Time Sure Flies by Roseanne Dowell

 

Here it is November already. Time sure flies. Last year at this time I posted something I was thankful for every day on Facebook. I decided not to do that this year. It's not that I'm not thankful, I am. Blessed and thankful. And there's so much to be thankful for, my husband, my children, their spouses, my grandchildren, and their spouses, and my great-grandchildren What more could a person ask for?

I have a nice home, not fancy by any means, but I'm not a fancy person and it's comfortable. Lived in and it meets my needs and there's always food on the table. We live a simple life, always have. Our entertainment comes by way of our kids mostly and a few friends whose company we enjoy.  I manage to keep busy between Bible Study, and other church activities. Besides writing, which I've not been doing much of since my characters refuse to talk to me, I enjoy my embroidery machine. 

Lately, I've been doing a lot of table runners for dinners at our church. I'm on the Fellowship committee and I can't tell you how much I enjoy it. I work with a great group of women and we always have a good time. Besides that, I love to cook, and helping to cook for a large group makes it worthwhile. I look forward each month to our dinners. 

I'm sure there's a story there someplace and I'm betting Aunt Beatrice Lulu would be involved in some harebrained scheme. If she'd only talk to me. The only reason I can think of as to why she's giving me the silent treatment is her sister, Ethel started the next story. I'm afraid Aunt Beatrice Lulu is a bit jealous. To make matters worse, Ethel isn't talking to me anymore either. So I sit and stare at blank pages. I'm sure one of these days Aunt Beatrice Lulu will start talking again. It's not like her to remain quiet for too long. She's too much of a busy body. 

But until then, I'll have to be content with my embroidery.  I really love that machine and I found some websites with excellent designs, some of them are even free. Last year I made the kids several gifts from the embroidery machine. Not sure what I'll do this year. Right now, I started on the table runners for the November dinner we'll be doing at church. It takes an hour just to embroider the text and I'm adding a cornucopia to it also. Not sure how long that will take to stitch out. So I usually do two a day. 

If anyone has any ideas for Aunt Beatrice Lulu put them in the comment section. If she uses them, we'll be sure to mention you in the acknowledgments. 

You can find all of my books at BWL

My Favorite Things by Roseanne Dowell

One of my favorite things to do when I'm not writing is embroidery. Another is quilting. I’ve found a way to combine the two. 

First, I made baby quilts for two of my nieces. White on white, I machine embroidered them with the darning stitch so I had control. They turned out really nice, but I really love to hand embroider. That’s when I discovered red-work. During a quilting shop-hop, one of the stores highlighted red-work. For those of you who don’t know what red-work is – it’s embroidery done in all red floss. Just the outline of the picture, not filled in like other embroidery patterns.

Anyway, I fell in love with it. Every year I make something for Christmas (often a Santa) for my six children and give it to them on Thanksgiving. I found a Santa pattern and did it all in red-work, framed it and gave it to them.

That's when I decided to make a queen-size quilt for our bed, using various flowers. I found a book with different flower transfers and proceeded to iron them onto fabric and embroider them. It took the better part of a year to finish the quilt and many times I wondered why I started it and was tempted to quit. I’m glad I persevered. The quilt turned out beautiful and I use it every spring/summer.

Once I finished that, I decided to make a baby quilt for each of my

grandchildren – for their first born. I started out looking in coloring books for designs. I traced the images onto 12x12 squares of muslin. After I finished embroidering the squares I cut sashing and sewed them together. For the backing I used various fabrics, not nursery print. None of the quilts have nursery fabric in them at all. I've used patterns from animals to Winnie the Pooh to Sunbonnet Sue. 


Eventually, I found transfer books and started using them for designs. I looked everywhere for baby designs. I finally finished my

14th and last quilt. That’s a lot of baby quilts. Most of them are done in red work, but I varied some with other colors, too. 

It took a couple of years to do all the squares. Four years ago, I made quilts for my niece’s twins using kitten and bunny patterns. They’re done in many colors. Since then she had another child, another boy, so I made one for him using baby animals.

Four years ago, I also gave my first grandchild’s quilt to my oldest granddaughter, whose baby boy was born in June – my first great grandchild. That same year, my fourteenth grandchild was born, another boy and I did puppies for him.

April 12^th, I gave my second quilt at another granddaughter’s shower. She’s having a baby girl in May. It’s exciting to see the look on their faces when they open the quilt. I hope they cherish them and love them as much as I loved making them.

I've marked each quilt with the name of which grandchild they're supposed to go to in case I’m not around to give it to them. My daughters have been instructed to pass them out. I hope I'm around to give them all away.



This last quilt I made for another niece's baby. I'd say it's one of my favorites, but honestly I say that about all of them. It's impossible to choose one. They were all fun to work on. Now I have to find something else to keep me busy. I think I've found it, chip carving but that's a topic for another blog.

Check out my books at Amazon   Here's one of my favorites.

Forced to stay in a nursing home while undergoing therapy, seventy-two year old, Mike Powell refuses to get out of bed, won't cooperate with the nurses, and won’t take his medicine. At least not until he meets Elsa. The tiny, spunky little Elsa sparks new life into him. 

Seventy year old, Elsa -left in the home while her son takes a family vacation - joins forces with Mike, setting the home on its heels, and later discovers deception and fraud. Can they find happiness together? 

Who says life begins at 40? Life is wonderful at any age, as long you're willing to live it. Elsa Logan and Mike Powell prove it. And I want to be just like them when I grow up! One of Roseanne Dowell's best, and my personal favorite! 
Elsa Logan bears a striking resemblance to a romance writer I know who shall be nameless but whose initials are R. D. ~ Romantic Suspense Author, Gail Roughton