I'm Baaaaack!!

How's everyone been in blogland??  I've been gone so long I almost forgot how to blog!!  It's been ages and I've had a very busy summer so far, as I'm sure most of you have too!  So much to do each day and the day goes by so fast, at least it seems that way to me, the older you get.  I don't know where the past couple of months have gone, I haven't gotten much stitching done this summer, that's for sure.  I have been working on a couple of projects little by little, but nothing really finished to show you.

 This past Sun. nite was supposed to be the last nite of Kid's Camp at church, but then it was cancelled due to of all the storms they were predicting for that evening b/c they had ordered several of those inflatables, which as you know, just don't do great in high winds. ha
 Several of us ladies who are on the kitchen committee had decided that we were all going to make cupcakes for the kids who attended.  Well, with the cancellation, we ended up having to eat them ourselves!  I know, darn the bad luck ~ LOL!!

 You should have seen the mess I made all over the counters trying to mix up the different colored frosting and stuffing it into the bag, then tried to 'swirl' the design on w/one of my bigger tips.  I am by no means a professional, but I was actually excited about how they turned out, I just need way more practice, and according to my hubby & sons, they won't mind a bit ~ LOL!

 This cute plastic bin holds three stacks of cupcakes for a total of 24 and it is in the shape of a 'cupcake'. They just stack on top of each other and lift out w/a little handle.  Found it at one of our local craft/hobby stores, on SALE of course!!

 It is the perfect way to carry a couple dozen cupcakes!

 My dear sweet friend, Lecia, from Farmhouse Prims blog sent me a surprise package in the mail!

 She sent me one of her darling prairie bonnets she sells on her blog from time to time and I absolutely LOVE it! Plus a book by Beverly Lewis, who is one of my favorite authors, and the cutest card w/her blog name printed on it. Thanks again Lecia!!  She certainly pays attention to detail.  Notice the rusty pin/tag, etc.

 I ended up hanging it in our 'lodge'-themed family room for now, but will probably find a better place for it later on.  This was the only peg I saw available when I looked around a few rooms in my house.

  

Next up is my book review for Bethany House, which they send me for FREE in exchange for an honest review.

"A Match of Wits" by Jen Turano is one of the funniest Christian fiction books I've read in awhile! I did not know about the other books in this series, however, so I might have gotten more familiar w/ the characters involved. The two main characters are just a hoot all throughout the book.  Agatha Watson is very much her own person, but b/c of death threats she has been receiving, her boss at the newspaper hires her not one, but two bodyguards.  She travels out west to get more stories and away from the threats and meets up w/Zayne, her former friend/beau, at least she wished for a very long time that he was her beau.

Agatha is always getting into some kind of trouble and ends up blowing up his gold mine, accidentally of course!  They all end up going back east to their families and try to find who is behind the threats she's been receiving.  Her bodyguards are secondary characters, but w/major roles and they are a hoot in themselves. There are several hilarious 'scenes' that just make you giggle. There is an animal character that plays a major role as well and gets her into even more trouble, but I don't want to ruin the surprise.

At times the story line/animal character seemed a bit far-fetched and unrealistic, but it still kept my attention all the way through.  If you want to laugh out loud, then you need to read this book!

'Stuck Together', by Mary Connealy.  This book sounded like it'd be a really good read and it did start out that way, but somehow it just lost my attention about half way into it.  No offense to the author b/c she has written other really great books, but this one is just not one of my favorites.

The main female character, Tina who has a lot of spunk, starts picketing a local saloon, trying to get it closed for good. The book starts out w/a bar-room brawl and ends up into a huge fight among several of the notable characters, but of course the main male character, Vince, ends up defending her.  They have several 'sparring' matches, but start making the slightest connection when his family shows up from back east.  His father(who is a real doozy character) ends up leaving his mother (who has Dementia), for him to take care of and also a sister he never really knew. 

I got a bit confused as to who everyone was and the story line/characters seemed a bit disconnected at times to me as well.  I just couldn't get a good feel for this one.

This is book #3, so maybe if I'd read the first two, it would have made a little more sense to me, perhaps?  You can certainly find out for yourself.

***I also wanted to mention that for those of you who love 40ct. linen, I just got some new fabric in my ETSY shop that is a very neutral color, but has a bit of shimmer to it~ it's really pretty and would look great w/a Christmas or snowman scene, etc.   Also, I got in some great new patterns the other day and will be plugging away at it till I get them all listed.

Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying what's left of your summer and getting plenty of time to do the things you love!  My birthday is one week from today, so I'm counting down the days, LOL.
Until next time, happy crafting!!
Tanya