Simple Serendipity

Labor Day weekend...

2008-09-01T15:09:00.001-07:00

A few weekend quilting projects - art apron "in progress" / Laurel Birch fabric for my sweet daughter-in-law Stefanie from Charlotte who teaches 5th grade - she was here for her 10th year class reunion so I got to "size" it in person - will finish it up and take w/me when I visit in October (hopefully)...

The other photo is "blue serendipity" aka Yellow Brick Road pattern - in honor of my mother-in-law Dorothy Warner Watson who recently celebrated her 90th birthday a few weeks ago! Just need to finish the borders/binding and quilt!

Beautiful weekend, the best part visiting w/my son Nick & wife Stef for a few hours at a picnic he and Stef hosted for family at her parents house... time to now do a bit of "picking up" - why do I get every tool I own out when I do art? Also painted a stool raspberry & white for the front porch (am either fashionably late for this summer or very early for next lol) - will decal and letter it over the winter when the spirit moves me...

Gratitudes for autumn - my favorite season, right around the corner!!!

Summer's almost over...

2008-08-26T16:56:00.001-07:00

...can you believe it? Have had a busy one, like everyone else! Daughter, Grandchildren visits (all 4 over multiple days/weeks), trip to PA family aunt/uncle 80 & 85th birday celebrations, side trip to Gettsyburg, south Indiana for dear mil's 90th birthday lunch, 35th class reunion, Blickenstaff family reunion (named Blick-nic - isn't that cute)... lots of artzy things everywhere!!! Attached are some gorgeous photos from cousin Kay's home where the Blicknic was held... she's a very artistic lady for sure!!!

Als0 have spent time catching up on my crazy quilt stitching internet group lessons, and working on a new Jack's chain quilt at Ruby's on Monday evenings.... as well as finishing up the Road to Oklahoma which was finished by the quilter Sharon in June. Have a few ornaments in progress, and trying to find time to read a few books as well... in between just working and enjoying time w/my sweetie Joe and getting together with friends back in Michigan!!

Blessings of the week are simple ones.... a good personal support system, patience at work, and some time at home after being gone most of the evenings and weekends the past several months... Looking forward to seeing my son from North Carolina & his wife for a few hours - they're home for her 10th class reunion for just a few days, so we'll picnic with them on Sunday for a few hours... another blessing for sure! Take care, have a great holiday weekend!!

Summer's almost over...

2008-08-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Mom's work...

2008-05-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

My mom is an accomplished cross-stitcher among other things, creating gorgeous pictures/wall hangings... she's very much a perfectionist (unlike her daughter!!) ...she's created a wedding or anniversary picture for both my sister and I as well as each of her 3 grandchildren... hundreds of hours in most of them...the backs of her work look as beautiful as the fronts!! No loose flying threads in her creative treasures! This wall hanging is a family tree piece, the flowers are dimensional ribbon flowers and there's beads and glitter thread used as well... it currently hangs in her home - but we all would like to have it! Just thought I'd share her work.... below are some of the stitched paper ornaments that she's made me as well... (double click on images to see detail)...I love them and over the years have amassed quite a collection of them! Love you, mom ~ thanks!!

Vacation Fun

2008-05-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Just back from Charleston, SC - two photos to share for now - finally finished the quilt and gave it to my daughter-in-law Stefanie from Charlotte, NC - and the second photo is a fun quilt shop I visited both in Charleston and in Summerville - the Charleston shop was rather small but quaint and full of fun and hospitality - the Summerville shop was obviously the main one - wonderful store in a historic building - full of creativity and inspiration!!! Lots of goodies snuck their way back into my suitcase from there!!! You'll have to visit when you have a chance!

Still here!!

2008-02-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

Hi all... I'm still here - just computerless for about the 3rd or 4th week! GRRRRRR!!! The Dell Dude is making housecalls...hopefully I'll be back up and running by next weekend! Meanwhile - I've been working on:

Road to Oklahoma - top is in the last stages - will post soon.
Catching up on my Crazy Quilt Stitches - will post soon.
Stripe of the Month - January needs redone (OK, I admit, I cut my diagonals one too many times!); working on February
Purchased backing and linings for My Scrappy Quilt & Civil War quilt - so off they can go to be quilted - the first time I've had this done! How exciting!
Purchased backing for Starz Wall Hanging - plan to quilt that myself over the next few months...

At Saturday's artzy event at my friend Joyce's, I joined my mom, Joyce and a few others... I decided to finish up several scrapbook and photo projects that had been started - finished my "Friends, Wedding Pix" - will post; made progress on my WKKF goodbye/engagement/Happy 50th photo albums; started my "Notes - 2008" book of lists.....

That's about it for now - sorry no photos tonight... using my work PC and don't have any to post quite yet! Have a wonderful week!

Blessings: friends you can move away from yet they're always there... hobbies to ground you... good books, and special moments...

It's been too long....

