Happy Independence Day!

We are quietly celebrating the 245th anniversary of the U.S.A. I chose a bouquet with three roses that represent the three branches of our government......the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial branches. And in the middle is the flag of the United States of America. I feel blessed to live in this country. We have lived in the Midwest, the West Coast, to the Gulf Coast, across the ocean to Japan (military service for my husband), to the East Coast and back again to the upper Midwest. During our many years here, we traveled, thanks to my husband's job. We visited many beautiful places but it was always good to come home. We have freedoms here that are only a dream in some of the places we visited. I give thanks every day for living in the U.S.A. 

I keep a Christmas tree up all year round in our dining room and decorate it with the change in holidays and seasons. I began doing this after I completed chemo/immunotherapy treatment for CLL/Chronic Lymphotic Leukemia. I'm thankful to be in remission, three years and working on year four! It makes me smile to see the twinkling lights in the evening when my day is done. There are thirteen flags on the tree, one for each of the thirteen original colonies. 

I made this woolfelt wallhanging in 2001. It was inspired by the 4th of July and my son's birthday on July 5th. 

The quilted tabletopper that is in the photos is one I designed in the mid 90's but didn't make up the pattern until early 2000. It's called "Patriotic Pinwheel". The lovely machine quilting was done by Sara Peterson.

After making the wallhanging in woolfelt, I decided to make the same design in cotton quilting fabrics. 

This little Sunday School chair sits on our front porch. I change the decorations a bit with each holiday/season but a flag has almost always been displayed with the chair. 

The teddy bears under the tree are a few I've collected and several that my mother collected. She was especially fond of Beanie Babies. 

And this is how it looks at night...........

 Have a blessed and safe 4th of July!

Sandi

Happy Valentine's Day!

Roses are red, violets are blue, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! 

I love flowers but my husband is not a guy that buys flowers so when we were at the grocery store a week ago, I picked up this pretty bouquet that was on special. I'm amazed that the flowers have stayed so fresh, especially all six roses. Only one of the roses is beginning to droop! I'm thinking the bouquet may last at least another week or more!
 

My husband buys me chocolates. The funny thing is that he thinks flowers are a waste because they die, but chocolates disappear because we eat them so isn't that kind of the same concept?  LOL!  Russell Stover chocolates are my favorite so I'm not complaining. I did notice that the box said "new and improved" and I wondered how can you improve on chocolate...... but...... they did! And now the question is..... which will last longer? ...... the bouquet of flowers or the box of chocolates?  I am thinking the flowers will be around longer than the chocolates. LOL! 

Have a good day and if you are like we are and it's colder than cold outside, stay inside and stay warm. I'll be snuggled up in my sewing chair today watching old movies and doing some hand-stitching. Hoping for a warm-up in temps by the end of the week. I think we hit close to -20° this morning and that doesn't include the wind chill. The sun is shining though, so at least it's not a gloomy day! 

Repeat of Groundhog's Day.....

This past Tuesday was Groundhog's Day. Weather was mild but it's February in Minnesota and we all know that, of course, there will be six more weeks of winter. No Groundhog is needed to tell us that. LOL! The whole Groundhog thing seeing his shadow is fun, though, something to distract us from....... winter weather. And speaking of winter weather.......much of our area is having some wind and snow that will be followed by bitter cold! Yep, winter is making itself known!  

Back in 2009, I shared a post about Groundhog's Day. I even drew a sketch of the Groundhog that might be in our backyard..... Goldie Groundhog. Friends have encouraged me to make Goldie into a small quilted wallhanging so maybe by next year, that will happen. In the meantime, here's my original post from 2009.

https://alegacyofstitches.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-groundhog-day.html

 I am sure thankful for Blogger that they offer this opportunity to blog and share thoughts, patterns, projects, events.....all things that inspire and bring memories. 

A vintage Christmas Card for January 2021

This past December, I enjoyed sharing vintage Christmas cards so much that I wanted to share one each month throughout the year. I didn't select one from the box of vintage cards, though. Instead, this is a vintage card that my mother and dad sent to us in the 1970's. I liked it so much that I decoupaged it. Every year I hang it and another one that I received from my Aunt Bell. I'll share that one in the future. 

As I type this, I am looking across the room at our tree in the family room. I'm going to take it down tomorrow. It's always a sad day when I take down the tree because the lights add such a warm glow to the room. The tree in our living room is still up but it will come down on Thursday. The dining room tree, though, will just change from Christmas to a Valentine theme sometime this weekend. The Christmas ornaments may get packed away but the spirit of Christmas will keep on going........

Snowman Quilts!

I enjoyed sharing my vintage Christmas cards and blogging again. I'm a bit sorry that I got out of the habit of blogging. But......I managed to blog every day in December and more so maybe I can keep it up again. So, I thought I'd share quilts and at the same time it will help me create a list of my quilts, a much needed inventory. And I can also make labels for the quilts that don't have labels! Starting with January snow-themed quilts, this is a small wall-hanging made by my friend Sherry Murrary. I received this as a gift at one of our Prior Lake Quilter's Christmas parties. I think it was in 1999. Sherry and I lived in the same neighborhood for several years and I can remember watching our daughters wait for the schoolbus on their first day of kindergarten. That was 1975. My, my how the years do fly!

