Monday, March 29, 2010

Hoppy Easter!!


Easter is fast approaching and we are well on our way to Spring here in Minnesota! Yeah!!!
Spring does bring along it's share of clean-up, and work to be done outside. Every year I dream about this wonderful looking yard and garden; I wonder if it will happen this year? My grandkids are getting big enough so I can probably talk some of them into helping. Last year they all wanted to plant seeds, so I got some cute pictures of the two smallest ones doing some planting. Their attention spans are not quite long enough to finish the job though and so Grandpa and Grandma ended up putting the shovels and rakes away after the big planting session. It was fun though watching them digging in the earth and having the enthusiasm that we tried to instill in our children when they were younger that planting seeds and watching them grow is definitely a worhwhile thing to do. Not to mention if you plant the right ones, you get the added reward of being able to eat what you have sown. Spring also brings out the usual "bumper crop" of dandelions especially here in the country. Over the years I have always wrestled over the notion of whether to spray them or just let them run their course and put up with it for a couple of weeks until they have formed their little "puffballs" and the wind has carried them off to places far and wide. I have bought weed spray and have a hard time putting it down on the yard. I am too concerned over what the chemicals would do to our songbirds that enjoy our yard this year. I will have to see how bad they are and wrestle with that again this year. I have also received a bumper crop of seed catalogs in the mail this year, some that I have never heard of before.Hmmm, wonder what that is all about??
Oh well, I think I need to get back to my stitching, the only big decisions I have to make their is whether to buy some more fabric!
Happy Stitching! Carol

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

More Spring Ornaments!




Heirloom Ornaments
I am having a ball with these Heirloom Ornaments! I call them Heirloom because, can you imagine ever throwing one away?? I think they deserve to be passed on, at least that is what I am doing with mine. I purposely put a solid color on the back, (off white) so that I can personalize them and date them so when my grandchildren pass them on, they will have a nice remembrance of their great grandma. It is so much fun creating something that I think is truly a "future heirloom." Check out all of them on my website, www.chickadeehollowdesigns.com
Have you ever done something so bad that it took you several months to fess up? Well that has happened to me. Last summer I agreed to become part of a Round Robin, you know where you get a group together and each one does a round on a quilt. Well, that was me, five in the group, my fist block came in the mail, I was so excited to get started on it because when I opened it, it was a patriotic block. I am the biggest fan of patriotic or Americana things. I started on it right away, wasn't sure how it was going to look but did one side of the block to see if I liked it, and I did. So I proceeded to cut the fabric for the other side, and when I was cutting a strip off of a piece of fabric, I didn't realize that the finished part had gotten under my rotary cutter. Needless to say, it wasn't good. I cut a big chunk out of the block that someone else had made. OMG!!!
That was several months ago, and I finally fixed it as well as I could, made a little (iron on patch)patch to hold it together. I stressed over it several months before I decided to fess up to the owner, and you want to know what she said, "That will just add to the memories of the quilt when I do receive it back home." Now, is she the sweetest lady or what? All that stress, and the procrastinating I did. I guess the lesson in that is, that the best thing to do is "come clean" right away! But it is true what they say, the older you get, the less you stress about stuff, it is the little things in life that matter. Have a good day and...........
Happy Stitching! Carol



Monday, March 1, 2010

Spring Has Sprung At Chickadee Hollow!!




Even though the snow is still deep, we have been having some beautiful sunny days and it has given me "spring fever." I can't wait any longer to let all of you in on what I have been doing. Why stitching of course!! I am having so much fun with these eggs and bunnies and flowers that I may just have to think of something bigger to do with bunnies.
I have designed a total of 20 items in my Spring/Easter line, and we will release them as they are ready.Check in again next week for the next bunch!
Happy Stitching! Carol