I went to the top of the hill today with some wonderfully talented people... Nance Hill to be exact.. in Newton County MS..

http://newtonchamberofcommerce.com/?p=4795

WOW,,, just WOW






what did you do today?

Our quilt guild has a new Blog!! Magnolia Quilt Guild in Meridian, MS is growing and learning and caring and sharing. They are an awesome group of multi-talented ladies that will soon celebrate 20 years together. 

There are 2 of the original founders in this group. We plan to celebrate them in February. The link to the Blog is this: http://magnoliaquilters.blogspot.com

More to come...

Seriously! Has it been 2 years since I posted anything? I have been working on a hand pieced, and hand quilted piece since June 2011. I have about 9 more blocks to quilt for it to be complete. This was it when I finally finished the top!! woohoo!!

This quilt was finally finished for my newest grandson that turned a year old in November 2012.. I was running a little late with it.

Many things have happened and life continues to roll on... I have retired,, We have had new life, old things have passed away,, Shot has 2 horses to go with his cows... They throw him regularly... Mercy!

God is good..

What have you been doing the last 2 years?

Some things I have been working on...

This is the beginning of the quilt for the nursing home that the Phi Theta Kappa group is collecting for a service project. I found some jelly rolls on "huge sale" at Joanne's and realized I could make a quilt and it would be meaningful with the fabric I bought.. Maybe someone will love it.. I finally finished it today.. I am taking it tomorrow.

 I threw it over Shot when I took it out of the dryer so I could get a good picture of it... Notice how excited he gets about my projects..

 This is the back of the quilt.. I went outside and placed it in a "seductive quilt display"... It is not as effective as what I have seen on other blogs,,, but my quilts are kinda like me,,, they just sort of "splay" rather than pose!!!

 It folds well,,,, I just love the binding. There are some awesome fabrics in the jelly roll I used.. All batiks.. The binding was also on sale for like 75% off... It washed well and dried well. I used warm and natural white for batting.

 Oh yeah, you know I bought an embroidery machine on the last blog... That is another reason the quilt is just now being completed! I went to "class" last Saturday and this is my embroidered applique... My niece told me it looks just like me..

 I embroidered my initials on my bag I made.. Nothing fancy, I just have to practice! I also made the tag for the quilt and stitched it on the back when I was finished with the quilt.



How do you all get it all done? With work, classes, practice, learning how to use my machines and having to go and look for more fabric each week,,, AND still trying to complete projects and begin new ones....there is never enough time... Do you have any suggestions? I do love it though... Just not enough time...

and who is that that keeps needing clean clothes, and food, and room to walk across the floor.... oh PA-LEASE!!!!! I let him pose in my pictures... Geesh!!!!

God even cares about sewing machines

Monday was a holiday. What better time to go shopping than on a holiday, right?

So, they were having a sale,,, and I honestly could not understand everything that has gone on all week at work... But, you want to know how the Lord is using that machine to keep me working in His kingdom?

I have been eligible to retire from the state of Mississippi for a couple of years now,, As long as I am able to continue to "make a difference" I  was going to continue to work... I have been really upset lately and today I just wanted to come home and sew on my new machines and make stuff for people and participate in all the Blogs and challenges and make comments on everyone's Blog so I can win prizes,,, but then I remembered "The machine".... God knew that today was going to happen and that I would have enough and I could retire, go home, ride out my excess days and never go back... but I can't do that,,, I just bought this wonderful embroidery machine...so I need to work...

I have always believed that God does not remove us until we are through with what He wants us to do.. and when we are removed or when it is time to go,, we will go in peace,,, not in mass confusion...

There is more work to be done for the Kingdom.. This is a God inspired machine. I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me and my new machine...

Now I have to find a place to put it and get the stand all together... and did I forget the thread... oh my...

to be continued...

First Day Back in the New Year!

The first day back at work is always the same... My schedule is off, I have been oversleeping, can't sleep the night before, and I come dragging in exactly on time (or a little after) and everyone is SO EXCITED TO BE THERE!!!!!

The students have been planning, hoping, dreaming, and scheming about coming to "live" on the Scooba campus of East MS Community College... Some are returning freshman, a little more eager than they were in the fall with more assurance in their faces....The 2nd semester sophomores, signing up for those last classes that lead up to graduation...and then there are those students that suddenly realize that all the fun they had the last 2 semesters have caught up with them and they are desperately trying to figure out how to hang in there or find an alternative to what can be done...

