Great Giveaway is coming

Just wanted to let you all know that next week I will be hosting a super great giveaway at Nanbon's Corner. Look for it Tuesday or Wednesday.   You have got to enter this one it is that good...... Wish I could enter.... but alas I can not, so it is up to you to enter and win. Here's a hint  200+ stores to shop at.  CSN

Centerpieces for Jack

Tonight I finished the Centerpieces for Jack's Bar Mitzvah. I wanted to make something for a boy rather then a flower centerpiece so I designed and made the Favor Centerpieces. Click on the link  under the photo for the slide show.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47344457@N04/4557020630/

                                                                              Shania

Our Littlest Angel

Sunday we lost our beloved little old lady Maltese. Shania was 13 yrs and had a good life here. She loved playing Frisbe and would play all day long if you let her. She was a feisty dog who wanted to be the only child. We have two of her pups and through the years she shared the house with other dogs. She would not go outside when the rest of the crew went, instead she would use the time alone in the house with me to get a few rounds of catch in. When the others came in then she would go out. She would always escort me to the mail box making sure I had a safe trip. When company came to the house she thought they were here to see her and she would do her best to keep them entertained. She would grump at any dog who tried to get on Sean's lap when she was there. She had her own room in the house which was Sean's office. Shania passed away early Sunday morning in my husbands arms, she will truly be missed.

I WON, I WON, I WON

WOW, April has been really a great month for me where the giveaways are concerned.  I won on The Ultimate Blog Party, I won on I Have a Notion 31 day giveaway and I won at the Needlework Show, I won some other blog giveaways. I didn't win the Accuquilt or the Cricut Cake and I really wanted those, but thats OK at least I won and what I won was great.  This month started out really rotten with both of us being so sick with colds and making us postpone my Birthday celebration with friends, but the middle of the month has been WOW with all the winning, I won't post those until next month, who knows I might just win something else.

But for now here are the items won in March.

I won the Oil of Olay ProX kit from Fab at 50, Hubby won the bag w/fabric from SewCalGal site and I won the sampler box from a blog giveaway

As for my Birthday Celebration, we went to dinner with friends last weekend. Lottie and I both celebrate in April, hers is the 3rd and mine the 4th. Lottie has been receiving Chemo and that is why we postponed the dinner till I knew we were over our colds, didn't want to risk her getting sick. She chose the restaurant, a little Italian Restaurant called Recanati's in Milton. When we first arrived I thought we were in the wrong place, the restaurant looked more like a pizza place then a restaurant. But we went in and waited for Lottie and her son Steven and his wife Cherylyn. Cherylyn is our favorite Auctioneer, but for now has closed her auction house. They have been using their time in getting Lottie settled from her move from south Florida and taking care of her during her Chemo treatments. I was really shocked when I saw Lottie, I thought she might look weak and pale, but she looked wonderful. She had her usual sparkle in her eye and she seems to be taking the treatments quite well. She has finished this last round of Chemo and hopefully this will be the last she will need. Steven, Cherylyn and Lottie showed up a few minutes after we arrived, followed by Linda and her husband. Gee, I thought this was just a little dinner, but it turned into a party. I decided to try the special and at $11.00 I will say it was a good value. Fresh baked Italian bread with a olive oil butter started the meal, followed by a garden salad with ranch dressing, A Silvi roll was next, now if you are like me and not know what a Silvi roll is I will tell you. It looks like a fat, soft breadstick, topped with herbs, when you bite into it you are rewarded with melted cheese. If you have ever watched the Best Time I Ever Ate on Food Network, this would be my choice. My dinner entree choice was the Ravioli stuffed with meat. The pasta was cooked perfectly, with a thick rich sauce, smothered in cheese. For the last course I have a canola, now the shell was a little greasy but the cream was wonderful and of course coffee was served, I don't drink coffee so Hubby got that. Cherylyn also bought a cheesecake topped with strawberries and delivered to the restaurant beforehand, The staff served the cake with a song, I could have passed on the being sung to but it was fun and the cheesecake was great. She said she got it in the bakery of Publix store, I will have to remember them for cakes. We all had a lovely time and I look forward to Cherylyn and Linda's birthday in May, maybe we can go there for their party.

Updates:

Puppies

All the puppies are doing really well, getting bigger every day and quite spoiled, they are eating more of their puppy chow but they still depend on Mom for their main meals. They love to play and it is so much fun just watching them. The black little girl keeps laying in the water bowl, I found her sleeping in it last night, the side of her head was all wet. Good thing I don't put much water in the bowl at a time.

                                                                          Killer Bird
The killer Mockingbird still watches and swoops me as I head out to the mail box, I will be glad when these babies are out of here. Maybe then I will be able to work on the flowerbeds.

