bringing home baby . . .

You know the old saying, when the cat's away, the mice will play, right?? That's exactly what happens when Neesey's left in charge for a couple of days!  Picnic dinners in front of the big screen . . .

Jumping-on-the-bed parties . . . 

And makeovers!

Ahem.  Extreme makeovers, as the case may be.  <grin>

Let's just say it took us a little while to remove evidence of that particular makeover.

And while we were killing it in the fun department, look what mom was doing!

May I introduce Ezra Paul?!?  Isn't he the sweetest? At 5 lbs, 10 oz, and 18 in, he's tiny!  And by the way, doesn't his mama look good??

He's so tiny, even his little newborn cap is a tad big!

But gosh, so very precious!

Each sister got a turn to hold him . . .

It was love at first sight for every one of his big sisters!

And then Neesey got a turn . . .

Isn't that just the best? ♥

:)

bits and more bits . . .

It's been a lovely weekend so far.  Todd surprised me with a "gourmet dining experience" on Valentine's Day.  

It was a privately catered event and the food was excellent!  The chef classified his style as 'sophisticated southern.' We were served a four course meal which included a deconstructed Southern Greek salad, seared scallops, braised short ribs, and for dessert . . . 

Red velvet cake with a cheesecake center, topped with white chocolate ganache.  YUM!

Backing up a bit, I spent Thursday evening with the grandgirls and gifted them with their Valentines.

Edith was particularly enthralled with hers and went through her 'goodies' very carefully, several times!  ♥

I've gotten some stitching in, too. I worked up Block 40--Art Square--from Grandmother's Choice.

It went together fairly easily, and I should probably do more than one of these every couple of weeks if I want to actually finish it!  I've got SO much of the fabric.  I really need to do something with it!

I played around with the new Kathy Schmitz heart printed embroidery I got earlier this week, too . . .

This is really fun to stitch on!  For some reason I first thought there was just outline or straight stitching on it, but there are actually quite a few different types of stitches to work out, and I like that!

Finally, I've continued to work on the Peppermint Purple Blackwork SAL piece.  Since  I had finished week 7's block, I decided to go ahead and work out the block outlines for the rest of the year.

Nine rows down and four rows to go; then I need to decide on borders.  It's fun, easy stitching and probably what I'll work on this afternoon for my slow Sunday stitching!

Wrapping it up ... be sure to head over to Kathy's Quilts to check out what other slow stitching is happening today!

Happy Sunday ... I hope you get to enjoy a holiday Monday--I know I sure will!

:) 

heartily stitching along . . .

I've had to work all four (10-hour) days this week.  It's been long!  LOL!

I made just a little progress on my Love Sampler project.  It's really so sweet to stitch on . . . 

But not as much progress as I had planned. Scrolling through Instagram on Sunday, I stumbled upon a Blackwork SAL hosted by Peppermint Purple, and I chased that squirrel down.  I have been fascinated by blackwork for some time, but hadn't ever tried it.  This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to give it a go.

At first I though starting six weeks behind might be a problem, but it stitches quickly and I'm caught up through week #7.  

Go me! (It was really easy to catch up.  Each block represents one week.)  I'm using Cosmos Seasonal floss (1 over 1) in 8056.  I really love the subtle movement of color!

In other stitching news, I got some happy mail . . .

Kathy Schmitz was running a special:  spend a certain amount and get the heart stitchery free.  So I got the birdie stitchery and the black floss.  

They're really cute.  Pre-printed ... you just outline stitch in black and frame!  Voila!  I thought it would be fun (and now I have two to play with)!

Been having fun getting Valentines together for the local grandgirls. They stopped by for a quick visit at work yesterday . . .

They're so fun!  And they all MATCH!  Even mama matches!  ♥  I found some really cute vintage cards to gift the girls . . .

And made some heart-themed baskets filled with goodies . . .

Just simple things.  But sweet!  And speaking of sweet, look what *my* Valentine sent me!

Aren't they beautiful!  Gives me lots of reasons to stop and smell the flowers!

Signing out ... have a great weekend and a Happy Valentine's Day!

:)

hollydaze . . .

Saturday/Sunday came and went and I just didn't get to blogger.  I really, seriously thought -- for some strange, unfathomable reason -- that this past week and weekend was going to be slow.  I thought wrong!

