Eight Random Things and a Nice Dutch Treat

My daughter pointed out to me last evening that it has been a week since I put anything new here. Bad bad blogger me. My excuse.. I am working on my Tea Swap that I can't show, and looking out the same window at the same cold and snow and ice. But that is pretty lame because I did get something nice in the mail on Friday..

One of the blogs I've been following ever since I discovered blogging is Dutch Colours. Heleen is such a dear person, and I love everything she does. I mentioned to her that I loved the origami penguins folded by the children at her school, and she mailed me the pattern for them, plus added a few little extras. There was the cutest Dutch People to fold.. ann I love that swatch of fabric with the dutch children. Thank you Heleen.. I can't wait to try making the penguins!

Miri from Milk and Honey Quilts tagged me last week. I'm pretty sure I did this one before, but I'll play again.. ☺

Eight random facts about me.. if you really want to know. If not, you can come back another day.

1. I usually eat three breakfasts, but could easily skip the evening meal, and sometimes do.

2. I'm my daddy's girl, and talk to him every day on the phone since he moved away to Florida.

3. Coffee is my favorite beverage, and I used to sneak sips of it from my parents cups when I was little. My favorite coffee comes from Joshua Cup in Macon Georgia where my son is the roaster.. but I don't get it often enough!

4. I was the cake decorator for a small bakery in town for 10 years. But I don't like to decorate cakes. Too messy! This is my brother's wedding cake I made 15 years ago. Two annoying things I notice in this photo.. there are plumbing pipes showing in the background, and the tablecloth was not ironed! All of the satellite cakes had a different filling if I remember correctly.

5. I don't really have an attic.. I only pretend I do.

6. I was married at age 18, carried daisies for my wedding, made my own dress, and had bottle blond hair.

7. I had my first child at age 20 and loved being a very young mother.

8. I have five brothers and no sisters.

Ok. That's it! Whew. Hard to do. I'm supposed to tag eight more people, so here are some bloggers I would enjoy finding out more of. I know a lot of folks don't like being tagged, but if you'd like to play along, please do! If not.. that's ok by me. I believe in "no stress blogging".

Shari from Mumsy Blossom's World

Tudy from Tudy's Craft Cupboard

Hetty from Crafts and Stuff

Dionne from Sew Many Quilts

Paula from A Latte Quilts

Jean from Quiltin' Jeanie

Diana from Lavendar Dreams

Sandi from A Legacy of Stitches

Have a nice rest of the week.. Spring is coming..

What I Like About Christmas

This is the Nativity set we had when I was girl. It's in pretty bad shape really. My dad patched it with some sort of plaster stuff, and the one wise man and baby Jesus are from another set because when I got it the baby was totally dissolved somehow and there were only two wisemen. I don't actually think all the pieces we had when I was little were all from the same set either, because there are different names on the bottoms of them. Some are marked Germany and some Italy. But from a distance and with soft glowy lights.. it still gives you the idea. I played with these pieces a lot, and it was always "my job" to set it up for as long as I can remember. Mom packed it away in an ice skates box when she got a nice new one, and wrote my name on it...
So one of the things I like most about Christmas are all the lovely memories I'm lucky enough to have. Because I know not everyone does.

This badge came to me from Ulla, Suzie, Melanie. Thank you girls ☺

Here are the rules for the Christmas award. You must be a true Christmas lover to receive this award. The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas. You must link back to the person who gave you the award. You must list 5 things that you love about Christmas. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space! Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 45; it's up to you. But, you must pass it on to at least one person in order to keep the Christmas cheer going! Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment.

5 things I love about Christmas:

1. That it is the time of year when you hear songs of Christ's birth just about everywhere you go.

2. Thinking about the people I'm buying or making gifts for.

3. Plugging in the Christmas tree when I get up in the morning.

4. Watching the little children's Christmas Play on Sunday afternoon.

5. Having all my big children come home for a few days.. eating, shopping, laughing, watching movies, playing games, drinking fine coffee, and hanging out.

I'm going to award this to T at Purple&Paisley. She has the most darling grandbabies, pictures of them with Santa, and her house is decorated wonderfully for the Christmas season. I know she is creating a lot of memories.

Catching Up on a Meme

I don't know how I let this slip by. Judy from Apron Strings and Sandra at Flores ás cores both gave me this a while ago, Thank you! I enjoy both of their blogs.The rules for this award is to answer these questions with one word. This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.. because I like to use too many words sometimes!

1. Where is your cell phone? desktop
2. Where is your significant other? lazyboy
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? heaven
5. Your father? adorable
6. Your favorite thing? sewing
7. Your dream last night? frustrating
8. Your dream/goal? organization
9. The room you’re in? treasure-filled
10. Your hobby? collecting
11. Your fear? nothing
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
13. Where were you last night? slumber
14. What you’re not? decisive
15. One of your wish-list items? RAM
16. Where you grew up? Ohio
17. The last thing you did? emailed
18. What are you wearing? PJs
19. Your TV? Foxnews
20. Your pet? mutt
21. Your computer? slow
22. Your mood? thankful
23. Missing someone? son
24. Your car? paid for
25. Something you’re not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? GoodWill
27. Your summer? busy
28. Love someone? family
29. Your favorite color? All
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

I never know who to pass these on to.. (see #14). Most of the blogs I love already have this badge. But go ahead and try to fill in the blanks with your own answers. It is fun, and somewhat eye-opening.

