Happy Holidays to All My Blogging Friends!

I'm leaving 12/3.... don't know about the status I'll have online but here's hoping and anticipating that you'll
have the happiest of holidays ever! Hugs to you all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I 've created a Christmas Playlist for you ( see bottom of blog) to share what the season means to me. It's not your average "carol" and I'm sure you'll enjoy them. Please turn your speakers up and enjoy the music. Merry Christmas and Happy Solstice to all my dear friends on line...I 'll be back as soon as I can...

Rebuilding Foundations and a Thank You...

Jane with arms crossed- Concrete-July 2006 Do I Look Happy? Really I Am!

I've had a bad habit the majority of my life for plunging ahead and skipping steps, adamant to my sense of right and wrong. and stubborn accepting my own intuitions... I've always known there's a natural progression to things but lately I've had to admit that no matter how I try to steer them (or think I am) I keep ending back at the same place ... it's become obvious to the point where God above is no longer whispering to me but knocking me upside the head to listen to the real plan that I have no control over. I can't keep pushing my way through life against the grain of the universe and silencing the voice that keeps telling me that what I'm doing just isn't working. This was true way back in September... duh...another 3 months wasted to denial for not listening.Big family pow wow later, it's been decided that I leave here for awhile....No need to freak... it's no separation or divorce for D and I...I've just got to go back home while there still is home.

Now help me??? What do I pack to leave what I know?

Home Fires Burning 2008

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to thank everybody for voting on my CQ Autumn Burst via Quilting Gallery (please check the Gallery out).... It was neck and neck for awhile but the numbers won out... it was something fun and with the close vote... hey, anything could have happened.... THANKS TO YOU ALL !!!, I may try something like it again,or NOT. ...It was a small time thrill none the less, LOL!

The Teddy Bear Project and a Link or 2

I was asked for alittle more info on the Teddy Bear Project from my pals Sue from the Magpies Nest , Judy from Stitch Along With Me, and Janet from Go Crazy With Me . So I thought I'd answer here. Our town is small so there's no red tape or "channels" to be got through for doing good deeds. It cracks me up sometimes to hear what people go through to GIVE THINGS to charitiable organizations... the requirements, applications, and background checks in order to bless others is out of hand. Thankfully, since we are a community oriented locale, we don't have that. People jump in here... no pomp. If there's a need, it gets done... no politics, no "I make a motion to accept", no bullshit.



So the guild went and bought a boatload of brand new teddy bears from a store in Marquette and asked that we make quilts for each bear. Minimum size is 24" x 24". The original idea was to donate to the St Vincent Christmas need, for the many down and out families here in the area. Well, as all good things grow, we've now decided to make this a year round project... the local hospital, county and city police, fire department, and shelter home will be supplied with the bears to give as needed... along with the continued supply to St Vincents. Some "little guy" will have a new buddy this holiday.. "Green Gene".





Over at Quilting Gallery there's an exhibition going on of quilts that were entered into the Living Healing Quilt Project. These quilts were created to show the experiences of the indigenous Native Indians as they were ripped from their families and sent to government "schools" in Canada. This practice was also done in the United States as well, under the guise of reform and religion. I hate this part of our history and know that there's no way that these attrocities can ever be repaid to these people. These quilts are very special so please click the logo below to see them.

Well, that didn't work.. so please click here for the link...

Living Healing Quilts.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanksgiving's going to be pretty low key here... the Detroit Lions have their chance to win or be beaten on the National front tomorrow. We'll be watching and I'm sure wanting to hit Coach Marinelli upside the head with a drumstick or 2. The prediction from this camp is if there's no win tomorrow , HE WILL BE FIRED...if not there's something rotten in Detroit, just like Kwame Kilpatrick. If it was you or me our checks would cease for such poor performance. D worked for "Henry" and he would have been canned by now... IOHO (in our humble opinion) What the heck is going on here????

Crazy Quilt Vote Needed

Click Above to be Taken to Poll - "Autumn Burst"

I was looking around at the quilts submitted to the Quilting Gallery Bloggers list for their Fall photo contest and noticed that there was not one crazy quilted piece entered. Out of charactor for me, I went ahead and submitted the very untraditional autumn crazy block I'd just finished. Well 43 pieces in all were submitted and only 1 crazy block ... mine, so I'm unabashedly asking for your vote here. Not so much for me to win but as a way to get crazy quilting acknowledged in a more mainstream kind of way. Just click the vote box above and scroll down a few spots to Autumn Burst. Of course there's many other great pieces, the Gecko and the "I Spy" down the list are fab ... but I'd really appreciate you clicking on mine. Thanks all, for your support. It'll be fun to see the outcome and alot less stressful than Nov 4th.

" Autumn Burst"

Thursdays Guild Meet

The snow was blowing to beat the band on the way to town... white out vision and frigid temps but we made it. Barb's lived up here her whole life and has the driving experience to prove it. Needless to say it was a skeleton group and not a lot of time to stay and chit chat after. Everyone just wanted to get home. But heres some of the show and tell :

This Michigan quilt was great. It was being shipped over to Ireland to a cousin who had visited this summer. I thought she did a great job appliqueing the Upper Peninsula.

This batik sampler quilt had interesting color combos.

Diana's Christmas quilt looked like it had cards sewn into it and it was quilted with the most awesome metallic thread.
The charity bearity project has another month to go. They're so cute that we've decided to keep this an ongoing project year round. A great stash and scrap buster.

The teddy quilt I made below ended up at 36 x36 with a loden green fur back... very snuggly and very simple

I was only able to make one pillowcase, it had flannel on one side and a nature print on the other. I didn't take any photos of the pillowcases but there was quite a stack of those to be sent out to the troops. I'll get the final counts of the bears and cases when all's done.
And heres a pic of Sue's humongous quilt sack... you could fit a man in there!


There's not much snow on the ground and although the temperatures have been in the teens, it's tolerable. My Detroit Lions play tomorrow. It's an awful year to be a fan as they've not won one flippin' game. The stadium attendance is so poor that they haven't sold enough tickets to televise the game locally so it's a double hurt for anyone who loves he game. One eye to the TV is all it takes....