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I opened my new team on Etsy and the name is Celebration Times. We are taking baby steps now, but the group will be lots of fun. We're going to focus on making treasuries that relate to special events (like a new baby in the family, anniversaries, weddings, etc.) and holidays. I have a blog for the new team so stop by if you like. http://celebrationtimesteam.blogspot.com/
Would you believe some people join Etsy just to make the treasuries? They are fun and sort of addicting. If you use Pinterest and like doing that, you would probably like treasuries in Etsy.

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On the quilting side of things, a craft group I belong to does a swap every now and then where we go through our craft items and play "the stealing game." My package came to me a little over a week ago and is great! I have a watercolor quilt kit and lots of yo-yos. I'm making a table mat for the first project and have it almost complete. I'll post a picture soon. I'm trying to decide if I prefer sewing the yo-yos together on the machine or by hand. Since I don't like sewing by hand I may have to perfect doing them by machine!

One Year Ago

One year ago today I started my Etsy shop: TheSandlapperShop. It has been fun - although hard work at times, too. The best part was having a friend who helped introduce me to the world of Etsy. I've also enjoyed getting to know the owners of the other shops; we all try to help one another. No farther down on the list is having some of my customers respond with utter delight in the items they have purchased from me! I've found that making Etsy treasuries can be fun and rather addicting, too. My treasuries have won many top picks from teams and I think that only happens because they are a creative expression of art for me, just like a painter would paint a picture. I love the combination of colors and textures, picking out an appropriate name, and seeing the final product as it takes shape.

There will certainly be another year ahead. I hope to get more items entered into my shop... and a major plan for me soon is to become captain of a team. It's going to be a really fun team and I'll be sure to introduce it here.

Meanwhile, I have a set of coffee scented sachets (above) that would make a wonderful gift for someone or you can simply buy them for yourself. The fabric lends itself for a man or a woman. Every time I open the package they are in, I get that delightful aroma of coffee. Love it!

You might wonder why more quilts aren't listed. The truth is a am very persnickety about quilting so it's a long and slow process for me. I measure exactly, pin every little piece that I stitch, remeasure after I stitch and trim again if necessaary...I also get attached to most of them by the time they are finished. Only a few get listed. My Halloween table runner last year - I just had to keep it! A lovely quilt with pink and cream sold last year, Currently I have this toddler or baby sized quilt listed in my shop. I love the fabrics used in it and the combination of white, purple, lavender, green, and pale yellow make it a beauty! I think it has just the right look for a summer time gift. Don't forget that a baby gift can be given to a new grandmother, too. I had never heard of a grandmother shower until some online friends of mine did exactly that for me. Think of it, when baby comes to visit, grandma needs some baby care items in her home. It can also be used as a lap quilt, at the foot of the bed, or as a wall hanging. ("Grandma" could use it for the baby and later wrap it around her shoulders on a chilly evening or snuggle her feet under it to keep them warm. My feet can frequently use something to snuggle in!)






Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers... and stop by to visit my Etsy shop!

Birthday Blocks: Lavender and Sage

Here are the birthday blocks that I made for one of our Birthday Block Exchange participants this month. The recipient is going for a Victorian look with her quilt and I think the sage, lavender, and cream will be beautiful. Can't wait to see it!

The background color is cream (the very same fabric in both) but sometimes my camera is unpredictable with the settings, so I usually need to make adjustments after I take the picture. For example, the original shot made the lavender look pink.

The weather has been so lovely here lately and my flowers are doing the best I think they have ever done... without me having to water them! I bought some tomato plants a few weeks ago and they have blossoms and even a few green tomatoes already. Very exciting! I guess our hot weather will be here soon though. I usually plan on Mother's Day weekend as the last of the reliably comfortable temperatures for my liking! After that, it's only a cooler day now and then. Also, our amount of rain will probably drop off drastically. Can you tell I am not a summer person?

If you check out my other blog, you'll see some of my comments about Jumpstart to Skinny.

Voles May Top My List

Voles may now top my list was being the most horrid creatures in the garden - even coming out above that other hated creature, fire ants! What you see in the picture what used to be nice full, healthy root on my 9 year old bay tree. They nibbled away every bit of it, even hollowing it out up into the base of the plant. I guess I won't be picking fresh bay leaves for my beef stew any more.

Fire ants, we have under control, but there doesn't seem to be any way to get rid of voles. They don't come above the ground so you never see them. They've eaten so many of my plants by nibbling off the roots that I am getting more and more hesitant to plant anything in the ground. It's becoming "pot city" at my house! Even rose bushes have been nibbled away until the plant would simply fall over.

This only started a few years ago. We used to have an outdoor cat and I think he was able to keep them controlled. The next cat I adopted is declawed in the front, so he is strictly an indoor cat. I think I'll have to look for poisonous plants from now on and hope the roots are poisonous, too. I tried potatoes last year and I know the plant is supposed to be poisonous. Yup - those voles ate every bit of the roots on them, too!

Kentucky Derby Etsy Garage Sale

Incidentally, this is the weekend of the Kentucky Derby. I really enjoy the triple crown races and have been planning my menu so we can enjoy watching it on TV. I've been to see the Belmont in person, but I don't know if I'll make it to either of the other two triple crown races. In conjunction with that, my Etsy shop is having a weekend garage sale. Not all the items are on sale, but the garage sale items are marked down by 50% so check them out! My sale will end on Monday, May 6th.

