Monday, Monday!

We had internet issues yesterday and I couldn't get on to blog, imagine that! I could have done it from my phone but honestly, I'm not THAT good at typing with my thumbs! I'm bad enough with my fingers! I did pick 2 winners because there were a LOT of entries. I love the notes everyone sends, thanks so much- I wish I had time to answer them all.
Winners are
Patricia from NC
and Kelly from KS

Thanks ladies- I'll cut a special selection of the line and send it with a panel for you to use.

I was sick a couple days this weekend but still able to accomplish quite a bit. I even got to babysit Lily and Grace. Nathan and Patrick were here for a while and with 4 screaming grandkids- it was a zoo! At one point, my husband just looked at me and walked outside! The peace and quiet when they all left was priceless! They were like wild animals! We had a great time and Lily slept in my arms while I rocked her pretty much most of the time. Who would put her down after all? I love that baby sleeping/ cuddle time!

I have 5 new patterns underway so far and even have directions and graphics done. Waiting on quilting to finish up. I'll start posting pictures soon. I'm finishing embroidery on another quilt and it should be off soon. I love when they all get to this point. I have to start the next fabric line very soon, as soon as I finish my 10 page paper for my International Business class. Not my favorite subject but 3 more class times and I'm done. That means I have 4 classes to go to graduate. Wow- it has gone so fast! I will have all kinds of time after that! Maybe!

A New Drawing for a Sample Pack of Rustling Leaves Fabric Line

The last day on March I'll have a drawing for one lucky winner to receive a sample pack of some of the fabrics in the Rustling Leaves line. If I have a lot of entries, I'll pick two winners. I'll cut 1/4 yard cuts of some of the fabrics and give the winner a panel also.

To enter:

Email me at PGPeddler@aol.com by midnight on Saturday, March 31.

• Put LEAVES in the subject line.




• Put your name and mailing address in the body of the email. I promise not to share it or use it for junk mail.
  

I will pick a winner and post the name on Sunday, April 1.

Happy Spring!

I spent the last week going through my Spring boxes and looking for decorations, cleaning house and washing everything in sight. Spring is here, after all! I think it started right after Christmas in Missouri, to tell the truth. We got one teeny tiny snow, about 3 inches I think. That was winter. We'll be planting the garden soon I guess!

I have family coming this weekend and we plan on bar-b-quing this week. I'm staying away from hamburger meat due to all of the pink goo on the news these days so I'm thinking steaks or pork. Undecided at this time! Any suggestions for what to make are welcome! Sarah is going to a craft fair this Saturday as a vendor so we are going too. I love craft fairs.

Last weekend we had corned beef and cabbage and it was wonderful. Last night, I bought another corned beef brisket and when I got it home, I had pink goo everywhere. The package had a hole and leaked "icky pink goo" on a lot of other foods. Needless to say, it was a bleach wipe frenzy going on for a while. I promptly went back to the store and returned the leaky beef.

This next week I'm getting ready for the upcoming quilt market. Quilts to finish and directions to proof. A second quilt pattern is now off to the quilter so I'm on a roll. I've got about four to go.

I started a new class this week and already got five weeks worth of homework done. I was on a roll. I love it when I get it all done early. I wish I could do that with the quilt patterns. Discipline, I guess.

The New Fabrics Are Posted!

We spent the weekend on a road trip! We went down to Springfield, MO to visit family and detoured down to Joplin on the way. It is cleaned up quite a bit but huge sections are missing. The was one huge tornado last May that wiped parts of Joplin away. The hospital is still standing, well it looks like a skeleton but it's still there. The Home Depot was rebuilt and open and Wal-Mart was all fixed up. There is a lot of empty space now- several miles across. We didn't get down to Branson because we heard the main drag was still closed as of Saturday. God bless those folks down there in all the clean up going on. Missouri sure has had its share of tornadoes in the last year with the ones in St. Louis at the airport last year also.

I just noticed that the new fabric lines are now on Benartex's website.

Rustling Leaves

Wintersong

I still remember the stylist telling me how these lines appeal to the older grandma type quilter! I'm so happy to be able to design fabrics for these "older" ladies! I am thrilled that they are finally available and the next line (my 4th with them) is on its way to me, well, sort of. It should be here in about 3 weeks.

Sunday Post!

I am on Pinterest and having a good time looking around. I've found quite a few craft ideas and food! Lots of Easter decorating ideas too and it will be here before we know it. If you are on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow you. If you want to follow me, click the red Pinterest button to the right and then click follow. If you are not on Pinterest, you can ask at the top for an invite. It's really fun and there's lots to see and read about. You can RE-PIN pages that you want to share or keep for future reference, or LIKE them. There's .lots of recipes, decorating ideas, kids stuff like crafts and cooking, even cute doggie and baby pictures to see. There's a good DIY section.

I have been so preoccupied by my Business Law class- may goodness, all of the case briefs!
~~ sigh~~ My last class is next week with the final presentation and paper due.
Then, I have just five classes to go to graduate! Who-hoo. Someone asked me recently what I'll do with the degree and I have no clue at this point. My mom will be so proud though and that's why I'm really doing it. I am because I can!

I have spoken to the fabric company about the newest line (#4) and they are sending me fabrics in a month. I will have three lines of fabric showing at the next quilt market. Unbelievable!
You already saw the Wintersong and Rustling leaves line but #3 is the best of all. I will get both of those scanned and listed on my website this week so you can see all of the yummy fabrics. They are all available for order now and I'm sure they will ship to the quilt stores very soon.

