Welcome home, hero!!

We loaded up the car early last Wednesday and drove to North Carolina. West Texas to North Carolina. I will spare you the details of how grueling and devastatingly long THAT took.

After a flight around the world from Afghanistan, The Marine was scheduled to be back at Camp Lejuene around noon on Friday.

They had a welcome area set up in a maintenance bay on the base. Lots of eager family and friends waiting for their soldiers!How precious is that little guy waiting for his daddy?


Blonde rascal was anxiously awaiting his brother's arrival too...
There was some cool machinery and things that go boom for us to look at while passing the time.

Some brass walked around and met the families and thanked us for letting him borrow our son.That was pretty nice, we thought.


They told us the bus was on its way. They had to stop first at the armory to turn in their guns (thank goodness) and then go to medical and get blood drawn. Finally that was done and here they came.

I couldn't help snapping a picture of this little girl in her cute dress...obviously waiting for her daddy.

The bus pulled in.......and I could not help snapping another picture, that little girl's daddy was the first one off the bus.SO heartwarming, even though I did not know these people. That started my tears flowing!


At last after nine tough months, there was the face we had been hoping and praying to see again!Ahhhh....Thank God!


He grabbed his bags.......and we were out of there. We really did ask if we could help carry anything!
Blonde rascal did strap on one back pack.

I was a little scared to touch anything....The Marine affectionately called what we were smelling "the smell of deployment"....it was strong to say the least!

That didn't stop blonde rascal from trying on a few things!



We enjoyed getting to spend the weekend with him. He had some incredible pictures and even more incredible stories. It is somewhat amazing that any of them come out of it alive. Keep praying for those brave men and women over there still fighting for us!

Feels good to sleep peacefully again now that he is safe. Feels good to be out of the dang car too!!! No more road trips for me any time soon!

Month 3 of "2010 The Year of Quilts"

I started January off by making 2 quilts. An easy, easy pattern that has jumped to the top of my favorite quick quilt patterns.

Aunt Gay tipped me off to this pattern, it is a spin on a Wrapping Paper Quilt pattern.In a nutshell... you cut strips varying between 2" and 4". Adhere fusible batting to your backing. The stroke of genius is that as you sew your strips together, you sew them to the backing. Poor explanation I know, but what it boils down to is you are quilting as you attach your strips. Makes for a fast, cute quilt!


I made two for my new twin nieces, Hadley & Isabelle!

The backing of this one was too cute... cowgirls.



I also made a wall hanging for their nursery.

It was super quick and so fun. I don't have much need to sew girly stuff at my house, so I love the opportunity to make girl gifts!


In February, I finished my parent's Christmas present. Sadly, I DO mean their Christmas 2009 present!!!! Ridiculous I know, but they are my parents so they love me anyway!


I had all the blocks completed for this quilt, it was a 2008 $1.00 a month club at my LQS. Then came 2009 and moving/starting a new business....who has time to quilt through all that. The center block was a huge ornate applique. I think that is what made me put this quilt on hold, I knew the applique would take forever.


To remove some stress from my quilting life, I determined that the applique center was not needed! Not a pattern I would normally choose, but oh what I learned. Some of these blocks were very challenging, which greatly boosted my confidence as a novice quilter.


Now I have only one U.F.O. (unfinished object) in my sewing stash. It is going to be a Christmas present....a 2010 present thankyouverymuch!

I do have quite a few projects to start (AND finish!), waiting patiently on my newly organized quilty shack shelves. I plan on making a dent on those in 2010. If I do one a month, whew I'll be in good shape. Then I can buy more fabric in 2011!! Sounds like a plan, a good plan.

The Quilty Shack

The Quilty Shack is organized!! What a feat. I spent a lot of time last weekend cleaning it out.

The previous owners built the shack before they put the house on the market, so it still feels new. (Same thing with the pool, put in the summer before we bought the house. Wish they would have waited and NOT done that!! Bloody pool.)

Back to the shack. Previous owner wife ( very young couple, cute, cute girl...and interestingly enough we are in the same Sunday School class with her parents and have become really good friends with them. Love this small town.) Anyway, wife cuts hair. They adopted a sweet baby girl and she didn't want to go to the salon anymore, so they built the shack so she could cut hair at home.

Here it is when we viewed the house for the first time....
I was sold.

Yep, that's blonde rascal. Making himself at home. I am pretty sure he helped himself to a gumball or something too.

When we first moved, of course it was a disaster because I took the contents of my sewing room in the old house and DUMPED it. I was so thrilled with the delight of having my own free standing little sewing room, that I "cuted" it up and wanted it to be all sweet and cozy. Then I worked on a quilt or two and realized that the SMALL sewing room needs to be waaaayyy more functional than cute.

So, I paired down the furniture that was in there and added a little more storage space. Now, I just love it. Want to marry it.

Welcome! Come in....

This is the wall on the right when you walk in...See, function is more important than cute.


I did manage to squeeze in some cute. A favorite antique that now holds crafty supplies...

Topped with a sweet saying a dear family friend made when B.R. was born. A cute pic of baby B.R. and a pic of The Marine and I at Disney World 13 years ago. Not to mention my favorite Willow Tree piece, which my dear M-I-L gave me.Ohhh and one of my favorite childrens book...The Quiltmaker's Gift. Darling story.



I took some old Singer instructional books that belonged to hub's grandmother and framed the covers.


I also now have a roomie.

It's Jingles and he is man enough to sit on my pink shag rug.


Jingles and Val, RIP, were our house cats at our old house. When we moved to this house, and there was no ideal litter box spot, so both cats got moved to the big insulated barn.

Then when Val went to the big litter box in the sky two weeks ago, we could not leave lonely Jingles in the huge barn by himself. So he became a resident of the Quilty Shack.
I got a groovy chair at the junk store ($5 thankyouverymuch) and threw an old quilt over it for Mr. Jingles.

This is the space behind the door to the left.Hubs built a window seat for Jingles. Awwwww.


There is a tiny little bathroom.
I found a cute picture (duh, at the junk store) for the bathroom.

Remember these pegs from my last $5 a bag trip to the junk store?
BAM! A coat of spray paint.The Quilty Shack also serves as a pool house in the summer. (Bloody pool)

I remember this shelf hanging in my childhood house.My Dad brought it to me when they last visited, knowing how I like old stuff. Then he told me he made it!!! I never knew that. So now I love it even more. The book on the shelf, "Brookie and Her Lamb" is a book that my Mom read to my brother and sister when they were little. She decided that, if they ever had another baby and it was a girl, she liked the name Brooke. Well guess what...I came along a few years later and I am Brooke (or still Brookie to my Mom!). We found the book on Ebay a few years back. Anyway, quick shot of spray paint to the shelf and pink knobs, good to go.

My sewing corner.
Projects waiting to happen....
Cutting and ironing area...The old wooden ironing board also belonged to hub's grandmother.



My one true love...
The Pfaff. Sigh. My sweet Aunt Gay made the "sewing machine place mat", if you will. Hard to see in the picture but it has clear little pockets in the front.....perfect for my seam ripper and Carmex! Love it.

Best part about sitting at my sewing machine is the view....I can look out at the pool....wait for it....bloody pool. I look at it and dream I am on vacation, looking at a sparkly pool, a pool owned and maintained by someone else!!


Here is the front of the quilty shack now, in all its winter dreariness. I painted the door. Need a cute bench or something AND some flowers. It is all on the list.
For Mother's Day I want a screen door... a slamming, wooden screen door. That would be perfect for the quilty shack, right?

There it is in a nutshell, my heaven on earth! Come and visit!

Peace out and meow.