Pat Sloan's Orange...

Here is my pile of orange for Pat Sloan. She is sponsoring an OP (orange pile) challenge and a virtual retreat. See sidebar icon or go to Pat here.
I have never done a virtual retreat, but it sounds like it will be alot of fun. It will be Friday, Feb. 20- Sunday, Feb. 22. A good winter break for us with alot of snow and cold!

A sad time....

It has been a couple of rough days around my house this week. Our son-in-law, Dave, lost his father the beginning of the week and we just finished 2 days of the funeral. He had been frail and not well and lost his battle to pneumonia. Dave's mother passed away last August, so this sadness was still fresh for him. All of this took place during one of the biggest snowstorms we have had recently going from Tuesday night into most of the day Wednesday.....I did not get any pics of this, but it was a whopper. Driving in this yesterday was not fun....thank goodness for 4 wheel drive and my hubby behind the wheel!
It was a very moving service today by their Pastor....a wonderful speaker! It gave us all hope and faith in the next life that will be ours with our deep believe in the Lord.
Needless to say I haven't done any stitching for several days....will have to remedy that starting tomorrow. I am including a cute picture of our beloved dogs....Barney is the Beagle and Jackson is the Standard Poodle. Jackson is only 6 months old....think he's going to be a big one??

Head on over...

Head on over to Kim to sign up for her 100th post giveawayat bitty bits and pieces. What sweet treats they are....2 of them. Both with a Valentine theme and the sweet little purse is adorable.

Luscious fabrics for the stash.

I received some of the prettiest fabrics today in the mail. I had bought some locally but had to order some others online. This is the newest line from Lakehouse Dry Goods and I saw peeks of it and ideas with it from Holly. I just think it is the prettiest and I love all of the luscious colors. This morning I was sitting in my sewing room looking out into the backyard and I noticed these really neat frost designs on the window....like feathers in frost...I just had to take a picture and share. Nature sure does do some miraculous things!

Which way to go....

I am going to finally start quilting on a crib quilt that I made for my (now 16 month old) grandson, Oliver. It was supposed to be ready for his birth, then Christmas and now here I am finally getting to it...see what I mean about wasting time?
I know one of the reasons it wasn't ready for Christmas is because I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to quilt it because it has chenille squares throughout the pattern. I wanted to quilt around the squares and then do a simple design in each of the squares, but I didn't think the chenille would look right....also the reason I nixed the idea of diagonal quilting across the squares. Will the chenille be distorted or flattened? Any ideas would be appreciated.

I've Arrived........

Hi to all of my new friends in the world of blogging. I am posting my first message and I am really excited about sharing my stories and crafts with all of you. I have been following quite a few blogs in the last few months and I am in awe at some of the stitcheries and quilts and just overall ideas that I have seen. Such talent!
I just rediscovered hand embroidery and am loving the Noah's Ark BOM by Lynette Anderson that I have just started. I have completed 2 and have several more traced to start. I am also doing the Country Calendar from elliesquiltplace.com.
I also enjoy machine embroidery, counted cross-stitch and quilting. I took quilting classes several years ago and have alot of UFO's and of course the usual "stash" that goes with the love of fabric. I hope to do more quilting as I try and perfect my 1/4" seam!!!