Quilting With Cats

A new project

2011-11-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

It's been really hard to get my get up and go going. Weather is so cold all I want to do is sit with a good book, wrapped in lap quilt and read with the noisy TV rumbling along in the background. It's been chilly with temps dropping into the 20's lately, snow promised which didn't arrive and wind storms on this the left coast.

I haven't been working on my block a day project instead have started yet another project that will not turn into a UFO. Last July at the family picnic my 22 yr old grandson asked me "Gramma, will you make me a new quilt, mine is way to small". I thought back to when I had made this quilt and realized it was for his 8th grade graduation and a lot of time has passed since then as well as growth as he's reached well over 6'4". Thinking all 3 of my grandsons are towering up to 6'7" I decided my goal should be 3 new quilts long enough to cover these long legged boys. Having made the mistake of asking what colors they liked I had to figure out what on earth I could do using neon orange, yellow, red, black and blue. The best I could do was choose 3 colors plus a black and do a sorta rail fence. Each one has different favorite colors, eye bleeding bright and black.

I started the first one having found the perfect batik black background with a pattern to it. Added some neon orange and a green. I have a good start almost half the blocks done on this one. Strips are cut and as I changed my mind in mid stream am short just a yard of solid black which necessitates at trip to my LQS for more. I would like to finish them all for Xmas and being realistic what with postage cost will have them done so they can take them home next July when they come to visit

Tomorrow I'm going shopping with my sister for Thanksgiving dinner. I've checked the weather reports which promise rain. I'm hoping there's not a repeat of last year when I woke up finding way to much snow to drive off my mountain. In any advent should it snow and I can't drive my BIL or Nephew will come fetch me and return me to home. John's ship is out to sea doing a cable repair and while they are supposed to be back in Portland on the 23rd this weather has delayed the repair and will certainly not plan on his being here for dinner.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving spent with family and friends.

2011-11-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Another day spent waiting on repair and delivery people. My new washer is all installed and been working quit well. This new washer isn't as fancy as the old one and doesn't have some of the nicer settings that the old one did but will make do. With everything being sent out of the country and hardly anything manufactured here in the good ole' USA things just aren't as good as they once were. My old washer lasted just 7 years and the one before that a good 20 or more. What I wouldn't give for some good old USA made appliances.

The plumber showed up on the heals of the washer delivery and nice guy that he was pulled out that nasty carpet in the bathroom and some of the staples. Not his job description but he did it anyway. Quite a few dollars later I now have a working toilet with a wet floor I am slowly drying.

Next up when the floor is dry I will have the fella out that installed my new flooring. He's saved the left over linoleum from the laundry room and it will be just enough to do the itty bitty bathroom floor. I've had my three's so now hopefully nothing else will decide to give up the ghost.

While the plumber was here I laid out and taped down my backing for the RR to pin sandwich it ready for hand quilting. Bless the plumber he said it was beautiful. I've started the quilting process. This one I am going to enter in our local fair this year and see if I can add another ribbon to the box I already have. It's not a large quilt, barely queen size and hangs just a bare 6" over the top of the bed but I'm not into having them so over sized they might as well be called bedspreads.

Tomorrow I go back to the LQS to pick up the background fabric I forgot to get yesterday so I can get back to my Block a Day which I haven't been able to keep up with. I'm not pleased with the way my photo's are printing out on fabric sheets as they are not sharp and the color isn't good. I've wasted so much ink and fabric sheets that I'm going to give up trying to print any more. Plus, they never print out where I want them too. I'm totally not printer savvy or I have a poor printer. I'm trying to make a memory quilt for my Roscoe and it's not working at all.

I'll leave you with Lady.

Lady Loves a Fire

2011-11-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

It's been really cold in mornings and because my Wood guy hasn't called to tell me when he can deliver a couple more cords of wood for the winter I have been rationing what little fires I've had. Today he called and has several more cords for my winter wood so I cranked up the stove and raised the temperature in the house from 57 to 75 degree's. While this is a bit warm for me I can open the door to the garage and let some of the heat out. Lady loves a fire and will lay in front of the stove for days on end if it's got a fire in it. VBG

My block a day challenge has taken a back seat until I can get out to the LQS tomorrow and hopefully find some more of the fabric I have been using for background in my stars. I want to keep it consistent for some reason and haven't a clue why.

So tomorrow after the washer repair person comes I will go to town and hit the November sale at my favorite LQS. If I take a canned good for their food drive I can have 30% off one cut of fabric which will be nice as I need to get a backing for the RR. Also need to pick up 6 different colors to make a quilt for one of my grandsons who wants a real bright competition orange in his quilt and black to tone it down some. Kinda psychedelic I think. Lots of other good % off at my LQS as well.

Also need to call in the plumber as my master bedroom potty has developed a leak and I can't use it till it's fixed. It's leaked into the carpet in there (who ever decided carpet in the bathroom should be shot) so have to replace that as well which is a good thing as I am not pleased with it anyway.

Round Robins are finished

2011-10-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today we exchanged our RR's. When all is said and done we all loved our finished top.
The suspence was killing us as we decided to wait till we were having our cinnamon bun break as we had to work on our Nieces top which we wanted to finish today and did.

Mine
Marcie
Pattie
Barb

Roscoe Blocks

2011-10-27T14:37:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about Roscoe as I sat down to stitch up my blocks today. The sun was shining in the window where he used to lay as I sat at the machine. I don't know if others miss their pets when they are no longer here but I sure do miss mine.

Block a Day

2011-10-25T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today I finished up cutting and sorting the strips into groups for our 2012 Family Raffle Quilt. I decided to do a block to make sure the measurements were correct. They were and I had to trim as I stitched each strip together. We have some stitchers in our group who haven't a clue what a 1/4" seam is and have to compensate by cutting an extra 1/8" to everything. I sometimes think they don't really care but just get 'er done. This is one of 2 blocks for our Triple Irish Chain.

I have cut pieces and parts for my Block a Day Challenge and finished my block for today. It's also a challenge for me to dust some left overs from other projects. I'm doing star in a star blocks in rich fall colors with some brights thrown in. I want to have every star different in some way. Today I felt rather down. While it was a sunny fall day I felt gloomy as is my block. I missed having my partner there in the sewing room with me. It's still hard to go in there and be productive but each day does get better.

My sweet great granddaughters at a 4-H event.
Reese raises chickens and does very well having won many championship ribbons. Brooke will follow in her footsteps as she gets old enough to participate in 4-H... Their Mom also raised chickens as her 4-H project and did very well winning many ribbons. I wish they lived next door so I could spend time with them.

A Kindness for Roscoe

2011-10-02T07:01:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I faced the very difficult decision of calling Roscoe's vet tomorrow and making an appointment to have him Euthenized.

