More framed leaves and Christmas ornament

My husband did another of the framed leaves.  My daughter keeps saying "I want that one".  It did turn out nice.

Here is  an ornament I made for some friends of mine.  This is a picture I took at their wedding

What I have been making for Christmas

I have been learning new techniques.  It has been fun.  I have been quilting, quilting, quilting.  Only a few more customer quilts to get done before Christmas. 

I learned how to make these wonderful ornaments.  They are a Japanese Kimekomi.  I loved how it turned out.  I made it for a gift exchange at my quilt guild, next week.  Don't want to part with it.  Oh well.

Made another tatted ornament for my women's ornament exchange at church.  It was a big hit.  I love this pattern.  I also tatted a snowflake.

I learned how to make photo jewelry, and have been busy making some for me and some for gifts.  Will also be taking orders after the holidays.

My sister-in-law started making these wonderful pictures with the skeletal leaves we brought home from MN.  So my husband started making them too. 

We are just having so much fun making gifts for everyone.

Annual Mutt Strutt

They have an annual Mutt Strutt in Pullman.  http://www.firstgiving.com/wchsmuttstrutt The had photos, costume and look-a-like contests.  They had a form of musical chairs.  There were lots of vendors.  So many different dogs to see.  It was fun, but oh soooooooo hot.  Unfortunately the canopy's they set up for us, kept people from coming in.  It was too stuffy in them, plus it was too small of an area too keep the dogs from getting into little tiffs.

I was able to get a few things sewn for sale.  I sold a few of the kleenex covers and bandanna's.  I made three different sizes of the bandanas.  They slip onto the collar so they are easy to change.  Some  of the smallest, were sold to people for their cats.  I put the smallest ones on my Maltese, the medium on my Morkie and the large on my golden.  With this nippy weather, my dogs are already wearing their cloths.

Here are a couple of pictures of the collars and bandanna's.

Tatting this month

On the trip to Minnesota, I brought my tatting along.  I had Ruth Perry's Celtic Cross but had never made it.  I decided to make one for my aunt.  She loved it and then asked me to make one for her sister.  So I did and got hooked on the pattern.  I have been tatting them up like crazy.  Here are some pictures of some of them.  I used Yarnplayer's HDT for all but the teal one. 

Speaking of Yarnplayer's HDT......I saw her profile picture and loved the colors.  Being a WSU fan and having a d-i-l there, I always look for these colors.  I asked Marilee about it and she died some new thread in Crimson and grey.  I can't wait till my order gets here.  Go Cougs!  To purchase her threads, go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/yarnplayer?ref=em 

Here is some other tatting I have been working on.  I am tatting up seahorse bookmarks for an upcoming event.  The pattern is by Jane Eberall.  Here site is http://www.e.n.e.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Fun 3d card

After I got home from MN, I found this fun card tutorial at http://extremecards.blogspot.com/.  I thought it would be perfect as a thank you for my Aunt & Uncle.  I used pictures from the reunion. 

I made it larger then the instructions.  I added a little pocket under the cake picture that I slipped in my thank you message and added a tassel on it.  1st picture is the inside.  2nd picture is the outside.

Busy Summer

Well I had a busy summer.  I caravaned with my children, grandson, parents and my brother and his kids, to MN.  We had our first Henderson family reunion.  It was a blast.  The only down side to going back there is that now I miss every one.  On the way there, my 15 month old grandson did good.  On the way back he was not too thrilled to be in the car.  We drove straight through both ways.

We went to Como park zoo.  It was my grandson's first trip to the zoo.  Still to young to fully enjoy it, but it was fun. 

The next day we went to the caves in Wisconsin.  That was a great day, also. 

One night was White Castle night. 

The last night we had a fun game of spoons.  Only a little blood was shed. 

We spent 2 days at the Minnesota State fair, and only saw about a third of it.  This is a picture looking down the street in the fairgrounds.

