Yipeeeee, I won

Did a opps I had forgotten to add Ally's items to the end, so they got pushed in here. The puppys, kittys and shoes

The old fashion shoes for centerpieces, they are not identical, but close as I free handed painting them.

My win, pair of pin cushions from This and That Fabric and Craftshop Shuffle blog

The trees, Mel and I made for Family

Beautiful Autumn Rose Quilt kit

This is the Quilt kit that I REALLY want to win.

This is a closeup of some of the fabric that is in the quilt kit

Did I say I REALLY, REALLY want to win this

I have been having the time of my life online lately. I have been entering all kinds of contests and giveaways and best of all I have been winning. Come to think of it, wonder why I can't win at the lottery, oh well one day soon my number will be drawn for that too. Last week I received fat quarters in the mail from fabric designer Janet Bate's blog site "Chocolate is my Favorite Color." Janet was one of the featured quilt block designers chosen for the 100 quilt block magazine and was highlighted in the 100 block blog tour.

This morning I was notified that I was a winner again, this time it was the This and That Fabric and Craftshop Shuffle Blog where my name was drawn. I won the two pincushions shown above, one for me and one to share. Linda and Sandy are having yet another blog contest, to enter just leave a comment, the prize is a beautiful Quilt kit called Autumn Rose. It is beautiful and would make a wonderful item for the nursing home. I am keeping my fingers crossed on this one folks. Go to their site and enter, than if you win you can give me the quilt kit as a Christmas present, wouldn't that be nice? I think so.... and here is the link to their blog This-n-That Fabrics and Craftshop Shuffle

I have also loaded pictures of the Ceramic Trees that Mel and I made. Most were delivered or picked up this weekend, and I am waiting for the last base to come out of the Gold and Mother of Pearl firing so we can pack those trees and ship up north to hubby's family. Now that the trees are done and the house should be finished with the decorating this week, I will have time to finish the quilted lap robes for WOCS group, the grand kids will be doing the wrapping and then they will be ready for their Holiday delivery. I was also informed that Heather has adopted one of the seniors as her service project. I think her lady asked for hair ties and things. I understand that the seniors wrote wish lists and hung them on the tree. Most of the items requested are personal care products. If you are interested in adopting a senior at the home leave a comment and I will get it to Mel. and she can get a list or give you more information on what the seniors need. Items could be shipped here and Mel will delivery them.

I almost forgot, because I could only fire one tree at a time, I made the puppies, kittens and old fashion shoes for the centerpieces for Ally's Bat Mitzvah. Jack's Bar Mitzvah is in April but I am finished with the prep work for his arrangements, Ally's is in Sept. and I am now finished with the prep work for hers. Jack's centerpieces will look like firecrackers with a tiger, his theme is Chinese (year of the tiger), Ally's will be a Tea Party theme and arrangement will be a tea cup filled with sweetheart roses, with a shoe and a puppy or kitten.

That's all for now folks.

TURKEY DAY

I find it hard to believe that Thanksgiving is upon us. Where did this year go, seems the older I get the faster the year goes by. I keep trying to keep up but it seems that I just do not have that ability anymore. I am not ready for the Holidays and if they come without me having everything done than so be it. I will still enjoy myself and Hey there is always next year.

Back to Turkey Day, I have been watching the Food Network and I have my bird cleaned and in the brine. They say if you soak the Turkey in Brine it will make the Turkey Juicy so I'm giving it a try, can't hurt. I will make my stuffing the way I have for years remembering how my Grand Mother made it and no there isn't a recipe for it, my Nanny never used a recipe for anything. Of course there will be Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato's, Cranberry Sauce, Corn, Rolls, and topping off the meal a Pumpkin Pie. I know canned pumpkin is in short supply, I had a terrible time finding it in the store. There was a lady making a sweet Potato pie and handing out the recipe, but that just won't do for hubby, he won't eat sweet potato pie and there is no fooling him. But I found the pumpkin, last can on the shelf and hubby will get his pie. Libby's has a great recipe and I am cheating, I bought Pillsbury pie crust. I don't know what the problem is lately but I can not make a good crust, so I gave up and now I buy pre-made crusts.

So tonight I am doing the prep work, Tomorrow when the Turkey is roasting we will be watching the Macy's Day Parade and after dinner we will put up the Christmas Tree. This weekend the outdoor lights and decorations go up. Mel beat me to it though she and the kids put their tree up and decorated their house last Sunday. Guess you can tell that Christmas is Mel's favorite Holiday.

