Is it over yet?????

YES IT IS!!!  Last night about 8 o'clock as I looked at the pile of cooking pans and stones on my counter and sink, I blinked my eyes and pooof!!! it was all cleaned up.  I also won the Florida lottery last night.

It was really such a nice holiday season of giving, visiting and sharing with family and friends which truly is what it is all about.  As I stressed through getting my gifts all together and wrapped (close to the last minute), doing the baking and cooking for the social events, it occurred to me that all that stress culminates in the brightness of the grandkids eyes as their parents shuffle them through all the celebrations and hubbub of the season.  It is so worth seeing how they are so excited over the gifts they open.  I guess it is all worth it in the end.  Austin told me he thought he had won the lottery because he got everything he wanted ..a TV for his room and a game that I got him that has little monster bodies that you stick on and they turn into action figures...space raiders is what I think it is called.

I was teary eyed as I opened my gifts from my children.  My daughter and her husband refinished an old wrought iron sewing stand that goes with a treadle machine.  It was given to me by one of Bill's cousins.  It was rusted and not very pretty.  They had it sand blasted and then "black powdered".  I don't know exactly what that is, but the finish is very pretty and it treadles as smooth as butter.

My son and his wife gave me a beautiful elegant quilt that Lisa had made.  I had admired the top and even started searching for similar fabrics to buy to make me one.  She made the top a couple of years ago but just had not finished it.  She had it quilted and added the binding as a present for me.  The name of the quilt is Elegance and it is surely fitting because it is so very elegant and beautiful.  Pictures will be up as soon as I can get someone to hold it up.  Bill got me a Kindle since I can hardly ever wrench the one we have out of his hands to read on it.  I had a super day but the gifts don't mean anything compared to the joy of having my kids and grand kids close enough that I can see them all the time and through the holidays.  I know I am truly blessed.  Until we meet again.....

All in all, it was a tiring day but just so worth it to visit family and friends.  We never know what next year will bring so I am very thankful for the people God has put in my life.  Here is to a wonderful New Year for all.  Until we meet again...............

Celebrations with friends.

Well, the last two days have been filled with celebrations with friends...old friends and even older friends, not in age so much but just in years of sharing with each other.  Sometimes it is quite shameful that we do not see each other more often.  However, no matter how long between our visits, two blinks of the eyes and it is like we have never been separated.

Rebecca, Alice's daughter hosted our probably 45th annual Christmas celebration.  Ruth Ann, Me (in case you don't recognize me with my Santa shirt in the picture), Ruthie (Ruth Ann's mom and matriarch to all of us) and Alice have been the best of friends since I was 16.  I just cannot understand why Ruth Ann and Alice''s hair is not that beautiful "almost blonde" (some have the audacity to refer to it as gray) hair like Ruthie and me.  About 1966 is when I came into the picture with this unruly group.  I think Alice and Ruth have been friends since grade school.  Of course, Ruthie has always been there to guide, advise and love us through this hard thing called life.  My kids and Grand-kids have always thought of her as "Grandma Ruthie".  And she is just that.. a wonderful matriarchal figure for all of us whom we love and respect.  I love them all more than I can say and don't see any of them as much as I should.  Our children have grown up friends and hopefully will continue to be good friends until we are all in wheelchairs.

We have survived thick and thin and will continue to do so.  We have been together in our marriages, births of our babies, deaths in our families and so much joy with each other for far too many years to remember.  I know when these ladies are in my presence, that I will be joyful and thankful for them always for their love and friendship.  Life has treated us all good and sometimes not so good in one way or the other because of illnesses and deaths.  We are all strong and together, we put our faith in God and have always survived those tough times and will continue to do so with our love strengthening each other.  Through these wonderful times and the hard times, life has also tied an invisible thread through our hearts looping them together and it is a string that we know will never be broken.  The love we share would be hard to duplicate.

It is almost beyond words what I feel for these women, these friends of 45+ years.  I truly wish for more time with each of them in the coming year and another 45+ years of celebrations of life's joys and holidays with them.

Today was another celebration with friends.  These too are long time friends.  My friend Opal and I took our friend Jean to lunch for her 65th birthday.  Jean's friend, Giana, her daughter, Stacy and granddaughter, Courtney joined us to celebrate.  Jean and Opal are much like my other friends.  They make me laugh and we have been through happy times and some sad times in the past 30+ years. They both are sweet beyond any expectations of a friend.  They have listened to me, laughed with me and cried with me in the last 30 years.  I've know Stacy and Courtney almost all their life and Giana for probably 15 years.  

It seems God has blessed me so graciously with friends, longtime friends and many newer friends like my quilting friends.  I feel so lucky to have family and friends so close to me sharing my life.  My wish for all my friends is to always have relationships with other women that mean something and to have friends that not only love them but support them but make them laugh when life throws us curves.

Here is Jean with her big Mexican hat and waiter trying to light the candle.  Also, here is Opal giving Jean something we all need...a little helping hand from our friends. :)  Until we meet again...........

Head Exam badly needed!

We are home and the yards are a mess and I did what any normal person would do.  Instead of getting everything unpacked and picked up, and the weeds pulled, I unloaded everything out of my longarm room and replaced the old cabinets and shelves with some new to me cabinets that I had picked up at Habitat for Humanity.  They can be stacked and Bill added some additional shelving.

So now I have standard cabinets along one wall and I am working on putting it all back up.  My grandkids helped me unload and they thought that was fun.  I can only carry small loads from the living room back to the sewing room and I sure needed them to get all the books and stuff back in the room.  I still have one more box, a basket and a table full of "stuff" to find a home for in the room.  What makes a person so crazy as to get home from a trip knowing they have a week full of appointments and other chores that need to be completed, start a huge project like this.  I need my head examined...no wonder I have headaches.

When I get a chance, I will send pictures of the new dog, Bella, and the new organized room...might be a while so don't hold your breath.  Until we meet again....

On the road again....

It has been really pretty here and I am sad to leave but so glad to see the shining smiles of my kids and grandkids and friends.  Somehow time seems to really fly...every day gets shorter and goes faster.  This trip has been one of the most social I think we have had.  We have seen a lot of some friends and sadly not as much as we would have liked with other friends.  Since we have been gone, I finished 3 quilt tops and I complete a baby quilt and completed a  Christmas quilt...Yet, it seems that I have not been very productive at all.  I also made 2 Strata Star table toppers...still have to quilt them and worked furiously on the polka dot quilt.  My friend Evie and I have been collecting polka dots for about 3-4 years and even though we have enough dotted fabrics to make 6-7 quilts, we seem to still gravitate towards those little dots.

Today, Maxine, from A Stitch in Time Quilt Store demoed the cutest little baby shoes.  They were so precious and all I need is a new baby to make a set.  Maxine always comes up with the cutest ideas and patterns for her Tuesday techniques.  She is a very talented lady.  I will miss my Tuesday techniques and lunch with the girls afterwards.  I had lunch with my friend Evie today and we invited my friend Elva to have dinner with us.  My last visits with both for awhile.

I sure do hope I will be posting a new little member of our family soon....no not one to wear the little shoes...this one is 4 legged.  We shall see.  I did not get my bulbs planted but I guess I will take them home and see if they will grow south.  It will be good to see my friends back home too.  I have a lot of work ahead of me in getting my cabinets in the longarm room and all organized prior to the beginning of the holidays.  That should keep me busy for a week or so and the yard full of weeds could probably keep me busy until next year.