                                                                             Frogs
I heard some frogs at the pond the other night calling for their mates, but there just isn't that many hanging around yet. If we get some rainy weather they will be out in full force and they get really loud.

                                                                         Saturday
We are planning on staying home tomorrow, hubby said he will cut down the saplings that are popping up all over the place and help with the yard work. Last weekend we planted two trees, I had a coupon from Home Depot, buy one get one free so we took advantage of that coupon. We bought a Pink Lemon and a Lime tree, the citrus trees are doing really well so we decided to add some more. The Tangerine, Orange, and Lime trees are in bloom and you can smell the blossoms when you walk in the back yard, they smell so good. Hubby also noticed that the Peach tree is covered in little peaches and the Apple tree has blooms. Looks like the trees will be doing good this year.

                                                                           and
                                                                   Spring Cleaning
I am still working on the spring cleaning, have three more rooms to go. I take one room a night, strip it down, clean it and put it back together again. I thought I would have it all done by this weekend but I am not there yet, maybe next week.

Another Charity Quilt

I am now caught up with my charity quilt tops, I no longer have a full box of counted cross stitch squares glaring at me wanting to be made into a quilt. Now I need to get to JoAnn's and buy some more batting and finish these quilts so the residents of the nursing home can enjoy them.

Country Quilt

Quilt Happy

I am finally getting caught up with my Charity Quilts, I had designed and cut out 6 quilts and as of today I have the tops sewn for 5 of them. These when finished will be going to a nursing home in Alabama. In December I sent 6 quilts and the residents just loved them, I was told other residents were asking if they could have one to. I hope to finish the 6th one tonight and then I can start the quilting process. The Counted Cross Stitch Squares that are in the quilts are the work of members of the World of Charity Stitchers, a yahoo group who provides quilts to children, seniors, and cancer patients. If you would like to become a member of this wonderful group let me know and I will send you the information on how to sign up, Stitchers and Quilters are needed. Donations are also excepted for CCS patterns, quilt patterns, templates, fabric, batting and money for postage fees. Or if you happen to have 12" quilt blocks you don't want, I would love to put them to good use. I use 12" blocks and I make 4 blocks in the same pattern for each quilt. In the works are a Angel Quilt, Flower Quilt, Cards Quilt, Hat Quilt, as soon as all the CCS Squares are finished.

Bird Quilt

Scrappy Heart Quilt

Lighthouse Quilt

Sports quilt

Coffee Quilt

Meet Sissy's puppies, the two white ones are boys and the black and brown puppies are the girls, they are 3 weeks old in this picture. They have been doing really good with their puppy pad training and are now starting to eat puppy chow. They are from a Pomeranian father and a Maltese mother.

OH and for those of you still wondering, The Killer Mocking Bird is still hanging around and yes, she still attacks me. I have to really keep a eye out for her as I go for the mail each day. So far she hasn't attacked anyone else. My grandson was here Sunday, and they had parked close to the bush. They didn't get attacked while they were getting in or out of the car, seems the bird just doesn't like me. I had been planning to have a yard sale and that just won't be happening as I would be afraid of customers being attacked., I won't have a sale in the summer as it is just to hot here for that. So maybe this fall I will have my sale


Sorry so short but I am heading to the Needlework show, only have till Sunday this year. They are cutting the time short for the general public so the shop owners can get their orders in.

I Have a Notion 30 day giveaway

I

I Have A Notion Blog and web site are having a 1st anniversary 30 day giveaway, Yes, calm down, I said 30 day Giveaway.  Which is wonderful, but to tell you the truth I have been learning so much about the items that the giveaway is just icing on the cake. There are materials, threads, sprays, tools, scissors, books and oh my goodness just so much more.  And can you believe that one of the prizes is the Accuquilt, I dream of owning one of these machines. Making Quilts would be so much easier, oh the things I could do with this puppy.  Please, Please, Please, if there is a magic word or a special way to bring good luck, let me know. I want this machine so badly that I can taste it.  It is out of my budget to buy one, but maybe, just maybe I can win this one.

Really folks, take a few minutes and visit Kelly's blog and her store you will be glad you did. Follow these links, and then add to your favorite places.

Kelly's Blog http://ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/

I Have a Notion Store http://ihavea-notion.com/store/

You can also find a link on Nanbon's Corner http://nanbonscorner.blogspot.com/

Just another day

Just another day around the old homestead, my little angel decided to see how the spring flowers were coming along. First she visited the Azalea bush near the pond and the beautiful pink blossoms went so well with her skirt so she posed for a picture.

Then she moved over to the waters edge and there were beautiful purple flowers blooming like crazy so of course she had to pose for another picture. I think these beautiful flowers were planted by a bird as I haven't planted anything in that area yet there they are, so yes they can stay, besides the angel says they match her shirt so well.

