Happy New Year

To all my friends and family, here is hoping this year is filled with the best that is yet to come!

3 more days!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas mine was different this year in  a few ways  most were out of my hands but there was 2 that sadden me greatly and  that is all I will say on that matter....
You know I really want to go on a vacation.  I have never been on a vacation in all of my 38 yrs of wedded bliss but for the first time I really want to go on one, just a mini one.  But my DH is a home-body so if it happens I will have to go with a friend or family member or really when I think about it is a vacation so bad to take on your own???  For those of you that have been on one maybe you can tell me.  I am going to start taking my Christmas decorations down..  I usually do this on NY's day but maybe if I do it now all the old baggage will stay with last year and I can ring in the New Year nice and fresh.  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and I hope you have many, many good things happen......
As far as stitching goes I am getting back to my "Easy Street" mystery quilt and seeing how far I can get considering I am still on the end of step 1.  Have a good night all.  I hate to post without any pictures so I will leave with one and this was a prototype of the few that I did for my daughter....

I will post where I got the instructions for these when I remember where I got them.  Maybe my daughter can help me out here since she sent me the original site or if there is anyone else out there that made them....night all.

Merry Christmas

On this most Holy of Holidays I want to wish Jesus a Happy Birthday and you my blogging friends and family a wonderful Merry Christmas.  I hope your day is filled with merriment, joy and peace,

I wanted to share a few gifts I have been making for Christmas.  I have to find out where I got the pattern and post it so you all can go get it too.  They are called girlfriend clutches and her directions were very well written.  My mind still has it forgetful moments but I will find a link to the tutorial and post it in a little bit.  Take care and have a wonderful eve to Christmas eve..
Note:  I did find her blog so if you go here it should take you right to the post  http://bluesusanmakes.blogspot.com/2012/11/day-12-girlfriend-clutch-tutorial.html  and she has some wonderful other stuff going on at her blog.....have a great day.

Prayers for my Brother

Yesterday morning my brother called me and said he wasn't feeling well could I come over to take him to the hospital.  We live pretty close so I went over there, when we did his vitals I told him we needed to call an ambulance.  He gave me a little grief about it but gave in and I am so glad he did.  He was having a heart attack @ 49 years old.  I called my sister and Mother and they too came to the hospital.  I followed the ambulance and when we got there they took him in to have a catheization immediately.  When it was over Dr. Conn came out and said he will defiantly need a bypass that all his arteries were at least 50% but that he was not a candidate right now.  He said they would try to treat him orally for right now and keep a close watch on him until he was stronger.  The problem they are having is when they give him oral medicine to bring his blood pressure down it does not work they have to put him on a nitro drip in order to get it down.  Then they take him off the drip and it starts to go back up again so then it is a repeat back on the drip.  We will find out more today but if I could request a prayer from those who pray I would appreciate it and for those who do not if you could send him some good Karma I would appreciate it.  I will post an update when I know anything different and thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Update:  12-19  This afternoon they did manage to find a mixture of blood pressure medicine that has worked to take him off of the nitro-drip.  It has worked for about 5 hours now so hopefully it will be the one.  Thank you all for your prayers they mean so very much!
He was also told that he will need to have a triple bypass at a later date....The doctor did not say when he just said that he will be monitored closely and given medicine to help make sure that his heart can heal a little bit before he goes into surgery.

Update 12-23  Mt brother is home just feeling worn out but better.  He will go in to have a triple bypass in the middle of February as long as he has healed some.  The docs and all of us really are hoping that no other events happen in between now and then to force the docs hand at doing it earlier than that.  Thank you all for you warm thoughts and wishes.

Happy Birthday, Linda

I made this for my friend, Linda.  She had a birthday around thanksgiving and she loves indigo so this was her gift along with one of these marking pens for fabric and I just love them so I thought she may  like to try one.  You can mark your quilt and then iron it and the lines will disappear.....

