AWESOME WEEKEND....

Friday Night, Hubby got tickets for the Blackhawks Hockey Game right on the ice! That was what he wanted for his Birthday, so just the two of us went and it was....UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sat First Row right next to the Boards. Now I know what your thinking...but for a "retired" Hockey Mom, it was really exciting...here are a few pictures.

The first is my glass of wine sitting on the ledge and just look how close we were to the ice!!! How cool is that? And then, the Blackhawks came out to practice and WOW... Then I remembered, I had to shut off my light on camera (thank you young girl who told me and did that for me, I don't know how to work it yet)... SO, pictures get a little better:

Can you believe it, that's the Goalie (I wish he would have turned around), but got a shot of his name on jersey - that's how close we were!! Yep, the next one is Assistant Captain, Patrick Sharp (my oldest is in love with him), so tried to get an up close one of him for her....Why don't they just look at me....can't they see I trying to get their pictures????!?!?!? Oh, right, they are practicing, DUH!!

Then game started and 'BAM' right in front of us, I swear I thought they were going to come through that plexiglass and how fast that puck goes, totally awesome!!!

Then to put the icing on the cake, as they say, WE WON!!!!!!! Here they are congratulating the goalie and then they raise their sticks to tell us thank you for watching.

The Captan, Jonathan Toews, is on at the end talking about game highlights!!!

We had a blast and it brought back soooooo many memories of my then, little guy, Mike who was 4 yrs old when he started playing hockey (now he is 19-going on 20 yrs old). Mike is in college and doesn't play anymore, but those years that he did, we some of the best years of my life, I just LOVED watching my "little guy" out on that ice!!

That was Friday and then on Saturday, I took my nephew (who is about 25 yrs old) horsebackriding for the 1st time, he has been talking about it for so long, so I called the barn where I ride and got him on a horse. He rode" buddy " and I rode, "cloud", white-painted palaminos. They were sooo beautiful! My nephew rode Western and I ride English, so we had a great time in our hour ride. Here are some pics of him and I (now remember my flash was off, due to game, so pictures are kind of blurry)... I am trying to tilt myself to get closer to my nephew that is why I look a little "off" on my horse, and then the best part...you guessed it feeding the horses, What a Weekend!!

Hope everyone in blogland had a great one too!!


Hugs,


Mary

FRIDAY GIVE AWAY WINNER IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First I want to thank all you lovely bloggers who played with me over the weekend and left comments regarding my give away!!!!

After reading all the comments, each one of you, really, inspires me! I thank you for that. Hearing about what you are currently working on and to hear a lot of you quilt for charities, was very touching and heartwarming! Quilters are the BEST in my book!! Even though, I have never met any of you, I feel like I know you each a little better by your comments and your blogs and your beautiful projects you are working on...with that said,

Cooper totally, 100% picked out the name. How, you ask? Well, I typed up each name, cut your names out, placed them in a jar, shook it several times then dumped all the names on a piece of "easter looking" fabric, and then I thought, how am I going to get him to paw or sniff one of the names, so....after much thought (see I have way too much time on my hands), I placed his favorite bone in the center and he literally picked up a name with his mouth and took off! So after bribing him with a treat, I got the piece of paper out of his mouth, so to make a long store short:

MICHELE YOU WON!!!!! COOPER PICKED YOU!!!!

Congratulations, Michele!!!! Just send me your address to my email (coolmommary@fastmail.fm) and your fabric and goodies will be shipped out tomorrow!!!! This is what Michele wrote in my blog: "I am working on a baby quilt for my grandson, Evan, who recently moved away with his parents to the other side of the country. I quilt to relax, and this time, to find peace of mind, the process is calming and I will have a product at the end that I can gift him with."

How beautiful Michele...see Cooper knew you were missing your grandson, Evan! I know he will just love the quilt you are making for him!!!


Thank you for playing everyone, this was a lot of fun....I will have to think up of another one soon!!!!!

MANY, MANY HUGS,

MARY

GIVE AWAY FRIDAY

Okay, because I can not think for the life of me what to do with this beautiful fabric....I am going to have a give away and guess what, I am giving away that fabric! Sounds good, huh? And because it is friday, will put some other little "Easter" items as well, TGIF!!!

