Time for "Row by Row" to start - with a new twist this year!

"Row by Row On The Go! is 2017’s theme and we'll be participating here at  Hyderhangout: Quilt Fabric & More.  We’re super excited about Row by Row Experience’s brand new program, Row by Row Junior, too!  It’s designed for kids ages 6 to 14.  They travel along with an adult.  They collect free row patterns designed just for them to make and they can learn to sew at home with family help and support from www.rowbyrowexperience.com.

Row by Row Junior follows the same rules and time schedule as adult Row by Row Experience, June 21 through Labor Day.  Kids need to be in the shop to get the free pattern handout, but anyone can buy a kit.  Grandmothers and traveling family can bring them home as gifts or souvenirs.

Row by Row Junior designed the five different row patterns so you can be sure they are kid-friendly.  Make it an adventure traveling to collect all five and seeing how different shops make up their row.  Our row is [your row choice and why].

We’ll be awarding “I Made This!” ribbons to the first five kids who return with something made using a Row by Row Junior pattern.  Any sewing effort will be celebrated, not just quilting.  Find Row by Row Junior’s free online activities, kids’ journal pages, support for learning to sew at home, and more at www.rowbyrowexperience.com this summer.

“We want our kids to learn how to sew and carry on this craft that’s so dear to us,” explains Janet Lutz, Row by Row’s founder. “Traveling to new places, collecting something just for them, visiting Grandma, summer vacation...this is all part of the wonder and excitement of Row by Row Experience.  Please join us.”

New Craft - 'Gelli Plate"

A great friend of  mine turned me on to a new crafting idea a couple of weeks ago.
'It will be fun', she said.  'It is easy', she said.  well, I watched video after video and ended up painting myself, the gelli plate, the vinyl cutting board I use as my undermat, and many pieces of paper.  My husband shakes his head, and only asked, 'Why'? to which I can only reply that I enjoy trying new crafts, and this may be the one that makes me a millionaire crafter! 

I made a very simple video today, one that covers the first 15 minutes with the product (although it took me 10 days to get to this point), you can barely hear me because I don't like the sound of my own voice so I speak sparingly and quietly, sorry. 

All the videos I watched were from people way past my experience level. I have one 88 cent stencil from walmart and 10 bottles of acrylic paint.  So, if you want to try this art, the 'gelli arts' go ahead and give it a try.  If you don't like it there are a hundred folks who will take the products off your hands.  I can say the process is relaxing and when I'm finished with a cutting project or embroidery project, playing with paint is fun and easily cleaned up.

Jump in with both feet (not really, I mean please no feet on the gelli plate) let your creative side take over.  Doubts? look up the color wheel for ideas; because some colors mixed just make mud and that will stifle your creativity.  Be brave, most of all Be Happy.

Susan Hyder from Hyderhangout has batting practice in the studio

Just wanted to share my latest card.  It is my mom's Mother's Day card for this year.  I purchased from Dreaming Tree.  The instructions are broken down and (paper) color coded.  There was also a YouTube tutorial, pictures, AND material list.  Nothing personal Silhouette designers, but you could learn from Leo.  This was the fastest and prettiest card I have completed in a while (and I wasn't stressed and ready to throw my Cameo away) at the end.

Just a few pics

I have made a few new things lately and just wanted to post pictures in case anybody was watching.  I do love the way my sis's canvas turned out and I am sad that the cards I made for Valentines day did not sale on Etsy,  https://www.etsy.com/shop/SisTaughtMe , in case you were wondering.  I haven't listed the crown for sell yet, but they will be on there pretty soon.  I did the vinyl lettering for Sadie's karate dojo and was pretty pleased with the way that turned out.

Aunt Ruby's 92nd

My Aunt Ruby turns 92 on the 31st of January.  She is my mother-in-law's younger sister.  I wanted to make something unique and beautiful for her as she so deserves it as her sister, my mother-in-law, passed away last week at the age 94.   I found this card design on Bird's Cards website. http://www.birdscards.com/rolled-flower-2/  I never tried a rolled flower before so this is my very first and I hope to get better as I try again.  Don't ever be afraid to try new things and pass them along. 

