Whirl Into Winter Giveaway

UPDATE: The Winner is Holee!!

Thank You for entering and come back to visit! It is finally here!! The Whirl Into Winter Quilter's Giveaway!!! What do I have for you this season???

A Touch Of AmishAn Amish Tablerunner and matching coasters to be exact!Done in traditional Amish colors and pattern, hand quilted in black thread.

The back is also traditional and a solid powder blue.The shoo-fly blocks are a favorite among Amish quilters, and have many different names...my favorite is "Hens and Chicks".So how do you win this??? Simple as an Amish maiden!!! Just leave a comment here. No blog is required but please leave your e-mail address if you do not have one. Since I am not a huge fan of winter, I will ask you to answer this, "non-winterish" (my own word) question in your comment..."What is your favorite Amish quilt pattern?" Now if you have no clue as to quilt patterns you can answer this question...."What is your favorite aspect of the Amish lifestyle?" Comments left without an answer to one of the two questions will not qualify for the drawing. The winner will be drawn on January 15th. There are about 60 participating blogs in The Whirl Into Winter Quilter's Giveaway. Click on the snowflake at the top of this post and you will find links to all of them! Happy commenting!!!

Catching Up Again

It has been a few days since I posted, but I have been busy and productive. A boring kind of busy, as nothing exciting has been going on, but that is just fine by me! I have made a complete mess of my sewing area, which means I have been sewing!I can not show you what I have been working on as it is a surprise, but it is not on my 2009 Quilting list! I threw myself off before I even got started! Well, it is worth it and I just uglied up my pretty list and wrote it in with ink! "Hold Your Plans Loosely" ...who said that??? Oh yeah, Copperswife, who is blogging again by the way!! She took a little break, but is back with her Menu plan and I think we will be seeing more of her! I have my pom poms out, doing hurkies!!! I always learn so much from her!

I got back on my regular schedule yesterday. We went back to school...we will take Thursday off, but the schedule maintains my children's focus and well being. School went great and I got back to my cleaning schedule. Today, Tuesday, I will be working in my bedroom and master bathroom, along with the other rooms upstairs. Laundry will consist of bedding, so that makes it an easy day.I am looking forward to putting my new flannel sheets on my bed...snowflakes. I have had enough of snowflakes for the year, but these will do!By the way, that snow is all gone! We got 2 days of rain and it melted pretty quickly. I think we had close to 18 inches on the ground!

Well it has not been all work and no play around here...I went fabric shopping with my gift certificate and got some wonderful new fabrics in my favorite colors....These will go nicely with the Harvest Sky I am going to do, and also in the new project I have been working on.

I found my needles....I love Clover Gold Eye 12 quilting needles and was told they were being discontinued. I think the Clover 12's are discontinued, but the gold eyes are different. I found them online and ordered 5 packages...that should get me through next year!I also got a wonderful package in the mail. Linda sent me these gorgeous napkins and coasters. They are just beautiful. Pale pink and brown...one of my all time favorite color combos!8 napkins and 8 coasters! Thank you so much Linda!! Linda was my first bloggy friend and remains a constant in my life. She is always there if I need her and even if I don't. I can always count on a laugh when I talk to her! I think she "gets" me, but doesn't quite know what to do with that!!!

We had some good time with the grandkids also. Bud and Rachel went out to dinner Sunday night and we babysat. Emerson slept a good chunk of the time, but when she was awake, she was so much fun. She loves to talk to Paw Paw.TJ played with the kids and then took turns cuddling with Grandma and Paw Paw while watching Polar Express.I stopped at their house yesterday and he was so excited to go to Grandma's house. That was not in my plan, but I held my plans loosely and brought him home for a couple of hours. We had a blast!!! He played downstairs with "Kunkle Kyle" and the kids and then sat at the table watching Grandma and Paw Paw play Yahtzee. He was so sweet. I am blessed that they live so close to me. My son keeps talking about moving to some state...I think Tennessee, or Texas...I am sure it is a T state. I just keep praying they will stay here longer. I think I was born to be a Grandma. It is my heart. Here is a pic of the plaque I got for Christmas from TJ and Emerson.It says:

"Grandma"

You have ears that always listen,

arms that always hold,

love that's never ending,

and a heart of purest gold

So sweet, and there is nothing in there about a soft belly or arms that flap in the wind!! I better keep it that way and go get on my treadmill to start my day!!!

Be blessed!