I don't have the pretty image, but based on my last paragraph, it should come as no surprise that my stash is unchanged.  Nothing in, nothing out, and a total balance of 22.5 yards used for the year!  It'll probably stay that way . . . though since I'm off next week, I plan on spending some time in the Nook and maybe I'll use a little more!

I got the sweetest, heart-warming/melting letter in last week's mail . . .

I'd sent cards to Sawyer and June with pages to color.  I'd asked if maybe they'd color one and send it back to me!  Can you tell which is Sawyer's and which is Junes??  LOL!  In addition, Sawyer wrote the most precious letter to me!!  

Since he asked about Sebastian, I was only to happy to visit him at our neighbor's house (which is where Sebastian moved when the Panter crew moved to Irvine) and grab some video and pictures to share with the kids!

I finished up my Noel tree. I hate it. I'm thoroughly not pleased with it; after Christmas, I will cut it out and do something different with it. But I knew I wanted to hang it in that space, so I just went ahead and put it up.

Part of the problem is that I stitched it on muslin -- I should have used a quality thread count white cotton.  *sigh*  I didn't know I was going to fall in love with the final stitching so much.  And I couldn't find what I was wanting in the red trim, so I made my own out of satin ribbon.  Mistake. Aaaah well, I'll frame it or something.  Lesson learned. The ray of sunshine is that I'm pleased to see that the "NOEL" does stand out enough to make sense.  LOL!

Sunday was a busy day -- we had our Christmas party in Sunday school.  David is our pastor's son, and I love that little fellow!  Here he is showing off his "King of kings" crown we made!

After Sunday school we had worship -- and our choir performed our Christmas cantata.  It was good music and I love singing, so that made it a good morning! Then Sunday evening, Todd and I went to see the Living Christmas Tree at Huntsville First. I'd never been before (and I'm not sure why), but it was fabulous!!

My sister sent me a pattern for another cute wool ornament . . . and really, it was so cute, I got right to it:

Isn't that one precious?  I saw it done in navy and red, too -- I think I may give that combo a try as well!  The pattern can be found by clicking HERE.  :)

We've had rain, rain, rain.  Since overnight on Saturday, we've had rain.  You know what happens when you have that much rain?

The creek rises!

In the likely event that I don't make it back here before Friday . . . a very warm and Merry Christmas to you!  May your celebrations be filled with laughter, love, family, and friends. Mmmmwah!

:)

seventeen terrific years . . .

Yesterday Todd and I celebrated our seventeenth anniversary . . . 

It really has  been a great seventeen years and I'm so grateful for my husband -- he's the most godly, loving man a wife could hope to have!  

We've got a huge week (starting today) ahead, so we decided to set our anniversary day aside, turn off our phones, and hang out together.  You know a couple is good together when they enjoy long road trips with each other!  We headed out to Tim's Ford (Tennessee) and had lunch at a fun little place on the water . . .

The Blue Gill Grill.  The food is good, but what I especially like is the built-in dining companions:

How fun is that??!!  We sat on the outside corner of the dock and I had as much fun feeding the turtles, ducks, geese, and fish as I did eating!!

Isn't that a LOT of carp?  And they're HUGE!!  It was funny ... the fish obviously couldn't see to anticipate where food was going to come from, but the geese/ducks could.  So whenever the geese started to move in on someone who was tossing food over the side, the fish would swarm underneath them, hoping to grab a bite.  It made for some very *splashy* activity!

We tooled around the State Park and checked out different camping spots and RV setups (being a fulltime RVer, I'm always intrigued by what other seasoned RVers do) and then headed up to Tullahoma.  My trusty "Quilt Shops" app noted a quilt shop there I'd never been to, and since we were so close anyway . . .

Quilting Dreams! Yay! It was a cute shop with some fun projects on the walls . . .

I was tickled to find out they're going to be one of the vendors at our guild's quilt show in October!  And I was particularly taken by this piece (gee, I wonder why, Sarah?!?):

The ideas just started rolling through my head.  Guess what will be appearing on my blog for the next HeLP???!  Needless to say, my purchases included the paper templates for this project, as well as some other assorted goods and sundries!

