The Day After Christmas

Only 364 days to go!

A Very Merry Christmas!

To all my dear friends and especially those who read my blog, 

Merry Christmas!

 May the Spirit of Christ dwell with all of us.

I will be back after the New Year. Have a lovely week, my friends.

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 1 Day to Go

Here I am on Christmas morning just as I see my presents!
My sister is hovering in the background.

Christmas Eve dawns and sleepy little children wake with excited anticipation. One More Day. They stare at the chimney thinking of Santa coming down it that very night. They examine the wrapped presents under the tree. This day will be one of the longest in their year.

I remember when I was 6 or 7, I found a bit of black rubber on the bricks by the fireplace. I was entranced! Santa had lost a bit of his boot on our fireplace! I danced around as I showed everyone my amazing treasure.

Here is Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians singing “Christmas Was Meant for Children.” We had this album (when there were albums!) that we played on our Hi-Fi. It was one of the three Christmas albums we owned. It played through every year of my youth.



Christmas is for all of us. Here are two videos about the beauty and worth of Christmas.

The first is one made by artists who are very popular on YouTube. The most important part was to share the joy of Christmas.  

The other goal was to set the record for the largest nativity ever made. It has 1039 people in the video. In the video notes it said: “All angels in the final nativity formation are real, NOT computer generated. No angels were added or subtracted.” 




The second video is a “follow-up,” if you may, of the video.




May the Spirit of Christmas bless your house this day and tomorrow.

Christmas Carol Countdown: 2 Days to Go

This morning, my mind wandered back to what would have been happening in Galilee 2,014 years ago. Mary and Joseph would be traveling to Joseph’s home city: Bethlehem to pay taxes to Rome.

Mary, being pregnant, is riding a donkey. How uncomfortable that would be, being ready to deliver the baby and plodding on a donkey. On a dusty road with many, many others heading in the same way for the same purpose.

What thoughts must Mary have at this time, knowing who her baby would be? Joseph must have been trying so hard to make Mary as comfortable as possible.

On the way to Bethlehem…to the greatest event that the Israelites had been waiting for centuries.

Sissel is a Norwegian singer with an international following. She has such a clear and elegant voice. Six years ago, she was the guest star of the annual Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. Every song of hers was a precious offering. You can look up, on YouTube, more of the songs she sang that night by searching Sissel Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Today I chose "In The Bleak Midwinter," a poem written in 1872 by Christina Rosetti. It was published after her death then became a Christmas Carol in 1906. Its setting imagines the Nativity in a snowy Northern landscape. This fits perfectly with Sissel's home in Norway.





Kids & Christmas: Learning the Meaning of Christmas Through The Eyes of Children





Don’t forget to come back every day to see the next Christmas Carol Countdown. If you’ve missed any so far, there are lots of wonderful carols! Just click on the badge near the top of the right sidebar!

Quilting Design Wall & Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 3 Days to Go!

My vacation quilting began on Saturday. I worked on a Christmas gift for my granddaughter who will be born in January. I can’t say anything now, because Chief and Noel Heart don’t know what it is.

Noel Heart is the pregnant one! My granddaughter is
hiding behind her Mommy's sweater. At right is Hubby and
at the bottom is Firstest

Tomorrow I’m going to quilt with my friend, JP. We’re both excited for being able to quilt almost every day of the vacation! I will be doing the “final stretch” on the Mystery Quilt “Cascadia.”

Lori from the blog “Humble Quilts,” started a QAL on November 7. It was to be a wall-hanging and end up about 17” x 19” square. When she mentioned using up 1.5” squares, I was hooked. I have a box of those little squares and it would be fun to use some of them. On November 26th, Lori did the reveal. It’s an adorable quilt. She copied it from an antique quilt she found.

Here’s my progress so far. The center strips are seminole piecing. It’s my first experience and tomorrow will be my third day trying to get it right. I believe I got it figured out at the last quilt-together. I’m anxious to see what I can do tomorrow!

