An Awesome Day

 I would like to show you what I received in the mail!  I took part in a Pay It Forward a couple of weeks ago and received this beautiful Easter Pillow Tuck from Betty of Primitivebetty's.  She included a wonderful pattern as well as a classy notepad!  How sweet and generous is she?  Thank you Betty, your kindness made my day!

As you know, I have my two college sons home with me this week.  My eldest son spent the day with his girlfriend, so my middle son and I took the opportunity to go antiquing in old town McKinney!  That is a pastime which the two of us enjoy sooooooo much!  We had lunch out and then visited a favorite quilting store of mine, Happiness is....Quilting!  I bought Quiltmania magazine (issue 83), and two kits to make the cutest tart pincushions!!!  Also, I found a fabulous lunch set made out of milk glass.  There is place on the plate for your cup and your sandwich or muffin, or cookies.  Genius!!!
It was great to spend some quality time with the boy.  We had a most enjoyable day.  I hope yours has been good too.

Another Finish

Good morning to you!!!  I have had such a lovely weekend with my two college sons being home.  I have done a fair amount of cooking as you can imagine.  I did however, get a little bit of sewing time and so I finished the candle mat which I had started a few days ago.  It is a really sweet summer design from "Bareroots Little Stitchies".  I love how the white flowers make the whole mat POP!!!  The strawberries were so much fun to sew.  They are also my favorite fruit in the whole world.  Nothing quite says summer like a plump, sweet, juicy strawberry.
Have yourselves a wonderful day!!!

Spring has Sprung!!! (at least it has in Texas)

 Good morning!!!  This week I worked at getting our home ready for spring (and spring break - my two older sons come home from college tonight!!!!).  It is such a wonderful time of the year, and I love to decorate accordingly.  I clambered up into the attic to rescue all these little bunnies and placed them around the house.  It shows (to me anyway) new beginnings, new life and the opportunity for re-birth.  The shelf in the top picture is on a wall in my kitchen.  My husband made it for me, many years ago, with only a few woodworking tools.  He put it together with love and determination and I treasure it.

 This is my kitchen table.  I just love the two cups with little bunnies for handles.

 This little fellow holds yummy candy on the coffee table in the family room.  It looks like he has a spring spring in his step!

 One of my sons gave me the sheep for a birthday gift a few years ago.  I have found a place for the candle mat.  It looks really good on the darker table.

 These two have graced the top of the piano for many years now.

 Here is the "Big Pink Nightmare".  He is so ugly that he is actually cute.  I painted the eggs that fill him!

I love these two!  They look like an old couple out for a walk!
It has been a busy week preparing for the boys to come home, but I have also done some sewing.  I added another row to my basket weave afghan - soon to be completed and shown!!!  I am a bit further along with my strawberry candle mat and I have been sewing on a hexagon quilt that I have started.  I will show that to you soon in a separate blog.  Have a wonderful Friday and a relaxing weekend.

Another Charming Candle Mat Underway

Hi!  I am having so much fun with these candle mats.  I could not wait to cut out those cute strawberries!  I have appliqued them to the background fabric along with their little leaves.  Now I get to start on the white daisies.  They really make the mat POP!  After the daisies I need to put the seeds on the strawberries and embroider the stems.  Hopefully I will have it done by tomorrow.
Today I washed the staircase carpet which was a chore!  I plan to reward myself with some sewing this evening.  I hope you are having a great evening doing some things that you enjoy!

A Cute Candle Mat

 Hello!  I have a finish!!! Yay!!!  Mostly I work on gigantic projects, so finishes are few and far between for me.  I have seen lovely projects completed on blogs and have been suffering from finish envy!  So with that being said, I had bought myself a cute kit  a couple of weeks ago.  I started making it yesterday.  Yummy wools, embroidery floss and even beads!  Click on the finished photo to see the beading.  It turned out so pretty and I like the easter/ spring theme.

I loved stitching this little gem and I think I will make another one really soon.
Have a lovely evening and thanks for stopping by.