The quilting templates are for My Orange Crush blocks.  And most of the fabric is flannel -- I really like backing my table toppers with flannel.  The shop had a GREAT selection of flannels, too!  They also had some of the new fall fabrics on display, like the Posh Pumpkins by Sandy Gervais.  I *love* this line!

Aren't they fun?  I would like to get a bigger charm pack of this to play with!  And let me just say -- a man who has no problem sitting in a quilt shop, on his anniversary, and foots the bill?  That man is a KEEPER!  (He was a keeper anyway, but gosh, what an indulgent, patient, generous hubby!!)

From the quilt shop, we headed west to Shelbyville.  We got there just in time to have an afternoon cup of coffee:

The Coffee Break is a relatively new shop, owned by two pastors.  One of the pastors did all the baking, and I have to say, his creations looked AMAZING! Todd got a strong Americano coffee and I got Nutella Latte (a mix of chocolate and hazelnut).  LOL!  :)

From there, we took the scenic route home, traveling back south through some of the most beautiful farm country set in lush, green rolling hills.  Very idyllic! When we got back into Alabama we headed to our favorite Chinese carry-out, ordered dinner, and brought it home for a picnic-on-the-mattress and a movie.

On a throw that is now officially our "picnic" blanket (thank you, Jocey!) because it's all green and flowery.  All-in-all, it was a fabulous day, a sweet way to mark seventeen years with my best friend and love.

Today, Lord help me, I'm headed to Point Mallard (a water park) with our youth group!  Yikes!  No telling what kind of stories I'll have to tell next time around!! (Talk about a splashy event, right?!) Wheeeee!  Should be a fun day!

:)

design wall, winners, and home . . .

Whew!!  My design wall is pictureless this morning ... but it involves a baby quilt for June, catching up on Grandmother's Choice blocks, a doll swap quilt, and a block for the Wicked blog hop, which began this morning!!   Luckily for me, my day for the Wicked hop is Tuesday, October 30th!

Anyway, I can't start any of the above until I unpack, wash clothes, go grocery shopping, and generally get myself re-situated!  LOL!  Perhaps I'll get some sewing time in by Saturday?!   Hopefully I'll have more to show for next week's design wall.  I'm sure if you head over to Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times, you'll get your fill of design wall eye candy!

For the most part, I had a lovely drive through the mountains yesterday.  I was able to catch one shot (it's hard to be the driver and get pictures, too).

It's not the clearest, but it sure does give you an idea of how beautiful the fall foliage was for the drive home!

I enjoyed a spectacular brunch at Cracker Barrel.  Mind you, it wasn't the food that made it spectacular (though it was very good) . . . it was the company!

My two nephews, Ben (left) and Nick (right), are both students at Virginia Tech, which was on my route.  They were gracious enough to give up their Sunday morning to meet me!  It was really wonderful to see them and break bread together with them.  They're both incredible young men -- true credits to their respective families and our collective family in general!  I hated leaving and was so tickled they'd agree to a photo op!  Interestingly enough, it was their respective mamas that I had brunch with last Sunday!  :)

I made it home at about 6:30 pm yesterday evening and came through the gate pf the camp to a welcome home balloon -- I was so tickled!  Todd was supposed to be on shift, but he took off so he could be here for me and I was very grateful he did.

He's always so thoughtful . . . what a happy little welcome home!!

I also have a stack of mail and packages to sort through . . .

But that's not work, that's fun stuff!!  I'll be sure to share the fun parts of that in the coming days!

I'll have another book review -- When HOPE Blossoms by Kim Vogel Sawyer -- and giveaway coming up this week . . . but for now, let me share the winners for the Leafs Me - Happy - Birthday to Me giveaway and my Borders of the Heart giveaway!

The first tickled me to no end!  I stuck the numbers in random.org and came up with lucky number  29 - and it couldn't have been more appropriate . . . 

And the second was lucky number 9 . . . 

Yay!!  Both Madame Samm and Lea (who has a fascinating blog) have been notified by e-mail and packages will be sent off this week!  And thanks so much to all who've participated!

Okay ... laundry is calling me ... among other things.  But it's Monday!!  A fresh start to a new week -- let's give it all we've got!

:)