Just a quick post

Sorry I wanted to let you all know I hadn't dropped dead or fallen of the face of the earth, my mom had to have surgery to remove one of her adrenal glands on Monday because they found that she had a tumor larger than the gland.
She came through well and is just mostly sore. We are still waiting on the lab reports but they don't think it is cancer.
For my sweet winners I am doubly sorry your prizes just went in today's mail. With the Thanksgiving holiday it may slow them down even further. I have just been trying to take care of mom and haven't had a spare minute until now.
HUGS to all, more soon!
oh to clarify not yesterday Monday

Home and Much More Sane (and some blogoversary fun)

See how happy I am to be away and playing at Gardner Village,
I even got a shot of Mike with a half smile pretending he doesn't mind shopping with me.

This is how we started the day on Saturday, it was about 45 degrees and sunny.

5 MINUTES LATER...



SNOW!

Who ordered the snow on MY weekend! It's all good, we finished up shopping quickly and got some lovely food and played in the hot tub at the hotel instead.

In all we had a great couple days and not having to scream "If you touch your brother again..." once during dinner left me much more sane.

NOW I know you have been holding your breath for the blogoversary giveaway results so without further ado,

no more beating about the bush,

dragging my feet,

teasing you unmercifully,

The winners are...






In drawing 1 the FQ's are going to Karen over at Karen's hopes in the UK

Drawing 2 the star book is headed to Greg at Flat out quilting
in the wilds of Kansas!

Drawing 3 for the 4 patterns is going to Melissa from Ardeasnest in Ohio.

And for our grand prize, the quilt kit
in the cute pink box
to make a adorable wall hanging

okay I will stop GregFlat out quilting you should be buying Lotto tickets because the quilt kit is also headed to Kansas, Maybe you better share with your cute wife ;O)

So Thank you again for coming with me this far and listening to my rambling.
HUGS!

Need to clarify...

I wanted to clarify that while I have pictures I have taken of Weber canyon here by my house this is not one of them. Mine are currently hiding on the hard drive to our old laptop that went to laptop heaven.
This is one I found on a HOA website called Aspen Acres they have cabins in the cayon.

I am off for my child free, weekend. I plan to relax and not even check my blog LOL! So when I get home on Sunday I will have my my drawings for my blogversary!
Good luck to everyone, see you Sunday with the results.
HUGS,

Baby it's cold outside!

This is Weber canyon right here by my house. I wanted you to see the lovely fall leaves before it snows today. UGGG yes snow! I am so not ready for it to snow.

Thank you!

Today is Veterans Day here in the US, I want to thank all veterans!

Thank you to my grandfathers one who was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed that started WWII for us and one who worked stateside to build the atomic bomb that ended it.

I want to thank my father who left to serve in an unpopular war when so many his age didn't or wouldn't

I want to thank my Uncle for serving in the war in Korea that is all but forgotten.

I want to thank my cousin who joined the Navy to see the world and saw the Aleutian Islands instead.

I want to thank the men and women at Ft Hood who had no idea that they could be the victims of a terrorist attack while on base in Texas.

I want to thank all the young men and women who have chosen to serve even when we are in the midst of the war on terror.

Thank you, I pray for you! God Bless you!

The Green Fairy giveaway

I just can't help myself I need to share the fun giveaways I find
So Hereis another
Judi is amazing!

Ginger and Inch Worms

My lovely friend Barb is having a giveaway of an amazing ginger jars quilt HEREThat in and of itself is pretty exciting, However the giveaway if for the launch of he nieces new online fabric store Inch Worm fabrics She has some beautiful stuff. In addition if you pop in to Inch Worm Fabrics the blog you will be rewarded with a secret code to get a discount on your purchase.
What could be better, lovely fabrics on sale and a chance to win a beautiful quilt!
rush over and check it out.

The good, the bad and the ugly...

This is the good, I won a drawing from Kelly @ I have a notion Her blog is wonderful if you haven't been there, she has a shop and she always explains why I need the wonderful things she is getting in for her shop :O) Stop by and buy cause Kelly is awesome lol!

The bad (I searched my whole computer for a pic of my grandma but she HATED to have her picture taken) I spent the better part of the day Saturday finishing the clean out of my grandma's condo so it can go on the market. Not only physically exhausting but emotionally as well.

As for the ugly you will be glad no pictures of this one ;O) I woke up yesterday barfing up my toenails! I spent yesterday working up to diet coke and toast. I am feeling somewhat better today. I will keep you posted.

One update to the giveaway, my sweet hubby who knows after 3 kids with H1N1 I needed a break has made plans for us to get away for the weekend the 13th and the 14th that means that I will have to pull the winners on the 15th. One extra day for you :O)

another great giveaway out there

Here at Jaybirdquilts
Check out the wonderful stuff being given away.

Sentimental journey and blogoversary give away info

So last night I did some time travel
(no it has nothing to do with stupid daylight savings time)
I spend an hour or two going back and reading my blog from the last four years.
I found that when I started my blog I had a 1 year old, a 7 year old and an 11 year old. I still worked at the IRS and we were still making 2 house payments. In the course if those four years I have lost 35 pounds, gained 20 back and lost 17 of the 20 again, I have lost my tonsils, a length of tendon in my big toe, a bunch of bone in my nose and the hole in my heart.

