I wanted to be sure your package was in the mail before I posted this ;-) so you knew I hadn't forgotten about you)

Mine has been quite a few months ago, so I don't think I'll ever receive them. Has this happened to anyone else? Do you email them back and ask about it? How long would you wait? What do you do?

Leave me a comment telling me if this has happened to you, and if ther is a bunch of fabric you prefer put that number in your answer and if you win I'll try to send you that one. Don't forget an email address. I'll draw Dec 11. Pass the word.

Happy Thanksgiving

Here's to wonderful food.

Fit for a king.

And friends and family gathered around the table. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A Butterfly quilt

This is for a friend of mine who had a baby girl. She said she wanted to decorate the baby's room in butterflies. It's made from a layer cake. I made half square triangles and then put in 2 1/2 inch strips so it wasn't square. I like my baby quilts to be about 40 X 50. It's really fast and easy using a layer cake to make half square triangles, and they are large so you don't have to make so many small blocks. Good way to make a quick baby quilt. I have a layer cake of Pure that I'm thinking about doing the same way. I love the brown & blue colors in that line.

Winner

I know I'm late posting this but life got in the way! Terry from Terry's Treasures is the winner of my giveaway. I'll be having another giveaway soon, so please check back.

60th Anniversary

Today was my parents 60th Wedding Anniversary. It was a bittersweet day because they are not with us. The last anniversary they celebrated was 2 years ago. They had 58 wonderful years together. They had a deep love that you don't find as often today. They built a business together, raised 5 children, and were able to retire soon enough to travel and spend time with relatives and friends. I think back to all the wonderful memories and the celebrations we had. They had 14 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, with 1 more added earlier this year. So remember to count your blessings and celebrate all the wonderful memories you hold so dear in your heart.
You never know how much longer you have with your loved ones. I miss them more and more each day. I think of something I want to tell them about what happened today, or who I taked to or something about the new baby and then remember... I can't do that. But I think they are looking down on us and taking care of us still, as they did when we were children. Happy Anniversary..........this year you can celebrate together again.

Downey quilt

SCROLL DOWN FOR A GIVEAWAY

This is one of the Downey quilts that I have finished. I love the stripe binding.

When I started this quilt I couldn't find where I set the pattern, so I just made up a pattern as I went. My only problem was that there wasn't enough of the main fabric so one of the squares ended up as a 4 patch. Otherwise I think it turned out good. I'm working on another one before I send this back, might as well send both at the same time.

SCROLL DOWN FOR A GIVEAWAY & a new Christmas Quilt

scroll down to the next post for the giveaway

I made this Christmas quilt for my nephew and his wife for their wedding. I didn't know what colors they had in their home so I thought this would be nice for the upcoming Christmas season.

CHECK OUT MY GIVEAWAY

I also added a box of Liberty of London note cards from Target. Pass the word about my giveaway!

Sorry Max ins't included in the giveaway......keep reading. I had a donut with my grandson again. He picked out a chocolate frosted one with sprinkles on it. He really enjoyed it as you can see by the smile and chocolate on his face!

I made this bag for a giveaway. Its handles are gray, but look blue in the picture. Leave me a comment about what you are working on. I am going to be gone for awhile, really need a break from work, so the drawing will be held on Nov. 7th. I can't believe it's going to be November! Wow, Christmas will be here before too long. Yikes! I need to get some projects finished before that. Otherwise I'll be giving IOU's for gifts!!

gone for a day or so

I'm feeling a little down and out. I'll be back later on with a giveaway.

Winner

Kristin from So Happy is the winner of the Oh Cherry-O jelly roll. Come back for another giveaway very soon. Sorry I couldn't get back to everyone who responded this time, but hopefully I'll have more time next week!

Giveaway

I had a wonderful time at the Des Moines/AQS quilt show with Linda and Doris, 2 bloggers I was fortunate enough to meet in person. It's a great show, goes thru October 9th in downtown Des Moines.
I am still purging my quilting cupboards and am having a giveaway for the Oh Cherry-O jelly roll. Leave a comment to be entered. Drawing will be Oct. 15th. Pass it on. And watch for another giveaway after this one.

Edited on 10-15-10 to add: Kristin of So Happy is the winner of the jelly roll. Random number generator picked her number. But first it picked a number and the post didn't have a blog or an email. So please put your email in the response if you don't have a blog. Come back for another giveaway. I'm sorry I didn't get back to everyone who responded but things at work have me bogged down. :-(

Giveaway

I have a new giveaway. Just leave me a comment if you want entered to win this book, "Take Two and Add a Few." Sorry for the bad picture!

The drawing will be on the 10th of October. We are going to a wedding over the weekend so I'll wait till we get home. I'll have another giveaway on Monday. Check back to see what it is. (I'm not even sure yet LOL)

Edited to add: Nancy Sue is the winner of this book. I did the random number generator, but couldn't get it to post to my screen.

Giveaway

2 Christmas fabric charm packs, 12 days of Christmas and Winter, which I don't have a pic of. Just leave me a comment. Winner will be drawn Oct. 2nd.

Edited to add: Giveaway is closed. Janet is the winner.