My friend sent me a picture of one of my rose bushes.  They all start to be so happy when the weather starts to cool.  Blooms will be plentiful and large from now until really cold weather if it gets that cold.  I love my roses.  This is one that I bought for $3.00 at Aldi's and it really has been a great addition considering it is really a cheap rose.  The color changes on these roses every day..from dark to light and back to dark as they fade.  How do you like that ground cover....yep that is those WEEDSSSSSSSSSSSS I was mentioning.  Oh well, I am sure between now and spring I will get them pulled out or NOT!!  Hopefully, it won't be long until we meet again.........

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flowers and new project

Our time seems to be winding down here and between the bears, flowers, and just the beauty of the fall leaves, it really has been eye candy.  I bought a pot of mums to enjoy while we were here.  It is huge and I have really enjoyed having it.  I think I will just sit it in the yard to see if it will come back next year.  I thought I might share it with you.  It is the biggest pot of mums (or at least I think they are mums) I have ever seen and the colors are so bright and pretty...looked good with all the red and gold leaves.

I absolutely was not going to start a new project, but I saw this at "A Stitch in Time" quilt store and just could not resist.  I gathered fabrics that I thought would work and put this together with one of my friends  up here.  She was a big help in cutting the strips for me and getting me started.  I still have to quilt and bind it before it is completely done.  I think it is a wonderful table topper and it would be beautiful to build a quilt around it for a bed or even for the dining table.  We shall see.

I took the picture at night so it is not real clear to see but you can get the gist of it.  I wanted to do a practice topper before I sewed with my friend Evie and Sharon yesterday.  We had all bought Christmas kits offered at "A Stitch in Time".  I got the top of it partially sewn with them.  We had those little featherweight machines just a buzzing.  I hope to finish the Christmas one before the holidays too.  It was not a hard pattern although it sure looks difficult.  The pattern is called Strata Star but I would have to get up to get the name of the lady who designed it.  She gave very good instructions and that made it rather simple to do.  I am sure I will be doing more of these.  Gotta finish both of these before I start another one.

My intention is to plant bulbs for spring if it is warm enough in the next day or so.  I will have to dig left handed but I want to get them in the dirt for spring.  Bill is going to a gun show tomorrow so that leaves me plenty of time to sew and maybe get a few more UFO's completed...unless I get distracted with something else. :)   That is all for now until we meet again......

Bears and more Bears

We have seen  more bears this trip than I have ever seen in all the years combined of visiting NC.  It appears there is not sufficient acorns in the higher elevations and they have come down to feed.  The smaller ones are so cute but of course, they do have Mamas.

We don't feed them nor do we get out of the car because that Mama bear might be just behind the tree.  They are fun to look at though.  This one was downtown in a tree.  There was a picture of this same bear in the newspaper on the front page..yes, it was a much better picture. :)

My friend from Ala has been here all week and we have hit just about every thrift store and antique store in  town.  Bought a few treasures but not many.  I had not seen her since early summer and it was a really nice hanging out together.  She met most of my friends here and went to the sewing demo with me at A Stitch in Time.  It sure is quiet here since she left.  She doesn't read the blog so I am safe in saying that.

My friend Evie and I have been collecting polka dot fabric for about 3-4 years and have finally started our polka dot quilts.  I will post some of the pieces soon.  Oh my, there are only 9 blocks and there are over 800 pieces just in those 9 blocks...makes us sound kind of like sick puppies for wanting to sew that many little pieces together.  It actually might be years in the finishing.

My Christmas quilt is totally finished except for the label.  It really is a Holly Jolly Christmas quilt.  I wish I could get a good picture of it.  It will be hanging above my couch at Christmas if I can get Bill to mount the hanger.

The temperature was about 29 last night and the frost on the car was as thick as snow...feels good to me.  Bill and I have swapped places...he sits around in a jacket and I have short sleeves on and still hot...don't know what happened.

The changing of the leaves has been breathtaking.  I suspect if it rains again, it will be pretty much over.  Most of ours has dropped off but in other locations, there are still lots to see.  One of these days, I will get the picures downloaded and share with you.  Until we meet again....

Social Butterflies

Well, today has been a fun day.  We had Ben, George and Evie for lunch today.  I made soup so it was nothing really that special.  It was quite good though and I use a Bear Creek Chicken noodle soup package as the base and add to it.  After lunch, Evie and I started our polka dot quilt.  We have been collecting polka dot fabrics for about 4-5 years and we are finally starting the paper pieced blocks.  I will post some pictures when I get enough done to post.  It is going to be eye popping colorful so stand by.  After lunch, our friends Ruth and Earl Adamson came over for a short visit.  It really was nice seeing my very good friend since it has been awhile since I have seen her.  It is a shame we have to come to NC to have a face to face visit.  We must do better at seeing each other.

Later this evening, we went to dinner at friends from Groveland.  There were several couples and it was a very enjoyable evening.  One of the ladies there, Lynn Newman,  used to work at the phone company also.  It was great seeing her and meeting her husband.  I actually let the motor mouth take over and we yakked  laughed and giggled.  I ran my pie hole way too much and the pie was so good. :)  So Bill and I are feeling like social butterflies today.

I finished the Christmas quilt binding and as soon as I can get a picture, I will post.  I love it.  Tomorrow, will be a very good day also.  My good friend Holly Kilgore is coming to stay for a few days.  We don't see each other very often either so I am so looking forward to her visit.

I don't know if I will get a chance to blog much with company...but...until we meet again.......

Cleaning today!

Bill and I cleaned today.  BORINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!  I could not stand it any longer.  I even did the mopping.  I also murphy oiled both sets of stairs.  Gees, I really don't like to clean...I would rather be playing.  I really thought those dust bunnies were going to over take the place so it could not be helped.  Anyway, we are clean for a day or two.

It has been pretty exciting up here.  We have had a bear 2 days in a row in the yard.  He probably has been out there every day, but we just have not looked out in time to see him.  I think he was a teenager because he would be about my height  if he stood on his back legs.  I was down the hill early in the day picking up a feeder that had fell off the porch.  If the bear had come out while I was down there, it would have been been bad because I probably would have peed my pants.  I know I could not have climbed back up the hill faster than the bear.  I just hope he is big enough to be wondering around without the "mama bear".   Now that might have caused a heart attack.

I brought about 8 UFO's (unfinished projects) with me and I was not supposed to start anything new until I finished all of those.  I backslid a little on that.  One of my friends here wanted to know if I had made the Strata Quilt?  She wanted to do it and invited me to do it with her.  I dug in the closet and found fabric that would work and so we started it together.  It actually will be a table topper or wall hanging.  It looks very complicated but Maxine, owner of the quilt store here, A Stitch in Time,  has done a demo on the Strata Quilt on u-tube and she made it look simple.  Here is the link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNE3As-yctA

So far, it has not really been hard.  Hopefully, I will get it together in the next week or so.  I have the borders on 2 more quilts.  Attached is a picture of them.   The first one is very bright with purples, lime greens, yellows, aqua's and brown.  They both look very washed out in the pictures.  You actually almost need sunglasses for the one with lime green borders.  The second one is a pail aqua with cream and brown.  I wish the colors showed up better.  I may have Bill hold them at the top of the stairs and try to get a better picture.

I will soon be completely finished with the binding on my Christmas Holly Jolly quilt which will make me so happy.  I have had the top pieced for almost 3 years.  My friend Joyce quilted it for me and Lisa cut and sewed the binding on since my shoulder would not let me wrestle with it.  I am working on the hand stitching of the binding.  Tomorrow I am stitching with friends and maybe I will finish it so I can show a picture soon.  Until we meet again.....

Blah!Blah!Blah!

Have you missed my Blah!blah!blah!  I have been very quiet for the last few months.  Very unusual for me for sure.  I have not been accomplishing a whole lot because of this (old age) and that (clumsiness).  I could go into more details but let's not bore you to tears starting off.  Shoulder is feeling pretty good most of the time.

