My best wishes.......

My best wishes to all my friends in Blogland for a very healthy, peace-filled and happy 2012.

This is my last "finish" for 2011.....a quilt that is made from blocks done in a swap I hosted awhile back.....too lazy to go look up the date!!!  LOL   Ebony Love (Love Bug Studios) did a nice job of quilting it for me and I put the binding on today and got it all washed and dried so it would be nice and crinkly....just the way I like it!

I did get a lot of quilts completed in 2011 and hope I do as well in 2012.....but I really need to sift through my UFO's and decide........Finish?........Give away for someone else to finish and keep?........Trash?    I have way too many and some of them no longer appeal to me, I am sad to say.  I may have to offer some on my blog as a giveaway, so keep your eyes open!  Maybe there will be something that appeals to YOU!

Happy New Year! 

Loving my books!

Recently, there was a big blog hop with more than 250 blogs participating.  I did read ALL the blogs, but I controlled myself and only entered 20......the ones that had the prizes I thought I would be most likely to use.  I didn't want to win something that would have been more important to someone else.  I really didn't think I'd win anything by entering only 20 out of the 250...and considering how many others also entered those 20 giveaways, but.....much to my surprise, I did win on two of them!   I won this really nice collection of books and a set of postcards about quilts that are in the Michigan State University quilt museum.  This was from the Quilt Doctor blog.

I also got this very nice book from Janet K......and I am tearing my hair out looking for her blog name.  (My email is acting up on my computer BIG TIME and many things are not accessible to me right now, including my exchange of emails with Janet that has her blog name in them!)  This book has a lot of great applique for various seasons and holidays....all shown as table runners/toppers.  I'm not so great on applique but I like several of these enough to give it a try.  NOTE: Edited to add the name of Janet's blog ..... A Hug Delights. 

And....on Christmas morning, I got these 3 books AND a nice Amazon gift certificate to order more books for my Kindle.  I love to find ways to cut and make traditional quilt blocks using my GO! cutter, so the two quilt block books will be a terrific resource for me!  You can see I have lots of fun hours of reading (and quilt-making) ahead of me over the long, cold months of January and February! 

Peace, love, joy, and good health.....

May the blessings of peace, love, joy, and good health be with all of you now and in the upcoming new year.  (This is a photo of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lewes, Delaware, taken last winter during a pretty rare severe snow in this area.  It is where I will joyfully participate in the music for two services this Christmas Eve.)

Ahhhh......smooth hands and feet!!!

There was a post about homemade hand cream recently by online friend and quilting blogger (Judy Laquidara.....check out her blog by clicking on her name...she has another book coming out....with LOTS of great borders!!!!)  She said to get 16 ozs. of baby lotion, 8 ozs. of vitamin E cream, and 8 ozs. of vaseline....and it could be store brands (which cost about $1 for each of them).  You then mix it all up together and get a very nice product.  The picture here shows what I bought.  I got baby lotion with cocoa and shea butter and I think it made mine a tiny bit greasy, but......after a few minutes, that absorbed into my skin and it feels WONDERFUL!  (Next time, I'll get regular baby lotion.)  For now, I just need a teensy-tiny bit and it goes a long way.  For $3.50, I got solidly-packed nice-sized Rubbermaid container of cream that will last me awhile.  I think I will start collecting fun jars and then make some for gifts!  Thanks, Judy....for the great idea and for the nice soft, skin I have after using this!   (Be sure to see the second photo below, too.)

 

My previous post showed my daughter's and granddaughter's reactions to the quilts I made them for Christmas.  I knew I had a photo of my granddaughter sleeping that night with hers but was unable to find it.  I found it now and it is below.  She had to sleep on the pullout sofa in the living room that night as "her" room here was in use by someone else.  She wasn't too crazy about that, but we told her we'd leave the tree lights on for the tree in that room while she went to sleep, so she took her new teddy bear and her new quilt and went very happily to bed looking at the lights on that tree.  I snapped this photo a short time later when she was fast asleep and all wrapped up in her "Snack Attack" quilt!!!   (She told me last night on the phone that the quilt is keeping her very cozy...which melted my heart, of course!)

They loved their quilts.....