This lovely angel is a Jim Shore's Heartwood Creek "Stitched with Love" Angel. She was my birthday gift from my Hubby. I love Jim Shore's designs but never bought any before. So this little lady is my first, sounds like another collection to me. I collect angels and I am a quilter so this lady suits me well.

NOW for the Horror Movie unfolding here.

The story starts with me in the garage, I had done some cleaning in there and had trash that needed to go to the trash can. I opened the garage door and stepped into the warm sunlight, when I heard a sound that I know I have heard before. I stepped closer to the trash can and with one swift motion flung open the lid and all was silent. I gather the boxes and emptied the trash cans that were waiting close to the door. Again I heard that awful sound, was it a squeal, a squelch, a scream or a combination of all. I looked around and saw nothing but the sound got louder and louder until I thought I might go crazy. I looked to the sky and there they were, BIRDS!!!! not one but two... OK so it is not Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" with thousands of birds waiting in the trees, but all the same it can be a little scary. So no big deal a couple of birds yelling at me, hey little bird if you have a nest in the bush then chill out for I am not near that bush. You see I had seen a bird fly out of the bush by the front porch and I wasn't near that one, so what was their problem. I continued to empty the trash and then it happened. I could feel the hair on my head move and the forbidding squeal as the bird tried to take my head off. Well maybe I am spinning a little bit of a yarn, but she did dive bomb me and she was making a horrible sound and she did hit my head, OK she just hit the hair. Needless to say I ran back in the garage and peeked out as she flew back and forth warning all who might come close to the bush that is beside the garage door that this was now her territory. I stood there for a few minutes not sure if she would try to invade the garage, but as I watcher her I saw it. Hidden in the bush was a tangle of twigs and leaves and no I didn't get close enough to see inside but I am sure there are a few eggs waiting for their time to break out of their shells. So Mr and Mrs Mocking Bird I promise to stay away from your little home. Just don't dive bomb me anymore, deal.

 

wikipedia

Birthday Bash Winners

Winners names and prizes are now posted over at Nanbon's Corner. Thanks to all who participated in the Birthday Bash giveaway.

CAKE, Cake, Birthday Cake

Birthday Cakes

Easter Sunday is my Birthday and for years I have had to make my own birthday cake. No one makes me a cake, no one buys me a cake, if I want a cake, I bake it. One year Jenny told me she was making me a cake to bring out for my Birthday Dinner, and yes I was doing the cooking. Then she arrived without the cake, she informed us that she had made the cake, BUT they left it sit on the table and their dog ate it. So that year I didn't get a cake at all. Let's say most years I don't get a cake, just because I don't feel like baking one. Unless the grand kids are going to be here to eat it we don't buy one either. Neither Hubby nor myself are big cake eaters. But I would love to have a BIG beautiful cake just once, well lets say Just Because, it's my birthday after all and I want to feel special. This year hubby and I are getting over the flu bug and neither of us feels the best, so there won't be a Birthday Dinner or a Birthday Cake. But in my dreams there is a Big Beautiful Cake at my wonderful surprise party.

In my dream world, I have my choice of all these beautiful cakes, so many beautiful cakes. All these cake designs came from Wilton, Yes Wilton, the makers of all things cake. Pans, tools, books, figures, fondant, well just about anything you need to bake cakes or make candy. Yes I admit I am a big Wilton product user. I have all kinds of Wilton cake pans, decorating tools and I am always getting Jenny a new cake pan, she must have a cabinet full by now, I know I do. One year for Christmas I bought her the pro decorating case and filled it with tips and tools, she sells wedding cakes and other occasion cakes out of her house.

I have a lot of the Wilton books and use them for ideas all the time, then the other day I stopped by their web site and found the cake design section. There are cakes for all occasions so I went looking for my dream cake and selected these, now to narrow it down to just one design. I may not feel up to making my dream cake this year, but just you wait, next year I will make the cake of my dreams and eat it all by myself, well maybe I will share a little. If you are looking for cake ideas stop by the Wilton site, they have so many to choose from.

Now which one should I choose, Love the two tier cake at the top of the page, but maybe one more for taste like the raspberry chocolate cake, or the so cute Rabbit in a egg cake, maybe just the Easter Egg cake, or maybe Roses, I just love all the Roses and I did make one like this for my Mom for Mother's Day one year. OH and then there is Cheese Cake, oh how I love Cheese Cakes and these are displayed on the perfect cake holders, and the sweet Cameo Cake, so pretty, and I know the dress cakes are for a bridal shower but I think they are really pretty and you could make the dresses into any style. Well, I have a whole year to think about which cake to make and I am sure the Wilton Site will have more cakes added this year. What do you think about cakes

Nana Bonnie

Special Thanks to the folks at Wilton for permission to use their Cake Design Photos on this post.

PS Don't forget to go to Nanbon's Corner  for the Birthday Bash.