Art work forthcoming!

Happy New Year one and all!! We're in for the night and actually ready for bed! Guess that's what happens when you get old(er)! Bob and I haven't gone out in years and that's just fine with us. We have our Mandy girl beside us and each other. We don't need more than that.
I have my sewing and art room all set up! now I'm ready to get busy. I did get a drawing on some friendly felt so I can start beading my Dec. BJP! Yes, I'm behind one month but I only have myself to report to. I do have 11 monthly pieces finished which you can check out here. I'm anxious to get started on 2011 pieces but first things first!

So here are more Christmas pics! This is Kayla and Ian as they celebrated at their grandma and grandpa's house in Holland, Michiigan.

And here's Mary Jo with the table runner I made her and Ron (Bob's son) and Ian. Ian also got an Ipod for Christmas. I just love mine and I'm sure he's enjoying his as well.

Temp was up to mid 70's today! It's still 63 @ 7:30 p.m.! Fits me just fine!!!

So be safe..enjoy the night and the start of the New Year!

Busy 1st day

Look what was on our dining room table when we arrived here yesterday! It's a beautiful bouquet from our friends Peggy & Sammy! You have to click on the picture to check out the card with the flowers. The decoy on the front is one of Sammy's wooden carved ducks. Sammy does beautiful carving and Peggy does wonderful paintings. She also took pictures of Sammy's work and printed out the cards herself. A talented couple for sure!

Larry and Jan have done everything to make us feel right to home here at their house. It's like we never left! They are the sweetest couple and I'll be posting pics of all our friends during our stay here in Ocala. We love getting together with everyone and just having a darn good time!

Today, Carol and I went 'tooting' around...stopping at JoAnn's for friendly felt (have to start on our Dec. BJP for 2010!), library, pet store, car wash (we won't have to wash the car again until right before we leave for Florida - the cars just don't get dirty here!) and then we stopped at the new Publix. What a great store!

Before I show pics of our trip, here are some Christmas shots. This is Darrin, Kris, Nick and Amber.

Uncle Jeff and Auntie Dawn with nick and Amber! I love this picture! Everyone is so happy!!
And Bob and I. We had a great Christmas with the kids. I also got some pics from Mary Jo but I have to download them again! I put them on my desktop back home. I'll post those tomorrow.
And just some shots of our 2 1/2 days of driving! This is the back seat with Mandy, Flat Stanley (more on him later too!) and both bird cages behind Flat Stanley.
Of course Sybil came with us to Florida this year!! He did great and is now in his larger bowl. I had Sybil out on the lanai with me today. It was 71 degrees today! Just a beautiful day out.
And just a shot of the back of our car! Yes, we haul quite a bit but we have this packing up and loading the car down pat! We can load the car in less than 45 min.!
Friday I plan on getting my sewing room set up so I can start on my BJP. Bob golfed today and his hip held up great! No pain! He said his back ached but he took two Tylenol and that seemed to do the trick. Tomorrow he's just going to hit a bucket of balls and perhaps putt and chip. Then he golfs three days in a row! Let's hope he keeps feeling good and has the best winter yet!

We're here!!

This picture tells how we felt by 8:30 p.m. last night! We arrived in Ocala around 1:30 to a sunny, 59 degrees. Larry and Jan had the house set up and ready for us. This is becoming our home away from home for sure.
After we unloaded the car, Bob set up the two bird cages and I headed off to the local quilt shop to drop off my sewing machine. It hasn't had a 'day at the spa' in years (although, I was ready for the spa I opted to give my slot up!). I then headed off to Panera's to pick up bagels then to Walmart and our local Publix (which is now a super Publix! ). We just had grilled sandwiches for dinner last night then put all our clothes away.
so here we are this a.m. with laptops on, watching GMA and drinking our coffee. So relaxing!! I had 96 emails so replies will be forthcoming. I'm anxious to get my sewing/art room set up (thanks for the table, Larry!) but I want to get Sybil set up (yes, our little fish came with us! More on his/her story later) and then head off to the library to pic up a 'real' book.

Merry Christmas 2010

To all our family, friends, Internet friends and my followers! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

He's here!!

