Robbie's Paw Prints

More beading

2012-01-29T10:22:00.004-05:00

Yesterday started off with puppy class and ended up with a wet, dirty dog! Dew in the a.m. is quite bad so...but if you really want to see a dirty dog, check out Kalee's blog later! OMG!!
After puppy class, I headed to PetSmart then to the bead store! After a quick lunch, I started working on a new bracelet using Bead and Button magazine's pattern, Geometric Maze.
After wrapping my loom, Kalee and I sat out front and then in the lanai. I got quite a bit finished on it considering these are #11 Delica's. I love working on the loom and I'm really excited about this pattern. This is a close up of the color/pattern.
My stop at the bead store was due to the kindness of the Country Road Quilters! They presented me a gift card to my favorite bead store, The Bead Strand. The store is now under a new owner and she has even more supplies and beads than before...and that was a lot!! These are my 'finds' from yesterday. The beads I'm using in my loom bracelet is in the group. I'm going to make two more rings for myself from the green and pink.
So today is a lazy day. I did some dusting, cleaning and now on my 2nd load of laundry and of course took Kalee on her 1st walk of the day! After I do my email/blogs, I'll start back on beading or work my Valentines. It's another beautiful day, although temps are only going to be in the high 60's! ONLY!! I'll take it...with the sun shining it feels like 70 so perfect weather for sitting out in the lanai! And of course going for walks!

A few tangles and a few beads!

2012-01-27T14:20:00.005-05:00

Yep, I'm back doing some tangles for note cards. So relaxing and nice to have on hand or just to make up when you need a card!
Today was one of those days I needed to just relax! YIKES! Gracie was having one of her screaming fits...if you've never heard a parrot scream, you're lucky!! It's one of the top reasons folks get rid of their parrots as it can be quite unnerving. It's almost like scratching nails on a chalkboard! Really gets to you!
So besides listening to Gracie scream...Kalee is good as gold but LOVES to grab the newspapers off the end table and RUN!!! It's her game but not our game! Hence, this a.m. it seemed like I was always letting her outside, threatening her with the spray bottle or getting the newspapers from her mouth! I know, I know...it's good exercise, right!
Anyway, I also started to play with putting some tangles on my fabric paper along with some beads, of course! I stitched around the larger heart on the machine then added a heart from some suede fabric I had on hand. Of course I had to finish it off with the rope stitch in beads. I have to edge this piece and put on the address label, but I think it will make a good fiber card. It's 5" x 7".
I'm back to beading some more rings. I'm making these for my friend here in Florida (Carol). She picked out the pink beads and the crystal beads. It's just the peyote stitch then once you have your size, just sew up the edges and you're done.
I made these for myself too. I love the crystal one and the purple color will match my Valentine shirt!
Yesterday I cut up some of the fabric paper I talked about in my last post and started to zentangle designs on the pieces. I'm going to have to make up another piece of the fabric paper as I only had enough for about a dozen fiber cards. I need at least 20-22 pieces. Gives me a good excuse to have another play day!! Like I need an excuse!

Back to playing!

2012-01-24T18:32:00.009-05:00

Yippee! Today started off busy with some cleaning, then off to the vet so Gracie could get her 'manicures' (feet and beak!), then to library, dollar store and back home to doggie park for Kalee.
I've been wanting to use the thermofax screens Sally made me and I finally got to do that today! The picture you see of the screens as they were drying. I'm afraid I couldn't get the black acrylic paint off the 1st screen!!! I did use it again with no problem but I feel bad it looks 'bad'!!!
This is one of the two black fabrics that I printed using deColorant (Robin egg blue) and they came out really nice. I forgot to take a pic of the other piece of fabric. It has all 3 leaf sizes on it. Really cool pieces!
These small pieces were just stenciled or using the thermofax screen. I love my screens!! Thanks again Sally!
Then I started playing with making some paper fabric. This was a commercial piece of fabric that I stamped using dollies.
Then I brushed on or stamped a plastic heart template I had (pic on the left). Then I covered the entire piece with gel medium (thinned with water) and placed pieces of paper from magazines and tissue paper on top of the gel medium. A final coat and here's my paper fabric! I'm going to use the piece to cut up for fiber postcards.

Oh, this was what the kitchen counter looked like today while I was working or should I say playing! It was fun to play again!! I did also start another peyote beaded ring. I need something that goes with my Valentine shirt! More playing to come!!!

Busy days keep on coming!

2012-01-22T09:54:00.004-05:00

Yep...busy days for sure. On Thursday, I did a trunk show for one of the local Ocala quilt guilds, Country Road Quilters. What a nice group of ladies!! I was busy presenting and forgot to have someone take pics with my camera...but I did get a picture at their show and tell of Nancy after my presentation. This was a cool quilt she made...forget the method but I loved it!
Nancy was kind enough to ask me to do my trunk show (some of my work is on the table) and I'm so glad she did.
I'm going to go back and perhaps join this group while here in Florida. I won't be an active member by any means but I'm sure I'll enjoy meeting more of the ladies and seeing their show and tell. They had some wonderful quilts shown!! One in particular was a huge redwork piece that was amazing!!!
Now on to yesterday! After I got home from puppy class, Susan and I attended the Fiberart market place at the Villages. They had over 50 vendors who displayed yarns, fabrics, embellishments, dyes...you name it and they had a vendor selling it. For such a small amount of vendors (compared to IQA shows), you certainly could find something to buy! Actually, Susan and I both thought it was a perfect amount of vendors to walk to. Not too many and not too little...just right!
I didn't take pictures of the crowds near booths...wasn't sure about taking pics...some vendors had signs up so I didn't want to get arrested! But I did find some black sateen and black Pimitex along with some Radiance fabric! Also, June Coburn had a booth selling her silk screen stencils, which were really nice! Some great Asian designs and beautiful silk fabrics. I did buy a bottle of the robin egg blue deColourant. I have the 'regular' color remover and used it last year or the year before here in Florida...just can't find the exact post (yet!). So I'm looking forward to using the deColourant and replacing the black with some blue! I'm thinking of using my thermofax screen from Sally to print w/black on top of the blue! Confusing but I can see the idea in my mind! Hopefully I can share when it's all worked out!

Susan and I arrived home around 3, I took Kalee to the dog park and let her roam around then back home and into the shower to get ready for dinner with Carol & Tony to celebrate their anniversary. These two just don't change! I have several pictures of the two of them like this I've taken over the years and they all look alike!! Must be the good livin'!
We ate at Harry's Seafood Grille and it was amazing!! I had crab cakes and salad which were wonderful!! Bob had the deep fried shrimp and I think there were at least 18 pieces of shrimp!!! I ate 3 of his shrimp and they melted in your mouth! Some of the best shrimp I've had! Of course, because we were celebrating, we had dessert! Bob and I had bananas foster which was GREAT!!! Carol and Tony shared chocolate bread pudding and they said it was delicious...guess they get that dessert when they come to Harry's. Bob and I will certainly go back and of course get the bananas foster. We haven't been getting dessert out lately but we'll make an exception when we go to Harry's for sure!!

Back to work!

2012-01-19T11:11:00.003-05:00

It's a wonder my chubby little fingers fit my keyboard! Yikes! With all the sweets we have had and still have!, it's amazing I can still type!
I'm making good progress on my butterfly and actually worked on it yesterday afternoon while my friend Carol was here. She's making her annual baby quillow for one of her grand babies! She's made one a year, with the exception of last year, for each of her four grandchildren. Some of them have received two! Carol's made a few of the fleece quilts you tie and the babies love those.

And I also finished Louise's quiltlet. I just did some free motion quilting around the piece and left the fusing as is. I like the colors and think Louise will too. If not, I'm only in Florida for four months so she can take it down the rest of the year!
Tonight, I'm doing a trunk show for one of the quilt guilds here in Ocala. Terrible, but I forget the name of the guild! Geezzz At least I have directions for where I'm going...good thing, right! Susan is coming along to be my 'Vanna White' and hold up my smaller quilts. I'm looking forward to meeting the ladies and seeing how another guild runs.
Yesterday we had rain but temps in the 60's. Kalee and I did manage to get in one walk before the rain but the rest of the time she just ran in the house! Today it's a beautiful day with sunny skies and temps suppose to be in the high 60's. Then we start back with temps in the high 70's and even a possibility of 80 one day. Perfect winter weather! Yes, I am so spoiled!! But thankful too! Enjoy your day!

Friends!

2012-01-18T08:20:00.010-05:00

Yes, friends are special aren't they! Last night one of our friends, Verna, arranged a BD party for Harvey (my friend Susan's hubby) and I (our BD's are two days apart). And she even baked her famous carrot cake! Verna is a GREAT cook, trust me on this and her cake is the best around!
I can't thank everyone enough for such a special evening. What a fun time and I'm sure we entertained the other folks in the restaurant! I actually forgot where we where!!
Tomorrow I'll get back to showing some of my art work. I've actually been getting lots done. My friend Carol gave me this card! I love it..perfect for stenciling!!! Waste not, want not!
This is Harvey and me just waiting to dig into the cake!! Yes, we already had eaten our dinner! Again, another great meal at Blanca's the restaurant in the community.

Hubby and I

The lady waving is Verna who arranged the night and baked the great cake!! Marilyn is up front on the left. Another great hostess!!, Tony hiding and Carol up next in the yellow.

Jan (Larry's beautiful wife and another great cook!), Larry, Pat, Pat, etc.

Bob, Mac, Jan, Carol, Marilyn, John and back to Harvey in the corner. Some spouses are hiding!

Pat, Pat, Verna and Harvey (Verna's hubby is hiding behind her)

Our buddy and landlord, Larry!

My hubby took the picture below of the casserole recipe! It was so clever! Marilyn & John gave that to Harvey. And the right are some of my gifts. Jan made cookies for Harvey and I! Sooooo good!; picture frame from Marilyn & John and the quilting calendar from Jan (two Jan's in our group!). Marilyn also gave me the starfish beaded piece. It's off an old purse she had! I know I can do something with it! Isn't it great! So THANK YOU again, one and all!!! Another special night to remember (or blog about in case my memory goes!).

BD presents!

2012-01-17T15:19:00.001-05:00

What a great BD! Having great family and friends doesn't hurt either!
Susan stopped by and gave me this beautiful note holder! I love the butterfly on the front! This will certainly be on my desk back in Michigan and in my 'sewing room' here in Florida. I love looking at it!

I just know these pics and text will be out of order but you'll get the idea and I'll still have the memories!

Our DIL, Mary Jo and family (ok, we all know the women in the family do the gift buying, right!) sent me this book of quilt pics and calendar! (But I have to say, Ron always calls me on Mother's Day and my BD! Thanks, Ron!).

And this cute note pad! I have this one in the kitchen on display! Now I have two places to write all those "to do's" that I can't remember unless I write them down!

Yesterday, I received these from Dawn and Jeff! YUM! I had to dig in right away. Edible Arrangements has the best treats! But they must be healthy, right...after all it is fruit!

Today I received these from my son's family! YUM!!!! White/dark chocolate and white chocolate cherry cookies! OMG!!! Can't wait to break these open but I'm holding off as we're going out to dinner tonight...speaking of dinners out....
Last night we had dinner at Carraba's with our friends and either Tony or Carol had the waitress bring me a piece of their chocolate cake with a candle! How nice was that!! I was good and had them box it up (along with half of our dinners) because....I made my own BD cake (see pic below). Our friends came back to the house for cake and coffee. I only make this cake about once a year, usually on my BD. It's actually a cup cake recipe but I make it into a cake and it's really good. Of course, the pics doesn't look so great because this was after I cut into it and put half in the freezer!

Tonight is another dinner out to celebrate my friend Susan's hubby's BD and mine. I'm almost getting tired of eating out! ALMOST!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

2012-01-16T08:22:00.004-05:00

I 'stole' the picture of the balloon I sent my daughter on her BD. I'm going to use it for my BD today and "have a ball"!! Actually, it's a busy, busy week here in sunny Florida.
Tonight is our annual BD dinner with two other couples at one of my favorite restaurants, CARRABBA'S! We never get to Carrabba's back home as it's too far away it's only 6 miles from the house here!! So my first choice for my BD dinner!
Tomorrow is another BD dinner for Susan's husband, Harvey, and myself. Harvey's BD is on Wed. and Verna was kind enough to organize this outing to celebrate both our BD's!
Wed. Carol is coming over to start work on her pillow quilt for her grand daughter.
Thursday is my trunk show at one of the quilt guilds here in Ocala and Saturday is the fiber vendor show at the Villages, Susan and I will attend.
Whew! I'm tired already but willing and so far able even though I'm a Medicare senior now!! So hard to believe!! But I'm certainly thankful for the decent health I have and for the life Bob and I have. We are so fortunate at this point in our life. Enjoy your day and week...I certainly will!

The start of another project

2012-01-14T14:55:00.007-05:00

What started out as a simple, small project Friday ended up being not so. Isn't that always the way! I have a great lady who does my hair here in Ocala. Louise is a hoot and we always have such a great time chatting about life, men and, of course, dogs! Louise is a certified training who volunteers at a 'no kill' shelter here in Ocala two days a week and 2 and 1/2 days she does hair in her own salon.
I thought I'd make Louise a small hanging (12"x 14" - or close to that!) for her shop. the lady to the right is the design on her business card and I thought she was perfect for fusing.

So off I went the other day and scanned in the card and enlarged it and printed it off. Simple enough...then I traced onto some freezer paper, then ironed the freezer paper onto some fabric I had already fused with Misty Fuse. When Susan and I went to the quilt shop that was going out of business I did pick up two fat quarters, one being a black and the other one a red print.

Here she is fused onto the background. Doesn't look black does it! Well, when I started to stitch down the fused pieces...what a mess...white threads from the back started showing through and it just looked down right bad! UGH...I did email the Queen of Fusing, Melody Johnson, for some tips or suggestions. Thank, Melody!!! This was her response:

"It sounds to me like your fraying fabric is a looser weave and that may be the biggest hurdle. I don't sew small pieces down, or for that matter large pieces either. It ruins the effect. I am not a fan of Misty fuse and really suggest only using Wonder-Under, regular. I did make several Matchstick quilts, using both cotton and silks and never stitched a single thing down. Too much work!"