The Piney Woods Tatter: October Give Away Event

The Piney Woods Tatter: October Give Away Event: The October Give Away Event Goodies Are: Up for grabs this time are: 6 balls of Majestic size 80 tatting cotton in color #s 830, 831, 833,...

Giving your dreams to God

Stressing and stewing........Every moment was thinking about this. On Sunday as I got ready for church and at church, thinking what I would do on Monday to make things work. Pastor had a word that someone in the church was wondering if their dream was their own making or from God. They did not know what to do. Trying to make things work on their own. He said that God wanted them to give it to Him. That He would make it clear to that person. That if it was His dream he gave us, He would make it happen. I knew that he was talking to me. I said "Lord I give it to you" If I am meant to have this machine, you will provide away. If not....." Every time it came to my mind, I said no I gave that to God.
Monday morning started out the same I would start to think about it and say no I gave it God. Then later in the morning, I got a message from my friend saying she could purchase my machine. She would have the money to me that day or the next. I wanted to jump up and down. I was so excited. I said can it really work that fast? I just gave it up yesterday.....well......later in the afternoon I got a call from the bank and they approved my loan. They just needed the invoice faxed to them. Asked about the terms, and it was going to be more than Gammill. Since we are a small town and the people in the bank know us.....I was wondering how to tell them I was going to go with the Gammill loan. Tuesday morning I got the contract from gammill emailed to me and then the gammill loan rep called me. I told her I was waiting to get the money from the sale of my machine then I would fill out and sign the loan contract with a check. She said that the dealer had faxed them the invoice. That is why my bank had not received it, and that was ok with me. Something to tell my bank
Then it was getting late on Tue. and still had not heard from my friend or received the money. I instant messaged her to see if we were still on. Nothing..... Trust God I said. Then Wednesday there was silence again. Thursday the same. My mom asked "Did you get the money?" I said no. She said what are you going to do. I said "Trust God". Kept putting it out of my mind. Then on Friday morning she got back to me and said she could not get the machine at this time. Wow! What now. Trust. I said to my husband "If I get enough money today, for the down payment, I would finance the whole thing with Gammill." Then a customer came to pick up quilts. She brought me other customer checks and unexpected money. I now had the down payment. So I filled out the contract. I had to trust that the money would be there to make the payments. I sent it off. I emailed a few friends to get the word out about my machine to their guild members. I placed an ad on a local site for $10.00. Then I kept debating if I should list it on a longarm site that you pay $35.00 for 4 months to advertise your machine for sale. I finally decided too do it. I advertised it for the price I originally wanted to sell it for. Then I kept putting it out of my mind. Saturday morning I received 2 emails of ladies interested in my machine. The 2nd lady came up and drove it and we discussed it and she said yes. She gave me a down payment and will give me the rest this week. I can still quilt on it til my new machine gets here
So it was a roller coaster ride of trust. But in the end, the machine is going to a great lady. I got the price I originally wanted, which was more than with my friend. I a wonderful story to encourage others. I even contacted the longarm site that I listed my machine on and she had not posted it yet, or charged my credit card. Another win!

New Longarm

I have been dreaming of a new longarm for years. My Gammill is wonderful and has given me many years of great work, but it does not have a stitch regulator. Just last month I got serious on my search. One lady was kind enough to let me come drive her Gammill Vision. She told me about her dealer. So I contacted her dealer via email. It turned out he had a 3-1/2 year old gammill for sale. Great price and he delivers. Yes. So off to get the financing. Applied with Gammill. Got approved that day, but the payments were kinda scary. Thought I would try my bank also. Then a friend said she wanted to buy my machine. Now she had to wait for her financing. Yes this would be great down payment on my machine. I gave her a better deal on the machine then I would have liked to sell it for. It would help her and help me. So a week went by and nothing happened. Then another week. I wanted to get this settled. Then she informed me that she would not be able to purchase my machine. So I would not be able to use the new quote I got from Gammill that made the payments less, because of the amount down from the sale.

