3 years - Boy I have missed my blog!

Was looking at another persons blog and leaving comments and mentioned my blog and sent her a link to it and saw it has been 3 years since I have posted.  Not anymore!  I will start back again tonight.  This is my therapy and I sure have needed it!  I have really missed sharing, even if only with myself, on this blog.  Be back soon....

A gift from God - a new grandchild is on the way!

Motorcycle Man called me yesterday afternoon and said "Hello Granny "again".  It took a second and then I realized what he meant - our oldest daughter, County Gal and her husband The Hunter just found out yesterday that they are expecting their second child in July.  Thank you God!  

Can you imagine what gear my mind immediately went in to?  The quilting, the knitting, the garment sewing - do I have enough time if I start today???  I will keep you posted throughout the next 8 months.  :o)

My mind is running like a screen of never ending pictures of all the goodies I can (and will) make for this newest grandbaby.

Stay tuned!

What an Amazing Girlfriend Retreat!

A group of girlfriends I am proud to be a part of attend a yearly Girlfriend Retreat each year.  I was not able to attend last year but was so lucky to there this year!  Thank you God!  

We were so very blessed to be the guests of one of the original Girlfriends and when we arrived we each found robes laid out across the bed along with a stack of towels and washcloths and the most amazing gift basket on the night stands.  If you have never experienced this luxury I pray that it will come to you in the near future.  Then as if this was not enough, she went to Panera's to pick up fresh bagels and brought them to us to go along with the many flavors of coffee and creamers we each experienced.

Anywhere we went was done via the golf carts at our disposal.  I was there from Thursday evening through Sunday morning and went out to eat, Wal-mart, the movies, a book store, a Mexican restaurant about 20 miles away, visiting other friends houses, Bealls Department store, an awesome dress shop, took breathtaking pictures of a sunset and did all of this on a golf cart!  That is the life I tell you!

And did I forget to mention .....

that I was also asked to design a custom fit Do-Rag by Motorcycle Man?  Here is the prototype in muslin and then I have production-line produced 4 more, 3 for him and one for One Stop, using U of Tenn, U of GA and Pow-Mia fabrics.  Awesome!

Shower Gifts Pictures

Where has the time gone?

I have spent almost no time on the internet since my last post.  I have been on a mission that finally came to light last Sunday - the shower for my dear niece and her soon to be born sweet baby girl.

I decided to see just how far out of my comfort zone or box I could step and see what I was able to teach myself on my Babylock Esante sewing/embroidery machine and my new Babylock Imagine serger.  It was so fun going through the manuals and trying out only a fraction of what these amazing machines are capable of producing!

I made a cute quilt - started piecing the top my hand and finished it on the machine, added the binding and then hand quilted it.

Then I decided to really test my comfort zone and made a Christening Gown, slip, bonnet and matching blanket with her name embroidered on it.

Then I wanted to make double sided bibs with a cute embroidery on one of the sides - I made two newborn size ones.

Then so the cute little mommy would not be left out I made her a small shoulder strap bag that would hold her smart phone and iPod with a pocket for her license, debit card and cash.

As much as I missed being on my blog, it was amazing to see what I was able to believe in myself to do.  From time to time I admit I would start having DT's so I would pop in on your blogs to see what you had been up too.

Oh yeah, I also took advantage of a great sale at one of my local fabric stores and bought a new dress form and am back in the process of making my own clothes again now that I have a serger!  I used to make all my work clothes and most all the kids play clothes but the insides were a mess.  This serger gives it such a clean finished look!

I will post pics of her shower gifts shortly.

Serger Opinions and Reviews please....

I have made a beautiful dress over the last few days and it looks so great on the outside but flip it inside out and it is loaded with stings.  Lots of strings!  I have a serger in the closet, a Euro Pro, that I have had for probably 15 years.  It stinks.  Yes, that is my opinion and review!  I have only been able to use it for the first few pages of examples and it came un-threaded and I have never been able to get this machine to work properly since.  I also had Motorcycle Man and several other people try their hand and they had just as much trouble as I did.

This leads me to my questions:

Do you own a serger?

What make/model?

What is your opinion and review of it?

Would you buy it again?

And if not, what brand would you buy?

