Some Big Thanks!!

......to Kris, my SSCS, thanks for the wonderful polka dot and rick rack bag, filled with goodies---a sewing kit, mousecushion, sharpies, dotted ribbon, a bag of smell good a sweet little spoon with a goody on top, and note pad! What a great parcel and such a cute card!!! A big old thanks to Elf Donna for hosting the swap!!!

.....to Nan, for my sweet bag, stocking ornament and quilting angel that will hold a place of honor on my year round tree in my kitchen window to remind me of our friendship!!

......to my friend Gloria who is not only an amazing quilter, but painter/crafter!! I love the journal, and those star beads...too, too cute!!! I am working on her having a blog!!!

Most importantly thank you to my wonderful sweet family, and my "other" family of in laws, sisters, brother, nieces and nephews and the great nieces and nephews, for such a wonderful and fun Christmas, where so many new wonderful memories were made and with the wonderful addition of Baby Luke! Love you all bunches :-)!!

A couple more days of Merry, and then back to the real world!! Warmest thoughts to you all!

Merry, Merry

The big day is fast approaching, and all the gifts are being wrapped, cookies baked, and plans for a yummy meal coming together. Wishing all of you in blogland the Merriest of Merries wherever you are and much joy and happiness!! See you in a few!! ♥♥

I Have Gobs To Talk About.......and SNOW

Gobs and gobs....so sit back, pour yourself a warm cup of coffee, or hot chocolate and let the blabbing begin♥♥♥!

I just love those hearts and thanks to T over at Purple and Paisley, she posted a wonderful tutorial on December 12, and in her words "a tutorial for spicing up your text."♣♠♦•○..just a little sampling of some other fun symbols. T's blog is always so much fun and loaded with tons of eye candy, and oh those cute grand kids!!!! Then I discovered there was a online virtual cookie swap going on ...how in the world did I miss this one!!! Frannie of Cute Stuff Inside (love that name) hosted this swap and there is a list of some of the yummy recipes over on her blog. Here's a plate of cookies I took to my quilt group Xmas party this week and I thought I would share this easy recipe.

Cake Mix Bar Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

5 tablespoons water

1 egg

1 package yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 X 13 baking pan. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in water and egg, then stir in cake mix, Finally mix in nuts and chips. This is a VERY stiff dough. Spread mixture into pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely before cutting. Very fast, easy and good!!!

Now to the SNOW part. Wednesday night was Nutcracker night for my girl and myself. The day started off really, reallly, realllly cold, wet and rainy with some sleet thrown in. Hey wasn't it 90 degrees here about a month ago?, brrrrrr, shiver, shiver. I was not expecting to be driving in snow on the freeway, but sure enough I was. The Nutcracker was wonderful, and if you are ever in need of some holiday spirit, I highly recommend you go. Anyway, driving home that evening I got a call saying I might have a bit of trouble getting up the driveway because of the SNOW!!!! Yipeeeee! We usually only get one or two snow days where we live so this is BIG NEWS!!!! I know, compared to our friends in the East and other parts of the world, this is laughable...but this is pretty much a blizzard for us!!! I love how the snow covered the mailbox, and my frog bird bath is a miniature ice rink!! Here's my Santa flag, frozen up tight!!! Well we enjoyed it, and all the neighbors were out snapping pictures and the kids were throwing miniature snowballs. So I suppose this will be our "snow day" for this year!!

My luck continued this week. I was one of the lucky winners at Fredas Hive. The prize I picked is a kit for the baby quilt that was featured in the new Fons and Porter Baby Quilt magazine! I am so excited. I had been emailing Nanette about it when I found out she was one of the winners in the contest, and woo hoo I now will be able to make the quilt! Thanks Nanette!!!!!

Did anyone say SALE?!!!!! Fat Quarter Shop has been having some amazing sales this month and then a friend emailed me information about another tremendous sale. Sew Unique Creations has ALL their fabric on sale till December 31st......$5.00 a yard or less. Tons of Civil War reproductions - woowzers!!!!

Tomorrow is our family Christmas party!! Such fun.... great food and great company! We do one of those present stealing games with the whole family and it gets pretty wild and crazy, so I better get to bed so I will be in my best present stealing form!! Have a great weekend everyone and spread some Christmas cheer!! ♥

Merry Quilting

Great little sign, and yep there has been some Merry Quilting going on around here, and some merry binding!! Christmas just seems to have snuck up on me this year. Funny, it does come the same time ever year!!!

First off, my mail person has been very, very good to me! Lissa, who is Director of Marketing for Moda, wrote me a while back that she had come across my blog and liked the name, and was wondering if she could send me some goodies. WOWIE......believe me I did a BIG old happy dance after finding a box marked MODA at my doorstep. Look at the wonderful moda polka dot fabrics tied up all pretty with rick rack!!! She said it was an random act of Moda! Her blog is really wonderful with lots of talk of all things Moda. What a wonderful job she has. Thank you, thank you Lissa!!!!! Then my goodies from the giveaway I won at Dandelion Quilts. Kris, again WOWIE!!! Aren't those towels wonderful and that apron book is amazing, a sweet bundle of fabrics and the best ever smellin' holiday soap you could ever imagine. If that all wasn't enough, my Secret Santa giftie arrived all tied up pretty in rick rack....be still my heart!! More mail than a girl deserves in a week!