Well, duh! Not having any of my own hand dyed or batik fabrics with me, I stopped at one of the local quilt shops today and picked up some black batik, pink fabric and b/w for the binding. I'm not going to stitch down the fused pieces, per Melody's suggestion. They seem VERY stable and I did use Wonder Under this time instead of the Misty Fuse. Heck, it's going to be on a wall and not washed or touched...and if the pieces fall apart, I'll have Louise let me know and I'll repair when we're back in town. I have to get some batting tomorrow so I can quilt the piece and possibly take over to Louise this coming week or next week. Her salon is only 2 miles from the house. I'm much happier with the piece and like the pink way better than the red print fabric. I just put a small sashing around the pink to set it off then add the b/w fabric for the binding.So funny story about our day trip on Thursday to the quilt shop that was closing...no bargains here! The fabrics were only 10% off as were most of the notions, patterns, etc. But we all stood in line anyway! These pics are out of order but you can see where we had to stand in line to even get in the store (last pic!).
I did pick up some crystals in reds and maroons that were on sale. I use this every so often in my art work and I actually remembered to bring my tool for heat setting them!

So if you're looking for a bargain, wait until the end of the month. I think they'll drop the prices more at that time. The owner is retiring and wants to spend more time with her grand babies. Folks are upset because there aren't many or any quilt shops in this area. Maybe they'll end up selling the business to someone else. Hope so for all the quilters sakes!

More progress!

2012-01-12T09:51:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I got as much done as I did on the wing(s)! Might not look like it but there are a few hours of beading in this piece. Kalee and I have been out in the lanai over the past few days. In fact, I actually beaded for about 20 min. one day, in the living room, on the couch!, while she slept next to me! There's hope yet!
Today, I'm headed out with my friend Susan to a quilt shop that is closing..boo hoo. You always hate to see any store close and quilt shops need to sell a lot of thread and fabric to stay in business. Not sure why this one is closing but it will be fun to go on the day trip. I might try to find some fabric to dye, if the price is right. I didn't bring any with me this trip for a change! Temps have been beautiful here in Ocala...lovely day temps and night temps. Today suppose to get up to 75 but tomorrow it is suppose to be windy. Won't bother me but does affect the golfers. I'm going to try and do some screen printing this weekend, after puppy class on Sat.! I haven't had a chance to use the thermo fax screens Sally made me. Looking forward to playing..just hope Kalee doesn't turn red or purple or whatever color I using in the screens!

Unbeading!

2012-01-08T10:30:00.003-05:00

Had I not been 'unbeading' yesterday you probably would have seen the wing or wings finished! I wasn't happy with the direction of my beads so I "unbeaded" them all!! Not sure how long I beaded or unbeaded but I did watch/listen to a movie on Netflix while I was beading! That gives you an idea of how long it took me.
Today, my friend and I are headed off to lunch, then to Michael's and our favorite grocery store, Publix. I hope to sit out in the lanai again and bead when we get back. It's really a perfect Florida day today with temps already in the 70's. How lucky we are!!

Slow Progress

2012-01-05T11:23:00.002-05:00

Slow progress...but I did sit out on the lani with Kalee yesterday and beaded. Two beads being sewn at a time does require lots and lots of time! I have the orange areas finished and now I'm outlining the butterfly. I move around a lot when I'm beading because I get bored with one color. I am heading out to the bead shop to pick up a few shades of purples for the wings. I have enough black #15 beads so hopefully I won't spend too much $$!
Last night we had one of our favorite meals at El Toreo's! Plus, you can't beat their 99 cent Margarita's! They are the best...of course for 99 cents there isn't much tequila in them but Bob and I don't care. We love the taste of the mix! In fact, back home I use Jose Cuervo sugar free and regular to mix up a batch without the tequila! It's better than lemonade.
Temps got up to 57 yesterday and this a.m. back in the low 30's. Kalee and I didn't take our walk until 8:30. It's suppose to start 'warming up' to mid/high 60's and 70's by the weekend. Good sleeping at night for sure!

Beading again!

2012-01-02T17:26:00.006-05:00

Yep, I'm back to beading! Yippee!!! Actually, I have my table set up in the 'sewing room' (which is actually a bedroom!) but I just want to work on some beading so no point in unpacking what I won't be using for awhile, right! I started beading my Colorado butterfly. His colors are black, purple and orange! Of course, I'm going to have to make a stop at my favorite bead store this week to make sure I have plenty of those colors on hand. A gal's got to do what a gal's got to do!
Temp was only in the high 50's today but with the sun it did feel like high 60's. Perfect weather for me (& my dog!).
We sat out in the Lani today. This was Kalee's play area.
And this was my 'play' area! I actually beaded while watching a movie on Netflix! And if you get a chance to watch the movie 'BUCK' do it! It's a documentary and wonderfully done. Buck reminds me of Monty Roberts who was one of the first 'horse whisperer'. Buck Brannaman is an outstanding person and his story is told so well!! My friend, who is a dog trainer, recommended the movie to me. Today was my 2nd time watching the movie.
Kalee and I are taking at least two to three walks in the community and also walking in the dog park. Now this isn't your normal 'dog park'. It's an open field in front of the community entrance. At one time, they were going to build condo's but elected not to. Hence, it became a meeting place for all the dog owners.
I took this today. This picture is facing out of the community onto the highway.
Ditto..you can see some of the white cement wall that surround the front of the community entrance (on the left). The entry way to Ocala Palms is beautiful and so well maintained. Flowers are always in bloom.
This is facing towards the gate house (on the far left) and the pond. You can see the swans in the middle.
A wider pic of the entrance into the community from the 'dog park'
We certainly love staying here in the winter. Everyone is so friendly, happy go lucky...who wouldn't be! You feel like you're on a 3-4 month vacation! Tomorrow we are expecting a cold spell so folks are covering their flowers and plants. After Tuesday, weather will be back in the mid 60's and on up. Even with the possibility of freezing temps, the sun will get the temps up quickly. 40 or 50 degrees isn't all that bad and now snow!

I really did make something!

2012-01-01T08:41:00.004-05:00

This is our lovely Kayla and her T-shirt quilt I made her for Christmas! See I really was working on something. It was fun picking out the T-shirts and I hope included some of her favorites. I quilted it all in feathers but it's hard to see in the pic. Isn't Kayla so pretty! She's working hard on her studies in sports medicine and I know she'll do just great!

No one will believe this but there was a DEER in the back neighbors yard! I just ran to get the camera but he ran across the road. There are woods that surround our community but who knew I'd see a deer! I just hope he doesn't jump out in front of one of these 'senior' drivers!
Kalee and I went for our walk already. I'm trying to get at least two in a day with her along with the dog park and her golf cart rides! We sure miss having our Mandy girl here with us. Good thing Kalee keeps me busy as it helps me in missing Mandy.
Today we're headed off to friends for huge gathering and brunch. Marilyn and John have hosted this event for the past several years and it's always a fun time...plus the food is always great. I'm making my stickie buns which are so good and pretty easy to make. Temps are suppose to get up to 78 today but dropping to 60's the rest of the week. No problem for me! My kind of weather and the sun is always shining so Bob can still golf. Which is a good thing!

Yea, we're here!

2011-12-31T09:42:00.005-05:00

Well, we made it to Florida on Thursday around 1:30. We left Michigan with snow and some rain/sleet mixture but all in all it was a pretty easy trip. No traffic hangups.
Our little one looked like she was ready to get settled in, doesn't she! Actually, Kalee handled the trip really well for her first time! She slept the entire time in the car until we would take her out for breaks. She was confused about where we were but in the end she is now settled in like the Florida house is her old house! I'll be updating her blog with pics later...some are quite cute!
This is what the back of our car looked like on Tuesday when we left home.
And just to show some Christmas gifts! This is a wreath Nick made. Isn't it special..he said it took 300 sandwich bags! It's hard to show up on our white doors but best picture I could take in a hurry. Thanks, Nick!
Our wonderful neighbors Lori and Randy got us these Christmas ornaments! Long story on the spelling of Kalee's name...blame it on my room mate! That's ok...he still doesn't know what color my eyes are!

So weather is perfect here in Ocala...yesterday it was 72 last I looked at temp and this a.m. Kalee and I already took our walk, ran in the back yard, came in and she had to have another mini bath (even with dog boots on she got wet and dirty from dew and lawn!). Today I'm going to get my sewing room set up so I can start on Monday back to art work!! I'm having withdrawal for sure! Our dance cards are already filling up with dinners and parties but that's our Florida life! Now I know what I just want to stay home when we get back to Michigan! We are on the go constantly in Florida! Vacation is tough isn't it!

A Wonderful Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:20:00.006-05:00

What a great Christmas Eve with our family! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Most likely my last blog post until we hit Florida next week! Today Bob's daughter and hubby will be here, tomorrow we pack up the car and we head out on Tues. Actually, I'm looking forward to resting these old bones for a few days. Until then enjoy the holiday season!

Merry Christmas One and All!

2011-12-24T11:59:00.003-05:00

Happy holidays to all my blogger and Internet friends. We've had a great year learning from each other and being inspired by each other. I always say I don't need to leave home to learn or get excited about art work. All I have to do is log on!

No, it's not Bob and I - YET! But who knows...it could be us one day except I think Bob would be driving the golf cart and pulling me behind him! We did have a light dusting of snow last night so it does look a bit like Christmas. But at least the roads aren't bad for folks traveling.
Table is set, food is ready and I'm not so patiently waiting for the kids to arrive. Kalee and dad are taking a small nap so it's pretty quiet right now.
I'm also getting antsy to start working on my art projects! Seems like forever that I had a needle in my hands! Knitting is a good project to have on hand so guess I'll work on that for awhile. Again, Merry Christmas everyone!

Yes, another recipe!

2011-12-23T18:30:00.004-05:00

I spent the day preparing for Christmas Eve with my kids and packing up some items for our trip.
I also made this Black and White Bark candy which is a recipe from Tommy F. on Tommy Cooks blog. Tommy's recipes are usually very easy to make and this one is as well. Plus, it's very good! I saved a few pieces for Bob and I and we've already eaten them.
I honestly can't believe the wonderful weather we've had lately! No real snow to speak of and temps up until today were in the 40's. Today it was only in the low 20's but Kalee and I did go for a walk. She wore her boot and coat (I'll post pics on her blog shortly. She loves the cold weather. Fortunately, the Ocala weather in the winter isn't in the 80's very often. Which is fine with me as well. The weather there always reminds me of spring weather or early summer with temps in the 70's. Always a breeze and never humid in the winter. Perfect for this snow bird.
Well, I might have to steal a piece of candy from my container for tomorrow! Hope no one misses another piece or two!

What a tree!

2011-12-21T11:07:00.002-05:00

check out this 'tree'! This is what my brother-in-law (Uncle Dale as he is referred to by my kids!) used as their Christmas tree this year! Dale's wife, Darlene, thought this large branch would make a perfect tree and she was right! Look at the next picture!
Now this is a true "waste not, want not"! How perfect is this tree! I think it's so clever and just beautiful in its own right!

Work from the past

2011-12-20T18:00:00.006-05:00

Honestly, I was busy quilting up until last Friday, when I finished a Christmas quilt. No, this isn't a picture of it! I can't post a picture until after we get to Florida. So that's another post! Now it's no more art work until after the 1st of the year when we get settled in Florida.

Today I was looking through some old CD's and found some quilts I made a few years ago that I've almost forgotten about!
The one on the left was for the Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational from 2002. The theme was 'Oriental' and I created my design based on a Chinese Christmas card I received from someone I used to work with, Harry. I always love receiving his Christmas cards and I've saved every one he has sent.
The flowers were fused double pieces of fabric that I colored with oil pastel crayons. I added foiling for the designs inside the triangles and couched some type of threads (can't remember now!) around the circle area. I did some hand quilting...very minor but it turned out pretty good.

So next I found this quilt I made for my DIL's brother when he got married in 2000 for a wedding gift! I did forget about this one until I saw it on the CD. This was a pattern from Beth Farrier who used to teach at Davison Fabrics. Beth has written several books and is great at machine applique work. She's also a hoot to take a class from!

The quilt was made of homespun fabric which was fun to work with! NOT! But it did turn out quite nice.And this next one is another pattern from Beth but I used all 'old' fabrics and scraps I had on hand. In fact, some of the flowers are made of fabric from my daughter's graduation dress (I think it was a dress!) I made in 1984! See only part of my brain isn't functioning!
I made the backing from an old sheet and I was/am hand quilting this one. I don't have more than four or five unfinished pieces/quilts (it's the Catholic guilt thing, you know!) but this is one that is not finished. It is laying on top of the toy box in our downstairs living space. I do see it but then I don't really see it!! So there it remains unfinished...but I guess all quilters have one quilt not finished. Someday...maybe...or maybe someone else will finish it for me so I have something to cover with when I get to the nursing home. Let's hope!
So now it's back to running last minute errands like shopping, post office, etc. Then to start getting items put in the computer room to have ready for the space saver bags. I love those things! All my sewing and art supplies are ready for the car and I'll start packing some of my 'spring/summer' clothes. Heaven knows we can't wear them here in Michigan now! Temps are in the 20's again but that's winter and to be expected. Well, back to seeing what other quilts I've made that I forgot about!

What a weekend!

2011-12-18T16:36:00.004-05:00

My last overnight 'date night' with the kids this weekend. We had a great time and it was Kalee's first 'sleepover' (you can read about her weekend here on her blog). The kids were great! Auntie and I split the time as Darrin and Kris went up north for a few days to get away. I have to say the kids were just great and I had so much fun! So now our countdown to leaving for the winter!! It's always bittersweet as I love going to Florida but I do hate leaving the kids. Thank goodness for SKYPE!! Makes the time away and missing everyone not quite so bad.

Yes, I've been busy!

2011-12-16T19:01:00.010-05:00

Yes, I've been busy and some of it has to do with uploading pics to blogger. I'm too lazy to redo/upload again so the pic to the left of the shawl will be explained further down in this post! It's a Berroco free pattern...

