WELCOME to my "Vera Grateful" Giveaway!

Thank you for the love and kindness
            that you send my way~~

Your comments and emails have shown

 such wonderful support for me

 and my blog.



I am humbled and so

VERY, "VERA GRATEFUL"!

My recent Grow Your Blog event was my gift to all of you--

a way for you to meet new friends and

grow the readership of your blogs. 

Never - EVER--

did I expect that I would receive so much love in return

from all of you!

Over 300 of you

left comments and personal emails

that were so touching --

at times I was truly moved to tears. 

So many of you have stayed

to become a part of MY own blogging family.

THANK YOU~

I love you so much for your incredible support.

I am grateful beyond words~

This is my own special way of saying

THANK YOU

to ALL of you!

~~

My little chance to show my sincere

appreciation

for all the love and support

that you send my way.

WELCOME

to my

"VERA GRATEFUL"

Giveaway!

All of these Vera Bradley Tote bags

will be gifted to YOU --

my faithful readers and followers.

~~(I love  you!)~~

To enter~

Simply leave a comment here on this post.

(Please -- make sure your email address is available to me.)

This beautiful "Hobo" purse

will be gifted to

one of you who is nice enough to share

my giveaway

with your own friends. 

~~

Some of your friends may be readers of my blog also .

If you wish to help spread the word about this giveaway --

please leave a second comment here on this post.

Isn't this Vera "Grand Tote" lovely?

This beautiful bag will be gifted to one of my FOLLOWERS.

~~~

If you are a faithful Follower of my blog

please leave another comment here on this post.

These lovely "Tote bags"

will be gifted to four of my readers who leave a comment

on this post.

I'm so happy to be able to host this

beautiful giveaway!

(I've been saving my pennies so that I could make this so very special for  you!)

The contest will run until

May 5.

~~

I will announce the winners HERE on this post.

One of our precious grandbabies

will draw the winners.

Good luck to everyone~

~~

Thank you again - from the bottom of my heart

for all the love that you send my way

xoxo

~~~~~~~~~~

About the photo shoot~

Our Spring has been so slow to arrive --

actually, I'm still not sure that it is here yet!

~I've been waiting forever

on these silly daffodils to bloom.

You know it's always a big production

when I set off to do a

 photo shoot.

Thankfully -- I have my trusty little red wagon

to help me with my load.

Actually--

I just want to show you my new knitted hat~

(I will have some of these in my etsy shop later this fall!)

~all finished~
~~~~~
This contest is now closed. 
UPDATE  5/5/2013
and the winners are~
Monica (The Hoopless Stitcher)
Fat DorMouse (Fat DorMouse Getting Thinner) (this one is going to France!!)
Sharon (WildFlower House)
Kathy (Kathy in Ozarks)
~~
Terri (Cache Mire) (winner of the Grand Tote- Follower prize)
Linda Lee-(Cross'N My Stitches) (winner of the Hobo bag - for sharing my giveaway) 

~~~
My heartfelt thanks to all of you for your comments and for all the love that you continually send my way.
I wish that each of you could be a winner~
but
Another wonderful giveaway will be coming soon! 
xoxo 

~~~~~~

Now that you are all here~~ I want to share some blog related news -- a little something that makes my heart sing!

My friend Lynn has returned to her beautiful

 Sea Angels blog.

 Sigh~~

~~

After an absence of more than a year,

she has quietly tip-toed back

into the world of blogging.

~~

If you were once a visitor to Lynn's beautiful blog

then I know you share my excitement that

she has returned.

(Those of you who do not know Lynn, will surely want to visit!) 

~~

Her blog is ethereal~

her images are stunning~

she speaks in whispers

and her words leave footprints on your soul.

~ 

Welcome back dear Lynn!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming up next~~ another look at those Shabby Chic nests. They have evolved and are more beautiful than ever~

xoxoxo,

Vicki 

From me to you ~xoxoxo

Waiting for spring,
  Longing for flowers,
     Sending you love and hugs and smiles~

Just a hint of spring in this photo above --

 the daffodils are trying~~

I'm sharing with you all this beautiful

"bouquet"of cookies~

These were actually a birthday gift

 to my best friend Mary~

but they are so beautiful --

I wanted to share them with you  too!

Don't they make you long for spring?

Are they NOT the cutest things you have ever seen?

I will confess that after I took the photos,

and before I gave these to Mary~~

(I ate one of the little flowers!)

(OK - really, I ate two of them.)

(shhhh-- don't tell!!)

Those of you who know me best~

know that I am obsessed with beautifully decorated

cookies. 

(I don't want to make them--)

are you kidding me!!

 I just want to HAVE them!!

 

Actually -- I'm fine with not even eating them--

I could just look at these cookies 

and be happy!

(and take pictures, of course!) 

~~

But - trust me --

these are delicious!!

I love these beautiful cookies so much --
 that I really am going to share them
 with you!!

