10 DAYS

This has been a crazy 10 days.  Sometimes it seems like everything that could go wrong, does.  Money is tight with us on a good day. On a bad day it gets right down scary.  Projects we thought would ease the $$ problems fell through.  All of which leads to depression.  The problem with depression is it paralizes the mind.  It is like novacaine.  You can't think, therefore you can't make anything happen.  I just wanted to let you all know we are still here, hanging on by the bare teeth. I can't even get into my ETSY accounts.  They changed the sign on screen and the card I have for the sign on and password is hiding from me.  I managed to get Rose cottage up, but I am still having problems with Fabric's 'N Stuff and Southern Gothic Whimsy.  Oh well.  I am even having problems with Farmville (one of the games I play) on facebook.  It just doesn't end. 
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. 
God Bless You,
Mary

SNOW KEEPS FALLING ON YOUR HEAD !!

Well to paraphrase an old song ~ Snow flakes keep falling on my head.  My little neck of the woods finally caught up with the rest of the world.  We have snow falling.  Right outside my back door !!! Oh my gosh it is really snowing.  Right on time. Exactly as the weathermen ( and women) said it would.  Give the folks a hand.  They got it right this time.  Right now there isn't ice out there.  Well not yet.  Part of this is melting ~~ But not all of it.  Big ole fluffy flakes.  Finally.  While the rest of the world has been getting snow since Christmas ( and I mean as close as 10 MILES from us), we haven't gotten nary a flake ~ just ICE.  Here are pictures as of 7:30PM CST in central Alabama halfway between Montevallo and Alabaster.

 You can even see the flakes without enlarging the picture.  I told you all something like this would happen when my sister-in-law Mary Eliz. got here from Alaska.

She always brings crazy weather with her.  I can hear her now saying "You have more snow than Alaska does" !!!!
The day she flew in it was colder here than it was in Wasilla Ak.  They really have not had much snow this year and what has fallen has been melting rather fast with weird warm up's they have had.  Probably means that when it should be getting warm there in May and June it will probably be snowing.  Have to just wait and see. 
Til my next post with more pics.
May God bless you.
Mary

Deja Vu ALL OVER AGAIN

Well, here we go again.  Sunday Don was walking around in the yard in Bermuda shorts and today we have ice on the deck and no one is going out the door.  Thank goodness I had the get up and go to go to the grocery store this morning early instead of waiting til lunch time to do it.  Didn't have to get much, mainly Advil and toilet paper, but I would have been hurting without it.  And news bullentin here, my sister in law, Mary, from Alaska is flying in Saturday (that is if her connecting airports in Minn. and Atlanta are open).  I can promise you that we will have weird weather while she is here.  One winter when she lived in north Alabama, every time she came down between Christmas and Easter it snowed.  Didn't matter what the weatherman said it would do, it snowed.  By the third visit and I got up early that morning and looked out and guess what?? snow on the ground, I called her mom to find out what time she got there.  It was supposed to be sunny and WARM that day and low and behold the snow didn't melt. Of course, in the summer time it usually means hurricanes and tropical storms.  The first date she had with my brother we had 4 tornadoes hit the area.  Should have known then what we were in for.  I love her to death and wouldn't trade her for anybody, but she does have this weather thing. Oh, by the way yesterday was their 37th wedding annivesary.  That day (the day they got married) was sunny and 70 F and we were wearing high neck, long sleeve blue velvet bridesmaid dresses.  I nearly melted.  In a pudddle.
I will keep you posted about the weather and Mary's visit.
God bless us all. 
Mary

I WON A GIVEAWAY !!!

I won a giveaway!!  Imagine my surprise. It has been years and years and years since I won anything. I am one of those people that if there were 3 people in a drawing,I would be the last one drawn. Always !! When we were doing craft shows and they were giving away door prizes Mother would win all kinds of things. She truely had the luck of the Irish even though she was mostly Scottish. I have entered all kinds of giveaways on the blogs.  I never come close.  I was floored to see a comment on my blog entry telling me I had won Lorena's giveaway over at Rose Chic Friends (http://rosechicfriends.blogspot.com/ ).  My prize arrived Thursday and it is beautiful. The pics do not do it justice. She painted the beautiful roses on a paper doily and added rhinestone hearts.