2008-02-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

...since I've posted! I'm having major computer troubles and only am online at home when I bring my laptop home - which is not something I have been doing after working 55 hours a week for the past month or so. Supposed to have a new motherboard (and a man to install it! wow, what a deal) early this week, according to Dell. Spent 3+ hours (i could have been stitching!) on the phone to India w/three different helpdesks - the router, who blamed it on the satellite ISP provider, the the satellite ISP provider who blamed it on anything but them, and finally w/Dell... luckily, my system is still under warranty until 8/08, so I'm going to take advantage of it!

Hope you all had a restful and pleasant Valentine's Day! My dh was out of town, and I was working out of town in Chicago that day, but did manage a dinner at a fun New Orleans seafood house for some great oysters!

My only stitching this month in the wee hours of the nite has been catching up w/my cq stitching lessons, working on my Road to Oklahoma Quilt, and doing a few strip of the month/block of the month things... While I was on hold to India several times I did lay the phone down (could hear the muzak playing) and made a dent in cleaning/picking up my art room - and does it need it bad!!!!!

The fun news was I invested in a sewing machine - a new Husquvarna (Viking) machine... has all sorts of bells and whistles and I have made one block w/it - from my fall quilt hop... will post photo as soon as I'm back in business on home machine! The other sewing highlight was receiving some of Suzanne's threads - beautiful colors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ta ta - I see Candi tagged me, so that will be my next post!!

Civil War Quilt pictures

2008-01-27T14:08:00.001-08:00

Tried to add these below - will try it as a separate post...

Sweet Sunny Sunday...

2008-01-27T12:04:00.001-08:00

It's a sunny day after being 8 below zero Thursday morning when I went to work at 7:30 a.m. - 40 degrees predicted tomorrow - go figure!!! Went to Michigan to celebrate Mom's birthday...visited a friend's quilt shop on the way and signed up for her "strip of the month" club... she designed a really cool quilt and each month you do a different strip (rather than a block - photos soon!)... It's a sweet Sunday....lots to be grateful about... sweetie & I went to winery out in the country for Sunday lunch.... for the food, not the beverage! lol Now am tackling organizing my "stuff" hehe.... getting some stash cut for Ruby's tomorrow- Monday night quilt class, designed a purple wall hanging w/her favorite quote (I'm going to calligraphy that, scan and print on material) for one of my dear friends/employees who is leaving for a new job ... and putting away all the sewing stuff to make room for Super Bowl party next Sunday for our church group - it's tradition that everyone comes here as no one else has a big screen tv LOL - we do the chicken chile, everyone else brings something to go along with it! Please keep me in your thoughts, I'm making a big life decision right now and it's tough going as neither of the two options make me feel good...but, sometimes staying the same is more painful. Hope you all are blessed this week... keep it simple, be good to yourselves and enjoy whatever little nuggets life sends your way!

Gratitudes: special friends who quilt and blog, relatively good health, choices about difficult matters, and 11 pounds gone in 3 weeks!!!

Back In Business!!!

2008-01-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well I've almost survived another crazy week! My computer has been out of commission since New Year's Day - thanks to my sweet son Nick (and no thanks to 4 calls to the call centers of 2 vendors in India) I'm back in business! Without a computer I couldn't do genealogy, couldn't communicate w/family and friends via the cyberworld, couldn't get my new camera operation - yikes, so I got some quilting done! Will post photo soon of finished quilt top of my civil war block-of-the month quilt I finished.... I'm pleased with it overall, imperfections and all! Also finishing this week's crazy quilting lesson - stitches.... so will be posting a few things this weekend but wanted to get this message posted to let you all know I'm still around! Send warm weather - it's supposed to get down to 9 degrees tomorrow....a bit chilly - and to think it was almost 60 less than 10 days ago!! Crazy mid-west winters! More later, friends!

New Year's Blues....

2008-01-06T16:40:00.000-08:00

Hope you're all enjoying 2008! My computer is in the shop, thus no new photos on the blog quite yet. One good thing about not having a home computer is I had more time to quilt and do "other" things! Finished my Civil War block-of-the-month quilt and did a few more alpha stitches for the crazy quilt...will post photos of the Civil War quilt then! Also made a funky "bag" from some cool material I got in Arizona - wait until you see it - it's quilting materials by a designer who does all sorts of women drawings...sister/mom/friend, etc - along with poems... this material is specific to quilters! You make this easy pillow case (I bought the kit) it took about 15 minutes to do - and then you can keep quilt tops or quilts in progress inside if you are carrying them back and forth! Which is great given the weather these days - last New Year's Eve & Day we were blessed with 18" of snow! It was gorgeous out, but cold and slippery! Blessings to you all this week! Thanks to everyone who stopped by - nice to meet a few new ladies as well!

Starting over again....

