CHURCH LADY QUILT

I had the pleasure of making a quilt for a local church raffle for the last two years and I also was very please they have allowed me to make another one for them.

Last year's quilt was something else. OK...first of all, I love to quilt but I am the worst person for color choices for other people. If it was for me, I would have it super bright fabrics of purple, pink, green or big flowers and that is not the choice for everyone.

So last year I asked that the church ladies pick out the colors and the pattern. One of the ladies suggested a quilt that was hanging on the wall in a local quilt store. I went there and pointed out the quilt I needed to make and said I needed some fabric and the pattern. I tried to pick out some but they really picked out the majority. I didn't mind the colors at all, they just weren't my idea of a quilt.

I got to work on it and then I realized that I had to force myself to even work on it. It was mostly made of civil war reproductions and they are very dark and depressing colors in my opinion. I showed it to a few people and they seemed to like it but I have no clue why. Every time I worked on it I just hated it more and more. I started calling it Ugly Betty.

Well, I finally got it done. I was so disappointed with it that I told my friend and my ONLY quilter to just do an edge to edge design and be done with it. I sent it thru the mail and when she got it she said she liked it. I again told her to just do her thing with it. Well, I tell you...DID SHE!! When I went to pick it up, I couldn't believe it was mine. WOW She completely transformed the entire quilt. It was gorgeous!

Well, the tickets sold and the quilt was won by none other than a beautiful woman named Betty. How strange that it happened that way!

All in all here it is in all it's glory. It was a queen size with 2 pillow shams. I haven't got a photo of the pillow shams but they were beautiful! She did an extraordinary job on those. They were like a work of art!

Bird Houses and Cricuts

Well, we had a project this summer that ended up being a family project. Hubby cut the boards and milled down some old cedar shingles. My daughter helped me make some windows out of vinyl on my Cricut. I also did the shutters out of a beer can and ran it thru the Cuttlebug to give it some texture. We then painted them with alcohol inks to give them the look of old copper. The things you can make out of beer cans!
Hey, don't get me wrong here. I do mention beer cans and I do mention alcohol inks. They do not have anything to do with each other. Alcohol inks are just really cool alcohol based inks that colorize really slick surfaces such a metal, glass, and plastic. All those things that are normally hard to paint otherwise.

A Little about my Cricut

I really like to mess with crafty software programs and I love to play with my Cricut Expression. A Cricut is a machine that will cut out anything that you draw or bring into the software screen on your computer from 1/4 inch up to 2 feet! Oh, where would be without those special software programs? I love the fact that you can cut anything you want using the Make The Cut program also known as MTC. There is another program called Sure Cuts A Lot or SCAL that does about the same thing. For some reason I have both programs. They both do about the same but they each have their own little things that I like about them.
These third party softwares are the only reason I bought the Cricut. If I had to buy cartridges for all the projects I would be so broke I couldn't afford to buy the paper or vinyl to put in it! You can cut any font on the computer or search the Internet. You can cut out any dingbat you want. (You can Google that if you don't know what a dingbat is and NO it is NOT a dingy woman. I already hold that proud title!)
You can also design your own cutouts. It is endless what you can do with a Cricut. It is a lot of creative fun and I would highly recommend adding it to your personal "I need" list!

Uno Dos Tres

OK...I didn't take that much Spanish in college but I got by. If you are like me you probably don't know a lot of other languages either.
No, Pig Latin is NOT a language and neither is ibba dibba talk.

I have a Google tool bar. I love it...I do all my searching on Google BUT I am not here to advertise that, I am here to tell you about a couple of the buttons it has and the first one is called "Translate" and it can be your best friend. I used it today while I was trying to figure out what the heck this Spanish lady was doing with a particular craft project. Well now I know! It translated it fairly well. Oh, there were a few mistakes. I am almost positive she did not mean to say what she did. No, not on a craft site...unless she is more crafty than I thought!

The other fun button on the Google tool bar is AutoFill. Oh, I love that one too! You know when you get to a website and you really NEED to buy something and you have to put in all information? Well, one click of that button and WALA it does it all for you. You can also password your credit card number in there so if you want to put in your credit card number, put in your password and it will fill in those zillion numbers they request. We are talking speed shopping!

Anyway, give it a shot and see if you like it. Not sure if all tool bars have that but I know my Google does. Here it is...try it out!
http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie/install.html

Pushin' For A Cushion

Well, I just finished a custom made bench cushion for my oldest daughter. Oh, I had the usual fun of planning a sewing project for a family member. I loved looking for the fabric all the while matching it to the newspaper ad of tomato soup. While I was visiting her in Columbus, OH, she gave me an ad of tomato soup in a nice off white bowl and said, “There, those are exactly the colors I am looking for!“ After I got off the plane back in Fargo, I went right to Joann Fabrics, still clutching that newspaper clipping and holding it up against all the fabrics. There they were! They jumped right out at me! I got so excited and as usual, I had to tell all the strangers waiting to buy fabric about my find. They all agreed…it matched the soup or they were being polite to an overly excited woman.

First of all, I made the piping myself and it turned out so nice that it was pure pleasure to work with. I measured twice, cut once and was happy with it. That is always a scary thing. OK...I asked myself, why is this turning out so well? What is in store for me?

The piping also went on very well. I loved it and I loved the colors. I had not been sure of them but once I got used to the color and not the idea of eating soup it was OK. I continued on and put on the side of the pad to make the box-like cushion it was intended to become. Oh, the excitement was building. You have no idea how much I love to sew!

OK...sewed on both sides and then turned it inside out to see how wonderful the piping was. OH, MY. It was lovely. And then…what the hell? I had put the side piece on with the seams to the outside!! Oh, there was no way I was going to tear all that out. I decided to just take out the bad seams and fix them. OH...#$%^$&^#$% ...I am OK now…deep breath…it worked....whew....



Now, on to putting in the foam piece! Have you EVER tried to stuff 6 feet of green rubber foam into a very form fitting casing? It was like wrestling an old alligator without teeth. It was soft enough, safe enough, but by gosh that thing wanted to fight me for all it was worth.

I had left a large enough opening on the side to push it there, or so I thought. I would put in one end and then it just wouldn’t move so I had to actually shimmy it on there. Kinda like putting a size small panty hose on a queen size woman. I know this from experience...and it is not pretty.

OK…got it shimmied on but then the other end had to also go through that same opening, all the while the other piece was still sticking out. Another round of wrestling. I yelled downstairs to hubby, “Hey, you might have to help me with this”. He yelled up to me, “What are you doing?” He could hear me huffing and puffing through the floor grate of this old house and I am sure he felt pieces of green foam raining down on him but he is smart...he plays dumb...so he probably thought it was best to just keep his distance. I yelled back, “I am trying to stick a 50 pound 'gater into a 5 pound bag.” All I heard was silence. He knows after 30 years that it is best to just let me have fun with my hobbies and experiments no matter what kind of noises come out of me or what is raining down that floor grate. He did just that and I do know he would have helped if I had “specifically” asked. He does well with directions but I have to outline them for him. By that time I would have it done, sat on it and probably had time to replace it!
Anyway, by the time I got done I was actually sweating. Now THAT was hard work because it’s dumping freezing rain outside…I should NOT be sweating...no one should be sweating.

I finally got that thing wrestled in there and finally got it sewed up. It ain’t goin’ nowhere! Oh, I hope it looks nicer when it is tied to her beautiful bench.

I do hope my daughter loves it. If she doesn’t, I may have to take up “gator” wrestling instead because after this...I have the experience!

SHE'S A LADY....WHOA WHOA WHOA...SHE'S A LADY

Isn't that an old Tom Jones song?

