Reward

I've wanted a French press coffee maker for a while now.  No good reason, I just wanted one.  Today while waiting for the pharmacy to re-open at Sam's I was doing a little shopping and I spotted this pretty little French Press with four matching cups.

Yep, I did it.  I consider it my reward for surviving Thanksgiving.  Now for Christmas.  LOL

Seriously, I have lots of projects in the works, but none that I can show right now.

And.....our baby girl will be here along with her roommate in a week and a half!!!!  I can't wait.  We're going to have our big family Christmas party early while they are here, so lots to do before then.

I know you're busy with secret stuff, too.  Have fun!

Hugs and kisses, 

Getting Ready

My sister and her husband are visiting from Colorado.  Sue has been very busy today helping me get a start on the Thanksgiving feast.  We've baked pies and made fruit salads.

And Sue made Mr. Muddling's favorite cake - German Chocolate.  Oh my!  I can hardly wait.

Lots to do tomorrow, so I'm heading to bed.  Early for me, I know.

Best of blessings to each and every one of you.  I hope you have a truly wonderful day with those you love!

Hugs and kisses,

                                                                             

Melbourne Apron

 I was thinking about all the cooking my sister and I are going to be doing tomorrow and I decided that I needed a new apron.  And then I remembered that pretty tea towel Margaret sent me.

And then I remembered some fabric I had bought recently.

And now I have a new apron!  Thanks again, Margaret!  I'll think of you while I'm cooking.

 I wanted to give you a little peek into the quilt I'm working on now (between cooking and cleaning, of course).  First you sew four strips together, then you pair them with another set.

 Right sides together.

 Make a diagonal cut through
both strip sets.  Then sew together
along each diagonal side.

Press seams open and look - two totally different looking blocks from those two strip sets.

It is such a fun quilt to make.  Which is a good thing, because I have several more to make. 

I do hope you will each and every one have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day on Thursday.  I know that all countries do not celebrate, but wherever you are it's still a good time to stop and thank God for all your blessings.

You know I love you and I am thankful for you!

Hugs and kisses,

I Seldom Do

 Knowing where I am going means I am already there...kinda boring.
 Kathy Doughty , Material Obsession

I'm so glad she said that.  It makes me feel much better.  LOL  Seriously, most of the time I just have an idea of how I think a quilt will look when I start one.  Most of the time, oddly enough, they turn out not to look much that way at all.

The finished quilt above is the Strip Twist I made for Mr. Muddling's brother.  He just wanted blue, no other consideration at all.

Here's the back of it.

This is the finish of the Slashed Squares, along with its backing.  I wish I had made it a little bigger, but it's done now. 

Moving on.

I'm working now on another Strip Twist using some of the these strips I cut last week.  As you can see, Chloe has her own ideas of which ones I should be using.

From Bruno's face you would really think he had been hard at work, wouldn't you?   I was ironing some seams and happened to look up and see this expression.  Priceless.

A look out the back door at the Angel Trumpets at night.  They make me so happy.  They're pretty and they smell good.  Win.  Win.

Hope you're winning at your place!

Hugs and kisses,

One More

I hope you haven't tired of seeing the quilts from Quilt Festival, because I have one more to show you.  This one was just so sweet, I can't resist showing it, too.

These, and more, little dresses
are the centers for the blocks
in the quilt made by a group
of ladies in the Greater San
Antonio Quilt Guild.

As a by the way, I saw a booth (sorry,
can't remember which one) that had
these little dresses for sale.  The
intricacy of these little beauties is
just wonderful!







I finished the blue strip twist quilt, and it is in the dryer right now.  I'll get pictures of it up a little later in the week. 

My sister and her husband will be here from Colorado for Thanksgiving and I have a pretty dirty house I need to get cleaned before the family gathers here for the feast.  I love these times we get to reconnect.  We're planning a big Christmas one here, too, with local family.  Lots to do.

Hope you're having a great day!

Hugs and kisses,

Progress?

The borders have been sewn on this one.  I just need to give it a final pressing, along with its backing and it will be ready to load and quilt.

Here is the start for the layout of this one.