Family Celebrations

Christmas Eve morning we woke to massive snow flakes falling. A white Christmas was not a concern this year!!! It also did not stop us from the beginning of a 2 day celebration of the birth of our Saviour!! The night before, we had made the cookies, Kyle prepared the traditional Dirt Cake, and the Spinach dip was done. Christmas Eve is the easiest holiday for me to host because all the food is brought in by others. PLUS, we do paper plates...nice ones, but still paper.We threw on our fancy duds and soon our extended family started to come.Through the doors came, my parents, my aunt and her adult children, my sister and her children and grandchildren, and my own family, minus Bud, Rachel and the grandbabies, who celebrate Christmas Eve with Rachel's family. Sorry Mom, but I could not resist this picture....Dominic, my sister's grandson looks so darn cute!! Casey, her granddaughter is being SO patient while waiting to open her gifts. Dommy went first....When he opened this present he said with much excitement, "I been wantin this for 20 years!!!"

Charlotte opened her gifts like a little lady...I think she even had her pinkie sticking out!! Grandpa watched her....Zach didn't have to wait too long as we go younger child to oldest child.The adults all do a nice grab bag done White Elephant style. I got wonderful flannel sheets for my bed, and no one took them from me this year....one year I got some and someone (I won't name names, DEBBIE) took them from me, as per the rules of our gift exchange.

My nephew Andrew (who is off his crutches now...remember he fell off a cliff) took Kyle to rent a movie and after everyone left we watched the latest Batman movie. Andrew and Kyle are 2 weeks apart in age and were VERY close growing up. Andrew still enjoys Kyle! It was good that they spent some time together, since Andrew lives far away.

It was a wonderful celebration with lots of laughter and NO drama...everyone played nice, as it should be.

Christmas morning came early, but bright and clear...no snow!! The kids opened their gifts in their jammies and we had a quiet morning playing with new toys. By early afternoon the Grandbabies came!!! I was so thrilled to see them. TJ was so much fun!!! Most of his pictures did not turn out cause he was moving the whole time!! Here he is playing with the remote control fire engine "Old Grandma" got him...that is what he calls my mom. I am "New Grandma" when she is around.Emerson was a living doll!!!!
She smiled ALL day!!

We had a nice Roast Beef dinner in the dining room, just our family, and enjoyed the day together. Bud and Rachel gave us some very generous gifts...Sweetheart was given a gift card to Home Depot....his favorite place in the world, and I received one to my favorite fabric store...our kids know us well!! I was also given the most beautiful Grandma plaque from the kids. I will show a pic next time...I forgot to take one. Anyway, it was a beautiful holiday in our home.

After the kids went home, I spent some time working on a new project...I actually worked on it while they were here too. A Star Sampler...just a rough drawing.Not sure if it will make it to fabric, but that is the plan.

This morning, everyone is still sleeping, and it is quiet. My new RED coffee pot greeted me with fresh made coffee this morning.It is awesome, and I love RED (even my cell phone is red), but STILL....here is one more pic of the most beautiful angel in RED I have ever seen!Praying your Christmas was as blessed as mine!

Merry Christmas

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”- Wishing you a blessed Christmas. May you rejoice in the gift that was given to you so long ago.

Beautiful Hands

Me and my little sister. Circa 1964

I am almost done with my Christmas preparations. I still have some shopping to do. Rachel and I will go tomorrow morning and then to lunch. I will come home and start wrapping gifts. Hopefully I can get it all done in one day!! The weather outside is frightful....sounds familiar somehow...with temps today reaching a HIGH of -6. It did get up to -3 in the evening and the 50+ mph winds were a highlight of the day, making the wind chills drop to -30 below. Tomorrow is more of the same. Zach even wore his hat to breakfast!!!

I spent the weekend inside. I played with grandbabies while Rachel ran an errand for me. Sweetheart went to Chicago to get our son who is home for 2 weeks now. I am so excited for him. He is on the road alot! If you live in the US, I am sure you have seen him on the highway and one time or another this last year! He is home most weekends, and if not, then he usually has several days home in a row to make up for it. His goal, of course, is a local trucking job. For now he does what he has to do, though he does love it!

