Your Soulmate: A person with whom you have an immediate connection the moment you meet — a connection so strong that you are drawn to them in a way you have never experienced before. As this connection develops over time, you experience a love so deep, strong and complex, that you begin to doubt that you have ever truly loved anyone prior. Your soulmate understands and connects with you in every way and on every level, which brings a sense of peace, calmness and happiness when you are around them. And when you are not around them, you are all that much more aware of the harshness of life, and how bonding with another person in this way is the most significant and satisfying thing you will experience in your lifetime. You are also all that much aware of the beauty in life, because you have been given a great gift and will always be thankful.

I saw this on the internet and thought it sounds good -
wise words -

When you fall in love make sure it’s with somebody who treats you exactly how you deserve to be treated. Love somebody who wants to know everything about you, from your favorite color to your childhood memories to how you managed to survive all those years. Love somebody who can make you laugh. Love somebody who kisses your forehead. Love somebody who notices all of your flaws but chooses to see past them. Love somebody who listens to whatever is on your mind. Love somebody who always reminds you how blessed they are to have found you. Love somebody who protects you. Love somebody who you can’t stay mad at for more than an hour because you miss speaking to them. Love somebody who knows every freckle on your face, every stretch mark on your thighs, every scar and every tear. Love somebody who you can plan a future with. And most importantly, love somebody who makes you question why you were so afraid to fall in love in the first place. Don’t forget to make them feel loved in return.

Rosie the Riveter Day

Yesterday was one of those days that turned out to be more special than one could have expected.
I am a member of the International Questers, President of Sauk Trail #573.  Our chapter does volunteer work and provides Service hours to historical things and projects.
A couple of weeks ago one of our members read in the local paper that the Willow Run Airport was hosting an event to help raise funds for saving a museum about Rosie the Riveter and the strong female work force in the Bomber Plants during WW1.  Rosie was an iconic figure in the South East Michigan area, I don't know how far her fame stretches but it seems the poster of her with the arm raised and a fist is all over.

The plan was to have at least 250 woman dress as Rosie, wearing the Blue work shirt, work pants rolled up to reveal  red socks, black work shoes and the red and white (lipstick-pattern name) polka dot scarf and have a picture taken for the Guiness Book of Records.  Of our 25 members seven of us decided we would join in the effort to help meet the goal of 250 Rosies.
Hence came the day to go and sadly one of our members had to decline so we had six.  We did not have a clue what we had gotten ourselves in for.  As we arrived at Hangar one we were amazed to a large parking lot full of cars and "Rosie's" everywhere.  We walked toward the building and got in a long line of "Rosie's" waiting to be checked in.

There were Rosie's of all shapes, sizes and ages. It was very cold as we waited in that long line everyone guessing how many were there.

Once inside (where it was blessedly warm) we were inspected to make sure we had the right uniform.

We tucked our pant legs, rolled and twisted our scarves and piled on the rouge and lipstick in Rosie's honor

In the photo above there is Pam Chaffee, Kathy Johnson Bartshe, myself, Louise Rayburn, Peggy Fisher and Linda Trewin down front, all with our arms raised in Can Do fashion.

I think Kathy should have won the prize for best Rosie of the day

This gorgeous car was parked outside just for a back drop, we couldn't resist.

Kathy took the picture below to show how many Rosie's were lined up behind us.  I cropped the picture of me from this photo.

The entire process took about three hours. There were a total of 778 Rosie's, broke that record!

Twenty four "Original Rosie's" were on hand with family members.  The National Anthem was sung and then the crowd broke in to God Bless America, America the Beautiful, and Amazing Grace.

We are are now part of history and it feels good!  

I have never had so many cameras pointed at me in all my life, every where you looked there was a camera.

When it was all done we went to a local restaurant in costume, we were treated as honored guests by staff and customers alike.

A day to remember.

Spring? I wish.... work continues in the ''studio'

My YUCK corner is finally not yucky anymore.  With the addition of my $20 wooden file cabinet and a little chalk board and paint I am finally happy with the look and I have more storage.  Storage is a good thing and I can never have enough.  Drawers are my thing, small, medium, large, old, new, anywhere.

