Happy New Year Everyone

It's almost January already - a new year - 1012. Wow! did last year go fast.  I have been posting my cubicle blocks started this summer.  They were for Christmas presents for my daughters, so have been making four of each block. Sorry the snowballs are a little blurry in the picture.

One set for my daughter, Donna, she is a college professor, for her office.
One set for my daughter, Tracey, who is a special needs teacher in North Carolina.
One set for my daughter, Grace, who works for a financial institution in Tennessee.
And one set for me, to remind me of what month it is, and of each of my special daughters.

I love you all.

This week I put together my snowman quilt from a swap this month.  Like the way it turned out. A good quilt for the January snows.

Happy New Year to all.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas was a quiet affair at our home, no grandchildren here this year. My niece Susan and her husband, Lou; my brother Ray, and Lou's father were here for dinner.
We spent too much time eating but everything was so yummy that I haven't been hungry since.

My Christmas Rosemary lamb bread and the lemon cake I made.

Special Doll Dresses

Last year I made complete wardrobes for the girls 18" dolls for Christmas. This year a little slower.  I only got two special dresses done and two embroidered pant sets.

Dress in white was made out of my daughter Tracey's high school graduation dress scraps and then the clasp of the jacket was from one of the roses taken off her wedding dress.  It had a beige center flower and she wanted all white ones so they were changed and I have used a lot of the roses on other projects.  Only one made so Tracey's daughters will have to share.

The yellow dress was from scraps of daughter Grace's bridesmaid dress when I made all the dresses for daughter Tracey's wedding.  Think that this is the last of those scraps. So this dress if for her daughters to use on their dolls.

The embroidered pants were done by my niece Susan and then I put the pants and tops together.  I think I need a new sewing embroidery machine Santa.

Orchids

My orchids are blooming and just had to share some pictures of them. All of these are in my one palm tree out front of the dining room window.  I think I will use them on my table for Christmas. The quilt I am using has pink/lavender poinsettias in the fabric.

Merry Christmas Early

Jim and I received our Christmas present early yesterday. Can you guess whats in the box?

Tracey, Don, Timothy, Amber, and Hannah are expecting a new little one in 2012. WAY TO GO HOLTONS.  What a wonderful Christmas present for your family and ours. May your new little one be healthy and safe until he or she joins us next summer.  Exciting times. God is good.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

TO EVERYONE AND MAY YOUR NEW YEAR BE A BLESSED ONE FOR YOUR FAMILIES.

Visit in Kirksville MO

The first weekend in December I visited with DS Richard and his lovely wife DDL Donna. It was his birthday and he had some friends in for homemade stew and chili. He even made his own deliousous birthday cake as he loves to cook. 

 
   

The next day was a craft show in the next town. I went with him and helped him set up his wood crafts he makes.  His hoppy has turned profitable and, of course, Mom had to shop too. My as well support the family instead of the big corporations this year, right?

Richard first love is his dogs.  He has three Corgi's and they are more like kids than dogs.  Archie, Brooke and Comet are their names and Archie is a champion.

Our picture was taken at the airport just before leaving in a twin prop airplane that seated ten.  I got to sit in the co-poliot seat, which was an experience for me.  Unfortunetly didnt get to see much as it was snowing that day and were lots of cloud cover until we got into St Louis airport. But I can cross that off my bucket list.

Thanks so much for the lovely weekend Richad and Donna.

Design Wall

My dear friend Pat visited with me yesterday and toured the mess in my quilting room. She did see some progress in my AOTH [Affairs of the Heart] quilt I am making for DD Grace.  Pat said I should post the progress on the blog, so here it is.

The AOTH is on the left and a current swap we are in with the snowmen is on the right. So far I have received seven of the fourteen coming. So cute and love them all.

December Cubicle Block

Wow! Is it December already? The month has flown by and am way behind on posting and my quilting projects for Christmas.  Happy holidays to all. This past weekend I was in Missouri to spend time with my son and daughter-in-law. It's his birthday and he had a Mellow Yellow Party. I guess you can tell his age by that choice.  I will post pictures later.

