MAKING MY OWN DESIGNS

I keep looking at those public changing tables in the woman's bathroom. YUCK! It gives me the creeps to think of a baby laying on that. So here was my answer to the problem and what a sweet and fast gift for a new parent .The project is fast and I used up a few scraps I just cant throw away. BONUS!

This wonderful quilt is NOT my own design. I love this block. It is very easy to do but It looks so complicated doesn't it? This little boys quilt is the last of my over zealous cutting of blue and tan strips.
My friend Jean and I were collecting blues and tans and by the time we were done collecting we had a gazillion different patterns,tones and colors of blue and tan to choose from. It was a BEAUTIFUL box of strips! I had enough 2 1/2" strips for 1 queen size quilt, 1 double bed size quilt and the last of the strips was used for this baby quilt. The boy holding the quilt... his name is Sammy. He is a first time UNCLE. He is really proud of his nephew but not to excited about getting his picture taken.
I love making picture frames. You can use us so many scraps . They can be quilted with such colorful threads. Freemotion practice is great of fabric frames.

People love these when I have given them for gifts. Just think of using a fun pet fabric for the neighbors loved dog. Or... baby fabric for a new born. How about sports motif for a T-Ball player or a wonderful gold velvet for a 50th anniversary photo frame gift? A couple of years ago, 5 of us girls friends went for a Florida weekend. We drank alot of strawberry Margaritas and now can u guess what the frames motif was for our group shot? Yep.. Margarita glasses under Palm trees!
I will be teaching a Picture Frame class at Quilter's Heaven in North Brook IL in November. Come and join the fun.


I get such a satisfaction when I make a quilt using my own designs. I adore prairie points and I find ways to include them into the body of the quilt not just around the finish borders.
We am having so many little girls born within our circle of friends this year. 6 little girls will arrive between July 2010 and Febuary 2011. Just one little boy is being born.
I have got to get busy and make gifts. Above is a little Princess quilt for a sweet little thing. I love pink and browns together.

I HAVE A NEW GRAND DAUGHTER

MEET KAYLAN FAITH POOLE.

She was born July 30 just before 2pm. She weighed in at 6lbs 7oz and was 19 inches long.
Big sister, Rylan is looking kinda curious.

lOOK AT THE LOVE IN MY SON'S EYES. IS IT SOMETHING ONLY I CAN SEE?

Kaylan with her mom and dad. Precious dont you think?

BLUBBERING GRANDMA...I know... I know.. not the best pic of me but you can see how HAPPY I am!
My daughter in law, Annie gave me the honor of being in the delivery room. I had the best seat in the house. Right next to the doctor! If I would have remembered my catcher's mit, it might have been used. Here's the story:

Annie was induced around 8am. At 12:30 nothing was really happening so Yvonne (Annie's mom) and I went to the hospital cafeteria for a quick lunch. John (Annie's dad) joined us shortly after we got there. We had just finished our sandwich when John's phone rang, It was my son, Jim.........ANNIE WAS READY TO PUSH!
Annie's last birth took 2 hours of pushing so we didn't run up to the room, we took our time while we chatted about how wonderful grand kids are. We opened the door to Annie's room and IT WAS FULL of nurses. One nurse told us we couldn't and were not allowed in. JUST WHO DID THEY THINK THEY WERE telling the grandparents they were not allowed? lol John was like Moses and cleared a path for the grandma's to walk through. (I'm still laughing remembering the look on the nurses face. She knew there was NO WAY she was keeping us out of that room.)

Annie was letting the nurses know that she was ready to push but....THERE WAS NO DOCTOR IN THE ROOM and was told that she had to wait. I whispered a little to loud, "WAIT? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ?"
The nurses were not kidding and a ugly look was shot my way by "Nurse Cratchit." (I christened the name to the nurse that told us grandparents that we were NOT allowed)
The doctor arrived a few minutes later....(now remember... I'm in the front row seat) Annie lifted her knees up to her chest to give the first push.....Kaylan had already crowned!
And 4 pushes (15minutes) later we were blessed with a beautiful little girl.

Grandma Dede had an experience of a life time. I was so honored and bless to witness such an awesome miracle.

GIRLFRIENDS FROM THE 60'S

Sue's Sweet 16 party is a sleep over with her posse. Sue is behind the birthday cake and Im the girl with the short blonde hair and those lovely plaid shorts. And of course, Most of us are barefooted... We are Montana girls afterall!


When I was around 15 years old a new family moved into my neighborhood. Up until that time, I was the only girl living on Mount Ave (Target Range area) in Missoula, Montana. I was so happy that Sue Wallace moved next door. We became friends right away. She soon became my best friend. We did so much together. We slept at each others houses all the time. We talked on the phone for hours. I was a year older so I got my car first. With a car... we had so much more to do. We lived in a rural area and a car was a necessity and it was like a right of passage. The best part of our weekends was taking a car full of girls (4 in the car and 3 in the trunk) to the Go West Drive-In and flirting with all the boys or putting miles and miles on the car driving up and down Higgins Ave (the drag) flirting with the boys. We sneaked booze from our parents cabinets. I dont know why we picked the Everclear and Dry Vermouth? We also experimented with Winstons and would skinny dipped very late at night. I was honored to be a bridesmaid in her wedding and she was maid of honor in mine. We loved each others babies like they were are own. So many of my girlhood and young adult memories were made with my bestest girlfriend. Thank you Sue for moving into my neighborhood and thank you for the picture that brought up so many memories.

