Favorite Bloggers and Beautiful Things

A few weeks ago I received this from Lynn & Linda, two new blogging friends. I have been remiss in passing this on. I read so many wonderful blogs and it is really hard to choose. You all deserve this award. I chose four blogging friends that I have not recognized before.

Here are the rules:- Five people are allowed to receive this award: four dedicated followers of your blog and one who is new to your blog and lives in another part of the world.- Please link back to the person who gave you this award.

Jude of Cariad in Crete
Bindu of Transient Lives
Embellisher of Million Little Stitches
Jackie of Jackie's Stitches

And a new blog I have recently found: Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods in beautiful Norway.


I had a few minutes to shop at the craft fair this weekend. I purchased a few Christmas gifts for my family and bought this for myself. I have always loved glass paperweights and I couldn't resist this lampwork necklace made by Jamie of Uh-Oh Art Studio. All of my favorite colors! See more of her work at her Etsy store.
Monday night we had our guild party at Patsy's retreat. We had a gift exchange of something handmade. By chance Patsy and I each exchanged gifts with each other. This is the second year in a row that Patsy received my gift. This year Patsy received two of the Christmas ornaments I designed, last year it was one of my snowflakes. Here is what I received from Patsy:

It's perfect for me. I love hand embroidered linens and this hand towel in soooo lovely! I adore the little quilt basket ornaments. I will enjoy unpacking them each year and remembering her friendship. I also love the tissue paper she packed this gift in. Don't be surprised when you see me using pattern tissue paper if you order from my Etsy shop. I just purchased a ton of patterns left over from Jeanne's fabric sale to use for packing material. Patsy, you are a genius! Follow this link to see the party decorations. It was like walking in to a fairly tale, dazzling and so picturesque!

The Road to a Friend's House

I stopped off at the Homestead Cabin Retreat on Friday to drop off an order to one of Patsy's guests, Amy, who I met at the retreat last December. It turned out the rest of Patsy's guests were women I had met at an earlier retreat from the Life's a Stitch Quilt Shoppe. It was great to see everyone again. I had been lamenting that I wouldn't be able to attend the next meeting of the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild which meets at the retreat monthly. The entire drive to Patsy's place is blazing with wildflowers in July. I was very glad to have an excuse to stop in. Thanks Amy! Patsy has created a wonderful setting to come relax and create. Oh, and the food! I can't wait for my next stay at her Homestead. This photo was taken enroute to the retreat. It features a mix of Black Eyed Susans and Daisies.

I also had a stop at my friend Susan's house. This is the first time I have been to her house in the summer time. What a treat. She has flower gardens everywhere, each garden is it's own "room". Her husband purchased a train caboose a few years ago. As far as I knew it was filled with junk. Much to my surprise She and her husband had cleaned things up and made it into a wonderful guest cabin for their kids. TOO COOL! I wish I had taken pictures. She had couple old iron beds with lovely quilts on them and all the furnishings were early antiques. Susan had been hand dyeing silk scarves and they were all strung out to dry in the windows. Susan has an amazing spirit and is always wonderful to be around.

I took my time driving home and stopped to take pictures along the way. I found a teepee tucked away in a little island of mowed grass.

The sun was obscured by clouds on and off all evening. I love seeing the rays of light from filtered sunlight.

The shot below was taken on the road to my house. The yellow flowers are a small wild relative of the sunflower. They grow on many roadsides throughout the Midwestern US.