So on Wednesday I stayed with the kids and my son for dinner...carry out from one of our favorite Italian restaurants...yum. We had a nice evening together. Kids and I started to play Monopoly before dinner and got some more playing in after. We had 'dad' be the banker but then 7:00 p.m. came and my car was turning into a pumpkin so Darrin put all our bank cards and property in sandwich bags so we can play out the game this weekend. I'm staying overnight with the kids while Darrin and Kris go away for a quick weekend. Auntie has kids tonight and will get them again on Sunday.

I had to post pics of Spike! Is he cute or what! I think he's the neatest pet. Darrin brings him down to feed him at night and to let him walk around some.

He also likes to climb on my son's back! And almost made it down my son's pants!

This was one of my chores this week...to wash Bob's golf hats so he 'shines' on the golf course in Florida!

These are only the ones I washed! Bob must have 20+ hats he takes to Florida with him...along with 8 pairs of shoes (at least!).

In between at night, I've been knitting again. I found some yarn I purchased last year but forgot all about it! Hard to believe, I know! This is a ribbon type yarn and really is quite pretty in person. I've made this pattern before...it's called a Ponshawl and it's quite easy to knit up. The free pattern is by Berroco and this is my 3rd one. The other two I made using Berroco's suede yarn. The first pic in this post is the one I made last year.

This is the purple/green suede one I made about 3 or 4 years ago.

So that's been my week so far! I actually got all my sewing supplies or at least 95% of them packed and ready for the car! We're leaving on the 27th so we try to get our toys packed up first. Clothes don't get pack until the day before we leave! We have this packing down to a science so it's not really traumatic for us anymore! Well, have to pack some more...for the weekend! Kalee's toys, bed and crates will take me longer to load in the car than anything!

ATC's - support a good cause!

2011-12-12T19:20:00.004-05:00

I wrote a post on Karen Stiehl Osborn's call for ATC's to support one of the animal rescues she is involved with. I did make some ATC's and sent to Karen and I also purchased the following two ACT's for myself.
The first is by Virginia Spiegel, who most of you are familiar with. If not, do check out the work Virginia has produced.

The 2nd ATC is by Rhonda Baldwin and she does wonderful work! You have to check out her web site. I copied this from Karen's blog...for those who know me, you'll understand why I purchased this ATC after you read her inspiration note below. "Duke was our beloved German Shepherd that we lost in 2008 at the age of 15. He was a wonderful, loving, loyal friend that I still miss every day. Duke helped to raise our two children and became an excellent running companion for my husband. He lived a long, full life with us and never gave up despite seizures and bad hips until finally he just couldn't go on, and we had to let him go. We look forward to the day when we will see him again. It was hard on all of us but especially our female shepherd, Skye, who had never been without him. She mourned his passing almost more than we did, but eventually we brought a new boy to our home, and Zeus came to live with us almost 3 years ago. We simply cannot express how much joy our canine companions bring to our lives."

This card is for our Mandy girl...I just couldn't pass it up. All the sediments in Rhonda's quote certainly made me shed another tear or two. So if you are in the giving mood, PLEASE stop by Karen's blog and purchase one of the ATC's she has for sale. If you can't afford to support, at least read some of the posts on these animals. Folks don't realize the cost involved with rescuing dogs. Some have major health issues, abuse or just general care to get them to the point they can be adopted. As I tell the grand kids all the time, "animals can't get up and get their own drink of water or plate of food. They depend on us!" We have to take care of them..so kudos's to Karen for her work in helping and taking care of these rescued animals!

Recipe Time

2011-12-07T09:34:00.003-05:00

Well, I was a bit under the weather..started with ANOTHER sore throat Monday and just felt really bad yesterday. Lots of aspirin, orange juice and just rested all day yesterday. Still slight sore throat today but at least I feel like I have some energy! Not having a cold for TWO years has me spoiled! Guess I'm making up for it!

I love making appetizer's and of course Bob and I love to eat so...these are two recipes that I love, love, love. So much so it's what we had for dinner the other day! The first is a corn salsa from Food Network Magazine that is awesome. I made this when my sister came to visit this summer and now I always keep some frozen corn in the freezer just in case!

And this next dish is SO, SO, good! Our friend, Jan, from Florida made this for us a few years ago and shared the recipe. At Bonefish Grill, they have this as one of their appetizers and Jan found the recipe. Again, it's from Food Network! The shrimp is delicious and the sauce is just the best! If you're looking for some appetizers for the holidays, these can't be beat! And you just thought I beaded!

Kalee's Cousin

2011-12-05T15:44:00.005-05:00

Before I introduce another new member to our extended family...be sure to check out Nancy's Quilting Potpourri blog! Nancy is having a give away of her vintage books. Nancy made these Christmas Gluebooks from an online class and they are adorable! I'm looking forward to meeting Nancy when we get to Florida this winter. She does some very unique work from traditional quilting to art quilting to using vintage pictures in books.
Well, my sister went and did it!! She joined the "I want a puppy club"!! Here is her newest addition...she's a 2 lb Pomeranian puppy called Sherry! Is she cute or what!! Last I skyped my sister, she told me how exhausted she was! We can sure identify with that! Our little one is getting better and better each day...by that, I mean she's not having us play with her 16 hours a day! We're down to 12!

This is Sherry upside down sleeping next to my sister! All fur!!!!
Kalee is doing well after her surgery and I'm actually able to knit at night! Quilting during the day too! I'll hold off doing any beading until we get to Florida! Our snow is all gone now but the ground is so wet...lots of rain off and on the past few days. We can't wait for Florida!!

Outline stitiching done

2011-12-03T10:56:00.005-05:00

I managed to finish the hand stitching around my leaves last night. I talked about the great suggestion by Jill Buckley (The Quilt Rat) on my post here. I really like the look on the leaves now! THANKS so much, Jill!
I'm anxious to get started stitching my other pieces and then attaching them each to the canvas...although, that won't happen until we get to Florida. Just too much going on with the holidays, making a quilt for Christmas (yes, a quilt!), shopping for gifts and packing. The packing of clothes doesn't take place until the day before we leave. That's pretty easy to do. I do start putting together my paints/supplies I want to take with me in a basket as I think of them. I pack those items in the car the day before as well. We have this packing thing down pat, but you have to look at your 'leaving for Florida' list to make sure you've done everything!

So for our Florida friends and my sister (she lives in Penna. and they had 50 degrees yesterday!), here are some shots of Michigan's weather which started a few days ago! You can see more of our Snow Dog on her blog here! What a hoot! Mandy had to be forced to go outside in the snow! This one you have to force to come back inside!
Yes, it's pretty but give me the Florida sunshine! I'm ready!

Not much going on!

2011-12-02T08:46:00.003-05:00

Not getting much done at our house this week! You can check out Kalee's blog here to see what we've been up to!

Blogs are a great resouce!

2011-11-30T10:01:00.005-05:00

I think blogs are great!! I love reading about what other artists are doing and I so enjoy getting comments and suggestions from other bloggers!

Jill Buckley is a wonderful artist whose blog, The Quilt Rat, I read regularly. Jill's workmanship is outstanding! And I enjoy seeing all the different techniques she tries and projects she completes.
I showed my latest BJP butterfly a few weeks ago and Jill sent me a comment on my butterfly and the painted leaves. Jill then followed up with a picture of a quilt where she outlined areas using a running stitch with quilting thread. I took Jill's suggestion and I love the look I'm getting with outlining my leaves. I did start out using one strand of embroidery thread but I didn't care for that so 'unsewing' occurred one evening! On Sunday, I tried to use some black Perle cotton but it was too dark so I tried some gray #8 Perle cotton and I'm quite happy with how the stitching looks! You can see the top leaves with the stitiching and the bottom with not stitching (except the outline quilting).

So on to another blog resource! Mary Corbet sends out daily updates from her Embroidery blog. Mary is another wonderful artist and her embroidery work is beautiful! Her blog is a wonderful resource for stitches, tips, books...you name it and it's on Mary's blog. It's like having an online access to tons of books!
A few weeks ago Mary showed this little Needle Index book that is being sold by the Valley Quail Chapter in California. I ordered one for myself and another one that I gave a friend for her BD. This little book is so cool!
There are 11 or 12 pages of all different needles which give you the name, type of eye and what embroidery or best use for that needle would be. I think we all have our 'favorite' needle(s) but sometimes I forget which I want to use for what type of work. Now I can place on the batting sheet my needles! Or I can at least identify which needle I'm using! With shipping the cost is $10 but I think well worth it. If interested, you can email the Chapter at ValleyQuail@comcast.net.
We dropped off Kalee at the Vet's this a.m. for her 'female' surgery! She's also getting a few baby teeth pulled so the 'big dog' teeth can come in! Geezzzz always something isn't it!!

A very nice Thanksgiving week!

2011-11-27T11:59:00.006-05:00

It was a really nice Thanksgiving week for sure! Weather was beautiful so kids driving up from Indiana at least had decent weather. Although, it's raining today and Ron/family do have to drive home but at least it's not snow!
I was a bit preoccupied with cooking and taking video's of Ben and Kalee so I didn't get any pictures of Ian or Ron and MJ. This is Ian's school picture and boy is he tall! Ian is already 5' 10" and becoming quite the young man! He's a great kid and we always enjoy having the family around.
Below are pics of Kayla and her boyfriend, Nate. They are a really cute couple and nice young folks as well! This was the first time we got to meet Nate and we did enjoy the time with him as well.
Of course Kalee loved everyone! Go figure! I did post some video's on Kalee's blog that are a hoot of her and Ben (the kids dogs).
Today is catchup day of bills, cleaning and eating lots of leftovers, which isn't all that bad! Busy week, as usual, coming up and I hope to get some sewing done.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:32:00.003-05:00

We certainly have so much to be thankful for daily and I try to thank the Big Guy above on a daily basis. So today we'll all be reminded to be thankful for what we have and even for what we don't have! My daughter is going to her SIL's for dinner today. We usually go to my son's on Thanksgiving but today we're staying home and I'm making a small dinner for Bob and I and our neighbors. Our neighbor had major surgery a week ago so we'll share our meal with her and her hubby. They are really good neighbors and take care of our house when we're gone. I told her it was 'meals on wheels' today! Kids are up from Indiana and they'll be coming over for a full Thanksgiving this weekend so I get to cook two dinners this week! Fine with us as we love leftovers!
So enjoy your Thanksgiving day with family and friends. We will be for sure.

For a good cause...

2011-11-22T17:26:00.003-05:00

I've been a follower of Karen Stiehl Osborn for sometime now. Karen is a mixed media artist as well as photographer and a rescue MOM for Hands, Hearts & Paws in NE. You have to check out some of her foster dogs on her blog. The pictures are enough to melt the coldest of hearts! Karen put a request on a recent blog post for fiber artists to create ATC's for Hands, Hearts & Paws to raise money for some of their costs this year. These are two that I made and sent off to Karen this afternoon. They are made of purple ultra suede; metal for the inner heart and I printed out a smaller size of the puppies from a coloring book. I then painted the black in some of the areas and finished the ATC's off. Karen will have some of the ATC's on her web site so make sure to sign up for her blog updates and perhaps even donate an ATC or purchase one! It's for such a good cause and Karen does so much already. I'm glad I could contribute just a little of my time...it certainly can't touch what the volunteers for animal rescues do on a daily basis. Where would our furry friends be without these dedicated and caring people! Thanks, Karen for all that you do!!

Complex Cloth Club Chrstmas Party

2011-11-20T14:43:00.005-05:00

We had one of the smallest turn outs for our annual Christmas Party this year but we still had lots of food, fun and conversation! Back row starting from the left is: Karen, Carol, Mary, Marty; front row left is: Joyce, me and Elsie.

Here's Jocye knitting away even after drinking a margarita! And this is Karen modeling a felted scarf Mary made.

All in all we had a nice afternoon...well, with the exception of missing the wonderful soup that Mary made!! Seems Mary spilled the soup under her car seat shortly after she left her house!! I don't think any of us will be riding with her in the near future!!!

2011-11-18T15:04:00.003-05:00

Awhile back I talked about the trade I was doing with one of my Internet blog friends, Sally, from Sally's Stuff! I made Sally a purple cuff I beaded on the loom and look what I got in the mail last week!! Three thermofax screens Sally made me!! I'm so excited to try these screens out! I sent Sally a jpg of a palm leaf and she ended up making me three different sizes of the leaf! How cool is that!!
THANK you so much, Sally!!!! Sally was in Houston for the big IQA festival but she's not updated her blog recently. I sure hope she made it back home to Australia! Be sure to check out her blog and her wonderful work!
I'm finishing up some laundry, baking cookies and set up for our fiber Christmas party here at the house tomorrow (Saturday). I always look forward to this time with the women...we just have some show and tell and LOTS of food! Everyone brings a dish to pass and each lady is a great cook. I made Russian tea cakes and my chocolate chip plantation creme cookies today. Tomorrow I'll make my corn salsa which is so good with chips! Another Foodnetwork magazine recipe! I just hope I don't gain back some of the weight I've lost!! Oh well...too bad if I do, right!

Where has the week gone!

2011-11-16T14:29:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it's Wednesday already! Where the week has gone I sure don't know! I was gone all day Monday and some in the p.m., same with Tuesday. Today was grocery shopping and meeting my friend at Panera's...a gal has to treat herself, right!
Came home and visited with my neighbor who just had surgery then to pick up house and do some of Kalee's training. Tonight is our last night at puppy class! Hope we graduate!!
So I played around with painting the backgrounds on my BJP pieces. Here's my current one with the leaves now painted.
My other pieces from this year are below.

And this is my current butterfly I'm working on. I like the painted backgrounds but I do have some more shading to do on the ones above. I want the outside of the leaves to be a shade darker. My friend, Carol, who does watercolor suggested using a black pen to outline but I didn't like the looks of it. It turned out looking as if I outlined with a black pen. I'll try a darker fabric paint or watercolor pencil.
So that's it for now. I hope to get Nick's pictures together to post on their flag football championship win from this past weekend sometime this week too! Until then I'm enjoying the sunshine and 44 degrees today!

What a wonderful weekend!

