Doing the Catchup Dance

Aloha,
I've been trying to get caught up with some thank-you cards post mothers' day and in between attending family obligations.  This past Saturday our first grand-daughter received her 1st communion. I didn't know the young girls still wore head-veils until her mother asked me to attach a headband to it.  She looked so adorable.

1st communion

Today we said our good byes to her other grandmother.  My daughter-in-law's mother passed on Good Friday, however the family waited for all the relatives to arrive in Hawaii before having the celebration of her life.  She will be missed.
I also want to share with you, tho' some of you may have seen this on Brenda's blog, this beautiful favor box that Brenda made and sent to me.  It was filled with goodies to eat and a Mothers' Day card. She is so talented and very creative with punch art.

I was so thrilled when I opened the package. So, I made some thank you cards but I've yet to mail them. I'll get the pics up in my next post, 'till then, happy creating.
Aloha,
 

Squeezing In a Post

Aloha,
It's been a while and much has happened and much is still going on.  At the beginning of May, we took a trip to Nevada to visit my husband's sister and her husband.  We had a great time, good eats and fun time just spending time with each other.  When we got back home, the weather was like we left it, wet.  But right outside our house facing the Ko`olau mountains is this, soon after the rain.

Even though we got home just before Mothers' Day, it's been hectic catching up with everything, I haven't had time to log-on long enough to check everyone's blog. Checking the chickens, our garden and grooming our sweet dog gave me little time to be on the computer except for late at night when I can barely think straight.
This past weekend things finally calmed down, so I spent Saturday with some classmates, playing cards and eating.  One of my GF's also went on a trip. She brought back some of the sweetest goodies to eat.  I've been traveling back and forth to Vegas for years and I've never heard of this place:

I will definitely put this place on my to-visit list the next time I'm there.These mini bundt cakes were so delicious!
I'm making some thank you cards and will post them as soon as I can. I take the long way around my photography when it comes to doing the watermark thing, the sizing in pixels, etc., so please bear with me. 
One last thing before I go.  I wanted to share my gardenias with you.  It seems my gardenia bush is a little late in blooming this year.  I thought we weren't going to have any, since the chickens have been pecking at the leaves earlier.

That's it for now; it's quite late here, about 11:30pm so I'm headed off to bed. 
Aloha,

Stitches and shells

Aloha,
Things have slowed down a bit, so I thought I'd do another post this week.  People that know me know that I like doing all kinds of crafts whether it's card making, quilting or whatever.  Of late, I've been doing some stitching.  This particular project started off with a cushion in mind, but now it will be framed and hung on the guest room wall.  Can you imagine 7 grandchildren fighting over/with it as a cushion?!

I think I'd better concentrate on some papercrafts next.  I just got some new Cricut cartridges in the mail today.  I want to try some Mini Monograms using fabric and see what happens.  By the way, has anyone seen the Cricut Expression 2? I was just getting used to people talking about Cricut Imagine and now there's an E2?  Oh well.
Have a great rest of the week.
Aloha,

Happy Easter!

Aloha,
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter with family and friends!
Flat Leilani is back.  I forgot where I put her; took me a while to find her, but here she is with some Easter bunny friends.
We were at my daughter's farm yesterday for our big family Easter celebration, I didn't dare take Leilani and her white bunnies to the farm. So, all the colorful eggs and baskets full of treats were gone before I could do a photo. However, in my backyard, Leilani along with her bunny friends were happy to pose for me.

These darling bunnies decided to go Easter egg hunting, look what they found! Actually, I think they raided my chicken coop.  These eggs are from my chickens! Yummy, organic and full of nutrition.
Blessings to all!
Aloha,

A Little Bit of Handwork/Machinework

Aloha,
Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!  It's kind of humid here in Hawaii, but nothing a fan or ac can't fix.

This piece of needlework I wanted to share with you is a combination of handwork and machine worked.  I signed up for a stained-glass quilt class some years back and thought I would be using tons of bias tape, you know the one on a reel and tape is only a scant 1/4"? So, I thought I'd buy a bunch to be ahead of the game. Duh...if I'd read class descriptions, I would've known it was going to be a reverse applique method.  So, I still have the bias tape rolls; eventually will put to good use.  But, I do love reverse applique.  Take a look:

cushion cover

machine meandering

 This is a multi-step process of layered fabric and carefully multi-step cutting of fabric layers. But I think it was worth the process. The black fabric was like doing Hawaiian quilt applique; turning raw edges under with a needle then stitching as you go. The quilting is done on my machine using metallic thread.
Now, I need to go get some Easter things done for the Grandchildren. Enjoy the rest of your week!
Aloha,