As for Friday and the black Friday specials, NOT ME, I would like the deals, but there is no way I will be up and standing in line in the wee hours of the morning and fighting crowds, NOT ME, never in my life have I participated in black Friday shopping. My only hope is that all who do shop on Friday will be safe and no one will be injured or worse as it happened last year.

So if you are a brave shopper, PLEASE stay safe and get out of the way of the idiots who think they have to run everyone over to save a few pennies, Also be careful on the highways. Merry Christmas Shopping, I'll post my list next week. hehehe

Dash, Hop, Shuffle

I have spent the weekend dashing, hopping and shuffling, NO it is not a new dance, and I am not playing with the Wii system. I was having so much FUN doing the Dash, Hop and Shuffle, I even had Hubby doing them too. What in the world am I talking about you ask. It is a Web search where you have so many days to visit shops on the list. With all the sites you visit you need to look for the icon following clues and when you click the icon your find is registered. The Dash is the Quilt Block Dash and you visit online quilt stores (40), you are looking for the quilt block Icon. The Hop is the Holiday Fab Shop Hop and again you are looking at quilt type sites for the Bunny Icon. The Hop has the largest amount of stores to hop to about 181 and we found them all. The Shuffle is the Craftshop Shuffle and you visit craft sites looking for Daisy the bird dresses in her holiday finery. Now you ask, WHY are you doing this, PRIZES, PRIZES and more PRIZES. I won a gift certificate and fabric at the last Shuffle, Lots of beautiful cotton quilting fabric. So for spending some of my online time Dashing, Hopping and Shuffling I hope to once again be named a winner, I just love winning and receiving surprises in the mail. Besides I didn't know there were that many Quilt and Craft sites out there and some have the most beautiful patterns. I seem to have luck with my online quests, today I was notified that I won fabric from a designer at the 100 Quilt Block 5 day Book launching party. See it does pay to play.. and all I had to do to win was leave a comment on her blog... So if you know of any giveaways let me know as I am addicted to them and I need to feed my addiction, besides I also get to visit new stores, Let the shopping begin!!!!

RED, RED, RED and more RED

I have spent the better part of this week involved in a activity that I love and that is decorating my house. Due to having two puppies last year and their knack for tearing wallpaper,(Rascal even taught Roxy how to do the puppy rip and tear) I had no other choice than to redo the hallway. So I stripped the old paper, Sean made the new trim, I stained & varnished and Sean installed. So with all that done it was time for the new paper. The paper is a cream color with what almost looks like marble type design, very neutral, I also have a border to add to the top which is country colors and has quilted hearts, quilts being my new obsession. That area done I had also gotten tired of the paper in the dining room and the pups had tried a little damage there but they were stopped in time. The old paper was a dark green and Burgundy plaid that went chair rail high, than the chair rail and the top part of the wall was antiqued cream, again pretty neutral. So I decided I wanted to go bold in the dining room. After all I had painted Sean's den a Terra Cotta, and in our bedroom I went with a Turquoise and Brown color palette. To me these were bold colors, as I am one that will stay with a lighter color, but after the bedroom was painted I liked it. I wanted more of the BOLD colors that I was changing to, so for the dining room RED, deep dark Red. The original plan was to do a wainscot to the chair rail in a Red Oak color, but right now that is to expensive so I painted. Sean bought the wood for the new chair rail he is making. He really hates the fake trims they are selling now days, so he gets wood, real wood and makes his own on the router. All our trim in the house is slowly being changed over to the trim he makes. Now the important thing for the hall way to go up is the pictures. I call my hallway the gallery. The kids, grand kids, family, pets and friends are all proudly displayed on the walls. As new pictures come in the old ones move to the back, I just love looking at the smiling faces as I head to my bedroom at night. There is also a special item that is displayed in its shadowbox style case. When I was 2 years old my mother had crocheted me a lavender dress, I had my picture taken on the traveling pony in that dress and I still remember that day. When my step grand daughter was small she too had her picture taken in that beautiful dress. The dress is now displayed in a case with both pictures and the history of that dress. I never got to show my Mother how I preserved the dress, but she did get to see a picture and loved how I displayed her work.
Now that the rooms are done, I have lap robes waiting to be quilted, plus there is still one that I have to sew together. I also need to get the Ceramic Trees ready to fire, Mel is coming in Sunday and we will more than likely be working on them. I hope I will soon have some time for Me, I want to get back to my cross stitching.