2011-11-13T18:12:00.007-05:00

Yes, it's been a wonderful weekend!! Earlier this week, Amber and I talked about her spending the night this weekend because her brother had his flag football championship (which, by the way they won!!! I'll have more on that after my son sends out info!). Well, my daughter suggested that the three of us get together on Sat. and have lunch and run some errands! Sounded good to me as I don't get much time to spend with my daughter. So we met around 10ish on Sat. and our first stop was to Starbucks for our 'treat'. I asked where our next stop was and Amber was a little evasive but my daughter said we had to stop at Target as Dawn and Darrin purchase items to send to our troops in Afghanistan. She wanted to get a priority box filled and mailed, which made sense to me.
When we pulled into the Target parking lot I noticed Amber brought with her a book and her coffee. I asked why the book and she said "oh, I like to read when I shop." hmmm Well, little did I know we were walking not to Target but to the manicure/pedicure shop! My daughter was treating the three of us to a pedicures!!! My first and last pedicure was the treat of my daughter which was several years ago. What a great surprise! We all got to sit next to one another while enjoying our pedicures!! THANK YOU, Dawn!!! And Amber for keeping such a wonderful surprise!
These are Amber's crackle toe nails...pink and white...really cute!! We're sitting with our feet under dryers. Who knew...dryers for the toenails! Well, it worked! Yes, these are flip flops Amber has on her feet and she even brought her old grandma a pair too!! Wasn't that sweet!
So off the three of us went to Target for Dawn to pick up supplies for the troops! Yes, we are still in our flip flops!
Then it was off to lunch!! Yum...the restaurant is called Pei Wei (which is owned by PF Chang's). It was SO good and yes, I brought home my leftovers and my daughter's as well! Pei Wei is like a fast food PF Chang's.

Then off to Tradder Joe's for some meats and other groceries, then back to Dawn's house, picked up my car and Amber and I took off to our house for the weekend! Oh, Dawn also gave us home made applesauce she canned this fall along with her home made roasted tomato sauce! Double yum!!
When we got home, Amber fried up some chicken sausage and we added some of Dawn's home made sauce, cooked wheat pasta and made a salad. Great dinner!
Of course we had to give Gracie a treat! Amber loves when Grace eats whipped cream so guess what I had to buy this week! Here's Grace enjoying her whipped cream!

We had a nice night then up early to have breakfast, play with Kalee and Amber helped me make Sweet and Sour meatballs (sound weird but they are really good!). Then we went downstairs to get out my Christmas decorations. Yes, my tree is up (Amber took the picture) with Amber's assistance and some decorating is also done for Christmas. I'm hosting our Complex Cloth fiber group Christmas party this coming Sat. so I like to have the tree up for them...and the kids are coming up from Indy for Thanksgiving so they can start to get in the spirit as well!
This is Kalee while Amber and I were decorating the tree...she still doesn't know about the tree nor is she allowed to roam in our family room downstairs yet!

Oh in between everything, Amber and I would be taking Kalee outside and also letting our neighbors dogs out (Miss Lori was having surgery). We also walked Kalee and Cody together which was good for Kalee. Later this afternoon, Amber was getting bored so we made molasses cookies! After our great dinner, I met Auntie around 5:30 this afternoon and she took Amber home with her to wait for the kids to return from the football game. Auntie lives just a street down from her brother so they don't have far to go. In fact, on Sat. Amber walked over to Aunties carrying her suitcase! The neighbors though she was running away from home!
I'm pooped now but I wouldn't have traded this weekend for anything!!!! Just a great time!!!! And one I'm going to remember for a long time....and if I forget, I have my blog to jar my memory!!

Thanks, Dawn and Amber once again!!!! I love you both so much!!!

Finished Topper

2011-11-10T16:05:00.003-05:00

I delivered Dawn's table topper to her on Tuesday this week. A little late for her birthday gift but it's better than not getting it until Christmas! Although, now that's it's finished I think she needs one for the spring/summer season! Maybe by her BD in 2012!
The piece is approximately 19" round. I used poly sheer fabric for the leaves and just echo quilted around the leaves.

Happy Belated Birthday, Dawn! LOVE YOU!

Beaded butterfly - 1 down and more to do!

2011-11-08T19:45:00.003-05:00

Here is my May BJP 2011 butterfly finished. Yes, I'm a tad behind but I will finish 12 pieces. It might take me to the end of 2012 but I will do them all. I'm enjoying this year's project even more than I did in 2010. But with so much going on this year it has put me behind.
This is the Kamehameha butterfly that lives in the Hawaiian islands. I did say he was finished but there is more to do on this piece and my other BJP's.

I will be attaching each beaded piece (8 1/2" x 11") to gallery wrapped canvas when they are all finished. I'm doing both birds and butterfly's.
But as I started my next butterfly, which is called the Colorado Hairstreak, I decided to try something different.
This is the Hairstreak butterfly that I traced out on my fabric then I quilted the butterfly and the background. I was looking at the beads I wanted to use but then I got an idea and out came my paints and...
This was my outcome! I used all different types of paints along with Aloe Vera gel. The Hairstreak butterfly is purple, black and orange so I may have to add some pink to the flower depending on my bead supply! I know the backgrounds appear different colors in each of these but the 1st picture is more true to the color than the picture below. You get the idea though, right!
I got so excited about the look of the paint on this piece that I pulled out my other five BJP's and started painting the leaves on each of them. Four are birds and I quilted each background very similar with leaves and circles. You can see my first bird and background piece here. I'll post pics tomorrow of my progress on painting them but so far I'm really happy with how they look.
And I delivered my daughter's table topper today while she was at work! Surprise, Dawn! You did get it before Christmas - a little late for her birthday but it could have been worse! Pics on that this week are also forthcoming!

Who Knew!

2011-11-05T13:56:00.006-04:00

Well, golly! Who knew Betty would be popular!! I was so surprised to receive this in the mail the other day!
I made 'Betty' for the MQAI 2011 traveling exhibit this year. The theme was Art of the Kitchen. There were SO many really cool quilts in the exhibit and I certainly didn't think 'Betty' would be a favorite but I'm so happy she was!!

Of course I had to put some beading on Betty, right! Her earrings are also beaded...a gal has to have bling!
This was my first Viewer's Choice award quilt from the 2009, MQAI - Art of Nature exhibit. It's called 'Who's Watching Whom'. I free motion embroidered the wolves separately then attached to some of my hand dyed fabric. Quite a few of the laves are 3 dimensional. I really enjoyed working on both these pieces!
I did finish my daughter's topper and will post pictures. It turned out quite nice and actually looks VERY nice in our living room! I might have to make another one...I probably need to make a spring/summer one for Dawn too! But first it's onto finishing my butterfly and today I started on a quilt for a Christmas present. Hopefully, they'll get it on time!

Award time! Congrats, Ian!!!

2011-11-04T10:25:00.005-04:00

Another great year for our grandson, Ian!!! This is pic of him receiving his awards the other evening. He got plaques for Most Valuable Runner, Team Captain, and Mental Attitude (this one is voted on by all the runners). How cool is that!!!!
Ian is just one of the nicest kids and really does love and excel at his sports. Plus, he's a great, all around kid! So congrats again, Ian!!!
We might not be able to see you often because of the distance but love seeing the man you are becoming!!

A Zentangle journal

2011-11-02T15:13:00.005-04:00

I have a few, to say the least!, papers that I've done some tangles on. I thought I was pretty clever by putting them all in a plastic sleeve notebook so I could see them but thought I'd like to have something smaller so I could carry the book with me to tangle in. So....this was a piece of fabric I had leftover from doing one of the Inspired by the Master's quilts for our ongoing exhibit. You can see my original piece here.

So I used this leftover for the front and back of a journal that I put some of my tangle pieces in.
These were some of the papers I had. Each piece (8 1/2" x 11") were folded twice so the journal book is a nice size to throw in my purse or have laying on my end table where I sit at night.
This is the first page of a tangle. I actually wrote out my name to use as the guide for filling in with different tangles. Hard to the the letters ROBBIE but they are there!
Just a few of the pages...
The heart tangles are some of what I used last year to print on fabric for our Valentine fiber post card exchange.
And I just have to show our little one all dressed up for Halloween!!! She was a doll. I'll be updating her blog shortly with more pics and story.
And these were some of the kids who stopped by Halloween night! Isn't that the cutest outfit!! We gave out 199! piece of candy and finally shut out the light at 7:25 p.m. We had to dig into our 'stash' to put the extra 9 pieces in! Good part is Bob still has some treats left for himself!
Kalee is napping so I'm doing some computer work and should be able to finish the binding on Dawn's table topper! Geezzzz, you would think I have a baby here!

Happy Halloween 2011!

2011-10-31T12:27:00.004-04:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Can you tell who is for Michigan and who is for Michigan State?

Nick looks like he was hunting for something...I'm sure he found it! Kids should have a decent night tonight weather wise. Not sure how many we'll have come through our sub. In 2006 we had 298 kids to give candy to! I decided I'm only buying enough candy for up to 200! In 2008, we only had 99 kids! Most years it's 180-200+...because we are in a rural area, they actually 'bus' the kids in to our subs. Which is fine, so the little ones can at least celebrate Halloween. I have enough candy for 200 this year...if any is leftover, Bob eats it or I'll give to my son to take to his work! I don't want it in the house!

Wings are done!

2011-10-30T20:11:00.005-04:00

Yippee....wings are all done and I have started on the body! I might get this beaded piece finished by Christmas!
I'm almost finished with the quilting on my daughter's topper too...just a few more hours to finish the echo quilting then the binding and yes, she might get her BD gift by Christmas as well!
Then I have another quilt to finish for Christmas so no playing until I get to Florida on other art projects that's for sure!

I did make another humbug bag for a friend as a BD gift. This is from a quilt I made several, several years ago that I cut apart. I did some faint foiling and some beading to jazz up the fabric some. I also made it a tad larger than my bag because I wasn't sure what all my friend might put in hers.

Detail on beading
The coolest part on this bag is how I inserted/sewed in the zipper! I happened upon a tutorial from Paula Storm on her blog on how to insert zippers in small bags. Of course the first time I tried it on this bag I used a metal zipper...yes, I had read that on her blog to not use metal but I forgot. So back to JoAnn's and I picked up a poly zipper and wow! So easy and doesn't the top look nice! You have to check out Paula's blog and the post on inserting the zipper. Very cool idea. THANKS, Paula!
So the start of another week begins! Busy as usual but I guess at our age that's a good thing! At least we're both only coughing every 30 minutes rather than every 5 minutes! Maybe we'll get our flu shots by Christmas too!

Black and white tangles finished

2011-10-25T14:12:00.002-04:00

I finished this one I showed a few posts back. I just love working in black and white. I'm going to look for some gray paper to work on. I watched some zentangles done on the gray using white for shading and adding color. Next on my 'to do' list!
This was my 'yin/yang' version. Kalee and I have only had two walks today but did some more of the lessons for crate games. What a hoot! These are some training techniques by Susan Garratt, a trainer from Canada. My friend loaned me her DVD and I'm thinking I'm going to have to buy it. It's a really interesting method for preparing your dog for recall, agility and just playing games with them. Puppies have to be kept busy so this is perfect for Kalee. Especially with all the rain we've been having. Florida is sounding better each day!
Bob and I are still hacking away and blowing our nose. I can't believe how many boxes of Kleenex tissue we've gone through!!! Hopefully, tomorrow we'll both be feeling a bit better! Let's hope!

What would you do?

2011-10-24T11:15:00.002-04:00

My son sent this to me. What a hoot!
What would you do?

Back to tangles

2011-10-20T19:33:00.010-04:00

Weather has been rainy and or windy all week and in the 40's or 50's but feels like the 30's. Today it was windy and rainy and just miserable to be out and about...which I had to be.
Tomorrow is the same with running around but we're not suppose to have any rain. It sure would be nice to take Kalee outside without my raincoat and hood!
Before I show some of the zentangle pieces I've
been working on, here is half of my beaded butterfly completed! Well, almost half...a bottom wing and body left to do! Yippee!! I might get finished before 2012 after all!

Several weeks ago I took another Zentangle class at the Edge Gallery in Fenton. The class was learning to creating zentangle mandalas. We also learned several new Zentangle patterns (a few of the patterns pictures are below in this post). Since I can't do my beading while watching Kalee and TV, it's back to zentangles!

This is one of the mandalas we started on in class. I finished at home then added some color.

I did this one two nights ago. I love working in black and white and I'm looking forward to finishing this one.
At the class, we had to make snow flakes to trace onto our paper to then make a symmetrical 8 sided design. this was my funky snowflake.
Some of the patterns we learned in class that night.

And this is another one I did last night using my snowflake for a pattern. I'm still not sure if I'll add anything to the white areas or not.
So that's all so far. I work a few minutes on my daughters table topper at a time so not much more to show on that. Echo quilting will take some time. Most likely won't post any work until after the weekend. Just hope we see some sun while taking our daily five walks!

2011-10-17T19:23:00.003-04:00

Yes, I am getting back into a routine, finally! Today was coloring the gray roots, so after taking Kalee on two walks early a.m. and mid morning off to hairdressers I went. That does eat up about 3 hours of my time so I didn't get back home until after 2.
For some reason, I was just tired, so I admit I just watched a DVD movie (Switched, I think was the name) and beaded some. Cute movie but of course after, I had to take Kalee on two walks, the last one was about 30 min. ago for her last walk of the day. kalee's doing great on the leash going for walks and her sit/stay and down/stay are doing well too.

Here's the progress on the bottom wing on my butterfly. I think it's coming along pretty good so far but I didn't get much beaded on it yesterday watching the Lions lose their game!! Talk about nerve racking! Geeezzzz I figured they were due to lose but it still was heartbreaking. There's always next week, right!
The veins are all quilted on Dawn's topper.

And I've now started to echo quilt around the leaves and stems. I think the echo quilting is better than trying to do some type of design or doodling. This picture is quite dark but you get the idea.
Tomorrow I have Dr. appt, then some ultra sound(s), Kalee's vet appt and quilt guild meeting. Busy week running all over every day, which I don't care for but I hope to squeeze in some sewing or beading in between all the running. Time management, right!

How sweet!

2011-10-16T13:12:00.004-04:00

Bob and I are so fortunate to have the best kids! Look at what Kris (our DIL) stopped by to bring us, along with the grand kids!! Kris made butternut squash and roasted red pepper soup! They also brought a loaf of bread, some Jalapeno honey spread, cider and fresh donuts!! How how sweet was that!! It's nice to know we have great kids that will take care of us in our old age!! The soups will be so good for our colds! Funny, I was looking in the freezer this a.m. to see what I could make for dinner tonight and nothing looked good to me. Now I'm looking forward to dinner! Maybe we'll eat early during half time of Lion's game!!

