Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Well......almost another month......

As much as I love my little blog, I just can't seem to get to it on a regular basis these days.  Life is just busy and when I finally think ok, now I can do the blog, more life happens.   But life is good, just super busy.  I have taken a few pictures along the way and will share a few of those with you.
We have a wall of shame that runs up the front stairs.  All black and white pictures of our kids, family members and grandchildren.  Well, this is a picture of Raleigh when she was probably around 2 years old.  My husband came and got me one evening to look at the picture which looked like it had a halo around Raleigh's head.  From somewhere in the dark hallway there was a small beam of light that hit that picture just right.  I ran, of course, and grabbed the camera to take a picture of the picture!  And we all know that Raleigh is absolutely a little angel!!!

Jeannie showing off her beautiful quilt from her beginning quilt class.  Great job and onto other projects!!! 
Pat and her sweet husband Jim showing off her finished bee skep flowery piece.  Pat had quite a time with this piece, but she perservered and got it done.  And Jim built the frame for her.  Good job to both of you!!!  It will look gorgeous in her living room!!! 
My husband apparently slipped and took a picture of me working on a new recipe card.  I don't even remember him taking this but oh well, there I am in all my glory!  Hmmmmmm.............. good thing I've started Weight Watchers!!!!!!!
I recently visited with the Capital Quilt Guild in Raleigh to do a lecture and a couple of classes.  This is the only picture I took of my "booth" so to speak.  I took quite a few patterns and models to share with the guild, who were mostly new to wool. 
I also took pictures from the stage of all the women waiting on me to talk.  I think they thought I was a nut up on stage taking their pictures!  I told them I had to take pictures because I had never talked in front of so many people. 
One of the classes the ladies did was a scrappy penny mat.  Once they got their instructions, the ladies were ready to dive into the wool piles.  I brought three crates of scraps for them to work with and enough wool to fill two tables.  Plenty to choose from! 
Sometimes there can be too much to choose from! 
All those circles need to be cut out before you can start having fun................. 
and ta-da......now the fun begins. 
A couple of the pennies laid out, planning in progress. 


I kept saying that someone just needed to sit in all that wool and have a good time.  They kept telling me I needed to sit in the wool.  Now we know that wasn't going to happen!  I might not get up!!  Well, Carla finally dove in and played in the wool.  I think she loves wool now!!! 
Wait until you husband sees this picture Carla!! 
Hmmmmmm........I think I like it! 
This is really starting to come together now.  Sometimes it's hard to envision something until
you can actually start putting the pieces together. 
And a new stitch to learn..........the blanket stitch. 
 
Actually, lots of blanket stitches to do now........homework! 
As you look at the pictures, you can see how different each lady created her mat.  That's the fun of using scraps for a project like this, it can be planned or it can be very random or also very color coordinated.  They're all beautiful!
Look at all those wool scraps in the background!!  Someone has to pick those up!

The second day was a muffin tin pincushion class with a smaller group of ladies.  I think they all had a good time as well and got their tins finished in class.  I didn't remember to take pictures until after a couple had left, so Ginger and Abbie are shairng their tins with you.  Good job ladies! 

And of course, what fun would a blog post be unless I included a couple Joshua photos!!  He's in one of my flower gardens actually posing for the first time that I can remember.  Usually I have to catch him on the go so this was very unusual. 
Oh Mina, I'm tired of this posing stuff......plop on the ground.  Done with that!!  And so is this post.

Find some time to do a little stitching!!




Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Where did the month go???

What a super busy month!!  I can't believe tomorrow it will be May and I already know that month is going to fly by.  Lots of classes and other events going on that will just keep me on my toes.  I have had lots of classes and grandkids and sewing and quilting going on this month.  Here are some pics of a few things that I remembered to take pictures of.  Lately it seems I remember the pictures after everything is over!! 

