Thursday Thoughts - I Want To Do Every Quilt And Sewing Project I See!

We have all heard it before there is not enough time in the day to do everything we want to do!  I have to admit that I try to do everything!  I should make a list like some people suggest.  Some write little slips of papers with their ideas and put them in a jar.  I see the projects and get all excited about them and then I keep it all in my head!  Yikes!  My brain is so full of all those creations and they want out!  


Recently, as you know, I have been sorting thru' old sewing and quilting photos from my past.  I share some on this blog and the majority of them on my second blog.  The best part about doing this is realizing I have done an enormous variety of projects.  Some of my ideas did see the light of day and got out of my brain! But there are more!  How will I do them all?  


In April, Tonya and I set aside time in May (May for Me), to do the projects we wanted to do.  But when May got here, we both had family things that required us put those projects on hold.  That's OK, because now we know we can set aside time for us. We learned that it is OK to take time to play, even if it is only "Minutes for Me".  That means take time to play, even if it is only 5 minutes or 20 minutes.  


So my final thoughts for today:  "I can't play all the time, but I will be content and enjoy the time that I can play."


Here's a look at some of the projects I have done, when I played:

Velvet Crazee Patch Button Pillows

Sewing with my Mom!

Weaving Baskets with My Mom 


and


When I am Not Sewing I am Weaving

Thread Painting --- Molly, My Garden Angel

More...

and more...

Project Quilting - Spiral Spinning Flowers

Project Quilting --- Zentangle Quilting - Wachuta Doodles.

Denim Shirt Raggy Quilt -2003
Post here and Post on second blog.

Mini Comfort Quilts

Raggy Sweatshirts and a Christmas Raggy Sweatshirt

Embroidery Stitched Cards

My Paper Pieced Heart Pattern which I designed in 2004 for our Breast Cancer Fundraiser Quilt is now being used for Tonya's Paper Pieced Learn A Long!












This Post will be continued later... It has been interrupted by life...


Marcia

Thursday Thoughts - Where Do You Fit?

This week, Sharon from Vrooman's Quilts wrote on her blog:

 "Are you a square peg in a round hole, or a round peg in a square hole? Instead of trying to 'fit' within the square and round of the quilting design world, find what fits you - makes you happy and shout "I MADE THAT"!! (shhh - I think I'm a spiral)" 

So I left a comment: "I think if you are a spiral, then I am a Swirl! Sometimes I think I am just swirling around in all directions, but that isn't bad, as life is never boring that way! You always make me think!  Thanks!"

So for Thursday's Thoughts I decided to write about ...Where do I fit?  Because I live, think, and breathe quilting and sewing 24/7, where do I fit?  

For example, in my daily life and interactions with people...

When I am talking with my husband, a family member, and/or a friend, somehow the conversation switches from talking about an actor in a movie to that was a cool quilt on the bed in that movie. Or did you see the cool pattern on the building when they were in Italy? 

I seem to swirl around in the conversations.

Next we are talking about something with colors and how we perceive them differently. Did you see how the colors just flowed through that room?  It was so eye pleasing. Or how the clothes they wear wearing, would make a great color combination for a quilt.

Then the conversation is about how something makes someone feel better. I think or say, it's the same way a quilt comforts a person.  The person who creates the quilt feels good, as they make it and when they give the quilt, they know it will bring comfort to the receiver. 

I may suggest that we decorate something with a cool quilt pattern or add fabric to something to soften the look or give it color. Like adding fabric and color to my garden.

Yes I am very passionate about quilting and I do think about it all the time.  If I am not sewing or quilting, I am reading blogs, magazines, or I see quilts everywhere...  Am I swirling?  Or am I just passionate about quilting? 

So...Where do I fit? 

Here  -  right here!  I can express myself and how I feel.  No one thinks I'm weird, because all of you think the same way I do!  

Where do you fit?