It was really nice to see the kids too. Of course Kalee was SO excited. I know I was suppose to have her on a lease to meet kids but the they were all so excited. They each gave her a treat when she sat in front of them, which she did several times. We're all still learning.

I'm doing great on my project management and will post pics tomorrow of my progress!! Yesterday, I cleaned house, did some laundry, did Kalee's lessons and walks, cut back all five hosta plants filling an entire lawn/leaf bag, finished quilting the leaves on Dawn's topper and did some beading! I have to admit I slept REALLY good last night. I started quilting the background on Dawn's piece this a.m. and hope to do some beading on my butterfly while watching the Lions!! Score is 3-0 in favor of Lions! Let's hope that keep up!! And my project management keeps up as well!

Raising a baby!

2011-10-15T09:43:00.003-04:00

Well, it's been a month since we lost our Mandy girl and our lives certainly have been turned upside down. Raising a puppy is like having a toddler in the house. I have a few friends who have small grand children and even one who has raised a grand child and great grand child. I forgot what those days were like. Our grand kids are now 8 through 20 so those toddler years have been erased from my memory!
Our kids don't understand why I need to devote so much time to raising Kalee. As my son said "it's only a puppy, mum". Yes, Kalee is just a puppy but I want her to be a good dog and not a monster puppy/dog. I also want her to be a therapy dog like Mandy was and to be that type of dog she needs good training. I feel it's worth the effort but it is time consuming.
I know the one good out of all of this is the exercise I'm getting! Walking Kalee at least 4-5 times a day gets the old joints moving as does climbing up and down the stairs to take her outside. That's the good side.
The off shoot is the time to devote to training her is certainly taking away from my family and artwork. I have to get into a new routine of working her and then working my old schedule back into our routine. So this week I'm going to try to start a new daily routine. My old routine was to get up, pick up house, decide dinner menu then start my art work or my outings. I now to add in her routine to my routine. Hmmmm I might have to take an online project management course! It's been 12 years since I've had to manage a project so guess I better get started on Project Kalee! OK, so Monday is dye root day, Tues. is Dr. appt, Wed. is puppy class...hmmmmm guess we'll start project management on Thursday!

AaaaaChoo!

2011-10-13T11:33:00.005-04:00

Yep, that's all Bob and I have been doing this past week. Actually, Bob started with the cold first about a week ago, then he got worse over the weekend and ended up going to the Dr. on Monday. I started with the sore throat and our house now needs a total fumigation! I've already gone through 1/2 bottle of Clorox disinfectant! I can't really complain because this is the first cold I've had in 2 1/2 years! I've done so well at not getting sick but I think with losing Mandy and being sick that week, my immune system just went haywire again. Now I need to get back on track!
Monday I did go to our small fiber group and we had a nice visit, lunch and show and tell. Our group doesn't do projects at our meeting(s)...it's more of a critique, sharing, discussing group which is nice. You only have to bring what you what to show you are working on.
I have been beading when Kalee is napping so the 2nd wing is now being worked on. I don't think I'll get much done until the weekend as my housework is behind schedule right now. I've been lazy just sitting with this cold or playing with Kalee and taking her for walks (which we do at least 4 times a day - sometimes more!).

I did finish putting all the leaves on Dawn's piece and now I'll start to FMQ the veins then quilt around each leaf. I can work on this with Kalee in her large pen in my sewing room. That way she's with me but not loose. I haven't felt up to working on it this week but as with the beading will get busy this weekend.

Hope my next posting will show more progress on my pieces! Until then...use sanitizer on your hands!!! Keep those cold germs away! They sure are nasty!

Interception! Wahoo!

2011-10-10T15:57:00.005-04:00

Well, here's the next Lion's player! I went to Nick's flag football game yesterday. Really was a beautiful day out...actually, quite HOT! 81 degrees..isn't that August weather??

Anyway, Nick did quite good as did his team. I don't know the final score but Nick said they won. It is a hoot to watch those little kids play and they do play hard!

They even had cheer leaders!! Aren't they cute!!! The video is of Nick catching an interception...this was his 2nd in two weeks! Good eyes!

One step at a time!

2011-10-05T15:47:00.006-04:00

Working on my daughter's table topper...to get the leaves on, I've been tracing a semi leaf shape onto organza, then 'attempting' to stitch down when or if I can see my traced lines. Because the organza is so delicate, the tracing goes right through the fabric and really hard to see. I know some folks use freezer paper as a shape but I didn't want to be ironing on the organza.
So, instead I made a leaf template from some lightweight cardboard. Then I placed a a small piece of double sided tape to both sides (I do turn the leaf for different direction of a leaf).
I place the cardboard leaf on the top on a square of organza and then just stitch around it!

How simple is this! Geezzz I was able to eliminate one and sometimes two or three! tracings of the leaf onto the organza. Because the fabric is so sheer at times I couldn't even see the leaf shape once it was on my background fabric.
Here it is all stitched and my next step is to cut away the excess fabric around the stitching. Once I have all the leaves stitched down, I'll then FMQ the veins then FMQ the entire piece.
One step at a time! I'm sure someone else has already come up with this idea but for those who haven't seen the freezer paper used and/or you are working with more delicate fabric you don't want to iron...just grab some cardboard and stitch away!

Playing with Tyvek

2011-10-03T08:58:00.007-04:00

I don't know how many blogs I follow but it's a lot! But...as I tell my friends, I don't need to leave my house to get inspired. I can just look at all the artist blogs and the inspiration and free lessons are there just for me! I don't have to "leave the farm" as they say!
Anyway, two blogs I do follow are ...And Then We Set It On Fire and A Creative K. Karen Silver writes A Creative K and she's now a guest artist on Then We Set It On Fire. One of her current posts is working with Tyvek. You can read what she does with Tyvek envelopes here. I really enjoy working with Tyvek and started to look at the different pieces that I have done.
The piece on the left (11" x 15") is one of the first I did in May of 2007. I pretty much use the same process...first paint my design onto Tyvek material, stitch on background and burn, baby burn! I use both old Tyvek envelopes and I also like the Tyvek fabric, which you can purchase from online sources. It's much softer than the envelopes and accepts the paints just as nice. Either works...just depends on what I have on hand or the size of my project.
This is a piece I did for our Masters exhibit two years ago showing my interpretation of Hokusai's wave. (All of the following pieces are 20" x 24"). Again, I painted the 'wave', cut it out; FMQ'd onto background fabric and then took the iron and heat gun to it!! That is the scary part but what the heck! I never quite know what or how the piece will turn out but so far so good!
I did this piece to replicate painted tree bark which is a traditional Mexican method. This was for our MQAI/South of the Border exhibit. The colors are brighter in 'real time' but you get the idea. I did blog on working on this piece last year. I ended up making two of the painted pieces. The first piece I painted then cut the birds out but that didn't work out as well as I wanted. Because of the size of this piece I did use the Tyvek fabric.
Detail shots

This is another piece I did for our Masters exhibit. It was to depict my interpretation of the artwork from Mucha. He did primarily Art Nouveau artwork. I stitched all around the painted Tyvek and then cut away parts I didn't want (I learned my lesson from above piece).
Another detail pic
So that's my fun time I have working with Tyvek. Be sure to check out Karen's blog and check out And Then We Set It On Fire (read Karen's Tyvek article too). Good inspiration and you don't have to leave your chair! Works for me! Hope it works for you too!

Progress

2011-10-01T13:20:00.006-04:00

No, this isn't a piece I just finished! I made this small quilt hanging several years ago. I hand dyed some cotton velveteen fabric in orange and bubble gum pink. Reason I'm showing this now is I sent my blog friend Sally over at Sally's Stuff some of the orange velveteen fabric for a Travelers Blanket she is working on. I had mentioned to her I also had dyed some pink which I really liked. For this piece I ironed on painted fusible web, FMQ'd, then getting out the old glue gun, I made a swirly design sticking it to the fabric. The chopsticks are from my friend Tersa's wedding we attended. I used one set to hang the piece with and yep, glued the other set on the piece. So, this is the pink, Sally! You'll have to check out Sally's blog and see the work she's doing on the travelers blanket. Sally is coming to the states (she lives in Australia) for the IQA show in Houston and will bring her hand work with her. Sally has some pieces on exhibit at the IQA show...how cool is that! She and I worked on a 'trade' this past month. I made her a loom beaded cuff (purple) and she's sending me my trade! I can't wait to see my thermofax screen and to post about it!!!

So here's some progress on my daughter's table topper for her living room. The piece will be finished off in a circle approximately 18" round. I was just placing some of the organza pieces to get a feel for color placement.
And here are some of the leaves stitched and cut down. I still have to go back and FMQ the veins and then quilt around the entire piece. It's coming but there's a lot of leaves and stitching left to do.
Kalee and I had our first puppy kindergarten class this past Wed. It was great and she's doing so well with her sit, sit/watch and even did a down (with some help). Today she did two great 'downs' so I'm quite happy with her progress. She's given Bob and I so much pleasure already. Of course she'll never take Mandy's place and we think of Mandy every day, but our hearts have enough room to allow Kalee to have her own special place there! She's sitting beside me as I type right now! My little companion!

On a wing and a prayer

2011-09-27T09:06:00.004-04:00

Well, one wing finished and 3 to go! At this rate I might be finished this time next year!! I did get to bead in the afternoon while little one napped (as did big one! - Hubby). I do enjoy working on this piece because I can pick it up anytime to work on. Gotta love any hand work. I did also get some of the quilting done on my daughter's table topper. I cut out lots of organza leaves and will be ready for the next step of placing them.

It's almost like an old folks home around here...between Bob's aliments and mine we look like we're ready for the 'camp' for old folks. More Dr. appointments this week so at least we'll get out and about for a few hours! We're saying our prayers all goes well with those!

Tomorrow Kalee and I go to our first puppy kindergarten class! I just wish it were during the daytime rather than 6 p.m. Guess they don't have much luck with the day class. The only other day class didn't start until mid November and we just can't wait that long to train Bob and I! Housebreaking has been the easiest part of raising Kalee, as is her sitting good for food, letting us take food or toys from her mouth...but when she plays, even by herself, keep your hands out of the way! My arms look like I've been through the woods! I'm just not quick enough! But I'm positive about her being trained (or me being trained) so I know this phase will pass.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICK!!

2011-09-26T08:10:00.010-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICK!! Yep, here's the happy kid just waiting to dig into Grandma Nancy's great cake (there's more pictures of the cake my DIL's mom made below). Hard to believe Nick is 8 already!!
Darrin and Kris were a great host and hostess again to celebrate Nick's party on Sat. Of course, the theme was FOOTBALL! When we arrived, Darrin had all the kids in the front yard playing flag football. He even had yard markers up! I did put two videos of the kids playing at the end of this post. They were a hoot to watch!

Isn't this cake great!! Nancy makes the best cakes and decorates them to boot! The chocolate cake was delicious! Of course Nick's favorite is chocolate. I've never seen a boy who LOVES chocolate as much as Nick does.

check out all the extras on the cake!

This was Nick's BD gift from mom and dad. His new bike! He loves riding bike like his dad does, although it looked so big to me. I was informed by his friend, Weston, that he fits it perfectly and was riding around the sub already! Guess grandma was informed!

Of course lots of presents...Nick is opening the 'bottomless' bag from his grandma Nancy! One little boy at the party said "how many shirts are in there?" "Wow, it's like a store." Funny.

See the smile on Nick's face. Auntie and Uncle Jeff got him his helmet for bike riding.

Food a plenty and lots of fun for the kids.

Some art work finally!

2011-09-22T14:35:00.006-04:00

Well, in between the role of a new 'mom' and 'old' mom, I am starting to get some artwork done. Boy, I sure forgot how much time you spend with a baby! I mean puppy!!
Kalee is coming into my sewing area with me or else I'm doing beading or sewing while she sleeps. I still have to clean, do laundry, cook dinner too so it's hard to space out my time for art work. But I'm learning or remembering how I did 'child' rearing 40+ years ago!
I'm making progress on my beaded butterfly and it does feel good to be back beading. This is a butterfly from Hawaii I think! It's been so long since I drew up the design I'm not even sure if that's where this butterfly makes his home!
I also came up with a few different designs for my daughters table topper.
This is the 2nd or 3rd design. The final piece will be a mix of all I think! I really won't know until I start cutting out the leaves from the organza.
I do have the background sandwiched and I painted on some stems. Next will be the leaves then stitching.
I made this quilt in 2003 for a Christmas gift for Bob. It was our Mandy girl and now it hangs on the wall in our computer room above my desktop. Bob never thought it looked exactly like her but I've always liked the quilt. She's my girl and always will be.

Another Happy Birthday Wish!

2011-09-21T11:13:00.004-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY JO!!!!! Yes, another birthday this month!! MJ is our DIL (Bob's son's wife (that's Ron in the background). I don't have any baby pictures of Mary Jo or else they'd be on my post! Maybe next year I'll get one from her mom! I also sent MJ a Birthday Ball which I'll blog about tomorrow.
Until then, have a GREAT DAY, MJ!!!! Wish we could be in Indiana to celebrate with you!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAWN!!

2011-09-20T07:57:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday Dawn!!!
You were a beautiful baby and now such a beautiful woman - inside and out!
Love you!

Dunckel’s Veterinarians thanked for attention

2011-09-16T18:36:00.001-04:00

This is the letter I wrote to both the Davison Index local newspaper. Today we brought home the remains of our little girl. The hurt is there all over again but at least she is home with us again.
Dunckel’s Veterinarians thanked for attention

I'm really doing some art work again!

2011-09-13T19:55:00.003-04:00

Yep! It's true! I'm back doing some art work FINALLY! I didn't realize how hard it was being a mom again! Your time isn't your own that's for sure! But I'm not complaining and wouldn't trade our little girl for all the art I could make in a year! Kalee has brought so much joy to our lives in a weeks time! It's only been a week yesterday when we picked her up!

