Farewell February and Hello Spring!

Hi All,

It's been a bit since my last post but with good reason. February is not a great month for me to begin with, since it's the month my dear husband passed away. Then sadly my mom passed away a few weeks ago in February, so doubly hard for me. 

I miss my mom. She was 98, almost 99, years old. But it doesn't matter how old your mom is, she's always your mom. I miss her dry sense of humor! Mom had Alzheimer's but always kept her very dry sense of humor, which I loved...and I may or may not have the same sense of humor (okay, I do)! She lived her last 10 years in a nursing home nearby and was well taken care of (which is saying something). I visited her often and whenever I attended quilt shows would take lots of photos and show them to her. She really enjoyed looking at all the pretty quilt photos. My love of quilting and embroidery came from her mother, my grandmother, who was a talented quilter and embroiderer. I'm a bit lost without my mom.

My sweet mom. Love you, Mom!

I arranged her celebration of life and we had that last weekend. I'm grieving but moving forward with a lot of things, like my kitchen renovation, which is nearly done! I've been without a kitchen for a month now and I will be excited to get my kitchen back next week! So, to say February was a difficult month is an understatement! Good riddance to February and hello spring! I need some flowers and light in my life right now.

Speaking of flowers...I'm still (yes, still) working on my spring embroidery piece. Because of the things in my life that happened last month, I didn't work on it as much. And I'm a little afraid of doing the bunny on this piece, mainly because I haven't quite decided on which stitch to use. The pattern indicates thread painting, which I have discovered I love the look of, but really hate doing, so switching it up a bit. I'm considering the turkey work stitch...but not sure yet.

I'm also excited that today my oldest granddaughter Lilly (how is she 13 already?)is getting her first sewing machine! I talked with her mom the other day about which one to get for her and she is getting a Brother sewing machine! Personally, I'm on a Janome kick now but used Brother machines for many years. Lilly loves to piece together outfits and wants to sew her own. I can't wait to give her sewing lessons!

My sewing room organization got put on hold because of...well, life... but it's getting back on track now. I have a storage unit put together and in the room and just have to take all the fabric out of bins and load up the storage unit (WHEW!). More to come! Once it's done, I'm back to quilting with embroidery in the evenings. I ordered some new fabric (like I need more!) from Keepsake Quilting and it should be here tomorrow. I call it my motivation for finishing my sewing room! HA!

Well, that's it for now! I hope Spring is kinder than February was!

Happy Quilting, Sewing, and Embroidering!

Christmas is a Wrap and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is enjoying 2023. I mean, I know it's only day 3 of the new year, but here's to a great year!

We had a nice family Christmas on Christmas Eve and then I had Christmas Day dinner at a dear friend's house. I had a quiet week off work and now it's back to the daily grind.

I am making progress in organizing my sewing room! Not quite finished yet...but I'll get there! Christmas decorations are all put away and I'm working on purging some stuff (more stuff)out of the house.

I did finally finish the embroidery piece I was working on (yay!) and have started a new one with a spring theme (I'll keep you posted). Photos are below. I used some metallic threads for some extra shine in the piece but I'm not quite sure you can see the shiny bits in the photos. Metallic threads are not easy to work with, however, I do love the effect they provide.

Latest embroidery piece!

The kit is from The French Needle and below is a photo of the kit. As you can see, I added my own flair to the piece, which I am prone to do with most pieces. I actually bought 2 of these kits, so maybe for the next one I'll stick to the color scheme in the kit...or not!

Embroidery kit from The French Needle

That's it for now. I'll be back later with more updates.

Happy Sewing, Quilting, and Embroidering!

Cheers to the New Year!

Ten Days to Christmas! I'm Not Ready!

Hey everyone!

I literally just realized today that we are ten days (10 days!) out from Christmas! I'm so not ready! Yeah, I've bought a few gifts, but they aren't wrapped and I'm pretty sure I'm not finished shopping yet. I just thought about Christmas cards yesterday and still haven't done anything about writing them or getting them out. To say that I am behind is an understatement! Are you ready for Christmas?

