Zumba Tote Bag

I made this for a friend of mine's birthday not to long ago. I wanted something that she can carry all of her Zumba hip scarves in when she goes to Zumba. She picked out the print and I created the bag. I did this a little bit different and thought this bag came out being one of my best bags that I have made. I quilted the outside with the zebra print all around. The pocket on the outside was switched out for a bigger 2 pocket later. I used my Cricuit with Steam a Seam for the letters and appliqued them onto the printed fabric. EASY PEASY! But wished I had an embroidery machine instead, but it worked. The inside of the bag has a canvas type of feel to it which I made out of a thick Heat a Bond. I added 2 pockets on each side of the inside, one being one long pocket and the other 3 pockets. Lots of room in this tote bag, enclosed with a snap closure. The band for the handle was picked out by my son who thought it looked better and plus he said it was heavy duty. Works great!

Happy Halloween from the Hackneys

It's Halloween time! It's been some time since I have last posted...my life has gotten very busy. Anyhow, I wanted to share with you the costumes that I created this year for my family for Halloween. I have always wanted to be Olive Oyl (I am tall) and have my husband be Popeye (he's shorter than me, plus he's bald)...what a perfect couple. My kids wanted to be Bluto and Mr. Wimpy, so I went with it. I created Mr. Wimpy with old work clothes I had and altered them in about 10 inches on the sides of the suit jacket, shirt, and pants. I made the tie out of felt and used an elastic for the neck. I got created and made a walking billboard inside out of a t-shirt and attached another part of a t-shirt and stitched the bottom of it so I can stuff it for his belly. I put a piece of elastic around the edging so my son was able to walk better without having to hold down his shirt. I got the gold pants and shirt at Goodwill for Bluto as well as the white scrub shirt for Popeye. I made a white flap and I had sewn on black ribbon around the edge too. The arms were tricky but I got it down. My clothes I had were too big, so I used fused tape with ribbon for my sleeves and the ribbon on the dress. I drew the scallops to onto white fabric and cut out and attached to the neck of my sweater. Oh, the shoes I am wearing are my husbands's. The only part I didnt care was I used gel to grease my hair back into a ponytail tightly. Added 6 more pony tails to make my hair stick out. I then covered my hair with a hair net and used black spray paint all over. YUCK! It worked! But it took forever to wash out. Our family loves to dress up for Halloween. What do you think?

Independence Day

A Path of Nature's Baby Quilt

Ohh, when I saw my Zumba instructor's pictures of her SIL baby shower, I knew I wanted to create a baby quilt for her. I asked her what colors she would like and she told me...brown and mint green. This is what I came up with. It really didn't take me that long to do, but the quilting did. When I took it to my zumba class one night, my instructor was amazed how beautiful it was. She was even impressed with the label I had made for the back of the quilt too. I love making things for my friends who appreciate them. I used 100% high quality cotton from Hancock Fabrics.

The Horrible Tornado

WOW! It's been quite some time again, so sorry if you are following me. It has been a bit hectic around my neck of the woods. We've had tornados, high winds, and just HOT! The lake down the road from us really got hit hard, and the peoples boats that were out there...just devasting! It's amazing that mother nature could wipe out a whole town in less than 5 minutes. It's horrible! Lots of damages, a few deaths, and people starting over. Here are a few pictures of what the marina looked like before and after the tornado. Pretty awful!

ZUMBA!!!

WOW! I am so addicted to this Latin Dance exercise. My friend invited me with her to her class one day at our local YMCA. I was shy at first because I really didnt know what it was and thought people would look at me. I had a BLAST! The people in the class really dont have time to look to see if you are doing it right or wrong because they are busy concentrating on themselves watching the instructor. Anyhow, I have been doing it everyday of the week for one solid hour. Look here for an example from youtube you can get an idea of what the dance, exercise looks like. Or you can practice some basic steps before you head out to your first class. That's what I did. You can also find some locations in your area...some cost, some are free. Just go to the Zumba site here. The ones I found which I truely love are FREE. There's alot of variations in styles that each instructor has, just follow their steps. I love the instructors too. WOW! It's a great exercise, meet new friends, and burning calories is a good thing right. Lots of sweating. I have done one Zumbathon too. Really, really fun...you ought to try it!

A Little about Life

Well, its been very busy with me lately...I know, excuses...excuses, right? No really, it has. Our quilts for our church auction went really well and we are happy with the results of the money we got for them. The quilt I made with the OU SOONERS here went for $110 here and the Homespun Country Plaid here went for $75. Our Childrens Auction raised about $14,500. This is to help kids get go to summer camps and upgrading. We just love our church.

I have been having these lower back pains and discomfort for 3 years now due to a fall that happened. Well, I was actually lifting heavy things into the attic and lost my balance, but I didnt fall that day. A week later is when I collasped. Long story, so I will keep this short. Been on meds for pain, therapy, and had a couple of MRI's done until 2 weeks ago. I have the L3 and L4 discs that are herinated. The
L5 disc is bulging. My Sectrom in the tailbone called the S1 is torn. They are going to give me some injections to see if this will take of the problem. If it doesn't work, they'll go to the next level. I still have pain when I sit or stand too long, but I can tolerate it. My appointment to get this done is next week. Prayers welcome!

Just wanted to let you know that I am doing ok and hoping to get back into my studio to create more things.

Have a great day!