My winter block for the Season to Season Swap. It is going to embellished by Janet in Colorado. I know it will be just beautiful when she is finished.

For the second year I am hosting the Victorian Boot Swap on the CQforNewbies group. Everyone makes a stocking that looks like a Victorian ladies boot. They then make up four squishies to fill the stocking. After mailing them to me, I will swap them out. No one knows whose boot they will receive. They will not be disappointed though.

This is my finished boot. I really like it.


Since we are a group of newbies, I left it up to the ladies to decide rather or not they wanted to embellish one side or both sides of their boot. Lazy me chose to do only the front. I did though use a fabric for the back that is very sparkly, though it doesn't show up that well in the picture. Tommy actually picked the fabric out and I have a blouse out of it.

This is the needlecase I received from Daphne for our final swap. I love it. I haven't lost a needle (especially those tiny darn beading needles) since I started using it.



This is the back cover. Daphne said she actually likes this side better than the front. I like both sides.

This year I participated in a year long international swap hosted by my dear friend Judyth. We swapped squishies 3 times and the 4 (and final) swap was a needlecase. This is the one I made for my partner, Daphne.






She really liked it.

Spirit of Friendship Christmas Doll Swap at CQI

This is the doll I made for the Spirit of Friendship Christmas Doll Swap over at Crazy Quilting International. This is actually the very first doll I ever made, even before the 2 Comfort Dolls and the one my mom got. I think she turned out rather well. There is a small silver angel attached to the bow on her head. I came up with her shape. The fabric in the middle just looks so Christmassy in person.

Tussie Mussie Swap

A couple of months ago I ran across a post on Pat Winter's Gatherings blog (see sidebar for link), and read about a swap she is hosting in blogland. It is a tussie mussie swap between US cqer's and European cqer's. I decided to sign up. My swap partner is in England.

This is the tussie mussie I made for her. Now I just have to gather some goodies to fill it with and pop it in the mail. I am really happy with the way it turned out. Tommy loves it. I hope my partner does also.

Season to Season Swap -- Fall

This is my fall block. This is the second one I made cause I kinda did more than half on the first one....hehe....gotta little carried away.

This is my block after Marlene worked on it. According to Gerry it is winging it's way back to me right this minute. I can't wait to see it.

Season to Season -- Fall

This is the block I worked on for this swap. It belongs to Marlene. The first picture is the block half worked by her. I loved the colors and the texture of her fabrics.

The second picture is my work on her block.

It doesn't show up very well but that is my first button trail. I think it turned out really good.

This is a tree with fall colored leaves and a swing. It turned out better than I expected. If you look closely at the right hand side you can see that I actually put a swing on the lowest branch. The picture is a little too dark for it to show up very well.

I used fall colored beads to spell out fall.


I really enjoyed working on Marlene's block. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

After a month and a half, I return to the blogging world with a lighter, freer spirit and soul. The past month I have dealt with an injury to my right hand and wrist, a sinus infection that makes my teeth hurt, depression, a week of vacation that included Tommy flying to Virginia and then 3 days with my in laws (and we took Raf with us for those days), and an over all serious lack of motivation to get out of bed, at any time during the day. I did complete several projects, I am happy to say, and I am rather pleased with the results.

First, though, my lighter, freer spirit and soul…..Monday, November 12, 2007, at 4:30 in the morning, in the bathroom of my home, I realized that for the first time in my lifetime, I was at peace with my dad. He always belittled me and everything in my life. I was told I was fat, ugly, and no man would ever want me. When you hear this from your father from the time you are a young teenager til you are over 30, you tend to believe it is true. I know I did. My dad died February 22, 1997. The last time I talked to him, we had an argument, which was pretty typical. All this time I have not been able to let go of the anger I felt for him and the way he treated me; the way I saw myself and truly believed the world saw me. Even after I got married to a man who loves and adores me, I wasn’t able to let it go. I couldn’t understand why someone like Tommy would love and want someone like me. For so long, every thought about myself has been colored by the way one person saw me. Then, suddenly, Monday morning I realized that his birthday is the 14th of November. And for the first time in years, there was no anger, no feeling of self worthlessness……..there was just …………..peace….overwhelming peace. Granted my sinuses and tooth were still painful but I felt better than I had felt in longer than I can remember. I had to wake Tommy up to tell him cause I couldn’t call my mom and wake her up. I called her at 7:30 and told her. Made her cry at work, shame on me. She told me her prayer for me had finally been answered. This feeling is wonderful, so freeing, so……peaceful.

I know this is probably not the place to talk about it, but this is like a catharsis for me. For so long, whenever I talked about my dad, there was so much anger and hurt……and now there’s not. I do feel overwhelming grief. Grief that he will never the fine young man his son turned into; grief that he will never know that his prediction for me becoming a teacher came true; and especially grief for him never having the opportunity to meet the man that loves me just as I am, for who and what I am, no excuses asked or given, just me. And to be totally and brutally honest, my creative ability came from him. The man could draw so beautifully. He also had the gift of being able to look at a piece of wood and see what was hiding inside, and then bringing to fruition. He loved when my brother’s friends would come over and see the huge big mouth bass mounted on the wall over the roll top desk and ask where he caught it. He would just smile and tell them to look closer, and when they did, they would discover it was carved wood. He was so talented like that. He had patience when he was working on a piece that he rarely showed to any of his family.

Anyway, this feeling is still so very new and so very wonderful.

I do have pictures to share but will do them in separate postings. Why?? Cause I want to…..lol.