About two months ago, my nephew emailed me asking if I knew anyone who could make a baby quilt for him to give as a baby present to some close friends expecting their first. I volunteered, hesitantly, for two reasons~one is that I have a very important quilt project for a family member that needs to be done by September and the second reason is that I wasn't sure about the fabric or how quickly I would get it from California. It took several weeks to get and then I had to put my thinking cap on. You see, I am a traditional quilter in my choices of fabric and patterns but with this project the fabric was "Alien" themed(yes for a baby quilt) and I needed to find some fabrics to go with it. I chose a very simple pattern, due to lack of time and loved the fabric I choose to go with it. Let me also say, this quilt as all my quilts are, was prayed over throughout the making. Actually, the baby was prayed over. My nephew chose this fabric in case they have a boy but in the end I think it could work as a play quilt for either boy or girl.

I love the back fabric and although you can't really see them, there are gold stars throughout the

blue swirls. The binding had blue polka-dots on it which matched the back perfectly.

My hand quilting was minimal and the entire project was done very quickly due to time constraints but yesterday I got it shipped off and can now concentrate on my next quilt-actually it will be a wall hanging.

On a side note, I have shared how I react badly to mosquito bites and my struggle to find something natural that works; well yesterday at WalMart I was checking out the Cutter sprays and found a wonderful new product: Bite MD-an External Analgesic and First Aid Antiseptic.

This is the first product, other than some creams that don't work for me, that gives insect bite relief. I am allergic to mosquitoes and the bites swell up and itch non-stop but this actually works, which means no more waking up in the middle of the night scratching my arms and legs.

If you have someone in your family who has a bad reaction to bites, please try to locate this-it will make life much more bearable. It can also be used for chigger, wasps and tick bites.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Noreen

Garage Sale Finds

Sunny Monday Greetings to you. I hope you all had a glorious weekend filled with laughter and love. On Friday, hubby and I happened across a garage sale whose sign said Antiques so of course this gal had to stop. The furniture wasn't of interest but when my eye caught these two crocks I had to inspect them. They were marked fairly but we needed to run to the bank first.

We went back the the first crock had quite a crack in it-sounds like me sometimes-a cracked crock- so we made them an offer fifteen dollars less than she was asking and she excepted it. Yippee!!! What is interesting is that my original crock has the number 4, printed in blue ink, and these two also have their numbers printed in blue ink. I'm not sure if all crocks had lettering or words in blue or if this was just a special thing for me.

Our weekend was good but I have to say the Stampede was very disappointing but the blessing in it was that the tickets were free, thanks to our sil, so it wasn't a waste of money. It reminded me of a county fair in that the majority of things were carnival rides and vendors. In fact, our county fair has more than the Stampede does and we've been to rodeos in Tennessee and they had much more. Our family doesn't do carnival rides because many years ago we had a very traumatic situation occur at a county fair when my youngest girl, about 8 yrs old, was in a ride in the row behind me. For some reason the bar holding the children in was not latched and they were not secure when the ride was going higher and higher. There is nothing more terrifying for a mom or dad than knowing, at any time, your child could easily fall out of a ride. I was screaming and yelling for the ride operator to stop the ride and he wouldn't. Thankfully the Lord had His angels watching over the children that day and they weren't hurt; however about that time there was a national investigation on carnival rides due to the people who are hired to work on them, set them up and operate them. From that time on we never went on one again; we do go on rides at Disn*yland and Si* Fl*gs just not on small fairs.

I'm off to mail a baby quilt to my nephew for a friend of his. I will post photos tomorrow but I'm so glad it is done. Now I have to purchase fabric for another very special quilt project I've got planned.

Have a great day!!!!

Hugs, Noreen

Happy Weekend

Happy Friday all, Don't you just love this day of the week; especially those working. Thank you to all my buddies who offered tips on how to prevent mosquito bites-I am going to try several and see if they work out-especially before we head to the mountains next month for camping. We had a great time at our local town concert last night; a different blend of music, African, but we loved it. It was a wonderful warm evening and totally enjoyable with friends and our youngest daughter & family.
Today has started out really warm, yippee!, and after swim lessons I'm not sure what hubby and I have planned. Initially, we had hoped to go to the high places, RMNP, but there is a wild fire so I think we will by pass that idea.
Tomorrow we help a golf buddy celebrate his 70th birthday and that should be a lot of fun. Sunday we are going to the Stampede in a local city-sil got free tickets so I know we'll have a great time. We all love barrel racing and the sights and sounds of a rodeo and since we haven't been to one yet here, in our new state, we are very excited.
Summer has finally arrived in all its glory and I'm lovin it! We even went to our local pool, complete with water slide, for a twilight swim one evening too.
Go out and enjoy the weekend, enjoy life!
Blessings, Noreen