So trying my bank again. If anyone has dealt with Chase, you know that there is always problems. So it was one thing after the other. Looked like Chase would be a no. They wanted me to get my dealer to send them the invoice for the machine to keep working on it. So on Friday I left a message for the dealer to send the invoice to my bank and gave the number. I kept stewing on all of this and wondering what I could do to make all of this work.

DIY the Dish give aways.

For all you crafters out there. You have to check out the DIY the Dish. Not only do they have great projects that they show you how to make, but they have great give aways every now and then. The one this week is amazing. You only have till May 13 to enter.
http://www.thediydish.com/2011/05/its-our-birthday-and-were-giving-you-the-presents/
Feeling lucky?

Trusting in Him and to sell or not sell

My business did better last year, then the year before. Not by much, but it must have put us in a higher tax bracket. I don't understand how that can be as my husbands company gave all the employees pay cuts. My business did better than 2009, because that year I had back surgery and did not quilt as much. But 2009, my husband did not have his pay cut. I don't understand it. But what it boiled down to was that I owed 900.00 to the IRS and I have been paying $300.00 quarterly to them to not have to owe. Now my account says I have to pay $500 quarterly. So I started to panic. I have enough trouble trying to pay the $300 quarterly let alone $500. And 900?.......

So I think great, how do we come up with the money. We still have not sold the puppies, so if we could sell them, that would help. But, I have become use to having them around. I have lots of work, so I am working away. I keep reminding myself I have to trust the Lord. He will provide. But but but..... Trust. I even tell my son that. So we go on. Waiting for the customer checks to come in. We get till the 18th now. Yahoo. Will it be enough? Trust. By Monday morning we get enough customer checks in plus money out of savings to send off the IRS payment. But wait........I have to write another check for taxes to Idaho. Not enough there. Got to get it in the mail anyways. Still left with needing money for the $500 quarterly check that is do at the same time, plus regular monthly bills, plus need to pay the quarterly sales tax for my business. Trust. Received an email "can we come see the puppies". Yes. In the last couple of days we have received 3 emails about the puppies, but they want to pay 200 for them and we have spent way more than that on the process. So we have had to tell them no, and why. Well the email to come see them was from one of them that is now willing to pay what we were asking. Then 2 customers come pick up their quilts. I know have enough to cover the checks that went into the mail today. God is good!

So, yesterday the couple came and looked at the puppies. I have been afraid of the day someone would buy Caddy. He is the cutist and everyone is drawn to him. But my Bently is quieter and the little one and comes running to me when he gets hurt for loves. It has been so long with no interest, that I just became use to the fact that we had two more dogs in the house. We got a call from someone else and they are coming for the other one today. I was surprised in the interest in the last couple of days. Well the lady fell in love with Bently. They will be taking him home on Monday. Out in the mail, I received 2 more large checks from customers. The money is coming in. Thank you, God!
I was fine for an hour after they left, busy with the grandson. Then started having panic attacks. Someone is coming to look at Caddy today. Will more than likely purchase him. So I awoke at 3:30 this morning and could not get it off my mind to go back to sleep. I finally had to give up as I got upset and went to try and sleep cuddled with their momma. Which only lasts for a few minuets as girl dogs are very independent. Am I wrong to sell Caddy? Having 4 dogs in the house has been way too much. Especially trying to house break two of them. But, three might be fine. MerSadies loves to wrestle with Caddy and they are always playing together.I was upset for a few days after the little girl left at 8 weeks....I have had the boys 11. I delivered these guys and have grown to love them. Will I regret it? Or will I be OK? The money is coming in from my business. Should I tell this other person, who has not seen them, that I have changed my mined. Or is this all God's provision.

MerSadies and her boys sleeping, today.

Vests, leashes, baths and the boys.

It was another busy week. On Sunday we decided to take the boys and their momma for a walk. Their collars don't fit yet, so I made these matching vests and leashes. We had a nice little walk.

Today the boys had their first baths. Neither was very happy. But, after blow drying, combing and treats. They were ready for a round of play with momma and each other.