And as pretty as the heart pocket is, it is the little fan that I adore.  I am a hot natured person living in the South, where it is hot 3/4 of the time.  I carry a little fan with me all the time.  Now I have a beautiful fan to take to church with me.  It will fit right in my small handbags that I like to carry on Sundays.  I am going to give my friend Rheba one of the tags.  She loves cottage chic as much as I do. 

I have this $1.00 bullentin board hanging over my computer. One of my favorite finds at the thrift store because it is so big and fits right in that space over my monitor. Now I am going to have to decorate my board to go with my pocket.  Trust me, that beautiful pocket will hang there way past Valentine's Day.  Thank you Lorena so very much for drawing my name.  You have boosted my flaging spirits so high during these dreary winter days.
May God Bless you and your loved ones.
Mary

STITCHIN' CRAZY

I know that lately I have been rather pessimistic and down.  I guess it is after Christmas blues.  Just to let you know that I can finish something, here are pics of a little sachet I made recently.  It was a gift to go with a purse I sold. 

Just a little simple thing that only took a little bit to make. Maybe now I can finally get in the groove.  I am working on a pillow top that I started a long time ago. I didn't like the center part ~ a ruffled lace heart outline and a lot of ribbon work. I have gotten it out and looked at it and then put it back up. Finally I just ripped the ribbon and lace out. I had done a lot of ribbon work, but I just couldn't stand to look at it. I found a vintage pic of a lady with flowers that I had printed off on fabric and I have tacked it down and now I have decided how I will decorate it.  I am not kidding when I say I have spent a lot of time looking at it. I have an ottoman in front of my recliner (that doesn't recline any more, but it is a Lazyboy and VERY comfortable to sit and sew in). Any way I put the piece on the ottoman and left it there for the last week and just looked at it when I was reading books or watching movies w/ the hubbyman. I have finally reached a decision.  Now we will see if I can execute what I have in mind.  Here is the now pictures and I will post the after picture in a couple of days

This is only the basic stitching.  I have put a few beads on it so far, but a whole lot will follow.  While I was taking that picture I decided to photograph some finished pieces, 2 of the first crazy quilt pieces I ever did.

I don't remember why I strip pieced them. I have never been able to put them up for sale. Several people have wanted to buy both of them but I just couldn't let them go.  Funny how you can bet attached to some things. Sometimes I know there is a flaw in a piece and I want sell it.  I have a handbag like that. I made a mistake with one of the straps and turned it wrong. I guess no one would ever even notice it, but I do.  When Mother and I were sewing for shows, sometimes I would hit a piece like top stitching something, I just could not get it right. After ripping it out 3 times I made it a practice to throw it away and quit working on it, because after 3 times I would never get THAT piece right.  I would waste too much time trying to fix it and could have something else finished and ready to go in that same time.  Well that is it for tonite.
God Bless each of you.
Mary

