Needleturn Applique

I found this quilt block when I was going through my stack of quilt tops that need to be quilted.  I have always admired applique and taught myself to machine applique years ago.  I love to applique by machine because it is so much faster. 

In 2000 I took my first needleturn applique class and this was my first attempt at this method of applique. 

This is a very simple block but I adore it. I oftened wondered how the flower was made and quickly found it is called ruching.  It looks much more complicated than it was to make.  I love the texture of the layers.

I hope to make a pillow with this block. Maybe I will get to it next week.

My project I have in the works right now is Amelia's Rose Garden.  I will share it with you in another post.  I don't do much needlework in the summer.  When I have it back out I will take pics.

I hope you enjoyed my soon to be pillow.

Thanks for visiting!

Donna

Thank You and Southern Cooking

Thank you for all the sweet comments you left me for Amber on my last post. 

I appreciate each and every one :)

I finally cooked a meal today!  I usually prepare something simple on these hot summer days.  There is nothing like good ole southern cooking!  Going into the veggie garden and picking fresh veggies and cooking them.  We had fried okra, fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, cornbread, barbecue ribs and red ripe tomatoes.  It was so good!  I normally don't cook this much but some days I just can't resist!  It is not everyday you can have fresh veggies ... so we enjoy it while we can.

This was my plate and I ate it all!  Yes I did!!

My aunt had given me fresh blueberries yesterday.  When I was looking at blogs this morning the

Pioneer Woman had this recipe posted ... so this was dessert.

Blueberry Crumb Cake ... it was so good!

I ate all of this too!  I think I gained 5 pounds today.

The Pioneer Woman sure knows how to cook.  I have tried many of her recipes and every one is delicious.

It has been very hot here in the South.  I have been in the house the past several days organizing my new pantry.  I will show you pics when I have it completed.

Thank you for visiting and God Bless!

Donna

Amber

 My sweet girl ... oh how we all miss you!  I can't believe it has been a year since you went to Heaven.... seems maybe a month ago but not a year.  As I type this post I know this has been the hardest year of my entire life.  I never knew my heart could be so broken and ache as much as it does right now and has for 12 months.  I thought after a year things would get easier without you here with us but I know life will never be the same without you.  I have shed soo many tears this past year.

I have replayed the last week of your life over and over again in my mind.  You were so happy!  We went to Bass Pro shop looking for you a pink camouflage tee shirt and then to eat dinner on Saturday night, rode your Polaris Ranger  around the pasture to check the gametrail cameras for deer that you had named.

Daddy found you the tee shirt you wanted and you were planning to wear it on Saturday to your Aunt and Uncle's lake house with our entire family there. You had your outfit picked out for the day!

But then suddenly you became ill on Thursday night last July and we rushed you to the ER.  Everything was going great on Friday ... you were talking to me one minute wanting to know when you could go home and the next thing I knew you had issues with your heart and then your lungs.  Your body was just tired from the Friedreich's Ataxia.  Later that evening you went to Heaven at 11:19 p.m.  surrounded by all your family and extended family.  I am so glad I got to hold you in my arms as you left this world just like when you were born nearly 30 years earlier ... in my arms.

If I could just wash your hair one more time and brush it for hours I would!  Oh how I miss you being in your room with your Yankee Candles burning, reading a book (usually a Karen Kingsbury book), watching the Braves play baseball and sitting at the computer on Facebook farming your farm and socializing!  The book you were reading is still laying bookmarked on the last page you read on the table in your bedroom.   Our cats miss you too!

I am so glad baby girl you were born to us!  You were the light of our lives when you were born.  Just a baby doll and those big blue eyes and long dark hair!  You were always sassy and so funny!  We thanked God when you were born that you were healthy! Everything was normal until you were 8 years old and I noticed things only a mother would know.  You began to fall and lose your balance.

 Your Dad and I never knew we carried the gene that would result in this awful disease. We were devastated when you were diagnosed at the age of 10 with FA.  Over the years we dealt with what came our way ... several surgeries and always doctor appointments.  Purchasing a wheelchair for you was very hard but we knew the time had come ... as hard as it was.

You always did well in school with kids that had known you all your life.  They loved helping you with your books and pushing you from one class to another.  You were elected "Most Likely to be Remembered" your Senior year in high school.  Everyone loved you!  You loved to go to school to socialize!!  You seemed to get in trouble for talking all the time!  You always had a smile on your face.  Many special awards were given to you for your courage and strength.

We were so proud of you when you went on to college for 2 years.  You would have been a great accountant!  A whiz with numbers!  You knew as well as we did that things were getting worse ... but we took one day at a time and lived each day to its fullest.  We thought we had another 10 years with you at least.  But God wanted you more.  We know you are in Heaven watching down on us and we will all be reunited again one day.  My faith is what gets me through rough days when days seem to be unbearable without you!  I wake up praying that God will get me through another day without you.  I can only take one day at a time as I have since you went to Heaven.

Your Daddy, Jennifer and I miss you so much and you will be forever in our hearts .... sweet Amber :)

I do know we will be reunited in Heaven one day!

You were born with a head of dark hair!

Huge blue eyes!

Your second Christmas!  Love that smile!

First Birthday!

Multi-tasking ... playing the piano and sewing!

Loving your new baby sister Jennifer!

Sassy as always!

Precious babies at Easter.

You loved the Atlanta Braves and got to meet your favorite player Chipper Jones!  You were so happy!

Senior Prom pic...

You and Will your best friend.

Sweet sisters... you always called Jennifer "Squirt"!

May 2009  ... Karen Kingsbury, your favorite Christian fiction author at the EWomen's Conference in Birmingham. 

You loved the color purple and wore it so much!

