I made a video this morning showing you all the things I'm working on.
I am SO EXCITED to tell you that I have my owls all done except for the leaves. By tomorrow night, I may be able to post pics for you here.
But,
Until then,
Here is a video for you.
Terry and Doug came over for dinner. We had such a wonderful time. Her sewing room is being built, and she was showing Doug all the things I put in my sewing room upstairs. He found things she didn't even know he would want, and he told her she was going to have them too.
He is a major sweetie pie, like Jerry. We are two lucky gals! And Deb is a lucky gal too. Jim is as sweet as sugar! And Debbie's husband sings and makes CD's. We truly are very blessed wives.
You MUST put God first. God is Lord of ALL, or He is not Lord at all. The Bible says, "Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you."
In order for us to do God's will, we must KNOW what God's will is. The WILL and the WORD of God are one and the same. It is not a recommendation. It is a command.
How can we say we WORSHIP God when we don't even know Him or His son?
Adam's sin was putting his will over God's will. Satan was kicked out of Heaven for the same thing.
It was a great message, and I'm so glad I heard it. John Hagee is getting back to the basics that I was taught as a child. He has no fear of politically correct garbage, and he preaches the truth -- like it or not.
Fortunately, I LIKE IT! I want to live under a BLESSING, not a CURSE! I ask God every day to please give me wisdom because the Bible says that the only way you can get wisdom is from God.
America would be a completely different country right now if our leaders had been elected because of their fear of God. How can anyone not see that?
Hagee is preaching about all of the feasts. I don't really understand all of that, but it is good to hear since all of those are obviously very important to God. Today was the Feast of Tabernacles which is about FIRST FRUITS. I learned that when I was a toddler. My father new the Bible very well, and he taught it to us all the time. Plus, he saw that we were in church at least 3 times a week -- Bible School every summer -- Church Camp after that. I am SO THANKFUL that I was born into a Christian family.
I heard Joel Osteen preaching last week how God put you in the family you are in on purpose. I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT! God made it possible for males and females to make babies. Babies are born into the family they were conceived by. I cannot believe that God would choose to put babies into families that would sexually abuse them, beat them, not care for them properly, lock them in closets, and WORST OF ALL, tell them that there is no God or that they are to worship Satan.
That wasn't Hagee. That was Joy.
You know you can go to www.getv.org and listen to all the excellent sermons there at any time. The music is wonderful too.
I just watched A Night to Honor Israel where Pastor Hagee gave away hundreds of thousands of dollars to various Rabbi's and organizations that help the Jewish people. How wonderful!
After church, I worked many more hours on a new necklace. I started over at least six times. This necklace is supposed to be a spiral, but I am having a hard time seeing the spiral. I took a quick pic for you.
In this case, I am making the necklace FIRST, and then I will make the red blouse to go with it.
I have a feeling that this is HALF a spiral, and that is why it is so loose. There is a design called a DOUBLE spiral. That would be too heavy for me, so I shall leave this as it is. Besides Jerry likes it this way.
Deb called me from Ozark today. She still doesn't have her sweatshirt jacket done. It takes quite a bit of time to make one. I'm still waiting for my fabric, and then I will finish mine. It isn't a masterpiece by any figment of the imagination, but it will be cute with jeans. At least, that is what Terry tells me.
Terry is coming tomorrow to finish her Christmas table runner. I will try to finish that necklace.
I was finally able to upload the Applique tutorial requested by Anne. You can see it here if you are interested in my way of applique.
REMEMBER: You can click on Youtube in the picture and you will be sent there. Then click on the cog and choose "720" and everything will be in high definition. Much bigger too.
Be back real soon.
Have a WONDERFUL, God-filled week and enjoy the falling leaves.
I'm dropping by to say HI real quick and to tell you that I do not have the applique tutorial uploaded to Youtube yet.
I am going to start it before I go to bed tonight, and hopefully, it will be ready when I wake up tomorrow.
The upload speed here is a total J O K E ! It would make a sleeping turtle look FAST!
I suppose I should be thankful we have any speed at all, but really, why is it super speedy just 150 miles away? Actually, it is much faster just 8 miles away at our store. Doesn't make sense.