I sat and thought about what an active, feisty furbaby he has been all his life. From chasing his mice around the floor to playing soccer with bits of litter compared to these past few weeks when he became sicker and sicker and had to be hospitalized. The yahoo support group I found encouraged me with medications and sub-q IV treatment that I could give him a few more months of quality life.

I asked myself as I sat with tears in my eyes what kind of quality of life was I giving him? I look at my wonderful kitty and can't help but cry when I see him hiding behind the bathroom door, not eating, struggling to his water dish and litter box. The hardest part which makes my tears flow is his not wanting to be held. The struggle giving him medications that I have to force on him and the IV's is not being kind but cruel to a dying kitty.

Yesterday my sister asked me if I was going to have him cremated and if not her friends husband makes small pet shrouds. She has picked out a burgundy one for him and will go with me to the vets. Her husband is going to make him a box and prepare his final resting place out under the trees and ferns.

This has been a very difficult decision to make. I knew when he was hospitalized and I signed a DNR form that I had started coming to terms with loosing him. I am ready to end his pain hard as it is for me to let go. I will miss our lap times as he dances around while I brush him. I will miss him on the bed at night I will miss my companion when John is gone.

Roscoe

2011-09-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

My beautiful clown Roscoe has just been in the hospital for chronic renal disease. He's at stage IV which is not good. I came home with several pills to give him, IV solutions to hydrate him as he develops dehydration because his kidneys are failing and not doing their job. Another med to sprinkle on his food to bring down yet another blood value. I don't think its right to force pills down him when I have to fight to get it done. I don't think he needs to be stuck daily to give him fluids or to force feed him. I think this is a cruel thing to do.

I sit here and wonder if he could speak to me what he would say. Would he tell me that he is at the end of his life and to let him go. Would he tell me that I am doing all these treatments to make me feel better because I'm just not ready to let him go. All these meds and treatments what do they accomplish but to stay off the end result of his deteriorating until there's nothing left of him.

I love my furbabie, he's been my friend for a lot of years. He's been my quilting partner who sits on my cutting table and watches to make sure I measure twice and cut once. He's been there when I needed special kisses, pets and purrs.

It hurts me to watch him try to go from one place to another when he needs to jump and he doesn't quite make it because he doesn't have to strength to do it and crashes down to the floor.

It hurts my heart to know that the only reason I keep on is because I don't want to let my beautiful, loving clown go away for good.

Living in the Garage

2011-08-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

For the past week we've been living in the garage. The washer decided it should develop a leak and leak it did right into the living room under the pergo flooring, into the front closet and into the laundry room. Called the insurance company and before we could blink an eye we've had 5 industrial fans, 2 huge humidifiers in the house plus a fan under the house in the crawl space. Has sounded for almost like a week of having a 747 parked in here. Needless to say we have motivated out to the garage where we still are. Slowly the fans are leaving one by one. Today we have 3 fans and one humidifier with the promise of the floor being dried tomorrow and the fans etc. can be on their way to the next disaster. Tomorrow the flooring people are to come out and survey the damage and decide whether the whole floor needs to come up and be replaced.. My thoughts on this is if they can't match the flooring they can darn well replace all the flooring in the living/dining room and hallway. I will not have a shade difference. I pay every year to cover this kind of disaster they will take care of it properly.

It's been one long week with my cats living in the bedroom afraid of all the noise to come out until today when they have ventured out to the kitchen for treats. Poor little fur balls. they are so stressed out, haven't been eating properly and hiding under the bed.

Today I finally could stand the noise which has decreased with the fans leaving that I got in my sewing room and worked on the wedding quilt I am making for one of Johns friends. I didn't like what I was working with so off to the LQS and some Kansas Troubles fabric followed me home. I like this version of the Triple Irish Chain much better and can actually stand to work on it. I'm one of those who needs to like what they are doing and if it's not to my liking is really hard to keep focused. Other than this I haven't done a bit of sewing in ever so long.

Our raffle quilt received a red ribbon at our local fair this year. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of comments are on the judges tag. One of my sisters received a blue ribbon for her 12 Days of Xmas wall hanging all of us sisters did. I didn't bother to enter mine as I got too lazy to haul it up to the fairgrounds to enter it. I can still enter it next year if I choose to as we have a 2 year window to do so.

Must get going .....am off to watch one of my TV programs.

Design Wall Monday

2011-07-25T11:13:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure I will like this when it's finished. I do like variety of color but the white alternate blocks just shout wrong out to me. I think I am going to swap out the white for cream.

Book Review

2011-07-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

RESTLESS IN CAROLINA by Tamera Leigh

Bridget Pickwick is a 33 year old widow who is unable to come to terms with the death of her husband Easton. It's been 4 years and she still wears her hair in dreadlocks and her wedding ring. Even her niece and nephew think its time she sheds her widow weeds. Her family home the Pickwick estate is up for sale to meet family obligations. Bridget is set on finding an Eco-friendly buyer, one who won't turn it into a Industrial Park or housing development.

Enter J C Dirk whose family was cheated out of their land by one of the Pickwick's in a poker game. When it comes up for sale he is determined to reclaim his family's land by buying up the estate and turning it into a Eco-friendly golf course. Eventually he realizes he has to let the past go and withdraws his offer to purchase the Estate.

As Bridget works though her grief at the loss of Easton she gets rid of the dread locks, quits wearing her wedding ring and returns to God. As she falls in love with J C Dirk she finds out he is the son of Calhouns who were cheated out of his land. Their relationship falls apart until a solution is found to return the land to the Calhoun’s. Bridget finds there is a "happy ever after".

I was disappointed when I began reading this book and thought I would never get through it to the end. Much to my surprise, the book was very good and I read it cover to cover in one sitting. While there is a religious background I didn't feel as if I were being preached to. It is well written and once you get through the first few pages it holds your interest in that you wonder what will happen next. The story line flows from one page to the next with ease.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as part of their “Blogging for Books” program

Busy Week

2011-07-07T21:48:00.000-07:00

It's been busy around here now that I'm finally finished with quilting the raffle quilt. It's done and in the hands of another sister for the binding and label to be added. It's a beautiful quilt, the colors are rich and the pattern different than we've ever done before. We try to keep the fabrics something that will go with anything and more country than anything else. This year I decided to do Baptist Fans and what a mistake I made with them.. Instead of starting from the top or bottom I started in the middle which left me with fans off their mark and little areas that needed a bit of extra fill. Am happy to know that next year my youngest sister is going to be quilting the raffle quilt and I have passed the this off to her.