MONTANA WILL ALWAYS BE MY HOME

PLEASE ENJOY LOOKING INTO MY MONTANA VISIT. I MISS ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND WE HAVE MANY MANY LAUGHS EVERY TIME I COME HOME.
MONTANA WILL ALWAYS BE MY HOME!

My son Jim and his daughter Rylan.
Does a mom ever stop being amazed by their children? It makes a mama proud to watch his growth from boyhood to becoming a man. You can see the love and adoration in his eyes when he looks at his family.

MY BESTEST GIRL FRIEND.........SHERRY

We love each other as sisters would. We have a lifetime of history together. We went to highschool together, we both went to beauty school, we worked in the same salon for 3 years, we lived together and we PARTY'D HEARTY during our single life.Sherry even put up with the ugly bridesmaid dress I made her wear. We had the same circle of good friends Heck... We were the YA YA girls before the movie came out!

MY MOM AND DAD....GAIL AND CHRIS





MY MOM AND ME.

MY BROTHER STEVE. SOME PEOPLE CALL HIM "SKIP" and HE OWNS THE WAYSIDE BAR IN THE HUGE CITY OF TROUT CREEK, MONTANA. "THE WAYSIDE IS WAY FUN!"

MOM HAD A BIRTHDAY!

The little girl that makes my heart melt and brings tears of joy.

New Monkey Hat!














My BEAUTIFUL ANNIE. I hope my son realizes how lucky he is to have found a woman like Annie. She has a heart bigger than the Montana Sky. She is very patient and open minded for someone her age.She has a kind soul. All you have to do is look into her eyes and you will see it too. She is marvelous young woman. I am fortune and blessed to know her and call her my daughter.

SHE'S GIVING ME ANOTHER LITTLE BABY GIRL IN AUGUST.
TWO GRANDBABIES! I AM SO LUCKY.

RYLAN IS DANCING FOR GRANDMA. (see my feet?)

SHE IS ALWAYS GOT THAT SMILE!

CeCe is my "other" Mom and Tommy her son and Jimmy's Uncle. I have so many LifeTime friends in Montana. You can never have too many friends.

Something New...NEEDLE FELTING

I am trying my hand at Needle Felting. I have bought and horded many fibers for 2 years now. I think its time to try it. I have finished a few postcards for a swap in my postcard group, PostCardMailArt. I am a little anxious about sharing my work.... ITS NOT THAT GREAT,. :( I will get better! I did enjoy creating them. The alpaca fur feels great between the fingers.

ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

OUR DAUGHTER IS ENGAGED.
Brittney Aynessazian and Mike Kropp
just announced their engagement!

My Grand daughter is VERY FLEXABLE

Is she hungry or just limbering up?

GARDEN PARTY POSTCARDS

My yahoo postcard group had a swap called "Crazy Flowers." I am so ready for flowers in my yard. As I was working on these, I ran across the bag of google eyes. I couldn't help it... I HAD to add them.
If you would like to join my postcard group, look on the homepage of my blog. The address is right there. The group is called POSTCARDMAILART. We are part of yahoo. We love having artists join us in our swapping fun.
You can pick the swaps you want to join. You have the choice to join 1 swap or 10. Its pretty fun to receive these little works of art in the mail.



I am SO ready for Spring. How about You?

APRIL FOOL'S IS MY BIRTHDAY

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!
Juanita is my GIRL. She is the BESTEST!

Denise and her pretty granddaughter, Dahlia. Whip cream was Dahlia's favorite part of lunch.

The people at work, Quilter's Heaven had a party for me. Can you tell we kinda like each other?
I dared Sue to stick her tongue out!


THIS IS ME...SUCKING UP TO THE BOSS, Maureen.

My mini Bee had a great lunch party for me. They are such awsome woman that have taught me so much about the art of quilting. Each woman has their own skills and are always eager to help me out of a problem.
Jean the Wholesaler

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED THE DAY I WAS BORN. APRIL 1st IS A GREAT DAY. WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL NO ONE BELIEVED ME WHEN I TOLD THEM IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY. THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME WHEN I TOLD THEM I WAS BORN IN HAWAII EITHER, SO MAYBE IT WAS JUST A LITTLE KID THING.? or... IS IT AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE?

Janet the Instructor
Debbie the Longarmer
Carol, the lady who will try ANYTHING (shhhhh Shes from New York)
Bev is our Queen Bee

We had 80 degree weather in Chitown for my birthday.
My son in Montana called me on my birthday.
My brother wrote about me on his facebook page on my birthday.
My mom called and reminisced about my birth (for the 56th time) on my birthday.
(I was breech and suppose to be a boy named Stevie. April Fool's Mom!)
I was honored by friends that love me enough to go out of their way to give me parties for my birthday.
I had an exceptional dinner on my birthday.
My step kids came to see me on my birthday.
I talked to my 1 year old granddaughter on the phone on my birthday. (Her favorite word is "WOW" )
I live with a man that adores me and shows me everyday how much he loves me... not just on my birthday but everyday!
Life is Great and I am a happy 56 year old woman. I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY.