Time does not fly when you aren't having fun!!

This past Christmas has to be considered the worst Christmas of my life. I was snowed in for a week with my DH...whom I love, but too much togetherness is not necessarily a good thing! Once the snow started falling last week, I knew we were doomed to have a very "close" Christmas. This is what John looked like out in the snow up past his knees...as you can see...2 of our cars were buried in the snow and the 2nd picture is my car..Off and on during the week, we lost power in our house...the last time on Christmas day about Noon, until 6pm on the 26th. We nearly froze in our house. It is all electric by the way. We finally were able to get out, with the help of our neighbor, so that we could go to town and get a hot meal. We may be able to dig out DH's car this afternoon. I was able to come to work today...I am supposed to be on vacation, but I wasn't able to finish up my week at work last week, so here I am. I am glad for this year, that Christmas is over and I can forget it ever happened!!!

Happy New Year,

Anett

A Sunbonnet Christmas

This is a little project I started on Saturday. I love the colors and I love to add machine embroidery to my quilts. These were new designs that I bought from Designs by JuJu. I just love her designs and they sew out extremely well. When I did the Sunbonnets on Friday night with the intention of doing this "quick" project, I never anticipated that it would actually take me until Sunday to finish the top. Oy Vey! I got the middle checker board done without a single problem. I put on the first border and then the trouble began. I measured and cut and remeasured and cut at least three times trying to get the final borders on this simple project...I gave up on Saturday. Sunday morning I started in again. Thankfully the second time I measured, and cut I got it just right and I was able to finish the top...get it sandwiched and started the quilting on it. This is what happens when you decide one day to do a project and start it the next without any planning what so ever. I am not a planner...I am a doer and it therefore gets me into a lot of trouble along the way. I can hardly wait to finish this and put it on my couch. It is going to be my only Christmas decoration this year. I just don't seem to have the energy to decorate and spread "The Cheer". Maybe next year.

When this project is done, I am going to start a T-shirt quilt that I have been putting off for at least a year now. My nephew "Fast Eddie" passed away 2 years ago and I promised my sister-in-law that I would do a quilt with his t-shirts, but I just have not been able to get it together to get started. Eddie was only 34..he was born 10 days before my husband and I got married, so he was our special boy.My Mom called him Fast Eddie, because when he was little, he had an ability to travel on his little legs faster than we could catch him sometimes. But I am determined to have this quilt finished for my sister-in-law before her birthday in January......holy cow....I better get moving.

Anett

Me

Someone asked me to post a picture of me....my hair is shorter now, but this is still me.


Anett

A Tribute to my Gram

My Gram was born 11/14/06 - or 05 depending on which of her sisters you spoke to. She was a strong independent woman and had ideas that were way before her time.

She was born in a small town on the German-Russian Border and came to this country when she was 3 and spoke not a word of English. She had 16 brothers and sisters and was the third youngest of this gaggle of children, as her mother used to call them.

At the ripe old age of 15 she found herself pregnant..now remember this is around 1920, so of course she was going to have to marry the father according to her parents. She had the baby and never did marry the father. I asked her once why she never married my uncle's dad and she promptly - without hesitation told me " I found out he was a lying, cheating weasel and I would sooner have married a snake! Roughly three years later she did get married to what would be the love of her life, my Grampa Pete. They had my mother and life was good until times got hard and my Grampa decided to take it out on her....around 1941...my Grampa decided to come home with too much liquor in him and too little sense. He hit her....she got even...he went to sleep with his shoes on...she tied them as tight as she could and left his feet to swell all night long!
In the morning he never said a thing and neither did she....again life was good for about three years. He again came home liquored up...she was on her knees scrubbing the floor....he smacked her up side the head...she came up off the floor with the bucket swinging...hit him full on in the face with it..he fell....she packed up my mom and her and never once looked back..........strong and independent does even begin to touch that one. Courage in the face of what this country was going through at that time...her strength was amazing. The funny thing about these two, is that they never stopped loving each other...they just couldn't live together.

My Gram was my pillar through out my life. Many times when I was very young we would sit on our front porch - hold hands and talk about everything imaginable. There wasn't anything I couldn't talk to my Gram about. When I was 10 and contracted TB from a kid at school...it totally freaked my Mom out....it was my Gram who went to every appointment...held my hand through all the treatment and never complained that she had to do it.

My Gram had the most wonderful sense of humor, spoke German when she was mad at something, and loved my brothers and me with all her heart.

In closing this post...I believe there is a song that says something to the effect that if you had one more day with someone you love...what would you do with it...........I would spend the day sitting on the porch holding her hand and telling her how much I loved her.

Happy Birthday Gram.....I love you.

Snetska.

Ornament Exchange

If you want to participate in what looks to be a fun ornament exchange...this is it

http://katemcdonald.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/the-great-ornament-exchange/


Anett

Amazing!

Today - November 11, 2008 is the 36th anniversary of my wedding day. I remember it like it was yesterday. 1972 was a whorl wind year for me. I graduated from high school and became engaged on May 28th.....on June 18th, we had to take temporary custody of my husband's four children, we got permanent custody of the children at the end of October and we got married in November! Holy Cow what a year. When 1972 started, I had no idea that I would become a mother that year, let alone a mother of 4 children ranging in ages from 6 to 11. I never wanted to have kids. I didn't even know how to cook then, boy did I learn fast.

