Welcome!

"Antique Quilts are hugs from the past" They are my passion, fact is I AM A QUILT-A-HOLIC AND PROUD OF IT. If you want to e-mail me it is quiltladyIII@aol.com and please do leave a comment. Also check out my Flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/delainegatelyquilts/

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Message received

I received this message with instructions to pass it on to eight people so I am sharing it with you.

"May today there be peace within.
May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.
May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are.
Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us."

Do you believe this verse? I believe for it to really work each one of us has to take it to heart and believe that we are Gods special gift to the world. Each one of us has gifts some more than others, those gifts are to share, they are our gifts to the world around us. Once we are no longer afraid to be who God made us, you will find a new freedom a new capacity to love, because we accept and love ourselves. I call this another truism, one of the simple truths about faith and the Lord's hand on our life... So the question is are you comfortable in your skin or do you spend you free thoughts sending negative messages to your physic slowly convincing your minds eye you are not good enough etc etc etc...There is no better time than now to turn that negative energy around and build your own self esteem. God has given us the power to change so use it, turn that negative boat around and seek a new direction seek self love the ripple effect will amaze you.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Yahoo for Kandace Carnahan


Photo by: Robin Pederson
Kandace has a wonderful eye and ability to put life into her quilts, I have admired her work for sometime, so when her quilt came up for auction at last years Quilt Festival for Breast cancer. I was the lucky bidder. The quilt has so much meaning because it represents celebrating passing the five-year mark. My husband had just accomplished that feat and it means a great deal to me...As I looked at the quilt I realized its message would be lost hanging in my house, I felt it represented joy and success and really needed to be shared; so I asked Susan Carter if she could arrange to have it hang in her Mammogram department at Gig Harbor's new Multicare facility, she jumped at the chance. She had also admired the quilt and felt it was a great idea. The powers that be at Multicare also loved the quilt but did not have the funds to frame it, to hang it properly, it had to be framed. Susan stepped in and voluntarily paid the price to have it framed; believe me it was a hefty amount. Once framed it looked wonderful . Seeing the quilt framed Multicare really loved it and felt that hanging it in the Oncology department would be a better venue because "sadly" it would be seen by more people. So that is the story of how Kandace's "quilt of joy" became a part of the Multicare's Oncology department. It hangs alone on a beautiful leather wall and really looks great. So Koodo's to Kandace and Susan for making a beautiful and encouraging statement about surviving cancer. More and more people are doing it and the joy one feels when that invisible line is crossed, words can not describe.
There will be a story about the quilt in Multicares newsletter so our Kandiae will soon become famous, well anyway she is as far as I am concerned, don't you agree?

Saturday, February 12, 2011

A couple more purses




These are two more I made with my new machine it is a lot of fun, however they may become very spendy, I have already broken 11 needles--They say (the sales person)I will get better with practice, they do not know me.

Grand-daughter under my roof

What a joy to have one of my 10 grand-daughters staying with us. Hailey is 9 going on 30 she is at times so grown up and other times just a little girl. She wants to learn everything, and she knows what she wants from her visit with us..."Peace and quiet", you see she has a high energy brother, and her life is full of commitments, her time is never her own, so when she is here she rests and futzes around with her favorite doll and watches Musicals. this time it is Oklahoma and she does not get dressed until noon or after, she is perfectly happy doing nothing...We love her and would like her to do more with us but, alas we also know she needs this down time. We have great conversations about science and her school studies.

Oh to be a little girl again, I was spoiled and disciplined, oops I forgot about my fathers wrath, oh my I would not like it when my father was upset with me. Oh yes I remember, I was a willful child, I got into a lot of trouble--My mother and father worked as a team, I did not get away with much, actually I do not think I got away with anything. Raising their child was foremost in their minds, it was a job they did in earnest; I am a better person because of their sacrifice. Look at me now a sweet old lady who is compulsive with additive tendency's and for some reason needs to write. My parents had a job to do, I loved and respected them for their integrity and determination; and the constant and unfailing love they "both" gave me. I have a fine husband and family, we have five children and twelve grandchildren. I thank my parents they led the way by example, they taught me the value of family. I was a lucky little girl.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