Marcia

Thursday's Thoughts - Color

We all see colors a little differently.  Wikipedia has an excellent definition of color.  Part of the definition includes the next photo and description. Image and information is copied and pasted from Wikipedia.

from Wikipedia

"The upper disk and the lower disk have exactly the same objective color, and are in identical gray surroundings; based on context differences, humans perceive the squares as having different reflectances, and may interpret the colors as different color categories; see same color illusion." from Wikipedia.

What it means to me in respect to quilts is that the colors of the borders we choose for a particular block or quilt top really do make a difference in how the final quilt appears.

Remember I see quilts everywhere.  I really see inspiration for quilts everywhere. 

Look at yesterday's Wordless Wednesday's glasses of water.  Here are two photos to show you the differences of the backgrounds. It is the same glass and the same fruit, but it is placed on a different quilt.  

Which one is more appealing to you?  

I prefer the blue background.

We all see colors differently.

This is the same pattern and it is quilted the same.  See how the colors change the look of the quilt.

If you missed the post about I see quilts everywhere, click here.

  

Or any of the daily posts, go to the side bar and click on the day for all of the posts.

Look for inspiration everywhere for your quilts!

Marcia

Thursday's Thoughts - 100 years of Sewing and Quilting?

In the "First Thursday's Thoughts" post I talked about Minutes for Me.  I don't always take my own advice.  Recently it has been a little "crazee-busy" trying to catch up after taking time off while my Mom was in the hospital.  I realized today I am missing my minutes for me.  So I am going to take some time and do some personal sewing this weekend.  We camp on the weekends by the Mississippi River.  My husband loves to fish and I love to sew.  So he fishes and I sew.  We make simple meals, so neither one of us has to give up any minutes for me at the river.  Sometimes we just have veggies and sandwiches.  We have camped for 19 year summers at the same campground, next to the same friends (who are now part of our family). We love it there.

My husband and I both have stressful jobs and we know it is important to take a break!  
Yes, my job is stressful.  I am a pretty tough boss!  I have to be! I love my job, but sometimes it's hard to be your own boss.  There is never enough time in the day and part of that is because I try to multitask and then I forget what I am doing and I start doing something else.  I still get a lot done in the day, but I want just a couple more hours, just like everyone else!


OK ...so I decided to start another blog this week. I must have thought I didn't have enough to do!  I will be featuring quilts, quilted items, and sewing projects that are just mine (not customer's projects - like on this blog).  Some of my projects have been featured on this blog and some have not.   The blog will be a photo display with just a few words to keep it simple.  I have always wanted to make a photo album of my quilts and sewing projects from over the years.  Well this will be it.  An online photo album of all the things I have made over the years, in no particular order.  If I know the year I will tag it - if don't, I won't.  See... it has to be simple! 

I think of this blog, here, as part of my quilting business, because I primarily feature customer's quilts and some of my quilts.  I share a variety of quilting projects and ideas through the photos and tutorials.  Previous to owning my quilting business, I was a Family and Consumer Education Teacher (Home Economics Teacher). I love to share "How to Posts" and I will continue to do that. 


Having the second blog, won't change the format of this blog.  I will still do my daily posts: 
Monday - Getting up Close with My Quilting

Tuesday - Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday

Wednesday - Wordless Wednesday

Thursday- Thursday's Thoughts

Friday - FAQs Frequently Asked Questions

The second blog may have 1 post a day or 2 or 3 posts a day.  Whatever I feel like going down memory lane and adding photos.  Some of the photos are in photo albums, so I will have to scan them in order to share them.  I only have digital photos from the past 10 years.  I started sewing when I was 13.  Yes, I do have my first sewing project and I will be sharing that, plus my first quilt.  I remember collecting fabric for my first quilt, like it was yesterday.  I am 53 years young, so that is 40 years of sewing. I wrote on the other blog - 100 years, as it feels like that! 


I invite you to follow along, as I post my creations and share my life through the photos. 

Crafty Sewing and Quilting in My Garden, Kitchen, and Home.

Have a wonderful Thursday!


