Charlee, My Special Companion

Let me introduce you to my Charlee. She is a Welsh Pembroke Corgi, one of the best dog breeds there is. I got her when she was 13 months old and she has been my constant companion for 12 years now. We have traveled to many states together. She really isn't that fond of traveling, but does fine as long as she is wearing her doggie seat belt. I had seen pictures of the Corgi breed with Queen Elizabeth for many years and thought how cute they were. You really didn't hear much about this breed here in the US until not too many years ago. I really became infatuated with them when I became a follower of Tasha Tudor. If you don't know who she was, she was a children's book illustrator and she was also known for her way of living and gardening. There is a lot of information about her on Google. Her family also has a lovely website you can visit, just go to tashatudorandamily.com

Here is a picture of Tasha and her corgyn

 





And here are a couple of pictures of her artwork with corgi's:

There are three color's of the Pembroke Corgi, sable (Charlee is a sable), red and tri color, which is black, red and white. These little guy's are very smart and fun to have around. If you look at them straight on they look like they are smiling, I love that!!

Charlee, my husband and myself are getting ready to make a trip back to Arkansas to see my brother, who is in the hospital and just found out that he has cancer. I am asking for prayers for him. Thank you!!

Until next time.....
Blessings to All

Catching Up

Hi, well it has been a very long time since I have written anything here! My how the time fly's!! 
To begin with, we did get our place in the country and are loving it!! There was a lot to do when we bought this place, and we have gotten some major things done, but still have more to do. We had a bad storm with high winds and hail a few weeks ago, so we had our roof inspected and sure enough we have damage. So, we are getting a new roof! We had talked about wanting a metal roof and now we are going to get one. We have chosen the dark green color, should look really nice.
Next, I had a hip replacement in June of this year. It had gotten to the point that I wasn't able to get much done, so decided to go ahead with the surgery. I am so thankful that I did! Doing really good now.

Here it is Fall already! This is my favorite time of the year. I love the nice cool and crisp mornings and evenings. Halloween is just around the corner, time to start decorating.

I need to go down to the barn and bring up all of my decorations. I did get a door hanging up that I made several years ago. It is one of the patterns I designed when I had my pattern co.

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This brings me to what I am doing now, along with making quilts for clients. I have had an Etsy shop for a few years, I started it out with offering Tea Cozy's. I haven't offered anything new for quite sometime, so I have decided to open it back up and add some more items for sale. I just listed a really cute Halloween Wall Hanging, it is a 'Halloween Countdown Calendar' that has 13 pockets for candy. Of course it would only count 13 days before Trick or Treat day.

I invite you to go on over to my little shop and check it out. fabraholic4.etsy.com  My mom left me a lot of fabric, mostly calico's from the 70' and 80's, in all different colors. I will be offering some of these fabrics in my shop soon. They are all in like new condition, she had them packed away very nicely.

I am looking forward to getting back to blogging again and hopefully making some new friends.

Have a blessed day!

New Quilt Top

Yesterday I made my first Turning 20 quilt top. They go really fast and are fun to make. These were popular a few years back, however I just never got around to trying one. I needed a quick gift so in my search for patterns I came across the Turning 20 quilt book. Perfect!! I did have to get more fat quarters to make it look right. When they say 20 different fabrics or fat quarters take it to heart because it really works much better that way. I tried to double up on a few fabrics and it really didn't look quite right. Here is a picture of the top.

 

 

 

My day quilt guild is meeting on Thursday so plan on taking it to a quilter then. I need it ready to give as a gift on May 18th! Wish me luck!!

 

I have decided to offer sewing space for quilters to come sew at my studio. I am located in a small town only 20 to 30 minutes away. I have had some ladies ask about doing this, so am going to give it a try. Sometimes it is easier to get much more accomplished away from all of the distractions of home.

 

Spring has finally sprung here. The flowering trees & tulips have been beautiful!!

 

 

 

My granddaughter took the above picture of these beautiful pink and white tulips. I love tulips, sure wished they lasted longer. Another favorite flower of mine is the Iris, they are putting out buds now, so it won't be long now before they will be blooming.

 

Blessings to All,

Jan

 







A Place in the Country??

Good Morning,  My dream for years has been to have a small place in the country where I could have my horses, chickens and goats. A lovely flower and vegetable garden and to live a peaceful, simple life.  Well, my husband and I have finally found the perfect place! We have made an offer and are now in the waiting process to see if we will get it or not. I want to get excited, but am controlling myself until we know for sure. The waiting is terrible!! Hopefully we will know this week for sure. We have been saying prayers and keeping our fingers and toes crossed. :-) If we are fortunate enough to get 'our place' we will be the happiest two people around! It will be a dream come true to be able to have my horses right there with me and too finally have my own chickens. BTW two chickens come with the place.

Would love your prayers. Hopefully I will have some pictures to come of our new home.

Blessings to All,
Jan

Great Day With A Good Friend

Today I met with a good friend and we had a wonderful day of sewing (on our clients work), had lunch, cups of tea, planned a new quilt for just the two of us and then ran to the fabric store to purchase the fabric for the background of our new quilt. As always we talked and talked and laughed. Neither one of us had anything heavy to discuss, just a nice relaxed time together. We figured out that we had met 14 years ago, and through our love of quilting and sewing became friends right away. I feel very blessed that over the years we have become very good friends. She has always been there for me and has seen me through some pretty tough times and shared in some really fun, wonderful times. In my opinion she is the definition of a true friend.
I have read that if you can say you really have one good, true friend in your lifetime, that is really good; well I have been blessed with two people that fall into that category. My other dear friend lives miles away from me now, but I know that I can pick up the phone at anytime, after not talking for awhile, and it is like we have talked everyday. She is always there for me and accepts me just the way I am. Wow! She can always make me laugh, even in trying times, and she will cry with me too. She too, is my definition of a true friend.
I am truly thankful for these two amazing friends in my life.

My hope for everyone, is that each of you do have that special friend (or friends) in your life.

Blessing To All,

Jan

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Pretty Horse Quilt Top

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Pretty Horse Quilt Top: Hi, it's been a few days since I have posted! My, how the time fly's by, fast . I went into the quilt store, where I used to work, ...

Pretty Horse Quilt Top

Hi, it's been a few days since I have posted! My, how the time fly's by, fast.
I went into the quilt store, where I used to work, the other day to deliver some quilts for a friend of mine. They had just gotten in a beautiful panel of horses with the coordinating fabrics, which I fell in love with. Well, the assistant manager came over and asked me if I would like to make a sample for the store out of it. Of course I said "yes". The policy of the shop is if you make a store sample, they provide all of the fabric and after they are done showing it,it is yours. Yea! I took the top in yesterday and they were very pleased with it.
The pattern that went with the fabric made up very long and narrow, which I wasn't fond of. So, I added a fabric and adjusted the borders to make it wider. Well, the first attempt didn't turn out very good, just didn't like it. Here is a picture of the first one.

The lighter border on the outside and the dark border just on the sides just didn't look 'right', made it off balanced.

Here it is after I took off the last two borders and rearranged them. Looks much better, don't ya think.

Now, back to work. Making a T-shirt quilt for a lady to give to her son for a High School graduation gift. Got to get it done so she can get it to the quilter, then back to me so I can get it bound.

I am still working on the double wedding ring repair job too. Wow, lots of hand work on that one!

Blessings to All,

Jan