As I look back at all that happened that year, it amazes me. The first two years we had the kids, I stayed home, so that they and I could adjust to our new life. I think over that time, we all learned some lessons that helped us all to become the family we are today. The kids had to adjust to having a mother that totally accepted them for who they were. Naturally, I was totally the opposite of their "real" mother. I grew up having certain manners and behaviors expected of me....trying to instill that in kids that had no idea what manners were was a challenge in itself. Dinners in the beginning were like living through a food fight...the kids had no idea how to keep their meals on their plates and what a napkin was all about. We decided to start serving them on platters....it worked out well, until they had company for dinner one night and the "company" friends of theirs asked them why we served them on platters. The oldest son...answered...because we don't know how to eat yet....we never had to serve them on platters again...manners were learned and respect for each other began.

I by no means, am saying all the adjustments were as easy. The kids and I had alot to learn about each other and how to deal with life with each other. My husband...right from the start established that whatever I said was to be listened to...he did not let them get away with the "she is not my mother thing". We knew if we were going to be successful raising all of these kids together, that we had to be a united front, that they couldn't undermine...oh they tried, they just didn't get away with it. My daughter was the hardest, she was Daddy's girl and didn't think that she had to do what I said....she learned quickly that Daddy was not going to let her get away with anything.

My kids, to this day, I still consider them one of my life's greatest successes. They all did not grow up perfect and have made their share of mistakes, but through it all the love I felt for them the first day I saw them is still with me.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Anett

I love Estate Sales! I found this yesterday at an estate sale for $5.00. She was made in Pennsylvania by a company called Plain Folk...her name is Sara. I just fell in love and had to bring her home. Of course, my husband just rolled his eyes and paid for her. I have always wanted to attempt an amish quilt, it's one of those things on my to do list...someday maybe.


Happy Saturday,

Anett

Quiltet

I participated in a "quiltlet" swap on one of my yahoo groups and this is the one I received. I absolutely love it. The saying on it is one of my favorites from the bible and I really wanted this one when I first saw it. It was a random drawing, but I was lucky and got the one I absolutely wanted. It was made by a lovely lady named Leslie, who lives in Florida. Her husband works for Disneyworld....one of my "bucket list" things to see. Also, anyone who knows me, knows I am a total Mickey fanatic. I hung the quiltlet so that I would see it every day. It is up in one of my favorite corners of my house. I have all of my "purple" stuff there as you can see. The doll was made by my friend Susanne in Australia, the purple dress form pincushion was made by Wendy in Canada, the purple flower pincushion was made by Chris and for the life of me, I can't remember who made the butterfly. The little black sewing machine in the background was my Mother's when she was little, the little purple sewing machine I was lucky and won on E-bay and as you can see there are other little machines down the way. I love these little machines and I really want a couple more. I haven't been able to find the ones I want, but I will eventually.

Have a great day everyone.

Anett

It's a Finish!!

This is the quilt I finally finished for Beth, with Beth holding it up. I had promised her a couple of years ago that I would make her a quilt and life got in the way. It was really perfect timing that I was finishing it up on Saturday and Beth and her Mom were due any minute at my house. I was still working on it when they arrived. I hid the back of it and we got to talking about quilts and I had to again hear the ribbing about the fact that I had made a quilt for everyone but her. I took her over to the cutting table and showed her the back of the quilt! I am not sure, but I think she was stunned. I had finally kept my word and made her a quilt. I am proud to say that I had a hand in raising this beautiful young woman. When she was younger and would get into mischief, she always knew she had 4 parents to deal with instead of the usual 2. We have loved her since she was a little girl and have enjoyed watching her grow to the wonderful woman she has become. A few month's ago, Beth learned that she had Sarcoma, needless to say we were all devastated. She had the surgery and the tumor was removed entirely intact, she was very fortunate and our prayers were answered. She has gone through quite a bit the last few month's, but I have faith in God that this was a lesson that had to be learned and that she will be able to soon continue with the life she had planned with her cutie patootie husband. We won't know until sometime in December if all the cancer is gone, but I have faith in god that it is. We are looking forward to "grandchildren" and we know that it will happen when it's meant to be.

I love my "girl" and I hope she enjoys her quilt....it was made with lots of love and is meant to help surround her with love and the healing powers of the angels.


Anett

Give away at a new blog I found

This is a great blog and here is the link to a give-away

http://thenoblewife.blogspot.com/2008/09/giveaway-for-my-henchmen.html


Anett

Ramblings

I was thinking about my Mom the other day, it's been 9 years since she passed away and that's hard for me to wrap my head around. As I have said, my mother could re-do anything and make it look new. She could take plaster ducks that were broken, fix them and repaint them to look brand new. She had a talent that I will never have, although I try. I have thought about what my mother loved most in this world, beside her children and it was animals. Dogs, cats, birds, you name it she loved them. When my mother passed away, we were trying to figure out what kind of card to do for the service and it came to me her love of animals, we decided to put St. Francis of Assisi on the front of the card, as he was the patron saint of Animals. He was also my patron saint for my confirmation. I have been playing around with a quilt idea for about a year now and I think I have finally come up with the tribute quilt for my mother. I am going to applique some animal blocks, do some photo blocks of animals we had as children and the main block will be a photo of my Mom and Dad. I may add a photo block or two of my brothers and I, but that will have to be auditioned when I start putting the quilt together. I have several other quilts I need to make, but I am thinking this one will become a priority.

