Gifts and Kitties

Kitties do like boxes. Princess decided to curl up in this box while we were cleaning it out of papers.
Ron had been using the box like a file try and putting papers in it for later sorting.
She was helping by keeping them from flying out of the box!

I received some lovely gifts at Christmas, that I did not share.
My friend, Sandy, in Atlanta sent me this cute, 10 minute table runner. Love the fabric. 

Joke, in Sweden sent me this cool tote bag and these beautiful trims.

My friend, Isabelle in France sent this beautiful door hanger stitchery, and these delicious chocolate twigs.
Those are so gone!  Delicious!

Barb, my secret Santa, from our quilt bee,  made me this beautiful needle book.  There are even tiny flamingo charms on it. I had to show it open, so you could see all the lovely stitching.

Isabelle, from France, sent this lovely table topper that, she hand quilted, and and these delicious cookies, for my birthday.  They taste so good with my morning coffee.

Jan, from our Thursday bee, made this table runner for Christmas.

This little doll quilt has been quilted with the "big stitch" technique that I learned while on the quilt cruise in February.
I had taken this little top, thinking it would be a great way to finish.  We used quilting stencils. You can't see the stitching very well. I used a thread that matched.  It was a fun way for finishing.
I also have finished two more pincushions.  Actually, I have 4 more that are done, but not filled. I ran out of the medium I have been using for filler.  Pincushions are great projects to work on in the evening. I love the hand stitching.

Charlie, not to be outdone had to show he can fit in that same file box that Princess had laid out in.

The other evening, I put fresh catnip in a small kitty quilt that she likes to lay on.  I put it in this other box they like to lay in.  See the edge of the bed next to the box, neither uses it. The box is their favorite place to take a snooze. Princess love catnip, Charlie not as much!

I was hoping I would be able to show you a picture of flower bulbs popping out of the ground, but not yet.  A lot of the snow has gone in the last few days.  It got up to 50 degrees yesterday and sunny.  Today it is raining  Lots of birds have been coming to the feeders.  I think we have rounded the bend on the winter weather.  I did overhear someone at the fabric shop on Monday, saying it would be fun to have a bit more snow to set some new records.  We are at the 3rd spot for the worst winter.
I think I have had enough snow.

Time to get back to some more sewing. Have been doing some spring cleaning, and sewing in my sewing room.  Have a great week.
Mary

Presents and updates

This wonderful piece of machine embroidery was sent to me by my sweet friend in Sweden, Johanna. She writes three blogs. One is about her embroidery, which a lot of is done by hand.  One blog is about Sweden and the third one is about her friends.  It is hard to believe they still have a lot of snow there. Spring is springing here finally.

For my birthday in February, I received these wonderful presents. Jo made the cute mouse pincushion. Karen knows I love Flamingo's, so she machine embroidered this cute pillow for me, and Marilyn made this quilt police pincushion.

My friend Jan gave me this wonderful bag of vintage yo yos.  There were finished one, which Charlies is counting for me, and fabric already cut and ready to make into more yo yos.  I love it.  This is a great take along project.   

From my quilting friend in France, I received this adorable fabric basket. (Just noticed, Charlies is checking this out too.)

Along with the basket came this plastic hexagons, to aid my progress in my  quest to make them.  There is a bag of goodies to much on, and this cute tray. I love trays, as they come in handy when I am stitching or crafting in the evening.

I made these two zipper pouches on Monday that I am giving to friends.

I know I have not written anything since Amy Bradley was here the end of March.  I so loved her class. I  still need to work on my project from her workshop.
Easter weekend I came down with something. Friday night I was up sick all night.  Saturday morning I finally fell asleep.  Whatever it was wore my out. I slept for the rest of the weekend. Easter Sunday, my husband made dinner.  I had shopped and planned to make a special dinner.  He made a bare bones meal, so he and Andy could eat. Ron  had baked the ham, and made scalloped potatoes and a vegetable.  I slept through it all.  By Monday I was trying chicken noodle soup.  I have still been feeling dumpy and not eating much.  (I guess this is the start of a diet?)

I have been sort of keeping busy. I have gotten a couple of quilt bound.  They have been sitting with the machine part done for many months. Now finally the hand part is done.
Time to get that energy back.  Spring seems to be here. We had the windows open the other day. It was so nice to have some fresh air in the house.  Some crocus, and miniature iris and daffodils have started to bloom.

In my efforts to reduce the clutter in our house, I have been cleaning out some closets and rearranging  them.  Now I have a big pile of things to donate. We have even worked on the garage.  Our house does not have a basement. I still have not decided if this is a good thing.  We have a crawl space. Unfortunately one half of it has a lot of things stored there.  It too is getting cleaned out.

I am keeping busy.  I am working on my Pom Poms for the next blog hop. Also, busy organizing "It's for the Birds", blog hop.  We will be traveling to Buffalo, New York, next week for the memorial service for Ron's step-dad's wife Betty.  She was a wonderful sweet lady. We are driving so have things to get ready for that.

Have a great rest of the week. Keep sewing!
Mary