Tears, laughter, interspersed with terse moments when time holds them in limbo and the lines seem to never move!!!! and tears of rejections that may or may not have been of their own making... finding the right "piece of the puzzle" to give them what they need... 

So much more important than finding the "perfect piece" of material for a quilt, or the perfect pattern for the vintage cloth...very similar to solving puzzles, problems, whatever.... I love the finished product... I love a finished quilt, I love graduation, I love the ends of the semesters, I love it when my students do well.

I do so love my students,, my job, my life. I have 2 puppy dog quilts I need to finish,,, my husband fixed a frozen pizza for dinner. I am so, sew, seaux, sough, pseu- tired...

Happy 2011

My daughter in law has posted another wonderful recipe on Moda Bake Shop. I really can't think of how to link that right now, but it is the coffee thing,, she is "sew creative". She is over at The Tulip Patch , I think I linked that correctly,, anyway, I am really proud of her. Just go check out her stuff. I am just her cheerleader. Besides being an extremely creative young lady, she is a wonderful mother to my 3 grandsons, and the lady of my son's dreams.

2011 will bring many opportunities and gifts for life.. Enjoy the ride,, beginning today.

Reflections on the past year while basking in heavy drugs...

I have one more week off before I go back to school and work.. So, yesterday morning I just went me on down to the medical facility and had me some ovaries removed.... While I was at it I had my plumbing worked on,,, I will be good as new as soon as all the pulled muscles get back where they need to be.

I have uploaded some pictures of some projects I have been working on that I am not too ashamed to post. Not that there are very many folks that stop by my post, but I do get a little sewing done during the year and that was one of the reasons I wanted to do this Blog.

I have so been trying to make pot holders.. My daughter-in-law over at The Tulip Patch makes the cutest pot holders for my grandson's teachers! She gave me some last year, but she had some with her when they were here Thanksgiving and I just had to have a new one. I have been trying to reproduce these and have made the biggest mess! I wound up buying alot of fabric and redoing and undoing.. This is the result so far on the left...




This is a quilt that I made for my student worker at school. She has been my work-study student and upon her graduation in December this year, she told me she wanted a quilt made by me and she didn't care what it looked like..,That gave me confidence to try once again... This is a pattern that my DIL displayed in Moda Bake Shop,, I just bought the fabric at JoAnn's in the colors my student wanted and went for it. This is what the back looked like on the right... My student said she loved it...


While I am on drugs, I am doing some hand work on my dresden plates and finishing up my last pot holder... Just because. The potholders have NO hangers,, they are not perfect, but I will use them until they are burned in to...I am done, my Lortab is kicking my tail!!!!

Later!

Merry Christmas, ya'll!!!!

This is a glimpse of Christmas in the country,, in a Lauderdale County Mississippi version of a white Christmas...

Hey I'll take it!!!!!!

Check out those HUGE snowflakes!!!!

After living in MS for 54 years of my life and never having a snow flake fall, I am claiming this one as the first white Christmas ever!!! I was hoping for a miracle this Christmas and this one is the proof. It does not take much to make me happy, and obviously the size of the snow flakes far out-way the "stick ability" of the snow! Maybe one day I will tell my grandchildren that the snow was on the driveway and the sidewalk... You think maybe they will buy that??? 

I hope this has been the very best Christmas ever. Jesus is the reason for the season and He has shown Himself to be faithful as always. My prayer is that all your dreams come true and that you continue to believe in miracles!!! Instead of eat, drink, and be merry,, this new year, sew, craft, and build to be happy!!!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Out on the porch at 1:38 am...

So yesterday was meant to get a beginning to the end of what I needed to accomplish outside the house before Christmas... Today, I need to try and get everything wrapped and take one final inventory before Friday. Shot Brown is going to be home so there is a chance that my plans may get messed up...

We were up during the night to see the lunar eclipse that was meant to be the last time during our lifetime... This is what we saw... When I checked the local news on fb, the weather person said,,"there may be extreme cloud cover"...Ugh!!! so we drank our coffee and watched Hoarders. Oh my! I need to clean!

Confessions of a "FLITTER"

I worked my last day on Friday. I sat down and made out a list of things to accomplish this week. Things that HAVE to be done, things that NEED to be done, and things I want to do, JUST BECAUSE...