Tomorrow they turn 9 months and here is their picture.

24 hour Quilt

Here is a quilt that took me 24 hours to quilt. The quilt was pieced by Sharon Ledbetter. It will be a raffle quilt. I told her I already want tickets.

My quilting business is doing awesome. I can't believe the number of quilts I have to work on. I love it. Job security, and a job I love.

Breeding is not for the weak!

Today I found out that is me. I knew from the time MerSadies went into labor, that if she popped out a little girl, she was sold. So out popped the first.......a girl Harley. MerSadies did not know what it was and tried to bury her. So I had to get her out of the sack, suction her out, get her breathing, dry her and cut the cord. Never done that before. I know the new owners and will see her from time to time, but....today as I did up a little birth certificate, I looked through all the pictures. She was three days old when I took this picture of her with her mommy. It made me cry. Today I took her to her new home. She was crying when left. Now I am having a hard time today. I don't know how it will be when we finally sell the boys. I know that I don't like this, and we are getting MerSadies fixed. We have several people who love the puppies but only want a girl. They want us to do it again, but my heart can't handle it. It was an adventure.

Puppies turn 6 weeks.

I can't believe how fast the time is going by. My puppies turned 6 weeks yesterday. Harley's new mommy came for a visit. She can't wait for two more weeks, when she gets to take her baby home. Have not received any nibbles on the boys yet. I hope we sell them soon, as I am becoming very attached to them. The boys are so loving and cuddly.

Charity Work

I like to help out with some of the charity projects around here. Relay for Life & Quilts of Valor. We have a new one in town. No Longer Orphans. It was started by a couple in our church, after they adopted their daughter. You can read their story and see what they are doing to help others adopt at http://nolongerorphans.blogspot.com/ They just helped their first couple reach their goal to bring their kids home.

On Saturday, February 12th, they teamed up with our youth group. Our youth group has a team going on a mission's trip to Swaziland. They had a wonderful Valentines Banquet and auction. So many wonderful people donated items for both the silent and live auction. It was a wonderful time, good food and great entertainment by the youth. I made a lap quilt for the auction. Here is some pictures. It was hinted by the men that they would like to see a man quilt up for auction next year.

They made an amazing amount of money between the auction items and the tickets to the event. At the end of the night, they announced their next couple. Here is their website. http://warwickadoption.com/ If you would like to help, you can go to either of these sites. You can also "like" No Longer Orphans on facebook. You can see when they have an upcoming event and attend.

Some of the tatting I have done in the last month.

The ball was for a women's Christmas ball exchange and dinner. Pattern is by Nancy Tracy at http://www.be-stitched.com/. Because I did not like how far it hung down on the ball, I added a tight row of beads at the top to make it smaller. I also used a couple of dots of glue to hold it in place. I added a chain of beads on the inside with a cross dangling down. It was a big hit, and I left there with a order for 2 more. This was my first time to make one of these.

The orange and black crosses are from a pattern by Patti Duff. We had some Chaplains coming through town on their Harley's. Members of our church set up a BBQ for them and I decided to make the crosses. I am not a orange person, so had no orange tatting thread. Being a quilter and machine embroiderer, I took several different spools of thread and wound my shuttle. I ended up having one left over. When a friends husband died, I gave it to her in a book that is being passed around. They rode Harley's and she even put his ashes in a Harley Cookie Jar. It was perfect. Love this pattern and make it all the time. I make them for my dad to hand out to patients in the hospital where he is the head Chaplain. I don't know how many hundreds I have made.

I made these two necklaces from Marliee's new book "Up and Tat 'Em". They were made as Christmas gifts for my two daughter-in-laws. One of them is a graduate in Nuclear Science working on her PHD. So of course I had to tat her the Atom. I did it in her school colors. My other daughter-in-law is the mother of our twin granddaughters. She is a beautiful young women. Her smile lights up the room. She likes it simple and fun. So I made her "Belle" I used one of Marlee's hand died threads.

