Happy Memorial Day and a Giveaway!

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you have all enjoyed this weekend with family or friends or just hanging out enjoying the extra day off.

We just finished our picnic style dinner, only the three of us but by gosh it was yummy and leftovers are always a good thing around here. Hubby spent the entire day smoking the meat, pulled pork and it was excellent!

I devoted much of the weekend to cleaning my out-of-control sewing room. Really I should not say cleaning, rather I am going through every bin and box of fabric, reducing some stash.

Out of my spring cleaning comes our 1st summer give away. I am offering to one of my readers the chance to win the contents of box #1. Approximately 14 yards of fabric are in this box, 12 lovely pieces, 100% cotton, discontinued designer fabric, never used. 10 pieces are 1 to 2 yards each, the remaining 2 are 1/2 yard cuts. Cleo is also adding our "Be Merry" and new "Bow Tie Bunnies" table runner patterns.

The rules are pretty simple and please note, I am going to limit this drawing to United States

followers only. Awwww.... I know, but this box is very heavy and shipping out of the USA would be pretty expensive. So that being said, to enter:

1st: Be or become a follower of my blog.

2nd: Leave a comment wishing Cleo a Happy Birthday :) That's it!! Cleo will draw the name of one winner on June 11th.

Yes, Cleo turns 11 in June, can you believe it!

My goodness it has been awhile, seems like I've had my head buried in the sand over here.

To tell you the truth, the past month has just slid right on by me. Hubby and I made a much needed quick trip to OKC to get my Nana fix. Our daughter drove up from Dallas with the twins also and we were able to see all 4 boys at once. Four little boys age 5 to 7, phew, that is a lot of

energy in once space LOL! So fun to see them all together and enjoying some Cousin moments.

The drive in between Oklahoma City and Kansas City is one long 5 hour stretch of highway with little of interest to look at. The picture below is the highlight of our drive. Now don't laugh, but really, this is a beautiful area called the Flint Hills and is just north of Wichita. Miles and miles and grassy gently rolling plains, mesmerizingly beautiful, a picture can not take in the scope of its beauty.

Most of the ride I chat to Hubby while I sit and stitch. This is the 1st block in my new series "Stitchin' Kittens".


Then home again all to fast, back to our routines. I spent the rest of the week at the kitchen table doing this...

And preparing for Easter. Next moving on to putting my house in order for my Father In Laws arrival from Florida!

9 days later and all is quiet once again. Hubby is back to work, my Father In Law is back in Florida.

Winter has finally let go of us and the sun is out, the AC is on. I am enjoying stitching on my back porch to the tunes of a very happy bird population and block #2 is stitched, coming soon, just for you!

Now that tranquility has been restored.... the house painters have arrived :) We are having the outside of our house repainted, something you do about every 7 years here in Kansas. Keeping my fingers crossed our color choices look good!

Have a pleasant week and happy stitching!

A little closer to a finish

Slowly but surely, stitching my Annies together, the 1st 3 rows are done! She is looking darn cute! Darlene at Quilting Daze posted a picture of her Annies she has been working on. All in Red Work, how sweet is that, I love watching her progress :)

My thoughts have turned to Spring this past week. When not working on my quilt I have been pulling fabrics from my overflowing stash to work on a Spring runner design. I have 3 groups of fabric I love, but they all seem to lack the one or two pieces that pull my thoughts together and I am torn. Back and forth, back and forth, you should see my cutting table.... well no, you shouldn't, it's not pretty LOL!

Mother Nature sure has been playing games with us here in Kansas. Last week we enjoyed a few days in the 70's. People were running around in their shorts and flip flops, windows flew open to air out Winter. Trees beginning to blossom and plenty of yard work going on, lovely to embrace the sun. And today.... well it's snowing and the furnace is back to roaring. Maybe next week it will be Spring for sure!

And speaking of Spring, look what the UPS man left on my porch yesterday. Yummy chocolate Easter basket novelties from Sarris Candy in PA. I have them shipped every year because we don't have anything like this in my neck of the woods.

Happy sewing and enjoy your weekend!

A big finish!

My last Annie block is finished... April Annie. Isn't she sweet, all decked out for Easter, don't you just love the flower on her bonnet :) She has been on an egg hunt this morning with her new stuffed bunny friend. I don't know whether to laugh or cry now that all my Annies are done.

I have spent a lot of time with her this past year, she never fails to brighten my day and she doesn't even speak LOL!

On the other hand, I am super excited to sew all my blocks into a darling quilt. I have them all spread out on my cutting table, contemplating a setting for them.

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but we all enjoying a bit of spring fever here! Yesterday was in the 60's.... WHOOOHOOO! I had the back door open to enjoy a little fresh air for the 1st time in a long, long, time. Hubbies thoughts are turning to golf on the weekends now and I am thinking about doing a little spring cleaning and decorating. Notice I did say "thinking" LOL!

