Having fun again!

I love living close to cities that offer great entertainment. Not long ago Carl and I went to a concert that was a 'Tribute to Kris Kristofferson'. Tonight we are waiting to see Barry Manilow. Last year we saw Loretta Lynn twice and will be taking my sister and brother-in-law to see her next month.

While waiting I'm sitting here remembering other singers and entertainers we have seen over the years. What a fun journey we have traveled over the past 27 years.

Thanks Carl!

Life can throw you curve balls at times.......

Many years ago we left the great state of New York in part to get away from the weather. We did have a few times when we were in Arizona where we did get a layer of ice on the yard. It didn't stay around like it has around here this past week. We haven't been house bound because of snow and ice in 22 years and we were out of practice! We have a pool but as you can see here you can't really tell where it is. I don't think I shall jump in anytime soon...

Then we took a ride into town after we managed to get the van up the driveway. It really surprised me that the post office didn't have their parking lot cleaned up. It was a solid layer of ice with lots of ruts.

Nobody was ready around here to get snowed under. From what I have been told this hasn't happened in over 14 years so why would they spend the money on snow plows and salt/sand stockpile. Now I am ready for it to be over so we can get back to life without the white stuff..... Do you think I'll get my wish? 

Happy Quilting, Sharon 
Permanent "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2013

Ideas for blog posts...

 If you have followed my blog over the years you know that we love to see the wild creatures around us. As Carl & I travel back and forth to the gym each day we see some neat sites. On one stretch of road there is a hawk that sits on the electric lines just waiting for a snack to pop up in the field. 

On another one of our trips we went traveling a new road. Coming around a corner we saw an old house or barn that was falling apart. Of course I had to stop and get a picture and while I was clicking away I noticed  a vulture in the rafters. Can you find it? It took Carl a couple minutes to find it even though we were right there. While we were there a second one came hopping out to join the first one.

Over the years we have seen a lot of natures beautiful creations and I think a couple of our other adventures have been my favorites. This one while we were on a picnic not far from Lake Pleasant in Peoria, AZ and on our way back from Hoover Dam a few years ago. What are your favorite sites you see around you?

Until next time,

Happy Quilting, Sharon 

Permanent "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2013

Good Morning America!

On a corner not far from home is a retirement trailer park that flies a huge American Flag. I see this flag three of the four mornings on my way to work. Some mornings there isn't any wind, others the flag is just about straight out from the flag pole. This morning Carl and I went out and took pictures of this flag as the sun rose. When we first set up there wasn't any wind at all and as the sun rose it was like the flag was saying, 'Good Morning'! I have had a fascination with large flags every since I drove cross country with my mother and father-in-law back in 1991. The first really large flag I saw was from the table in a motorhome in Oklahoma City. I still remember the feeling I had when my eyes landed on that flag. I still get the same feeling and reflect what it means to me and this country. We also live not far from Luke Air Force Base and as I write this I can hear the jets flying overhead as they head out for training. Some around here just complain about the noise, but each and every time I hear them I have to say a silent, 'Thank you' to those that are working so hard and have volunteered to defend our country, our flag. So, thank you to all military past, present and future for doing what you do! Now here is how this flag greats each morning.

 

GOOD MORNING, AMERICA!



Happy Quilting, Sharon
Permanent "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2013

Happy Hump day!

It is a nice Wednesday night here. How is it in your neck of the woods? I know that this weekend it is suppose to get cold again. Not sure how cold, but colder than is normal around here.

Wickenburg is having their 'Gold Rush Days' this weekend and I think that we are going to go up and check it out. We have lived in AZ for 19 years this coming Thanksgiving and we have never been. Last year we were going to go, but something came up so we didn't. I really like Wickenburg and wish there was more work for us so we could live there, but that isn't going to happen.

I may get to work some more on the newest quilt. I already have another one floating around in my head so I need to get this one done fast. The next one will be for Carl in his 'western' room and I think I have a good idea for it. We bought a silhouette of several cowboys on horses and I am going to make a row by row wall hanging with it.

Tonight we are watching, 'Conagher'. It's a Louis L'Amour book made into a movie and has my very favorite actor and his side kick in it. Of course anybody that knows me already knows that my favorite actor is Sam Elliot and his side kick is Buck Taylor. I have met Buck Taylor several times at our western festivals and have a couple prints of his watercolor pictures. It's fun just standing around Buck's area and listen to him tell stories. Of course my favorite are the ones about Sam.....

Until next time,

Happy Quilting, Sharon "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Good Morning!