So this a.m. I started playing with leaf patterns. My daughter wants a table topper for her glass table that sits in their LR and her BD is next week so...this is a background piece (beige) and a small piece of organza that I'm going to use for leaves. I'll use the same technique as I did for my black/white AAQI quilt. I have several different colors of organza and I'm now working out the design/placement for the leaves. It will be a circular quilted top about 19" in circumference.

AND I was actually able to do some beading today on my butterfly!! Kalee sat on my lap later this afternoon and slept while I beaded. It felt good to be back at doing something!
Tomorrow I'm headed to meet up with the grand kids after school. I haven't seen them in two weeks so I'm looking forward to them meeting Kalee and just seeing them again!! Hopefully, Kalee will get wore out meeting the kids! That will give grandma a rest from playing with her!

MQAI exhibit pictures

2011-09-12T20:07:00.008-04:00

Here are some of the quilts from the MQAI exhibit that opened this past weekend. If you are in the Flint area, make sure to stop by the Greater Flint Art Council and check them out. We have close to 50 quilts all based on the theme 'Art of the Kitchen'. Here are just a few!

APRONS AND PEARLS
by
Mary Andrews (Co-Curator for the exhibit)

EATING, PRAYING, LOVING
by
Marty Calhoun (Co-Curator for the exhibit)

BUYING LOCAL
by
Anne Hiemstra

BASICS: GARLIC, OLIVE OIL AND TOMATOES
by
Barbara Bushey

FRESH TOMATO SOUP
by
Carol Tamasiunas

TOSSED SALAD
by
Chris Zane

CUCINA PARLATO
by
Judy Parlato

JELLO ANYONE?

by
Laurie Ceesay

I keep thinking each day I'll get back to doing some form of art work but no luck so far!! Maybe tomorrow! Kalee is sure keeping this 65 year old 'mom' busy! But I'm lovin' every moment!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS!!

2011-09-11T08:00:00.004-04:00

I hope you have a great day! Love you lots! Admire your strength, fortitude and dedication to whatever you do!! I know you're always there for me even with the miles between us!! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy this day!!!

MQAI Exhibit

2011-09-10T08:03:00.005-04:00

Well, another successful opening last night at the Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational. I can't post pics for a number of reasons! First, I didn't take any pictures last night! Second, not sure of pictures I can post of the art work. I'll ask Mary (curator) and see if I can at least post the pieces made by some of my friends.
This is the last year for this exhibit which I believe is going into its 15 year in 2012. That means each and every month, Mary or Marty, have had to pick up and hang quilts! Keep in mind this exhibit travels throughout the state of Michigan! That has been a lot of work and this year (2012) is the last year. It's time for Mary and Marty to take a well deserved break.
I sent out a note to the artists who have participated in the exhibit to have them bring a thank you card to the opening (or mail to me to give Mary and Marty). The box above is what I made to hold the cards. There were a slew of thank you cards when I left the exhibit last night!! I'm so glad!!

these were the fiber cards I made. Of course, I didn't have the setting correct on my camera (no surprise there!) so they aren't as bright as actual. This was Mary's fiber post card (note to her is on back) and it was bright orange/red/yellow...Mary's favorite colors are red/oranges.
This was for Marty...I didn't know her favorite colors but thought green would work for her. Again, actual color is a lot brighter.

I printed out the Thank You then did tangles, scanned back into computer and printed onto fabric. I sewed french knots on the lettering and then did the stab stitch on the background.

Puppy is calling as is hubby! He's getting wore out from the puppy stage but we'll get through it!

2011-09-08T12:09:00.003-04:00

This is a sneak piece at the 'trade' Sally, over at Sally's Stuff blog, and I arranged. I made this cuff for her and she's making me a thermo fax screen! I'll be heading to the post office later this afternoon to mail her cuff. If you aren't familar with Sally's work go and check out her blog! She'll be coming to Houston in the fall as two of her art quilts are part of exhibits at the IQA show! How cool is that!

Today is another rainy day but Bob and I still have to go out to a Dr. appointment for him. Over the weekend he developed facial swelling which really had me concerned. We went to ER on Sunday but the Dr. thought it was inflammation of some glands or ducts. It seemed to go down some but yesterday the swelling was back. Not as bad again today but he still needs to be checked.

No new handwork for me yet! I want to make my daughter a table topper for her round coffee table using organza for the leaves. She showed me some designs so I have part of a plan but no work on it yet!! Just too busy playing MOM! Yikes! Kalee is like having a two year old to keep you on your toes. But it's SO well worth it!! We smile all the time and she's doing so good at sleeping through the night and her potty time outside.

Well, off to get ready to dodge rain drops, first with Kalee and then with Bob!

Attempt at our normal life

2011-09-07T09:25:00.004-04:00

Well, our lives are attempting to get back to normal but I really think it's more like we're creating a new life! Our little Kalee is just a doll and makes us smile from the time we get up until we go to bed.
Today will be the first time I leave her for a few hours. It's the opening of the MQAI exhibit on Friday so today we hang the quilts. We have the hanging system down pat so it shouldn't take that long! I'm a new mom so I have to be home with my baby for awhile!
I think I'll be able to get back to my art work starting this weekend! Let's hope! Not sure I can bead at night for awhile either. I can just see Kalee eating the seed beads! Yikes!
Gotta run! It's play time again!! Whew! I should be in great shape running up and down the stairs. I have a feeling it will be a few months before our little one can climb stairs...what ever happened to having a one story house!

The worse of times, the best of times...

2011-09-06T13:53:00.002-04:00

No, this isn't a Tale of Two Cities...but it's been the most awful time for Bob and I. I didn't know I could hurt that much from the loss of our beloved Mandy. I'm not going through everything that happened last Friday because it's too hard talking about it over and over again. Mandy most likely had a clot, stroke and went into cardiac arrest. She's not suffering anymore and Dunkel Vet's here in Davison did a wonderful job trying to save her. We'll be forever grateful for everything they did.
And now it's "time" for the best of "times"! We brought home our new puppy yesterday afternoon! You can read all about Kalee on her blog here. She's the sweetest little dog and so far just the smartest, best little puppy you could ask for! Kalee has brought us so many smiles since yesterday and is filling some of the void in our hearts. No dog will take the place of Mandy but Kalee will certainly create her own spot in our world. I hope for those who follow my blog and are animal lovers will go over to Kalee's blog to meet her.

Our hearts are broken

2011-09-03T07:51:00.003-04:00

Mandy

November 3, 1999 -September 2, 2011

Our hears are broken...we lost our our angel.

Just playing

2011-09-01T08:31:00.004-04:00

Just a quick post today. Of course I had to play with all I learned from Jill yesterday! This is my piece which is about 8" x 6". I just used some poly organza I had on hand.

I did notice that you have to watch which side you are sewing to! Well, duh! The middle piece is backwards from all the rest! It was enjoyable working on it and once Mary and I get our order for some silk organza we'll make our first Bojagi piece.
I also finished the cuff I was 'beading on the loom' and now I need to weave the 60! warp threads and add the cuff! It's almost finished, Sally!! I don't want to show any pictures until Sally receives it. I'll post our 'trade' story in a later post.
And I am working on my beaded butterfly for my journal piece. I keep forgetting to look up the name of this butterfly but it's from Hawaii...that's all I can remember about it...that and its colors are black, white and red! We've had some wonderful pleasant summer days with no air conditioning needed! We did turn it on last night as the humidity and thunderstorms started. Today doors and windows are open and so far it's pleasant. Temps are suppose to get up to 90 today but turning rainy and cold for the holiday weekend. Go figure! So I guess the air will get its workout again!

A Bojagi Day!

2011-08-30T19:45:00.009-04:00

No, it's not my work!! This is a beautiful, transparent quilt made by Jill Ault from Ann Arbor. I was SO lucky today to go with my friend, Mary, to Jill's house for her to show us the 'Bojagi' technique! I wrote a post on Bojagi here and showed a small piece one of our fiber members was working on. Of course I had to get the book, Bojagi & Beyond by Chunghie Lee, and we jumped on Jill's invitation for her demo!

This is another one of Jill's transparent quilts she had on her design board. But if you really want to see some wonderful art work, in addition to Jill's transparent quilts, go to her web site. Jill is a true artist and works in several different media.

Jill started out showing the process using silk organza and the sewing machine! Who knew! I thought we'd be doing all hand stitching...not to say you couldn't but Jill showed us how to be careful and it wasn't all that difficult to stitch on the machine.

This is a piece that Jill sewed showing us how to stitch over all those layers. She didn't miss a step and made us feel like we could even make a 20 foot transparent quilt! OK, maybe just a 20 inch quilt! But I think we're able...although, I'll start out with a 10" or 12" block or maybe just some squares.

This was another piece I happened to notice on another design board Jill had. It was actually black silk organza and was beautiful!! Do you see the design in the background? Also, there are seed beads in each of the small corners. Click on the picture to see the piece up close!

And this is the back of the piece above. Jill also does shibori and she bleach/resist the design! I love this piece!! I know, you're thinking it must have been the beads!

There is something about the process and results from this technique that I am just so obsessed about. We're going to order some silk organza and yes, you can dye it. Jill said it picks up the colors beautifully. She showed us some of her shibori pieces and if you look closely at the multi colored piece in the 2nd picture you'll see some of the shibori pieces she dyed.

After our lesson, we went to Casey's Tavern for lunch! No margarita for me! But I did have a cherry pop! I haven't had cherry pop since I was in high school! Remember the good old days of cherry or chocolate coke? That's what the cherry pop reminded me of! Anyway, we had a really good lunch and I learned more about Jill. She's quite a talented lady and I'm so lucky Mary invited me on this journey! Now to get busy and finish a piece! Have to make our 'teacher' proud of us! But first, I have to watch our TIGERS play! It's 0 - 0 in the top of the 6th inning! A nail biter but at least I can work on my bead loom!

Eye Candy!

2011-08-28T17:57:00.004-04:00

The first 'eye candy' shot is our grandson, Ian, leading the pack during his first high school cross country win. CONGRATS, Ian! A job well done for sure!! Ian's been running this summer, even in the heat so I'm sure he's in top shape!! Hard to believe he's in 10th grade already!! Grandpa sure is getting older! Not me! Just you and grandpa, Ian!

Here's some more 'eye candy'!

Elsie is one of the ladies in our fiber group who does a little of everything! I'm always in awe of her artwork regardless of the medium. This is a beaded piece Elsie did a while back on her bead loom. Isn't it spectacular!!

Here's a closeup of the detail! I think it's an amazing piece! I asked if i could post a picture of her work and she kindly agreed. I just wanted to share this with some of my bead followers. check out the beaded fringe let alone the detail in this piece!
I had a busy weekend...actually I've been busy since Friday. Doing some beading, making fiber cards, put the sleeve on my AAQI donation quilt - although that took two times! I put the sleeve on upside down along with the label! Yep, had to remove both and resew! Kids are still up north on vaca and Amber called me today to say they just finished horse back riding! She said she even passed her 'evaluation' on trotting on the horse! What memories they are creating! I told her she would have to write that in her journal, but she said she didn't have a journal! Of course, I told her she needs to get one! Can't believe me of all people haven't given her a journal yet! I'm sure I have somewhere along the line! We'll have to look for it the next 'grandma day'!

Stacy's Birthday GiveAway!

2011-08-26T21:12:00.002-04:00

Check it out! Stacy from Scrap with Stacy has 5 giveaways going on. All sorts of goodies for mixed media. Ends Sept. 30!

AAQI donation

2011-08-26T07:44:00.006-04:00

My AAQI donation quilt

My quilt represents the changes that come with life and with diseases. Especially Alzheimer's, which destroys the memory one worm hole at a time.
I finished the facing and just need to put on the sleeve and it's ready to mail. I've already registered my quilt (#8013) with Ami Simms AAQI. There are some really nice pieces you can still purchase or you could still donate a small art quilt!

I did start on another cuff but I'll only be showing the start of it as it's for a 'trade' I'm working on with another blogger. More on that when I've finished and she's received her cuff! This will be a fun exchange! Last night we had our fiber guild meeting. We did have a great show and tell again and I'll post pics over the weekend. As of late, we've been having major discussions as to the direction of our group. We've been together for 9 years and I think have done just about every technique there is! That's part of our problem...now we're just trying to think of things to do monthly and it's becoming more of a chore than a learning experience. I emailed Jane Dunnewold (author of Complex Cloth - and other books), who we based our groups direction on. Jane was kind enough to provide some good feedback which we discussed last night. Not sure what our conclusion was but I'll be working on the writeup for everyone later today.

It appears many groups end up in this dilemma needing a new direction. A lot of consideration has to include facilities, meeting time(s) and a direction that meets every ones interest...and with up to 13 women that's a tall order! Hard enough to get 3 women to agree on something! I think we'll figure it out and continue on. There's so much talent in our group that you hate to miss seeing what they have to show at the meeting. Personally, that's the best part seeing what folks have worked on. Our problem is, we don't take the time to investigate or have the artist talk about their process in creating their work. We seem to rush through show and tell and don't ask questions. Isn't that how you learn? hmmmmmm

Just some more tangles

2011-08-24T20:11:00.007-04:00

Before I show more of my tangles...here is the Humbug bag I made for my friend as a BD gift. Karen does a lot of hand work in addition to her art quilts so I made her bag a little larger to hold all her different threads she might need to carry around. I just noticed my bag I made over a year ago is sitting in the background. I use my bag for carrying my needles, threads, small scissors...all the essentials for hand applique or just sewing on binding. I think Karen will use hers as well...let's hope!
Here is the 1st tile I did in class on Monday. I have tiles I ordered before and I was looking at the work I did on those and the work I did on Monday! huge difference! I can't believe all the tips I got from the class with Sheryl!

This was my 2nd tangle. I think we did learn seven different tangles.

Sheryl showed me two pieces of shrinky dink she had tangled and then beaded! So on Tues. I got out the shrinky dink and did a small 3" square of different tangles. Here's the piece shrunk! I'm putting it on the front of a note card. My hubby said I should make a necklace but I don't think I would wear one...but who knows!

And while I sat outside in our beautiful Michigan weather yesterday I tangled two more note cards. I made up a set last Sept. for my daughter of note cards in black and she really liked them. They make great little gifts.

