Wish I were there

Today is fun Friday at Accuquilt and here is a link to their latest retreat... how I wish I could have went, they always have so much fun at these retreats.  Plus everyone at the retreat received a GO Baby and dies at the retreat... I WANT ONE TOO......  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7LbVNXiKTA   follow the link to see what all went on....

My Crazy Stacked Pots Planter....

This is what I stopped at Lowe's for this weekend... the supplies to make my Crazy Stacked Pots Planer.
Items needed
1     large Terracotta Pot
3     smaller Terracotta Pots.... you can use more, I made mine with 4
1     4 ft section of rebar
       potting soil
       Plants..

very easy to set up. lightly hammer rebar into ground where you want your planter to be,  set large pot over the rebar through the bottom hole, fill with soil to top, slide smaller pot down the rebar  though bottom hole and set it at a angle, fill with dirt, set second pot over the rebar, sitting on the rim of the first pot and fill with dirt, continue with your other pot or pots. You want to make sure that the rebar is hidden in the last pot, use your hammer to put it further in the ground before placing the last pot.  when all the pots are in the position that you like just add your plants, water and watch them grow..  People wonder how you got the planters to stack in that crazy pattern... One lady in my neighborhood thought that I glued them... Nope the trick is the rebar... Have fun.   And if you happen to break a pot... lay it on a mound of dirt like it just fell over and broke... fill it with soil and plant inside the planter and down the mound of dirt the pot is laying on... sorry no picture of that display....

My Dolly Mamas

Here she is my Dolly Mama Shoe Shopper,  I have finished yet another of the lovely Dolly Mama's... Hubby still thinks they are Ugly, I think they are just cute...  It took me a little longer to finish this little lady due to the hand still in bandages, but she is now in the box with the other ladies waiting for me to finish all the kits and make them into a quilt. Looks like it might take awhile to finish that project, but the stitching is something I can do while watching TV at night.

Yesterday was a enjoyable day, Hubby's daughter from Alabama came in to show us her new car that she picked up on Saturday. Her old car had serious issues, she decided not to fix it but to go for a new one, even though she really didn't want car payments again

. Grandson wanted to head to the local game shop to see if they had some old Game Cube games.. these are getting harder to find since they no longer make that game system.. He has lost all his games in the fire, but still had the box so the hunt is on to find the games.

After the game store we headed to Lowe's hardware store, I wanted to pick up some clay pots to do a stacking flower planter in my yard.. BIG mistake we made was going into the store, if we would have stayed in the garden section we would have been OK... But Mel needed trim for her bathroom door and GS wanted black light switch covers. 

So we passed the clearance section and found a small Ice Cream maker, the kind that makes pint size which is perfect for Hubby and me... OK got that, the dept mgr was talking to us and asked if we needed anything else from clearance, like a new medicine cabinet... after some wheeling and dealing I ended up with the cabinet at the price I wanted to pay which was about 1/4 of the clearance price, Mel didn't know you could deal with items, so she learned something new.. We also picked up a new toaster, this one is a Oster.. I had a Black and Decker and it just didn't do a good job. 

 Then we headed to the Air Conditioners, we were looking to see how much the portables are... Got a good deal on that unit as it was the last one and they will deal on a display model..  This unit for now will be in the garage to cool the area the quilting machine and table are so I can finish some of the quilts.  When DH needs to work in his  workshop he can move the AC to that building.. so I think this might be a good investment for us, trying to keep cool in the south.

We came home and I had a pot roast in the slow cooker, I made some mashed potato's and creamed corn. It was really good as even GS went back for seconds.

I have made a decision about giving gifts and items we pick up for family members... I am so tired of spending time searching for items that they would love to have.  Sending them home or dropping off the items at their house and never hearing if they like the item or if they even got the item.. So from now on, I have decided that they must pick up their item in person, I think that is fair... We love seeing the grand kids and we really do understand that they have a life, and that grand ma and grand pa are probably towards the end of the important people list, being that the new boyfriend or girlfriend is more then likely at the top.. But if they want the item, birthday card or what ever else we might have for them,  they must take a few short minutes out of their busy schedule to stop by the house and say HI.. I don't think that is to much to ask... We have grand kids who live less then 30 minutes from us and they can't take the time to stop and visit, it has been a year and a half since they were at our house. We  hear one excuse after another on why they didn't stop, but we read of them heading here or there to visit friends or other family and they were so close it would have taken a few minutes to stop and just say Hi.   We go to their house and big surprise they are out doing their thing.. Well, NO more just dropping things off, sorry guys, but maybe this will wake you up to realize that we are important to and it doesn't cost to spend a little  time with grandparents or parents, I know we are boring in your mind, but realize we won't be here forever and when we are gone you will miss us and wish you would have taken those few minutes to spend with us.  So now there will be a box at the house for each family, if I find something I will put it in the box... If after a year it is still here, then I will freecycle it.