There has been some Merry Quilting going on around here. I added a couple more rows to my Old Fashioned Charm quilt, made a couple quickie runners, finished up Luke's stocking, made a Ho, Ho, Ho that has been shipped out, and took this really fun, fast and easy curvy runner class. You do a quick turn finish and then stitch in the ditch to quilt (have to do this part still), so somebody will be finding this under the Christmas tree!

Ok, some proud bragging here!!! Nanette from Freda's Hive was one of the winners in Fons and Porters baby quilt contest. Her wonderful baby quilt is featured in their new Baby Quilts Magazine. That is one sweet baby quilt, and the magazine is just brimming with great baby quilts. Nanette is always a great source of inspiration!

Late one night I was doing a little blog hopping and I came across this really great tutorial on how to make this fantastic holiday bag. While I know I can't make it this year, it will go right to top of projects for next Christmas. I emailed Pat and with her permission I am using her photo, with a link to her wonderful tutorial. Visiting her blog I found a recipe for stuffed peppers using Corned Beef Hash ......yummmmmmy, already tried it!!! Thanks Pat.

Another great blog with great tutorials is Terry Atkinson's...and we all LOVE her patterns. This is her pattern for the Best Press bottle cover . I made this for Miss Red Geranium, and this is her picture that I stole from her blog!!! Oh no, I guess I should be expecting the blogging police at my door soon. For a quickie present for one of your quilting buds, I highly recommend this!! Fast, fun and CUTE!! Terry has so much wonderful info on her blog, along with the tutorial for the Best Press Bottle cover.

I just couldn't end my post without some baby Polka Dot goodness!!! Here's our boy playing Wii with granddad one night and here's our sweet family last night...they were picking out their Christams tree...so fun!!

Starting today we are heading in to a week of parties.....yipeee!!!! Christmas tea with a couple quilting friends today, Christmas parties Monday and Tuesday, the Nutcracker with my girl on Wednesday and our family party the following Saturday, our favorite.....to all be together:-)! I just love Christmas!!! Hope there is lots of Merry Quilting and Christmasing going on for everyone!!

Happy Fabric

This is such happy fabric, Old Fashioned Charm, love it, love it!! Two rows down and 9 more to go. It feels good to get something quilty started! The blocks go together so easy. The pattern is Sweet Alyssa by Bunny Hill. Their patterns are so wonderful and ALWAYS tempt me :-)! At quilt camp one of the ladies was working on this really cute Bunny Hill pattern, Postcard Cuties for Winter. I have a gift certificate from Fat Quarter Quilt Shop that has been burning a hole in my pocket, so I just had to order up the whole darn thing. It won't be made for this Christmas, but this will be a great way to start off the new year. Tammy loves this pattern also :-)!!!!

And whoo hoo ....look what the generosity truck brought me!! When Sharon went to Houston she snagged me a big old haul of quilty wonderfulness!!!!! A wonderful green cupcake Moda bag, the new Minick and Simpson fabric..Flag Day Farm--jellyroll/charm and cake layer combo, a cute little Swing Bag by Pink Sand Beach Designs, a sweet zippered quilt purse, a wonderful stack of Farmhouse Blues by Windham Fabrics - wowie, a ton of Hatched and Patched patterns and great scissors. I am one lucky quilter - thanks Mrs. Red Geranium :-)!!!! I think I have plenty to keep me busy with this big old pile of patterns! Now if all that wasn't enough I was the very lucky winner of a giveaway from Kris at Dandelion Quilts, some wonderful Christmas towels, soap, apron book and fabric..... again I am very lucky!!!

Have you heard the news? Lisa at Spoonful Of Sugar has some of her great recipes featured in a new cookbook, Du Jour, and will also be a regular contributor to a new Australian lifestyle magazine, Silver. The first issue will feature 12 of her fun and easy Christmas crafts. Her blog is just brimming with such creative ideas, and talk about eye candy. Way to go Lisa :-)!!!

And speaking of creative .....have you visited Monica at The Happy Zombie?? Her Pennie Pockets are so darn cute, and she has a free pattern so you too can have some hanging in your own home!!! And again, major eye candy over at Monica's!!!!!!

Our very own Elf Donna, someone we all hold near and dear, lost her whole harvest in a storm. Please know Donna that we are all thinking of you and keeping you and your family in our thoughts. In the midst of all that she is going through she is moving forward and is even celebrating her 400th post - amazing and as always you are an inspiration to us all.

So who are some bloggers that have you inspired? It's amazing all the talent that is out there, and all those that are so willing to share with the rest of us. Gratitude for one and all. Happy first week of December bloggers :-)!!