If you, like me, are not in fact, ready for Christmas, here is a link and another link, and just one more link (you're welcome) to some quick and easy Christmas gifts that you can make. Guess, I'd better choose which ones to make and get crackin'!

I am working on my embroidery piece...still! Not sure it will be ready by Christmas but I get an A for effort, I guess. 

Next week I'm off work for the whole week and I'm so excited. My plans are 1) get ready for Christmas...wrap presents...send out cards 2) organize my sewing room, which is long past due 3) get another quote for new kitchen cabinets (Monday) 4) finish embroidery piece 5) get some rest. I'm not sure I'll get any or all of that done! I already have babysitting for my grandsons scheduled on Saturday, so one day down. We'll see what happens.

My daughter sent a Christmas photo of my grandsons. They've grown so much! My oldest grandson will be 9 in January along with my youngest granddaughter (how are they 9 already! Weren't they just born?!) Geez, time flies!

My handsome grandsons with Santa!

I also celebrated another spin around the sun last week. Funny, I don't feel older, but my body would beg to differ! I guess you are really as young as you feel...not! LOL! Anyway, my oldest daughter made me a ginormous delicious chocolate cake and I had the whole family over for dinner. Yes, I cooked (and cleaned) on my birthday! But we had a great time.

Me with my ginormous chocolate cake!

Here's to looking forward to the holidays and a new year.

Happy Sewing, Quilting, and Embroidering!

And if I haven't told you yet, Happy Holidays! 🎄🎅🤶

Another Successful Surgery and a Cold Front

Howdy Folks!

Just stopping to let you know that my second cataract surgery was a success and I am recovering well. 👀 I was nervous about it, but there was no reason to be and now it's all behind me...well, except 4 more weeks of eye drops and another ophthalmologist visit. Ha! 

One of the nurses at the surgery center asked me if cataract surgery was a Christmas present to myself. I had to think about that one for a minute, but...um...yeah...I suppose it was! 🎁 So Merry Christmas to me!

I woke up to near-freezing temperatures this morning and frost on the ground (I mean...it's Texas, so that's newsworthy). So, it's truly winter here...at least for a few days. LOL! Just wait a minute and the weather will change! Sunday it was 81 degrees, so Texas weather is like a roller coaster most of the time, except in the summer when it's just HOT! 🔥

My embroidery piece is coming along, but I have to rest my eyes for a few days at least before I can get back to it. Not to worry, I have more Christmas shopping🤶 to get done and I'm working on a big project at work, so I'm staying busy!

Gotta go rest now.

Happy Sewing, Quilting, and Embroidering!

Turkey, Surgeries, and Christmas Shopping

Hey there!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! I know I ate my fair share of turkey and stuffing!🦃 😉

Now it's on to Christmas. Speaking of which, did you do any Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping? I sure did! Trying to get gifts for the kids and grandkids. I found most of the gifts on Amazon and a few at Target and may have bought a few things for myself along the way 😉 I always forget (every single year) just how stressful (and expensive) Christmas shopping is. I still have some shopping left to do, so trying to save up. 

When I was at the doctor's office last week, I was chatting with one of the nurses who mentioned that she had all of her Christmas shopping done by August! August...I don't even think about Christmas shopping until after Halloween, or even Thanksgiving! I'm curious as to how many people get their Christmas shopping done early 🤔

I also had cataract surgery in one eye 👁 and am going in tomorrow to get the other eye done. I am so hoping this will not only improve my vision but also my night vision. Haven't driven at night for quite a while now. Surprisingly, the first surgery was fast and easy (I was quite nervous!), so here's hoping tomorrow's surgery is fast and easy too. 

