I meant to add that every year since Kyle was 3 and we built our house down here Sue has been bringing the boys to Florida and every year we have taken a picture of Grandpa and his boys. The older they get the funnier the faces. Where did those sweet little guys go?

Daughter, SIL and 3 boys came up yesterday for lunch and we had a great day. After lunch Sue & I went to downtown Mt. Dora where they were having an antique show right out on the street. They close off quite a few streets and the vendors set up tents, tables, whatever and sell their wares.

We had a good time. One lady was selling great jewellery, very inexpensive. I bought myself a pendant and a bracelet. Sue did the same and then bought a couple for gifts. She is into wire wrapping now so she bought a half a dozen great stones and cords in various colors to go with them. They were great cords with clasp closures and were only $1.00 each.

Then I came across a very nice young gal selling purses made out of cowboy boots. Sounds strange but she makes them using the tops of the boots as she said the tops are covered by blue jeans and are protected. They had beautiful beaded handles that were made to attach to the purse or could be removed and used as a necklace. I kept eyeing the one and we went past a couple of times then Sue said how about if my 3 kids go in together and get you one for Mother's Day and I said great. They are always asking what I want and I never know. I will try and get a good picture of the bag and post it. She lives in the St. Cloud, FL area south of Orlando and her husband is a cattle rancher. Hence she gets a lot of boots in that area. She had decorated the front of the purse with rhinestones but left the bag plain so it can be used either side.

Harv & Jon took the boys for a ride around seeing all the lakes then ended up at a great park and spent a couple of hours. We all went to an Italian restaurant (very family friendly) for dinner. Sue ordered a large pizza for the 3 boys and it was the largest pizza I have ever seen. I said they won't eat that but it was all gone by the time we were finished. Growing boys.

Finished 2 more squares but had a little problem on one when coners would not meet. Was working with black velvet and crinkly black & silver & the mauve fabric. Took it apart about 3 times then gave up and thought that is what buttons and trim are for. The fabric kept fraying and getting smaller. I took a pic of the square with a button sitting at that point then took another with some glitzy black and silver trim strung over it. Which one will it end up being. Maybe neither.

The next block I sewed right in the largest piece of rick rack you have probably ever seen. It came off a t-shirt I bought must have been 20 years ago. Can't believe I ever wore it but never gave it away thinking some day I will pick the rick rack off it and use it. Well this is the day. I showed a pic of part of the shirt with its rows of rr and then a closeup of the rr. If this quilt gets much glitzier it may be appropriate for some madam's boudoir.

Not mine - I am a flannel pj type of gal.

Since the new sun room has a deadbolt lock on the door we leave the sliding glass doors open from morning to night and even overnight sometime. Well I just went to walk out and snap some pictures and walked bam into the glass slider.I must have been ging fast because I felt like I had broke my nose and my big toe on my right foot. Both my sister and grandson have walked into it closed and almost knocked the little guy out. Bent my sister's glasses so wouldn't you think I would put something up there. Now I am going to have a funny looking nose for awhile and it will serve me right. I will try and find a decal so we don't have this happen again.

There was talk on the sil ribbon list about the beautiful lingerie case that Cath K from Utah bought at an antique store. The two large roses are just beautiful and Barbara B and Martha D W both want to try and make these roses. I mentioned that I had purchased from a local shop in Mt. Dora last year a bag that I have no idea what it was for but had such pretty rosebuds on it. It has hand made buttonholes on top where the ribbon goes thru. There was no ribbon so I bought some and then just hung it in my sewing room. I took some pics of it that I will post.

Both son & daughter & families are in Orlando this week so we are going down to Sue;s house and all getting together for dinner. Haven't seen them since Christmas.

We have a group of gals who meet every second Mon. morning in each others home. Some knit, crochet, just chat, quilt, whatever but I am the only cq gal. It was at our house today and we sat out in our new sunroom. Well today I brought out my latest one with the pink sashings and one of the gals really was interested. After everyone else left she came in my sewing room and asked me questions and I could see that maybe I may have a person who may want to try it. Would be great to get a group not just 2 of us but 2 is better then 1.

Carol Kramer from Claremont, FL, Joyce boudreau from Nova Scotia, Canada and is visiting at the Villages for 3 months and then our Willa from Orlando are coming out to have lunch with me on April 1. It is a workday for Willa so she will try to come. The gals are going to bring their projects they are working on so it will be fun just to have the time to sit and chat, etc. Will let you in on any great secrets or projects I hear about after april 1 - he he.

I am posting block 3 and actually have 4 done but did not get the picture taken so will do it tomorrow. I am having fun with these. The colors are growing on me and I picked up a lot of black trims, old black velvet flowers, black rick rack with silver at the flea market sun. Boy I am going to miss that place when we go home in May. I tell myself I have to buy for the next 6 months = good excuse, eh?

I made another block yesterday but unfortunately the camera ran away with the man who ran off to play poker at the club last night. Hence no pictures until today. I was hoping to squeeze in a block every day but I have a late start today so maybe it will be every second day. I am beginning to like these colors. Looking at the calender which I am not following color wise I noticed they actually have a lot of white mixed in and I haven't used a piece of white yet. Maybe off white in laces and trims. I have a lot of black and silver trims so I am sure they will be on there. A few posts back I showed you the lovely beaded lace and metal beads I found at the flea market. Thought of them in bed last night and decided they had better go on there somewhere. Don't know where else I would use them.

I also put a butterfly on this one that is silver rather then the glitter one on the first post. This fabric was black sheer with shocking pink color on the one side. thank goodness I turned it over because there was all silver on the other side. I backed it with black interfacing and it turned out great. I actually like it better then the glitter silver one. I may do half the blocks with one and half with the other or sneak both into some squares. It i such fun to get back into putting squares together. Remind me of this when 6 months down the road I am embellishing and agonizing over what goes where.

I also showed a pic of a sheer black fabric with gorgeous embroidery already on it. The pic does not do it justice. It is very pretty in person. Trouble is to get the whole spray you have to have a very long and wide section.

I have finally started on the butterfly quilt from the Piecemakers 2009 calender. I put together fabric and trims and brought them to Florida and now it is almost time to go home (end April) I have finally started on it.

Linda from Nova Scotia who has a blog: http://www.threadsoflove.blogspot.com/ made a comment that she too has been wanting to start the same quilt but the darkness of it was scaring her off. I went to her blog and left a comment that I felt the same way. She kindly came back to me suggesting I add some glitzy type fabrics to brighten it and take away the sombre look.

I made one block this afternoon and used a couple of grays, a few different type mauve and a couple of black pieces and had the glitter butterfly fabric in the middle. I have drawn up the first 12 squares and will have a glitzy butterfly as one of the pieces on each. I would like to put all 12 together before I start embellishing if I can hold off that long or if my back holds out for that much sewing. I allowed a good couple of inches around the muslin and still I went pretty close in a couple of spots. Can fix that later if need be. I cut my squares down to 10" instead of 14 as I did not want it that big. Of course this meant all the triangles, etc. had to be re-cut to fit the 10" so my sweet hubby (math guy) helped me figure them all out.

Go visit Linda at her blog as she has some beautiful gold blocks she has been working on.

Both my son and daughter from the Chicago area are coming in for spring break. My son arrives Sat. to Sat. and Sue arrives Tues to Tues. They are both renting houses in the Kissimmee area near all the attractions. The houses they rent are well worth the money. They are usually 4-5 bedrooms, 3-4 bathrooms, heated swimming pool and jacuzzi, plus garages turned into game rooms and free internet including a computer. Sues even has free international and local phone calls. It is owned by a British couple hence the free intern. We will go down and see them for a day and they will probably come up here for a day. It is a win win situation all around. We get to see them all summer once we are home. I should mention they each have 3 growing children.

I don't know if anyone remembers but at the Super Bowl Universal Studios advertised to watch the commercials as they were going to offer something. Well Harv was sitting right in front of his laptop watching the game and they came on and said the first 100,000 people to email would receive a free 2 day pass good for 7 days. I had told Sue about it and she emailed and both Harv and her were lucky. Her pass arrived yesterday just in time to come down and Harvs arrived today. So if they go they will only pay for 4 instead of 5. It is so expensive and they have come down every year since we have built our house that they don't go all the time. Seaworld seems to be Sue's favorite and I think Mike likes Universal. Disney is old stuff now to the boys and Jenny. Harv and I will wait until spring break is over and maybe even until the fall. It is good for 1 year I believe.

I also must mention that I received my book of postcards from Jo in New Zealand today. It is really special and a great guide for help in stitching. She does such beautiful work. I believe she is thinking of book 2 already so don't lose out on book 1. Order today if you want it.

No pics to show today but just a bit of this and that. I went to a Michaels store today and found quite a few things I was looking for plus (as always) quite a few things I wasn't but they followed me home. I did find a nice little metal stand for my new photo album shown below and a darling little birdbath with 2 birds on the edge only about 4x 5 or so. thought it would look good with a couple of small Easter eggs or even better how about some Easter candy. That would work. I was armed with a 50% off coupon off the computer, actually printed out a few, but when I got to the cash register I had bought one of the Somerset new mags and at the end gave her the coupon to use on the 9.99 mag and she said Michaels will no longer let you use coupons for magazines. I wouldn't have bought it if I had known that. I bought 2 new ones at JoAnns last week and they were 40% off. I don't know if any of you have noticed but quite often JoAnns has a sign up 10% off magazines so you can't use coupons. WalMart discounts 10% on every mag or book so you better check before you pick up books at JoAnns that you wanted to use coupons on.

I also went into a Ross store. For people like me in Chicago that do not have them Ross is a discount store like Marshalls or T.J. Maxx - 2 of my other favs. I found a summer frilly blouse and a new black skirt so have a nice summer outfit to take back to Chicago. Believe it or not I have not made a clothing purchase since last summer and that is unusual for me. I decided to make due and start wearing the clothes hanging there already. We used to live that way and it is about time we stopped spending for no reason and make do with what we have.

A little history here in the clothing line. I was the youngest of 3 girls in my family. My Mother used to sew for us when she had time and someone gave her a peach-rose colored wool and she made 3 identical coats with brown velvet collars and bought us brown velvet hats for our Easter outfits.
Well guess who wore the same colored coat for what seemed like a lifetime.
Then I am sure they were passed down to a cousin or friend with a younger child. I have a picture of me in one of the coats that I should look up when I get home and put on line.

Hugs

I was back to my favorite Sun. morning flea market and found this old photo album. The cover just grabbed me and when I opened it up it was just full of picures. Some pics have the name of the photographers studio and address and I was tickled to see that some were from Toronto where I came from, one from Picton, Ontario also for my Canadian readers and some were from Rockford, IL which is just north of Chicago near the Wisconsin border. The rest seemed to be in the upstate New York area. The clasp is broken but the cover was so pretty I couldn't resist it. I have to get to a Michaels or somewhere to find a stand to fit it. I also took a few pics of the people photographed in it. One handsome young man, an elegant couple and a young boy. That one reminded me of a picture of my Father as a young boy in Ireland with the same knickers and high top boots except he had his dog laying at his feet. I took a pic of the album and a close-up of the two children on the front cover. Right now I have it leaning against a little screen on my bakers rack I bought for outside in the sunroom. I will post a couple of pics of it and the rack. The room is just about complete because we had almost all the furniture and the only thing I bought was a table to go beside one rocker and I also found a lamp Sunday with a 3 way switch for $5.00 and a lampshade for $1.00. Love those flea markets. I am gong to take the shade to JoAnns and buy a small trim to go arond the top and bottom to cover the tape. It is just a white plastic shade but will do.

I did make it to JoAnnes today and once I hot glue the trims on will take some pics outside.

I can't believe I have gone this whole week without blogging. Mainly because I have been working outside re-landscaping around the new room and adding some new things to the front. I am not a Florida gardener as such but am already thinking of my garden at home. What will be the first things up. My daughter usually tells me Mom you have to come home things are starting to pop. I have 3 bleeding heart bushes, 2 pink and one white and they are usually covered with flowers early May when we get there. I think because I garden a lot at home that by the time I have put it to bed in Oct. I have had enough and am happy to just take things as they come in Florida. I do have a lot of orchids that maybe you have seen in past posts and really enjoy flowers in the house. I used to buy flowers every week and put them around until I discovered an orchid for 2 for $5.00 at the flea market would last for 2-3 months once opened. I have a few rose bushes that I can usually coax a flower or two off to put in bud vases. In fact I just planted 3 Double KnockOut rose bushes. I think they are new (at least to me this year). The flowers are double like a regular rose and the bushes are more compact and they say more bloom per bush. We will see how they do. I have the KnockOut ones in Chicago and they do tend to get a little leggy so these mnight be a better option. They say they only grow to 3' at the most. Will let you know.

I took part in Judyth's motif swap and mailed them off today. I did some punchneedle flowers, tatted hearts and wreaths. I also threw in some of the beads I had made previously as a little extra with the tatted pieces. I will post some pics I took yesterday before I packed them up.

I finally sewed the 3 sections together today with the sashings. I decided that the 2" sashing dividing the panels needed a little definition so I put the cording as a dividing line between the pink edges and the panels. It did help. I have not put the cording around the whole thing yet which I intend to do and did pin on a piece of antique tatting on the top and decided not to put one on the bottom. I am going to cut the bottom sashing off to be the same size as the sides. The tatting is a piece from a beautiful but old tatted tablecloth from the flea maket and it was round so I carefully cut each round off and they were all different. The very centre I used on the purse I made and auctioned at our Qesters auction. It was shown on an earlier post. The only thing is there is a dark discolored mark from age and I wonder if it shows up too much or if that is just a part of cq. Finally I think I am going to sign up for a photo class because my pictures are not very good. I did everything but stand on my head to take what I will show here and the colors are not good. It was a dismal rainy day outside so had to do them inside. It is hard with large pieces.

I am also going to show a Florida picture my husband took Fri. afternoon while fishing. Two odd bedfellows

Blogger would not let me post pics last night so I gave up and the sun was out today. I pinned the end of the hanging around a dowel and held it up while my hubby took a couple of pics. Of course I was hanging it upside down so turned them on the computer so it really looks like I am standing on my head. I think they are brighter then yesterdays. I will go try now to upload them. Also I took a pic of the cording on the seam and tried to get a good shot of the old tatting.