It's been a LONG, LONG time!

I can't believe it's been almost 4 mths. since I've blogged!  I apologize!  Never meant to be gone so long and I've missed all of you who still stop by. I have been very busy these past few mths. w/working and getting ready for our son's wedding, which is only a few wks. away now.

 B'days and bridal showers and life in between, left no time for blogging or much crafting either.  I did, however, get a few things made these past few mths, so I'll let you take a peek.

This 'spring' block was made for one of our monthly craft nights at church.  This one was actually given to me, but we made similar ones w/bunnies that turned out very cute.  Everyone painted their bunnies a different color and they turned out very unique.

 I made this little patchwork zip bag awhile back using a 'This & That' pattern.

 Can you see the patchwork blocks below the rick rack?  They were made w/charm pack squares.  Look closely at the upper corners of each block and you will see that there are different fabrics used in each square.

 These next couple of pillows I made during my lunch break at work.  They were older Pine Mt. Design kits that I still had in my stash from yrs. ago.   I still think they are cute. They were a really good seller in my cross stitch shop I had back then.  They always came w/a really cute button or some embellishments.  Makes for an easy 'grab and go' project.  I have another one I made for spring just like this one only w/springy colors that I forgot to take a picture of.

 Needed to iron the fabric before taking the pic, but I think the 'snowball's' are a cute addition.

 This is what I created for a tablescape for Easter this yr.  Just kept it simple....

 I always take the 'egg' mats off and use the other placemats for meal time.

 We did a 'beachy'/tropical-themed bridal shower at our church for my future DIL's(daughter-in-love) bridal shower a couple of wks. ago.  It was a lot of fun and she had a nice turnout for it, in spite of the pouring rain.

 I loved the way the cake turned out!!  It was much larger than it looks in the pic and boy was it fresh tasting!  We had so many sweet and wonderful gals from our church that took it upon themselves to make/buy/borrow things for the shower and we so appreciated all their help.

 A few wks. ago we had a HAIL storm blow through our area.  We didn't receive any damage, but boy did some other people in town.  Quite a few had damage to their houses/cars.

 I just couldn't resist this cute little grill I found recently.  It will go camping w/us this yr. and I can't wait to use it!  Since our boys are older now, it'll be mostly just the two of us and I thought this would be the perfect size of 14 inches.

 and last but not least, a book review..........

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for allowing me to receive this book FREE of charge in exchange for an honest review...

'From the Start' is the third book I've read written by Melissa Tagg and I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them!

The main characters are each on a road of discovery.  Kate Walker used to write about romance, but never really got to experience the real thing in her own life, after having gotten 'burned' by an ex-boyfriend.  With a major slump in her career, she winds up in her hometown of Maple Valley to help her family rebuild the community after a tornado swept through their sweet little town.

Colten Greene, an ex-NFL quarterback, due to an injury that ended his career, finds himself w/some free time on his hands, so he hangs out at a friend's house to avoid the media's publicity and tries to figure out what his new career should be.  It just so happens that he winds up in Maple Valley and in the same home as Kate.  His friend turns out to be her brother.  I liked the way the author included several family members in the story and how they interacted w/the main characters was very believable.

Fireworks spark as the two meet, so they each try to dodge each other as much as possible, but the little town of Maple Valley need their help, so like it or not, they are stuck together working on rebuilding her hometown.
 Colten needs someone to write his biography and Kate needs the extra cash to finance a trip to Africa, so she agrees to become his new writer.  As they spend more and more time together, on his new book and rebuilding projects around town, they realize they are way more attracted to one another than either wants to admit.  Colt/Kate each has things in their past(and I love the way the author brought those things out over the course of the book) that they need to overcome in order to trust the other, as well as their spiritual walk w/the Lord.

I found Melissa Tagg's sense of humor to be really refreshing and the characters to be quite engaging. The story line generated interest 'from the start'(no pun intended) and kept the interest alive all the way through to the very end.  I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to her next.

I want to thank you for stopping by and please let me know if you did ~ give me a shout!
Enjoy the rest of your spring and I hope to be back before summer!
Tanya