Mug Rug Swap FWFS

 Lindsey at the Ft. Worth Fabric Studio blog is hosting a mug rug swap. I thought it would be fun to join.This is the mug rug I received from Tracey Hindman. If I find out she has a blog, I will come back and edit my post.

 Thank you Tracy for the beautiful mug rug made with my most favorite colors! She also sent me a pretty fat quarter which will come in very handy. 
 I love it all including the sweet note!

 Thank you, Lindsey, for hosting a fun way to share and meet new people!

Voting Begins on Nancy's Zieman's Pillow Challenge!

  Voting begins today on the Pillow Challenge (my last blog post here). Voting end March 14.
 My pillow is the black one that says "Creativity Comes Out of Chaos". (pic below) I would appreciate your votes, but I know there are many gorgeous entries. You can vote up to 5 times!
Voting Link.

Thanks so much!
 Shirley

Nancy Zieman's 2015 Pillow Challenge!

 I follow Nancy's blog, and when I saw this post, I knew I wanted to enter. I had planned to enter more than one pillow, but time got away from me, and my embroidery machine broke.
 So I'm just entering the one, but it is my all time favorite!
 Voting starts on March 7, 2015. I will post again when the link is available. 
 I know many of you can relate to this for sure! My friend, Jenny, and I made her one several years ago, and I finally got around to making myself one. I look at it everyday when I come into my sewing room!

 Pictures really don't do it justice! I used several different fonts on my computer to make the words in Font Engine from Embird. I love Embird embroidery software! 
 I hope you will vote for my pillow! Thanks! 

Surprise Gift in the Mail!

It's so much fun to receive a gift in the mail, and especially a surprise gift from a friend. 

 Today I received this box of note cards that are images of vintage McCalls patterns. They are so darned cute! 

 The side of the box looks like a tape measure, and the envelopes look like pattern print. 

 Let me just say I am one happy girl!

If you want some for yourself, you can order them here at BasBleu. 
 Thanks for stopping by!
 

Going to the chapel............

 Not me, but our grandson, Bubba, got engaged during Christmas. We are all so excited! He arranged the cutest way to surprise his girlfriend, Alyssa. She had no clue until she turned around that he was asking her to marry him. He had asked a photographer friend to play along like they were shooting a promo for her business. 

Alyssa made special cards to ask her bridesmaids to be in her wedding, and she also made one for our Shelby when she asked her to be her flower girl. Shelby is so excited! She loves Bubba and Alyssa so much! 

They are entered in a contest on Facebook to win a bridal package using a really cute photo booth at their wedding. If you are on FB, would you please click on this picture link, and vote for them? We would all appreciate it so much. There will also be some other prizes, and you all know how expensive weddings can be. Oh, the happy day will be September 26, 2015! 
Pixie Flash It will be the pic posted below:

Thanks so much!
 

My Latest Win!!

 I love Facebook giveaways because they are usually the easiest. Smartneedle had a giveaway recently and I won this darling little sewing machine USB drive! 
 They also sent a bobbin holder and a tiny sewing kit for your purse. 
 I just love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

I Spy Quilts for the Grands!

 I have been planning these quilts for a while. I almost let time slip away from me so I had to get busy before the grands got too big!
 I did a couple of charm square swaps to get some of the squares, and I bought a few off of Ebay. Plus I added some of my own of scraps that I knew they would recognize.
 It was so much fun watching them open the quilts. It really thrilled my heart when I saw how much they really loved them. They are only lap quilts, but all three kids put them on their beds. Shelby cracks me up with her Christmas lights on the headboard.

 Here are some more pics. I embroidered a tag to sew on the back of each quilt. I wanted them to remember where they came from.  Cayden said he was so glad to have something to remember me by when I go to heaven. (That made me laugh and cry.)
 Shelby said it was nice to have a quilt because sometimes when people die, they wrap them in a quilt. (Literally LOL)
 Eric sleeps with his every night. Sweet boy!

 I did the quilting myself which was mostly in the ditch. I'm not that good at free motion, but I managed enough to quilt around their names. 

 I was pretty pleased with them. My husband asked how I was going to top this next year. I told him I wasn't! 

Thanks for visiting!
 

End of the 2014 Sewing!

 I didn't get nearly as many projects done this past year as the year before, but I had good reasons. Having knee surgery on Oct. 30 is one reason, and the other is because I spent about a month or more working on three I Spy quilts for the grands. They loved them so it was well worth my time. 