I have made the biggest mess....I have started EVERYTHING on the list and NOT FINISHED anything.,,, In fact I have even done some more things that I did not think of when I was making out the list...I have flitted from one thing to another...

I really want to sew, that is it.. for 2 weeks.,.I organized fabric today. I think I need to try and use up some of the fabric I have before I buy more... hum...I am running out of space..I may have to go cold turkey on this one...

So you want to know how we spend our Thursday nights?

Well it is going to be hard to make tea tonight...

When my phone rang at work today at 3:30 pm, I did not take the call because I was busy with a student..Then I called on the way home and Shot was riding up the hill from the valve shut off to "re-fix" the pipe... He was on his 3rd try, each time the connections had blown out. By the time I got home, he had used all the "stuff" he had bought at Lowe's when he found this and had been trying to get it together...

He had to go back to Lowe's and get more stuff,, after he had taken it apart,, it looked like this picture...

So he gets everything set up, the lights turned on his tools and sack of "stuff" from Lowe's... he has dug the hole out and he is a plumbing dude!!!! My hero,, he can fix anything..~once he does it right and quits trying to screw it together hoping I do not find out how many corners he cut until it breaks again~ Poor baby I know he is tired, worked all day, hasn't had any supper, fixed the pipes...

what the hell????

You are NOT parking that thing in my new outdoor living room, i.e., porch, did you hear me??? Shot Brown I am telling you!!!! I'm telling Big Momma!!!!

I can't believe you are parking that thing in/on my new back porch. I guess I know now why I got it.... blaaa, bla,,,bla,bla,bla,, go inside, wash your hands and take a bath....love you...

Thyra

When we get old

OK, so we have been building again... well, not us, but Cap't Terry and Donal Duck (not their real names, but what Shot Brown calls them...) and then we had to paint,, well Shot did,,, everyday after work and I helped.... and then we had to have banisters,,, they had to be painted before they were installed... Me: let's put down the plastic and paint them under the new porch away from the sun,,, Shot: nothing... So, he set them up on the plastic in the grass next to the cattle trailer balanced on ladders.... IN THE SUN!!!!! what did I say????? ok,,, let's get this over with. I am on the down side and he is on the upside... So I bust my butt sliding down on the plastic as we were trying to move the banisters to prop against the cattle trailer...
Shot: are you ok????? Me: leave me alone, if you had put this where i told you to,,, etc., etc., etc...bla,,bla,,la,,,yak, yak,,,yak,,,wheeze.....etc... (you get the message)...

The banisters look really good.

This is Shot Brown's new favorite place... I guess I am going to have to make him a quilt...

Life goals

Life has a funny way of thumbing its nose at ya. All my life I knew there were 2 things I wanted to accomplish in my life. And I knew if I did these 2 things then my life would be complete. I worked hard and planned from childhood. Never taking my eyes off the prize, it kept me focused, out of trouble, and helped me to make good choices when others were making unwise choices, I just did not want anything to hinder me from my 2 goals.   

I wanted children and I wanted to teach. Those were the only things I ever wanted in life. Now, other things had to come and be part of the process, but basically if God had just given me children to love and a classroom to inspire, I would not even have found the paper towel aisle at Walmart. I would have had no need for any outside stimulation. Happy, happy would I be.

We have been so very blessed in our family with lots of children. About the time we are about to grow out of some, then a new crop begins.Our Creator is very wise like that.... Healthy, happy, well-adjusted, children full of life and creatively different in every way. God is good!

I cannot find the picture of all the children from last year on the 4th... There is a pile, the picture here is just a few of the blessings with skin...
 

I cannot believe I have been back at work only a week....

Sandra's shirt. I have this Sister that is loosing lots of weight and doesn't have any clothes. So I made her an outfit.. This is the shirt to the left. It is a simple pattern and the pants are a separate pattern. This is the outfit to the right. I think she likes it, but also thinks it is WAY TOO BIG!!!!... I think she looks pretty cute... What do you think???

Shot went to the doctor again today about his spider bite. Looks as though he will be going back to work on Monday... Woo hoo!!!! His leg still looks terrible, but they say it is better. Brown Recluse=Not good... He has been off since the 25th of June. He has also not been able to bale or cut his hay... or go out a sweat,, I have tried to impress upon him the importance of getting better and not getting cow poop in his 2 X 2 X 2 hole in his leg.. Apparently, the good news about spider bites is that one does NOT get stitches.... Always a silver lining...