Guess I really should say "they are here!"...look what my hubby bought me! He said it was for being such a good 'caregiver'!! It's an IpodTouch and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!!
I've already downloaded two audio books, checked my email on it, set up some icons (stock, weather, yada, yada!), played with some of the apps and took some pictures and videos, which are amazing! Pictures on it are better than on my Cybershot camera! I've already started to listen to a book but I'm going to wait until we drive south! Bob thought it best I get it now so I can listen to my books while we drive for 2 1/2 days! I'm so happy!!

So, the next arrival at our house is TADA!!! Flat Stanley! Flat Stanley is a project at Nick's school. He travels with someone and then you write about his journey.

Here he is coming out of his envelope. Flat Stanley will drive down to Florida with us and we'll take pictures and journal his trip. Then we'll send him on back to Nick at his school. His teacher will then read and show the kids about each Flat Stanley's journey. How cute is that!! Nick wrote the letter that came with Flat Stanley.

Mandy and Flat Stanley were resting after his busy travel in the mail.
And, just to let ya all know I haven't just been sitting and doing nothing...I did finish this ponshawl last week. I made mine entirely with Berroco suede yarn. I made a green/purple one in the suede yarn back in 2006! and I have it just about worn out. Thought I'd make another one to wear with black. I took this picture at 'arm's length'..wasn't easy..I should have cropped off my head but you get the idea.

The fringe is black, grey and red and this time I used #8 needles just to make it slightly tighter. The actually pattern is a lot looser and hangs down further. I'm short waisted so I prefer to have it just over my breast area. Works for me. So easy to make too.

So we're almost packed up..well, at least we started packing up some clothes today. So far, Bob has 16 pair of shorts in a space saver bag! Yep, that's 16..sixteen, 1 and a 6! He has more shorts than I have pants, Capri's and shorts! But he is on the golf course and must keep up his image! The fashion diva that he is! Now you know why I can pack up so quickly! We are really ahead of any previous year we've packed for Florida. Makes it nice so we don't work all day the day before we leave. It's been very relaxing and we're looking forward to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with kids!

Gifts!

Oops..you might see this post twice..hope not...anyway, before I get into the gift portion of this post. How about the picture above. Look closely..it's a gift from the big guy up above! They are some of our wonderful creatures what visit our bird feeders. Wild turkey's. Bob counted 11 but I don't know how many you can see. I love seeing these birds!! Makes me not want to eat turkey!

OK, the first gift is from Bob's son & his family. Check out the flavors of these grilling sauces! Yum!! We were debating about taking them or one to Florida but we actually don't grill out in Florida! Go figure, right! Larry did have a grill if I remember but we didn't use it at all. So guess we'll save these 'treats' for next spring! Bob and I both love chipotle flavor and of course the bourbon sauce sounds great too. That was very nice of the kids to send these. They're from Harry and David so if you interested check out their website.

Kids will be driving up from Indiana this week but we'll miss seeing them. They're heading over to Holland to stay at MJ's mom's house. I sent their gifts over and they arrived safely! Bob's daughter and hubby will be here Christmas Day and my kids will be here Christmas Eve.

So, check out this beaded ring I got! No, it's not my BD. My friend Carol T. saw it in Pier1 and said she thought of me and my beading. It's really a cool ring but I think it's more for Florida than for Michigan! HA

I did wear the ring to our luncheon last Thursday but none of the ladies said anything unless I start flashing my finger! They were probably just thinking..oh boy, now what did she do/make! Anyway, it was a nice gift from Carol and I will wear it again!

My BFF who lived across the street from us moved our west a few years ago. You can see a picture of Lynn here on my blog post. Lynn has now settled in beautiful Arizona and lovin it. While she lived here, Lynn was always giving me wonderful beaded earrings and bracelets she made. I haven't bought earrings in years! I have some very special pieces from Lynn and think of her often when I wear any of her jewelry. I miss her LOTS! Anyway, this beautiful pendant arrived in the mail the other day! Isn't it beautiful. I love it and it will go with lots of my outfits since it definitely is in my colorway!

