Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas sharing it with your family, friends and those you love.

My Secret Santa Apronista Swap Package

I am participating in the fun Secret Santa Apron Swap over at The Flirty Apron Swap.  I had some kind of bad luck this time around though!  I made up my apron with care, thought of all the cute little gifts I wanted to include, wrapped everything with love and care and then boxed it up to go on its merry way to my secret partner.

I made a very quick stop at the grocery store with my 4-year-old grandson on the way because I promised him a candy bar if he would go with me to the post office.  We got out of the car and I used the automatic key lock to lock up my car.  We were only in the store for a few minutes but when we came back to the car the back door was ajar and the box was gone off of the back seat.  Apparently when we got out we didn't get the back door closed and someone helped themselves to the package.  The only thing I could think is that maybe they really were in need of a really cute apron!

So I finally figured out what I wanted to do the second time around and whipped up another cute apron if I do say so myself!  I went back to the store and purchased some more appropriate gifts and then did the whole boxing and wrapping everything up again.  This time I went straight to the post office without making any stops and got it mailed off again.

So sorry swap partner!  I really didn't forget you I just got a little bit off track and had to start over again.  The post office assures me that you will receive your gift no later than Saturday.  So happy swapping.

Wonderful Giveaway over at ImagiMeri's Creations

"ImagiMeri's Creations has two beautiful vintage ornament wreaths to give away, and they each have a substantial amount of ornaments on them.  This first one is comprised of between 60-80 ornaments of varying sizes and colors, also has some vintage wooden ornaments and a small vintage china angel on it.  It is approximately 15" in diameter and quite whimsical.  Approximate value is close to $100.

 

This second wreath is the one from her tutorials HERE, and is comprised of vintage and some newer ornaments.  It has a plaster plaque filling in the center with a vintage decal on it, and touches of platinum garland and a blue bow as accents.  It is approximately 13" in diameter and has about 30-40 ornaments on it.  Approximate value is $85."

So what are you waiting on!  Go over there and enter and maybe you can win!

Apron Giveaway

Shawnee from Apronista.com is hosting a fabulous giveaway until 11/15/12 so hurry over there and enter.  You could win a lovely apron from Aprons by Vittoria.

Shawnee said she was "SO excited to offer this giveaway. I’ve been tickled by Aprons by Vittoria from the first moment I laid eyes on them. She lists new items weekly that are designed with new ideas and modern day to day fabrics. All of her Aprons are handmade, carefully making each stitch aligned and properly matched with the fabric to bring you a great result!   She has a great assortment of fabric choices, something for everyone."

Go over and check her out and then make sure you leave a comment on the Apronista website at www.apronista.com/

Aprons by Vittoria

Secret Santa Swap

I just joined in a fun swap over at The Flirty Apron Swap.  This year it isn't an apron swap but it still sounds like a lot of fun so I'm in!  I'm suppose to blog post my answers to the following questions so here I go.  If you would like to join the swap head on over to their website and join the fun!  Hurry though signups end on November 3rd.  Just click on this link:    Secret Santa Swap

1. What are your hobbies?  Quilting, crafting, watching t.v. and playing with my grand-babies
2. What are your favorite colors?  Purple is my favorite color with pink a close second
3. Do you collect anything?  I collect teapots, teacups, tea accessories, milk glass, doilies and old linens and laces.
4. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals?  No just very sensitive to smoke.
5. Do you have any pets?  Yes a very spoiled Brussells Griffon named Chewbacca, a beta fish and a desert tortoise that lives in my back yard.
6. Coffee, Tea, or Chocolate?  All of them!
7. What do you like to read?  Quilt magazines, Romantic Homes magazine, craft or sewing patterns, Romance novels and some mysteries
8. Do you prefer Cookies or Candies as a sweet?  My favorite cookie is shortbread but I love caramels and chocolate also!
9. What is your favorite holiday treat?  I love it all but especially love Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes that they have every winter.
10. Describe your favorite holiday tradition.  I love the tradition that we decorate the tree and the house the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The littlest one gets to put the angel on top of the tree.
11. Did you believe in Santa as a child?  Yes I did!
12. When do you open presents?  Since our children have grown up and moved out we open our presents on Christmas eve and then go to their house on Christmas Day and watch the grand-babies open their presents Christmas morning.
13. Do you put up a tree and when?  If not, how do you celebrate?  Several trees through out the house and decorate pretty much the house!  We usually start the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it takes a few days to finish decorating the rest of the house.
14. Does your tree have a theme?  Pink and gold with a lot of crystal ornaments and pretties!
15. What has been your favorite gift to give?  to receive? I love to give something to someone that I have hand made if at all possible.  If not I like to give them something I know they would want but probably wouldn't buy themselves.  I love to receive a gift that is from the heart and you can tell the person giving it to me as put a lot of thought into.  That doesn't always mean that it is expensive but it is from the heart and that makes it extremely precious to me.                                                                 

Where Does The Time Go?

