My Childhood Sewing Box

I wanted to show you a little sewing box that my Great Aunt Alta made for me when I was about 8 or 9 years old. She was a wonderful seamstress and sewed for many, many years. This little box is old, maybe 65+ years. I'm surprised the fabric isn't rotten!!! It was made out of a cigar box but she padded the inside of the lid, lined it and covered all of the outside. I just love the fabric, it's definitely a cowboy theme, I wonder if this has ever been re-produced?? She had thread, needles and a small thimble inside and probably some fabric to get me started sewing. I still have the thimble and it fits my little finger now. Today I"m linking up to Freemotion By The River so bop on over there and check out her Linky Tuesday..It's fun to see what other people are linking to Connie's blog. Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day............

Uni in Brum?

What does that mean???? Uni in Brum? Well, it's the title of my youngest granddaughter's blog. She is in England attending the University of Birmingham this semester. I think she has done an excellent job writing about her travels so far.. Before Spring break, she had visited Liverpool, Sweden, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Scotland, Finland, Oxford and Ireland.  She hasn't started blogging about her travels on Spring break yet, I think she might have some studying to do!!  During Spring break, she traveled with Sophie, an international student from Alabama, and they met up with some other gals along their travels for a few days now and then. They had a few unfortunate things happen but it didn't seem to slow them down a lot. She has a rather quirky style of writing sometimes so I just have to laugh when I read some of the things but I have enjoyed her travels and pictures...of course, I may be a little partial too!! If you would like to travel with Abby, I know she would love to have you and if you read her blog, could you kindly leave her a comment or two?  She would be so grateful.  Thanks for stopping by today and have a Stitches kind of day....Sew until next time, take care...

Abby, get away from that cliff!!

Cottonwood Guild Slide Show- April 16, 2013

On Tuesday, the Cottonwood Guild had Diane Harris, from Quiltmaker Magazine, give the program. She had a wonderful trunk show of many of Quiltmaker's quilts made from the patterns in the magazines. When she said the magazine had been published for 35 years, I just about flipped out of my pew!! (we meet in the santuary of a church)..I have every issue of Quiltmaker as I subscribed to it when it first came out and have never let me subscription run out...geez, that's a lot of magazines!!! Anyway, I made a slide show of her trunk show, it was a very good showing. Enjoy....

Personalize a free picture slideshow

I just really like the way all the quilts look spread across the pews, it really makes quite a statement, doesn't it? Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day.........

Petite Cinnamon Rolls

ready to bake

 I made some tiny, petite cinnamon rolls today for a quilt guild meeting in the morning. I've never made rolls quite this small before, they should be about 2 or 3 bites, depends on the person, I guess.

 baked

frosted

 

 

Sure hope the gals like them......Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day.....

The Colonial Ladies

Goodbye lovely Colonial Ladies, safe journey..This quilt is on it's way to California as of this afternoon. My cousin started embroidering the blocks in 1985 to make a quilt for her granddaughter. In about 2001, I went to Phoenix to visit her and she showed me the blocks then. We went to a quilt store, picked out the sashing and border fabric and I set it together for her while I was there visiting. I finally convinced her to send me the quilt last November and I would take it to a machine quilter and get it done for her. I got it back from the quilter in January and I have finally gotten it bound, labeled and petted many times and shown it to lots of my quilting buddies. Today was the day that I got it boxed and sent it on it's way back to her. She lives in California now. It was hard to say Good-bye but I'm so anxious for her to get to see it and enjoy it for a little bit before she sends it to Florida to the lucky granddaughter to love and cherish for a long time, I hope. I have made a slideshow of the blocks, binding and label for you to look at. I hope you enjoy seeing The Ladies as much as I have enjoyed seeing them in a finished quilt. Sew until next time, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day too..........

Make your own picture slideshow

Dang it!! I just noticed that I misspelled "Colonial" on the title of the slide show..It's going to bug me but I don't know if I can correct it or not, maybe I'll try, grrrrrrrrrr!! Grandma always said Haste Makes Waste or whatever!!! And I have linked up with Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday, stop by and check it out..

