OK, I am back.......

It is a new year with new beginnings and all that. I said I would be a blogger again in the new year so here I am! This is the longest break I have ever taken from blogging since I started in 2007 and it actually has weighed heavy on my mind. Not just the blogging part, but visiting my friends blogs. It feels good to be back. Thanks for waiting for me!
I mostly have some things to show that people have made for me. My camera was haywire and I didn't get pictures until recently.
First of all, going back to my Christmas apron swap with Penny...She made me the cutest apron and sent it along with Christmas fabric, candy canes and some cute Christmas themed buttons...I promised her a picture and I finally got one on Christmas Eve with my little nephew Jace. I get to show off him and the apron!











I love the colors and this pattern is one of my very favorites....I think it fits me just perfect too!







Isn't Jace a handsome little devil? He is now two and a half and he talks non stop....I get such a kick out of listening to him. I also tease him which you are allowed to do when you are an auntie!

Penny also sent me a picture of herself in the apron I made her....I just think it is so much fun to see her wearing it. She told me it has been well used and loved and in this, she is telling her son how to take the picture. Looking good girlfriend.











Quite a while back I was in Sherry's paper bag swap....The rules were to make some fun and creative items using paper sacks...My partner was Valrie...She was going thru some very hard times and battling some personal things and asked me to be patient with her...Right before Christmas I got a box in the mail and I was surprised to see all this paper bag treasure from Miss Valrie herself....Bobbins has to be Mr. Snoopy and check it all out as I am trying to get a picture.







I love all the bright Spring colors...I am already entirely sick of winter and the cold. My favorite is this little album to put pictures in....Of course it has my initial and it is in pink....












Thanks Valrie for the bit of spring in a box....It was a great swap!

I rejoined the Year of Enchantment Swap hostessed by Val...I forgot to sign up for January though...darn it. The December theme was Elves and my partner was Kerry. I am so impressed by what she sent me...Her ornaments are handmade, but they don't look it....Her detail is pretty amazing. The pincushion is the cutest thing ever with the little cardinal on it. Again Mr Snoopy felt the need to walk into the picture, so ignore the cat. He wasn't part of the enchantment.











The best part about being in Val's ornament swap has been the friends I have made. Val is wonderful and fun and we always tell each other that if we lived closer we would get in all kinds of trouble! Then in November I met Missy who lives right in Clearfield! I have a blogging friend for real! We are both little girls with a wicked sense of humor and we love to make things. She came over last Tuesday and we made fabric postcards. They are a lot like a mini quilt....I had kind of lost any artistic drive I had and she got me right on it anyway. Between the two of us, we both make a lot of different things so it is going to be fun to share ideas and projects....Plus she is a huge gardener and she has.....(hyperventilation...) chickens!
So here are Missy's first fabric postcards....










And here are the two I made....One is a reflection of my current view on marriage....sorry, it just snuck out I guess......












I am looking forward to 2011 and have decided that once again I am going to overcome. I am going to laugh and love and live a good life and not let myself be defined by lifes tragedies....so put that in your pipe and smoke it.....Happy New Year.