Finished Quilts For Shannon's Family And Baby Crew

WARNING: This is a PICTURE loaded post......lots of pictures, it may take a moment to load on your page. (to make photos larger, click on photo)


The quilts for Shannon's family and Baby Crew are finished. First and foremost, I'd like to personally thank each and every one who has donated to this project. Thank you for taking the time to make blocks and purchase fabric to send for this project.


I received blocks from thirty quilters and received a package of fabrics from another. I think you will be amazed at how these two quilts came together so cohesively with one another and how many individuals participated sent different blocks, but they seem to be a perfect match. I'd dare say it was by no accident that happened.

I know you read about Shannon's passing last week. This quilt will be mailed to her family as a remembrance quilt for them to keep.

I am including a page with each person's name who helped with this wonderful quilt and include all of your warm messages. I am sure it will be a comfort for them to know that so many strangers held their family up in prayer and prayed for their little girl.

I used different purple fabrics that I had for the corner stones and inner border, so that would match Shannon's name on the lower border.

Here are a few of the blocks up-close.

More......

It is amazing how each is different but all seem to go so well together.

The large border fabrics is one of two fabrics that were sent to me. I used this one on the front, and the other fabrics were used on the back.

close up of the sashing and cornerstones.

Here is the back.....the white fabric is white with small stars and moons. The my little pony was the donated fabrics and I had the purple check in my stash.

Here is a close up. It was a wonderful project to work on and see the finished results. I am pleased with how this quilt turned out and hope it brings lots of comfort to Shannon's family.


I also took the gender neutral blocks that were sent to me and saved them out for the quilt for baby Crew. If you missed reading about his story, please click HERE to read about this little one.  Please be sure to add him to your prayer list and pray for his health and his family.


Here is the finished quilt for baby Crew. I love it and hope you all do too!

It is bright, and fun....lots of colors

I used varied 2 inch squares for the corner stones and a small dot for the sashings.

So many cute blocks.

More.....do you see how it appears that this quilt was planned out...same as Shannon's and I can only say, I don't believe it was an accident. How could it have been?

For the small inner border, I used a scrappy border I had made for my crumb quilt a few months back and decided not to use it. I have had it hanging in my sewing room and knew once I started laying this quilt top out that this is what I had been saving it for. I love how it looks. The outer border was some left over fabric I had from a baby quilt. It is the Little Engine that Could fabric as well as the little trains by Crew's name. I used all I had left for this border, and felt it fitting for a little guy who has a lot more battles to fight in his young life. I hope it serves as a reminder...."That yes, you can!!"....just like the little engine that could.

Another close up of bottom border.

The back of Crew's Quilt. The white fabric has stars and moon's in brown, like the fabric I used in Shannon's quilt, only hers was light green. I had a piece of stripe left over from another project and it was just enough.

Here is a close up.


So....these are to be packaged along with the information I want to travel with these tops and they will be on the way to Sue to be quilted. She is such a sweetie for doing the quilting for these and when they are finished up, they will be on their way to their new homes.

I hope each family feels all the love that went into these from start to finish. And may they feel a warm hug as they wrap themselves in these quilts.

Thank you again for your support and help in making these special quilts into something that hopefully will bring a smile or two for these families. Also, thank you Anne, for allowing us to be a part of this project and seeing it to the finish.


One thing I have learned during this project and that is how lucky I have been in my life. Both my children were healthy and have grown into adults. It has served as a reminder that some families are not so lucky. I am most grateful for all I have been blessed with.

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Planters

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I have been busy working on a project that needs immediate attention and in a timely fashion.  If you missed my post last night about donating quilt blocks for a little girl battling cancer, click here to see if it is something you can do! Thanks in advance. 

This week, I have a  couple of cute vintage planters that are fairly new to me. I found them at a yard sale and I had to have them....you know how it goes!

This little girl looks like she is in an ice cream shop! I loved how sweet this was and it reminded me of the late 60's or 70's. She was a bargain at only $1.00.

I think this one looks like an elf shoe! I love the color and style. If someone asked me if I collect planters, I'd most likely tell them no....but then again, once I looked around I noticed I seem to have more than three and by all means...are you going to tell me that makes a collection?? ahem....

Have a great week everyone...especially a very Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!!

One Fine Blessing ~ Birthday Greetings for Seniors

I will be sending out an email later on today for the Birthday list for April. Please watch for that email. I have one on the list and I have not been able to confirm it whether it is OK to send a card this year. I will keep trying to get an answer and let you all know in the email which one I am speaking of.

