Manda's Couch Quilts

The Wind Cries and Purple Haze are two quilts I made for Manda's couch. In the pic of The Wind Cries, the lump is the cat, who insisted on helping.

These quilts were quick and easy. I'd bought some McKenna Ryan fabric in Lancaster, and Manda claimed it. I took the fabrics to Quilted Treasures, and we had half the shop on the table matching other fabrics to them.

The Wind Cries went to Manda over the summer, and Purple Haze just went home with her on Friday. You can see by the dates on the pix how long ago I made them- it just took a while to get around to quilting them.

Holly

First Sunday of 2009!

Judy does a Stashbusting Report every Sunday on her blog, and I think I'll give it a try.

Fabric bought this week- O yards
Fabric bought this year- O yards

Fabric Used this week- O yards
Fabric Used this year- O yards

That was easy!

I'm going to expand it to books bought and read. In 2008, I read 127 books, but only 37 of them were books I owned, that I could then get rid of. Amazon is a dangerous place! My goal is to read 50 of my own books (paperbacks) and then give them away. This refers to paperbacks, not cookbooks or quilting books.

Books bought this week- 3
Books bought this year- 3

Books read this week- 1
Books read this year- 1.

So look for me to bore everyone with my stashbusting and books read reports every week! Right now I've discovered Sherryl Woods. I requested most of hers from the library, but had to fill in from amazon. Luckily, I bought them in 2008, so they don't go in the report of bought books!

It's so quiet here- Ralph is at work, and the kids have all gone home to their own states. I talked to Manda yesterday- Kitten was so happy that they were home, and Manda wanted the recipe for the crockpot beef soup/stew.

Well, that picture was supposed to be here, not at the top of the post. Here, I thought I was getting better at posting pix, as long as they're in "my documents." Anyway, that's Manda and Ben last summer.

Things to be happy about:
The sky is blue, and we still have no snow!
I'm reading a good book. (not that I read bad ones- if it's not good, I return it to the library)
The laundry is all done (for the moment, anyway)

Holly

My great nephews and nieces

Since I'm doing well posting pix, here's one of Sharon and Kevin's children. From left, Connor, Justin, Tori holding Mackenzie, Nadia, and Zach. Tori and Nadia are Kevin's daughters, the others are Sharon's kids. Aren't they a good looking bunch?

Funny looking reindeer!

This was taken the day we did Christmas. Steph is holding Julie, Heather is in the middle, and Manda on the right. Eddie is in front, and that's my Mom in the background. Julie was really tired, and didn't want to be a reindeer. It was also Heather's 34th birthday!

Happy New Year!

The house is quiet again. Ben and Manda are in transit from Philly to Houston, and Steph and Toast are back at their apartment. After having them all here for a week, it seems so empty here! It was so wonderful having them all home to celebrate Christmas and New Year's, but I know they all have to return to their real lives.

Heather, Ed and the kids were here for an even shorter time. Even tho we didn't see them all that often when they lived in NJ, it seems like they're so far away. So far the move seems to be good for them.

I got the sewing room pretty much changed back from it's guest room status back to sewing room. Manda put in an order for a pair of jeans to be fixed, and 4 large couch pillows, and she pulled fabric for the pillows. Steph needs the straps shortened on two tank tops, and they're marked. I have a gorgeous wallhanging that justs needs a binding, so that'll be next on the list.

I'm starting the year with a couple of Un-Finished Objects. The gingerbread Christmas-y quilt, Orange Crush, Crossed Canoes, and a paper pieced NY Beauty Wallhanging which isn't actually started. I have a paperpieced star top wallhanging done that I can't do justice to, so a longarmer is going to quilt it for me.

I also have several tops that need to be quilted on the HQ16. The most urgent is Steph's quilt for her apartment.

I have a granny square baby afghan in progress that will be donated to the home ec teacher at work. She gives them to Dooley House in Camden.

I'm not making any sweeping New Year's Resolutions, because they never get followed thru with. I have two mini resolutions- to put a counter on this blog (done- it's all the way at the bottom) and to get better and more comfortable with posting pictures to the blog and to the HGTV message boards.

Things to be happy about in 2009:
Ralph's continued good health.
Our daughters and their families, human and fuzzy.
Our Moms, brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews.
We both have stable jobs.


Holly

New Year's Eve

So 2008 is just about over. We lost two family members this year, Ralph's Uncle Frank and my Aunt Mary, both from long term illnesses. While we're sad to see them go, we hope they're in a better place.

During 2008, Steph moved to her first apartment, and Heather and Ed moved to their 4th house- this one in North Carolina. They all like their new places.

Manda, Ben, Steph and Michael are continuing their education. Joseph just graduated with an associate degree, and is going to continue going for a bachelor. Brittany is planning on starting college. We're proud of them all. Me- the only classes I want to take are quilt classes!

I did a little traveling this year, with trips to Texas and Florida. I finally need more than one hand to count my plane trips!

Manda and Ben were evacuated for Hurricane Ike. Manda was evacuated before, when she was in school in Daytona. She's the only one in the family to ever be evacuated, and we hope to keep it that way.

Ralph and I bought some neat toys this year- I got the HQ16 and a Janome 9700 embroidery machine. Ralph bought a little yard tractor.

Manda and Steph both went on business trips for work, something none of the rest of us have done.

So, goodbye 2008, and welcome to 2009!

Holly

December 29, 1974

That is one of the most important and memorable days of my life. At 0156, our first child was born. We always knew she was going to be a girl, and picked the name Heather early in my pregnancy. I don't think we came up with her middle name, Noelle, until she was born.

Heather was a healthy 8 lbs, 7 oz when she was born. In those days, we stayed in the hospital for 3 days after delivery. I came home on New Year's Day, but she had to stay a few days because of an elevated bilirubin, so basically I came home and cried til she was released. I couldn't stand to go see her and feed her and leave her again, so my brother went up each day. To do it over, I'd be there from morning til night, but at the time I had post-delivery hormones going on.

Heather is now a lovely lady with a wonderful husband and a son and daughter of her own. She is a labor and delivery nurse, and has a BSN from Rutgers. They've just moved to NC, which is heartbreaking for us.

For her 21st birthday I made her a cross stitch sampler, which she has hanging in her bedroom. It reads:

My Daughter

All the things I prayed you'd be
Are all the things you are.
You were once my little girl
and now my Shining Star.

Happy Birthday Heather!

Holly