I have a new toy




My new toy is a Baby-lock Embellisher it is fun and makes my toying around much faster, it was made for wool, well if you know me, I have to do it different and so I tried it with silk and a underline of warm and natural. it seems to work only time will tell if the two purses I made will hold up under handling and movement. I just can not pass up a really good deal and this machine was half price and well, I was lead astray. I think I will have a great deal of satisfaction making and remaking material etc etc etc!
It was a really wet and dark day today, I spent my time cleaning out my closets, mainly because I went shopping and bought some new duds and my new strategy is, if I buy something I have to get rid of three of the same, well it did not take any time for me to fill five bags for Good Will, both Jerry and I had a lot of outfits we courted in oh so long ago, and out they went. I wonder how long it will take for my color coded shirts and pants to get mixed up. For now I know what I have to wear, I still have a lot of slips pretty ones in lovely colors, they remain even if I do not wear them much , they are just too pretty to discard and besides you may see one or two of them in a art project some time down the road. Now if I could just get the rest of the house in order I could sew every day and night....Jerry really likes a clean uncluttered house; at times it is just the way he likes it, but not as often as it used to be it seems creativity has taken over......Funny how doing mundane jobs help settle your spirit, when I have something on my mind a project helps to clear the air , with my first marriage I used to take out my frustrations weeding I weeded like crazy, I pretended I was pulling his hair and there were very few weeds in my garden; now mine is a happy garden with many weeds. I find mindless work allows your heart to settle and it is often a time to pray and seek insight into what is burdening your heart today was one of those day; the Lord and I got a lot accomplished, it was a good day.

I have a new machine to play with

This one is a real play thing it is a Baby Lock Embellishing-machine, strictly a play thing no threading the needles, they do not thread, it was designed for wool; of course I have already experimented on silk and warm and natural, it seems to work, I will have to play with it to see if using it holds up on a purse. I am testing to see if it will with stand the movement and handeling, time will tell. The machine is great very simple so easy to use it is like a toy. As you who know me I just can not use plain material I have to embellish it some way and this machine is going to make it so much easier I made two purses last night the pictures do not do them justice.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

How Beautiful this land we live in


We not only had sunshine but the sunsets this past week have been wonderful.
When they speak of "God's country" They have to be talking about the Pacific Northwest, Wow is the right statement to describe our evening sky. The sunny days have also been wonderful. It has been a little too cold to bare much skin to soak up those rays, I tried and yes it was way too cold, and the UV rays were hostel; did you know that not using sunglasses to protect your eyes can be a precursor to cataracts, I do now and I will try to do better, but oh my I love the sun. Being a California girl does have it's draw backs. Cataracts and brown/liver spots really do age you, so they tell me, so on with my sunscreen and glasses as we celebrate what little bits of sun we get.
The saying "grow old along with me, the best is yet to be" well I am not so sure. This week two dear ladies, quilting sisters are going through hard times. One Judy, has lost her husband in a fatal skiing accident, one of those freak events that no one can explain; he was doing what he loved best, a family day in the snow and suddenly he was gone. My heart goes out to her and their family she has a lonely walk ahead. She is a trooper, from what I hear she is holding up well under the circumstances and you can be sure her quilting friends will circle around her this coming year and help her in her widows walk, many of us are already there...
Then my dear friend and quilting sister Lynne, is struggling with heart trouble, they were to do a simple stint procedure's and it did not go well, now they are going to do surgery. They say we women have heart trouble more than men, and more women die then men because they are under/missed diagnosed...well I say ladies if you have symptoms do something about them, do not ignore them we are valuable to our families they need us so do not pooho the signs get checked. Lynne is a tiny little gal not over weight and always so careful about her health, now she is in God's hands and the surgeons are making plans. Please remember both of them in your prayers.
I also did a night in the hospital this week and I would not recommend it to anyone, I am doing follow up tests so enough said for now....Anyway what I am trying to say is life is a gift we do not know how much time we will have, or what will happen tomorrow so savor the time you have and love those around you. Nothing is worth the energy lost in conflict, I learned that lesson the hard way and believe me it is so true, loving and caring for each other is so much easier then stressing over the little things. We just do not know what tomorrow will bring. Remember to say I love you and give hugs....they are medicine for the soul . So hugs everyone, I love you.

Edmonds Ferry to Kingston

Edmonds Ferry to Kingston