I went through the pain of my grandmother getting sick and passing away all over again, I had the joy of seeing my kids grow and change. I found that I was much more insightful then (at least it seems that way), I read as I started this journey from "gosh I feel crudy all the time" to a final diagnoses of CFS.

I started this blog as an avid scrapbooker with a handful of close friends have become and a rabid quilter with friends all over the world.

Thank you for letting me share my ups and downs, my rants and my rambling, thank you for being there for me when I needed an ear and a shoulder (even a virtual shoulder has helped so much)
You have lifted me up in your prayers and I have found many reasons to thank the Lord for you and to ask for things on your behalf.


NOW on to the part you are really reading this about...
The Blog-o-palusa 4 year blogoversary give away, I thought since it was 4 years we would have 4 prizes and because I like do be different we are going to have 4 separate drawings.

So here is how its going to work to enter drawing 1 for these 5 FQ's of lovely fairy frost fabrics ( I decided the 4 year blogoversary is the metallic fabric blogoversary maybe when its 25 years I will give away something silver) Leave a comment on this post you will be entered into the 1st drawing.
For our second drawing for this awesome book become follower or if you already are a follower on my blog leave me a comment here (a separate comment please) telling me you are a follower, bingo you are now entered into the second giveaway.
For the 3rd drawing please blog about my giveaway, and yes leave a (separate) comment ON THIS post telling me you did (I will be checking) and you could win a collection of 4 patterns that cover different aspects of fabric crafting ( a quilt pattern, a wallet pattern, a stitchery pattern and an applique pattern.
Now for the fourth and final giveaway
(this one will require a little, just a little effort on your part)
to have your name in the drawing for the fourth giveaway item, please go back in my archives and tell me what your favorite old post is, what it was about or who and why you liked it. Again post that comment here on this post so it will count towards the drawing.
Oh you want to know what the prize is of course well here you go

Its a kit for a darling wall hanging 34x40, fabric, pattern and adorable pink box included.
So four prizes, four (separate)comments on this post telling me what you did, to be entered into the 4 separate drawings. Drawing to be held on my Blogoversary November 14th.

Oh and I have been busy this morning I also updated my quilts and stuff slide show at the bottom of my blog if you are at all interested in what I have done over the last few years ;O)
HUGS!

SO I have 15 days

15 days until my 4 year blogoversary!
I can't believe it has been that long. I started blogging as a way to have someplace to vent my rambling and sorta keep a journal of what was going on in my life.
WOW! I had no idea that I would "meet" so many wonderful people all over the world. 4 years ago I would have never started a sentence saying "My friend in Australia or My friend in Wales..." Now I think nothing of that.

So I want to do something big for the 4 year mark a giveaway X4 or to the 4th power or something. I am still working on the details
(heck I have 15 days why rush it LOL!)
HUGS!

Halloween Fingers anyone?

 

As a fun Halloween party treat I made peanut butter fudge fingers.

recipe to make your own:
1 C peanut butter smooth
1 C butter cut into chunks
1 lb powder sugar
1 t vanilla

Melt PB and butter together in a microwave for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes then stir, microwave another 60 to 90 seconds. add vanilla and powder sugar and stir with a wooden spoon.

At this point if you just want peanut butter fudge press it into a 8x8 or 9x9 pan that has been greased with butter.
To make the fingers take a stick pretzel and form the fudge into a finger shape around it, add a sliced almond for the nail and use a tooth pick to make the knuckle creases, add a little raspberry jam to the ends for the bloody bit and throw on a spider ring for fun.
Let set up in the fridge for at least an hour.

Happy Halloween

GREG is AWESOME!!!

I got this box today

When I dug through the peanuts this is what I found

So I opened this box and found


Let me explain, Greg over at Flat out quilting was horrified that I would steal the bottle caps from my kids Halloween candy. So he offered to send me some. Who knew he suffered from the same inability to do things in a small way the same as me? I have enough Bottle Caps to put me in a sugar coma for a year WOO HOO!
Thank you sweet, wonderful, awesome, terrific, fantastic, fabulous, bodacious, Bad(meaning good), Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Greg!
(k I am going to have to buy a thesaurus ;O)!)

This made my day!

So anyone with fantastic ideas to help me repay this kindness give me your ideas.

Happy Halloween Hugs!

Another fab giveaway!

Jackie over at Canton Village Quiltworks is having a fantastic giveaway to share some of the yummy things she picked up in Houston, so go HEEand check it out!
There is also a beautiful giveaway Hereat cottoncocktails so don't forget to check it out too.

My oldest UFO/inhereted UFO

This quilt (sorry the picture is so small I had to use my cell phone)was the only quilt I ever worked on with my grandma, we got it tied but she never got it bound. It was in her basement for over 25 years.
When she passed away I rescued it from going in the trash by my Uncle. Yesterday I trimmed it and bound it, then washed it really good cause it stank like basement.

This is a typical grandma project, she had grand ideas and started things but had a hard time finishing them. When we started this quilt the idea was to make on for all her grand kids I think there were 6 of us at the time (my sister came later)so maybe it was even longer than 25 years it was in the basement. Anyway she got this pattern and loved that you could make a star by using 2 different colors of yarn on the gingham fabric. I guess I will be the only grand child with a quilt she worked on.