"Happy 2015"

I'd like to take a few minutes and just wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Safe 2015.

I have so many things to be thankful for in 2014.  My retirement in January from full time work, the announcement that our daughter and son in law were becoming first time parents, our son announcing he was going back to school and moving to a new apartment, and then Olivia being born, great grandma at age 87 flying up to see her and spend Thanksgiving with us, and then the holidays.  We've all been happy and healthy so what could we possibly complain about.......

Here's to 2015!!!!

2014- It Was A Very Good Year

      I retired from my full time job on January 1, 2014.......I then spent the next 12 months doing exactly what I'd planned to do when I made that decision.  I slept past 5:15 am, I spent more time relaxing and as you can see from these pictures,  I spent more time sewing.

     My husband on occasion will say i'm out of control with the quilts I make and after uploading these 45 pictures I think he might be right.  2 of my best friends had mothers turn 90 early in the year so I made a quilt for each, I did a few for a quilt retreat I go to in May for a women's shelter, wedding quilts and the ones I had the most fun making, were the 3 I made for my daughter when she announced she was expecting her first baby.

     Not all quilts were bed sized.  I made table toppers,
runners and wall hangings.   I may have even made a couple dozen pillowcases for my local quilt shop for a local children's charity.

   

Grand Illusion Mystery, Part 5

    Bonnie starts her blog post for this part with "I know that yesterday was Christmas........Part 5 is EASY PEASY!    I thought to myself "yeah right" LOL

Well, Bonnie didn't lie.  All we had to make was 4  4 patch units with pink/black/yellow and 25  4 patch blocks with the yellow and turquoise.  YES!!!!  
Cutting was quick and easy as was the sewing.  This step only took a couple hours, which allowed for other things to be completed on Friday.

I'll be linking up with Bonnie and the other's in the morning.....

I can't wait to see what she's got planned for us with all these units :)

"Pinterest"

Do you Pinterest?   I used to check it often when I worked full time because I could look around on break time or after lunch but lately this retired lady hasn't had time for that  :)
Yesterday I received a "pin" from my daughter so I went and looked at it so nothing would do but to sit and look around.  Well, I found the best "scrap user upper" quilt.....I followed the link to the girl on Pinterest who linked to someone else, who linked it to Fat Quarterly and even gave the issue #....

So, I ordered the Issue.....which was #8, downloaded it, printed off the pattern and voile!  I'm hooked up!

I went thru a drawer in my room and found a ziplock bag with my 37 string blocks already made and ready for assembling into something..........

The pattern calls for 8 inchers and mine are 6-1/2, they call for sewing them on paper but mine are sewn onto cheap muslin that I got from Joanns or Rag Shop, so I'll just have to make more blocks to bring it up to a good size quilt but who cares...I LOVE making string blocks.  I think the thought of revisiting old fabric friends is fun for me.

So, this will be one of the projects I put on my 2015 list.

Do you make a list?  I always make a "To Do" list of projects I have to make and then another list of projects I'd like to work on.  

PEGGY

Christmas 2014

     We've had a very busy second half of 2014 so I expected nothing less for Christmas week.
My whole family except for 1 sister is in Florida so it tends to be just her and I with our families for Christmas.  The Florida sisters and brothers kids are grown and scattered so we stay in NJ and celebrate and also now that Olivia made her presence known, there's no way I was going anywhere!!

       So, the big question is, what do you buy a 5 week old for Christmas?  Jennifer said nothing but I knew I had to get her something and then while talking to a friend who became a grandma last winter, she mentioned her kids like the beach and had a hard time lugging all their stuff with their twins so I had the idea that I'd get Olivia a wagon.  Well, let me tell you, the wagons of today are not like the wagons my kids were pulled around in!

 

Here's Grandpa on the floor putting the wheels on.
Look at the inside of this thing.... Seats that lay flat with cup holders, seat belts and also on the back is a canvas bag to hold a cooler or beach stuff.

The kicker is the canopy!  It came in a bag like you find the canvas chairs in.....

Olivia will be riding to the beach this summer in style I can tell you!

Here's Mom & Dad in front of our tree.

This is a shot of my family and this is a picture I received from my nephew in Florida of my mother with his 3 kids.


He said getting Great Gram to take a picture is like pulling teeth.....  I know exactly how she feels since I'm not one to like my picture taken either.

My family was very good to me this year.....I got my favorite Martha Stewart bathrobe, an LL Bean shirt, tickets to The Lion King on Broadway in April and a nice supply of quilting stuff....

A Calendar, mouse pad, quilt kit, Patchwork Party hoodie, a sewing room clock, a quilt book and a magnet board with magnets to hold my cross stitch items in place and to easily see where I am....

I also received this item.  It's like a little picture computer.  I need to sit with the instruction book and figure out how it works....after all, I'll need almost daily pictures of my little Olivia.....

All in all, a perfectly wonderful Christmas day.  It was exhausting and we cooked a ton of food (and ate it all LOL) but a great time was had by all!!!

Here's to New Years and hopefully a few resolutions I can keep.....

Peggy