Peace

 "It isn't enough to talk about peace.  One must believe in it.  And it isn't enough to believe in peace.  One must work at it."

                  ---Eleanor Roosevelt

Today I went down to the park to see what the veterans were doing:

 They had put up a display for each person from Pennsylvania who had lost their life in the Iraq/Aghanistan war:

All 195 of them.

I pray for all the families who have suffered a loss like this...and for all the children currently in Iraq and Aghanistan and their families as well.

Peace.

Christmas through the Year!!!

Jingle Bells!!!  Could use some snow to cool us off here :D  Visit everyone at Allie's, Christmas Through the Year.

I didn't think I had much to show this month but the last few days I've been playing with my embroidery machine.  But first I found this mug and it struck a chord with me because I had a machine embroidery design with two birds similar to this and I knew I had coordinating fabric:

So I made two mug rugs to coordinate with them:

Puppy madness: Sandra and I are doing a swap.  She is going to make zipper bags for me and I am making dogs for us.  One dog for Sandra, one dog for me.  Great stocking stuffers:

Lavender Sachets

I may not be able to do zippers, but my embroidery machine can so I made these strawberry purses (already gave one to Helena):

And this dog purse that I love :)

This was supposed to be tea bag purse but it didn't turn out so well.  I"m still working on that pattern. 

That's all folks for this month! :) 

Three thumbs up....

Julie, Kim and I give the Carbon County Quilters Guild three thumbs up!  This is a small quilt show but we found it very enjoyable.  First of all, Summit Hill itself is a cute little town, nice parks, very clean.  You have to love a town that has a "Stay At Home Festival" for the holiday weekend! 

The venue was neat too, a small church that is now being used for the Heritage Center.  Check out the wooden raised doors (like garage doors) that were used to seperate the Sunday School Classes:

Below--Definately a neat way to display quilts!!!

The theme for this year's show was "Decoration Day" inspired by McCrae's poem, "In Flander's Fields".  These were our favorite quilts:

Not a great shot of this one (sorry!) but it was an interesting way to use landscape fabric!

This one had writing on the white stripes:

 Then there were the other quilts.  We were struck by the use of a big gingham check in this quilt.  It sang for us to come over to see it!

 Another favorite because all three of us have a lot of garden prints that we haven't used:

 We particularly liked the border:

 There were also a few antique quilts:

 and some we just found fun and inspiring:

 Among the things we also liked were these jars they sold.....some for as low as .50!  I liked this as an idea that we might be able to use for our own guild show (if anyone is interested). 

 The jars were filled with odds and ends and pieces of fabrics, some just remnants...

 Others had a couple of fat quarters in them.  I thought it was a fun idea...especially since I no longer can and have tons of those jars!

Afterwards, we went to shop at the Quilted Crow in Lehighton, had lunch and got home in time to clean up the house and do the weekend grocery shopping.  It was a fun break for us!

Have a great day and stay cool!

Another Quilt Day!!!

We are on the road again today!!!  Today I'm headed over to the Carbon County Quilters Guild Show in Summitt Hill, PA!  Kim, Julie and I are doing this road trip.  Afterwards we will go to the Quilted Crow shop in Lehighton and then head home before the next batch of storms arrive.  If you are wandering around this part of Pennsylvania, you can find out more information about the show here.
Tomorrow I'll post some pics of things I've been making for Christmas through the year....
Have a wonderful day!

Preparing for the Holiday...

What do we do every Memorial Day holiday?  NOTHING!!!!  When my son was younger and we lived in a small village, we had parades and ceremonies on Memorial Day.  Now I live in a city that celebrates with a 5 day event called "May Fair." 

When we moved in here years ago, we used to wander down and at least stroll through the park listening to the music, back then there were some Jazz bands, etc.  It's changed now.  The city fences off the park (the same park we maintain with our huge taxes) for this weekend and charge admission.  And the music is less than stellar so we don't feel as if we are missing much.  Unfortunately we can't go anywhere on the holiday.  I always worry about our property being damaged by the kids going to MayFair.  Last year, I actually got into an arguement with a woman who wanted to pick my rhododendrons:

This year's rhodies are awesome!

 What is surprising........is that my husband will actually be home for the holiday!  He is usually off working and I get to deal with cleaning up alone.  DH was supposed to be leaving for the Congo.  He had 6 shots on Monday (3 in each arm) to prepare for the trip to Africa.  Went from the doctor's office to the office........and found out that trip was canceled.  OUCH!!!

So this weekend we will be spending time here:

And hanging with the dogs, chatting with the neighbors and in general, just relaxing for a change.

Natalie and Katie play "Seamus in the Middle"

Today and tomorrow I hope to get some sewing done!  Will post pics if I get to the projects I want to finish before "Christmas through the year" time is over!

Have a great day!

Quilt Day

I had an extraordinary quilt day yesterday!  I belong to two quilt guilds and was fortunate enough to have two events yesterday.  The first was "Quilts on the Triangle" where I had volunteered as a greeter.  The "Triangle" is a square (but not shaped like that) in the middle of the  small town where our guild meets.  We had a wonderful turn out and this was one of the events we are doing to celebrate our 20th year anniversary:

We were so fortunate that the weather held off during the event.  It has rained here everyday for weeks and didn't start until about 5 p.m. last night (wooohooo!).