I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Share a new experience for me

Good morning...I wanted to share a new experience that I had yesterday for the first time oh in about 9 months...I was getting out of my car and going into Bi-Lo and for the first time in a long time I felt the wind in my hair!  Now I know that is not allot to some of you but for me it was awesome.  Since I had my cancer and started treatment in February and then lost all my hair by April it has finally reached about an inch and a half long and I could feel the wind blowing it...I almost cried..I wanted to share this good experience with all of those who have helped pull me through with good thoughts, prayers and sent good Karma my way, thank you!  Have a great day.

Our little tree

I just wanted to post a pic of our little Christmas tree we put up in our foyer.  My dh and I are originally from Philadelphia  PA and we are die hard Eagle fans.... So I went and got him a small green and white tree  in honor of the 'eagles" colors and decorated it with all green and white ornaments.  I also still had some eagle fleece from when they sold it and used that as the tree skirt...thanks for stopping by.

Reversible Purse

Hi everyone...I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  My sister, who actually moved to Florida  is spending time with me until after the holidays this year.  Well she has decided she wanted to learn how to quilt so in order for her to learn about her sewing machine I went to "All People Quilt.Com" and found a purse to stitch which is called "Reversible Purse".   This way she would accomplish something before we actually got into the process of making a quilt. Here is her finished purse which is the black one and mine which is the other one....I hope you enjoy!

Bonnie Hunter mystery..."Easy Street"

I finally picked some colors for the Bonnie Hunter mystery.  I am still waiting for a purple and a limey green to get here but this will be some of the ones that I will use.  I decided to go with the colors that Bonnie suggested since I really like them individually, I would not have normally picked them out to do a quilt.  So this will be a new lesson for me and I can't wait to see how it tuns out.

quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/11/easy-street-monday-link-up-1.html

Happy Thanksgiving

From my home to yours wishing you and your family a wonderful thanksgiving......

Chevron table runner

I made this for my son and his wife because they are changing there colors in their kitchen/dining room to black, white and red.  This is for Christmas and i have already gave it to both of them and then asked for it back..lol so it could hang at our local quilt shop in our modern group display.
Both of my children are into clean defined lines and geometric grids and stuff like that so this is what I tried to keep in mind when making it.  Well they really like it and that made me very happy.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Black Strip quilt

I finally managed to get this together and finish the binding on it.  Our local quilt shop "Sew Bee It" is having a display in the month of December for our modern quilt guild and this will be one that I will have there and wanted to share.  Don't look to close to the FMQ it is something I am just learning at and well it is not the best but I think it turned out cute.

Grandson wins the superbowl

Good Morning I just wanted to share a pic of my Grandson Dayton, who along with his team the Seminoles won there super bowl series and instead of trophies this year they gave them rings so I wanted to share and let you know how proud we are of him...enjoy

My little coin purse

I am just thrilled with this pattern that I bought from Madame Samm and if any of you would like to give it a try it is for sale here .  It is a little coin purse and with all of her pictures and details of how to do it well it just came together wonderfully.  So I wanted to share the one that I worked on this morning and I will be making some more, I can tell you that.  Thanks Madame Samm for a wonderful pattern...

I loved these colors together and I had to use the white thread because I did not have any heavy duty thread in the colors I needed but this one if for me so it is fine.  I hope you enjoy it too.

Veterans

With Love and gratitude:

A birthday present

I had my friend Linda over for the first time since January and we had a wonderful time together.  It felt really good to be stitching with my buddy again.  Well along with her she brought me a birthday present and boy I can tell you they are very warm.  A few years ago Linda learned how to make socks and as much as she tried to get me interested, I just know that holding five or six needles at one time is just not something that I see me doing all at one time.  I am just not that coordinated...lol  Anyway I just wanted to share with you all the very pretty pink socks that I received for my birthday.  Thanks so much Linda I really do love them..

