It begins with a good photo and self confidence. That’s it!

You don’t even have to know how to draw! The computer does most of the work for you!

I’ll show you through videos just how to make the patterns. You can pause the videos and work along. Stop and start as many times as you wish. You will use your own favorite photos for the class, so search for your favorites and sign up for the new class beginning Sept. 4, 2010. Each Saturday following the 4th I will put up new information (at 10 am central time) and your assignment for the week.

You do not need to be present at any specific time, you can work at 3 am if it suits you.

There is still time to register and enroll in the class! Come on! Treat Yourself!

Learn more about the class!

Marguerita and Judy invited me to join them in their adventure, and I’m inviting you!

It was an opportunity to participate in a fund raiser for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October! Now, we are offering it to you!! Gather your friends together, your quilt guild, or your online groups to make  “Busty Cups”. Then, donate all the proceeds to Breast Cancer Awareness! How fun is that!!

We are all at risk, and why not help research to find a cure. You can do it!

I, like you, had no idea what a busty cup was until Marguerita shared some photos of her designs and how she and Judy came to think up the cute cup wrappers and how they would use them to raise money for cancer research. I took the challenge of the busty cups in a slightly different direction. To see where I went with the idea…watch the videos below!

We made the videos and put them up on YouTube to help promote cancer awareness. No need to go to YouTube though, just click on them at the bottom of this post.

I hope you’ll watch and be inspired to not only make your own busty cups, but to encourage your favorite group to participate. There is still time to make them before October.

We certainly understand the serious nature of breast cancer and don’t intend to disrespect anyone with the disease or a family member with cancer. The videos and the busty cups are designed as a way to bring the disease to light and help eradicate it.

Let your imagination soar and create the cutest cup warmers around! Marguerita’s and Judy’s spectacular creations are on their blogs, Marguerita McManus and Judy  Wedemeyer.  To read about the history of busty cups and download the free patterns complete with instructions, visit www.loosefibers.com

To download the free Rocky Rib Knit pattern/instructions and t-shirt transfer design, just click Rocky. I’ll also add it to my free patterns at patterns2quilt.com.

Make a bunch! Enjoy the fun! Help a cause!

The first video we made is a lighthearted take on the busty cups on the designer’s runway. It is flashy and meant to encourage you to make your own.

We wanted to make the  second video a heartwarming one, meant to inspire and uplift you. Please watch both and help with the cause!

Did you ever watch the Griswold Christmas or Griswold Family Vacation? The movie hasn’t yet been made for Griswold Family Ranching, but it could very easily star my family. My daughter coined the phrase yesterday after we spent hours trying to catch two young calves with freedom on their minds.

It is best to keep new calves to the property pinned up for a few days before they are allowed to roam the pastures because they need time to acclimate to their new surroundings. That makes sense, so we let the grass grow in the 8,000 sq. ft. garden and filled the trough with plenty of cool water. The temperature was over 102 yesterday when they arrived and we lost a few pounds of perspiration just opening gates and getting them from the trailer into the garden holding area, but they were safe.

Hmmm…in retrospect, I don’t think I should have referred to it as a “holding area”, because within twenty minutes one of them had jumped the fence and was looking for “Momma”. It certainly is a trying time for a calf to be separated from Momma and be dropped into a new area, so we were ready to give lots of TLC, but they weren’t quite on the same wavelength. I wanted to give them a little time to adjust to the garden and the temp to drop below 100, but NO, they didn’t want to wait!

The other one was looking for a spot to escape, but she stayed inside, and we were off trying to corral the jumper.

Hubby got into the pick up and I was on foot. Imagine this young calf (about 6 months old) frantically trying to find Momma in a huge field. Now imagine this…two old fogies trying to catch the calf in a huge field. It was not a pretty sight!

After multiple efforts, we decided to wait for backups to arrive. While waiting, one of the grandchildren decided he could offer them food and they would follow him. Not so! The jumper proved she is ready to set the world record and bolted over the fence onto the road. After driving up and down the road looking for her for quite a while, I glanced into the pasture across the road and sure enough, she had jumped that fence and was in the field with someone else’s cows. What a mess!

In all this confusion, the second cow jumped a fence to get out of the garden and she was running the fence line to find her partner in crime! Naturally, we then set out to get her back inside the garden. To make a long story short…she jumped the fence onto the road. Back into the cars and trucks. Four of us trying to get the vehicles positioned to capture her, but she then jumped a different fence onto another area of the neighbor’s pasture.

Today is a new day. They are both together in the neighbor’s gigantic pasture and the Griswold Ranchers will try again.

The neighbor was so great. He got quite a few of his cows (huge herd) to go into a pen and those two rascals of ours went with them. Then it was just a matter of opening and closing gates to direct them into the back of our trailer.

We fixed up every fence we could think of in their line of sight. Bought sweet feed and put it around in different areas of the garden (to keep them interested). I gave them some feed while they were still in the trailer and I don’t think they knew what it was…they sniffed, but didn’t eat for a while. This stuff smells really good! Molasses and corn and whatever else is in it must taste great.

