Who would you like to have dinner with?

I don't know where I heard the question presented to someone...I do know it was on TV, but since I'm usually doing some type of hand or machine work I seem to listen more than watch...but the question was asked "who would you like to have dinner with?". 

I got thinking about who I would want to have dinner with...of course, the so called 'famous' people, historians, etc. came to mind but I have to say my 'mum' was at the front of the line.

My mother passed away November 5th, 1982 at the age of 58.  She had Hodgkin's disease which she fought for almost 6 years.  I have to say I would give anything now to sit and have dinner with her and tell her all the things I never said when she was alive.  I would tell her I was sorry for judging her for the choices she made in her life; for the times that I didn't call her because I was too busy or just didn't want to talk to her.  Sorry that I didn't know what to say to her when she called me one day telling me she was "scared" because of the cancer.  It was the only time my mother ever said she was frightened or felt sorry for herself.  I just held on to the phone but didn't reply to her.  I didn't know what to say.  She was such a strong woman and this was so unlike her...

Now I would tell her how proud I/we all were of her strength during her chemo treatments, days of being so sick and yet she still traveled for her job, had us over for the holidays, would come to our house and was still one of the best grandma's to our kids.   Mum even did some talks for the Red Cross speaking to other cancer patients. 

I would tell her now that I'm older I've learned we all need to make choices in our lives and we can't make choices others want us to make.  Yes, we are all selfish beings but with maturity we see what being selfish can do...it's a shame it takes us so long in life to realize how those choices will impact the rest of our lives (and others!).

Mum, I know you are watching me...and know that I love you and think of you often...sometimes with tears in my eyes...other times with a smile on my face (remember the time we were shopping with Dawn Marie when she was about 2 or 3 and you had too go potty SO bad...we were laughing SO hard that you had a 'leak'!!).  We laughed and ran all the way to the car!  Of course, Jerome (kids father) had a good laugh as well over our girls day out.  Jerome always encouraged mum and I to go shopping on Saturday's!  We took the kids with us every time too.

So when I get to Florida and visit my sister, we'll have a dinner and pretend you are with us!  And of course, I'll order cherry pie with chocolate ice cream!  Just because we can!!!  Love you mum!!!

My weekend

Before I get into my art work....
Tiger's - boo hoo;
Michigan - boo hoo
Lion's - yippee!  One out of 3 isn't bad!


I haven't done any free motion quilting on a consistent basis for quite sometime...just here and there and boy, can I tell I'm getting out of the rhythm! 

I started quilted some pieces of fabrics for more snap bags...this is a picture of one of the pieces I started...this is also posted on Kalee's blog...you see that 'white' stuff on the right side!  well, it almost ended up in my quilting! 

You can see where Kalee lays while I sew!  Not sure why.  She can see out the window, better I would think, by sitting in front of the window.  But, no, she likes to lay behind my machine!  Still not sure why.

This is one of the pieces I finished along with a shibori piece I did a few years ago.  I used a pale green thread which doesn't show up that well but it's ok.  Once the fabric is folded and sewn it won't matter.  Just some more fabric for snap bags!

And then I started to play around with a method Libby Lehman has shown.  It's making circles using embroidery stitches.  This is the attachment you use and it really does work well.

This is one square embroidered.

And another one finished.  This was a piece of pole wrapped shibori from a 'shibori' exchange our fiber group did several years ago.  I love the piece but only have a fat quarter size. 

I hope to quilt some more in both of these squares and use for snap bags. 

Of course I have to show my hex's!  I have 7 more rows to add to the bottom!!  I also found another piece of the screen printed fabric used in the middle.  It's only 8" x 11" but I know I'll include it somewhere...but I have to decide exactly what I'm going to do with this piece.  I was thinking of making larger hex's to be included in some strips but then..........

I'm going to be sad when I finish adding the last rows!  I've loved every minute sewing these buggers!!  I'll be going back to working on my patchwork embroidery next.  Can't just sit still trying to catch up on all our TV series.  Now that baseball is over with we can get back to some normal TV.  But wait...It's Monday night football!!!  Yippee...one more nigh of football!!  Then we'll watch regular TV or TIVO! 

A different way to use pumpkins!

You have to check out this video!  Kinda creepy but artistic!

More snap bags

 I want to get some more snap bags made for Christmas so I started to look though my fabric stash...and what did I find!   These are fabric swatches that my sister sent me several years ago!  Actually, she sent me a huge box of swatches.  I've used them in fiber postcards from time to time and they are the perfect size for snap bags.

I haven't added the casing for the ruler yet but just wanted to show how these swatch's will make the perfect size for a snap bag!  Not sure how my sister gained access to so many of these swatch books but if you get an opportunity to grab some up don't pass it up!  