My thankful list today will be a bit different; when I thought about what I wanted to post today something on my leg started to bug me. I knew what I needed to post about-Mosquito's. Really Lord, Mosquito's? Let me explain. I have always had the type of skin or blood that is Mosquito bait; as a child I remember having horrid allergic reactions to bites and scratching them until they bled, just to stop the itching. My bites would swell and become very large-but when you are so skinny and have no fat on your body, any bite looks big. One of the nicest memories I have of my mom is when she took me to the pharmacy and talked to the man behind the counter about what she could do to help me. He explained that there was a B vitamin that, once taken, would emit an odor from your skin and the mosquito's would leave you alone. As I recall, it was either B11 or B12 and sure enough it worked. I still would get a few bites but not feed an entire swarm. In the years since I have searched for any information regarding these vitamins and the benefits but haven't found any. For some reason this year I have become bait again; it may be the change in my diet, I'm really not sure but every time I'm outside I'm being bitten. In the last few years I have gotten leery of using insect repellents so searched for a natural solution. Last year one of our daughters got a natural repellent but I couldn't stand the smell. I looked at Skin-*o-soft products because I remember hearing these worked well. Then I happened upon Burt Bees repellent and although it has a slight smell I can live with it. The problem is that I need it on anytime I'm outside, even just for a minute. When I was grumbling this morning after hitting two thirsty mosquito's on my arm I realized that our Lord created these tiny insects and I'm to be thankful in All things. So today I'm thankful that I can feel the bugs biting me and that even if I have a bad reaction to them I can still feel the itch. I remembered Leprosy and the fact that those afflicted can't feel pain. So Lord, today I am thankful for a pretty health body and the ability to get products that can ward off these pests, unlike parts of the world where people can't. I'm thankful that we don't live in land saturated with pest control being dropped on us from planes-although sometimes I think that might be necessary.

If you have any incredible products/vitamins that work wonders please let me know!

Remember to give thanks in all things.

Hugs, Noreen

For more thankful posts please visit Iris http://www.eph2810.com/thankful-thursday/thankful-thursday-internet-radio/

My Girls

Our littlest granddaughter, Buttercup, is now 3 mos old.

Our youngest daughter with our Buttercup.

Our oldest daughter with little Miss Sunshine....now 7 mos old.

Our girls have always been and will always be my very best friends other than my hubby. They are such godly women, wives and moms and His Love radiates from them. They are better moms than I ever was and I/we are so very proud of them. I don't tell them enough how incredible they are and how much we love them but I hope they know. Our oldest has five kiddos and our youngest has four and let me tell you that even though I was a preschool teacher these little ones have endless energy and our daughters never raise their voices or treat them with anything less than the Lord's love. Some days require a bit more of gentleness and some days require a bit of a firm hand but these children are being raised in love. What a privilege to witness our daughters and their hubby's as they raise their families.

Psalm 144:12 "And our daughters (will be)as corner pillars fashioned as for a palace."

We are so proud of you girls and of your families.

Hugs and love today.

A Few of My Favorites

Happy Tuesday dear ones, I thought I'd share a few more pic's from the garden tours I went on; I absolutely love Poppies-they are so vibrant and seem to scream "Life". Hubby and I are trying to find a garden plan for our back yard thus cutting down the lawn area and like the idea of a dry river bed area. Also, we found this bird house and since hubby makes them with his grandsons for presents, he wanted a photo of this one-isn't it so cute!

Today I began the morning walking about 3 miles with my close friend and was surprised that I wasn't sore at all after yesterday's 8 mile bike ride. I love getting out in the morning and it is so much fun being with someone else to enjoy nature with.

It is so hard to believe that we are halfway through June already and that summer is officially here. I am thankful for another day to walk in His ways, love others and cherish each moment and breath.

Find joy today!

Noreen

Fun, Flowers and Fellowship

Good morning all, I hope your day is starting out on a positive note. Friday I met my two blogging buddies, Marlene and Pam, for a wonderful morning touring some lovely gardens.

Don't you just love the wrought iron bike by the front door filled with flowers~greeting everyone who comes near. I love the little table and chairs and the bowl of Impatients are delightful.

I love Peonies and hope to plant some next year. This table setting was so pretty-we all wanted to sit down and have lunch.

Waterfalls are my absolute favorites and hubby has promised me one here but unless we find a source for large boulders it may be awhile before we have one in our yard.

Pam looks adorable and ready for a picnic lunch.

Here we are, just finishing up the tour and ready for lunch. We had such a delightful time together, as we always do. There is nothing better than spending time with girlfriends. I wish I could just pop on over to your place because I know we'd have a wonderful visit.

Have a blessed week.

Noreen