A novel idea

Morning all....As you all know I have had a rough time getting back into the swing of stitching but I have done a little something that I wanted to share here.  Our guild  issues a yearly  challenge and for 2012 it  was  called a novel idea.  What Linda did was have you pick a book and then she told you the page to go to and then a sentence.  Then you would have to portray  that sentence in a art quilt no smaller than 18" square.  Well my book was Gone with the Wind and it was page 150 and I forget the sentence number but this was the sentence..."Then you'll be more comfortable."  and here is how I chose to portray it.   I thought well what better to make you feel better than a glass of wine at the end of the day so that is what I did.  I made a table scape with just some trim and then the rest is pretty much there....I tired to do some thread painting but I don't think my machine liked it cause it was giving me a headache..lol  I also used Angelina and although you cannot see it there is red wool under the sheen fabric to distinguish red wine and then quilted.   And of course now that I have a little more hair I will post a pic of me with it...thanks for taking a peek.   Enjoy your day!

2 more Modern mini Challenge blocks

I am so late on these blocks and I have apologized I cannot tell you how many times.  This was for a modern mini challenge that has been going on all year and well we all know how my year has been going but I did finally get 2 more finished and just received one more in the mail on Wednesday and then that will be all of them.  I just wanted to give you all a sneek peek to see if you could guess whose blocks they are.  Enjoy your day!

Happy Fall!

Good morning Ladies and Gents I cannot believe it has been since August when I last posted here....Life has been busy as I said in my last post..the finger that I broke has not healed correctly but I will not have it re-broken until after the first of the year...I just have to breath for right now so that is what I have chosen to do. The shingles by sight are gone but I am still having some problems in that area but the good news is I am starting to stitch again.
I am working on finishing 2 obligations I have had that are long over due and then a little art quilt that stands for "then we will feel more comfortable".  I will post a pic when I am finished.

I truly do not know normal anymore but I am realizing that there is no normal it is just "life" and I am taking it as it comes.  So I wish everyone a very Happy Fall and I am so glad to be stitching again....thanks again for all the good wishes they helped me deal with life and I do appreciate them.

Happy Fall to everyone!!!!!!!

Sneak peek on the modern mini challenge

I am in a modern mini challenge and wanted to post a few sneak peeks at a few blocks I sent out this week. Can u guess on whether one of these is yours....

A winner

Hi there everyone, thank you all so much for visiting me and saying all those nice things about my blog.  I have not gotten to everyone's blog yet but I intend to so don't give up on me yet..... I am a bit late in pulling the winner out of the hat but I had a friend pass away on Tuesday night and it has been a little mental for me to handle but she has been in pain for a very long time so now she is in a place and filled with love and no longer in pain and for that I am grateful...so now to the winner

Gmama JaneJuly 10, 2012 2:04 PM who said:

"Your Give-Away is so nice...I have not seen that magazine before!
Blessings"

So if you will send me your info I will get these in the mail to you and I hope you enjoy.

A beautiful suprise

I wanted to post a pic of this beautiful quilt I received in the mail.  It is from some very special ladies on the World Wide Crazy Quilt Group that I belong to.  What a surprise it was.  It is a wonderful fun loving yahoo group. If you like to hand stitch or crazy-quilt and just love to be part of a group of people that love to share their talents in hand stitching then you might want to consider joining this wonderful group.
Ladies the quilt is beautiful and I thank you so very much for thinking of me and putting your time and talent into something so lovely.

Red, White & Blue Blog Hop Celebration July 10th

This has been a wonderful, colorful display of what the colors of our flag are, wouldn't you agree.  I have always loved to make blocks in our red, white & blue.  I cannot tell you how many I have made and sent off to be in someone's quilt of Valor or have made my own quilt or table runner etc.  The first one I would like to show is of course a star...and who of us does not like a star done in not only red, white and blue but how about a little off white with red and blue to me this just is another way of ageing our colors, almost  like history.....I can't remember the name of the block, what can I say it is the chemo drugs so if you know the name then please post here for all to know.  I was making it at someone else's house and left the print out there.

I am going to show you 2- 6" blocks that I used in a R,W, & B quilt not because I am trying to break the rules but the first one I used as a border block in a Quilt of Valor quilt and I got to tell you I wish I had a picture of the quilt and I do have someone looking for a pic of it but it made it stand out beautifully so it is just another option instead of making it all R,W & B...here is my red and white border block.

