A Tadd More

"Bird Brain"

You know with spring comes "new life" and we have plenty of new life around our yard. I don't have a big yard by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a regular city lot and yet we have 6 nests this year all over the yard that are bursting with new baby birds. One in a gutter, one on top of a carriage light, the others in bushes and trees. And this one, is right on top of a wreath by my front door! This mother bird was either brave, stupid, or desperate. Maybe all 3. That could describe any run of the mill mother on most days couldn't it?

There are (no kidding) at least 4 baby birds in this little nest. There could be 5, I'm not sure. I keep warning Haley and Garrison and all of their friends not to get too close to the nest or under no circumstances touch the nest or the birds. Hopefully I have instilled enough fear in them about the mother abandoning them that they will listen to my warnings. They have to get up on a little step ladder to be able to see them. They have given the birds that they can see, names. I think one is named "peck" because he keeps pecking at his siblings, and one is named "brick" because he keeps pecking at the brick! Original right?! Don't remember the other names, but I'm sure they were just as equally creative.   

Speaking of "bird brains".... here are a couple of "bird brains" (in our pink and green of coarse!), with our friends from Boulder Creek Designs; the always sweet and beautiful Diane and Cindee (aka; "supastar"). They were so kind to stop and pose for a picture with us. I think THE best thing about market is seeing friends that we have made and spending some "girl time" with them! This was such a quick trip for Sherry and I that we didn't get to spend nearly enough time with all of our friends! We'll have to make up for it in Houston in the fall!

                     ****Thought for the day**** 
"Inside every older person, there's a young person wondering what happened."
         Healing Through Humor by The Happy Hunters

Isn't that the truth! I think about that alot. There are times when I can hardly believe that I'm 48 years old. In my mind I'm MUCH YOUNGER! And I don't even know "how I got here". You know what I mean? AND I have a 25 year old daughter! I mean I don't look a day over 26 myself! I can just hear Sherry saying "whatever!" Well in "Tammy World" I can look whatever age I want right? Something tells me, it's not the only thing that I could be delusional about!   

They say.... you're only as old as you feel! Somedays I FEEL everybit 48, but I THINK like I'm in my 20's! So I say "you're only as old as you THINK you are!"

Have a FABULOUS Memorial Day weekend everyone! Enjoy your holiday with family and friends!
God Bless,
Tammy

OH, the things we saw....!

Hey all you fellow quilt junkies out there! We are back from Quilt Market in Portland and thought I would share some pictures. First some of the sights; this picture, I took for my husband who is a "chess fan". This was taken in Pioneer Square where we saw men playing chess everytime we passed by. At one time there were 3 different games going on.

Portland is a beautiful city. We saw all kinds of people. I don't know about you, but I LOVE to "people watch". I am not really sure why? Maybe because some people are just so interesting looking.... like this guy. I didn't want to get any closer because I didn't want him to know I was taking his picture! But I think you can figure this out.... obviously it was HOT there, but this guy is taking it a bit to the extreme. He has no shirt on, as you can see. Those light green shorts that he is sporting, are HIS BOXERS, and the red pants, are really shorts that he has slung so low that they go down to his ankles!

Now, I've seen plenty of "dudes" walking around with their shorts too low to really make any sense (where they can hardly walk and keep them up) but I ask you, is this not about the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen?  I don't get it? Buy shorts that fit you for heaven's sake and let a little bit of your boxers show if that's the look you're going for, but COME ON!  I'm sorry, this just is too absurd even for words!

You know I go to Chicago to visit every once in a while and I've seen lots of interesting people but, being that I live out in the middle of cornfields as some might describe it, we have far less "intesting people" to look at than the "big city" that's for sure. So, I'm always sort of amazed at some of the "outfits" that you see. In Portland, I saw lots of pretty hair colors, pinks, purples, greens.... and I was surprised at the number of tatoos that I saw. I think Sherry and I were in the minority! There was some massive tatoo action everywhere we looked! It was hard not to stare. You know what I mean?

Now, for some more "delightful" pictures.... if you don't recognize these ladies, they are our friends from Me and My Sister Designs. Barb and Mary with their mommy! Isn't she a cutie? I just love these girls. They are just so stinkin' cute and CREATIVE! 

Their new fabric line with Moda is called Smores and it is adorable! This is a close up of their free pattern that they have on their website. Look at this; they tied marshmallows on a ribbon and made this garland to decorate their booth. See what I mean? Isn't that creative?

Their booth is always one of the best looking booths at market. Great job girls! 

                    ****Thought for the day****
"You were placed on this earth to create, not to compete."
                             Robert Anthony

Hope you enjoyed the first peek at spring quilt market. Stay tuned for more to come. Go out and find something that inspires you to be creative. Whether it is "people watching", magazine browsing, or just taking a walk.

God Bless,
Tammy

Lucky Winner....!