Goofing off with Jennifer wearing a crown ... you and Jennifer are our  princesses!

Princess Amber we will see each other again one day and I can't wait to see you walking again!  Love you Baby!

xoxo

Mommy

I will be away from the computer this weekend spending time with my family.  Thank you for visiting and God Bless!

Donna

Finally ... My New Bag

I finally finished my bag I was making after nearly a week.  I purchased the kit last year from the Fat Quarter Shop but did not get around to making it last summer.

I love the summery look of the batik fabrics.  There are watermelons, strawberries and cherries!  It is called the Manhattan Bag.  A gal can never have too many purses!

I also purchased some fabric from Sharon at Daisy Cottage Quilting.  Look how cute she has it packaged!

Love the yellow gingham paper tied with the red gingham bow!  So cute! 

This is what was inside ... Flower Sugar fabric by Lecien.  Love it!  Sharon had nearly sold out of it ... everyone else must love it too!  I don't know what I will make ... I just love the polka dots and dainty flowers.

We are busy turning my old sewing room next to the kitchen into a pantry so I have been going through fabric and finding all kinds of things I was looking for!  We hope to get the room painted tomorrow with tile going down on Friday.

I hope it is cooler where you are because it sure is hot here ... UGH!  I am about ready for fall!

Thanks for visiting and God Bless!

Donna

Back Home!

 My husband and I have been away a few days to the AQS Quilt Show in Knoxville.  I enjoyed seeing all of the quilts.  So much inspiration there too!  I also did a little shopping too :)  We went to the quilt show on Thursday.

We arrived in Pigeon Forge on Wednesday and had the day to go to the Titanic Museum.  It was such a treat.

Here is the replica they have built.  You are not allowed to take any pictures inside the "Titanic".    I could have spent many hours looking at the items they have displayed and read about the stories.  We were given a boarding pass as we entered of a person who was on the Titanic when it sank.  At the end of the tour you see if your person survived and mine and my husband's passenger survived.  What an amazing story. 

There is a new restaurant across from the Christmas Inn where we stay and it is called the Partridge and Pear.  We were given VIP passes through the Inn for our meal on Thursday night before it opened on Friday.  It was not only delicious  but beautiful inside.  Each dining room has a name and we were seated in the "Angel Room".  Angels are handpainted on the ceiling.  I felt as if Amber was watching down on us the entire meal.  I just sat there thinking of all the rooms ... we were seated in the "Angel Room".

It is a beautiful restaurant on the outside as well!

Here is a waiting area in the restaurant.  I love the huge fireplace and mantel.  Of course it was decorated with pears and partridges to go with the Christmas theme!  Gorgeous place!

Flowers outside the hotel.  I wonder why my flowers do not look like this!  Maybe I need a full time gardener! LOL

The pond with waterfall in front of the hotel.

The outside looking up to the fifth floor where we stayed.   I am always glad to get away for a few days but I am definitely a "homebody". 

It was a very different vacation for us :(  It was the first time in about 20 years we had been to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg by ourselves.  We always had Amber with us. 

Oh how I miss my oldest daughter!  It will be one year the 24th that she went to Heaven.  I will do a special post for her later this week.  I have been very emotional ... please pray for me and my family!

Thanks for visiting and God Bless!

Donna

Salsa & Sunflowers

Our vegetable garden is in desperate need of rain and has not produced as much as usual ... rain is expected today so hopefully one of those rain showers will come our way.

 We have had plenty of fresh tomatoes so I made salsa!   We can enjoy it during the fall and winter months especially with football games and I also make many recipes with salsa.

So I gave it a try and it is very good!  After all we can only eat so many bacon and tomato sandwiches!

Two of my jars of salsa in front of the smaller sunflowers I cut from the garden. 

Vine ripe and freshly washed ... Yummy!

Here is one of the huge sunflowers in the garden ... I love the bumblebee!

This is another huge sunflower ... I love the centers.   I will save the seeds for next year.  Amber loved sunflowers and I planted them for her.  She is smiling down on them :)  

I gotta go ... the newlywed (Jennifer) has called and needs a recipe for dinner to cook!  I have to give her detailed instuctions! 

I will post my bag next post.

Thanks for visiting and God Bless!

Donna

Sewing ... Watermelon Slices

I have been busy sewing several projects.  A friend brought me some dishtowels to monogram yesterday and I will begin on those soon.  I seem to have more projects going than I can count.  I am going to try to catch up with my quilt tops that I put on hold due to wedding things that needed to be sewn.  So now that the wedding is over I have no more excuses.  Ha! 

I came across these watermelon placemats I made last summer or the summer before ... I can't remember ... time flies!  I thought I would share them with you. 

Oops! I should have pressed them before I took the pic! Oh well ignore the wrinkles! 

They are from the book Company's Coming by Cabbage Rose.  There is also a watermelon quilt I would love to make too in the book.  They were easy to make and I used scraps leftover from other projects so there was no extra cost ... I call projects I make from scraps FREE!  The best kind :)

I have been making a new bag for summer. I will show it when I have it completed ... hopefully tomorrow. 

It looks like I will be staying in the house tomorrow until late in the evening when it cools off outside.  I have pulmonary fibrosis and it is very hard for me to breathe in the heat and humidity.

The weather has been so hot here in the South but not as hot as what people are living with in the Northeast.  Hopefully it cools down soon.

Well gotta go!

Thanks for visiting and God Bless!

Donna

Happy 4th of July!

Take this weekend to enjoy time with family and friends and be thankful that we all have the opportunity to free!  Please remember all the soldiers (men and women) that are serving our country all over the world so that we can enjoy our freedom!

God Bless America!

Thanks for visiting,

Donna