New Mosaic Quilt in progress

I finished with all the little squares. Now to do some actual quilting stitches over it to enhance the design. Hope I don't ruin it. The picture wasn't the best choice for this work, because it was too well lit, but I love it, so I decided to try it and see what happens. I made it a little more contrasty in Photoshop, but really, to work well a picture has to have more lights and shadows, and just one light source.

So . . . here it is so far. Anybody want to guess who it is?? There will be prizes. No - there won't just kidding!

Computer problems .. grrrrrr

Still down, off and on, since Tuesday. This is so stressful. I've been on the phone with tech support all day for 3 days. Bob spent the whole afternoon here today trying to get it to work. Joey has been a trooper - spending hours and hours, too. He got some of the things to work this morning, and I can now up load pictures again. And the links work, again. WiFi is still down, and we have tried everything!
If you've tried to comment, and couldn't, maybe it will work now.

Karen, I'm sorry I wasn't able to get back to you last week. Hope you got lots of good stuff!

House Quilt Block 5

We had computer problems yesterday, so I couldn't do anything except sew! Got some odds and ends done, then decided to do BOM5. I'm starting to get excited about the finished quilt, and thinking of variations, such as making the four 'tiers' seasons, beginning with Spring at the top. I'm wondering if I can do that effectively with the night time theme I'm doing. We'll see. It might have to be a bright, brisk, moon lit night, or as my Dad used to say "a brach brich moon lich nich" or something like that.

Catching up - My kind of weekend

Whoops! We're a little saggy here!

We started and ended this 4 day week end with parties! What could be better than that? Friday we celebrated Mom's 89th birthday. Amy and George hosted. We had another wonderful dinner cooked by George, using The Egg! We also celebrated my favorite DIL Kim's, and Joey's girlfriends birthdays. Then, on Memorial Day, we celebrated 3 more birthday's and Cindy's house with a great cook out and lots of fun people! Sean, Rina, and Julianna all have May birthdays, too. What a month!!

Bob and I walked in the Memorial Day parade with our church Green Team. Actually, we organized the group, schlepped stuff to and from the parade and 'worked' the Clutter Bug for the whole length of the parade! It takes 3 people for the Clutter Bug to be effective, ideally, they should be similar in size. The head of our Clutter Bug was Joshua, Rick and Linda's 8 year old grandson. Bob, who is over 6' was in the middle, and I brought up the rear, trying to keep the sides from blowing around in the wind. Someone said that it looked more like the Clutter Camel!

The merry month of May

Many special people in my life were born in May. The one I've know and loved the longest is my Mom. She turns 89 years young today! We had a big party on her 75th and another on her 80th with just family (all of it.) We always some sort if immediate family celebration and this year is no exception. As the years go by, it becomes more and more important to celebrate with loved ones. Amy and George are hosting our family party for 'Gram' this year. (Seems like we've been doing a lot of 'party-ing' doesn't it? Well, we have!)This is a picture of Mom and Kim celebrating their birthday's together in '06, I think.

Rant continued

This is an excerpt from Ross Werland's column in the Chicago Tribune. "It had seemed like a two-person race between Gilles Marini and reality TV contestant Melissa Rycroft, but Johnson just wouldn't go away." "...stunningly, with less than a 1% difference..." "Johnson played the awe-struck ingenue all season, and I guess it's great to see the kid win; it just wasn't pretty."

My scentiments exactly, except the part about it's great to see the kid win.

I'm done now - not over it yet, but done talking about it.

Rant, and spoiler alert

In case there's someone on this planet that doesn't know it - Shawn Johnson won DWTS last night. Grrrr ewe ewe rrrrrr! Was she more elegant the Gilles? Nooo. Was she more graceful than Melissa? Nooo, again. So, WHY? Did her fans feel sorry for her? Did she not have enough Gold Medals that she truly earned? I'm really disappointed (but, I'll get over it). Thank goodness Coach was voted off the island last week! ;o)

I know it's silly to 'care' about this stuff - but, it's fun. My Mother made me do it!

Joey and other inspirations

I want to share this inspiring quote from my new friend, Luisa Buehler, who is the author of the Grace Marsden Mystery novels. "It’s fine to dream. I always say, “You may be insane to live in a dream, but it’s madness to live without one.”"

It touched me to read this in her blog this morning. She was referring to a friend of hers who persevered, did his homework, and, after lots of work, just published his first book. It can be done. You just have to keep at it.