Baskets and Bunnies

  I showed you pieces of this quilt  back in August 2012 and now it is finally done (except for the label)..It is a small quilt 28"wide and 34" in length. Not small enough to be a doll quilt and not big enough to be a baby quilt really.  I hand appliqued and hand quilted it. I just put some

bunnies in each corner and then quilted bunnies in between, with some swirls to look like bunnies were

hopping all around. That doesn't show up very well, does it?  It was a fun quilt to make and an easy project to pick up and take along with me. I used polyester batting and I wouldn't use it again because I wanted this quilt to look old since using the civil war fabrics and I think it is too puffy. I would have rather had a flat looking quilt but we learn from doing something every time, don't we???  It's live and learn for me!!!

i

..I have linked up today with Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River be sure and stop by and check out all the other links.   "Honk" if you like my quilt,,,,thanks....Sew until next time, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day............

Help, I need help!!

Does anyone out there understand Google+?  I wish I had never upgraded to it. My profile picture doesn't show when I comment on someones blog. All that comes up is a grey circle with a big dash in it. I have tried everything I know to have the picture come up again. When I "follow" someones blog now it comes up with the circle/dash icon too.  When I go into my profile, the picture is there. I see that a person can downgrade from Google+ but I'm afraid to do it. I don't know what it will go back too.This is what Google says about downgrading:
If you delete Google+, Google attempts to restore your experience of other Google products to the way it was before you joined Google+ and to permanently delete your Google+ circles, posts, and comments  Doesn't this scare you???  The word "attempts" has me worried.. And what about our reading list? Is this going away? Please if anyone can give me any help, I would so appreciate it.

Today I had someone who wanted comment on my blog but when she tried to choose a profile, it was all blank, weird!!!  I repeat, I need help!!!  (This was resolved when she updated her computer)

 UPDATE:  One of my grandson's helped my update my profile picture over the Easter weekend...I knew one of the young people could do it!!!  Now I think I'm good with Google+ 

Cottonwood Guild Slide Show

Lynn Hagmeier, of Kansas Troubles,  was our guest speaker for the Cottonwood Quilt Guild meeting in Elkhorn, NE on Tuesday. She was very enjoyable and gave a good lecture and trunk show. I have put together a slide show from the meeting and I hope you enjoy it.

Free slideshow customized with Smilebox

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Pat's Day to everyone and especially, Abby McFoutch...I hope you got to kiss the Blarney Stone..

Can Spring Be Far Behind???

 I am anxious for Spring to get here so I have gotten a few things out to spruce things up and give me a lift. I love Daffodils and they always last so long..These last especially a long time because they aren't real, did I have you fooled? ;-)  Now I need to get more Easter things out and do some more decorating. I really need some new things and maybe I can pick something up when I go to the city later this week.

Today I'm linking up with Freemotion by the River so 'hop' over there and check out the other links..always an interesting 'hop'!!!  Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day..................

How About A Cup of Tea?

Several weeks ago, I got a newsletter from "Jackie" and I didn't know who it was from so I emailed her and suggested that she put a link in the letter to her website or blog to easily identify her. There was some information in the letter to give me a clue about her so I did a search and found her website. Her website is It's Fine-ally Finished and she is Jackie de Plessis. She has some wonderful projects on her site and I would love to take a class from her sometime, if she is ever close enough for me.  Anyway, she answered my email and I answered her and she answered mine and you get the idea, right? We talked about having tea together and she asked if I had ever tried Rooibos Tea? And, no I hadn't but had just heard Dr. Oz talk about..so Jackie said she would send me some of the tea. Gee, I thought that was really nice of her to say she would do that and you can see in the picture what she sent? Isn't it nice when you get a little surprise like that? The package contained several of the Rooibos tea, a Lady Grey, 2 different loose teas and the bags to put them in when brewing and a package of Honey Sticks, yummmmy!! And I am one of those tea drinkers that like it strong and some sweetness in my tea and I love the honey in it now.. I had never tried it before but it's very good!!! So that's just a little story about how a person sometimes connect with a total stranger and they give a warm fuzzy feeling after talking to them and then they send you something so uplifting. It was a generous RAC (random act of kindness)..Have you RAC'd anyone lately?? Thank you so much, Jackie!!  Now I am off to my easy chair for the rest of the afternoon to watch North and South, the TV miniseries that was on quite a few years ago, with Patrick Swayze..I got it on an inter-library loan and it's due back in about a week, I must keep focused, there are many, many more hours to watch!!  I hand embroidery while watching so I feel like I am being a little productive too!!!   Sew until next time, I hope you are having a Stitches kind of day..........P.S. If anyone ever sees the Bumble Bee dishes anywhere, please let me know. I would love to have another cup and saucer..I got my teapot and cup/saucer at a Flea Market type store about a year ago. I know these dishes aren't made anymore..