I've been cleaning house. 4 months of constant quilting leaves little time for anything other than the bare necessities getting done. The bed got changed, the dishes got into the dishwasher, the laundry was kept up, the bathrooms cleaned and the floors swept. Dusting, window washing, floor mopping and all the other chores of keeping a tidy house got neglected. The past couple days I've been moving furniture, vacuming up mounds of kitty fur from under everything, washing windows and scrubbing floors. Spring cleaning in July.

The 4th party was wonderful. An adult party with very few little kids and we celebrated with gusto. Lots of good food and company. Some came early and stayed late, others came late and left early. Fireworks went on for several hours and still some flashes at 2 am the next morning. A big bonfire to keep warm by and smoores for those chocolate lovers. I stayed over as the party was at my sisters and jumped out of bed at 5 am to rush home and take care of my fur balls who both are diabetic. A good time had by all.

Today I sat down and sewed for the first time in months. One of my internet friend's daughter is having a baby and I finally got my block done and ready to mail in the morning. Next on my list is a wedding quilt for friends of John. I'm doing a Triple Irish Chain with hand dyed fabrics I had left over from another project and had no idea what to do with the left overs. It will be bright and colorful. I'm happy to be back sewing after such a long dry spell.

Roscoe

2011-06-24T15:55:00.001-07:00

Today I took my fur baby into the vet once again. He's been having problems off and on for over a year for the same symptoms. Lately he's had blood in his urine and after a trip 12 days ago, a shot of a super antibiotic he still has blood in his urine. How does one tell that? I've a smart kitty, he came into the bathroom as I was using it, stepped into his litter, hung his behind over the edge and urinated on the floor.

I did my homework and went with a list of questions and symptoms. Between the Vet and I we decided he should have some IV fluid as he is very dehydrated, blood work, a urinalysis and ultrasound to determine whether he had bladder or kidney stones.

Dr. Sullivan just called me to report on the ultrasound. No bladder or kidney stones however, it showed a tumor or cyst in his abdomen which he aspirated and is sending to the lab. This could very well be the cause of all his problems.

Right now he is doing better with the IV fluids he is getting and he will be able to come home late tonight then go back for another IV in the morning.

Book Review

2011-06-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

"Too Rich For A Bride by Mona Hodgson"

Ida Sinclair, having attended business school back East joins her two married sisters in Cripple Creek Colorado where she finds employment with Molly O'Bryan. She rejects the warnings of her sisters about the questionable business practices of Molly as she gains her ambitious move into a man's world. Not wanting suitors she finds herself falling in love with one of them. Ambition, greed, priorities, love, right and wrong all come into play as Ida makes her way into the business world.

I really enjoyed this book. It weaves historical along with fiction. Well written and a fast read.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review as part of their “Blogging for Books” program.

2011-06-03T01:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a year of really bad weather with tornadoes skimming across the country and landing in California. Who ever heard of such a thing, nut trees uprooted and rice sucked up to hither and yon. Way too much rain here in our green green pacific northwest, snow in Reno the end of May. Who ever heard of such a thing. I haven't been able to get out to do much in the way of yard work. I hire my nephew to mow my lawn and cut down the tall grasses that refuse to be nice out in my lot. The grass with all this rain grows faster than a person can keep it mowed down.

On the nice side we have had some nice sunny days with warm temps. Just a little temptation to get outside and dig in the gardens and hopefully plant some seeds that won't rot in the ground for all the rain and cold temps we've had here.

I've started to collect next winters wood. I like to get it early so it can "season"over the summer. I have a super sweet wood guy that brings me the cleanest, pretties wood one could want. Who you say wants pretty wood. Well, I do. I don't want old wood that's been sitting down for a long time and is dirty half rotted. I stacked a cord yesterday and I'm beginning to think I'm really getting past the age of stacking wood. I felt like a hundred year old when I rolled out of bed this morning, everything and I mean everything screamed to high heavens. Like what did you do to me. LOL

I'm still plugging along on our family raffle quilt. This year is going to be a nip and tuck to get it done on time. I over estimated the time I would have to hand quilt this monster and I've been spending a good 8 hours a day with it. My house has gone to h............. in a hand basket and I've got kitty hair enough to build three or four more. It's all I can do to keep the kitchen sink cleaned, the laundry done and forget anything called dusting. My fingers are so sore from pin pricks and letting me know "we aren't doing this next year, we are on strike".

I had some new visiters to my yard the other day. I guess this couple must have a nest down by the creek behind me. I got a glimpse of them, grabbed a couple pieces of bread and ran outside to feed the new visitors. They slowly came up in the yard, gobbled up the bread and proceeded to make their way back down to the creek. My sister out at the beach has a rooster pheasant with a harem, I have one little old Mallard Duck with a girlie.

Sewing with Sisters

2011-02-13T22:31:00.000-08:00

We had another sewing day on Thursday to exchange our RR's and baste the raffle quilt for next year. Can't say as we did much sewing as compared to sitting around the kitchen table with our morning cupps's or at least 2 of us did and cinnamon rolls made up front and delicious. As would have it when it came time to hit the road for home I completely forgot the raffle quilt which I am hand quilting sitting in my sisters living room and now have to go meet her at her office to collect it and get busy on the quilting end of it.

I received my row robin back from my internet exchange. Lovely musical blocks in all bright colors that I am anxious to lay out and stitch together. It won't be a very large quilt but will make a nice throw on the bed topper to keep the big quilts from gathering so much Kat fuzz and fur. I hope to lay it out tmr after my dental appt. John is off to Seattle to the Coast Guard office so should have time to play with the blocks before he gets home.

Weather has been really windy but warm here lately. Went out to haul in wood this afternoon and found my tarp had blown off my woodpile leaving it exposed to the rain we have been having. Grabbed my wood for the day and replaced the tarp, staking it down so the next wind wouldn't make a sail of it for me to go chase down the road.
My kat has the biggest feet. All thums and looks like he has catchers mits where paws ought to be. lol

I haven't much to write on my blog. There's not much going on while John is home for his 2 months off other than the normal trips to the grocery store, the weather and our trips here and there to take care of his requirements for his job.

I did spend a good hour today cleaning and straightening out my sewing room, I do need a bigger room. It's so crowded with the LA in there that I hardly have room to turn around in. My siblings and I own a piece of property left to us by our Mom that we are putting up for sale this spring. I'm hoping it sells so I can build John a garage and convert the present garage into a sewing studio/game room. I can see it in my dreams.

Sadness

2011-01-19T21:53:00.000-08:00

Today I learned that my former friends father passed away the latter part of September. It saddened me for he was a very special person who took me under his wing and called me his adopted daughter.

I spent many hours and holidays with his family and treasured every moment I spent in his company. He was like having my own father back for a short time. A lovely gentleman, caring and giving. He will truly be missed by all who knew and loved him.

I wish I could have went to his memorial service. I wish I could call and offer my sympathy to his wife, daughter, grandson and his wife and ask what I could do to help, but I can't.

