Where do I go

Macro Monday is here: Macro Monday 2  Thank you once again for playing along with me through the years.

I am now here: Always in Stitches :)

I won't be posting here anymore but the blog will remain up for a while.

Changing Things Up

Important:  I will mostly be posting on Always in Stitches now.  Sharing Quilting, Knitting, etc.  But also my ramblings.  Less often I will be posting on The Trashy Turtle - it will be chronicling our experience building an earthship, we have just made an offer on a piece of land.

I started my blog March 2005 - the day we closed on a construction loan and broke ground. It was a place to share the house building process with our far away family. When I was diagnosed with cancer two weeks after moving into that house it was a place I ranted and cried through surgeries and chemo. My greatest support (outside of my husband) was the people I met through my blog - long before facebook. We went from a chaotic house with 5 teenagers to an empty nest through these years. We got our first, second, third, fourth and fifth grandchildren through these years. My blog helped find my husband's oldest daughter. It helped celebrate 5 years cancer-free, living longer than I "should" have.  But I've been winding it down and this blog is almost done. Lisa's Chaos, will be no more.

Facebook has changed the blogosphere.  I know I'm not alone in that feeling.  I miss the old days.  But just like real life, internet communication is always changing.  I don't blog near like I used to, but I update my facebook page pretty much every day.  I would be happy to have you as a facebook friend.

Thank you SO much for always being here for me!  Hope to continue to chat with you on facebook or either/both of the new blogs.

More Butterflies :0)

I have been very lax about sharing my other butterfly quilt blocks. Life has been busy and I've been having a hard time blogging. I've been a little sad as my grandchildren moved away - I miss them terribly! Husband has been trying to keep me busy and distracted from missing them but I've still lacked the motivation to do too much. The weather has been very weird, unusually warm, and pulling me outside. I had my check up with the oncologist and the xrays and blood looked good - still no recurrence. I've been feeling the urge to share more, and got tagged in a meme, so hopefully I'll find the motivation to actually build the posts. :0) How are you all?



Ida sent me a lovely swatch of checkered hearts - she must have know how I love hearts!  Thanx again Ida!  (PS, the butterflies do get appliquéd bodies - I think they'll look much better then.



Karmyn sent these fun prints!  (Sorry I guess the phone wiggled a bit as I snapped)  Meow!



Judy sent these wonderful fabrics!  Sorry again for my wiggle phone - I must have been more tired than I realized when I snapped these.

Thank you SO much ladies!  I am so excited to see this whole project come together!  I have some awesome friends who have helped bring it. :)

New Ornament SQUEAL!

I LOVE when the mail lady rings my bell! It means she has brought me something special! I was so happy Jenn offered to do an ornament swap this year and Southern Sass sent me an AWESOME ornament!!!

Let's check it out!

I love to just rip into the paper. I'm not a prissy-snip-the-tape wrapping saver, lol.

Oh my, I still can't see what's in there, can you?

It's SO perfectly magnificent! Believe! Indeed I do! THANK YOU SO SO SO VERY MUCH KIM!!! Hey, I just realized I didn't open the card yet - I better go back! :)

I've been grilled!

I almost forgot to tell you guys that I was grilled!  To check it out just pop over to Grandma's Briefs. :0)

Time for an update

Boy I'm really longing for warmer days right about now! We've been having colder than normal temps, but I think most of you guys have been too. Warmth cannot come soon enough. So I pulled this cutie from my archives. He's here to ask you all to please check the 'blogroll' link there on the left and make sure you're on it and that the info is correct. If you're not or I need to change things, please leave me the title you'd like, your url and the state or country you're blogging from.

And btw, we signed up for the weight race again this year, trying to finish off those extra pounds.  And to help encourage us we started a blog where we'll both post.  So, if you're interested in hearing about diet food and exercise and results you can find it at "No Weighting".

Thanx for being my bloggy friends! (((hugs)))

Thanx Amanda

I feel very honored to be Amanda's blog of the week! You can see the post here.

Thank you Betty!

I received this nice care package from Betty in Paraguay - from the Christmas Ornament Swap I hosted.  This wooden ornament is rather big, several inches tall and very pretty!

While this is technically a key chain I'm glad she included it and I hung it on my tree as well.  It seem rather fitting as we were in the US Philadelphia this year. lol

I love the colorful doily!  I have not yet decided where to put it but I have used it in the background of a few photos recently.  Love the happy colors!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BTW - if you participated but still have not received anything please let me know.  I don't want anyone being left out!

I'm a lucky girl!

I am such a lucky, lucky girl! My wonderful bloggy friend, Dani used her nimble fingers to work this fine thread into this lovely piece of art! Then she decided to give it away on her blog and when I thought her daughter did a wonderful job picking names, lol. :) Thank you so much Dani!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In August I signed up for Jan's Pay-it-forward. Then I promptly forgot about it.