 After I had surgery, and I had healed for a few weeks, I managed to monogram 2 stockings, and to applique 2 pajama tops for the little grands. I made these letters in Font Engine in my Embird program.

 Normally these shirts would have taken me about an hour, but this time they took me at least 1/2 a day each. I just couldn't sit in this chair for long at the time plus it always takes me forever to decide on which fabrics to use. At least I got them done!  Both of the designs came from www.embroidery-boutique.com.

I have missed my actual sewing, and I hope to be back at that soon!
 Thanks for visiting! I'm doing another post on the I Spy quilts.

Missing in Action!

I doubt many have missed my posts because I haven't been keeping up my blog too good lately. 

 I had a knee replacement 5 weeks ago so that is one reason I've been away. It was rough at first, but my knee is doing good now. 

 My dear husband has been so good to take care of the house and tending to me. I don't know what I'd have done without him. I didn't have to go to a rehab or nursing home after the hospital. My doctor wanted me to come home and do physical therapy here along with using the CPM machine. Next week, I will be going to out patient rehab nearby. 

 In another week, I can officially start using a cane, but I've been practicing. My PT says I'm strong enough.  I haven't been out much, but I do walk outside everyday the weather permits.

 It's been a bummer in that I couldn't sew and make things for Christmas. I'm so glad I did make the little grands a special gift before I had surgery. I will post them after our family Christmas. 

 I do read a lot of blogs, but I missed out of doing that too for a while as I couldn't sit at the computer long at the time. I'm trying to get back into my old routines, but gosh, it's hard. 

 I did crank up the embroidery machine this week to monogram these stocking for my grandson and his girlfriend. He just bought his first home so he wanted to have a new stocking. The stockings were bought at Hobby Lobby.

 I do hope to try and blog more often. I don't want my blogging efforts to completely bite the dust!

The Office Makeover!

 I'm sorry to always be behind on writing a blog post. My days seem to just get away from me. I guess it's a part of getting old? 

 We were really pleased with the office outcome especially since it was done on a budget. The biggest splurge was with the huge sign my husband bought to cover that big, bare wall!
 So here we go! Before and After pictures:

Big Blank Wall

 

Empty shelves

 

The back wall

 

 

 The windows are very tall so we had to solicit the help of our two oldest grandsons. I forgot to get a picture of Bubba. Clayton is the one you will see in some of the shots. He is really good with setting up computer stuff and climbing ladders!

   My husband bought burlap curtains, and I had to cut them off so I just let the hem ravel instead of having to take the sewing machine to school. They looked just fine with a fringe type bottom. 

 Now for the rest of the pics. The big sign was made to match the smaller signs we bought at Hobby Lobby.

 A friend of ours gave us the two chairs in front of the desk, and we bought the other one at Goodwill. 

 It's hard to see in the picture, but he painted the old chair royal blue, and the dishpan gold which are school colors.

The sign I made!

 

 And last - the boss giving orders! 

 Thanks for stopping by. Clay is loving his new job as counselor! 
P.S. - I'm loving my uninterrupted sewing time. ;)

Project for the Hubby!

 Things seem to stay hectic around here for two old retired folks!

 Did I say retired? Well, it seems my husband is going back to work in August as a counselor in a private school in our parish. 

 He is definitely tired of teaching, but this seemed to spark his interest so he accepted. 
 I think I am sort of glad as he will be gone 4 days a week which will free up my time to sew more! 
 However, it does put a kink into a few things that I depend on him to do, or rather, things that we like to do together. 

 So he will be in an older school, and his office is the old book storage room. He has been picking up a few things here and there to decorate with, and also bought some drapes - all by himself!

 He asked me to help with a sign for his outside door. The hall is dark, and the wood is dark, he remembered we had an old mirror we'd bought a while back. We had already painted it to hang on the back fence - lime green! His school colors are blue and gold, so he sprayed the outside gold, and I embroidered what he wanted on some blue fabric.
 It was easy to do, and all I did was hot glue the fabric to the back of the mirror. 

  I think the students will be able to find his office! What do you think? LOL

Daylilies in Bloom!

 Our day lilies have been gorgeous this year. They have bloomed more than ever before. I always love for the end of May to get here because they usually start blooming then.
 We were gone for 5 days to the beach, and when we got back, I was just amazed at how many blooms were on each plant. It's been like that every day this week. 
 These are just the ones right behind our house, and outside my sewing room. We have more all through the back yard. 
 The two top pictures were made on two different days. 

  There is just nothing prettier than God's handiwork!