I actually was able to sew several times at my Dad and Margaret's.  I brought a number of what we quilter's refer to as UFO's.  No, not unidentified flying objects although they have been know to take flight in moments of frustration.  UFO's are Un-finished Objects.  Yes, I have lots of them and once they have been thrown in the air a couple of times, I just bury them and go to another project.  The burial cemetery was over flowing!

The UFO's seem to be surrounding me and screaming "me, me, me MEMEME".  I have been getting really scared so I decided it must be time to answer the call of the wild before they start getting ugly and scary...in other words, I won't remember where I left off and I will be completely lost.

Remember 15 minutes of play...well, it is ready to be quilted.  I really like it and am already working on two more scrappy quilts.  They have much more structure but still really scrappy.  The nice thing about scrappy, is you don't have to choose.  When I open the cabinets to choose fabrics for a new project, they either all want to be in the project or they are so wonderful that I just cannot put the blade to those pieces and whack them up.  The pain of the blade is just too much on some of those beauties.  On a scrappy, you don't have to choose...you can just grab your hand down in the dark depths of the scraps box and sew away.  And the best thing about the whole process is when you get through the scraps have multiplied and you can't see a single piece of fabric missing out of the tub.  I really do love the non-structured feel of working on this type of project. No rules, no quilt police either.  Now there are a few looks of "oh my gosh, she is loosing it".  The colors I love and I even love that some of them look like I tossed my cookies...But when they are all put together, they place nicely.  I love it when things play nicely together.  This might end up being one of my favorite quilts.

I will try to be a better blogger...maybe.  Until we meet again.....

Time out for fishing

I replanted my cucumber seedlings in the large pot today.  Also planted two tomato plants.  It got hot quick.  I don't seem to be accomplishing anything in sewing or anything else since I have been home.  It seems I have been going going going and I need to rest in between.  

So today, I pretended I was a man.  I looked around and thought...I needed to vacuum, grocery shop, pull the weeds in the yard and do laundry.  So I went fishing.  Caught the first fish on Opal and Tom's new dock.  Boy that felt good.  It was breezy and just the right temperature.  If it was my dock, I would probably have to sit on that dock every evening.  No make up, looking rough...but I got a fish and none of the chores I have waiting for me at home disappeared while I was fishing. Until we meet again.....

Busy weekend

We got home Friday night and the kids and grandkids all came over and we ordered Pizza.  The grandkids begged to stay the night, but I was just too tired.  I really felt bad with Cooper (4) because he just cried and hugged me and told me he just wanted to stay with me and make "tookies".  He told me you just mix Orange Juice and milk and stir it and put it on a pan and stick  it in the oven and it makes tookies...don't think I want any of those "tookies".  Saturday was the Spring fest in Winter Garden.  I went with my DIL and her mother.  There were so many beautiful plants and it was the bigger than usual.  I bought some air plants and 2 other plants..can't remember the names.  It was so hot!  I think it was close to 90 degrees when we left.  Talk about being dehydrated...yuk.  I don't think I cooled off until today.  We realized last night that the AC was not working.  No wonder I was having hot flashes.  We called the repairman this morning and he came this afternoon, fixed it and finally I am cooool.  

Austin (10 and Emily (5) called begging to stay the night yesterday afternoon.  I said yes and Bill brought them home.  I never know what they are going to say.  Austin was showing me how he thought he might be growing a mustache and might have to shave soon.  A couple of months ago, he was proud to show me the one hair that had popped out under his arm.  They both are funny kids.  He also told me he hoped I did not turn into a COP,  crazy old person.  I hated to bust his bubble and tell him I was already there.  He had a number of acronyms that he shared with me. He did not want Emily to play is game and I had to tell him he was acting like a BOB, big ole baby!  It is fun to give them back some of their medicine.

Stacy came this afternoon so we could get our fabrics ready to sew.  She had cut most of the fabric and we (she) finished the cutting this afternoon on all the prints.  It will be so nice to be able to sew some "real" quilt squares.  I can cut a few strips but they are not always accurate on the ends because I cannot hold the ruler stable.  I have cut a few things like the table runners I made but it sure made my shoulder sore.  I have had several friends that have offered to cut and so has Lisa.  I think I will take the white fabric and let Lisa cut it for me.  I would not have let Stacy cut either except we bought the fabrics together and since she was cutting hers, she just cut mine too.  We just finished the last of the cuts on the prints.  I so appreciate her help plus it was so good to be able to visit and giggle a little with her.  I will lay it out and post a picture soon.  It will be a very happy quilt.  The colors are lime green, purple, aqua, orange, white.

It has several polka dot prints so I was able to add a few more strips to my polka dot group from the scraps.  My goal on that quilt is to just use no more than two pieces that are alike in the quilt.  I have already cut about 300 pieces.  I had cut the strips that I had and just used scissors to cut two 2X4 pieces of each of the fabrics.  It takes about 900 pieces to do the quilt and I think I have about 300 cut so far.  You can google New York quilt quilts and it will bring similar quilts up...just think all polka dots.

Bedtime for me since I have blood work tomorrow morning...until we meet again.

    

Cleanup time

I went through everything that I have drug out to sew on since I have been here.  The loft looked like an explosion had hit...which is pretty much how it looks every time I sew.  Just have explosive fingers I guess.  I got everything back in the tubs and made a stack of what I wanted to bring back with me.  I did not touch the main project I had intended to work on while I was here.  That would be the polka dot quilt.  Oh well, next time.  I got everything picked up, put away and the room vacuumed and clean sheets put on the bed for when I come back up for the quilt show with my friend Cathy.  I did a couple of loads of laundry...still got to fold one.  That about does it for today.  I was in slow motion from a sinus headache.  The pollen count is so high.  I did stroll out in the yard to look and see if any thing new had popped it's head out.

My little plants are doing fine.  I just don't know what they are yet.  I think they are cucumbers since they don't look like tomatoes and don't smell like basil.  Could be bell peppers I guess.   They should really start busting out when they get back to warm weather.

I bought a very unique mirror last weekend and I love how it looks over the mantle.  The pictures don't do it justice and I just love the little bit of sparkle from the buttons and beads.  Bill has not said anything else about it since we hung it so I guess he is getting used to it.

I like the funky look with my other little treasures.  For full appreciation, I think it has to be seen in person.  Here is the plant stand I purchased also.  I love it too.  I think I will paint it black when I get home.  The plant is a hoya plant.  The plant has gorgeous blooms that are called umbels. This is a bonus to the already beautiful plant.  The blooms are very waxy and look artificial.  You can see the bloom by clicking on this link:  http://www.hoyaplants.com/  

Yes, that is Butchie waiting to get into the house.  He has really been good and he loves it outside.

Here is a picture of the 10 minute block I made.  I found it a little more difficult sewing it on a smaller scale.  I used 5 inch blocks and the original pattern is for 10 inch blocks.  It is not perfect but you can get the jist of it

.  Now, for the last project, the 10 minute table runner.  Everything is 10 minutes it seems.  I just ran to Wallyworld and grabbed a couple of fabrics to try the pattern out.  It is more like a table linen than a quilted table runner.  Can't decide if I want to put batting in the next one or not.  Still have to do the top stitching,  I think it is a great pattern to showcase appliqué and embroidery.  I can see how it would be really nice for holiday gifts.

That seems to be all my news...until we meet again.....

