It's all about the Fabric

It has been important to the members of my sewing group to keep Mary a part of our circle of friends. Mary's family gave us a lot of her fabric stash. We have been using it for gifts for her family , and to add to the sewn items that we create for our donation quilts or items. It keeps her a part of our lives. Seeing her fabrics helps remind us of her presence, and we often feel the spirit of her guidance, steering us to just the right project. We decided to each pick a small amount of her fabric and use it for our Christmas gifts to each other. We each made something, wrapped it up special, then drew high cards to choose our packages. Here are pictures from that night.

This present is still unopened, and Mary Beth is the recipient. After she opens it I will add her picture. Made by Berny. I will say that the present I sewed was made with fabric that was all Mary's and it was made using a pattern that Mary taught us. I finally mastered the "trick" of the pattern in this creation. I plan on trying to make a few more for Christmas gifts, I loved how this one turned out. Hope you will enjoy this Mary Beth (as soon as I can drop it off to you..very soon)

Melann received a lovely table runner, with some 3 dimensional prairie points sew into the seams. The secret about this one is that underneath the prairie point is a matching center to a flying goose block..pretty cool idea. Mary's fabric is the backing center piece. Made by Lisa



Jane chose a package containing 2 smaller table runners, the center print block, on the holiday runner, and the center floral block on the dark runner were Mary's fabrics. The center block with the wording looks so rich in color in the holiday runner. great idea. Made by Melann





Wow, what a treat I received. A snowman painted on canvas with lights shining through, and a beautiful star block that was stretched over an art canvas. What a cool idea. Mary's fabric was everything on the star block except for the green fabric. I can't wait to set this on an easel to display . Made by Lois.

Lois chose the "proxy" present. Mary Beth was unable to attend, so we used a packaging cube from Jane's birthday gift iron box to represent the gift made by Mary Beth. Lois jokingly placed a deck of cards in it. Her picture will be posted later also.

Lisa received a beautiful large table topper. The center light fabric was Mary's. Jane made this beautiful topper. I love how the printed light fabric makes the batik blue fabric POP! it was a definite WOW!

What a JOY it was to be able to share a Christmas with Mary in this special way. I will forever treasure the moments of fun and laughter these gals bring to my life. Thanks to you all.
We have learned through the years, it's not about the presents (but we LOVE them!), it is about the bonds that are created, and the times spent together. Merry Christmas Stitchin B's, we will keep putting one foot in front of the other, and "moving forward" as Mary wanted us to.

Whew!

Whew, When, Why, Whatever, Willy Nilly, Wiley,
Sometimes, the words and ideas flow
sometimes, the ideas flow
Sometimes, the idea and words flow but the mind does not

Whew.
Random silliness

Sometimes I wish I was BOLDER, BRAVER, STRONGER

Whew......
Single worded questions , sometimes do not need an answer, they just need to be said.
WHEW....single worded single minded, better than simple minded.

A post to make you wonder,,,,what is that about and it is about nothing but WHEW!
Accomplishments and simplicity... WHEW!

Friendship

I've been thinking a lot about friendship the last few weeks. The joys of having a friend that you can say what's in your heart, and know they won't judge you for it. To know that they are there for you, and you return the favor for them. What creates that bond? What makes us drawn to someone and they to us as a friend. It's different than a spouse, (I don't mean that your spouse isn't a friend, or your best friend, it's just different between women that are friends. Here are a few of my favorite quotes about friendship.

*A friend is someone who can see the truth and pain in you even when you are fooling everyone else.

*A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

*A friend is someone who strengthens you with prayers, blesses you with love, and encourages you with hope.

*Best friends are the ones who can be the farthest away but there the fastest when you need them. (Moms are like that too!)

* If you're alone, I'll be your shadow.
If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder.
If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow.
If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile.
But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me.

Fall

Just a few thoughts about FALL. IT"S here...love the freshness in the air. But I am not liking the shorter hours of sunshine, and the threat of what is to come....cold, winter, and ice. So, I'm looking carefully for all the things I like to make sure they don't slip by me too fast before winter. One of my favorite things in the fall is to take pictures of the beautiful leaf colors on the trees, shrubs and flowers. Just beautiful brilliant colors. I also like to walk when there is a brisk breeze with freshness blowing all around. Very invigorating. Another favorite is going out at night after dark and seeing the brilliance in the sky. The stars are flickering and glimmering much brighter this time of year. Just AMAZING. So, take a walk, take a camera, and ENJOY some of this special time.

The Kaiya-nator

Kaiya thought that the new "cat bed" I got for Riley was a snugly place to sit with her "baby". Riley, our Siamese Himalayan cat doesn't fit in it anyway. I loved the print and the soft fabric, but "the cat's too fat". So go ahead and enjoy Kaiya!

This weekend the girls came home for a Scrapbooking Weekend for my birthday. They as usual accomplished more than I did!, But I did have a lot of fun times, and some extra Kaiya time too. I remembered that we still had the little kitchen play station that used to be Chelsee's --Kaiya thought it was great!