MORE Winners

This is so unreal, I am a winner two more times from the needle show. Yesterday I was notified the I had won a $25.00 gift Certificate from Arachne's Silken Web. This shop has patterns with the cutest little bees worked into the design, they also carry other designs, the German Samplers being my favorite. If you want to see what they have to offer go to http://arachnessilkenweb.com
Today I received a email that I had won the Lizzy Kate Christmas Alphabet kit from Stitcher's Workshop. This is a shop that was a vendor at the show and if you check out her site you will find patterns from different designers plus most anything you need for stitching. They carry floss, fabric, and lots or patterns, just check out their site http://www.stitchersworkshop.com.
Sean also won two prizes as he was doing his Christmas shopping at the show. He won two charts but I have to wait to see them.
I almost forgot about this win, Saturday we stopped by a Christmas Craft Show at a Church in Pensacola. And as I normally do I signed up for the door prize. I was only going to buy one ticket, after all it only takes one to win, but Sean insisted that I get the 6 for $5.00. Good thing he did as the next to the last ticket we bought was a winner. When we went in he was kidding with the girls and he picked up a $25.00 gift card for Publix and said he would take his prize now. Then he said "Oh I have to wait till you draw my ticket" You can imagine the girls shocked face when we showed back up to pick up the gift card, they just laughed. Guess you could say we won our Turkey and fixins.
Well, on to work I go, Sean is off today and he will be helping me around the house and in his shop. He is making new trim work for the hallway, dining room, bedroom and living room. I have the Hallway ready to be wallpapered and yesterday I prepped the dining room so I can paint. It really wasn't that bad getting the rooms ready, the old wallpaper came off really nice and just minimal holes to fill.

WINNER AGAIN

MY PRIZE


I know you are all not going to believe this, but once again I am a winner. This has just got to be my time. The Needle Show Retail is in full swing and I as I usually do, I have entered all the door prize drawings that are offered. Today I was notified by Nancy from Arelate Studio that I was a WINNER. I just can not believe my luck. The Designs from Arelate Studio are not the normal cross stitch designs. Arelate Studio specialises in designs inspired by medieval and Renaissance sources. You can stitch completed designs from their line of leaflets or compose your own from their books of charts -- "HERE BE WYVERNS" and "HERE BE DROLLERIES". The design I have chosen as my prize is titled WARM WELCOME, because I collect Angels

Thank You Nancy for the wonderful prize. As for my readers, your time is limited to visit the Needle Show, it will close today at midnight I think, so you need to hurry and check out all the wonderful shops. You can order at the show, the web sites or visit your local Needle Shop. I have my wish list all ready for hubby's holiday shopping.

Shopping at the online Needle Show Retail

The show is now open!!


Here I go again, another Needlework Show is under way from November 5 to the 8th. So many Designers, Dealers and Shops to look at, I just can't stop drooling. I have been oooohhing and aaaahhhhing over all the wonderful things offered. I have made my wish list for Christmas. Some of my favorite designers are back with new designs. Tea themes, bird houses, cats, and dogs to stitch. Threads, scissors, needles, hoops and gadgets galore. So many things to see and explore, making me say I WANT MORE. Many of the dealers offer door prizes just for stopping by, which is smart on their part as I, like many others on a budget tend to look closer at their page. Some offer door prize entry with a purchase, so I skipped by their site unless something really takes my eye and the ones who offer nothing, I pass them entirely. Guess I don't think that you should be made to purchase for a chance to win, and the ones who offer nothing, I don't waste any of my time. They could offer something totally cheap, like a needle book or a pincushion after all they want is our money, as they say it takes money to make money and a little incentive offering goes a long way to draw in new customers. Most of the shops are offering discount shipping or better yet free shipping. I wonder if they put out a report as to how the shops did and what their incentive was, free shipping, or door prize. I have won door prizes at the Needlework show and as I said, while entering the contest I take more time to look at their booth, than when I get to a shop I notice their patterns and a sale is made. Of course as most stitcher's have to admit, I have so many things to work on I can not foresee ever getting them all done in my lifetime. Guess I am just a collector..... but I love it. Really folks if you get the chance you need to stop by the Needle Show Retail at: http://needleshowretail.com/ You can order on line or better yet visit your Local Needle Shop. So grab a cup of tea, and visit the show, enter the drawing, two have a scavenger type game to play, some have gift cards to buy, visit some of my favorites, Lavender Wings, Debbie Draper Designs, Ink Circles and so many more. Mel there is a shop called Enchanting Lair that carries Dragons. HAVE LOTS OF FUN and I hope you WIN. Don't forget the show is from the 5th to the 8th.

