Red Geranium Cottage

Greetings fellow Bloggers!!!

I think I'll try a new font tonight.  I love different fonts don't you?    I have some birthday pics to show but first I have to share this quote someone sent me. It is too funny but oh so true.   

"Women are Angels. And when someone breaks our wings, we simpy continue to fly......on a broomstick.  We are flexible like that!!"

So I was saying,  I've got some birthday pictures of my gifties.  I've gotten some emails asking when am I going to post them.  Here I am finally. I don't know where my time goes lately.  The days just fly by.  I mean to get on here and do my blog but next thing I know, I'm going to bed.  

First up is this pkg that Beth sent me and said I could NOT open until June 9th. And I was good.  I didn't touch it until then.  If I would have known what was inside I would have busted it open sooner.

Look what was inside!!    Does she know me or what?

Look at this picture she stitched for me.  It is perfect in my kitchen with Annie.  Can you read the bottom of the stitchery?? It says, "Happy Birthday Sharon".  I love that!  Thank you so much Beth.  I need to get my butt in gear. Your birthday will come back soon!!!  I'll be ready!  

Look who it is!!!  My baby sister Linda and my nephew Cody.  Or Wild Man as I call him. Love me some balloons.  She has brought them to me every year now.  

They also brought me this great quilting book. Can you believe I didn't have it?  And my favorite candy.  

Chocolate covered cherries from Godiva!  I am addicted to those things. Have you ever tried one?? If not, DON'T!  Just sayin.

While they were here the doorbell rang.  A big old box from my BFF!!!!  I knew it was coming!  She didn't trust me so she sent it Fed Ex to arrive on THE day.  Honestly!!!  How can she not trust me???   lolol    My nephew was as excited as me to see what was inside.  Just like a kid, he wanted to help unwrap.  And Linda Pooh took play by play photos.   Does Cody look excited? You would think it was his birthday. Which by the way is on Halloween.  That explains a lot of things. 

I rest my case!   Oh to be 13 again.  

Inside that yellow Brighton bag was this.......... Nancy and I collect those big giant rings that are everywhere now. I don't even want to count how many we have.  WE always buy them in two's of course.  One for her, one for me.  We just gotta.  

Look my favorite!!  It's a Godiva kinda day.  Only thing is we had a slight problem with this box. 

It's called 100 degree weather and riding in the back of a Fed Ex truck all day. Chocolate soup anyone?   But look my red foil wrapped chocolate covered cherry can still be saved!  I threw that baby in the freezer and quick!

Couldn't let the melty stuff go to waste.

Mmmmmm good.

But wait!!! There's more!!  Be still my heart!  Would you look at that? I am in love.  This is the cutest dang thing.  We saw it at Quilt Market and I had no idea she was already making it for me.  I'm so happy she was.  

This is the longest runner ever.  And don't ya love the backing? Just perfect.  I have to get going. Her birthday is coming in November. And that's not very long away!

You know you want one!! This is another thing we collect. And yes we buy two at a time. Now the bracelet is so heavy we can't wear it.  They are Juicy charms. I can't tell you how many we have collected so far.  They are so pretty and itsy bitsy.  The detail is unreal on them.

Can you see the little cakestand that the cake is sitting on?

Then!! As if that wasn't enough. This came with a knock on the door.  A real flower in a cake!  I wanna squeeze it!!!  It's so pretty.  And you know what? The flowers are still alive over a week later.  The cake stand is mine of course.  But you know it's got RED flowers and RED bows.  Nancy knows me pretty well doesn't she?

I had to take this picture to show you how long that runner is.  It's great isn't it?

Nancy had an ice cream and cupcake theme going on and I'd say she did quite well with it. Here's a pic of all my loot.

My friend Wendy sent me a pkg from Canada.  What a surprise!!!  

Look what she made me.  And it was filled with all things RED.  Wendy knows I love zipper bags as much as she does.  Thank you so much.  It's wonderful.