It's been a few years since his daughter and I parted a friendship of many years. I don't know why to this day how this happened or why and have regretted more than once the loss of this friendship. I wish I could step across the street and let her know how very much I know what she is going through. It's a terrible thing for a daughter to loose her father, her confident, her friend.

It's a very sad day when someone you care about passes on and you can't even let the family know how much you cared about that person. He will always be remembered for the wonderful person he was.

Gratitude

For having shared a small part of this wonderful mans life who gave from his heart and expected nothing in return. For being a father figure when mine had been gone for a very long time.

It's Officially Winter I think

2010-12-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

Winter is here in full force....We've had so many weather alerts everything from heavy rains, floods to high winds. I'm tired of winter and January isn't even here yet.

Christmas is over, today was our anniversary....32 years of wedded bliss...vbg, not so much bliss sometimes but bliss just the same. Amazing for being together all these years later after getting married on a whim because we had nothing else to do the day after Christmas back in 1978. Today was supposed to be spent with John enjoying the day and being thankful for all the years we have spent together but as with life he got called back to work yesterday and had to leave at first light to go back to the ship.

So, I spent my day in the sewing room peeling blocks out of the raffle quilt top to fix. Snails trails just do not look right when the trails are not placed correctly. The first one came out was redone and replaced in short order. The second one took way longer to pick out the many rows of stitching. Somebody had made 3 and 4 passes on the same seam line and not bothered to pick out the previous ones. What a mess but are now almost all back together and ready to replace in the top with one more to go. I'll be glad when this repair is done and I can move on to my next project which is potholders for my sisters.

I just finished making two throw pillows for a neighbor for her grandsons for Xmas. She wanted a block with their initial in the center so did a star with the initial in the center spot. I've never done throw pillows or cording for that matter and didn't enjoy either project. Cording even with a zipper foot is not the easiest thing to do but do I did and got them done. Walked over today to see how they liked them but nobody home so will run over tmr.

Don't know if I mentioned I finally finshed my 12 Days of Christmas wallhanging but here it is on the wall. I'm pleased with how it turned out and think I might do one more for my other great granddaugter as I only have 2 and doesn't look like there might be anymore in my lifetime.

I'll leave you tonight with Lady who thinks she's a dog and needs to stretch out in front of the heater.

I'm Bored

2010-12-12T23:06:00.000-08:00

It's gray, gloomy and rainy here in the Pacific Northwest. Good time to sit in by the wood stove and be artistic but I don't feel artistic. I feel glum, gloomy and bored to death with watching the rain fall out of the sky.

I haven't done anything sewing that is exceptional, just finished a couple blocks for an internet RR that I signed up for. Which makes me think why do I keep doing this, getting back bunches of blocks or rows that I stuff away for a rainy day. And isn't that what we are having right now, lots or rain and flooding rivers and creeks right out my backdoor. Paper piecing did I tell you I hate to paper peice but did a palm tree block for the RR which had a Hawaiian theme, then scrounged around and found an applique block I had done with the idea of putting together a Hawaiian quilt of my own. Wasn't going to happen so off this block went and saved me the time to do up another block. Is that cheating or what, completed my commitment and re-purposed another block. TADA

My commitments to projects is getting smaller by the minute. I have to big blocks to make for my neighbor for her two grandsons. Both need a alphabet letter of their names and to be quilted (I think)for a pillow. Shouldn't take to long to do them and have this commitment out of the way.

Like Nan from BC I surely do like pics on my blog but don't have any to share.
But wait a sec yes I do Some of my neice and nephew My neice with her gingerbread house and my nephew with his santa cookies which he decorated all by himself and then got to take them home to eat.

Jr

A Walk in the Snow

2010-11-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

Today I decided I had had enough of being in the house. Cabin Fever you know and my plan to have Thanksgiving Day dinner with one of my sisters and her family was derailed due to the falling snow. Needing to collect my mail from my mail drop I decided a bit of fresh air would do me good. I dressed up in my cold weather gear aka motorcycle riding suit and off I went grabbing my camera on the way out the door.

As I walked along enjoying the peaceful and quietness of the morning I could hear the crunching of the snow under my feet. What a beautiful site before me with the freshly fallen snow and flakes gracefully floating down from the sky. As I walked along I met a young couple towing their small child on one of those circle sleds. We exchanged greetings and went on our way.

As I came to the end of my street I started up the hill being careful to step far off the road as each car started up the hill.

Collecting my mail I wondered who chose the spots to place our banks of mail boxes. Thinking that all SUV's are not equal I watched this one back all the way down the hill not being able to get where he was going. Stepping to the rear of the bank of boxes I prepared to jump over the embankment behind me should he not be able to stop.

Not being ready to head home I decided to walk out to the gate and see if the county had plowed the road into town and who should I meet but a jogger out for a run. The road hadn't been plowed so I turned back towards home wondering when the snow would go away so I could get into town.

As I turned to head home a Jeep turned into the gate stomping on the gas deliberately trying to fource a slide and I wondered if I could get out of his way. I watched as he drove on down the road and turned towards my house.

As I walked along I stopped here and there to enjoy the beauty of the day.

Finally heading home I was met by this cute little fella who was also out enjoying the snow.

After a few games of toss and fetch I continued on home having enjoyed the falling snow.

Baby it's Cold Outside

2010-11-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

We're in a cold weather snap out here on the far left coast. It's a whopping 22 degrees outside and has been all day long. How it can snow when it's that bloody cold is beyond me but snow it did, just enough to make a mess on the roads up here in the woods. Winds are whipping out at my sisters clocking in at 60 mph which makes me glad my big trees protect me. I know this is nothing compared to what other parts of the country get but I'm still cold and am already for summer to be here. LOL

November has not been a good month for my furry friends. My Lady developed an abscessed tooth that had to be removed. A day spent at the Vet Hospital, tooth extraction, Bx and big vet bill. No sooner had she recovered and back to the Vet I went with Roscoe, the Manx. He was one sick kitty. Dehydrated, very elevated BS, low Potassium and UTI. Spent three days taking him in for IV fluids with Potassium added, antibiotics and now daily BS tests with insulin shots. In one week he's improved 100%. I can almost see the weight coming back. His diabetes is no way under control, some days normal, some days way off the scale. In talking with the vets I find more indoor only kitty's tend to develop diabetes than indoor/outdoor ones. Makes one wonder if all the exercise they get chasing down prey has something to do with it not to mention a diet other than dry kibble.