I miss my mom, more than I ever thought I would, but she deserves to have a quilt made just in honor of her. Without her inspiration and that of my grandmother, I would not be the crafter that I am. So Mom, if you are watching, let me know what you think of the quilt when it's done!

Anett

Beth's Angel Quilt

Well, finally Beth's quilt has the binding on it. All that is left is to cover a couple of boo boo's with some yo yo's and put the label on. I have thought a lot about the label for this quilt. I made this quilt for a wonderful young woman who is being treated for Sarcoma and is currently having radiation therapy. She is like a daughter to me and I have tried very hard to make this quilt special. I put a lot of love into this quilt and got lucky with the colors. It has lots of lavendar in it and unbeknownst to me when I started it, it is the color for Sarcoma. So I lucked out there. Beth loves butterflies and I found a lovely butterfly flannel for the back, as I wanted it to be warm and comfy for her.

In trying to come up with something for the label, I tried to think of something that would be encouraging and comforting and for her to know how loved she is. I came up with the following.

"Protected by the Angels that have gone before
Loved by the Angels yet to be
Cherished by all are thee"

Poetic I am not, but it all kind of worked out. I am hoping to deliver this on Sunday with any kind of luck.

Have a great rest of the week.

Anett

Wonderful Weather

I am involved in a swap on one of my Yahoo groups and this is what I have made for it. I took an old glove that I found at an estate sale and "redid" it. I had so much fun and a little help from my friend Suzanne in Australia. Such a nice lady she is.


We have been experiencing wonderful weather here in Oregon. At lease for me. I am praying that the heat is over and we continue with the cool/sometimes rainy weather. I have finally been sleeping well and being quite productive in the sewing room. I am almost finished quilting a quilt. I made 7 tissue cases on my embroidery machine this weekend, I did a lot of clean-up in the sewing room and made a really cute vintage spool pincushion as you can see above.

I know it's only September, but I am looking forward to December. I have two weeks off from work and I am not going to fall, do Christmas, or anything else that my DH wants me to do. I AM GOING TO SEW and enjoy my time off. I am gathering fabric (like I don't already have enough) and projects to work on while I am home. i promised myself I was going to do this last year, but had a nasty fall at work, that I am still recovering from, so this year is it.

This year is going to be ANETT time....sounds selfish, but that's the way it's going to go this year. I sound like this is really going to happen don't I! Well, if I can make it happen it will, but I rarely can pull something like this off. I know someone will come along and need help and I will not be able to say NO. I am still not very good at that one, but I am trying.

Have a good week all.

Anett

Great Give Away

Take a look......great blog and great give away.

http://polkadotsandrickrack.blogspot.com/2008/08/its-my-1-year-blogiversaryand-giveaway.html


Anett

Treasures from the past

I found this pincushion at a garage sale yesterday. It got me to thinking about why I love old "stuff" and garage sales. This pincushion was obviously made by someone who was very creative. The pincushion itself is store bought and old, but how it was put together is really pretty cool. I am not sure I can describe it, but trust me it's creative.

I think that one of the reasons I enjoy garage sale so much, is the hunt for all things old, that I can turn into something else. I enjoy thinking about what someone used the items I purchase for. Did the bowl I buy sit on a table with candy in it? Did the linens I purchased belong to an older relative? I think about those things when I buy at garage sales. Pretty weird I am sure, but many things go through my mind while I am looking at treasures from the past. I went to a psychic once that told me I was married to a carpenter that built furniture in another life. I truly believe this, because of my love of antique furniture. Now if she would have told me I had been a model...that would have never washed.....my body type in this life or any other would never have made a good model!

I also think about what to turn my treasures into when I make my purchases. Lately my "stuff" has been mostly for making pincushions. I have become totally addicted to making them thanks to my friend Mariah and the Yahoo Group, Crazy About Pincushions. I got to looking at them all last night and I can't believe the amout of pincushions I actually have. It makes my bland sewing area look pretty good though.

There are 3 estate sales in the area this weekend, so I have to sneak away from work to get to them all....I can't wait to see what will end up in my car, without much effort on my part.

The treasures that I buy from the past will make old treasures for someone in the future....kind of cool to think about.

Anett

Life's Heartaches

Yesterday was a very long day...It was the 3rd anniversay of the death of my friend's son, whom I loved to pieces. She found him in his bed..he was 15. I had just left her house and I was the first person she called before the paramedics. I raced back to the house and I will never forget seeing that beautiful little boy in his bed...dead. I wear one of those popular rubber bracelets that she had made after his death...it says "Sober or Die"...I think that says it all. I never leave my house without this bracelet and I never will. Trevor struggled with his addiction, but we thought he had been sober for 10 months. WE were lulled into believing the best, but should have suspected the worst. He tried hard to stay sober, but in the end, he sucummed to peer pressure. "Friends" that he wasn't supposed to see, caught him in a moment of weakness the night before he died. He was looking for his sponsor and found these "friends" instead. One of the young men had stolen liquid morphine from his dying grandfather...they taunted Trevor until he drank it. Liquid Morphine will not get you high...it is time released and lethal. Even prescription drugs can kill kids that have no idea what they are taking. Knowing that his parents would be very upset with him, he went home and told them his stomach was upset, being the dutiful mother that she was, my friend tried to settle his stomach down with Pepto Bismol, when all he really needed to save his life was a shot of Narcaine.

