Meet Mickey Mouse!! Looks a bit like Steamboat Willie Mickey doesn't it. This guy is on a building downtown and has been there unknown amount of time. My DH is an ex-cop. When he first got on the force (back in the early 70's, like 71 I think) they sent him downtown and told him he couldn't come back to the station until he found Mickey Mouse. DH said he used to know how long he was there and maybe who painted him but doesn't remember. I think I will write the radio station and see if they can get some answers cuz now I am curious. When my oldest son was turning 16 we had a party (of course) and we put together a scavenger hunt (in cars) that eventually led him to my mom's house where we had a car for him for his present. We put Mickey Mouse on the hunt. It was great fun.
Mickey is at the top of a building in downtown Mansfield and you can only see him going east on Third St. I think he is pretty cool and unique and I hope they never paint over him.

Jan 2 Photo

My granddaughter and one of my dogs. Meet Amiah and Ernie. They seem pretty happy.

I have joined the group doing A Picture A Day for January 2009. I think that it is such a whimsical idea. They haven't emailed me back with acceptance, but I decided to do it anyway. The link is to the left. This is my picture for Jan 1. My ex-DIL bought me my first orchid for Mothers Day a couple of years ago. I was just extatic about this beautiful flower. She was my ex-DIL when she got this for me so that made it even more special. Anyway, having never owned an orchid I had no idea what the trick might be to make them bloom again. Still don't, so I guess this is just dumb luck. This is the 3rd time this orchid has bloomed for me and I just love it's color and am always in awe of nature's delicacy and perfection. Looking at things like this makes me feel God all around me in his exquisit creations. It touches my soul. Now, off to find a picture for the 2nd.

Okay, so I don't post often, but when I do, look out.

This is my latest fiasco, (I find that a better term than latest "work") This is Libelle, the dragonfly by Sherry Goshen. You can find her class here.

http://webstore.quiltropolis.net/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?Shopper_id=922212312342489222&Store_id=235&page_id=23&Item_ID=1365, I think this doll (Sherry's version) is fabulous. My SIL would love her. So, my mom bought me the class for my Christmas present and the plan was for me to make Libelle for my SIL for her Christmas present. So, I jumped in and got started. Sherry's class is great and so are her instructions. I am the problem. I got her to this stage, but cracked her poor face and she had cracks all over her body. I tried to photo the cracks but they didn't turn out too well. Sherry gave me some great advice on how I might fix the cracks which I haven't tried yet. I am debating about just starting over since her face is cracked too. I came home on the eve of Christmas eve, after taking Christmas Eve off from work in hopes I could finish her before Christmas and discovered all the cracking. I pretty much scrubbed her for Christmas but am looking forward to trying again. Learning new things is such fun, even when you screw it up. I gave my SIL a different doll and told her about all the drama and she was perfectly happy with her substitute. She is great. She always loves whatever I make for her and really values that it is hand made and not bought. Here is the one I gave her (the fairy) from a class by Paula Johnson and Emmet who I made for my mom. I told mom I got her a man for Christmas...one that doesn't talk back, but he does have a comb over, hair in his ears and skinny white legs with big feet. He is from a pattern by Plain Jane Dolls.

My niece got her hair cut and I have always asked her to save me some because it is a beautiful red color. Last summer she did give me an envelope with her hair. I was planning to use it on a fairy or something. About Halloween she asked me to make her a doll using her hair. Well, of course I will. I went on a search for which doll. She is a little beyond a "baby doll" and a little before an "art doll". This doll is from Judi Ward's Whatever, Whatever class. http://dollnetmarket.ivisions.com/product.php?productid=110&cat=13&page=1 I have to say that this doll is well worth the price of the class. She goes together beautifully, stands on her own, I just can't say enough good about it. Anyway, I have never worked with real hair before and had to weft it first. I found different instructions on the net. One way was to sew it and one way was to glue it. Glueing was easier, but it was pretty stiff on the glued ends. The 2 rows of hair above are the 2 techniques. The bottom one is sewn and the top one is glued. Then I followed instructions to put the hair on. That is the next couple of pictures. Yikes, talk about a bad hair day. What you see is how the hair sat on the head and it did not want to move. Course I glued it on and didn't sew it to the head. It is about 2 days before Christmas and I have no more hair and if I can't salvedge this hair then what is the point in the doll? I am fretting.....big time at this point. The hair is too short to really pull it up like the directions suggest in order to hide all the wefting, but in the end all turned out well. I took her to work and everyone went crazy over her. My niece just loved her. The only thing that might have been better, in my niece's eyes, would have been if she could play with her. I was pretty proud of her too. Did you check out those gorgeous feet? I did have to remake the skirt because since she stands rather knock kneeed and pidgeon toed it makes the back of the skirt kind of ride up and the first skirt was way too short. With that skirt, Whatever looked more like a floozy than a tween.