Thanksgiving this year is going to be iffy. John won't be coming home with the weather so unpredictable. Driving from here to Portland is iffy if not impossible and I certainly don't expect him to drive home in the kind of weather we have been having. I've been invited to two of my siblings for dinner but don't know if I will go to either of them. Both are out in the county and driving on ice is not my idea of any kind of fun especially off this hill I live on. My sister has so generously offered my nephew to come fetch me as he has studded tires and is a good driver in snow. Not him I would worry about but all the other ones on the roads. I'm going to bake my dinner rolls just in case and hope the promised higher temps and rain arrives on time.

This year I am prepared for the bad weather I know we will be getting. I've stocked up on kitty food, litter, people food and all the other necessities one needs to survive stuck at home. I can eat out of the freezer and pantry for a month or so. Won't have the fresh veggies and can easily run out of eggs but in a pinch can always walk a mile to the high dollar mini-mart here if I really need those things.

I've managed my time at home with sewing. I'm working on a very old UFO, my Broken Star that I've been ripping apart and English paper piecing back together. I have one more leg on the center star to complete and then start the broken star around the outside. This isn't going to be accomplished in a day or two, but will take moths to take it all apart and re-do it. I have another Quilts for Kids kit to put together this week so when the weather breaks and I feel it's safe to drive to town I can get it back in the mail. I enjoy doing up these little quilts for these little kids who need a love to wrap in.

2010-11-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

My missing quilt has been found. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I found it right here in my sewing room.
Having had a "seniour moment" I had forgot putting it in the container I had planned on using for our Sister RR exchange. One of my sisters happened to be at Joann's when they had a sale on their boxes and she had purchased one for each of us. Deciding I would start doing something about the containers sitting on the floor holding remnants of other finished projects I opened the one closest to my hand to see just what was in it.....Much to my surprise there was Mom's missing quilt.

Today I put the binding on and stitched it down. Another UFO completed and out of the way. The odd block in the middle of the 3rd row is left over fabric from a one piece sun-suit I had made some 50 years ago. Remember those one piece shorts that were all the rage during the Kennedy years?

The Mysterious Quilt disappearance

2010-11-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I went out to my sisters for our bi-weekly sewing get together, taking a quilt made from Mom's blocks to show n tell. Did the show n tell, put it back in the bag and merrily went about sewing.....At the end of sewing we packed up hopped in the car and off for a late lunch and also take care of some business for our LLC.

Well, the other day I decided I had caught up on due projects so would bind it having stopped at Joann's for a hunk of fabric for it....and would you know it's nowhere to be found here in my sewing room or anywhere else in the house.

Next thought is...has to be out in my sisters shop and that I had forgot to bring it home....hmmmmm she can't find it either. I barely remember not having it in the car on the way to lunch so it had to be at her house. NOT unless its hiding in plain site and she doesn't know exactly what she's looking for. Her shop is big, a converted 3 car garage and packed full of totes and sewing tables, machines etc. Hopefully come this Saturday our next sewing date I can find it out there otherwise it's a mystery yet to be solved.

Today I'm going to spend my time stitching on blocks for our raffle quilt. We're getting close to having them all done, nearly 100 blocks and then can assemble it ready for quilting. Every year I keep saying this is the last one I am going to hand quilt and every year I find myself settled in during the winter with a nice warm quilt in my lap.

We've handed off our Sister's Round Robin centers. I get to be the first one to add on here. I'm not quite sure what I will do other than add a stopper round and square it off. It's bright and cheerful as are my 2 other sister's centers. I'm waiting for it to talk to me and it better get busy as we are handing off again the first of December.

Mine is dark and dreary and I'm not one bit happy with my choice of fabrics. My center is the Kansas Troubles fabrics that we are using in our raffle quilt, which IMHO will be quite nice not like my center. I also made a big goof and didn't notice it till the 2nd time I had ripped out and had it completely back together. Some days mistakes can stay mistakes and we can live with them. I wasn't about to tear it out a 3rd time. I wish I had went with bright colors which are more to taste.

We are into winter here. It's been gray, wet and cold. Time for fires in the stove and yet some days are bright and sunny. It's been one of those kindling years so far.....lots of kindling used to start a fire to warm the house then let go out. I've been using my little radiant heaters which will warm up the front of the house but now I need that heat in my sewing room way at the back of the house. National Weather Service is predicting a winter like we haven't seen in almost 50 years. I'm not looking forward to that but this year I am going to be prepared for it.

Busy Time

2010-10-06T21:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, its been busy around here lately. Haven"t had much time for ME which I thought I would once John went back to work. vbg

Timers: would love to keep you gals company over on the FLQtr list as I sure could use some timers around here especially in my sewing room which is a disaster again. Too much stuff too little room. However I have to run errands tomorrow. Spent three days trying to make an appt with my "new" DR. My old one retired and sent a letter telling me I had been assigned to xxxx DR and could call xxxx number to make an appt. Well I've tried and have been put on hold and passed off to the new patient scheduler and again put on hold for hours. I'm not a new patient been going to this same clinic for years on end, I just want an appt and with a DR I choose not one chosen for me. So end result rather than sitting on hold am making the trip into town tomorrow and going to the clinic and DR of my choice office to make an appt. It's getting harder and harder to get a DR especially if you are a medicare Pt. I tried to get in with one of my sisters Dr's and was refused even having Cigna as a primary. They don't take medicare even as a secondary.....shame on them. Makes me wonder what those who only have medicare do for medical care. I guess it's the price you pay for getting old.

My sisters and I are doing a round robin and I have finally decided on a center block to do which ...grin, grin....means a trip to the LQS to pet some fabrics. I'm planning on doing this in rich fall colors, the new Kansas Troubles line. Got to get busy on this as it's due the end of the month.

Have spent the last 2 days cutting fabric for our next years raffle quilt. We are using the Kansas Troubles rich color fabric and I think this one is going to be a beautiful quilt as we are doing "Judy Martins Shakespeare in the Park" . Am looking forward to getting started sewing on it. Our sister/cousin group will meet on the 16th to start the stitching process and part of our little invite note is "bring your seam ripper" as all blocks must measure either 12 or 6". That ought to put my one cousin's knickers in a knot. LOL

On the sewing horizon for me is to finish:

Quilting my Mom's quilt I have on the frame
Load a Quilt for Kids and get it quilted and mailed off
Do 2 set of blocks for an internet RR
Stitch up my center block for the sister RR

And during all this am supposed to be catching up on all the house-mouse stuff I ignored while John was on vacation.....Can somebody please clone me.

Went to my second EQ7 class last Saturday. I kept thinking while sitting in class and having already discovered on my own what is being taught that "I am paying to learn something I already know". Isn't this a waste of good fabric bucks" I did learn one thing I hadn't discovered on my own yet so guess it was worth the $$'s and it was kinda one on one time with a sister. Hard to get those when you have an abundance of sisters.

