May 9, 2010

A Mother's Day Funny

My oldest son just called me on his way home from work to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. Heath is a Houston Fireman so he works 24-hour shifts. He said yesterday his wife sent him a text message around Noon that she had just got out of bed! Jennifer is a 3rd grade teacher and also manages three kiddos who seem to be involved in EVERYTHING. I don't know how she does it!

When I asked how she managed to get to sleep till Noon with those three kiddos, he laughed and said that she told the two oldest (ages 9 & 11) she wanted to sleep late and for them to be quiet. They were to fix cereal for themselves and their little brother and stay in the house and watch TV. I told him I knew they could do it, but what about that wild little 5 year old.


My son laughed and said, well, she didn't have any quality sleep, because the 5-year old kept coming in the bedroom saying "I'm hungry". Finally, the mom told him if he came in 'one more time', she was going to bust his little butt. Now, you gotta know this kid -- he is some kind of funny -- you never know what he will say! He stuck out his bottom lip and said "but Mommy, I just want you to get up and cook me some pork chops!" LOL! Sounds just like him. Mom may not have got a lot of sleep, but she did get to just lounge and relax in the bed!

Here is that little 'pork chop hungry little boy'. Don't let that little "posed" smile fool you but how can you resist that little "Eddie Haskell" looking face!

He is a clone to his Daddy, Grandpa, and Great-Grandpa!!!! It's really kinda scary because he acts just like them too!!! LOL! A pure Joy in my life.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Lord Blessed me with two wonderful sons who have grown up to be wonderful young men. I am so proud of them.

Here is a picture of my oldest son, Heath, and one of my favorite pictures. Heath is a Houston Fireman and a Farrier. He is married to a wonderful woman and blessed me with three beautiful grandchildren.
The following is a picture of my youngest son, Josh. This is also one of my favorite pictures. Josh is a graduate of Texas A&M and works for the U.S. State Department. He is married to a wonderful woman and is currently living overseas.





May 6, 2010

Great Mail Day!

I have been having a tough week. It is the first week of the month and I have my month-end reports due. On top of that, we have been having vehicle issues (I work at Senior Services/Transportation), and then tomorrow is our county-wide Annual Senior Citizens' Appreciation Luncheon where we will be honoring 300+ senior citizens. WOW! I've really been busy, busy, working some overtime trying to get every thing done.
I came home today to a GREAT mail day!!! First, I received my apron from the Flirty Apron Swap. The theme of our swap was "Polka Dots". It came from Heather and she sent me the cutest apron (below) and the Farm Chicks Cookbook. The picture does NOT do the apron justice. It is Twirl Girl apron and is just precious. I will be sitting down tonight reading this cookbook. I've been wanting this one, but had not bought it yet. Thank you HEATHER! May is not only the month to celebrate all the Mothers of the World, it is also my birthday month! My son and daughter-in-law, Josh & Patience, sent me some Polish Pottery serving pieces. It is beautiful. J & P live in Germany and J picked it up while on a trip to Poland. I received hand-painted plates a couple of years ago for Christmas from J & P. I absolutely LOVE what they sent me for Mother's Day and my Birthday! wooo hooo!



May 2, 2010

A Feathered Frenzy

I have always wanted to make a Feathered Star quilt. When I would see the quilts and look at the patterns, I was just always so intimidated and overwhelmed -- all those points!!!!!
My quiltin' Sista, Molly, is the Feathered Star Pro in our group. She has made several and is even a 'pattern tester' for Masha McCloskey. Below is a picture of Molly's FS quilt. The picture does not do it justice. It is absolutely beautiful!!!







SEW, after some asking and begging, etc., Molly consented to teach us the Feathered Star. Us means our Wacky Sistas. So we set a date to go to the Fryer Deer Camp and the five of us would make the feathered star.
Molly was nervous about teaching us -- and rightfully so!!! We can be mean and outspoken, and sometimes just plain ditzy. But boy did we surprise her. We were all very studious and paid attention, did our pre-class work and we were even nice to the teacher!!! LOL

SEW, on with the class, here is our teacher "Molly, Molly, Molly".




Molly convinced us that if we look at the block as a 9-patch and tackle each little section and treat it as a quilt, we would not be so intimidated. She was right!!!!
Now I don't remember what she was telling us in the picture below, but I'm sure it was very important. She was either telling us "get your hands around just one section at a time" or else, "I'm going to choke you if you make any smart comments to me". Not sure which -- LOL!



The one thing that really helped me was to use the diagram of the block, letter the pieces and then put a snippet of fabric on each area to help keep me straight.





Then the cutting of the pieces began:





It is important to put your pieces in baggies that are numbered so you don't get them all mixed up.




Here is my work station. Having the flannel board also helped to lay out my block.






We did it! We completed our blocks! We all used the same pattern, but different fabrics. Look how different they all look.





And here is the group with our feathered star quilts.



L-R -- Annale, Kathleen, Rhonda, Me, and kneeling is the teacher, Molly.

And, finally, my finished top. I ran out of the original background fabric I was using, but I think the fabric I found to put the block on point works. Now to get this baby quilted!