Oh my!  It really was a long time since I regularly posted on my blog.  Time really does seem to slip by so fast.  It seems like just a few days ago it was the beginning of the year.  I can hardly believe how much has happened since the first of the year.  So the next few posts I'll try and do a little recap:

January:  Went to Hawaii with my husband, son, daughter-in-law and grandson #1 to visit with my daughter, son-in-law and grandson #2.  We planned the trip especially so we could be there to help celebrate Harper's 1st Birthday.  My what an event!  His party was circus themed and that meant that we all needed to come up with a costume to wear to his party.  

I made him a little red and black ringmaster jacket because of course he was the leader of the circus! 

 

Harper with his Ringmaster "Ring of Fire"!  He had just started walking a few days before his birthday but still wanted to crawl sometimes.  He would crawl and crawl through his "Ring of Fire" and then look up at us and wait for us to clap our hands and say "Yeah Harper!"

 

My daughter was the fortune teller of our circus.  She was absolutely beautiful in her costume and her hat and of course Harper is so cute!  Heather planned a fun and beautiful party for her little sweetie's 1st Birthday Party!   She planned every little detail and thought of everything to make it a wonderful party!

 

My husband was dressed up as the beautiful Bearded Lady.  I was really surprised but he really did enjoy himself in his costume!  He was wearing several items from female relatives.  His dress was our daughter in laws grandma's, the shoes were my mom's and he was wearing my earrings and brooch.   I was getting a little worried as he was getting so many compliments.

I was a cheetah.  I looked everywhere for a costume!  I looked for things that I could just put together into some kind of a costume from regular department stores.  I think I bought ever type of item I could find in cheetah print.  I just couldn't find what I wanted so I ended up buying a ready made costume online.  I was going to sew my own but found it was actually less expensive to purchase one ready made.  It was made out of some stretchy material that showed every lump and bump in my body!  I really didn't like that too much.  Unfortunately it also was waaay too hot for Hawaii to wear for too long.  I ended up having to take it off after about an hour or so.  I was way too hot to wear it all day.  I guess I should have thought of that before I decided on wearing and keeping the costume 

I don't know if you can tell or not but I had to add some bling to my costume so there is a lot of crystals on the neck collar.  I had to have my bling on even in a costume!  

 

My son was a bucket of popcorn.  We took everything to make his costume with us to Hawaii and then assembled it in our hotel room.  That is medical tape that is making up the stripes on his shirt and the label that says "Popcorn".  The popcorn was popped the morning of the party in our hotel microwave and then hand sewed onto his hat.  Every time you got close to him he smelled like fresh popped popcorn.  Yum!

My daughter-in-law was half man/half woman wearing a hot pink formal dress on one side and then a man's white button up dress shirt and dress slacks on the other side,  My son in law was a crazy silly carnival performer wearing the zebra hat, tie and suspenders.  That is his brother wearing the clown costume.  

Connor was the man that shoots out of the Rocket (Cannon).  He didn't keep his Rocket costume on that long because he was really hot also.  His costume was so cute!  I actually found it at Halloween time at Target and saved it for the party.  We knew that it was going to be a circus themed party for several months.  Actually when we gave Heather her baby shower before Harper was born it was also a circus theme.  Talk about coming full circle!  

Here are a couple of pictures of the decor for the party.  The inside of the house was decorated as well as the backyard where most of the party was held at.  There was a candy bar for the guests to help themselves make little candy goodie bags to take home with them.  

 

They had circus cookies, Goldfish crackers, Smarties, M&M's and Sweedish Fish to choose from.  Heather had made and decorated all of the cupcakes for Harper's party too.  She's so talented!

 The adult "liquid refreshments" were kept on ice in a old hand carved canoe.  It held a lot of ice and drinks for all the party goers.

Here is a picture of our little family at the party.  The scenery in the background was a beautiful addition to our family picture.  I believe that is a Banyon Tree behind us.

This photo has both Heather's side of the family and also Ryan's family.  The only people that were missing were Ryan's sister and her husband.  They were not able to make it as Erin was in college and was close to graduating so she couldn't leave to come and help us celebrate. 

Here is my husband and I with our adorable two grandsons.  We feel so lucky to have these wonderful, sweet little boys in our lives!  We didn't know what we were missing until we had grandchildren.  They truly do teach us about unconditional love.

One of Harper's favorite things to do is to go on bike rides.  So what better way to end the party then with a bike ride complete with costumes and balloons. 

We really felt right at home with all the other guests who were in costume also.  There was a lot of silly costumes and it made for a wonderful 1st Birthday for our little birthday boy Harper!

Quilt Guild Block of the Month

I know I've been gone for awhile for awhile and I'm sorry.  I have been really busy.  I have belonged to my local Quilt Guild for a couple of years now but recently decided that I should become more involved.  So I am now in charge of doing the Block of the Month program at the Guild. 

My first month being in charge of the BOM was July.  I decided to do something patriotic.  The block I picked out was called "Land of Liberty".  It is done in red, white and blue of course.  It was a really easy block also.  I found the instructions on the website Quilters Cache  http://www.quilterscache.com/L/LandofLibertyBlock.html  They have thousands of quilt block patterns you can download for free.

 

I made up several of these blocks so decided that I would put them together and make a couple of table runners for July 4th.  I made one for myself and another for my mother.  I  finished them off with batting and backing and decided to just quilt them myself by quilting in the ditch.  I'm not really good at it yet but decided it would be something that I should at least try to do on my smaller projects instead of sending them off to the Longarm quilter to be quilted.  It will save me some money also and that means I'll have more money to spend on fabric!  YEAH!  That's a good thing! 

The next block I chose for August was called "Ribbons".  I made it up with a white background, a red solid, a black solid and then a floral print that had red,white and black in it.  I also thought this one was a relatively easy block to make. 

I did put a few together wrong but I still liked the way they turned out.  Can you see how the correct one I  made above the ribbons make an X and has the two triangles in the center?  The one below is the incorrect way.  The ribbons kind of bow out and forms a squarw on point in the center.  I didn't even realize they were wrong till someone pointed it out to me.  These blocks were found on another free block website.  It was called Delaware Quilts http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/Ribbons/index.html

The block I picked for the Guild to make in September is called Indiana Puzzle.  I made it up in a Hot Pink, Orchid and then a floral print that had both colors in it.  I thought it turned out really pretty.  It was also from the website Delaware Quilts http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/IndianaPuzzle/index.html

I haven't yet decided what to do for the Quilt Guild for October.  It is kind of weird that I have to work that far in advance but at least it makes me be prepared!  I can't be the procrastinator that I sometimes am.  I have to present the BOM that I have chosen already done up to the Quilt Guild Board a month in advance and then it will be put in the next month's newsletter so that the members will have time to make it up.

Our Guild raffles off half of the blocks to one lucky member.  Each member gets 1 ticket for each block that they made that month.  So if you win you get to take half of the blocks home with you.  You also have the option for buying more of them if you want that day for $2.00 each.  Then the other half of the blocks that are turned in goes to our Quiltique.  Every even year we have a big Quilt Show and have a little boutique were members can sell their handmade items at.  That is what we call our Quiltique.

Okay I'm off now to sew a little more for myself!  Linking up to the fun parties at:
Transformation Thursday@ The Shabby Creek Cottage
Show and Share with Southern Lovely 
Creative Juice-Thursdays @ Momnivores Dilemma
Talent Tuesday Way Cool Linky Partay 
Tell Me Tuesday @ Me & My Boys 
Time To Shine @ A Diamond In The Stuff 
Tiptoe Thru Tuesday @ Crayonfreckles and Tiaras & Bowties  
Tuesday Talent Show @ Chef-in-Training 
Craft & Tell @ Cherished Bliss 
Fabulously Creative Friday 
The Cure For The Common Monday @ Lines Across My Face  
Primp  
Wow Us Wednesdays 
Delightfully Iinspiring Thursday Party
I ♥ Fridays Link Party
Make It Great Monday @ Etcetorize 
Show and Tell Fridays @ My Romantic Home  
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Garden Fun & Simple & Sweet Fridays @ Rooted In Thyme 
Rustic Restorations Weekend Linky Party @ Homespun Happenings 
Blissful and Domestic Feature Friday Link Party 

Did You Think I Ran Away?

Well ....

I didn't really.

It's been busy around here.
I've also been recuperating from 
knee replacement surgery.
 

I promise I'll post real soon!