We’re in the final stretch for Christmas! I miss the days of having the kids home for Christmas vacation and doing fun activities with them. Young moms, believe me, there will come a day when you miss having the kids under your feet at Christmas!

Quilting Nonnie with my three young kids.
In front, Nancy Drew  3 yrs, Noel Heart 5 yrs
and I'm holding TGS, 1 yr

I have told stories of our Advent Calendar activities when our kids were at home. My crazy son, TGS, and his lovely OSLW, have finally dropped over the cliffs of insanity. I thought it was cute when OSLW told me she painted the husky’s toenails. Of course, I helped things along this year by sending my granddogs an advent calendar. Now they’ve gone around the bend! TGS excitedly told me just a bit ago that Ginny and Gandalf (my granddogs) had done the Jello Slurping contest. Once Hubby had brought me back with smelling salts, I got the second-by-second description of the contest. A video is forthcoming. TGS said he wouldn’t spoil it by telling us who won. I think it’s Gandalf; Dale thinks it’s Ginny. I think we should make a bet!

OSLW with Gandalf (left) & Ginny (right)

 Now that Nancy Drew suggested a song, TGS, whose name might be changed to Crazy Geek Son, sent his Christmas “carol” into me.

TGS was totally absorbed with Dr. Demento when he was a teen, which might explain his personality now. He’d record each show from the radio. Actually, it was fun! I learned some goofy songs during that time!

TGS sent me a Christmas “carol” he heard on a Dr. Demento show. It is by the great comedian, Stan Freburg. He was well known in the 50s and 60s for his satire and parodies of many common themes of the day. TGS’ request today is “Green Christmas,” which TGS loves because he agrees with the jist of the spot.





Because of the Design Wall, this has been a little bit longer post. I hope you enjoyed the quilting, the music and the stories.

Don’t forget to come back every day to see the next Christmas Carol Countdown. If you’ve missed any so far, click on the badge near the top of the right sidebar!

Christmas Carol Countdown: 4 Days to Go!

I thought I’d start off today with a big chuckle. Many families like to re-enact the nativity story for Christmas. Our family has been no exception and you’re so lucky: I have Pictures!

1986 Family Nativity: Nancy Drew as Mary,
TGS as Joseph

I’ve never been this late in my life! I still have Christmas shopping to do. Here’s the kicker…I don’t know who I still need to shop for!

I’m knuckling down this afternoon and delving into the Christmas gift box. I am going to find out who’s getting a present and who’s getting an empty box!

Tomorrow promises to be a busy day of buying…and I’m sure I’ll be kept company by hundreds of others like me. **Sigh**

I found a real gem for today’s carol. I can guarantee you haven’t seen this before. And, no, it’s not a video of my children singing when they were young. It’s “Go Tell It On The Mountain” but played in a very different way.




I’ve been nattering on about gifts and I love to get them. Still I always keep in mind the gift that was given to all on Christmas Day.





Don't forget to come back every day to see the next Christmas Carol Countdown. If you've missed any, click on the badge near the top of the right sidebar!

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 5 Days to Go

Today is a happy, joyous, exciting, amazing, fantastic, _______ (supply your own adjective) day!

Guess why.

Hint:  I am a school teacher.

Yes! Happy dance yes! Today is the first day of Winter Break, or as it was known in my day: Christmas Vacation.

Yesterday was a grueling day and in itself enough to make me cherish the vacation to come!

Many carols have been written about the longing for Christ to come to earth. Today's carol is one of those:  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. It is sung by the BYU  Vocal Point, an acapella men’s group. 




Here's another treat! Monty the Penguin, a Christmas TV advertisement from John Lewis, a department store in London.




Merry Christmas. May the true spirit of Christmas be with you this year. God bless.

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 6 Days to Go!

