Cheri Payne, Lucky Socks and an Oldie!

Cheri Payne was a quilt designer, fabric designer, embroidery designer and painter.  She had several last names over the years.  I am assuming she was married more than once?  Her style is very primitive and when she taught she told her students to just go with their mistakes.....nothing was "wrong".  I follow a FB group dedicated to her work.  Her husband has allowed the administrator to share patterns with us....Cheri lost her battle with cancer last April.  Here is a Stitch Along we were challenged to do on the group for January.  Her pattern included a few patterns and this is the one I chose.  Heart with Flowers.  I loved making it and I love the end result.  Cotton fabrics for the background and wool for the appliqué.

I mention at the beginning of the month the dachshund socks my friend Kim gave me for Christmas.  Here they are.....my Lucky Socks.  I wore them to work on Monday......not sure they were lucky for me but a fellow EA lived to see another day!  😠😝😳  (It's been one of those weeks with her although she wasn't there one day and it was BLISS!!!!)

A gal I know from my hometown posted this OLDIE on Facebook this week.  I was a figure skater there for many years and then after our kids were born, I got into coaching.  Just incase you don't recognize me (HAHAHAHA😂😂😂) I'm the one with the ponytails on the right!

Gosh that seems a lifetime ago!  It was, really!!  And to think I started dating Hubby three years later! (I didn't have the hair although I'm sure he still wishes I did!  😏)

Happy happy weekend coming up! All my kids and grandkids will be together for our granddaughters third birthday party!!!!!  I haven't seen Jude since before Christmas...oh and his parents too 😆 I can't wait!!!!!

Off to take our little Pixie to the vet to see what this little lump is on her tummy......praying it's nothing serious!  I can't take anymore bad news!!!!

UPDATE:  Vet doesn't think there is anything to worry about.  I am to keep an eye on it and look for any changes.  I think it's getting smaller so fingers crossed that continues!  

Molly

My dear sweet Molly has not returned.  

A lot of memories were made in the short time Miss Molly was with me and these last few days have been really tough because every room I go in or even when I walk outside, those memories come flooding back and then the tears would start.  If I was in my sewing room I would picture her sleeping on whatever project I was working on, wanting cuddles or on my sewing chair when I needed to sit down.  😊  If I was in the bathroom I would picture her playing in the tub or ripping down the whole roll of toilet paper (which I moved so she couldn't do that but moved it back today 😢 ).  When I go for a walk I picture her walking with us and running through the trees and playing tag with Phoebe.  I had to pack up her things today and store them in the garage.  Every time I walked by them I would tear up and it was hard.  There is a missing part of my heart.  

I wonder how much loss a heart can take?

When I was shopping on Saturday, everywhere I looked, there were cat things.......hit me right in the feels....it was tough...maybe Molly was sending love.  I hope so......I miss her.  💔

Where Are You Molly????

 My sweet, cuddly and bratty Molly, goes outside most nights.  I don't think she travels far and is ALWAYS at the front door when I let the dogs out in the morning.  This morning she wasn't.  I have walked all over calling her, several times today (if she was outside and I called her name, she usually came within moments); I talked to the neighbours but no Molly.  So this afternoon I cried.  I cried when I walked by her toys.  I cried when I walked by her food dish.  I cry when I look out the front window expecting her to be sitting on the ledge wanting in.  I am crying now just typing this.  Hubby will be home tomorrow and can take the quad out and drive further to see if he can see any signs of her.  We had quite a bit of snow through the night and today....so there were no tracks for me to see.  My heart is breaking.  I try to think of the song 🎶 "The cat came back, the very next day. The cat came back, we thought he was a goner but the cat came back, he just couldn't stay awaaaaaaay." 🎶

 I sure hope she comes back.  😿😢

If you are the praying type, please pray for Molly's safe return. 🙏  💓

Last weekend I spent some time organizing this bit of fabric in my sewing area.  These are my reproduction prints in my old copper boiler.  The first pic shows the fat quarters on the bottom then the second shows the yardage folded on top with some neatly folded jelly roll strips in the bag.

Today I organized and tidied up my linen closet before and after my hair appointment and looking for Molly.  I didn't take a picture!  Who needs to see that?  😂  I need to get through all the other closets in the house.....one day.

Well I am going to hit the hay.....and try to sleep.  Darn pets.....they sure snag a piece of your heart....praying she is waiting for me in the morning.........

Santas, Books and Organization..In That Order

I forgot to show you the Santa's my youngest brother carved for me to paint with my grandkids.....aren't they amazing??  I have a vision of what I want them to look like but I'm not sure it involves my almost 3 year old grand babies!  LOLOL  😂 He carved shoe horns with long handles for my Dad and other brother...they were amazing too!  Might have to put in an order for one!

A stop at the mail yesterday brought two parcels....both from Amazon.  One parcel had this book:  The Gentle Art of Domesticity.  A blog I follow, Jenny of Elephanz (the link is on the side) is doing a book study of this book as it is also her business name.  I think it will be kinda fun.👌 I read the introduction which is the requirement before next week.  It's not an easy book to find....this one was a used one but is in really good condition.  I'm happy with it.

In the other package were several books....a Weight Watchers cookbook, which I mistakenly ordered 2, are being returned.  What a cheap publication, few pictures and the ones they did have were black and white and no point values on the food.  It was tiny and I paid over $10 for each which was way too much!  I've never returned anything to Amazon before but it was easy peasy!  Now I will have to wait to see how quick they refund my money but so far I am pleased with how smoothly it went.