Joan finished this beautiful redwork quilt.....a Crabapple Hill pattern I believe. 
Dolly finished (FINALLY!!!) her Thanksgiving quilt.  YAY Dolly!! 
Laura made her first muffin pincushion.  Great job! 
Christina was in a fallish kind of mood...... 
Dolly couldn't believe she had another project done.  YAY again!! 
And Liza's sweet pincushions were adorable. 
Donna completed her beginning quilt class with Miss Lou and here's the quilt to prove it.  She made this for her granddaughter's room. 
And Tricia finished Spring Breezes.  Love it! 
And somewhere in the middle of the month Pat had a birthday and we had to help her celebrate, of course.  And with all celebrations one must wear the birthday hat!!! 
One of her many gifts. 
And Joshua and I have been spending a little time together.  He found this bear in my dye kitchen and asked for Pooh Bear.   
Giving Pooh Bear a ride in the dump truck.  What else would a boy do with a bear? 
I have this old shopping cart that I use to haul things around in the garden (big bags of dirt!).  Joshua seemed interested in it so I pulled it out, he climbed in and I took him for a ride around the driveway and yard.  I'm sure the neighbors got a kick of seeing me pushing him in a shopping cart!! 
Playing trucks in my flower bed.  Guess I won't be planting anything new here for awhile.  Seems this is his space......oh well. 
A small group met this morning for a selvedge class.  We had so much fun and the ladies loved working with the selvedges. 
And yes, that is Bonnie actually sewing on my sewing machine!!!  I knew she could do it. 
Piles of selvedges I have been collecting......lots from my fabric and some donated by friends.  If you have any extra selvedges and want to donate them, I would happily accept them.  They just need to have an extra 1/4" or so of fabric left on the selvedge.  That's so we'll have somewhere to attach the selvedges together. 
Don't they look pretty when they're all sewn up?  I love them and am quite hooked on this project.  I may make a bag or table topper or quilt or dress.......who knows!!! 

So there's a wee bit of what has been going on around here.  My girls had a softball tournament Thursday through Sunday, so we spent some time at the ballfields.  They didn't fare too well but I think they still had a good time.

Our weather has been cooler and cloudy and rainy the past couple of days and I just love it.  I hope we truly get to have a spring this year and not get right into the hot, humid stuff. 

Hope you find some time to do a little stitching........

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

I hope everyone is enjoying some fun on this beautiful spring day. 

Someone shared this video with me so I wanted to share it with you.  You can be any age to have a heart attack and sometimes we choose to ignore the symptoms......because we're so busy!!  Sit back and watch this short, entertaining video.  I know...how can a video about women and heart attacks be funny? But, somehow they managed to make this one both informative and amusing.


Please watch and share with all the ladies you care about ...

http://www.surreywellness.com/chiropractic/go-for-red-women-premiere-short-film-just-a-little-heart-attack/

Now relax, take care of yourselves and go find a little time to do some stitching!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Addicted to Quilting


She Learned to Quilt on MONDAY.

Her stitches all were fine

She forgot to make us dinner

So we all went out to dine...


She quilted miniatures on TUESDAY

she says they are a must

They really were quite lovely

But She forgot to dust...


On WEDNESDAY it was a sampler.

She says stippling's fun

What Highlights! What Shadows!

But The LAUNDRY was'nt done...


Nine Patches were on THURSDAY

Green, Yellow, Blue and Red.

I guess she really was engrossed

She never made the Bed!


It was wall hangings on FRIDAY.

In colors she adores

It never bothered her at all

That crumbs were on the floor...

I found a maid on SATURDAY

My week is now complete

My wife can quilt the hours away

The house will still be neat.


Well, now its only SUNDAY

I think I'm about to wilt

I cursed, I raved, I ranted

Cause the Maid has learned to QUILT !!!

~ Author Unknown

Do any of you relate to this, or your husbands??  haha

Thanks for sharing Stacey!!

Happy stitching weekend!






Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Doesn't this look like a torture chamber?  That's what I thought when I walked into the room for a sleep study last week!!!!  All those wires and "stuff" had to be hooked up to me, mostly somewhere on my head. 
I've been having trouble sleeping for quite awhile and finally realized I needed a little help when my heart started doing flip flops!  So off for a wonderful night's stay at Hotel Rex......needless to say, by the time all these wires were stuck on my head I looked like the Bride of Frankenstein!!  No picture available, sorry!  After a terrible night of not much sleeping, it was determined that I will have to return in a couple of weeks for round 2.  Oh boy!!! 

Had to do a little wool dying for a couple of classes.  Seems I was getting low on green wool. 
Toil and trouble or something like that..... 
What a mess but I love that it's in my new dye kitchen!  No more fuss in the kitchen. 

All done.  Lovely new greens for the ladies to play with in their projects.

New class schedule should be done by this afternoon.  Stay tuned................

Happy stitching!