Here are the shops involved with our little Etsy Garage Sale:\

1. www.etsy.com/shop/Marilyn1545

2. www.etsy.com/shop/TheSandlapperShop

3. www.etsy.com/shop/sweetandtreat
4. www.etsy.com/shop/bylightofmoon
5. www.etsy.com/shop/frstyfrolk

Have a great weekend and I hope your garden is happier underground than mine is! 

Etsy Wedding Ideas

There's no wedding ahead for my family this year, but my husband and I have a special anniversary coming up. Sometimes I find myself looking at the all the wedding things available on Etsy and Pinterest.

What's on Etsy that you can consider for a wedding? The list goes on and on. It includes invitations, napkins, picture frames, ring bearer pillows, bouquets, garters, toasting goblets, cake toppers, table decorations, decorative clothes hangers, favors for the guests, and so much more! The other day I saw a handmade wagon for transporting that "little flower girl" up the aisle. It was darling!

A few weeks ago I made an Etsy Treasury called "Cowgirl Wedding" so there definitely are themed items.
If you want to see my Cowgirl Wedding in its entirety, take a look at
https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE1NjQzMDR8MjcyMTY3NjE1Nw/cowgirl-wedding?index=13&ref=treasury_search&atr_uid=

Etsy shoppers can be so creative: I had this pair of vintage bluebirds for sale in my shop and someone bought them recently and presented them to the bride and groom by using them as a wedding cake topper. The cake was decorated with blue flowers and decorative ribbon and was stunning. I'll bet they got lots of comments on it! Best of all, they had these lovely bluebird figurines to display in their home as a reminder of the special wedding cake. I knew these were bluebirds of happiness!

The owner of an Etsy shop who stays in touch with me regularly is Ellen at Seagull Smith Jewelry.



This link will take you to her shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SeagullSmithJewelry

Ellen has all sort of lovely jewlery. She uses quality materials and artistry. You can find something to use as a gift for your bridesmaids, maid of honor, mother of the bride, mother of the groom, etc. You can purchase a set of matching jewelry. Ellen offers  "Dress the Party " Bridal Packages:

Beautiful classic jewelry for your entire bridal party is now available for your special day. You can now have elegant bridal and bridesmaid jewelry made with STERLING silver ear wires and Genuine SWAROVSKI Crystal and Pearls. All items are personally designed with the option for customization.

Not your color? Ellen offers all these other earring colors, too:

Looking for something trendy or a bit unusual, how about this lovely kumihimo bracelet? I can see this working beautifully for bridesmaids when there is a garden or seashore theme.

Ellen will be happy to help with you any jewelry needs, not just wedding items. There are items in her shop for dress and for casual wear. She has a variety or materials, styles, and colors.

Remember that your flowers and attire and all the bling and even those special little favors that you select for your guests are not the most special thing about your wedding day. It's having that other person in your life as your bride or groom though all the days ahead. Be sure to cherish having that person as your partner in life!

I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife.
~Author Unknown

Pineapple Blossoms

I think it may have been two years ago I requested this block with the GardenWeb Birthday Block Exchange. I asked that the blocks be made in bright tropical colors and you can see them in the photo. No one let me down. I sewed many of my blocks together at the GardenWeb Quilt Forum Retreat in the fall, but need to make a few more blocks in order to have a larger quilt top. I pulled this out from my storage bin on Monday and hope to get back to working on it soon.

Right now the idea of blossoms appealed to me. All of our magnificent spring flowers are in full bloom. I don't like the pollen a bit, but all those azaleas and dogwoods in bloom are a marvelouss sight! I'll post a few pictures on my other blog if you want to look at natural flowers instead of quilt block flowers. Stop by!

Poisson d'Avril



Pans Used for Poisson d'Avril
Read below for the full story.

My Etsy Poisson d'Avril Treasury http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MjE1NjQzMDR8MjcyMTYxOTcyMw/poison-davril?index=1
I couldn't figure out how to add the picture of this Etsy treasury that I made here on my blog, but I did manage to figure out how to add the link.  Now, a bit about April Fools Day or Poisson d'Avril.

Poisson d'Avril, if you studied the French langauge, means April Fish. 
"What the ____?" you might ask....

The following is summarized from How Stuff Workshttp://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays/question604.htm

April 1 is a special day that celebrates foolishness. April Fools' Day, or All Fools Day, is an odd celebration with a strange history.

There's some uncertainty about when and where this bizarre tradition began, but the most accepted explanation traces April Fools' Day back to 16th century France. Until 1564, the accepted calendar was the Julian calendar, which observed the beginning of the New Year around April. According to "The Oxford Companion to the Year," King Charles IX then declared that France would begin using the Gregorian calendar, which shifted New Year's Day to January 1.

Not everyone accepted this shifting of dates at the same time. Some believed that the dates should not be shifted,. Those people may have became the victim of some April jokes and mocked as fools. Citizens in the rural parts of France may have also been the  victims of these jokes because in those days, news traveled slowly. They might not have known about the shifting of dates for months or years.

Today in France, people who are fooled on April 1 are called Poisson d'Avril, which literally means the "April Fish." One common joke is to hook a cardboard fish to the back of a person. Why the fish, I don't know. Some say the symbol is the fish is related to the zodiac sign of Pisces, which falls near April. It's interesting to point out that Napoleon earned the Poisson d'Avril monicker when he married Marie-Louise on April 1, 1810.

When my great grandmother was alive, she would bake a little cake in a fish shape for each of her granddaughters on every April Fools Day. A picture of the cake pans is at the top of this post. Have you ever seen some that are similar?

Happy April Fools Day! Happy Poisson d'Avril!