Last night (early this morning LOL) I got lots of strips cut from fat quarters I've been collecting for a while.  These will go into several projects brewing in my mind.

And just because I love you, here are a couple of pictures from Quilt Festival.

This is titled "Artist Village", a cooperative where Kathy York invited artists who have inspired her to create 3-D houses to symbolize the support each gives to the other in the creation of their art.

And along those line, may I just say that you ALL inspire me.  Each and every time you post what you are creating on your blog, it inspires and engergizes me.  That is one of many lovely  things about blogging.  Thank you for being part of my world!

Hugs and kisses,

                                                                           

Lots of Things

I have to share this one from the Quilt Festival with you.  Just below the center on the right side is a chicken with a corn dog.  The text balloon above her says, "I love corny dogs!"  How funny!

I love the color of this one.  Reminds me of some of yours, Wanda! 

These 1950's type Santas are real smile-makers, aren't they?

I wish you could see this one in person.  It just glowed!  It's titled "Via Appia My Way" by Maxine L. Oliver of Yorktown, NY.

Isn't this a stunning Drunkard's Path?  It's titled, "Total Eclipse" by Sharon Dixon of Katy, Texas.  Her nephew, aged 22, had recently died in an automobile accident.  She said the yellow represented to her the sunshine starting to shine through her family's grief.

I have a few more to show, if you're not tired of my not-so-great photography yet.  I'll post those another day.

My sister and her husband are going to be visiting with us during Thanksgiving.  She sent this last week as a "Pre" hostess gift.  Wasn't that a sweet idea?  I know I liked it.  It arrived at a time last week when my reserves were running low, so - perfect timing!  Thanks, Sis!!!

I treated myself to these two pretties while I was out running errands last week.  There's just something about pretty flowers that makes me feel better!

I harvested more lemons today.  They are so good!  Miss Ru is campaigning for a lemon meringue pie. LOL

The only thing I purchased at Quilt Festival was a yard of this pretty blue batik.  I've cut it to use for borders on this strip twist top.  I just have to sew those borders on and it will be ready to load and quilt.  This one will be going to Mr. Muddling's brother.

This is the one I just started the other night.  I got all the blocks sewn together and pressed last night, then started cutting them for a Slashed Squares quilt.  I've had a layer cake of Nostalgia by April Cornell for a long time, just couldn't settle on a project for it.  I think it will be pretty in this one, and I added in a few fabrics leftover from a Mary Engelbreit layer cake just for fun (the cable knit prints). 

I'm enjoying Claude, the feral cat who seems to live mostly in our back yard.  He now prefers petting above cat food handouts and will leave his food bowl to come rub against my legs and get petted.  Truly everyone needs love, even the wildest and worst tempered among us.  I know.  I'm one of those sometimes. LOL

Hope you're being well behaved kitties and finding lots that makes you happy!

Hugs and kisses,

Houston Quilt Festival

Texas IS a big state, and this was a big quilt.

Here's a little closer look so you can see some of the detail in this beautiful quilt, one of many on display today at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, for the International Quilt Festival.

Mr. Muddling and I spent the afternoon today enjoying the beautiful creativity on display here.

I had not seen log cabin blocks used to make butterflies before.  Aren't they pretty!

And how about these bright colors?  Aren't they gorgeous!

This one I found very touching, "God's Greatest Gift to Me Was Dad" by Cindy Garcia of Racine, Wisconsin.  It won third place in Art - People, Portraits and Figures.

This one was titled simply, "Red and White Album" by an unknown quilter, completed in 1852.  It was so beautiful and appeared to be still in very good condition.  There were some sort of signings in some of the center white spaces, but they were very faded.

Here's a closer look at one of them.  I can't make out what it says.  Perhaps you can.

I, once again, did not pay attention and took a couple of photos where I should have taken them.  I was once again reprimanded.  I didn't mean to do it, really I didn't, and I will not post those photos.

It was so much fun to spend a carefree day with my Sweetie.  We enjoyed it a lot.  Miss Ru is free from all her IV medications now and doing very well indeed.  I am so thankful for God's mercy and grace and for so many other things, you included!

Hope you're finding lots to do that you enjoy this weekend!

Hugs and kisses,