Christmas Quilt Block Swap :)

These sets of blocks are for a Christmas Block swap over at Sylvia's Bridal Sampler Group. The white set is not for the swap, they will be my four corner blocks. The other three sets are for the swap :) Each set contains 5 to swap and of course 1 for me to keep! I might just have time to make a few more sets for the swap, before the mailing deadline :)

Yep, I joined another quilt group...imagine that!!!! LOL

Quote for the Day...

It's been a busy last week and weekend, lots of sewing done, which I will write about later :) But, I just read this quote and couldn't leave it off my blog!!! Read it and then think about it (LOL)

"Every time you give someone a little piece of your mind,

you make your head a little emptier"

Rosa's Give Away!!!!!

Okay, a dear friend of mine, Rosa, is having a Give Away!!!!
You can get to her blog from my blog list (Rosa's World).
Her Give Away is in celebration of her 250th Post :) Check it out.
Now I get 2 chances at her Give Away, because I mentioned her Give Away on my blog :)

My Wildflower Garden

This was the first year that I have tried my hand at a wildflower garden. My dear granddaughter helped with this project. I think we will be doing this again:) We will just have to do a better job at keeping the weed population down!

This was also the first year that I have had bouquets of fresh flowers, from my own garden. Loving It!!!!

The flower garden may just have to be expanded next year.

The Lillies have so many colors on them, purple, yellow, orange, blue. But NO leaves, unbelievable, I think they are sooo very pretty! Click on the picture to enlarge it and you will be able to see more of the color :)

The Bounty of Our Garden

Well this is what my garden looked like in late July. A very hearty garden it became, and it blessed us with an abundant harvest. This is why I have not had time to quilt, card-make or blog. I have been canning and freezing...and canning and freezing.

I was able to put up enough corn (frozen, canned, and frozen on the cob) to last us a year. Plus several bags of okra, 16 jars of corn relish, many bags of bell peppers, 26 jars of salsa, 8 jars of freezer pickles (so far) and zucchini...zucchini chunked, zucchini sliced, and zucchini in pulp form for bread. We still have pumpkins, watermelon, and cantaloupe growing.

We ate the green beans, turnips, and potatoes as they became ready. And of course tomatoes and cucumbers have been served daily!

The garden has slowed down, so we are now enjoying just eating from it daily.

But, I do have a basket full of peaches waiting for my attention, and then I will have a break...until the apples are ready in September, ummm, ummm, there's nothing like homemade applesauce :)

August Blocks of the Month

August has been soooo busy, but I have managed to get my BOMs done :)

My first one is the cat in the basket. This block is for the Basket Case Quilters group....I know why the name "Basket Case Quilters", if you aren't a basket when you join, you soon will be, some of these blocks are quite a challenge, at least they are for me!!!!

Next is the block for the 2009 BOM. And then there is the 2005 BOM, love the picnic theme for this one.

My First Quilts

Well, I have noticed that a lot of quilters have been reminiscing about their first quilts...so I thought I would dig out pictures of mine and share too. WOW, this is going back in time a bit. This Sampler Quilt was my very first quilt. I took a quilting class in 1986 and this is the quilt I made during that class. The whole quilt top was done by hand. I also quilted it by hand, but the binding was put on with the machine. At this point I really enjoyed piecing the blocks,but I had no love for the quilting part.






I took a break until 1988, then I made this 8-Point Star quilt for my husband for Christmas. Once again the pieced blocks were done by hand, as well as the quilting, but the binding was added by machine.
At this time I began to enjoy to do the hand quilting almost as much as the block piecing:) I finally got my fingers to cooperate with my brain, so that they quilted together :) My alternate blocks had a huge feather quilted in them.






Life got really busy with my 4 oldest kids being involved in every sport imaginable during high school, adoption of our two youngest children, and then came weddings, etc. Anyway my next quilt wasn't made until 1996 for my Mother-in-law for Christmas. I chose the Flying Geese pattern, swore I would never do that pattern again. Such small little blocks, way too time consuming, were my thoughs then... (ROTFL) and now I do Dear Jane blocks!!! How funny is that?



So there are my first three quilts. I must admit back in 1986, I never thought I would ever become addicted to quilting. And never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would be doing little, tiny blocks like the Dear Jane blocks. And no way back then would anyone have convinced me that I would ever applique!!! My how we change :) Too Funny.

July's Secret Pal Gift

My Oh So Wonderful Secret Pal sent me this beautiful quilt block, with more to come she said :) I can't wait. I think I will have a project to put together after Christmas...how exciting!!! She also sent me the lovely pottery cross and that so very cute card. She is just soooo good to me :)

I Can't Believe It Happened....

My worst nightmare has come true, my computer crashed!!!! Dead, Blank, KaPut, Hard Drive Fried!!!! I turn my computer on last Friday...and nothing, absolutely NOTHING!!!!!

It kept trying to load, But nothing, no Windows page, no pretty pictures, no nothing. Now I'm no computer guru, but I know enough to know that this is BAD :(

So I'm at a complete and total loss. What will I do??? No computer...OMG no email!!! Even worse - No QUILT GROUPS - AHHHHH, I'm not going to make it, and neither is this dumb computer *grin*

This is what I wanted to do to my computer, but I used self control and instead called my dear brother-in-law who took the computer home with him, zeroed it out and got it and me back up and running again :)

Now a HUGE, HUGE "Thank You" not only to him, but also to my dear friend Rosa who, every month reminds everyone on the Dear Jane group to back everything up. So I didn't loose too much stuff :) I just need to retrieve a few email addy's and I'll be all better (LOL)

And, by the way, my external hard drive is on it's way!!!! Lesson learned. VBG

July 10 - Thought For The Day

Planning your work is important,

but doing it is better!!!

