Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands: September 2018

Sep 24, 2018

Snippets and Threadtales: Forever Young

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay
Forever young

Forever young
Forever young
May you stay
Forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay
Forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay
Forever young

-Bob Dylan-

Saturday, we had our darling granddaughter over. I played with her for 3 1/2 hours....dolls, monkeys and other stuffed animals, My Little Ponys, dancing, singing, washing toy dishes in the sink, listening to a cassette story book.Yes, I still have cassettes saved plus a player that still works...on and on, we had great fun.

I have free printed off coloring pages and blank paper to draw in but magic paint with water paint dots printed on are a big favorite, as are paper collages.

I saved old magazines for this fun. Seasonal photos....pumpkins, turkeys but anytime we find flowers, cats, dogs, chickens, horses etc...great fun. We cut, or rip (out for a free spirited effect) and glue stick them on, one by one.

I helped with some cutting to beat the drying glue stick once in awhile, but most of this especially placement..is all hers. We both have such fun with our conversations in the process.

We saw her cousins, our other two other grandchildren on Sunday and both of us were building couch pillow forts and climbing in and out of them, singing, wild dancing, playing with blocks, stuffed animals, digging in the dirt outside and feeding their chickens, and yes..magic painting with both of them, as well.

We love all 3 of these little toddler sized munchkins, they are so so cute and dear. Everything they say about how special being a grandparent is, so so true.

We are determined to stay young enough to lift, carry, dance, and keep up with as needed. Then they go home, or we do.

It gets harder at the end of a day, we're much closer to 70 than 65 now, but our hearts want to be there for them is strong and even if they're too young now for their memories, we treasure ours.

And we take photos. Lots of photos. Thanks be to the inventors of digital everythings.

And then at the end of our play, we plop into an easy chair ( when you've been up since midnight with my almost no sleep life) we have energy to spare for clicking the t.v. remote controls.

My secret to virtual youth? Photo frame ap with its own built in soft focus filter as in no I did not draw the lead photo. Ha!

68 1/2 years young is when the aging sped up on my surface layer. But! The experts are now saying those running, weight lifting, gym workouts may be no better than 15 minutes of vigorous activity. Playing with toddlers and crawling down the hall to bed has to count!

Right ?

Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands.

Sep 17, 2018

It's the Rain

"It's In The Rain" by Enya

Every time
The rain comes down,
Close my eyes and listen.
I can hear the lonesome sound
Of the sky as it cries.

Listen to the rain
Here it comes again
Hear it in the rain

Feel the touch
Of tears that fall
...They won't fall forever
In the way the day will flow
All things come,
All things go.

Listen to the rain
...The rain...
Here it comes again...
...Again...
Hear it in the rain
...The rain...

Late at night
I drift away -
I can hear you calling,
And my name
Is in the rain,
Leaves on trees whispering,
Deep blue sea's mysteries.

Even when
This moment ends,

Can't let go this feeling

💜 Prayers for Those in Hurricane Florence's Path. 💜

Continuing to keep Hurricane Florence updates on my phone and tv news as I pray for all of you in her path. So grateful to get a post from ....Diane of O' Quilts ... in Charlotte N.C. And others who have not been in the path in North Carolina and nearby states. May you all be well and blessed by love and light as angels and grace surround you.

Hurricane Florence Updates: New York Times

This news post broke my heart.

"The death toll from the storm has risen to at least 23, including 17 in North Carolina. Rescue workers near Charlotte recovered the body of a 1-year-old boy who had slipped out of his mother’s hands after their car got stuck in floodwater on Sunday evening."

Prayers and blessings to all of you and sincere sympathy for your precious losses.

Sep 11, 2018

Peace and Healing

As I think back to the horrible roots of this day...September 11, 2001...I think back to the horrors, the loss, the grief and the mourning of a nation.

But I also remember, the goodness of those lives we lost, the heroes from that incredible day of tragedy.....those amazing and courageous people who rose above and beyond themselves to help others..... the patriotism, and the amazing sense of unity that manifested so much caring, and so much good in the world. Goodness in direction of helping and giving.

It was this coming together with love and patriotism that spread a healing balm for such deep pain. The pain of loss, of separation, of the polarization of so much ill will and so much fear and hatred contrasted by so much intense emotions of love over hate, helping others over fear and anger.

So, I look at myself, as we all need to do, and take note of how and why quilting is a healing art in my own life. And all of these days of record and note, I do what I usually do...I quilt for a cause. 9-11 has become a day of remembrance of community, and patriotism in the deepest unifying sense of the word.

So, while I might not always be working on a patriotic quilt for donation to wounded soldiers, I am working on community quilting..whether by myself, or in a group...and whatever I am making gets donated within that community of purpose.

When I first began blogging in the fall of 2006, my quilting life centered around community quilting. I sewed with a local band of quilters that was formed after a two day marathon of sewing quilts for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

200 quilts banded together with donated fabrics, patterns, threads and the most patriotic sense of community support that I have ever experienced. We made 200 quilts in those two days and we sewed on our bindings and labels and boxed them off for shipment in donated shipping trucks for transport to Louisiana, Georgia, and other hurricane ravaged states.

It was so uplifting, so inspirational, that we found a local church that gave us the use of a huge quilting space and began to meet every Monday for 12 hours. I would stay there from 9 am until 7 pm and literally sewed every minute making a quilt a week for continued donation.

When Hurricane Rita quickly followed Katrina, we just kept sewing. And when the weather calmed down,we sewed for Inter-faith charities, for babies in hospitals, for families in need, for Habitat for Humanity etc. etc.

By the following year, I was also sewing for 5 or 6 hours on Tuesdays, too. And I did that for another 6 months until we decided Mondays were enough and we could just sew at home for the other 6 days of the week.

9-11 hit all of us with a blast that changed a lot of us forever. I began my Patriotic sewing period where I literally made dozens and dozens of quilts and bags to give away to various causes.

My community spirit grew with all of this nurturing and feeding and so, I also joined my local quilt guild. There we have leftover and donated fabrics also available and between all of us, we donate probably 50-100 quilts a month to various groups, as well as hundreds of pillowcases for children in foster care, and lots and lots and lots of potholders to raise funds for our charitable causes.

So, what arose from that terrible day for me?

Community
Patriotism

Pride

Giving
Doing
Being
Hope
Regrouping
Rebuilding
Unity
Community.

Community pride, community giving, community quilting.

It brings all of the layers of ourselves and our lives together, softens our spirits with caring and reaching out to others, and it binds us all together as one. And that goodness of humanity, can only grow and grow and grow....until it almost seems to sprout goodness out of nowhere and everywhere!

shown above;
my beloved little Keira and the 'morsbags' (part of a big international group started in the UK) I used to make to give away. I spontaneously would make a dozen and hand tnem out to friends, and to people I've never met who just seem to need an environmentally friendly cloth bag. I made dozens and dozens and dozens.