And my little blue truck filled with flowers that Brenda sent me is still alive and beautiful too.   

I got a package from a friend Sharon in Pennsyvania,  a wine glass, a Starbucks card, and some candy from her local family owned candy store.  

Hunka gave me a Pandora necklace with two new charms,  and a nice gift certificate to Nordstroms, as did Boo.  Wilster gave me this candle warmer thingy I asked for.  And cards...........ohmygoodness did I get the cards.  Let's just say I was feeling the love of family and friends.  Thank you all so so very much.  It's good to feel loved.  

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, emails, cards, gifts and phone calls.  I appreciate it more than you know.  

California Sunshine

I know I've been MIA.  If I've not been traveling I've been busy working on my website which is going great.  I'm back because a few of you and you know who you are, have requested a blog post.   :)  So here ya go.   

I just got home on the 12th from California. This was the first time back since moving two years ago.  Where did that time go? My BFF went in for routine surgery and all went wrong a week before I was to leave for Ca. For a few days she was even in a coma so the doctors could try to stop the bleeding.  I had my trip already planned before any of this happened and her husband Jeff asked me not to change a thing. And I didn't,  I'm so glad I was there to help take care of her.  She was in a coma for days, two stints in her legs to try and stop  bleeding that just would not stop, and three surgeries in all I think it was.  I've never been  so afraid I would lose someone as I was this time. All I could do was sit here by the phone, cry, and wait for updates from her hubby.  He was awesome at the text messages to keep several of us up to date on what was happening. I can not imagine what he was going through sitting there in the waiting room just waiting for anyone to come out and tell him something.  What was to be a three hour surgery ended up lasting for ten hours that day and lots more to come after that.  It just goes to show you, always tell your loved ones that you do love them everyday because you never know when it might be the last time.  Nancy is doing much better thank goodness.  But she has a long road ahead of her to recover fully.  

Who knew that Build a Bear delivered cats??  One of Nancy's good friends sent this to her.  Poor thing has lost so much weight, like she had any to give up.  

I've never seen so many flowers except in a florist.  There house smelled soooooo good.  And beautiful flowers everywhere.  She has so many nice friends.   I took a picture of lots of them but I think they are on my phone.  This one I did take a picture of because my Boo sent them to Nancy.  Aren't they pretty?

This little cutie also arrived.  Just in time to cheer her up.  If you need one of these you can go to Nicole's website and buy you one too.  But Nicole made this one specially for Nancy.  Don't you love the antique red cross pin Annie is wearing?  

Once Nancy came home we did alot of sitting in her backyard taking in the sun.  I loved her backyard. So pretty and the view...........wow!!  After snow it was nice to see flowers blooming.  

I've never seen lemons as big as the ones on this tree. I mean they were huge. Some of them looked like grapefruit they were so big. 

I wish I had this lemon tree in my backyard.  

Nancy planted those red geraniums just for my visit I'm sure.  Good thing she did this before she went into the hospital.  Or I'd be planting my own.  haaaa

Our friend Beth came over to sew with us and just hang out. We weren't sure how much sewing Nancy could do but she just enjoyed sitting there listening to us talk.  Better than hearing beepers and IV drips going off all day and night I'm sure. 

We celebrated Beth's birthday while she was there.  Look at the cute little cupcake in the glass dome Nancy got her. Actually we all got one.  

Lots of gifties for the birthday girl.

Cute huh????   It was quite tasty too.

I told you we loved Nicole's dolls. Nancy had these made just for all of us that got together to sew.  You know which one is mine I'm sure.  That one in RED!!  Look at the cute little sewing cases Nicole found to go on everyone of them.  Love mine!!  

Check these out!  And you'll never guess who bought them for Nancy and I.   Her hubby!!!  What a nice surprise, he went to the store to get some groceries and came back with these for us.  