No tangling today! It was my last full day with the kids until after school starts. We ran some errands and then played 'putt putt'. It was fun and we had a good time. Tomorrow is our CCC fiber meeting and lots going on there. I hope to have some good show and tell to inspire you with on Friday!

Zentangle 101

2011-08-23T10:03:00.006-04:00

For those who have followed my blog, you know how much I love to 'tangle'! Last night six of us from our fiber group attended Zentangle 101 class held by Sheryl Lamarand a certified Zentangle teacher at the Edge Gallery in Fenton! Sheryl was great and this is one of her pieces which I think is beautiful! Sheryl had so many examples of her work but I was too busy looking at her art work and only got a few of her pieces photographed.
Sheryl gave us each a kit which included a pen, pencil, stump (for shading), black paper and of course our Zentangle tiles.
And off we went tangling our little hearts out. We learned 7 different zentangle designs and it was so interesting to see how one design was done by everyone in the class.

These are some of Sheryl's Zentangle art work.

These were our class tiles. We each did four different patterns.

Here are the remaining tiles by the class and these were our first lesson.

My little tile starting out

I was too lazy this a.m. to take pics of my finished tiles. I'll post those later. Sheryl lives in the Lansing area and does classes all over! She is also a wonderful beader and we were fortunate to see some of her beautiful beaded jewelry. If you're interested in contacting Sheryl to find out where she's teaching next, just go to the Zentangle teacher web site here and look up her name or contact the Edge Gallery and ask when Sheryl is teaching next!

Paintstik workshop

2011-08-22T09:46:00.008-04:00

Last Friday I taught Shiva paintstik workshop at our local quilt guild. Ladies seemed to have a good time and actually created some really nice rubbings and stencil pieces. Enjoy..busy day today...Mandy hasn't been up to par of late so she's going to vets.

I'm also going to a Zentangle workshop with my bud's tonight, after dinner at the French Laundry in Fenton!

Working in black and white

2011-08-18T20:08:00.006-04:00

This is the black and white Microsoft picture I posted about a few days ago. I know it looks pink but honest it is black and white. It's a picture I use as the background on my desktop. I've always loved this picture and thought it would be fun to try and replicate it in fabric.
So after doing some laundry and making a humbug bag for a gift today (I'll post pics after I give it away) I started playing with my own black and white!
First I drew the branch by painting it with Liquitex (soft body) and a little textile medium mixed in.I did layer batting and backing to the piece above then I continued on. I wanted to use some type of sheer material and I found a sheer bag (actually I found two of these!) that appears to be some type of organza. I removed all the stitching and ribbon, then ironed the fabric and traced out some leaves. Kinda hard to see but I think you'll get the drift! Just look hard!

Next I cut out the leaf but I kept a good 1/2 or more around the edge of the leaf then stitched it down. Once stitched I used some sharp scissors and cut carefully! around the stitching line. I did try cutting the leaf shape out on another one and just stitching it but I'd prefer to have the excess fabric and then cut away.

After I stitched a leaf, I then free motion quilted the veins then stitched on another leaf and FMQ'd and yada, yada...

And my leaves all stitched down and my piece is black and white (not pink!). Now to do some free motion quilting to finish the piece. It's only a small piece around 11" x 13" but I wanted to play with the technique before I made a bigger one.

If anything, I can donate to Ami Simms AAQI. In fact, so could you!! Ami is looking for more quilts that will be sold on the AAQI web site and be taken to Houston to sell. Do check out the blog post here and read about the request for more quilts. They are small in size but huge in return for this initiative!

Friday is our local quilt guild meeting and I'm one of four putting on a workshop in the afternoon. I'll be showing the ladies how to use Shiva paintstiks. We're going to be playing with rubbings, stamps, masking tape and anything else I find in my stash! I love using the paintstiks because you have instant results! Hopefully, I'll get pics from the workshop and post this weekend.

What a day!

2011-08-17T19:56:00.013-04:00

Before I post about our day...have to mention "out of the mouth of babes". As we were driving to the park, I don't remember why, but I aksed if the kids had heard of the saying "there but the grace of God, go I"...Amber said, "no, grandma" she hadn't heard of this and guess what our Nick said! "Grandma, you go to church too much!"! I almost had to pull off the road I was laughing so hard. Just another little 'saying' to put in his BD letter for this year!

Today the grand kids and I did the paddle boat 'thing'! And what a hoot it was!!! I took this picture just as 'grandma' was getting ready to unhook the tie rope and jump on the boat! It was great! Kids and I were laughing and screaming the entire time!! It did take us a little to adjust to steering the boat but did manage to get out of the dock and not hit anything!

It was a beautiful day and you can see some of the lake and docks above. We had a blast on the boat then decided to eat our picnic lunch we packed.

And then! Grandma surprised the kids by packing their fishing rods and tackle boxes in the car! I stopped and pretended I need gasoline so I could stop and pick up worms!

So here the kids are fishing and they had a ball! Who knew..Amber said "I'm not a girlie girl, grandma, when it comes to fishing! Duh!

She certainly isn't! Man, she was cutting those worms right beside Nick with no hesitation at all. She finally told me to "chill out, grandma and sit down". "This is what you do when you fish".

This was one of many fish Amber caught!

And this was one of many Nick caught! Yes, we put them all back, very gently! And we even fed some of the fish just pieces of worms! How gross, but sweet!

We had so much fun on the paddle boat that after the kids fished we went back out for another 1/2 hour!! For $5 (each half hour) you can't beat it! Just a fun, fun day..then back to the house to play 'hot potato' with an old balloon the kids had! By the time my son got home, I was dripping from sweating! He even checked the thermostat thinking his air must be off!
So tonight, I'm pooped but it was all well worth it!! Just another memory to put in my head and I hope the kids!
The video's are a hoot..the paddle boat was is mainly of my fingers!! The sun was shining and I was taking the pics with my Ipod! I forgot where the little camera was so I ended up covering it up!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

2011-08-15T07:45:00.004-04:00

Yes, we have another golfer in the family! This is Jeff, our SIL and he's turned another year older today!! Yippee!! So nice you're trying to catch up with me, Jeff!!

Jeff will stop reading now because there's a space between paragraph. He has a short attention span! so I can talk about how nice he really is! Jeff is just a happy guy with a great attitude. I can't even hold it against him that he's a golfer! He and Dawn make a great couple and good friends to Darrin and Kris.
We really are lucky to have Jeff in the family and I hope he has a great BD today! Hopefully, we'll get to see him on Wed. The kids love their Uncle Jeffie! And so do we! Happy Birthday!!

One finished and two more ready!

2011-08-14T15:26:00.004-04:00

I finished my cuff last night while 'toggling' again between the Tigers and Pittsburgh football! A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do! Right!
I do wear quite a bit of beige and orange so this will fit right in with my outfits! I do love these cuffs and this design is my favorite. A lot to keep track of but I honestly didn't find a mistake in this one! Yippee!!
I will be starting on another one after a trip to the bead store on Wed.
Muggy, drizzly day today but Mary and I still met up at the market. My veggies are all washed and I made some dip for us along with white chili (with chicken) for dinner tonight. We haven't had lunch due to my having a migraine this a.m. In fact, I stopped at the high school on my way to the market to take an Imitrex. I try not to take them but I was getting really sick and had to get to the market and grocery store. I'm feeling better now thank goodness!

So one project down and some more on the way. Hard to see the design but this is my next BJP project. It's going to be a beaded butterfly. This particular butterfly is from Hawaii..the name is quite extensive but it's black and red so should be fun to work on. I have to quilt the background then I'll be ready to start beading.

And this is another project that I'm anxious to start on. This is the wallpaper on my desktop and the picture is from Microsoft. I printed it out and this is how it turned out - pink instead of white. I want to make this using some translucent material for the leaves. I think it will be a stunning piece. So that's on my 'to do' list. I need to think it through carefully or I might just dive in and make a small piece (6" sq.) to practice.

This afternoon I did get all my supplies and samples together for our oil pastel workshop that I'm presenting at our quilt guild this week. There are four of us putting on different workshops and the last time this was done everyone had a great time. I'll take pics as I don't remember what the other three workshops are! So now off to get dinner on the table. No lunch makes for hungry people!

The week caught up with me

2011-08-13T08:02:00.008-04:00

Well, I think the week has finally caught up with me. I'm pooped! But I'm still going to head out for my bike ride in a few minutes. I keep forgetting I'm OLD! This body can only be so active, right!
Last night Bob and I watched the Tigers win again! Then turned the channel to watch our Lions play a preseason game, which they won too!! They looked really good or else Cincinnati was really bad. Either way we enjoyed the game and I got lots of beading done on my cuff! I hope to finish it tonight, yes, while watching the Tigers!

And look at what arrived at our door the other day! Aren't these beautiful!!

From my SIS! Thanks so much, MAW!

This is how Mandy felt on Thursday after her long babysitting day Wed. I think it might be me later on but at least I'll turn my head and face Bob! Maybe!

Auntie and Amber are spending the weekend together getting manicures and shopping. This is Amber's annual BD gift from her Aunt and she was so excited yesterday. She called me to say her suitcase was all packed and ready! Enjoy your day girls and make some more memories together!

My 13 hour day

2011-08-11T08:14:00.013-04:00

Yes, this is a post about my Wed. with the kids. I arrived at 6:45 a.m. and left after 8 p.m. which gave us lots of time together to be busy!
Amber did make a pot holder so there is some fiber work to show! She got a kit to make these woven pot holders but the fabric in them these days is made of polyester which stretched like crazy. Remember the good old days when the material was just cotton! Anyway, I told Amber I can still use this one to set my water glass on.

Amber working hard on her pot holder.

Nick had a snap-it car to put together.

He was quite fascinated with the chrome looking wheels he had to put together. And being the fussy builder he is (reminds me of Ian! Must be a boy thing!), he had to put the tires back together after he saw the tread was going in different directions on the back tires. Who knew tread had directions!

We moved inside to finish up Nick's car and Amber's pot holder. Nick and I were at the stage of putting on decals on the model car. As I was trying to put this tiny, tiny, tiny! light decal on, it flipped and we couldn't find it. Nick said "maybe it fell in one of your wrinkles, grandma". Hmmmm Out of the mouth of babes!
OK, this is the part where mom and dad stop reading. Do we need a perk-me-up, grandma?

Amber poured some of my coffee into a cup for Nick to taste...

And she tried some herself....not to worry...neither of them will be coffee drinkers...I made them sip it black, which I knew would be too strong for them. It was a funny episode. And no coffee was really consumed by them (just me!).

We did have a full day even after having dinner at our local Italian Restaurant enjoying our 35 cent pasta day! Can't beat that!!

Amber and I made a meal of the salad which is fantastic. She eats the salad with no dressing on it!

Isn't this how everyone eats spaghetti?

After our great dinner, we headed home to go on a bike ride. Amber wasn't too excited about this but I really wanted to move after the bread and salad (yes, I put dressing on mine!). Bike ride was quite nice but Amber's choice of activity was to play baseball. So, after the bike ride, we got all the bases, bat and ball and headed to the front yard. I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed the show of grandma pitching and of Nick running into me on first base! We played until after 7:30 when we had to stop after Amber made a great hit but ran into Nick on 3rd base and slid onto the sidewalk! Just a little skinned knee, but she recovered quickly after her shower. Kids had just finished their baths and deciding what to have for dessert when mom and dad came home.

I'm not sure who was more tired, Mandy or me but we had a great day and memories (yes, the wrinkle comment will go in Nick's BD letter this year!).

Today, grandma will get back to some fiber work! I have a workshop to teach at our local quilt guild next week so I want to get all my notes and supplies together. I have to find all my samples too.

Our weather is turning cooler which is such a relief not to have the air on and windows open! My kind of weather!

Book and beads

2011-08-09T15:25:00.009-04:00

I'm so excited! I received my copy of Bojagi & Beyond today! Now to find the time to sit and read it (village council meeting tonight and I want to finish the MQAI write ups this afternoon).

At our CCC fiber group meeting in July, one of the ladies, Chris, brought in the book along with a piece of organza she was stitching following the technique in Chunghie's book. Chris' belongs to a stitching group in Lansing and they are working together on this method.

This is a picture of Chris' white organza being stitched. I laid it on top of a scrap quilt top that she is also working on just so you could see the stitching. It almost appears to be a form of french seams. Isn't it beautiful! My friend, Mary, and I are both interested in this technique so I hope we can actually pursue it! Thanks for sharing your work with us, Chris!!

On another note....I forgot to post a picture and some of the info from a gift I received from my friend, Teresa! Teresa, my daughter and I met a few weekends ago for brunch. I haven't seen Teresa since last winter, before we left for Florida, and look what she gave me! These are beads made by Ugandan women and men from recycled paper. Each one is so unique and beautiful!! Teresa actually had on a necklace made up of these beads which came from the Bead for Life web site that was very nice and of course matched her outfit perfectly! Check out some of the cool beads and jewelry they have. Very impressive. Now to see what I could make using them. You almost don't want to use them but put them in a bowl just to look at! Now there's an idea! Maybe that's what I need to do and then the inspiration will just happen! Thanks again, Teresa!!

We actually had windows opened up until a few minutes ago! The rain has set in but I can't say we really need it! Bob was finally able to mow yesterday, as the grass has grown since last Friday! But better rain then dry...although, I do want the weather to be nice on Wed. The kids and I are going on a pedal or is it paddle?? boat ride. I think it's called pedal since we are the so called power to get the boat moving! If you don't hear back from me, you'll find us at the bottom of the lake! Until then...

Say hello to Betty!

2011-08-08T18:55:00.004-04:00

Betty has been finished for a few weeks but I keep forgetting to post her! Today we took the photo's for the Michigan Quilt Artist Invitational exhibit that opens on Sept. 9th. There are so many cool quilts all depicting the theme 'Art of the Kitchen'. We had over 40+ quilts to photograph. It's always fun to see the art work up close and appreciate all the work folks put into their quilts.

This pic shows the hearts that I beaded. Well, yes, I had to add beads didn't I! I'm happy with 'Betty' but still need to finish my 1st Betty (the one with the yellow marker on it!). I want to cut it out in a heart shape and then hang in my kitchen.

Tomorrow I'll finish adding the photo's from today into the writeup for each quilt. Then perhaps I'll play a bit with some oil pastels. Or just bead...or just do some mono printing...or.....