I decided again to use the cross bookmark, for a Relay for Life Fundraiser. I made these Postcards to raise money for our hospital team. I used Marlee's Peace Rose thread. Made up this card with a picture of the Peace Rose. On the back it had a place for TO: From: and blank lines for a message. They went like hotcakes.

Here is a different cross I made, using the Peace Rose hdt.

Morkies????

When we first decided to get a small dog, my daughter wanted us to get a yorkie to breed with her male yorkie. We started looking around on the internet, and I found Maltese. I read that they were a much sturdier dog. Since we have a golden retriever that is almost 100 pounds, we thought the maltese might be better. I also had seen one many years ago and wanted one, but did not know what they were. I decided to see if people cross bred them and what they looked like. Hence I found Morkies. So cute. We decided that was the route we would go. So as you have read before we got a maltese and named her MerSadies. After she was 1 and went into heat again, we bred her to my daughter's yorkie. Follows the story.


It was a scary time for me. I was not sure I wanted to. I had read so many horror stories and complications with small dogs. Read everything I could get my hands on and talked with local breeders. I stud my golden out to a golden breeder in town. That is the easy part. Having the female is not. I constantly worried about my baby. I knew that she was due on the 8th of February. I started feeding her differently following all the instructions. I had heard it was good to have an xray done to make sure that the puppies weren't too big for her to deliver. C-sections so common with small dogs. My vet did not have the equipment, so we had to find a different one to do it. Out of town. They usually only do them on the 55th day, but I was going to be in town that Sat (53 days) and they said they would go ahead and do it. So we took her in and they examined her and said she looked great and healthy. The xray showed 3 puppies and not to big. They gave us a cd with the xrays, so we could show everyone, like expecting parents. Which I did on facebook.

That was Sat Jan 29th. Then on Tue Feb 1st, I had a feeling we were in for puppies. MerSadies was restless and kept needing to go outside. She was very clingy and got upset when dad left for work. She was not eating much and threw up. All day was hectic. I told called my husband at work and said I believe she is in labor. I told him I needed him to get home so he could help out.

My daughter kept calling to discuss the price of the puppies because she had someone who wanted a female. I told her now was not a good time. Let me get through the delivery and we will talk. Seems the person wanting to buy the puppy (I know her), was asking her son if he had ever heard of Morkies. She was researching puppies on the Internet and had decided that was the kind of puppy she wanted. Her son was talking with my son-in-law and said that we had a litter on the way. She could not believe it and grabbed the phone and told my son-in-law that she wanted a female out of the litter. She would pay right now. How weird is that, that the day we are in labor with them, she starts talking about them.

She had not had them by the time we were going to bed so we put the whelping box in our closet and put her in it and went to bed. She kept waking me up, so I moved her and me to the living room. Put her whelping box next to the couch and lay down. I knew we were there was she yelped. I checked and sure enough one was crowning. Then she jumped out of her box and got into bed with my golden retriever. I don't think so!!! I put her back in her box. She jumped out and went to her bed. The baby started coming out. I thought....,..I am not moving her again, it can be washed. Out it came in the sack and she started licking at it and then tried to bury it. She had no clue what was going on. I read up on this and moved in. I opened the sack. Took the sucky thing and suctioned out the nose and mouth. Did all the things the vet showed me to do. Got it cleaned up and cut the cord. I got the whelping box over to the heat lamp and tried to get MerSadies to nurse. She was freaked out and would not calm down. She kept trying to get away from the puppy. So I got my husband up and he tried to calm her down, but baby number 2 was on its way. Again she would not have anything to do with it. Left it when she dropped it. So my husband took care of her and the first one while I did everything to number 2. After cleaning that one up I knew that he was a boy and the first one was a girl. Hubby got her settled down and she started nursing the first one. He went back to bed. Then baby 3 was on its way. She jumped out of the box again and over to a pile of towels and squatted. But then the first two started squeaking and she ran back to the box. Then out to push and then squeaking and back to the box. So I worked at trying to keep the puppies quiet while she was pushing on the towels. Baby three made an appearance and I saw her chewing and munching so thought she finally was doing it her self. So I concentrated on keeping the other 2 quiet. After a time, I checked on her and she was doing nothing. Baby still in sack. She was done. So I went about getting him out and suctioned and cleaned. I cut the cord and she came over and took him to the others. I did not see the placenta/afterbirth on this one so was worried. I stayed up awhile and then went to sleep on the couch. When I woke, everyone looked good. I called the vet and she told me what to look for and what to feed her. I worried about it. Plus, they were 6 days early. She had two huge lumps down by her hooha. I thought maybe this was everything slid down there. Then I got real sick with cold/sinus thing going around and spent several days in bed. The vet came over on the following Monday and checked everyone out. Removed dew claws. Seems that it was MerSadies milk glands on her bottom two teats that were swollen and causing the long weird lumps. But everyone got a perfect from the vet. I started hot compresses on the lumps and massaging them. Made sure to put the puppies on those teats. They went away in a day. Yeah. Now I felt better. What an experience. Took pictures to our annual church dinner and business meeting. Showed off my 1 week old puppies like a new mommy.