We’ve crossed our fingers and hope they like us and the donkeys enough to hang around! Stay tuned for Griswold’s Ranching II!

As I grow older the frequencies of momentary lapses of memory become more apparent to me. I believe they call them senior moments. This sometimes worries me: but now, I don’t remember why I worried. Maybe, I am catching the “old timer’s disease”. Which do I lose first long or short term memory or both? Are there any other symptoms?

In contrast to these symptoms another memory feeling I have been experiencing lately with substantial frequency is what I call “senior moments to remember”. On the contrary, this is not a lapse in memory. They are just the opposite of a lapse in memory. This is more than nostalgia. These moments are not confined to either long or short-term memory. These moments incompass the past as well as the present, and even the future. These moments are special. These are the moments to remember.

Everyone has those defining moments in the past, those cross roads, those significant moments that change your journey in life forever. For good and bad these moments will always be remembered. However, these are not my senior moments to remember.

Senior moments to remember by definition come with age, tenure, and maturity. These moments come from both the past as well as the present and yes even extend to the future. These are the things the Master Card and Visa cannot buy. They cannot be afforded even with a senior discount. They are priceless. These are both the moments you remember as well as those moments you make today and for tomorrow.

Typically, these moments are usually not monumental, earth shattering or even life changing. They are the things that happened at a time in the past that didn’t seem all that significant when it occurred. Nevertheless, they are genuine moments that evoke a smile, a laugh, or even a tear. Joy, happiness, and sadness make them all senior moments to remember.

One of the good things about senior moments to remember is that they are all spontaneous. You just never know when they will happen or when they will be made. You just recognize them by the fact they are all precious.

As I travel on life’s pathway
Know not what the years may hold
As I ponder hope grows fonder
Precious memories flood my soul
Precious memories, how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight

J. B. F. Wright, author-composer of “Precious Memories”

While it maybe a mystery when these moments may occur The fact remains that sight, sound, smell, and touch are the trigger mechanism that stir the emotion of the heart that make these senior moments precious. They are the legacy passed on by someone or an event in the past. As a father and grandfather I have come to the realization that I can create senior moments to remember not only for myself but also for the people I love and come in contact with every day.

I hope you have a senior moment today.

In this class you’ll learn to use software to create your own custom pattern for your portrait or pictorial quilt. Imagine that!
Your very own photo comes to life in fabric.

You don’t need to know how to use the software
because in the very first screen capture video
I’ll show you how to use the tools you’ll utilize to create the patterns.

After completing lesson one, a student currently taking the online class, has allowed me to use her email note:

“Hi, Loved the class. I learned more about Photoshop Elements from this one set of lessons than in the 2 years I have been using it.
Attached are my homework photos for Session One.” Dolores Williams

This is a four-week class complete with screen capture tutorial, handouts, and homework.
You don’t need to be on your computer at any specific time.

You may watch any or all of the videos from three choices of software. You may use Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or the FREE software, Gimp. Watch the video and pause it to work along, after you’ve completed an area, go back to the video and continue watching, it’s that easy. Or, watch the videos completely and then try it yourself. I’ve covered the same materials in each piece of software and in the videos; however, I may have explained it a little differently, so if you would like to watch any or all of the software videos, go for it.

If you use a PC and would like to use the free Gimp, go to: www.opensourcewindows.org.

If you use a MAC and would like to use the free Gimp, go to: www.opensourcemac.org.

The videos are QuickTime movies. If you can’t see the sample screencast tutorial, you’ll need to download the FREE software at:http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/. This link is software for both PC and MAC.

I’ll set up new session each Saturday at 10 am. You don’t need to be at your computer at any specific time. You work on the class any time, day or night. I’ve set up Sat. at 10 am so you’ll know when a new session is available.

To read a little more about the online classes go to: http://www.chiseledincloth.com/schoolhouse.htm

To register for the class, go to: http://www.chiseledincloth.com/contact.htm

For a sample screencast tutorial, go to: http://www.chiseledincloth.com/classpromo.htm

To watch some promo movies about the class, go to: http://www.chiseledincloth.com/videolibrary.htm

We’ll visit with one another via the class forum, chats, or emails. I’m always happy to answer questions.

Registration is now open! I will give you information on how to download the textbook via email.

Treat yourself to this fun class!

There’s just no way to beat fresh green beans, new potatoes, squash and tomatoes. Garden fresh and on the plate. Yum!

Of course, I want to have it a bit more personal, and because I’m an avid leaf peeper, I just can’t keep myself from putting those leaves into everything. I could tell you more about the channel, but I don’t want to spoil it; so by clicking on the YouTube logo you will be taken directly to my channel!

I didn’t make all the videos myself. Hubby makes some, I make some, and we work on some together. They are all quilt related and I think you’ll like them!

Oh by the way, the newest one in the list is a special thank you to Marguerita McManus. I’m certain those of you in the quilting community will know of Marguerita and all she does to help everyone. Oh, it’s not just about how to make a quilt with her, she’s going to help you with PR, marketing, videography, quilting, making sewing tables, and more!

Check out the thank you video to Marguerita and leave a comment on the channel so she can see you appreciate her too!