Shameless Plug

My friend Martha is trying to sell her house. She'd like to move closer to her folks. I wish I could buy it.

I could live with that. It's in Melbourne Village, Florida, 2,631 sq. ft. Yes, I could live with this house quite nicely. It's concrete block and can withstand a hurricane. If you don't want it, will you buy it for me? More pictures and info here.

Nothing happening on the creative front. Tomorrow is another day of running around and being away from my machine. But Tuesday - ah Tuesday - I have written in a sewing day, in INK.

Give-Away In Progress...

over at Mama Spark's World! For her 400th [!!!] post, she's giving away a stack of Robyn Pandolph Folk Art Christmas 3 containing 21 Fat quarters. Hurry!

Look Who's Home!

Yep, my baby is home. Back from the spa, cleaned and spruced up and ready to work. And work she will, if I can stay home long enough!

Remember I said I was cutting up my repro 30's fabrics? Got 'em all cut. Now I need to sub-cut.



The two stacks of strips are over 5 inches high. The stack on the left will become 5" squares. The plan is to finish cutting while embroidering hubby's designs for his quilt, then start sewing things together with a vengeance. In about a week, my other machine will come home, and I'll be able to run them both. Won't I have fun.

Must tell you about my new shoes. They're called Z-Coil. They're not cheap. And they're not pretty, lol.



But having the ability to walk is priceless. They have a coil on the heel that absorbs 50% of the impact when you're walking.



And you can get covers for the coil, so they look like a regular heel. I had thought they were sloped inside, like wearing a heel, and my foot problems are on the ball of my foot. I didn't think they'd help at all. Boy was I wrong. I'm now walking without a limp, I can put my full weight on both feet, and there's no more burning. They're also helping my back. Praise God. I would love to shake the inventor's hand and kiss his ring.

No sewing for me tomorrow, I'm taking the boys out to help my aunt with re-decorating chores. Sad, isn't it? Get my baby home and I can't spend time with her! Enjoy your weekend, dear readers!

Fifteen Candles for Sam

I remember when I brought you home. Such a hefty little bundle - bigger than your brother. You filled my arms and my heart. All the worries that I wouldn't have enough love to give you were put to rest immediately. I didn't have to take love away from your brother to give to you - God doubled the size of my heart.



What I remember most from your childhood is laughter. You were always giggling. You had the most contagious laugh I'd ever heard. Especially at bedtime.



You were also always in motion. I'll never forget you standing on the stairs, bouncing up and down, telling me you were my bouncing baby boy. You did math upside down. You didn't walk - you ran. You wore out the couch doing running somersaults onto it. Play was serious business, but filled with laughter.





Those innocent, big brown eyes made fans of all who met you. People went out of their way to do things for you.



The only time you sat still was to look at a book. Now, the only time you're off the computer is when you're reading.



Even when you were little, you loved the beach, as much as mum.







Happy Birthday, my darling, my heart. I am so incredibly proud of you, and so grateful to be your mum. You bless me beyond measure. I love you more than life.

Squares and Swaps

Hello bloggy friends, I've missed you! Guess what - my machine is all fixed up and is ready for me to come get her! And I can't go til next Thursday. What have I been doing you ask? Well, you probably haven't, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

I've been cutting. Squares. Lots and lots of squares. Remember the Snippets bundle I won from Kelly at Charming Chatter? Well, I finally got up enough nerve to cut into it.



I've wanted to make a real patchwork quilt for awhile now - nothing but squares - and this is going to do it. There's enough here for TWO quilts, yippee! And I got the binding cut too!



I've also pulled out all of my 30's repro fabrics, and have been cutting them as well.



I'm cutting for different quilts - one [or however many I can make] just squares, the other this quilt from the book I won in Terry's give-away.



The plan is to have everything cut and ready to go by the time my machine gets home.

Yesterday, I read this book:



If you read it, keep a box of tissues handy. Oh my. Every book gets better.

I also joined a swap. Jenny of Elefantz and Vicki from Tozz's Corner are hosting a lovely swap! A Mug Hug and a Mug Mat - you're not allowed to put anything else in the package - and they will fit in a regular envelope! That will really keep the postage cost down, and I'm so thankful. This is going to be fun! They've drawn up some lovely designs you can use for your swap gifts.

Have a lovely weekend!

Thank You Terry!

Terry from Terry's Treasures had a give-away, and I won - wowzers what a gift she sent! You know how we all love give-aways. I'm planning my own for my 100th post....but back to Terry's.







Overwhelming, right?







A book that's going to the dr.'s with me tomorrow, Helen Kelley's Joy of Quilting! The darlingest Mary Englebreit needle card [did you know ME has a blog now? *squeal*] FLOSS! Years ago, I gave away all my floss, thinking I wouldn't use it - and now I'm trying to re-build my stash - love these colors!