Last week we celebrated Christmas with Tara and Jessi.  They loved the quilts I made for them.  Here are a couple of photos showing their reactions....Tara with her quilt (named: "I Just Want Salad"...her usual choice at a restaurant!)

 And Jessi after opening "Snack Attack"  (popcorn, pretzels and cheese fish on main side with added donuts ice cream cones and cupcakes on reverse side).  She slept with it that night here....and when I find the picture of that, I'll post it here soon!    

Need ideas.......

What is your very best "company" main-dish casserole?  Not fond of mushrooms or many seafoods, so would prefer something else.  I'd love to hear some of your ideas (and a link to the recipe or a description of it in your comment)!   I'll be back here in a day or two with a regular post with photos.

Secret Santa package......

I was at the grocery store this morning and when I returned, my husband said there was a package for me and he'd put it on my computer chair.  SO....I raced down the hall to see it.  This is what I saw....

....a box.....a nice-sized box...with MY name on it.  I was trying to decide if I'd open its contents now or wait until Christmas.  I decided to take a peek inside the box...and was still undecided if I'd open what was in there.  Luckily for me, I didn't have to decide as the items were not wrapped, so I got to see them now!!!  Yippee!!! Here is what I saw in that box when I opened it.........

......OH, MY.....lots of good stuff in here....so I took it all out and lined it up nicely for you to see........

....and here is what was in there.......2 bags of Hershey kisses (YUMMMM)......a nice caramel pecan scented candle jar.......17 (yes...I said SEVENTEEN) fat quarters of fabric.......a package of Timeless Treasures printable fabric (YAY for that.....I am trying to make labels for all my quilts and really need that!!!)......AND the cutest Christmas ornament you ever saw because (as you can probably see) it says "Eat More Candy!"   That sure gets MY vote!!!    Thanks, Secret Santa.......I love it all!!!  The box did have a first and last name on the return address, so I now have to go through the blog list on the SSS post Suzanne made and see if anyone there has that name.  I know sometimes folks don't put their names on their blogs OR my SS might have had a friend put HER name on the return address instead, so it might not be easy to find her.  I will set aside time late tonight or at some point tomorrow to put on my detective hat and try to figure out who this is so I can go to her blog and thank her.  And...thanks, Suzanne, for putting this together!  It was a lot of fun.

Any ideas???

I happen to follow a couple hundred quilting/crafting blogs.  However....just now when I logged onto my blog to read the updates of the blogs I follow, stupid Blogger is telling me that I do not follow ANY blogs!  What is up with that??? Anyone have any ideas as to why this happens and if it will correct itself at some point? 

Trying to catch up....

Gosh...I have so many photos I've taken over the past several weeks with all good intentions of posting, but time just gets away from me. So....I'll try to put a few photos at a time here. They probably won't be in chronological order, but.....I don't think that matters much.

First, we have one of my feet wearing the very comfy and attractive socks made for me by Margi......I've talked about this in a few posts...how she rescued me and made the socks for me after I failed at my attempt to do them.  I love them!!! Thanks, again, Margi!

Next we have a closeup of an absolutely gorgeous poinsettia plant I got yesterday.  It was given to me by my quilty friend (and blogging buddy), Michelle.  She and her hubby came to visit my husband and me.  Michelle and I had some fun time with the GO! cutter as she cut out some HST's for a project she'll be starting soon. The hubbies talked...and then we all went out for a supper at a nice Italian place we like in downtown Rehoboth Beach....Nicola's.  Then...it was home so they could see my husband's Christmas light display where the lights twinkle in time to music that you tune on your car radio.  (Sorry I don't have pictures of it, but...trust me...it's a very nice light display.)    We all had a very nice day!  This last picture below shows part of my tumbler quilt (did a close-up in hopes you could see the nice quilting on it).  Michelle quilted it for me on her long-arm and brought it back to me yesterday.  She does such nice work.  Today I went and chose binding for it. Well...actually, I let my friend, Sherry, who works a the LQS and is excellent with color choice, do the choosing for me.  She chose something I'd never have picked, but it's a fun fabric and will look great when it's done!  (I'll take another picture at that time.)  OH...and great news.......the young gal in our family who is in the Air Force and was in Iraq has come HOME safe and sound...and just in time for Christmas!!!  We are truly blessed!

