Hello Friends!  It's time to start the STITCH ME UP blog hop.  First off, let me give a shout out to Madame Samm and Jane from Janes' Fabrics for organizing and sponsoring this blog hop.  Thank you for all your time and effort!

It was just perfect for me as I like to do hand embroidery.  Below is the project I made.   I chose to stitch the "Diva" and make it into a pillow.  This pillow will probably be going to my granddaughter, Camryn, who is definitely a Diva!  I will admit I purchased the wrong size pillow form!!!  BUT, you get the general idea!  I'll get a larger one the next time I go into the "city".  ;)

I used several stitches in the project -- stem stitch, backstitch, lazy daisy stitch, french knots.

This has been a fun project.  I thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you will come back to visit.  Now, I encourage you to go grab another cup of coffee or tea, or your favorite beverage and visit all the blogs to see the many different projects!  Have fun!

Karen@That Other Blog

Susan @That Other Blog

Sowing Stitches    

Life in the Scrapatch

Pig Tales and Quilts

Meadowbrook           

Marla's Crafts 

Gracie Oliver Arts

Humble Quilter

Cherry Blossom Quilting Studio

New Girl News  

Sunshine Quilting

Patchouli Moon Studio

Lovin' Life at the End of the Dirt Road

Selina Quilts    

Dress in Blue Day!

Today is "Dress in Blue Day" to kick off "Colon Cancer Awareness" month.  I'm rockin' my "Blue Over Cancer" T-shirt at my office today.  I am a 9-year survivor of colon cancer.  Praise the Lord! 

If you are over the age of 50 and have not had a colonoscopy, RUN to your phone and call your doctor.  I had NO IDEA I had cancer until it was found in a routine colonoscopy -- a test I had planned to never do!  I am so glad I had that test!  It really isn't bad at all -- you don't know what's going on.  The worst part is the day before the test!

Just do it!  It could save your life -- it did mine!

Whew!!! I may need a new battery!

I have been SEW busy!  We have a new little boutique here in town guess who has a booth????  This is something I've wanted to do for a really long time, but never 'followed through'.  Lord willing, I'm planning to retire in 18 months (but, hey, who is counting?  right?) and my plans are to spend time in my studio making quilts and quilted gift items -- anything fabric!  My friend has a booth at "Finders Keepers" boutique and talked me into doing this.  The great thing about it is that I'm the only quilter -- yea!  I put my items in the shop on February 12th.  ALL the quilts I put in the booth are GONE...Yep, sold every stinkin' one of them!  As Martha Stewart would say "that's a good thing".  So guess who is busy making more???  That would be (slowly raising hand)  me!  This full-time job is "just about" to get in my way!  ;)   Below are a few pictures of some of the items I've been working on.

 To the right is a jelly roll race quilt...my first one!  It was quick and fun to make!!

 To the left is the back of the jelly roll race quilt.









With Easter just around the corner, I thought the mini-quilt to the right would be just perfect.  It was a fun project and quick....did I say quick??  Four fabrics and half square triangles and you have a quick quilt.  I think it would be great in a larger size too.














I'm lovin' these headbands!  They are reversible and some of the customers say they are "great for working out! -- keeps that hair out of the face!"  I have more "in the works" that will have embellishments on them.















To the right is a Texas flag quilt (yep, I'm a Texan thru and thru) that I have framed.  Sorry about that reflection of the flash in the pic.  I also have some with a barnwood frame.

 To the left is some embroidery that I did.  This is my one of my favorite verses.  I was going to make it into a pillow and then decided to frame it!

Another framed Bible verse!

MONday, FUNday

Sunday Blessings

MONday, FUNday

Sunday Blessings

MONday, FUNday

Sunday Blessings

Heart of Texas Shop Hop

Last Saturday, two of my quilting sisters and I attended the Heart of Texas Quilt Shop Hop at the Waco Convention Center.  It was great idea for a shop hop.  There were 20+ shops located in one location!  The photo above are some of the goodies I purchased.  The top left is "King of the Range" by Moda.  I'm going to make a jelly roll race quilt with this collection.  The photo on the right are just some patterns I picked up.  The bottom photo is "Windsor Lane" by Bunny Hill.  These fabrics will be used to make baby quilts -- one boy and one girl.  I like to keep a couple of baby quilts on hand for gifts.

After shopping, we went to BJ's Brewhouse and had some wonderful burgers.  I had never eaten there and it was very good.  Then we were on to Mardel Christian Book Store where we purchased the book for our upcoming Bible Study.  I just love it that I have friends that I quilt with and we also study the Bible together.  I am so blessed!

