HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My furkids are ready to  party....

One of my favorite ornaments...nothing like the 'presence' of family at Christmas.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Two more Christmas presents done...just a couple purses to sew and a couple batches of peanut butter fudge and I will be done. 

Who's idea was it to have a bath?

But, it does feel good to be all clean and shiny.

My part for Thanksgiving dinner...cranberry something...
I am so thankful for my wonderful family, my friends, my job, my home.  I have been very blessed in my life.  But,  I am most thankful my Lord walks this life with me in the good times and the bad, we do not walk this path alone.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  Enjoy your day whatever you are doing.

We have had one nice day and I quick got my camera out.  I hope we have a couple more, but most of the leaves are gone now.  I am glad I got these shots while I could.  I just love the colors!

Welcome to snowy Wisconsin! As much as I don't like this before the middle of October, I have to admit it is beautiful. Kind of sad to see my maple tree...it hasn't even had a chance to turn color and it is covered in white. There is something not quite right about bright colored flowers peeking out from snow. One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how quiet it gets when we have snow like this, almost like the world is holding its breath at the beauty of it. Happy Monday everyone!!

My Christmas cactus is in full bloom and we are supposed to get several inches of snow by morning...it is not even the middle of October! Where the ...... is global warming when you need it??? I am not ready for winter to start this early.

Frost is on the roofs across the street, little wisps are on our windows this morning, my Christmas cactus is in bloom....I think winter is lurking around the corner here in Wisconsin. I think it is time to put the down comforter on the bed.

Oh boy! Amy is at it again...another bloggers quilt show! Now I have to find a picture of a quilt to share...hope I have one. Please click on the button to the right to check it out and join the fun.

Also please stop over at my Quilted Hugs blog to see the darling quilt that arrived on Friday as part of the Summer Mini Quilt Swap. A very special sunflower quilt that I love....Thanks Michi!!

Sunday nap time. Little Moquette snoozen this afternoon next to me while I sew.

I love my orchids...this is the last of the blooms right now. All the others are done for a while.

My daughter Tracy (in the middle) on day 2 of the Breast Cancer 3-day walk. I am so proud of her!!!!

Went to the Farmer's Market this morning....I just love the riot of color. It is such a feast for the eye as well as the stomach. I always find something I have never seen before...it was Indian beans today. They would really be good chopped up in a salad. My friend bought some to pickle. The flowers are always so beautiful...the ones in my garden never look that good. But they don't have deer eating every blessed thing they plant either. LOL!
More flower pics to come tomorrow!

Spent the day at the Teddy Bear park with 2 of my grandkids. Boy do I wish I could bottle that energy!!

Hydrangas from my garden. I love the color. I almost threw this plant out a couple of years ago. I got it in a pot and when it was done blooming in the house it looked kind of sad. Instead of just throwing it out a friend recommended planting it in my garden. What did I have to lose? The next year it came up (to my surprise). Each year it has gotten bigger. This is the most blooms I have had on it. Thanks Walli! for telling me to plant it outside.

Finished this purse. Now to put it up for sale on ebay. If I can figure out how to do that. I did it once a while ago thru another service. I am going to try just doing it straight to ebay.

I painted this little yorkie on a new field bag. I am going to add some fabric around the edges and put it on ebay. I have another bag I have yet to paint on...I will have to find another something to paint on it.

I love this time of year...gardens are in full bloom. We have had wonderful sunny 80 degree weather. Wish I could bottle this for when it gets really icky in January/February. Tomorrow we are to get rain and thunderstorms in the morning and afternoon. We need the rain, but I just want the sun......

That is my grandson Nick at bat. We had great fun going to watch his game tonight. He is still at the 'coach pitch' level but the kids sure have a great time. Some up and coming stars I am sure. It is tournament time for them and they won their game tonight so they will go on in the play offs. Wish the Bees luck!!

I have a facination with clematis flowers. I think they are so interesting...even after they are done blooming (the top pic).

Moquette today after the dog wash. She wasn't real thrilled with the whole thing. She was excited first, but then she found out she was getting a bath. I really got the dirty look from her. She was a good sport though and was the littlest dog there. My little honey....

