In the Beginning... to The Beginning

I finally finished this wallhanging. Since I have no windows in my office, I wanted something pretty to look at on those bare, drab walls. I call it 'In the Beginning...to The Beginning'.

Smiling Riley

We ALL enjoyed our snow while it lasted....yes, even Riley. I just know he's smiling.He looks like he's having so much fun. We all did. Thank you, Lord, for the snow. =)

Autumn Leaves in the Dew

Heres a picture Blake took last fall. We went for a road trip in the mountains & had stopped to look around at the view. I saw these leaves covered with the morning dew & brought them to Blake's attention....thats all it took. He took a really lovely picture.

Beach Baby Quilt

Here's a quilt I made last summer for one of the ministers at work. He & his wife were expecting their 2nd child, & had decorated the baby's room in a beach theme. The ladies at work & I gave this quilt to them in celebration of Layton's birth.

This was a fun quilt to make - lots of cute critters, and bright colors. I had a lot of fun designing this one on EQ & seeing it come to life in fabric. It came together really easy too. I think the little octopus on the corner in my favorite. And the quilting on the sun came out really nice, too.

Some thoughts on Grits!

Grits were the subject of conversation this morning amongst my Lallyquilter friends. Some of my foreign friends just don't understand grits at all. 'What are grits?' they asked...so here's a post all about Grits!

Grits are coarsely ground corn. Grits in the raw is gritty. Don't eat grits in the raw. It has to be cooked in boiling water, with lots of stirring to prevent lumps. Lumpy grits are not good. I think of grits as a side dish, not a cereal like oatmeal or cream of wheat. I've heard of some yankees who put sugar on grits. Thats okay on oatmeal & cream of wheat, but IMO, not grits. Sweet grits? Nope, that just ain't right.

When you go out to eat breakfast in the south most of the time you don't order grits, they just come.

Grits cooked, topped with butter & lightly salted are an awesome, filling breakfast side dish. Along with some bacon & eggs - you will be all set for the day. When I was pregnant with Cole I ate a lot of grits. It was the ONLY food I didn't 'toss my cookies' on. Funny tho' - Cole doesn't like grits.

Some folks like the make them fancier - cheese grits, or even shrimp & other stuff to make it more of a snazzy 'souffle' type dish. My family in Florida like to have Fish Fries - gatherings where they serve fish - usually mullet, and grits as a side dish. Folks in GA think I'm crazy with I talk about these fish fries. They don't do fish & grits. So each Southern region has it's own way of doing grits. That's cool. "Cool as Grits" is something an old friend use to say. I always thought that was funny because grits aren't good cool. They gotta be hot! *G*

Enjoy your grits folks.... on this cold January morning I did!

Beans and Refried

Here are our boys ~ Ian aka "Beans" and Cole aka "Refried".

(I still call them Pickleheads.)

Rowdy, silly, crazy, fun, adventureous, ...

quiet, thoughtful, deep, sensitive,...

loved.

Something rare and special!

It snowed here yesterday!!!! Now snow maybe nothing special to some folks - just a normal winter occurrence....no cause for panic, excitement, or pictures. But for us~ it's WOW, It's SNOWING!!!! It was really exciting while it lasted. We might get some more snow this weekend....but if we don't, that's okay, because Cole saved 'The Ultimate Snowball' in the freezer. =)

Thankful Thursday:
Thanks for the snow, Lord. It's been a fun.
And thanks for answering our prayers - Cole overcome his fears and is standing proud. He came in 3rd place in today's schoolwide Spelling Bee! WAHOO!

Christmas Joy Twirls 'round & 'round

One of my favorite pictures.... Cole put on our Christmas Tree skirt and let the joy flow, twirl, whirl, and fly. His hat has fallen over his eyes, his tongue is sticking out,...as well as his toe sticking out of the hole in his sock, and he dropped his toy helicopter...but who cares! This is just pure fun!

Snowflakes on the Ridge

Here's a groups project quilt that just seems appropriate to post on a cold day in January. (Yes, it's cold in GA!) The book "A Breath of Snow and Ashes" came out & the Lallyquilters decided to do a snowflake block exchange. These blocks were left overs/extras from this exchange that were in our 'bank'. After Hurricane Katrina we wanted to do something to help. So a raffle for Hurricane Relief was our focus. With the various blocks leftover from the snowflake project I put the idea/design together - the night sky with snowflakes falling on the cabin. I quilted snowflakes into the sky, too. A lucky Lady of Lallybroch won this quilt... I know she's enjoying it.....almost as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Quilted Tablerunner

Here's a tablerunner I made for my DSILs for Christmas. It took longer than I had anticipated...but IMO, came out pretty nice. I added some 'extra' touches - feathered quilting using silk thread, and the tree motifs are in a pretty varigated metallic thread. The block is called Cross & Crown....appropriate for Christmas.

I've never made tablerunners before....always thought they would be simple to toss together, but would a person really use them? I hope so - cause I made 2 of them! Carol & Connie, I hope you enjoy them. =)

I'll try to get more quilting projects - finished & unfinished ones - posted here. My UFOs are a'calling me.... Time to get to work on 'em while they are calling! (And before costuming season begins!)

Fridays

I LOVE Fridays. Sundays are the Lord's day, but He has gifted me with my Fridays. Every since going back to work - first at Bethel UMC, and now at FBC Lithia Springs, I've been blessed to have Fridays off. And believe me ~ it really is a blessing! I get up, take the boys to school - and then have the entire day (up until it's time to pick them up from school,) ALL for ME! I can catch up on housework, read, have the tv on ANY show I feel like listening to as I do other things, surf the net & read my emails uninterrupted, read uninterrupted, pay bills uninterrupted, plan and design quilt projects, dig & search through my fabric stash to my heart's content, and actually sew and quilt..... ALL UNINTERRUPTED!! Well, I take that back ~ Riley is here with me! He follows me from room to room, lays at my feet as I sew, ....he occasionally interrupts me to let him go outside, or come back inside. But he's so sweet, silly & playful I don't mind his interruptions. He's my sweet beast. The boys call him 'their hairer brother'... therefore, he's my hairy-er son. *G*

Everyone should have a day to themselves....weekly if possible. If not - as often as they can manage. It's so productive to your mind, heart and soul.

AND just in case you are wondering....so far I've started some laundry, unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it, cleared off the kitchen table....it's always a mountain of clutter, paid bills, AND done my fair share of surfing the net. All this with my dizzy labrynthitus condition! (I move a little slower/more carefully - but so far, so good. By the end of the day...we'll see.)

Happy Friday Y'all!

Labrynthitis

Ya learn something new every day.... we all have a labryinth within our heads. Inside our ears to be exact. And when your labrynth isn't happy, YOU are not happy. You are dizzy to be exact. Labrynth-itis to be exact. That's what's making me dizzy, wonky, and so 'off' lately. My wonderful geeky Dr C has come to the rescue with Rxs for me though. So, Lord willing, I'll be undizzy, and unwonky, and 'on' soon. I sure hope so - I have soooooo many things I want to do - quilting, housework (thats BAD when you WANT to do housework! I must really be feeling bad!), blogging, photography/Photoshop, playing, loving and hugging all over my dear patient family....but for now, I'll take my weird steroids & antihistamines and heal - while I try & keep my head nice & still.

Hello!

Well, here it goes... my first attempt at blogging.

I hope it goes well...doesn't overly humiliate anyone. *G*

I hope to put down my thoughts, display some quilts & other projects, and just generally talk about life...it's a blessing, even during the tough times. Once I get the hang of this, I'll share it w/ my friends & family. Meanwhile...consider this practice!