The female was sold before she was even born. Her new mommy comes over weekly for visitation till she is 8 weeks and can go home. I sent her pictures after she was born and she was in love. Since mommy is MerSadies and daddy is Ducati (which is a motorcycle), we named them Porcha, Bently & Caddy. The female (Porcha), has been renamed Harley by her owner. All are doing great. Harley & Caddy (1st born and last) started out at 6½oz. or now 1 pound. Bently started out at 5½ and is now 14oz. Caddy's eyes are starting to open today. We can see one corner. Love it. They are trying to stand on all 4 and walk. In another week, we will be having to move them to the swimming pool. When they can get out of that, we will move them to the pack-n-play. Have not had and calls about the boys. I don't care either way. Would be nice to sell them, but also will have a hard time parting with them.

Now it is just taking care of them and mom. Mom does not have he best hair. Could not take her to the groomer while she was pregnant thought it would cause too much stress. Since delivery, she has become quite matted. I have been working on it, a little at a time. Took the scissors to her myself . Just chop chop chop. She does not look the best, but I am getting rid of the mats and getting her combed out a little each day. She is starting to look better. It is cooler for her with her hair whacked off. The heat lamp was causing her to pant all the time. Next week we will be able to turn the lamp off. Yeah, as it lights up the house and filters into our room. I like a dark room, but we have french doors to our bedroom.

Mexican Cruise

In Sept, my parents took us on a Mexican cruise. We had a wonderful time. We celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary. My parents, grandmother, cousin, sister and her hubby and my hubby. Got a tan and felt good. My 90 year old grandmother (Nana) went parasailing with my cousin. We went sea kayaking. I got sea sick on the small boat ride to the island. I was fine while were kayaking, but when we had to stop and wait for a couple that had turned over, I started feeling sick again. Was not looking forward to the boat right back to the ship.

We went to a couple of small family run tequila farms. Learned all about the process and had lots of tasty samples. Every night at dinner, we had wonderful food and entertainment. The waiters and matradee danced and sang for us. I tried new things. Had escargot & calamari.

At the end of the cruise, my hubby flew home and I drove with my cousin to her house to visit with her hubby and my great aunts. Then I drove with my parents back to their home in AZ for a week. While there, helped my mom get some projects done, visited with my Nana and got to sing with my dad at the Friday night sings. Got lots of tatted crosses done during the trip for my dad. He is the head pastor at the hospital down there. He gives them to patients. I was able to go to water aerobic classes with my mother. My mother and grandmother love to go to the casinos. So on the way from CA to AZ we stopped at a couple. On the day I was going home, my flight was several hours after my dads flight to MN. He was going their to preform one of my cousins wedding. So we dropped him off and then mom & nana took me to the casino. We had fun.