Quilty Stuff

Here are pictures of my purchases at the Dallas Quilt Show:
I bought some fat quarters, a thing-a-ma-jig to hold stuff, and redwork patterns and fabric for a redwork quilt
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And here are yo-yos I made with the Clover Yo-Yo maker.

At Paradise Piecemakers yesterday, Kathleen had her yo-yo maker and demonstrated how to use it SOOO I got one out of inventory and started making yo-yo's last night. It is really FAST and EASY. I have more yo-yo makers on order 'cause now I've decided that's what I will demo at a guild meeting in a couple weeks. Clover also makes heart shaped and flower shaped yo-yo makers and when they come in I will practice them, too. Now I'm addicted, Thanks, Kathleen!

Blessings,

Happy Easter

Happy Easter/Resurrection Day! To bring you up to date -- I will post some pictures-- like I promised.
This is DGD with her quilt we hand pieced, sandwiched, and tied. She picked the border fabric and I already had the 2 1/2 " squares cut in my "scrap user system" from Bonnie at Quiltville. She also picked five buttons from my button can that we just had to sew in the center. Her touch! We had a lot of fun making this quilt and I hope a lot of memories that will last a lifetime. I'm looking forward to the next project.



And here she is with my tulips. Isn't she just beautiful? We baked banana muffins and homemade cinnamon rolls. We played. And we took her home on Friday morning. Phew!

And now some pictures from the Dallas Quilt Show 2008 and since my camera batteries played out and I missed taking a whole lot of pictures; I googled Dallas Quilt Show and found a whole lot of pics on blogs, etc but the following are what I took BEFORE my batteries went low:

This quilt was just absolutely gorgeous!
This one was absolutely amazing.
Priscilla in my Wednesday group is making this one just larger scale and we are quilting it next!

And this one --one of my favorite--pink!
This one was very interesting. I could see it done for a child's quilt or in other colors.


Blessings,

Dallas Quilt Show

I got to go to the Dallas Quilt Show on Friday! Woohoo! Double woohoo! It was absolutely wonderful. Two ladies from Wednesday group and I went and had a blast. I had never been to the Dallas show. I was like a little kid going to Disney World. I couldn't sleep the night before. I was up very early and was ready to go waay early. I will post a few pictures later. My camera batteries ran out and are charging. AND tonight and for a couple of days we have DGD spending some time with us. Triple woohoo! She called this afternoon and asked, "NawNaw, can I come spend the night?" What do you think I said? SURE! We worked on her little patchwork quilt that I am showing her how to hand piece. She is really doing very well for 5 1/2 years old. She can thread a needle all by herself. She is going to go with me to my Wednesday group(she's supposed to get to stay that long and we are hoping so). I told her she could thread the needles for the ladies and show them her patchwork quilt and she was thrilled. They will just think she is the absolute best thing around. AND for her bedtime story I read The Quiltmaker's Gift. She loves that book.

And I will post some pictures later.

Blessings,

Spring is Sprung?

Is it really here? We are closer anyway. There are fruit trees in bloom; the geese are flying north; and the temps are forecast into the eighties later this week. We enjoyed the snow but I'm glad we don't get it like up north. There were lots of snowmen made in yards. The DFW area only got a dusting of snow and mainly rain and sleet.

We have daylight saving time. Woohoo! Yeah, right. Who loves losing an hour of sleep? We had DGS Mason Saturday night so his mommy and daddy could go out with friends. We were to meet Sunday morning/lunchtime at my DS's house in Arlington. My in law's drove up and had rented a motel room in Arlington and my husband's sister was in town (DFW area) from Colorado. Well, we didn't set the alarm. Babies always wake up, right? And we have this inner clock that doesn't let us sleep late even on the weekends, right? Wrong! Baby didn't wake up and we slept. It was eight o'clock old time when I woke up. It's a little over an hour drive to son's house. Mason didn't want to eat and I had to have a shower. To make a long story short--we arrived there five minutes before twelve o'clock.

Speaking of Mason--he has really grown. He is eight months old now and sits alone pretty much.

Here is Mason and Larry. Isn't he darling? Don't look at my counter behind them. It is a catch all and catches it all all the time. We enjoyed him very much but the time flies too fast before he's gone. He has a bib that says "I'm going to Texas Tech". That's what his DD wants anyway. As parents we know things don't always happen the way we want. God has a way of changing our plans. In the picture on the right are l to r myself, my daughter-in-law, Angie; Larry's mom, Mary Ann; and Larry's sister, Debby. Here are the "guys". Oldest DS, Brian; DH, Larry; FIL, Fred holding Mason; and youngest DS, Marcus. DD and family couldn't make it.

Blessings,

Snow!

Wow! Lots of snow. As of 4:30pm Thursday Mar. 6, 2008 5 1/2 inches. And here are some more pictures. We don't get snow like this normally in Texas. Max has enjoyed the snow.

These are my daffodils.

We have another storm headed this way from Lubbock forecast to come in late tonight. Woohoo!

Snow blessings,

Snow then Sunshine

We had rain Sunday night (nearly three inches, Yaah!) then Monday we had snow flurries and just enough snow to show on the grass and picnic table after dark. This morning, Tuesday, all the snow has melted and we have sunshine and it is supposed to be 58 degrees today. Today is primary voting in Texas. Hubby and I will vote a little later.

