You can read the entire article here.

So does this make me the proud Queen mother?

I knew my daughter would especially like this one.

The bags were over flowing with a hodge podge of different fabric including cotton, denim, twill…..what ever they have on hand.

After sorting through the bags and taking out the fabric suitable for quilting, I was left with a bag of twill and denim.  This bag was dropped off at the local Salvation Army thrift store, for some one else to oooh and aaah over.

For a total of $9.00 plus provinical sales tax I was the proud owner of 16 new pieces of fabric ranging in size from a fat quarter to 2 yards.   The majority of the pieces are 1 yard and larger.   Being the good mother that I am, most of the fabric went to my daughter.

This is her latest creation using the thrift store fabric.

The cost of the pattern  $15.00.

The cost to make my daughter happy………priceless.

(Do you think she might me a wallet now?)

the small hands of my great-granddaughter Isabella waving hello when she arrived at my daughters, followed by the biggest of smiles affirming that she knows her Mam.

a delicious bag of Christmas cookies made by my middle granddaughter

the gift of a long coveted Amish quilt from my talented daughter

the heartfelt thank you from Lynn (my grand-daughter-in-law’s Mom),  for the quilt I sent

the Christmas Eve blog entry by our cousin San (read it here).

the unsolicited and very generous offer from the wife in law and Miss Julia who volunteered to drop into feed Porsche while we were away

a special book saying thank you from my oldest grand-daughter, who had overheard her Aunt and I in November discussing the fact no one takes the time to say thank you any more

the site of my grand-children ages 10 to 23 playing with Lego at the kitchen table Christmas morning

the call from our good friend and this year to be neighbour Rick, to say N BPower had installed the power pole on our property. We are another step towards building our dream home

celebrating Christmas with four generations under one roof.

I hope your holidays were as “ah” filled and blessed as ours.

Andrea comes from a line of authors on her father`s side. Her great-grandfather Thornton wrote a book on roller skating.   Her aunt Glenda, wrote Foggy Cat.

From my side of the family she has inherited her good looks, her intelligence, her sense of humour and her humility.

To pre-order the book, go here.

Not only does she help lessen my load of fabric, sometimes she even sends it back to me in a new format.   Her Mother`s Day gift to me was no exception, this blue  shopping bag was sewn completely from fabric she borrowed from me.

I can`t wait to see the quilt she will no doubt  make for  me.  After all I know I have  provided the fabric for at least three king size quilts.

I bought the Rodale Easy Machine Quilting book  years ago thinking I would teach myself how to machine quilt. On a good day, threading the bobbin is a challenge for me, so needless to say I did not get past the table of contents in this book.

My daughter Andrea borrowed the book recently, read it from cover to cover, bought a walking foot and produced this beautiful piece of work.

If you own the book, you will instantly recognize the Amish Wall Quilt from page 219.  The skill level is easy – maybe for some, but not in my little world. Beautiful job Andrea!

Andrea, Ron and my youngest grand-daughter Emma drove 3 1/2 hours yesterday to spend the day with us.   Even though we had agreed that we would spend the Easter weekend apart, during our usual Sunday morning call last weekend Andrea asked if we were coming over.  I reminded her of our previous week’s conversation, we were busy, she was busy, yada, yada, yada.    Andrea whined, “Okay, make me admit it.  I miss you guys. I haven’t been to your house in ages. It’s my birthday weekend. I want to go through your fabric.”   The truth was out.   She might be grown up but she is still my little girl at heart.  And nothing brings her home like quilting fabric.

We had a wonderful day full of good food, birthday cake, balloons, quilt books and of course fabric fondling.

Andrea was good enough to go through my fabric stash and relieve me of what ever pieces she could use.  Two large garbage bags full.   And what did I buy my fabric loving daughter for her birthday?  40 for 40.   Forty fat quarters tucked into a Liberty of London oil cloth bag, and a 12 inch square ruler.   Andrea borrowed my ruler a year ago, so buying one for her  was the only way to get mine back.

Here’s a few pictures of Andrea through the years.

Luckily for me,  Miss Julia gifted me with a jar of Green Beaver apres ski winter face cream at Christmas.  (Thank you again Julia).

I absolutely  love this lightly scented  shea and cocoa butter  cream.   It is perfection in a jar.   If I were dropped on a deserted island and could only bring one thing (besides my DH and the kitty of course) I would opt for this skin cream.

Check out the rest of the Green Beaver Company line, your face and skin will thank you.

I`m one proud mama, even if I didn`t get a t-shirt!

This book is perfect as it tells me `Everything I wanted to know about quilting, that my daughter wouldn`t tell me.

For years my long suffering daughter has been taking my frantic phone call wanting help with yet another quilting foul up. Thanks to Sarah, Andrea will no longer roll her eyes and mutter she must be  adopted.   Andrea inherited the sewing gene from both her grandmothers.  That gene just flew past me without a second thought.  What is simple for Andrea completely baffles me.

This incredible little book has great illustrations, and a no nonsense question and answer format!  It is just like calling Andrea without the eye rolling.

Luckily Sarah was blessed with the sewing gene and a creative natural talent.   So when I came across this dress on Toxel.com I  immediately thought of Sarah and her graphic design course.   Now all I need is to find enough telephone books to make the dress.   Guess I will have to call Andrea.