Happy New Year 2014 WOW!

I know some people look behind to review what they have accomplished last year.  And that is nice, it gives you a nice pat on the back of all you have accomplished.  But I really like to looking ahead and this year is going to be so much fun; full of adventure, additions to our family and a change in lifestyle.
Such a Exciting year ahead. *******
 1.  The baby of the family is getting married, He finally proposed and she said yes.  No date yet but this summer I think.  We love her and think God has certainly blessed them already and He brought a great couple together.  So I need to plan the Rehearsal Dinner-something fancy.  I need to lose weight to look great for the wedding pictures.

  2. New week the kitchen redo is going to get started and hopefully finished by Feb. We are getting new cabinets, counter-tops , tearing out the desk area and putting in a grand buffet serving area. We are keeping the same floor , same foot print to keep cost down.  But I am redoing the fireplace area  to match the tile of the buffet and back-splash.  
3.  After all these years, 30 to be exact, my hubby will be retiring from Teamsters.  He worked for Pepsi 15 years and Cassen's Transport for 15 years.  He has worked so hard in putting food on our table, roof over our head, cars that work and gas to put in them,  Private Christian Education and help with College Education.  He has been a very hard working husband and has done a fantastic job in helping raise our family BUT- now our very own personal adventure begins.  That means to me- Getting to really know each other again, Time to learn new things together, Going new places to experience, Letting God lead us!    I can't wait!
4. We are also getting another grandbaby that will be here in June.  We hope it is a boy with the name of Joseph G. Haines IV   but momma wants something different for a name.  We will see,  maybe by next month we will know the sex.    We are also praying for another son and his wife to conceive.
5.  Fiber Artist for me.  I really need to step up my quilting Projects.  I am planning on 24 quilts this year.  2 a month.  Some will be bed size and the majority will be for Contemporary Art Display - 3 D, textural, embellishments.   I also plan on Display at several Art Fairs and Quilt Festival.  I plan on 2 classes with Fiber Artists that I respect to learn new techniques and pay particular attention to my quality.  I want to get my Art "out there" and maybe make some money for my hobby which I want to turn into a business.  I want to spend less time on time wasters.

Here is to a great year to you and yours.  Happy New Year: 2014.

a new way to put a pic into my blog

 Here is my finished "Danger" Fiber Art. 
I am still working on how to do this picture thing! 

"Danger"

I have been working a some fun fiber art.  The 1st is my deer picture called 'Danger'. The challenge of my Fiber Art Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/237798473026812/ was picking a thread color out of a bag, I got a grey blue color thread.   I didn't have any grey blue fabric in my stash so I went to the quilt store and picked 5 blue grey colors, light to dark.  Of course, I fell in love with the Batiks.  They were pricey but it was well worth it.  It really turned out great.  This is the beginning set up.  I used a pattern for the deer at Bernina's We all Sew (Luke Haynes) website. http://weallsew.com/2013/09/23/deer-quilt-sew-along-with-luke-haynes-week-one/  After I placed the deer, danger seemed to be lurking around every winter dark corner.  Run Deer Run.  The wolves are hungry.  

Here is the finished quilt 

2013-11-13 16.20.17.jpg
I have been working on getting my pictures from phone to dropbox to my blog and this is how I have to do it?  I am stilling working on getting it from my phone to my blog directly.  This is becoming so confusing and if I die will anyone know where all the pictures are?    If anyone can give me any ideas on how to make this easier, please let me know.  maybe I will just have to go back to my phone and it's little chip.  It was much easier.
I also made my mother who is 89 and has Alzheimer's.  She loves matching shirts with her jackets because she is always cold.  We use to be able to purchase them in Shipsewana, Ind.  But I can't find where to purchase them anymore except thru a catologue so I made her a set with snowflakes.  She loves her pockets for all her Kleenex.

Bored of Dreams???????

My Dreams have all come true!
Family that loves each other!

House on a lake with fabulous view!

Adventures- First kayak ride, First Fish, First Horsey Ride:

Beauty:

But it all comes down to this,  This is from my Grandmother:

Let me live in a house by the side of the road, Where the race of men go by, The men who are good and the men who are bad, As good and as bad as I.  I would not sit in the scorner's seat, or hurl the cynics ban, Let me line in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man. 

My grandmother had 4 daughters and her husband died, she married soon after to a man with 4 daughters. She had 10 more children after that.  They lived through the depression, she worked at home in a 2 bedroom home, my grandfather was a barber and kept his boys busy with shinning shoes and selling papers.   They taught them to love the Lord, work hard, lean on each other and work through their problems.  They survived, had fun, hated and loved each other and left us with a legacy that is so wonderful that just blows me away.  Two of the children are still alive and I am so thankful to be born to this family and I am so glad that I have passed that on to my own children.  In the end, it is not about houses, views, gardens, or anything you own, but how you treated others, how you raised your family, how you loved others.  

And when you get bored of your Dreams, or bored with life, remember what it is all for,  Not yourself, but others, not your own desires, but what does God desire for you.  Thank you Lord.  Thank you. 

Summer of 2013

I have been having so much fun and delightment this year due to joining  the Ohio Butterfly Facebook page .   https://www.facebook.com/groups/187696631361914/It has made me go out on long walks and to open my eyes to look for all the many different butterflies I could find, then look them up in a reference guide and try to figure out their names.  I didn't realize that there are so many butterflies in my area,  Next year I will be planting more flowers that butterflies like, but my most successful bush for bring them in to watch and eat is the "butterfly bush"  

Many people have been asking about my fiber art and what have I been doing all summer. As you know I have been bless with living on a lake.  This is the view from my living room.  It was taken early spring and the pink dogwood was not in bloom yet.  But I took this pic and I am turning it into a landscape wall hanging.  I have been experimenting with curved piecing.  I will post it when I am finished with it. I think it is starting out quite well. 

The other thing I have been doing is finishing up my double quilt for my granddaughter Adeline. This quilt is taking me longer than I thought.  My sweet sixteen has been giving me trouble ( the timing is off) and has been in the shop twice now.

 So the quilting was pushed back, but I have been encourage by a wonderful quilter who does most on her quilting on her home machine. My facebook friend, Rhianon Taylor My friend Rhianon Taylor  @ https://www.facebook.com/rhianon.taylor    She just purchased a long arm, but still is returning to her home machine (Bernina) because she can get more control with it at this point.   So I have been quilting Addy's quilt on my Bernina.  My goal is to get it done this week-besides she's been asking for it.

Another technique I have been trying to learn is Confetti Quilting.  (Very trying project for me.)  It is using little cut up fabrics as your paint colors to transform into a pic.  Yeah right!   Here is a professional one done by the lady who is famous for it - http://park19.wakwak.com/~noriko/ Take a look, now look at my start.  

Ok, you can tell I have a long way to go.  Oh well, This really is not my cup of tea.  Way to tedious.  And one more thing, I have been having a great time dying my own fabric about 10 yards of it.  Sorry no pictures other than the piece above.  So I will be using a plain background for this confetti quilt and same this great orange/yellow piece for something else.  

Only as a sidelight: I also had a beautiful grandson, Colin, born 7/2/13, 10lbs 8 oz to my daughter and son in law.  My granddaughter, Adeline, also had 2 operation to save her 3 fingers which were severed in a accident, but they are all healed and working now due to some very fine doctors in Toledo Children's Hospital and Michigan Children's Hospital.  So this has been a busy summer.  

Getting older and getting better!

Well, I joined the hearing loss club about 10 years ago.  One evening I was at a local watering hole, aka bar, when one minute I was hearing fine and the next I couldn't hear out of my left ear.  After many tests, hearing and scans and blood work, no one could fine the reason for the loss.  So off I was sent to a hearing center.  The good news was that I had great health insurance and I would receive $1,000 for the purchase of a hearing aid.  So after researching and trying many types of hearing aids, the $1,000 one did nothing more than scream in my ear. Oh course, the $5,000 one work great.  So with 4 kids at home, college zooming, I declined the offer to purchase.