I worked all day long on a jewelry project. It has a LOT of beads in it. The directions were not good. I had to email the writer and ask her to correct them. She thanked me. It is one thing for directions to be wrong or incomplete when a pattern is free; but when you are paying for it, directions should be TESTED and accurate.
I can't show my project to you yet because it is a Christmas gift. It turned out real nice. I need to start another one tomorrow because Christmas will be here before we know it.
Guess I better get upstairs for the "Booze Bloods". Linda may or may not be shot and dead. I'm sure she isn't. At the end of last night's episode, the screen went black, and we heard two shots fired. My guess is it is the police shooting the perp.
I was VERY aggravated with one of the episodes where a young bride-to-be went to visit the prisoner who killed her Dad, Mom and brother 20 years earlier. He had "found God" and received treatment for his major mental disorder. He was going to STAY in prison until he was dead. He wanted to apologize to the girl. He did NOT expect her to forgive him, and he said he couldn't forgive himself. He had slit his wrists in an attempt to kill himself because he felt so horrible for what he had done.
Instead of the girl forgiving him -- which the SUPPOSED God-fearing PC (Police Commissioner) should have counseled her to do -- she told the prisoner that she hoped he tried to kill himself again but got it right this time.
The PC was PROUD of her.
WRONG! Non-forgiveness would only cause hurt, pain, bitterness, resentment and an early death to the girl. It is in the Bible! Her unforgiveness couldn't hurt the prisoner. He didn't expect it. Bad writing for that episode.
Remember Jesus on the cross. The Romans were murdering him, and they didn't even know why really. Jesus knew that. He asked God to FORGIVE THEM as He writhed in pain and agony for crimes He never committed.
And HOW did I get off on that?!
My mind just jumps out "there", grabs a thought and runs with it.
Won't keep you, but I do want to thank you all SO MUCH for your opinions on the black or brown flange in my owl quilt. Terry came over today, and she came up with an idea that I am going with. She said, "How about a REAL DARK BROWN?"
I still have to do a flange (never have done one before) and the borders.
I made a video so you can see my progress. Unfortunately, I have not gotten back to the jacket because the fabric must be coming on a sloooooooooooow boat from China!
I also did a tutorial for you, Anne, but I won't have it up until tomorrow. Videos take forever here, as you know, and the owls wanted to see "my people" today.
Remember Debbie saying, "Show them to your people."
I laughed and laughed. She was referring to those of you who read my blog. I love "my people"!
Here is a short video if you are interested in the owl quilt:
I love the pic YouTube chose to put on this one. You sure can see the embroidery stitches I did.
Nothing else to tell you today. I'm working on an earring pattern.
Another whirlwind day. You would think with me home most of every day, I would get bored and the days would be long, but that NEVER happens! I am busy from the time I put my first foot on the ground to the time I close my eyes at night. So much to do with my hobbies and pets and housekeeping and cooking.
Jerry and I were talking at dinner tonight about how blessed we are to have our employees. He is ALWAYS bragging about Larece, who he says is his "right arm". Then I brag on Candi who is my "right arm". Then we talk about all the others and wonder what we would do without them. We really like our new girl, Maurissa. She is wonderful on the phone and she says, "Yes, Ma'am" to me. Candi must have told her to do that. I, of course, love it.
And please, dear readers, don't take that last statement wrong like several in my family would. "You think you are better than everyone." or "You think you are perfect!" or "You are so self-righteous." (Those are the NICE things they say about me. )o=
The reason I love it is because I am the owner of the company, and I am the boss of the employees. It is a sign of respect and submission to authority to have an employee say "Yes, Sir" or "Yes, Ma'am". It makes me think VERY HIGHLY of the employee -- NOT of myself.
And the ORIGINAL point I was making was that because of our great employees, I am able to stay home most of the time and enjoy my hobbies.
Jerry and I are enjoying our new friendship with Deborah and her husband, Jim, so much. We just met them a few weeks ago, yet they are as comfortable as an old pair of shoes! She is super busy all the time with a full time job and teaching girls to sew at her home in the evenings and on weekends. I think I may have met a person that has MORE energy than I do. Jim reupholsters collector cars and is an instant friend to everyone he meets. They invited us back to their home for Thanksgiving, but Jerry says we can't do it. Maybe he will change his mind once his birthday boat is back from Bass Pro in Dallas and all the issues with it have been resolved.