Anyway, this little bug is my goofy design and I just added a bit of whimsy to it for fun. Wiggle Eyes!! Not sure what to do with it, but I have some ideas. Gee do you suppose it will be used for Valentines Day?

The best part about making your own designs is that you can make them any size and if I want to I can add more hearts to the wings, or add legs...heck I can add 3 heads if I want to and make it a mutant.

Life is just too much fun.

Click here if you would like the SVG

REGIFTING

Now don't think that I am cheap or anything but I do like to give people what they want. This gift was a gift of love and years in the making.

My oldest daughter was always eyeballing my old Betty Crocker cookbook...vintage 1978. My mother had given it to me the first year we were married in 1980. Well, I know from experience that this has got to be the best cookbook ever written. I have tried a lot of the recipes in it and I have yet to have one fail and my new hubby must have thought he married a chef! They are the good old recipes with salt and cream and butter. No calorie counting. That might also explain why the recipes are so darn good!

Anyway, I started looking for one on the used books websites and I actually ended up finding one on eBay. WOOHOO. I was so excited! The most I seen it for was $49.99 and I ended up getting this dandy one for $15.00 and that including the shipping! Needless to say she was thrilled!. Well, I couldn't let my youngest daughter be without one. Even though she is vegetarian, there are plenty of good recipes for her too...complete with salt! I got her one off of another site. These particular cookbooks are not easy to find! There are some that look like this but they have to be 1978. That is part of the thrill of the hunt! The best part is...my hubby has been enjoying those recipes for almost 30 years. Maybe it was the cookbook that held us together this long or maybe it was how good I look in the kitchen humped over a hot stove or my rather large butt sticking out of the fridge...or maybe it is because I am just so darn thrifty...LOL

Now don't think I go around and buy used items as gifts for Christmas...I go around and find things that people will not go out and find for themselves. Maybe just a little labor of love for my babies.

MORE BAGS!

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Here is my youngest daughter trying to escape on Christmas eve to go shopping with her new bags. No, these are not vintage bags but some really cool fabric I bought on a quilt shop hop. I consider her taste to be more of "vintage modern", in other words she likes a lot of stuff from my old days...the 70s!!!"



It is what she found in the bottom of the bags that made her want to escape!

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Vintage Tablecloth Bags

Here was one of my last fun projects. This was a Christmas gift for my daughter. I made 2 shopping bags out of a vintage tablecloth for her. She does wonders with anything that is old...including her father and I, so I knew she would appreciate it.

First of all I was taken on a wonderful day antiquing and quilt shop hopping with some really great girlfriends for my birthday. Yeah, I know, it is tough turning 29 AGAIN. I think this is 25 years in a row now for that special birthday. Anyway, I bought this tablecloth at an antique store knowing that my daughter would just love it. I looked it over and seen it had a hole in it but decided to get it anyway. OK...I got it home but decided that hole was a bit much. I decided right then and there that I would make a table runner out of it and also a couple shopping bags. I got pretty excited about that. I was smiling and talking to myself like I do...the whole time I sewed them. I couldn't wait for her to open them!

When I finished them I just loved them! I did patch that hole and then I cleverly put a pocket over it. No one will ever know! I do so want to make some for myself!!

I hope I can spend another day with my friends to go hunting for some more vintage tablecloths! That was just too much fun!

Using SCAL for Fancy Schmancy Designs

For those of you who do not have a Cricut, go no further. This will not excite you as much as those of us who do have SCAL or MTC and a Cricut. All right, I can see a few of you scratching your heads wondering what I am talking about. YOU THERE...go do something else, leave us Cricuteers alone to do our thing.

I found a fantastic font called Nymphette, and it is on http://www.dafont.com/. It is actually a dingbat of some nice flourishes to use. Don't be put off if something seems a bit too skinny to use. You can always change it in SCAL or MTC by giving it a Shadow.
Here is what it looks like with two of the flourishes and how I added the 2 circles to join it all together.