This shot is when I first put the file cabinet in place.  I decided the red book case just wasn't right.  I gave it a couple of layers of purple craft paint then sprayed it with same paint I used on the washer and dryer.  That was a bit too purple so did an over spray of metallic silver over lace on the side and silver on the edges, I love the way it brightens that corner and more storage.

From a 'distance', my dryer (on a wooden box so I don't have to bend over to fold clothes), the laundry sink, washer, my home made shelves and then the corner.  this once super messy space is now much more usable and comfortable place to work.

The wall behind the washer and dryer is coming together nicely.  I am loving the look of my recycled wall covering.  More on that another time. The antique crazy quilt on the work bench is another subject to share sometime soon.

Time to create something, maybe finish my daughters curtains.  I hope you enjoy your day.

Think Spring.

Estate Sale kinda day

I was looking for an Estate sale to go to today, why is it that the best ones I see are on the days when I have to be at work all day?
The only one I could find today was not far from home and in a warehouse, the ad said everything that was more than two weeks in the store was 75% off to make room for two new estates coming in.  Well, don't believe everything you read.  This was an overstuffed warehouse in an industrial park and there were no prices on anything so how do you know if it a reduced price?  Where will the new stuff go?  The prices were kind of high on most everything we asked about.  Maybe I will go back in a couple of weeks and ask for a price on the same things I asked about today.
I did purchase a few things, an old square tin for $3, a yard long picture of songbirds on a feeder for $8, a piece of vintage scarf fabric for $5, 8 Little Golden books for $5 and a really neat old wooden three drawer file cabinet for only $20.  
I really like the old tin but I think it may become part of the Quester raffle prize I was trying to put together.
The picture replaced a wooden shelf that I recently hung in my kitchen that just didn't fit the space.  I cleaned the picture and I like it a lot, now when there are no real birds in the yard at my feeders I can see a picture.
Not too sure what will happen to the fabric, it has a black background around the edges and paisleys (60's return) with an ivory center each square is about 12 inches and I got about three yards.
The little Golden Books fascinated me, my favorite is the Pokey Little Puppy that I read and re-read to my daughter (now 38) so many times that I could recite it backwards, I remember my Grandpa reading it to me.  The strangest thing about the little books is that I have never seen them before and the speaker for my Quester chapter meeting that was cancelled last week due to snow was going to speak about those books.  We have rescheduled the meeting for this Wednesday, I may stick the remaining 7 books in the raffle prize.  I plan to put a ribbon on the Pokey Little Puppy and put it with my Christmas ornaments.
More on the fabulous file cabinet later.  I just love it!  Can't believe the reasonable price she gave me for that, I didn't even quibble.
Quibble, great word, don't know where I pulled that from, not one of my normal words.

Signing off, I hope you have a lovely evening, come again soon.

SisterSusiesStuff

SisterSusiesStuff is my Etsy shop.  A few years ago I had an Etsy shop with a few friends, unfortunately that didn't last so I decided that since the Etsy shop was set up with my credit card and most of the items we had sold were mine that I would just change the name and start the account again.
I have been saving fabrics, costume jewelry, lace, paints, and just about anything else you can think of for a very long time.  The thought was that one day I would retire and would need something to do.
Last fall I went to a home that had the sewing and craft room of my dreams so I set my mind that I would do what I could with the space (es) that I had.  I have worked and worked to organize and make it pretty enough to want to spend time in what has now become my "studio" -  no longer my craft room.
I love to make things for people that I care about and give them little gifts for no reason.  That does take some time but I fear people get tired of my projects so I decided to try to sell some of my creations.  I like each one but can't possibly use everything.
I do not claim to be a perfect seamstress but I do the best I know how.  I love to create new items, I get bored when I have to follow rules and do things over and over.  That means that each thing I make is unique.  I rarely use a pattern and sometimes I agonize and loose sleep trying to figure out how to make something.