I have decided to go back to keeping this a blog of my photos. I am moving all my quilting and crafting to a new blog called Quilted Hugs . I hope you will visit me there also...
Tomorrow the hair salon I go to is having a dog wash to raise funds for local animals in need. I am taking my little Moquette to have her hair done and will be posting the before during and after pics. Then in the afternoon we are going to a friends house. She is having friends over to do their current art project in her back yard during the afternoon. Jim and 3/4 of his Ensemble Conbrio are going to practice some trios and give us live background music. Should be fun! I will have pictures to post from the afternoon also. Enjoy your weekend!

The wind blew all my delphiniums over this morning. I saved this one to bring inside. They were so pretty yesterday...today they look so sad. I just love the colors in these...the intense blue and purple are too much for my little point and shoot camera. I wish I could capture the color correctly. If anyone has any digital camera knowledge on how I can do this please let me know.

I am just finishing quilting a baby quilt. Baby is due soon so I have to get this project finished and ready. I will post a pic as soon as I am done with the binding.

WOO HOO! I am so excited! This darling little Spring Mini Quilt came in the mail for me today from my swap partner. Such a darling idea with the free hanging curtain. Thank you swap partner....I LOVE IT!

This is my last entry for my collage class. The flower was painted with watercolors. What a fun class this was. I am sorry it is ending. Now to finish up some other projects and clean my work area....I hate that part of it. I find I am more creative if my work area is neat.

I am just finishing and online class 'Mixed Media Collage for the Fiber Artist' by Terri Stegmiller. This class was so much fun!! If you have the opportunity to take one of her classes I would highly recommend it. You can find her classes at http://twocreativestudios.com/classes.htm Here are some of my projects I made in class...hope you enjoy them. I have one more project to finish. When I am done I will post it...hopefully this weekend.

This is the spring mini quilt I sent to my swap partner in CA. I just loved the bright colors. This little quilt was so fun to make. I think I might have to do a few more of these minis.

Look what my brave yorkie found this morning in my garden. No wonder my plants are being eaten up. Maybe this little guy and his mom will find a new place to hang out now that Buddy gave him his two cents worth. LOL! I like Bambi, just don't want him living in my garden.

Just thought I would share a little mini collage quilt I just completed. It was so much fun to do. I also finished my mini quilt for the Spring Mini Quilt Swap. I will post a picture of that one tomorrow. I hope my partner likes it!

Not the best photo, but all my orchids are blooming and it is so pretty to see these blooms. The best thing about orchids is that the flowers last for months! They just make me happy everytime I see them. What an amazingly beautiful creation...what an awesome God that has created our universe.

The 'girls' got together for brunch today. I think we look like sisters but none of us are related...at least not in this life. LOL! The weather was perfect and the friends and food fabulous. Sometimes you just wish you could bottle moments in time. I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

One of my granddaughters wanted a Mancala board for her birthday so I carved her one and carved her name on it also. I think now I have to make a couple more, one for me and ? It looks like fun to play. Good thing I still have a couple of my carving tools.

The fabrics for my Spring Blooms Mini-Quilt Swap. I am almost done with my litte quilt. I sure hope my partner likes it. I had so much fun making it.

I have been trying to clean up some unfinished projects this weekend. I finished the machine quilting on this one and just have the binding left to do... I have new appreciation for those who machine quilt on little regular machines like mine. I have a lot of learning to do to coordinate my speed and movement of the quilt. But it sure was fun and how else will I learn without doing? Jim made me a design board this weekend. He made it from the old platform from a queen size bed. I knew we saved that for a reason. LOL! I am going to cover it with a fitted flannel sheet. I can also lay it flat across a smaller table and use it to pin my quilts. I am really excited...I had no place I could pin a quilt before this. Thank goodness I have a kind, wonderful friend who let me pin my big quilts at her home.
It is nice and sunny here in WI today...could be a little warmer, but I am not complaining. I actually got out and cleaned up my garden some from winter. I also made mother's day presents for my darling daughters....a productive weekend all around here.

I found the cutest Annie patterns on the Bowls-n-Annies site... The hand carved wood bowls are beautiful and I fell in love with the Annies. I know there is an Annie in my future this summer. I put a link to the site on the side of my blog go and check them out. They just make you smile.

Park City Girl: Quilt Festival - Spring 2009

I just came back from a quilt retreat where I helped my daughter learn to quilt. The quilt I worked on is above. We had a great time!
Today I found a wonderful online quilt show here...
Park City Girl: Quilt Festival - Spring 2009

Go an enjoy all the quilts!! Talk about eye candy....