This is a simple way to do something in SCAL without the use of Inkscape. For those of you that do not want to tackle Inkscape this is one way you can make your own designs in SCAL. Just remember to click weld on everything you intend on putting together. You must overlap things in order for it to be welded. You can check if it is welded or not by going to the little magnifying glass by the scissors and clicking on it. It will outline in red all the areas it is going to cut.

Hope this helps someone and I hope it helps others to get creative just using SCAL or MTC.
Have fun!

How to Outline with Cricut Markers

Well, I have been way too busy doing nothing so I thought I should put something on here that someone that has a Cricut can actually get some use out of.
This is what I do to make a "sorta" printer out of my Cricut.

First of all you need to buy some of the Cricut pens. I have seen other people say they use all kinds of other things but I just happened to have bought all the colors because they were on sale and I just like to collect things for my hobbies.

SO....Here we go....

First of all, whenever you are putting that pen any where near the Cricut cutting area, PLEASE be sure to put a piece of waste cardstock under the pen/cutting area or you will be marking the paper you are going to use or the carriage of the Cricut. I am speaking from experience here!



Second Step:
Be sure to seat the pen in properly. There is a little indentation on it so be sure to have it in there.

Third Step:
OK...now select the design you want. If it is from a cartridge, select size. Push "Cut". This will start it printing out the picture.
It will stop below what has already been printed. Here is it all printed out.



Fourth Step:
Hit the "Load Paper" button and it will go back to home base. Put your waste paper under the pen and change to the cutting housing. Put pressure back to whatever you need for the kind of paper you are cutting. (If I use heavy cardstock I use pressure of 5 and needle depth of 3.)

Fifth Step:
Hit the "Repeat Last" button and then hit the "Cut" button and it will cut the same thing it just printed right on the same lines it printed out.

Here is a picture of what was cut out and I am trying to show you how much of the line there is left of it.







This was a black marker that I used.

If anyone is actually using the pencil grips or any other type of pen I sure would like to see it in action.

HOW TO KEEP A HUBBY HAPPY

This has been one long winter! But fortunately, we have been well fed and warm, so I can't complain...but damn it...where is spring? I am also fortunate enough to have a hubby that does not ice fish, play pool, watch sports, sit in the bar, or chase women that I know of! If he did chase women all I would have to do is wave a piece of wood in front of his face and he would come running back. Pretty simple to keep him around...a piece of wood and a cup of coffee and he thinks he died and went to Heaven. Nope, he isn't bored...to pass the time, hubby has been hard at it in the wood shop, using his magical turning lathe to turn trash wood into pieces of art. I know our kids are running out of room at their houses for the things he makes them but here are some more! Hey, even I get to keep a lot of the stuff!

The first 2 bowls are made from Ash from our trees by our home and other exotic woods and the bottom 2 vessels are made out of the Boxelder trees that grow here also. The red that you see is a natural occurrence in the wood probably caused by some bug or fungus that got in the wood. Boxelder are just trashy trees that are not the prettiest things but they sure make some nice bowls!

I love to do woodworking myself but seldom get the time with work and quilting....it is not a priority. He did try to teach me the basics of wood turning. After 6 hours of turning down a football size piece of wood into a spool that still does not look like a spool, I decided I would stick with making my outdoor furniture and crafty things and leave it at that. I have better things to do!

How To Become A Happy Hooker

First of all….did you really want to know how to become a Hooker?

OK…then I got your attention so now if you are interested in Scrapbooking, Cricuteering, Cardmaking, or Stenciling, Etc. then just keep reading!

This is for those of you that might want to create your own stencils with any font of your choice, not just the MILITARY STENCIL look.