Stitch in time demo

Yesterday, I went to see Sharon's new home.  It is absolutely beautiful and so much designed with nature in mind.  I was red faced when I got up the drive way which was interesting.  I guess I was scared since the last time I was up there, our car rolled over a couple of times and hit a tree.  Yesterday was a whole lot more fun than that day.  She still has lots of boxes to unpack and I am sure she would feel better if she could get her sewing room all set up.  I begged her to let me help her but she would not hear of it.  Bill and Jim went to the gun range and when they returned, we grilled hamburgers and had lunch on the deck.  The wind was blowing pretty hard but it was nice out side.  I really enjoyed the visit with her.  I miss her since she moved.  Last night, that was a totally different story.  It stormed here with 60+ miles an hour winds.  Lightening, thunder and wind had Butchie all excited.  I had to move his crate in our bedroom.

This morning I went to the demo at the local quilt store, A Stitch in Time.  Today's demo was Bullion embroidery roses.  It is very pretty and very dainty.  I think I might do some roses on a couple of cotton shirts around the collars.  You can watch a tutorial on bullion embroidery at www.needlenthread.com.  


They also have tutorials on lots of different embroidery stitches.  It looks like a great reference sight.  I will have to get some thread and try the stitch so I don't forget it.  I also checked out a couple of thrift stores and bought an old quilt top that someone had haphazardly put together.  I am going to use it as a backing to practice with the long arm.  I ripped part of it out today to straighten it up some.  I also bought a set of red curtains and a bed skirt that was blue yellow and green and I ripped those up to use in my quilts.  The fabrics on both were really nice fabrics.  


We will probably come home on Friday.  I will have to really hustle tomorrow to start cleaning up.  The loft is a mess with sewing stuff everywhere and it is shameful how big a mess I can make in a very short time.  Plus I have done very little sewing...just fondling of the fabrics.  I love fabric.  Yep, that does sound a bit sick doesn't it.  But it is true, I love searching the thrift stores for remnants and found several today.  Don't know what I will do with them but it seems cotton will soon be so high I might not can afford to buy fabrics in the stores.  Buying pieces at the thrift store for .25 to 2.00 doesn't seem like such a bad deal. 


The other quilt store, Deb's Cat's and Quilts has expanded and finally moved into the new part.  I slipped past there and checked it out also.  The new addition has really opened it up and made it such a nice quilt shop.  


My little plants are just growing right along.  I noticed on some of them that I have new leaves coming out.  One whole group never came up and sooner or later, I will figure out whether each plant is a tomato, cuke, basil or bell pepper.  I sure will mark the trays in the future.  The last tray of seeds are still in little seedling pot, I am going to wait until I get home to repot.  Well, no pictures today...until we meet again.    

Windy days, garage sales and funky mirrors

We got up today and decided we would go to a big garage sale at the community center across from Whistle Stop.  People could just rent a table and load it with their treasures.  It was very crowded and full of junk.  The sale benefited the "Senior Games".  I bought some strawberry jelly that a lady had made for her husband and he passed away several months ago and she said no way she could eat all the jelly.  Wish I had her recipe because it is scrumptious.  I am making whipped cream biscuits in the morning so we can eat the jelly. It is so good, if the biscuits fail, I will just eat it with a spoon.

Bill and I just wondered through looking at everyone's treasures.  He found several books to buy and I found a treasure I just love.  When I describe it, don't shake your head and think I am nuts.  It is very funky and perfect for over the mantel.  It is a mirror in a gold frame that has beads of a sort, all sizes of buttons, shells, pennies and I don't know what else glued all around the frame.  Then it has cording around where the frame connects to the mirror.  It also has two little tassels hanging down from the bottom.  Now I know that it sounds like the tackiest thing you have ever heard about.  It is wonderful.  Bill doesn't think he likes it very much but then again we know how conservative he is about anything out of the ordinary.

We brought it home and set it on the mantle.  I absolutely loved it.  He again stated he thought it was ugly.  It is not ugly...different maybe but certainly not ugly.  When I was carrying it out of the sale, 4-5 women stopped me to tell me they loved the mirror.  They had good taste I am sure...or maybe just loved the unusual.  It did not look right just sitting on the mantle so I had him hang it about 10" up from the mantle.  I have been looking for something to fill the void over the mantle.  It is a very tall space and needed something badly.  I still have room to hang a quilt If I want to way up high.  I took a picture and when I download it, I might post it.  It cost me a whole $6.00 and I think it is one of the best treasures I have ever come across.  It suits our little cottage style to a T.  I might be nuts but I would never cross that fine line into "tacky"...gaudy yes, but never tacky or ugly!!

I also bought a wonderful plant stand for $8.00.  It is iron and holds a pot perfectly.  I think I might paint it black if the wind will ever quit blowing.  It was a great day for junk and jelly!  Today the wind gusts had to be 40-50 miles per hour.  I was upstairs and the trees were bending waaaaaaaaaay far over.  The noise sounded like a hurricane.  Yes, when I went out side my hair was standing on end and I had so much electricity that I had to slick it down with my hand and slide my hand all the way down to my bottom before I could take it away from my body.  The hair just popped right back out.  I looked like I had been scared really bad or stuck my finger in a socket.

I bought a beautiful violet when I first got up here and it is huge.  It has got to be at least 12" across and maybe even 15".  I hope I can get it home without breaking the leaves.  One of them broke off and I am trying to root it.  Yes, I know I need another violet like I need a hole in the head.  It is much darker than the picture shows.  It is a dark royal purple with a very pale green edging on the blooms.  Got to work on those picture taking skills.

I replanted my little seedlings a couple of days ago.  They are still quite small, but they have grown in two days.  I intend to bring them with me when we go south.  I think this is the basil.  I thought it was cucumbers based on the seed that was on top of the leaves.  It might be basil.  The front two pots and one in the back have a different plant in them... might be tomatoes.  I have some more that will be ready to re-pot Monday or Tuesday.  I planted tomato, bell pepper, cucumber and basil seeds.  Got the trays mixed up so I don't know what is what...guess if it continues to grow the mystery will be solved.  Bill will stroke when he sees how many plants we have to haul home.  Hope we have room for all his guns and stuff. :)

I am going to Sharon's on Monday and I am taking a new recipe.  If it is good, we will eat it and I will share the recipe...if not, I guess we can feed it to the birds.  Until we meet again.....

Long time no blog

It seems forever since I have blogged.   The visit with my Dad went well and I did get curtain tie backs and pillow cases done for my Stepmother.  The room looks really nice with the updated colors and Margaret is quite pleased with the quilt, pillow, cases and the curtains my sister Sheila made.  Here is a view of the room.

I slept in the room and opened the blinds a little for some light.  I guess it would look better if I had at least fixed the blind before I shot the picture.  duh!  Here is a better view of the quilt and cases.

I planted tomato, bell pepper, basil and cucumber seeds when I got here.  I got the trays mixed up so I don't know what is what but some have come up and are large enough to replant.  The others are just peaking their head out and I don't think some are going to come up.  Pictures later when they get a little bigger.  I also noticed down on the slope of our property there was a yellow flower.  I thought it might be a daffodil since I had planted them the first year we were here.  I went down and dug them up and replanted them at the top of the hill. I believe I might have a mutant  daffodil.  The green leaves look the same as the daffodils.  I noticed I had another one today.  I am going to leave it where it is in the hopes that it will spread.  I had planted many different types of wildflowers in the time we have been here.  I have very small almost iris looking blooms that are spread all over the yard.  Haven't taken a picture yet but they sure are pretty.  I also have no idea what they are.  Most are purple but some are white.  They really are pretty and sweet.  I have planted lots of different bulbs and some cone flowers.  They are starting to come up.  I hope the red hot pokers make it.  Some of the things I planted last summer are peaking their heads out.  Don't really know which is which but just happy they are coming up.  Here is a picture of the mutant daffodil...unless it has another name.