I read a message from the daughter of Ms. Tiger last month. It had been a few days after her birthday and she told her daughter she was getting off the phone and was going to go read all of her lovely cards again. She was so excited she received cards from all over the country and was so grateful  that all of these wonderful people thought of her. She treasures all of her Birthday messages.

That really should bring a smile to you today and a little warmth in your heart. That is what this is all about!

If you are new here and wonder what this is all about, Please click HERE and think about joining us! Basically the short version of this endeavor is......

Each month, (hopefully) I post about a senior s birthday and  leave the information on my blog and I also have a designated email for this. If you'd like to be a part of making a big difference with just a small amount of effort, please join us. You can email me at onefineblessing (at) yahoo (dot) com to be added to the email list. Likewise, if you know a  senior who would benefit from this or could just use a little pick me up, please email me their name and birth date so we can be sure and spread a little cheer.

Thank you all once again for your continued support with this small way of giving back here on The Coloradolady....it is in the small things that make a huge difference. 

Tell Me Tuesday: Week Twelve

Welcome to Tell Me Tuesday.....First off the title is a bit deceiving.....it really is not about you telling me anything.... but answering a question truthfully and maybe telling yourself a little something you had not thought about.

I'd love for you to join me each week, and copy the question onto your blog and answer the question....and link back here. I am sure it will be interesting how there will be many different answers to the same question.....and hopefully give each of us something to think about as this new year progresses. My thought is so many people (including myself) are looking for some answers to various things. I have a feeling that the answers are inside needing to be jiggled loose and maybe a question posed a certain way will have a cause and effect in a good way. We will see how it goes! I have committed to this once a week for the whole year of 2012. I'd love for you to take the challenge with me!

I am keeping the rules simple...I'd love to watch this grow as the year goes on.

1. Grab the button on the sidebar if you like so others can find this new writing experience each week.

2. Once you link in, visit the person who linked in before you and leave them a comment. It would be great to visit and leave comments for as many as you can. But at least try and leave the person ahead of you in the link a comment of support.

3. Please link back to my blog and mention Tell Me Tuesday somewhere in your POST. That is it....easy.

Most of all, look at this writing experience with an open mind. Sometimes the questions will be hard...and require some thought. That is a good thing. Other times it will be easy. You can add photos, or whatever you like to your post. It is about you after all. ~ Thanks for joining me.....I hope you enjoy this each week.


Week Twelve Question:

What  should you avoid to improve your life?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 


Oh goodness, this is a loaded question and as much as I hate to admit certain things here on the blog I guess the best way is to just say it and be done with it. As I sit here and type these words, I feel a since of dread for writing what I know I am going to say. I am sure some won't think it such a big deal, but for me it has been a great source of mixed feelings and emotions.


Honestly, I think the one thing I should avoid and at the very least limit to at least a minimum is my time on Facebook. I know you have read before my mixed feelings on this subject, but recently it seems to have been pushed to the foremost front of my mind and I still seem to have a love/hate relationship with the whole social networking site. 


One of the things that Facebook does for me in a negative sense is I find I am always comparing my life with others I am friends with. When I read their status updates many appear to have perfect lives full of things I find my own life lacking, perfect friends, perfect families, perfect relationships, perfect happiness. I find myself more times than not, comparing and wondering why I feel at times my own life comes up short when compared to what I read on this social network site. I do have enough sense to know that most of what is put on Facebook is only a fraction of what is true or at the very least you could compare it to looking through rose colored glasses all the time. I know that all of this information is not as perfect as it seems, but yet it still makes me question my own life and it often leaves me feeling not so good about myself.

Another thing is I guess there is an unspoken etiquette surrounding Facebook that I just don't seem to grasp.  Is it expected of someone to read each and every status update and respond appropriately? Whether it be hitting the like button or pouring out a sugar dripping comment to stroke someone's ego? I can not tell you how many times I read comments left on a status update and think, "seriously......." I guess I just don't get it and it causes me lots of pain and frustration in my heart. Almost like the pain of  my teenage years and feeling like I walk around and hold my breath and hope I don't say or do the wrong thing. Don't get me wrong, it is not that I don't leave comments to status updates, but I don't feel the need to leave one every single time someone has something to say. Maybe this is just a problem I have and maybe that is where my focus should really be directed more towards myself.


