Well life has been busy lately!

I had my grandson Zach from Fri to today and then I traded Zach for his sister Rachel LOL Zach is my autistic dgs and he is 12 and Rachel is 11.

Zach loves to work on his computer. He is really interested in making his own movies on a site called goanimate. He uses the Wiggles characters and then writes his own words for them. Then he puts them on Youtube.  Pretty good for a 12 yr old autistic! He is very smart and always looking for new ideas.

He stays with us two weekends a month. so his mom and dad can spend time with the other two kids without Zach's needs getting in the way. This weekend they are canning.  But Sara tries to make time for the other two also. A special needs kid in the family means Zach's siblings often have to give up things they want to do.

With Bible School and vacations and all the things the kids were involved in this summer Rachel hasn't been here much. So as she had asked several times I thought we would slip her in for a couple of days. Usually I have my son's twins 9 yr old and Colton 2 and then my dd's Rachel once a month for a weekend. I call them the 4 muskateers now. LOL They all get along pretty well. Rachel and Devon love to play with Colton and he loves to be in the middle of the bigger kids. Devon is a great big brother. He even changes Colton's diapers. He's done that since Colton was born. He's like a second dad to him.

I'm still working on my mugrug. I've been in a real funk for quite awhile and just made up my mind I need ot pull myself out of it and get more done. I take meds for depression and I need ot be more aware of not letting myself slide back into that I don't care about anything mindset.

Rachel wants to make a pencil case tomorrow so we will be working on that. She starts school next Thursday so she wants one to take in her notebook. Not sure how I am going to make it so it can clip into the notebook but will figure it out I guess!

My friend Kathy has a small quilt shop about 5 miles from me and she wants me to help her teach some classes. I need to get motivated to learn what I need to to help with a Twister class. I've seen the twister but not done it yet.
I did talk to JC today as she is planning on coming and teaching a class at Kathy's shop. Probably looking at the second week in Sept but not sure yet. I dont' have any time frame just working around when JC can be here mostly.

My mom and I canned 18 quarts and 3 pints of aristocrat pickles (sweet) last Wed. They are a family recipe handed down through the family. I love the things. I don't like to be out of them and I am down to a half dozen from 2 yrs ago's batch. Can't let them run out!! LOL
I also have a smaller batch soaking in salt water. These soak for 8 days in salt water and then you cook them in alum water and then ginger water and then make a brine with a spice sack. They are so yummy! But lots of sugar!!! Not real good for my diabetes but I won't ever give them up totally LOL

Okay going to go work on my mugrug again.

Wishing you all Sunshine and Laughter!! Rhonda

Gotta share another great quilty saying!!

 If I stitch fast enough, does it count as aerobic exercise?

This is the next pattern I am writing. I hope to have it on Etsy in the next couple of days. I am also posting them on my website www.bitsnpiecesworkshop.com

If you like this let me know!!


I'm calling it Brownie Delight but if anyone has another suggestion I'd love to hear it.

Rememer this is made with my shortcut methods so it isn't as intricate to make as it looks. When you know how to make the shortcut pieced squares blocks then this is a breeze to sew together!!

This is made with my Boston Blocks and half square triangles and plain squares. Easy easy!

Depending on the size you want to make this would be about 30" with borders. But you could use a larger template and make it around 40" by 40" depending on the width of your borders.

Just haven't gotten my self into the mood to work on my patterns. I hate it when I know I should be working but can't get the mind in gear.

Of course I have an excuse sort of. I have two of my grandsons right now for a few days. It does take some attention to keep the peace between them sometimes LOL Joey is 14 and Zach is 12. Zach is my autistic grandson but he is high functioning so he does quite well most of the time. But he is always right and he never gives in gracefully. He wanted to use the laptop computer and Joey had been waiting to use it. Zach has a hard time sharing. This is one of our goals with him. He also thinks he can physically make me do what he wants. So getting the message across that he has to wait his turn and that he can't physically pull  push or throw his brother out of the chair is an interesting challenge! LOL  He then turns to me and insists I make Joey give him the computer. This afternoon he went next door ( I knew he went) and asked Grandma Dot(my mom his great grandma) to come out and make Joey give him back the computer! LOL He IS a problem solver!! LOL

We love him dearly and unlike alot of autistics he loves loves hugs and physical contact. He is quite the cuddle bug and always has been. Most autistic people can't handle being touched.

So hopefully I can maybe get some work done on my patterns and get them out to the public in the very near future. I do have 3 of them done and will be working on getting them listed on my websites and my ebay and etsy stores soon.

I'll leave you with this quilty saying------   Rhonda

 Families are like quilts—stitched together one piece at a time.