Here's hoping you enjoyed your visit at The Humble Quilter and that you will have a wonderful and wacky Wednesday.

MONday, FUNday

Sunday Blessings

Friday Night Sew In Woes!

Well, it's Friday Night Sew In and I was already to get the Flag quilt squared up and binding sewn on and tacked down.  Well.....instead of sewing, I'll be UNSEWING!  Maybe I should say UNQUILTING!   When I looked at the back of the quilt, the tension of the stitching didn't look too good.  I mean it was not real bad, BUT, it didn't meet my expectations.  SEW, I'm "unquilting". LOL!  I'd post pics but the battery on my camera is dead!  :(

Friday Night Sew In!

Come join us in the Friday Night Sew In!  It's a great way to get some projects started, finished, or just in between while at the same time linking up with other quilters!  Thank you HEIDI for coordinating this!

Come join us in the Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop!!!!  Go, no RUN over to Jane's blog and sign up NOW.  You will receive patterns and you will be required to stitch one of the patterns (your choice) for the blog hop.  Also, if you want to, you can spend $10 and get 10 balls of Presencia Thread, 2 needles and shipping!!!  That is really a great deal.

It's gonna be fun........

Heart of Texas One Stop Shop Hop

Friday, January 25, and Saturday, January 26, is the Heart of Texas One Stop Shop Hop!    There will be 20-plus quilt shops all under one roof!   I will be attending with my "Wacky Quilting Sistars" on Saturday.  The event is at the Waco Convention Center. They will be giving door prizes and a grand prize worth $1,000, a quilt block from each vendor, a potato bar and a chocolate fountain!  How fun is this going to be!  I can't wait!!!!

 If any of you are in the area, drop on by.  If you will be there on Saturday, give me a shout as I would love to meet some of my blogging friends!!!

MONday, FUNday

Quilting Retreat -- Photo Heavy!

I attended a quilting retreat last weekend.  It was the 14th year that we have all got together in January for a weekend of sewing and fun.  The photo to the left is a quilt in progress made by Ali.  Ali is prolific at applique!  Below, I've shown a few close-ups of her work.

The ladies are absolutely beautiful.  Such care and detail given in the stitching.

We swapped red/white 4-patches.  This is just one of the projects being made with the swap blocks.  Don't you just love the embroidery blocks in black?

Berta made this photo quilt for her grandson, a hockey player!  Great job!

Check out Patricia's double bow-tie quilt!

Another quilt by Patricia -- a bra quilt!  She is in the process of handquilting the quilt.

I love the colorful Moose quilt made by Tammy!

Stay Tuned!  More pics to come in a future post!

USA Flag Quilt -- Another Look.

I have completed the USA Flag quilt top.  I am pleased with the outcome and can't wait to get it quilted.  This is a gift for my son who is a veteran and also works for the U.S. government....Stay tuned for the finished product.

MONday FUNday

USA Flag

I am in the process of making a USA Flag quilt.  It is going to be scrappy reds and creams.  The top photo is only showing the lower half of the flag -- there are six more stripes to be attached to the blue.  The blue portion is a mottled blue.  Originally, I was going to embroidery the 50 stars on the blue but I chickened out!  SEW, I bought some ready-made applique stars.  I finally got the spacing of the stars calculated and iron on.  Now, as you can see (bottom pic), I am in the process of stitching them down.  I can't wait to finish it to see how it looks.  This quilt will be a gift for my son.   I have the backing purchased and ready to go.  I can't wait to get it finished.  Stay tuned.........

MONday, FUNday

Hey Ya'll!!!! I'm Baaaacccckkkkk!

I have been MIA for an entire year!!!!  I'm back, I'm back.  I hope my readers will come back!  When my husband died unexpectedly in April 2011, I simply 'lost interest' in everything.  I no longer wanted to read or quilt -- two of my favorite past-times.  There were even the lowest of times when I didn't even want to live. Time and spending time in God's Word are wonderful healers.  Am I healed?  Nope, but I'm so much better.  I want to live again.  After about 6 months or so after his death, I finally started reading again.  I did do 'some' quilting, but only things that I absolutely HAD to get done -- a gift, etc.  Now I want to quilt, sew, and blog!  I WANT to spend time out in my quilting studio that he helped me create and spent a lot of time with me.  There were many hours that I would be quilting and he would be in the studio with me watching sports or hunting shows.  He was my biggest cheerleader!  I am still heartbroken and feel like half of me is gone, but I am learning to smile again, laugh, and enjoy myself.  It is what he would want me to do.  

I'm ready to get back to sewing, blogging, swapping, creating, and maybe even buying some fabric....hehehehehehe!