Facebook for me has taken the personal relationships away and turned it into cyber relationships. I miss the phone calls from friends, as it is just easier and quicker to check a Facebook update and say something there. I have thought about this a lot, and I know the convenience of Facebook has just taken the calling a friend out of the picture. Most of you know how big I am on Birthday cards...especially those for seniors and I work on keeping that important aspect alive today. Facebook notifies you when someone has a birthday or anniversary and all you have to do is type a couple of words and send the message. Don't have to buy a card, or a stamp or take the time to send a personal message anymore...it is as simple as a click of a keyboard. It has become unpersonalized. I have been guilty of this very thing and it does not make me feel good about myself in any shape form or fashion....I am better than that and I know I am.

I really have been looking at this very subject a while, and for all the new cyber-relationships that have been reunited on this social media site, it sure has a lot of undesired feelings of not measuring up for me.  Maybe if I stepped away from this for a while, I'd be able to get my own life and thoughts back in perspective. I know it is not right to always compare yourself with others, and I try not to do that, but for some reason, Facebook is the negative avenue for this very thing in my life. I am sure if you read this silly post to the very end, you are thinking..this lady is off her rocker...and I often wonder if maybe that is just the problem... But I do know that I need to focus more time on what I have to offer and what my journey is about and leave the influences that cause my train of thought to veer off track alone for a while. I am not sure if eliminating this would improve my life entirely, but it sure would improve some of the feelings I have been having surrounding it at least. Seriously if anything you are doing in your life causes distress and negative feelings inside yourself...it is time to re-evaluate what you are doing and make a change. Yep...need to take my own advice......

Sometimes, I Have To See It With My Own Eyes!

Nothing too ordinary about this stalk of celery would you say? Well, that is what I thought until a few months ago, during the winter months I saw somewhere online about growing a celery plant from the end you cut off. I kid you not, and I did not believe it for myself, and when I went to try and find where I saw that very thing, I could not find it, not even with Google.

The best of my memory said to cut off the end and if you could not plant it right away, put it in some water. I almost forgot to take the picture....before I stuck it in the ground that is! ( I  thought the only good thing about the end was making roses from dipped paint and paper.) Shows you how much I knew about celery!

I planted it in the ground and covered it with about an inch of soil. Luckily, we had lots of rain and I did not have to remember to water it. After about three days....this is what was coming out of the ground.

Yesterday, this is what I saw and today, it is even taller. I took my husband out back to the garden to have a look and he just looked at me...I think he doubted this would work in the first place.

Granted....I don't have a celery stalk to chop in my salad yet.....but by the looks of things, if it does not get too terribly hot around here, I just might in a few weeks. Yep...this is one of those things I had to see for myself! Seriously, I almost don't believe it!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: 1962

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I have been busy working on a project that needs immediate attention and in a timely fashion.  If you missed my post last night about donating quilt blocks for a little girl battling cancer, click here to see if it is something you can do! Thanks in advance. 


This week, it is a flash back from 50 years ago.....because of my very vintage self and turning 50 today....thought this would be a little out of the normal for me, and fun memories of hard to believe 50 years ago. 

Typical kitchen in 1962. Love the appliances and how the different textures are in the one room.

1962 Frigidaire add for Flair Ranges. Oh. How I love this range. My aunt had one of these in her kitchens for years. It was not pink, and I am sure it was a newer model than this one, but I always was amazed by this kitchen appliance, and honestly today, if I could fine one that worked, I'd have it! I loved the double ovens, and the stove part would close up like a drawer when not in use. Lots of memories from being in the kitchen and meals cooked on this stove. It is a fond memory for me.

John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit the earth during Friendship 7 orbit.

  Take a look at this 1962 ad from Inland Homes. It is so hard to believe that was only 50 short years ago.

Average Cost of new house $12,500.00

Average Income per year $5,556.00

Average monthly rent $110.00 per month

Tuition to Harvard University $1,520.00

Average Cost of a new car $3,125.00

Eggs per dozen 32 cents

Gas per Gallon 28 cents

In 1962 the birth of surfing music by the beach boys grew in popularity and in England....

The Beatles record the single, "Love Me Do" was all the rage. The new hit for television was the Beverly Hillbillies.

Here is a look at the spring fashions for 1962.....very Jackie O and so stylish

Here is another ad from a magazine in 1962.

One of the new toys for 1962:

Made by: Fisher Price
Price: 79 cents - $1.69

Description Rings on a cone to help babies develop hand-eye coordination and learn their colors. Choose from a set with six rings or a set with ten rings.


And yes...I am sure I had one of these!!


Here is a video of a television commercial for Imperial Sugar....seems Sam Houston's favorite cake was white cake.......




