The fog

is lifting! And I am finally seeing the light of day. Thank you so much for all of your well wishes. It was so encouraging to see your sweet comments. I tried to answer most of them, but may have missed a few of you. But know that I appreciated everyone's get well thoughts.

And as the light has finally cleared my head, I started looking through some of my fabric stash and thought I might have a ONE DAY giveaway. Sew Cindy does this every once in a while, and it seems like a fun thing for my blog readers.

A few years ago, when my quilting buddies and I were doing a lot of charity quilts, I accumulated a healthy collection of Homespun fabrics.

So if you are interested in some Homespun, leave one comment on this post and tomorrow I will pick a winner!

ONE DAY!!

Hibernating

Cough, cough, sniff, sniff...........

Miserable, that's the only word for it. Since last Friday those are the only words that come out of my mouth. Well if you can call them words. I've felt like a hermit, huddled in for the winter. And I really don't feel like doing anything. I've knitted a little, and read a little bit of a book, read a few blogs. But basically, nothing very productive.

And to top it all off, yesterday and today I've had to listen to this all day long.

Thankfully he does not have the back up BEEP, BEEP on, or I think I would have moved!

But this afternoon my speedy mailman brought my copy of the latest American Patchwork & Quilting!
YAY!! I was so excited when I read on Jillily's blog yesterday about her pattern being published.

I have wanted to make Around the Town ever since I saw Kim's post about Wasatch Quilt Shop Hop. I love Jill's pattern, but I think my color way will be more along the lines of this -

Okay, back under the quilts and another hot cup of tea............ gotta get over this stuff.

cough, cough.....sniff sniff...............

AH....

choooo.........
Time to cuddle up with a warm quilt.

Be back soon.

On the street where you live

Have a wonderful weekend.

And Happy Quilting!

And.........

Yesterday's mail brought some of the delightful Civil War fabric that I ordered from Bonnie Blue Quilts. I didn't order much, and some of the fabrics were already gone. But I loved these little beauties and can't wait to use them.

And my daughter found these great embroidered pillows the other day when we were browsing through IKEA.

To go on my new Red Sofa! woo-hoo ....................

Now don't you think I need a Red and White quilt to match??

Happy Quilting :-)

Butterfly days

Do you ever get butterflies in your stomach?? I mean like when you are stretching out and trying something new?? It always happens to me, so what do I do, I keep my wings in, and stuff it all down.

I guess we all want to be creative in some way. Some people seem to have more talent and it just flows out of them. I recently read Kathleen Tracy's blog A Sentimental Quilter. She had a wonderful post that inspired me. You can read it. It's titled "A Little Something Every Day". What I loved about this transparent post was how she shared that she always wanted to be creative, but she just would play. She thought that she was not a creative person. A friend opened her eyes when he told her "Of course you're creative. You admire creative people and love creative things so much - you're just scared to try."

Oh wow, how true is that? How many of you are scared to try something? Failure rears it's very ugly head, especially when we seek the approval of others. So what does it mean to try your wings? What will it matter if you try something and it doesn't work?? What if it does work?

When you have something that is floating around in your head, how do you translate it? We are not all artists who can draw and paint and put what is in your head on paper. But yet, sometimes there is a little something that lingers.

So I've had these little images

that I've wanted to try

but I couldn't seem to put them down on paper

and then I read Kathy's post

and I said, oh why not try?

So I put them down on paper, and then transferred them to cloth.

Red floss and needle in hand..........


I am not really happy with how the words turned out, but it was my first attempt.

Okay, so I am not a designer, but I was very encouraged and inspired by Kathy's post. And I just wanted to share that with you :-)

Go, and be creative!

Isn't it........

On a dreary rainy wet day


isn't it fun to

work on a new quilt

with your

quilting buddies?

(Come out, come out, wherever you are)

Happy Quilting!

On a cold winter day

I've been a tad bit under the weather for a few days. Not really feeling like doing much. So to keep my hands busy, I started knitting a scarf from some cute yarn that my daughter gave me.

I LOVE THIS YARN!!!! It is so much fun to work with. I wish I knew how to knit a hat, as I would have a matching one.

But maybe I will get a second chance, because my daughter also gave me these -


And if you pop over to my thrifting blog, I posted some fun information about

SNOWFLAKES

Check it out..........

Have a safe and warm weekend. And Happy Quilting!

My version...

...........of Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli


Pasta E Fagioli

1 lb ground beef (I use ground turkey meat)

1 onion (chopped)

2 carrots (grated)

2 stalks celery (chopped)

2 garlic cloves (minced)

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano

1 (15 oz) can Red Kidney beans (drain but don't rinse)

1 (15 oz) can Cannellini beans (white kidney beans, drain but don't rinse)

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 can Chicken stock ***

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Ditali pasta (1 cup dry)

1. Brown beef over medium heat, drain off fat. Place in stock pot

2 Saute onion, carrots, celery and garlic for 10 minutes. Add to stock pot

3. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.

4. After 50 minutes, boil pasta according to directions, drain and add pasta to pot of soup

5 Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serves 6

***You can add more chicken stock for more broth if desired.

I hope you enjoy this soup. It is very easy to put together and we love it on cold days.

By the way, does anyone know what does the "E" stand for??

Civil War fabrics

Barbara Brackman is hosting a weekly block on her Civil War Quilts blog. I love CW prints and sometimes they are a little hard to find in my area.

I have been on Bonnie Blue Quilts email list for a couple of years. And guess what? They are having a fabulous sale. It seems that BBQ will not be selling yardage after February 1st. So girlfriends, guess who is benefiting from that right now! Go to their website for their 35% off sale of any (yes that includes sale fabric) CW fabric they have left in stock. But hurry, because on Saturday they are opening up their warehouse for a BIG sale down in Richmond, Texas.

Now what are friends for??

Happy Quilting :-)

Winter Blues

Yep, we all have them. After the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holidays, the cold sets in and we get the Winter Blues.

I live in the Sunshine State, but we have not had a lot of sunshine nor warmth lately. Which makes me just a tad blue. So can I share some nice warm pictures with you, and we can all sit back with a hot cuppa and dream of the Warm Days ahead :-)







Okay I had to add a picture of a quilt from an outdoor show.

Now take a deep breath, and remember that Spring is just around the corner ;-)

Happy Quilting

Mug rug........ Mug MAT

Have you figured out yet that quilters are the nicest people. Recently I was visiting A Legacy of Stitches, and I left a comment on a very cute mug rug she had made. Sandi quickly sent me an email asking if I would like to have the scraps from the coffee fabric she had used. I told her YES, as my daughter loves coffee, and it would be fun for her to use one with the coffee theme.

So a few days later, this comes in the mail

What a nice bundle of fabrics. Way more then I thought her "few scraps" would be.

So this weekend I just started working with the fabric, and not only did I make a nice mug rug,

(sorry about the pins, I am still working on the binding)
BUT.......... I had enough fabric to make a Mug Mat!

Perfect for when we have a little more then just a cup of coffee going on :-)

Thanks Sandi!