Genesis House Tree

Every year, my guild makes ornaments and decorates a Christmas tree that is auctioned off for the local women's shelter. This year the theme was "Postcards to the Pole". Guild members made fabric postcards to be used as ornaments. I started to, but I just can't get into making postcards. I made a mailbox to be used for the tree topper.
I just cut squares of Christmas fabric and glued them on a cardboard mailbox. I cut a hole in the bottom to put the top of the tree through, and we also wired it onto the tree. we stuck some postcards in the mailbox after it was on top of the tree. We had a good time. Would you believe
that out of about 140 members of the guild, we managed to get 6 to come to help do this tree? Granted, how many do you need? But still... When we finished, we sat at a table and had some coffee and Lemon Poppyseed muffins. It was fun to watch people come up and gawk over the fabric postcards. I hope that it makes a family very happy this Christmas. I think it would be the perfect post office tree.





Even the tree skirt, made by Lindy, had postage stamp fabric.

I am just not in the mood to put up a tree. It is so much work, I am always the one that has to put the tree up and take it down. I got into collecting Hallmark ornaments many years ago. I only buy a couple every year now. I don't even know why I bother. I love them, but I have hundreds. I can't get them all on the tree, I don't have the desire to do it either. I have this little tree that I always put in my kitchen. Here it is last year, decorated with gingerbread .Topped with a paper angel that one of my girls made in grade school.

As you can see, it is a Charlie Brown tree. I love this little tree. I was thinking about putting lights on it and hanging some of my antique glass balls on it. I can sit it on my cedar chest, in my front window, and viola! A tree, with little fuss. I have already heard "We can't have that little tree for Christmas!" But when I mention that they should decorate and do all of the work with the big tree, I get no volunteers. My kids are all college age, what do you think? After shelling out a few thousand for next semester college tuition for them, I just can't get into doing the 'commercial' Christmas thing. By the way.. after making 2 skirts for the Genesis house tree, I still do not have one for my own tree.

And lastly, my tacky purchase for Christmas ...


I found the head in Amish Country. It was the smile that got me. I put the wreath on, with the sign "Be naughty, save Santa the Trip"and the ornament and the hat.

I GIVE THANKS FOR.......

It's Thanksgiving. A time of year that was set aside to reflect on our lives and thank God for His blessings. These are the things that I am thankful for.

• My husband Bill. We have been married for 24 years. I am so lucky to have him. I could never have asked for a better husband. He is a good provider, a good father, he doesn't have any of the bad vices that I experienced from my family while I was growing up. I have a pretty peaceful married life and I am very Thankful for that. I was so scared when he was sick. He is feeling better now, and I am really grateful for that.
• My children Matthew, Meghan and Jaclyn. We have had issues as they grew up, but they are great kids. I am proud of all of them, and am thankful that they are in my life.
• I am thankful for my friends. My oldest (as in years known, over 40) friend Nancy. And my wonderful quilting friends, who are one of the joys of my life.
• I am thankful for my home. I don't have the most beautiful house, but I love it because it is my home. I would rather be here than anywhere else....except Paducah in April. I love that place
• I am thankful for my extended family. My parents are gone, but I still have aunts, uncles and cousins. I have a wonderful Mother-in-law. Unfortunately, they all live too far away, I wish I could be with them more often.
• I am thankful for my dog Sam. I have had dogs my whole life. But he is special to me. He loves me unconditionally, I don't have to prove myself to him. He doesn't care what I do for a living, he is just happy when I walk in the door. He doesn't care if I weigh too much, he is just happy to have a lap to sit on.
• I am thankful that I was born in the greatest nation on earth. Where hard work will get you whatever you dream. Where I am free to worship in whatever way I want. Where I am free to say what I think without retribution from the government.
• I am thankful for the U.S. Military, who throughout our history has sacrificed with blood so that I can have a Thanksgiving celebration with my loved ones.
• I am thankful to my female ancestors that sacrificed their sons and husbands in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, WWII, Vietnam and Korea.. so that we still can live in a country called United States
• I am thankful that I have a President that doesn't run his office by public opinion, which at it's best is fickle. If Lincoln had been intimidated by Congress and it's representative cry babies, I would be living in the Northern States of America.
• I am thankful for having the skill to work with my hands. It is a source of comfort during the hardest times of my life.
• I am thankful for the internet. I have been able to learn so many things because of it. I have met many people because of it.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving !!