Thanks in advance for you part in helping me make a decision on what brand serger to buy since I have a ton of dress material and a drawer of new patterns.

WIP Wednesday

My WIP Wednesday project is for my unborn great-niece who is due in November.  I found this fun material in TN last week at one of the wonderful quilt shops I visited.  I started hand-piecing it while I was there and finished it last night.  Today I added the borders and sandwiched it together and am it is ready for the quilting.  I am undecided whether to hand or machine quilt it.  I have plenty of time to hand quilt it and it gives it a vintage look in my opinion so I may choose that route.  Her parents are very "green-earthly" college professors so I think that completing it with the hand quilting might be pleasing to them as well.

Hopefully I can have this finished before next Wednesday so it does not show on the list twice.  :o)

I did not spend alot of time working on my poncho last week after ripping it out and starting over.  Here is the latest picture of it.

And here is a newborn washcloth that I just finished I need to weave in the ends and it will go in the finished stack of things to give to my niece and her husband.

You know, looking at this post and the pictures I actually did get alot done this last week without my beloved Internet!!!  Hmmmmm - is this something I might want to do once a month?  The answer is.............

No Internet for over a week!

A sudden unscheduled trip left me without internet  (and my beloved blog!) for over a week!  I could never imagine what that would be like and after having lived it recently I can tell you it is horrible.  Right up there on my top ten five things I never want to have to go through again.

However, I did find that without my laptop attached to me I was able to knit a newborn washcloth, get a third of a newborn quilt sewn together by hand since I did not have time to even grab a sewing machine.  I keep a bag of yarn and needles always packed and ready to grab but had taken apart my sewing/quilting bag.  Thank goodness two awesome quilt shops were within 10 miles from me and I was able to pick up the baby quilt kit, thread, thimble, needles and scissors for a very fair price. 

I am so overcome with the need for sleep right now but when I am back online later today I will post pics of the things I was able to work on as well as pictures I took while I was gone.

TTYL

Rip It, Frog It - no matter how you say it I still want to cry

My lovely poncho I have been working on and told you about.  My beautiful poncho I planned on wearing soon to stand between me and the chill that is coming.  My amazing poncho I recently shared

with you when I discovered I have been missing 4 key stitches on it for oh maybe 50 rows!

Well here is a picture of my lovely, beautiful, amazing poncho in the process of being Frogged, Ripped or however we knitters want to term it.  In short, here it is with hours of work ripped out.  

And oh yes, I felt a slight chill in the air this morning while I was having my coffee on the front deck.  What is going to stand between me and the forthcoming chill???  Several balls of yarn?  With curls in it from being knitted and ripped out?

 Stay tuned and send me good thoughts that I stick with this project and it does not end up in the UFO cabinet in my studio.  I would love to wear it this winter and for winters to come.

When we are asked to serve...

  In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”   Acts 20:35

This came to my mind when I was asked to help sit with Sheriff without a Badge's mother who had a massive stroke this week and was just moved from ICU.  I met this lady when I was a mere child of 14 and my sister introduced our family to her friend, who would later become her future husband.

Now she is 80 and it was the day for her standing weekly hair appointment of which she still drove herself to.  Her husband, 81, heard her say "Oh" and went into the bedroom and there she lay from a fall, unable to move or talk.  A call to 911 and she was transported to the local ER and was given a miracle shot, one that 4 days later even have the doctors amazed at her ability to move and respond to requests. 

She still has not been able to speak a coherent word but smiles when her son tells a joke or cries when the phone is held to her ear and a beloved family member from her home state says a few soothing words across the miles.

I had the pleasure/honor of sitting with her yesterday and knitting there instead of at home.

She is a fiercely independent woman still maintaining her spotless home and putting three meals on the table at the same time each day.  She is a woman from the earlier generation of helping to "bring home the bacon and cooking it too".  Still gets dressed up plus hair just right and makeup in place every day.  She was always a very kind, loving woman but I never remember her being a touchy freely person.  I went on trips to her beloved home state with her as a teenager, I spent many nights at her home - treated like the daughter she never had.

Nothing, NOTHING prepared me for who I saw when I opened the door to that hospital room!  

I think she must be thinking why are all these people seeing me like this - confused,  bruised and I mean bruised horribly from the fall, in a hospital gown that takes away any persons' dignity, what happened to my hair, my makeup and where are my teeth.  She is a tiny woman and she does not have the strength to pull that horrible gown up over her tiny shoulders.  

I immediately talk to her like I normally would - helping her to cover her shoulders and did something I have never done - I reached out to touch her - I stroked her hair and instead of the pulling away that I would have expected from this lady that was not one to cuddle, she pushed her head into my hand and a soft moan escaped her lips.  Two tears streamed out of the sides of her eyes and she did not pull away.  She pushed her head further into my hand.  I spent many hours with her yesterday, talking, stroking her hair until she would slip back into a soft sleep and talking. 

In the blink of an eye this woman and her family's lives changed.  No warning but changed for how long no one knows.  She was approved to move to Rehab yesterday.  Two weeks of rehab and then they expect her to be changed enough to go home or if recovery is not as expected than it will be a nursing home.

It is true that statement, 'we never know'.

Surprise Me Thursday - my blog was featured on two of my favorite blogs!

I have been busy today with dreaded chores:

1.   making sure money was in the bank via the internet
2.   making a token deposit in person
3.   paying bills online and in person
4.   giving the tag department $502.28, or so it seemed as I wrote a large check for tags, tags and tags!
5.   dropping "The Kind Life" off at one library so it could be shipped across the state for another lady wanting to be a vegan
6.   go to another local library to check out their copy of "The Kind Life" that had been returned by a local patron also wanting to be a vegan
7.   stop by and let Motorcycle Man take me to lunch at the newest Chinese Buffet in town
8.    forget to pick up his eye drop prescription
9.   come home and knit about 30 more rows on the WIP poncho
10.  Realize I have been missing four key stitches on the last 50 rows of the WIP poncho!!!!!!  Now I have to rip it apart and start over!
11.  Cry and give up and take a much needed nap!!!


However, there was a silver lining to the day believe it or not!  My beloved blog was featured on two of my favorite blogs!

Seams Inspired
Cozy Little House

I want to thank you ladies again so much for featuring my blog!  I love blogging and had made up my mind when I started this new one (I have been blogging since GEOcities was a host many years ago) that it did not matter if I was ever read by anyone but me as long as I wrote about my favorite things in life.  It is my way of journaling and sometimes just letting my hurts and frustrations out in a constructive way.  I write it just like I talk to my children, husband, grandchildren and friends. 

I am learning so much from the blogs I read and look forward to visiting them everyday.  This has turned what was becoming a not so good day into a blessing - Thank You ladies!

Welcome Wednesday 9/15

WIP Wednesday

I have not felt good for the last three days/nights.  Lack of sleep and pain register off the chart has taken away my desire to create.  However, while looking at the blogs I follow this morning, I came across today's post over on Zibeline Knits I was reading her WIP Wednesday post and was inspired to get my camera and take a picture of what I have been working on for several days in anticipation of cooler weather coming.

I am not a coat wearing person so I usually wear a large comfy sweat shirt jacket or a thin sweater.  However, last winter I was at a cute little yarn shop across town and found the Women's Poncho #246 pattern and some yarns to blend together and have been working on this shawl.  Hopefully I will have it ready by Thanksgiving which is when I will finally be cool enough to wear something besides long sleeves.  I can remember before middle age visited me I was bundled up in layers and layers just to be semi-comfortable.  Now, just long sleeves and I am good.

Can't sleep so I may be visiting your blog right now....

When I can not sleep I try first to turn over and go back to sleep.  Second, see what is on the Food channel or HGTV or, you get the picture.  Third, watch The Closer or any cooking show I have recorded.  Fourth, get up get a Fresca or glass of ice water and walk out on one of the decks and listen to all the night time animal sounds.  Fifth, if all else fails - grab the Mac and head to a comfy spot and start visiting folks that have visited my blog.  I have just finished leaving comments on 6 blogs and entering two contests and thanking Just Married With Coupons for an earlier win I had on one of their Brain TeaZers.  They are well worth a visit if you have never been to their page!

What do you do if you are not able to sleep???  Leave me a comment and let's compare how we all deal with this!

TTYL