I got to see Lily the other day and that child- has already gained a pound in her young 2 weeks. She's an emotional eater I guess! She is so healthy! Here's a picture of her next to a picture of Sarah-talk about looking alike? Wow, what a resemblance! They are both about 2 weeks here. It's like looking at the same baby. Grace informed me she doesn't want to play with the Barbie house now, she's afraid she will mess it up! She wants to just look at it.
Too funny!

Rustling Leaves is here!

I just got my package full of fabric from my new Rustling leaves line from Benartex. I believe the fabric is for sale already so I don't have to keep it quiet! There are two panels with this line. One can be used for a wall hanging, or cut up for pillows. The other just has lots of leaves on it. It'd make a good table runner or could be cut up for craft projects. I think the fabrics turned out really nice- I just love fall fabric! I can't wait to use it on some new projects. Here's more shots of it below. I actually painted these leaves with watercolors. They turned out nice on fabric!

Lily Has Arrived

We are so blessed with baby Lily in our family. She is my 6th grandchild, arriving Friday night. She looks just like her mommy did as a baby. What a joy to hold a tiny 6 lb. baby in my arms!

Meanwhile, Grace just LOVED her dollhouse. It was great timing on it when Lily arrived. Hopefully it will keep her busy and mommy can have a little one on one time with Lily.

The Doll House

Here's the finished doll house for five year old Grace. My husband built it and I got to finish it out. I used the Three Sisters line of fabric from Moda to cover everything. I glued it to the walls and used chenille for the carpets.

The bedrooms turned out really nice, they have wood beds, ceiling fans and lace curtains. I made a lot of potted plants to scatter around. We hung the pictures over the beds so Grace could change them out when she wants something new there. The tiny little pictures in the gold frames are hot glued on the walls. I hot glued everything I thought Lily might get hurt on, you know, all of the teeny tiny stuff.

I made ceiling fans from large Popsicle sticks, tulip beds and gold wire. I had some old miniatures leftover from my crafting days and I found a place for them. The kitchen holds little pans, apothecary jars and gold key charms that I nailed to a wood strip and hung on the wall. I actually bought miniature cabinet knobs but by the time they arrived we had already installed the cabinets. I tried to purchase some gingerbread trim for the roof but Hobby Lobby was out. If it gets restocked soon, we'll add that later. My goal was to get the house finished before Lily comes into the world. There's a nursery on the top floor and a porch with a swing on the side on the bedroom.

I added a garage on the bottom floor for her barbie car- one that Sarah had a a child. I put a tool chest in there too. Everyone always complains how I never want to get rid of stuff but I made Sarah keep all of her Barbies and I think Grace is happy I did. I also had a lot of little junk to use on this doll house!

The ceiling fan in the living room is bigger than the others and I found a 5" mirror to hang on the wall. I was able to make lamp shades using cardboard with fabric glued to it. The front door is actually wood and the toe kick is gold cardboard . Notice the mouse?

I can't believe it's finally done-

Her little sister Lily is due this week and I am way overdue for her birthday gift. BTW, She got to see Miss Missouri last week (left) and got to wear her crown and sash. How cool, huh? Grace thought Miss Missouri was a real princess when she came in the ice cream parlor with the crown and all.

We made Sarah a doll house when she was five years old (right) and my husband and I got busy about a month ago to make this one for Grace.

I have to say this one is MUCH better! We are more experienced I guess!

We have winners!

Wow, there were LOTS of entries! Way to go ladies- and since there were so many, I'll draw 2 names:
Eileen from TX and Darlene from IL.
You both get your pick of 4 titles. Congratulations. I'll send them this week.

As for everyone else who entered this week, I'll send you one of your four choices for entering!

Thanks for checking in and following, it's been kind of hard to balance all of the extra schoolwork and everything else in the last few months but my second class just ended and I'm only in one class at a time for the next six classes. Then I graduate! Who-hoo!

My husband and I have been working on a doll house for my 5 yr old grand-daughter Grace. Her birthday was a few weeks ago and we are way overdue to finish it. I promise to photograph it when it's finished, but not until then. Last week on Friday I set my mind to getting it done. I worked on it all day, until late in the night, then got up at 5am on Saturday to work on it again. I stuck with it all day except the six hours I babysat for my grandsons. When I came home that night, I went back to work until 7:30 am. I really thought I'd get it done. NOT. Close but so far away.

Let me see if I can give you a visual- it's 3'wide by 4'tall. It's all wood, 4 levels. Shabby chick white.
The bottom floor: laundry room and garage
next one up: living room and kitchen
upper floor: open porch, 2 bedrooms
top floor: nursery
OK, so you noticed, no bathroom. We'll build an outhouse later.

1. I have wall paper in each room- it's all part of a single line of Moda fabrics from 3 Sisters (peachy pinks)
2. there's carpet in the bedrooms and living room (chenille)
3. there's carpet in the nursery (peachy pink Minkie)
4. there's wood floors in the laundry room and upper porch
5. there's tan fabric in the kitchen to resemble tile
6. there's gray fabric in the garage to resemble concrete

we made a wood washer/dryer, fabric sofa & love seat, wood tables, wood kitchen cabinets w/ stove and sink, an island, beds, cedar chest, lamps, a wood porch swing, baby bed (rocking), toy box, wood patio furniture w/ tables, quilts,

we still need to finish: ceiling lights, lampshades, ceiling fans, door knobs, cabinet knobs, window boxes, curtains, kitchen shelf, garage tool box, and a second coat of paint on a lot of the furniture.

It has been a labor of love. I have no time to do it but I'm consumed by it so until it's done, that's probably all I'll be doing besides schoolwork. I hope to have it finished by Friday and post pictures.