I haven't sewed much since I have been here and I am almost ashamed of not having anything to show for my time here.  I have been very non productive.  Since we have returned from my Dad's, I seem to be a little down.  He is 85 and I see a decline in him every time we go to see him.  His wife is such an angel because it is not easy being primary caregiver to someone with Altzheimer's.  I am forever grateful for her care giving.  Don't know what we would do without her.  I feel very blessed to have her in his life and mine.

My tulips are starting to bloom and the Dogwood tree is all budded up.  I hope it blooms next week before we leave.  Otherwise, we will most likely miss it.  It is cooler here but expected to warm up tomorrow.  I also have some really pretty little purple flowers that I planted last year and they look like small upside down stems of a bright purple grape.  Wish I could remember what they were.  I have noticed a small grouping going down the hill that I guess came from a seed birds dropped or maybe they washed down there.  Anyway, they really are pretty and sweet and I will be fine if they spread all over the yard..

I made a 10 minute table runner tonight that was a demo at the quilt store last week.  I will send pictures when I get the top stitching finished.  It is quite simple but then it only takes 10 minutes to make it so it could not be too complicated.  That is about all for now.  Until we meet again.....

Pillow cases and seeds

I finally got around to making 2 pillowcases for the bed upstairs.  I love doing these pillowcases and the kids really love them too.  They are quick and all the seams are finished so they look really professionally made.  It takes about 30 minutes to make them from start to finish.  The sheets are cream and I just wanted something to coordinate with the sheets and look nice with the room.  The colors are a bit brighter than the picture shows.

I will be so happy when I can cut accurately.  For small cuts, I can do it...makes the shoulder sore but I can hold the ruler down hard enough to be fairly accurate.  For anything over about 10" inches, the ruler slips as I get toward the end.  I have issues keeping that ruler in place even when my shoulder is not sore.  Don't know why this surprises me.  I am ready to start putting stripping on the 15 minutes of play blocks.  I sewed a few more this week to add to the pile.  I think I need either 42 or 56  I will have to wait for the stripping to besure I am making it big enough to be useful.  I don't want the quilt to be square.  I will probably work on this one and the spiderweb when I go to my Dad's.  I will want something to work on at night while everyone is watching TV.  Below are the last blocks I made.  They sort of look plain and ugly.  Some of them make me want to puke they are so ugly...others I really like.  When they all go together, I like them all.  I figure I will spend three days rearranging prior to sewing the blocks together.  I also cannot decide if I want to use bright yellow or black for the stripping.  More later on that.

The other thing I have been working on is getting rid of some of my smaller strings (scraps).  You can see a few of them in the little blocks above the scrappy blocks.  When they are sewed together, the blocks that make up the square will actually be 1/2 inch big.  Miniature quilts are amazing and I think the people who make them are on some real good drugs.  The one below my squares is an example.  The quilt is 20X20 but the squares within the quilt finish at 4X4.  Can you imagine all those pieces in a 4" square.  Some that I have seen were even smaller.  Don't think I will ever be doing anything like this in this lifetime.  I don't have much hair left and this could make me pull the rest of my hair out.  I could not believe how tiny the actual stars were in the quilt.

I noticed yesterday that some of the seeds I planted last week are poking their heads out.  I believe it might be the cucumbers.  They are about 1.5 inches tall.  I can see the tiniest green in one of the other trays but I have no idea what it is.  I always say to myself...mark the tray, but somehow never do so it is always a surprise when it surfaces.  I had planted tomato, cucumbers, bell peppers and basil seeds.  I will be so tickled if I can baby those little seeds into plants and FOOD!  I usually just buy tomato plants and go from there.  Some years they do good and other years, not much of anything.  I also stuck some marigold seeds, coleus seeds and morning glories in trays this week.  I have something blooming in the yard that is way down the hill.  I thought it was a daffodil but I went down and looked at it today and it is not quite a daffodil.  It is similar to the daffodil but much larger.  Might be a mutant because the blades look like daffodils.  The bloom is very full almost like a rose.  It is really pretty.  I am going to take my shovel and camera downhill tomorrow and take a picture and then dig it up and bring it closer to the house.  So look for the picture soon.  Until we meet again....

Bonnie Hunter and scraps of a crazy woman

It was such a beautiful day today...fairly cool in the morning and warm and sunny in the afternoon.  Everything seems to be blooming and more color pops out everyday.   I actually have 2 daffodils and more blooms coming out of their little green leaves soon.  They have had the bejebers stomped out of them as Bill has been working on a retaining wall and stomping all over them...but I guess long term, it won't hurt them.

This week, I went to the sewing guild meeting and the guest speaker was Bonnie Hunter whose website is Quiltville.com.  She was entertaining, funny and quite a prolific in her quilting.  She also brought a trunk show and displayed about 20 quilts.  She does mostly "scrappy" quilts and has written several books on making quilts from shirts from the thrift store.  She had beautiful quilts and it was hard to believe that she made many them from old clothes.  She doesn't pay a whole lot of attention in assuring that every little piece matches.  She only worries about whether the fabric is  light, medium or dark and never worries about whether the actual fabrics match.  I have discovered that it seems to be very "freeing" sewing scraps together.  It will make you crazy if you "think" the matching too hard.  It will drive you slap silly and I sure don't need to be any sillier or goofier than I already am currently.

Scrappy is supposed to be just that "scrappy".  I sewed about half a dozen "15 minutes of play" blocks over the last couple of days.  I will do a picture soon.  I also looked at my scraps and decided I would put some of Bonnie's thoughts into action.  I made about 20 little blocks from some strips that were too small to sew into my spiderweb blocks.  The squares in each block came out to be only 1/2 inch when the block was finished.  Doesn't that make me sound like a crazy person???  Don't know what I am going to do with the squares, but I felt like I just saved money.  Bonnie's philosophy is that a yard of material might cost you $9-10 dollars a yard and the 2" strip that a lot of people pitch to the trash also cost you $9.00 a yard.  It explains my inability to throw away all those strings of fabric...guess I am just too cheap to waste those scraps.  And the sadder part, is that I love those little scraps.  Anyway, I sure have a problem throwing them away.  I am saving the pieces that are less than an inch in a bag also to stuff a bed for Butchie.  So none of my $9.00 a yard goes to waste.  Waste not want not....that does not ring true with fabric.  A quilter always wants more fabric.  I might just do a 4, 8, or 12 patch miniature quilt with those iddy biddy little blocks.  Then I will have an iddy biddy little quilt.  Always wanted something about me to be iddy biddy...guess it will have to be a quilt.  Several people have asked me to make them a quilt...might just do that.  hehehe!

My little sunflowers and clematus that I grew from seed got planted yesterday.  It got cold last night but they were still holding their little heads up this afternoon.  I have planted tomato, cucumber, basil and bell pepper seeds this week.  They usually do not survive, but I find the will of the little seed trying to push it self out of the dirt shows so much determination, that I sometimes wish for some of that determination.  The seeds usually come up, just don't always make it into a full fledge blooming bearing plant.  I still love to plant seeds and wait for life to spring up.  ...And then there is the time I planted those "bat" seeds and none of them came up...but that is another story for another day...Until we meet again....

roses planted not much sewing

Well, the last few days, I have pulled more weeds, planted 2 new rose bushes (with help of course), planted gladiolas, watered all my plants, sewed with my group yesterday and went to the movies (Hall Pass), worked a night at the fair selling tickets for a quilt raffle to benefit the food banks in the area..  The movie was a little racy in parts.  It seems I have been busier than a cat covering up on a hot tin roof.  Too busy to sew and too busy to blog.