I'm Ashamed of Myself

 A few weeks (hmmm actually more than a few weeks) ago I won the above magazine and the wool to make the little Love Bug pincushion that was designed and made by Kimber of Heirlooms by Ashton House blog. She has a wonderful blog and I love reading about her and her house, designs, collections and just etc. Kimber is a quilt book editor and magazine writer, she is just one talented woman in my opinion. So I thank her from the bottom of my heart for the magazine and the wool to make the Love Bug. I hope you will visit her blog and find it as interesting as I do.

Isn't this a cutie????



The wool looks blue in the picture but it is a wonderful shade of grey.  Sew until next time, I hope you all have a Stitches kind of day......

Have A Chuckle

I hope you have a good chuckle over this one. I'll be back soon with a much overdo post..Sew until then.....have a Stitches kind of day.............

It's The Truth ??

Eat That Frog!!

Pro-cras'ti-na'tor----I am finally admitting this to myself and to everyone who is reading this.  Yikes, it's scary!!!  I work better under pressure, it's not a good behavior pattern to have but after lots of (many,many)  years, I fear I am stuck with it. A friend sent me this little 2 minute movie and now I know if I eat the frog first thing in the morning, I might really get something accomplished.  Let me know what you think!!!    Watch the Eat That Frog movie here.

I'm Linking Today

 I'm linking today with Freemotion by the River and Tuesdays Treasurers.  The picture shows 3 necklaces from Grandma's house. They are intricately woven and quite long. I wonder how they made these, maybe on a loom? I should Google it and see if I can find instructions, not that I'm planning on making any!!! When I look at them, I think of the "Roaring Twenties" and the Charleston dance. What do you think about them??.
The picture below is my resident rabbit??  It has been sitting against my pine tree for several days now. I hope it is comfortable but please don't stay and eat my flowers in the spring. I notice something has been nibbling on my Burning Bush bark again and I'm suspicious of this visitor..I must do something about that very soon...Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day........see ya soon...........

They Left On A Jet Plane........

 

My grand daughter, Abby, decided that she wanted to study abroad for a semester, so she applied and was accepted to the University of Birmingham in England. It was associated with a type of exchange program, I think.  There were 2 other gals from the University of Iowa that were going also, but they backed out a few weeks ago. So my daughter and son-in-law decided to accompany Abby to England..They left yesterday afternoon and I tracked them on a flight tracker and I see that they have arrived safely. They have rented a car and now I worry about them driving on the left side of the road!!!  It's a mother's and grand mother's duty to worry, right???  Today I am feeling rather solitary, I guess. It's been a whirlwind having all the activity over the holidays with family and now everyone is leaving to go some place, back to school or work or traveling.  Abby will be in England until June 15th so I hope she doesn't get too homesick. We will talk by Skype and that will help her and the rest of us too.  I hope she has a wonderful experience and makes some great friends. I miss her already!!! Her parents will be back home next week sometime and I will be happy when they return also. Sew until then, I hope I have many Stitches kind of days...and you too!!!! 

Another New Book to Show & Share

I have another new book to show.  I won this book through the Quilting Gallery in December so I'm a little tardy in telling about it.  I got an email from Victoria Findlay Wolfe telling me I had won a copy of her book and to send my mailing address to her so she could send me a copy.  Once again I was very surprised about winning but very, very pleased too. The book arrived and I have devoured it (figuratively speaking) and have enjoyed dreaming about quilts I could make to bust my fabric stash..hopefully 2013 will be the year to do that. It is so neat to win a book like this and I appreciated it a lot and plan to share it will my quilting buddies. Thanks again to Victoria and Quilting Gallery, now I better go check out my stash....sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day...............

The Winner Is "Susan" #3

 Susan #3 is the winner of the string bookmark, as shown in the pictures.  I had my granddaughter Abby do the drawing for me but she didn't want to be in the picture..Only her hands and I said that would be fine..I will contact Susan for her mailing address.  Just want to say "Thanks" to the rest of you for leaving comments, all were appreciated....sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day...

Happy New Year !!!

Did You Like the String Bookmarks???

Did you like the string bookmarks that I showed you a week or so ago??? I mentioned that I would have a give away so today is the day!!!! You will have until 12:00 noon Central Time on New Year's Day to leave me a comment if you would like a chance to win and tell me which one you would like to have.  If you are a follower, you can leave a 2nd comment for an additional chance.   Good luck to everyone...

Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day..............