Terry has invited us for Thanksgiving at their house a dozen times. She and Doug have SEVEN kids between them, plus their Moms and their siblings. Their house will be bursting at the seams if we show up too! It would mean just a short walk away though. That would be nice.
Terry just finished a very pretty table runner and matching placemats for her huge table. I took pics, but they are still in the camera, and the camera is upstairs, and I'm not going up there until tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.
My clipart site is not cooperating tonight, so I can't post any pictures. I've never had that happen before, so I guess I'll overlook it this once.
I seem to be finding the nicest things lately tucked away for discovery years after I put them in their secret hiding places.
Years ago -- shortly after I got my longarm -- I was going to go on a Quilt Cruise. I paid the deposit and had airline tickets and everything. You had to make a TROPICAL THEME quilt for the quilt contest, and I have shown you that before. It had to be a CERTAIN SIZE and it had to have at least ONE LOG CABIN BLOCK in it.
Let me run and snap a pic to refresh your memory. Can you spot the sand castle, the crab and the turtle?
And the stump is the log cabin block.
I decided that if I was going to go on a cruise with a bunch of quilters, I should have a QUILTED JACKET to wear while I was in the classes. So I made a jacket entirely on my longarm. I wish I could remember HOW I did this on the longarm. I must have quilted a single layer of fabric and then cut it out into the jacket pattern after it was quilted. I honestly do not remember.
Just a few weeks before the cruise, SOMETHING came up (as usual) making it impossible for Jerry to go. I wasn't about to go without him, so I cancelled everything, and I lost my deposit. I wasn't too happy about that, as you can imagine.
I decided the jacket was too dumb to wear anywhere else, so I hung it up in the very back of the coat closet NEVER to be seen again, UNTIL TODAY!
I discovered it was chilly outside when we were getting ready to go to town, so I sent back into the house to find a sweater or a hoodie. I was shuffling through all of the "now too big" hoodies when I noticed this jacket way in the back of the closet.
I decided if I was MAKING a quilted jacket right now, that maybe the old jacket I made wasn't that dumb, so I pulled it out of the closet, and I wore it today for the very first time.
Jerry really liked it, and that made it even better!
I've gotta get. Wash is waiting for me downstairs, and a stack of my husband's jeans is needing my attention.
Hope you had a nice Saturday as I did. The weather is lovely here. Terry came over this morning before she had to leave to go to a car/football thing in OKC with Doug. She wanted to stay here all day with me, but husbands trump friends. My hubby was in Dallas all day hanging around the Bass Pro Service Center where NOBODY looked at his boat. They told him after he waited all day yesterday and all day today that they couldn't look at it until Monday.
Jerry did come home with 2 new shirts, a new jacket, a gun case, boat bumpers and guide-ons for the boat trailer. It was SO FUNNY! He told me that he actually "saved money" because he got 10% off with his Bass Pro VIP card and another 20% off for signing up for a credit card.
I think he learned THAT from me!
I worked over SEVEN hours just today on my latest jewelry pieces which I am calling "Ski Rope". I started the ski rope when I was on vacation in Branson. I sat on the bed at night and worked on it. I am really happy with how it turned out. I took a picture for you:
WHY am I calling it "Ski Rope"?
When Jerry got home from Dallas about 5 PM today, I asked him to come upstairs to see what I had just finished. It was exactly as the picture shows it -- hanging on Lucy's neck.
Jerry took one look at it and said, "It looks like a ski rope."
Fortunately, I didn't rip it off and throw it away. I still like it, and I will wear it. Ski ropish, or not!
The real name of the pattern is Daydreamer by Jill Wiseman. However, I have just received another pattern from Fusion Beads with another lady's name on it. Strange.
And several of you have asked me about the jacket I am working on. Here is a picture of the pattern:
As I told you yesterday, the instructions are HORRIBLE. You still need the pattern for the pattern piece inside. I will be able to help clarify some of the mystery for you, but I am not really even following the writer's way of doing it. My way is a lot easier, and Debbie agrees with me.
Gotta go. I'll let you know when my fabric comes and I start work on the jacket again.
I can't believe I haven't blogged for 6 days. I have lots to show you though.