My guild meeting is tomorrow and I am going to a quilt show in Mt. Dora on Friday.  I guess I am feeling pretty good cause I seem to really be busy.  The Lake County show is a pretty big show and I am meeting some of my sewing group to go.  I sure do hope I can resist buying fabrics...I will be able to unless they have some wonderful sales.  Those I cannot resist.

I had planted sunflower seeds a couple of weeks ago and they are up about 5-6 inches.  I hope they don't get too much taller because I want to take some with me when I go up north.  They sure popped up very quickly.  I also did some impatient seeds and they are starting to come up.  Clematus, more amaryllas, some daffodils and some lylium bulbs have also been stuck in the ground or pot in hopes to take some with me.  Clematus grows very good in NC, but I don't know how they grow here.

I have great big blueberries on my blueberry bushes.  I will have to take a picture if I can remember tomorrow.    I kept Miss Emily tonight and the little buggar pulled 4-5 off.  She said she was just holding them...rightttttttt!  She is a mess.  I did not get to touch my fabric or sewing machine today and not much yesterday either.  I really need to decide what projects I might want to take to my Dad's.

There is a quilt show in Paducah that I went to several years ago.  It is one of the largest quilt shows around.  I would like to grab a couple of ladies and hit the road to go to it again at the end of April.  My Aunt Comilla has offered a place to stay if I want to bring a group up.  She went to the show with me and we stayed with her the last time I went to the show.  She was shocked at the beauty of the quilts.  She had no idea that quilts were not like they used to be.  I would really like to go again and this time take my time and spend two days.  Comilla and I ran through the show as fast as we could.  It was still great but I would have liked to stop and "smell the roses" on such beautiful quilts.  We got there at 9 and did not leave until close to 9 that night.  We were both very tired.  It really was too much in one day...but worth it.  Gotta get to bed so I won't be so tired tomorrow...til we meet again......

I have about 40 blocks completed now and seem to have used part of every scrap I have here at home.  Did not think that would ever happen.  Here are the latest 17 blocks.  I am going to put them together when I get 56 blocks unless I change my mind.  They are not in any particular order just on the design wall.  Some I really like and others make me want to puke because they are so ugly...but I like it when they are together.  We shall see what they make.

I did not do any sewing today or anything else for that matter.  I just rested, thumbed through a few magazines and was just totally lazy.  Pulled weeds for about 3 hours yesterday and today I realized I pulled about 2 hours too many.  I have about 3 more hours to go but I think I will break it up to get the rest of the beds pulled.  I also have planted new flower seeds and some bulbs.  It is amazing how fast those little seeds pop out.  The miracle of seeing their little heads unfolding is something that makes me happy.

Today was our Coopers 4th birthday.  He is such a funny little boy.  He was born on our good friend, Grandma Ruthie's birthday.   She is about 81 years older than him but he loves going to her house because she always has "nanas".  Happy Birthday to both of them.  His birthday party is Saturday so he got a cupcake tonight.  Til we meet again......

new phone

Sorry about the video.  When the next bud opens, I will get a good picture.  My cell phone had been sent off for repair about 2 weeks ago.  I got a call yesterday and Bill went and picked it up.  The third time I tried to use it, it did the same thing...UGH *&^$#^(.  So irritating.  I went back down to Best Buy today with Jen and talked to the wireless manager.  His name was Lawrence and he was actually very customer focused.  Anyway, after hearing everything that has happened, he offered me a new phone.  I accepted and got the Samsung Epic which is the bomb as Jen says.  I had to pay $1.00 but that was OK.  I also purchased a blue tooth headset which will allow me to talk without the phone on my shoulder.  Should make it easier on my neck and shoulder.

We talked Lawrence into updating Jen's phone also for $100.  We both had the Samsung moment which I really loved ...when it worked right and we both hated when it went to speaker, mute, dialed while talking..etc.  It was good he gave her a good price so that I can have my personal help desk with the new phone.  That was a pretty good price since she did not have the replacement service.  We came home so excited.  We started downloading apps and hers worked fine and mine would not download anything.  I just don't get it.  I am such a bright person, I must carry my own electrical field around me that screws up everything electrical.  I tried to get her to swap phones...no go which I don't blame her.  We had dinner together and kept playing with the phone...no go on mine.  She left to go home and investigate online if there were any fixes.  She is so smart.  She sent me an e-mail with a fix.  It worked and now I have a wonderful new phone.  WHOOPEE!!!  It is about time.  I am so glad to get my many functioned phone back and this one seems to work great...so far.

I did sew 3 or 4 blocks this morning.  They were all 15 minutes to play in other words scrappy blocks.  I really liked the ones I did today.  I will make a few more before I show pictures.  I am so ready to sew something big or maybe I mean structured.  I guess the Polka dot quilt will be structured.  When I get 48 blocks, I think I am going to put it together....kind of hankering to finish something.  It is late so off to bed I go...til we meet again.....

Home and Garden

Yesterday, I  planted seeds and bulbs to take up north when we go..My red amarylla bulb bloomed a few days ago and the first grouping of white bells have faded but I have a new bloom opening up maybe this weekend.  Below is a picture of the red bells.  There is another bud coming out on the red one also.  I sure have enjoyed having them inside where I could enjoy them.  The blooms are so pretty, they look artificial.    I must have had the camera on video since it came out as a video.

I went to the home and garden show today with my friend Jean, her daughter and granddaughter.  If it were not for the free chocolate  (in bowls at the booths) and good friends, it would have been a big waste.  It had very little plants or gardening items mostly siding, hot water heaters, water companies, etc.  I did buy some new jewelry cleaner...sure was glad those tickets were free because I would have hated to pay for the tickets for what I got out of the show.  Oh well, I probably won't go again even with free tickets.

I did do a few blocks tonight and slapped them up on the design wall.  I think I have about 35 blocks.  I will have to count them again.  I have decided to just sew them together and take what it makes.  I won't make the quilt real big because it will be heavy with all the thread sewing those little pieces together.  I bet most people don't realize how heavy thread can be.  Me neither, but when it is sewed in a quilt, layered and quilted (more thread), some of them are very heavy.  The blocks not in rows yet, just flopped up so you can see them.  Pictures below are the blocks from the last few days

Some I like and some I look at and whack again and add a different fabric.  The middle one on the left needs to be flipped up or down because it looks a little weird with the triangle going sideways. One day next week, I am supposed to start the polka dot quilt so I will have to cut more fabric this weekend.  It should be interesting and I will post the results when we start.  I like having more than one project in progress...obviously, I like having lots of projects started.  The scrappy blocks and spiderweb blocks have filled a void since the shoulder surgery.  It has allowed me to sew and not have to cut.  I still cannot hold the ruler tight enough to cut accurately but it really does not matter with the scrappy projects.

I had Cooper last Sunday night and he was talking to me and I ask him a question that he had to think about the answer.  I was holding the camera and I just had to take a picture of his thinking face.  He has been doing this face when he thinks since he was quite a little fellow.

Emily did get married on Thursday but she doesn't think her husband is cute because he has a mohawk.  She told me she could not stay the night at his house because her mother would not let her and she had to stay home at her mother's house anyway.  It seems all my grandchildren are funny kids.  I do so enjoy their happy little faces and the great things they say.  Until we meet again.......