Pay It forward 2011

Good Evening!  I first saw Pay It Forward 2011 on Primitivebettys blog.  What a wonderful idea to bring some joy to another person.

Here is How it Works...
THE FIRST FIVE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT
ON THIS BLOGS POST WILL RECEIVE
A HANDMADE GIFT FROM ME.
IN RETURN, YOU MUST FIRST WRITE A BLOG
POST ON YOUR BLOG EXPLAINING
PAY IT FORWARD 2011.
THEN SEND OUT A HANDMADE GIFT TO THE FIRST
FIVE VISITORS WHO LEAVE A COMMENT ON YOUR
POST.  TAKE YOUR TIME...
THIS SHOULD BE A FUN AND JOYFUL EXPERIENCE.
NO PRESSURE...  JUST ENJOY THE
PROCESS OF MAKING AND GIVING AS I INTEND
TO DO.
Have a great evening.

It's been a few days, but I've been sewing!!

Hello!!  What has happened to the days?  I see my last post was on the 3rd of March and it is already the 10th!!
Well, I have been very busy sewing the drapes for my sitting room and dining room.  Here is a picture of the sitting room drapes!!!  I just have to hem the ones in the dining room and then I will post a picture of them too.  I have sewn a total of 44 yards of fabric for them.  The drapes are lined, and have a drop and a half per curtain!!  I used pleater tape and hooks because I wanted a more formal look to the drapes.  Did I have a problem finding rings to hang them on!!!  Rings commonly have little spring clips on them now.  I could only find a ring with a tiny ring on them for $30.00 for 10 from a very overpriced store.  So, that being said, my handy husband took the little clips off, leaving the wire circle.  It works wonderfully.  Oh well, I better get back to that horrible hemming job awaiting me.  I hand hemmed the front fabric because I hate the line at the bottom from the sewing machine.  I did machine the hem of the lining fabric though.
Have a good day and I will chat again soon.

This into That!

 I was cleaning my kitchen and came across this sad looking bunch of bananas!  I absolutely hate throwing food away, so I decided to bake some banana bread.  The ickiest looking bananas are the best for banana bread!!  I, of course, was a very popular person when the kids came home from school at the end of the afternoon.  The breads turned out very yummy.  I put one in the freezer, and the other one was for eating!!

Dilemma Deluxe!!!

 In January I posted a picture of squares I had been knitting on for an afghan.  The pile of squares has grown and I needed to start sewing them up.  Herein lies the problem for me.  I don't really like the look of knitted squares that are just sewn together.  Somehow the seam always seems too obvious to me, and just looks ugly.  So after much pondering, I decided to crochet the squares together.  I eagerly started and found myself disappointed with the result.  The crocheted seem looked a bit wavy and was a bit rough looking for the squares.  So I unpicked the two rows that I had completed.  Then I decided to crochet a black border around each square and sew them together with a needle.  This looks much better and the black makes the squares pop!!  It really must be the quilter in me that likes to see things all neat with borders!!  Ha Ha!!  Or else it is because I am somewhat OCD about my sewing projects.

 While I was taking a picture of the square in the process of getting it's border, O'Malley arrived in the kitchen for a drink of water from his favorite tap!!  He does not believe in drinking from a bowl like a regular cat (is there such a thing as a regular cat?).  No, O'Malley likes his house slaves to come running to switch on the tap for him.  I thought I would post this picture of him because, to date, you have only met his fluffy brother.  Isn't he a good looking cat?  I apologize for the picture of O'Malley in the middle of my blog about knitting squares.  I am somewhat technologically challenged and I did not know how to change the order of the pictures once I had put them into my blog album.  Oh well, consider it intermission!!

I am busy putting two rows together and I really like the black border and how flat it lies.  The crocheted ridge did not snap my socks!!!
Well, folks,  happy 1st of March.  The days are getting longer and buds are appearing on trees and bushes.  I can't say it is a moment too soon.  I am positively feeling a pep in my step.  I wish you all a happy month with some of the luck of the Irish sprinkled among your days.  Have a good one!!  Until next time!