These are afew of my new patterns for Christmas!

It has been a long time since I have been on here!  I can't beleive that the summer is over already!  I have been so busy this summer but the main reason I haven't been writting is --- I thought there was something wrong with my blog and I couldn't get it fixed.  I guess just staying off of it for awhile worked!  I have had a couple of great vacations that were much needed but now it is time to get back to work!  Over the next couple of weeks I will be posting some new patterns I am hoping to get my samples and patterns on my website soon!

Well I think I can finally get back to work for awhile! We just had our 2nd annual Craw fish Boil! What a group! Our son, his wife and two of his three daughters came from California. Our daughter, her husband and four kids came from Dallas. Our granddaughter, husband and baby came from Dallas and our daughter, husband and new baby came from Omaha! It was crazy once again! I am so thankful the weather was great, we could be outside all day and use the pool! What a life saver! The guys always seem to have golf matches, fishing, horse shoes and what ever else going on and the girls try to lay in the sun and take care of the kids! I told the girls next year we will have to plan a day of golf (shopping)! We always seem to make great memories! Can't wait for next year!

I have been on vacation for over a week now! If you haven't taken a vacation lately I highly recomend it! I don't remember when I took a true vacation. I usually have to drive so I can take all of my work stuff with me and fill orders, this time all I do is answer e-mails every morning to let people know I am on vacation! IT IS WONDERFUL!

My brother and his wife bought a place on the Florida coast that is wonderful! I brought my mom down here so she could see it. We have been shelling everyday and eating fabulous food everynight! We have been on his boat, seen Manatees in the wild along with the Dolphins and of course Aligators! My brother and I get up early some mornings to take photos of the sunrise. My family can't get together without some type of competition (you could say we are a little competitive) so it is Boggle every night! My Mom, being a crossword puzzle person, wins most of the time!

A vacation renews your mind and gives you time to really step back and take a good look at what you are doing. I hope to get home and start working on new designs and the book I have been talking about!

Today my brother gave me a key for their new place, I do plan on doing this again in August. I am going to start stepping away from things a little more often so I can start working on becoming the best I can be! I think in order to be truly creative you have to go out and experiance new things and just enjoy this life - for life is for enjoying!

Back in Des Moines! Mom and I have already been out and about! We really hit the jackpot on the wool! We spent most of yesterday afternoon and into the evening felting all of our new fabric!! We found a Quilt shop in Des Moines, Creekside Quilting, that neither one of us had ever been to before. It is a very nice shop with a very large inventory! Mom, bless her heart, found a few pieces of fabric that she had to have! My mom has enough fabric to open TWO fabric stores, but she didn't think she had those fabrics! We will be busy cutting and sewing today. I have a few new ideas for fall and Christmas and then I will in earnest continue to try and put a book together. This will be a new adventure for me. I have never tried to do this before so it will be trial and error.

I am spending time with my daughter and new grand baby in Omaha for a few days. So much fun to see how she has changed since Christmas! I came up for my mom's birthday! My sister and I took my mom and her best friend of 56 years to the Historical Museum in Des Moines for an exhibit of antique Crazy quilts. I wish I was at home so I could upload the photos because these quilts were amazing! There was only one that was dated 1903 the rest were all done in the 1800's. I wanted to just sit there with them on my lap and run my hands over them but of course you couldn't touch them. The old fabrics were wonderful but the stitching was absolutely beautiful! I came away with many new ideas! While in Omaha I got to attend another quilt show of wonderful old quilts. there weren't any crazy Quilts but still beautiful! I will be going back to Des Moines soon and have lot's to do there before I head home! Mom will be coming home with me and I am sure we will have lots of fun stopping at shops along the way!

As I prepare to leave town once again I am reminded of how blessed I am to have a business I can pack in the car and take with me. Sometimes I run a little behind on getting my patterns out but my customers have always been so understanding.

I have new patterns started for Mom and I to work on. It is so wonderful to sit with her as we sew and talk. Sometimes she sews and I am on to designing the next project. She is like a machine, I can hardly keep up with her! She is always asking "OK, what's next". I can't beleive what gets done when I am with her! thanks Mom!

I guess it is time to get packing. That is really hard for me at this time of year. It has been over 80 degrees here for awhile and I guess there is a cold front moving back into Iowa! I am going to have to get my winter clothes out again!

My 5 new patterns! I have had fun trying to come up with some different things! I think that the next "Wool Crazy" I do I will try and do step by step photos so you can see that if you can sew you can do this! I do all of mine by hand, that sewing machine just doesn't like me! I am not a very good photographer but if you go to my website www.apieceofworkdesigns.com you can see them better!

Our newest family member. Miss Kali Mae! Just one day old in this photo! Born 12/06/10

WOW!!! It has been a long, long time since I was on here last! I spent most of my winter in Iowa, there is something wrong with that picture! It was all worth it! My Mom has a new knee! I did a show that I prepared for in Iowa away from my stash! Bless my Mom's heart she is 86, had a knee replacement the end of September and still wanted to do this primitive show we do every year! That was Thanksgiving weekend, we also served 12 people Thanksgiving dinner! My youngest daughter was to have her 1st baby the 29th of November but the baby decided December 6th was the due date! Of course I had to stay and help (darn)! Then came Christmas shopping for both me and my mom, she wasn't quite up to doing allot yet! Then there was Christmas(Christmas dinner)and New Years and finally back home! It took me about three weeks to recover and then we were off to Dallas for the twins birthdays! Anyway I am home until next week and back to Iowa for my Mom's 87th birthday, I am glad to do it! I feel so blessed to have her as my best friend!

I will try and post a little more often! I have designed 5 new patterns since the first part of February that I will share with you tomorrow!