Lovelies

A photo of the oh so lovely Stardust.

The weather has been lovely too.  I couldn't stop looking at the sky.  :-)

Creamy white loveliness.  These magnolia blossoms are huge.  About 8 inches across. 

And blue loveliness.  I wish I could capture the intensity of the blue.  (and possibly without the drain in the background.  sheesh)

And more blue lovelies!  A second nest in the box and two eggs so far.  Sweet!

Lovely kisses from Charlie.  :-)  (please look at him, not at me)

An especially lovely surprise from Bonnie Hunter!  Woohoo!  Bonnie drew my name and I won this Australian Homespun magazine which features Bonnie's Jamestown Landing quilt.  How cool is that!  :-)

And of course it's signed.  Thank you Bonnie!  As I read the magazine from cover to cover I had one of those "it's a small world" moments.  Not only does Bonnie live right here in North Carolina, but one of the Reader's Showcase entries (page 8) was sent in from Fuquay-Varina.  Just a few miles from here.  Heh!  Talk about coming full circle.  :-)

On another lovely note, the Capital Quilters rallied once again and 98 (!!) baby quilts were turned in at Thursdays meeting, for Quilts for Kids.  Wow.  Mom and I turned in two.  Mom pieces and I quilt, then Mom binds.  Very simple designs but the recipients love them.....and I get to sneak in some lovely quilting practice. 

Wednesday evening I raided my '30s stash and stitched up a few of these little lovelies.  Mug buckets.  :-)  I really wanted something better than the plastic basket I was using next to my machine.  I was always digging for my tools.  This is much better!  Everything from seam ripper (sigh), tweezers, and stiletto, to the absolutely necessary tube of Bert's Bees lip balm.  And cute to look at too.

 I added a circle of cardboard in the bottom of the mug to protect the points of my tools.

They're like potato chips, you can't make just one!  (two for me, one for Mom)  No matter how badly the pattern is written.  Shame on you Simplicity.  It's really so simple to make, but the A, B, C, D, E pictures on the pattern envelope don't match the actual layouts on the instruction sheet.  Made me nuts until I figured out it was them and not me!  They also listed materials on the envelope that aren't even mentioned in the instructions.  Sheesh.  I'm sure glad I didn't pay the full (and ridiculous) $15.95 for the pattern.  I grabbed it at a JoAnn's $1 sale.  So once I got sorted out I just went ahead and did it my way.  Now I need to go to the thrift shop for a few more mugs.  Cute, cute, cute!

In the kitchen today, some gluten-free bread for my lovely Tramp.  Yes the test for Celiac came back positive.  But we are eating better/healthier than we ever have so there are blessings in disguise.

And what better than a lovely and comforting shepherd's pie for dinner after a long and somewhat fraught week.  Geez.  Is it obvious those are Yukon Gold potatoes?  :-)

And I had a lovely relaxing time today at the nail salon, though I doubt my footrest cares one bit.  :-)

Hope you have a lovely weekend!