I'm also inspired by my son Joey (OK - I know I should call him Joe, but he is still my little boy, no matter how old he gets) who is the most persistent and tenacious person I know. He leaves no stone unturned in his effort to accomplish his goal. Way to go, Joe!

This is me, talking to myself, too, I guess. I sometimes wonder why I drag myself out of bed and go to work every day. Then I get here and look at all the cool things I'm working on, the neat 'toys' I have, and I wouldn't want to do anything else!

Oh my gosh!

First Celebrity to die of Swine flu, and ...

WIPs, I have a ton

My friend Karen has inspired me to clean up my stack of WIPs. We'll see how far I get. This is a mosaic quilt that I started last year. Among the wips, I have a quilt sample I'm re-making, and some unfinished class projects . . .

I'm also working on an order for a 'Courtship Quilt' which is due by the end of next week. It's a shower gift for a young couple who have been dating since she was 14! Lot's of great pictures of them through the years, culminating with 'the proposal'. I'll post a picture after i get an OK from my client.

I'm in a Zen mood

Barbie at 50

Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else.

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

One more day 'til House Quilt Block 5!

Sterling Silver Necklace

Today I have to work, really work. All of a sudden we have several orders, and promises of more to come. One of the orders, which I will deliver today, is a beautiful sterling silver necklace.


Finished necklace. I think it turned out great! I know my client will love it. She misses her parents.


These are the pictures we settled on, to work with.



This is the first picture my client brought in. She thought the picture had to be small enough to fit in the necklace, and didn't realize the wonderful powers of Photoshop. When I printed it, it looked really grainy due to having to lighten and enlarge it. She was delighted at the prospect of combining two good pictures for the necklace.

Two Winning Entries

Winner 2


Winner 1

Design Team for Amate'

I thought I should address this - I didn't win. The two ornaments shown in an earlier post, of Georgie, Oliver with ribbons and miniature crayons, and a round one - a close-up picture of Amy with Reilly, decorated with charms, were my entry samples. I realized it was a long-shot, but you never know if you don't try, and - you can't win if you don't enter...

It was disappointing and a relief, at the same time. I was concerned about being able to keep up with the schedule they outlined in the application. Anyway, as I thought, they were looking for people who work in clay and resin, as well as inks, sparkles, etc. They cross sell with other manufacturers who make that stuff. I'm not interested in that type of 'art' so I think it's OK that I didn't win. (But it would have been fun.)

Zen Sarcasms

A closed mouth gathers no foot.

Cinco de Mayo celebration, the Egg and Georgie

George invited us to a Cinco de Mayo party. I've never celebrated Cinco do Mayo before, but I'm ready to do it again! We had a wonderful dinner, prepared by George in his new Egg, and a wonderful time. Tom, Kim, Bob and I were hosted by Amy and George and my four grand dogs and 2 grand cats. Tommy has a patch over his eye as a result of a scratch. It should be better today. George cooked fajitas with both pork loin and fillet! Absolutely delicious. Grilled onions, grilled peppers of every color (so beautiful - see picture on Amy's blog mfas.blogspot.com), lots of condiments, sour cream, black beans and rice. But wait - there's more ... strawberries, ice cream, angel food cake and brownies baked in - what else? - the Egg! Do you believe it? It was fun seeing all the dogs. I have to confess I'm having a little trouble telling them apart, but they are all adorable. If they would stand still, I think i would know who is who. Thanks George and Amy for a wonderful party!


Amy resting after a long day of working and entertaining. Lucky is resting, too.


Dog collar 'art'.

Swine Flu: where it really began

Just kidding! I got this in an email from a good friend and couldn't resist sharing.

and here are some words for thought -

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it. I think this is called irony.

Little Amy and curious George

Amy was never afraid of bugs, frogs and such. Once in Door County, she put her little hand over a toad that was preparing to hop away, then giggled and said it was 'tickling' her. She looked pretty much like this picture.

House Quilt Block 4

Another little house - ready for the quilt! I'm slowing down in my quilt block production, but still keeping up. This is my best one so far. The squares are getting 'squarer'.

I like the way they all look together. Waiting to see all the finished quilts is the hardest part for me. I'm trying to copy all the little houses to a folder, sorted by the quilters name, so I can get an idea of how they will look. I guess that's a little obsessive.

Joanna has some great demos on her site for making triangles. They were very helpful.