I'm Back!!!!

The family and are back home from vacation in Maui. I never thought I would say this but I miss being home. I think that sometimes you need to get away to appreciate all that you have. I can't tell you how happy I was so see the San Francisco Bay as we flew in. I would have liked to seen the rest of what is familiar to me as I was landing but we took the "red eye" and got to the airport at a very sleepy 5:00 am on Sunday morning. Needless to say I was in no shape for church in just a few hours.

I went to a really nice quilt store while I was there called Sew Special. They gave me a card with their website but when I tried to go on to it I had a few problems and couldn't so that I why I don't have a link for you.

I will have pics of the fat quarters and some pics of the trip but just a few so that I don't bore you all to death!!

What I LOVED about Sew Special was that they had quite a Asian influence in their fabrics. I picked up a few quilt patterns and fabric to do them. I can't wait. Right now I am currently working on a Halloween quilt valled "Midnight Mischief" by Clothworks. As soon as I am done with this quilt then I will jump into one of my new patterns.

Well, I will try to get my pics up in the next day or so.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Melody

I'm somebody - I've been tagged!!!

Yaaaay!!!

I had been wanting to get tagged and I was so surprised when Ingrid tagged me with the "Tree of Happiness" award.

Now I get to share with you 6 things that make me happy:

1. Finding a GREAT deal one something at a garage sale or thrift store. Boy, is that ever exciting!!

2. Finishing a project of something that I never thought I could do.

3. Finishing a project and hearing "You did a good job on that."

4. Hugs and smiles from my family.

5. Watching my girl's accomplishments and seeing the happiness that it brings them.

6. A Random Act of Kindness from a person that I don't know. I know, this sounds so sappy but this can really make my day!

Now, being the recipient of the "Tree of Happiness" award, I get the fun opportunity to tag 6 more to "spread some love".

My six picks are:

1. Lera at The sky is pink.
Every time I visit her blog I am so inspired to do something creative. She can do so many things on top of raising 6 children!!

2. Shara at Monkeybox.
Love reading about her and "The Bean" and all their thrifting adventures. She finds a use for just about everything.

3. Christy at Mama Said Sew
She has some of the cutest stories about her and her family. Plus her latest bag that she made is BEAUTIFUL!

4. Brenda at She's sew pretty.
A truly talented person! I love reading about her daily adventures (and some trials) and her crafts are out of this world!!

5. Queen of Fifty Cents.
I always look forward to reading her blog every Monday. She has the greatest stories about garage saleing that make you just want to be there!

6. Red Geranium Cottage.
Can this woman quilt or what?? Her blog is an awesome read. Not only will you be inspired, but you will get quite a few giggles. She seems to have a great time where ever she goes and I love reading her "I'm just sayin." She rocks!!

I am going to try to get another post out in the next few days before my family and I scoot out of here for a R&R, hangin on the beach and sippin' at least 1 drink with an umbrella in it....yes I am talking about the Island of Maui. You can't believe how nervous I am though....I am such a chicken to fly....hate it, hate it, hate it!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Melody

Me and Sara at the Farmer's Market

My youngest DD, Sara (Little Miss Sunflower) and I went to the Farmer's market that is just a 1/2 mile or so from my house. How convenient is that? And picked up a few things. Sara is holding the flowers that we were getting for our friend Sylvia, who is in the hospital with pancreas problems. We wanted to get something bright and cheerful because that is what reminds us of Sylvia. We got her some Teddybear Sunflowers (they are so CUTE!) Gerber Daisies and some white flowers that I have no idea what they are. We came home and I put them into a vase and Sara made her a card with a bee on it because Sylvia and her DH Dan are going to start raising honey bees.
Here is Sylvia's flowers and Sara's card for her. I wish I would have taken a close up of this sweet card. She put a lot of work into it. I was in too much of a hurry to get everything done so that we could get down to Walnut Creek to deliver them.
Anyhoo, here are some of the tasty treats that we brought home. The corn is white corn from Brentwood (a town next to us). The bread....OMG that bread was so YUMMY and gone by the next day. It was roasted onion and asiago cheese on sourdough. I am getting hungry just thinking about it. It is down on the list for next week of what to get. We also got green and red Pluots (Plum/Apricot hybrid) and the most Yummy Heirloom Tomatoes! The yellow one had a swirl of red throughout the inside. Oh, we also got cookies but they were gone before the camara was out of the case!

There were lots of other things that I would have liked to look at (homemade soaps and many different flavors of honey to try) that I will have to save it for next time.

WELL.......Mr. Blue Cottage and I will be celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary tommorrow. Sometimes it seems like only 10 years and other times....well..let's just leave it at that. :) hee hee!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Melody

Cool Finds at the Flea Market

Took myself on a little field trip to the local Flea Market on Saturday. Had to go early in the morning because we were in for a scorcher that afternoon. Normally, this Flea Market has many sellers on Sunday but they are mostly those that sell knock-off purses, mass-produced items, and to me, things of little character. Saturdays is like a HUGE garage sale with multiple sellers and the plus side of this is I don't have to drive from sale to sale!

I tell ya, if I was in the market for power tools this is the place to be!

Here are a few of my treasures:

These 12 pkgs of Peet's Coffee will come in very handy. I can't see them going to waste. Peet's is a well known Northern California Coffee Company. I am not sure if they are in other parts of the country but they have GREAT coffee. Not too bad for $5.00


In the pics below are somethings that I got from a seller for 25 cents each. Folding scissors for me, a Hello Kitty rubber stamp for little DD and measuring tape for big DD who is starting to get into sewing. The "not-too-pretty" brown plastic thingie is for me to carry all my treasures around in so that I can still shop. I guess this will be my sidekick when I go next time. Wonder if I can spray paint it a more fashionable color? What do you think?? Maybe Krylon indoor outdoor paint?



Can you believe that label....Woolworths....are they still in business?? I haven't seen a Woolworths here in Northern California for many years...I don't want to think how long it has been. Didn't they have one of those counters where you could get a sundae or a grilled cheese?



Above pic is a one of those tortilla thingies that you can make a taco salad with ($5.00), a little milkglasss bowl ($2.00)and a child's pair of pants. The pants are a 4T and since my youngest is 10, I highly doubt that they will fit but the whole reason that I bought them was because 1.) I can take them apart and use them on a quilt or something (the print is of strawberries, flowers and butterflies....awwwwww) and 2.) they were 10 CENTS!!! Sure wish they fit me!! I am thinking that I would like to thread a red & white gingham ribbon through the holes in the milk glass and put candy in it at Christmas time. I have some Halloween ribbon that I could thread through and put out orange and black M&M's.

This cutterpede was one of my finds. It looks brand new. I gave this to my 14 yo dd who is always using my papercutter for school projects or making banners for her HS cheerleading team. She gave me a huge "YES!" when I handed it to her her so I guess I made a good choice. I am not sure how much they go for retail but I am hoping that it is more than 25 cents!

Do you go to Flea Markets? What are some of your cool finds?

Thanks for stopping by!!

Melody

An AWESOME quilt book!!

While hanging out at Barnes and Noble with my DH, I noticed the title of this book and thought, "Come on....5,500 blocks?" But yea, they are not kidding. There are 5,500 different block designs in this book by Maggie Malone (love that name!) There is a section for 4 patch, 5 patch, 9 patch, 10 and 12 patch. There are also diagrams for doing circles, octagons, diamonds, curves, animal shapes, HUGE stars, pumpkins, cowboy boots, etc. There are approx 434 pages (not including the index). Each block has it's name listed and what other names it is known by. Some of them show the date of when they were first published in a book or a magazine. It is so interesting to see when some of these first came out.

Well, back to work on my "Little Star" quilt top and then I have to finish the Star quilt along. I will post pics as soon as I can.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Melody