Then this one a bunch of us ladies and one gentleman decided to have a red, white and blue signature exchange.  There were 24 of us in the exchange and we did take it one step further by adding a drawing to the center of a rail fence block of our state and they are awesome together but since I did not actually put it together yet I will show you just a few that were done.  I hope maybe it will give you another idea on getting a group of friends together to make just a little different red, white and blue exchange.

Last but not least "string" quilts seem to be coming back and I made these blocks to use as a table topper.  I used newspaper print paper  as a foundation and I will show you what they looked like in the beginning...you will need 2.5" strips for the center and then I used 5.5" squares to make the side strips.

You lay the red strip face up going from corner to corner first and then lay the side pieces face down on either side of the red strip, it will look like this...

And then look like this with both sides added to the center red strip....

Now before you start sewing your blocks together to get your 12.5" square you need to remove the paper in the back.  If you use a tiny stitch then the paper will tear really easy at the seams..

There are all different ways you can put your blocks together  but this is how I am putting mine together and will be doing it today.  Sorry that I did not get that far but it gives you an idea anyway...

I hope you are having fun and enjoying all of these wonderful blogs for the old red, white and blue.  Thanks to Jane and Madame Samm for having me.  Please follow the link on the side bar to see who else is scheduled today.  I am giving away a copy of this magazine and a yard of this sewing notion fabric from Hoffman.  If you would like to leave a comment please do and I will pull a name at the end of the day on Wednesday the 11th.  To me these colors represent freedom so please remember to use your freedoms in the best way possible and although we forget sometimes, our freedom was bought and paid for by plenty of men and woman who wanted to make sure we got to keep it.....

and here is the list of fellow creators today....

July 10th

Tinks mom

beaquilter

Quilted Sisca

sharon-dancing thru threads

Connie C

Cate`s Linens

Sharon

Happy Independence Day!

It has been completed

Well I can say that as of last week my radiation and chemo have been completed and now I am on the road to recovery.  I want to "Thank" so many people for all their prayers and good wishes in these last 4 months they have been such a comfort and I know they are what got me through...so "thank you" all very much.  I came out of my last radiation and then to see the doc and went to ring the bell and my husband and daughter and son in law where there with flowers and it was a celebration of tears and fears and just a bunch of emotions.  Now hopefully I will get back to my quilting and stitching and some things that I have not been able to do in the last few months so I am really ready to get on with it....have a wonderful day and hug the ones you care about and even some of the ones you do not.  We all need a hug every now and again......

Things are moving along

Just wanted you all to know that things are moving along.  I am in week 2 of radiation and it is really kicking my butt.  If truth be known the chemo and I got along better.  I am sick every day I take radiation which is 5 days a week and the meds do help some,  but not too much eating of normal food is happening.  I do not seem to be doing too much other than going to radiation and back and believe me there is just enough time for that.  Really longing for those days of being with my quilty friends and groups and they can not come too soon.  My last day of radiation at this point is set for June 18th and I am keeping my fingers crossed...talk to you all soon..Many hugs and gratitude for all the good thoughts and karma that have been sent my way.  I am truly blessed with wonderful family and friends.

Remember our Freedom has a price.

A beautiful gift!