Took another sister to the Navy Base today. It's nice that I can take a visitor and help her save some dollars. Can't understand why coffee beans are 6+ dollars there and over 10 in the local grocery store or why beer is $12 a case there and over $20 in local stores or why hard liquor is the same price as the local liquor store.. Doesn't make sense to me at all. I guess with all things if you shop around you can find savings all over the place.

I just finished a book on tape. "Made In America" that I thought very interesting. It dealt with the Depression, FDR , WPA and WWII. If you are a history buff or interested in that era, this is a good listen too or read, whichever you do. Learned some very interesting things dealing with all the things the WPA built during the short span it was in effect before WWII. I highly recommend this as it beats most of the fluff I've listened to or read in years. Our local museum is having a Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition currently and the exhibit is the paintings (part of which are all those WWII posters) that were commissioned by the WPA. I'm hoping to get over there to see it. Our Museum recently has been affiliated with the Smithsonian so I hope to see more of the traveling exhibits come to town. On a side note...my Dad worked at Northern Pump Munitions Plant (MN) during the war building the big guns for the battle ships. Every year for Xmas they were given Lithographs by Gorden Grant and I have several framed and hung on my family room walls. My Mom managed to hang onto all his from 1941-1945. Mine are all ships which is nice especially since John retired from the Navy.

Good Things
Life really is a bowel of Cherries.
Quilting with my sisters.
Deer who stand under my kitchen window waiting for apples
Sunshine after cold mornings
A fire in the fireplace
Friends near and far

2010-10-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I waved John off around noon to go back to work...3 month vacations are way way to long, not that I won't miss him next week. vbg

Spent the afternoon starting a round robin of cleaning. Did 4 loads of laundry and put it all away. Cleaned his bathrm, scrubbed the litter boxes, policed up the kitchen including moping the floor. Emptied the dw and refilled it. Swept up all the floors, and changed the sheets. Today was the first day in a very long time that the bed got made as soon as my feet hit the floor. LOL

Today I hauled a load of yard clippings out to my sisters where they burn it on the beach. Gives them a nice evening fire while the weather is still nice. Came home and completed the top to another"Quilts for Kids". Now have to get the current quilt (blocks my mom did) done and off the frame so I can quilt this one. Didn't do much else except sweep the floors again which is a daily chore. Had my nephew out to mow the lawn, sure like that.

Tomorrow is our monthly EQ7 class. Looking forward to it. It's at the LQS which is nice as I need to look for fabric for the center blocks on a RR my sisters and I are doing. Have been playing with the idea of a medallion for the center start out block in Navajo colors. Terra Cotta, turquoise, white or tan and black. Our LQS gives a 20% discount after you have spent $100 which makes it nice when your putting out a lot of loot. I only have one complaint about the EQ programs. When you have 1/2 square it counts those pieces as a full square and you have to be really careful with the yardage requirements. We forget year to year when we do our raffle quilt for our annual family picnic. Again we purchased to much fabric but......we've been doing a different backing so this extra will go to the backing and not end up in the stash. This year we are doing "Shakespeare in the Park" in dark rich colors.

On Sunday I am meeting my sisters and we are doing all the cutting/sorting/packaging in preparation for sewing our raffle quilt. With so many different ones working on the blocks it's good to have it all pre-cut into a kit. We purchased everybody a 1/4" foot with guide so all seams should be equal and lead to less rip rip.

Our weather has been beautiful, nice warm sunny days with the trees all turning colors. This is without a doubt my favorite time of the year. Crisp cool mornings, bright sunshine and gorgeous color on the trees as the leaves turn. Have to enjoy it as it won't be long before the winter monsoons start and it rains constantly till spring. Time to get out and enjoy it while you can.

Gratitude's

Chatting with my oldest son.
John going back to work.
Spending time with my sisters.
Deer in the backyard.
Enjoying beautiful weather.

2010-08-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

Where has Summer gone? It seems June just arrived, John just came home, the family picnic was held and now fall is fast approaching. Our weather here is still bright and sunny however the temps are dropping fast. Yesterday I had to go to the Navy Base for supplies so checked my thermometer as I went out the door. It was a whopping 44 degrees. Brrrrrr

The fawns are here and such a joy to watch them frolicking around in my yard. We have several sets of twins this year and a few singles. They are so used to my feeding them apples they stand at attention waiting for the apples to arrive. When I stand at the sink they will stand right below the window and wait for me to come back out.

My 3 sons were together for the first time in several years at our annual picnic. Was really good to have them all together for a photo snap. I don't get to see them often as 2 live in CA and aren't able to come to WA to visit very often and I just can't make that drive anymore. Used to be so easy to just hop in the car for a road trip but not anymore. Age does tend to slow us down and make for trips that don't happen very often. I miss my sons and their families.

I've been working on "Quilts for Kids" a worthy charity if ever. I've enjoyed the kits I've received and hope to keep on doing them. They are so easy as they are all cut and ready to go even the backing. All I have to do is assemble, add a batt, quilt and send back. I've been trying to do at least one a month but sometimes I get behind and need a little nudge to get the current one done and off in the mail.

I've just finished a set of exchange blocks. They are the second set I've done for the same round. The original set was posted off to the next person in line who seems to have just dropped off the face of the earth. I feel bad that the person I was doing the blocks for has lost her blocks as well as the ones I did for her. I don't mind that my blocks are in limbo as there were more sitting around that I could use. I don't understand a person that signs up for an exchange then keeps the blocks and drops out of sight. Don't they realize what they do?

I've pulled a UFO out to finish into either a lap quilt or a bed quilt if I can figure out what to add to make it big enough. The blocks returned home to me all stitched into a top and included a sashing/border. I had donated them to a good cause and the person who took the donation felt they should be returned to me. I appreciated the gesture and will do my Moms blocks into a remembrance of when she could still quilt. My mom passed away a couple years ago and was a very proliferate quilter.

Saturday begins a new season of EQ classes. I'm looking forward to them as I really need to learn all the ins and outs of the program so I can use it. My sister and I take the classes together and she really has benefited from them. I 'm basically lazy and haven't practiced anything I've learned. LOL

This week my sisters and I are getting together to decide on a pattern for our next years family raffle quilt. Looking forward to getting together with them. It's always a fun day with lots of laughter, food and fun. We always go to the local fair and check out the quilt displays for ideas. We've got some really good ideas but this year was a dud. Lots of depression era fabric quilts, nothing that had "curb appeal" and the colors so drab and dreary. We've found that traditional patterns with rich fall colors goes really well and there wasn't a thing at the fair this year that had rich colors.

Gratitudes

John being home for an extra month
A new roof on the house
Sisters that enjoy each others company
The deer who come to the yard daily

2010-06-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today was my youngest brother's birthday. I remember when I moved back home some 19 years ago he hadn't turned 30 yet and here as time flies by he's just turned 48... Where do the years go? It makes me feel so old to have my baby brother pushing 50 and then I think WHOA...my own three sons are getting up there as well being 52, 50 and 42.