Last weekend (while I was having my gallbladder out), my girls here at TTD were having a big shop hop. Each "hopper" had their names entered into drawings for any number of possible gifts. They could win a new Bernina sewing machine, a basket of twelve $50.00 gift certificates from participating shops, a basket of 100 fat quarters or a gift basket worth $100.00 which each shop contributed. Well this was our gift basket winner, Sue. It was a basket purse with all kinds of goodies in it. Mostly pink and green. Chocolates, relaxing spa music, bath products, candle, quilt magazine, and fabric! Sounds like a great combination right?  Congratulations Sue! By the looks of her purse, I'd say she is familiar with bright fabrics!

                               ****Thought for the day****
"Did you know it is against the law to let a monkey smoke a cigarette in Indiana?"
"It is also against the law in Pennsylvania for a man to put an ice cream cone in his hip pocket."

But, apparently your monkey could smoke a cigarette in Pennsylvania, while a man puts an ice cream cone in his hip pocket in Indiana, and you'd be ok!

Am I the only one who wants to know.... why did they see the need to make these into laws? Is this what our tax dollars are paying for? And, I have to wonder..., are some of our current laws about as ridiculous? Just had to put my 2 cents worth in! 

See you all when we get back from Quilt Market!
God Bless,
Tammy

It was a happy "mom's day"....

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was very nice. Although my two oldest daughter's were both out of town! One was in Vegas, and the other one, New York. HOW RUDE! Where do they get off thinking they can have a life! Anyway, I had 3 out of the 5, so I'm not complaining.

The two most important men in my life were dressed so pink and green I just had to take their picture! I didn't even ask them to wear my favorite colors. They just know what I like! The only thing that would have been better would have been my youngest son in the picture too. Not sure where he was at this moment. Or the next moment for that matter.... we forgot him at church Sunday morning! Can you believe it! There goes my "mother-of-the-year" award. And I was a "shoe-in" for it this year! Seriously, my husband and I always drive separately because he has to be there earlier than the rest of us. And after church, he usually takes the kids with him. Well, he took Haley with him and left Garrison to ride with me, but didn't tell me (imagine that!). Well, I looked around and didn't see either one of the kids so I just assumed they were with daddy. As soon as I pulled into the driveway at home and my husband and daughter got out of the car, I KNEW!!! So, I had to call some friends who were still there and they brought him home! They told me "he didn't seem to be too worried about it". It really does take a village (or at least a whole church) to raise our kids. I know I will take all the help I can get!

Aren't these the prettiest little hydrangeas. My oldest daughter Olivia sent them to me. She knew she would be gone for the weekend so she sent them through the mail. I was impressed that they were in such good condition for being mailed!

My favorite gift was this picture of Nick and Renae. I LOVE it! He was a little tired of seeing pictures of him and old girlfriends from school dances sitting around. He told me I could put those away now. I guess I can see his point! I was informed that he is "the good child" since he was HERE for Mother's Day  and the girls weren't.

Well, we are off to Portland in a couple of days for Quilt Market. So I will try to take some good pictures to show you all. Have a great week everyone!

                           ****Thought for the day****
A little humor from Healing Through Humor by Charles and Frances Hunter
                          Only In America....
* Can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
* Are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.
* Do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a Diet Coke.
* Do banks leave both doors to the vault open and then chain the pens to the counters.
* Do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
* Do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call
  from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

God Bless!
Tammy

Happy Mother's Day.....!

                                 "Happy Mother's Day Mommy"!

You are the best mom any girl could ask for. Thanks for being my mom and for always believing in me and supporting me in everything that I wanted to do. I hope you'll always know what a blessing you are to me.

          **** Thought for the day ****
"What do girls do who haven't any mothers
     to help them through their troubles?"
                 Louisa May Alcott

    "A mother is not a person to lean on
but a person to make leaning unnecessary."
             Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day, and you get to spend it exactly the way you want.
God Bless,
Tammy

And yet another sneak peek....

So here is another sneak peek! This was truly a long day! For our photographer too. We had him worn out by the time we were done. You know how women are.... we had to have everything placed just right. I think he thought he was going to come in and shoot everything in a couple of hours!

We have 10 projects in the new book, so everything had to be photographed in group settings as well as individual shots. So we were literally at it all day! It was at least 8 hours, probably closer to 9.

Laura Smith is one of the girls who works with me and she is just as much a perfectionist as I am, so when we look through the camera lense and the flowers aren't quite right, or we don't like the position of the bag, those things are important to us, and we have to shoot, and re-shoot sometimes. I know there were times when Don, our photographer wanted to strangle us!  When he was thinking "it looks exactly the same to me ladies, just let me shoot this picture and get out of here!" He will probably never agree to do a job like that again!

      **** Thought for the day ****
"Creativeness often consists of merely
turning up what is already there."
        Bernice Fitz-Gibbon

See you soon everyone. God Bless!
Tammy

Another sneak peek....!

