The last day of 2011

Welcome to the last day of 2011.  Here in East TN the sun is shinning, the clouds are blue, the clouds are puffy white. The temp is near 60, and I saw a Robin in the front yard this morning. All signs of spring!  What a great way to end the year!  

I hope each of you is spending the day doing what you like to do best. If you are not able to be doing that I hope you are making the best of what you are having to do and take care of today. 

I hope you stay safe tonight in your celebrating of the New Year. I know some of you from around the world are already into the new year, and hope it was a safe one for you. 

While the new year as a whole is something exciting to look forward to as a whole with big plans, hopes and dreams, we will wake up in the morning to just a new day and we realize we can make the plans, dream the dreams and have the hopes but we still take one day at a time. With each new day I wish for you to be one step closer to all your plans, hopes and dreams. 

My plan for the new year is to learn more about quilting, share more about what I learn with you. I hope to grow the business and hope that you come along for the ride. 

Have a great day/eve/night and...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Reflecting

Christmas day is past, but I am sure some have yet celebrated it, or finished celebrating it this year.

We will finish on Thursday with a dinner at my daughter and son in law's with his family. 

Then next weekend the Christmas decorations will come down and be stored until next year. 

Today, though I am taking time to reflect over the past year and all that I have accomplished.  A lot of what I have done is thanks to my wonderful family who supports me and encourages me to keep going, keep doing, keep being creative and to keep reaching out to try new things. 

Another part of what I've been able to get done this year is in thanks to all my quilting friends and customers. Without them I'm not sure where I'd been in the quilting world right now. 

In the midst of your busy lives this week I hope each of you is able to take at least a few moments to reflect over the past year. I know there are some who have gone through some rough times, some tragic times, health issues, work issues, relationship issues and more. We have all also had times of good times, new jobs, new family members, new creations, new friends, old friends found.  

To those we've lost - may we remember them with laughter and fond memories.

To those we have gained into our lives as family members - what a joy. 

To those we have gained into our lives as new friends - welcome.

To those we have gained back into our lives from years past - a warm embrace long over due. 

To those that have entered our lives due to a mutual hobby, craft or business, i.e. quilting, may we continue to stitch our lives into a tight weave that never unravels. 

I wish for you all the best final week of 2011. May we look forward to 2012 with great expectation, great plans, and hope and prayers for a better year. 

Phyllis

Merry Christmas

                                                                   

Merry Christmas everyone. 

May you have a wonderful day with family and friends, cherishing old memories and make new ones. Following old traditions and creating new ones. 

May God Bless. 

Phyllis

Merry Christmas Eve and Day

Merry Christmas eve and day to all who may stop by my blog.  I appreciate each and everyone of you. You drop in from all around the world. Even from places I've never heard of before. I am still amazed at how technology has made it so those we never would have had the chance to meet (even just via the internet) are sometimes the ones we are in touch with each and every day. 

To those who have become customers of Quilter's Pantry, I also say thank you. 

To those who have offered help, suggestions, asked questions, or provided leads for me Thank you too. Without you all I wouldn't be for you.

This Christmas I will be spending it with my wonderful supportive husband, our daughter, her husband and his parents and other family. It will be a first for all of us being together and I'm looking forward to starting new traditions.  Old family traditions sometimes just don't work anymore due to situations and circumstances, the miles that separate families and it becomes time to start new ones.  Yet we leave open the opportunity to return to the older ones when circumstances and situations allow, maybe blending the old with the new. 

We have other family members who are unable to join us. My son is in the Army and will be with his wife and daughter. I wish they could be with us, but am glad they at least can all be together.  My son is in training and away from home for the most of the next 8 months or so. 

Our other children are also out of state and we won't see them until Feb. 

I wish for each of you a wonderful Christmas time. Whether you are with a large family, a small family or all alone I hope you find joy in the day, in the celebrations and in the good memories of past Christmases.

God Bless. 

Phyllis

Time for a break to say hello

Taking a moment to say hello to all during this busy season. So much to do and get done, time seems to fly and without realizing it days have passed us by.

 I know many who still have last minute gifts to make or buy. Then to wrap them all. Baking all the cookies and sweets for family and friends, Christmas parties to attend, Special services at churches, special events going on. Then the planning and attending all the family gatherings.

Take time this season to remember the reason we have this Christmas season.  Far too often we get caught up with what it has become and forget the real meaning.

Enjoy your time with family and friends. If you are like me you don't get to see some of your family as often as you would like. Cherish the moments you have.

  These are a few of the Christmas ornaments I have made this year.  They are quick and easy to make. 

These are a few of the Christmas ornaments I've made this year.  Quick and easy to make. Then the bead work takes a little bit of time, but something you can do while sitting watching TV, or on lunch break at work.  Plan to make some more for next year but add different accessories and bead work to them.

Have a great rest of the week.

Phyllis

Christmas thoughts

In 10 days Christmas will be here and then be gone.