I got up this morning, had my cuppa, updated my games and threw my clothes on. Dashed out to the yard and let the mower drag me around all before 10:30. Felt good to get that exercise but I sure was pooped when done. Makes me wish John were home and enjoyed doing yard work with me. He loves his home but sure doesn't carry that on to the yard stuff or maintenance. It falls all on my shoulders and I've beat the game as I get my nephew out to do it f
or me.

After catching my breath from the yard work I sat down to do some paper piecing which me and it don't get along very well. Everything is so right handed that I spend a goodly amount of time ripping out because it's backwards for me.
I really like this kitty and the fabric I chose to do him in...I'm an admirer of Bengal kitties and this fabric is so like their fur.
Anyhoo, I'm doing a Row Robin with a group and this lady wanted dogs and maybe a cat or two. Some of the blocks in this RR just screamed to have a kitty on a shelf. I thought this little puppy in his blankie was appropriate for a quilt. Had fun even with all the picking out I did putting him together. My sis drafted both of these in EQ6 and before she realized she could move the templates around on the print page she did a print/cut/paste/copy and then a print. Some of the parts were distorted and don't match really well but overall am pleased with these two blocks. 2 more to go tho'.

I finished another Downy Quilts for Kids the other day and it will go back in the return mail tmr. I plan to do one or two a month as they are so easy and quick. Machine quilting is quick as well at they request a pretty tight quilt right up to the edge. I enjoy doing these and feel like I am comforting some child with CA. The fabrics are so Kid orientated that I have to giggle at some of them. This time I had scuba diving fish and crabs. I needed a name for this quilt and couldn't think of a thing so am sending it back with a note asking them to please give it a name.

I'm counting the days till John gets home around the 4th of July. Now that the truck is fixed I hope we can load the cats up and go to the ocean for a few days. I so want to walk on the beach and watch the sun go down over the ocean. I miss my sunrises and sunsets which we never get a chance to see where we live up in the forest in a holler between the mountains. The trees get in the way and all we catch is a small square in the middle of them.

The fawns have started coming into the yard. I tried to catch one on camera as I document them every year but they were so skittish all I could catch was their tails as they quickly hopped across the yard and into the thicket out back. Will have to wait till they aren't so skittish to every little noise. We can always tell the Deer who came back for apple handouts year after year as they will come so close and we can almost hand feed them. I enjoy my deer.

2010-06-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

I spent today picking out all the quilting I had done on the latest Downy Quilt. I didn't like it and the backing bubbled way too much. I wanted to quilt a stencil and learned the hard way you need to do your quilting across the rows as you go and not do all the stencils first and then go back. The Downy quilts need to have extensive quilting due to being washed daily so I'm doing a tight meander on them. I enjoy doing these little donation quilts knowing they will comfort some child here.

Weather here has been really nasty all this month. My local farmer says we are going to have a difficult time finding both beans and cucumbers this year. I wonder why my two most favorite veggies are not going to be doing well this year. Strawberries have been late this year too.

I picked up the bug quilt for my GGdtr again and have been working on it. Her 3rd birthday is in September so really need to finish it before she's way too old to enjoy it. I'm pretty close to getting all the hand quilting done thank goodness. I need to finish it before my Son is here mid July so he can hand carry it back when he returns to CA.

I don't have much to write about but am trying to post something frequently to keep my blog updated. John is due home for his 2 month vacation in a couple weeks. I've got lots of house-mousing to do to get ready for vacation time when I never get a thing done other than cooking and laundry. It's easy to keep house when I am here by myself, only needing a swish and swipe here and there. I close my eyes to the dust that accumulates on all the flat surfaces, under and behind the furniture scrambling to get all the cleaning done in the last week before John arrives home. My time alone is for doing all the fun things I like that he doesn't. VBG

Gratitudes

My youngest son who has been estranged for years and now calls me every couple of weeks.
Good Health and Family

2010-06-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

I don't post to my blog often. I don't really have much to report. Life goes on, my other half is gone most of the time leaving me to fend for myself. Most of the time I'm at home, talking to the Kats and hopefully stitching on something or another.

I did put in a pretty good sized garden with one of my sisters. We both have a "table garden" just a few things like tomatoes, lettuce, cukes at our houses and our big garden is out on our property in the county. It's been so wet here I'm wondering if anything will grow and not be drowned out from all the rain. The local farmers say beans and cucumbers are going to be difficult to grow this year and strawberries are iffy with all this rain.

I've been spending my time sewing. Have finished a quilt for my son's friend who is a roofer and bringing him up here mid July to roof our house. It's a volunteer job but I feel I really need to do something for him and since $$$$ are short a quilt will be nice.

I've been doing the Downy "Quilts for Kids". I like this charity group as these quilts stay in the country and if you have a local group they stay right in your area. They take very little time to put together, come in a kit and all you have to do is provide the batting and postage to mail back. It's my little donation to giving back and I do enjoy doing them up...a good change from having to use my brain. This is my second one and hope to do at least one a month.

I just finished paper piecing a block for a group I'm in. Took me 3 days to do this one block. I don't like PPing as I spend more time ripping than I do sewing. I wonder if it has anything to do with being left handed in a right hand world. Seems as if everything is backwards to me and for me.

Must get out of here.

If I have anything to be grateful for its my Family, Friends, Children and my wonderful Hubby who takes such good care of me.

2010-03-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

Spring is on the way, the daffodils are blooming and the sun is shining between spells of dreary rain. I'm so looking forward to spring and getting out in the yard to clean up the mess from the winter. So many pieces of pine limbs down not to mention the driveway is covered in pine needles. That's the bad thing about living in the trees, you get pine needles all winter long and when spring arrives the trees start dropping that yellow pollen that gets into everything and gives your cars a coat of yellow.

I've not been blogging for months. I didn't have anything to say. Nothing was going on here at my house, the sewing machine was quiet and projects put on hold. Just not feeling up to anything that took any thought or energy.

My sisters, SIL and I have started having a monthly or whenever get together to sew, chat and gorge ourselves on our favorite pizza. We've all been doing baby blankets and our Xmas wall hanging project from last year is almost done or at least theirs is and mine is almost there. I've just some embelishments to add that couldn't be done before the quilting or binding was finished. I'm going to suggest as a project to do a row or round robbin as I would like to have a quilt my sisters/SIL have contributed to.

Tomorrow we have a funeral to attend. A distant cousin who none of us has meet has passed away and we feel we must attend. We know her father quite well and he always attended all the doings for our Mom. It gives me thought that none of us are getting any younger and we are starting to loose those close to us. Getting old does have it's disadvantages.

