Veteran's Day , A Time to Honor Those Who Served!!

A repost from November 2013

ARMY-Korean War, My husband, Jerry, 1935-1997

NAVY WW II, My Dad, 1913-2012

  And all the veterans, past and present, that defend our country and keep us safe and free!!!

 Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day....apsandtidbits.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-honor-veterans-day.html

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The Four Great Grands and Me

Well, here we are!! Four great granddaughters have entered my family in 2016!!  From left to right: Josie Sue, 11 months; Leighton Renee, 1 month; me, never mind my age; Berkley Jane, 5 months, and Everly Mae, 4 months..They are so precious and they are loved so much...Can you imagine the fun they are going to have as they grow up? Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day!!

Happy New Year-2017

Wishing you all a Happy New Year-2017. I'm still in awe of 2016, and how fast it seemed to go! My 4 oldest grandson's and their wives, added 4 new babies to my family, all girls!! I will be adding some pictures of them very soon..they are all equally special but today I just want to say Happy New Year to family and friends. Sew until next time, Stitches...

Re-post from October 30. 2011

Griselda and More

http://stitchesscrapsandtidbits.blogspot.com/2011/10/happy-halloween.html

Halloween Quilt and Table Mat

 Whoopy, here is my Halloween Quilt hanging for the first time!! I got together with 2 of my friends a couple of years ago and we met once a week.. We exchanged fabrics and talked about doing this quilt in
brighter colors. And this was the color scheme we went with.  The pattern is from the Vintage Spool, Vera Mosquera. Her pattern fabric is basically black, tan and gold.colors.  I had gotten this pattern by signing up for Vera's BOM and wasn't very happy with the fabrics that I received.  I really like the bright colors that we ended up doing. There are lots of embellishments on the quilt but they don't show up very good in the photo's. I used a bat silhouette in the border and hot glued red eyes on each one but you really have to look to find them!!

Can you see the bats have red hot-fix crystals for eyes?

 The skeleton was a bit daunting but I really like him....I gave him gold front teeth!! And put some hot-fix crystals in the polka dots on his head..

I made this a couple of years ago, No pattern, just cut some wedges and sewed them together, very easy!

This is a picture of the original pattern by Vera Mosquera.  I hope you like my quilt, oh wait, I think I can find a picture of the other 2 quilts, hold on.  Here it is!! Phyllis and I made ours with invisible machine applique and machine quilting and Betty hand appliqued and hand quilted her quilt..My sister Judy, quilted mine and did a great job!!

Not the best picture but you can get an idea!!  All in all, it was a lot of fun to collaborate with friends to make this quilt. It's the second quilt that I have done with friends..Sew until next time, have some wonderful days!!  Winter is on the way!!!

Introducing Everly Mae #3

Here is my latest little granddaughter, born yesterday weighing 7 lbs 9oz. This means that I will have 4 great granddaughters by the end of 2016!! Another grandson and wife are having a girl in December!! Wow, this has been an explosion for new babies in my family..And each and every one of them are so stinkin' cute!!

Another cutie, she has lots of black hair under her little hat..she and mommy are doing fine..Sew until next time, have a great day!!

Another Great Grandchild for Me

I would like to introduce you to Berkley Jane, she was born on August 9th, to my oldest grandson Ryan and his wife, Jessica. She is so precious and my heart overflows. Berkley is my 2nd Great Grandchild and #3 is coming any day now! We don't know what #3 is, boy or girl, so we are excited to find out. I don't think I've told you that we are getting #4 in December!!  Wow, what a year 2016 has been for new babies in our family!! I need to get busy making those babies quilts!!

 And here is a new picture of Josie Sue, she's almost 7 months old now and just gets cuter every month!!

I am so blessed!!  Sew until next time, I hope you have a great day!!!

Another set of tea towels.

Here is the set that I made for my grandson, Andrew and his bride-to-be Angela. They had a couples shower for them last Saturday so I finished them up on Friday..nothing like waiting until the last minute. I had debated about adding the little fabric on the corner and I'm glad I decided to do it. I think it added some spark to the towels. Sometimes I wonder if these younguns' really appreciate this old-fashioned gift? I think that some do and some don't!

Green Beans

Cherries

Strawberries

Corn

Onions, I choose to do red onions

Apples

I'm A Winner!

When Shelly Pagliai notified me that she had drawn my name for her new book "A Simple Life", I was thrilled. For the last few years Shelly has written a blog about daily entries in her mother's diary written in the 1950's. I had followed it and really got a kick out of it, being a child of the '50's myself, I could relate to many of the things her mother, Hazel Ilene wrote about. The book has some really nice quilt patterns in it, along with some of the diary entries and lots of family pictures.

Shelly also has a web site that I think you would enjoy looking at. It's called Prairie Moon Quilts, there are lots of good things there and I know you will love checking it out. Be sure and check out Hazel Ilene's Diary, recipes, free patterns and even shopping at her Etsy shop!! I'll talk to you later, I am going to push back in the recliner and read more of my new quilt book from Shelly.  Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day!!

I'm Back...for a Little Bit

Boy, I have been MIA for a long time!!  I hope to do better in the future but sometimes I just don't have any thing to write about!  This is a recent picture of Josie Sue, my first great grandchild. She was here last weekend to visit and she is growing like a weed. And she is getting cuter by the month, according to my prejudice thinking..Since I last talked to you, I have added another great grandchild to look forward too, now there are 3 more coming in 2016. I made Josie a quilt so I am trying to find some more easy patterns to get started on the next three baby quilts..these babies are just coming too fast and furious. Here are a few pictures of the quilt and Josie. She was baptized in her mom's bapti
smal dress, hand crocheted, it is beautiful!!

