What's up in December!

Hi everyone, I'm still here but I haven't posted much lately but it's not because I haven't been doing anything.... I have started painting with acrylics paint!! I haven't used "real" paint for 20 something years!! I had been drawing or painting on my laptop and doing digital painting which is a bit different than using real paint. Color mixing is a lot easier on the computer than for real.  Anyway I'm pretty excited about it.
I started slow and small with a few paintings until I got the hang of it again and now I've taken off and I can't stop painting!!! I want to paint everything....all at the same time....but I can't!! So I just paint one picture at at time. lol
Here are some of the paintings I've made.

This was a ceiling fan.

This painting and the ones after this have all been prayed for by the way, I really believe my talent comes from God and He helps me as I pray. 

"Chance and Dillon"   16 x 20   Acrylic

This is the first picture I sold in 20 years!!!  I was so excited!!!

I am now basically finished two other paintings but I can't show them to you yet.....special gifts!  Two  of the same paintings but yet different. I will post pictures of them later.

I just started making a winter jacket. I have the back done and I'm loving it!!! uhm...I think I love all my jackets that I make myself......I wonder why??   Dah!!! Cause I make them the way I like them!! hehe
  I'd better love it with all the work I put into it!!! lol  I have blisters on my fingers to prove it!! 

Can't wait to finish it so I can wear it!!  Giving my old ones away anyone want it?? Still in good condition!!  Size medium

Pink paisley jean style jacket

This is the first jean style jacket I have made. I used a bought pattern for this one. Super great pattern but just not so great for my shape and my liking. I will show you the difference a better fit can make.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a beautiful jacket, it would just look better on someone else.

It looks pretty sharp and dressy in pictures BUT do you notice that the pocket is too high?

In this picture it is a bit more noticeable. Do you see where the pocket ends? Right in the middle of my bust line! looks weird to me!.The yolk is too high and the pocket is too high and not long enough. It does not fit my hand well and the jacket is a bit too short for my liking.

You can see that the blue jacket the yolk is a bit lower and the pocket curves to the underside of the bust. Gives it a much more relaxed and fitted look and that pocket is about 1/4 inch larger on each side so that my large hands fits in there comfortably. That’s the great thing about customizing your clothes!

I love the dressy casual look of it! Do you?

I did not like the straight back of this jacket pattern as my back is swayed a bit. You can see the crinkling in the back so I put in another seam in the middle and lengthened and curved the bottom.

I also lowered the back yolk by around 3 inches

Detail. lots of topstitching and buttonholes!

 

OK, don’t laugh at my Fred Flintstone label!!! hahaha   There is a story to this but I’ll spare you…..but my printer was jammed up good…I hope it still works!!!……This label was done with a marker on white cotton, you do not have permission to copy it, it is copywrited. It is the sole possession of moi, me. It is an original, really original..hehehe And crooked as all outdoors!!  I hope you enjoyed my jackets,

Goodnight :)

P.S.  If you haven’t seen my blue jacket you can see more views here

My favorite blue paisley jean style jacket

Hello everyone, Sorry I haven’t posted in quite a while. I really don’t know why I haven’t……, pre-occupied, tired, blue, sick, busy, lazy,  may be some reasons among others haha. I have had a blog for around 5 years now, maybe I am getting tired of doing it. It is a lot of work, maybe I just needed a break, not sure but we will see if the desire comes back to start posting again. The sewing desire hasn’t left though!!! Woohooo!!! I’ve made dresses and jackets, draperies and alterations AND  I have also been painting and drawing  up a storm!(Only thing I can do when I get too sick! ha) Filled a whole sketchbook that I may show you sometime.

