Fairy Tales & Gnomes

I have always been struck by Fairies, Elves and Gnomes. Of course, after a trip to Denmark, I became truely aware of their presence. Lately, with the help of Tom, http://quiltingandcarving.blogspot.com/ his carvings and his neighbor's children, they have become a daily part of life again.

I know now that those around me have picked up on my love of Fairy Tales. Today, tisme,

http://tismeisme.blogspot.com/ sent me a wonderful book! This will stop all my sewing for the next few days while I read every inch of it!

Tammy, this was a wonderful SURPRISE! There is nothing that I love more then having wonderful books that make me laugh and captures my imagination. With all these pictures, you know I'll have to make a mini Gnome Quilt now!

If you ever wanted to see the inside of a Gnomes home, here it is:

How old are Gomes? This book says there were "caveman" Gnomes.

And of course, long distance travel:

Russian Mini in progress

I am doing a swap with someone internationally. We decided on a theme of places we have vacationed or took a holiday at or places we would like to see. I am doing Russia with it's beautiful St. Basils and Matryoshka dolls.

I started with a photo of St. Basils

I added the dolls on a green background but didn't like it

I also wanted to add the Russian flag which is white, red & blue, but wasn't sure where to add it. I started by removing the dolls and putting them against a blue background. I made points of red and blue and added them to the seam, against the white background to represent the flag. Then the blue border.

I need to do a lot of handwork on St. Basils. It needs a lot of white and green. The "girls" need some additions also. I'm pretty happy with it at this point. I'm thinking I might quilt snowflakes into the white.

Pretty writing paper

Today we are getting rain. I won't complain as long as it's not snow! I do think not having sunshine come in the windows is depressing. But don't ya know it, when the mail comes and it has something special in it, it seems to make sunshine where there isn't any!

Shogun, one of the gals from HGTV who is in my mini quilt swap sent me the nicest letter on the sweetest writing paper. She knows I love birds and there are birds on the top & bottom of this pretty paper. She also sent some wonderful fabric with a red design! Thanks Ali! It was a bright spot in my day.

More progress

I got the second little red log quilt finished all but tacking down the binding and sewing on the buttons. It's the same but a little different then the last one.

I also stuck with the string balloon quilt and am ready to embellish it.


This put a big dent in my to-do's. I am now ready to work on a private swap, 3 gifts need finishing, and kids pillow cases. I also managed to layer one Christmas quilt that has been sitting here for 3 years! Someone asked for the patterns on this quilt so while I had it out, I decided to put it on the - to finish pile. It turned out to be a good weekend!

Balloon String Quilt

This sounded like such a good idea when I decided to cut balloons into a string quilt. These 16 inches have given me nothing but grief, but I am almost there with only 8 half rows to finish and I will finish it. The ripper has been put to good use on this quiltie. I wanted it to look like balloons going over mountains, but it looks like a lake ended up in the middle, oh well.

Next the fun part will be embellishments. My second order of beads arrived yesterday so there are plenty of colors to pick from. YES, that is rays of SUNSHINE streaming across my keyboard....at last!

JUST A HINT OF SPRING

I was so happy when I got home yesterday and discovered my first sign of spring.

My happiness didn't last long. This morning I opened the door to this:

and this

What Robin in their right mind would even try to build a nest here in Western Pa.?

The World is still Good

If I watch too much news on TV or read to many news stories on line it becomes depressing and opens the old question of, "What is the World Coming too?"

Today I had 2 hours to think about this while I was on my way to the Pittsburgh Medical Center to see a special doctor.

I thought about the many people all over the world who are praying for little Rachel http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rachelmiller today who is having brain surgery in Washington, DC. Those who have been praying for Kevin, http://lesliekamm.blogspot.com/, a brain injured soldier and those praying for Little H. who is being treated for cancer in Florida.

My thoughts traveled to Tracy http://scraphappyquilts.blogspot.com/ and her Dad Tom, who sent me a ton of fabric to make pillow cases for ConKerr Cancer for kids. I will be putting 2 of those pillow cases in the mail for little Rachel tomorrow.

I thought about Gina http://quiltinginthevalleys.blogspot.com/ in Wales who is making quilts for injured hero's and the many women I know on HGTV who also make quilts for our hero's.

So many people working together all over the world to help people they don't know.

Then there are the random acts of kindness like Tom, http://quiltingandcarving.blogspot.com/ who is giving his 2 little neighbor girls a wonderful time with his "unseen" knomes. The adventures of these littles ones are just to wonderful.

What got me thinking about all this was George, the fellow who drove me to the Medical Center today. Unusally this trip is done by my son but right now he is in the middle of a B52 project that just can't wait. After waiting since December for this appointment it looked like I might have to cancel it.

I decided to try the area on aging to see if they had transportation to the Medical Center since I have counted on them to take me shopping when my son was out of town. They matched me up with George. He isn't paid to do this although they pay him by the mile for the use of his car and gas. He cheerfully showed up in the dark morning hours, spent the day sitting in the hospital waiting room and held a great conversation all the way to Pittsburgh and back.

Looking beyond Fox News, the World is still good because it's made up of the Tracy's, Tom's, Gina's and Georges'. The people sewing for strangers, those who pray, neighbors who take the time to grow healthy imaginations in our children and those who send gifts to cheer up the sick children of the world.

I'm glad I lived long enough to be a part of the cyber world. To know so many good decent people who share the same values as I do. If I only had a list of stories in the News to go by, I would think the world was rotten, but I would be wrong.