A few times since then I have had appointments with all those storefront hearing centers that pop up all over town.  One gentleman had me in such a hard sell technique, that I asked him if he sold cars before this because he sound so much like a car salesman and not a hearing specialist.  He got mad and threw me, yes threw me, out of his office.  Well I wasn't upset, I was so glad to get away from his greedy little selling options.
 
Well, years have passed, and when I was at my lawyers office, I notice she had hearing aids on.  She told me where she got them and she was so excited that she could hear normal again.  She had ringing in both her ears and some hearing loss.  She was so excited about her experience that I thought, well maybe, I would address my problem again.

Today was the day of the rest of my life.  I want to scream it, but not too loud, please.  I CAN HEAR AGAIN.

 http://www.samsclub.com/sams/hearing-aid-engage-32/prod6430045.ip?sprodId=prod6430045 

Hear it is, John put me in one and it cost me $45.00 for Sam's membership.  The Liberty hearing aid costs me total $1800.00.  for 4 year warranty and 1 year lost replacement.  My insurance will re-emburse me for $1,000.  Out of pocket is the Sam's membership and $800.00. 

I am so happy I can hear.  I turned down the radio in my car several degrees as soon as I got in.  I kept thinking the car door was open because I could hear outside the car.  When I watched TV tonight, I told my hubby to turn down the TV.  He turned it down so it sounded fine to me, but now he couldn't hear it.  He even told me to take the hearing aid out.  HeHe.  

Lesson learned:  Don't give up.  Keep trying to find solutions to your challenges.  There is always a way.  Persevere!        Thank you John at Spring Meadows Sam's Club, Holland, Ohio.   

Looking for my lost sister, Lynne Morse!

Well, I guess you get one in every family.  A BLAck Sheep! Well, here is mine.

She is my oldest sister, 13 years older.  And I love her very much.  She was so much fun, always laughing, drinking Pepsi  and cleaning her sink so that it shined.  She raised 3 kids, most as a single mom.  She did marry, 3 times, one husband died.  But as life left it's mark, she became more and more depressed, and she solved that problem with drinking and prescription drugs of all sorts. 

Suicide trials also became a part of her scene.  It got so bad that the EMT's didn't want to go to her house, they would call me instead.  One day, in front of the EMT's, I gathered all her drugs and the bottles, what was left of them and sat down on her bed and lifted her up and said "Here, Take the rest of these now and let's get this over with".  She was even front page news with her suicides attempts when a neighborhood boy saved her.  

We all tried to help her, took care of her kids, gave her money and places to live, cars to drive but she would soon disappear "because she just didn't want to be around family"  (we were Christian and all?)  

With her kids grown, she became more and more distant.  She would jump into our lives and jump out.  We started to just realize "well, that's the way she is"  There were good times when she would get help with AA, or a new boyfriend would help her and she would settle down.  But soon some drama would result and things would come crashing down.  She soon followed a boyfriend to Florida, Pompano Beach, and things seem to look up for her.  The sun and great weather, she took up fishing and found new friends at AA.  But soon she stole her boyfriend's car, drove back to Toledo, Ohio with her cats and the cops called me again to do something with her.  My other sister and I got her into housing, food stamps and medical.  But she didn't like it, this was so beneath her.  Something happened (we never know the whole true story) and she left and moved into her daughters low income housing in Inkster, MI.  The downhill spiral soon swallowed her and her daughter up.  Her daughter's daughter, who was on drugs, but maybe they all were, stabbed her mother 17 times.  She lived miraculously, granddaughter got put in jail until 18.  We lost sight of Lynne during this time and haven't seen her since.  