~~~

Visit me here later this summer~

  when I'll be giving away
 one of these lovely cookie "bouquets"
 to one of my devoted

followers!

If you want your very own cookie "bouquet"

you can find them here.

~~

you can email Krista about her fabulous cookies here~

cookiekrista11@gmail.com

It's official!
Yeller Feller is a total pest!
You might as well get used to seeing him here~~
he does NOT know the meaning of SCAT!!
~~~

I'm STILL waiting on the daffodils to bloom  -- waiting, waiting, waiting.  It's supposed to snow this weekend!!! Eventually, I will be here with my HUGE (and beautiful) Vera Grateful Giveaway!

 (OR -- we could just all sit here and eat these gorgeous cookies!)

xoxoxo,

Vicki

Avila's Garden Party Hat

Are you ever really too young to be a "fashionista"?
             Is there an age limit on lookin' chic?
                    Is there a Vogue magazine for babies?  

Have you ever tried to do a photo shoot

 with a nosy cat around?

(His name is "Yeller Feller")

(I did NOT name him -- the Gardener did!)

Anyway -- back to the story~

I knitted this little Garden Party hat

 for our grand daughter

Avila.

Cute, Huh?

(Just wait till you see her wearing it!)

Pattern details~

Debbie Bliss - Simply Baby Pattern book

Pompon Beret

~~

Yarns

Hobby Lobby Riot eyelash for the pink

 (the green band is something from my stash)

~~

the hat is accented with a cream colored ribbon flower

and tiny pink tulle rosettes

~~

Pattern adjustments -

I used a smaller needle to knit the green band

(the pattern called for a size 7 and I used a size 6 instead to that the band would fit tighter.)

Can you tell that our little Avila loves her new hat?

Just look at that smile!

She was about 5 months old in this photo--

the little hat will fit her for a while.

(When it gets too snug -- the green ribbon can be removed.)

Our little "fashionista"~

(Don't you want to just squeeze those precious cheeks?)

Back to the nosy kitty~

~the minute I started taking photos he jumped up

on the table.

He was totally fascinated by the little flowers.

He wanted to be in the pictures~

~~~~~~~~~

I'm still on a little blogging break -- (although you would not seem to know it since I keep posting - LOL!) I'm actually waiting for our silly daffodils to bloom so that I can take photos for the "Vera Grateful Giveaway" -- it might be a while yet, as it snowed and sleeted today - good grief!  Pray for sunshine!

xoxoxo,

Vicki

Waiting for Spring~

The sun is flirting with the horizon
                   a little bit longer these days~~

                         ~bidding welcome to Spring's

sweet and beautiful

     dance.

Nature,

                            of course,takes the lead

                  while we all dance about

 in giddy anticipation~~

Anxiously~

we look for ways to leave

the weight of the winter's blanket

                     behind us.

And so~

with Spring's promise looming

                        just ahead-

we wait~~

(bring on the sun!!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are just back from some wonderful travels to warm places -- a few days in Florida followed by a 2 week cruise to the Caribbean.  It may be wonderfully warm and sunny where you are -- but here in Kentucky, its cold and rainy and gray and just down right miserable.

The beautiful weather we experienced was just the ticket to bring me back to wellness.  Thank you to all of you who sent me well wishes during my ugly bout of pneumonia.  (I have never felt so fragile in my life.)  

I am already back at work in the Sacred Yarn room -- those of you waiting on your Shabby nests will begin to hear from me soon.

I am still on a little blogging hiatus -- want to work hard on those nests and send them to your happy homes! 

I will be back in a few weeks with a beautiful post -- my VERA Grateful giveaway. I've missed you all so very much.  I had planned to stay totally away until April -- but just could not because I missed you too much!

xoxoxo,

Vicki

ps -- the photos above are just a little tease of something to come your way later this spring~~xoxo