YAY!!! Socks.........but not made by me!!!

You might recall a few weeks back I blogged about a nice book with crocheted sock patterns....a nice book but I wasn't having luck with it.  SO...I put out an S.O.S. on my blog and my blogging buddy, Margi (click HERE for her blog...she is one very talented gal), responded and kindly offered to take my yarn and my book and make me a pair of socks.  She is a fabulous knitter but she had been wanting to try crocheted socks, so this gave her that chance...and, in true Margi fashion, she was rose to the challenge!!!  She has emailed me a photo of the finished socks and they are TERRIFIC!!!  See???  She will be mailing them to me soon.  Thanks, Margi...you are a real pal to do this.  The sock yarn would have gathered dust here as would the book if you'd not come to my rescue!!!  Gotta love blogging and the friends you make along the way!!!

A time to count our blessings......

I'm sure we all have had some sad days since last Thanksgiving....and maybe went through some tough times, but......this is a time to focus on our blessings.  We are told that our struggles make us stronger.  Sometimes I find it hard to believe that, but I have found that if we really sit down and think about it, we can usually find a silver lining in all our "clouds".  May you and your family have a wonderful thank-filled Thanksgiving holiday and may we all keep in mind those who are less fortunate and those who are not able to be with family for the holiday.

A chance to spread some hope and happiness.....

Here is a chance to spread some hope and happiness to a quilter who is facing treatment for breast cancer.  Go HERE to find out the details.  I'm figuring on sending some charm squares and I hope some of you can send some fabric along, too.  I'm sure the gal for whom this is being collected will be happy to know many quilters all over the place are thinking about her and praying for good results from her treatment. Can you imagine if every person who reads this put just one fat quarter in an envelope and sent it?  What a GREAT showing of support that would be for this quilter!!!  Please consider doing that!

A twisted tale...or a tale of two twisters!!!

About a year ago, Jackie was kind enough to mail me her Lil Twister tool to try.  Since I was going to vacation in her area during the winter, I was able to return it to her in person and we got to meet, which was nice.  This first photo shows the table runner I made using her Lil Twister.

While the use of Jackie's Lil Twister tool went well, I wasn't too happy with the results as my color placement was "off" and the contrasts just weren't there....some of the pinwheels got "lost" in the shuffle. I tried to use all random 5" squares and I should have used ones that were better coordinated.   About a week ago, I saw a demo of the tool at the LQS and decided to buy one of my own and make something with which I'd be more satisfied.  I decided to use a charm pack (so the coordination would be there) and chose colors my daughter likes (black, brown, tan, and lighter neutrals).  This second picture is the result and I'm much  happier with how I did on this runner.  I hope my daughter likes it (once it's quilted and has binding on it, of course).

Some sad news.....

Some of you might have been followers of Kaye at her blog (click HERE for her blog).  She has not blogged in nearly a year because she has been coping with a very ill husband who had brain tumor surgery and then had further health problems develop after that.  I am sorry to say he suffered for a long time but his suffering is now over as he passed away today.  My heart goes out to Kaye and her family at this difficult time.  If you are a blogger who "knew" her through her blog and wish to contact her to express your sympathy, please get in touch with me and I'll help you do that.

Win some free batting!!!

Of course, I hope to be the winner, but......to enter the giveaway, I had to promise to tell all of you. So....go HERE to read about it.

The rental house....

I realized I didn't take many photos of the retreat house we rented two weeks ago...guess that's because the owners have many good shots of it online at the site from which we rented it.  This house is large.......5 regular bedrooms and 2 loft bedrooms....a front porch with rockers and an upstairs balcony......3 full bathrooms and a very nice yard with lots of seating and a fire pit that we didn't use but had intended to (just never got around to it).  THIS is the site that tells about the house for any who might be interested in it....would make a great spot for a large family vacation or for another group to do a quilters' retreat. (If you have a group that decides to rent it, tell them Pat and the gals from Delaware sent you!!! We don't get anything for a referral but at least they'd know we liked the house enough to recommend it.)  Here are a few photos I did take while there......(click to enlarge)....captions beneath each photo.

 

This was the view when pulling out of the driveway.  Many of the immediate neighbors are Amish families and an Amish lady next door had a very lovely gift shop with beautiful items she (and others) made.

 

The front porch of the house.....which we didn't use.  We were either busy sewing or shopping!!! I guess we need to stay there longer to make use of the firepit and the front porch.

 

Some Amish children walking home from school.  One of the Amish one-room schoolhouses was a few doors away from us.  I always love watching the schoolkids go by.......all carrying those lunch coolers now.  This road has a good bit of traffic, so the "lead" child wears a safety vest.  I also notice that she had the little guy carry HER lunch cooler, too!  Other years, I've not noticed any lead child doing that and I found it kind of funny to see.

Lots of projects......

Thanks to all who took the time to look at the many photos in my previous post.  It has become a fun part of the whole Amish quilt trip experience to report back to you on what was purchased and put into that "bottomless" Amish shopping bag!  lol    But...I don't want you to think all we did was shop. Actually, we crammed the shopping into a couple of very brief excursions and all were within about 15 minutes (or less) of our rental house.  Hours and hours were spent using the GO cutter and sewing.  (In fact, all of us ended up with backaches before the week was over from sitting at the kitchen table for so long....and some of us even switched out to some folding chairs that were more comfy than the kitchen chairs!  Not that we are getting old or anything, but.......)   Below are some photos of items that were made during the week.  NO photos of items that were started but not completed and there were also several of them that went home ready-to-finish.

The photos should enlarge if you click on them.  We made several rag rugs and several zipper bags that will be used as Christmas gifts.  This photo is a collection of some of what was made by all of us......in addition to the bags and rugs, there were rope hot pads, coasters, stars for a memorial quilt project being done on another blog, a small wall-hanging, placemats and runners.   Raggy squares for 3 raggy quilts were also cut on the GO and the gal who cut them has since assembled them when she returned home as well as a few more rag rugs cut but not sewn there.

The girls hard at work.....and the table is actually a little bit neater in this photo than it was at other times! 

A close up view of some of the projects seen above in the first photo.

Sherry with one of the rag rugs she made.  She also cut out two more with beautifully coordinated fabrics that will match her master bathroom/bedroom.

My rope hot pad close up.  It was my first attempt so it is a little messier than I'd like, but now that I have the hang of it, I'm sure I could get it neater if I made another one.     Oh....for those who asked about the wine in the last post and were not able to make out the name,  it was called Quilters' Delight and is made and marketed only in PA.  There was no way a group of quilters could walk out of the winery and NOT buy some of it with a name like that!!!

My bottomless Amish shopping bag.....

Those of you who have followed my blog for a couple of years know that I have this wonderful Amish-made shopping bag that I take on my annual quilting trip.  It always fits so many terrific goodies inside it....and my blog readers always look forward to seeing what it brings home each year. SO.....here is that post.  It is very photo-intensive (with each photo having a caption under it...and I think they might be clickable to view larger).  IF Blogger doesn't cooperate and let me post them all in one post (or won't let me get a caption underneath each photo if I have too many), I will have to split this up into two posts, but...let's see what happens.

This is a little jointed bear...made by a gal up in the Amish area who makes purses and other things to sell in shops.  This little guy needs a name, so all suggestions are welcomed.  He is sitting on the edge of the shopping bag, as you can see.

Oh, look...that nameless little bear popped into a second photo...sitting with some fabric and an interesting little book about Amish one-room schools.  One of the fabrics is a very nice polka-dotted 108" wide backing fabric that was only $10.95 a yard...a real buy!

I enjoy the nice Amish calendars I find in PA each year.  The photos for each month are very peaceful and I even save the calendars at the end of the year so I can continue to enjoy the photos.

Some batik fabrics....purchased to make a zippered bag which I'm hoping to make in the next day or two.

Oh, look...it's more fabric and some hand-quilting thread.

Last year I purchased a nice, wooden handmade 48" wide quilt hanger at one of the Amish shops.  I got a small one this  year. It is 14" wide and I can easily make some miniature wall-hangings for it...maybe one for each season or holiday?

What a surprise to find more fabric popped out of that shopping bag!

Here we have two cinnamon-scented mats (made by the Amish).  One is for me and one is a gift.  The little sign is a gift, too, for a young couple I know.

I didn't want to open the box and unwrap this as I might not get it wrapped properly again.  It is a gift for a friend who loves dachshunds. She and her husband are very kind and let us stay at their house during the Hurricane in August and when I saw this (it's a bank from Pottery Barn), I had to buy it for her, so....it squeezed itself into the shopping bag, too.

This is another gift for someone for Christmas...from the Pottery Barn outlet, also.  It is a 30-hour birch bark candle and a nice wooden pedestal.

 This looks very strange but it's the most fun piece of jewelry I've seen and I bought it for ME.  It's a "twistlet".  You can wear it many ways as a necklace and also use it as a bracelet or a scarf holder.  I think I will do an entire post on it sometime soon.  I wore it today as a necklace and got a lot of positive comments.  You can bend and twist it every which way...it's almost as much fun as playing with a toy!

This is an electric warmer that melts wax, scented tarts.  It has a pineapple design on it which you can see if you look closely.  My husband has already enjoyed using this in our house.

 Speaking of my husband, he loves the many wonderful Amish-made food items available at the Canning Company and from Kitchen Kettle Village near the house we rented...so I brought several items home for him.......relishes, pickles, jellies, salad dressings, brandied cherries...and I know I also bought a scone mix, but I somehow forgot to put that in view of the camera.

And here we have a large head of cabbage grown on an Amish farm (already cut up for cole slaw today) as well as some super-delicious raisin bread baked at the Bird-in-Hand Bakery and a nice hunk of homemade cheese purchased at one of the Amish farms.  I also got some homemade root beer there but drank it before I thought to take a picture of the bottle.  It is excellent!

 Gee..what is this that came out of the bag?  It looks to be a bottle of wine, but....is it empty?  Hmmmm....how did that happen?  Be sure to look at the name of the wine on the label and it might give you a clue about who emptied the bottle!

Now..this looks crazy but there is a story behind it.  I happen to like a lunch meat called Lebanon Bologna.  I know...I know...the stuff isn't good for me.  I rarely buy it here as the price is more than I wish to pay but one of the Amish markets (one that was seen in the movie Witness....Zimmerman's in the town of Intercourse) had it on sale for the amazing price of $2.99 a pound, so I bought two packages.  One will go in the freezer and one I have already been enjoying.     NOW......didn't that Amish shopping bag do a great job again this year?   Don't think all we did was shop, though.  We did a good bit of sewing and I'll do some posts soon to show you some more of our week of fun in PA.   Thanks for sticking with me for this long, photo-intensive post.  My blog readers are the best!  (OH...and please remember to suggest a name for my cute little bear!)

Soon.....very soon........

I know that some of you are anxiously awaiting my now-annual post showing what I managed to stuff into that Amish shopping bag during my 5-day quilting trip to the area of Lancaster, PA.   Well....in another day or two, I'll have that post ready.  The shopping bag did a marvelous job this year....just wait until you see how much it carried home for me!   (Be ready for a photo-intensive post!!!)   For now, this is just a photo of one of the Christmas gift quilts I made (all cut with my GO cutter) hanging on the front porch of the rental house.  I had it in mind to take some photos there of quilts on the fence, but the type of fence that was there didn't really lend itself to that......so we improvised.  Thanks, Kathy, for helping me with my quilt pictures!

One finished project.....

We are having a wonderful time on our quilting trip......very productive in both sewing AND shopping.  Here is one of my finishes....a small wall-hanging that will go on the wall in my kitchen when I return home.  Many more photos coming in a couple of days!

Off to the Amish quilt shops.......

Tomorrow (Monday) is the start of our 3rd annual quilting trip to the Lancaster, PA, area.  A small group of us gals rents a house for 4 nights and we shop and sew and eat and have a grand time! I wonder what I'll put in my Amish shopping bag this year?  (Those of you who follow my blog know that this bag always brings back an amazing array of pretty things, and I expect it will be no different this year!)