You can find out more information about the Brown Recluse Spider here here

Going back to work

Seems as though I will be going back to work on Monday. My big holiday is over. I worked on the 29th of June and have not been back since! My sister came on the 29th. We went early on Wednesday and had our hair done. She made wonderful cabbage rolls for my brother when he came into town. We had to try them out... She left on Thursday morning. My niece from Florida came in on Thursday. We met in town and shopped the fabric stores for bargains. When we got back to the house, my nephew Jacob came. along with my brother, sister-in-law, niece, great niece and great nephew. We chowed down on the wonderful cabbage rolls that Sandra made.

Friday morning we went to the fabric store in Dekalb. Wow!!! double wow. So much to see, and buy. Had such a great time with the girls while the guys played golf. We came on home after noon and was getting things set for dinner and my son, daughter-in-law, and 3 grandsons arrived from Houston, TX!!!. What a wonderful surprise! We all had to visit quickly so the babies could go to bed.

Saturday was spent in preparation of Sunday when the rest on the family arrived. Sunday was wonderful and fun filled with food, fellowship, singing, guitar playing and down home good time!

Monday Shot and I got to spend 24 whole hours with our grand sons! First time ever for more than a few hours. They are just too cute and smart! They left on Tuesday afternoon and Shot and I both fell asleep in the chairs.

I have been sewing and cleaning since. I finish my sister's outfit and started me a shirt. The stripes are not where I think they should be, so I have stopped for today. I have also been working on my online training class....Gah! I need a break... There is the finished shirt above... Do the stripes look too terrible???

I also started a baby blanket today. I am going to put a material ruffle around it with my new ruffler for my QC 1000!!! I can't wait to try it!!!

well, we shall see how tomorrow goes. It is definitely time for bed! nite nite

A glimpse at the future...

Oh my gosh! I feel so much better! I dropped my class today and withdrew from the Doctorate program. I am free!!!!! I thought I wanted it so bad, but when I thought about being tied to my job for long enough to finish, much less staying indefinitely when I can retire,,, I just let it go!!!! I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders. Now, I can just sew, piddle, and work until I don't want to anymore... and then....

Life is good!

Drama with a Capital "D"

Why is it that things have to be so complicated? Life used to be so easy and smooth. Everything went according to plan. Not a strict- "No we can't change anything" sort of plan. Just flowed... It flowed in and flowed out. There were no barriers, no pretenses, no "oh my, watch what you say, you don't want to hurt any one's feelings" just,,,just,,, family. that was all... The good, the bad, the ugly,,, the wonderful dysfunctional world that we all love and survive in. Get together,,, can't do it,,, not a problem,,, let me do that,,, no, I do it better,,, FAMILY!!!!!!

 Suddenly,everything is different. Or is it the same. Is it my perspective,,, my own worries,, will everything really be OK? How can we pass a test we are so nervous to take that we can't remember the answers? Spontaneity is the best. Organized confusion. respect....mutual respect... I'm OK, You're OK.. let's all live together and get along..

Or are we already doing that? Hum, maybe everything I worry about,,, the energy and all put in to worry will not go to waste... maybe NOTHING will happen,,, and everything will be OK.. That is my prayer... That is my plea,,, that is my promise.

Maybe I need a nap...

Poor cow...and I think I got problems....

We certainly have our priorities in order!!!!!!

Today, my husband had a phone call from a farmer friend. "Aw man, I am sorry to hear that!" he said. Then in a farmerly tone said, "You bailing hay today"?... After they got off the phone, I asked what that was all about, he told me that this man's mother-in-law had just died. I said, "I can't believe he is actually going to bale hay today, what did he tell you"?..... "He is going to call me if needs help"......

I mumbled under my breath as I cleared the dinner dishes, "I hope there is no hay on the ground when I kick out",,,, he mumbles back as he walks away to his chair,,,,"if it is,, you will just have to wait.. HAY WILL RUIN"... Aaaaagh! please if I die, ask him immediately if he had hay on the ground,,, the morgue will let me rot while they are trying to reach him on his cell phone in the hay field. At least come and help him get through so he can take an afternoon, no make that morning, because you can't bale with dew on the ground, to bury me....