While looking for my birth certificate I ran across this poem. I typed it up on a small piece of paper over 40 years ago and have carried it in my wallet all this time. I have no idea who penned it first, but it really hits me every time I read it.

"But You Didn't"

Remember the time you lent me your car and I dented the fender?

I thought you'd kill me.... but you didn't.

Remember the time I spilled Coke on your new rug?

I thought you'd kill me.... but you didn't

Remember the time I forgot to tell you the dance was formal and you came in jeans?

I thought you'd hate me.... but you didn't

Remember the countless times you'd try to be serious and I'd giggle?

I thought you'd leave me.... but you didn't

Remember all the times I'd flirt with other guys just to make you jealous and you were?

I thought you'd drop me.... but you didn't

There were plenty of things you did to put up with me and there were so many things I wanted to tell you after you returned from Vietnam....

But You Didn't

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

First day of travel

Today is the first day of our next adventure! I forgot to put my camera in the truck so the picture I want is on my phone. Of course I hate downloading from my phone so that will happen later. Until then, here is a site that I'm sure we won't be seeing for quite some time.

This is what you see on the roadside while traveling up route 17 from Phoenix to Flagstaff. I will miss my cactus!

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

It is the end of this adventure and the start of another.

Almost 20 years ago I dragged my husband (then boyfriend) across the country from New York to start our new adventure in Arizona. Now we are starting another adventure. We are going to miss the many friends that we have made over these years, but look forward to meeting new ones. I love the thought of being closer to my daughter and family, but sad leaving a son and daughter and their families behind. The favorite haunts we go to time and again will be replaced with new haunts that we hope to find. I will miss the comfort of my job by knowing from one day to the next what is expected of me, yet looking forward to getting challenged with something different.

So, for now we sit in the middle of the mess called moving, awaiting our departure to our 'new adventure'. Every surface is covered with something that needs to be 'packed', but has yet to find a box. The spare bedroom is stacked with filled and taped boxes with more boxes laying on the floor waiting to get filled with little room left to fill them. The formal living room is full of  'garage sale', the garage is filled with car, garage sale and filled totes. Rugs are rolled up, closets are almost empty, kitchen is partially packed and it's hard to find a towel to dry anything. LOL! The only 2 rooms not really touched are (guess one :)), our bedroom and my quilting room.

Until next time,
Sharon

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

Happy Western Festival Weekend!

The "Festival of the West" came back to town this year. A couple new faces in the crowd.

Bobby Crawford

Joe Lando, "Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman"

Julie Adams

Does the picture in the back ground ring any bells?

Kevin Sarbo

 

Meet Acoma

Meet Darwin

Meet Sabina (I think that's this beauty's name)

These 3 feathered friends are from "Liberty Wildlife" in Scottsdale, AZ. The hawks are Redtails and the owl is a Horned Owl. These have all been rescued and can't be released back into the wild for one reason or another. Acoma is almost 28 years old and will beat the 'oldest Redtail' known if he makes it to his 30th birthday. He was rescued and not turned over to 'professionals', but kept at the rescuers home and fed hamburger and other meats. When this happens the bird isn't getting the grit from the bones of the animals they usually eat. The bones keep the redtails bones in good shape. When they don't have the correct diet the redtails bones start to bow and weakens. That is what happened to Acoma and his wings are no longer strong enough to keep him flying to hunt. I was really surprised when the handler told me that he only weighed 2 pounds, he looked at least 5-7 with all the feathers.

Sabina is also a Redtail, but is a rare color. They usually aren't that dark red/brown.

Darwin facinated me the most. The handler said that the way they train them to be 'education' animals they alter their feeding schedule. Owls are nocturnal feeders and to have them this alert during the day takes training. Darwin is at Liberty Wildlife because he fell out of the nest as a fledgling and broke his wing and it didn't heal well. The handler said that Darwin's personality was great for education because he was so calm. The only thing that made him a little jumpy was a bag being flashed in the next booth.

~Then we come to the old favorites~

Johnny Crawford

Remember Mickey Mouse Club?

We know him best in 'The Rifleman', which is now playing on MeTV everyday!

Of course we had to get a 'duo'.....

Buck Taylor

How about LQ Jones? 