The above happened on the 10th of August. On the 11th, my friend and I were scheduled to have lunch for our Birthday's..mine the 3rd and hers the 12th. I picked her up...the last thing she did before leaving the house, was check on Trevor...he appeared to be sleeping...we had no idea he was really dying. We had our birthday lunch, came home and life changed greatly after that. Trevor was an only child and the only one my friend will ever have. If I could change that day, I would in a heart beat....so that my friend could have the son back she loved so much.


Life is short and full of heartaches...tell those you love...everyday that you love them. We never know when it will be the last time that we get a chance to do it.


Anett

Another Birthday

Sunday was my birthday and one year closer to a speed limit. Can't say I am looking forward to next year's birthday. The thing I do look forward to is everyday I spend on this earth. I have come to realize that everyday we are alive is precious and we should be thankful that we are still here to spend the day making a difference in our own lives or someone else's. I often gripe and moan about things happening in the world and my own state for that fact, but overall, I feel blessed to wake up every morning to see what the day is going to bring. I love the fact that I can communicate with ladies all over the world through my Yahoo groups. I can communicate with friends and family by e-mail and my cell phone and even fuss with my husband on a daily basis! All his fault of course! Eveyday that I learn something new amazes me and it shocks me when I learn something new about myself along the way. I find that my perspective of things that used to irritate me is different now that I am getting "older". When I was younger, it used to irritate me that I couldn't fit more into a day...now I am thankful for all that I can accomplish in a day.

I also find myself being more vocal with my opinions. When I was very young, I would not let anyone know what I was thinking..as I age, I find that I don't have that problem anymore...I usually say most of what I am thinking, and I find that getting me into hot water sometimes. I usually try to be kind and gracious, like my grandmother taught me, but I can tell you it's very hard to do depending on the situation. My kids and husband always get exactly what I am thinking for good or bad...if I can't be honest with them...who can I be honest with?

Today will bring more of the crappy sun and heat...I so look forward to the rain!

Have a great day.

Anett

Another Great Give-Away

I find another great give away ....here is the information

http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/2008/07/woodland-bloom-giveaway-contest.html

quilt give away

Got to the bottom of this page for information.

Pretty Quilt.

Anett

TableTopper

Well, here it is with the border on it. I love the colors all together. I have it sandwiched and hope to get it quilted this weekend. I tried the fusible batting on this and another small project this weekend...I am thinking I really like the batting. I attempted to quilt this on Sunday, totally messed it up and had to take it all out. So this will hopefully be done before the weekend is out.

Have a good rest of the week

Anett

Another Love

As many of my friends know, I totally love quilting, but I have another love....pincushions. I rescued this one from a seller on e-bay. It was very ugly when I received it, but I saw potential. I spray painted the chair, recovered the cushion and made a stick pin for it. I now love it and so glad I rescued it from someone that totally did not appreciate it. I have many, many pincushions and I love to make them also. In one of my earlier posts, I talked about getting a whole bunch of wool. I have since made wool "balls" and have made several pincushions from them. My first pincushion came from a much loved neighbor of mine that I befriended when I was about 8 years old. She was the grandmother of a girl that lived on our block growing up and this girl at the time totally did not appreciate her grandmother....as I was so close to mine, I started doing little things for Mrs. Nortnick and we fast became friends. I used to sit and watch her crochet ( I really should have been asking for her to teach me) . We continued our talks and my running errands for her until I was 16..that year she became ill, but before she moved and later passed away, she gave me the most darling little turtle that she used to keep by her chair. I still have it and it sits amongst the many pincushions I have now, but it started a love of the little things that has lasted my whole live. Every time I look at that little gold turtle with the red velvet cushion, i can fondly remember a woman I spent much of my youth with.

Solid or Floral

I am now debating on the border for this table topper....floral or solid? hmmmmmmmmm. I guess it will come to me when it's ready to finish. I made these a long time ago and I decided I needed a break from pinning Beth's quilt today, so I put these together. I really like the lay out.

I decided to test drive this one.


Anett

Sunday Play Time

I decided to play a little bit this afternoon and made this pincushion. I used some old buttons in the bottom that belonged to a friend of mine that died from cancer a few years ago. Mrs. T. was a very special lady who taught me many things over the years that I knew her. I have a quilt top of her mother's that I want to finish sometime soon. I am going to sandwich Beth's angel quilt in a few minutes and get busy quilting it. I chose to put a flannel butterfly fabric on the back. It is lavender with lots of colorful butterflies on it. Will post a picture when I am finished with it.

Have a good Sunday.


Anett

A Day of Remembering...

Today is just a day for me to remember all that I have that is valuable to me. I forget sometimes that I have a vast cast of characters that I call friends and all the support and comfort that they bring me. Without them...I am not sure how I would get through some days. I also look forward everyday to hearing from them. At least one of more of them checks in everyday and it makes the day that much more special when I hear from them. Many of these wonderful people are friends that I have met online, but wouldn't trade them for some of the people that I actually see in person everyday. We have all shared so much together. I have a friend in Canada, that is driving me insane right now and she knows it! She is working on a secret project and absolutely refuses to share with me what she is doing. Very inconsiderate if you ask me! LOL. I have a friend in Florida who is working on the most spectacular quilt....one I would never attempt, but she is very good at putting points and angles and all kinds of really hard stuff together to make a wonderful quilt. My friend in Nevada sent me a wonderful package yesterday....I totally was not expecting it, but it made my day.

