my mini progress for Round 4

has been super slow! I feel like such a LOOSER! b/c I haven't spent any time much on making my own minis for Round 4 the final round for the year - we're swappin purples and golds... and there are so many super scrumptious, mouth watering cute little 9 patches arriving in the mail each day now... and I'm gonna be lucky if I can get mine own made in time! aak!

uham, swappers, do as I say not as I do! LOL :P b/c I'd so love to have swapped 10 sets each round... but I guess a few is better than none.

I won't go into the whole list of why nots... not b/c I haven't had the time - a I get as many hours in a day as the rest of the world - but the main reason is that I just have been too tired and lazy at night after the kids are in bed.

Somehow, however I'm not too tired to sit down with the computer a few hours each night though. (I'm gonna work on that for 2009) and another reason I feel like a looser is b/c above in the photo of the white/gold/white you'll notice I cut way more than 10... (10 per set) and now I don't have enough fabric left over to make the other segment to finish the extras... SIGH!

I'm pretty sure this FQ came from Granny's Attic - when I went home to KY for Thanksgiving... so hopefully I can email Karen and ask her to take a look at my "closeup" at the top of this post and see if she has any more of it and order it from her.

I love how PINNING MAKES PERFECT :)

These are two of my three yellow sets I made... and although I didn't think I'd make the deadline for making any purples - I did set aside these three fabrics...

and lucky for me I'm still waiting on 5-6 people to mail their packages, I'll go ahead and start cutting and sewing and see if I can get any done before the rest of the swappers arrive.

As soon as everyone else is here, I'll clear off the table and begin the swapping... if my purples are done fine, if not fine. We will be having a POTLUCK / make up due the end of March '09 so what I don't finish now can be swapped later.

Love from Texas!

A Past Due Thank You

I'm so ashamed... I am sitting here, barely able to hold my head up enough to see what it is I am typing...

Why am I so ashamed you wonder.. well I put off and put off something that should have been done a long time before now.. one of my wonderful mini swappers Crazyboutquilts mailed her Round 4 purple and gold minis about a week before Christmas... David had brought in the mail b/c on that day it was too cold for me to leave the house. LOL.. and that night by the time the kids were in bed..I was too tired to open it.

Anyway, I posted on the HGTV board that I had received it but hadn't opened it yet... then a couple days later I did open her minis and guess what she included for little ole me? THIS!

Isn't it so pretty! I think she used one or two Santa tea towels and a folded potholder with a button closure. Gives it a quilted look and doesn't go missing! It actually stays on the oven door handle... believe me the twins have both tested it out ;) I love it and feel especially special that Crazy would make this for little ole me! ;) TY-TY-Thank You Crazy!!!

Edited to add:
and what do you think about the baby view of the towel? LOL I was in the floor for a reason I forget now.. and had the camera.. and thought why not try a pic from this angle. LOL Aaahh, so this is what the babies see when they look up for me and grunt "ILK" "ILK" (how they say milk)

Love from Texas!

From our home to yours..

Since the new fad of 2008 was to "Go Green" we decided to adapt to changing times and instead of mailing cards, we'd send our Christmas Greetings electronically this year. ;) at least this way you get your photo before uham, Easter, *cough, cough* LOL

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family across the miles. :) We hope that where ever you are, you and yours have a blessed Holiday Season. Thank you for being a part of our lives.

We send our love to all of you from Texas!

David, Bonnie, Nora, Olivia and Paul Thomas

Time to put away these shirts..

These are some of the shirts I cut up last month into parts.. now they are folded up pieces ready to be used... one of these days. ;) I still have many more shirts in the tub but they will have to wait for another time. I gotta clear off my table so I can get busy on something else. :)

Anyone else collecting men's shirts for Bonnie's "Scraps & Shirttails" book? Care to show a photo of your shirt stash? :)

Love from Texas!

Sad news..

I received this in an email and just had to share here with all of you... this time of year I just can't help but recall many memories of him.....



Sad news

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainmentcommunity. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infectionand trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebritiesturned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, HungryJack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, andCaptain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as aman who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly inshow business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was notconsidered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-bakedschemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crustyold man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough,Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is alsosurvived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take 4ime to pass it on and share that smile with someoneelse who may be having a crumby day and kneads a lift.


and if you thought that was cute check out this website http://www.pillsbury.com/aall/default.aspx

you can even watch his blooper TV comercials.. and do the Doughboy Dance while your there. Cute. Cute. :c)


Love from Texas!

SNOW Much Fun this morning!

David and I both grew up in Kentucky and we each have lots of memories playing in the snow... but for Nora it was almost doubful she'd ever get to play in snow b/c we live so far south...

But today - guess what we woke up to!!!???! SNOW! I posted lots more photos and story and 3 videos over on our family blog at http://www.minorhappenings.blogspot.com/

Be sure and leave a comment if you jump over there fora visit :) Thanks!

Love from Texas!

STinMT's minis are here

Ok, ssshhhh! Don't tell Nora, but today while she was at school... Hermie and I played with some more mini 9 patches that arrived yesterday from StinMT. She sent 3 sets of each yellow and purple and they were mixed sets... so I pulled out one of each to show.

ooough and just look at this PLAID! isn't is scrumpSHIOUS!? I'm gonna have to grab one of those cuties and save for me! ;c)

Love from Texas!