Every year, I count on my calendar, I count on my fingers and then I do it three times more! How can I not figure out how many days to Christmas? A little adjustment needed to be made. Today it is 6 days until Christmas.

This morning in my email, Nancy Drew sent me a link to her “new favorite Christmas song.” Isn’t that how favorites work?

What was your favorite color when you were young? What is it now?

And especially fun: What was your favorite piece of clothing when you were young?! What is it now?

My Christmas carol favorites change from year to year. This year, I’m with Nancy Drew, this is my new favorite: "Hallelujah Christmas."






For those of you familiar with the original song, or heard it in the first Shrek movie, this is a re-write of the words.

A couple of days back, a blogger friend asked me if I would include her favorite: Mary, Did You Know? It’s another of my Christmas favorites too. 

The first time I heard "Mary, Did You Know?" it was sung by Kathy Mattea. In the following video, Kathy says that "Mary, Did You Know?" is her favorite.

So, Libby, here is your favorite Christmas Carol!

I also found a new version done by Pentatonix, a vocal acapella group. Last year I had their carol, "Little Drummer Boy", on my countdown. I hope you enjoy this one also.

Merry Christmas to all who read and visit my blog. I hope you have all your shopping done; I know I haven’t! Argghh!

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 10 Days to Go!

Firstest, my first grandson, introduced me to the zany, loopy world of Veggie Tales. It started as a series on TV and has expanded to DVD’s of episodes.

Each episode would teach and help kids to understand moral themes. The stories are told and acted out by animated vegetables. The hosts are Bob the Tomato and his less-than-serious sidekick Larry the Cucumber.

Here is Firstest at 1-and-a-half with his Mommy, Noel Heart.
I don't know who that man in the red suit is though.

Some of their stories are: The Wise and Foolish Builders, An Easter Carol, The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s, and two different episodes of Minnesota Cuke, that are parodies of Indiana Jones, but the themes are still about knowing how to choose the right. There are several Christmas-themed episodes also.

Soon I was totally enthralled with Veggie Tales. In each episode there would also be Silly Songs with Larry. My daughters and I learned many of the songs and loved to belt them out.

The “Christmas Carol” for tonight is from Silly Songs: Oh Santa. It features, of course, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber along with a green onion robber, a Viking pea and a squash?, you decide.

Don’t miss the Viking’s reference to quilts!



Don't forget to come back every day for more Christmas carols and a countdown to Christmas! You can always click on the badge in the upper right sidebar.

And if you still are seeking more Silly Larry songs, try these:

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 11 Days to Go!

Our Family in 1987
Left to Right: Noel Heart, Quilting Nonnie, TGS with
bunny, Sam, Nancy Drew & Bambi the dog in front

We had a great time in our young family during the 12 Days of Christmas. Each year we would choose a family to “host” for the 12 days. Most times we’d choose a family that had some type of need: a young single mother with 2 children, a Mom with 2 teenagers that had very little money…

For the 12 Days, we would put together our “offering,” pile into our car and drive to the neighborhood of the family. I would choose a good place to park where we couldn’t be seen from their front door. The kids were always the ones who went and “doorbell ditched” our offering. They would race back to the car, jump in the car as I pulled away.

Each year it varied what we decided to do for each day, but there were a few that showed up each year. We loved the Jello Slurp & Pop the Balloon games we played at home.

One time we made 12-day candles to burn a little every day. Was that ever fun! We had to figure out how to make them: a ruler with pins taped to it that was used to mark the days for us. How to mark the candle. It was a challenge, but we got it done. And we never did it again!

Another year as an outside activity, my daughters talked to the moms of little children in our ward (a church congregation). They offered to answer letters to Santa from any child whose parent brought it to them. The girls had such fun writing back personalized letters from “Santa!”