 

Fall is in the air early this year and as soon as it even thinks of coming, my body, does NOT like it, ugh!  Fall or spring is not pleasurable for me I’m afraid. Fibromyalgia and injuries from my car accident definitely take their toll on me when weather changes, sigh, I just have no energy and am in constant pain but I carry on and smile when I want to cry and sometimes I cry but that’s ok,  C’est la vie

I’ve been daydreaming of jackets again and so I’ve made a couple recently and I love them!! One is pink with black velvet design in it and the other is the same fabric in a beautiful bright blue fabric which I just love!!! I will be wearing this one a lot. The pink one is from a pattern I ordered online. It is a wonderful pattern but it is a bit  too short for me and with my slight sway back it did not fit in the back correctly, more of a boxy style and so I made my own pattern in the same style that would be more fitting for my shape. I curved the bottom back edge slightly, I made the sleeves longer as I like fairly long sleeves, like past my wrist, at least half way of my hand. It sucks to have a jacket that the sleeves are not long enough to tuck in my hands when I’m cold…and that is often SO that explains my long sleeve wanting. :)

I made the body longer and more fitted in the back and bust areas. I found that flap pockets were too small for me and so I made them longer and also the bag for the welt pockets was too small and so I made them a bit bigger too. Now this jackets fits me well and I really love it! If I have time, I will be making some to sell perhaps. I have some nice fabric in a blue khaki print fabric that I think would look fabulous in this style. I just have to figure out if I should make it small, medium or large. My jacket is size medium. I think I may go for small since I have a close friend size small that I can use as a dummy. Does that sound funny? Sounds funny to me!! hahaha my friend the dummy hehehe

We started off on a walk in the Pubnico tail at “la boute d’a pointe” (End of the point) 

What a beautifully delightful evening. So quiet and peaceful with the wind blowing softly and the gentle rhythmic sounds of the windmills going swoosh, swoosh, swoosh and the occasional puff of wind blowing and lifting my hair and gently caressing my face, you know the feeling.  The sun was bright and warm but racing to kiss the ground and say goodnight, so we couldn’t waste too much time.  (Hey, I think that would sound great in a novel or something!!!) hahaha  Somebody should write one with those words in it!!!

Oh me and my creative thinking, you never know what I will come out with…neither do I  :)

 

We took some pictures on the beautifully made boardwalks. You have to have good balance though, it is a bit narrow and no sides. I don’t have good balance but so far so good!! lol

 

It’s all in the details!  This jacket turned out great but that topstitching is a lot of work!! And sewing buttons is my least favorite part of it :/

 
 
 
 

  

My handsome husband, Leon who did a GREAT job taking the pictures and putting up with me!!! :)

The jacket is unlined but it is still warm enough for fall

A picture perfect evening as my husband and I walked back through the trail hand in hand enjoying God’s perfect beauty and each others company.

Did you know what God says in the bible about what commandments are the greatest? We should never forget this. This should be first and foremost in our hearts.

Matthew 22:36-40 New International Version (NIV)

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
 Jesus replied:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

 This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘

Love your neighbor as yourself.’

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

 What does this mean?

How can we do this?

perhaps by using and applying these?

Galatians 5:22-23New International Version (NIV)

  the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

P.S  If I do decide to stop posting on my blog I will let you guys know so you won’t be wondering, Thank you for all your support and interest you’ve shown over the years!!!
Much love  xox

P.S.S. Link to my pink jacket here

My sisters spring sailboat jacket 2014 And my fabric designs

My sister Darlene and brother-in-law Elroy who lives in Grande Prairie Alberta came home in Nova Scotia for a couple of weeks and so we talk on Skype every so often and I had shown her this fabric that I had and told her I would make her a jacket in time for when she came home. We have always been around the same size although she is slightly more slender than I am. I am fuller bodied than she is but we are still basically the same size and so I was able to use my size to make her jacket.  She tried it on when she came to visit me and I only had to make a few minor adjustments in the shoulders.

So after arguing about who was more photogenic (she thinks I am more photogenic and I think she is more photogenic than me!!!) I just think dark hair, brown eyes and dark skin photograph better

These pictures were taken in Shelburne county, NS

Causeway beach, Cape Sable Island

The print is little sailboats and the fabric is duck cotton, The other navy fabric is from Fabricville and it is some kind of vinyl leather looking  type fabric.

 

 

Jellohead’s boat, you never know what kind of nick name someone has….

Maw as my brother-in-law affectionately call her decided to throw a rock in the water next to his wife to see if it would splash on her…..it did ;)

awwww Uncle Elroy (my brother-in-law) helping Maw(his wife) out of the boat :) I don’t think she would make it out by herself with those heels!! lol

Maw trying to get up, hehehe

Our hubbies looking for kayaks in the river

There they are, right in the middle of the picture…they kind of look like rocks. These are fresh water Kayaks or Gaspereau in french. They are used for bait in Lobster fishing around here. Both our husbands are and were fishermen and so this of course got their attention.