Peace out💗

Right Place, Right Time

I happened to be at my local pharmacy yesterday, a bit pressed for time to get to Chattanooga for daughter's doctor appointment.  I left something in my truck so I had to run outside to retrieve.  While out there I noticed someone in the car next to me taking my picture.  Now I know I am great looking (kidding) and am on defense most of the time because of the respirator.  Well this time, I turned to face my foe, ready with an explanation.  To my surprise it was a beautiful young woman. Before I could say anything she asked why the mask, as many often do so I explained.  She then told me why she asked 'why'.  She has been diagnosed with cervical cancer.  This beautiful, full of life newlywed is now faced with chemo, radiation, and surgery.  It seemed   The interesting part is that I went through the same thing 20 years ago.  Young, newlywed facing cervical cancer  and endometriosis. Luckily, all cancer was removed with surgery but I lost the ability to have a baby with my new husband.  It was a sad, dark time.  It took time, a long time, but my life mended and we moved on.  I think I was there yesterday because this beautiful lady needed a verbal hug and to let her know her life would not end here.  As a matter of fact it can start by being a poster child for the cancer and to be there to encourage others when you are able.  It also teaches you to allow others to help you through this troubling time.  By allowing other to help you - you have helped them feel valuable again.

The moral of this story is one you see in memes everyday.  Everyone is fighting some kind of battle whether you see it or not.   Count your blessings, one by one.  Write one blessing down everyday.  EVERYDAY!

Slow down and smell the roses.  You never know when you will be in the right place at the right time, for somebody.

Father's Day around the corner

So I made it to beautiful Wonderful Western North Carolina today around noon after having left Cleveland TN at 6:15 am.  I made a couple of pit stops.  One at Hyderhangout's NEW location in McCaysVille GA.  Hyderhangout Quilt Depot since it's hours correspond with the running of the local train.  It is so so cool.  I came on over via Hwy 64/74/19/23/40/19.  It was a beautiful scenic trip that takes to long that going by way of Knoxville and construction and heavy nightmare traffic.  Unless it's winter icy, I will not travel the Interstate 40 way again.  It's actually just a hair shorter if you can just drive and not stop and take pictures or shop which is what I did this morning.  I found a nice quilt shop Quilters Quarters in Waynesville NC.  Easy access off 19/23 off and on again in a breeze.

I hate to say this is really not a pleasure trip as my mom has not been feeling well and  a trip to the doctor is in order for tomorrow.  Normally I would be in bed but something hit me as I sat at this table.  This table that I did homework at and ate gravy and biscuits,with fresh cantelope.  A table where we ate hot biscuits and fresh honey right after my dad robbed the bees; one where I couldn't leave until I ate my eggplant - yech.  I still see my dad sitting in his place that since his death  is now occupied by my mom. remembering how the three of us children and parents fit so nicely around this table.  This table that now somehow seems smaller but no less comfortable.  I didn't want to go to bed.  So I cut out some quilt pieces and sat until I could put into words how my heart feels.  So much of this home is just like it was when my dad died 39 years ago.  I think of it now, I suppose as Father's Day approaches.  His 51 year old face frozen in my mind and heart.  My older sis, brother, and myself have passed his age.   All with a bit of terror I might add, how could we do that?  It just seemed wrong.  I still feel his presence because as the baby, I still remember his  presence so well.




I suppose it is time for lights out - 1:30 am.  the farmers will be up shortly to start milking.  I am going to crawl into the bed that served me well as a teen.  Hopefully tomorrow - I throw some pic's up here.   Night for now from Leicester NC   I believe this is God's country so I shall rest well.

Soft Toy Drive To Benefit Children in Foster Care

This is something near and dear to my heart as a lot of you know my big brother, my hero, and his loving wife, have been foster parents to many children; infants to teenagers about to be on their own. So when I came across the Soft Toy Drive Benefit at Sew Mama Sew.com, I had to jump on that wagon.  I have made two to send in and I hope you will consider making one as well. #6WeeksOfSofties

To make this adorable 3-eyed beauty, you can click this link for the Embroidery Garden, one of my favorite embroidery websites.  This little guy is free,

If you love this tiny, irresistible bunny, you can go to Urban Threads.  I get all my FSL here and I love their up-beat embroidery pattern as well as their Spoonflower fabrics. He/She's a freebie too!

The Right Thing

Doing the right thing may not be easy, of course it certainly is not as Satan is a pretty good planner, but at the end of the day, your heart is not weighed down with the chains of guilt, remorse, regret, woe, and you are not doubled over with the sadness.   
Brenda Walsh Ministries

Doing the Right Thing: God wants us to obey Him and do His will, regardless of the consequences. And the truth is, doing the right thing is not always easy. Sometimes as Christians we have the false expectation that if we are doing what God wants us to do - than everything will be easy in our lives! But that could not be further from the truth. Jesus set a wonderful example for all of us to follow, for when He was here on earth, He was ridiculed, made fun of, spied on, and lied about - but He kept doing the will of “His Father!” There will be times when we are doing what we “know” God wants us to do, and yet we will suffer rejection, persecution, and hardship. Just because we are “uncomfortable,” or we don’t like being tormented for something we don’t deserve, should not deter us for even a moment from doing God’s will. Jesus warned us that there would be troublesome times in John 16:33 where He says,“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” We need not worry or fear when we are “doing the right thing,” because God will stand by our side - even in the midst of our toughest trial! Text: 1 Peter 3:17, Psalm 27:1, Proverbs 2:8

March is National Craft Month!