Puppy update
Just wanted to ad a quick update on the pups, today they went on an outing. They got to go and visit the lady in white, in our words the vet. Mel's pup was the first on the table and she was not a happy camper, Doc grabbed her tail to do a fecal check and Bella let out a blood curdling yell that could be heard all over the clinic. I talked to Bella and told her it was ok and Doc got to sneak in the sample tester. Mission accomplished, after that she was as good as gold, all the pups did really well, not a peep out of them, they were however shaking a little and the look on their faces was not their happy face at all. On the way to the vet Bella got sick but the others were fine, on the way home, well that was a differnt story, I think each one of them got sick at one point or another. They are home and all are sleeping, going to be a quiet evening, but now the pups have their shots and are ready to find their forever homes. Anybody want a puppy????

Nuts, Nuts and more Nuts

Florida Pecans

The Rocket

Pecan Brittle, YUMMMM

Tangerines are almost ready

Tawnya's baby quilt top ready to be quilted

I finished it last night

Pecans: Last night hubby came home with bags of Pecans. There is a lady where he works who has Pecan trees, Down here Pecan trees are everywhere. Any way, each year I have him place his order with this lady and I end up with bags of these wonderful nuts. I love using Pecans in my holiday baking and making Pecan Brittle, but I hate the shelling of them. I know there are places where we could buy them shelled, but they would cost so much more. The first year I had the handy dandy nut cracker, you know the kind that looks like pliers. That didn't last long for me, after sore hands and many crushed nuts, we headed to the local hardware store. The hardware store is the old fashion kind that sells so much more than lumber and hardware. My favorite section in this store is the kitchen section, so many gadgets and I just knew that I would find what I was looking for. After all this is the store that had all my canning things. Well, I found just what I needed, a Rocket nut cracker, it is the pictured above. Saves so much time and it is easy to use. Hubby gets busy cracking the nuts and I take them out of the shells and bag em up. When we get tired of shelling the nuts, I just bag up what is left and send them to Mel and Jen for their holiday treats.

Tangerines: The tangerines are just about ready, I took one off the tree yesterday just to try it out and it was so sweet and juicy. The first time I have ever had fresh tangerines picked off MY trees. Of my three citrus trees I have two that are loaded with fruit, well as loaded as a small tree can be. Theses trees are two and three years old so I think they are doing really well, now if the apple, peach and loquat trees would start producing fruit.

Puppies: All the puppies are doing really well, Mariah's two have the run of the house, only because they are escape artists and the play area just won't contain them plus they are puppy pad trained. Sissy's crew stay in the play area and they too are doing really well. All the pups are trained to puppy pads and love going out for potty breaks. This can be tricky, I take the two older ones out first and one goes one way and the other goes another direction. Then I take out the other 4 and thankfully they stay pretty close together. I think we have homes for four of them. This week they will be heading to the vet for their well puppy check and their first shots, what fun.

Quilts: Last night I finished the baby quilt for my friends new baby girl, it is done with attic windows blocks, appliqued butterflies and then I quilted butterflies all over it. The picture is before it was quilted. I have two more tops to put together for the Century Care Center and than I will be quilting all of them, need to get these done real soon so we can make a December delivery. I also have two queen size quilts to finish before the holidays, so much to do and so little time.

Ceramics: Mel stopped in Sunday and she cleaned the Christmas greenware I had poured for her. I have been cleaning Christmas Trees and Santa's, trying to get them done for the holidays. The trees are going up north as gifts so they are first on the gotta do list. I just hope there is time to get it all done. Jen will be the delivery girl when she goes to grandma's for Thanksgiving.

Remodel: My one request on the house was that I wanted the woodwork in the hallway done for the holidays, so Sean made the trim and baseboard, I stained and varnished it and he installed it Sunday. Now I can hang the wall paper and get that area done, then on to the dining room. I will be painting in the dinning room and hope to have that room done by the holidays as well. I just want to get all the remodel projects done, many have been in the works for years and I am so tired of looking at unfinished rooms. One way or another all the projects will be done next year, that will be my New Year's Resolution.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Jenny's Giveaway

Hey to all you contest people. Jenny is having a giveaway at her blog site, I am not sure why she is doing this but it should be fun. Go to http://seivadjen.blogspot.com/ and enter her contest, I have a picture of the prize shown above, but if you don't have any little ones she has a alternate prize of a spa bag. Have fun and let her know you read about it here. Who is Jenny you ask, she is one of Sean's lovely daughters. The prize she is listing is one of the special gifts she makes and leaves for children at locations all over Pensacola, Milton and Flomaton areas. If you know of any blog contests, let me know, I love entering the contests and who knows I might win something...