Thankfulness....

I have so very much to be thankful for.  Our family is healthy as far as I know.  Everyone has jobs.  My buglets are growing, happy and loved by their wonderful parents.  I have a nice roof over my head and a husband that loves me.  I have friends that are always there for me as I am for them and always will be.  True friends.  I can't even begin to name all of them, but there are many and I am blessed.  I have my God that has forgiven me and loves me and continues to do so every day.

I wish each and every one of my USA friends a most wonderful Thanksgiving.  May the year ahead be one that is filled with love, laughter, health and joy.

Love and hugs from Texas,

Christmas Quilt FINALLY finished!

This probably could be classified as the world's oldest UFO (for you non-quilters, that's unfinished object).  Seriously.  The blocks for this quilt were made in a bee exchange back in 1993 or 1994.  That's like almost 20 years ago.  I'm surprised they haven't rotted by now.  I FINALLY put them together 2 years ago and my "used to be neighbor but they moved" quilted it for me.  I FINALLY put the binding on it year before last.  Then it sat for another year.  I FINALLY hand sewed down the binding and it's now finished.  WHEW!  That wore me out just thinking about it.  Nothing like stretching a project out, is it?  LOL  I'm totally doing the Snoopy dance for this finish!! Wanna see?  Here are a few pictures of the world's oldest but now finished UFO.

It is so fun looking at each of the blocks and remembering the person that contributed to it.  This was when I was a brand new quilter and one of my first exchanges.  I was so scared that my blocks wouldn't be good enough.  I guess we all go through that from time to time.  Hopefully the pictures are clickable so you can see the detail of the blocks and the quilting. 

Then several years ago I bought a Christmas placemat kit thingie from my local quilt shop at their after Christmas sale.  It was half price so I couldn't pass it up, ya know?  It sat and sat.  I have no clue why I never made them up.  It was a fun project and worked up really cute.  It was the first time I had done any of the "quilt as you go" projects.  I really enjoyed the fact that once I finished sewing it together, it was already quilted.  Woohooo! Anyway, this year I have two new Christmas placemats.  Here is a picture of one of them:

I have one of our Christmas trees up (actually have had it up for two weeks LOL) but it's not decorated yet.  I've just been enjoying the lights.  I usually put up at least one tree in every room of the house, but I don't think I will be doing that this year.  The older I get the harder it gets to drag all that out and put it all away.  I say this every year and every year I end up doing it anyway.  It always looks like the Griswold's (inside and out!) around here.  I just love the magical twinkling of the lights. 

Anywho, I will be decorating the tree that's up this week so it will be done when Kevin and the family come on Friday.  I can't wait to see my little buglets again!  There is nothing like little children at Christmas....the way their eyes light up when they see all the decorations and packages.  I'm so thankful that God blessed us with grandchildren so we can still enjoy that, even if it's not exactly on Christmas day.  I feel that since the babies are still so little (almost 3 & 4) that it's so much easier for them to be in their own home on Christmas morning.  I want them to be able to enjoy Santa and not have to hurry to get somewhere else.  We are six hours away, and it would just be so hard for them to drag all those gifts here (from Santa) and then drag them all back.  SOOO, we will probably do like we did last year and go up there a few days after Christmas and celebrate.  It worked out fine and made the season last longer, plus we got to be there to celebrate my little Carter's birthday (Kevin's little tax break LOL).

I have so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  Sometimes in the midst of all the chaos and illness and problems, it's hard to find something to be thankful for at that moment.  But when I sit down and think of it, oh my!  I'm overwhelmed with things!   Little things...big things....and all those in between. 

I hope this Thanksgiving brings you hope, blessings and thankfulness. 

Love and prayers from Texas,

Sewing Studio Do-Over **EDITED to add pictures**

For quite some time I've wanted to change quite a few things in my sewing studio.  We've already done a ton of things in there, but being a woman, my mind has changed again.  LOL  I know you other ladies out there can NOT relate.  HA! I have cabinets and a counter top that are coming out.  That will involve repainting, of course.  I'm really wanting to put up wood plank ceilings.  I'm not sure that will fly, but we'll see.  I usually come up with the ideas, and my wonderful husband makes it happen. 

*These are the cabinets and counter that I want to remove*

As far as organization goes, I've been working really hard on this.  For my yardage I've been using the comic book boards and I LOVE them.  The price is right and I just love the look of them.  I have 3 more packages of 100 on the way.  :)  I know, shame.