So today was my first full day back to work!!! Yeah!!! I actually worked Tuesday for half a day and didn't take everyone's advice to take it easy for a few more days. I wasn't supposed to start back until Wednesday, but since I thought I was feeling pretty good, I came in a day earlier. WELL, let me tell you, by Tuesday night I was paying for it! Had to take pain medication to sleep. I think the thing that has been the most surprising to me has been how tired I am! Could be a combination of traveling, doing shows, and surgery right on top of that. Who knows. But today, I'm feeling much better! WOO HOO!

Thought I would give you a few sneak peeks at more of the new book..... this picture was taken the day of the photo shoot, (that's not my best side!). Pictured here is one of our new designs; Green Tomato Pie in the background, along with a table runner in front called Raspberry Rumble. This is just a practice staging but you get the idea. Are you sort of sensing a "theme" here? Do you get the idea that we're really "into" our food too?

My grandma use to make this delicious "green tomato pie" from her "end of the summer" unrippened tomatoes. It tastes just like apple pie except I think it has a little "richer" flavor, kind of "butterier". I am including her recipe in the new book, so try it this summer and let me know what you think. Can't wait to get this book finished and get it out to everyone. I think you'll really like it. It's got a little of everything in it. Something for everyone!

I'm starting to get really excited to go to market. It's kind of a relief to not be vending, but we are going for such a short time that I hope we get to see everything we want to. Miss Sherry and I are going to be there for just a couple of days and then we come home early. I will try to take pictures to show you, along with more sneak peaks of the new book.

                         ****Thought for the day****
    "The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes,
                        but in liking what one does."
                                   J.M. Barrie

So true! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
God Bless,
Tammy

Paducah....!

Hey Everyone! Sorry I haven't gotten back to posting since our two big shows "back to back". It's been a hectic week here at TTD. We've had all of the unpacking to get done plus we have a big shop hop weekend in the store and lots to do to get ready for it. This is probably THE busiest time of the year for us. We did the Spring International Quilt Festival in Rosemont a few weeks ago, then we had a week in between to get ready to go to the American Quilter's Society show in Paducah. We were there for a week where it was "hotter than Hades" I think the expression was. It wasn't that Paducah itself was all that hot, but in the pool atrium where our booth was.... we were ROASTING! Our customers can verify that. When we got to Paducah on Monday we decided to do a little sight seeing.... here is Miss Sherry and Laura 2 walking hand in hand with "flat marylynn". Some of you may remember her from last years show. This is two years now that she was not able to go so we had to take her "flat" representive. Let me tell you, "flat marylynn" did a lot of SOCIALIZING on this trip!

You may recognize this lady.... Flat Marylynn's new friend Eleanor Burns. That Marylynn, she's such a "name-dropper"!  We went to visit Eleanor's store; Quilt In A Day and visit our cutie little friend Jeannie Sullivan.

They had a pajama party on Thursday and Friday night and they were so sweet to invite us, but I'm tellin' ya, we were so stinkin' tired after the show all day and the heat, we just ate and went to our hotel room to shower and go to bed! We are definitely not the party animals that we once were.

I told you she was quite the "little socialite" didn't I! Here she is with our waiter; Joey, at Olive Garden. He didn't even care that she had garlic breath. Hope Marylynn's husband doesn't see this picture!!

We were finally able to get her to go to bed! She was all tuckered out. She was so tired that she snored all night and hogged the bed! That's the last time we are letting her stay up that late! I have lots of pictures of "flat Marylynn" that I will share later.

So along with the shop hop that's going on here at TTD, tomorrow is a BIG DAY for me.... I'm having my gallbladder out! Woo Hoo!! Yes that's right after 5 years of a non-functioning gallbladder, I have finally started having attacks and decided to get it taken out. The biggest deciding factor was when I discovered that I can't eat ice-cream. Too much fat. Or Alfredo sauce. I say life is just too sad without a little Alfredo sauce once in awhile and a lot of ice cream!  So I decided to get it out now and have 2 weeks recovery time before I go to Portland for International Quilt Market. By that time, I should be able to lug my suitcase through the airport. And all of my lipgloss!

I didn't realize when I scheduled my surgery, that it was the same weekend as shop hop. So, needless to say, my loyal employees are doing all of the work this weekend and I am going to just be layin' around relaxin'.... ! It's a good thing I have such wonderful help. I COULD not do this without all of the help I get from them. 

So, another little "happy".... in the mail I received this wonderful little package.... it was waiting on my desk for me when I got back from Paducah. And what to my surprise was inside? This adorable little owl! In pink and green! Isn't he fabulous! He comes from Old School Acres. I have a very sweet friend who knew how much I loved this little owl when I saw it on her blog and she sent him to me to be by my side while I'm recuperating! Thanks Pam! I LOVE him. This little teddy was made by my grammy, so my owl is in really good company. 

                       ****Thought for the Day****
"No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."   
                                 Don Swartz

Amen to that! So, my plan is to be back at work on Monday. We'll see how that goes. I'll try to blog again next week!
Have a great weekend everyone! God Bless!
Tammy