Seamstress Joke

One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?' The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family. The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires.
'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked The seamstress replied, 'No.' The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies. 'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.' The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble. 'Is this your thimble ?' the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, 'Yes.' The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy. Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?' 'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!' The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. 'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked. 'Yes,' cried the seamstress. The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!' The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt. Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney. And so the Lord let her keep him. The moral of this story is:
Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it.
Signed, All Us Women

My Hummingbird Returned....

Yesterday, I was showing my friend my garden when I noticed hubby had taken down my hummingbird feeder so the rain would not wash out the hummingbird syrup. The rain has ceased for an hour, so I hung out the feeder again...and our friendly visitor hummed overhead within arm's reach almost immediately. I am sure she was cold from the rain therefore it was reassuring to see her visit for some energy food. A breath of summer...

I uploaded two photos of my feeder and morning glories last summer and am hoping these 'Heavenly Blue' morning glories will grow from seed again this summer. I noticed one sprouting out of my planter yesterday. Summer is almost magical time of year.

My First Attempt at needle tatting...what do you think?

Finally I had a chance to upload this photo of my very first attempt at needle tatting. I really need lots of practice as it is difficult to achieve even tension. My friendly ladies at etatters.com are helping me with this.

My friend sent me the address to a beautiful site...excactly what I needed to make me feel better. How softly my garden 'whispers' to me.
http://www.thepastwhispers.com/My_Friend.html
My garden is drenched today from the rain, but the moisture is needed.
Thought from above web site:
When you try your best, but you don't succeed,
When you get what you want, but not what you need,
And the tears come streaming down your face,
When you lose something you can't replace,
Lights will guide you home,
And I will try to fix you.
My friend, I will try to fix you.

-- "Fix You" from the CD "X & Y" by Coldplay

What to Blog

I was checking another blogger last evening and really enjoyed her creativity. I was intrigued by wonderful photos and her collection of quotes and inspirational little sayings. Please check out her blog: http://fourfiftythree.blogspot.com/
I had inserted another photo of one of my 'completed' WIP"S...hope you enjoy her as much as I enjoyed creating her. I wish i had a better camera to display the detail. My sister takes wonderful, CLEAR photos ...check out her dolls here:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Chosen-Treasures4u_dolls_W0QQftsZ2QQsaselZ3896012QQsofpZ0

My creation is a Drew doll, friend of Barbie and I crocheted the teal beaded and sequined dress from a Paradise doll pattern. I am sorry the embellishments do not display well. I have ordered four more patterns from Paradise so looks like I may be busy this summer. The theme for our Doll Show in October is Pedlar dolls so I am working on my entry...stay tuned.
I am also very excited as I 'think' I have taught myself how to needle tat and am picking up a book from library to help me out. I am quite pleased I found online instructions to needle tat much easier than the conventional shuttle method. After being inspired by some lovely tatting blog sites:
1.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbA8KLjRXUfZXNCMwhGkdl0uuGoxfvrcisahaJyYMpq4DCCl97yMwzGOUsEyZjq5E-xj-ZoQZOAFftlYos0qnhPk67DpGv3dwRhtF8qA2Z28BhNo5_r7-vFFPhJuk-VMRQpGKqL0Yuso1e/s1600-h/PumpkinJuiceHeartBl.jpg
2.
http://25motifchallenge.blogspot.com/index.html
Just checked the time and I must say 'ciao' for this morn as I have a hair appointment this morning. Going to USA this weekend and need a trim.

Have a wonderful day everyone. And remeber to say 'thanks' for all we are blessed with.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

FLAP YOUR WINGS AND SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP .

Thankful to be Stitching.

I just can't seem to get enough of this embellishing. I still have several seams and more embellishing to do. I want to paint my butterfly so it won't look so stark...I have never done this before and am hoping Michael's have the dyes I need. Would you believe I have redone this pink seam several times, (yes the frog was here and I ripped out the green leaves and beads...rippit...rippit..) I wonder if other stitchers do the same as me to learn by their mistakes.

After adding this button cluster last night, I think I will QUIT this WIP for a bit and take a break from this block. My work area was a mess...felt like my brain was scrambled! Hopefully I will be inspired later.

After stitching last night I checked out some of my 'dream' sites that inspire me so much:

http://honeybeesbliss.blogspot.com/

Honey Bee's Bliss blog and has thoroughly inspired me to try tatting AGAIN. Yes, I have a tatting shuttle and took one class, only to end up with some beautiful KNOTS! Isn't Honey Bee's tatted heart awesome? Check out her Bible cover. I vowed I would not start another project until these four crazy patch blocks were COMPLETE for 2008, but sometimes, one has to 'experiment' a little. Or is it called practice? If only my husband would be this understanding. Off he goes on his bicycle to join his senior 'Gray Hares' bicycle group. Ever since my last 'wipeout', my bike looks so pitiful hanging from the rafters in the garage.

However, I am driving across the city shortly for my craft day with three other ladies to see is they will motivate me. I will still be thankful that I can find such therapy in my stitching! After hearing the tragedy in Burma, we are so SO very VERY fortunate to be safe and alive. We take so many things for granted in our awesome country.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." Author: Melody Beattie

I had FUN embellishing my new blocks!

Once I started, there was no stopping me. The weather was too windy to go for a walk so I was happy to continue with my present WIP...and if one did not have to sleep I would still be stitching...lol. I will still be adding more beads, etc, but thought I would update you all. I know how I love checking other blog sites FREQUENTLY, so here goes my day number 2 results. Hopefully there will be more 'rainy' days this summer for me to complete. Have a HAPPY everyone!

Three more seam treatments from Pam's Ebook

I absolutely LOVE stitching these seam treatments from Pam Kellogg's ebook:

Elegant Crazy Quilt Seam Treatments Volume 1 EBOOK

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9421393

A complete guide to working Crazy Quilt seam treatments with waste canvas. Create perfectly spaced and sized stitches every time!

I actually sat outside in the sun and really enjoyed stitching these three seams. Lighting was perfect, hubby and puppy were very happy to be outside in the sunshine with me and I thoroughly enjoyed my day (especially when refreshments were served too)! Too bad I had to stop and do some errands. Have a happy day everyone. I can't wait to stitch another seam and complete this block.