Jeff cooked and cooked and cooked. Can I just tell you, what a nice guy he is? I didn't really know Jeff well before this trip but I can honestly say that he is a great guy!  He took such good care of Nancy,  he worried himself sick I'm sure, he cleaned and he cleaned and he cleaned.  He had my room and my own bathroom all ready when I got there,  He made sure anything we needed he got for us. He even picked me up at the airport late one night because my flight kept getting delayed and delayed.  

Are you smelling these?  Jeff did this coating on the two chickens and did the rotisserie on the grill.  They were soooooo good.  This guy can cook let me tell you.  

I made my Lobster Bisque and my Chicken Crotch aka cacciatore for two meals but Jeff did the rest. He even made us homemade waffles for breakfast one day.  I wanted to bring him home!! But Hunka might not like that.  Neither would Nancy. 

Say hello to Piper!  This is one of Nancy and Jeff's cats.  I walked by this basket one day and it moved.  I jumped back, then say those eyes!  lolol   That was the funniest thing ever to see her jump in there and go to sleep. 

The reason I was going to California was because Nancy belongs to a quilting group and has for years and years. Well they asked me a year ago if I'd like to come and sew with them for the weekend when they do their spring quiltover.  Are you kidding??  I couldn't wait.  What a nice group of girls.  We went over and played games and just hung out. Nancy and I didn't do any sewing but it was nice to see what everyone was working on. Oh and win prizes!!  Oh yea I did win some nice prizes plus everyone gets gifts in this group.I left with a nice bag full of goodies.  I need to take a picture and post them.  I told them I'd be back!!!   

Nancy had these cookies made for quiltover. Everyone got one.  Aren't they the cutest things????  She told this lady that she wanted quilt blocks as cookies and the lady did an awesome job.  Who wanted to eat those???  Too pretty.

I made all of these to give everyone. Unfortunately I only got a picture of the backside.  haaaaaaaaa   What was I thinking????  You can get the cute little pattern free at Allsorts.com    They are so cute I could smack myself upside the head for not taking a picture of the front.  Grrrrrrr   

Here's the stitching that I got done on my trip.  I did more but need to take pictures of them too. I love anything done by Natalie of Cinderberry Stitches.  Did you know she has a new book coming out?  You can preorder it on my website.  

Looks like a cute book doesn't it?  And it's her FIRST one.  

This is in the book too.

 I worked on my "All Creatures Great and Small".  I'm doing a stitch along on my Daisy Cottage website/blog.  These are so cute and fast. 

Do you like Annie Downs of Hatched and Patched like I do? Well she's got a new book coming out too. And yes you guessed it, I have it ready to preorder on my website too.  Looks like a good one!!

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by!!!  And remember, tell your loved ones that you LOVE them everyday!!!!!  You never know when you might not get the chance to say it again.   I love you Nancy!!!! And I'm glad you are on the road to recovery.  Please don't ever scare us like that again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A belated Happy Valentine's Day to ya.

Well my favorite day came and went.  I'm very sad.  I love that day of the year. I heard alot of talk this year that guys thought Valentine's Day was just a Hallmark thing to get guys to spend money.  Have they no romance in their life????  MEN maybe if you showed a little romance well...........you know!!! I'm just sayin.  What could it hurt to show your lady that you love her and appreciate her. Hallmark or not.  

Now for my man, well I can not complain. Really I could never complain about any holiday with him because he has always come through. Now my ex, that is another whole story.  He never ever did get it.  Not that he's a bad guy because he isn't. He gave me two wonderful boys that I adore. But he is the ex for a reason.  Again....just sayin.

Sooooo my man aka Hunka to you gave me two new charms for my Juicy Couture charm bracelet. One was a Margarita charm,  and the other...........a DAISY. And you know why he gave me that one.  Well shoot you probably know why he gave me the margarita one too. Because there wasn't a wine glass. lolol  Aren't they cute? Can you see the ladybug on the Daisy?  Believe it or not Hunka had a theme going on here. 

