Jan. 30, 2025

 I am still here.   Amazing really, I am 70 yrs old almost married 50 years this May 25.  What a wild ride, 4 kids, 7 grandchildren graduated with Associates Degree from Davis College, owned 3 homes, the present one is on a lake and we have pontoon and kayaks and woods across the street. I have been an Interior Designer, then dental assistant at Veterans Administration, part time at Lion Department Store, on to Toledo Fire Department, Local 93, then on to licensed insurance and financial products, then on to my own business, a resale/retail shop, starting with 500 square feet on to 2,000 sq ft, then on Dussel Rd, Maumee, Ohio 4,000 sq ft.  On to retirement at 62.  Now an longarmer and quilt maker along with many art projects.   Boy this sounds like an obituary.  Haha.    Loving God who brought me thru it all and it hasn’t all been easy. 

Oh my goodness, I saw that I haven't posted forever!!!!.  Sorry, kids, grandkids, new longarm and stuff.  I really don't have an excuse except that I am not sure people read blogs anymore, or fb and maybe instagram, but not sure where all this is going.  So I am here to post, I am alive,  and still sewing.

I had a great time with granddaughters with a mermaid party. 

I went to Shipsewana Quilt show. 

I enjoyed an Fiber Arts Group. 

So things are moving forward and I am learning so much on my Qmatic Longarm with my Bernina.  Love it.  

First Place Quilt at Wood County Fair

FIRST PLACE, FIRST PLACE, YEAH, FIRST PLACE!

"SISTERLY LOVE"

This is a quilt my sister, Barbara Smith Squire and I worked on together.  Her husband has  4 hour kidney dialysis, three times a week and to give her something to do while she waited, I purchased embroidery panels for her sew.  Barb finished them several months ago and I pieced and quilted the top.  I finished it just in time for the Wood County Fair in Ohio.  We are so thrilled. 

My sister Barb, in on the right with her friend. 

This is our mother, who passed away last year.  She taught us to sew, craft and tried to teach us crochet.  She was much better at it than us.  

Let's pass our talents on to our loved ones. 

Set aside time to teach your grandchildren what you love to do and share it with me.  

Designing Fiber Art to make the world smile and be at peace.

That's the title of my Blog
SMILE WORLD AND BE AT PEACE. 

Why you ask,  Because we need more peace, more smiles, showing more love and hugs and less anger, less hate and less killing.  (I feel American's have no respect for life anymore, example:  killing someone because he killed someone, Killing innocent by standers, just because they got in the way,,, killing video games, violent movies  and I could go on and on.)  Life is precious, we need to hold it dear. We each have a purpose on this earth. 

Fiber really touches our souls,  We wear it, we feel it, we sit on it and we sleep under it.  All of us, All colors, race, religions, occupations or no occupations.  

I make art to share my love of things that make me smile.  I put my heart, soul, design ideas, and physical stamina into making my art.  I want the view to see something new, to touch their lives with good things, nature, color, movement, life.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/275488562/alleritare-patterned-after-bonnie?ref=shop_home_active_7

  I want the owner of one of quilts to feel safe as they wrap it around them, to sit down on it and enjoy a moment with a friend or grandchild, to sleep in natural organic warmth on a cold chilly night.   

https://www.etsy.com/listing/288668609/meadow-in-bloom-doublequeen-size-quilt?ref=shop_home_feat_3

Well, for those who knows me,  this is one of the ways of what I do to show my love.
To bring peaceful feeling to an nidividual.
To help someone smile.

WHAT DO YOU DO THAT MAKES THIS WORLD A BETTER PLACE?  

I would love to hear about it.  

Creative Pause

The deer paused for his picture.  "You looking at me?"

The giant tree paused and waited for spring.

We paused for a grandchilden gathering and added Syler, too.

Today, I paused to be thankful for all I have, to rest my creative mind, to rest my body.  

What's new under my needles?

Sisterly Love!   

My sister, Barb Squire, and I are working on her quilt together.  She embroidered  all of the white squares and I am putting it together and quilting it.  I left the piecing simple because I want the embroidery to pop.  I will be purchasing wool batting to make sure it happens.  It will be a little bigger than a queen with a drop, just in case it gets passed down to someone with a kingsize bed.  We plan on entering it into the Wood Country Fair Grounds.  I have pieced it with my 780 B Bernina Sewing Machine and it will be quilted with some traditional feathers and echo quilting on my Sweet Sixteen Handiquilter.  

How special is the sissy quilt!  

 The quilt below is for myself.  It is greys, browns and off whites large pieced roses.  It is a contemporary kingsize quilt.  It will be quilted with the rose like quilting with echo quilting around the large pieced roses so they pop.  Yes, I like think to pop and I like quilts to be soft and not too much quilting.  I hand based this quilt using Sharon Schamber method.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA   My quilts get ruffed up alot and moved around between the time I finish the top and start to quilt, especially the kingsize ones.  Sometimes I wish I had a long arm and I could put it downstairs or rent one at my favorite quilt shops, but I don't want to spend that kind of money.  I do not want to make money just quilting.  Putting my tops together and designing them are the favorite thing I enjoy so much.

What is under your needle today?   I am sorry that these quilts are going to someone already, so they will not be in my Etsy Shop.  But please go to the website and see what is available. https://www.etsy.com/shop/justforyoutoo?ref=hdr_shop_menu      Thank you.

Look around, there is ART everywhere!

WHAT IS ART? 

 

Art to me is beauty, something to look closer at, something that makes you think or wonder and something that makes you want to touch it.  It is a bird in flight, the sun glowing in the morning, a leaf budding, a flower unfolding, the sound of the ocean waves against the sandy shore, the taste of a morel mushroom for the first time, the tingle of your first kiss that you will always remember.  the feeling of being grounded and back home again when you visit your old hometown or the sound of a crisp bell with different tones. To me ART encompasses all our senses: visual, smell, touch, wonder and hearing.  

This picture was taken in South Carolina at Huntington Beach State Park.  This little gal was in the wet lands protecting  her nest.  I love her orange feet and blue head and her eyes.  This picture invokes in me the smell of salt water, the quiet of the wetlands, the wonder of the bird's nest and the feel of the sun on my face.    This picture will become an art quilt someday. 

My cats are always a source of ART to me.  Their funny antics, the look on their faces, the shapes of their bodies the feel of their silky coat and those cute little pink ears. 

Music is ART.  It evokes feelings, sound, drama, bass that you feel in your soul, the grandness of the peristyle and the uncomfortable seats.  

  Are ya sitting at the train track, waiting for the train to pass.  Open you window, listen to the sound of the track as the train passes over it, hear the blowing of the warning horn, smell the metal and look at the surrounding safety lights.  This is ART to me.  Can you see this as a picture, an fiber art quilt, painting or a 3-D toy. 

A different scene.  Peace, closing of the day, Good night feeling.  Smell the lake, feel the cooling of the earth, listen to the ducks. Day is done.  This is ART. 

What is your idea of ART? Would please share it with me?