Happy Independence Day!

Happy Birthday America!

Do you remember how excited you got on the 4th of July when you were a kid?  How you couldn't wait for it to get dark outside so you could play with sparklers?  I sure can...!  Picnics... cooking out on the grill... there was no better time of the year for roasted hot dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob, and watermelon...then we topped it off with homemade ice cream!  Plus... we had the crank kind... wow did that handle ever get hard to turn when it was almost finished!  It tasted soooooo good!!  My daddy always made the ice cream.  He told us he had a secret recipe... to this day I still am not sure what all he put in it... but it was so good!  And... soooo... cold!  Brain Freeze big time! 

To top it off (for an even more delicious flavor) were the homegrown strawberries from our HUGE strawberry patch.  It was as big as the sales floor in my old store!  I've never seen so many strawberries

produced in one patch in my life.  YUM!!!  We furnished all of the houses on our country road with strawberries all summer long!


We would even have ONLY... strawberry shortcake for our evening meal.. made with Bisquick shortcake.  Man.. my tummy is growling!

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Vicky and I had such a productive day yesterday.... You can surely tell by looking at our sewing studio!  Oh My!!!  It looks like we fought a war in it.  I'm telling you what... I can destroy a perfectly great looking room in the matter of a heartbeat!  Here is a picture of our new quilt from our County Londonderry fabrics.. PLUS we used the sueded flannel from Marcus Brothers Fabric!  Sorry for the blurry picture... I'm certainly not as skilled as Heather when it comes to photography... I was using my ipad and I obviously was not very steady!

We have it laid out on the office floor... I still need my honey to make me a design wall.  I'm just too old to be crawling around on the floor.  The old back and knees just can't take it.  

We really haven't picked a final name for it yet... we've been calling in Bluebird In My Garden... but as you can tell... there are more than just Bluebirds!  Can you help us name it?  

Post some names for us... if we pick yours... we'll send you a free pattern when it's all ready!!!  How does that sound?  To help you.. the name of our fabric line is County Londonderry... the applique is made from sueded looking flannel.  You would swear it's wool!!  So much easier to work with... very reasonable in cost and washable!

So... tell us your ideas... we'd love to hear from you!!!

Today I'm putting a sleeve on one of our finished quilts!  I normally sew it on with the binding and for some reason my brain did not remind me to do that...so now it's all going on by hand.  Then I have to finish up my Londonderry Garden applique (only a small amount left to do) then put that quilt together... then applique these sweet birds and flowers.  We're using the regular applique method on these little fellows...not the buttonhole hand stitch... just for a different look.

So... with that all in mind... It's time to get busy.  

I hope you all have a wonderful July 4th.  Pray for our country and our armed forces that are defending it... 

Chat with you all later!!

Gloria