 Waste not...want not!!!

Small Paws Rescue Donation

Here are the beaded pieces I donated to the Small Paw's Rescue online auction that starts Nov. 2nd!   You can bid on items by clicking on the link for the rescue on my blogs sidebar or here. 

This piece is 9" x 12" and is called 'The Reef'.

These are detail shots of the beading.  My pieces are in the HOME & GARDEN section  of the auction.  There are so many items to choose from!  And if you're a Bichon dog lover, lots of items with a Bichon on them!! 

This is called 'Wintergreen'.

8 1/2" x 11"

And last is 'Christmas Tree'....duh!  This bugger is heavy!  It is also 8 1/2" x 11".

 So while 'ya all'  are watching the World Series tonight (Go Tiger's!)...scan the donation items in between innings!!!  There are some really nice items and it's for a great cause.  Animal abuse is such a terrible thing and whatever each of us can do to help prevent or take care of those being abused is a wonderful thing.  If it weren't for my hubby, I'd would definitely be a volunteer for taking in some of these abused animals...but hubby said "no" to that.  At least I can do some 'work' in the background!!  I've got my eye on a few items myself!  Let the bidding begin!!

Sunday Accomplishments

Yesterday was a productive day.  I did some cleaning then headed to my sewing room.  Lion's don't play until tonight (Tiger's are on Wed.) so I wasn't missing football.   .

I want to get started on making some more snap bags for Christmas.  This is the silk dupioni that I had free motion quilted.  It's only 4" x 5" but a good size to fit in a purse or even for putting jewelry in if you travel.  OK, I'm trying to think of ways folks might use this bag!  I made two but only took a pic of one.

Last night I put away my embroidery patchwork quilt top and got back to hex's.  I love having different hand work...yes, I get bored easily! 

The left side shows rows that are all stitched with the paper removed (English paper piecing method).  The next 3 rows are sewn together and the rest of the right side are the hex's sewn but not sewn together.  Make sense? 

I still have about 8 more rows of individual hex's that will be added.  The piece should measure approximately 9" x 30+"...let's hope.

And my last accomplishment from yesterday was to sew the clasp on my black tila bracelet.

I also put a clasp on another Tila I finished.  I just picked up a clasp for it last week but didn't take a pic.  You can see the finished bracelet here minus the clasp.  

Hubby left for golf and I'm off to meet a friend for breakfast...one of my favorite meals!!!  Laundry to do when I get home.  What fun!

Boys, Beading and Bichon's!

This is Nick and Darrin taken yesterday at the end of the playoff game.  Nick's team, OJW Freshmen Blue were  the No. 1 Seed and played against Clarkston-Blue No. 4 Seed.  The boy's played their hearts out but lost 6-8.  It was a close game the entire time and OJW almost scored in the last few seconds.  Regardless, we are all so proud of Nick and his team.  I can tell you there were  many tears flowing from the moms, dads, family and friends for these kids.    But they can hold their heads up high!  This is a note from my son..."the Defense on OJW-Freshman Blue only allowed (1) Touchdown in any of the given games and two of games were shut outs; that is just amazing Defense and Nick got to be a key player on Offense and Defense.  Nick never gave up on any play!"  You can tell Darrin is a proud dad, as we all are.  

On Thursday I picked up some Tila beads and I finished another bracelet.  I just have to put the clasp on, which I'll do sometime today or tonight. 

 I needed a plain black/gray bracelet and this one will be perfect.  I do need to make a black peyote ring to go with it.  Something to start beading when the World Series starts!   Go Tiger's!!!

This is a closeup to see the pattern for this bracelet.  I really like working with the Tila beads and this pattern is very easy to follow.  
You can watch the YouTube provided by Beadaholique!  They have some great video's for making many different beading projects on their web site.  




And now on to BICHON's!!!  I had an email from one of my followers, Diane Kojabash, introducing me to the Small Paws Rescue web site and their upcoming online auction.  Diane follows Kalee's Paw Prints so she is well aware how much we love our Bichon's.   "The  Small Paws Rescue is the largest breed rescue in the country, with over 800 volunteers and over 6000 members in 26 countries.  They have rescued over 8000 Bichons in the past 12 years from across the country."

Diane, who is a Small Paws Rescue volunteer and "Bichon Lover", thought I might be interested in the upcoming auction and she was right!  I am going to donate a few of my beaded art quilts and I also happen to see some items that I'm going to bid on!!!    The auction starts on November 2 so PLEASE check out their site and some of the auction items they already have listed.  Perhaps you might even consider donating some piece of art work or $$'s!!  Either way, I think it's a win/win for us and for the poor dogs that are abused, discarded but then rescued by this great organization!!  