Speaking of decorating, would you just look at these adorable Polish pottery bunny jars, I would love a bunch of these.

Heading up to my sewing room, after I have this donut with the green sprinkles. Enjoy your weekend!

Some Bunny Cuteness for you!

What a weird week, fog, rain, sleet, snow, good grief it seems we've seen it all! I think we are all a little bit more than ready for Spring now. I spent most of this week writing instructions for my new pattern "Bow Tie Bunnies" and here they are in all their bunny cuteness :)

Fast and easy to make, don't you love the button accent on their bow ties? So many wonderful buttons and embellishments out there today, a girl could go crazy.

I also finished my new Annie design this week. Oh this little one makes me smile, my heart is bursting with the cuteness of April Annie LOL! Her bonnet... oh my, just wait :) Maybe I better settle down here before I bust a vessel, I am just having so much fun sewing. I'll be showing her off soon.

So what to do next. I have had this fabric sitting on my cutting board for about 2 months now. I totally love, love, love it! Maybe I'll play with this for awhile.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Vegas Baby!!

I had a nice change of pace this past weekend, a getaway from the snow and cold. Vegas baby! I was able to tag along with Hubby while he was there for a conference.

The weather did not disappoint, temps in the 60's allowed me to thaw out, so nice to walk around minus coat and scarves and boots! Our 1st night we visited the old downtown Vegas strip, I had never been to that part before and it did not disappoint.

Had to find my lucky slot machine... of course I picked one with a cat on it :) Was the kitty good to me? Well all I can say is I did not leave with a body guard LOL!

Lots of lights and glitter, everywhere you look, Vegas is fascinating for sure. I could just sit all

day in a cafe and people watch. Having the afternoons to myself I did do a lot of that. Our hotel was so big it took a good 20 minutes to get from our room to the front door. Busy, busy, no sign of recession there I'll tell you!

I was disappointed the hotels were not decked out for Valentines Day, they were still in the Chinese New Years theme, beautiful decorations but I really expected to see lots of hanging red hearts and Cupids. We did see a bride all fluffy in her pretty white dress though... so exciting :) We even had newly marrieds on our flight home, so cute. There were plenty of chocolate and Valentine goodies to be had in every shop though.


We enjoyed some really wonderful food, isn't this a feast for your eyes... dinner with my Valentine and new friends..... yummmmm!

Lickety split, my little adventure was over and here I am back in Kansas. A click of the red shoes and Vegas now seems a dream. That was just long enough for me to tell you the truth and there is no place like home for sure. I am excited to get back to business and catch up here.

My bunny runner is on it's way home to Mama, I have the binding all ready and waiting.

Blocks for a new quilt are lined up on my ironing board, bursting with ideas and sew excited!

No more snow!

Ok, I believe my last post said bring on the snow. What ever was I thinking!! It snowed and snowed here in Kansas, and much of the country besides. Even my little pumpkins in Dallas and Oklahoma City saw bunches of snow. Snow is fun when you're a kid, they sledded and made snowmen and enjoyed being snowed in :)

Cleo took this picture for you, her birds eye view out the back door. At least the sun was shining, but don't let that fool you. We had more days with minus zero temperatures this year than I can remember, it's been bitter bitter bitter cold, I feel like I live in Siberia.

So what do we do when we are snowed in. Well we hunker down and cook.... comfort food, pot roast, browned potatoes and cat toast!

And then there were the football play off games. Born and bred Pittsburgh girl that I am,

I had to cheer for my Steelers! BBQ ribs, Rolling Rock beer in keeping of the PA theme, loaded baked potatoes and beans. Are you getting hungry yet LOL ?

Even Cleo got in the spirit, here she is wearing her own Terrible Towel, she even has a gold dish for her food.

I made a Pittsburgh dish called "City Chicken", for one of the games, mashed potatoes and lots of gravy, YUMMY!! And after all that, my Steelers lost, but hey, it was all fun and a great Super Bowl!

When I was finally able to get out and about once more I had lots of Valentine errands to run. Since all my little Valentines live out of town I had to get the goodie boxes ready and mailed.

And remember that cute Spring fabric I showed you? Well I got my table runner all stitched up and mailed off to Brenda to work her quilting magic on it. This week I wrote up the pattern.....

The Bunnies are coming soon! YAY, you're gonna love them!

In blog hopping, my bloggy friend Cheryl "Miss Polka Dot" has been a busy, busy girl. She has whipped up bunches of goodies, I don't know where she finds all the time. She has pictures posted of my Reindeer and Snowmen runners, so fun, I just love her fabric choices :)

As for me, I best get hopping now, I have a very big weekend in store for me and best get packing a bag :)