Excitement

Well things certainly livened up around here! The mailman came and brought some excitement! Winona (no blog, yet) sent me this gorgeous purse and accessories! It is just beautiful. Look at the wonderful crosshatching on the bag....Included were matching wallet...the slots are incredible (I forgot to take a pic of the inside), a coin purse (with a penny for luck), a kleenex holder, and a glasses case!!I just love it all!!! Thank you SOOOO much Winona!!!! I have everything all organized in there. It was not difficult as the inside of the purse is full of wonderful pockets!!!I know...5 tubes of lipstick, but a girl has to be prepared!

Winona also included little packages for Charlotte and Zach. She made them crayon holders. Charlotte has hers loaded with crayons now. Zach, also, and he used his this morning during math. The kids say "Thank You WINONA!!!!!Winona and I chit chat on the phone once in a while....along with quilting, diet, husbands and grandkids, we love to talk Biggest Loser!! Last night we were both thrilled to see our favorite win!!! Our least favorite almost slipped and fell. I had a bad thought, but soon contained myself! She really was mean!!!!

I, too, have been busy sewing and am almost finished with my last project. I can't tell you what it is, but I love, love, love this fabric. It is Moda, 3 Sisters, Vienna Nights Collection. It is part of my Galena fabric, and is almost gone now.

Along with the excitement of Mail, Biggest Loser's finale, and sewing, My little Emerson came for a visit. TJ came too, but avoided the camera like the plague. I am glad Emerson can't run!!! I just have to share some of my newest photos of her. These were taken just after I fed her cereal and a bottle. The girl likes her food!!!!We shared stories back and forth....she listened intently until she had something to say.She ooooooed and aaaaaaaaahed and used her hands to animate her story the entire time.Then she would notice those animated hands and stop to look at them for a moment.Then she would talk some more.Oh, she also found her tongue.....see.....After a while, she was ready for her nap. She always likes something over her face when she sleeps. She will turn her face into a blanket if you don't give her something to half cover her whole head!"Enough with that camera, Grandma. Let a girl get her beauty sleep!!!"She slept most of her nap with her little hand up in the air..... I think that is enough excitement for one day, don't you???

Hope your day is blessed!!!!!

Nothing Exciting

Life here has been pretty quiet. I had 5 1/2 hours to myself on Friday! Sweetheart took the kids to Chicago to pick up Bud and the traffic was awful. Kyle did come home during that time, but he grabbed his Jethro bowl of cereal and headed down to his "digs". I did not accomplish everything I wanted to, but I did get some cleaning, sewing and some down time in.

Saturday night we had Bunco at the church...well not IN the church, but in the house next door owned by the church.My mom and Rachel went....they both LOVE Bunco!It was our Christmas party and they had loads of food and a grab bag. It was fun!

Sunday I watched HOURS of the Biggest Loser Marathon....it was season 4, which I had missed. We finished up today and watched the finale over dinner tonight. I think Zach is hooked!The finale for this season (season 6) is on live tomorrow night. You can just KNOW what I will be doing....I am rooting for Michelle! OK, so I have a lame life right now. That is just fine!

I have my own Biggest Loser competition going on here. Zach has joined in on my workouts...look at him go!Sweetheart built me that step a while back so I could do step aerobics. It is heavy, solid and has a nice carpet on the top. Zach used it for push ups and I have to admit, it is a great idea! Jillian would be proud of him!!!! Did I mention I LOVE Jillian??

The kids are doing well in school. Everyone is relatively healthy, and we are staying warm. It was a whopping 8 degrees today, with a wind chill well into the below zero range.

Hopefully I will have more interesting things to share soon. I can not share my sewing projects just yet, as they are not received by everyone.

Have a blessed day and remember.....

Grandma Grace

Yesterday I thought alot about my Grandma Grace. I have mentioned her many times here. Charlotte is named after her. She is the person who took me to church as a child. She made me snowman and butterfly shaped pancakes when I would spend the night at her house. She let me help her prepare her Sunday School lessons. She bought me my first camera as a reward for learning my multiplication tables. At 18 years old she gave me her most treasured car...a 1966 Buick Wildcat...it had fins on the back. I loved that car!!!! She tried her hand at quilting and would be proud to know her beloved dining room set (which she left to me) serves as my sewing table and the matching hutch stores my antique quilts and books. I also have the remnants of her quilting "career".