Tomorrow I'll post pics of the pieces I'm donating. 

More circles!

"It's my party/blog, and I can cry/post if I want to!"  Personally, I like having my blog to document the process I go through with my art work (at least it's art work to me!).  Helps me look back to see how/what I did!  Heaven knows my memory isn't what it used to be!
So if you're bored looking at circles and my process, plz feel free to bypass today's read!

Another 'blog mate', JILL (ha, got it right didn't I, Jill!) over at The Quilt Rat posted on using sticky dots to mark her circles.  Jill was filling in the area around the circles with free motion quilting.  You can read about and see her beautiful quilting here. 
I got thinking of some other design for one of my patchwork circles and thought, I'll use Jill's suggestion! 

The circles worked perfect to stitch around!  A great tip...thanks (again!) Jill. 

I worked on these circles and filling in with stab stitch while watching our Tiger's win to advance to the World Series!!  Now that's a good thing!!!

I'm almost finished with this circle...just need to continue filling in the outside circle, then on to the next one!  Seems like these circles are multiplying during the night!  I keep thinking I only have one more to go and low and behold, there pops another one!!! 
Yesterday I met my friend Joan, who lost her hubby this past summer,  for a lunch at Olive Garden!  We really had a nice visit and I'm looking forward to meeting her again before we head south.  Joan is a wonderful artist, working in oils and acrylics.  I'm going to her home on our next visit so I hope to 'remember' to take my camera and some pictures of her art.

 I also stopped at the bead store and picked up some Tila beads and clasps I had on order.  I want to make a gray/black Tila bracelet and now I can put the clasp on my Tila bracelet I made in August.  I had to order the 6 prong clasp so now I can finish it!

Today is Dr. appt with my GB surgeon!  I'm doing really well and gaining wt back!  Can't believe I'm saying "yippee" to that!  But my pants were so baggy I looked like the 'bag lady' wearing her bag! 

Unsewing and stamping!

 This is one of my circles I showed in my last post.  I had mentioned the green thread in the outside circle wasn't showing up enough....so...or "sew" I did some un-sewing!  I ripped out the outer threads and restitched using a dark purple thread.

I think this looks so much better...just gives some contrast to this circle.  It was fun playing with another idea on filling in the center of this circle.

  My 'Q' buddy in Florida asked me if I mark my circles before I stitch.   This picture shows my drawing of circles I did on tracing paper to get an idea on what size or where I wanted circles.







Once I'm satisfied with the placement, I take the same kitchen plates or lids or whatever circle I found! and traced around them using my trusty Bohin Extra Fine Mechanical Chalk Pencil & White Lead on my quilt top.  For the rest of the circles, inside stitching for example, I'll just eyeball and mark with my pencil. 

 I love this pencil!!  Of course, if I'm marking on very light colored fabric I use my Berol gold pencil or my lead mechanical pencil.  Each of these are good for marking and the marks come out easily by the end of your stitching,  but I'd be lost without my Bohin white lead pencil.  It is my most favorite tool!

I also carved a small (& I mean small stamp!) using the patterns from Geninne Zlatkis book.  This one measures around 1 1/2 - 2".  You can see my post on Geninne's book here!  I love her book!


I had a white ink pad and so stamping was called for!   Had to try out my little stamp!

The black cardstock is from a zentangle piece I made a few years ago.  I didn't want to stamp this small design on a large piece of paper so I got out my little 'tangle' book and just added the leaves to it.  It was fun to carve out this stamp but I'm not as smooth at the carving yet.  My friend suggested I purchase the Speedy Carve block that is pink.  She said they don't seem to crumble as the regular blocks do.  I see where Dick Blick has a new item called Speedball Speedy Cut Easy which is blue.  I'm going to pick up the pink at Michael's and if it crumbles then I'll try Dick Blick's block in blue.  One of these will work I'm sure.  

Tomorrow is suppose to be in the 70's here!  Now that's a perfect fall day isn't it!  I"m going to do some cleaning up of hosta plants and some other yard work, then head down for Amber's basketball game!   Of course Bob will be golfing and it will be nice not to hear him not complain about how windy or cold it is golfing.  I keep telling him he doesn't have to golf in bad weather!  But that comment falls on deaf ears...go figure!

Sewing, football and baseball!

A great weekend for doing handwork!  Although, watching the Tigers advance to the American league playoffs was nerve wracking!  That may account for some of my stitches not being equal/straight!  :)

Geezzz...so far so good...Tiger's have won two games so far against the Yankee's!  Yahoo!!!  They have a long way to go so we'll see....until then I'll keep stitching away on my piece!

