We Have A Winner

Sweetheart drew the winner for the 2nd Anniversary of Pieces From Me. That winner is

DeNiece Barnes

Yeah DeNiece!!! I will e-mail you and get the details for your prize.

Thank you everyone for playing along!

Be Blessed,

Bren

Has It Been 2 Years??

It has been 2 years today that I posted my first time and Pieces From Me was born. In that 2 years, I have shared so much....more than I ever knew I would. Pieces of my life are on every page and I pray my grandchildren will someday look back at them and see the lives of the parents, grandparents, and great grand parents. It has been a fun and special 2 years. I have gotten to "know" so many wonderful people. I have to say my experience in blog land has been 100% positive. Some of my life shared has been happy....some difficult...some have been huge growing experiences.

I have shared my grandchildren.... My children....Holidays....
...and Holy Days.Home school....
And Homemaking....(you know since Pieces From Me was spotlighted on the Home Management Binder.Com website, over a year ago, I have had more traffic daily because of that...at least 1/3 of the hits everyday still come from that site. People want to get organized!)
New friendships have been the most wonderful part of blogging...you all know who you are.
You are all so generous and giving...blessing me and my family regularly....I have shared cooking disasters!!!
And cooking successes!! I love those!You watched me try my hand at gardening....and I am still trying!!Let's not forget all those Tackle It Tuesdays!!

Before:After:You shared our Anniversaries with us.And celebrated birthdays....
and a very special birth.....
I have even mourned the loss of several family members here. You mourned for me and I knew that.
You have waded through my Spiritual thoughts with me...some good, some needing to mature. Past memories have been told and retold.Along with new memories being made....And through this blog, I have been inspired by many of you in so many areas. One the biggest areas has been quilting. I started Pieces From Me as a quilting blog. It did not take long for it to become more than that, as I am a hand quilter, and you know how slow we are. Plus, I have LOTS to say! Still you have shared in the joy of finished projects, and encourage me in those that are still "in process".
To celebrate 2 years here, I want to have a giveaway. Please leave a comment on this post...yes, this post ONLY will be counted in the drawing...and I will announce the winner on June 19th. What? It is that easy? No, of course not....please, in your comment, tell me how you found Pieces From Me..if you remember..and what is your favorite topic here. That will get your name in twice. Also, if you are a follower, or become a follower (on my sidebar), I will give you a third chance. To get put in once, just leave a comment. Remember to leave your e-mail if you do not have a blog so I can contact you. I prefer you do not advertise this giveaway on your own blogs, as I like to honor my readers, (not your readers) with this giveaway.The prize...I think I will give you a choice. A $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com, or a hand quilted table runner in your choice of colors...you pick. I will not be AT ALL offended if you pick the gift card...some people can make a table runner themselves, and others just do not have a need for one. Just leave it in your comment which you would like.

Be Blessed,

Bren

A Winner and Sweetheart's New Blog

Today is the day to announce the winner of the fabrics in my "No Where Near My 500th Post Like I Thought" giveaway!!!

Kyle pulled a name just before he headed to work this morning.And the winner is

MAMA BEAR!!!!!

Congrats Mama Bear. I held my breath cause if Nancy or Linda won, we would have an issue to deal with! Thanks for playing along.

So, are you all thinking that Sweetheart has started a blog??? Nope. He is not the blogging type, however, his boss and Mom and everyone else that knows him reads here to see what he has been up to, so I thought I would share a Sweetheart section on some of my posts. Here ya go Sean....this is what Sweetheart has been up to this past week.

The basement is his domain. This room was full of drywall sheets and 2x4's.Where did all the lumber go??? Here it is....3 walls worth of 2x4's and new electrical on every 5th board. A couple of sheets of drywall have found their way up already. Look at that nicely cut out circuit box.The room will be 24ft long and about 13 ft. wide. It is keeping him busy! I have not seen one piece of duct tape used in this project. What is it with guys and duct tape??? I hung the quilt in my sewing room several years ago. It was hung with hoops and nails and held nicely with no strain on the quilt at all. Sweetheart needed to move the quilt when he redid my sewing room...just a few inches over and the hoops were on the back of the quilt. Still, he could not resist. I came into my sewing room the other morning to find this.... DUCT TAPE! I took it all off and hung it properly. I wonder why there is no duct tape in the basement project? Of course, I had to do some work too. He asked me nicely to please go through a HUGE pile of clothing. I sorted, folded and bagged 4, 30 gallon bags of mostly kid's clothes to take to the Goodwill. There are 30 years worth of boxes to go through down there. I will have to make time for it.