Sunday Movie

Bill and I usually spend Sunday seeing a new movie. Today was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I really liked it. I think it was the best of the movies and the young actors are getting better with every movie. I have read and listened to all of the books. I still prefer listening to the books rather than watching the movies. They changed some things around in this movie. I understand the need to skip some parallel storie lines.. such as the Rita Skeeter really causing problems for everyone, and turning out to be an animagis (can turn herself into a beetle to spy on the characters), you won't see the Dursleys in this movie. An important character shows up in a scene at the beginning of the movie that, in the book, isn't seen until almost the end. Putting him in the opening scene makes it unnecessary to have Dobbie or Winkie (house elves) in the movie at all.
Even with all of the changes, they pulled off the basic meaning of the movie. Which makes me think about the people that only see the movies and don't read the book. Do they have any idea how much of the rich story they are missing?

BRRR... It's Cold!

Oh the lovely weather in northern Ohio. It was 70 degrees on Tuesday and last evening I went to bed with a forcast of 4-6 inches of snow! It is bitter cold this morning, everything is frozen, but no snow. In northern Ohio, we get what is called "Lake Effect" snow. Cold air blows down from the north over the "warm" water in lake Erie and dumps snow on all of the area directly inland. Usually, the wind is also blowing east, and all of the communities east of us where the state goes up to the north, get slammed with snow. Luckily, I live smack in the center where the border of Ohio dips down. And I live 1 mile south of Lake Erie. This usually means that we stay "warmer" and snow free longer that areas more inland. I can drive the 9 miles to work and they can be covered with snow, and get home, and there isn't any. Weird.

I feel so free. I finally finished the top of my miniature pineapple. For those of you that like to count, it has 49 two inch blocks and 2,205 pieces, and took me 75 hours to piece. I will post a pic when it is completely finished. I didn't use paper piecing paper, so I will be spending a good amount of time tearing little pieces away. Probably another 75 hours with my luck.

Tree Update

We called our insurance company, who will cover replacement of our trees and bushes up to 10,000.00. They will then go after the neighbor for the cost. I don't know how all of this is going to turn out. I hate conflict. I like living a peaceful life. Why couldn't she just mind her own business? We had to make out a police report, so of course they had to come out and talk to us and to the neighbor.. who was livid to say the least. Probably embarassed with the police car sitting in the front of the house with lights on for 45 minutes. I told the police that we weren't interested in pressing charges. We just wanted her to get the point that when we said no to her all of those times about cutting our trees, we meant no. Her yard is these neat little sections of plants surrounded by mulch.. nothing out of place. We have miles of woods behind our house, the patch that was growing up our fence was wild and not neatly mulched.. just the way I liked it. Wild berries, day lilies, stuff like that. When I replant, I am going to plant things that grow fast and big. My friend showed me bushes she has called "Privit" I think. Maybe some Lilac and Butterfly bushes. I would like some Wisteria. This time I am going to plant all the way up my fence to the house so I don't have to ever look at her again. And just to be safe, I am going to plant my new stuff inside my fence.. and it will get big enough to grow through my fence and stick out the other side.
I REALLY don't like all of this drama. But we just felt that we couldn't roll over and let her get away with it. Ever since I have told my friends about this, I have heard other neighbor horror stories. My favorite is my friend who put up a fence 4 feet within her property line. Her neighbor's son regularly used to cut through my friend's lawn to catch the schoolbus. So, the neighbor boy's father decided to cut a gate in my friend's new fence.. after all, he didn't think his kid should have to go the long way to the school bus! Needless to say, he had to replace the fence..
What the heck is wrong with people.. it boggles my mind!

PLEASE WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

Let me preface this by saying.. I am a calm person. I don't let stupid little things bother me. Okay, that being out of the way... here is a picture of my yard. Taken last summer. I love my yard, and the trees, when I sit out there it is almost like not being in a city. I always called my tree line, my "Natural Privacy Fence"

