I am going to have to start a Support Group

I have neglected my family, my dogs, and I cannot concentrate at work, this drug is so powerful.
These habits need a stronger will than mine to be conquered. I need therapy and rehab. But it's not my fault...Blame the pusher!

That's right, you know who you are,,,finn!!!! (finn has a wonderful tutorial on her blog, she is so patient with us) You lured us into your trap so smoothly! You knew how addicting your drug was, and yet you taunted us all with your innocent looking crochet hook. All along, you were plotting to get us hooked, so you could laugh at us with your scraps!!! Well, your trick worked, I am hooked, and I know others who have fallen under your spell!
I am never going to be able to do another thing with my hands, I will grow old sewing strips together!

....What have we here??

ok, I might be able to put the strips down for just a moment ot two, but then I'm back to the guilty pleasure of ragging a rug.

Actually, this is not that far off, I am really loving this process!! I have loved rag rugs forever, and now I am addicted!

thank you, again, Finn, for the wonderful lessons!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, mine will be a little "ragged"

lyn

Ps: Carolyn at http://ohioquilter.blogspot.com/ has an awesome give away, go "dream" on her blog!

We were off to see the Wizard!

The wonderful

"Wizard of Oz"

My "Good Little Witches", Elly and Liberty, were absolutely awed by Dorothy and Glenda, and after the play, they had to talk to all the characters.

I am soooo proud of our little town production of "The Wizard of Oz"

the witches flew like professionals! And even Toto remembered his lines.
Nobody gets paid, nobody gets awards, the ticket sales go toward keeping the little theater open, and all the actors get is a little bit of fame in the local paper.
Eight weeks of four-nights-a-week practice, grueling study of lines, sore throats from saying "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too" 26 times a day,

But, after the last bow, all the actors came down into the audience and signed autographs, posed with children so old fat grannies could take pictures, and were the picture of patience while the flash wouldn't go off,,,now THAT, my dear friends, is acting!

This is a sneak peak at my "Ethnic Star"

Can anyone guess who it's for?

I hope you all have a "Wicked" evening,,,

lyn

Home again, Home again...

Jiggety Jig!!!!!

Mr. Wonderful and I went to Whiskey Creek just south of Scottville, MI. It is a lazy creek that is serene and beautiful and fresh,,,I can't type all the adjectives for this place. We found it by accident,
When we were first married, we planned a trip to Hawaii for our Honeymoon. Lo and behold, a "Club Package" was pitched to us, a condo club which cost about $1000 base fee and $57 a year dues. The package saved us about $3200 on the trip to Hawaii so we signed on the dotted line and figured we'd not pay the dues the next year, and still would have saved a bundle. After that trip, the next year we used the club to go to Cape Cod, then Long Island, then Stratford, then Aruba, then Orlando, and with each trip we saved at least $1200-5000! Never could we have been able to afford the trips without the club, since the airfare and everything was included.

But then, one year hit us pretty bad, I lost my youngest son, Mr. Wonderful had to have back surgery, developed neuropathy and had to retire, my job got downsized...Our heads were still spinning, we could not afford to go, and really didn't have the gumption to skip all over the globe, anyway.

The next Valentines day, I was looking for a little two day get away for us, and since Mr. Wonderful had just had foot surgery, we couldn't go far. On my club plan, I searched for a cabin. "Whiskey Creek Resort" came up, and with our club plan, it was only $10 a night, so I jumped on it, one of the luckiest things ever!

We bought a camper trailer, and we leave it up there all summer, so it is like a cabin in the woods, only with all the comforts of home, yet a getaway, with the trickling of the creek, birds, deer, turkeys, and no phone! We can still get Good Morning America, but the Mr. turns it off after the news, (wow, very different than his usual habits) and we cook desserts on the fire, and drink our coffee in the morning by the fire. There is a club house with an indoor pool, hot tub, little restaurant, and on the weekends they have a band, or bingo, or something. On one side of the resort, you can buy your own lot, like we did, or there is a campground, and little log cabins scattered all over. 655 acres of vacation.

And the smell of apple blossoms add to the headiness of the resort. It only rained one day, so we went to a little bookstore in town, and the owner had missed us over the winter! We spent the biggest part of the day there, sitting with our tea, and looking over magazines, and catching up with the computer.