This quilt was large and was exactly half way finished with hand quilting. I cut it in half, bound it and gave my sister the finished half for her 30th birthday. It made a nice cover up sized quilt. I had many things from my grandmother that were special to me...all of which would be considered "junk" to anyone else. My sister had her cookbook with her hand written recipes, but I wanted to share a real piece of our grandmother with her. I have the other half, unquilted, still hanging on a hanger in my sewing room.

I have her aprons, her family Bible, several of her bowls, and more memories of a loving grandma than I can count. Why was yesterday filled with such thoughts of her? It was 17 years ago that she died from injuries suffered in a car accident. I miss her and think about her often. I pray my presence in TJ and Emerson's lives is as positive as Grandma Grace's was to me.

Ok, onto another subject.....I was able to do some deep cleaning in the kitchen yesterday. Of course a clean kitchen begins and ends with a clean sink. A dirty sink, in an otherwise clean kitchen, is like an unmade bed in a tidy bedroom. I sure love Mrs. Meyer's Lemon Verbena scrub.

Smells wonderful and leaves a SHINY sink behind!!! Don't forget to clean behind the sink....Rachel and I went to the grocery store. I really dislike the store so having her do 1/2 the list is a huge help. I took TJ in my cart and she took Emerson, who was sleeping and no fun at all! TJ wanted out of the cart to help Grandma, so I gave him a "chance" to walk nice with me. He did SO well. He stayed right by me, did not touch ANYTHING without permission, and said,

"Look Grandma. My feet are walkin. They don't run in the store."

I was very proud of him!!!

Emerson loves her buddy Zachary....once she woke up, she was great fun!Rachel finished up the binding on TJ's quilt. I need to get a picture for you. It turned out great!!! The mailman brought me a box yesterday. Inside was the most wonderful bag of goodies....A snowman mug (I know this will be my favorite coffee mug for winter...it is BIG), some hot cocoa mix, and a Candyland Christmas Jelly Roll!!!! I am so excited to have another jelly roll to play with. For those of you who have no clue as to what a jelly roll is, it is a wonderful roll of 2 1/2 x 40 something inch strips of an entire line of Moda fabrics. They are perfect for countless projects, but also a beautiful sight (it looks like a real jelly roll) and fun to touch....a quilter would totally get that, but others may think I need medication!!! So who sent me this wonderful package??? The QUEEN of Jelly Rolls herself....Debi!!! Thank You SOOOOO much Debi. I treasure our friendship.

With such a busy day, and then Awana's last night, I did not get any sewing done yesterday.These are cut and waiting for me, and today I plan to actually get them stitched together.
It is still black outside, as I got up at 5 am, so I guess there is no time like the present! I may have a good chunk of them done before anyone else gets up....if I get going!!!!

A Banner Day In Illinois

We woke up to a layer of ice from a night of freezing rain, which turned to snow and is now causing horrific conditions outside. Other than some read aloud time, everyone here has taken a snow day!!

This morning also brought news of our corrupt Governor's arrest for supposedly trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. Not shocking as our Governor has been known to sell his power. Now they have proof. Hmmmmm.Our country is failing in more ways than I can count. It is as backwards as this sign....So....it's a banner day here in Illinois!! I think I will pray and quilt this banner day away and wake up tomorrow with a renewed hope........or at least some more progress from my needle and thread!!!!

Babies and Binding

Saturday was a day of grandbabies. Zach went with his Daddy on some errands and Kyle went with Rachel to Walmart, so Charlotte and I had time with the little ones. Emerson got to test drive her Bumbo seat I bought her for Christmas. She seems to like it.TJ played with Zach's cars. He posed nicely for a picture. Sometimes he cooperates with the camera, and sometimes he does not. He is getting too big!!I love this picture of Emerson...The light makes her look like she has a halo. Charlotte has been practicing with the camera. She is getting better.We went upstairs so Grandma could sew. Charlotte kept Emerson occupied.TJ handed me 2 1/2" squares to chain together.I love this color combo....Rachel worked on TJ's quilt when she got back from Walmart. She is on the binding and it looks great. Emerson certainly is a mama's girl. She just looks at Rachel like she is her whole world.......which she is!! Lots of smiles for her Mommy and much chit chat. She does have some of her grandma in her!!!Sunday I went binding crazy. I finished 2 more projects and have several more left to do. All will be done before the deadline and I am relieved about that!!!I thought I would leave you with a sampling of my granddaughter visiting with her Mama. (Forgive the quality) You will see for yourself what a sweet spirit this little cutie has.