     I just can't believe that the second month of the year 2012 is almost at an end! I keep thinking of what I haven't accomplished this month.... I really should concentrate on what I did accomplish instead. We have a new couch for the living room and it looks so inviting in there, I have played on my mid arm, Mr. Stretch and have him almost ready to work on some of my older projects, I have attended another one of Kaye's classes (and finished the project that day too!), I have increased my stash by about 60 yards of fabric (all courtesy of estate/garage sales), and I have gotten some of my pictures up on my walls. That is only a part of what I have accomplished this month, the part I can remember anyways.... I suppose I need to get on the road for work, not that I want to today, but the paycheck next time around will really appreciate it.....

 Until next time, 

Happy Quilting, Sharon 

 "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Good morning everyone!

What a beautiful day it is here today. Sun is shining and it is getting warmer without a lick of snow around.

As I was drying my hair just now I was thinking about this past week. On Friday the Phoenix Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival was at the fairgrounds and Estelle went with me. Of course there is way to much 'stuff' to take in, but I was on a mission to get a few things. Estelle even found a few things that she liked. Anyway, as I was thinking about that day my mind wandered to my Mom and her last Christmas with us. Mom had a handicap and was a stubborn person and would not ride in a wheelchair. She had 'bad feet' and had a difficult time walking for any length of time. We tried (the family, that is) to get her to sit in a wheelchair so that she could go with us when we went different places, but she refused. But this last Christmas my sister managed to talk her into riding around the mall to do her Christmas shopping. From what I remember my sister ended up with the 'bad feet' that day. Mom had been to the mall shopping numerous times, but confined her shopping to one or two stores. She had never been from one end of the mall to the other. You can imagine the fun she had seeing it for the first time. Of course she had to at least 'run' through each of the little stores between one end to the other, even if it was just to 'look'.... I am so glad that Mom enjoyed that day and I am forever thankful for Estelle, for her willingness to be 'wheeled' around and going places with me. Thanks, Estelle!

Happy Quilting, Sharon 

 "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Good evening!!

Can you believe it is the last day of February 2011? Where has the first 59 days of this year gone? I'm not sure what I have accomplished in those 59 days, how about you? I know I have gone to work to make the money to help pay the bills, but what else have I done? At least I have started the year out right with the grand-kids birthday cards...... I mailed 2 today-one will be a little late (better than usual) and the second one will be early and I mean WAY early for me. I sure hope I can keep up the good work on that score. Usually I mail the cards 2 or 3 days AFTER the birthday...... What I should do is get all of the cards together at the beginning of the year then all I will have to do is address and mail. Maybe I'll get to that LOL!

We have been looking for a new place to move. I know, I hear all of you---AGAIN???  Yep! We would like a little bigger house and one that we won't have to pay a million dollars to cool during the summer. Besides, Carl would love a pool and I just might enjoy it too! Now that it is getting closer to the hot weather we decided to just stay here for the summer. It is as bad moving in the summer around here as it is moving in the winter in snow country, but for the opposite reasons. So, this weekend we started 'coolerizing' this place. It was funny at Home Depot when we asked for window plastic.... We always had window plastic at the hardware stores in NY when everybody was 'winterizing' their homes during the winter. We worked in our bedroom on Saturday, with 'coolerizing' the window and spring cleaning the whole room. It sure was nice to get that one done. Next on the list is the computer/sewing room. That shouldn't take as long because when I moved my sewing machine and table in here I did a lot of cleaning. I just need to go through some papers and I won't need to do that until after the window is done. We just hope that doing this will cut down on the cooling bills this summer. I guess, only time will tell.

The only other thing that is going on around here is our church's Stake Conference is this next weekend. We are having a special visitor speak to us. Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be presiding in our Stake Center. What a privilege it will be to hear his words to us!  

Until next time, Happy Quilting, 

 Sharon 

"Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Valentine's Day

See what my honey sent me at work for Valentine's Day? A beautiful bouquet of different colored roses. The purple were the prettiest! It is surprising that there isn't much smell to them.... I will dry these petals when they are all done giving me pleasure and add them to all the other rose petals that I have collected over the past 22 years we have been together. I have quite a collection!

Happy Quilting, Sharon
 "Quilting the Kaye Wood Way" Certified Instructor since 2009

Pictures are finally downloaded and I just may have gotten caught up......

I was going to post pictures of our 'places' we stayed at during the last 3 months of 2009, but I can't get the pictures to post here....... So, I am not going to waste any more of my time trying to figure it out....

