Almost Wordless Wednesday

Optimism is the foundation of courage.  ~Nicholas Murray Butler

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. ~Anais Nin

Tuesday Thoughts to Ponder... 3/30

Something for you to think about today.....

If the World Were a Village of 100 People

Makes Me Happy Monday 3/29

"Leaders are more powerful role models 

when they learn than 

when they teach" ~.Rosabeth Moss Kantor

It makes me happy to be back in school, taking classes. I haven't been out of school that long but I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.... meeting the other students, and sharing experiences and ideas... it nourishes the geek in my soul......

"A mind once stretched by a new idea 

never regains its original dimensions." ~ Anonymous 

"Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, 
for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them." 
~ Henry Steele Commager


And if you have made it this far.... a little chuckle for your Monday....

"No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch." ~ Leo Dworken

Sunday Sewing

Happy Palm Sunday everyone.... hard to believe Easter is next week already.... I heard we may hit 80 degrees for Easter Sunday... that is just crazy for New England!

Got pinwheels #6 done today.. and took a pic of all them together... can't wait to see how this quilt will turn out. Only 2 more weeks to go.
I love this Verna fabric!

They look a little washed out in the picture.... but this fabric is SO pretty.

Have a great week!

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
John, Chapter 14:27

The Next Step in My Journey

powerlinerflyers from wes johnson on Vimeo.





Today is my first day of graduate school and I feel like I have these birds in my stomach!!

Just have to remind myself to BREATHE!

Good Eggs and Other fun

The Good Egg Give away Has started!! So get blog hopping and win something fun!! There are over 30 blogs participating and lots of fun prizes!

This lovely bun is celebrating a birthday, and there is a giveaway going on in her honor! Visit Beads for Rabbit Liza for your chance to win.

And you can enter to win this beautiful quilt!! The colors are SO gorgeous!








And visit Fall Harvest for a chance to win this adorable kitty theme giveaway! (Purrfect for me!)

More Tuesday Tidbits

Have you checked out this great website? Quilt Qua (their definition of qua: In the character of or capacity of)


They are hosting a give away of this gorgeous fabric. They also have numerous resources for quilters available on their website.

One of my quilt pics is in the show and tell section! (Flower Power) All you have to do is upload yours....sure is fun to see it hanging out over there!



Are you left brained or right brained?? Take this quick quiz to find out.... I wasn't too surprised by my results! I do tend to be more left-brain-ish... (although some psychologists believe that the idea of right brain/left brain people is a myth, there does seem to be some truth to it, at least with me!) More info here

My quiz results:

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (30%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (72%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Try This

Makes Me Happy Monday 3/22

Hello Monday???

Anyone home?? A little package came today, all the way from England!


It is my OWOH gift from Zoe at Top Floor Treasures!!

My gift was this beautiful bag, which will be perfect now that spring weather is finally here.

BUT Zoe added some special gifts, made with her own little hands, even though she is busy planning her own wedding!


Look at those adorable kitties.... they are magnets!! And they are already living happily on my fridge. And that beautiful OWOH Heart is hanging right near my computer so I can see it every day.

Some postcards from England.....

Look at those happy kitty faces :)

And the beautiful fabric in my new bag!!







Thank you Zoe, for making my Monday especially happy this week!

Sunday Sewing 3/21

Latest update on my sew alongs......

Pinwheels from ps i quilt:

Only 3 more weeks and then all of our blocks will be done!

Moose on the Porch Quilts Jelly Roll Sew Along block 2:

And now I would really like to sew some more,

but I have to do some reading in this book for school............

Enjoy your day!

Happy Days

Happy National Quilting Day!!

March 20th has been designated National Quilting Day!

From the National Quilting Association:

"The National Quilting Association has designed this free pattern for your group or guild as you celebrate National Quilting Day, March 20, 2010. Let's not forget the tradition to use up what we have on hand. So with this in mind, gather up your scraps, grab all those funky yellows, bits of brown and pieces of anything. Use what you have, even if it means making a purple tree with yellow bows! Be creative!
Here are ways to give your quilt:

• VA hospitals — they would make great lap quilts.
   
• If a military base is nearby, contact the social services there to see where to give the quilts.
   
• The quilt would be a great gift to the family of a soldier serving overseas. A child might like one on the bedroom wall while waiting for Mommy or Daddy to come home.
   
• Contact local churches to see who in the congregation might be serving in the war zone and give a quilt to the family through the church. Or give it to the church to hang in their parish hall to remind everyone they have a member serving overseas"

Free Pattern Download Here

AND Happy Spring Everyone!! Happy Fall to my friends in the southern hemisphere!! I think we are all happy to see the harsh winter/summer behind us and milder days ahead!

