Embroidery Pattern From A Blog Friend

I just love being part of this friendly blog community of talented ladies; it's just so much fun!

Thanks tons, Marlene. I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. :)
Look what Marlene of Stitchin' By The Lake sent to me. I had admired the adorable embroidery she did and asked where she got the pattern. Low and behold, she sent it to me. How sweet is that?

My Christmas Swap Arrived!

There was a package on my front porch when I got home from work yesterday! It was from my Christmas swap partner, Laura in Arizona. I don't think Laura has a blog but wish she did so I could see more of her beautiful work.

Look at what she sent me......everything is so perfect for me. First the beautiful quilt she made. I love the colors and the sweet angel in the center. The fabrics she used are all so pretty. One of them looks similar to one that I have, but I haven't seen the others. Her points on the star are absolutely perfect and I love how she made the inner border. (What a great idea; I'm going to have to use that in something I make soon!) And Laura even sewed on sweet little star buttons, which I just love.

If this sweet quilt wasn't enough, she also sent me a wonderful book, just in time for me to take to Maryland for Thanksgiving. You know I won't be doing much after stuffing myself with all that yummy food, so I'll have a good book to read while curled up in my sister's huge and comfy chair.

And look at the bundle of eight (yes 8!)Christmas fabrics she included in my package. I was just telling my sister the other day that I love elegant Christmas fabrics and it's hard for me to pick out the cutesy prints, even though I needed some for a current project I'm working on. It's like Laura read my mind. Hmmm - maybe she's telepathic?
And maybe it's not just a thought because she topped off the entire package with a sweet card and these yummy treats that I can't wait to get into - chocolate covered hazelnuts. I love hazelnuts and who doesn't love chocolate?


Laura, thank you so much for my beautiful quilt and other gifts you included. You really went overboard and to say that I appreciate it is an understatement! Thank you again for the beautiful quilt and gifts!

I Couldn't Wait Any Longer!

I've been craving pumpkin pie for two weeks. I've even had a can of pumpkin setting on the counter just waiting to be turned into a yummy pie. Well today, in between cleaning and cooking a thank you dinner for my neighbors, I made myself one. It isn't even completely cooled yet and look!

I'll share some with Laura and Alissa this evening and the rest is mine. It won't last through tomorrow...I'm a major pig when it comes to my home made pies!! :)


I hope you had a nice weekend. We're in the countdown for Thanksgiving now!!

My Car and Another Bird Encounter!

I have my little car back - yay! Thanks for all your support :)

My car had to spend the night at the Honda place, so my great neighbors drove me to work yesterday (35 miles away). My car was repaird and a nice guy where I'm working drove me all the way to the dealership so I could pick it up. The bill for this, including the towing, was $460. Not bad in itself but added to all the others in the last couple of weeks I'm in for just under $2,000. It hurts but it was all necessary. With the exception of this latest thing, it all falls under maintenance. My little car has over 231,000 miles on it and serves me well, so I'll continue to take good care of it till the time comes to get another one.

Now - I've had another strange and exciting bird encounter! While I was home Thursday and sitting here at the computer, I was watching all the birds fluttering around at one of my bird feeders when something caught my eye. There was a bird with a white head! What in the world?? I've never seen a bird with those markings so carefully went to the window to get a better look.

When trying to identify a bird, you should make note of the shape and size of their beak, notice about the size they are, and look for distinguishing markings like streaks on their breast or wing bands. Well, I'm almost certain this little guy is a partially albino Junco! The picture is very poor and I apologize for that, but he's the white spot in the center of the picture. For my own records, I wish I had a better one; maybe I'll get another chance. More and more I'm regretting selling my Nikon camera years ago.


It always makes me so happy to know that I am observant enough to have these neat experiences with nature.

And while I'm on the subject of birds, the pair of pigeons that was hanging around at Gail's shop for so long are gone. The one I had caught and released must have rested up and went back on his journey of finding his way home. The solid white one was still there every day till last week when we had those hard rains. I suspect she fell prey to something. If she was on the same journey as the spotted one, I think she would have left with him. This is all conjecture on my part though; who knows what really happened to them.

It's late; I've got to get to Gail's so I can clean her house. I hope you have a good day and are doing something fun!

Car Repairs

We all hate them. They're usually so expensive and even if they aren't, there are so many other things the money could be used for.

Last Friday I had a flat tire (third plug in this particular tire). Not that big a deal, but my spare is very old, so...took it to my local Honda dealer (their service department is great) to get it replaced. Of course, you can't buy one tire - you must buy them in pairs - so I had to buy four new tires. OK - winter is coming and I'm completely dependent on this vehicle, so a necessity that I can live with.

