Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter Memories


One of my self sitter rabbits with my two grandmothers butter molds.


Memories of when I was a child on Easter include lots of family, a huge dinner and a warm sunny day to hide dyed eggs. My Grandma McKinney used to raise ducks for feathers, but on Easter the duck egg became the lucky egg. I never found the lucky egg. Seems like my cousin always found it, and she never shared her prize of a chocolate bunny! We never received baskets of candy or other goodies. We were just content to have a big family gathering with a special Easter cake. I still remember the chatter of family and all the laughter.

Very quiet for Pog and me this Easter Sunday. No kids this year to visit, and we both have colds. We woke up to rain, fog and cloud this morn. We will still enjoy our day together with food we fixed yesterday and maybe a movie this afternoon. Holidays are much different now with my parents gone and family so far away.
Wishing each and every one of you a blessed Easter and Passover.
Louise 


PS: I did figure out what happened to my blog yesterday, but I was really frustrated for a while.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

One More Time - I Love Mail

I am going to try my post about loving mail one more time today.
I love computers but get frustrated when they don't do what I want them to!

I Love Mail

Especially when it contains a wonderful give away! 
I just received this basket and handmade eggs from Julie at 
Primitive Heart Strings


I am so excited to have won them. 
 They were wrapped so pretty. 


Almost too pretty to open and smelled wonderful! 


I have placed them on my wooden ironing board with one of my wooly rabbits.


 Thank you so much Julie! I love them!

PS - Julie left me a lovely comment but I can't get that back after I had to delete the first post and start over.
 

Need Help on Blogger

On my last post  some of my text changed colors for no reason. I have tried to change them back to black but to no avail. Is anyone else having trouble with Blogger? Any help on fixing my problem would be appreciated! 
Louise

Thursday, March 21, 2013

30 Years In The Making



At the end of last September, I started piecing a quilt top, which was made up of squares my grandmother had cut out the year before she died, almost 29 years ago.  Those squares stayed in the shoebox my Aunt gave me a long time ago, before I started sewing them into nine patch blocks. Then the blocks stayed around a while before finally being sewn into a top, stretched, basted and readied for quilting. 



I have been quilting on it off and on since then. At times I got tired of it and then other times could not put it down, especially on cold snowy days.


I must say that I am glad it is finished at last. I don’t know whether my Grandmother ever thought that the blocks she cut would someday become a quilt, but I think she would be very pleased. There are a lot of memories in this quilt. Some of the fabrics I remember, such as her kitchen curtains, her dresses and from other family members. Even a piece from my great-grandmother is in the quilt. I hand quilted it in my mother’s quilting hoop. It’s the first quilt in the hoop since my mother died and had used it for her last quilt. 
That added even more family memories.
 I realized that I have no picture of my mother quilting, just mental pictures of her sitting with her quilt propped up on the kitchen table, with Dad close by in his rocker watching her. How I wish I had a photo of that.  



This is the first full sized quilt I have ever made. 
I learned that it is a lot harder work than the small doll quilts I have always made! There are a couple of full-sized, new quilts planned for later on; but for now I’m taking a break from quilting. I am back to weaving and making some new dolls.

19 degrees with a little snow this morn.
Happy Spring Everyone!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

I Won!


Not once but twice!

The first was a giveaway by Kathleen Tracy at A Sentimental Quilter
Lovely Andover charm squares in cutie pie pink colors. 

These will be fun to play with!

The second giveaway by Mimi Kirchner at Doll | The Art and Craft of Mimi Kirchner
 This great book by Lilla Rogers - I Just Like To Make Things


It is signed by her and even decorated with her drawings!


You can find Lilla at Lilla Rogers Studios Blog
I am looking forward to Sunday afternoon and some quite time to read.


Thank you so much Kathleen and Mimi!!

Lots of new things are in the works. Heads are lined up on the worktable, a couple of looms have been warped for new projects, my fingers are sore from quilting, and my sketchbook is filling up with even more new ideas. I will be back soon to show you what I’ve been working on.

Time is going by so fast and spring fever is just around the corner. I can feel my favorite greenhouse whispering my name!