Last year at this time both Carl and I were blissfully unaware what was in store for us. In 6 more days it will be 1 year to the day that things started going down hill. On the 25th of February Judy and I were in an auto accident that gave me a concussion, wrecked our handicap van and started all of our trials.... Next on the list was Carl's open heart surgery for quadruple bypass surgery in April. The problems were found before he had a heart attack and that is a blessing. Now, we thought, everything is going to go super easy and life will be good again..... WRONG!!! Judy moved into a group home, no nursing jobs for me to find, AND Carl goes back in to the hospital for a hernia operation in August. We breath a sigh of relief that the operation goes well and he will be able to go back to work, NOT!! Now he is fighting C-diff, which is a nasty bowel infection that you get while in the hospital and are given strong antibiotics. Nope, he can't go back to work because he can't get more than 5 feet away from 'Johnny' for more than a few minutes. On to the next challenge of the year, finding me a job. I sign on with Mollen Clinics to give flu and pneumovax immunizations during the 'season'. It is only a temporary job, so I must still look for permanent work. In a lot of ways me not finding a job is a blessing because when I do find one it is one that I love.  A friend at church knows an Allergist that has asked her if she knows of any nurses. Yep, my friend says and I have an interview over the phone and am hired. Shocked, I start work the next day. Now, onto the next challenge... MOVING! The place we are renting is way to big for us and way to expensive. I am ready to down size..... so down size we did! Right into an extended stay place that was not much bigger than a small motel room with a 'kitchenette' that didn't even have an oven!! The best thing about staying there was the hot tub! Yep, I tried to spend time in it each and every night. Slept like a baby! I was willing to stay for longer, but Carl was ready to get settled sooner, so one day while driving around in Sun City we found a cute place at the right price. Soooooo, on to the 3rd move.  We are still getting things from storage and wondering where we are going to put everything. This place has 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, eat in kitchen, car port, laundry room and best of all an Arizona room that has been enclosed that houses my sewing/quilting room. As I unpack stuff I am sorting so that I can 'down size' even more. Some stuff is going into a garage sale, other stuff is going to family and yet other stuff is going to Goodwill. As I unpack boxes I see the estate sales that we go to and think to myself, "My kids going to have to dump this stuff after I am gone", so if I can't use it now why am I keeping it???

One of the things that Carl and I have done is decide that we don't need a TV in every room of the house. We have 2, one in the living room and one in my sewing room. Life is a lot simpler. We have our computers set up in one bedroom and I am slowly sorting pictures, linen, books, and assessing what is truly important to keep.

Another thing I have done is to close my online store 'Coyote Quilts and Specialties'. Not enough time to take care of and get everything else done. Instead I am doing quilt classes at Sally's Fabrics in Mesa. I have a class coming up the last Saturday of February. I was hoping to be able to take another class from Kaye Wood, but she has personal things going on this year that has prevented her from visiting her house here in Sun City.

I finally have most of my swaps taken care of that I started last year and have joined a couple more for this year. Today I was able to get into my stash and get fabric picked out and started sewing blocks again. I hope I can get them done tomorrow so I can get them in the mail before the end of the month.

The highlight of this past week was a visit from Spencer and Lillith. We went to the Wildlife World Zoo and had a blast and made some special memories with them. I have to share a couple pictures (the only ones I can get downloaded).

 

Wearing Grandma's hat and coat. It was a little chilly just starting out.

Great Daddy, keeping her safe and helping her see the animals.

  

I guess Pa is okay, too.  

 

Almost kissing. It's a good thing there is glass between them!

It is getting late and I have bent your ear enough for tonight. I'll be back again to post more pics of our weekend at the zoo and of course quilt blocks!

Happy Quilting,
Sharon

New quilting site!

Yes, I am still hanging around. Things are starting to settle down in the daily life and I will be getting back here to let everyone know just what has happened with life in general and of course with QUILTING!!!  I have found a new site!!! Tonight, as I was looking reading on various sites I found one link that led me to another and another.... well, you get the picture~~~~~~~~~~I ended up here: http://moosequilts.blogspot.com/2010/02/jelly-roll-sampler-quilt-along-2010.html and am going to do the 'jelly roll' blocks that are going to be posted. I have the perfect jelly roll, but will have to find at least the rest of the top fabric. Of course this material came out 2 or 3 years ago so I may not find as much as I'd like. I made a 'Charm' purse/pocketbook from a set of charms in this fabric. I just might be able to find some at the LQS..... Only time and a visit to the store will tell the tale.


Happy Quilting,
Sharon

I found this on one of my forums and I just had to share.

Wash Day...........

Monday Wash Day
Lord, help me wash away all my selfishness and Vanity, so I may serve you with perfect humility Through the week ahead.

Tuesday Ironing Day
Dear Lord, help me iron out all the wrinkles Of prejudice I have collected through the years So that I may see the beauty in others.

Wednesday Mending Day
O God, help me mend my ways so I will not Set a bad example for others.

