While We Were Away...

We traveled to western Illinois last month for the funeral of an extended family member. Beautiful country nearing the Mississippi River; rich soil, sprawling acreage dotted with family farms. There was a quilt in the Fellowship Hall there, this one commemorating the church’s 150th anniversary back in 2009. I'm drawn to them. While the guests that day were enjoying a lovely reception of foods prepared by the ladies of the church I was studying the church's history, Immanuel Lutheran in Altona, as it was portrayed through this beautifully crafted wall quilt. I've said it before; every quilt tells a story!

This church has great sentimental connection for my husband, 

Mr. G's grandfather was called here as the pastor from 1946-1955; 

he has many memories from this place.

From western Illinois we traveled east to Buffalo and then on to New Hampshire to celebrate my Dad's 98th birthday with him in his home. It was a very special day!

The next day we took Dad down to his hometown in Massachusetts, the the Historic Document Center there where he recorded an oral history for posterity. Although he looks deep in thought in this picture he had a wonderful time remembering his many and varied experiences on the highway department, the fire department and even had a few stories (that I'd never heard before) about growing up as a young boy in town, the adventures that he had and mischief that he got himself into! It was a wonderful day!

We returned home to an abundance of Iris in bloom, a newly hatched family of baby bluebirds, an abundance of strawberries at a nearby farm and Peonies ready to pop! That's about it for this catch-up account of where I've been and what's new (one of those afore-mentioned posts that I had composed over and over in my mind but never committed to). 

*As I write this today, Mama Bluebird is sitting on a second batch of eggs 

for the season; the babies shown above have already grown and fledged. New life abounds!*

What's new with you?

Life is Good!

2025 Holiday Wrap-Up

Consider this a post-Christmas, end of year, holiday wrap-up post. You might remember my initial foray into needlepoint, my birthday plaid. Our daughter took it back for finishing and surprised me by attaching it to the lid of this sweet little basket. I absolutely love it! It will hold my treasures and be a constant reminder of a wonderful weekend that we shared together. 

I don't know how many of you work the daily Wordle puzzles, I've been doing them for years. Imagine what a big surprise two of last week's puzzles were for me: QUILT was the answer a week ago on Sunday, and a few days later the word SPOOL solved the puzzle. A needleworker's delight!

Cocoa Quaker by Primrose Cottage was a Christmas cross-stitch start for me. 

This tea, from Metropolitan Tea Company, a brand that is new to me, was included in a Christmas gift basket from friends. It is absolutely wonderful! The tag reads : "Good Tea tastes better", that's certainly the truth! I can highly recommend this one. It's the perfect accompaniment for cold winter evenings as I work on my stitching. 

These were four of my favorite movies watched while I was hand-stitching binding on the Christmas quilts this year. The first three were movies that I hadn't seen before but the last one shown here, Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas is one that I must watch each and every year; I adore it and probably can recite the entire dialog of each Muppet by heart! I will never tire of the sweet story, the songs and the precious characters.

I finished this book earlier in December, it was one of those that I couldn't put down. 

The character development and the historical references were rich additions to this one,   definitely a story to remember!

I'm back to piecing a scrap quilt that had been set aside temporarily while working on the Santa's Puzzle quilts. I have my sidekick perched in a chair right alongside of me as I am piecing. It's always great to have company in the sewing room. 

And I'll finish up today's wrap-up post with the birthday boy (and Augie again, he's Mr. G's companion too!) My sweet husband, today is his birthday. Since we have been married 50+ years and we each have a birthday, that makes 100 birthdays that we've celebrated together!

Holy Cow!! How can that be? 😮

Life is Good!

Birthday Season and Other Blessings

It's birthday season! Yes, Augie had a birthday on Monday, last week it was Lucy Ann's turn, she's now 15.🤯 We had the pleasure of celebrating with our lovely granddaughter at brunch this past weekend. 

Augie was blessed on Saturday at our church's official "Blessing of the Animals" service, it's quite a feat for our 6'8" pastor to get down low enough to bless a dog who stands 10" at the tallest! 

Gregory will be turning 15 next month, he's rebuilding a Mini Cooper in our basement, he'll be prepared when he gets his Learner's Permit! I can't believe I'm even typing those words! Where has the time gone? Those who've read this blog for a long time will remember when they were babies!

November 2010~ Lucy Ann giving her cousin Gregory a kiss on the nose! 💖

We continue to be blessed with great weather: the dahlias are still putting on a show, 

it seems like I'm cutting one or two every day right now. 

For months I had been wanting floating shelves beside our breakfast table to hold goodies and seasonal displays. Mr. G came through with an even better installation than I had ever dreamed of, I couldn't be happier; he even made a frame for my cross stitch! 

 Blessings abound~ for sure and for certain!

Life is Good!

One Day At A Time

Its been a while, I know that. Time marches on, one day at a time, and before you know it a month (or more) has passed! Suffice it to say that the days have been busy ones, and it's all good. I'm going to hit the highlights with loads of photos here, simply as a way to catch up. It's good to be back! Augie is now two years old! That hardly seems possible. He was proud to receive a blessing from Pastor at an outdoor service honoring St. Francis last month. 

The birthday boy with his new toys.

Augie isn't the only one celebrating; both Lucy Ann and Gregory have each recently observed their 14th birthdays!  Those of you who've been longtime readers will remember (seemingly not that long ago!) them as babies, see what I mean about time flying by and losing track as the days evaporate one into the next?

In the studio: a memory quilt for my SIL is s-l-o-w-l-y taking shape on the design wall, it's going to be made up entirely from her husband's shirts. I hope to have this one pieced, quilted and ready for Christmas.

My side-kick thinks that the bin of deconstructed shirt pieces is a comfy spot especially for him. 😬

Nope, I don't think so.