It has been 2 1/2 years, I just filed a missing person reports, called the morgues, checked with Social Security, (She is supposedly still getting her checks) We sent her letters through Social Security and no word back.  I filed a fraud report with Social Security also, but if they find anything they will not tell me about it.  

I am at a dead end street.  

I will just pray and trust God to take care of her.

If you know where she is, or have seen here, please write me.  thanks, Chris 

Frustrated, Errrrrrr....

I purchased my Artistic 640 Bernina 2nd hand about 3 years ago.  And I loved it.  But, but, but, I really think my bobbin housing unit is screwed up.  I have had it in twice now for fixing.  During the embroidering process after about 2 min it starts to nest underneath and starts clinking.  I fix it, I pull every little thread out, I clean it,  blow on it, brush it but it still clinks.  I don't embroidery alot, but when I do, I want it to work.  Ya Know!   Well I was making a cute little tooth fairy pillow for my Emma.  Her tooth is ready anyday now to fall out and she is so silly about it.  Girls usually are.  But NO, I have to take it in again to see what is wrong.  
First I am a hands on girl and want to fix it myself.  But no symatics are on any web sight,  even the Bernina Repairman can't get one for me.  So he says.  So in I go with my machine all packed up, with another note and example of problem and there it will sit for 1 to 2 weeks until they get in whatever part they need and so by the time I get my machine back, I am on my way to another project. 
I gave up embroidery of a pink ribbon that I wanted on Emma's sister's quilt because of the last screw up with the nesting and bobbin housing flare up. 

Life is good though.  How can I complain? I can look at it as a challenge or a problem.  I like challenges better.  So I am going to quit my whinning, work on another project and maybe buy a tooth fairy pillow.    NOT!  Hehe! 

 

Quilt as I go-Gotta love this!

href

="http://pileofabric.com/post/2012/12/28/skill-builder-block-of-the-month" title="Pile O' Fabric"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8363/8319269912_4085c384f9_o.png" alt="Pile O' Fabric" style="border:none;" />

I am involved with BOM with http://Pileofabric.com.   Hopefully I can post her block above and post my pictures today.  Well here goes-----

This quilt will be a series of blocks, some traditional and some by Pile O' Fabric.  I will be working on my free motion and be more exact in my cutting and piecing.  I'm a fly by my pants kind of gal and I love just grabbing fabric, ripping it and sewing and see what comes out.  The planning of a quilt drives me nuts.  Also I get so bogged down when I have to finish the top of a quilt, so pretty and nice, but no, I'm not finish yet - still have to quilt it.  UgH!   Then it tends to sit in it's little box until I get the energy to finish it.  Mostly I get distracted by another cool project like this one.  :')  If you look back in this blog, you will notice I have a pink and grey quilt that I started for my Adeline.  But I'm distracted because, I like these colors more, I can't figure out how to put the top together in a pleasing way, (the blocks are done) So procrastination sets in, and I get stuck.  Sometimes I am so flaky.  Well, that's what my dad use to say to me.    So stay tuned,  I will finish all of this before I die.  Promise.    (Now it is in writing, Oh No!)

Pileoffabric.com BOM

I so love the social network.  I have learned from so many quilters, knitters, crocheters, artist and other through their blogs, Flicker and Facebook.  This would not be possible unless those people wrote a book or became a TV star.  Now normal (?), ordinary, regular people can share their knowledge, experiences and pics, so the "world" can see. 
Well Alyssa Lichner is one of my favorite people right now.  http://www.pileofabric.com
For some reason the importer on Blogger is not uploaded my pics for this paticular BOM,  Please see my Flicker account http://www.flickr.com/photos/17474174@N05/ 
I have joined her group for BOM - Block of the Month, for those who are not quilters. She teaches a way to make a quilt using many different techniques and free motion quilting. And it is all free-"What a super woman".
Below are some of the great ideas and links at bottom, I have learned through social networking.    Enjoy!

Some sites I love  

http://found-stitched-dyed.blogspot.com/

http://shelaghfolgate.blogspot.com/