And check out my latest gift! This is from our neighbor, Lori. It's a music box/ornament! Cody, Lori's dog, was visiting Mandy and grandma (ME!) and I opened the package and held the ornament in front of them. They were both spooked! So funny. I finally put it down on the carpet and Mandy was curious enough then. Although, knowing Mandy, she thought it was food!

School Christmas Concert 2010

The arrow points out our Amber! This was from her Super Singers Holiday concert on Friday. I'm including video's because her dad was on a business trip and didn't get to make it. Plus, Amber can see and hear the concert all over again. What a nice day!!! Dawn, Kris and I had a great lunch downtown Oxford which was really good before the concert!!

This next pic is of 4 & 5th graders playing the violin and cello!! I was really impressed with their effort. They are not the easiest of instruments to play but these kids gave it their all!
Enjoy a little Christmas music! Tomorrow I'll have some gifts to post!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

This was a cookie Amber made for grandpa's birthday, which is today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
Amber was so afraid I'd forget to take it and give to grandpa. Kris brought it yesterday and Bob was really touched. He called Amber today to thank her but she wasn't home. She did call back with her BD message. So special!!

Show & Tell Time!

OK, I'm getting frustrated with my post today...I keep deleting pics by mistake in trying to format...so these are all out of order but hopefully my followers will enjoy seeing the artwork from my talented friends!!!
Wow! What a show and tell we had on Thursday! Our small fiber group, Aussome, finally got to meet after two cancellations due to our snow storm!

First up, is a quilt Karen made for our Inspired by the Masters exhibit. This is her VanGogh piece. How cool is this!!! Do click on the picture to enlarge so you can see her hand work and detail. I love this piece!!!

This is the cover from the online class that Carol just finished. Now keep this picture in mind..again, having problems moving pics around so just think of it as a game today!

This was to be the start of my post...

I'll get my little S&T out of the way. I finally got to give each lady their peyote beaded needle case I made for them. Don't they look cute all in a circle! I used the pattern from Beth at Until We Bead Again. The pattern I used was her Honey Bee (I believe it's called that!) but you can see all the patterns she has here. I think my friends liked their 'gift' and hopefully, they will fill it with lots of needles! I showed a Christmas gift (can't post pic of it yet) as well as the wedding gift and humbug bags I made.

So now!!! Wait until you see the rest of the S&T! OK, so remember the pic above of the zen lady....here's the story: Carol has been taking some online drawing/watercolor classes. Her most recent class is Lady Zen by Judy Skeel.

This is the start of Carol's drawing and then check out her finished piece!!!

how cool is this!!!

Here's a closeup of Carol's 'Lady Zen'...isn't she beautiful!! Carol has a knack for drawing and needs to continue this study for sure. Isn't she great!
The following are some smaller cards that Carol has done in another class she's take by Jane LaFazio from Joggles.com. How wonderful!!!







This is a thread embroidery Christmas card Carol received by a relative (sorry i don't remember who!) This took a lot of work and is really nice.

This is an article on our Inspired by the Masters exhibit...yes, everything is out of order!!

This is Mary showing a quilt she's putting together from old blocks she made several years ago. The blocks were made for her son, Tony, who was into all different sports. Her blocks are amazing and again, click on the picture to see Mary's handwork. Tony passed away suddenly last spring so this is a nice remembrance for Mary.
And because Mary has so much free time (NOT!!) she's making these darling little dresses that are being sent to Africa based on an initiative that was started called 'Little Dresses for Africa'. These are made from scrap fabric and/or pillowcases. how cute!!! And so nice of Mary. She watches/helps raise her great grand daughter but Mary is so giving and I applaud her for taking time to even make these. They are so sweet! OK, I just deleted two of her pictures!!! I quit..hopefully, you get the idea on what these look like.
So that's our s&t! We had a nice lunch and time for talk which is always nice. I did book after almost two hours but the ladies sat and talked for another 45 min. I had to get to the post office and then get ready to head off to dinner with friends. Which was another nice evening! So now to finish packing up for south. Tomorrow I'll upload pics from Amber's Christmas concert at school yesterday. until then..stay warm! We're having a heat way today @ 22 degrees.

-1 degree!

