Welcome to the End of 2015

  Hello friends and followers,

I have been so out of the flow of blogging for so long and to be honest I can't even say why. I guess I just haven't picked the computer up much since April. I have been busy with swaps, secret Pal, and Quilting bee blocks. I have done a good bit of traveling as well, with a trip to El Paso to see my daughter and grandchildren in July, and back to Chattanooga TN, in Sept to watch my grandsons for a weekend while my daughter was in a wedding, then in Nov. we went to New Orleans for a wedding, and then on to Chattanooga again for Thanksgiving.Hubby and I were not able to go, but our Son was married on the 17th of Nov. in Costa Rica.  Bam it was time for Christmas and so much to do getting ready for that. I am still working on a special gift for my last Secret Pal for the year. I am continuing with the Quilting Bee, but have decided to take some time off from Secret Pals and swaps. It is just time to do some finishes for my family and my own home. I have a tub of UFO/PIG's that would surprise my family if they found it. Many are gifts I started and never finished, and some are just block of the month kits that I have started and purchased the entire year, but only got part of them made. That brings me to a subject I have been thinking about as I plan my next year. I started doing swaps and Secret Pal, to make sure that I would not just sit and do nothing. I was kind of at a low point in my life and I needed to know that someone would appreciate the things I enjoy doing. I needed some positive fed back that would help me feel better about myself. So I wonder what this year will do to my self esteem. I guess it will just be on me, to make sure I feel good about myself and maybe I'll have to show off to you all as I complete my UFO/Pig's.
  On the end of 2015, lets look back on some of the things I completed,

Wedding fun in New Orleans with my wonderful hubby.

 These bags were made for sons Wedding, and I had to remake them when I found out I had spelled the Costa Rica saying Pura Veda incorrectly.

 Christmas Swap mini I sent out in Dec.

 Gift made for my daughter to give to a friend.

 Just one of my Bee blocks sent out this year, we had 24 options by the end of the year.

Secret Pal gifties.

 House Mini Swap

 Texas mini Swap

Cotton and Steele mini swap and extras

 Carrier for my Young Living essential oils.

 Gilmore Girls mini Swap extras.

Kitty Mini Swap and extra.


Well I lost the mini when I tried to move it so maybe I'll post it again some other time. Until next time yall have a very Quilty time,
Tennye

  

Birthday Post

  Hi, everyone I am not enjoying my birthday so much, but I will be making the best of it any way. I will head to the sewing room after I have posted this. It has been a very busy few weeks so far. Hubby and I took a trip and visited lots of family. I spent 2 weeks with my daughter and her family, and hubby spent one of those weeks with his father and family in another state. He was there for his sisters birthday, she turned 70. I was there to see my grandsons and their mother. Our youngest grandson will be 1 in a few weeks and while I have gotten to see him a few times since he was born, I have not gotten to spend as much time with him as I did his big brother his first year. So needless to say I have felt very much like I'm missing his childhood. It was  so good to get to spend time with them all. I was going to add a great photo of the boys here, but again I am having problems adding photos to my blog. I have too many , but they are on my other Google account and I can't seem to get them to this one. I will get this figured out one day, but I just want to spend more time sewing than I do playing on the computer. LOL
   I have had a few swaps that I finished up since I last posted, and I love the quilts I made for both. I find that sometimes I love the quilts I made so much it is hard to decide to send them off. These last two were especially that way. The kitten mini I had started for myself, and it turned out even better than I had envisioned it. , I loved it , and I sent it off as scheduled even though I wanted to keep it. LOL I hope that she loves it as much as I did.
  Then there was the rainbow mini, which I sent off this week  and it turned out even better than I had thought and I loved it. She should get it soon and I sure hope she likes it. It was a little late going out, since the host asked me not to ship when I was going to. That was before my vacation, and I just put it aside and finished up other things that were a go. The day after I left home I got the go ahead to send when ready. I contacted the host and made sure she knew I had left town and it would be late before I could send. I got high on it once I finished the mountain of laundry that was necessary to finish. I loved the extras I made as much as I did the actual mini I made. I will be making myself another one soon.
  Well, I guess I need to get my fun for the day going . So yall have a very quilty day.
Tennye

Busy Times

  Well, hello there everyone, I hope this cold winter has not gotten you down too badly. My sweet hubby has really had a hard time with this winter for some reason. I think it is because he is usually so busy and this year things have been very slow for him. I am looking forward to some sun that is for sure, but I'm not having as hard a time as he is. 
  Lunch time on Friday mother was here and she put her cane against the wall, while we ate. I went to the table to sit down and for no apparent reason the cane fell, and landed on my toes. It hurt a lot, but after about a half hour I had kind of forgotten how bad it hurt. Then on Mon. afternoon I looked at my feet for some reason and boom, there was a royal blue toe. I am serious it was blue, and maybe it was because it was cold I looked at it. Since Mon. I have not been able to keep my feet warm, and that toe is the worst, I don't think it's broken, but the bruising must have something to do with the coldness of it.
  I started my Rainbow min for the swap I am in this week and I am loving how it looks, I am still not terribly comfortable with paper piecing, but getting better. I have several items planned for extras on this one too. I need to bind the Kitty mini, and get some extras made for it. I have several things in mind for this as well. I have to get as much done every day as possible because I am going to see my grandchildren at the end of the month. Hubby is going to see his sister and dad for her birthday. He will drive me to Tennessee and my daughter will pick me up and take me the rest of the way to her home. He will go on to Pennsylvania. Then after he spends four or five days with them he will come to our daughters house for four or five days, then we will head home. I love these trips, but I seem to struggle with getting back into the swing of things after we get home. Like last year I started the year off great with working out and eating right. Then went to be with Brena when the new baby was born. By the time I got home all thought of being healthy and fit had just drifted to the back of my mind. My start to fitness has been much slower this year, but is going on never the less, so I have to be hyper vigilant to stay moving while I am gone as well as get back to normal as soon as possible after we get home. The weather is often a factor, we go see her in the spring and its cooler in TN than in Texas. So by time we get home its getting too hot to work out, outside like I do in the winter. This winter has been too cold for out doors, so maybe it won't be as hard this year. LOL
  Well, I should be in the sewing room, so I am off to make another block in the rainbow mini, and maybe cut out the next one. Gotta go pick mothers car up from the tire place as soon as hubby gets back. She got a screw in her tire and they had to replace it instead of repair it. Any way yall have a very quilty week and I'll try to get back soon.
Tennye

Happy New Year

  Well, it is another new year, and I am looking forward to some new experiences and new quilt projects. I hope all of you will get excited too. I am still working on the photo issues, but I have to admit I have not taken much time to figure it out. Therefore I have just not posted. It seems the posts with photos are much more popular.
  I have gotten involved with some great quilters on Instagram and been in a few swaps so far. I have three that are due in Jan. and April. I love it because it keeps me in the sewing room. I have also joined a group committed to sewing our stash in 2015. I can't think of a better idea than that, and have been trying to do it for several years now. I think it will be easier with some accountability. I have a plan and even got a start on it New years eve. Not a great thing to have to admit, but I got started working on a rag quilt my girls started four or five years ago. I worked on it for 4 hours and had to un do almost everything I did. I forgot it had to be planned a little more than just to sew it together.I have laid it out and redid the first 2 rows. I get started on the things I have signed up for and it gets put aside. I will do one or two at a time until it is finished and then I will move on to the next project. I want to complete at least 12 projects that are in process this year. That will barely make a dent in my WIP's, but it will make me feel better. If I can accomplish that this year then maybe next year I will be able to do the same or better.
  Well, I actually started this post a couple of weeks before the last one I posted, so I think I will go ahead and put this one up too. Yall have a very quilty week and I'll be back soon.
Tennye

January of another Year

  Here it is the last day of January and I have not posted anything this year, and truthfully not that much last year. I am going to try and make a better showing this year. I am still figuring out the whole photo up load thing. I hardly ever use my camera for pictures now that I have a phone with a great camera on it. My daughter got us a terabyte drive and a device to use to wireless up load when I take pictures. It s great , but I don't understand how to use it and she isn't very patient. LOL

This is the most recent picture I can seem to get to. I made my grand daughters some slouchy hats last year and I was getting ready to send them off when the cat decided she should see how warm they were.
  Well, I have joined more mini quilt swaps since I last posted and today I received my mini for the #schnitzelandboo swap. I love it, and hope I can post a picture soon as well as a picture of the one I sent out.
Okay, this is enough for today I am off to watch a class or two on Crafsty for paper piecing.
Until next time yall have a very quilty week,
Tennye