In the meantime, I am homeschooling, housekeeping (laundry is caught up once again), and quilting is happening. I am hand quilting in the evenings and machine piecing in the afternoons.My cutting skills have come a long way since I cut this quilt 11 years ago.In piecing these 1/2 square triangles, several of the dark ones were bigger than the light ones (which are the correct cut). I need to re-cut that top light one...see the selvage? And, the brown ones are now all trimmed up to the right size. I love Marti Mitchell templates, which is what I used to cut this entire quilt.All the 1/2 squares are pieced and ready to press. Next is a square in a square section and all the blocks will be to the 9 patch stage. It is going faster than I thought it would. Chain piecing is great!!!I have a big mess on my cutting table....just washed, and just used fabrics that need to be put away, yesterdays beverages still sitting there, and paperwork that needs to be filed. That will get done today. If I am not careful, Sweetheart will be checking my room just like he does the kids!!!Time for a quick breakfast (my favorite low carb protein bar), and for school to get started. Have a blessed, productive, fruitful day!!!

Mine and Yours

Coleen and I went back to All My Stitches yesterday. What a blast!! I LOVE to watch her spend money!! She dropped $200 on fabrics that were GORGEOUS!!! Best part was she got it all half priced, so it was $400 worth of fabrics!!! It was so much fun going through it all when we got back. She bought for the BOM class we are taking...the star quilt I mentioned. This is the center block we need to do. Coleen picked pastels...beautiful pinks, blues, purples, greens, and creamy backgrounds. I so hope she shows them on her blog. I am staying in my box with this one and using those Civil War colors I love so much...deep reds, navy, brown, gold, and a rich purple. Creamy backgrounds for me too!

Well, I did not spend $200, but I did not come home empty handed either. I got something for me.....More homespuns, and a couple of florals...all fat quarters.

I also got something for you.....These fat quarters will be a great addition to your stash, or make a gorgeous table runner or wall hanging. I had thought I was really close to my 500th post, but I am not. Still, I bought these for you, so I will give them to you now. All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me you want them and I will draw a name next Wednesday, the 28th of January (Why drag it out?). The winner will have a nice piece of All My Stitches Quilt Shop just like me and Coleen!!!!

Whirl Into Winter Winner

And the winner of my Whirl Into Winter Giveaway is.....

Holee!!!

I used a random number generator to pick the winner from 180+ entries.

Thank you all for entering!! Hopefully, Debi will do a Spring Giveaway...I am sure she will!

See you then!

Sweetheart's Project

Does she look ready for a nap to you??? Me, either. Though she was very tired, little Miss Emerson, better known as "Pretty Girl" was not having any of the nap thing! Not that I didn't try...She was in such a playful mood. If you just glanced at her, she lit up like a Christmas tree! Finally she got her way and sat on grandma's lap chewing those two fingers and telling stories!I am really enjoying her. She came just in time, cause TJ wants little to do with me. He is very excited and runs right to me when he gets here...I might get a few cuddles and a smidge of attention in the middle of his visit, but he is all about "playin".We had a productive school week, though I am learning that my children have very different learning styles. Zach is a lover of workbooks. He will beg to do them on weekends! I caved in and let him do PACE's Science. He finished his "My Body" project a while back and I have been wondering what to do next. I ordered a curriculum, or so I thought, and received the student book, but not the manual. I need to read the fine print!I was very pleased with Zach's reading...he has really taken off. I was concerned, but all of a sudden he "got it". Now if I could just get them both to spell!!

Sweetheart has been home for a while. Work is so slow, so for now he is home. Hopefully that will not last too long. He is not a "sitter". He needed a project. Now some of you may remember he re-did the kids bathrooms not too long ago. My little kids are extremely destructive, I am sad to say. No matter what I do, nothing works. Charlotte has been through countless comforters (that is why I have not made her a quilt for her bed), and we will not talk about the carpet...remember the pimple cream?? Zach is no better...he is not as deliberate, but is just rough on everything. So the kids are NOT allowed to use ANY bathroom in the house except the one upstairs. It is their bathroom, though they share it with Kyle. Sweetheart had done a nice job of fixing it up. Nothing fancy, but a fresh paint job, some bright red rugs, and some lighthouse themed items and pictures. This was done just last January, in fact.Well it just seemed "icky". Ever get that feeling? No matter how clean, it was still not a nice room. The walls had been marked up so Sweetheart touched them up. I like the color...a deep khaki. Anyway, here is what he did....Tropical paradise!! A new shower curtain, some rugs, a wall paper border, some new towels, and it is a nice room again!Sweetheart likes details, and pictures were a challenge. We did not want to put a lot of money in there. Who knows how long it will last (I am not suppose to think that way...per Sweetheart, but he does not know them like I do). Anywho....He had a great idea. He went out and bought $4 frames and a Paradise calendar!!!He cut out the pictures to fit the frames and there you have it!! Pictures of palm trees that go beautifully and were next to nothing in price!I was pretty impressed!!! Now he is thinking of working in the little kid's bedrooms! Scary!

Have you all made the rounds of the Whirl Into Winter Giveaways? I am less than half way through, but plan to make a dent in the list tonight! If you haven't commented on my own giveaway, just go down one post and sign up! There are over 100 already!I also wanted to share a new blog with you. Linda finally started a second blog It is called "At The Feet Of Jesus" and so far it is wonderful. I say "finally" because it has been a long time coming. Pop over and check it out!!

Well, I am off to check out more giveaway's. Be blessed!!!