Kaiya also discovered that make up is FUN! She loved putting make up on...as you will notice in several of the pictures, she has very "make up dark" eyes. She looked so cute and funny.

The Trundle Bundle!

I finally made a decision on very needed "sleep" beds for when the kids are all home. For the last couple of years we have been using air mattresses when they come home because we did not have enough beds for everyone. The air mattresses work, but are kind of a hassle. I have been looking at futons and sofa sleepers. A while back Kristin suggested a trundle type bed to me. So when I was able to go to Nebraska Furniture mart I compared all three items, and decided the daybed with a trundle underneath it would work the best for the space I have. I love the look of the day bed. I covered it with an old hand quilted Dresden Plate quilt that I purchased on an auction for $7.00. Amazing. The quilt is so comfy, and I know has many stories of its own.

The amazing thing about the daybed/trundle is that it can work as a single bed, or pull out and lift up the trundle bed and have a queen sized bed, or it can also be 2 separate twin size beds, separated between the beds. It worked great this weekend.

Kristin also brought a new book for me to read, and I thought it looked great laying against the pillow on the quilt. The story title certainly fits. So, many thanks to Kristin for the idea, I think it's a winner!!!

Precious Pink Pig

It was about this time last year that several weeks of silliness began. It is a tradition in my Stitchin' B group that all birthday's are very special, but the 50th is one that is celebrated with much enthusiasm...... This pink pig was part of the celebrating, along with many other little piggies used for a scavenger hunt at our victims, I mean birthday celebrants home. Just in case you want to make this little cutie, all you need is an old Clorox bottle, be sure to rinse it out. I painted the pig with brush on craft paint, but spray would work great too. I glued on some button eyes, painted little black dots on the nose, and added a tulle bow with black ribbon. There is also a pink curly tail made out of pink fuzzy pipe cleaner. I glued spools of thread on for the legs. My husband says that when he was in grade school, he made a "piggy bank" out of a Clorox bottle, so he gave me lots of ideas. I don't think his piggy bank looked as pretty though!!!

So I guess you could say "party till the pigs come home" if it's your birthday!!!

Red Headed Chicks

This picture makes me chuckle because it's a fib!!! Neither my Mom or I are red headed Chics! A little computer enhancement made us both red heads so that we would fit in with our little granddaughters red head..our little miss has wonderful red curls. Today I dedicate my post to my Mom who celebrates 79 years of wonderful life memories. How can time fly away so fast? It pains me to see my Mom aging before my eyes. She has taught me many things through my life. She has the wonderful ability to see the good in just about any one. It always amazes me. She does not "judge a book by it's cover". She is wonderful at avoiding any topic she does not want to talk about...like the fact that smoking has bad health side affects, but she will tell you just about any bad side affect of anything on the market today. She loves her kids and grand kids and her face lights up when she talks about them. I remember what a hard working farm wife she was. We always had a very, very large garden, and she was responsible for canning the produce from it. Oh the wonderful aromas that used to come from that kitchen. She never complained that I ever remember ...about the fact that we lived in a house with no running water, and no telephone. Many times we did not have a tv. We spent a lot of time playing outside with our parents sitting on the front steps watching us. We played lot's of games and cards...Parcheesi, Rummy, Slap Jack, war, checkers, Monopoly, and many more. I credit her with my love for reading. She was always reading a book, and never said lights out when I stayed up late reading. She always encouraged my brother and I to read, and we both still love to read.

My Mom always was there when I needed her, especially through the pregnancy of my 3 girls, very difficult pregnancies. But she came and took care of me, and never complained about it. I LOVED going shopping with her. We usually went once or twice a month to Fremont, and sometimes Omaha. We would "shop, til we drop". It was some of the most enjoyable shopping. So, a big Happy Birthday MOM...Love you so much, and thanks for everything.

Reflections

Lunch at the park was such a uplift for me today. Puzzling over some life situations in my mind. Because there was not much of a breeze, there were beautiful reflections in the lake. I love trying to capture reflections with my camera. I even tried my timer on my camera to take a picture of myself. I'm not very brave about taking pictures of myself, but my daughter Kristin has shown me what fun that can be. She has a great eye for photography. She is of course, a much better subject for photo's than I am!!!

Back to Reflections, in life...BE FEARLESS, DON'T LET YOUR FEAR HOLD YOU BACK FROM TRYING TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL. There may be ups and downs along the way, but hang onto the Up moments to get through the Down moments. There is a quote by Teddy Roosevelt "We have nothing to Fear, but Fear itself. " and he is so right. We create so much fear in our mind that it makes us not capable of keeping oneself free to move forward. So I am working on letting go of my fears, and working on positive thoughts for what I want.

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow."

"Life is Tough, but I'm tougher"

Ok enough quotes..but that's how I roll, quotes and sayings help motivate me!