My Christmas tree is up! I actually bought a new tree this year (on sale) and put it up the day after Thanksgiving. Now, I'm not normally a tree-putter-upper but decided that since I'm in a new house and I have the kids and grandkids over more often (because...bigger house) that I would go ahead and put up a tree this year. 🎄 So here's a photo of my new tree! (I'm still waiting on some decorations and tree skirt that I ordered...so don't judge the bareness of my tree)

My new Christmas tree!

I'm still working on my next embroidery project and hopefully will be finished soon. It's been hard to finish it with the eye surgeries, but I promise to post photos as soon as it's off the hoop!

Here are some photos of the grandkids from Thanksgiving week, and also my tree out front is changing colors and it is beautiful!

The boys had a concert at their music school.

My beautiful tree, changing to autumn colors!

Happy Sewing, Quilting, and Embroidering!

 

Hickabilly Christmas Tennessee Trip

Howdy y'all!

I just returned from 5 days in Chattanooga, Tennessee where I attended the Hickabilly Christmas Live Event by Lizzy & Erin. I'm tired from traveling but had a great time crafting and catching up with my long-time friend, Debbie. 

Me and Debbie (she made us matching shirts!)

It was really great to see Debbie and her daughter and meet her four-year-old granddaughter (even though she wasn't feeling too well 😞). The weather turned rainy and cold when we were there, so sightseeing moved off our list (bummer). I was really excited to see the sights...but it just wasn't meant to be. However, we ate some delicious food while we were there! We had a wonderful brunch at Milk and Honey and had amazing ramen at Two Ten Jack's restaurant.

Driving into Tennessee

Cool tunnel in Chattanooga!

Also, I won a gift basket! (I never win anything!) It was so big that I had to ship it home...LOL! It should be here tomorrow, so it'll be like I won it twice 😂

The giant gift basket I won and shipped home!

Hickabilly Christmas...Look at all those gift baskets they gave away!

This cute reindeer (made by me) was one of the crafts we made at the event.

Now there's a quilt! LOL!

Well, time for this old gal to rest up from the trip and think about gifts for Christmas. I can't even believe that Thanksgiving is next week! So, Happy Thanksgiving!

Next time, we'll talk about little gifts to sew or quilt for Christmas.

Happy Sewing and Quilting!

November and the Houston International Quilt Show

Happy November or as I like to say Happy Almost Turkey Time! 🦃

It's starting to cool off here in Texas, at last! I love going outside and not instantly sweating. And we've finally gotten some rain. Yep, the cooler weather is exciting!

Today the Houston International Quilt show begins and runs through November 6. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend again this year for various reasons. I've been to this spectacular show a couple of times and I have to say that it's a wonderful, if a bit overwhelming, quilt show. It showcases some of the best of the best quilters on the planet. It's also fun for everyone (husbands and kids included). 

My late husband took me to the Houston Quilt show twice, years ago, and we both had so much fun. Hubby loved looking at all the art quilts and I had fun shopping. 😃 So many vendors come to the quilt market and show in Houston. It's amazing! 

If you can't make it to the show (like me) click here to see the winning quilts. I am determined to make it back to Houston, if not next year, then the following year (fingers crossed). I mean...I'm not getting any younger! But if you do want to go next year, or the year after, be sure to reserve a hotel (or stay with friends) well in advance...like right now! The hotels book up quickly, especially the ones nearest to the venue.

I have never entered a quilt in a quilt show before. I mean...I'd like to I'm just chicken. One day, perhaps I'll be brave enough but until then I just like to look at everyone else's beautiful quilts.

My vacation is next week and I'm excited to be off work for a few days. Plus I'm excited about seeing my long-time friend, who I haven't seen for several years, her daughter, and her little granddaughter (who I haven't met yet). As mentioned in a previous post, we are attending the Hickabilly Christmas Live event in Chattanooga, Tennessee where we will be crafting up a storm. They do have a virtual option if you are interested in attending without the cost of travel. I'm just calling it "Girls Week"!

My latest little embroidery project is nearly complete and I'm anxious to finish it. I'll post photos when it's done.

Happy November, Quilting, Embroidering, Crafting, and Sewing! 🍁🍂