My Favorite Things

Buenos dias, mis amigas y amigos!  No.  No need to adjust your monitor.  I was feeling a little Spanish-y this morning.  Why?  No idea.

Moving on.  I've had a couple people mention that they liked my initial Favorite Things post, so I decided it was time for another one!  And before I forget, I want to say how much I appreciate all the suggestions and "I wanna see more" comments on my giveaway.  I love it when I get comments (who doesn't?!)  and I especially love it when people take the time to actually read what I type and make comments specific to what I've written.  A BIG thank you to everybody who reads my blog.  I really appreciate it and I do my best to reply to every comment (unless you respond in a way that doesn't link to your email).  Oh, and if you have a blog that I don't follow, please let me know.  I'm always on the lookout for new reads.

These are a few of my favorite things.  And don't start singing that dang song because that is NOT one of my favorite things.  LOL 

A while back...a long time ago now, really...my Mom started quilting.  I love the idea of quilts, especially done by family, but don't have the patience or knowledge or time to take it up as a hobby.  So, I was super excited when my mom started quilting.  Between me, my hubs and my two boys, we have quite a few quilts (not to mention the crocheted and knitted blankets) and I love each and every one of them.  I'm going to show you two of them today.

Out of all my quilts, this is my favorite!  It's a queen-size quilt and fits perfectly on my bed.  I was the envy of all the girls at work when I opened the box it came in.  I love the colors (red, white and blue, of course), the design, the size.  It's perfect.  As soon as I got it home, I put it on the bed and it's been there ever since.

In case you're just joining me, I have this "thing" for red, white and blue.  This quilt is perfect because it's red, white and blue but it's more muted than the traditional color scheme.  I like the flag material because it reminds me of Colonial America.

I don't usually go for brown or yellow, but in this grouping, it works!  I don't know the technical term for this design, but I call it a star burst.  The white with the red flower design reminds me of cherry blossoms.

This is the back side of the quilt.  I know my mom always says that she's not very good at grouping colors, but I think she did a great job (I think she always does a great job - she's just too hard on herself).

I even like the border.  Some of these triangles remind me of bandannas.  See the red and blue stripes?  Yeah, those are all individually sewn together.

Every quilt she makes has a little personalized tag on it.  This one says: Made Especially for Megan.  Love, Mom Sept 2008.  Even the tag has stars on it!  LOVE!!

This is also on the top of the list of favorite quilts.  This is the second quilt my Mom made me.  See what I mean about red, white and blue?  LOL  This one is more of a traditional color grouping.  I'm not sure on the size of this one, but I think it's more technically a lap quilt.  However, it fits nicely on my son's single bed.

I really like the backing on this quilt.  Red, white and blue in flags!  PERFECT! 

Here's the tag for my quilt.  Celebrate life!  Made by: Mom.  On this date: July 2005 (appropriate, don't you think?).  For: Megan on her 29th b-day (8/23/05).  I can't imagine working on something like this during the Summer, but she does!

My fat cat Sol like my quilts, too.  He jumped up and got comfortable as soon as I put the quilt on the bed. 

I love all the quilts my Mom has made for me and my family.  I love that I'll have these forever and ever and will be able to eventually pass them down to my boys and their kids.  My Mom also has a blog, Stray Stitches, where she shares her quilt making expertise along with some great recipes (where do you think I get my kitchen skillz?).

Do you have anything that you treasure that's a family heirloom?  Some day I'll post a My Favorite Things from my boys' point of view (which will most definitely include a blanket or two).  Enjoy your Wednesday.  Only two more days til the weekend!!

My Favorite Things

TGIF!!  I hope you all are enjoying your Friday.  It's rather slow at the office today (thank you jebus!).  Both of my docs are out, but I'm helping our nurse practitioner and her medical assistant so I have stuff to do, but I also have time to actually sit.  It's a nice little break from the chaos that has been surrounding me here the last couple weeks.

Today I bring you a little different post.  A while back, the hubs showed up at my office bearing gifts - what a nice surprise!!  What was it, you ask?  It was a magazine dedicated solely to blogging.  What a thoughtful gift.  I spent the next couple days pouring over that magazine and got a couple good ideas out of it.  This is one of those good ideas.  Every now and then I'll be adding to this "collection".

Once upon a time, there was this guy.  And he liked this girl.  They dated for a year, and then the guy asked the girl to marry him.  She said yes!  This is what she presented her.

OK.  Maybe I'm a little off on the story, because he didn't actually give me *both* of these gorgeous rings, he gave me just the band for our engagement.  See the design around middle of the band?  There's a little story with that.  It says "A blessing on the soul" in Ogham.  Ogham is an old Irish language, also sometimes called the "Celtic Tree Alphabet".  We had seen this ring in a magazine prior to our engagement and I loved it.  Little did I know that he had ordered it for me.  It's technically a men's ring, but I don't exactly have petite hands or fingers, so this fits perfectly.  

Do you notice that I'm wearing the solitaire on the "wrong side" of the wedding band?  Well, there's a reason for that.  Since the band was really my engagement ring, the solitaire was my wedding band, so I wear it reversed.  You should hear the comments I get telling me that I'm "wearing your rings wrong".  C'mon people!  Things don't always have to be one specific way.  Anyway, I also get surprised looks when I tell them the hubs ordered the ring out of a catalog.  How romantic, right?  LOL   
So, what makes this one of my favorite things?  Other than it's the first piece of jewelry that the hubs gave me, it's so pretty!  I've never seen another ring like it.  Not even close.  I love that the inscription around the middle actually means something.

Well, I'm off to do a little bit of work.  I hope you enjoyed my "different" post today.  I'll do a little more thinking and pic taking so I can add to my "Favorite Things" posts.  Have a great weekend.  See you back here next week!

Listening: Mourning by Tantric
Mood: mellow