 

The UPS guy dropped off packages yesterday and I assumed that it was from Moda.  You know fabric!!!  I took my time getting up to get them off the porch. He said are you going to go get that stuff?? I said what stuff?? The UPS stuff.  Oh I guess so.  He's dying inside hoping it's his flowers.  

OMGOODNESS!!!!!!  Can you say freakin adorable????  He picked this out because it was a ladybug and the ladybug was also on the charm. And he knows I love ladybugs.  

Then he made reservations for us at this Italian restaurant that we had not been to. What a meal.  And oh what a man!!!!  Look he even wore my favorite color.  I love him.

Here's the food.  I know you wanna see the food and you know I took pictures.  Everyone was having this romantic meal and I get out the camera and start flashing. Do you even think I cared???  

I had the filet with crab meat, shrimp and a champagne sauce.  BESTILLMYHEART.  

The love machine had scallops with asparagus and some kind of sauce.  

My steak came out done more than I like so I had to send it back. They were so nice about it and gave us this.........

Lady fingers soaked in Godiva Liquor, a mousse filling and two chocolage covered strawberries.   CANYOUSAYHEAVENINAGLASS?? 

It was a good day.  

Then my Boo sent me quite a nice surprise the day before.  I got up and the delivery guy had already come.  Yes I know, I get up at 10:30.  So Hunka had answered the door and set these by my chair.  I got up glanced over and squealed.  

Tulips are my all time favorite flower. And, well everyone knows my favorite color.  

Boo even asked for a certain vase for the flowers because he knows I love a clear glass vase.  I guess I did something right raising that boy??  Well I give credit to his dad too. I didn't do it alone.  

I even got some more fun Valentine packages in the mail.  Who doesn't love Valentine's Day???
This is from Debbie.  She of course knows I love RED. I think she loves it just about as much. Do you love that red train case??? You know I do. And that Juicy C. dog on that bag cracked me up!!!  

Inside the train case was full of goodies too.

Then my friend Sharon sent me the best candy ever!!!! We have been friends forever. We met through a cross stitching magazine years ago when we both were looking for pen pals. Remember when we used to actually write letters with a pen and paper.  She lives in Pennsylvania where this awesome candy store is.  And apparently it's pretty popular.  I know the chocolate is delish!!  I'm hoping to get to PA this summer to visit Sharon for the first time ever. 

The night before VDay we had Lobster ravioli with left over homemade spaghetti sauce I had.  Arent' these pretty? And holymoly look what color they are!!!  I would have bought them just because of the color. But they were filled with lobster meat.  I go them at Sams club.  And they were delish.  

boiling..........boiling........

Add some homemade spaghetti sauce and you've got a whambam of a meal.

Let's see what else do I have???  Oh yea I got a new bag pattern and have been going crazy making them.   The pattern is on my website and I've made up some kits too.  It's called Hazel Hipster.  There is  the small size and the bigger one.

Well I'm outta room once again. Do I really talk that much?? Never mind don't answer.

I need to tell the winner of my Valentine giveaway. You guys had some close guesses but the closest one was Beth she guessed 319 and there was 324 in there.   Send me your address Beth and you'll get your goodies. Sorry they are AFTER the holiday. But the candy is still good.  

 

 

 

 

It's a GOOD thing!!

This might be my most favorite gift of all that I got the last couple days!!!!

 

I see the resemblance don't you??

 

 

Antique Treasures and other fun stuff.

These are some quilts my friend inherited from her family. I was at her house back in Dec. and she shared these with me because she knew I'd love them. She doesn't quilt or sew and I told her TAKE CARE of these forever!!  She said sh'e leave them to me. lol  Only problem there is I'm OLDER than her.  

The colors are still so vibrant in these.  And isn't this a unique pattern?  You know that was done with some templates and hand pieced. Look at those shapes.  

 

Love the pinwheels.  

 

 

Aren't these pretty?  They were at a winery I went to a couple weeks ago, lining the fence. 

 

These are from the flowers Boo gave me for Mother's Day.  

