Princess Quilts

The last few days, I've been working on a pair of matching quilts for Princess 1 & 2. Their dad built them cute white twin beds, and their mother picked out the flip flop fabric. She bought turquoise sheets for backing and for part of the inside.



Not being a quilter, it took me a while to decide what I wanted to do, and a co-worker who has taken quilting lessons helped me with the final design. It couldn't require too much cutting and matching, because I'm just not that good at it, and confused myself several times on the pieces required for this.






I'm taking them to the lady in our community with a long-arm quilting machine, and she'll quilt them up for me. Then I'll finish the edges once we've made sure they fit the beds, and after we've determined whether we need to add more around the edges or if we need to trim some off.

I still have two pillow shams, assorted throw pillows and a curtain to make before I'm finished. The pillows have to be personalized, but that won't be too much trouble.

I'll be gone for a few days. My friends and I are going to Daytona Beach for a few days. I sure hope it's warmer there than it is here. I'll also get to see my grandson who moved to Orlando in January. His mother wants him for souvenier. I'll be back to work on Monday the 26th.

I hope everyone is looking forward to a good week. Pray for the travelers stuck in all the airports. Love one another.

Spring Fever!

I have a question about Spring Fever. If you have, it does it mean that you can't get enough done, and you just want to be busy getting everything done that you didn't do all winter? Does it mean you want to clean closets, dig in the flowerbeds? Does it mean you just don't have enough hours in a day?

Or, on the other hand, does it mean that you don't want to do anything but just sit and watch your favorite ball team play ball? Or nap? Or just sit and do nothing?

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a sewing mood. I had a dozen projects I wanted to be working on all the same time, and I got a couple of things finished. Now, however, I don't want to do anything. I've been cleaning a little(and I mean little). But when I get home in the afternoon, it's like I just deflate. And there I sit in all my deflatedness until bedtime.

I had hopes of getting two quilts ready to quilt for the princesses while I go on vacation, but that hasn't happened, and I can't see doing much right now since I only have a few days before I leave. I have towels to monogram as gifts for the girls, and I have to get packed. Maybe I should just start my vacation early.

I hope you are having a great day. Pray for those who can't fly because of the volcanic ash. Love one another.

Beautiful Dogwoods

I love dogwoods. I think they are the most beautiful flowering tree we have. I also love redbuds, but they aren't as graceful and meaningful as are the dogwoods. I have given some thought to driving around town and taking pictures of all the dogwoods that are blooming. However, I might get hauled away by the men in white coats for trespassing on people's property. My neighbor has two trees in his yard, and there's another a few houses on up the street.
I planted 3 dogwoods a few years ago. One promptly died, another died but came back the following year only to be crushed when the pine trees were cut. I have one small tree left. It has about 20 blooms on it, and it is a red dogwood like the one pictured here. We don't see too many of them in our area, and I don't know if they are naturally red, or if they have been crossed with something to make them red.

It's a beautiful day outside, and promises to be a beautiful weekend. I hope to get out and enjoy at least some of it.

I hope you are having a great day and looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Continue to pray for the Miners and their families. Love one another.

Very Boring Wednesday!

It's rainy, it's windy and it's blah. If it weren't for bible study tonight, this day would be a total drag.

I went to Abilities Unlimited today to see if I could score any good deals. I'd been looking at a dresser base that would be great to paint and fix up. I found one thats in really good shape, but last week all furniture was 1/2 price. This week it's only 20% off. I should have bought it last week, but couldn't decide, but I just don't see paying 32 dollars for something today that I could have bought for 25 last week. They had another one that I liked too, but it had two drawer runners that needed to be repaired, and they wanted 56 for it. Not hardly!!

But what's worse is that I may have to cut my son out of the will. He hurt my feelings and ticked me off today at lunch. I just had a question--about the dresser that needed the repair, but he wasn't interested in answering to my satisfaction, and basically told me to call back when he cared. Now, wasn't that terrible? I'm not used to being spoken to this way by any of my children, and especially him. Never mind the stress he's been under with his wife being gone for job training and he's trying to work and take care of two little ones, and his MIL is staying with them right now. Needless to say, he's not in a very good mood.