Four more stirngs have arrived

Forgive me for not remembering who these are from... akk! Actually I drafted this post the day I took the photo but did not write anything in the message part.. and now a few weeks later I forget. I am sure I posted that they arrived over on the HGTV board though.. I hope!

I am so loving these 30's aren't you!? :)

Love from Texas!

Mail Call - oh baby do we have mail!

While we were in KY last week for Thanksgiving our mail was on hold...

it was suppose to resume Monday.. but as usual they were a bit late.

So after a few calls our mail lady showed up yesterday with a crate full of junk mail, bills, magazines, catalogs... and a FEW PACKAGES!!! Both string blocks and minis!!

while the babies napped today, I spent the afternoon opening up each baggie and dealing them out into sets of 10 different... it was fun and relaxing.. and in a few weeks I'll be thankful I set them up as that will help make the swapping go faster. :)

... so did I set up any online bill payments...? naaa! I'll save that for David to do tonight. ;) for me - I went stright to opening the packages first!!!.. aren't these lovely!?!?!

and how about these pictured above... LEFTOVERS!!! whooo hooo! love them!!! Thanks!!!

and more string blocks... man these swappers are really on the ball - I don't remember exactly how many I have now... but several. These are from quiltnanny.. it amazes me how I've collected 1930's fabrics for a few years and I am STILL seeing or rather "meeting" new fabrics when new blocks arrive! :) :) :)

and here are my blocks from KC1930 ...she sent a few more b/c she's one of the FEW swappers I have agreed to swap more than the required 4 blocks with (since we are both 1930's lovers) ;)

again, I la,la,love all of my blocks! I only wish I had a design wall to hang them on as they arrive in the mail so I could enjoy them and look at them and drool over everyday...

Maybe I need to have a talk with Santa about that!! LOL

Love from Texas!

I'm Ready for another road trip

We just got home Sunday after nearly 17 hours driving in the van... *whew*...and here I am getting ready for another road trip.

Well, not a long one, but the twins won't understand once I try putting them in their carseats today... I'm almost certian they will both put up a fight once they see those car seats...

We're going to the USPS (out of town no less) but thankfully it's only a 20 min drive there... I plan to go right after we pick up Nora after PreK today.

and as much as I'd love to VEG out today and do nothing, I'm not gonna let myself do that.

So this morning while the twins napped.. I did this. ===>

packaged up Sunshine Charity Blocks for my friends Califshrimp & Wiley....over on the HGTV board...

mailed more flannel scraps that I found while looking for something else in my sewing room closet. I'm more than happy to shar them with someone who will USE them... I learned last month that "piecing" with flannel isn't "MY" thing... although I do love flannel quilts!

sent a little gifty for JudyL..shhhhh! don't tell her...

and a Thank You gifty for THE Bonnie of quiltville. (love her recent blog entries of the Mt. Dew Tree by the way)

mailed the last of the Blender's Buy in to Susan_TN which I picked up while I was in Kentucky last week and dropped in on Karen at her shop - Granny's Attic :)


and in that tiny lime green envelope - is a little gifty to my cousin who now goes to Western KY University (where David and I went) - Rachael was our flower girl when we married! I found some face tattoos of Big Red - who knows if they will still stick or not... but I think she'll find out soon enough ;)




Love from Texas!

Mail Call - first minis for Round 4 arrived

More Minis have arried today... are you ready for something other than green?? How about.... purple and gold!? ;)

Aren't these purples and golds so bright and pretty.. and look at my helper too... I couldn't resist snapping a few of her today as she sat with me at the kitchen table... her eyes were glowing! I tried to get a closeup but she wouldn't LET me :/

Love from Texas!

Cuffs & Collars

I forgot to mention in my previous post... about the "Cuffs & Collars" Thank you project for Bonnie...

Cuffs and Collars was just a catchy phrase and a sugggested start to have quiltville fans collect to mail to Bonnie the last week of November as a Thank You for her Great BOOK! :) of course any part of your shirts will be accepted and appreciated....

I'm sending in all cuffs and collars along with 1 sleeve of each of my shirts to Bonnie. I know she's Mad for Plaid so this should be a good start to satisfy her cravings to have more and more!

I know it was talked about on the quiltvillechat yahoo group - but I have no idea how many others are participating. Guess we'll find out after Bonnie starts reporting boxes showing up. ;)

Love from Texas!

A Clean Table..

Now that my dining room table is cleared off and all the minis mailed yesterday... it leaves me with a clean slate. I do have 2-3 projects to work on before Christmas but today I wasn't ready to pull it all out.

I just wanted something fast and fun... something to do in about an hour while the babies napped before going to pick up Nora from preschool... ta-da! Here are 9 shirts cut up and folded.. and another 3 cut up but not folded and shown in the photo..

and how about this for a book holder-uper? ;) Of course make sure the iron is OFF!

and since Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville's book Scraps & Shirttails is about Quilting "Green" - look at my greens.... ;) This morning they enjoyed watching Sesame Street in the den. Olivia is the one with big sister Nora's shoes on her hands ;) Paul Thomas closest to the TV - always ready to turn it off and make sister mad :P

I do have plans for these cut up shirts - Even involves a SWAPPING Plans -but no plans to begin until 2009... after my FQ Bingo...and after the Potluck/makeup mini swap.

But for today, it was fun to spend some time cutting them up. I don't know why it took me so long to discover that using the rotary cutter goes so much faster than scissors! :P

Love from Texas!