Call up any of the fonts you love in your favorite graphic program and add a little hook or piece to whatever letters you are using. See the BoDiddly Picture above. Normally we are only using a few words at a time and it is not problem to add a little piece that will hold the inside of a P, D, B, etc to hold it all together without really messing up the look of the font. You can make it swirl or make it straight, you add one or you can add eight. Hey! That rhymed! I digress..........
I then cut away the hook after I have it glued into place. Just don't put the glue on the piece you want to cut off. Glue down the piece and use a craft knife to carefully cut away any unwanted pieces. For something very ornate, this method works great.

This is wonderful for making stencils for glass etching. Set up your word or design and then add the hooks to the open areas of the letters that you don’t want to fall out, connecting them to the outside area. Cut it out in vinyl or contact paper, place it on the object and rub out any air bubbles and THEN cut away the unwanted part (hook). It makes for very accurate placement when you have a lot of open letters or something very ornate. Your inside pieces don’t get lost and they are placed perfectly where they are supposed to be. You then would proceed as you wish for etching glass or stenciling.

On the BoDiddly design, the Cricut would cut out all the white parts and the rest would be left including the insides of the letters. Glue in place or rub in place if it is for glass etching then cut away those little hooks holding the inside letter.

WALA….perfect placement everytime.

How to Take a Screen Shot

This is for those of you who have Windows XP and want to take a screen shot and are not sure how to do it. If you have Windows 7 you are already set with the Snippet Tool.  This works great if you see something on a website or want to share something in a program with someone. This is one way to do it. For those Cricuteer friends of mine, it is also great for showing everyone what you have drawn in Inkscape, MTC or SCAL or any program for that matter. This is a pretty easy way to do it.

I got this from www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/screenshot.mspx, Just in case you want to go there and look at a better explanation. I added a few of my own tips on here.

1. Click the window you want to capture. Press ALT+PRINT SCREEN by holding down the ALT key and then pressing the PRINT SCREEN key. The PRINT SCREEN key is near the upper right corner of your keyboard. (Depending on the type of keyboard you have, the exact key names on your keyboard may vary slightly.)
Note: You can take a screen shot of your entire desktop rather than just a single window by pressing the PRINT SCREEN key without holding down the ALT key. At this point, it doesn't look like it did anything but wait!
2. Click Start, click Accessories, and then click Paint. Personally, I have a Paint icon ready to go at the bottom of my screen. I use it a lot!
3. In the Paint window, click Edit, and then click Paste. (I just do a “Control V” to paste it)
4. When the image appears in the Paint window, you can decide if you want to keep the whole window or just cut out what you want to show. If you want to cut out a particular part, just use the upper left icon, a box type thing, and pull a line around the part you want and do a “Control X” this will take it out and put it on the clipboard. Go to “File”, “New” and you will have a new Paint screen. (I just do a “Control N”.) Next do a “Control V” which will paste just that selection you wanted on to the window.
Now go to “File”, and then click “Save As”.
5. In the “Save As” dialog box, in the File name box, type a name for the screen shot, and then click Save. (I would recommend saving in GIF if it is a special photo it will look nicer than a JPG)

You can now print or e-mail the saved screen shot just like you would any other picture.

I would recommend reducing the size of the window just a bit because it does such a nice job of capturing the screen that it fills up your Paint screen.

MOM, HOW DO I MAKE A POT ROAST?

Oh, I can't tell you what sweet music it was to my ears when one of my daughters asked for advice. Yeah, I pretty much fall all over myself when they do.

This is the same daughter that called me from college and asked, "Mom, how do I fry an egg?"

Well, don't get me wrong on this, you have to know her. She is a great cook now but it was never an interest while she lived at home. She usually had her nose in a book. She can now make a Kolachy that puts any baker to shame. For some reason she just didn't want to learn to cook. Oh, I tried...at least the youngest daughter wanted to learn all the ethnic foods from her German/Norwegian background and thanks to Daddy, Czechoslovakian background. She even knows how to make Lefsa and just about everything in between, but my older one...well, she had to learn on her own time.

Well, her time has come! ON TO THE POT ROAST!

