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Thursday, March 29, 2012

I am so humbled....


Ida over at My Sister Made Me Do It......nominated me for this really sweet award and I am humbled.  Now I have to nominate five other fabulous blogs to receive it from me.  How fun!  But can I pick just five?  I follow so many blogs and I have learned so much from all of them.  It took me forever to decide I needed a blog because I was afraid I didn't have the time to keep one up and guess what....it is hard....but mainly because I spend so much time oohing and awing over everyones talent and generosity.  It took me a couple of hours to go thru my list and choose....


That was hard!
But these ladies are very talented, funny and inspiring.  Stop by and visit them!

I have so many things to blog about right now....I can't decide what to do next...
but here is a hint....



It's kinda hard to sew with this outside the balcony doors....
but sew we did!

Have a great day everyone!



Friday, March 23, 2012

Great news everyone!

I also write and publish the blog for Mama's Quilt Shop, named Bits and Pieces and we are participating in the Blog Hop that the Quilting Gallery is running.  It ends tomorrow morning and we have 155 followers so far and over 220 comments that have been left for us. 


Brenda has generously agreed to give away a beautiful fan of fat quarters to our winner.....but wait....she is so excited about our 155 followers and she wants more (200 to be exact) that she told me she will make one of  our followers a little more excited.  So she upped the ante....


and now one of our followers is going to win this great prize....a "Lil' Twister" ruler and 3 cute fat quarters.  The fabulous cream fat quarters can be won by anyone who comments on the Blog Hop giveaway, but the "Lil' Twister" will only be for one of our followers if we hit 200!

So if you haven't visited Bits and Pieces or Mama's Quilt Shop.....
what are you waiting for!

Get on over there and put your name in the hat.
You only have 1 more day...
we will pull the winner or winners name while we have coffee at the shop in the morning.

Now get going!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

A Tourist at Home

Well...I got to play tourist for a day.  I was born and raised in Louisiana, never living more than an hour away from New Orleans in Baton Rouge (the capital), but my parents weren't big sight-seers.  So I was grown before I spent time in New Orleans.  But I love the history of Louisiana and have always read a lot about the past.

So when the grocery company we deal with offered a riverboat cruise and a walking tour of the French Quarter I jumped at the chance.  So glad I did.



This is the steamboat Natchez and it takes tourists up the river to the Chalmette Battlegrounds and then returns.  It is very interesting and fun.  Imperial Trading arranged for us to have lunch on the way back and the dining area was beautiful, the food was very tasty (bread pudding to die for) and we had a great guide who gave us many interesting facts about the huge port of New Orleans.



I am not going to bore you with the tons of pictures that I took because I am always playing with my camera trying to take unusual shots, but this is part of the skyline.  See the round blue building...that is the Aquarium of the Americas.  It sustained a lot of damage during Katrina, but they now have it restored and operational.  This is well worth seeing if you get the chance to come to New Orleans.

After we disembarked they hired tour guides to take us on a walking tour of the French Quarter....not the whole thing...that is a several day tour, but some of the most important buildings...mostly historical restaurants like Antoines, Johnny's Poboys and the Court of Two Sisters.  Our tour guide was fabulous and interesting.  New Orleans is a blend of Spanish, French, American, African and Native American history.  The food is very unique, very spicy.


It was already so hot and humid, we had to stop a couple of times to buy water.  I love the architecture in New Orleans so I took a lot of pictures of the unique buildings.




Not to mention unique job opportunites....this guy has tip bucket for tourists to donate in...I would hate to have his job...standing in the hot sun, with all those clothes on, not moving a muscle for several minutes at a time....but he was fun to watch.



Of course, you also get a job driving one of these around the Quarter..


This is the original Central Grocery, home of the Muffaletta right across the street from the Cafe Du Monde, home of the world famous beignets that everyone has to have when they come to New Orleans.

Now if I had to pick out one thing that you absolutely must not miss when you visit New Orleans the Cafe Du Monde would be it.  The coffee is very unusual (has chicory, so it is bitter) and no one can replicate the beignets in a box.  Those tasty little pastries covered in powdered sugar are best when eaten on site....warning...do not wear dark colored clothes when you go there....because by the time you leave you are covered with confectioner's sugar....it's like eating boiled crawfish...they are not good unless you get them from your head to your toes......

The grocery show was great as usual, bought a lot of product, lots of hugs from vendors I only see once or twice a year.....lost money at the casino (that's normal), but I had fun doing it and I was dog-tired the next day. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit to New Orleans with me....have a great day.

Monday, March 12, 2012

And the winner is......

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Friday, March 9, 2012

Traveling Stash arrived and ready to take off....

The traveling stash arrived this week from Robin over at rsilandscrafts and what fun it was to open and see the fabrics, books, patterns and notions that were stuffed into the box.

Of course I had to take everything out, look at the patterns and books (I love them) and check out each fabric trying to figure out how I would use it.
I finally narrowed down my choices:
and put back yardage to replace what I kept and now it is sealed and ready to go:
Would you like to check out what is in this box?
Let me know in my comments section....I will leave it open until Monday, March 12th.  If more than one person wants to check it out....I will put your names in a basket and draw a winner.

Have a great day!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

I am so overwhelmed.....

I am drinking my second cup of coffee....trying to wake up.  I sat up until midnight last night reading your sweet comments, checking out each blog.....there were quite a few.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!  You are all so wonderful and talented.


Now I was too tired to figure out that thing that picks a random winner....so I wrote every name on a slip of paper, put them in a basket (with some treats) and I let Little Man and Little Girl pick the winner.  The only way I was going to get them help me was with their special treats.  Now if you own cats (excuse me, if a cat or cats own you), then you know they don't ever do what you want them to do.  After one waiting on the other to reach in the basket, they both went for it at the same time and pulled out two winners!

Who am I to argue!  So instead of one winner, I have TWO!

First up is: 
stitchinpenny said...