Vintage Christmas Card for January 7, 2021

This is the final vintage card for the Christmas season of 2020. It's a pretty winter scene that looks down on a small village. A prominent feature in the scene is lovely church and it's steeple. Does it look familiar to any of you? Some of you might remember some of my the photos that I took on my walks around our neighborhood last fall and shared on my Facebook page. I took several photos from the top of the hill and a prominent feature was the church steeple rising among the trees. If I took a photo now, most of the trees would be bare of leaves and there would be a bit of snow cover on the ground. So when I saw this card, I thought of Henderson. When we first moved here in 2006, I loved to look out the upstairs windows of our house and look down into the valley below. Lights on the houses twinkled and I remember telling my husband.... "it looks like Whoville!" Henderson is a great little town....... pretty as the scene in this card and at night..... it sparkles!  

Happy New Year 2021! 

Look for another card, one each month on the 25th. 

Vintage Christmas Card January 6, Epiphany, 2021

This card is perfect for this day........ 

The Three Kings who have followed the star. 

This day, January 6 is known as Epiphany which is a Christian celebration of the arrival of the Wisemen. These three Wisemen/Kings had traveled to Nazareth to see the baby Jesus. 

One of my favorite Christmas carols is "We Three Kings". I can hear this song sung by the deep rich voices of the men in our church choir. It's an old hymn witten in 1857 by John Henry Hopkins, a rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Three Kings brought gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. I always wondered about the last two gifts. Well, my husband found a gift item in the National Geographic catalog..... a gift item that contained three little boxes, one with gold, one with Frankincense and one with Myrryh. I didn't have to wonder anymore. It was probably one of the most unexpected, thoughtful gifts that Steve has ever given me. 

This is almost the last Christmas card I'll share this 2020/2021 season. I have one more card to share tomorrow, January 7. Then on the 25th of each month, I'm going to share a vintage Christmas card up until we come to December again. Keeping the spirit of Christmas all .... year .... long. 

Vintage Christmas Card for January 5, 2021

Today is the last day in what is known as the Twelve Days of Christmas. They begin on December 25th when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and end on January 5th. The calendar days of Christmas are coming to an end but we can keep the spirit of Christmas all year long. 

Vintage Christmas Card for January 4, 2021

This card is quite different from most of the other cards I've shared so far. It's a simple shepherd boy tending his sheep who are resting under a Yucca tree. Perhaps the song he is playing on his flute calms the sheep. Perhaps he plays a Psalm or a hymn. 

On the inside of the card, the upper section, there is a verse  ....

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a saviour, which is Christ the Lord." ~ Luke 2:11

On the inside of the card, lower portion, there is a greeting that is all in caps and reads......

MAY THE PEACE AND HAPPINESS OF CHRISTMAS BE YOURS TODAY 

AND EVERY DAY THROUGHOUT THE COMING NEW YEAR

That is a beautiful sentiment for Christmas and for the coming year!

I found myself curious about the artwork on the card as there is an artists signature in the lower left corner .... Paul E. Decker. When I did a search of his name, I found other illustrations for greeting cards that he has done. And I also discovered that there is a market for vintage Christmas cards!  I will be keeping my cards, no plans to sell them. They bring peace, what a gift!

Vintage Christmas Card for January 3, 2021

This weekend here in Minnesota was filled with lovely weather for outdoor fun! We had mild temps and sunshine, just right for cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, and a little ice-skating. I didn't do any of those things because I was busy stitching. But......Would you believe me if I said that I have never gone ice-skating? It's true. I grew up in Iowa and have lived in Minnesota for almost 50 years but I've never worn a pair of ice skates! I love to skate but roller skating was what I enjoyed as a kid. If I could ice skate, though, I would love to do it dressed in a costume like the ones in this card. The scene is a raised embossed design, a very pretty card. So, is there anyone else out there who also has never ice-skated?

Vintage Christmas Card for January 2, 2021

With Christmas past, you may wonder why I would choose to share a card that says Merry Christmas. It's because I know that not everyone celebrates their family Christmas on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I have friends who celebrated this weekend and that reminded me that when I was young, my friend Linda would celebrate on New Year's weekend. I like that idea of celebrating Christmas a week later. It makes the spirit of Christmas last longer. I'm keeping all my Christmas trees and decorations up so that the Christmas spirit lasts all through January. I'll be sharing Christmas cards through January 7th. Then I'm going to share one card each month on the 25th and keep the spirit of Christmas going all year long. <3

Vintage Christmas Card for January 1, 2021

Yesterday, the card I chose for December 31, 2020 was bells. They were bells that would ring out the old year and ring in the new year. In the box of vintage cards, there were several that featured bells. I'm keeping a couple for next year because I've enjoyed this so much that it is worth repeating. And it's worth repeating more bells tonight because I like to think of many bells ringing in this first day of this new year. I wish that bells could have rung. Maybe they will ring next year at this time when hopefully, Covid 19 is on it's way to being wiped out. It could happen. One never knows. I've had many things happen in my life that I never thought would happen but they did, some really good, some really challenging. Let's hope that 2020 has taught us a few things about handling challenges and even if 2021 gets a little rough, well, we will be fine. My Grandma Goldie often said....."it'll all work out in the end" and it often did. Sometimes not quite like I thought it would but all was okay. <3 So here are two more "ring out the old, ring in the new" cards that feature bells. The one the left is embossed/raised bells, a really lovely card. The card on the right is printed on vellum and the inside verse is with this one. It says.......

"When shall all men's good be each man's rule, and universal peace be like a shaft of light across the land." Alfred Lord Tennyson