First of all, wash that roast. I don't know how many of you take a roast out of a package and plop it into a pan...but coming from a farm and watching how butchering is done...believe me...wash that roast! Wash pork chops, chicken, turkey, whatever meat you use. I haven't figured out how to wash hamburger yet, but if I ever do...I will let you know!

OK...Roast is clean.........Spray that pan! The greatest invention of the last century was Pam cooking spray and all the other cheaper brands that work just the same.

OK..pan is sprayed......now plop that roast in the pan.

Fill the pan up with water until about to the top of the roast but not over it. You don't want to boil it! Maybe a half inch below top of roast.

OK...now pour a packet of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix over the top of the roast. For you newbies, that is a dry mix that is in a box, by the soups in the grocery store. This is all the spices you will need. Do Not Add salt and pepper!!

OK...cover it, if you don't have a cover, use foil then throw it in the oven and cook at 350 degrees. I don't preheat my oven when I am cooking meat or a hotdish...that is a waste of energy...just do that for cakes and breads. Just throw it in there and start the oven.

I can't really say how long to cook it because it will depend on how big of a roast you have. I would say a 2 pound roast would be about 2 hours BUT....a 4 pound roast will not be 4 hours!!! No way!....let's just say about after the initial 2 hours, start adding 20 minutes per pound. Oh, just wing it on the first time around...you will get used to it. Believe me...you will make this roast over and over again.

OK...About an hour before the roast is done, add carrots, potatoes and onions. Well, I would add more onions because we like onions. I never fry a pound of hamburger without putting in a whole onion. It does not matter what I am making...you need an onion! AND...Please, don't just peel that onion and put it in there...wash the darn thing! You don't know where it's been! Same with any of the other vegetables, wash, peel, wash. OK...by now you know I am a fanatic when it comes to food preparation. Again, growing up on a farm...I know what we used for fertilizer and it was not pretty and you do not put it in your mouth! Wash it all! AND that goes for anything else you buy. I use soap and water to wash melons before I cut them otherwise you are embedding possible feces into your melon. You do not want to feed feces to anyone!

WOW...I got off topic....Here are some more recipes.

Pork Roast....see all the above BUT uses Lipton's Garlic and Herb Soup Mix. Similar baking time.

Baked Chicken....see all above BUT use Lipton's Garlic and Herb Soup Mix.
Bake at 325 Degrees for about 1 1/2 hours

THINK SPRING!

Now that we know that winter is almost over, 6 weeks or not...I am optimistic that spring is going to come screaming around the corner at any minute. So until I hear the screaming...I will remember last summer.

Our youngest daughter decided that Daddy needed a new puppy. We had our other Yellow Lab for almost 14 years before he passed away. We had been dogless for a couple years and to tell you the truth, it was nice not to have to worry about a dog any more. Oh, sure I missed old Charlie but it just was a responsibility that in our old age we didn't really need.

So along came Willy! What a bundle of energy. I know why old people don't have kids...we don't have the energy to keep up with them. The same goes for puppies. But he makes us laugh so much it is worth it. What a personality. He is more human than some of the people I know.

He loved to ride with hubby on the mower last summer. That will come to a halt this summer because at 7 months old, he is now way too big for that, about 70 pounds. We have no idea how big he will get at this rate. The UPS man was wondering when we were going to get him saddle broke. We might have to!

I am sure the warm milk and peanut butter sandwich he gets for a treat everyday doesn't help. We just have to make sure he doesn't get overweight.

He absolutely loves the vacuum cleaner. He will lay there while we vacuum him then rolls over and he let's us do the other side. The shop vac seems a bit much for him but...I think he likes the way the vacuum flutters his lips.

I can brag, he is such a good dog.
He eats his veggies......



He plays well with others..........



He helps with gardening............



He also sits when we tell him to..............



Yep, I guess we will keep him. He knows too many of our secrets already!