HAVE FUN!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

“May God grant you always...A sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you,

a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you. Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. 

And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.”

~ Irish Blessing

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
~Irish Blessing

TAG! You're It

Julie at Mooncat Farms tagged me.... so I get to share some photos.....

(yes, its a picture of cats, what else did you expect??)

This is a picture of two little kitties that I fostered a couple of years ago. They were semi-feral and would hiss, spit and bite if I tried to pick them up. I still have a slight scar on one of my fingers from a bite, and I would elicit all kinds of stares at work from the scratch marks up and down my arms! I had them for about 4 or 5 months and when they went to the shelter, they looked like this:

 I called this little tiger Bruno, because the shelter told me it was boy and he was a fighter! This is the little guy who bit my finger..... Turns out it was a girl!! Oh well....

This little sweetie was more calm and I called her Daisy. Look at the darker grey stripes on her tail! She also had some calico markings on her head and face.

When I brought them back to the shelter they were both pretty friendly and much sweeter and they were adopted by 2 different families within the week. I never knew who adopted them and I hope that they are happy in their new families. It was tough for me to give them up, but I already had a few cats and a wanted them to have their own special home.

Now for the fun!   I have to tag 5 people.....


Here are the rules:

Open your first photo file

Scroll to the 10th photo

Post the photo and tell the story behind it

Tag five more people.

My Tagged Are:




Teresa of All Things Vintage

Diane of Quilting is Blissful

Sherry of Shades of Blue

Pam of And So I Sew

Cindy of Sew Cindy

Have fun everyone!

Tuesday Thoughts to Ponder...3/16

I signed up for these "Weekly Powerful Questions" forever ago.... not sure how I even found out about it originally. It is almost eerie how most weeks they prove to be just the "right" question for me at the time...

The question this week is about change, but it is very open-ended....  What needs to change?  Do I need to change my thinking? My job? Should I change my mind (again) about what new career to pursue? Is it time to change my address and give up the empty nest all together? (see what I mean about open-ended and getting me thinking?)

I talked last week about possible changes in my career and how I have a mixture of excitement and fear in my gut. While some people thrive on change and live for the thrill of the unknown adventure in their lives, the majority of us want the opposite. We want the comfy slippers and ragged robe, we love our favorite sweater that fits in all the right places, and we like knowing where we are going when our feet hit the floor in the morning.
Especially in this economy, changing jobs can be a scary proposition....

So this was my very timely, powerful question for the week:

Your Weekly Powerful Question For the week of March 15, 2010

What Needs to Change?

 

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; 

for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves;

we must die to one life before we can enter another."  ~Anatole France

Could this be why I fear change? The feeling of loss that sometimes can accompany changes?

"I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, 

but I think I must have been changed several times since then."

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 Maybe I am worried that I will change so much I won't recognize myself.....

 

Or maybe I will just keep on pondering, but go with the flow of change that is inevitable.....

"Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change,

but pretty soon...everything's different."

       - Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes

Makes Me Happy Monday 3/15

What makes me happy today??

I am baby-sitting my daughter's dog Wylee this week 

while she and her boyfriend are in ARUBA!

Doesn't she look comfy?

Happy Pi Day!!

Celebrate Pi Day!

Pi, Greek letter (), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.
Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th.

Pi = 3.1415926535…

With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational and transcendental number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating.
The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737.

You can buy Pi stuff.....

Or watch a Pi video:

You could even have a piece of pie!!

(ok, couldn't resist!)

Hope you all had a great day..... I made my weekly pinwheels for the sew along, but otherwise didn't do much. Another howling wind and rain storm here in New England. I guess I should be happy it's not snow!

Words of Inspiration

During my divorce (6 years ago already!) I went through a very blue period. One way I found to help me focus on positive thoughts and thinking was to put up inspirational signs throughout my home. In this way I was visually reminding myself that things were okay, and that I was okay.

These signs are still in my home now, in spots where I can look and reflect on them daily. I think we all need reminders of our strength and courage.

This was the first sign I found and put up:

(Yes, there were many days that I had to remind myself to breathe!)

I put this poster up in my bedroom so I could see it everyday when I woke up.

Peace: My path is one of harmony and tranquility

A reminder of the strength within

Words to live by

Make the best of each day



And the latest addition to my inspirational art
to reflect my letting go of the past and
opening my heart to new horizons:
By Rachel Awes

"As she grew older, she cleared out more clutter

and made room for matters of the heart"

Now I just have to get the right frame for it and decide where to hang it!

How about you? Do you have any visual inspirations in your home that empower you?