2007-12-29T18:26:00.000-08:00

Where did autumn go? I couldn't believe it when I was gently nudged (thanks Susan!) that my blog hadn't been updated since August - wow.... so - I wanted to update it once more before the year end and before I join a new blog ring that requires me to post weekly! What fun - will encourage my stitching as well.... what am I working on now? Well, tonight I'm "cleaning" my art room - that's always fun to discover things you have that you forgot you have - spawns new ideas and excitement about doing a project that's been in the back of your mind awhile! Quilting wise, I'm still going to Ruby's on Monday evenings w/a few friends and we are doing "A Road to Oklahoma" strip quilt (see pic - 4 blocks are not yet sewn, just laid together for photo - that's why it's a bit crooked lol) - it's been fun and I have about 15 blocks done out of 40+.... so I still have a bit more on that journey to complete! Working on alphabet letters in my online cq stitching group - will post those photos after the weekend. My goal is to start the new year "caught up", ok, as caught up as we can be when we're involved in so many different projects!!! My blessings of the year have been sewing - those who know me are still surprised at what I am learning and accomplishing - me who doesn't like to measure but is more of a free spirit... and I have been pleasantly surprised as the friendships and shared knowledge that is so freely given... whether it be 93 year old Ruby who loves to share and help us learn or one of the online cq friends who was once a beginner and is always there for a kind word or answer to a question... or my friend Joyce, a quilter since a child who graciously gifts me with quilting gifts she has made (see photo of table top) or helps me "fix" something or just shares my love of lots of creative projects. I guess it just shows that creativeness goes along with kind-heartedness usually, and for that, I am blessed as a recipient many times over from wonderful women near and far....what a way to end the year!!!!

Weekend Wanderings...

2007-08-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the house is finally getting put back together - no rugs for 30 days, but furniture and things can go back, so we spent the weekend doing that. Thought you might enjoy seeing the finished product of at least one room! Other weekend happenings were a visit to Michigan where I had a belated birthday celebration with school friend Joyce and a very nice visit w/my Mom (Judy). After a day of appointments, my treat to myself was going to be a stop off on the way back to Indiana at a quilt store a former colleague had opened in Schoolcraft MI -- but, I was disappointed, as her shop isn't open on Monday's! Drat! But I did stop at the Kalamazoo embroidery store and picked up embroidery needs so I can get busy on my hearts!!

A few more album photos - inside

2007-08-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here's the inside cover of Barb's album (my secret sister) and the last page. I will have to try and get her one of the heart's (once I get the hang of it!)... it was great fun shopping for her and imaginging her personality... am looking forward to "meeting" her someday soon!

Now onto a real crazy quilt project - I'm so ready, thanks to my secret sister Candi who supplied me with more than enough to get started!! Going to cut out my first heart tomorrow.... I'm also taking an Encaustics class from joggles (bet you wonder what that means! More later about that!) - will post my homework from that next week as well! Never enough moments in the day to do it all.......... Oh well, just something to look forward to I guess - more soon!

My newest venture - crazy quilting

2007-07-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

I recently joined a 6 month swap (which ends this month) which was a Secret Sister CQ swap. I thought it would be a good way to learn more about this beautiful art form, get some advice and embellishments (ribbons, material, beads, charms, etc) so that I could maybe have what I needed to start to learn how to crazy quilt. I was so blessed by my wonderful, giving secret sister Candi Harris from California - each month she serenaded me with another great box of goodies (thanks, Candi!).... my secret sister is in Oregon and I"m sending the last package to her Tuesday! I wanted to "make" her something as since I'm not quite a crazy quilter yet, I couldn't make anything in that form...so I decided to put together a photo album that she could keep snapshots of her own crazyquilt projects in... the album has a linen cover... so I made a tiny patch and with the help of my friend Joyce who has some fancy stitches on her new machine, machine embellished the patch and put on a few embellishments related to quilting. Then, I took my first shot at making a ribbon flower - it was great fun and I have a long way to go, but it was a start that got me over the block I always get of starting something new!! Hope my secret sister enjoys it. Inside the pages there's several little quilting sayings that are kind of fun, ie "Crazy Quilters aren't greedy, they're just materialistic" and "Crazy Quilters come with strings attached"... Here's a picture of the cover!

Back yard fawns & flora

2007-07-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

Today began early - looking out into the back yard first thing this morning, twin fawns, racing around the apple tree! They played a game of tag and zipped up and down the paths, into the high grass, chasing each other...What fun.....also a shot of the wildflowers who have finally decided to make an appearance! The last day of rain must have been exactly what they needed!!!

Wood Floors

2007-07-22T20:00:00.001-07:00

...who would have thought my first post on my first blog would be about wood floors? But - it's the big event at our house this month... the smell of the oak being sanded, stained.... mmmm....a few more days and we can move back upstairs!! I think they'll be beautiful ... a few more special touches, a few sticks of furniture, and the upstairs should be almost done...feeling more and more like "home"...... then it's on to the "next" project!