The bright lights and decorations on the Christmas trees and the inside and outside of homes and businesses for miles and miles around will all be turned off, taken down and put away. The

The extra time we found over the last two months to spend with family and friends, the extra hours in each day we found to shop for that special gift or two or three for each person on our Christmas list will somehow disappear.

The extra food we ate will be forgotten in a little while as we return to our normal eating habits and kick off the New Year with new plans and new and improved habits (which will be forgotten within a month or two).

We will file in the back of our minds the heartfelt Christmas movies we watched on TV that only come out during this time of year. They touch our hearts, bring a tear or two, and make us thankful for what we are blessed with.

As I sit here with the lights from the tree reflecting in the window, and a Christmas movie playing on the TV, I think of how we all look forward to Christmas. We rush around, we stress about getting things done in time, and we hope that the gifts we are going to give will be appreciated. We sing Christmas carols that we only hear once a year, but we know all the words as soon as they start to play for the season.  We count the days until Christmas. First thinking it is far away, then that it is too close and we are not ready and then suddenly that it will all soon be over for another year, and just another memory.

As we grow older we often have family and friends who are no longer with us to share the joy of Christmas. We find ourselves in moments of silence, of being lonesome, of missing them and wishing they were here. We share stories of our past, of our childhood memories when Christmas was magical. We realize that the stories are more about the family and friends and less about the gifts you received. And even the gifts we do remember getting as children seem to be surrounded by fond memories of special times with the person who gave them to us or the story behind the gift.

Christmas -It IS a magical time of year. It is a time when 24 hours in a day somehow allows us to get more done; a time when we reach out, give more, share more, and enjoy more. It is a time of memories; a time of traditions, old and new. It is a time of love; family; and friends.

I wish for each of you a Very Merry Christmas. May you take the time in the hustle and bustle of the season to reflect on the true meaning of the season.  Take time to enjoy the special moments past and present.  And if you have lost someone special this year may you remember them in laughter, in joy, in fond memories and in love.

--- Phyllis ---

More Christmas decor I've decorated or have on display.

These are part of my Santa collection. I painted all of these.

Some of my decor. I didn't paint these, but my son did paint the saw blade (wooden) when he was little.











More to come......

Christmas Ornaments I made, or decorated, from years past

These are some of the Christmas tree ornaments I've made, or decorated. Some are plaster pieces I painted, some are wooded pieces I wood burned or painted, some are polymer clay.

I will add more pictures over the next few days.

Have a great day.

Phyllis

A Soldier's Prayer wall hangings

 

A Soldier's Prayer Wall hangings.  

I made these two which can be purchased as a pair or separately. 

These are on display at a local restaurant that carries some of my work.

December 9th and Mom's quilt for Daddy

67 years ago today my parents were married. Their love story is a memorable one the way the used to tell it.  They met while Daddy was on a short leave from the Army. He went with a friend of his to visit other friends and that is when he met Mom.  They wrote letters to each other from that day forward. (Don't recall how long it was- maybe a year? ) until in December he came back to visit Mom. He told her he was getting married!  She asked who he was getting married to, and he said,"You!"  She had three days!

They got married while he was still on leave, Mom moved from MA to NY to live with his parents while he returned to serve in the Army. They later moved to PA.

9 months later my sister was born. 

10 years and 9 months later I was born.

A lot of history, a lot of stories happened over the many years they were together. They are both gone now, Daddy in 1979, Mom in 1990. I miss them and think of them every day. 

Both were very talented. Daddy was artistic, Mom was a seamstress. I think I inherited some of my talent from each of them. My sister also inherited the artistic talent!

I know Mom would be proud that after many years of not sewing a stitch I now am not only sewing again, but have my own quilting company!   She only made one quilt in her life and I helped her make it when I was 10.  I still have that quilt, made from all the scraps (stash) she had saved from all the clothes she made us.  Wools and tweeds on one side and cottons on the other. She didn't put any batting in between and she tied a few of the corners just enough to hold it all together.  Daddy loved it because it was heavy.

I look at the quilt now, and see the wear and tear, the stains, the rough spots that have joined the beauty and to memories of all the fabrics. I still remember some of the clothes she made with those same fabrics.

I wish for you today and always a lifetime of treasures, memories of times long ago and a future of new treasures and memories we all can make for our families. 

----Phyllis ----

Welcome to December

A busy, busy time of year for all.  Our homes to decorate, tree to put up and decorate, gifts to buy or make, Christmas cards to get sent out, cookies to make, parties to attend (or even paln), events that the kids are taking part in, parades, gift shows, craft shows, the Christmas schedule to organize to fit is all in. And on top of all that we still have to work! 

Whew!

How do we all do it?

This year I hope we all are able to take some time and just relax and breath.

That one card you forgot to send can be forgiven.
That 'must have' gift for someone that you have gone all over town looking for --- can wait.

That one last type of cookie to make -- stop, you've already made plenty.

The house isn't perfect. The tree stands lopsided. The gifts are wrapped, but not fancy like you used to do.  It's all O.K.

And speaking of relazing and breathing --- that will have to wait for me.  I have to run.  LOL 

Have a great day and I'll be back with you all soon.