 

All my flowers are looking good because the rain won't STOP!!!   Glad they are lovin it.  

 

I have two of these on the deck.  The sunniest spot we have.  We've got a lot of shade here. Which is a good thing.  

 

Here's hoping this plant works.  After the mole story I told you I found this plant. And I've gotta say we haven't seen a mole in this area.  Now the friends to the dead mole are still out there, we see the damage.  We're onto them. This plant stinks but once it's planted we don't smell it.  THEY do supposedly.  I'm leaving that sign on it just so they know to STAY AWAY!!!  They can read can't they??

 

I've gotta thank Miss Kelly Ann for my new little scissors.  They are the cutest!!!!  I love them and she obviously knows I love me some scissors.  Thank you Kelly Ann!!!  There laying on my Pinkie Lee laptop that's where all the pink is from.  lol  Whoa is that thing bright. 

 

More new patterns are just listed in my Etsy shop.  Last night I sat and ordered and ordered lots of brand new books/patterns. There so new they are just coming out this month. Sooooo be on the lookout for those.  Thanks to all of you that have placed orders to get me going. Your all great!! I so appreciate the support.  My website is coming along, my new logo is awesome!!!!!  I couldn't be happier with it.  

Have a great Sunday. I'm off to wash that gray right out of my hair!!!!  Gotta look good the last FOUR yes I said it FOUR days of school.  WOOHOOO!!!! And a big old YEEHAW!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Missouri garden tour

Saturday my little sister asked me if I'd like to go to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. If you go before noon it's FREE.  But that meant I had to drag my lazy butt out of bed early so we could get there.  No we don't live far from it,  but my sister is an early bird and wanted to be there before 10am.   We talked about going last year but time got away from us and we never went.  I was excited to go and see all the pretty flowers.  It was a cool day.  As in COLD.  But I'll take that over hot and humid while touring the gardens.  I took alot of photos so I'll try not to talk just show them.  But you know how hard it is for me to be quiet.  Ok here goes....

 

Here's the little early bird herself. We took these photos of each other for our Facebook profile.  lol  Gotta always be thinking you know!!  

 

This was such a pretty bush.

 

She's the one with the skinny face, I'm the one with the fat face.  Just to clarify that. Did she have to zoom in on me??  

 

Look, I found some RED geraniums.  

 

 

 

Isn't this a cute little house?  Love the roof.

 

I took this for all of you cat people. Like Nancy and Barbie Jo.

 

 

This makes me want a tall glass of sweet tea.  

 

I have these growing in my backyard. They are so pretty. No these are not mine. I had to ask my sister what they were. I had no clue.  

 

There were rows of them.  

 

 

 

Hostas are my new favorite thing.  They are so pretty and green.  And talk about easy to grow. I had so many in my yard, hunka dug up a bunch and gave to Wilster. We saw his on Mother's day. They look great.  

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Well I managed to keep quiet.  Are you surprised??  Well I am.  More pictures later.  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  

 
 

 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
 

Jo Morton's in the house

It's here!!! I got two of my shipments so far. One was a big box full of fabric from Andover. Another was books and patterns. 

These are some of Jo Morton  and Renee Nanneman fabrics.  I've got them on my Etsy shop. There listed as one yard but I have bolts. Until I get my website finished I'll have to do it this way.  

 

 

Remember when I was working on this? Well it's finished and it's in my shop too.

 

I've got Lynda's  book along with others in my shop too if you liked this quilt I'm working on.

 

 

Have you ever gotten flowers in a box??  Well me either until today that is.  What a surprise this was.

 

Well hubby's not happy. This is not what he ordered. So he's on the laptop as we speak here.  Look out Pro Flowers.  

 

Last night was our Cinco de Mayo night.  Oh boy did we have some fun. Today I'm dead to the world.  I can not get motivated.  It was nice to be with old high school friends.  We three grew up living across the street from each other and have remained friends all these years. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!!!  And for all those nice comments you leave.