One day in October, I received this magnificent quilt in the mail! Jan tells me that the fabric is called happy campers and as I was it the circles will fray, rag quilt-like. :)

As you can see, Tristan loves it! There's so much for him to see, so many little pictures in the fabrics used!

So, this is the day, I tell you, that it is my turn to Pay-it -forward.  If you're interested in receiving a little something made by me please let me know in comments.  The rules state that I have 365 days to complete said project and send it to you.  So you never know when you'll open your mailbox and see a little package from me, and you don't know what it'll be, because I don't even know yet, lol.   I didn't see anything in the rules about how many to do, so I'm going to say 2.  Two lucky(?) peeps will get something made by my hands. :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!  Have a wonderful family-filled day!

Meeting Jientje

Last Sunday, I met up with Jientje in Chicago.  She's been on a great adventure and I'm sure when she gets back home (Belgium) she'll tell us all about it.  But for a couple of hours we pointed our cameras at many beautiful things at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.  Here we are reflected in a garden sculpture.

And one of the greenhouses had these huge Christmas balls scattered about.

There we are - don't we look happy?!  It was so great meeting her!

Meeting bloggers

While in the Quad Cities last weekend I had the opportunity to break bread with Leanne and her family. It was great to finally meet in person! Leanne designed my blog and she's a great artist if you ever have need of one, check out her blog!

With all our online interaction it was like catching up with an old friend.

See, we aren't white trash after all.

This past week I also caught up with Kaytabug. We had met once before, but forgot to get a pic. This time we decided to wear our funny t-shirts. Her's reads "Not everything is flat in Kansas" and mine reads "I might be flat broke, but I'm not flat busted". Her blog is here.

Being zany,

We had to show we weren't flat, lol.

I LOVE meeting bloggers!!

Finding Mojo

I have occasion to spend time on the golf course. I'm not saying I have game, cuz I certainly do not.

However, I love shooting the golfers!

And what does it say, when my husband knows so much about my readers (and bloggers I read) that when he finds a golf ball with someone important on it, he brings it right home to me?

So ok, those photos were taken on the course back in June, and the ones below I took yesterday, after carrying the ball around (since May) in my purse!

Yeah, our yard is no green, but hey Mojo - we found your ball! {I soooo could have named this post something else!}

Would you like to have it back? ;0)

Mojo is a fantastic guy!  Always full of fun photos of just about anything you can think of - medical equipment, seashells, sunshine, buildings, you get the idea - he's a heck of guy, if you don't read him, why not?  Get over there, GO!

Why I Love Blogging

Note: Photostory Friday is the post below this one.

Blogging is an adaptable journey. I’ve been blogging now for four years, and while I’ve written a post before about why I blog, just like the rest of life and its various goals change with time, my blog and the reasons behind it also evolves. So, when Joy said she was having a blogging party, based on “Why I Love Blogging” I thought I would take the opportunity to explore my current reasons.

I started my little ole blog as a way to keep in touch with family across the miles. It has seen me through:

• Building a house my husband and sons (exhausting work)


• Getting diagnosed with cancer/going through chemo (a place to spill my fears & worries and find wonderful support)


• Children leaving the nest (only one left)


• My dry spell while I tried to decide what to say (I’m plenty loquacious now)


• The birth of my first grandchild (now I have three)


• Vacations, Travel and Family Craziness (with 6 kids there’s plenty)


• Starting a Photography Business (growing nicely)


• Weight loss and finding myself again (including cancer rechecks - still in remission!)

But where is it now? Why do I keep posting? Still a top reason for me is the bloganship here in bloggy land. I have met the best people, through comments, emails and reading their blogs - I feel like I have friends all over the world. And I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to meet a handful of them.

Another big reason I continue is that this is My world ~ Lisa Land. It sounds really funny to have that come out of me, because in life I am the type of person who just goes with the flow, I’m a follower, not a leader. But this is a place where I am Queen and can have things my way, and after all this time I feel pretty comfortable with that. If I feel like rambling on at length I can. If I don’t feel like talking I can just throw up a photo. If I need a sounding board I turn here. I find inspiration from my friends (yes, you!) and comfort. Blogging makes me feel a part of a huge family, no longer the lonely only child.

Even if you aren’t participating in the blog party I would love to hear why you blog. So, I ask you, why do you love blogging?

Jenner Fenner Mo Minner, Be By Bo Biner, Fe Fi Fo Finner ~ Jenner :)

Please give a warm welcome to this week's guest, Jenners of Life with a Little One & More.

When Lisa asked for guest posters, I was so excited! I had visions of a fun family project that involved my Little One and my photographer husband. Unfortunately, we could not come to a meeting of the minds about what to do for the post -- leading to marital discord and general disinterest from the Little One. (I exaggerate about the discord -- but only a little). So I decided to go it alone.

Then I came up with and scratched so many different ideas before deciding to just go with the simplest one, which is to share a little with you about my perennial garden and the visitors it attracts.