Last Wednesday we had DH friend's funeral. DH did a good job and it went well. It was a nice day. Thursday, I had an eye exam and ordered new glasses and spent the afternoon doing some ministry work and got the phone call that one of our quilt member's husband passed away. Friday, traveled to DGD's Jump Rope for Heart event.And spent some time with my DD (that's her in the picture above on the right) which was very enjoyable. I drove home in time to feed the animals before dark. Saturday morning we got up at 4:30am and went to a hog show. DH bought three new Hampshire gilts (unbred females). Sunday, rested and cleaned house then started stripping wallpaper in bathroom while DH is castrating pigs (Yuck) and he brought home two just weaned York/cross gilts. Monday (weather horrid-raining, cold, and wind blowing) I attended the funeral of husband of quilt member. I took two of our elderly ladies and then came home and placed an order for Quilt Catering.

This is a picture of our baby pigs. Not a very good one, sorry. I wanted to get one of them nursing but it didn't happen. We have another litter due in April I will get one of them.

We got the good news last night that DH's sister-in-law test came back clear. Phew, what a relief! No more bad stuff for awhile, please. This weekend we will babysit DGS Mason and DH's parents are coming up our direction. Glad I cleaned house; just need to do some dusting.
And here is the Time Travel quilt all laid out on my "design bed". I don't have a design wall. What do you think? I have four more blocks to sew of the Soaring Past Time and then I will begin to sew the rows together.

Blessings to all,

Monday, Monday

I went to Paradise. Yeah, I did! It's just about six miles from my house. Really! Paradise Piecemakers met Saturday and I took my Time Travel quilt top and pieced more of the Soaring Past Time blocks. And I peddled some of my wares. It was very enjoyable. I mean what could be better than piecing most of the day. Unless it was quilting most of the day. SO, today I worked some more on the blocks and now only have four left to put together.

When I got home Saturday we got the news that DH's friend/ex-coworker passed away that afternoon. Thank God he didn't suffer long. DH has been asked to do his funeral.

I called my neighbor today and asked if she wanted to start walking (we talked about it last year and never got started) and if today was a good day. We agreed to meet after lunch and walked about a mile to start with. I know not much for some but for us out-of-shape gals; it is a start. My neighbor quit smoking this year and I am so glad for her. It was very warm-82 degrees when we were walking. Right now the wind is blowing ninety to nothing. And in the morning it is to be 40 degrees but feel like 30. Joy. I will definitely finish the four blocks in the morning.

I would appreciate your prayers for my sister and her family. I won't go into detail here but please pray for a peaceful solution to the custody issues involving their granddaughter.
This is not a desert photo. Really! This is located in Colorado. This is a National Park in Colorado that we visited back a couple of years ago. The dark figures are people walking toward the dunes. It was so weird to see this huge sand dune between a couple of mountains.This is a picture of some of our ladies from Kraz-z Quilters on one of our fabric field trips. I'm the one in the back in the lavender shirt. We had lunch that day at a lovely tea room.

I keep forgetting to take my camera with me to take pictures of our pigs. I will remember one of these days. Promise.

Blessings.

Redwork

I didn't know how to post pictures when we drew the name for our "Hillbilly Romance" quilt so I thought I would post a picture. But as you can see it's not a very good one. I tried scanning one and yuck. I will post another when I can.

Just thinking

Ever just need to sit and think? Thought so. That's what I've been doing this morning and reading and praying. We got a call day before yesterday from the wife of a man my husband had worked with. His cancer has spread and it is not good. We went to the hospital yesterday afternoon. We did what we could--we prayed with them and loved them. He probably has a matter of days left. That is our prayer--for God's mercy.

My dad died from cancer when I was 30 years old. My youngest child was a baby. My children don't remember him. My mom and dad divorced when I was 19 and it was very much a earth-turning-upside-down kind of a thing. My dad was unfaithful and my mom was bitter and is. I felt betrayed. What I had always been taught not to do--they have done. My mom lived with my step-dad for three years before they married all in the name of Social Security. Meaning--she could draw widow's pay because the length of their marriage. To be honest I have done things I have taught my children not to do. I know that we all make choices in life. It's like the children's books that you can choose one way to go and the story is different. I am reading Max Lucado's book "When God Whispers Your Name". It 's been a long time since I've read one of his books. And it's just what I need right now.

I didn't intend for this post to come off heavy so I will post a picture of my beloved Max and later I will get some pictures of our baby pigs. Larry wants to keep the heifer we were going to butcher and breed her and raise a calf.

I don't know how Max got into this position and didn't hurt himself. You do see that his front legs are turned one way and back legs are turned the other, right? I took this through the patio door because I knew if I opened the door he would move. We bought a dog house for him after a wind storm tore the roof off the plywood one Larry made him sometime ago. He rarely used it. The cats did. He doesn't like the new one any better. He sleeps on the patio on a mat I made from some of my practice quilting. Larry found (correction--Max appeared at the sand plant some seven , eight years ago) and was chasing the large haul trucks and Larry knew what the outcome would be and we needed a dog, right?! He brought him home thinking he was a female because he is built slender. I called him back and asked if he had not checked the plumbing any better than that. Anyway, Max is mine -- no doubt about it. He does what I tell him--most of the time. He will help me herd the pigs into their pen. He doesn't work for Larry--he tries. Larry doesn't know how to talk to him. And when you're trying to put animals in a trailer I know now to put him on a leash. It works a whole lot better.
He goes with me to feed the animals. His favorite is when we have baby pigs and when they are old enough to run around. He is in doggie heaven. Max's one fault--he hates water. You know what that means; you got it. He hates baths.