Ed Faulkner

We have seen him many times at the western festivals.

Lee Anderson, who we worked with last October on the "Wild West Festival" in Glendale, AZ. He was written up in 'True West Magazine' a couple months ago. He has a horse named, 'Concho' that he rescued from the dog food factory.

I would love to hear about your memories of these 'old time' western actors.

That's it for the Western Festival. Later I will get into my 'Quilting World' and update my day with Kaye!

Until next time,

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

Good evening everyone!

Here it is the middle of March already and I haven't posted since the beginning of February.... bad girl, bad, bad, bad girl.....

I have been busy, mostly being a bum LOL! A reading bum that is for sure. I won 2 signed books from Harlequin American Romance blog authors. I received one of them in the mail on Monday and of course it is read already. I am just waiting for the next one. Not long ago I purchased a signed book from Cathy McDavid, so these will make 3.

Check out my 'Quilting World' page for the newest in the quilting room.

The other thing that Carl & I have been doing is changing this:

 

into this:

 

 

Not bad, huh? We picked up 2 of these couches at a secondhand store when we lived in Sun City for $5.00. They have beds in them and weigh a ton, but they work real well in our family room. We had an estimate of $1000.00 including fabric to re-do just one of them, but the fabric we used was given to us and the other supplies didn't even cost $50.00, so we made out. It took us about a week to get both of them done working part-time and I was never so happy to get done with a project as  I was with these. I really don't like doing stuff like this, you no sooner think you are just about done and another day is gone and you still have something to finish..... 

Another fun day was when I taught a class at M's Quilting the middle of February. Of course I didn't get any pictures :(...... On the way back from Wickenburg, AZ this is what we saw. That storm was a doozie!

 

This is the way I usually see these mountains three times a week on my way to work. It is just the other side of them.

 

 

 

The next fun day I will be having is another class with Kaye! So cool!

 

 

Until next time,

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

Happy March everyone!

I know I have been lax about updating any thing here. I have been busy on a new project and trying to keep my head above water at work. Spring and the beginning of summer are our busiest times. Everybody that decided last fall that their allergies just weren't that bad have decided that they were wrong..... so they try and get relief now by making my life crazy....

Since last I was here I have taken another of Kaye's quilting classes and have found another favorite pattern. It works up so quick and easy and if you mess up a little bit it's not a problem! I will post pics another time as I am to lazy tonight :)....

I need to get to bed so that I can be at an estate sale first thing tomorrow morning. There is a 'mini sewing machine' that I JUST have to go see about. Not sure if I will buy it or not, but I at least have to go SEE it. Maybe with this 'mini' there might be some fabric too! We shall see. 

Everyone have a great night and better week and I'll be back again another day!

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

ALMOST APRIL!!!

I'm not sure where the year is going, but is sure is getting there fast!!

Next weekend is Conference weekend so we will be staying home and enjoying the messages from our Prophet and other leaders of our church. I enjoy these weekends so much and there is always a message there just for me......

I will have to work 4 days this next week. We are having a substitute MD on Friday and my doc wants me to be the one to work it. I don't mind working that office, but it sure is going to be interesting because we will have a chemical patch test to read that day. What is a chemical patch test, you ask? Well it is where I place 29 different chemicals in 'wells' on 3 separate pieces of wide tape and place them on a person's back. The person leaves them on for 24 hours when we remove them and see if there is a reaction on the skin. My job covers so many different types of allergies that it is hard for me to keep up with things. There sure isn't a dull moment that's for sure!

Not much quilting going on right now. I don't even have anything that I want to get started on. I need to start a quilt for Miss Mira, but I just haven't a clue what I want to do. I have some printed blocks, but of course they aren't square. I'm not sure what I want to do with them, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. The only other thing I have finished is Kaye Wood's 'Kaleidoscope' pattern  that I want to teach. Instead of doing the lap sized quilt I made a table runner and 4 place mats. I had enough triangles cut out to make 3 more blocks and I decided I'd do a different style of table runner for show & tell. I am slowly but surely getting items made up to be able to show what other patterns can be made with the ruler I am teaching. I have another pattern I want to work on, but I'm not sure what fabrics I want to use. I will just have to sort through what I have then go from there.