HE'S A STAR IN MY LIFE!

Maple Leaf Quilt

This quilt was from a swap in the Friendship Group from last year that I had put together.  My niece, Susan, machine quilted it for me and it looks fabulous.  I used it on the table for Thanksgiving.  Great job Susan!

November Mini Quilt

The trip was wonderful and I will post some cute pictures of us later but I thought I had least better get the November quilt up before the month was over. Can you believe that 2011 is almost over. Wow has this year flown by, must be that I'm getting older and the time goes much more quickly now.  Remember our veterens tomorrow and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

EPIC trip

Time has arrived for another Sister Cruise. This year we are flying to Barcelona Spain for a week and then cruising back transatlantic to Miami.  Stops in  Portugal and St Thomas and a total of thirteen days at sea. It will be so relaxing.

We will be sailing on NCL's new ship the Epic.  Each trip the five sisters wear the matching tee shirts each day.  After a day or two we will meet people and they say "there go the sisters" or "what will you be wearing tomorrow?"  This began on our second cruise with one shirt, then a few more, and then we had to keep buying shirts for our fan club.  I think we are up to more than thirty shirts now.  Originally we purchased shirts that had four of something on [ie. four moose, four flowers, etc, for the four of us]. Then we adopted a sister and thus had five of something on them [ie. five bears, five turtles, etc].  Now we are in to bedazzled so I made the Epic shirts for this trip and the eagle is our theme [Mom's family name is Eagle]. Wearing matching shirts helps us to find each other when in a crowd also.

This trip is mixed blessings. My sister Linda won't be going as her husband is undergoing treatment for aggressive throat cancer [doing well with treatments].  Our adopted sister Faye can't go as she is retiring at the end of November and has much to do.  However, my husband Jim is going so the three of us will have a body guard to protect us and keep us on track. LOL.

October Cubicle Block

Its fall in the air and time for pumpkins and falling leaves. This months mini quilt is fall trees and pumpkins. I love pumpkin pie and guess I better make one soon.

September Cubicle Block

Its back to school time and I am late posting my September mini quilt.  Had to get all those little kids ready for school, and three of my grandchildren too.

Grands

I have been visiting with my grandchildren and helping daughters get all six of them ready for school year. Here's a snap when they were all together, although some not wanting a picture taken.  As of today, all back in school and it sure is quiet here in NC. I return home on Saturday to a lonely husband.  Tuesday I was in my first earthquake but it seems the hurricane will miss us. Thank goodness.

Of course the two grand dogs were there also.

August Cubicle Quilt

My August quilt 15x15 inches for my quilt room. It is an ant farm, if you look close you can see them burrowing in the sand.  My little six year old helper, Sage, helped me lay out the ants.

Garden Yummies

This is a sampling of the Cherry tomatoes we picked yesterday. My daughter's garden has so many we can't keep up with the picking.

DGD eats them by the hand full and we made sauce and salsa. 

So yummy and fresh. 

SISTER FOUR - T-SHIRTS

Last fall when I was at my sister, Ruth's, home in California, we cut apart her t-shirts to make a quilt. I finally got it together in May and quilted in June. Sent it off to her and now I can post a picture since she has received it.  Ruth had three or four large tubs of t-shirts collected around the world as she traveled.  When she was working at the lumber mill she wore a different one everyday for three months and then gave up.  There was a lot of shirts.  But we narrowed it down to places she had been or worked at.  I put a nautical flannel back on it so it will be comfy in the winter to cozy up in.

Tribute to a Fallen Hero

Yesterday we received the news that Jordan S. was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday.  This is a son of a lady that I worked with at church.  She and her husband are the neatest people and this is a hard loss to them but they are rejoicing in his life and that he is now in heaven with Jesus.  It is very hard to lose a child.

Jordan was married last year and his wife is expecting their first child, a son, in September.  He and two other army soldiers, and their interpreter, were killed instantly in a road side bomb.  Such a tragedy for this family but they remain strong.  God is with them and working in ways that will bring glory to the family and to Him.

