Our Weekend...And a Winner

 

 

 I heard it was in the 70's in St. Louis, but 6 hours away here in West Lafayette, it was cold, windy, and gloomy. We spent most of the Saturday inside drinking hot tea, playing Scrabble, and watching movies. I finished my hexagon afgan. ( Did I tell you how heavy it is? It's like a rug!) I also quilted up this little wall quilt. Binding will go on tomorrow.

But about 4:00 we decided we needed to get outside. So, of course, we went tromping through the woods to find the bald eagle nest on the Wabash River. It was so cold! But we found it and spotted a couple of eagles. (By then it was too dark to get a good picture of the birds.) We were very excited. We are so weird!

Today the sun finally came out for while, so I spent some time straightening the greenhouse and found some crocuses just about ready to bloom. Then we had dinner with Eric: homemade bread, vegetable soup and chocolate cake. It was so good, but I'm ready for some warm weather food, aren't you?

I had Rick choose a number for the drawing. So the winner is commenter #6 Stacy. Congratulations! Please send me you address and I'll mail the bag out to you soon. Thanks for all who entered and your kind comments on my shop opening. 

                                                                  

Announcement and Giveaway

Well, maybe it's no big announcement if anyone has been observant and seen my sidebar. Yes, I'm opening a new Etsy shop. I will be concentrating on small quilted items, some embroidery, some seasonal...and sometimes vintage supplies. Whatever catches my eye and I think others will like.

 

I've not made it a secret that I like to do hand quilting, so most of the quilts will showcase this. Though some utilitarian items will have machine stitching.

 

To celebrate the opening of my shop I'm offering a giveaway, this hand embroidered bag shown below:

Leave a comment at the end of this post and I will randomly pick a winner next Sunday. Good luck!

I wanted to thank everyone for their kind and supportive comments and emails about our son. I read them to my husband and we felt better each time. We started a 12 week workshop put on by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and we are learning about his disorder and ways to help him. I would recommend  it for anyone who has mental illness in their family.

I almost forgot - tomorrow is my birthday!  (I can hardly believe it, 58. How did that happen?) We are having the kids over for dinner and (hopefully) cheesecake. But the best part about my birthday is that it is the day I know spring is near and  I can usually start working in the gardens soon. (Not this year though. Four inches of snow just melted and the ground is saturated.) Also, I get garden related gifts. Gotta love that:)

I'm Still Here

Sent by Elizabeth for her Valentines swap

Several blogging friends have asked about my absence. We've had our minds elsewhere, for sure.  Our youngest son was in the hospital for 11 days and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. We knew there was something wrong for quite awhile, but he knew it was more than just depression. We are so proud of him that he came to us and let us know how he was feeling. Now he is back in his apartment with his friends from college and taking his meds and going to therapy. We are very optimistic for him!

I debated about saying anything about this here, but I want to help eliminate the stigma surrounding mental illness. I suffer from anxiety disorder, which is very common as is depression. The best way is to talk about it and not hide it away and be ashamed. I hope others out there will feel they can do the same.

I will be back soon with an announcement and a giveway. Stay tuned!

Finally Feeling Better

Wow, it has taken me two weeks to get over this cold. It really knocked me down. But I had heard from several people that it would be like this. Thanks so much for all the well wishes. It made me feel that much better.  So, glad it's over and I can finish up some projects and get started on some new ones.

  One of the things I finished  last week was this pillow. I added lots of floss quilting and an embroidered flower.  I have one more pillow to make for the kitchen sofa. I'm thinking a simple nine patch for that one.

I also picked out the yarn colors for a new afgan. I love these little hexagons and they are so easy and fast to make up. Which is good because I will need a lot of them!

I started sewing them together over the weekend and I realized how many I would need to make a good sized blanket. Lots! So a trip to Joann's is in order. It will end up being very warm and heavy. But it will get used for sure, we like to keep our house temps pretty low.

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy during this weird winter weather. But the groundhog said spring is just around the corner and I have faith in him:)

Sick Weekend

This will be my world today. Comfy jammies, hot tea, cough drops, tissues, and a book or some embroidery.  I had the weekend off and asked for today off since Rick would be home. So many plans for these three days. I was going to sweep the basement in anticipation for turning on the plant lights. Working on a granny square quilt, and making some soap. Oh well, those things will get done eventually.
Rick is painting cabinets, baking herb bread, and running some errands for me. (He can't sweep the basement. He's very allergic to the dust and mold down there.) He doesn't mind taking care of me, I do it for him when he's sick.

Before this cold hit me, I was trying to make a crocheted heart from an online tutorial. Actually tried several pretty patterns, but just could not follow them. I got so frustrated, it couldn't be this hard! So I just made my own pattern, which was a first for me.

I was very happy with how they turned out. Rick suggested starching them. So here is my little heart banner ready for Valentine's Day.
Stay well and warm!

Color Change and a Birthday

I love how this spice cabinet turned out after changing the color from rustic gold to this "farmhouse" green. I  used craft paint and had to mix a couple colors to get the one I wanted. It looks just like the green on vintage cooking utensils, which I now plan to collect! And it looks great with the old cookbooks. So happy when things work out like that! (Rick did the distressing. Great job.)

On Sunday we celebrated the 22nd birthday of our youngest son, Eric. He is such a wonderful young man, so smart, caring, and funny. And he is the one Tad raises his arms to pick him up and read a story. We can't compete when Eric is around.

And look at Tad. His parents cut his curls off! He looks like a big boy now, but I'll miss his long red curls. (By the way, we love Eric's long hair. We're just old hippies :)

Small Dresden Quilt

I finished this quilt before the Christmas rush and then forgot to show it. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. The colors are so bright and happy. As usual I did a crazy amount of hand quilting :)

I'm thinking of opening up my etsy shop again and featuring quilts and small sewn items. This might be my first offering, though I'm not sure about pricing. Need to do some research and see what other hand quilted items go for. Any advice would be appreciated!

We are planning on working on the kitchen cabinets this weekend, sanding and repainting. Yesterday I cleaned out the hall closet (which is a big, walk-in) and also weeded out old papers and files. Aren't we productive? It's just the New Year thing and will fizzle out, I'm sure! But we will run with it and get as much done as we can before that happens:) Oh, also yesterday, I went to the garden center and bought some seeds to start. Just perennial flowers for now. I'll start annuals in February and March. Really can't wait!

I hope you all have great and productive weekend too!