This was an easy and fun quilt to make, it has Minky on the back of it..Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day!! 

What Is Happening?

What is happening? I have lost 22 of my followers in the last few weeks, are they flying away? It makes me sad to lose so many! I know I haven't posted a lot lately, is that the reason?  I wish they would come back!

Let It Snow, Block 2

I am really enjoying this wool applique Mystery Quilt from Buttermilk Basin. When it's done, it will say Let It Snow. It's really hard to wait for almost another month before we get block #3.   I need to keep reminding myself that I need contrast!! I think I could have had more contrast in this block, the scarf and the hat but it's done and it will just have to stay as it is..in the long run, I'm hoping it will be okay. Now I need to go work on "several" other BOM that I'm doing and maybe I will get one done sometime...Sew until next time, ya all have a Stitches kind of day!!

I couldn't help it, just had to post a couple more pictures of Josie Sue..so adorable...

She Has Arrived!!

 I would like to introduce my first great-grandchild, Josie Sue..she is beautiful. She came into this world on Friday at 6 lbs. 13 oz, 20" long. She has lots of black wavy hair and so pretty. Of course, I am partial to this little one. I think she is perfect in many (all)  ways.

Here she is with her new granny, my daughter, Susan.

 And here she is with her old granny, me!!  My grandson tells me that Josie Sue loves her little blanket that I knitted for her..it sure is great for cuddling!!

And I guess I better get out the knitting needles again because I have 2 more great grandkids coming in 2016...Until next time I hope you have a Stitches kind of day, it was great!!!

It's Happening Again!!

Yes, that's right!!! I am going to be Great Grandmother again! This makes #3 and this little one is due about the middle of September.  #1 is due February 27th, just about 2 weeks to go, it's so exciting! Baby #2 is due about the first week of August.   Both of my daughters are going to be first time grandmother's and that's exciting for them..   Our family is growing fast..Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day!!!  Yippee!!

I'm in Love with Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM

I am doing the Buttermilk Basin Mystery BOM for 2016, this is the first block and I love it. The words will say "Let It Snow" when it is finished..the next block will be out on February 19th..  I am trying to learn something new when I do these blocks, so I did the Drizzle stitch on the pom-pom of the hat and I did the Turkey work stitch on the fringe of the scarf. I found that learning something new promotes a person's enthusiasm.  I am enthused about this, can you tell?  Psst. This BOM is FREE so go get it and make a block for yourself!!!  Sew until next time, have yourself a Stitches kind of day!!

Snowbound

 I made this Raspberry Coffee Cake yesterday as I was housebound because of the weather. Don't ask me how much of it is left!! It's a really good cake!! We had a good old blizzard, I rather enjoyed it. I am not a Winter hater, I think I am always going to get so much done in the winter but it doesn't usually work out for me somehow.. In the Winter I don't have to worry about all the weeds, deadheading plants and flowers, getting the lawn mowed and generally just sprucing things up a bit..so I should be planted at my sewing machine and getting some projects finished, right?  Here are some pictures of the snow yesterday. It was actually very, very pretty.

This area is where I have my Fairy Garden, the fairies were so smart to go South for the winter..

Light pole and redbud tree in background and a dead plant hanging on the pole!!

Looking out my kitchen window, all the windows had droplets on them from the blowing snow..

The lilac hedge that runs along my driveway

 

 

 

 

The Blue Spruce tree in my neighbors yard..

The temp yesterday was right around 34 degrees until night time when it went down. And by mid-afternoon, most of the snow had thawed/fallen off of the trees and bushes and etc. I am going to the basement and sew today and I'll let you know what I accomplished... Sew until next time, have a Stitches kind of day...

It's Winter in Iowa

Yes, we have gotten a lot of wet, heavy snow today but the temp is actually around 34 degrees so it is starting to melt off the trees, shrubs and etc.  It could have been worse!! I hope you are having a Stitches kind of day,,,,

I AM GOING TO BE A G GRAM 2 TIMES!!

I have known for several months that I am going to be a Great Gramma about the end of February! My Grandson Jordan and his wife, Jenna, are going to have a little girl. It's been 15 years since we had a baby in my immediate family and it's exciting.  Tomorrow is Jenna's baby shower so I made several things to take . I knitted a soft, soft small blanket out of Bernat's Pipsqueak yarn. If you are a knitter, you probably have made or know about the knitted dish cloth pattern that starts by casting on only 4 stitches..it's the pattern that I used for the blanket and I only used 2 skeins to make it. The blanket is about 24 x 24 inches.

 I also made a receiving blanket, the one with the self binding, mitered corners and such. It's an easy gift to make for someone.  I had some left over flannel so I made 2 burp pads, cute!!

And then there is the dollie. I found a pattern for a very simple little cloth doll, it was just what I wanted. I embroidered the face and stuffed her up pretty good. I think she's cute and cuddly..AND now, drumroll please,  I found out at Christmas that my oldest grandson, Ryan, and his wife, Jessica are going to have a little one too!!  That little one should arrive around the first part of August so I guess I need to get busy making some more blankets..And I will start making some baby quilts too..it's an exciting time for my family.   Sew until next time, I hope you have a Stitches kind of day!!