So, we have had our little piece of heaven, up on a little hill, surrounded by trees, I've read a whole book this week, and now it is back to work, and I missed the kids, and of course, all of you's.

Happy Mother's Day to all of us tomorrow, may our hearts be filled to the brim with love and goodness!

I hope you all have your little piece of heaven,

lyn

Going,,,going,,,,

Almost gone! Mr.Wonderful and I are taking the RV up north to our very favorite little spot in the woods.
Here are the Ethnic prints I'm drooling over, I'm planning a wonderful suprise for my DD#3. The photo is not letting the yummi-ness show through, but I'll keep you updated on the progress.
These are going to be for my dear friend, Loydie, (short for Loydell, named after her father) and she is just as unique and special as her name.
Life is a "whirlwind" these days, so it will be a nice time to get the "wheels" on the road (sorry, I have fits of corny now and then)
These pin wheels are made from the generous gift of scraps from the generous and giving Finn, thank you, Finn!

Hope all your weeks are "deer" (geez, I am getting bad)
lyn

May Day

Does anybody else remember "dancing around the May Pole"? Why did we do that? And I also remember making posey pockets and leaving them on our mother's door knobs on May Day. Why did we stop doing that?

I am grabbing the flag Norma at Random Stitches threw down on her post the other day, it looks like fun!

You have to use the first letter of your first name to answer each of the following. One word only. They have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME
Lyn

4 LETTER WORD
Love
(is there any other?)

VEHICLE
Lincoln
(I wish)

TV SHOW
Lucy
(showing my age)

CITY
Louisville
(hello, DD#1)

BOY NAME
Louis
(my grampa)

GIRL NAME
Liberty
(my grand daughter)

OCCUPATION
Librarian
(this is my dream job)

SOMETHING YOU WEAR
Lingerie
(with diamond necklaces :-)))

FOOD
Lobster
(dreaming of butter running down my forearms)

SOMETHING IN THE BATHROOM
Lotions
(tons of jams and jellys in there)

REASON FOR BEING LATE
Llama
(I hate when they break down on the highway)

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT
licketysplit!
(this was the hardest one!)

I'm going to challenge you all, (yes, you too) to do this one!

This was a good day to do this, because Blogger would not let me add any pictures. I got some new "ethnic" looking prints and you will love them, as soon as I can show them!

Hope all your Llamas are running good today!
Lyn

I conquered the Beast!

You'd think I was showing off the beast which is done!done!done!
But really, I'm showing off my back yard which is full of forsythias! The pattern I was kinda/sorta looking at while I made this quilt left the sides of the "lover's knots" unfinished. As I put it together, they looked undone, see the top pic, at the bottom right "knot" of the quilt? now look at this side, I "applied" the forgotten corner (the purple and black 2x2 squares) to make it look finished.
This quilt is so old, I'm not sure how to date it. In the 80's, I babysat my nephew every day before and after school, he would just get the bus from here because his mom and dad were already at work. My brother is a huge outdoors man, and he befriended an old woods-woman who lived in the UP. She owned about 300 acres of forest and she let my brother hunt and fish on her land. She canned all her veg's and caught all her own meat, she was a beekeeper and sold honey in quart jars and she quilted and sold the quilts for $20 apiece! they were all different, all crazy (pun intended) and all the stitches were crooked, uneven, in different colored thread, and they were tied. My brother bought me two of them (because I would never let him pay me for babysitting) before she passed away. One is on my daughter's bed, she loves it, it weighs at least ten pounds, (all double knit polyester)and this one I keep in the RV to keep us warm on cold spring nights. This one sings to me. I should take closer photos so you could see the fabrics,
they date all the way from the fifties to the mid 70's
This is the back, oddly pieced, with one fabric of orange and yellow flowers and another fabric that I think I had bed sheets of, while I still lived at my Mom's house...(long time ago)

These quilts, to me are the epitome of "Utility Quilts" and that is exactly what I do, utilize them with all my heart!

Thanks, Bobber, for these gifts!

Hope all your Spring nights are cozy!!

lyn

How do you quilt an Elephant?

