Nice surprise in the mail.....

Look at this nice surprise I got in the mail today from a quilting friend ( Julie ).   She took the time to make me a mini quilt and I love it......so colorful....

and she put a little bit of "extra-special" in it by adding a piping strip of fabric just inside the binding.  (I'm not sure if you call it piping, but that's what I call it.)  If you click on the photo, I think you can see it in more detail.   I really appreciate her kindness AND her nice work.....beautifully-stitched hand-quilting on it, too.   It looks very nice hanging on my wall and I will treasure it always.   THANKS, Julie!    Click on her name at the beginning of my post to go see her quilting blog and the beautiful work she does while still working full-time as a nurse.  She is quite a special gal.

Yet Another Book Review...Minding Molly

Recently I was given a copy of Minding Molly (by Leslie Gould) from Bethany House publishers.  In return, I was asked to provide a review.  Those of you who follow my blog know I enjoy Amish fiction, so I had high hopes for this book....especially since I read the first two books of the series and really enjoyed them.  This one, though, didn't hold my interest very well.  It seemed to drag along and I didn't find myself wanting to stay up late at night to read for hours on end.  I had trouble connecting with the characters in this book.  I think, though, if it was the first Amish fiction book I was reading, I'd have been fascinated enough with the Amish culture that it would have been enjoyable enough.  At this point, however, I have read so many Amish fiction books that I had a large basis for comparison and this didn't make the grade for me.  While I have enjoyed other books by this same author, this one did not seem on a par with the others.   I'd give it just 3 out of 5 stars.  To me, it was okay...but not much more than that.

Decluttering and ME time....

I am in the process of trying to declutter the house.  I have accumulated lots of things and really can do without many of them.  So....I set a goal of getting rid of at least 5 items per day for as long as I can continue to do that.  Some days I have gotten rid of more than 5.  My best day was today when I got rid of 30 items!!!  Some of the items are going to folks I know who will enjoy them.....many more are going to an area thrift shop.  It feels good to do this.  So far, I'm not noticing a big difference in the house, overall, but that will come, in time.  I also am not finding it difficult to identify items that need to GO.....but I'm sure it will become harder as days/weeks go by!  For now, though, my plan is working well.

Along with this, I am taking more time for ME this year.  This will be done in several ways.....little things to improve my health (remembering to take my daily vitamin and calcium, drinking lots of water each day, increasing my amount of exercise, etc.)  I am also setting out to improve my singing skills in choir and hope to start piano lessons soon. That is something I've always wanted to do since I was a little girl (at which time I had to settle for accordion lessons...which I hated...but that was what fit my parents' budget...no way they could get a piano for me). 

Here is a photo of something cute I forgot I had.   I found it when decluttering and I'm going to put it out and use it AND make some more "quilts" for it.  It is a miniature wooden quilt rack.  I put a pen by it when I took the photo so you can see how small it is.  I really like it and it will not be going out of the house as a "clutter" item!   Some things you just need to keep.....

 

May 2014 bring blessings of good health, peace and joy to all of you.  

Merry Christmas!

For all my blog friends who celebrate Christmas, I wish you many blessings.....and a good year ahead in 2014 for all.

Happy...Happy!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate that this week....

And Happy Hanukkah, also, to those who will be celebrating that holiday this week!

The winning photos.....

Here is the update we've awaited...and MY guess as to which of my daughter's photos would be chosen was wrong.  Each year, the calendar includes images of two of the main buildings at Colonial Williamsburg.....the governor's palace and the capitol.....so many folks submit photos of those places.  My daughter's photo of the capitol was selected for this year....it will be the May 2015 photo....and is the first one in the second row in the Facebook album of the winning photos.  If you click HERE, you will see all 12 winning photos. Thanks to those of you who voted.  Even though my favorite of hers wasn't selected, I am still very proud of her for achieving this honor!