Thursday Cleaning Day
Lord Jesus, help me to dust out all the many faults I have been hiding in the secret corners of my heart.

Friday Shopping Day
O God, give me the grace to shop wisely so I may purchase eternal happiness for myself and all others In need of love.

Saturday Cooking Day
Help me, my Savior, to brew a big kettle of brotherly Love and serve it with clean, sweet bread of human kindness.

Sunday The Lord's Day
O God, I have prepared my house for you. Please Come into my heart so I may spend the day and the Rest of my life in your presence.

I have much to be thankful for today since Judy & I were in an auto accident a short time ago. I do believe if another motorist hadn't honked her horn and alerted me of the oncoming car that we would be sitting in the hospital emergency room at this moment. If I had not hit the brakes the other auto would have slammed into the part of the car right where Judy & I were sitting. As it was it hit the front tire area, bent the tire and smashed the front end. We were sooooo very lucky. We even had a police officer witness the accident. Just a second after we were hit I looked up and saw a police cruiser with the lights on and she was pulling around us to alert other oncoming traffic. I didn't even have a chance to get my cell phone out of my pocket. We are both home and doing okay. I do have a splitting headache and a goose egg, but that is minor to what could have happened. I would really like to get some quilting done, but I know that if I try at this point I will just waste fabric by cutting the wrong size strip.

Happy quilting,
Sharon

Loading quilt frame

For those that wonder what I am talking about when I say, 'I am loading a quilt' here is a pictorial.

The first thing I do is to baste the backing to the leaders then I load it on the quilt frame. The leaders are fabric that attaches the quilt back or top to the bars on the quilt frame. Some frames have round bars, but this one has square bars.

In the first picture it shows the leader over the front bar and the 'cover' bar I use to hold the leader to the bar so it won't twist when I am quilting.

The second picture is the 'cover' bar on.

The third picture is starting to roll the backing onto the quilt frame.

The forth picture is the backing almost completely on the frame.

I then did the same thing to the back bar with the other leader.

The fifth picture is the backing ready to lay the batting and quilt top on so I can quilt a quilt.

It seems to take some time for some, but this one with the pictures took me only 15 minutes. That's not bad for being the 5th one I have started since getting this frame. Before I had to push my quilts through my regular sewing machine by hand. I am much better with my meander on this than I was doing it the other way. I need to get good enough to do repeat designs instead of meanders. For now though I can get a small quilt done in about 4 hours instead of a day or two.

It is so much more fun to quilt my creations now.

Happy Quilting,
Sharon

Yahoo!!! I have Cyrus' quilt done. I boxed it up tonight and will get it in the mail tomorrow. Here are some photos of it. I call it 'Vroom' because the fabric line was from Avlyn and they named it 'Vroom'. You can tell why!!! I did not use a pattern for this quilt. The front is the panel that you can make into a book and the back has a 'race' track on it. I made it a little bigger than baby size, but smaller than twin. Drats... I forgot to measure it and it is already in the box. I sure hope he likes it.

February started with a bang!!!

Here I am sitting at my computer when I should be in bed sound asleep. I WAS in bed, but the brain just would NOT shut down!!! Yesterday was quiet and very nice. Great day at church and the testimonies were very spirit filled.

Today was different, boy was it different. The class I took in January was with Kaye Wood, quilter, jokester, and all around great person. Today I went to her seminar and trunk show at Pueblo El Mirage RV resort. What a great day it was. Kay presented me with my certificate as one of her certified instructors for 'Quilting the Kaye Wood Way', I helped show off her amazing quilts, met up with a friend I met through a quilting forum, and re-connected with another quilter who also embroiders. It was a fun packed day. I, of course, did not think to take my camera, but I sure did manage to get all the items on my 'want' list. I am very tired, but can not manage to get my brain to shut down. There are too many ideas going around and I want to jump right into them RIGHT NOW!!! That, of course is impossible. I really need to keep to my 'goals' and get a couple more things done before I jump into the ideas going around in my head tonight.

First I have to finish a grandson's quilt & get all that stuff in the mail. Second I need to do the quilt that has been waiting since before Christmas to be done. It is one that is going on my site when it is finished. I picked up the last of the fabric for the top this past weekend so there is no reason to put off getting it done. Also, I need to finish up the blocks for my calendar block swap because they need to be in the mail by the end of the month. I did get the fabric washed & ironed Saturday, so that part is done. Then I want to get another of my UFO's done. I am now going to call them PHD's which (if I remember correctly) means 'Projects Half Done'.... Sounds better than UFO's.

I just may be able to go to sleep now. Staring at the computer screen can do that to a person....

Happy quiliting,
Sharon