great dress pattern

I just love the internet when you can find such great patterns and stuff like this online. Check out this beautiful dress pattern for only $5
http://www.themexicandress.com/

Judaic Swap

Check out this blog if you are interested in Judaic Needlework: http://quiltedpomegranate.blogspot.com/ There are several swaps to join. Here is one I joined through this blog: http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/33578

My new Grandson (Michael Noah)

This first picture is of my youngest son (the proud papa) holding his new baby. My new grandson, Michael Noah, was born Sunday, March 16th, at 12:20 am. He was one month early and weighed in at 5'1" and was 18 1/2 inches long. He is so adorable and precious.

Cool Giveaway

Hi all wine drinkers and quilters:
Please check out a new blog I discovered. You can enter to win a wine set consisting of a cute hand-crafted wine bottle cover. The link is: http://quiltedpomegranate.blogspot.com/

This picture really isn't that clear but it will have to suffice. This is my 1st Mizrach I made for
our home. A mizrach is an item that can take many forms and is placed on an eastern wall as a reminder to pray towards the temple like Solomon did in 1 Kings when he dedicated the temple. The only requirement (or so I've read) is that the word mizrach must appear somewhere on the mizrach. I used a piece of aida cloth woven with gold threads to symbolize a cobblestone pathway (the tiny aida squares reminded me of brick or cobblestones) and I stitched various gems (beads and pearls) to the "road" to convey the verse in Revelations 21: 17-21 about the new heaven and new earth. This chapter is one of my favorites. I have intentions of creating many more mizrach designs and am considering using this as a business when I retire. I have some work to do to get my craftsmanship up to a professional level though.....:)

A Few of My Favorite Things

1. Wine and Wine collecting. Actually, wine collecting is my husband's hobby. He takes great joy in securing a wine with future value. But we both love drinking wine. I prefer white, he prefers red. The wines at this site are pretty great. I love the varieties they offer and the easy search methods. There are a lot of good deals to take advantage of and there are resources at this site to help you choose just the right wine for your needs. www.kosherwine.com
2. Cooking and collecting recipes. And my very favorite recipe site is www.foodnetwork.com though I've used many others. I love to watch the videos each week especially the Everyday Italian lady. All of the recipes I've used from this site were first-rate.
3. Watching Movies. We do not subscribe to any TV service and we live in the country and cannot tap into local channels without a better antennae. Not that we care to watch the trash on network TV. So movies are our thing to do. And we love collecting DVD's. A great website for finding and reviewing movies is www.blockbuster.com. You can search by actor and many ways to find exactly what you want.
4. Books! I'm surprised I did not list this as number 1 as I am a major bookaholic! I am a serious library patron and utilize the various county and college libraries in our area. I love library websites as they allow you to search for books and request them without having to leave your house. And you can specify where to pick them up when they are available. Once I find a book at a library that I really like, I frequently want to purchase it. And the absolute, best place I have found to do this is at www.ebay.com. I have bought literally hundreds of books this way and always get the price I want. ebay is totally cool!
5. Serious bible study. For really great Torah commentaries I recommend Tim Hegg's website: www.torahresource.com. I guarantee that if you are looking for truth....you will find guides to lead you on here. Another excellent resource for spiritual food is www.ffoz.org. Both of these resources are of the utmost integrity and never fail to nourish my soul and encourage my spirit.
6. Torah perspective, Holy Day guides, and Hebrew insight, www.aish.com. If you are cautious about mystical influences, you should use the resources at this site carefully. There is some kaballah influence in many postings but you can also extract some great spiritual nuggets if you care to sift through the material. A really great resource at this site is "Growing Each Day" which is a daily devotional that is almost always enriching. Some points are a bit of a stretch but most are pretty good. There is also a great Family Shabbat parsha reading that is a great conversation starter for Friday night gatherings. There is actually a lot here.
7. SCRABBLE! Yes - I am a serious addict. Especially since I found www.scrabulous.com. This is too much fun and you can find lots of others to play challenging and fun games with.
8. Gardening. If anyone has any great gardening websites to share, please let me know because I haven't found a one-stop gardening website that I rely on. Especially, herbs and heirloom plants.
9. Music: If you play guitar or some other instrument and would like some free sheet music, you will be in paradise at www.higherpraise.com. Really easy search methods also.
10. Quilting of course. There are literally hundreds of great quilting sites and this is a pretty easyily serarchable topic but one in particular I'd like to add to my blog is www.cqmagonline.com. This is an online magazine specializing in crazy quilting. There are loads of patterns, ideas, information, instruction, and fantastic articles here free of charge. The ladies who write for this site are truly remarkable and I have even received samples of materials to construct some of their patterns that they sent me just because I showed an interest. This is a really fantastic resource.

Well, hope you enjoy visiting the sites I love.

February blocks

Hi ladies;
Sorry to say I'm a little late in posting my blocks. I received them on time with a sweet note from Suzanne but just haven't had time to get online and post pictures. I just love the combination of fabrics, especially the blue and yellow plaids. They are so me. Aren't the blue & yellow colors happy colors? Thank you Suzanne for the lovely blocks. I really love them and cannot wait to sew them together. Hope everyone is having fun quilting.

Jackie

Quilt Block Swap

Quilt Block Swap

My Family

This is my family. I am the one in front with the gray hair. Not hard to spot being the mom of the bunch. My husband of 30 years is behind me with the crazy expression on his face. My grandson is the little guy on top also making a silly face. I have 5 children and one grandson. I hope to have many more grandchildren in years to come. We do a lot together and have a great time just being together.

My oldest is Molly. She is a 3rd grade teacher. Then there is Keith who is a meat cutter and new graduate of the police academy. The next in age order is my younger son, Daniel. He is a freshman at the university studying pharmacy. The fourth is Amanda who is majoring in nursing and hopes to transfer into a midwifery program. And the youngest is Jacqueline. She is a freshman at the community college and is studying Graphic Design Technology. My grandson's name is Alex and he is 8 years old. He is currently in his mom's 3rd grade class. And finally, my husband whose name is also Keith. He pretty much keeps us all in order and is a great father and husband. We are proud to be celebrating our 30th anniversary in November of this year.

So there you have it. My first entry on my new blog had to be focused on my family because they are the light of my life. I am defined by my Creator and expressed through my family.

Jackie