This is a quilt I made for my BF. She was living in GA and had no family except her DH. One day she was telling me that there are days she doesn't even speak till 4pm or later and that she does get really lonely since all their family and friends are here in Ohio. I felt so bad for her that I decided to make her a quilt. Something she could wrap around her whenever she felt like she needed a hug and know I was giving her one. She loves flowers and likes oriental so I thought this quilt fit perfectly. She was really happy with it and I wish I had made one for myself because on a dreary winter day those flowers are surely uplifting. She has moved back to Ohio now and DH is coming in February. I am so HAPPY. I missed them more than I ever could have known I would. YIPPEE 2009 is looking better already.

Well, here it is New Year's Eve and what do you suppose I am doing? BABYSITTING!!! I am, as I write, watching Horton sees a Who giving you some idea of how exciting this evening will be. DH is working till 10pm and very likely will get froze over to 3rd shift. My SIL, who always spends New Year's Eve with me worked 3rd shift last night and forgot to bother with sleeping today so she is sleeping instead of partying with me and my 3 year old GD and 8 month GS. My BF, who I just went to Georgia and picked up last week, went and got herself in a car accident yesterday (thankfully she is ok) but today is sore and bruised and not moving much. Sighhhhhhhh, so this must be a true sign that I am getting old....all alone with the babies on New Year's Eve. But hey, Horton is starting to look pretty interesting. I went to the video store and rented a bunch of "chic" flicks but they are so much more fun when you have at least 1 chic to watch them with. Kyleigh is just too young to get it. TeeHee.

I also knitted a scarf for a gift exchange at work, which I didn't remember to get a picture of. The recipient loved it tho. I think that about sums up all the stuff I worked on this year. Course, we aren't adding in any of the UFO's. I think I have 4 or 5 dolls in some stage of completion, several dolls with "stuff" gathered for them and so many patterns that I want to make. I started a cathedral window quilt. I am mixing machine & hand sewing on those. I'll post some pics of the progress on that next time. Speaking of patterns, I just have to put a plug in to go check out Shelley Hawkey. Her muse has been working overtime and I have been snapping up her new patterns as fast as she has been creating them. http://www.abracreations.net/

I am fairly happy to start a new year. This year has seen the loss of a dear friend, an old friend, a favorite aunt, and a niece. On the up side, I have wonderful grandchildren, my health and those closest to me and we are all working....at least so far. Here is to a peaceful and fullfilling year to come with as little heartache and as much joy as possible and the strength we all need to deal. God bless till next time.

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No Pictures, Just Talk

In an effort to continue with my blog, I am back. Since last post I did decide to switch to the 7-4 shift and I love it. Some days I stay and work 7-7. Last week I did that all 3 days. I figure my day is already pretty well shot so might as well go for 3, 12 hour days. I really want to go to AFIC in Columbus this year at the end of April and to take Natalie H's class on Doll Street. That is my plan and I am sticking to it!!

My DS significant other decided she didn't want to wait while he got a job and got settled so she moved here with their 2 children. There are 10 people living in my house, 6 adults and 4 children (3,2,6mo,5mo). Yippee skippee is about all I can say to that. 5 days at work is starting to look pretty good to me and I figure with winter coming and we are all cooped up together should be an even bigger adventure. The good news is that I have not given up my sewing room (said in a whisper so no one can hear), the bad news is.....who has any time to use it with all these people and kids here? Do you reckon those 4 kids could ever take a nap at the same time, want to eat.....at the same time, need diapers changed, baths at the same time. NOT Then add in adults who can't get along except maybe in hours, never days....week, whatever. And, do you all remember how wonderfully a 3 year old and a 2 year old play together with their toys? I feel like a referee most of the time. But, there is hope, I think, that my sewing machine will get used again soon. Oh, the other good news is they are all working except the oldest DD so just maybe there is a light at the end of this very long tunnel.

I have my newest traveling visitor, Varsha from Shashi in England. She is lovely and I hope to have a few pictures to share on the next post. I think I have her for 2 weeks and I hope to take her Amish Country to an awesome fabric store and I will post pics so you all can drool. There are some events going on this month that I hope to get to take her to. Next week I hope to take her to see some Clydesdale horses get shoed with a farrier (sp) friend that I met through my new job. I am taking DH too and he is really looking forward to seeing those horses up close and personal. They are at a place called Malabar Farm which Louis Bromfield owned and Bogie and Bacall were married there. One thing about this traveling doll group has made me realize how much we have here in this small town that I don't think about much because I live here.

As you can tell, I have been creatively stifled just because of lack of time. If I do run into some peace and quiet I just sit on the couch or the patio and revel in it. I have a wizard doll started that was for a challenge on one of my yahoo doll groups, but alas, he has a body and a head in this world, the rest of the poor fellow is still in my head. I have some things I made for my traveling dolls Sage and Ella Mae that I finished but cannot show till their mom's get them, and I have 2 more to finish for my next 2 visitors. I have a quilt cut out ready to sew up for a dear friend that moved to Atlanta, GA last year and I miss her dearly. We are still in touch but it is just not the same as going over to her house and visit. And, she was a great cook who often fed me since DH worked 2nd shift and I do not cook when he is working. Miss those home cooked meals too.