A cute little lamb stuffie pattern, that I'll need for a baby shower.







Two quilt books! I've wanted to check out the Turning Twenty quilts for a long time - and the other book has at least four quilts I must make as soon as my machine comes home.







Three adorable stitcheries from Chickadee Hollow Designs - future Christmas gifts!







A honeybun of Wonderland by Momo! Oh how I have drooled over pics of this fabric line. This will become a purse.







And look at this bit of adorableness - beeswax thread conditioner in the shape of a SEASHELL! Is that too cute to use or what?



Terry, I think YOU are a treasure. Thank you so much for all my gifties - I love them! I feel so blessed!

Why Hello There!

It has come to my attention [thanks Carol!] that I have been remiss in my blogging - where has this week gone! I did get out my camera a couple of days ago, to take pictures of what I've been preparing to sew, but the batteries were dead and I forgot. My machine isn't back yet, no word, I'll have to call them tomorrow.

I have some pictures to share with you. LOTS of pictures, so I won't put them all here! This coming Saturday is the Woodward Dream Cruise, an event that will attract around a million and a half people from all over the world. Woodward Ave is also known as Highway 1, the first numbered highway in the US.



All this week, the cruisers have been gathering. They drive up and down Woodward [where my mom cruised as a teen], and in shopping mall parking lots. The cars are unbelievable. I even saw one from Hawaii! They range from Model T's to 30's coupes, to street rods and muscle cars from the '70's.



Now you know I love retro and vintage - this is right up my alley. My very most favorite car in the world is a '56 Chevy Bel Air, closely followed by the Nomad.



I was born in 1959, so I remember a lot of these cars. I remember my dad had a Chevy with those big fins. I remember how roomy they were, and how, in those big old station wagons, we rode down the farm roads with the tailgate down hanging our feet out the back.

Can you tell me the last time you saw a Maverick???



Well, I saw one today! No Pintos or Gremlins, though.

The Studebaker was awesome.











If you can't get enough, like me, you can see the rest of my pictures at my flickr - or at our local tv station's website, they have an electronic garage where people are parking photos of their cars. It's just amazing. People work on these for a lifetime, and show them off during the cruise.

I'll be back to blogging tomorrow, and visiting your sorely missed blogs - I miss you muchly, my bloggy friends!

Giggle For Today

Remember the pics of my cat in the sink? Well....I came across this tonight and couldn't resist posting it.

I love LOLCats.

New Give-Away Alert!

And it's yummy! Terry from Terry's Treasures is having her one year anniversary. She has a beautiful blog full of projects and pictures from her bountiful garden and she's super-sweet as well. Go check it out!

Acquisitions

I was going to show you what I got the other day. Just a wee bit of stuff, and all on sale - yay for sales!

My friend Cathy got me a late birthday/early Christmas gift:

Two towels with a flamingo embroidery, and Chic Bag Boutique cd from Vintage Workshop.

I picked up this fat quarter, so vintagey. Is that a word? It should be.

And this fabric was half off - it's people reading! I need a new bookbag and it will be perfect.

I adore the girl in the red dress.

I love it so much, I would have loved to buy up the bolt. Alas, I only got one yard, but that's enough for a bookbag!

Enjoy your day - I'm off to the library!

Super Give-Away Alert!

Jenny from Elefantz is doing it again - she's having a give-away! Now, I don't think I should enter this one, since I won last time, but I do want you to know about it. So go leave a comment and check out her new Christmas designs! Cuz, you know, Christmas will be here before we know it, yikes......

Road Trip, Girlfriend Style

Today was a lovely, lovely day. My friend Cathy and I hit the road to take my machine to the dr. and see what trouble we could get into. Due to all the construction on the highways, it took us twice as long to get to Port Huron as it should've...but that's ok. We took the scenic route.

Port Huron is home to Mary Maxim - a wonderful catalog store full of crafty goodness.



They have a nice clearance section. I'll show you another time what Cathy got me. After we dropped off my machine, we stopped in there and then went to the quilt shop.



I found some darling fabric, half off - I'll show you that another time as well.

After that, we went to the mall, and had lunch from the Japoni Grill - love love love the bourbon chicken and rice! Then, since I can't leave Port Huron without visiting the beach, that's where we headed. Boy was it crowded!



Tons of boats anchored just offshore so folks could swim. You see the boats out there? That's like waist deep water. It was nice and warm today, we didn't need our winter coats like last time.

And then I took Cathy on a drive around town. She's never been there. And she spotted the darlingest little diner that I had never noticed!









Look at the ceiling and all the Lucy stuff! I LOVE Lucy! And I seriously wanted to pack up this diner, put it in my purse and take it home.



This is what I had.



And look at this floor - is this not a quilt in the making?



I'll have to try and do some math to make one just like it!

All in all, it was a great day spent with my best friend. Thanks Cathy - anytime you're up for a road trip, let me know!