Members of their Sunday School class came and put in a flag pole for them in remembrance.  This morning God put on my heart to make them a 'Gold' Star quilt to hang in their window.  These quilts are in memory of a soldier who died in a war and are hung in the windows so all can see the ultimate sacrifice the family has made for our country.

How I wish it could have been a 'blue' star.  May you shine brightly Jordan.

Quilt Fairy Godmother - Minisofine

Last week Paper Panache started a mystery block for your very own quilt fairy godmother. After taking a brief survey of your quilting choices at

http://www.paperpanache.com/MBs/MB61/mysblk61.php

I was sent my very own fairy godmother pattern.  Mine was for Queen Minisofine. On the above site you can see a slide show of all the fairy godmothers.  Mine should be posted in the line up soon.  

Here she is.   A firey, flirty, quilty godmother.   TaTa.

Pillowcases

This week I made some pillow cases for special people. 

One dear friend wanted a quilty case to take on retreats so I chose some quilty ladies on black.  The cuff is measuring tapes.  Fun, Fun,  lets go on a retreat.

The second one was for my dear granddaughter who is celebrating her seventh birthday.  I had already made her a pillowcase and a mug rug.  However, when she saw the mug rug I had made her brother [who had an earlier birthday] that had skulls on it,  she of course requested that on hers.  I didn't had any of the fabric left.  So this weekend I found this fun fabric.  It has skeletons and skulls with flowers [she also thinks she is from Hawaii - she's not, but loves the flowers]  so I thought it was perfect for her.

Sweet Treats

What's better than ice cream cones and a banana split sundae on the hot fourth of July.  Made up these for a swap of sweet treats.  They will make a fun quilt when I get all the swapped blocks back.

 

 

 
 
 

Christmas Stars

Happy 4th of July weekend to all but I was in Christmas mode this week.

The Friendship Swap Group is making Christmas Stars this year in colorful seasonal fabrics.  We were making sets of five alike up to five sets.  These are my color choices. I love this pattern with the star with in the star.

My Cubicle Monthly blocks

I got this book some time ago on making monthly blocks for your office space. Most of them are 12x12 with the biggest being 15x15.  It will be nice to be able to change them out each month.  I know I'm starting in the middle of the year but oh well, that's life. 

My first one done is for the July.  A patriotic theme so I chose a flag fabric and lined it with this red, white and blue stripped fabric I found in my one and only local quilt store. Love it! I hung it on a plastic skirt hanger on my window by the computer and sewing machine so I can see it all month long.

Oh just wait until you see the one for August. LOL.

Missy the Microbe

My niece, Dr. Beth Orcutt, is a micro biologist and is out on her research ship again this summer for a scientific tour.  They do lots of experiments and have a program for people to sign up and follow along and there are weekly activities to do at home.
Each summer my grandchildren and me sign up to follow one of the microbes.

Each year they have a different microbe for the kids to talk to and this year it is Missy the Microbe.  The Green Gang from NC [that's us] got to name the microbe this year. 

Here is the link if you want to see.

https://sites.google.com/site/adoptamicrobe3/letters-from-the-giant-microbes/wemadeittotheship

Baby Dolls

The last few days I have been working on these very old baby dolls.  A lady that I taught how to quilt a few years ago wanted me to make new dresses for her dolls she had as a child. This lady is now 85 years young, so the dolls are in delicate condition and were very dirty and the original dresses deteriorated.

I cleaned up the dolls as best I could and then made the new clothes. The large doll I fashioned a new slip and underwear in pink with delicate flowers.  Then the pink satin dress has an overlay of tulle and a new embroidered collar.  For the little doll I made new underwear and a dress of green and peach flowers.  Then made new blankets and pillows to lay the dolls on. 

A fun project and I hope she is pleased with the results.

My Cats

Today we took our two persian cats to be shaved for the summer heat in Florida. I don't think they like the new look.


Esther before




Esther afterward




Sara before




Sara afterward