Our last year of doing 12 Days we decided to choose a totally different type of family. We chose this family because the mom was the Young Women’s (a program for girls from 12-18) adviser to each of our daughters. The interesting part was that this family had two pre-teens and two teenage sons. With our enthusiasm bubbling, we started ditching our packages on their doorstep. To our chagrin, those tricky teenage boys set up a video camera in a room that pointed to the porch. They caught our kids “red-handed!” It was the only year we got caught.

Today’s Christmas Carol is a song for children: The Cat and the Mouse Carol. It is sung by David Archuleta with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I hadn’t heard this carol before, but it is sweet.






Merry Christmas…only 11 days to go. It’s time to make your list and check it twice.

Remember to stop by every day and enjoy the Christmas Carol Countdown 2014. You can always click on the button on the upper right sidebar.

A Christmas Design Wall

It was June of this year. Hot. Bright sun. Long days.

My quilty friend, JP, and I decided to make Christmas tree skirts. JP and I get together every Monday to quilt and in June decided to do a mutual project.

I was happy to get such an early start on these two skirts. I knew that they would be done well before Christmas. (Can you tell something is coming?)

Last year I had made a Christmas tree skirt for Noel Heart. You can read the story here and see the gorgeous quilt. I finished it right before Christmas, but it took real hustle to do it.

This year, I said with satisfaction, I’ll finish way before the Thanksgiving holiday. In our house, at Thanksgiving, I give each of my kids a Christmas decoration for the house. It’s a tradition I’m carrying forth from my Mom.

Fast forward to after Thanksgiving. Say, this past week. I finally finished the skirt for Nancy Drew. Phew! But, at least it’s done!

The photos are a little light or dark, depending on which one you look at. It was night. I was using my "good" camera. It tends to make pictures that are not the correct brightness (or darkness)!

This is the back, but both sides can be used for under the tree.

I'm hooking up with the parties on the right column! You won't be sorry if you go and visit each of them. There are a lot of creative quilters out  there!

Don't miss my Christmas Carol Countdown 2014. It started on Monday and will continue to Christmas Eve. Lots of great carols, stories and videos. You do not want to miss it this year! Just click on the badge on the top right each day!

Christmas Carol Countdown 2014: 12 Days to Go

Good cheer to all my friends! Welcome to my third year of the Christmas Carol Countdown.

Many of you, like me, are enchanted by the music of Christmas. Whether it is Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells. Or Silent Night and O Little Town of Bethlehem. It could be silly: Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reinder or sacred: Angels from the Realms of Glory. Or maybe you like a singer and listen to his songs: Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, or Vienna Boys Choir. What would Christmas be without them?

Welcome to Christmas Carol Countdown 2014!

My first choice is the quintessential song for today: The Twelve Days of Christmas!

Each time I hear that song, I remember an experience from third grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Winn, got all of us kids involved in a big project for the school Christmas Assembly. We made paper models of each of the items in the Twelve Days of Christmas. That meant there was one person holding the Partridge in the Pear Tree, but there were 8 holding up the 8 Maids A Milking. We sat in our places, singing the song, but when your "day" was sung, you'd pop up holding your model. It was great fun all that popping up and down!

I found a couple of renditions of The Twelve Days of Christmas that keep that same silliness.

The first is by Straight No Chaser, a professional 10-man acapella group, which started out at Indiana University. Their version of The Twelve Days drove them to stardom and got a 10-album contract with a recording studio.

Shhh! To help you with YouTubiness..all those horrible pop-up ads--there is a way to get rid of them. As soon as video starts, click on the settings icon (looks like a flower or a gear) in the lower right corner. Click on it and then click no on the line that says: "Annotations." File this under General Helpfulness from Quilting Nonnie."

Be sure and tune in everday until Christmas for the Countdown!

And now, without further ado, Straight No Chaser!

The second hilarious 12 Days was done by a large group of real estate agents at a Christmas Party. It all starts out fine, until the song gets speeded up!

Singing In The Rain

Don’t you love the movie, Singing in the Rain? Especially the title song with Gene Kelly hopping in and out of puddles?




I’m in Northern California where we are being drenched by “the storm of the century.”

It’s been quite the letdown. Here we were supposed to get 40-50 mph wind, 4-5” of rain. It’s just been constant rain, but nothing spectacular. What a letdown! At least the schools closed for yesterday and today!

Of course, some of us weren't so lucky.

To my doggie- woggins, however, it is a totally different story. She hates the rain. And the wind. But yesterday and today, it’s been nothing but rain. Each time I take her out to “do her duty,” she trots out there and looks around for a few seconds. After that, she turns around and stares at me…pathetically.

Poor, pitiful thing

“Oh, I don’t need to go potty, Mommy.” she says.

I repeat, “Go potty, Miko.” and she looks at me more pathetically. If that’s possible.

Next she tries to sit on the soggy lawn, her signal for “I don’t need to go potty.” But that is thwarted by the puddles in the backyard.

She shivers, she shakes herself off numerous times, tries to look more pathetic. Greta Garbo never did it so good in Camille.

Finally, after 3 or 4 minutes of this, she starts looking for a place to “do it.” This includes going in the deepest grass in the backyard to get much more wet. But then finally success!

Here I have a dog who hates rain, hates to get wet who will stand in the rain for 3 to 4 minutes getting drenched just to try and convince me to let her come in the house.

I just don’t get it. I don’t.

A Fantastic Garage Find!

Isn’t life serendipitous sometimes? I had a moment the other day…

1964 Ford Galaxie

A little background would help. I have a husband. He has a project car, (Definition: a car that sits with all its parts removed). We have a garage. His project car resides in our garage. (See? A quilting blog you can finally show your husband! boyfriend! etc!)

Now don’t get me wrong here. I don’t want anyone jumping to conclusions or anything other thing. The car is a boat. It is so big that when you sit in the driver’s seat, you can’t lean over and touch the passenger door. It has personality. I love that car!

My husband’s car and its various, multitudinous parts occupy most of the garage. I have a quilt room which occupies a bedroom plus a closet and floor-space in another bedroom. You see? He and I both have “hobbies” and understand the necessity of space for such hobbies.

And now back to the story…a while back my husband came in from the garage with a couple of old boxes. He thought they were mine. I didn’t recognize them. I opened the first box and looked in at the eggs of the Golden Goose, the coins at the end of the rainbow, the flower wreath of horse racing.

I wrote Siggie Blocks on the box.

There were quilt blocks made by my Aunt Marie (of Marie’s Marvelous Makings). I had totally forgotten that I had her quilt blocks in the garage. The first box I opened were signature blocks. Over 300 of them!

The other box contained…a surprise for you lovely readers. I will writing a post about Box #2 in the future!

And now, I present a (very) few of those blocks!

I love the blue on the end with its nubbies!

Such a nice variety of browns!

Notice the third is a real 30s print

I love everyone of these red ones.

I had to ponder for a few months of what I wanted to do with them. I don’t belong to a guild where friends would sign the blocks. I don’t have 300 friends, much less 30. I could make a mini-quilt of siggie blocks of my friends. I don’t have a huge family who could sign blocks. You can see my dilemma.

It must have been one of those glorious days where everything went right and birds were singing. I realized what I was going to do! I am going to write all of my favorite books, one for each block.

I am addicted to reading. I’ve read ever since I learned how to read in school! A group of middle-school friends of mine went on a vacation to a lovely resort one summer, with two moms along. We had fun with the activities at the resort. But the major part of our days were spent reading!

I was thrilled to start writing down the books. My all-time favorite: To Kill A Mockingbird. Books that I bought for 45 cents from Scholastic when I was in middle-school that I read over and over. My favorite: Jennifer. My beloved Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden of my elementary school years. High school books brought me The Chronicles of Narnia and The Von Trapp Family Singers. Jack Weyland was my favorite author in college. My favorite book of his: Charly. Biographies of ordinary people in extraordinary times: The Bielski Brothers.

