Happy New Year

As 2006 comes to an end and 2007 begins I want to wish all my friends here on Mavericks all the best in the coming year.

Happy Aniversary

28 years ago today with "nothing better to do" John and I drove over to Yuma, AZ and got married. When he told his shipmates what we had done the first comment was "What are you going to do when she gets older" and John's comment back was "Well, I guess I'll get older too" You see, I'm 12 years older than he is and I guess they thought as I turned into this doddering old lady he would stay young forever. Over the years we've had our ups and down, fights and makeups, laughter and tears. We've traveled from the Pacific Ocean to the Alantic and back as "Home was where the Navy sent us".

John's long since retired from the Navy and on a second career as a Merchant Seaman. We now make our home here amongst the towering pines of WA. We've been here 15 years, the longest we've spent in the same home and every once in awhile we get that wanderlust wanting to pick up and move. We never get to the let's just do it, the sun comes out after long rainy winters and we decide right here is where we want to be.

Happy Aniversary John, I'm looking forward to many more.

Gratitudes

The day I heard this slow talking Southerner and picked him up off a bar stool.

For asking me to come to San Diego when his ship left Portland.

All the different places John's taken me over the years.

The many spur of the moment road trips we shared.

For having always made sure I had a roof over my head and enough to eat.

For his loving ways and being who he is, my dear husband

Metamorphosis

Like a butterfly emerging from it's cocoon, the raffle quilt of last year has gone from an ugly duckling to a swan. After being held hostage until one week before our picnic it was returned with the applique border completed.





Before










After





Changes were made, new borders were added and new backing purchased as we'd frantically put together a quilt to raffle using the Flying Dutchman blocks which no longer complimented the center section, the backing and batting lest we disappoint our family not having a quilt to raffle.


Last year for the Shop Hop one of the fabrics was a beautiful print of Washington State places which we chose for the backing. As there was a limited amount of yardage available we had to put in a special order and wait until mid September for more to arrive at our favorite LQS. It was well worth the wait.











With the start of Football season I determined this would be my football project and by Super Bowl Sunday the quilting would be done. I've quilted the sky background with small baptist fans (at least that's what I call them) using blue varigated thread. Outlined the appliqued with a variagated green to tan. I left the windmill for last and hope something comes to mind to make it look like what it's supposed to be. The yellow is a tulip print (how Dutch can we get) and the darkest border a deep green. Baptist Fans will compliment these borders. I hated this quilt last year. This year I'm enjoying quilting it.

Yesterday I gathered up all my Christmas fabric and headed out to my sisters. She wanted to do something to decorate the plywood covering the window she lost and was going to go and purchase a bunch of Xmas fabric to do so. Wait a minute here, I've got a drawer full of the stuff just sitting around, lets see what we can do. We pawed through the stash and found a couple pieces big enough to cover the 5' middle section, stitched it up and then headed out to get some canned snow and clingys. 4 stores later purchased the last can alive, decorated the two small side windows still containing some glass, hung her Christmas stockings and now she has a lovely decorated wall where once was ugly plywood. While there we called another sister to see how she and her family had survived the most recent storm that blew through Seattle. Nothing drastic other than no power for the past three days.

Carol....forced quality time sounds like an Oxymoran to me. Sometimes I'd like to do the same thing just to force DH to get away from the TV and "talk to me".

Joanne...found a couple skirts and blouses that are very little girlish. It's those fancy dresses that are so streetwalker looking.

Blogger hasn't been letting me post comments, wonder if it has to do with the updated Beta.

Gratitudes

Both my Sisters survived the two recent storms without injuries

Spending a fun day with my sister Marcia

Being there for my youngest son during a sad time for him when his father passed away suddenly

A sweet call from John today who got his requested day off and will have a 4 day wkend

Yesterday in the middle of the afternoon just as my friend was leaving to dash back across the street the lights blinked then went out. A power outage, the first of the year for us. Shortly after her DH rang the doorbell letting us know the power would be off for some time and he wanted my friend to stay with me until he got home. He's very considerate in that way and keeps an eye on me when John is gone. We built a fire in the fireplace, filled the thermos with the coffee I had just made and settled in to waite for him to get off work. When I tried to phone the Electric Company to report the outage my portable phones were dead as well, nor would my cell phone work. Fortunately for me, John hates those portable phones so we have an old fashioned one in the garage which did work.

Later that evening my sister called to tell me they were having 70 mph wind gusts out where they live on the bay. As she was sitting in her living room she looked up and watched her picnic table go airborne straight into the big plate glass window. She had just enough time to grab her grandson, cover his face and duck her head when the glass started flying.

It was a long, dark night as I sat wrapped up in a quilt, candles for light, a flashlight to read by and the Bears game on the radio. By midnight the power was still out so I threw another log on the fire snuggled down, watching the fire and before I knew it was sound asleep. I came awake with a start when the furnace kicked in and the lights came back on at 2 am.

Today my friend and I commented on how quiet our homes were and wondered aloud why we didn't do this more often. A fire, good company and good conversation.

Every year for the past 5 years since my GGD was born I have always sent her a Christmas Dress. This is the first year I've not been able to find something suitable for her and it disappoints me. At 51/2 she's too old for the little girls department and to young for the bigger girls department. I wonder at the buyers . The clothes are way to old for such a little girl and do they dress their own little girls like teenages? Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy and want to keep her a baby forever.

Motivation or.....

lack of. I've been so unmotivated to sew this past month that all I've accomplished is a lot of wishful thinking and Leaf Seasons top.



Sunday I sat and hand quilted the day away while watching football games. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked as Roscoe decided the quilt on my lap would be such a lovely place to be. He's not much of a lap cat and the only time he ever comes for attention is when I have a throw quilt covering me up or am working on a quilt.





Saturday my friend and I escaped from home for the first time in over a week. We've had lots of snow up here and it's not melting fast enough for us. I had called my sister to see how the roads were out in the county and when she said they were clear with dry pavement we bundled up and off we went. Getting out of our community here on the side of the mountain took 4WD but when we got to the main road all was clear just as my sister had said. We did all the errands we hadn't been able to all week and made our last stop at Walmart. The parking lot was full, the store was packed. I swear everybody in town was out shopping. By the time we left Walmart it was already getting dusk. By now, really wanting to be home we decided to take the shorter back road, go in the gate closest to home and not have to navigate the hills in the dark. What a mistake this turned out to be. As we crested the first hill from the main road bare dry pavement turned to rutted packed ice/snow and a road that hadn't been plowed for the past week. We started slipping/sliding down the other side of the hill, my friend hanging on for dear life and me wishing I had gone the long route. I manage a free hand, hit the 4WD button and kicked it on which immediately or so it seemed stopped the slide. We still had another 5+miles before our gate and crept along at a very sedate 15mph. I have to admit, I was scared driving that road in the pitch black dark. When we finally arrived home, her DH had that "deer in front of a peterbuilt" look worried to death something had happened to us.