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I DID IT AGAIN

It is summer time here in the south, things are just getting to darn hot... As you know, I have been dealing with problems all year long, seems like when one thing gets fixed something else breaks down.  Oh and I am referring to ME and my body or My Family.... just one bad thing after another this year.  So as a recap on me, I had a heel spur, opted for surgery, found it to be more scar tissue then heel spur, so it was fixed.. Just got out of the surgical shoe and spent a day with DH and SD and somehow I ended up with a stress fracture, so into a boot cast... I get out of the cast and now take it easy, plan on a garage sale and after a busy day of sales, decide to make me something to eat, while waiting for it to heat up, I decided to wash dishes and you know the rest, 9 stitches.... Well those stitches came out Monday, oh did I mention that I whacked the hand the Friday before the stitches came out, well I did and yes it delayed the stitches coming out by a few days... OK  your now caught up.  So yesterday I decided that with the summer heat, it was now time to wash the back patio, and put up the new portable gazebo, you know the ones that fit into a bag and you just pull the legs outward and it pops up....Well, I tried to get it up by myself and that just didn't work, so I asked DH to help and he came out to lend a hand.. Things were going great, we got the top opened and in place and the only thing left was to bring down the legs... That's when it happened.... YES I did it again, do you know the term sticks out like a sore thumb... Well it is true, if you have a hand, thumb, leg, foot injury, be prepared as it will get in the way every time you try to do something.    Somehow my hand slipped and I hit the side of a planter, it hurt but what was worse was that my nice clean patio was now changing to red... Yes I knocked the hand open... so DH took a look and insisted we make a ER run again..  They couldn't stitch it again, so this time it is butterflied and again, don't get it wet, let the strips fall off and the doctor told me to slow down, she kind of sounds like my husband with that statement.  She then said that if I had to do anything, I was to take and wrap my hand in a ace bandage, again she sounded like my husband... GEE, this is going to be so much fun, trying to do anything with the hand in a bandage that looks as big as a catcher's mitt...

On another note, I received bad news from my son in PA... He had just gotten back from Indy where he and his sister went to find out about my EX and his Cancer.. Seems the only thing that they can do for him now is Chemo..  My son had  also called to let me know that a very dear friend had passed away this week... He was the husband of my best childhood friend and their daughter is like my own. And then today I received a email from a past co-worker asking for prayers for her husband... he is ready to make his journey, he has been ill for over a year and says he wants to go.   I guess the reality of how short life is is now taking a toll on my life.. these people have all touched my life in some way or another.  Just a few years ago I almost lost the love of my life and was so blessed that he made a recovery and is still in my life... Now my friends and family are losing those men who are so important to them... Karen, Don, Kacey and Diane you are in my thoughts and prayers....

Another CCS Finish

Not to much to report lately, Kind of taking it easy and letting the hand heal.  Had to go to Hospital Sunday and have the Doctor check it and it was healing just fine.  So Stitches will come out in 7 days... Hubby continues to help by washing the dishes...  I have decided to wait to work in the garage until this is healed as it is like the sore thumb that no matter what you do you bump it and boy does that hurt. 

I forgot to show my last finish in CCS so here she is another Dolly Mama, this one is Senior Moment (this is me sometimes) ... I have been trying to work on another one (shoe shopper) just to keep my hand in use so it stays flexible. Besides I really hate just sitting and doing nothing.

I did spend two days entering online contests.. These were mostly sewing supplies, some craft supplies and lots of finished items.. there were tons of them, it was a big event that I almost missed.  But I got my entries in and maybe I will win some fabrics for my charity quilts.

I am now off to eBay, I plan on spending my garage sale earnings on some Accuquilt Dies... and yes I will use them when making my charity quilts... they are the main focus of my life right now.  It is so nice to make something for someone and they really appreciate it, and the Seniors who get the quilts just love them.