(Click the arrow to view the commercial)

It happens to by my favorite as well.....Thanks for letting me stroll down a half a century ago during the year I was born!

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!! Have a wonderful week!

Update: Quilt Blocks for Shannon

Hello Friends ~ I'd like to thank each of you who has taken the time and effort to send a block for the quilt for Shannon. During the logistics of getting this worked out and live on the blogs asking for help in this project, I am sad to have to report that Shannon lost her battle with brain cancer and has left this world. She is free from all the pain and suffering and now whole and free.

It is my desire to make this quilt in hopes of it becoming a remembrance quilt for her family. I have been informed that the family has requested their privacy and to be allowed to grieve in private in the days to come. I can only imagine if I walked in their shoes, how I would feel and can only respect that.

During this same time, the opportunity came to light about a baby boy named Crew, who was born with his bladder outside of his body, he is so young and has undergone lots of surgeries in a short amount of time. You can read about this sweet boy HERE. Be sure to scroll back in the post to get the whole story if you'd like.

Since, I have received an abundance of blocks, and I know more are on the way. My thinking is I'd like to take the blocks that are gender neutral and combine them with a few boy blocks for this little baby and make two quilts that I hope will bless these two families. I think with the blocks donated, we should be able to hopefully give the parents a boost and encouragement that there are folks praying for their baby and care. I plan on including names and locations of the donated blocks with each quilt and let these folks know that love, prayers and concern came from all over during their walk down these dark days.

I want to let you know my plans and if you sent in blocks for one quilt, you may find them placed in the second quilt for the little boy, and I hope that does not offend anyone. Some blocks that were sent may be split up and will go into both quilts. Please pray for both of these families and the days ahead.

If you have any thoughts or concerns, please let me know either by email or in the comment section. I so appreciate the outpouring and love everyone displayed in this project. Some things just are not in our hands and we have no control over.

Blessings~ When these tops are constructed and ready to be off to the quilter I will post the photos here on the blog. I am working on these now and hope to make some good progress this week.

Tell Me Tuesday: Week Eleven

Welcome to Tell Me Tuesday.....First off the title is a bit deceiving.....it really is not about you telling me anything.... but answering a question truthfully and maybe telling yourself a little something you had not thought about.

I'd love for you to join me each week, and copy the question onto your blog and answer the question....and link back here. I am sure it will be interesting how there will be many different answers to the same question.....and hopefully give each of us something to think about as this new year progresses. My thought is so many people (including myself) are looking for some answers to various things. I have a feeling that the answers are inside needing to be jiggled loose and maybe a question posed a certain way will have a cause and effect in a good way. We will see how it goes! I have committed to this once a week for the whole year of 2012. I'd love for you to take the challenge with me!

I am keeping the rules simple...I'd love to watch this grow as the year goes on.

1. Grab the button on the sidebar if you like so others can find this new writing experience each week.

2. Once you link in, visit the person who linked in before you and leave them a comment. It would be great to visit and leave comments for as many as you can. But at least try and leave the person ahead of you in the link a comment of support.

3. Please link back to my blog and mention Tell Me Tuesday somewhere in your POST. That is it....easy.

Most of all, look at this writing experience with an open mind. Sometimes the questions will be hard...and require some thought. That is a good thing. Other times it will be easy. You can add photos, or whatever you like to your post. It is about you after all. ~ Thanks for joining me.....I hope you enjoy this each week.


Week Eleven Question:

What is the best part of your average day?


I'd have to say the best part of an average day or any day for me is dinnertime. I usually always have supper ready when my husband comes home and we are able to sit down at the table and have dinner and talk about our day. 


We have always had dinner at the kitchen table, even when the kids were small and growing up. When the kids are home, we eat at the table. It is very, very seldom that we eat anywhere but the kitchen table....maybe Superbowl Sunday but other than that, we really don't.


I think today, far too many families do not practice this habit and it is really an anchoring of the family to each other and a way to communicate without a lot of distractions.


I enjoy cooking, so I enjoy preparing a meal for dinner, and enjoy the fact someone comes home and enjoys eating it and enjoys a few minutes reserved only for us. 

On the flip side of that I have to confess, there are absolutely days when I really don't feel like cooking and if I was honest, my husband would be just as happy to go out to eat. However, I have found that eating out is just not the same as eating a meal at your own kitchen table. 

We usually reserve Saturday's to eat lunch out somewhere and we have done that for many years. It is the evening meal that we usually have at home. I guess it is more of a habit than any thing else, but it is a habit that makes my heart happy and it really is the best part of my day. What about you? What is the best part of your average day?