We have lived in this house for almost 25 years. We moved in here as newlyweds. We live in a kind of old neighbor hood. We have elderly residents on both sides of us. My husbands grandparents lived here before we did. The same old people live on both sides of us. One of them is an EVIL old HAG. My husband says that even his grandparents had trouble with her and planted bushes beween the yards just to seperate themselves from her a little. We put up a fence about 22 years ago when our first child was little so he and future children would have a safe place to play because we live on a busy street. We put the fence over 3 feet in from the boundry line between our yards because we knew the old hag was a pain in the butt. We don't bother anyone. We wouldn't allow our kids to make a lot of noise so that it wouldn't disturb our neighbors. Back when the kids were big enough to push a lawnmower, the hag would come out of her house to yell at them if they got "grass on her grass". Of course we never said anything, because we didn't want a war with the neighbor. She has never in the 25 years we have lived here said anything nice to us. She is fastidious about her yard to the point of being obnoxious. I swear she had the Chemlawn guy stalking us for a couple of years.. Anyway, as you can see, I have some beautiful trees just to the left of my fence well within my property line. This old witch.. has been after us for years to cut them. But we like them. She asked us last year if she could pay someone to cut them.. we again told her no. .. Sunday evening we walk out back and hear a chain saw. She is over in her yard with some guy cutting things.. Bill said, I think she is cutting stuff in her yard. He went out the next day with the dogs and came in to tell me that she had cut some of our trees down. I walked out today with my trusty camera.. and counted EIGHTEEN TREES AND BUSHES GONE! There would have been more, because I can see cuts in some of the few remaining trees, but the guy couldn't get his saw started. I should have taken pics of the two of them out there.. now I wish I had. Now I have absolutely no privacy in my back yard on that side.

This is a picture standing on my property line. To the left is my fence.. here is one of my trees taken down to the ground. I can't even express how many tears that I have shed over this. I used to sit in my yard in the summer and listen to the wind in the trees, and I couldn't see my stupid neighbor messing in her yard. But.. the days of Miss nice are over. The gloves are off. I am not going to bother telling her off, I will let the legal system do the talking. I have never been like that.. I have let lots of things slide that I have had to suffer for because of someone else's mistake. But what she did was deliberate.. and that makes all the difference as far as I am concerned. She is going to pay for her actions. I hope she enjoys the money she will have to put out to replant big trees where she destroyed mine. And she will have to WATCH them be re-planted. It will never be the same, It took 20 years to grow my trees, and I will be lucky if I live another 20 to be able to enjoy them again. I feel such a feeling of loss. I am just so ANGRY.. and that is a new feeling for me.

RECLAIMING FABRIC

Did you ever run across a fabric that you just loved? I should have bought the bolt.. it was a Tonga Batik by Timeless Treasures. I made a jacket out of it. Very garish, and shouted "Hey Look how fat I am"!!
Well, I spent the day cleaning my studio. At least making the attempt. I just have too much stuff. Should just start tossing things. I decided that the fabric was more important to me than the jacket. After that first cut, it didn't take much time to reclaim the batik for another project. I didn't know what to do with the flying geese on the sleeves.. I know, tacky. So I put them on the wall. They look better there than they did on me. I think I will make a miniature Endless Chain with the batik. I have had an idea running through my head for a quilt called "Trinity" and I think this fabric is just the ticket. I was going to dye fabric for the project, but this will fill the need, and be put to much better use than it was as a jacket.

I am past the quilted clothing part of my life. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe if I was a skinny girl again, a little quilted vest would look nice. But it just a pipe dream to think my drooping middle aged body will ever see thin again, so stuff like that is out for me.....

TGIF

I have lots of pictures to show you today. My Twisted Stitcher group makes mini quilts for each other for our birthdays.. usually they are late, but it is the thought that counts. Here is the quilt that they made for me.

Isn't it wonderful? It finished out at 12" square and is hand quilted. I am happy as a clam! I put a quarter on the top so you could see how small the HST's are.

My friend Susan and I drove out to the Door Mouse in Bettsville Ohio for a Stash Enhancement day. I ended up spending more than I needed to, and I started off doing so well.

I went up the stairs to the loft where they keep their flannels so that I could get the picture of their floor and how they decorate on the other side.

This is me sitting on the front porch of Door Mouse. You can see that my only reasons to venture into the country wilderness is if someone has the foresight to drop a quilt shop in the middle of it (aka Door Mouse and Miller's Dry Goods)

As you can see, I did manage to leave some batiks in the store. Door Mouse probably has a bolt of every fabric made. But it is nearly impossible to see because there are so many, that they are stacked in front of others. You have to go sideways between the aisles, and if there is another person in the aisle, one of you will have to back up.

When I dropped Susan off, I went in to see what projects she was up to. I love her house because she really puts her quilts to use in decorating

This is about half of Susan's stash. It extends down 3 sides of the small room. I am so excited because she gave me part of her wooden cigar box stash. Her husband has the smelly habit, and I reap the benefits. I can always use something for my notions collection. My favorite was a little "finger jointed" box with rounded corners and a sliding lid.

Well, another wonderful Friday.. time for a nap!!

I THOUGHT I WAS A COMPUTER NERD...