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Wednesday I joined a new group. A Yahoo group called Crazy Quilting International. A bunch of ladies get together on the internet and share their love for crazy quilting.  While I have always admired crazy quilts, and have been doing floss embroidery since I was in Vacation Bible school in when I was in the second grade age group many moons ago, I had never really tried my hand at crazy quilting until I went to work at Hancocks fabric in Jan. 1997. There was several ladies there that loved to crazy quilt and there were books that HF sold on ribbon embroidery and crazy quilting. About that same time I joined crafters choice book club.  They had lots of books on crazy quilting and silk ribbon embroidery. I was totally hooked. About that same time I also found that I needed stronger and stronger glasses and different glasses to see different things at different distances. I bought bifocals (spent $200 on them) and still couldn't see anything period. Went back to my eyedr and he said probably the best thing was to buy over the counter glasses in different strengths for different projects. That worked. I have glasses for the computer (175's) and glasses for reading and sewing (275's). They cost $6.00 a pair at Dollar General stores and I probably have a dozen pair now scattered all over the house where I work and read.  This system works perfect for me.  I simply can't adjust to bifocals. Anyhoo, back to crazy quilting.  This group does show and tells, round robins, challenges and all sorts of things. That has led me go get out my unfinished projects.
Before my mother died in 2005 I spent all of my none working time with her which meant a lot of time just sitting across the room from her since she was house bound.  She hand quilted baby and lap quilts, almost as fast as I could get them put together and basted.  She could finish a baby quilt with lots of figures to be quilted in a couple of days.  She was the fastest neat quilter I have ever seen.  I would pin and baste 6-7 quilts on an off day and she would finish them for me to bind in 10 to 15 days.  Just sit in the den and watch FoxNew network, talk to Aunt Mary on the phone and quilt and quilt and quilt. So while she was quilting I was designing quilts and doing crazy quilting. And then I would go to work at Walmart for 6 hours (7-1:30), pick up groceries and fabric on my way out of WM and go home and sew. That was her life and my life. We didn't do anything else except go to the doctor or the hospital 3 or 4 times a year. Now I THINK I can finish the CQ pieces I was working on when she died. I put them up because of the memories associated with them and MAYBE now I can finish them.  Some times it has been hard to look at them. I made mother a vest with lots of needle work on it.  It was her favorite clothing to wear. When she died I took it apart (the back and the lining) and was going to resize it so I could wear it.  She didn't want to be buried with it. She said there was too much work on it to put away in the ground.  In 5 years I have finally managed to cut out the lining and back panel to fit me. Mother had a dowager's hump and I had made it to fit so it hung right plus I am larger than Mother was.

My mother and I both loved purple.  She loved cats. I like cats. There is a difference.  Anyway she and I loved fan patterns. I haven't sewed it up yet. I may add some stitchery just to make it my own.  

The initials I did here are the prettiest I have ever done.  This is one time I can say they came out perfect.

I have to get this finished so it can be worn.  I have too many things packed away never to be seen. Mother did too. I found lots of memory pieces hidden away in boxes and trunks that she never got to enjoy.  Toward the end she complained about that and told me not to do it too. To get my stuff out where I could enjoy it.  That is another New Year's resolution for 2011. I will have all my stuff unpacked either sitting out or sell it this year.  I have over a 100 teapots I have collected and most of them are still packed up from when I moved 5 years ago. I am too old to leave them packed up. It is now or never.  Teapots or crazy quilting. It either sees the light of day or some one else will get to look after them.
God bless each of you.
Mary

SUCESS ~ OLIVIA IS FOUND

The lost is found.  I want to thank Mariette, Gloria, and Tammy. You all helped to find my missing blogger.  As soon as I hit her site I knew I was on the right one.  I also saved pics of the beautiful lace wreath she had on there.  I can't wait to show it to a friend that doesn't blog, or cruise the internet.  She is a cottage chic fanatic.  I will have to make some new pics of her house for all of you to see. She is an inspiration to me, especially since she lives in a double wide mobile home like I do.  They are hard to 'go cottage' than a regular house, especially when trying to hang pics and shelves. But I am getting side tracked here.  Thank you all so much for taking the time to find her and to leave a comment on my blog.  I put a link to her blog in a button on the right 'Olivia's Romantic Home'. Check her out, she has some great crafts and recipes on her blog.
Thank all of you again.  It never ceases to amaze me how friendly and helpful all of you are, and that you take time out of your busy lives to read (and comment) on my blog. I feel closer to you all than I do some of my family.
  May God shed His Blessings on each of you.
Mary
PS: Today the sun shines, you can walk around in shirt sleeves and NOT slip and slide on ICE.  Thank you Lord.