 

Tomorrow is a good day

I was scheduled for jury duty tomorrow and I don't have to go.  It has got to be a good day.  I have not posted in a few days.  It seems weekends are very busy with the kids.l  Austin and Emily stayed with me on Saturday night and Cooper stayed Sunday night.  I don't get any sewing done when they are here.  It was a busy weekend.  I did start to cut short strips of polka dot fabric that don't have to be all that accurate for a New York beauty quilt that I have been wanting to make.  It is all paper pieced and it is probably going to be very time consuming to sew.  Cutting a million pieces of different polka dot fabric is the first step.  It will be similar to the quilt pictured below.  I have been collecting polka dot fabrics for probably 3-4 years.  I have enough to make several quilts I am sure.  I have a stack of fat quarters that is probably at least 18 inches tall left to cut a strip off.  I have already cut about 75-80 strips.  I do a few at a time which is all my shoulder will allow.  My friend Evie and I are going to sew the quilts together when we go back to the mountains.  If you look closely, you will see that it has approximately 70-80 small pieces of fabric in each block.  I suspect it will take a good while to sew each block.  Anyway, I have wanted to do this quilt since I saw it.

I cannot remember what I did on Monday and Tuesday I went to my sewing group.  I stitched this week and I am still trying to stitch at least 15 minutes each day.  I am getting quite a stack of scrappy blocks and spiderweb blocks.  When I get a few more, I am going to throw them onto the design wall and start sewing them into strips for the quilt.  Today is the first day I did not have a chance to actually stitch.  I did square up some of the spider blocks.  Then I went to my friend, Ruthie's house to see if I could get her old sewing machine up and running.  Bill and I cleaned, oiled and greased it but it still would not stitch.  I think it needs a new belt.  The motor sounds strong when you take the belt off.  But it just does not want to go when you put it all back together.  Hopefully, when the oil soaks in and when we find a new belt, it will start to pur.  The visit was nice and we went to lunch when we got the machine put back together.  If we cannot get it running, she has another older singer that used to be a treadle and a motor was added to it.  I know more about singers so if we cannot get this one going, I am going to clean and oil the singer to see if we can get it running.

This afternoon, I planted some "mammoth and some red sunflower seeds, some cone flower bulbs and a couple of amaryllas that are supposed to be pink or peach.  I am forcing the bloom on them.  I have a beautiful red amarylla to go with the white one I pictured earlier.  I will do a picture soon to share.  I hope the new one I got is peach.  Emily came over and stayed with me while Austin and Lisa went to Karate class.  We took a walk to Opal's and I took her one of the amarylla bulbs in a pot.  It should give her something to look at while her foot is healing.  Until we meet again.....

Blocks, blocks, blocks

Yesterday, I went on the correct day and got the long overdue mammogram...oh YEAH!!  Boy was that fun. NOT!!  Today, I had a dental appt. for teeth cleaning.  Tomorrow I go to the Dr. for a checkup on my shoulder surgery.  It is doing fine and I am sure I will get an A+ for moving the arm.   I hate it when I have some kind of commitment day after day.  It seems I don't get anything done when the week is full of Dr. appts.  I look the picture of health and for the most part I am...it is just all these little irritations that take it right out of me.  I just want to stay home and get some things accomplished.

I did get a chance to sew blocks yesterday.  I made 3 wonky blocks and two paper pieced spider web blocks.  I also started loading a backing on my longarm.  I want to get the table toppers quilted that I pieced in the mountains quilted.  Then I can get the borders on and those babies can go in the finished pile.  Yesterday afternoon, I got the backing fabric pinned on the machine leaders and it just was not right.  I decided to re-watch one of the loading videos so I could figure out what I had done wrong.  I got online and just decided I was past the point of making sense with anything so I read my e-mail and watched the boob tube.  

This afternoon, after the dentist, it was so rainy and dreary that I crawled into the chair and got a quilt and dosed.  Later, I watched the longarm loading video and then pinned the backing.  Now I have to figure out what I want to quilt on the table toppers.  I really like them and I don't want to mess the quilting up.  It has been 5 months or more since I have touched that big girl, Lizzie Girl.  I decided I would wait until I was a bit fresher like in the morning after my Dr. appt.

I dug out some runners I had pieced for the NC house also.  Two are completed and I am not sure what I was going to do with the third smaller one because it does not look like I was finished with it.  Pictures attached.  I would love to get them both sets of table toppers quilted tomorrow and the binding sewed on so I could start the hand work.

Once thteal ones are finished, I will get the 3 above finished.  The above are scraps from a quilt top that I made a year or so ago.  I have at least 8 quilt tops or more to get quilted.  I need to get some practice time on the long arm before I try to quilt a real top that I have spent a lot of time piecing.  Once I started playing on it last year, I relaxed and things went OK, so I just have to get to that point again.  Hopefully, it won't take me long to get back up to speed.  Oh well, that is it for today...til we meet again.

Today I got up, got a shower, ironed my white blouse, got dressed and was almost walking out the door to my mammogram appointment.  The phone rang and the recording said "This is just a reminder call about your Mammogram appt for WEDNESDAY at 12:45.  Duh!!! Wouldn't I have looked stupid showing up on the wrong day.  I hate when that happens.  I was just so happy I got the call before I left and drove across town for the appointment.

I called my friend Opal to check on her foot.  She fell Saturday and hurt it pretty bad.  When I looked at it, it looked broken.  She said she was just going to call another friend to take her to the Dr.  I took her and it is broken.  She wanted me to see the xray because it is broke.  The Dr. then proceeded to stick her size 7 foot into a boot that had to be for a size 14.  I don't know how she would have walked in it.  He did not have another smaller one in stock and said he could order it.  I told her if she could make it back to the car, she could use my boot.  We came home and it fit her perfectly.  I took her home and then picked up one of our other friends and went back and watched a movie, Eat,Pray, Love, with Julie Roberts.  It was a different kind of movie...slow going at times.  The concept is good but the movie was a little slow for me.

Kids came for dinner so I only really had about 15 minutes between the reminder call and leaving for the Dr.  I sewed one spiderweb block.  I am moving along on that quilt.  I also moved the projects out of the drawer for the batiks so I can get them put up now.

New pictures organizing finished...finally

I have finally finished my organizing of my fabrics, scraps and sewing room.  I have all the fabrics color coded and in the cabinets.  I finished the fat quarter organizing by color today.  The only thing I have left to do is to stack the batik fat quarters into the drawer.  I have to shift some projects out to make room for them.  Amazing, all the fat quarters fit in the plastic drawer stands I currently have under my longarm.  I have no extra room so I guess I cannot buy anymore.  pooh! 

I sewed some of my "play" blocks and a couple of spiderweb blocks before I quit.  I also managed to cut 100 6.5" blocks.  I am thinking about doing a scrappy pinwheel quilt.  Small pieces are about all I can cut close to accurate.  I don't seem to be able to hold the ruler steady with my arm.  My shoulder is a little sore tonight so I know I cut to the max.  That smarted on my shoulder and arm but I am sure I will get over it. 

Tonight, I was watching the Super bowl at half time and I just had to call my friend Jean.  I thought the halftime show was awful except for those people in lights.  (Guess I am getting old because Pea just could not sing.)  My friend Jean and I have always talked about getting overalls and adding colored lights run by batteries and standing down at Hwy 50 near the 7-11 store on Christmas Eve waving at the cars going by.  I had to call her and remind her about that plan.  We laughed and decided this might be the year we do it. 

She mentioned brownies and as hard as it was, I pulled my self away from that most exciting Super Game (NOT) and told her I would be right down.  I shuffled into my walking shoes to Bill's distress and decided I was going to trot on down and get a brownie.  I wanted to walk since it is only 3 blocks.  Bill ran and got his pistol for me to put in my pocket.  Now who in their right mind would try to get a woman on her way to brownies.  He would have to be a total idiot.  Well, out the door I went...pistol packing and on my way for that chocolate fix.  That brownie was so gooooooood.  She had put a cream cheese mixture in the center. yum...yum.  She wanted to send one home for Bill...I took it, but he doesn't eat sweets.

Here are some pictures of all the 6.5" blocks I have made and a picture of an amarylla that I bought up in NC.  It has bloomed and it is really beautiful.  I also bought a bulb that is supposed to be peach.  It is almost blooming.  The perfection of the white blooms almost takes your breath away.  I cannot wait for the peach one to bloom.  Yes, I do have too much fabric so you don't have to tell me.  Till we meet again....

Scraps organized...whoopee

I have spent most of the day organizing my scraps so it will be easier to sew my spiderweb and 15 min play blocks.  I have completed 21 of the 6" blocks and 5 of the 12.5 blocks.  I have them all up on my design wall trying to decide if I want to put red or black fabric around each block or just sew them together.

Today, I separated the strips that could be used in the spiderweb blocks from the scraps that could be used in the 15 minute blocks.  I also have a tub of 2.5" to 3" long strips that could be sewed and cut into 4 patches or 9 patches or 16 patches.  I also made a tub of larger scraps that could be cut into strips or blocks.  I love scraps because I sure have a lot of them.  I also pulled little tiny pieces that I am using to stuff  a pillow for our dog to put in his crate.  If I leave a quilt out, he seems to pile right up on it even though he has his on quilt in his bed....he just has to be on my quilts.  I will share pictures soon.  Til we meet again.

Trunk show at our guild

Today, we had a trunk show at the Pine Castle Quilter's Guild.  The lady presenting was Alice Means.  She has won numerous awards from AQS and has won awards at quilt shows.  Her quilts were spectacular and it was like eye candy looking at them and hearing the story.  She does a lot of "couching" on her quilts.  This is sewing a  string, rope, heavy thread, yarn, etc into the top of the quilt to emphasize the area.  I know, I thought couching was just laying around on the couch eating chocolate.  She gave a free class after guild on a table runner.  I had intentions of staying and sewing the runner, but I had quite the headache.  I decided not to stay because it would have probably made my head hurt worse.  I know I missed a good class and it was free!..which makes it that much worse that I did not bring my machine and stay.

I stopped at Tuesday Mornings on the way home...not to uh shop, but to try to get rid of this massive headache I have had since Tuesday.  I thought a little retail therapy might cure it for me...it did not :(.  Bill got Chili out of the freezer for dinner.  He said it has beans in it so it must be Chili.  It was not Chili and there was not a single bean in the bag.  It was spaghetti sauce...and I don't think he knew the difference until I saw him eating it and had a taste.  Doesn't speak much for my cooking.  Boy were my taste buds shocked...guess it is the difference between men and women.  We pay attention and they don't.

I sewed 4 blocks on my 15 minutes of play.  I have all the scraps separated into strips, strings and little pieces and then a second bin that is bigger scraps.  I wish I could just play all day.  I think when I finally get around to making something with the blocks, it will either be one of the prettiest quilts or flat out ugly.  We shall see.  When I get about 6 more blocks made, I will show a picture.  I bought a new ruler that has a clip on it and I am hoping that clip will hold things steady so I can cut fabrics.  Sewing these scraps has filled a void for the time after my shoulder surgery that I needed to sew.  I need to clean house tomorrow...or...NOT...til we meet again.

Finally 15 minutes to play

Today, I went to my sit and sew group.  They truly are a wonderful caring bunch of ladies.  I did some frogging and mainly just visited which means I was not very productive.  However, sometimes we just feel like sitting and visiting among people we love and we don't necessarily have to be doing anything.  It is very hard for me to sit without doing something with my hands and I rarely do just sit.  But today, somehow it seemed right.  I finished my ripping, and just sat and flipped through some new quilt books that were floating around.  I missed the Orlando quilt show and one of the ladies had a slideshow of  the quilts.  They were beautiful and she had entered several gorgeous quilts in the show.  She had one of the quilts appraised at the show and it was appraised a little over $3000.00.  Not too shabby!  The visit was good and I needed mental time today.

I started my 15 minutes of play again tonight.  I did two more smaller blocks.  I am using scraps from a different tub.  I have been separating my scraps here in Fl into larger and smaller fabrics.  The larger, I plan on cutting more blocks to use in another scrappy quilt.  The smaller ones I will continue to use in the Spiderweb quilt or the 15 minutes of play blocks.  I truly have the "scrappy" quilt bug.  I love the hodgepodge of all different fabrics.  It is so much fun to just grab a piece and sew it on.  I think I must like it because my life is mostly "scrappy"...in other words, I just flow through life on bits and pieces of a lot of different things.  Like the fabrics, some pieces are beautiful and some are almost ugly...however, when you put them all together, it makes a very interesting block.  I  enjoy the unknown for the most part...sometimes it is not so good like when someone dies, is sick or sad or hurting.  The bright happy fabrics are the hugs, healing and the things that bring joy to our life.

I am making progress on the room.  I still have miscellaneous stuff to organize and put up but the pile around the dining table is getting smaller.  I hope to get a lot more put away tomorrow morning if I can get this lazy girl out of the bed.  Bill hung the two new cabinets in the Lizzie girl's (longarm) room which I plan on putting things that I have purchased to embroidery...but have not got around tuit yet.  I had my embroidery machine serviced while I was gone so I can start embroidery projects again.  Here are two more blocks:

See those tiny little strips of red.  I don't seem to have many scraps in red.  I think that calls for a red quilt.  I love doing these little blocks...and I am going to go back to 15 minutes play every day and one day, I will have a quilt with a very unusual look and it will be made with scraps that many quilters just toss so I have to think it will be free. hehehe!  Til we meet again....

Woe is me!!!

I have sewn several more 15 minutes to play blocks but no pictures for you yet.  When I finally set up my longarm, I had to move all my fabrics and lots of other things to get enough room for "Lizziegirl".  It got time for us to go to NC and I just shoved everything in and took off free as a bird.  I had the shoulder surgery a few days after we got home and actually never got my sewing rooms totally organized.  I started the reorganizing my sewing room yesterday.  Oh my, I stumbled around in there all afternoon, fell on my bum...OUCH!!! Those tile floors are pretty hard and I am sore today.  I finally figured out the best way for me to get things back in order is to move everything out that is not in its correct place.  Thanks Stacy for dropping by at the right time to help me drag everything out.

Bill and Jason moved my new cutting cabinet into the room.  Whoohoooo!  I had been waiting a long time (close to a year) for Bill to fix the drawer.  I had found a cabinet top that was perfect at a thrift store.  So now I have a great cutting surface and a space on the end for pressing.  Anyway, back to the tornado that hit the room...I have refolded my Christmas stash and got them into the two little half cabinets that I had picked up for $5. at a yard sale about a year ago.  They held all my Christmas fabrics and I still had room to store all the panels I have in my stash.  I quit to fix dinner and to rest the shoulder.  I am so happy I did not hurt it worse when I tumbled onto the tile floor.

I have convinced Bill to mount two more single cabinets that had been sitting in the shed for over a year.  He got them into the kitchen and so far, that is as far as he got.  Hope I don't have to wait another year.  I want to put all the towels, kids blankets, diapers and other things that I have to embroidery.  It will eliminate a couple of tubs under my longarm.

My goal is to just get the sewing room organized this week, but I have a busy week so far.  On Monday, I have a Dr. appt and a funeral in the afternoon.  My friend Hobbie's husband passed away after a long illness.  My sit and sew is on Tuesday and Pine Castle Guild is on Thursday and we are having a workshop after guild to learn a folding flower technique.  That leaves Wed and Friday to get this mess cleaned up and I have not checked to see if I have any other distractions that will keep me from getting everything folded and put back.  Fat Chance..

Oh well, decided I should blog a little before I continue my organization.  Til we meet again....