My friend in Georgia/Alabama is working on a Cherry quilt, that will be wonderful when she gets it done. I can't wait to see it completed...if she sends me a picture I will be sure to post it here.

My friends in Australia and Texas are master crafters. They can make anything crafty. One makes the most wonderful bears and the other can make pincushions and other crafts that are amazing,

I will be quilting Beth's quilt this weekend. I want to use a soft pink flannel for the backing and I am waiting for it to arrive anyday now. I will post a picture when it is completed.

Anyway, to the cast of characters I call my friends...I love ya all...I cherish ya all and I look forward to hearing from you when you can.


Have a wonderful day!

Anett

Relaxation at its best

This is my wonderful Star Baby and DH relaxing and watching one of those Die Hard Movies.
He is the funniest baby you can imagine. Star has slept like this since he was a baby....he still sucks my shirt whenever I hold him. He was not taken from his mother too early either. That's my boys!


Anett

Irony and Veteran's

William H. Danos died on June the 10th of 1955...just two days short of his 25th birthday. He served our country in two branches of the service. When he was very young, too young to be in the service, only 15 at the time. He joined the Marines...Just short of his 17th birthday, they found out how old he really was and honorably discharged him. He waited a year until his 18th birthday and joined the Navy, where he served his country until he was 22. Home on leave, he met my mother.

This handsome man was my father. I never knew him as I was 9 months old when he died.

We have a traveling Veterans Memorial here in Sandy, Oregon for the next few days. I stopped to take pictures this afternoon. I have the flag from my fathers casket...my mother did not take very good care of it, so it is somewhat tattered. I asked one of the gentlemen at the memorial if he knew where to get it folded, as I want to put it in a glass case for protection. He told me to come back at 7:00pm and they will do a ceremonial folding for me. Of course I cried and thanked him profusely.

My father was hit by a drunk driver and shortly thereafter died at the hospital. The irony is, he was hit by a drunk WAC who was never punished for the crime of taking my father's life. Irony at it's best....he served his county, but one of his own took his life.

I often wonder how my life would have been different, had he not been killed. But I believe in fate and it was not meant to be for him to be with me. My mother mourned my father's death until the day she died....44 years later.

The other ironical thing is....my husband of nearly 36 years and I were married on Veteran's day...November 11, 1972.

So, irony and Veteran's have been part of my life for all of my life.

Anett

Decisions....Decisions....Decisions

Well, I finally decided on the final border for Beth's quilt. I am going to use the same dark floral that I used in the quilt. I think it's the best choice. I test drove several different options and not a one of them worked. I am hoping to sandwich this on Friday and quilt it in the afternoon. She has watched me make many quilts and always commented....when am I going to get one...I originally had one started for her a while ago and ran out of one of the fabrics and never could find it. So I guess in a way it was meant to be that I do this quilt for her. Sometimes God quilts in mysterious way:p.

Happy quilting to all,

Anett

Progress

I am making progress on Beth's quilt. It is hanging kind of wonky, but I need to get it finished before she sees the doctor next week. I have yet to decide on the final border. Can't make up my mind if I want to use the dark floral I used in the quilt, or if I want to pick up one of the colors out of that fabric as the final border. Still need to decide how to quilt it, but that will come to me as I sit at the machine. I showed the partially finished quilt to my friend Jean (Beth's mother) on Saturday and she cried and then I cried and it was all good.

I am having a hard time wrapping my head around Beth's illness...she is a young woman at the very beginning of her life. Her husband just graduated from college and is staring a wonderful job on July 7th. Beth worked sometimes 3 jobs to put her husband through school and they were finally going to be able to have a place to live of their own and this illness happened. I know god has a plan, but I just can't see what that is at this moment. But, I have faith that all will work out and this is just a bump in the road that they will pass over very soon.

Anett

A new project of Hope

My friend Jean and I have been partners in crime for over 20 years now. Her daughter calls us her "bonus" set of parents. Recently Beth (Jean's) daughter found out she had a tumor in her stomach. We all were at the hospital when she had the surgery to remove the tumor. Jean and I stayed up most of the night keeping watch over our girl. They sent the nasty tumor out for biopsy and a few days ago came back with "We don't know what it is, we have to send it to a different lab". Well we have all been waiting on pins and needles for the outcome. We found out on Wednesday that is it s high level sarcoma. Not what we wanted to hear. The doctors are baffled as to what to do for Beth, as this tumor was only attached to her abdominal wall,with most high level sarcomas they are attached to other organs, Beth's was not. We are fairly positive she will need some form of Chemo therapy, but they are not sure what that will be yet. Thinking about this yesterday, I decided to make Beth a quilt of angels. This is the beginning of it and I have some darker floral fabric for the top and bottom of the squares. The kids had a vacation planned for this next week, the doctors told them to go, but be careful Beth did not over due it. So today I am working on this, so if Beth has to sit in a chemo chair, she will have love and angels surrounding her and keeping her safe.