One thermometer says it's -1.8 and the other one is reading -2! I don't remember having weather this cold but then I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night! Back roads are still snow covered and icy but the schools are open finally. I picked up kids yesterday and we had fun talking and laughing. So funny what comes out of their mouth!! We had a discussion about North America and South America. Nick was trying to understand why South Dakota wasn't in South America! I told him we would look at our world globe to show him North & South America. Nick is so inquisitive and asks questions. We had a huge discussion last spring about Jesus and Judas! I didn't even think he knew about Judas. That discussion came up when we were talking about Master Artists like DaVinci! Yes, he knew the artists and pointed them out to me from a library book he got (it was a Nat Geo book). Sometimes these kids are just too smart for old grandma!

I did get some of my sewing supplies packed up. It's pretty easy as I know what I want to take. This year I've only packed about four pieces of fabric. I can always dye, paint or buy fabric for the small pieces I'll be making. Of course I have packed up all my paints, dyes, stencils, etc. (& I do mean etc.!).

Today our small fiber group is finally meeting after two cancellations. It will be my last meeting with them until next spring. I'll make sure to take my camera for some of the show and tell. Karen has finished her VanGogh piece for our Inspired by the Masters exhibit and Carol has been taking an online class that she's excited to show us her results. Of course, Mary is always doing something as well so I'm sure she'll have something to show too. Hate to go out in this cold but off I go!

Welcome to Winter!

If you're already getting the snow I'm showing here, you can just go to your next blog to read. This post is for our Florida friends! We want to show you what you're missing up north!! Of course the big storm hit this weekend with temps as low as 4 degrees! Today we're having a heat wave and it's up to 19 (11:00 a.m.). Yippee!!
These are pics from our deck and it's being reported that we had about 6-7 inches. It's been blowing so much it's hard to tell! I wonder how they actually measure? Hmmm I did a google search and you can read about the measuring here. I thought it was a bit more 'technical' than this but....















This last picture, is before the storm, obviously!, Bob found this weed or whatever out in the yard. Of course, he brought it inside for me. I love it! Not sure what it is but I'm saving it. It's just cool..kinda lacy on the bud. A keeper for sure!

Our small fiber group was suppose to meet yesterday (canceled) and again today (canceled). We're shooting for Thursday and hope we can make that one. It's my only free day until we leave for Florida!! It's not so much getting things ready for Florida as it is for the holidays and meeting other folks, dinners, yada, yada..but I won't object...it's just hard to fit everything in! Kids have their school concert this Friday that I'll be heading down to. It will be extra special since both kids will be in this one. So keep warm...I'm off to finish wrapping the rest of my gifts. That will be one item off my list!

BJP November 2010

Above is my inspiration for my November BJP. And below is my finished piece 'Winter Winds' (at least I think that's what I called it). Now I have to go back and look at my label..but I think it looks like winter!

This is part of a snowflake and I just deleted one! Geeezzz...if you want to see them, just click on the larger piece above. I'm in the middle of watching Lions play and it's too hard to move pics around.

We had fun with the kids this weekend. I forgot to take pics until this a.m. Yesterday, they painted wooden frames for gifts and hopefully I'll remember to take my camera on Wed. and get pics. They also did some mono printing on paper. Amber and I made some chocolate crinkle cookies from some cookie dough her grandma Nancy had made. Amber made Christmas cookies with GN a few weekends ago. Of course kids played pool and grandpa got out two putters for the kids to practice putting on his putting pad (ok, that's what I call it!). This a.m. we made waffles, egg beaters scrambled eggs and bacon.
Then kids walked Cody, our neighbors dog and I ran outside to get a picture just as the kids were walking past the house. Amber's already down the street!
The kids dried Cody off and then went back outside to play in the snow for awhile. There's a major storm this weekend and it's still snowing @ 1:30 p.m. and is suppose to continue through the evening. Might be a snow day tomorrow for kids!




























Darrin and Grandpa are working on programming a remote. Darrin is setting up the remote for us to use so that we can get rid of 3 other remotes! One remote is enough for us to use! So that's our weekend. Darrin just called and he got home safe with the kids. I worry about the kids driving in the snow and ice!! Yes, I'm a worry wart! But that's just what mom's do!