FIRST:
A 30 minute video of the quilt we "Quiltateers" made Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
If you are not a quilter, you will be totally bored by this video. I had a request to film this for a new quilter, so I did this for her. Also for Debby who is making her VERY FIRST QUILT here in this video. She wanted to show the video to her husband and her six children. I understand she is already getting requests for MORE QUILTS!
Terry and I warned Debby that this is VERY addictive.
Here are a few pics of the finished quilt with the binding on it:
We were quite surprised at how fantastic the BACK of the quilt looked. The thread tension was perfect, and this quilt is certainly reversible.
I asked Debby to please take a picture of her and her sister UNDER the quilt. She is probably in Houston right about now delivering it to her sister.
As soon as the quilt project was all done and Debby had headed back home to Dallas, I started working on the Jacket project with my friend, Deb, in MO. The instructions for this jacket are HORRIBLE! The most poorly written I have ever encountered. Thank goodness Deb has seen the jacket made up and can interpret for me.
The pattern is called "The Jennifer Jacket II".
Mine is not done yet, but I have gotten quite a bit done. Here are a few pics. Funny! It has suddenly turned chilly here, and I have been wearing it all afternoon in its half finished state.
This jacket started out as a Large White Sweatshirt.
I got mad at it this morning, and I ALMOST threw it away. Deb saved the day by telling me how to make the neck opening smaller.
This jacket will be bound all around the neck and the front and the bottom and the cuffs. I had to order fabric for that today, so I won't be able to finish it until next week. Back to the owls tomorrow.
Terry just called and wants me to come over for dinner. Jerry is in Dallas with his boat. Gotta play with the dogs.
This has been a very busy day. I spent the entire morning ironing SOME and folding up ALL of the fabric you will see in the video. The video doesn't show all the fabric on the floor, and there was a mountain there too. All is contained again, and I am ready to finish owls.
When I get the quilt pieced, I will be adding leaves. I got them cut out today. All these leaves -- with SAS2 on the back -- were cut out in less than five minutes!!!
Here is a video I made two days ago. Hence the thank you to Diana and Barbara, and I owe one to Rhonda too. WHAT NICE LADIES!
You will see a leftover of ANOTHER hobby I used to have in this video.
And after I fixed Zeke and cleaned up all that fabric and cut out all the leaves, I decided to make some earrings to go with my lost-and-found blouse.
Remember it?
There are really fun. Making jewelry to match exactly is very exciting to me. It MUST BE for what I've spent on beads!
And for the lady that asked me what pattern I used for the blue bracelet I sent to Deb, I will post a pic again:
The pattern is called "FLOWER LATTICE" by TrendSetter Akiko Nomura. I got it "free" from Fusion Beads IF I ordered so much from them. It wasn't very much though, and you an pick what pattern you want.
Jerry has arrived for the "Booze Bloods". Gotta go. YAY! Tomorrow is Sunday.
I just finished an 8-hour bracelet project. The bracelet is very, very pretty, but pictures just do not do it justice. Maybe my new friend, Jim, can give me some tips on how to photograph jewelry so the detail shows up.
The bracelet was made to match the blouse I made with the daisy fabric I purchased in Springfield. I used my SFD pattern, but the blouse seems to need a bit of tweaking. ORRRRRRRR, it could be ME that needs a TON of tweaking today. PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE -- I beg you! Do NOT tell a soul that it is 3:00 and I am still in my pajamas.
The SHAME!
I did put a bra on this morning, and I did brush my teeth, and I did comb my hair, but the rest of me looks like I need a major makeover!
It is the bracelet's fault! It took SO LONG to make, and I didn't want to walk away or I would forget the complicated pattern.
NOW, I have to do this blog post, and on and on it goes...
I found a fun picture of Jerry and me about to step out the door to head for Branson. That was a really nice day. Jerry didn't even grumble when I asked him to pose for this picture.
And remember the Peggy Sager's diagonal skirt webcast? Probably not. Anyway, I did finish the skirt just before we left for vacation. I snapped these pics, and then I forgot to show them to you.
This is a knit, and is really nice. Not sure if I LIKE the diagnonalness of it. I just grabbed that tee shirt from my closet for the pics because I thought I should have SOMETHING on over it.
I'm thinking of making a top that has the same diagonal line as the skirt at the top. Not sure.
Oh, yeah! I need to show you my newest creation. I look too horrible today to pose with it on, but you will get the idea.