Bloggers Quilt Festival....

It's fall Quilt Market time, so Amy is graciously hosting another Bloggers Quilt Festival!!!  Click HERE to go see it.  I'm entering a quilt that will be given as a Christmas gift to my daughter. She has had a rough year.  After trying for 9 years to make a marriage work with a bi-polar husband (who then began self-medicating with alcohol), she decided it was time to make a break.  This has been hard for her and her daughter (and also for us, as her parents)....but...things are looking up.   We have always teased her when we go out to eat, because she almost always says, "I'll just have salad."   SO...I had been collecting veggie fabrics and thought this was a good time to make her a quilt with them.  It's a simple design...just squares on point.... that I first did in EQ7 (using colors where my different fabrics would go...orange for the carrots...light green for the lettuce, etc.).  Like this....

Then......I made the quilt and I was very happy with the way the veggies "popped" with the black background fabric.   (Bad camera work...the quilt really isn't out-of-square and the colors are nicer in person.) We have carrots, broccoli, red onions, various colored peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and lots of lettuce!

I had a friend with a long-arm machine quilt it (a no-blog friend) and she did an outstanding job and actually changed thread colors several times so the threads on all the veggie squares would match the fabric....pretty nice of her, don't you agree?  The last photo above shows her quilting. (Click on it to see it in greater detail.)  I tried to get the photo positioned below this paragraph, but you know Blogger....acting temperamental again and not letting me move a picture!!!   That picture was taken before I put the binding on the quilt.  For the binding, I used the same green as the backing as it ended up looking the most "right" to me when I audition some other choices.  I hope my daughter likes her quilt for snuggling under while watching TV this winter.  Oh, yes.....the name of the quilt, of course, is:   I'll Just Have Salad.      Now be sure to go back to my link above and check out the other quilts on Amy's blog and maybe you want to enter one, too.

Tonya "tagged" me....

Tonya tagged me with a Versatile Blogger award...thanks, Tonya.  I am supposed to list 7 things about myself and then pass the award to 15 other bloggers.  (Hmmmmm...might have trouble with that part of it.)  Okay...let's try to come up with 7 things.

1.  I am in a handbell choir at church and really enjoy it (although at times it is a bit scary when we have a difficult piece of music).
2.  I live about 3 hours away from my daughter and grandkids, so I don't see them often, BUT when I do see them, it's usually for extended visits and not just a short period of time (so that has its benefits).
3.  I enjoy scrapbooking but it has taken a back-seat for a LONG time to my quilting.
4.  I love to read and have enjoyed having a Kindle for about a year now.
5.  My husband and I love Walt Disney World and hadn't been in many years....took a trip there last winter and expect to get there a few times in 2012....once with the grandkids who will be making their first trip there!
6.  I am lucky to have made the acquaintance of a few gals who are really great long-arm quilters and they have added much beauty to my quilt tops recently, so I get to see my quilts FINISHED!
7.  I am a retired teacher who expected to be fully retired when I moved from NJ to southern DE, but....I somehow ended up with a part-time medical transcription business.....which will probably end in 2012 as the doctor for whom I transcribe is FINALLY getting herself onto electronic records......THEN I can be fully retired and resume some scrapbooking along with my quilting.
Now...I can't decide which 15 names to tag......so...here's the deal.  If YOU read my blog on a regular basis and comment on it fairly regularly, consider yourself tagged!  Those who fit that description KNOW who they are...so I'll be watching your blogs to see if you follow through on this.   :-)

Flaky person wanted......

Too bad some of you don't live closer.  We find we will have an opening on our soon-to-occur quilting trip to the Amish area of PA.  We are a small group but we have a lot of fun.  (That is why we need a flaky person as a replacement...someone who isn't afraid to be silly, ya know?  Because we are not all about "serious" on these trips!!!  Hope you're not shocked to hear that...LOL)  The gal who can't go is not really a quilter...but...in spite of most folks thinking she is a serious gal, she fit the "flaky" category (I have photos to prove it!) and was willing to join us in our silliness each day.  She put up with going to fabric shops, too....lots of them!   I guess it's time to dig out my Amish shopping bag.......you remember this from the two previous trips.....