I was given a beautiful gift today by a special Lady and Friend,  Sandi!   Now as I write this I want Sandi to know that I  always thought of her as a special and sweet woman and friend.    I went to our modern quilt group today.  I wasn't feeling wonderful but wanted to be around familiar faces and friends.  Lately I seem to be able to start allot but not finish anything, I don't know if it is the nature of the beast that is inside me right now or what?  I was told by another friend not to worry she felt the same way.  Anyway Sandi, Linda and I get together once a month  to share our valuable time and laughter and it is truly a wonderful time by all.  Sandi is a very involved member of our modern quilt guild and it was nice to see her and many other members today.  Well she was showing this beautiful quilt made with blocks that I saw hanging in her studio awhile back and  made a comment back then on how much I loved the blocks.  Then she bought it closer to me and tossed it to me saying well this is for you....stunned would be a good word to put in here now cause that is how I felt.  Let me explain....  When I was first diagnosed oh my gosh the tears flowed like a creek all day and night then I got up the next day and said ok the only way to do this is head on and no pity or tears.  I told myself to get my big girl pants on and fight and basically that is what I have done.  I feel if I shed tears I will become weak and that will not work with the work that I had in front of me, fighting something I knew nothing about.  So I do my best whether they be sad, fearful, happy or worried tears, I do my best not to shed them.  But Sandi did make me push myself today when she gave me this beautiful quilt.  I got a little teary but it took all I had but believe me they were tears of joy.  It is one of the most precious gifts that  I have been given by a friend.  Sandi I will treasure it always and "thank you " just does not seem to be enough.  Having you as a friend has truly been a blessing and a gift.
This is the gift that I was given today, it is beautiful in more ways than she will ever know.....

Note:  For some reason the lighting on my camera was not wonderful and I will try tomorrow to get a better pic outside of the front and back but I did not want to wait to post a pic of it....

Make it wonderful!

enjoy and fill your heart with love and memories....

To my Daughter, Leigh-Anne and my Son, Gene thank you for being the best part of me!

Update....

I just wanted to post a little note to let all my blog family and friends know the status of my cancer.  As of last Tuesday I have finished 3 rounds of chemo and went to have a PET scan done on Friday to see how much the mass is deteriorating (hopefully).  I know the few that I had in my back are very small now and radiation will take care of those but the one in my stomach is not at the half way mark yet and we cannot do radiation until it is.  So if the PET shows that is has gotten to under half the original size  then we can begin radiation if not I will have to do 3 more rounds of chemo...so I know with all of your support and prayers that have been sent my way  and a little grace given to me by our Lord I will see the radiation doctor on Tuesday so we can do our planning meeting, I am not sure what that is but I am guessing it is where he makes his marks and all for radiation to begin.  I will post an update when I know where I am headed.  I want to say thank you to all of you for helping me to keep my chin above the water...I am truly blessed.....

Thank you Gene & Carol

I received 2 lovely cards with an angel and a rose motif  from both Gene and Carol with some very encouraging words that I am sure I will re-read many times.  Thank you so much they are very much appreciated as I gear up to start chemo again this Tuesday.
My M-i-L arrived on Wednesday evening after taking what should have been a 6 hour flight on Tuesday landing in TX right before the tornadoes and never reaching here until Wednesday evening....it was a long journey for her and I feel very fortunate that she is here safe and sound.    My son is doing our Easter holiday this year so he and his wife will be hostessing and I will get to sit back and enjoy.  So with my family and friends I am very blessed.  Have a wonderful Easter.

Happy Easter

I wanted to just post a note and wish everyone a wonderful  Easter Holiday...May we take the  time to remember the reason for the season!!!

Remember to Vote at SewCalGal

http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2012/03/vote-for-your-favorite-nominees-for.html
I just wanted to put out a little note about making sure our voices are heard.  SewCalGal has put together the Golden Quilters awards for 2012 and this Saturday is the last day to vote.  She has done a wonderful job and it is just a way for us to take notice to those that have truly helped quilters around the world learn and grow.  And everyone could use a little recognition every now and again so please vote.....just click on the above link and it will take you right there.  I haven no affiliation just part of one of the best groups of people in the world known as quilters......