Marcia

Thursday's Thoughts - I See Quilts Everywhere...

I always watch the first few minutes of The View just to see what they are wearing.  I found all of these photos on Google Images.

One day I was so excited about the colors they were wearing, I called my Mom and had her turn on her TV and see the wonderful colors.  If I remember correctly... it was blacks and browns and a warm orange red, with a little hint of yellow. What a wonderful quilt it would have made! I do see quilts everywhere...

Look at all the color combinations.

Love the colors.  Look how they blend from warm colors on the left to cool colors on the right.

 This one is great too!

How about all black with textures at the necklines?

Love this one too.

So do you see quilts everywhere?  If you do please leave a comment and tell me, so I don't feel like I am the only one.

This is one of my favorite TV shows.  This episode was great. They got into a mud fight before their family photo.  I could do a quilt with all whites with splashes of brown.

This would make an interesting quilt color mixture too!

Another favorite show.  How about a hodgepodge color combo quilt?

I do see quilts everywhere.... Do you?


Marcia

Thursday's Thoughts - Birthday Cake, Birthday Cards, and My Mom's Birthday

Red Velvet Cake - Photo from Wikipedia

Update on my Mom:  First thanks for all the emails with such kind thoughts and prayers.  My Mom is getting better everyday.  I will go to her hometown on Friday morning and have lunch with her at the Sub Acute part of the hospital. After lunch, I will help with her transition home and I will stay the weekend.

Mom's birthday is Saturday.  She will be 77!  We will have a small family celebration at her home.  We all love Red Velvet Cake, so I suggested we have that! It has a butter cream frosting!  My Mom would always make it for my brother's birthdays in April.  It was really a special treat, as it was quite a process to make it.  It is not your basic cake. I am not going to make one.  We have found a place to buy it.  Remember I quilt and sew --- I don't bake or cook!  But I do like to eat!

This is a Birthday card I made several years ago for a friend.  I used my embroidery machine to make the words for the card and then tore the edges, so it would look frayed.  Then I stitched them onto the card with a zig zag stitch.  I placed a small piece of double stick tape behind each one to hold it in place when I was stitching.

More Birthday cards...

I shared these today, because you can go to a store and buy a card for someone, but when you make something ... you give away your heart...


My Mom and I would spend hours making these fabric cards on our weekends together.  It was always fun to see how they would turn out.  Sometimes I would think they weren't perfect and my Mom would say they don't have to be perfect.  That's what makes them unique.

So save those little corners and scraps from your quilts and just stitch them onto a card stock.  You don't have to be an artist.  Just place them on and stitch.  You also don't have to have an embroidery machine to make the words.  Just write them!

On this card I used a feather stitch and another type of feathery zig zag.  I stitched around the edges and on the fabric pieces too.

This one, I used a leaf embroidery stitch and the feather stitch.


I really enjoy making the cards for family and friends.




I hope this inspires you to use all your little scraps and give your heart to your family and friends on their birthdays.

Don't forget to enter the drawing for the Double Double Quilting Giveaway! 

2 winners and 2 prizes! Please share it, tweet it and blog it!   

Thanks!   Marcia

Thursday's Thoughts - I Want The Sunshine for You and Me....

Everybody creates in our own special way... 

I quilt and sew...

My brother, Mark writes and sings...

My brother, Marty in Texas runs...

Click on my brother's music in the side bar if the music isn't playing right now---->

What's your thing? 

When my daughter was four years old, she asked me "Mommy, what are you going to be when you grow up?"  Everybody said it to her, so why not ask me that too.  I answered, I want to do what I love.... I love to sew.... to create....I told her I went to college to be a Home Ec Teacher, because I love to sew and I love to share the gift of sewing. I am very blessed to have my own quilting business and be able to do what I love every day.

My husband, Ritch always said to the kids "find a job that you love and it won't be a job, it will be your life!"

I believe when you do what you love ... it is not work any more!