This bag was fun to make,I put the dark denim over the light denim and then just sewed a free form pattern over it with my zig zag stitch then cut the dark denim away.  Then I washed the bag a couple of times to get it to fray.  I used the inseam from a pair of jeans for the handle.

This is a cute little bag was made with a back pocket that I cut off a pair of jeans and lined it with a polka dot print and added a vintage button.  It is the perfect size for the necessities when running out for the day.  Great for travel, passport, phone, money.

I love this bag, it is big enough for carrying files for work, it has inside pockets and two pockets on the outside, one has a blue jean zipper.  It is lined with a very pretty cotton fabric that is red roses on a black background.

This little bag is made from a pair of little girls overalls.  The pocket and butterfly were the front of the yoke and the strap is the shoulder straps from the overalls.  It is one a denim that is darker than the pocket and has a blue flowered cotton lining.

I just love all of my creations. I wish I could just give them away but I am running out of people to give things to.  I hope someone will buy them sooner or later.

We are due to get up to ten inches of snow in the next twenty four hours, UGH!  I may find myself in the studio again tomorrow.

I hope you have a fun day.

Quester raffle project

I am a member of the Sauk Trail #573 Questers.  Questers is an International Organization that is primarily women from around the country and we are an antique study group and we work to help preserve the past for the future.  We are also a social group.  Out chapter meets in our homes, rotating each month.  Our main project is ongoing and is to help our local historical park, Greenmead Historical Park, Livonia, MI (find it on facebook).  We raise money to help make improvements, through the years we have paid to have wood graining done on the moldings in one of the historical homes, pre-Civil war.  We are currently waiting for word on whether our application for a grant from the State of Michigan Questers has been granted, with this money we hope to pay for reupholstering several pieces of furniture in the main house of the village.
Each month our chapter has a small raffle to add to our coffers.  We have to have matching funds for our grant.  I won the raffle last month so it is my responsibility to bring the raffle item this month.  We raised $29 last month and that is about $10 over the norm due to the fact that it was an awesome prize, a scarf from Cambodia, a valentine mug, chocolates, a cloth bag, a valentine dish, and a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream.
Now I have to have something ready by Wednesday.  Today I made a satin "ditty bag" with off white satin that I had bought years ago to make a wedding dress for my daughter and an antique doily.  I just love the bag and I am sure my friends will also but what can I put with it?  I found a small tin with a lid in the kitchen cabinet and filled it with some of my home made sea salt caramels and I put that in the bag but I need to come up with some thing else. I have a bottle of wine someone left here at Christmas, I may put that in the bag, I could add a couple of wine glasses. I have two more days to think.
Today I decided to let the house work go and spend the day in the sewing room.  I sewed a blanket that my sons mother in law started for the boys,  we will give that to them from both of us.  I made the "ditty bag" (I think it will make a good laundry bag for travel.) I made three more little aprons to put on my Etsy site (SisterSusiesStuff), I made a carry-all for a friend using the fabric left from the pillows that came with our couch and more of the satin and a picture of the Michigan map that has her deceased husbands sailboat on the front. (I can't wait to see her so I can give it to her.) and then I took some chair cushion covers that another friend had given to me and more of the satin and made a bag for that friend.  The chair cushions were just the cloth covers and when I took them apart I found that they had not been sewn but were hot glued!!  Too funny, I didn't know anyone did that.
I have collected a good amount of used blue jeans now and will start a new quilt soon.  The last one I made was a a scrap quilt with the frayed edges on one side, not sure I like that, I may tear it apart.

Thinking about taking the  squares apart and then put a channel of denim between the squares, I have washed it twice since this picture and it has shredded some but I still don't like it.  Too much work to just have it sit in a closet.  I think it will make a great blanket for football games.

Here is the "ditty bag", I will make more for my Etsy site

The blanket for my grandsons from his other "Nonny" and I

One of the sweet little aprons I made today, I just love this vintage cherry fabric.

Time to rest, I hope your day was a success also.