Two weeks prior to that, I needed new struts put on the car. While there, I had the timing belt replaced (overdue and very expensive maintenance) as well as the differential fluid replaced, also not that cheap but necessary. So my Honda place was kind enough to let me make payments. OK, I can deal with it.

Last night after work, I went to my trusty little CRV to start it up and nothing. A guy in the office kindly tried to jump start it - nothing. The lights work, so I know the battery isn't dead; it's probably the starter. I think I had to replace one in another car and believe it's a ~250+ repair.

So, I was stranded 35 miles from home and animals waiting to be let out and fed. Fortunately, my daughter wasn't working late and could come and pick me up. She didn't really know where I was working so had to drive about 35 miles in the dark and rain to find my temp work place. My car was left in the parking lot and is probably being towed at this moment to another Honda dealer for repair today. Good thing I've been fiscally responsible most of my life and have an available credit card! I have a great neighbor who will drive me the 25 miles to pick up my car when it's ready later today. I'll have to bake something for them as a thank you.

The good news - it's a gray and drizzly day - perfect for staying home and working on my projects, so I'm not too upset.

On a completely different note, my swap partner, Kathy Link, received her package from me Tuesday and has posted about it on her blog. I'm so happy that she likes it! Thanks for making me a movie star, Kathy!!

Out Of Control!

If I'd thought of it, I could have used this for a "silent Sunday" post...but I didn't think of it.

I've got projects going everywhere! The pics speak for themselves :)

Starting Some Christmas Sewing

Now that my Christmas swap is completed, I can move on to some other projects. This evening, while watching the wonderful CMA Awards show (I LOVE country music!!), I started working on a little Christmas project. So far, I'm really liking the way it's shaping up.

And YAY Taylor Swift - she just won album of the year! The girl is 19 years old!!!!


I hope you all are warm and cozy; it's cold, windy and rainy here tonight thanks to Ida. Now, back to the show!

She Did It Again!

Look what my sister made me! While visiting last week, I told her I was currently obsessing about crows and black birds. I had made her a little orange pincushion and black bird similar to the one I posted about earlier and this is what she made to thank me for it.

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?

Another Pic of My Christmas Swap

So what do you think...will she like it?

Christmas Swap Update

Yay! I've completed my Christmas Swap quilt and will mail it Saturday! It's been fun to make but I'm ready to move on to other projects. If I was keeping this, I'd have beads all over it, but I thought I'd be a little conservative since it's for somebody else.


Back to the sewing machine to stitch a little something extra for her.

BTW - my new temp assignment is great...nice people, good environment, lots to do, and not a bad commute. I'm happy :)

A Quick Trip

I did something that I don't do very often - take a trip without planning it.

I've been missing some of my family members who live about 6 hours away; I haven't seen them since spring. Last Friday morning, after an interview, I headed up the highway to visit with them. My newest little granddaughter is 8 months old now and we don't know each other at all, so I had to work on that.

Since this trip wasn't planned, I had to take Princess and Zoe with me. Princess doesn't travel well; the stress induces seizures. My wonderful vet prescribed Valium for both of them to hopefully knock them out. Well, Princess didn't have a seizure but the drug barely did anything for either of them. My vet warned me that dogs can take this stuff like candy and to experiment with it on her. I ended up giving her six pills (we would have been in a coma) and all it did was make her unsteady. The whining and panting were horrible and non-stop. Before I even got to D.C. I called my vet and made reservations for Thanksgiving for them. No way am I going to put her through that again.

My sister and mom came to my daughter's home and we visited for a while. Then my DS and I went to Jinny Beyer's quilt shop. She didn't have a lot of displays or patterns and such, but oh my gosh, what gorgeous fabrics! I don't make her style of quilts - a very good thing I guess - but couldn't leave w/o buying a few 1/2 yard pieces of pretty stuff. I can't wait to get sewing on it. I tried taking pictures of them tonight but it's too dark and they don't show up. I wanted something to reflect the autumn colors so I got a cranberry print, a dark gold, a dark green and a dark brownish fabric. One of the ladies in the shop picked out a couple of the pieces; I would never have picked the dark brown one. We built on the beautiful cranberry print that I fell in love with. I'll post a picture of them next time.

So the interview went great and I started a new temp assignment that will run through December. I have a good feeling about this company and hope that maybe something will open up for me, so keep your fingers crossed. I'm going to bed; I'm still wiped out from all the running.

ttfn...