In the midst of all this my computer got a virus and Best Buy wanted $130 to fix it, mind you I was still under extended warranty..... what a waste. DD #1 managed to get me working again. Whew.

Well, guess I am done talking to myself today...all out there take care and God bless.

Pitiful Blogger

Ughhhhh. I am such a pitiful blogger. No posts since May!!! Lets play catch up. My DD moved home from Missouri and just got a job that she starts on Monday. DD #2 also just got a job and is living at home with the two babies. She also starts Monday. DS is moving home on Sunday and going to look for a job on Monday. Yikes. At least his significant other and their 2 kids are staying at home while DS finds a job and gets settled. Still a houseful and that makes for a zoo around here.

I got a job at the hospital in June, just office work, but it is a good place to work. This job started out M-F 3:30-8:30. Not the greatest schedule, but doable. Since then it has changed to M-T-W 11:30-8:30. Now that is a sweet schedule. 4 days a week off and I make as much as I did at my old job working 40 hours a week. Now, that is what I call a blessing. Things have a possiblity of changing again. I can work 7-4 M-T-W if I want, which, in my world is the best schedule. I like to get up in the morning, go to work and get my work day done. But, if I do that it will cost me about $120 a month in shift differential. Now I am torn and don't know what to do. I can live without the extra money, but to lose it just because of the different time of day I am working.....I don't know how smart that is. But, for me personally the hours are better at 7-4. Isn't it funny how when you get a job the money is all great and it is ENOUGH. Then maybe you work a little overtime, like I did last week. Those 16 extra hours were pretty nice on the paycheck and I still had my weekend off. I have visions of doll classes and doll conventions and, oh yeah, there is the scooter I want to buy and gee, if I just work a bit over I could have all those things. Next thing you know, you are back to just working for mo money. I am at a time in my life when I want to slow down, enjoy my family (even if it is really screwed up...I mean 3 kids from 26-32 back at home...that is screwed up), enjoy my grandchildren etc, etc. But, it is sooooooo easy to get sucked into that "if I work a bit over then .......... I have a couple of weeks to decide what I am going to do and it is all because I opened my big mouth and pointed out that they have 4.5 hours dead computer time by having me on the shift I am now. They could get more productivity for the same amount of hours by changing my schedule. THEN I realized what it was going to cost me. DUHHHHHHHH. So, I have been trying to adjust to some kind of schedule which is no easy feat when you have all these people moving home and you are trying to make room for them without giving up your sewing area and adjusting to working again. So there are my big excuses for being the "pitiful blogger".

I joined a group from doll street dreamers that made traveling dolls. Each person in the group made a doll complete with passport and journal to travel. The idea came from the cost of travel being so high that the dolls are traveling in our place. There are 48 in the group, I think. They broke us down into groups of 4 or 5 and we send the dolls RR style to each other. While we have a doll, we take her sight seeing and souvenier collecting for a week or two then send her to the next person on the list. This has been such great fun and everyone has given their dolls such personalities, you would think they are little people instead of just a doll. I am kind of hoping that after the 1st of the year they might mix up the trading partners and send them out again. My doll went to Shashi in England and Shashi has taken her to India. Wow. I live in Ohio and would be happy to go to Niagera Falls, let alone India. Since Shashi went to India, I have to girls visiting me right now. Well, I was trying to add pictures here, but it added them at the beginning of the post. Boo Hiss. The redheaded trollish looking lady is Izzie Sue and her moose Willie. She is in the garden waving goodbye to her fairy friends just before she left for England. The other is her close up. She keeps Willie with her at all times and if anyone gets "fresh" with her, and that is based on her definition of fresh, she is inclined to whack them with Willie. I have spoken to her about this behavior, but she just tells me to mind my own business. Same thing with her skirt. I told her she was too old to wear her skirt that short and she let me know that she was old enough to wear what she d___ well pleased. She can be quite a handful. She left out of here with no underwear but Shashi was kind enough to make her a pair of knickers that match her outfit so Izzie was happy with them, but then she was showing them off for pictures!! Shashi sent me pictures on the yahoo site of this latest behavior and I can't share them with you because I don't know how to get them from there to here. Oh, and Izzie is made from an Ute Vasina pattern. Thank you Ute.

Ok, the first picture is Sage (on the right) by Becki Proctor and Ella Mae (on the left) by Sue McFadden. This is a picture of them at our Ohio State Reformatory, which used to be a prison, but is now a historical site. Here the girls are posing behind bars...that will probably have their moms worried until I explain. The next picture is Sage, Ella Mae and Bear sitting with GD Kyleigh. The next picture is Sage and Ella Mae sitting with Gertie who sits on my mom's porch and keeps mom company when she sits there and watches the deer across the street. The last picture is of Sage and Ella Mae on the carousel horse at our carousel which was built in our downtown.

Well, guess that is all for today and hopefully, I will improve on my pitiful blogging in the future.