Now this is all you have to do:

Leave me a comment as to what you are currently working on AND what inspires you to quilt, applique, cross stitch, whatever your "thing" is...simple enough?

Here are pics of the fabric again...and Cooper will supervise the picking of the names: ....."wait you talking to me???" (this is Cooper thinking....) "oh boy, she IS talking to me...I just wanted to look out this window and now .... oh, alright I'll help you out!!!" APRIL 6TH COOPER WILL PICK WINNER!!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!! LOTS OF HUGS, MARY

WHAT NEW????

I have just downloaded a bunch of pics that I have taken during the week.

The first one is of our snowfall last Sunday, woke up to a Winter Wonderland.

We are due to have more tonight, lovely, lovely Spring we are having here in Illinois!


Then, I was going through my stash of fabrics and found these really adorable prints...Now I don't know what quite to do with this fabric...does anyone have any ideas????

Then Today, Thurs, met with my mom-in-law and sister-in-law with my Mom and took these pics.... ?Aren't they Sweet...My Mom is in all pink and Dave's Mom is in Red. Robin is Dave's sister and her and I are 2 yrs apart. She and her other sister, Carolyn look alot like Dave! What a sweetheart, she takes great care of Dave's Mom. Well, that's all from me for now, waiting on the snow, working on a Barb and Alma applique project and as really, really, really, waiting for Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LOTS OF HUGS, MARY

THE SISTERHOOD AWARD FROM DELLA

DELLA from the "QUILTING ASYLUM" HAS NOMINATED ME FOR THE SISTERHOOD AWARD!!! THANK YOU DELLA, YOU ARE TRULY A SWEETHEART.

This award is a blogger's recognition of great attitude and/or gratitude. Now it is my turn to pass along this coveted award to friends I have made during the past year that I have been blogging. I have met so many of you and you have always been so kind and friendly that I really think if we all lived near each other, we could just pull up a chair and chat and sew, like we have known each other for years...I am truly grateful for the friendships I have made. Thank you to so many of you, that is really hard to pick just 5, so within the guidelines of this award I now would like to pass this award along to those who:
*have talents that leave me in awe
*educate me and enhance my talents
*touch my heart and emotions
*remind me of home
*challenge me
*and those who quilt with me

Lurline from Lurline's Place
Joanna @ figtreequilts.com
The gals at Material Obsession
Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts
and my favorite Quilt Shop, "Thimbles of Lockport, IL", all the instructors and owners Jane and Tammy, the workers Char who always helps and makes me Laugh, Kara who long arm quilts all my quilts, and Melody the only lady I know who appliques by hand and makes it look easy (I swear her stitches are miniscule and perfect!!)

Thank you again Sweet Della, and everyone check out her blog at "The Quilting Asylum", you will really enjoy it and her talents!!!

Hugs back at yeah, Della,

MARY

NOAH DONALD...FIRST PICTURES

Hi Everyone!! I just received a photo of Baby Noah laying on his quilt I made him!! He is tooooo adorable!! (proud great-aunt here!!) WOW, Great Aunt! It is hard to believe but I am one, in fact I am a Great Aunt of 8!!!! Okay, now I feel old...

Also couldn't resist, while cleaning out my coat closet, look who found a mitten! Yep, it's COOPER!!

Hope everyone has a Great Weekend and Safe one too!

LOTS OF HUGS,

MARY

THIS IS SOOOO TRUE!!!!!

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!!!

HUGS, MARY

Cross Stitch Patterns For Sale

I HAVE SO MANY EXTRA CROSS STITCH PATTERNS, IF ANY ONE IS INTERESTED, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. THEY ARE ALL OF HOUSES. THE WHOLE BUNCH OF THEM, I WOULD SELL FOR $50.00. THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN USED, I WAS GOING TO DO A HOUSE ROW BY ROW IN CROSS STITCH, BUT NEVER GOT AT IT. THANKS, HUGS, MARY

BLOCK ONE READY TO APPLIQUE!!

Hi Everyone, This is the First Block of "Love Letters" from "When a cold wind blows". I have it all pinned and ready to start needle turning. My class is tomorrow and finally made some progress on it! Sorry if it is blurry, my camera is acting up on me.

Glad weekend is coming, my 21 and 19 yr old are fighting and it is really, really getting to me!

Hugs,

Mary