Being the only one at work that has a good grasp on using the computer, they recently termed me the office "Computer Nerd". I said, there is no way a fifty something woman would fit into the mold of a computer nerd. And I was told that the first step was acceptance. Well, according to my son I was right. Since he IS a computer nerd he should know, I guess. He told me.. knowing WINDOWS (said with distain) doesn't make you a computer nerd. Well he has a point. I flail at HTML.. which is why I don't have one of the links in my margins. I deleted it somehow. But.. here it comes.... I bought a 60 gig (THAT'S computer lingo) external hard drive. It will hold 24,000 5 megapixel photos... I don't have quite that many.. In otherwords, I will be able to back up my second hard drive where I store all of my important files. Actually I told Bill that he bought it for me for Christmas. I wanted a one gig flash drive for my work files.. okay, I have a flash drive that is plenty big.. but the 1 gig is so little and so cute.. I think my son turned me into a 50's version of a nerd. I mean.. after the second viewing (I didn't get it the first time around) of Lord of the Rings -Fellowship, I became a fanatic about the movie.. no, I didn't dress up like a hobbit for any of the movies.. didn't camp out for tickets.. but I named my short hairy dog Sam.. does that count? My new miniature pineapple has been named "There and Back Again" because it has taken me so flippin long to finish it that I, like Frodo, have despaired that I might never see the end of my mission... Oh geeze.. that statement was kind of on the nerdy side wasn't it?
Well off to redeem myself, I am going upstairs to watch Christmas with the Kranks with Meg.

CAN I SKIP MONDAYS?

There was a headline in a local newspaper today. "Most Emergency Rooms Not Ready for Disasters". Aint that the truth. Mine isn't able to handle Mondays, so I say we skip the day. I thank God every day that I don't work full time.
I work for fabric.. actually, 2-3 kids in college at any given time, is another reason.

Ever have one of those days when it only takes one person to ruin it all for you? I have one of those people on a regular basis. I just think of my motto over and over and OVER again... "Dignity is the ability to keep from one's lips what shouldn't have been on the mind in the first place. " Put it like this.. I'm the most dignified person that you will ever meet at my work.

Anyway, back to more pleasant thoughts. While cleaning my sewing area, I came across a basket of brand new fabrics that I had forgotten about. They were ready to pre-wash. So this is the pile ready to be folded.








See? Once it is folded.. There isn't as much as you'd think!








On Friday, my friend Susan and I are going on a road trip to the Door Mouse, which is a huge quilt shop with stacks and stacks of fabric. I don't NEED any fabric, but I like to think of things that Susan and I can do together because she is so much fun to be with. She doesn't do workshops, she doesn't like sewing with others, so that is out, but she likes to shop. She makes me laugh. I don't have to put on a front with her. She has the same political views as I do, and we laugh all day about all kinds of things that I would never be able to say to my other quilting friends that are more liberal leaning. She edits books for a living and has a quirky sense of humor. I can't wait until Friday!!

THURSDAY AT THE LEGION

We have a group from our guild that meets on Thursdays at the American Legion. It started as a group that got together to finish my aunt's teddy bear quilt. It is pretty much only a UFO support group.. I guess. Anyway, we get together to finish each others UFO's. The reason we meet at the Legion is because Libby is a member and can get us some free time there, the other reason is on Thursday they make lunch. Cheeseburger, onion rings and a drink for $3.00. Today we met to finish up 6 quilts for the Ohio Home of the Brave project. Our guild sponsor's the Ohio project, and one of our members, my friend Beverly, is the coordinator. The quilts we did today will be added to others to be sent to Lima to the batallion that lost so many men during a short period of time. Today we had Nancy, Karin, Libby, Becky and Me working on the quilts.


The picture above is all of us with the quilts that we worked on. To the right is a pic of everyone working while I figure out how the self timer on my camera works. As usual, it was great getting together with other quilters to work, it was unfortunate because of the reason.

WEDNESDAY

This is a picture of my twin daughters and my husband taken a couple days ago at their annual trek to HalloWeekends at Cedar Point Amusement Park. I scanned it and grayscaled the picture. I went last year. But the 3 of them have passes and Bill kind of waits to use his mostly for the fall weekends. This was his last chance before they closed for the winter. I thought it would be just a nice father/daughter outing. He is such a good dad. I think they know how lucky they are. My son Matt worked there 2 years. He hardly ever goes anymore. When I go, it's for the junk food. I get motion sickness even thinking of getting on a ride. I figure that the money is wasted on me. Bill was on orders from me not to do the rides. I figure that after he just spent the month getting stents in his heart.. he didn't need to take the chance. I don't think he was crazy enough to try it.
I've been reading Gabrielle Swain's blog. She is cleaning her studio.. Does moving everything from one room to another count?