Happy New Year 2026

 

Well, I'm typing this on New Year's Eve afternoon...watching the snow fall...26 degrees and a normal Michigan Winter Wonderland!  It is pretty to look at...I had a dental cleaning this a.m. but roads were mainly wet until the drive home.  Freezing rain started but I got home with no issues.  None of our families are big on going out...well, except Nick & Braylon!  They're off snowboarding for a few days with a group of their friends until the weekend.  Good for them!!!

  

I'm going to 'try' to keep my blog updated at least weekly in 2026!  Key word is 'try'!  I have the knitting project that I'm not happy with but I did finish one sleeve and starting on the 2nd one.

I'll be glad to have this off my back...I always say having any project unfinished is like having homework...it's always hanging around.  I don't like not finishing a project.  Yes, I have some in the works but they are ones I know I'll finish.  Well, I hope I'll finish before I leave this earth!  HA

I do want to get back into quilting again.  I've always enjoy the process and designing my own patterns.  Yes, easy to struggle but fun to figure out the correct way to finish a project.  

This is a drawing I did years ago in one of Hilary's online classes.  You can see the doorknob so it's a good size.  I'm sitting on the couch with two dogs and a laptop so too hard to get up and measure!  HA

I'll turn the design but just wanted to show what the design could or would be!  

Which brings me to some other 'project' I have!

I've posted before on the amount of hex's I've made in the past and still have!  These 3/4" buggers are looking for a new home!  

So, can I incorporate into the design above??  Have the hex's as the leaves or should I just sew them all together 'willie/nilly' or do a color wheel type quilt then cut it up for upcycled totes or ??!  So many decisions.  But guess I have the time to decide!

Until then...hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Christmas 2025

Race track up and running

 Another Christmas has come and gone!  Seems like it will take forever to get here and then poof!  It's done!  I didn't get Christmas decorations up until a week before Christmas.  Bob took down his race track and it was a shock how much room we had after it was gone!  HA  We have always enjoyed our family room with the fireplace, pool table, etc. but we don't spend a lot of time there...other than I am going up and down the stairs to let the dogs out in the fenced in yard.  HA

Race track all gone!  Decorations in boxes ready to hang!

Red & Green this year!  

The deer is from  Kris' mom.  He's so cute

Upstairs fireplace - we put the tree and other
decorations downstairs in family room.  

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Centerpiece Kris, Darrin & kids got me

I got Kris another Gnome for her collection
which made my son happy!  NOT!

I gave Jeff some Flamingo's for his yard!  

Jeff is a fanatic about his lawn...the poor guy has been struggling this past summer to get rid of some 'bad grass' so I got him a T-shirt that says 'Grass Master' along with some Flamingo's to put on his lawn where the bare patches are.  It brought a lot of laughs and Jeff is such a good sport to go along with the joke. 

 All the kids got gift cards to favorite restaurants and my son also got a 'travel snack pouch' I filled with treats, hand wipes.  Darrin's job consists of driving to Ohio, Indiana and traveling to Mexico from time to time.  This way he'll have snacks for those long trips!  HA

I didn't get individual pics of family.  I have to admit we/I are really bad about taking family pics.  No one wants them taken so it's almost a chore to say "let me get a picture"...ugh 

Braylon & Nick.  Dawn got both them and Amber a gift of enjoying each of their respective date nights upcoming!  

Amber is a Red Wing fan so she'll be using her 'gift' for that.  On another note, it was too bad but Amber's friend, Carson, had the flu and didn't attend...and to make it worse, his father was taken to the hospital with Cardiac Heart Failure!  Made for some sad times for Amber.

Nick & Braylon are going snowboarding for New Year's so that's where they'll use their 'gift' from Auntie.  Dawn wrote each of the kids the sweetest note to go with their present.  You can hear Braylon reading her card below!

I thought I had Amber reading her gift but can't locate the video...hmmmmm  All in all it was a great holiday with kids..

Dawn's famous desserts she makes each year. 
These were leftovers for us!  

