Blocking out the cold!

Wayne and I worked on this project together. He cut the insulation board for the 2 trapezoid windows and I wrapped the material around them. It really looks pretty good and you can't beat the price as we only needed to buy 1 board which costs $10 and I had all of the material. The boards just sit in the window sill, so for now we will be saving the cold from coming in and in the heat of summer, the sun was blinding us.

More sewing projects!

The woman who adopted my brother's cat had this sweet angel at her house and I told her that she needed some hair and that I would fix her. So I brought her home and gave her some cute braids, a little make-up and added some ribbons and lace to her outfit. I'm sure that Charlotte will be pleased. The second photo shows the angel before her make-over!

Here is another sewing project that my friend Jennifer gave to me. I added the black fake fur onto this jacket/sweatshirt. She was very happy when she saw the finished product.

My recent sewing projects

Now that I am retired (I can hardly believe it)! I am enjoying so many new and exciting things and also spending time on things that I have always loved to do. One of my loves is to sew and I am trying to re-cycle a lot of the things that I sew, for example - I made cute yoga mat bags that I made from old denim jeans.

Here is a sewing project that I did for a friend of mine. She wanted the large collar taken off of this coat. On the left is the jacket with the collar removed and the right shows the original coat. I redesigned 2 of her coats this way.

Birthday!

This weekend I had a wonderful birthday celebration! Wayne planned a birthday day for me - we went to the Traverse City State Theatre, cocktails at the casino in Traverse City, and lovely dinner at Boone's restaurant by Interlochen. We enjoyed the State Theatre, it is remodeled and was a delight to see.

Last week Caitlin gave me a wonderful gift for my birthday that she had made. She painted this wonderful wooden shadow-box horse! It is beautiful, she did such a great job! She explained what "paint by number" means and she told me all about how she made this gift and how "Dad helped with the gluing part". I told her how much I loved it and asked her what I should name the horse and she promptly replied "Gallop, because horses love to gallop". So, I have Gallop in our bedroom on our book shelves so I can see it every day. The art work is also from Caitlin, it is a very special birthday card that I have on my refrigerator.

I received a lot of birthday cards and especially wonderful one from Rebecca, Don and Jacob. It's the kind of card that brings tears to your eyes - a truly lovely gift that I will keep in my memory box.

Thank you all for your well wishes! I am looking forward to (another) wonderful year!!

Christmas in South Carolina

Wayne and I had a wonderful Christmas with Don, Rebecca and Jacob. The journey started with a long drive to South Carolina - a 12 hour drive that turned into a 14+ drive due to a "100 mile" detour due to a rock slide on I-40. But, we had a wonderful time. The trip home was also a long one - 16 hours due to bad weather in Ohio and Michigan.

Christmas Stockings and visiting Jessica & John

This Christmas I sewed Christmas stockings for everyone. The first stockings were for Rebecca, Don and Jacob. Here is a photo and other holiday photos for you to enjoy! The last photo of stockings were for John, Jessica,Caitlin,Ryan and Nora (I did not have time to embroider their names - a project for next Christmas!)

Photos taken in December

Ryan waving a shy hi
Cute little Miss Nora

Jacob having fun - Enjoy

We drove to SC to spend Christmas with Don, Rebecca, and Jacob - what fun!! I took some photos and also shot my first video with my camera. Jacob was the main (and only star) - Enjoy!