March is National Craft Month so let's get on with and be creative.  I am going to make February and hopefully March quilt block today for my 'In the Beginning' quilt.  I subscribe to The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  It's an online magazine only.  I love it.  Not very expensive, full of ideas and great people. It is my only paid subscription, this is my 2nd year.

Homeschool Resource

I received an email today from a homeschool resource I rarely use.  Not because I don't care for it, but with limited funds, I'm selective who and what I pay for, otherwise I'd be broke and my inbox would be so full I'd never complete a class of instruction.  Anyway, enjoy this resource from the Language Arts Gurus and the Ladies of Analytical Grammar.

Go to the movies!

I found a great list at The Internet Movie Database of movies based on classic literature.  These are all highly rated. http://www.imdb.com/list/ls050543383/ There is nothing wrong with using a movie to help teach a book.  If you have a particular difficult piece of literature, it might be a good idea to watch a quality movie version first.  I did that for Pillars of the Earth.  When I read the book after watching the miniseries, the actors from the screen "acted" the book out in my head; it was great!   You can also watch the movie after reading the book, too.  Movies are almost never completely accurate to the book.  It can be a great discussion to talk about what was changed or left out, and how that changed the experience of the story.

January 2. 2015 already.  I look back and see all the gaps I should have filled in with tidbits of information or bites of advice.  Missed opportunities to help someone in need even if it were just a texted hug.

I may not do any better this new year of 2015 but I am going to give it my best shot.  I will start by posting a link to an article written about me, 'the masked lady', by students at the local university.  A university you may or may not have heard of - Lee University in Cleveland TN.

  

I am always open to questions and if I don't have the answer, I have friends all over the world with tenfold the experience in our illness to call upon their knowledge as resource.

Humans Of Cleveland

Merry Christmas

- Hard to believe the end of 2014 is near. So much happening. I lost my dear Aunt Dorothy at the beginning of October. I had been her care giver for a couple of years and losing her was life changing. I found myself bouncing off the walls for a while, often heading for the door with no reason, but life has filled itself it and things around my house have "normal-ed" out; well, as normal as can be with an illness like mine, homeschooling a bipolar child and running after 7 dogs 3 cats and a husband still recuperating from back surgery. Yes, this is the NEW normal.

I managed to sew up a few table runners as gifts for Christmas as well as homemade goodies for the baskets. We rarely buy anything. We just stopped that a long time ago and make things. SCrreech! Halt! We -- no, no, no.. I make things, I sew and I cook and I arrange. They sample, and ooh and ahh, cheer me on with moral support and thus the presents are made.

This one was for my big sis.

This one for my sis in law Susan

This one for my sis in law Thelma

 This one for my Sweet daughter in Florida

I also managed to eke out around several  homemade cards, which I also love to do. However, I found this year that I can no longer tolerate touching the paper so I'm donning my nitrile gloves for yet one more project.


















































Oops, I almost forgot. I found the cutest Pine Cone Owl project and made those for our daughter whose birthday falls precariously close to Christmas, she was pleased.  And, because the felt has formaldehyde in the processing, nitrile gloves are needed here as well.

It's like this folks.  I can give up everything I hold near and dear to my heart or I can find a way to work with it, albeit for short period of times, it does sadden me that I cannot go wide open like I did before my illness, but the things I can do, I will do.

German Christmas bread (Stollen) was baked; a recipe provided from a German friend.  It received great reviews, so thanks go out to Miz Karin.  This is right out of the over - prebutter and                    preconfectioner sugar and wrapped.

I wish I had gotten a pic of the baskets, just so I would remember next year what I did, exactly but if I get it all down here, hopefully that will be enough spark to get my imagination rolling.

Each basket had a table runner, a quart of homemade, canned veggie soup tht I did back in the summer, mainly with veggies I grew.  Next I put in seasoned Oyster crackers, a favorite recipe give to me from my late Aunt Dorothy.  I put in a load of Stollen, and a small bottle of Russian Tea that I had found the recipe for online; it got the hubs approval so I knew it was great.  I also put in a jar of dill pickles, and some homemade bark with peppermint.

One last thing before I go.  I managed to add another blog site to my areas of reading.  It is Queen Mercy Crochet.  My youngest has been crocheting and knitting since age 9 and finally has decided to challenge herself with blog site and to write her own patterns, so check her out.