One stitch at a time!! I've been conquering the beast slowly but surely.
I'm taking all of your wonderful advise and settled for a straight stitch in the (hardest, darnedest, and most stubborn) middle section.
And winding a heart vine around the edge border. Now I"m pecking away at the binding. Then I have to finish the bed skirt and the shams, and viola! new bedding! but then, I'll have to paint the room, maybe get new carpet, redesign the headboard, maybe strip the nightstands, probably have to buy new fabric for the curtains, ahhhh, life is and endless banquet of possibilities!!
in the meantime, I whipped up a table top for my girlfriend, Brennie, her and I have been best of friends since we were in Jr High cheerleading together, (we cheered the dinosaurs it was so long ago,,,tee hee)
what could be more fitting than a friendship star? low contrast, soft colors, and sweet. Just like my Brennie!

Hope all your friendships are sweet!
lyn

The purple passion pizzled

oh, girls, it was a wonderful idea in the beginning! I drew a heart, swirled a sun in there, and thought it would be easy-peasy-punkin-pie to quilt over the paper and end up with the world's greatest quilted-by-lynie thing ever. As usual, I'm stuck. I am as coordinated as a soup sandwich, and the quilting of the thing is driving me crazy. Do you remember all the hours I spent practising on those easytohandle doll quilts? Did you hear me say how easy Tonia's was to quilt by machine? Did you hear the screams from Michigan last night when the darn thing was giving me fits?

What should I do? (A) take all the pins out of the papers and calmly throw them in the frazzle-ratsin garbage bin? (B) Sell my youngest child and pay a LAQ to do the dirty work for me? or (C) Put it away for a few days and compose my normally-easy-going self to give the thing another twirl on the dance floor? I promise, I did not crumple these papers in a rage. They crumpled all by their selves when I GENTLY rolled the thing up to put it on the golldarn machine. Please send HELP! If you have no help, Please send CHOCOLATE!

The good news is that Mr. Wonderful has come through his eye-implant surgery with flying colors. He is sleeping off the anesthesia and I went for a walkabout with my camera,
Crocus and Tulips peeking out in the sun! A sure sign of Spring in Michigan
And this baby was my mother's tulip. I replanted some out of her yard after she passed in '03. Red was her favorite color in everything, not just tulips, she raised and sold iris and poppies until the early 70's when some friendly young adults came in a Volkswagen van and bought every poppy she had. She was so proud of the sale, she called me to brag about it. I had to break the news to her that they might not plant them. She watched for the police to come for the next two months. I miss my innocent, unsuspecting, full of red poppies Mom.

She couldn't quilt, either.

Hope all your stitches don't have to be pulled out.

lyn

Hi, Honey, I'm home!

Wow, that 8 days went so fast, my head is still spinning! I zoomed on DD#1's quilt and finally got it all done,
Then she had car trouble on the way, (new transmission) so we rented her a car and got her home last Saturday. She loved her quilt and slept with it the whole time she was here,

So the whole week was running, (literally) and any slow times were shuffling cards and playing Skip-Bo (she and I played it the whole time she was growing up and now it's become a tradition) cookouts, shopping, hot-tubbing, and giggling, not to mention the put-a-yard-on-my-waste meals my DH prepared. So now my little home is quiet and the beds are stripped, the carpets vacuumed, the toys and bikes put away, and my baby girl is sleeping in her own bed tonite. (boohoo) even tho she is 37 this year, she will always be my baby. And her babies will always be my babies,

It's wonderful to see them come, and it's kinda good to see them go, I'm exhausted and ready to get back to normal. I'll bet I have a TON of blogs to catch up on. Here I come!

Hope all your babies are cuddling in a quilt tonite.

Lyn

A Blessing in a Box

Girls, can you peek in here and see a heart?
Because it was loaded with kindness and generosity, all the way to the top
Orphans and mug-rugs and blocks, oh my!
Look at all the yumminess!
and Candy, Too!!!! And to top it all off, Scraps, and Scraps Galore!...someone give me a mop, cuz my heart's in a puddle!

Little Miss Finn is one of the most open and generous persons in all of Blogdom Land. This box is proof, she sent not only pieces of her scrap bag, she sent pieces of herself. How can you thank some one for all that? Her heart is bigger than the Great Lake that lies between us!

Thank you, Finn,
Lyn