Sewing decisions

Well that John Deere baby quilt is finished and with my cousin waiting to be wrapped around her soon to be born baby boy. But as I started cutting up fabric the solid yellow and solid green just wasn't setting right with me. Sooooo......

I took a piece of the John Deere fabric up to the local quilting store and they happily helped me match it with matching light blue fabric.... From there it was on like donkey kong lol

I quickly finished cutting the fabric then started sewing it together..... Well I then ran into a huge problem....

The thread kept breaking and it kept snagging up while going under the foot of the sewing machine. So my dad put on a different needle.... It worked fine for a day then started doing the same thing. I got it all sewed then went to sew the binding on and the needle wouldn't go through the binding. So I put the quilt aside to stop and think why this sewing machine was giving me so many issues.........

I thought on it for a day then after work tried again with no success, by this time I was frustrated and pissed. Asked my dad if there is a special quilting needle for sewing machines so he googled it and yea sure enough there was..... So off I went to the local Joann fabrics. The employee that helped me coincidently

Is a long time quilter. She hooked me up with the correct quilting needle for the sewing machine and then told me that the thread is breaking cause it's the wrong thread. She hooked me up with the correct thread and sent me on my way..... Got home changed the needle and thread in the sewing machine and woohoo I was off on a sewing binge like there was no tomorrow. Finished the quilt, washed and pressed it and had ready for my cousin. It turned out beautifully and I once again was impressed and pleased with myself for it only being my 2nd quilt ever. Here's a picture which the picture does t do it any justice....

I ended up with a lot of left over fabric from both the John Deere and blue fabric that I decided my 1st sewing project will be John Deere building blocks for a baby :) :) :) :)

Social media vs. Reality

Begin rant..... Social media has takin people's lives by storm over the decade or so and People pay more attention to Facebook, Twitter, fubar and all the other one's out there then they do there families. Im not innocent on that in anyway shape or form. Recently I realized how much time I spend on the internet checking Facebook postings or tweets on Twitter and I thought to myself "wtf am I doing?" ive been on FB for a very long 8 years. I was actually on it before people really started discovering it. We have computers in the palm of our hands (smart phones. Ipads and tablets) that causes people to ignore those around them.  Before FB I was constantly on Myspace so give or take the past 9 years have slipped past me at lighting speed. Even before that I was constantly playing poker on fulltilt poker. My son was a young 10 (almost 11) year old when I started playing poker online. Now in just a few short weeks he will be 21 and im scratching  my head trying to figure out when my son grew up and realized that I don't know my child. Why? Because like many others I was sucked into everything the Internet has to offer. Kids are messed up in the head now a days cause they haven't been raised the way we were.....  Parents outright ignore there kids cause there to busy with the noses being buried in there cells phones and or there tablets. It breaks my heart to see how messed up they are...... Life in general is so different than it was when I was growing up or pre-social media and it quickly took over my life!!
So now im forcing myself to  stay off of fb and other social media sites. What happened to the days when people hung out or spent time with there families??? Why don't people take there families out to do stuff? What happened to kids playing outside from sun up to sun down? The internet happened and its sad! Kids would rather be playing on there Xbox then be outside. Kids are getting into trouble left and right! Two different things that I have recently witnessed while doing laundry at the laundrymat....... One woman was at the laundrymat with her very young child..... This young child was trying to get her mothers attention, and the mother had her nose shoved in her cell phone and she actually screamed at her very young child for interrupting her...... Seriously? Nothing on the Internet is more important then that adorable child. I saw the look on that babies face when said mother screamed at her when all the child wanted was her mothers attention. It took everything to keep me from walking up to that woman and getting into her face and yelling at her. I sat there and bit my tongue for a hour to keep me from saying something..... Then a week ago at the laundrymat there was another young mother with 2 young children and she was outright ignoring her kids. The little girl tried getting her attention as she sat there on her cell phone and the mother wouldn't even acknowledge her, meanwhile the son was throwing a very small ball all over the place including at people and getting into stuff and yet the mother was ignoring what he was doing all because the Internet was more important? Seriously people really need to take a step back and see how this is going to affect there kids in the long run.....really sad! That's all I have to say about it!!! A lot of stuff about social media has really been irritating me that past few months...... Yea it's nice to be connected to family/relatives on there and cool to be able to reconnect with childhood friends or even long lost coworkers but people need to get a grip and remember the reality of life. Get off of the computers, cells and tablets and go spend time with your kids, spouses, family or friends ......Take a breather and enjoy life the way it was meant to be..... Looking at screens 24/7 is not the way life was meant to be!!!! End rant!!

Caffeine and Insomnia

Oh how I hate you caffeinated pop! You play with my insomnia all the time and it's wearing me thin. If I drink to much of you I'm 100% wired to the point there's no return, and sleep...... Well that I can forget about! Pop alone affects me the most in a way that it won't let me sleep at all. Yesterday I only had 1 can of Pepsi and 2 bottles of Mt. Dew over a 15 hour period but it did its damage. Up until 4 am then back up at 7am still wired. So for that I am parting ways with you pop and switching to tea in the mornings for my energy boosts and water with fruit in it. I want normal sleep back and I will take it back!! Goodbye pop! Go mess with someone else's sleep cause I'm done with you!!