Getting Organized

It seems that my spare time when I want to create is used organizing my "studio".  I try to do some organizing and do some crafting each time I get to go downstairs.  Last weekend I thought I would spend some time sewing but found myself trying to fix my YUCK corner.  this project took on a life of it's own and is still not finished.  I ended up removing the old covering from my work bench and then spent time giving it many coats of paint  letting each coat dry between coats.  While all this painting was going on the rest of the space was turned into a real mess.
Here we are a week later and after a week of meetings, work, a day trip to Lansing, garden club, Flower deliveries, a sore back, car trouble, grandsons wrestling matches (City Champ in his weight class) and helping friends unpack the room does not look much different.
I did get down there tonight and was able to put away some of my supplies for the funeral flower project, I got a bunch of new to me vases from garden club, and put things back on the work bench.

Here is the newly refurbished work bench top.  As suggested in a blog by Sew Many Ways I tacked a yard stick to the edge of the bench, this should help when marking fabrics and stuff.  The candle stick lamp is something I bought a few years ago at a yard sale for $2, I just love it, my Mom had a lot of brass candle sticks so it reminds me of her.  I won the little witch at a Quester meeting in November just as I was beginning my craft room organization.  I love her little purple stand so she now has a permanent home.

These boxes were my Mom's, she was uber organized so I channel her as I work to get there.

This picture is not very good but you can see my purple washing machine, which I love.  The picture is meant to show my new wall covering.  I am a pastry chef and I work for a catering company at a huge facility, our basil comes in boxes with this silver bubble wrap and I had always wondered what I could do with it (it seemed too nice to throw out).  Our laundry room, my "studio", has poured cement walls and I wanted a unique covering - CHEAP- Voila!! I love silver and purple together so I took a piece of this bubble wrap and spread some tacky glue on it and then some spray glue that holds it in place until the tacky glue dries.  I love the look and I can put up a piece in no time whenever I get one.  It actually feels warm when touched and the bare wall sure did not.  I may splash it with purple paint after I have covered the walls completely.

Tomorrow is my day off and I have NO plans (as yet) so I hope to get some sewing done.  I have so many ideas and I need to get to them before they leave my brain.

Enjoy your day, make the most of it.

Flowers

Flowers, flowers, flowers...there were flowers every where and the house smelled wonderful.
The Garden Club that I belong to has a few funeral homes that call us when they have left over flowers.  I went to one yesterday and filled my trunk and back seat with many arrangements.  I brought them into my kitchen and then, because my back had gone out, I just left them.
This morning my back was better, not perfect but I can stand up straight, so started in on the flowers.  I start by taking all the roses out and they go into a glass vase.  Then I pull the longer stemmed carnations, sorting by color, then the mums, baby's breath, freesia, snapdragons, etc.  After the flowers have been pulled I remove almost all of the greens from the arrangements and toss it.  I save whatever I can of the oasis, some of the small baskets and oasis get made into smaller arrangements, some of the flowers are arranged in glass vases.  Our club collects vases at garage sales and flea markets and we have cards that were printed to show that the flowers are from the Livonia Garden Club.
After the work of making arrangements I have to decide where they are going.  This time I loaded the car with eight arrangements.  Three others went to elderly neighbors.  I also got a live plant arrangement that I will keep.  My first stop was to my local Verizon store where I do business, I gave the small red and white glass bowl to a nice young man that was just amazed.  Next I stopped at Petco where my dog has her hair done.  The lady behind the desk at the neighborhood elementary school squealed with delight and the lady at Sir Speedy Printing was very happy.  I just love the look on peoples faces when you are giving them something for nothing!  The donut shop where I order donuts and muffins for work was my next stop, they were in heavy production of Paczki for tomorrows Fat Tuesday and were thrilled with the large white and purple arrangement.  Then I was off to a meeting at our local historical village so the last arrangement of pink and white went to them.