* Here is a picture of some of my fabric on the comic boards.  Love this!*

Here are a few more pictures of the rest of the room at this point.  These are the floor to ceiling cabinets that my husband built for me.  I love them!

Here is the side of the room where I do my sewing and machine embroidering.  The long arm quilting machine is in another room.  There is no way it would fit in here.  This picture was taken before I put these fabrics on the comic boards.  My husband made my cutting table for me.  The top is the size of a sheet of plywood and he topped it with kitchen counter laminate.  VERY easy to clean.  I have two of the 36 inch cutting mats on it with a bit of room to spare.  One side has drawers in the middle that are just the right height to hold my boxes of embroidery threads.  He put shelves on both sides for me that are crammed with Rubbermaid (I'm totally the rubbermaid or sterlite or whatever brand it is, QUEEN).  I WILL be "un-cramming" them during this overhaul.  He made it the perfect height for me for when I have to stand and cut for a long time.  I'm short, so it helps not to have to raise my arms all the time.

I always look forward to home remodeling.  Unfortunately, one thing usually leads to another.  Have you found that happens to you?  LOL  You KNOW it does!  Any suggestions for me?  I do know that I'm going to change the paint color.  Even though I love love my red, I'm ready for something else, and since we are going to have to paint anyway, might as well change it up.  It's hard to see since most of the wall is covered up, but halfway up on all the walls is beadboard painted in glossy white.  I WILL be leaving that.  I love it. 

Happy Saturday!

Hugs and Love,

The Knots Prayer

(Click on picture to make larger and easier to read)

Amen and amen.

Love and hugs,

Winner of the White Christmas Giveaway!

Mr Random Number picker guy was such a help as there were 394 entries in this giveaway.  That's a LOT for me to count.  He picked number 385, which shows it's never too late to sign up.  There winner is:

Karen said...


Just signed up for the FWFS newsletter!

Congratulations, Karen!  I will be emailing you and you will need to get in touch with Jodie at FWFS and she will send your prize ASAP.  :)

This was such a fun giveaway getting to read everybody's Christmas traditions.  I did read each and every one.  Thank you for playing along!

Come back real soon as there will be another giveaway VERY soon! Hint - this one involves some awesome thread.  :)  After all, it's Christmas time, so we have to give away some prizes.  :)

Love and hugs from Texas,

I'm dreaming of a....... GIVEAWAY

White Christmas...oh how I love this song.  :)

Okay, I know it's just the beginning of November, but to me that's the best time to work on my Christmas gifts and projects.  If I don't get started even before now, it just doesn't all get done.  Jodie from Fort Worth Fabric Studio is sponsoring a wonderful giveaway this week (thank you, Jodie!), so one lucky winner will be adding this lovely fat quarter bundle to their Christmas stash.  Here is what you will receive:

Pretty, huh?  14 fat quarters!  I think it's a beautiful selection that coordinates so perfectly. :)  You could make something really nice with this bundle.

FWFS has some beautiful fabrics to choose from, some great fat quarter bundles and LOTS of sale pages.  Jodie has a great eye for putting bundles together.  They also have an Interactive Design Wall that you can use to make sure what you are ordering matches.  I LOVE this feature.  :)  Their shipping is lightning fast, and the customer service is awesome!

To enter this giveaway, there are only a few things to do.
Required:
1.  You must be a follower of my blog.
2.  Go here and sign up for FWFS newsletter OR go here and follow FWFS blog.  Come back here and tell me you did so.

For extra entries:
3.  Tell me what you will make if you win this bundle. (love your ideas!)
4.  Just for fun, I'd love to hear a favorite Christmas tradition that you do in your family.
5.  If you would like another entry, either post this information on your blog, twitter or facebook (only one, please) and come back and let me know. 

So you have 5 chances if you choose to do them all.  :)

That's it.  I hope you will play along with us.  You can sign up for this giveaway until Saturday, November 5, midnight central time.  I will announce the lucky winner on Sunday.  BTW, don't forget to set your clocks BACK an hour this Saturday.  YAY!  We get an extra hour of sleep!

PLEASE, please leave me a way to contact you if you don't have a blog.

We've had the flu going on at our house so not much creativity going on to show right now.  Hopefully in the next few days I'll have something to share.

I hope y'all have a great week, and be sure and sign up!  Many thanks to all of you that visit.  I so love it when you stop by.  Please come again soon.  I just love visitors!  ;)

Love and hugs from Texas,