And Dawn's famous scones~!

Bob loves Dawn's spicy nuts!!!  They are so good!

Dawn was so sweet  making Bob his favorite spicy nuts!  AND she put together our favorite overnight French Toast for me to just pop in the oven Christmas morning for our breakfast.  She also gave us some blueberry scones to munch on!  We love both of these!!!  Of course we had a ton of desserts...didn't get many individual pics but I did post of FB here: Christmas treats

Another wonderful Christmas....and now to start 2026...hopefully, it will be a great year for us all!!

More Totes

 In between volunteering at our friends group at the library, I have been back making upcycled totes for friend's birthday's.  I have the last one ready to be sent out tomorrow...that is if the snow doesn't accumulate anymore than it has today!!   So I have done some sewing...not much knitting but hope to get back to that after the Holiday's!  I still have a few last minute gifts to pick up and need to get kids gifts in the mail that live in Ohio & Indiana.  Until then...still worried about the girls and trying to be a nutritionist! 

This was a quilt I sketched on quilted fabric.

It was from a drawing class by Hilary.

Inside lining

Life lately and my babies.....

I guess I really don’t need an excuse for not updating my blog… after all, it is my blog! HA. Between normal life chores, volunteer work at the library, and the biggest issue of all — our dogs — things have been a little overwhelming.

Kalee has had health issues for the past 10 years due to pancreatitis. She recently went in for her yearly wellness visit (yes, dogs get wellness exams too! 😂) and lab work. Unfortunately, her results came back with elevated kidney values (BUN, creatinine, etc.). UGH. On top of that, she’s been having a few different episodes than her “normal” pancreatitis symptoms, vet thinks this could be the beginning of kidney disease.

I picked up some new kibble and started mixing it in slowly with her regular food and ground turkey, but it hasn’t gone well. She seems nauseous and uncomfortable within a day of eating it, so I’ve stopped it for now. I’ll have to figure out a better diet plan for her.

I started researching the nutritional value of the ground turkey and veggie mix I cook for her. It’s helped her pancreatitis tremendously, but now I have to watch protein, phosphorus, and other levels because of her kidneys. OMG… I even used AI to research nutrition info for different kidney kibbles and compare them to my homemade mix. I still don’t know what the right answer is.

Then, on Thanksgiving morning, Gigi stopped eating. Completely. She has never done that — and even Kalee has never stopped eating or drinking, even when sick. I was a wreck. I managed to get her to nibble on some turkey mix before we went to the kids’ house, which helped me breathe a little easier. But the next morning, she still didn’t want to eat.

I got her into the vet, and her bloodwork showed very high liver enzymes. The recommendation was an abdominal ultrasound, which we did yesterday. I probably won’t get those results until tomorrow.  In addition, we discovered a heart murmur in September at a Grade 3, last exam it's closer to a Grade 4.  

Honestly, I’ve been sick to my stomach with worry over both of these girls and trying to figure out diets that will work for them. But thankfully, for reasons I don’t understand, Gigi started eating her four small meals again as of Sunday. I’m so grateful… and cautiously hopeful. 

So prayers for my girls, please....they are seniors (Kalee 14 & Gigi 12-13) so I know we'll have health issues..just want them to have a good life....

Hilary 2025 - Screen printing with nature - Day 3

Playing on and off these past two weeks.  I volunteer with the Friends library group here in town and this coming weekend is our fall book sale.  Hence, no more work on playing with printing on fabrics!  Here's  my results.  A few pieces, I resoaked in soda ash so I could print over them!  

This was one I over dyed.  It really looks better in person!

 

Another one that I over dyed and then I used my thermo fax screen to print the floral design.

Kinda like this one for fall!

Another one I used thermo fax screen on.  This one is really pretty in person.  Think it would make a nice small zipper pouch.

Yep, another one that I soaked so I could print over.  These really look pretty in person and once they get some quilting I think they will look nice!  Fingers crossed!  