Besides getting to make all these people happy I end up with free baskets, containers and oasis that I can use when (if) spring and summer come for the flowers in my gardens.  I was especially pleased to see the large purple container, I am quite sure I can find a use for that in the "studio".  I also picked up two arrangements that were on easels.  One of the easels is wood and the other is green metal with a hook.  These easels make great displays for things at our Christmas craft sale.  I think I may use a few around the garden this year with the bags of impatiens in them.

 then my silly took this "selfie" of me, I hate pictures of myself but thought I would share this one anyway.

I hope your day was equally as fun, I would love to hear about it.

Not working today so .........

A Friday not working.  This is a strange phenomenon for me and usually when I look at the Estate sales the best ones are on Friday or Saturday and I can't go.  Not an estate sale of interest to be found today or tomorrow.
Time to get to work on the "studio", in my glory trying to get as much done as I can.  The table that I worked on the other day is now dry and the lamp is ready to finish so I set that up, take some pictures and turn to the other side of the room and YUCK!!  Sure don't like the look of that so take everything down and out of that corner, this leads to more work.  Quite some time ago I laid floor tile on the cement floor but stopped at my work bench because of the feet (2x4's) thinking I would have my husband help me move it to finish.  Flash forward to present and it still had not been done.  Today is the day.
I cleaned the floor in the storage corner and laid the tile.  Now the walls look awful, I find a gallon of paint, stir it up and paint away.  I move the work bench myself and finish the tile.  What a mess I have created on my beautiful table and new rug.  I decide to throw away the covering that has been on my work bench for ten plus years as it has seen better days.  Raw plywood is not really a good look or a good work surface so I paint that too.  Now I have to paint behind the dryer on the other end of the room.  I have pushed the work bench closer to the corner making more room on the other end of the room so now what do I do with the stuff that was in that corner?  Think about it tomorrow since it is another day off from work.
I sure hope I get this room done one day soon so I can actually do the crafts that the room is meant to be used for.  It will be organized come hell or high water.

I love how the table came out, now to do something with the chairs. 

I love the big old plaster lamp.  Purchased at an auction for $2 several years ago, it was painted green and was used on my patio for evening light for the last few years.  The lamp shade still has the covering that matches the patio furniture, I will change it out eventually.

The YUCK corner before and the work bench .

I started this fun project the other day.  I bring a few of my projects home from my job from time to time.  My assistant threw away these maraschino cherry jars and I fished them out of the trash, I can never have too many jars.  We needed a container for the dogs treats.

I taped off an area on each jar for a chalkboard space, the first one I sprayed with chalkboard paint but quickly determined this was not working.  I then sprayed the space with primer. My husband is getting used to the smell of spray paint in the house.  I then did three coats of chalkboard paint, and used a glitter glue to mark a design on the jars, I let the whole thing dry overnight.

I hammered down the edges of the tops so they will just fit onto the jars without being screwed on.  I lined each lid with a piece of scrap book paper glued in place.  I then used e6000 to attach a wood finial to the top of the lids.

The lids got several coats of primer spray paint and a couple of coats of silver metallic.

A few coats of lavender spray paint and we have a treat jar, much prettier than the greenie bag!

My chalk board paint did not survive the lavender paint but I remembered that some one had given me some chalk board sticky paper so I cut a piece and put it over the paint, looks pretty good to me.

I had the day off today so I decided to work on my "studio".  First I had to take my grandson to school, the dog to the groomers, the store for supplies, the printer to pick up an order then I could get to work.  I have so many projects going and ones I want to start that I had no idea what to do first.
I did a little spray painting on a couple of ongoing things that I am not sure will ever see the light of day.  that was disappointing so I decided to regroup.
I sanded the top of my work table, I always think these things will be quick and easy - not.  I hand sanded to get the paint and glue off and then used the electric sander to get it smooth.  This was a job and took more time than I wanted.  I had to go pick up the dog.  Back to sanding.  I got a coat of polyurethane on the top then put on the first of four coats of purple paint on the legs.
Another layer of spray paint on the first project, not looking too bad.
Back to the printer to pick up the brochures that weren't ready the first time.
Another layer of poly and paint on the table.
Off to the sewing room where I made three pot holders for work and sewed up two children's aprons for my Etsy shop. (SisterSusiesStuff).
Off again to take my daughter in law to the airport then home.  Another coat of poly and paint on the table, worked on sprucing up the table lamp for my work table.  Started to decoupage flower pictures on a pair of bi-fold doors that are used as a room divider.
The last layers of poly and paint on the table and laid the new rug into place.
I am not at all sure this room will ever be completely done.  I want it to be organized and pretty, my mind keeps coming up with new ideas.  Several of my friends want to see what I have done but I am sure it is only wonderful to me.