UPDATE ON WILLY TWO YEARS LATER

I have to say...I think we fed him well.  Willy has turned out to be almost human.  I cannot even begin to tell you the stories we have to tell or the times he has made us laugh.

First of all, he is under foot all the time.  That is natural for most dogs.  Second of all, he is always smiling.  I have never seen a dog smile so much in my whole life.  I have no clue what he thinks is so funny or what there is to be so happy about, but he apparently has found it.

As you seen in previous pictures, he was quite cute as a puppy.  His days of riding on the lawnmower on hubby's lap are over...well almost.  He still trys to sit on his master's lap but has to sit beside him instead.  We can't sit in the gazebo without him thinking he has to have a chair to sit in too.  

Here they are resting after hoeing the garden.  He listens very well to "Get outta the Garden"

His feelings get a little hurt so he goes and lays in the shade of the apple tree.  He sometimes goes and

plays with the cats.  His favorite cat that he plays with is pictured below.

This cat is the laziest thing I have ever seen.  All he does is eat, sleep, poop and just be cute.  He loves to be cuddled and petted but just don't scratch his tummy...those are fightin' moves. 

HANDCRAFTED ASH CLOCKS

These clocks were made from wood that grew out in our back yard. Our girls used to play around these very trees that the clocks were made from. Hubby thought it would be nice to make them each a clock out of the Ash trees that grew out there. He wanted to make them both the same but use different stains. For some reason they still turned out about the same color even though he used darker stain on one of them. It didn't seem to matter, the girls were thrilled with them.

I did nothing to help with this project except keep the coffee on and make an occasional caramel roll.

Hey, I know when to keep my mouth shut and let the man work!

PEN AND PENCIL SET WITH HANDMADE CASE

This is a handcrafted wooden pen and pencil set made by hubby to give to one of his friends. He usually finds his own wood and then turns them on a turning lathe. He never knows how they are going to turn out. Everyone is different.

I will take credit for making the case for it.

HANDMADE JEWELRY BOXES

I thought I would share a few of my hubby's projects. These are a few of the many jewelry boxes that he made for our daughters.

GUILT QUILT

This is my Guilt Quilt. A coworker survived breast cancer and was thrilled about that as were her friends and family. She had a tough recovery but managed to pull through. I seen her one day and asked how she was doing, etc. She said, "Hey, would you make me a pink quilt? I will pay you whatever you want." I explained to her that I just didn't have the time right now and I had never sold any of my quilts. If anyone received one from me, it was from my heart. I volunteered to help her learn to quilt and perhaps she could make her own or her friends could help. I don't think she was interested in doing that at the time. I truly was so swamped with other things in my life that I just didn't have the time to do it for her. I felt bad because I didn't know where I would fit in the time for making a quilt.

Time went on and I found out that her cancer had returned, only this time, the doctors didn't think she would make it. I was devastated! I could not believe that I said I didn't have time to make her that quilt but here she was...with no precious time to call her own! Not even if she wanted more time...she would not find it.

I got right to work and made her the quilt she wanted and I presented it to her at a fund raiser held for her. I also found the time to make another quilt to donate for her fund raiser auction.

That was about a year ago and she is still working at getting well. I believe it is at a Cancer Treatment Center that she is receiving help and they are giving her hope.

So I learned a valuable lesson. I might think my time is precious but the time I make for others is much more precious.

COLOR FOR A COLORFUL PERSON

This quilt was one I whipped up real quick when a coworker was diagnosed with a progressive brain tumor. She was always the one doing something crazy at work. Full of fun and made me laugh whenever I seen her. I wanted to get something to her that was bright but would still have space to sign by all the coworkers. I thought I had plenty of time to do this but for some reason, this quilt whipped together faster than I had ever quilted before. It was designed, cut and quilted all within a few days. Everyone at work signed it and presented it to her.

The sad part is, she passed away 8 weeks from the time she found out. Apparently there was a reason that quilt fell into place so quickly. I was so glad that she seen how many people really cared about her.