My Sister's Visit (Finally!)

2011-08-07T11:00:00.013-04:00

Sniffle, sniffle...the weekend is over with my sister! We had a blast!! So much laughter our stomachs hurt as if we had done 100 crunches! We ate a lot so I hope the laughter did in fact act as exercise! I know laughter is good for digestion so that part was good!!

Amber made this sign last weekend when the kids stayed the night so I put it in the driveway so they would see it as soon as they pulled in the drive. You'll see by the pictures it was hard to get one without us laughing so much! Check out the video at the end and you'll see what our time was like!

My sis and me!

"Oh my gosh, I remember that time!"

"Look how old our skin looks!"

Darrin, myself, MaryAnn and Dawn
Is this a great picture or what!

Maryann, Nancy and I took off Sat. a.m. for breakfast at Panera's then off the the Art Fair in Grand Blanc. Nancy was so nice and contributed to the economy by purchasing this really cool bowl and appetizer glass tray (Grey Goose bottles!). How unique they each are.

And the eating part pictures are below as well as a video introducing my family!!! I loved the time with having everyone here!!!! The entire family will never know what this meant to me!!!

Just another Wednesday

2011-08-03T18:41:00.008-04:00

I have been beading on my 3rd cuff so here's the progress so far. I worked on this last night watching the Tigers (yes, they won! Whew!). Since I wear a lot of orange/pastel colors, I think I'll get a lot of use from this cuff. My next one is going to be in black and white.

I might get some more beading on this tonight as the Tigers are on again but it might be the last night for awhile. In TWO days my sister will be here!!!! I'm so excited!! I'll be heading off to grocery store and market on Thursday and Friday (I already bought Tequila!) and preparing for dinner with all the family on Sat.

Yesterday I received back my little quilt from Lynn Krawczyk who was/is curator of the Breaking Traditions Exhibitions. In 2009, Lynn put together the exhibit called 'Home', which raised $795 for A Place to Bark. This was my little contribution to the exhibit.
Yes, that is our little Mandy peaking out the front door, which was made of metal. It was fun to work on and nice to see again! I forgot what the little piece looked like!

This saying sure fit what Mandy has done for Bob and I. She's been so special in our life since we adopted her in 2001! You can tell she's as happy with us as we are with her!!

Today with the kids was fun as usual. I just love having conversations with them. Amber was SO excited since she got a cell phone for her birthday (no texting, just phone). She kept looking at her phone saying "no one has called me, grandma". I told her that her parents were working, as was her aunt and I was with her! Well, her Auntie did call and was Amber's FIRST phone call she received. She was so excited that she got a call. I thought she almost jumped to the ceiling when her phone rang! So cute!!! Thank you Auntie for making Amber's day!

Nick had a Neon sand kit that he wanted to work on. It was kinda fun and kept him busy for at least 30 min.
He had to mix the sand with an activator really well, then pour into the molds. You had to do it in a darken room so we had all the lights out which made it difficult to read the instructions!
But we did it! Results are what the sculptures looked like in the bathroom with the lights out and door closed. It was pitch black in the room but you can see the neon vases! Pretty cool!

And here are Amber's fingernails with her decorative manicure. She didn't think it felt much like a manicure but we did get through it. Another 30 mins. on this project.

We finished out the day by playing Monopoly! Amber and I started out playing then Nick and his friend decided they wanted to play. I was happy when Kris got home as the wheeling and dealing was getting pretty heavy! I just played banker when the 3 kids played.

So off to finish up my planning and menu for the weekend!! Did I mention how excited I am to see my sister again!!! And to have everyone here on Sat. - all my family will be the highlight of this year for sure!

Stars or planets?

2011-08-02T18:02:00.003-04:00

Stars are planets or planets are stars! Oh well...anyway, busy day with groomers and groceries then back home to do some laundry then off again to go vote (our Village council) then Bob wanted fish for dinner so back to town we went. I wasn't hungry for fish but since I like being waited on I went along!
I just started on my orange cuff last night so I don't have anything to show with beads! But..I was going through my quilt pics to send in for a local show at the Longway Planetarium, Stars Exhibit, coming up this September. Years ago I sent in a quilt of our little dog inside a star that was shown. Guess I'll have to dig that quilt out and post on my blog.

So here are two quilts I made back in 2006 for the MQAI Out of This World exhibit. This one is called Blue Moons - wonder why! It's hard to see but there are LOTS of tiny beads sewn on individually! Plus a few of the moons are stuffed to the max! And I mean stuffed! Not sure what I was thinking but...this quilt is 20" x 24" and I used dimensional paint for some of the planet bumps! Can you tell I'm not very educated on planets or stars!
The next one is 'A Stellar Garden'. I had printed out a photo on fabric taken by Jeffrey Blye from Long Island. Jeffrey took the picture of the flower at a state park in Oyster Bay on Long Island then manipulated it in photoshop. I thought his picture was so cool so I asked if I could use it. Since then I've used 3 of Jeffrey's photo's in quilts.

I used some white/gray (probably from socks!) dryer lint for those 'bumps' on the planet. Some thread painting and of course my beads, which are kinda free form. Both of these were fun to make and that year I actually made 3 for the exhibit! I didn't know we aren't suppose to make more than one!! I found that out last year. Guess whenever they discussed the number an artist could make I was always in Florida and missed the discussion! Well, I learned my lesson and this year I only made one...ok, two (Betty/Twins) but I'm only putting one of the Betty's in the show. The other one I'm keeping for our house!

So tomorrow I go to see kids..not sure what we'll do and then I'll start some cooking on Thursday and Friday and anticipate my sister's visit!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! I'm so excited! Bob said today "you'd think the king was coming"...well, my sister is royalty to me!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET PEA!!!

2011-08-02T07:37:00.008-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMBER!!! I can't believe she is 12 years old! Time goes by so fast!

The kids put on a great BD party (again!) on Sunday to celebrate Amber's BD with family and friends.

Amber's Grandma Nancy made another one of her wonderful cakes...yum!!! She does make the best cake!

And even Spike made an entrance! I just get such a kick out of this little guy! It's the first time Grandpa Bob got to meet him. Lots of swimming and lots of food! Just a great day!

I just talked to Amber and she and her brother are getting ready to head off to day camp.

You have a great day, Sweet Pea! Lots of love and birthday wishes from grandpa and I!!!

Artists in the making

2011-08-01T08:35:00.014-04:00

Well artists have to rest and these are the beds our future artists slept in at grandpa and grandma's this weekend! We had the kids overnight on Sat. after I met Dawn and our friend, Teresa, for brunch Sat. a.m. I did take the kids to see The Smurfs move which was cute. We've been 'smurfed'! I do want to look up Peyo who did drawings and sketches of smurfs. So after the movie we head to our house making a stop at the library and over to our neighbors to visit with the cat, who the kids love.
Then back home to make taco's and of course do some art work. "What are we going to do now grandma" is what you hear a lot!!

Just to recap, we stamped, stenciled, shrinky dink'd our way through the weekend. Amber made a sign for my sister's upcoming visit this weekend! Wasn't that cute!
And here's the Animal king sitting with Cody and Zorro the cat! I think we were over to Lori's visiting the cat every hour or two! The kids just love that cat! But then they love all animals. We took the kids home around 1:30 to attend Amber's BD party! that's a whole other post!! We ate and ate and ate and after coming home crashed! A wonderful weekend and one for the books! Not sure how much art work I'll get to this week..seems like something is going on every day but I did get the warp threads on my loom to start my next cuff in orange and white.

Presenting the BUBBLE MAN!

2011-07-28T11:10:00.007-04:00

Tomorrow, I'll have some pics from our fiber meeting but today it's all about the bubble man. Yes, there really is a Bubble Man! On Wed. the kids, Ginny and I went to the library to see him! What a fun and educational show it was!! Ron Lloyd did an amazing job even putting smoke, square bubbles and multiple bubbles within a bubble. You can see a video from his earlier program here.

Here he's putting smoke inside a bubble. It wasn't real smoke but some 'canned' safe air. Hmmm is any smoke 'safe'?? Oh well, it was interesting and the smoke alarm never went off so... This was a square bubble inside a bubble!
This was the Merry-Go-Round...he placed about 6-8 bubbles inside a bubble then spun there around!
I don't remember how many bubbles he finally had attached to one another.
Now big can you go!
This was the cutest! It was a teddy bear he made of bubbles.

What a fun show! And we even got the recipe for making our own bubbles...1 Cup of Dawn liquid dish detergent to 10 cups of water (you can also add 1/4 cup of glycerin but not necessary). And you can use string or your hands/fingers to blow bubbles through! Who knew!

We had 5" of rain Wed. night and 2" last night! We do have a problem with some water from one of the pipes from our well but Bob rigged a drain into the sump pump. What a mess, but it could be worse...let's just hope it doesn't get worse. Temps still in the high 80's and so humid. It's almost hard to breath when you go outside. Of course, hubby is still golfing! Go figure!

2011-07-25T19:05:00.008-04:00

I was cleaning out some of my art supplies and took a box to Little Monster's, a kids toy store in Lake Orion. They offer free craft sessions on Wed.'s for the kids so I thought they could use some of my excess. While pulling out items for them, I came across some wallpaper sample books my sister sent to me years ago.
Isn't this neat! Well, it's not the sample! It's actually a doodle I did this afternoon on one of the wall paper sample pages!

This next picture is what a page looks like in the book. It's just dots in a design and each page is a different color. I think they are really cool!! I used a white gel pen given to me by Carol T. and it worked pretty good. The pages are 8" x 10" but you could make a nice clutch purse or a cell phone & Ipod bag!

This is what's on the back of each page. They are pretty sturdy but not too heavy that you couldn't sew through them. Now I have to get some different color pens to match some of the dots on the pages. There's a great sepia colored page that I want to do next but my brown pen is dried right up! Michael's here I come!

Most of yesterday and last night I spent trying to figure out the triangle pattern! You see these triangles are beaded together to make a bracelet..which isn't what I'm doing! I just wanted to make a few of them just to say I could, right!

Well I couldn't! Geezzzz I even had a dream about making beaded triangles last night!

But SUCCESS! I finally 'got' it this afternoon!!! Now I can quit! I only made one full triangle and then started with the next attached triangle! They look like little soldiers sitting in a row...ok, maybe not..but they are cute...
You can see the front and the bigger one in the back is attached, by the hip!

These were some of the other triangles I made..the one in the bottom left actually was the start of the correct pattern. I was just working on the 'decreasing' part of the pattern..next you start increasing back to a triangle...hard to gt this out of my head now!

Whew..glad that phase has passed!!! Tonight I'm going to work on Georgia on my Mind..just because my friend, Susan, doesn't think I'll have it finished when I see her next winter! HA I'm actually over 75% finished with the reverse applique so two or three nights of baseball should finish it up! Susan's working on her piece which is HUGE!!! I'll have to confirm the size of it but it's taller than she is and about 10 ladies wide! How's that for a measurement! It's a beautiful piece!!

Temps back up into the high 80's today. I think we're going to wear out the central air!!

Beaded Triangles

2011-07-23T08:05:00.007-04:00

The is a picture of my 'March Winds' I did for the 2010 BJP last year. I'm showing the small triangles that I made for the kite tail. (You can see the finished journal at the end of this post...back to the triangles.) I read Kate McKinnon's blog, which is a hoot, and she's been making closed beaded triangles from a technique by Jean Power's from the UK. I thought the triangles from Kate/Jean were quite clever, so I started to make them yesterday. My triangles above are made differently than Jean's but I have to admit her method is quite simple. This was the start of my first triangle.

And while watching the TV last night I made two more, but I'll need several to put them together. You have to see them enclosed on Kate's blog

and on Jean's blog. I think they're fun to make and you just never know where or how you might use a beaded, enclosed triangle!

This is how I used my peyote triangles so you might be surprised where or how you can use them!

The sleeve and label are on 'Betty' so it feels SO good to have that finished. It was a fun piece to do but I'm just glad to be done with target date projects. Now I can play! OK, I always play but now I can play without guilt! Temps up to 73 and I'm off for a bike ride...no breeze so I'm sure it will be hot out! Something different, right!

Cuff is finished!

2011-07-22T07:20:00.006-04:00

Yippee! I finished my 2nd cuff that I "beaded on the loom"! This is another pattern from Suzanne Cooper's web site. Suzanne has some great bracelet patterns in addition to many other patterns for different beading techniques. Check them out!

The pattern set I purchased has five different cuff patterns and I'm not sure which pattern I'll use for my 3rd cuff! The next one I'm making will be in orange/white since I wear a lot of spring colors. I can't wait to start another one but I have to finish the sleeve and label on my 'Twin'..she's all done except those two items and I'll post pics next week.
Carol and I had a fun day yesterday shopping in Auburn Hills. Carol and Tony are 'beach birds' from Florida and now spend six months in Michigan. I actually felt like I was in Florida picking up Carol for a day of 'tooting' around! We elected to go to the outside mall and walk around to the different stores which really wasn't bad even in the heat. We would walk a few steps then walk into air conditioning! Of course we had to have lunch which was really good...salad and a spinach/artichoke dip w/flatbread. Then to Starbucks for dessert, taking our drinks with us to Tradder Joe's!
While we were at the outside mall, I wanted to stop in Williams-Sonoma. My DIL had me try some sauce she bought from from them called Burger Bomb. As soon as we walked in the store, we were hit with a wonderful smell of something being grilled. Turned out it was chicken marinated in their Tequila Agave marinade. well, you know if it says TEQUILA I'll have to try it. Wow! It's a great marinade so Carol and I each both bought a bottle. I'm going to use it to marinade chicken for dinner the 1st night my sister comes to visit in a few weeks! Yep, my sis is coming to visit! I'm so excited and can't wait to see her!!! She's never been to our house and we had it built in '96! I'm having everyone up for dinner that weekend she's here as she hasn't seen Darrin since he and Kris got married 21 years ago! Dawn and I have gone back to Penna. to visit but now it's my sister's turn and I am thrilled!
Today temps are only to reach high 80's! That's a cool down isn't it. Good day to do some laundry and cleaning so I can play this weekend with some beading or other sewing! Stay cool!