This one is kidna pretty...I used my dried leaves on it.  So I'm not that happy with the print but quilting will enhance it...

I love this!!!  It's paper that I dabbed up the extra dye!  This will make a great paper quilt piece. 

So that's it for this volunteer for a week or two!

Hilary 2025 - Screen printing with nature - Day 2

 Back at it, yep!!!!  I only made two pieces but I am happy with them.  I also ordered, via Amazon!, some new screens to print with.  I'll make sure these are ONLY for printing with dyes and no deconstructed or soy was in use!  HA

The blues/turquoise combo is quite dark but a color I could or would use!   I mixed some lime green with Olive Green for the dark areas.

There is lots going on in this print but a fun piece!

Typical, this piece looks a tad different in person.  I used lime green for the base...then Robin Egg blue then turquoise! 

My mop up pieces look great!  Again, these are so much fun to sew into a quilt!!!!!

So that was day 2......Wish me luck!!!!

Hilary 2025 - Screen printing with nature - Day 1

 I finally received my order for fabric, print paste, soda ash, etc.!  I was anxious to get started on printing! 

Well, my first pieces didn't turn out that great but after 2 'lights' I did finally get some prints I can work with!  Here are the 'lights'...we never have enough light fabric, right! 

I realized I didn't have any 'clean' screens to use!  The last time I used them I was doing both deconstructed screen printing as well as soy paste on the screens!  Welll...that didn't work out.   Not sure how to remove the soy was from the screen nor from the print left on the deconstructed screen.  

But I can over dye these two pieces or leave as is!

This piece is hand made paper I purchased awhile ago.  I used it to 'mop' up leftover dye on the dark piece below!  I love it!  

It will be a good piece to stitch into a quilt or just make an entire small quilt from it!

This turned out pretty good but using the old screen you can see bottom right that it was just a blob!  HA

Now this is the back of the fabric above!  I really like how it turned out!  

Who knows...I may just end up using this piece and stitching/quilting vs cutting up.  I sure don't know and won't for about a year!  HA

The two pieces on the left are just layout and tissue paper that I used to mop up leftover dye.

So that's my first day of playing with screens and dyes.  It felt so good to be back! 

More results on the next post!  

Hex Project #???

 I have lost count of my hex projects...guess I could go through my quilts and count...but that's no fun!  Instead, I'm focusing on how to design my next hex quilt!!!  But that comes with some decisions!!  Big decisions!  HA  

In my mind, I'm looking at having a color wheel of hexes which will be under a patchwork piece of fabric.  Similar to my horse hex pieces or at least I'll 'try' to follow the process I managed to come up with!   I'm planning on red/red orange; orange red to orange/yellow to yellow/light pale green to....well, you get the idea!!!!

So this was my first idea/design....I'd cut out each leaf and color hexes would show - once I cut out the leaves on the patchwork background!

You can see I traced the design on some hex (5/8 in) sheets I taped together.  Kinda helps get the idea??

BUT...then I started to look through some of my sketch books I made in 2020 while taking a class from Hilary!

I'm kinda liking this one best...but...could cause a lot of issues with where to place the colors?  But then I could quilt some areas vs having hexes in background with different color threads.  See where my mind is going!  UGH

This one is 'ok' but I'd have to tweak and make larger, etc.

I am thinking of having this new hex piece be a table runner vs a square or rectangle for hanging. But still deciding!

Now this is giving me MORE ideas....having those holes contain a hex behind them!  Yep..they would have to be larger holes but.....just an idea!

I think the color wheel idea might work???

Not fond of the leaf shapes but, again, each leaf might work out with different colors....

This has possibilities!  I can see blending the colors - even in an individual leaf...Making the leaves larger to fill in space gives me the opportunity to have more colors in a leaf???

This is another favorite....lots of possibilities....designs like this are what keep me up at night!!!!  

I am excited to get started...but the next decision is what patchwork background or solid fabric ?? to use!!!  

I have a small black quilted piece that I may cut out and play around with....this is going to be a fall/winter project for sure!