 On this circle above, I'm going to 'unsew' the green on the outside circle.  The green isn't standing out enough so I'm going to switch to the deep purple. 

I've really enjoyed working on this piece...it doesn't take any brain cells (well, hardly!) so I can watch sports...oh, Lion's won as well...not that they played all that great...but a win is a win!

Congrats to the grand sons!

Before I get into the game from Sat., a BIG congrats goes out to Ian for a great cross country season this year!!  To quote his mom, "Ian did really well at Sectionals on Tuesday - he had his best time ever at that course. Unfortunately they just missed advancing to Regionals by 4 points - SO close! He had a great season and they are already looking forward to next year."  Way to go Ian!!!!  We are so  proud of you and your team!!! 

Now to the picture here.  This is Auntie Dawn out in the rain yesterday (along with the rest of the parents/family/friends) taking pictures at Nick's football game.  Dawn has taken pictures every game with the exception of one when she was out west at a photography shoot.  She is such a good Aunt! 
I give her credit because yesterday was a nasty weather day!  It was only in the mid to high 30's with rain the entire game.  It was raining so hard, they finally called the game with less than 5 min. to play.  The poor kids were froze!!!  I felt so bad for them & us!  But at least Kris (my DIL), Jeff (my SIL) and I had umbrella's and blankets...all of which were soaked!  Jeff even had on his golf rain gear but he too was soaked. 

It was parents day yesterday so each player was walked on the field with his parents.  I missed getting Nick's name called out but did get his parents!  Geezzz....I'm just not the photographer in this family! 

Nick's team won 12-0 and are now in the Play-Offs starting next weekend.  They'll actually be playing this same team next week so you just don't know what will happen.  I'm just hoping for decent weather as I'm sure everyone else is too!  But if not, we'll be there cheering the kids on!  I'll have to bring my cow bell next week!  I keep forgetting!  Maybe that will keep me warm by ringing it (lots!). 

This was the team trying for the extra point - Auntie still taking pics

1/3 Hex's sewn!

Yep, 1/3 of my hex's are sewn together!  Yippee!!  And I actually sewed one row together earlier this afternoon.  Actually, I haven't felt much like doing any sewing the past week but felt good enough today to do a little.  I have to say I've enjoyed sewing these little buggers together!  Nice and portable and no brain waves required!

Bob and I went out for dinner and I've eaten my calories for the day!!  I know I can gain some weight but not sure I wanted to do it all at one sitting!!  UGH!  We did have a good meal (I had Asian salad) but we also had spinach dip before dinner and dessert after!  Yes, it was chocolate! 

So I plan on sewing more hex's tonight after I work Kalee on some tricks and just sit/stay/come plus a few tricks!  We did go on our walk around noon but it was so darn windy!  Temp was 61 w/sun but that wind!  I even had on a wool cap and gloves!  Yes, I'm a wimp when it comes to the wind/cold! 

Congrats (again!) my friend!

Yep, it's a HUGE congratulations again for my friend Susan (Ziel) from Florida! 

Her quilt Homage To Spring won First Place in the Hand Quilted Wall Quilt category at the AQS show in Des Moines that was held the 1st week in October! 

You can see all the winners listed here.  I love this quilt but you really need to see it in person to appreciate all of Susan's hand work! 

I'm ok with putting Susan's quilt picture on my blog as this quilt is all over the Internet!  All you have to do is 'google' Susan's name and you'll see this quilt and others she has entered and won with in quilt shows. 

This is my 'Q Buddy' and she should be smiling!  Another very well deserved win and acknowledgement from your peers!!!

Well, day six post GB removal and down to 112 lbs.  Guess there's something to say about having surgery!  You have to look at pros and cons to everything don't you.  Just a lot going on right now in my life...hope to get back to 'normal' soon! 

Hello Again!

No this isn't me!  But I should be back at it again, "on my bike", as my son said, soon!  I had gall bladder removed on Wed.  Feeling pretty good but just so darn weak and shaky!  Geezzz  I've only taken one of the Vicoden pills and that was the night of surgery.  I'm just so darn dizzy and lightheaded, but that will pass.  It's a little uncomfortable sleeping at night trying to turn and figure out which side you want to sleep on...but overall the surgery was a piece of cake.  Which, by the way, sounds good...cake!  Actually, I don't have an appetite so I'm only eating toast, soups and  English muffin but I'm sure my great appetite will come back too!
I should be back at doing some handwork soon!  Until then, hope my followers are enjoying the beautiful fall weather!  My favorite time of year!