Anett

Granddaughter's make life good

We have had our Granddaughter Nikki with us for about a week now. She goes home next Sunday. She resides in Colorado with our son and daughter-in-law and wants to become a hair stylist. She is an absolute GEM! She is keeping my husband on his toes...his game leaves a lot to be desired and she is totally taking advantage of him and I love it. Nikki has inherited a wonderful sense of humor from her grandfather and is using it against him every chance she gets. She has made me laugh so many times, I am sure my ribs will be sore until she leaves. I am taking Thursday off to take her shopping and I can't wait. I started a quilt for her and finally finished it on Saturday (picture will be posted tomorrow) I embroidered a label for it and when she saw it, she almost cried. I only did a simple rag quilt, but I used some lady bug fabric and she absolutely loved it. I also gave her a couple of my rings..I have many. I had purchased a garnet ring some years ago because it was my baby's(her father)birthstone. Since she is Daddy's girl, I gave it to her and I also gave her a birthstone ring of mine(peridot). She has big hands like her dad and grandpa, so she is going to have to get them resized.....I told her to hit her dad up for this one. All in all it has been a wonderful visit and I am sure this week is going to go fast and it will be time for her to leave.........I know I will be crying at the airport.

Have a good week all............


Anett

TO ALL MY FRIENDS

To all of my quilty and sewing friends, I am so thankful to have you in my life. Being blessed with love is as good as it gets!

Hugs to all..................Anett

Weekend Projects

I had a weekend off and decided to do some machine embroidery projects. My friend Jean's daughter Beth is trying to get pregnant. Jean and I have decided to get busy on baby stuff before we run out of time. We both work many crazy hours, so we decided to bet busy before the baby is conceived. Beth loves to do cross stitched projects, so we went looking for machine embroider designs and found these. This is the first one I finished on Friday. since Jean and I both want a girl first ( like we have a choice) I did this in baby girl stuff.

The second one I did was really fun. I didn't want to use the same theme for the second one, so this is what I came up with the bee fabric to use around the embroidery.

Great weekend and great fun.

Random Acts of Kindness

We had a give away on CAPC (crazyaboutpincushons@yahoogroups.com)this last few days and I missed the deadline for sending in my story....so here it is.

Many years ago, when my DH & I lived in Denver, we were very involved in all things happening at our church. The Pastor of our church was a long time family friend, who we could not say no to! He also had a soft spot for the homeless. Anyway, the thing we enjoyed doing the most was giving away the coffee and donuts after every mass on Sunday. It gave us a chance to really get to know the parishioners. As I said the homeless population of Denver were always welcome in our church and there were many. We had two older homeless gentlemen that we called "The Smith Brothers", because they looked just like the guys on the cough drop box. Needless to say they were two of our favorites and we used to give them extra coffee and donuts. We even bought them thermos' for when it was really cold in the winter so they could have some coffee to go. There was a very wealthy parishioner at our church that gave us $10,000 at Christmas time to be given to the homeless in $10 increments. We were able to give a lot of people a chance at a decent meal for one or two days anyway. Well, we did our $10 give away on Saturday...it was very cold that day. So the next morning, we were doing our coffee duty and we
see the Smith Brothers coming down the stairs...they were clean and we could see big smiles on their faces...John and I thought what in the world has happened to them. It took a few minutes for us to see that they had their hands behind their backs and were patiently working their way through the line. When they got to us, each one of them handed us a package, wrapped the best they could. We opened our packages and in them...there was a beautiful unicorn music box, that still resides in my china cabinet today and for John a very nice linen handkerchief. Needless to say, I cried until I was dry eyed and John was positively stunned. We questioned them and found out that after they got their $10 they went to a pawn shop and bought our gifts, made sure they got to the shelter, so they could clean up and spend the night at the shelter and asked for help wrapping the gifts at the shelter. For these gentlemen to give up something that could have fed them was beyond selfless. From that point on, we made sure that they were never without a meal everyday. Either John or I would go find them and take them somewhere close where we could feed them. When we moved, we made sure that they were still fed everyday at a local restaurant. Unfortunately, a year after we moved to Oregon, they were found frozen to death, but even in death they were together. I will never forget the Smith Brothers, nor their kindness to us.

Jane Doe Day

I have a friend, we will call her Jane Doe, and she is one of the funniest friends I have never met. She is an online friend and a total kick in the pants. She has the quirkiest outlook on everything, and is more insightful than anyone I know. She is also a very fine seamstress and awesomely talented. No matter how long it has been between “our talks” the warmth and love always comes back the minute we chat. I have spoken to her on the phone several times and she makes me laugh until I cry. Along with my friend Mariah, they totally have taken me out of my comfort zone in sewing and creating. They both challenge me to do things I would not have tried. We had “The most Unusual Pincushion” contest on CAPC sometime ago and Jane then became the Queen of Pincushions. She created pincushions out of clear plastic Salt and Pepper Shakers and then gifted them to me. I have them in a place of honor as you can see in this picture(They are in the upper right corner). She is also one of the strongest and most determined of the women I know. No matter what happens to her in life, she always has a positive attitude, and I am proud to call her “Sister”.