I kept writing until I couldn’t think of anymore. I kept writing until I had listed 252 books! Using 252 blocks would give me a beautiful queen quilt for my full-size bed.

My only quandary now is how to write the names on the blocks. It would take a daunting amount of time to embroider each book’s name. I’m thinking of writing the names with Pigma Pens. I have very nice handwriting, by the way.

Do you have any ideas of how to “write” names on the blocks? I’m not adverse to anything you suggest and I would dearly love to hear suggestions!

I’m hooking up with these lovely linky parties that have many talented and amazing quilters sharing what they are working on. You can go to anyone you choose by clicking on the sidebars on the right!

And The Lucky Winner Is....

Last week was my 4-year blogaversary! I didn't blog very much the first couple of years; I was a newbie. I knew nothing about blogging or getting my blog out on the web to be seen. It's been an educational process, but nonetheless very gratifying and a heap o' fun!

I decided to have my first giveaway to celebrate my achievement! There were to be two lucky winners; the first won a book: Flowering Favorites by Piece o' Cake. The second one 10 fat quarters (or at least a quarter of a yard) in a color of their choosing.

My apologies on showing results. I couldn't get the widget (pick the number) to work on my web page. (*##%! Mumble mumble #*#%!# computer *##@@! stupid ##%%*!) And that is why the random generator isn't shown here. Since I knew everyone who entered, and had no favorites, these are the winners!

Let the suspense end!

First winner is:

Lucky winner of Flowering Favorites is lucky number 3: Jasmine! She writes the blog: Quilt Kisses and is cheery and delightful. She recently celebrated her 1st blogiversary  on November 18th! You can read her celebratory blog in which she shows some cool bags she made for her three boys here.  I also enjoyed and giggled at her post (here) about being sneaky when making quilts for your children. She spoke to my heart when she blogged about making a quilt with her niece. I've done that with two of my grands and am thinking it's about time we did it again.

Second winner:

Lori, lucky number 7, won the 10 fat quarters! Her blog is one I just discovered in the past few weeks. I instantly liked her style and blog: Humble Quilts. Lori just concluded a mystery QAL, which is how I found her blog. There was a link in a blog I read that talked about how wonderful Lori's QALs were and that there was one going on right now. I actually was able to follow this QAL because it was a mini-quilt and used lots of 1.5 inch squares. I had those aplenty! Just last week was the delightful reveal. Lori based her quilt on an antique quilt she had seen. Even though the QAL is over, you might want to try it anyway; it is fun, easy and finishes quickly.

Congratulations Jasmine and Lori! I've sent you an email and you can get me your address so I can send your prizes winging your way.

It was an interesting process running a giveaway. I had 51 people visit this particular post; 7 people left me a comment. Seems interesting. I'm glad for those that entered and am very grateful for all who read my blog.

Thank you everyone reading my blog. I check several times a day after posting to see how many people have read my post. I get so thrilled and do many happy dances to find my little blog (that started with just my family reading) has expanded to so many others.

RSC 2014 November

I am amazingly close to being caught up with all the colors for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It is truly shiny.

I do not do Block of the Month (BOM) quilts or Quilt Alongs (QAL). I am so limited in the time I have to quilt, that 1. I need anytime I can eek out for quilting on my own projects and 2. I can never keep up the pace.

The exception has been the RSC. I was delighted to find a QAL I could do! I chose a simple block: Snowball. 

I’ve been keeping up…until school started and I had to go back and work. August is surely the bane of my existence! (You can find woesome posts singing the dirges of August here: 2014, 2013) When August rolls around, about three months of my own life disappear under stacks of paperwork, meetings, trainings, assessments, and inservicing teachers. Believe it or not, I’m a teacher. Sometimes it takes me two hours to answer my email for a day. I have an inordinate amount of paperwork. I would love to just teach, it is a joy, my passion. I think I spend almost as much time doing non-teaching tasks as teaching.