"thank you" to so many

I just wanted to say how much I  appreciate the cards and notes coming in the mail telling me that you are praying for me and keeping me in your thoughts.  I have them displayed in my living room and when I look at them they help to give me strength and pull me through this ordeal.  It has been 3 weeks since all this has happened and I have had only 1 chemo treatment but there have been a few bumps and ER visits that I have had to make and climb over and I cannot have imagined getting through them without knowing you are all  here praying for me.  Because of the cancer being in my stomach I cannot really sit at my puter very long because it is very uncomfortable but I still do manage to get here long enough to check my messages and send a note here and there.  My husband asked what I wanted for Mother's Day and I said I think I would like something like a "Kindle Fire" so I would be able to go to my blogs that I like to keep up with or my groups that I am in  and check my emails without having to sit up.  I miss not being able to be involved like I use too.
Well I didn't mean to actually go into all that I just wanted to say "thank you" to everyone who has been praying for me.  You all mean so very much to me!

I received an awesome gift today

I have received a very pretty gift in the mail today and it was from KathyS...  I wanted to post a pic of it and show you the lovely hat pins , pincushion and buttons that Kathy made.  I have never received such a lovely gift as this.  I have never even saw beautiful hat pins like this let alone have them in my possession.  It was so thoughtful and lovely that it brought tears to my eyes..so I thank you from the bottom of my heart Kathy you  made me feel very special.

Just the 2 cutest grandbabies

These are my 2 grand babies that are just the cutest.  They are in for a treat as my M-I-L is coming to stay with us while I go thru Chemo and this will be the first time she sees her great grand-daughter, Phalynn.  Have a wonderful Thursday everyone....

Modern Mini Challenge

Michelle is having a small modern mini challenge where we make a 6.5 unfinished block and then it gets sent to a few other people they  add a 1" or 2" border on it and we do not get it back until October.  So I have been piddling with this block and have now decided to use it.  This will be going in the mail shortly.  Basically I just added more fabric and the block grew then I wanted to add like a final frame piece and more yellow so this is what it becomes.....  Have a great day all.

To all my Dear friends you have become like family

I am going to post this on my blog only because I initially sent out emails and did forget to let a few know and I really felt bad about it so I am only going to post about it now because I know all the details and wanted you all to know to.  You have all become like a second family to me and it has helped knowing that you all are pulling for me.
On Feb. 29th I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin s lymphoma now I know it is Stage 2- A and it is in my upper stomach and lower back.  Not sure what the A stands for yet but I will eventually.  as of today I have went thru 2 days of chemo.  The mass is my stomach is the size of a baseball and the ones in my back are half that size.  The reason it was so long is because I tend to have allergic reactions to chemicals and they were taking it slow to make sure I did not have any reactions and I am happy to say as of now I have had no reactions.  I will have treatments every 3 weeks and then need to have radiation also.  I cannot tell you honestly that I am not scared, cause I am, but with all of you and my own family you have helped me get this far and I cannot thank you enough.  My plan is to take every day as it comes and deal with that day.  I will keep stitching, by machine when I can and then hand when I can't use a machine.  You are all very special to me and I appreciate everyone of you.  Take care and be good to yourself.....Now on to more fun things...

My NYB block

Well it took me longer than it should and I still have 3 more to do to make a full circle but this is my first block for the NYB sew a long that is going on.  If you click on the box on my side bar you will be able to join too...enjoy

My journal cover

Remember when I was telling you that I needed a journal cover and was hoping my friend read this post because she makes beautiful journal covers, well she did read the post and this is my new journal cover.  Linda did an awesome job on it and I really like it.  I think it is me!  Thank you very  much Linda, I love it.

Thank you for your prayers, I am home

I just wanted to post a note of thanks for everyone's prayers and to let you all know that I am home and the rest is left in God's hands now...thanks again for helping me through this it means so very much too me.....
I am starting a journal, which has been recommended for this journey but I have to see if my good friend and she knows who she is would make me one of her awesome journal covers.  I have made a few but she makes the best........have a great day..I think I am going to go back to bed at the moment and will check in later....

Casserole carrier

A friend of mine shared her pattern for this casserole carrier.  I had fun making it and I used a fabric that was given to me oh about 5 years ago.  I love cats but I am allergic to them so she sent me this wonderful colorful fabric.  She is no longer with us but when I was making this carrier I wanted it to be whimsy and bright and this fabric worked wonderful....thanks MaryK!