Birthday Greetings

Some years ago there were two sisters living in a small town in Mississippi. In the summertime, they visited with one set of grandparents about a hundred miles to the north and also with the other set of grandparents who lived about a hundred miles to the south. The picture above is me (on the right) and my younger sister at our maternal grandparents' house. They lived to the south. Papa was a Presbyterian minister. He had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to play games. We always had a good time with him for an entertainer. Mama Anne was not so much fun. She was the best housekeeper I've ever known, the best cook, the finest seamstress, the most talented gardener and a very talented painter, just not that great with kids. :)

I got this picture in the mail today along with a little treasure trove of goodies from my sister Sue.

Just as soon as I get the little bed in my sewing room uncovered (another quilt is in the making), I'm going to put this pretty pillow sham to work.

And I have this excellent-looking book to peruse,

as well as the cutest little notepad, and a butterfly emery board and an expandable washcloth (I'm holding myself back from opening this one just to see what it looks like.)

I had a very good birthday with family, heartfelt sweet cards, wonderful gifts and now a few more! Life is good!!!

Hope you've had some good surprises in your day.

Hugs and kisses,

Takeover.......

I Did It!!!!

Yep, I finished my brother's quilt. I think it is the busiest quilt I've made so far. I hate waste. I really do. I've incorporated some of the blocks I had left over from other quilts into this one.

I'm not sure that I should have........but it's done now!This is the back (and the bats).

And look, I've even put his name on one of the bears. :)

I KNOW I shouldn't have done this, but I really NEEDED some chocolate! And these brownies were just perfect.



Now to wash this quilt and get that label sewn onto it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs and kisses,

Getting Closer!

I have been working and working (off and on) on my brother's quilt. I am very near completion now. I'm sewing on the binding!!!! Yay! Yippee! I even have the label made and ready to sew on when the binding is done.

I know everyone doesn't like these bats, but they are God's creatures, too, and he likes them. It is his quilt, after all :)

I thought I would show you a little trick I figured out to make the corners act right in my binding. I sew up to the corner, then stop and sew a "V" in the binding, and then take up the sewing again on the other side of the corner.

As you can see, when you turn the binding, it lays really flat. Probably you more experienced quilters figured this out a long time ago or something even better, but I just "got" it on my last quilt or two and I was so thrilled that it works!

One of our daughter's friends had a birthday yesterday and she made this cake for the party she and her boyfriend had for him last night. I took this picture before she transferred the cake to a pretty serving piece, since that was being done at said boyfriend's apartment. I think she did an awesome job, don't you?

Hope your weekend is going well!

Hugs and kisses,

Is Nothing Sacred?

Okay, the kitten has even trespassed onto Bruno's bed.

Not right!

What? What's wrong???

Have a great day.

Hugs and kisses,

Treasure

These are a few of the treasures I'm feasting my eyes on today:

This little shelf, which belonged to my paternal grandmother. I treasure it for that reason alone. The fact that I have it filled with more little treasures is just a bonus.

These little beauties belonged to my maternal grandmother. Aren't they sweet?

Freshly cut flowers on the dining room table,

Flowers growing in the hot summer sun (I can actually see these from my sewing room window),

From my sewing room window I can also see this little lady who is getting fat while helping to rid the chicken yard of those pesky flies. Good job, spider! And she has very wisely positioned herself over a little flower bed where she runs no risk of interfering with humans. Yay!!

Chickens cooling themselves in the shade of the fig tree. I am well aware that they are wreaking havoc on parts of the back yard, but I just cannot bear to keep them cooped up in their yard on hot days like this. They have SO much fun rampaging around in the freedom.

And of course, Miss Chloe. She can find MORE things to do than anyone I know, and everything is interesting to her. I just have fun watching her.

I think that's what we all need to cultivate in ourselves - that sense of wonder at every new thing we see and enjoy. God has given us a beautiful world! Enjoy it.

Hugs and kisses,

The Kitty

This kitten just cracks me up! It's been a while since we've had a little one in the house and I guess I've forgotten how very active they are. I snapped picture after picture and all I got was a blur. She's fast!

I finally got one with a little pensive look to her. Don't be fooled. She's not pensive, merely plotting her next move. So far she's got Bruno and Jack both nicely under her pretty little paws and she's well into putting me and Mr. Muddling there, too. Has a mind of her own, she does.

Here in this little video you can see the little cheetah I got for Valentine's Day. Yes, she's taken that over on the pretext of missing her siblings and needing company in her little box. I'm wondering how long Mr. Cheetah's whiskers will last.

We did have a very small shower on Saturday, not even enough to get the ground wet. It's cloudy today, and I live in hope!

Have a great day!

Hugs and kisses,