How I became the me I am

this is my life. it is my one time to be me. i want to experience every good thing.”
Maya Angelou quote

I was strolling through Pat Sloan's blog today and found this quote. It hit me rather profoundly. I usually think about others before I think about myself. As I get older, I find myself changing in small ways and evolving in ways I never thought I would. I have always tried just to be me....no pretenses...just me. I find I like things I never did before...colors, foods, fabrics and hobbies long forgotten. I find I look at life differently now. I try not to look to much to the future, but look intensely at the now. I also occasionally look at the past and think how did all those years slip by without me noticing more. I think of my Gram nearly everyday and sometimes I think I miss her more now than when she passed away. I have a need to talk to her, and sometimes I still do, but I would love to hear her responses to some of the things I say. I know she was always proud of me for just who I was...I never had to do things to make her proud...she just was. I miss her humor the most, but I am fortunate in that I inherited her wicked sense of humor. I am fortunate to have many hand written poems done by my Gram. These were mostly written during World War 2 and the things she said would not be considered politically correct today, but I love them just the same. I was fortunate that my Gram loved my husband from the start....my husband had a bad habit of calling really late.....my Gram called him "The Midnight Stranger". My husband also loved my Gram dearly....especially when she made him apple pies!

I can thank my Gram for who I am today, she was with me everyday of my growing up years and shaped me into the person that I have become.......thanks Gram....I miss you dearly.

It's a finish

Today I had an unprecedented day off and took advantage of it by sewing. I finished three wall hangings that have been in my UFO pile forever. The first one above is one I hand embroidered. This is the first time I have hand embroidered in probably 30 years. The black and white fabric came from my friend Mariah and the red polka dot was bought at a yard sale.

This one...I bought just the top from e-bay a very long time ago and did some quilting and added the binding and voila it's finished.
The last one...kinda sucks. I started this while I belonged to a Yahoo sewing group and the woman on the group ended up not being very nice, so I put it away for awhile and finally finished it today.

All in all it was a good sewing day. I cleaned up some messes in my sewing area, made my poor neglected husband a nice dinner and got some sewing done. It amazes me how much I miss it when I don't get a chance to sew.

My crazy quilter friends are very supportive and helped me get through the day with much laugher. I also learned how to add pictures to my blog today in the messages, instead of just to the side of it. So for now it's a finish!

The Mother Load

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love garage sales and can't resist the urge to stop. This past Sunday, on the way home, my husband and I stopped at a garage sale. There was a lot of junk and some jewelry. I bought a pretty little bracelet for $1 and as we were about to leave, I spotted a huge bag of wool roving for $1.00. I was shocked that the woman was selling, probably about 3 lbs of wool roving for $1.00. I casually asked her if she had anymore. She directed my husband and I to another building next to the one we were in and said there was a few more bags in there. We proceeded to walk to the next building, oh my gosh, we found another 25 bags of roving. Now I was thinking that for a dollar a bag, I had hit the mother load of sales for the day. Well, the woman said we could have all of the bags for FREE!!!! We also found some wool yarn, some raw wool and last but not least a beautiful hand made quilt that we were given as a bonus for taking all the wool "off her hands". Believe me when I say, I could not stuff the bags in the car fast enough, before the woman changed her mind. I will have enough roving to stuff pincushions to my hearts content. I was so excited when I was in the building that I did not take the time to really look around. Needless to say I am going back this week to see if I can find anything else that I might need.

Anett

Talented Friends

I am very fortunate to have many friends. One of the most talented is Mariah. My friend can sew just about anything. She quilts and makes all kinds of things with her embroidery machine. Give her thread and fabric and she can make a project out of it. Mariah has talked me through many projects over the phone and we have laughed until we cried trying to get through them.

Pat in Canada is another very talented lady, who like Mariah, always encourages me to try new things, even though they know I am very reluctant to do it.

Suzanne from Austraila is very talented with wool felt and I bet she can make anything. Her projects are the most wonderful eye candy you ever want to see.

Ru in Las Vegas can quilt like there is no tomorrow. She finishes more projects than any one woman I know. I don't know how she does it.

Karen in Florida is the most amazing quilter. If the pattern calls for stars, you can bet she is going to make it. The points on her quilts are so precise, I still cannot figure out how she does it. It's a talent I have yet to achieve.

There are many other ladies I know who are also extremely talented. All the ladies on the Crazy About Pincushions group at Yahoo are amazing. They can take just about anything and turn it into a pincushion.

I have not had time the last few days to do any crafting, but I am determined to spend at least an hour in my sewing area this evening. I stated to free motion quilt my table runner a few days ago and I would like to get that finished up tonight.

Happy day to everyone who stops by.


Anett

Side Tracked again

Well, I was side tracked this weekend by some fabrics that were calling my name. I needed a new cover for an old Singer machine in a cabinet. I made a runner for it...I have posted a picture. I used all sewing themed fabrics. I bought the "bricks" from Ebay and couldn't figure out what to do with them, but they called on Sunday and I answered the call. I had a really good time working on this little project and I am happy with the result. I am in the process of quilting it....always a challenge for me. I am determined this time to free motion quilt this and see if I can finally master stippling....I am holding out hope, but I am not sure how this will go. I was told over the weekend that I should have more faith in my quilting abilities...she is a good friend! My Chatelaine is still on the design wall, but I have pulled together the rest of what I need to finish it. I hope to do that this evening. I am almost finished with the little hand embroidery I was working on.....I was looking at it last night and I realized how long it has been since I have hand embroidered. It obviously, from my work, is a craft that needs to be done more often than I have over the past few years. The stitching looks like this is my first project and by no means is.....oh well, I guess the old saying of using it or losing it is really true in my case! It was fun and I hope to do better on my next little project.