I did not do much housework, though I got some laundry done.I spent most of the weekend quilting. I finished the Whirl Into Winter giveaway...you'll have to wait til January 1st to see it. I also finished a gift up. I will show you the whole thing when it is received. With all the hand quilting on my list marked off, I was able to spend a good amount of time this weekend working on the Pink and Brown, which is back in the hoop. Will I ever finish it??? I was able to get 2+ hoop fulls quilted!Also, I was able to do some goal setting for the coming year. Have you done any goal setting for 2009 yet? I still have more categories to cover, but my quilting goals are pretty much set. I know other things will be added to the list, but for now this is it.I put this in my Home Management Binder under "Quilting". I will have no problem crossing these off in BLACK ink and making the page ugly!!

I looked at my hands today. Do you ever do that? Hands are the heart of a homemaker. Some of us have long, thin fingers, some have short stubby fingers, some of us have age spots and wrinkles, and are watching our skin thin out, while others have youthful looking hands with firm unmarred skin. Some have manicured nails, while others have chewed nubs....Niki's daughter, Jennifer, has some of the most beautiful hands I have ever seen, as I have watched the fruit of those unique hands create a wonderful new home. Our hands show love as they stroke the head of a sick child. They show understanding as they write out a sympathy card to a friend who lost a father. They show provision as they take simple ingredients and prepare a delicious meal for those they love. They show creativity as they work with needle and thread in many forms, or maybe through pottery or a set of paints and a brush. Now, look at your hands. They are beautiful.

The hands of a hand quilter are unique. A hand quilter will have a thick callous on the pad of her index and middle fingers...if they are diligent their ring finger may also be calloused. To others this would not be a beautiful sight. It would appear quite ugly even, and I have actually been asked if there was an injury. Still, I look at those callouses and I see something beautiful. It is the hand of a quilter. It means I am doing something to promote comfort and beauty for someone. Have your hands done anything similar lately? Maybe as you set goals for 2009, you can make a goal to get creative with those beautiful hands God gave you!

In case, you haven't figured out, I do go into some deep (and some not so deep) thought while hand quilting!! That is a good thing!

I will close for now and plan to post one more time before Christmas....just a quick Merry Christmas post, but if I don't make it, you all have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our most precious gift...Jesus.

Blasted!!!!

That is the only word for it. I went to bed last night to pretty clear skies, and I woke this morning to 10+ inches of new snow on the ground!!! It will be a white Christmas for sure. We are expected to get blasted again on Christmas Eve.Charlotte stuck her ruler in the snow on the patio table....it measures 10.5 inches!! You can see the inch and 1/2 sticking up out of the snow.Zach played Math Blasters (a treat for acing his math test this morning), but has since bundled up and is outside playing in the white stuff!I had a nice visit from the mailman yesterday. Sweet Donetta sent me a set of beautiful earrings, which she created herself! They are just gorgeous! Thank You Donetta! You are such an inspiration to me! I owe Donetta a PIF gift and have been working to get it to her. I am hopeful she will get it before the end of the year!I also received a pretty package from Cheryl.Inside were 3 wonderful dishcloths, made by Cheryl (I LOVE her dishcloths!), a set of note cards with photos by her daughter Dani, (the girl has talent!), and some kleenex holders (which my kids snatched up!) Thank You, Cheryl. Your friendship has been the most amazing gift of all!I was able to get all my holiday sewing done and even put my sewing room back in order. It was so neat and clean that the closet stood out like a sore thumb!In no time I had it all organized and cleaned out.Now I am ready for a new year of sewing. Those 3 boxes are full of scraps and strips, ready to cut for my log cabin quilt, plus I am doing a project with Winona....Harvest Sky, by Aunt Em's Quilts. I am excited for a new year of quilt making. Along with the 2 new quilts, I plan to finish up some UFO's hanging around here.

I just have to mention one more time how much I enjoyed Biggest Loser! The new season starts on the 6th of January. If you do not watch it, take a look at this....the winner lost 110 pounds! She went from this.....to this..... And she was such a nice girl. Now you might be saying, "But she is so young and weight is easier to lose when you are young." That is true, but look at her MOTHER.....I get so inspired by weight loss shows...wonder why??

Now I mentioned that Michelle (the winner) was a nice girl. What does that have to do with anything? Well there were a few not-so-nice people on the show. One of them was Heba (though she was nicer than the wicked one), and Heba was the biggest girl to start out. In fact she lost the most percentage of body weight than anyone and would have won, but America had a hand in voting her out. Still you gotta see her transformation....from this....to this....Maybe she will be nicer now that she does not have to battle the scale! We can only hope! Ok, so I will stop blabbing about Biggest Loser....until January!