From there I drove to another event which was AMAZING.  One of the women from the other guild I belong to, Colonial Quilters, had an event sponsored by her children and celebrating her 80th birthday this year.  They did so by renting a fantastic hall, hiring a caterer and displaying all of the 200 quilts she had made through the years.  It was a fantastic one woman show!

The family did such a fantastic job and Terry (the artist) was beaming.  The family borrowed Colonial Guilds' quilt racks and it was such a wonderful exhibit.  I was surprised at how many quilts were still hand quilted although Terry has been machine quilting lately.  Her daughter said she quilts like it is a full time job and always has the next project on her mind.

 I think every quiltmaker has something to teach us and Terry had many lessons to offer.  Her choices of fabric were often inspired and surprising like using this reproduction fabric to frame...

a very modern quilt:



AND IT WORKS!!!  Terry even used home dec fabric on some of her quilts and it really gave the quilts a wonderful textural sense (yeh and the fabrics all worked together despite different weights.....amazing). And look at how she uses a big print to frame her center:

I think I was most surprised at how she kept her work so fresh and continues to challenge herself.  I had wondered if her quilts would be more traditional in nature but Terry has continued to evolve as quilting has changed.  She is an amazing inspiration!

It was a wonderful day although I feel bad that my husband was a bit neglected while he was home.  My week ahead is much clearer and I hope to be able to spoil him a bit with home cooking and baking. 

Have a great day!

we woke to sunshine!

It's been raining for quite some time but whenever I want to complain about it, I think about the people along the Mississippi and I am grateful for our blessings. 

Like this old clematis which started blooming:

and this new one I planted this year:

Teddy von Barky...doing his barking:

 This morning I have a brunch for the hospice  I volunteer for and then I will be home to play in the garden because ..........IT'S SUNNY OUT!!!!!!!

Have a great day!

Please, no photos.......

The last thing I usually plant in the spring are the begonias.  The wall of begonias was my husband's idea a few years ago.  It was an easy way to keep the dogs from hopping over the wall when they see someone or something out front.  This year, my husband suggested adding the yellow begonias...great idea!!!  This is the what we see when we open the back door and it is like coming out to a bouquet each morning.  

Now  I'm taking a much needed break from gardening to rest my hands and am grateful for the rain we are expecting most of this week.  I might even accomplish  some sewing !

 Yesterday, I brought my mother and niece over to sit in the backyard for a bit.  This is what Christina did everytime I brought out the camera......

"Don't take my picture, I don't have make-up on."

Silly goil, you are BEAUTIFUL!!!! 

I Got Mail!!!

I belong to various quilting groups on the internet and one of them is a Christmas Group called "25 Weeks".  Last month we had a contest which you could enter by making gift bags and tags (as everyone knows, one of my favorite projects anyway). 

And for once, I won!!!!!!!!!!!!  Whoo hooooooooooooooooo!

The moderator, Lish, made this really neat bag........can I tell you how much I love this red fabric it is soooooooooooooo Mickie :)

And even more!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fabrics, Lazy Girl Pattern, a tiny notebook and seeds!

I've been having a challenging week with my Mom's situations but this just made my week wonderful!  Thank you again, Lish!!!!!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope your day is full of gentleness and love!

Good fences make Good puppies...

Greetings from our garden!!!

Seamus is NOT pleased.

Dogs each have their own personalities; but it surprises me how much like they are like kids!  When our dear Paddie was alive, she was the easiest garden dog.  Tell her not to go some place and she will avoid it forever.  She enjoyed just laying around near me as I gardened.  The boy pups have been much more difficult.  They are like...well...... boys!

Teddy (white poodle) has made it his personal mission to mark every plant in the garden.  Seamus (black) is more oblivious than anything, he sees NOTHING when he is in hot pursuit of his beloved red rubber ball.  For two or more years, I've wanted sod replaced in the back yard.  The boys just tore up what little grass we had.  My husband refused to put sod down---so I took an alternative route to avoid more mud tracked in the house............ (while he was away on business). :)

Years and years ago when young Paddie was my gardening partner and we actually had...GRASS!

I call it "Operation Gravel."  For the last three weeks, I've put expanded the beds and put down (me personally, ALONE)  ONE TON of gravel.  I couldn't have normally done this but I used a garden cart and it made all the difference in the world.  Then I mulched everything (again with my trusty cart) and planted a few annuals.  The piece d' resistance was fencing around the little plants to protect them from the boys.

I wasn't sure I would like it but anything was preferable to cleaning up mud all the time.  And I do like it, feels more tranquil back there now.

Teddy inspects a dry creek bed that now replaces the path he and Seamus cut in the middle of one of the flower beds.

Seamus is not sure what to make of this all.  These fences are annoying him.  He keeps smelling around them!

The other pics were of the upper bed (we have two levels in our back yard). The lower bed is mulched and fenced off but now I have to work on the patio.......After my hands and legs recover!