Baby oh baby

So my cousins oldest child is due with her third child here soon and I've been wracking my head on what to get her for a baby gift. And my mind was only drawing 100% complete blanks. When she was pregnant with both of her daughters I couldn't afford to buy baby gifts for both the girls but have been making up for that at CHRISTmas time the past few CHRISTmas's. After I finished the quilt I made for my friends baby it suddenly dawned on me...... That I have over 3 weeks to make another baby quilt. I will be traveling to spend time with them for CHRISTmas so I dragged my son with me to Hobby Lobby in search of the perfect fabric to make a baby quilt for a baby boy and I think I hit the jack pot not only cause of the fabric I found but cause Hobby Lobby was having a awesome sale. Got not only the fabric at 30% off but got the batting at 30% off also.....  I walked out of there a happy camper. Will be cutting the fabric up tonight and tomorrow then will get my creativity on. The baby quilt I made for my friends little one I had done in large blocks. The one I'm making for my soon to arrive baby cousin I'm going to be brave and make it in small blocks. Hopefully this one turns out just as awesome!! Here's a picture of the fabric that I'm working with.......

Enjoy the crisp cold day everyone! At only 28 degrees I'm already for summer to return.......

Dreams

Ever since I was in high school my true dream has always been to own my own business. I started going to college not once but 3 times and stupidity quit all 3 times. For almost 18 years I have been stuck working in auto factories. And it's taking a toll on my body! For the past 3-4 years I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what sort of business I want to start and that it has to be something that I will love and enjoy doing and how will I get it started.......

Both of my great grandma's was quilters. One was very talented at it. A couple of years ago I finally decided that I wanted to learn to quilt and sell what I make, but I had one problem....... I couldn't afford to buy a sewing machine. My dad gave me one a year and a half ago and I just made my first baby quilt. It's a gift for a friend whom had her first baby. I didn't use any pattern I made it by what I visioned in my head and it turned out so beautiful!! 

My dad told me over the weekend that both of my great grandma's sold quilts and other crafts that they would make. 

And I never knew that. So I guess I'm continuing there legacy of quilting and selling. Now I wonder if they had whispered in my ear and told me that this is what I should do and guided me while I made my very first quilt.

My plan is to specialize in baby quilts and his and her Camo quilts and also his and her John Deere quilts. I live in a county where life revolves around hunting, fishing, and farming along with anything and everything having to do with outdoors. People in this county love everything Camo, mossy oak and realtree so I know the quilts will sell easily! I plan on starting this journey after the new year when peoples wallets have settled down and recovered from the Christmas season. I just need to settle on a name for my business then I will be up and at em' sewing like a mad woman!

Hopefully this journey goes the way I want it to so that I can get out of the factory life. Wish me luck!

Crossroads and Paths

As adults there is so many paths and crossroads that we can take in our life journey. Sometimes we turn in the wrong direction or we hit dead ends. I've hit many dead ends in my adult life and it makes it really hard to put a smile on my face and be happy.  I'm unhappy with the type of work I've been doing for almost 18 years. I've had hardships that seems like I've had way more then my fair share, but then I think about all the people living in poverty and all the homeless people in our country and it reminds me that I need to be grateful that I have a job and a house. 

In high school my goal was to own my own business. But 20+ years later that dream has not yet become a reality. For the past 10 months I have been in the process of planning and getting organized to make that dream a reality! It's coming along slower then I would like but I don't want to rush into it full speed ahead and cause it to fail.

I need to finish college and get my business degree that I started and didn't finish......

My employer will pay for my college courses and upon getting my degree I will be contracted to continue working for them for so many years. So I'm forcing myself to take a deep breath and do what I need to do to finish that degree. Work will remain where I'm at but I can still slowly start my business and just do it as a side job from home until I can make it a full time job in the future. 

I keep telling myself to be patient and let everything fall into place when it's meant to fall into place but I'm not much of a patient person. I'm so ready to turn down the correct path at that crossroad that's meant for me but I know I've got learn to be patient to make it happen at the correct time. Hopefully that correct path will surface soon.......  Ok I'm done rambling have a good day and until next time.......

Autumn...... Season's change

Seasons is a time of change. I love summer, the heat, the hotter the better. But, I also love fall.....

Fall is a time of crisp fresh air, hoodies, chilly night's, bon fires, football, apple cider, colorful leaves, flying leaves, bare tree's, cider mill's, fall festivals, the start of hunting season, harvesting and so much more.

Michigander's go into fall full force and they own it, live it and love it. I live in the country and I happen to love everything country. I live in a county that doesn't have any freeways that run through it and believe it or not there are no cities in it. There are towns, townships and villages. And farm after farm after farm. Harvest time now has the concubines and other farm equipment out on the roads going from point a to point b..... It can be annoying when your in a hurry but then I remember they grow what we put in our stomachs so I slow down and enjoy the scenery while driving until they turn onto a country road.

The village that I live in has the county's best fall festival that people travel from all over to attend. Last year was the 1st time that I checked it out. This year i ended up volunteering to work with my neighbor on trash removal

for part of the weekend so it was interesting getting to see what workers do behind the scenes and what they deal with behind the scenes of the festival.......

I did manage to go shop at all the little vendor booths Sunday morning before it started getting busy. Got some good stuff and enjoyed just walking slowly from booth to booth. But then it started getting packed so just as slowly I walked home and enjoyed what appears to have been our last warm day.

As we move into fall, slow down and enjoy the beauty of it all. It's such a beautiful season, with the tree's in full color...... Enjoy it, live it and love it! Happy fall to all :)