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.