Anett

Chatelaine

I decided to work on a Châtelaine today...my husband was complaining about needles yesterday as I was working on a hand embroidery project. I have posted a picture of it. I used my EZ Quilter circle cutter to make the neck and then I did a quarter inch seem along it and made some snips so it would lay flat. I haven't finished it quite yet, but it is coming along. Every time I set out on one of these projects that I don't have a clue how to make....I seem to do OK. As usual...no pattern, just made it up as I went along. Time to get ready to go to dinner...more on the Châtelaine tomorrow.


Anett

Scrappy Quilt Again!

I really want to start on this scrappy quilt this weekend. I have been racking my brain all week for an easier way to do this quilt other than one 2.5 inch square at a time. I am always trying to find ways to make easy things easier! I think I am going to do this in 4 strip set sections. It seems an easier way to do it than to cutting a bizillion little squares and sewing them together one at a time. I have to stop at my favorite fabric store...www.fabricdepot.com...like that is going to hurt me, to get some black fabric for the sashing and some to add to the scrappy blocks. I decided to just get a bunch of fabrics out of my stash and from my left overs to try and put this together. I have never attempted a scrappy quilt, but I think this one is going to be an adventure. I am a fairly anal person and most things for me must be done in order, but I am going to try and do this totally by "the feel" of how the fabrics work together. I don't want to follow an order, I just want to sew fabrics together and see what the outcome will be.

My friend Jean and I will be attending a quilt show this weekend, so I will try to get some picutures to post next week. The last quilt show we attended, was probably the worst quilt show I have ever been too.....it should have been called "Bad Memory Quilts "! I have never see so many quilts that just did not work and there was not one that we both said ooooooooooo, I like that. Very sad, but it was still a good day with my friend.

Anett

Scrappy 16 Patch Quilt

I found a really easy beautiful quilt this morning on another blog and I just need to make it. It's called a 16 Patch Scrappy. I have wanted to do a scrappy quilt forever and now I have the perfect, easy pattern. I think I can manage this one without too many errors. I call myself a quilter, but really all of my friends that quilt are really quilters. I have tried on numerous occasions to make various pieced blocks and I have yet to master even one of them Although I am going to keep trying and hope that someday it just clicks. I love to put quilts together, it is the most relaxing thing I do. Thus the reason why I don't do much piecing, as least nothing complicated. I admire all the ladies I know that piece so beautifully. Pat and Ru do applique that is amazing and Karen can make any pattern with stars in it and can piece quilts like no one else I know. These ladies are what I call amazing quilters.

I am still trying to get the hang of this blog thing and someday soon I may figure out how to put it all together.

Happy Day Everyone!

Next Quilt

I took a class sometime ago to learn to make a bullseye quilt. The class was a failure, but I still intend to make the quilt. I found a new circle cutter that is awesome. It is made by EZ Quilting. I am going to start cutting the rest of my circles this weekend. I am doing this in all purple's. I can't wait to get the circles sewn on to the bases, so that I can begin recutting them. I still have not decided on the lay out of the quilt, there are many to choose from. I am also taking a quilt top to be quilted by our LQS in today. I am hoping to have it finished before Christmas, but out LQS takes a long time to get the quilting done. It is a very simple quilt made our of angel fabric, so I am hoping that the quilting will make it look more jazzy is the only word I can think of.

I have been working on some machine embroidered squares for another quilt that I want to have done before Christmas...they are done with old and classic cars. I using all black embroidery thread and the square will be surrounded by black and white fabric strips. I have a vision of this quilt, but if the vision comes out of my fingers that will be another thing! I do enjoy quilting, but I have yet to convince myslef that I am any good at it. Time will tell.

Pincushions

I became involved with a Yahoo Group almost three years ago called "Crazy About Pincushions". It instantly became an addiction to make pincushions. I love doing them. I have probably made a couple of hundred pincushions over the last three years. I keep thinking I will run out of ideas, but since joining the group, everything I see has the possibility of being a pincushion. There are over 600 talented members of this group. Many of them work with felted wool and hand craft the most unbelievable pincushions in numerous shapes and sizes. Mariah, the group owner, has an eye for color and making great pincushions using wool. Suzanne, one of the moderators in Australia, is amazing. I think that she can make anything into a pincushion. Then there is Luann(http://www.lulubears.com/), the moderator from Texas, she incorporates her felted bears into her pincushions. I am a proud owner of one of them. This group actually first inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone to try something different. We did a swap of triangle bags and that is the first time I put a zipper in anything in my life. It was am amazing experience and has made me a stronger crafter. I will add pictures of some of my pincushions I made over the past couple of years.

First Day

Today is the beginning of a new journey for me. I decided to start this blog for all those ladies like me that are not certain of their talent. I am a simple crafter, but one who loves to craft more than anything else I have ever done. I have many crafter friends who have talent beyond anything I can ever hope to achieve....Pat.. Ru...Karen...Mariah....Jean . You ladies all inspire me everyday and always encourage me to try things that I otherwise would not have. Mariah talked me through my first triangle bag with a zipper...Ru helped me learn to make 1/2 square triangles and snowball blocks....Pat always helps me to find easier ways to make things....Karen just flat out inspires me. Jean is my partner in crime (fabric shopping mostly) and one of my very best friends. We sew together(well we try to between laughing) as often as we can. I am going to try to get some more pictures of my quilts and pincushions tomorrow. Have a great day everyone.