But I digress. As for the RSC, August was light green and September was orange. I was able to pick out my light green and orange scraps. 

For October, the color was light blue. I've patted myself on the back and have done a little dancing because I got it done. I just didn't get it posted. And now, here they are:

This month is browns/greys maybe blacks. And I made those also! As for August and September and the fabrics I picked out...there a tragedy unfolds as I can’t find my orange or light green fabric!

I’m a great believer that if you search for something and just can’t seem to find it, then stop. It will show up sometime soon. For me, it translates into months or years before things show up.

Now that your hanky is perfectly soggy, here are my November blocks! I now see that I have a plethora of stripes. Oh well, I liked all the fabrics when I chose them and so they remain!

I'm hooking up at RSC 2014, you can mosey over there by using the button on the left sidebar. It's a great deal of uniquenesses to see what blocks everyone has been making!

Here are the fabrics that I have in each color: At least one novelty, a plaid and a vintage fabric

A Thoughtful and Thankful Day

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This year has brought bounteous blessings in my life. If I took a pen and paper, the list would take 20 pages or more. And those would just be those I remember.

One of the most miraculous (and I don’t use this word lightly) is about my oldest daughter, Noel Heart.

One year ago, she was in a serious car accident. Her car was a compact one that Chief’s grandma had given them for Noel to drive to and from work. When she was driving back from dropping Firstest off at school, she came to a construction zone. As she drove through, her car tire went into a little gully. This flipped the car and it rolled over five times.

During the roll, her driver window was broken and her arm went out of the gaping hole. She shattered her upper arm and broke a finger. Her head was bounced against the ceiling several times.

She lived.

Those are the most precious words. With a small car, the cabin should have been crushed. She should have been killed.

She lived.

Heavenly Father was watching over her, as he does each of us every day. It was not time for her to leave earth.

She lived.

Noel Heart and Chief had been married just over a year. Half a year after the accident, Noel Heart became pregnant with their first child.

Because of this accident, she and I became close again. We have shared laughter and tears this past year. This Thanksgiving my most extraordinary blessing is:

She lived.

Noel Heart, Chief and Baby
Taken yesterday at Apple Hill

I hope that part of your Thanksgiving is to deeply reflect on all the blessings in your life. The big and the small. And like the name of the holiday reminds us, give thanks. Say a prayer and fervently thank Heavenly Father for all the blessings he sends your way.




You might also enjoy an earlier post I wrote which expresses gratitude for friends. You will find it here.

Be sure to enter my giveaway celebrating my 4th blogiversary.

An Anniversary and a Give-Away

HAPPY 4TH ANNIVERSARY 

QUILTING NONNIE BLOG!

Four years ago, I started this blog! I had no idea what I was doing. I just started writing, and my four family members plus a couple of friends read it.
It’s a long road since then…and I have loved, enjoyed, savored every piece of blogging.

Things I Would Do Differently:
1. Have a different blog name
2. Change the layout and style of blog

Things I Would Keep the Same:
1. My “special” features, like Mish-Mosh Monday.
2. A little more eclectic blog than all 100% quilting
3. My style of writing
4. I love all the pictures I put in the blog. It takes a load of time, but the result is worth the effort.

I overdid it when I put this picture in a post about the Log Cabin I was making for my DS & DDIL. I had posted about this quilt so many times, that I decided to be a little artistic in this point. In the nine months since I posted it, that picture has grabbed the attention of 2067 people! I know it’s because of the picture! Just to prove it, my next highest viewed post has 592 people.

I have been wanting to do a giveaway for a long time. I was waiting until I had a certain number of viewers, but since I’ve been absent from blogging for six months, I don’t know where I was then. Having a fourth anniversary of blogging is a BIG event, so I'm happy to announce!