I'm sure I'll forgive him at some point, but it will probably be after turkey season. Maybe he'll be in a better mood then.

Hope you are having a better day than I am. Pray for the miners and their families. Love one another.

Proof of Spring!

The bottom of the windows in my living room are about chest high. Therefore, if you are sitting, about all you can see is sky or the distant tops of trees. So I planted a Redbud right smack in front of the middle of my front porch where I can see the blooms in the spring and it can shade the front during the hot part of the summer.
Right now, it is blooming beautifully and has a beautiful granddaughter in it. I wanted her to go higher, but she refused. I have three more across the back of the property, but the only time I see them is when I drive in to park.
This is one of my Clematis. I cut it back pretty good early in the spring so it would have time to grow some length before it began to bloom. You can't see the buds in the photo, but there are about 20 on it. It should be really pretty very soon.

Do you have proof that Spring has sprung? I hope so.

I hope you are having a great Tuesday. Pray for the miners and their families both in China and West Virginia. Love one another.

Superhero and his Turkey!

My grandson is 6. His dad told him when he was little, that when he was 6, he could start hunting with him. He was allowed to go on the youth deer hunt back in the winter, and this weekend was the youth hunt for turkey season.

His dad got him up about 3:30 Saturday morning, and off they went. I don't know how long they were in the woods before getting this turkey, but they bagged it, took it to the local newspaper, had this picture made and were home by lunch.

They went back again Sunday morning, but all they got was hot and tired. However, Superhero is quite pleased with his first turkey, and says he's having it mounted and hung right over his bed. I didn't hear his mother concur with that, so I guess we'll see what position it has in his room. For now, it's in the freezer waiting to be stuffed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday. Pray for those who are lost. He is risen. Love one another.

Silk Tie Dyed Eggs

This isn't going to be a tutorial. It's going to be a what not to dotorial.

I found the instructions and pictures of eggs dyed with silk ties. I thought it would be a great thing to do for Easter.
Then I spent some time thinking about the project. You use regular eggs, but if I went to the trouble of dying these eggs, I didn't want to crack them to get the egg out. So being the extra bright person I think I am, I decided to blow the egg out of the shells.
Here are the eggs after I blew the insides out.
I made a trip to Abilities Unlimited and bought 4 silk ties for 4 dollars. As you can see, they weren't all that pretty, but the instructions said pretty ties didn't usually make the prettiest eggs.
I took the ties apart, cut off the big end, and wrapped the eggs, right side of fabric against egg shell.
Next, I wrapped the white fabric just like the instructions said. I didn't have any twist ties, so I used straight pins(next time, if there is a next time), I'll use rubber bands if I don't have twist ties.

Then the fatal flaw in my plan reared it's ugly head. Those eggs floated rather than sunk. Didn't I know that anything containing air would float? You'd think so. Then I thought maybe water would fill the cavaties and they would sink. But they didn't. I put a plate on them, and it kept sliding to one side.

But I cooked them anyway,20 minutes. Took them out of the water at the appropriate time, and this morning, I unwrapped them. Here are the results. The process works, but next time(if there is a next time), I'll leave the egg in the shell. They all took color. The lightest one in the picture, is very lightly marbles. The others are ok too.

Looks like one of the princesses will be spending the night tonight. I have two paper eggs I bought at Hobby Lobby. I think we may decorate them tonight or tomorrow. I'll have to see what she wants to do.

I hope you are looking forward to a beautiful Easter. He is risen indeed. Love one another.

Great News!

I checked my lottery tickets a few minutes ago, and I found that I have won the jackpot.



Daughters, don't get too excited!!!

April Fool!!!!!!!

Have a great day. Pray for my children who will kill me after this post. Love one another.