July 9 - Thought For The Day

Oops I forgot to post yesterday, so today is a 2 for 1 day :)

Lord, when we are wrong, make us willing to change...

and when we are right, make us easy to live with.

Live each day as if it were your last - someday you'll be right.

July 7 - Thought For The Day

Age is a question of mind over matter...

If you don't mind,

It doesn't matter.

July 6 - Thought For The Day

Good character

-like soup-

is usually homemade.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Col. 3:23

Two More July BOMs

These are today's accomplishments. They are for the 2005 and 2009 Block of the Month's I'm working on. Finally all caught up :)

Basket Case BOMs

Since yesterday was a complete "wash out" of a day, (no cook outs, no swimming, no fireworks) it rained the whole day and most of the night...I decided to catch up on my Basket Case quilt blocks. Broke my heart to have to spend my day sewing, NOT!!!!! (I think I'll be doing the same today.) Here are my May, June, and July blocks. I was running just a "little" behind. May's Cherry Basket is my personal favorite :)

July 5 - Thought For The Day

Other things may change us,

but we start and end with family.

July 4th

HAPPY 4th Of JULY

The last four letters in American spell "I Can".

"Thank You" to all those, in all branches of the Armed Services, who serve this wonderful country with pride and determination. God Bless you all. Because of you I Can celebrate this holiday. Because of you I Can sleep in safety. Because of you I Can attend the church I choose. Because of you I Can work where I choose. Because of you I Can express my opinions. Because of you I Can enjoy all my freedoms.

A special "Thank you" and prayer for my nephew who is serving in Irag. I love you.

A Proud Army Aunt

July 3 - Thought For The Day

If you can't have the best of everything,
make the best of everything you have.

July 2 - Thought For The Day

Success begins with knowing what you want to succeed at.

July 1 - Thought For The Day

Like weeds, rumors grow without cultivation and soon take over if they are not eradicated.

NO WAY It's JULY, ALREADY!!!!!

Oh My Gosh, I can't believe it is July already! I haven't blogged for an entire month; and worse than that I haven't blogged any of the BIG events of May. So much to do...so little time!



Summer is here in full force...ninety+ degree temps, so the pool is up and running, and giving much needed relieve from the heat. That is two of our grandchildren helping to fill up the pool.





I haven't done much sewing during May & June, just my Block of the Month projects and a few blocks for an exchange. BUT, I have been busy with the garden and painting inside the house. So far I have painted the kitchen, 2 bathrooms and the laundry room, and hung wall paper in one of the bathrooms. This week it's our bedrooms turn, that only leaves the living room and dining room to do, for this year.



Well, the following blogspots will catch everyone up on my May & June. I hope you enjoy your visit with us today. Blessings to all.

June's DJ Secret Pal "Giftee"

My awesome Dear Jane Secret Pal sent me these 4 beautiful fabrics for my June "giftee". I love browns and this fabric matches perfectly with some Moda fabric I already have :) Now to choose which project to create with these gorgeous fabrics!!!!

June BOMs

I have managed to find the time to get my 2 June Blocks of the Month done :) The Blue & Gold one is the 2005 BOM and it is called Wedding Ring.

The Blue tones & Tan BOM is for the 2009 BOM project and it doesn't have a name! But I really like the pinwheel star effect that the colors give it. Six down six to go. I can't believe the year is already half over...where does the time go?

Garden Update

About the middle of June this is how the garden was coming along :) By the end of June we have had a few tomatoes, green onions, lettuce, and red potatoes to eat from the garden. I will try get a more recent picture posted soon, I hope :)

Soon we will be canning and freezing corn, green beans, peppers, etc. Lots of work now, but it will taste OH SO GOOD this winter :)

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!!!

Graduation - At Last!!!!

After 14 years of Home Schooling, this includes Pre-school & Kindergarten, Graduation Day has finally arrived for my two youngest children. Some days I wasn't sure we would make it through Homeschooling...but we did! So on Saturday, May 23, 2009 we held a small, private, family Graduation Ceremony followed by an open house for all family and friends. I would not trade the experience for anything. That's me, Mom & Teacher in the center; Dad & Principal in the back (and the two of us make up the school board); and Emma-lee and Jesse, our Graduates, on each side. So, we are now All Celebrating!!!!! Oh Yes!!!! WE ALL MADE IT!!!!

Prom Time

My youngest son attended Prom this year, so I thought I would share a couple pictures of this event :) The Prom was at the end of May. (I'm running really behind!!!) The day after the Prom everyone went to King's Island Amusement Park in Ohio for Post-Prom, and of course everyone had a GREAT time!

The Garden

Ahhh, Our garden is going good, after a rough start. Well actually the correct term would be soggy start. I did have to replant a few things after 2 different periods of rain that brought 3-4 inches of rain each time!!! But all is well now :)

My dear husband was also able to get the grape arbors built, (you can see them way in the background of this picture) so we planted Concord and White Niagara grapes there. We also planted some raspberries and blueberries on the other side of the garden. Now, if I could just get him going on building the chicken house!!!!

June Already????

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it is already June....where in the world did May go??? I have so much to catching up to do here on my blog. Gardening, Quilting, Prom, or Graduation... Where to start? Uuummm, let's see... Oh! I know, I have an awesome Secret Pal over on the Dear Jane Secret Pal Group. Every month she has sent some absolutely wonderful gifts and of course there has always been some chocolate included in each package :) Each month she has made me some awesome "quilty" something. All of which matches, she is so so good to me. Anyway here are pictures of May's gift.

I must admit I look very forward to receiving her package each month :) She has really spoiled me.