The other book in the package was this one:

Written by a woman from High River and it recounts peoples experiences with the flood.  My friend Shannon is featured as well as a couple of other people I have met.  I can't quite bring myself to read it.  I thought I would be excited to receive it and then dive right in but looking at it makes me tear up......I was a ROCK when we were going through it all.  I was matter of fact and moved forward every day.  When I would realize another "thing" I had lost I convinced myself it was only "stuff" and put on a brave front and continued to move on because there was nothing I could do about it so I wasn't going to dwell on something I had no control over.  I do remember the first year anniversary of that day hit me a little hard.  I remember having a little bit of a release of emotions I didn't know were bottled up.  But it is in the past.....5+ years ago to be exact and here I am, staring at this book with a bit of a lump in my throat not quite ready to crack it open and start reading it.  I will.....one day.

Now this picture I borrowed from my friend Kim.  I have these pages printed off and will be doing what she is doing......getting organized in the sewing room! 

Here's my start this morning!  Doesn't look a lick like organization to me!  I have filed some books and magazines and those patterns in the basket have been sorted so I can file those too.  I ran out of page protectors 😮 but when I purge my patterns I will end up with a bunch.  It will be a huge job that won't be done in a day or two.  I took a break to eat (and because I'm not feeling very well) and am looking around my house in the daylight realizing I really should be cleaning up here!!!!!  Maybe today...it doesn't take me long.....or maybe tomorrow.........

Might be tea time..........do you have any organization plans for the new year?

Comments and My Happy Jar

Hi All.....I have changed some settings for comments on these posts......they will be approved by me after I receive an email saying to do so.  I remember changing the settings after getting some strange comments from people I didn't know!  So please feel free to post a comment.....I will approve it when I can!

Back to the grind has been going okay.  One more day this week......I have been POOPED 😫 after work so have done nothing in the evenings!  My one foot has been killing me (on the bottom...weird) and my knees.  What's up with that?  No change in footwear or floor.  Tomorrow I will be wearing my Sketchers!  LOL  😀👟


This is my "Happy Jar".  Every night I write something that made me happy that day.  I date the slip of paper so that at the end of the year I can read them and reminisce.....and smile.  It's only been eight days but on one or two days it's been hard to think of one "happy" but on others I may have narrowed it down and written two.  😉

Everyone should try this....even if it's in a journal.....one sentence.  Think of a "happy" that happened to you today or made you smile.  It's especially rewarding at the end of a bad, sad or mad day!!!!  

Comment and let me know if you are going to try it!

Relax

I think that will be my word of the year.  Not relax as in don't get anything done but: 

-relax as in you have time. (I am feeling anxious that my winter break is almost over and Monday is back to work) and writing that makes me a bit sad.  It's the last thing my friend Erica text me....I was deciding on getting a bed back that I gave her to use in her store...I had to decide if I wanted it and how I was going to get it if I did.....she told me I had time (meaning to decide) but little did I know she didn't have much time left.  😢

- relax as in you can't do everything (I feel overwhelmed at work....I have a very physically challenging student but I also feel as though I have to do a bunch of classroom clean up/set up because no one else really does....and I can't work in a mess or chaos!  So I get more exhausted and tired and stressed!)

- relax as in yes, you have a million things you'd like to accomplish at home but there is only so much time in the day....pick and choose, then do.↓

- relax as in quit constantly feeling tense!!!!!  That feeling is beginning to get exhausting and OLD!

- relax as in purge.....get rid of the excess because I think that is stressing me out too.

So I will try and remain:

I read a quote the other day and I wish I had of kept it.......it was something like this:

So that will be for work.  If I don't want to be run ragged and no one else cares about the mess then I will have to change my attitude about the mess and organization or lack thereof.  'nough said!  😄 Relax my attitude!

↑That will be for tasks at home.  Make a list and do what you can when you can. Relax my expectations!

Two great "quotes" below........should print them off.

One can only hope I can relax about things more.  Hard to change ones personality.  But I will try.....lots of deep breaths and consciously forcing my body to un-tense.  (is that a word?) 

Peace and Quiet

Good Morning!  (or whatever time of day it is that you are reading this!!)  It is my first day since December 20th that I have had the day to myself......no place I have to go, no one here to disturb me (tee hee...except the pets! Hubby has gone to work out of town) and I woke up to a phone call from Daughter1 because my granddaughter wanted to talk to me!  💓  Feeling the love!  So I have a few things planned today that I want to get done; more to organize a couple of messy areas I look at every day.....does January do that to you? Make you want to clean and organize?  These aren't big jobs by any stretch of the imagination and they won't take more than a few minutes....those BIG jobs will have to wait for another day! Today I am going to BREATHE!!!!!!!

In the meantime I am sitting in the sunroom, in the dark, except for the lights from my skinny tree.....I left it up as it's a bit "frosted" and has no decorations on it so it's more of a winter decoration....and who doesn't like the lights???  (and this sunroom has no lights yet so it helps!)

Here it looks like I have three trees!  

I'm also sitting here using a new mug that my friend Pam gave me for Christmas.  We had lost our sweet Zoey in October.  She was a dachshund.  My Mom also raised and bred dachshunds so this mug reminds me of both Zoey and my Mom.  My friend Kim gave me dachshund socks too!  💕 (they are in the laundry right now...a picture for another day!)

A great way to start my peaceful, quiet day........January 2nd.....thinking of a word for my year (I'm not sure why as I don't really do anything about it....but it's the thing to do!  😜)  So many things to "work" on and be aware of........I will contemplate that one today and get back to you.  😊