Hope you all have a good weekend. Next week we'll be saying next week is Thanksgiving.

Meme me

Ok. I am going to try to catch about 8 birds with one net. It has probably been a month that I've been getting these tags and such.. and putting them off till I have more time.. which obviously is not going to happen. So let me just do them all in one post.

First off.. I am totally honored, humbled and flattered to have this little blog of mine featured in Jackie's newlsetter for the month of August. Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works always has the most inspiring quilts in her blog, and is a very accomplished quilter. I love everything she shows and talks about. If you don't have her on your blogroll already, you need to add her. Thank You Jackie!!!

Then here is another REALLY fun one. This has me smiling from ear to ear, and along with Jackie's honor, these have made my entire week...
Anne Marie and Ulla have both sent me the "You Make me Smile" badge.. which I will cheerfully display in my sidebar. I wish I could give it back to both of them, because they are such dear friends of mine that both make me smile. But there are others also. So I am delighted to pass this on to:

• Stephanie of Loft Creations (one day we are going to meet up!)
• Threeundertwo of Lit and Laundry (love her wit and wisdom!)
• T of Purple&Paisley (her dad is guest blogger this week.. he is FUN)
• Erna of Blij Als Mij (this one is eye candy! VERY pretty blog)
• Mary Kate of La Vie Est Belle (My sweet friend in Malaysia ;-))
• Nanette of Freda's Hive (we share a lot)

There are so many more. But I'll leave some for somebody else to send the badge to. And since I wasn't really given any rules, I guess you can pass it to whomever you want that makes you smile.

Anne Marie has also given me the Premio award which I received once before.. so it is already in my blog somewhere here.. but thank you again Anne Marie!

Then Melanie.. who also gives me a HUGE smile but she already got the award.. has tagged me with the 7 songs that are inspiring you this summer. And since I have just finished spending a week with the children at Bible School.. these are the songs that have been playing in my head. Even though they are children singing them in the videos, the words are really meaningful to me, and I love the tunes. I think actually they are sung by other artists.. so I'll have to look them up sometime too. There are only 4 listed here.. but my brain is small and its hard to fit more than four songs in there at one time. You can hear them on YouTube:

Thankful
You Never Let Go
God of Wonder
At the name of Jesus



Then both Peggy at color du jour and Melanie have also tagged me with the "random things" meme. I have played this one before, and I'm running out of people to tag that haven't already received it. But I'll go ahead and try to think of 6 or 7 new random things. Peggy has actually linked me up with one of my distant relatives.. I had no idea anyone even could find my genealogy site from here.. but I guess she is a pretty good sleuth! Anyways.. here are my 7 things.

1. I love Butter Pecan Ice Cream
2. I wear polish on my toes but not on my fingers
3. I love dogs and farm animals
4. I get terrible motion sickness, and can't even watch home movies.
5. I love standing beside a fire when it's cold ouside, and poking it with a stick.
6. I still climb trees and would love to hide in them.
7. I don't like to swim

And there was also another one I got tagged with a while ago.. it was "The Alphabet" Meme.. but now I can't remember who it was! I have been looking through all my emails, and simply cannot find it. So whoever that was.. if you are still reading.. would you please let me know? I don't like to leave loose strings.

A Challenge Update is in the works.. watch for it!

Happiness is.. a Good Yesterday

It was sweet. Full of lots of good emails.. from family.. lovely comments from blogland, and even some unexpected treasures. But first here are some summer stash challenge posts that didn't get put here yesterday. Thank you friends for letting me know!

• Kathleen
  
• Becky
  
• Amy
  
• Beth - Aunties With Advice

Even though I usually do not go to Salem on Wednesday because number one I don't have any money to spend until Friday and number two it takes a gallon of gas to get there and back so I try to do everyting in one trip when I do have money, I had to go because we needed some supplies for our evening children's program that we couldn't get anywhere else. So I volunteered to do the errand. The bookstore was one place I needed to stop, and oh my.. it is located right next door to the Good Will Thrift Shop. Can't pass up just checking the fabric bin in the back.. one never knows.. someone may have just cleaned out their granny's attic...
..and I found this adorable fabric panel with mice and the cutest little house! I am so tempted to make it and play with it! But I know these are worth more uncut. Such a dilema!
Then on the way home I stopped at the post office. Two of these items are VERY special additions to my Fern Peat collection.. and I will tell you about that maybe some other day. But along with the mouse panel, the fabric bin also had a lovely piece of colorful corduroy probably big enough for a bag.. some vintage white cotton.. and a WONDERFUL 3 yard piece of vintage cotton gingham with the price tag still on it.. 69 cents a yard. And oh. A Little Golden Book that I didn't have yet. I collect those too. So all in all it was a very fun day so far. Then last night the children finished their kaleidoscopes which turned out very cute, and we started on a new project. Each child made a "buddy" that will be threaded onto some yarn that the kids will decorate with beads and take home. I just love the way some of these turned out!
And lastly, I received this lovely award from Nancy at Patchwork Penguin .THANK YOU Nancy!

Soft&Pretty Turbans and The Award

The past few days have been kind of busy here, but isn't that how it is most of the time? With most of us? The summer is filled with birthday parties, picnics, weddings and vacations. All fun things, especially if the weather is sunny and nice.

Well in between all of that, along with the challenge quilt I've been working on these.

My mother's hairdresser came up to me a couple weeks ago and asked if I still make the soft stretch knit turbans that women can wear while they are going through chemotherapy. She remembered that I had made some for Mom several years ago, and she had a client now who was losing her hair, and she thought of me. I said I think I still have the pattern, and I would be happy to make some for her to put in her shop for such a time as this.

They are very easy to make, and you can get the Free Pattern Here.

I just hope this makes things a little nicer for people who are going through a very rough time.

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And I receive the arte y pico award for blog excellence from T at

Purple & Paisley. T has one of my favorite blogs, always something interesting, inspiring, funny, and she is very real. I am totally honored that she would pass this on to me. I'm supposed to pass it on too. So I am going to give this award to all the ones whose names are listed on the sidebar in the Summer Stash Challenge. It has been so wonderful following along with all the progress, and every one's enthusiasm is terrific! You all deserve this award. So take it for yourselves!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Blogging Friends are Tops!

Last week right before I left for vacation, a delightful surprise came in the mail. I was totally not expecting this, but Nanette from Freda's Hive shared one of her new Sarah Smith's colorful cleaning cloths with me.
This is the prettiest thing, and I don't even want to use it and get it dirty! Plus look at the fabric colored button with a mother sheep and her lamb on it that Nanette included.. it matches the cloth exactly. Of course it would. :) And she has a the cutest business card. Such a sweet blogging friend to send me this.. I just love it all. Thank you Nanette!
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Then the other day I was reading one of my favorite blogs - Anne Marie's Quilt. If you hurry over there now, she is having a give-away! But in the previous post, someone had given her a beautiful award for "Kreativ Blogging". Of course she deserves it because she has the cutest way of writing things, and I love seeing how she lives her life in Norway. But surprise! ..she passed the award on to me as well. So I am proudly displaying this honor on my sidebar.. thank you Anne Marie!.. and I would like to also give it to the following people because they always leave such lovely comments here and I love their blogs too. You guys don't have to even pass this on if you don't feel like it.. I know there are lots of "tags" going around lately and it's hard to get people that haven't already been tagged. But just display the award at your site with pride.. you deserve it!

Melanie at jellybeanangel

Cindy at artsythreads

My friend at dollzandthingz

And also in the mail the same day that the surprise cleaning cloth came, was a new Martha Pullen "Sew Beautiful" catalog. I recently ordered a half a yard of Nelona Batiste from her to make some dainty dolly nightgowns, and so she put me on the catalog list.. ..which I don't mind at all. Look at some of this cute stuff and beautiful needlework...
I especially adore the smocking. Someday we will talk more about that here too. :) And now I can hardly write a post without showing at least one of the fabulous things in bloom at the moment. This is our enormous horse chestnut tree, which is usually mistaken for a Buckeye which is our state tree. There are some differences which you can read about here if you are curious. But if not, and you just want to call it a Buckeye.. that is ok with me. It is a beautiful tree.. but very messy. There is always something dropping from it that we have to clean up.

Just to give you an idea how huge it is, we were standing out with some friends waiting for the parade to go by our house yesterday, and my son snapped this picture. Guess I never realized I sometimes nibble my nails. Or maybe I was just thinking about the conversation. Ya.. that's it.
Hope you all have a good week. This feels like Monday to me.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Jackie of Canton Village Quilt Works. Thank you Jackie! Except I am going to break the rules just a wee bit.

Here are The Rules.
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you. (got this one)

2. Post THE RULES on your blog. (got this one)

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog. (got this one)

4. Tag 7 people and link to them. (failed!)

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged. (got this one)

These are the weird or random facts about me. This part was easy, because I am pretty weird.
1. I have forgotten how to write in script, and only print in capital letters.
2. I love to play online Boggle, and my nickname there is *cloudi*.
3. I talk to my 87 year old father for 20 minutes on the phone every morning, and still call him "Daddy."
4. I love creamed fresh or frozen peas, and sometimes will just cook them for myself for lunch. But for years I used to only eat peas raw out of the shell.
5. I like snakes, but spiders terrify me.
6.
7.

Ok.
I really know only a handful of bloggers so far, since I have just been doing this for 2 months. So the best I can do right now is five. That probably means I am only supposed to say five weird things about myself.. so I erased two of them.

But anyways, these folks have left some very nice comments here, and their blogs are some of my favorites that I look at every day. So I'm tagging them, but if any of you have already been tagged, Sorry! I guess you could break the rules too.


Button Beauty

Ginger Patches

Lucy Locket

M Kate at La Vie Est Belle

Ulla at kotkarankki

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