🎂

 I'd like to wish a special friend a very happy birthday today! 

She shared with me yesterday that she was born on the very day that 

Herbert Hoover was elected; here's hoping your day is a great one, Mary! 

Life is Good!

What's New?

I'm sure that you've given up on any future posts from here; and yet, I keep popping back up! In the last post I spoke about the baby bluebirds fledging and, as of this morning, we have more hatchlings in a new nest; here we go, all over again! Sorry, it's been awhile. Since I was here last we've made yet another trip to New England and spent precious time with my parents. Thanks be to God, they're doing well. 

Our family is celebrating birthdays this month. Mason's is today and our daughter's later this week. Those of you who've been reading here through the years may remember when our oldest grandchild first made an appearance... 16 years ago! He is every bit as sweet today as he was back in 2008. I'm unsure how this happened, certainly I don't feel any older myself. The Birthday Bear felt ornament, pictured above, was made to commemorate the occasion of our daughter's birthday. Inspired by Ramona who blogs at Doodlebugs and Rosebuds, I decided to try my hand at some of these. They come packaged as kits and... yes... I've discovered another rabbit hole! If any of you care to follow me down there I have discovered all sorts of goodies at Merry Stockings. The kits arrive complete with every little thing that you will need and easy to follow instructions. You're welcome. 😉 

What's new with you?

And sew, here we are again, playing catch-up. Thank you for your patience.

I'm back and it's all good. 

Life is Good! 

Here to There and Back Again

We've been on a road trip to the Lakes Region of NH. Spent time with Mom and Dad for both Father's Day and my mother's birthday this past Tuesday. This photo is from five years ago. There have been a lot of changes since 2019. Mom can't physically navigate much anymore, she's a good deal weaker than I've ever seen; it's so hard to watch this happen. But, on the bright side, at 91 and 96 they're doing quite well, all things considered. Just two months ago when she was hospitalized, Mom's doctor never expected for her to be at home again. We're rejoicing in the fact that today she is, sleeping in her own bed and spending her days in her favorite recliner alongside Dad; there's much to be thankful for. 

We took Mom out to an ice cream stand for a cone on her birthday, take a look at the cones available to choose from. 😉 We also ate lobster, Mom's favorite; what a special treat! I had lobster rolls two days in a row. It was my duty you understand "when in Rome...".

Arriving home on Thursday other special treats were waiting. 

The garden Phlox and Echinacea are in bloom. 

The Brazilian Verbena is attracting Zebra Swallowtails and Goldfinch in flocks!

I potted up a dish garden for Mom's birthday, found a wide variety of small houseplants at a local nursery before we left. I believe that Mom will enjoy this, they have great big windows that let in loads of light in their family room and kitchen area where this should thrive.

A friend from church shared this. She had gone to prepare the altar for Sunday service and sat down in one of the pews to pray after she'd finished. She looked up to see this reflected on the carpet. Wow.

😊

Smile- God is watching!

Life is Good!

AWOL

I know, I know; I've been AWOL with no clue as to when I'd return or why I had disappeared. The last you knew I had my cast taken off and I was footloose and fancy-free again. Well, let's just say that was a very short lived state! Sigh. After a few days of catching up with all the tasks that required two free hands I contracted some sort of virus that presented with almost every symptom you could name: sore throat, headache, body aches, cough, congestion, nausea, fever... all of the above. However, the over-riding and longest lasting symptom was that of fatigue. I was wiped out. Some have suggested this may have been COVID, maybe it was, I had no test and was too sick to worry about that, I wouldn't have done anything differently anyway. I never left the house for ten days and really didn't even begin to feel anywhere even remotely like myself again for two full weeks! It was awful. This past Friday was the day that I turned the corner, there's life among the living again and I plan to participate fully! Whew. Moving on and catching up...

This bridge represents the road back to recovery; this is where I spent last weekend, on retreat! What a wonderful chance to just sit and stitch and visit with friends, it was the best of all therapy. I completed the table topper pictured above on Friday, I had already stitched up the pumpkins that formed the borders so they were ready to go. This is one of the Riley Blake Designs from last year's monthly table topper of the month program, this pattern, Pumpkinz Squared was a Lori Holt original. I can't wait to get it quilted up and on the table.

Take a look at this grand retreat space we had in which to work; isn't it the absolute BEST? My set up is in the lower right corner, on Saturday I pulled out the Snowflake blocks from a pattern by Wendy Sheppard, linked here. I got all twenty blocks pieced before the day's end, I felt like I had really accomplished a LOT. After I brought the blocks home, I arranged them on the design wall, moving and shuffling, until I arrived at the layout pictured below.

They will have sashing strips with stars in the intersections, a great winter quilt!

Here's a pinned-up version of how the intersections will appear. I plan to quilt this one with a panto that I've had for awhile, Swirly Snowflakes, I may even quilt it with a silver thread. 

With one more morning left on retreat I started the first block of Strawberry Jam; I guess you could say that I covered three seasons while I was away for the weekend! This was a limited edition kit that I purchased through A Crafty Fox last summer. You know I just had to have this; even though I rarely buy kits she had me at "strawberry"- throw in "limited number available" and I was on it! 😉 This quilt has twelve blocks with the cutest pieced lattice-style sashing. Stay tuned. 

One more thing happened during my blog hiatus, this precious boy celebrated his first birthday! He's pictured here with a chew stick that he got from his favorite canine friend. 💗 I celebrated a milestone birthday too, near the end of last month, but with the wrist and the crud it sort of all got lost in the shuffle; when I broke a molar after biting into a pretzel and spent the morning in the dentist's chair last Thursday I realized that I might just simply be falling apart! My Dad always said that aging isn't for the weak; I believe that he's right, these last few months have been taking all my strength! Ha! 

Life is Good!