Good morning!  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you have already seen this picture.  I need to make a bunch of these, and couldn't decide which version to choose, so I put it on social media to see what everyone else thought.  These pendants are 1" x 1 1/2" with little bead sets and charms.  So, which one is your favorite?  General consensus so far has been the one in the center, but the one on the left also got a lot of votes.  Not many votes for the one on the right.

 I recently made an order for a shop that was all square in a square blocks with the little sheep in the center.  While I was on a roll, I made a few extra...

A couple of weeks ago, I took a trip to Muscatine, IA to present my trunk show for their guild.  Of course, I couldn't go to Muscatine without making time for a visit to The Little Red Hen!  Such a great shop - I could spend hours there and still not see everything.  I didn't buy too much - a couple of pieces of blue fabric with stars (for when I make those patriotic pendants above), and a few pretty pieces of wool.  It was hard to show constraint - I just love everything they do.  I've been so tempted by some of their books, but have been trying to give myself a reality check!

My presentation went well - they are a great guild and so helpful.  This is the first time that I've gone to present by myself.  I usually have help with me, to haul everything in and get unpacked and packed back up at the end of the evening. Shortly after I left the church at the end of the night, my low tire light came on.  Oh no!  I found a gas station and got out to look, but none of the tires looked low (my van doesn't tell you WHICH tire, just that one of them is low).  I called my husband, and told him that maybe the back passenger side looked a little bit low - well, we had a flat on that tire a while back, so that made sense.  He told me to put in a little air - which I did, but had no gauge to check it.  Then I was back on the road.  I made it back to the highway, and was tooling down the road, and my tire blew out!  Scared the crap out of me!!  And there I was at 9:30 at night, along a super dark stretch of road, by myself with a big ol' flat tire.  This is my worst nightmare - having car trouble when I'm by myself!  CRAP!!!  I was actually talking to hubby when the blow out happened - so he was going to hop in the car and head my way, but I was over an hour away from home.  UGH!!  Then I decided to call Deb (the lady from Muscatine who arranged my visit).  Thank goodness, she sent her son-in-law to me, and it probably only took him 15 minutes to get there.  Of course, I'm having a heart attack the entire time...especially when someone drove by me, then turned around and pulled up behind me. I guess I just don't trust people anymore, but I only wanted to see Chad (the SIL), my hubs, or a deputy Sheriff!  Well, it was none of those. YIKES! He came up to the car and asked if I was ok, I just said yes, and thankfully he left.  Am I stupid for being so cautious?  Never have I been so happy to see someone as when Chad arrived.  He had just had to rescue his wife the night before - she had a flat tire, and had just gotten brand new tires that day.  Whew!  So, what started as a great day, ended up with a bump in the road (literally!).  But, I made it home safely and am sooooo grateful for Deb sending her son-in-law. Oh, and two things - there is now a tire pressure gauge in the van, and my husband got AAA for me the following day!

The next day it was time to get that van unpacked.  Callie was helping, so it took extra time!  She clearly approves of these quilts.  I don't know where Ozzie was during all of this - he must have been napping under the bed.  He likes to sleep there, so when it comes time to get his medicine, we can't get to him.  The little basket quilt is a pattern by Country Threads - the baskets are 3" blocks.  I've made 3 of these, and gave the other two away.  I think Callie wants me to keep this one.

I love spring flowers and Greg often brings some in for me to enjoy in the house.  Here is a close up of some lilacs - I just love them.

So, this is a big disaster!  One of my nieces recently had a baby girl.  When she told us that she was expecting, of course I started planning a quilt for her.  Then we were vending at a show and a neighboring booth had this little quilt kit.  It's not something I would normally make, but I thought she would like it - she loves the Cuddle fabric - so soft! And this was just cute, with the little lamb.  The zig zag is printed on the fabric, not something that I had to piece.  Well, I'm ashamed to say that I purchased this kit last fall and didn't get it done until a month after the baby was born in March!  It really didn't take long once I finally got going on it, but geesh - I do not like sewing with this stuff!  It's really puckery looking around the lamb.  UGH!!  Just not happy with it at all. Hopefully she will overlook the shoddy workmanship and enjoy the softness of it!  I need to make her a real quilt sometime to show her that I can!

 We have had some beautiful weather lately and I was trying to enjoy my lunch out on the deck, but look how that worked out!  Bailey always needs attention!

 For Christmas, my brother and his family gave my mom tickets to go to a Celtic Women concert, and they included me as well.  It was one of our girl trips.  The concert was in Peoria, IL, so it was just a day trip for us.  We stopped at the Landmark Cafe & Creperie, in Galesburg, for lunch - Mom loves this place.  Lunch was great, but look what is hanging on the wall!  I would love to know the story behind this quilt - but no one working that day seemed to know.  Isn't it a beauty?

And speaking of beauty - not sure if this is beauty or the beast!  She was "helping" me again!  She has a thing with these plastic boxes that I keep my quilt jewelry in.  It's funny, my CC kitty (who is no longer with us) had a major love for plastic.  We had a cupboard that had some plastic totes in it, and when she heard the door of that cupboard open, she would come running to lick the plastic - so weird!

I better go get busy, as always this post has gone on too long!  But now you're all caught up.  Let me know which patriotic pendant you like best!

Have a great weekend!