So I finished everything on the 23rd.  It was time to relax.  And I did.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New year too.  Until next time

Tennessee State Fair 2014

With encouragement from a very good faithful friend, I entered a quilt I made in April 2014 in the Tennessee State Fair and today I found out around 4 p.m. that I had won the Modern Quilt category 3rd Place award. I saw it in McCall's Quick Quilt magazine and  I fell in love with it at first sight and knew I had to make it.  It just so happened that at that same time Susan at Hyderhangout just received this grouping of fabric!  After piecing, Jackie Cory did the quilting for me and the rest is history.

FAT QUARTER FRENZY

I normally don't post advertisements on my blog spot.  But there is a great sale where I hangout and I wanted to share it with you.  Hyderhangout: Quilt Fabric and More is having Fat Quarter Frenzy this week May 20 - 24, 2014.    You buy 10 Fat Quarters, Get 5 (equal value or less) FREE. Yes, that's right, you read correctly. You buy 10 fat quarters then you get 5, equal value or less, ABSOLUTELY FREE, no cost, zip, nothing, take 'em home and love them! Online customers, enjoy this sale as well. Tell us what you want, we'll custom cut and ship.

Now, Hyderhangout  has plenty of Fat Quarters ready for the picking, just like a plentiful garden, but for our online shoppers, we will cut any fabric you choose, into fat quarters, you will be charged for a quarter of a yard for the first 10 then you will receive your 5 freebies of equal or lesser value. 

Great savings to be had here.  I know I have my eye on 15 , no, who am I kidding, I'll probably bring home 30 because it's payday week.

And while you are there, check out the other online offerings.  We have notions, threads, needles, patterns, Quilt-in-A-Day just to name a few.  We also do alterations, cut fabric for you, teach you how to sew, and even make your quilts for you if you like or have a deadline looming. 

So click on the book - it will take you to the website, check it out! Pronto!               

Spring is here and so are my roses

This is the time of year I do get fairly excited. It’s the time of year that even my illness has a hard time keeping me down. I do have to be wary of neighbors fertilizing and ‘pesticiding’ and fabric ‘softenerizing’ but I love being outside, I love growing things, and I love my tiny roses.  I saved them from certain death a couple of years ago from the local grocery.  Valentines Day was over and nobody received these lovely’s as a gift so these were drying out and marked down to .99 and 1.99.  I bought 4.   #3 is a mini yellow barely budding and  #4 had a hard winter but survived, these two will be featured at a later date.  They are fighters and I know they will put out some beautiful flower soon.  These guys however, loved the oak tree leaf mulch that I left on until just about 10 days ago.  They are amazing.

I also inherited a “Red Hot Poker” from my Aunt Dorothy.  You can literally watch this thing grow.

I am so sad that I sold my Rebel XT and never replaced.  I am forced to use the tag-along family Kodak. So, here are the pics  of my beauties.  I am also throwing in a few pics of my veggie garden which is an in-progress project.

 

My yellow miniature is barely budding so it will come later.  Check out the Red Hot Poker – 1st pic is April 29  2nd is April 30 3rd Pic was taken a few minutes ago 5-4-14.  That is some serious growth.

My azalea made it through a hard winter too and rewarded us nicely.  Along with the first blooming of the Red Dogwood I planted last spring.

 

And lastly, my veggie garden in progress and a sneak peek at my Robin babies.  Didn’t want to disturb them or freak mom who was yelling at me from the fence, but I had to snap a quick one.

Politics are not my forte'

Politically, sometimes it's hard to differentiate between morally right and basic communism.  I don't think most of the people choosing what they chose even know the difference - so don't look for any political advice on my page; sometimes even I get swayed by misleading words and phrases so I apologize for misleading or misrepresenting my conservative self pain any way.

AND NO, you are not taking my stuff and giving to someone who has nothing for the "common good".   And if by chance, I win the $400 million dollar lottery, start or buy many businesses and want to "give" $399 million to the next presidential campaign, DO NOT tell me I can't. You can, however, trust me when I say I want nothing in return but the promises spoken - kept. 

 End of Rant

New Things as Promised

I stated earlier that I wanted to post a few new items I had made. One of which was some beautiful FSL ( Free Standing Lace) this pattern which was purchased from Urban Threads.
I saw them, made them for fun. Then found out that Hyderhangout was hosting a Fashion show, for the charity Harbour House, and was requested to enter, so I did. My entry actually received 1st place in the Accessories Category.  I added a few glass beads for embellishment on the mask, bracelet, and butterfly pin not seen in this photo. Chains and a blue cameo bird pendant were added to the Raven Lace Choker.

We had professional D.J.'s, so I strutted my stuff to Patti LaBelle's Lady Marmalade played in the background.  A fun time was had by all.

Much thanks goes out to the designers at Urban Threads. They are fantastic!

Blue Nickel #12DaysofColor

Looking for an excellent Quilting blog, this is it. Glad I found it. Sharing it.
Blue Nickel 12 Days of Color.   #12DaysofColor