Our sweet little granddaughters born within the last few months

I am happy to announce the arrivals of these two beautiful little sweet baby girls.  I am thrilled to welcome them to the Askeroth family!

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 Meet Penelope June Dowse aka "Penny" who was born on March 31, 2014

 3 week old Penny

I held her when she was a few hours old

 And meet our little Mayley Kate Askeroth who was born on November 12th on her due date 11-12-13

Mayley Kate is 5 months old now.

Pa Pa and Grammy with Mayley Kate on January 25

We are thrilled to have them, hold them and love them!!!!

First real patchwork quilt

This is my very first true patchwork quilt. I Made this for a new granddaughter  Penelope June that is coming soon.  I machine quilted it then bound the edge with matching fabric.  I have done patchwork pillows. Sewn most of my life but never really gotten into quilting.  I say every new year when doing my resolutions, that this is the year when I will start quilting.  I finally did it and am thoroughly hooked!   This pictures are from my i.phone so that is why they are kind of blurry.

Jane Austen Anniversary Swap

I recently participated in the Jane Austen Anniversary swap that was hosted by Mercedes Scott over at an Altered place.  My assigned partner was Angi who lives in Hawaii.  I decided to make a little book that would celebrate Jane Austen's greatest work.   "Pride and Prejudice" which is of course my favorite and so many others worldwide.

 I love it when you just start crafting something, not knowing how it will really turn out, but when you are finished, you wish that you did not have to send it away.  This is what you are always asked to do, by the swapping hosts, to create something you would love to recieve.  It is what it is all about.

these images and book pages came from an old copy of the book, Pride and Prejudice, that was my Mother's.  I could not find any copyright date on this one, but would love to know more of a history of this version.  It was so cool that it came with some illustrations.

 that is my little book, and here is the other item I made in honor of Jane Austen.  A paper medallion with pheasant feathers, lace and ribbon.

And these are the two items that were sent to me by my partner Angi.  I felt it was cool that both of us went in the direction of Pride and Prejudice.  I willl hang this up in my craft room.  

 Information of her life on the back side.  Beautifully done mixed media art.  Thankyou Angi

And then this showed up in the mail, made especially for me by Debbie Vignola for my birthday which is coming up next week.  It was so very thoughtful of here.  She is a member also of An Altered place too.   Thanks so much Debbie.  It was so thoughtful and I adore it!

More creative endeavors in the month of January.

We had a new granddaughter in November, and in our church, babies get bleased when they are young.  I was fortunate enough to get to make the little white dress that Mayley Kate Askeroth would be wearing.

 The headband I made for her.

 Here we are Grammy and Pa Pa with our youngest grandchild.  Mayley Kate will be 3 months old on February 12th.

then I also took some simple onesies on sale and decided to doll them up a bit.  I added cotton ruffles to the back of one and put a row in front at the 

and then for the striped one I put ruffles at the top and made a separate little skirt.  She won't be able to wear these until she is older and probably in the summertime.  

I sure had fun sewing for Mayley in January!

It's almost February

This year I will place a new banner across my new "old" window displayed on my fireplace hearth, for each  of the holidays.  I put this up before Christmas and found these wonderfu llittle clips to hold the beaded swag in the corners.  I made it so that I can just tie on the different saying to the beaded rope.  Here is my new one for Valentine's Day.

 I printed this from the pinterest and put it isn a frame to add to my Valentine magic.  Finding an old piece of wood out on a desert outing, makes the perfect vintage sign.  I enjoyed creating this sign, that will go here during all the seasons.

I did not make thisk but it will remain up all year long.  It was given to me, 

and I sure love glitter of all kinds and anything that says the word Paris on it!

Happy February to everyone!

Help needed with blogger.

    Help!  I am needing help with blogger Adsense.  Does anyone out there know how to get the adsense to actually put ads onto your blog, and start making that work.  I have added it to my new blog and can't figure it out.  Oh and by the way I have started a new blog.  Hope to be getting it in full swing soon, so I can turn it into something fabulous.  Check it out by clicking on my new picture on my sidebar here.  It is called Michele's likes and favorites.  Come see what I have already posted.
     I also have noticed, even with myself that everyone seems to be drifting from their blogging.  I am wondering with smart phones, pinterest and facebook posting, has this changed?  I am going to work on my blogs more faithfully, and visit other blogs as well, become followers and try to get into it again. I always got so much enjoyment out of blogging.  I miss that, do you?  I miss the good friends I had made through blogging, swapping and giveaways.
   

Winter Whites Fabric Tags

Here is the fabric tag that I made for my partner Vandana in India 

 

and below is the tag that I recieved from my Talented partner, Kelly Deal. She sent me so many cute things too in a beautiful gold box.  It was fun to recieve it before Christmas.  

Items from my Hidden Cottage Craft boutique

I thought I would share some items from my craft boutique.  I have spent lots of waking hours on things to sell here.  It is over, and I did have a great time doing it.  The weather was cold and cloudy outside.  It was not as successful as I had hoped for, but we did get to see some ladies that we have not seen for a while.  And the atmosphere was so very Christmasy

 So here is the first sampling of what I made for the boutique.  I am working on getting lots of this leftover stuff in my Etsy shop.