Such a beautiful scenery here in Barrington Passage. We dared Elroy to get across and stand on one of those platforms, kind of hoping he’d fall into the water….hehe

And there he goes!

Does he make it???

Yes he does!! There he is proud as a peacock, I know what he is thinking….”who is the best and why am I????” lol

Darlene with the flag of Nova Scotia

 

They decided we would go as far as their old hunting camp in Blanche. We walked along this nice hand made trail and through a bit of grass to get to the camp.

Here we are inside the camp. I can not remember who Elroy said made those paintings. They are nice paintings.

took a few pictures in the camp

Sisters!!! :) Her and moi

This is when things went bad……we found 11 ticks on Darlene….she was just a hollering to her husband, Elroy Elroy get them off of me!!! Then we found four or five on me, 3 or 4 on Leon and 5 or 6 or more on Elroy. We skidaddled (that is slang for we moved promptly) out of there really fast!!! lol  There was some itching and scratching and squirming the rest of the day!! 

For those of you who do not know what ticks look like, here is a picture

THIS is what they look like once they stick their heads into you to suck your blood!!!! Ewwwwwww!!!!
Leon found one stuck in his ear a few days later. Yuck! Good thing it wasn’t my sister or she would have been doing some hooting and hollering!!! Some of these icky critters carry Limes decease which is not good!

So we went to the this lighthouse in Blanche where my Darlene and Elroy got right down romantic, hehehe

Come on Maw, I will help you get to the big rock, says Elroy

awwww  How romantic right??  A fishermen wooing his wife on top of the rocks, how cool is that??? And they have been married for years!
Talk about beautiful coastlines!! We have them!!!

Then he takes her back up to safety :)

 

By now we are quite hungry and so we head back to Barrington for some good food at……

The Lobster Shack
The decoration is sweet and natural for a big lobster fishing place. The wooden trap is what they used to use a few years ago but now most people have switched to bigger and lighter traps made of wire.

I was told by the part owner/waitress that the decoration was all junk that was found or given to them. The curtains are tea towels on a clothes line.

And that was the end for my husband and I of a fun and great day with my sister and brother-in-law :)

I also gave Darlene the cute little country dress that I made a while ago and it fit her well.

See it here
http://leeanneonlife.blogspot.ca/2014/05/cutest-little-country-beach-dress-you.html

That’s it folks.

P.S. It has been a really busy and hard month or so for me….I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it or not…Phew. There are times when life throws you blows and arrows that are just….well it just shakes you to the core I guess you’d say. Makes you question life and all its twists and turns. Things come up on you that you do not expect and some things that are so hard and hard to understand that you feel like you are going to drown in sorrow, despair and pain. You wish and you regret things that you cannot change and you wonder why, why does life have to be so complicated and hard at times and then other times it feels like you are on top of the world? What I know is this….the times that I have been into the worst trials in my life are the times I have learned about life the most, even regrets makes you do better next time. Life is a learning experience. I’ve heard some people say that here on earth is where hell is and I have to say that sometimes it feels like it but I know that it is not so because I have seen when I saw my children for the first time, I did not feel like I was in hell then, it was some of the most beautiful times in my life, or when someone gives you a warm comforting hug or does something truly special for you, that doesn’t feel like hell. Hell will not have good and bad things only bad feeling and deep regrets and an eternity without God.  If you trust in the Lord Jesus as the one who saves you and that took your place on the cross instead of you, you have no worries about hell. Yes I know, here is that weirdo talking about hell and God again. You can say what you want but just humour me for a minute. IF believing what I believe so deeply, that I did not share this with you, knowing as I know what Jesus did for me and you and I did not share and warn you, stay with me for a minute here!!! The day comes and you die and let’s just say it IS true and everything I am telling you IS true. You will not be able to say, Why didn’t you tell me? I cared enough about you to tell you what I know is true and if I did not try to tell you the truth of what I believe and know to be true, I would be a hypocrite and very uncaring Christ follower.

Sorry for any mistakes!! I am doing this in a hurry and so I am posting without checking for errors!!! Forgive me :)

 

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