I did it again

Once again I have neglected my little blog... I have been working in the sewing/craft room, cleaning, organizing and just plain getting rid of things... I have refinished one dresser and found a second dresser at a yard sale really cheap. Now all my fabrics are in those two dressers with the cutting table in between

What did I do with all the things I cleared out of that room you ask... why I had a yard sale... yes I broke down and cleaned the garage, prepared tables, signs and priced hundreds of items... opened for business yesterday and did quite well.  I was so sore and tired last night from all the moving of boxes, my arms hurt, my back hurt and my feet hurt... all I wanted to do was get something to eat and take a nice bath and relax.. then I thought I might do some cross stitching... But as usual things just didn't work out that way... I did get some leftovers out of the fridge and put in the Microwave and I thought while I was waiting I would do the dishes that were soaking in the sink... then it happened... POP   OW WWW   OH  NO  grab a towel... yes I broke something, but it was in my hand when it broke, it was a glass.... OK remember medical training, grab clean towel and put pressure on it and go sit down... did that and it didn't stop, so the call was made to hubby at work, he came home and to the ER we went... came home two hours later with 9 stitches in my hand and me starting to feel a little goofy from the pain killer they gave me... It knocked my out last night, but hubby said I moaned and groaned all night and even popped him a few times...sorry...  this morning up early again and day two of the sale... its  now over, hand still hurts, so taking another pain pill and I just know it will again knock me out...
So I am not allowed to do dishes for awhile, doc don't want the hand getting wet.... can't stitch... so I will just sit and watch tv... YOU should see me sitting here typing   really cute, lucky there isn't a million mistakes...OH right, hit spell check and they will fix it... So I promise one day the blog will again be attended to, I just don't know when...

OH and can you believe that I of all people haven't entered any  blog contests in a long time... I am really slipping here...

I'm Back with Charity Quilts to show..

I'M BACK

I am sorry, I have neglected this poor little blog... But I have a excuse, no not the foot in a cast... but I have been busy in the sewing room putting together quilt tops, Cross stitching, baby sitting dogs and trying to get over the cold my DH gave me.... Want to see what I have been up to...
                                                     Baby sitting Mel's fur babies

This is Willow  She gained so much weight while she was here, she was always eating

                                         Bella is the Black dog  Mel's pup and Charmin is the White one, she is my girl. They are sisters, Cream Pomeranian father and White Maltese Mother...  Bella and Willow have been visiting us, Mel and the kids stayed with her Mom while she was getting things in order after her fire.  Bella and Willow went home yesterday... Kind of miss the little critters..

These are two more of my Cross Stitch finishes for this year.

Dolly Mama which when I get more Dolly's done will go into a quilt. I think they are cute, DH says they are ugly... what do you think???

This is the Mother's Day Card I stitched for my Mother In Law, sent it off with a quilted bag


And now for the things that have been taking so much of my time lately, my charity quilts




For the Charity Quilts

Designed them with Electric Quilt 7 software, I don't know if I could make a quilt with out my EQ 7

Cut them out using my GO Fabric Cutter, which was so fast and easy, this is one of the best time savers for me, plus it makes cutting out the quilts less painful..  My back and arms use to hurt when I did the marathon cutting sessions, now I just turn a crank and the pieces are perfect every time.

This is the start of the quilts. All cut out and ready to sew, I found these neat boxes at a dollar store and they work so well for keeping all the quilt components together with the pattern

and here are some of the results,

Antique Car Quilt
this will bring back memories for the seniors

Modern Vehicle Quilt
The racing guys are gonna love this quilt

Cat Quilt
Another of my favorite quilts, I can just see the Senior lady cat lover who will get this one.. she will be so happy

Dog Quilt
I just love this quilt, The World of Charity Stitchers did a fantastic job on the dog squares

Silly Cows Quilt

the black and white fabric is the word moo over and over again.. Its OK but now I wish I would have went with a darker sashing

Ship Quilt

Everyone just loves this one, especially the lighthouse borders.

All the Counted Cross Stitch Squares were stitched by members of  The World of Charity Stitchers.

If you want to see more of our charity work you can visit the WOCS Blog or FB page.

World of Charity Stitching

http://www.facebook.com/pages/World-of-Charity-Stitching-Cross-Stitch-Quilting/208593035822435

And this is the newest member of my home, this is Nellie Bell, she will be helping me with all the quilting.

I have 8 Charity quilts in the works and 5 queen and king size quilts for family waiting for her special touch.

Nellie Bell

So I might be a little busy for the next couple of months trying to get caught up, I will try to keep you all updated on how things are going...

Thanks for Stopping by, see your real soon