Well, I am off. I sure hope everyone has a great week!



Happy Quilting,
Sharon

www.coyotequilts.com

SNOW!!!!

Can you believe it? Snow in Arizona!! Yes, I said SNOW! We were watching TV last Sunday night when the thunder and lightning started then we heard this weird noise on the roof. This is the results of that 'weird' noise!

This one is out the front door with Carl's footprint in it.

This one is of the front yard just in front of the footprint.

This is one out our back Arcadia sliding glass doors.

This one is also the back yard, but out further and showing the oranges on the ground under the orange tree. Carl was trying to protect the camera from getting wet. After the white stuff fell, it started raining. I tried getting a picture of the neighbors yards, but my flash just didn't reach that far.... Within a week our temps were back up and it turned into the usual Arizona winter weather just the way I like it.

Not much else going on around here. I have been able to get some sewing done. This past couple of weeks I have been working on an embroidery project. I'm not sure how well the first one will turn out, but if it works out okay I am going to make a few more for Christmas presents. So shhhhh, don't tell the grand-kids.....

I am on the calendar at Sally's Fabrics in Mesa to teach quilting classes once a month. I'm trying to get some more ideas going and work up the samples so that I can have several different classes going. I have one sewn together, I just need to get the label on it. Labels are such a pain and I always put them off to the last minute.

Well, husband just asked me to breakfast so I must get cleaned up. Have a great day everyone!

Happy Quilting,
Sharon

Happy St. Pat's Day!!

I hope everyone is having a great day today!!! Nothing special going on here, but the weather is beautiful!! We have had the bedroom door open every night the past few nights & it is great. Carl put on a regular screen door so we don't have the bugs coming in and then he put a cat door in so the cat isn't bugging us to go out all night. I sure have been sleeping much better since the cat can go out when she wants!!

I also want to wish Isaac a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! He's one of the cute guys in the family that lives in California. I hope you have a great day, Isaac!!

I suppose I need to get busy, Judy has company coming and we thought they'd be here later, but I just received a phone call saying they are close. Yikes!!! I am glad I don't have to entertain them after I let them in the door. I can finish with the beginning of my day.

Happy Quilting,
Sharon

Good Morning All!

This morning is quiet. No running to be done, no kids around and husband at work. I am cleaning up the e-mail and getting a couple loads of wash done then I am hitting the sewing machine.
I have one quilt loaded ('Fall Trees with Ease') on the frame
and one on the design wall ('Pink A-Maze-Ing'). Both of these are going to be demo quilts for shops to hang to find out about interest in classes. I recently signed up on a 'find a teacher' site. Boy, was that a trial in patience and computer glitches. It sure is a slow process to get things up and running. I just hope that when I start teaching that it just keep going and going.

The quilt with Pooh on it is a friends quilt that I made 8 years ago. I did all of the embroidery then made the quilt and quilted it. This is the first picture I have of it. Not bad for one of my first quilts.

Since the accident I have been having headaches and my neck hurts anytime I spend a any time on the computer. I think that I will be going to the doctor to have everything checked out later. I sure didn't want to have to go, but it has been almost 2 weeks and things should have calmed down by now. I just kept thinking that the only thing they would tell me was to 'give it time'. I just hope there isn't much else going on. I don't want to stop doing things because I have a headache. It tends to slow progress down around here and I don't have time for that.

Happy Quilting,
Sharon

Beautiful Day

This weekend is our Stake Conference. We have the privilege to have a General Authority speaking to us. It is interesting the message we were given last night. We discussed the 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World" For those that don't know about it, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has proclaimed what a marriage and family should be and how to conduct ourselves in this life to be able to live in the Celestial Kingdom after our death with our families.

I often wonder what prompts different talks or discussions. With this talk last night I think, Are there a lot of marital problems in our Stake? Is the Lord trying to stop marital problems in our Stake? Or is it just to strengthen strong marriages? I do know that it was a reminder to ME what I need to do keep harmony in MY house. That is not as easy as it seems!! Each morning I ask for help from the Holy Ghost for guidance through the day. I know if not for him I would not accomplish even half as much as I do. I am very thankful to be a member of this church. It helps to guide and direct me when I need it the most and that is everyday.

Sharon