Sunday Quilt Inspiration: C A N D Y

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought we might find some inspiration from the candy that sweethearts tend to rely on as the perfect gift. I hope my sweetheart brings me one of these: 

maybe one of you could give him a call and tell him.  Be specific. Say, "Go to Walmart and buy a Whitman's sampler for Mary for Valentine's Day. No other kind. Whitman's. Just Whitman's." Then write it on a piece of paper and hand it to him. Yes, it's like that.

Forget that I told him what I'd like. Then I told him what I want. Your job is to remind him that it's Valentine's Day and what, exactly, I want for a gift.

And as always, quilts in the theme...

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day. May you get your favorite candy and lots of it!

A Valentine Helper

I've had a fairly productive couple of days.  We are out of school for the Mardi Gras break, and since there was no school yesterday, I was able to complete a few small projects.  

 I also managed to pick up and arrange some little Valentine surprise bags for the grandchildren.  I don't usually buy chocolate for them as they all like what we call "junk candy."  The sweet or sour stuff like Skittles, Sour Patch, Lemonheads.  Don't get me wrong, I'll eat those, too, but I grab the chocolate first!  

Since Marley came by this morning she was the first to get her bag. She helped me arrange the bags so I could snap a photo.  Of course, she had to cheese it up a bit.  She also added a few other items to the coffee table arrangement: a feather and an empty Skittles container.  Apparently her mom gave her dad some candy and this was part of the package.  Marley decided she wanted the plastic container.  Then she gave it to me for my Valentine gift from her.  

She refused to give me the feather.  That's her mom's gift!  For some reason she is fascinated with chicken feathers.  She picks one up every time she comes for a visit.  No one is complaining because for a while it was the rocks in the driveway.  Not a problem, generally, but she has a bit of a temper.  A rock is not something I want her to have when she is also having a tantrum.  

The puppy also appreciate that her fascination is now more along the lines of tickles.  They don't seem to mind being tickled with a chicken feather, and they love discovering a forgotten feather!

Winter and Valentines

We've had three snow days this week alone.  It's such a rare break to get one snow day, but a total of six in a year is amazing.  Of course, we'll have to make up all but two.  Of course, The reasons for the days off are the icy roads and loss of power.  

But the fun ends tonight: school is set to start back tomorrow.  I'll admit that I enjoyed the time off.  Movies till midnight, sleeping late, sewing all afternoon, peace and quiet.  The kids couldn't drive through the ice, so they called their dad to check on us.

One of the things that I did while we were off was to take care of this box of valentines.  When we were at Beta Convention, students from across the state came into the service project room to create valentines and activity booklets.  The valentines go to Valentines for Vets (which I delivered to the local VA Hospital for disbursement) and the activity booklets will go to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  

The kids do a great job with the valentines.  Some of them have really heart-felt sentiments and some are beautiful.  As the school in charge of the service project room, all we have to do is provide the materials and make sure the finished products find their way to where they belong.

 Last year I mailed cards out to the three VA hospitals in our state, but this year I didn't get busy soon enough, so they all went to the Pineville hospital on Monday.  The person in charge there will do the rest.  This really helps my club because we have to raise the money for mailing costs.

So tomorrow veterans around the state will receive valentine cards and notes from some thoughtful, sweet teenagers.  Pretty awesome, don't you think?
I hope you and your Valentine have a wonderful day tomorrow.
Mary

Pin It Again

Time for Pin It Wednesday Thursday!

Sorry that I missed it last night.  Wednesdays it turns out, have become the night that I must go to a mandatory "high stakes" meeting in Marksville.  We may have to move Wednesday to Thursday for a few more weeks since I am much too exhausted when I get home to do anything, at all. 

So without further delay. . .Some pics from my Dresden board

 

I really like Dresden Plate Quilts, but check these out--So very creative!

Here's a colorful one with a reverse applique center and of course, a modern black and white with a touch of yellow.

   
And because it's Valentine's day, this pretty, romantic little pink.  But because it's Valentine's let's have a few LoveBirds visit.




                     
And a few flowers for those who really enjoy them....

         

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day and that all those you love were able to share it with you.

Happy Quilting,

Mary