Before I continue, I must tell you I am NOT a gardener. My gardening experience before this one was a little vegetable garden (but that was primarily my husband's project; I was just the designated waterer.) But when we moved into our house, there was a perfect little space for a garden right by the entryway, and I thought I would try my hand at planting a garden. Being a bit lazy and having a black thumb, I did a little research and realized a perennial garden might be perfect for me as you didn't need to recreate it every year. So I bought a book and found a garden layout that seemed ideal for what I had in mind. The primary colors are yellow, purple and white.

The other considerations were what would work well in my neck of the woods -- New Jersey. I wanted a garden that would look good for spring, summer and fall. The plants work very well together -- as soon as one is done blooming, another takes its place on center stage. And when nothing is blooming, the plants with interesting leaves and shapes have a moment to shine. It has really been a surprise to me how much I love my little garden and how much it has thrived. So here is the story of my perennial garden and the visitors who "flock" to it!

This is what the garden looks like in May and June.

Come July, things start blooming like crazy.
One thing about perennials, they come back stronger and bigger every year, and I am constantly having to keep them under control.

Butterflies love to visit the garden...


and the place is always buzzing with bees.


The goldfinch in his bright summer colors is one of my favorite visitors. Nice to see him "dressed up" after his drab winter feathers!


But by far, our most favorite visitors are the hummingbirds!
The photo is a little grainy because they are so hard to capture in flight.


The scouts show up each year around May, and I get the feeders ready for them.
By June, we have at least 7 hummingbirds visiting our house all day long, every day.


We get so many, I put a window feeder out back on our kitchen window.
The hummies just fly right up. I love this photo because of the shadow on the house.


They've really gotten used to us and will flit around out heads when we sit out on the deck.

I'm anxiously awaiting their return this year. We are graced with their presence from May through September, and it is one of the best parts of living in our house!

Thank you, Lisa, for this opportunity to be a part of your amazing blog. Your photos blow me away every day, and I was so thrilled to be a small part of what you are doing at Lisa's Chaos.

Spending the day with Tracey at Nine Acres

My dear friend, Lisa, asked for people to volunteer to guest post on her blog. In a moment of insanity, I thought, "I could do that!" and volunteered. Only, I wasn't sure what to post so that I didn't disappoint and totally screw up her blog and make all of her readers run screaming in the opposite direction and never come back. After a couple of emails back and forth, Lisa finally took pity on me and told me she would like me to post about the area in which I live. Or my favorite hobby. Or photography. Or something about me and my life.

*sigh*

Thanks for narrowing it down for me, Lisa!

So, I decided to tell a little about all of those things, at the risk of boring all of you! Please don't blame Lisa, and please don't abandon her for my lack of charisma. Really, it isn't her fault.

My name is Tracey and my blogger home is Nine Acres. It's called that because 4 years ago my husband, two kids, and I uprooted ourselves from our postage stamp sized yard and little house in suburbia to move to an extremely rural spot on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania. We purchased a house that looks like Cracker Barrel, a tin roof barn, an antique Ford tractor, and nine acres of pasture and woods.


I was petrified. I grew up in the suburbs and that is all I knew. I thought for sure I would be isolated and alone in this place that was near nothing remotely considered convenient. No gas stations, no restaurants, no department stores, no pizza delivery...not even a post office to call our own. Our post office is in the next county over because our town is too small.

The first weeks in my new home I imagined bears, wolves, deer, and fox staring in my windows. I had never really seen the Milky Way because of light pollution. It was ink dark at night and the sound of critters scratching in the leaves and cornfields surrounded me. Night was terrifying! I wanted my street lamps back.

But four years, two horses, two rabbits, three cats, one dog, and four gerbils later, I can't imagine being anywhere else. The suburbs give me a panic attack now because it feels so crowded. I can't breathe with all of the cars, people, and stop lights. I love the few neighbors I have and don't remember life without them. I love the fresh air and the darkness. I love the stars and the harvest moon. I love that my kids can play and hide in the woods or look for crayfish in our stream. I just can't imagine raising them anywhere else.


We are surrounded by beauty. Nature trails, biking trails, historic homes, and wide open spaces give my kids the opportunity to grow and explore like children should.


I also have discovered the love of horses. These majestic and powerful creatures teach me every day the meaning of grace and beauty. And I don't mind watching my husband ride either. There is something about a man and his horse!


As my love for the country began to grow, so did my love of photography. I am happy to say that I now can combine my two passions in life, photography and teaching, into a career. I teach photography classes, both online and in person. It is so fulfilling to teach others the joy and artistry of photography.

My other love is blogging. I have developed such close friendships with so many women (like Lisa) around the country and the world who have the same interests, worries, joys, and turmoils that I have. What a joy it is connecting with like-minded people from around the globe. Thank you, Lisa for letting me spend the day here with you and your blogger friends. It was a pleasure and and honor to hang in your territory for the day.

Hope I didn't disappoint!

All my love,

~I can not be separated from that or you~