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY's EXCITING DETAILS:

There are two splendid prizes:

For the first place winner:
Flowering Favorites, a book by those spectacular Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins of Piece O’ Cake.

For the second place winner:
10 at least “fat” quarters in your favorite color. The quarters can be skinny or fat. But it will be at least a quarter of a yard. In the picture of the book above, you can see a sample of blues I have.

To enter, write a comment telling me what your favorite color is and what is your favorite type of quilting.

Just for your random facts file, my favorite color is turquoise and I love to quilt traditional, scrap and string quilts.

Good luck to all! I am so excited to offer my FIRST giveaway.

Winners will be announced on the first day of December!

Winners will be chosen by Random.org.

The Evil School Monster Has Captured Me!

An Illustrated Story....

There I was, sleeping blissfully. The alarm clock rang. What’s this? An alarm? What is this all about? A prank?




I turned back over to go back to sleep, when oozing out from under my bed came a sludgie, gelatinous monster. Ooh, ick, he was slimy. It made me shiver and shudder; a gasp may have escaped my lips.

I pulled the blankets down from my head and opened my eyes. Oops, I didn’t tell you I dove under the covers. Uh, well, you know…minor detail.

I stuck out my chest, stiffened my upper lip and took a hard stare at this putrid mass of scummy crud. Somewhere in all the rotten slop dripping from his body, I saw a… oh no! Please, no! It was…it was…a textbook! 



And all of a sudden it hit me. It was August 10th, 6:00 a.m. and horror of horrors! My first day back at school.

Yes, that horrendous monster grabbed me before I could chain myself to summer, and drug me behind him. He gave low, growly chuckles as he jerked me along.

He reached my school office, swung the front door open with a screeching, jarring scrape. He picked me up, and as slime ran all over me, he chucked me through the door. Satisfied, the monster hurled the door closed with a satisfied grunt.

Dear readers, I have been locked in the school dungeon ever since. I’ve barely seen the light of day. But someone, I think a student of mine that I had once and liked me, let me come home for Thanksgiving.


Thankful, indeed! I get to see family, eat real food that has no mold on it and actually, amazingly get to quilt!


I have done so little quilting in the dungeon. There was no material, but sometimes the bread was hard enough that I could cut it in squares. I hoarded those until I had enough to sew together with loose threads from my clothing.


But here I am! I’m not going back. Uhh, okay I go back in 6 days. But it seems like forever!


Kind readers, beloved family, and devoted friends, fear not! I have seen the emptiness of the dark pit where I do not blog. It has haunted me as I have gone on a long quest to find a way to blog during the months of August to May. All I have come up with is that I must to blog.

My conclusion is that there will be the school year edition of the blog and the summer and school break edition of the blog. School year will be leaner, but it will be there as often as it can.

Maybe by doing this, I can stop looking at things and thinking “I’m going to write that in my blog.” Or doing something quilty and wanting to share it with my blogland friends.

I will tame the nefarious school monster and live happily in both realms of my life: school and not-school.

See you all soon!

Marvelous Marie Goes to the County Fair!

It's Fair Time here in Sonoma County! Tomorrow Noel Heart & Chief are coming by at eleven and off we go for the day!

Fairs are grand! So much to see. So much to eat! The contests and shows.

Where should I go first? Ah, now that's a silly question..

...to the Quilts!

and next?

The  Flower Show!

Little Elf House in Garden

I smell food! Time to eat!

Corn on the cob! Teriyaki Sticks! Tri Tip Sandwich! Funnel Cakes! YUM!

Cow, Pigs, Sheep--oh my!

Then to...
      ...Arts and Crafts Hall
          ...Juniors Arts and Crafts
            ...Cooking and Canning
              ...Exhibition Hall
                  ...Elvis Imitator show
                      ...Sourdough Singing Cowboy

I've just got to run now....so much fun awaits!

Marvelous Marie continues next Saturday!