And for my friend that asked for more information on the BATTING CONTRAPTION, here are some close-up pics for you. The pole goes through the center tube of the batting roll.
You need to get some of these U-thingy's with holes in them.
Actually, Jerry may have drilled holes in them. I told him I wanted these bolts hanging from the ceiling, and he did the rest. To move them higher or lower, you just untie the knots and retie them.
Highly technical, lol.
I must get downstairs and upgrade my appearance before my hubby gets home.
I managed to get a pic real quick of the new blouse with bracelet before starting supper. Spaghetti. And I'm eating too!
It is FRIDAY! Tomorrow is sweatshirt into jacket day.
I have had several people ask me how I store my fabric.
Since I just added some shelving to my attic, I decided to do a video for anyone who might care.
It is probably TOO WORDY and TOO LONG and TOO BORING,
HOWEVER,
You certainly do not have to watch the video just because it is here. Evidently, a strange lady pops in once in a blue moon and gets upset at my videos being so wordy and silly.
This one is for the nice lady who asked me to show her my storage. This is just SOME of my storage, but it is wonderful to have.
And I have to go.
Jerry is waiting for us to watch the end of the third season of "Booze Bloods" which is what I call the "Blue Bloods". I never -- in my entire life -- saw a family drink like this family does. It is shocking to watch!
Good late evening! It is after 10 PM. Jerry has already fallen asleep, but I decided to pull the laptop up off the floor to see if I had any email -- hopefully, happy ones.
It is so strange how things happen sometimes.
Terry was here most of the afternoon today. When she arrived, I was sitting at my computer reading my email and looking at owls. I had just received a really sweet comment from a reader about how much she liked my videos. I got up from my computer and commented to Terry how amazing it was that I had never gotten an ugly comment regarding my videos.
Terry made some comment that IF anyone ever did say something ugly, she would sure let them know what she thought about it.
We talked and laughed. She put a quilt on the longarm, and I made some more owls.
Both of us keep our cell phones nearby in case our husbands need us. Mine makes a certain sound when I get an email. Hers makes different sounds. Mine had made several "You've Got Mail" sounds (I LOVE that movie), so I decided to go to my desk and check them.
I was SHOCKED to have an ugly comment about one of my videos after I had JUST told Terry I never got any! Some lady complained that I rambled on for 10 minutes about bad service at Hancock's before I showed what I had made.
What was weird was I could not REPLY to her. Her comment had some kind of link or something. I wanted to tell her that there was an OFF button that she was free to use any time one of my videos forced its way into her life. She certainly doesn't have to watch them for 10 seconds, never mind 10 minutes.
I watch a TON of videos where I think the introduction is waaaaaaaaaaay too long, so I will just fast forward to the actual part I want to see which is usually a tutorial. Other times, I love to hear the person talk, and I listen to every word. I AM IN CONTROL, is the point. I don't need to complain to the person who took the time and the effort to make the video which is totally free of charge!
Oh, well. It's a small thing really. I just thought it was kind of tacky.
Other than that, this was a perfect day. Terry was here all afternoon. She finished quilting two more baby quilts to give away to babies being dedicated at our church. I didn't think to take pictures of them. Both of them were very cute.
OH! I have only one more owl to make. Hopefully, I will get them all stitched tomorrow. I'll show you when they are all done. I quit naming them after Graham because I wanted to change their positions in the quilt, and then they were no longer in alphabetical order. Goofy, I know!
I made a video for you today because I have over 3,000 followers of my Youtube Channel. They watch my videos, but know nothing abouty my BLOG. At least, I am assuming that since I have only 151 followers of my BLOG.
So here is the latest, up-to-the-minute newsflash of my latest adventures, which are pretty much like all my other ones, lol.
After I made the video,
I found the PERFECT person to send the new bracelet to.
I'm giving it to my newest friend, Deborah, in Ozark, MO.
She has given me two things already, and I am getting behind FAST. I asked her if she liked this creation at all, and she said she did, so it will be on its way tomorrow.
Gotta go.
I've been working all day on one thing or another. Just ironed my new blouse and my duck blouse. I started to get the beads together for my new bracelet, BUT -- AS USUAL -- I need to order more beads.
I'll show you the finished blouse with the bracelet when I get the bracelet done.
