Shop Hop

Last weekend was the annual Road to Oklahoma Quilt Shop Hop and Maggie and I had a great time visiting nine quilt shops! We started in Norman and the Oklahoma City metro area and went all the way to Waynoka and Alva. We logged over 700 miles and enjoyed the scenery and the shops. We also stopped at Eischen's in Okarche and had some of the best fried chicken in the world!!

Here is this year's quilt shown at Completely Quilted in Ponca City. We bought a block kit at each shop and the finishing kit at Completely Quilted since we loved the appliqued butterflies, flowers and trees. I think Maggie and I are going to have our own quilt-a-thon and our quilts made quickly because we both love the blocks and the pattern. Can you see the little cow peeking out the barn doors?

The ladies at Completely Quilted took our picture. This was our last shop to visit and we were totally exhausted! Looking at fabric and spending money is a big job!!!!

We did find some wonderful goodies at the various shops. I love 30's reproductions and old-fashioned scrap quilts so these had to come home with me.

And I was very taken with these charm packs, fabrics and patterns. I had been looking for one of the Dresden Plate templates featured on several blogs and found one of those as well.

The interesting fabric with the black background will appeal to a special person who will giggle when she sees this.

Now with all these new goodies, I need to get busy. I'm almost finished cutting ALL my scraps into squares for nine-patches, strings for spider webs and other shapes for future projects. It's so nice to get that huge tub of scrambled scraps into some organization. My reward for all that cutting will be to do some fun sewing.

Hope everyone is well and happily stitching away!!!

Is It Really June??

My goodness, I didn't mean to be absent from blogland so long!!! While I wasn't blogging or reading, I wasn't sewing either. I miss visiting with blogging friends and seeing everyone's new projects. But sometimes it's nice to step back awhile and be busy with other things...gives a fresh perspective and renewed energy.

What I have been doing is working with my sweetheart to get the garden well underway and the flowerbeds planted and blooming. We're eating green onions and should have ripe tomatoes by the middle of June. Peas, beans, squash, radishes, corn and lots of fresh veggies will be coming along. Yum...yum!!

These are some of my favorites in the front flower garden!

We've also been organizing our barn/garage. Everything is now in its place and all the things I couldn't bear to do away with are safely stored. We still had some boxes to go through from our parents' homes. When my sweetheart's father passed away, I got some of the boxes from my mother-in-law's sewing room. In them I discovered some real quilting treasures. Here's some of the blocks that were in a box. I'm not sure if the fabrics are from feedsacks but they are old. And the block fabric has turned brown on the edges. There are 14 blocks finished and another 13 that still need to be appliqued.

The applique stitches are so tiny and even. I don't know who made these though it might have been my sweetheart's grandmother or great-aunt. I know I can't match the background material so I'll have to figure something because it must be finished. It's too pretty to leave in a box.

There were also these unusual butterfly blocks.

There are eight of these so they would make a sweet wall hanging.

There are more treasures but I'll save those for another day.

I hope to visit some of my favorite blogs in the next few days. Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Easter

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

John 3:16 NKJV

Wishing you a joyous Easter,

A Sad Day and A Precious Promise

A year ago today, my father quietly passed from this life to the presence of our Lord.
Daddy tried to go on alone but he missed my mother very much and, as his health deteriorated, he ceased to try. It was and is very difficult to believe we lost them both in just a little over a year.





The promise of Easter lessens the sadness of loss. The death and resurrection of our Savior gives the promise of eternal life for all those who believe in Him. My parents believed this promise. That assurance brings me joy in the midst of sadness.

I am thankful for the years we had together and for the love of my parents. I love you, Daddy, and I miss you.

Monday, Monday

It's a sunny but cold day here on my red dirt road. We got some of our tomato plants, herbs and flowers over the weekend but they won't be planted for a few days since we are having freezing at night. Our rule of thumb is not to plant until after Easter. I just can't wait to get my hands in the dirt!

Last week was not very productive since I was a bit under the weather but I did get two more blocks of the 1998 BOM finished.




I love the Grandmother's Flower Garden block in any form. It was one of my own grandmother's favorite patterns and, since she had a big flower garden in the middle of her backyard, I grew up thinking that block was named for her (and I still think of her garden whenever I see that quilt block.) I have an ongoing hand-work project of paper piecing Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks.

I'm hoping to finish some a couple of UFO's this week. This is also a time to thank about the events of Jesus' last week on earth and the wonderful blessing of Easter Sunday. Wishing you and yours a happy and holy week,