This "Studio" shares space with the laundry, sewing, spare kitchen and storage.  It is not huge but it is mine.

I have moved the sewing out of the room into the grandkids old play room and that gives me more craft space.  The forty drawer chest came from a feed store/old post office and has its original paint.  I struggle with whether to paint it or not.  I kind of like the patina but I think it would be great to have it match the rest of the room.  These pictures are from when I had just started to transform the room.  As I said it is a work in progress.

All things that glitter

Today I finished up an easy project to organize and decorate my craft "studio".  Some months ago I was lucky enough to see a fellow Quester's craft and sewing room.  Her studio inspired me so much that is was hard to leave, I wanted to move in.  Since that was not an option and seeing that she had a lot of the same things that I had been saving (hoarding) for many years I set out to create a special space for me.
I will share some of my changes to my space here in hopes of inspiring others.  Now that my space has been transformed, but not yet finished, I find it more enjoyable to go down and create/ work.
Organization is key, this is a rather new concept for me and one that I struggle with but I am trying very hard to bring more organization into all aspects of my life.
I love to go to Estate Sales and pick up the things people have left for the half price last days/hours.  At a sale last week everything was half off when I arrived.  In the kitchen I found an old dusty greasy spice rack hung above the sink with spices that had to be thirty years old.  The price was $2 but for me that meant $1.  I figured the jars alone were worth $1 so I bought it not knowing what would become of it.
I am a pastry chef and I love to cook but those spices and herbs were not for me.  First order of business was to dump the contents, I then loaded the jars, lids and the shaker caps into the dish washer.
The wooden rack was taken to the "studio" and spray painted with primer then two coats of my favorite purple paint.  It splashed a bit of a second purple.
It did not occur to me to blog about this creation since blogging is new to me so my pictures start after the painting is done.
When I was starting my craft room redo I put all of my glitter into an old drawer where for the first time it was all in the same place.  Handy but nothing to look at so how about if the glitter were displayed in an easy to reach space?

Above is the rack after it was painted, I hung it on a purple bi-fold door that I use as a room divider.

Below is my glitter collection in its old home.  When I go to Estate sales I look for bargains and also craft sales, many of the glitters that I have came from those sales so I have many different kinds.

Using a piece of paper to catch the glitter that doesn't make it into the bottles as drop cloth I folded and taped a second piece of paper to use as a funnel to put the glitter into the spice jars.

Here are two different types of gold glitter, one square, one round.  The round one is from Frank's Nursery and Crafts, a store in the Detroit area that went out of business ten years ago.

Here is my finished glitter rack!!  I am very pleased with the results of this project. I put my glitter glues on the rack since they fit but I still have more jars to fill if I get more glitter colors.

One day I will post my favorite glitter project but for now it is put away with my Christmas decorations.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you will come again as I have more to share.

Here we go....

So excited to finally have a blog name!  I wanted SisterSusiesStuff to match my Etsy shop but it was taken. :(
Oh well, I love lavender and I live in Livonia but a lady I am not.
I am much too casual and laid back to ever be considered a lady.  Not that there is anything wrong with being a lady, my grandmother was a lady.  She always wore a dress, her jewelry always matched her outfit, she held her posture straight, spoke with good grammar, kept a clean well decorated home and was very kind to everyone.  None of that would be used to describe me.
Anyway, as I said I am glad to finally have name so I can get started, a little late to the party but here none the less.
I do have another blog of sorts started when my mother was ill but that is about sickness and dying.  This blog is meant to be for fun and my many adventures in crafting, sewing and my many other crazy activities.