Saturday, March 31, 2018

No Spring skips it's turn

Even though there is still lots of cold and snow up north, there's lots of blooming going on here.





Planted my spring herbs

And of course the fountain has been cleaned and filled. I love to sit on the patio and listen to the water.

No winter lasts forever, no Spring skips it’s turn- 
Hal Borland

Friday, March 30, 2018

Another one bites the dust

I'm a piecer. I love piecing quilts. I have a stack of ufo's to prove it. So I'm trying to work down my stack and finish these oldies but goodies.


I made this quilt, tea dying the cream fabric for a primitive look. So this one is getting backing and quilted on my domestic machine. 

Yes another one bites the dust ;-)  May you complete all your ufo's!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Wordless Wednesday

          

Monday, March 26, 2018

A Borrowed Dream



Dreams. Do they often come true? When a small town school teacher dreams of Paris, will her dreams come true?

Catherine Whitfield has dreamed of a trip to Paris with her mother for years. But when her mother dies at the hands of a quack doctor, all of Catherine's dreams dissolve. And Catherine's distrust of doctors mounts as she tries to doctor the children left in her care.

But when widower Austin Goddard moves to Texas, his young daughter becomes a major concern to Catherine as she tries to bring Hannah out of her melancholy. Catherine is drawn to Austin as together they try to draw Hannah out. But Austin has a secret. One that would push Catherine away if she knew. Hiding from a criminal who would track Austin down and hold Hannah hostage.

This is the first book I've read written by Amanda Cabot. Although I felt the story had a slow start, it was a good clean novel, that lead to a satisfying ending.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher. All views expressed are my honest opinion.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Let's go local

It's been easy to drop off the pillowcases at the local quilt shop.  Here's one that always has a friendly and welcoming smile.




I always enjoy a little bit of quilty inspiration.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Saturday, March 17, 2018

The Push



"In an ordinary town,
in an ordinary house,
there lived a boy named John.

But he was different from the other kids in town."

The first words of the book titled "The Push - A Story of Friendship" by Patrick Gray.

I was totally enchanted with this heartwarming story about friendship. Not just an ordinary friendship. A special bond that develops between two boys. One that will teach children about discovering how to love those who are different. And what true friendship is really about.

What is so beautiful about this story is that it is based on a true life friendship. One between the author, Patrick Gray and his best friend, illustrator, Justin Skeesuck. Justin's life and career came crashing down when he developed a neuromuscular disease called Multifocal Acquired Motor Axonopathy. He could no longer use his hands to paint.  When Patrick wrote this story, he knew he wanted the illustration to be the same style Justin would have painted. The two of them discovered an artist, Matthew Waresak, who captured Justin's style .

This beautifully illustrated children's book will be an asset in teaching kids how to draw good from everyone we meet. A lesson in putting the needs of others before our own. Learning to extend the hand of friendship to those who may be different.

There is also a grown up version called "I'll Push You". The story about Justin and Patrick's' real life friendship.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher. All views expressed are my honest opinion.

Friday, March 16, 2018

This week...

...has been a little more productive. I finally got around to finishing a table runner with left over Island Batik fabric.

I had blocks already sewn, just needed to pull them together in some kind of order. I'm happy with how it turned out.

AND...
more pillowcases!

I finished 20 pillowcases for Ryan's Case for Smiles and delivered them on Tuesday! Yay!!

I hope you had a happy quilting week!

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Wordless Wednesday

Everything goes better with pink :-)

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Let's get organized

Even though I have not been doing much sewing or quilting lately, there are things going on in the sewing room.

I save lots of scraps, and they end up being deposited into a basket here, or there.

One day I said, "Enough!!"  I had purposed to head down to IKEA and buy one of those cute turquoise rolling bins.  But as I never made it down there, I ended up buying this.

It works great to stash the scraps and charm packs.  And it was a fraction of the cost :-)

Then there was the closet, which was totally unorganized.

(this is only the bottom shelf, as I already started reorganizing the upper shelves)

A few years ago, Karen at Sew Many Ways shared a post about organizing her Kitchen Cupboards.    She used Fabric boxes to hold all sorts of things. And the great thing is......... they were only $1.00!!  So I headed out to my Dollar Tree to see if they carried these boxes.  I found a large selection of the larger 11 x11" size. 

So here is how the closet looks now.

I may go back and see if they have the smaller boxes to fit the space in between.
 
Yep, much better!

Friday, March 9, 2018

New project

Last night I decided to knit a cotton dish cloth.  I am a beginner knitter, so I watched a video on how to increase and decrease.

Here is the works in progress :-)


I love that I can pick this up and work on it in short bursts of time.  What are you working on today?? 

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Monday, March 5, 2018

Maps ready?

Is this your destination this year? It's coming soon.

I've been to the Paducah Quilt Festival twice and enjoyed it each time I went. I was accompanied by friends, which of course made the trip more delightful. I would love to go again, but this year there is a conflict. Has anyone gone to the Quilt shows that have spawned around the country? Did anyone attend the Daytona show?

Friday, March 2, 2018

Doll Quilt

I found I had quite a few blocks that were cut but not put together. It looked like there was enough to make something.

Soooooo..........

I started putting the squares together and came up with this little doll quilt!

Yay!! I love it! Do you make doll quilts??