Recently Mark started actively writing and singing.  He had majored in Music when he was in college, but he has had other careers along the way including computer work.  He creates wonderful websites! He did mine. He still does that too.  How lucky he is to have two loves.... Well, I would have to say three, as his first love is his wife, Julie.  I believe Julie is his greatest inspiration. I am so glad she is in his life...and ours... I can't leave out his family too. He has three teenage boys.  Alex helped him name the song "Keep on Dreaming".

If you listen to his other songs, you can really feel his emotions in each of the songs.  I told him, I want to quilt at quilt to the music of his "Keep on Dreaming" song. It's on my list!

You can add the music widget to your blog too at http://www.reverbnation.com/oakhilllane

Mark's contact information  http://www.oakhillfort.com/contact.htm
and
My website: www.craftysewing.com

I want the sunshine for all of you in May and everyday....


Marcia


P.S. Enter this week's  Giveaway ! 2 prizes again!

Thursday's Thoughts - Why I Follow Blogs?

Why do I read and follow craft, sewing, cooking, quilting, and art blogs?

I want to see what everyone else it doing.  What's everyone making, sewing, or quilting?

I love the large photos, so I can see the details and the colors.

I love the stories about why you are making a quilt.  Where you got the idea and who receives the final project.

I enjoy the tutorials. Even if I never make them, you can be assured, if I am following you, I am reading it.  I may never make the item, but I have made it in my mind.  I love the process of construction.

I like to read posts at the end of the day, when I am too tired to quilt or sew.

My favorite blogs are the bloggers who do whatever they want to...it doesn't have to be popular or hot!  I think that is because I like to do my own thing.  When I first started posting, I assumed no one would follow my blog, because I don't always do the "hot" projects.

Now I am really being honest..  I thought I didn't like the blogs that weren't exclusively about quilting or crafting.  Until recently I didn't think I needed to know personal stories...But I didn't get it.  I didn't understand what blogging was all about. It's the sharing and you can't share about your craft without personal stuff mixed in.  So I have changed my mind.  I do like the personal stuff, because you get to know the person better. And  knowing more about the person who posts, makes the reading more interesting.

So when the May for Me Celebration started, I decided to do a personal day too - Thursday's Thoughts.  I like my new schedule of posts.  This is my posting schedule for now - I may change it!  New Posting Schedule I like to have order in this chaotic world.  Especially this particular week in my life...

So on a personal note:  I have spent the whole week in hospital rooms, bunking on a sofa in my Mom's room. We have been in two hospitals. She has now had two surgeries and more tests tomorrow.  First they thought it was a heart attack and then Pancreatitis which lead to removing the gall bladder in the first surgery and trying to remove a stone in the second surgery and we are not done yet.  Today after the second surgery they moved my Mom to a step down intensive care unit of the hospital.  She has oxygen and wires and IVs.  The doctors have reassured me that it is just so they can monitor her closer, as this unit has more nurses to care for my Mom.

I brought my laptop along and it has been great for sending out updates to our family and friends. And for posting and reading posts.  Reading the posts has kept some normalcy to my day.

Please keep us in your prayers, as we try to find out what is making my Mom so sick.

I enjoy following blogs, because I love what you are sharing... the personal parts and your special craft!

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments this week.  I will email you back soon...

Making the best of everyday, in this chaotic world of hospitals, this week in May!


Marcia

Thursday's Thoughts - An Incredible Feeling...

I share my thoughts on Thursdays...I just started "Thursday's Thoughts" this last week....


When I was a little girl, my Mom did all sorts of craft things with us... my brothers and I.  One of my fondest memories of doing a handmade craft, was when we traveled in the summer in our RV visiting family and friends.  While we were riding in the camper, I would make those loop/loom pot holders that everyone made in the 70's .  I would make a set for every family we visited.  I loved making them and I loved that they loved receiving them.  It was an incredible feeling... I had made something with my hands that someone wanted.  


Just recently, I realized that, that is why I sew and quilt.  I like how I feel when I create and give...


When I started my quilting business I knew it just couldn't be a quilting business that sandwiched the quilt layers together, stitched them, and said OK, it's done!  


My quilting had to be special and unique.  I wanted to make quilts with their own style.  I wanted to create unique' designs with the stitching threads on every quilt.  Some quilts just need simple quilting like meandering, but why not add a little twist - a little design element that brings it all together to make the quilt one of kind just for that quilt.  I do plain meandering too, but I love meandering with a twist!  Ribbon quilting (double meandering) really gives an extra flare to the quilting.  I featured ribbon quilting on Monday - Up close with my Quilting. On Wordless Wednesday you can see some of my whimsical flowers.  More in the photo gallery too. 


Another key part of my business, that's important to me, is keeping the price at a reasonable rate.  So I keep my prices in line with what type of quilting the customer chooses.  Of course a more detail stitching costs more.  In eight years of business, I have only raised my prices twice.  Once in the beginning, as I improved my quilting skills and about 2 years ago when gas prices and shipping went up.  


I have a successful quilting business, but most importantly, I love my job.  I not only make me happy, I make others happy.  I enjoy sharing my quilting creations.  Choosing a free style quilting makes every quilt unique.  I create with the customer to make a quilted treasure that they will love!  I truly believe that a quilt is gift from your heart.

Every day I am very thankful that this is my job. I create and quilt for my customers full time - five days a week. I am very pleased and blessed that the quilt tops just keep coming in! There should be a "shout out" right here to all my customers! "Thanks!"  Every morning I get up and I start my day with a dance. Yes, a dance!  I choose a song from You tube and I dance... Just one song, cause I don't like to sweat, before I work. Don't worry I am not going to quit my day job - I can't dance.  But I move and it is my way of stretching, before I quilt! It is a great way to start your day!


When I am quilting, I am giving....   I think that is the best way to describe how I feel when I quilt for my customers, my family, and friends.  It's an incredible feeling...  as I am creating to make their quilt special, a handmade gift from their heart.



This is a video of Swirly Free Style Quilting.  There is no talking, just the machine running. It's only a little over a minute.  As you watch it, try to imagine how I feel when I am quilting....

Still time to enter the drawings this week, where I am giving you prizes....


Teamed up with Dye Candy for a Big Giveaway 6 prizes - 6 winners!


Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday - Wind Sock Patchwork Cozy



Thanks for following... feel free to share my post with your friends.


It's an incredible feeling to give... I truly believe that a quilt is gift from your heart.

Celebrate May together!  The May for Me Page!


Enjoying May one day at a time...

Marcia

First Post for "Thursday Thoughts" --- Moms!

Moms never take time for themselves....  well I didn't...
In 1987 I got divorced.  My kids were 3 and 5.  The first weekend their Dad took them for visitation, I all of a sudden realized, I had the weekend, all to myself.  What will I do?  Well it was a very boring weekend. In the first hour I polished my finger nails and toes nails, because as a Mom you can't do that, as you need to be ready at a moments notice to wipe a nose or get food ready or when they are babies change a diaper.  Next I read a magazine and watched TV.  I really missed Jewels and BJ.  My whole life was just them... I was a Mom.  Yes I sewed some too...I am sure it was something for them.  I really didn't know how to take time for me...

Eventually I learned how to take time for me.  I would call it "Minutes for Me"! So that is why May for Me (for You) is so important -- Take time for you!

In 1987 I was 29 years old. When I look at this photo I think how young I looked!  WOW!

Here is my family the day after my 50th Birthday Party. 2007 - I am getting older...

In honor of Mother's Day --- Mom and Me! 2011

In honor of Mother's Day this is one of my favorite photos of Jewels, BJ, and Me. It was our Wedding Party Day.  Ritch and I had got married in Vegas two weeks before the party. 1992

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and photos. 

Friday's post is FAQ about quilting and me.

Click for the current May for Me Giveaway!


Having fun in May!

Marcia