I have a quilt in the works. My son who sometimes works for a roofer is coming up in June to roof my house. His sometimes boss has so graciously offered to drive him up here with all his tools and help put the new roof on with no charge to me. What a nice man. He has friends up in this area and a good excuse to come north. So as a Thank-you I am putting together a scrappy TATW for him to take home. I'm almost done with the blocks, just need to square them up and stitch into a top, fix a backing then ready to load onto the LA (really short arm) and get it quilted.

I don't care if you think I shouldn't be on the table, I'm the boss here.

Bonnie Hunter

2009-11-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

I love Bonnie's blog.

I just read her blog about stash and how much to buy. It brought back memories of when I first started quilting and fabric shopping. A fabricholic I became, everything that caught my eye I had to have. Seems silly to have a room full of fabric you know you will never use in your lifetime and when you are no longer here somebody will have to decide where it goes and how to deal with it.

Over 5 years ago I went on a fabric diet, not buying anything that happened to catch my eye cause it was interesting, a color I happened to like or just had to have for one reason or another. The only thing I've purchased is batting and an occassioal something for a special quilt. There's been no "gosh this sure is neat fabric or wow, I know at some point I can do something with this". I want to empty my cupboards, my totes of all the fabric I have. I don't want my kids to have to decide what to do with Mom's quilting stuff. vbg

I've invited my youngest sister to come shop my stash for whatever she wants. I want to get rid of it, I'm tired of seeing it in my sewing room. It takes up way too much room, leaving me with just enough space to stand and turn around. I no longer love it, and dont' want it.

It's amazing the amount of money we spend buying fabric and gadgets to make our sewing easier and then it just sits there to get dusty until we pass if off to somebody else who can then do the same thing we have.

I admit to being a quilting junkie. I love fabric and quilts but there comes a time for when just how many quilts does a person need. The ones I make now, I give away as the pleasure comes from making them not storing them on a shelf for someday.

I've 24 blocks done for the bargain quilt. They are going together pretty quickly. My only planning on this qlt is to have at least a yellow or red in each block. I think this will be a really outragous scrap Trip around the World. I wanted to participate in the mystery quilt Bonnie is posting but just don't have the time as this TATW has a deadline.

Gratitudes.

For family who always there when needed
Thanksgiving with my sister's family

2009-11-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

TO ALL

MY FRIENDS IN BLOGLAND.

Leftovers

2009-11-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

as in all the left over pieces from all the quilts and such I have done. I have all these pieces and didn't have a clue what to do with them. While over on Quiltville.com looking for one of Bonnies free patterns/tutorial I saw the perfect pattern for them. A super scrappy Trip Around the World. I had all these 2.5" squares cut so sorted them into stacks of sixes and then just grabbed a light, a dark, a medium and put them together. When all my squares are used I'm going to do Bonnie's strip method. It seems much easier and quicker and quick is what I need.

John came home last weekend and bargained with me for a raise in our weekly allowance (yes we have allowances). He bargained for a quilt for another of the bartender friends down in Portland saying I had so many laying around surely I could donate one to this young lady who has recently gone into remission. I'm not sure what kind of CA she had but remission it is. Lest you think otherwise, these young ladies are all of the age where he considers them his children/grandchildren as he's never had either of his own, just mine. I don't mind, they all look after him like a favorite father/grandfather.

To make a long story shorter, I don't have any quilts I'm ready to part with, what I have left are for ME. Call me selfish, maybe I am but.....these are my favorites....I don't want to share them with anybody. So I promised I would have a quilt ready hopefully by the next time he comes home for a weekend and if not the following one. It will be a dash to the finish line.

I recently started the process of having dental implants. Not to be too gross, I had a loose tooth that really needed to come out. I was hanging onto it. Vanity you know, hated the thought of maybe having to have another partial so called the Orthodonist, made an appt to have the tooth taken out and a bone graft done. While sitting here at the puter, the darned tooth just fell out. Wednesday I went for the bone graft. OUCHIE. While the pain is mostly gone now, I look like I'm storing nuts for the winter or have a pretty good sized plug of tobbacy in my jaw which is turning all shades of purple/yellow. Major swelling/bruising. It's a shame we can't grow more teeth as we need them.

My brother called yesterday to see if I was home. I'd been talking to him about replacing the wood in the front porch and he came out and did it yesterday. He's been off work a lot this past year and any little bit helps out. Ocean Kayak recently closed here in our town putting his wife out of a very good paying job and onto Unemployment. The porch re-do is very professional, a jack of all trades he is. Why hire somebody for a job when you can pay your siblings to do the same job just as well and at a rate that is acceptable to you and them.

Saturday is another planned sister day of sorts. We are almost done with putting our next years raffle quilt together. There's 2 blocks that still need to be re-done. A little setback and then we can lay it out, play with the blocks till we have a combo we all like to stitch together. This has not been fun, to many different 1/4"s and rip, rip, rip and re-do. Any suggestions on how to get 7 different people, machines and 1/4" feet to be a accurate would certainly be appreciated. Had thought of getting everybody "The Angler" with hopes that would work but......when you have an "it's close enough", a speed demon who needs to "do more blocks than everybody else" you tend to have problems.

Gratitudes

A brother who does carpenter work and anything else you need.

A sister who gets up on the roof to clean gutters and stacks wood for me.

A DH who takes very good care of me

A roof over my head and enough to eat.

Good Health when so many don't have that good health.

2009-11-13T21:30:00.001-08:00

I wish I had interesting things to write about but I just don't. There's not much that happens up here in the woods. The deer come by for their apples each and every day. My furballs need attention as well each and every day. I think I live a very boring life, a real hermit stay at home who hardly ever gets out much. I no longer belong to any quilting guild or have friends other than my sisters to quilt with. My big excitement for the week is a trip to the grocery store and a stop for a cuppa or two with one of my sisters.

Less you think I am whining I'm not. I like my solitude to enjoy the deer in the yard, the birds who visit the feeders and the squirell who raids them to the point of climbing right inside. Even the deer raid the bird feeders this time of year. Up on their hind legs those long toungues just slurping up the seed.

My days are spent just puttering around, lots of puter games and keeping up with all my online friends. Some days I spend curled up in my lazy boy with a good book to keep me company other days I go on a cleaning frenzy, shoveling out shelves and closets that have become catch alls for what ever seems in my hand at the moment. The other day I got ambitious and like a whirlwind went through the house with a frenzy making everything clean and shiney. Even got into the laundry room to de-clutter the shelves. In 15 min a bag was ready for Goodwill and my shelves all neatly arranged. Found things I didn't remember having like a super table cloth my Mom embroidered and crocheted an edging on. Makes a person wonder why they let things slide for so long when it takes such a short few minutes to straighten it all up.

Last week I took down my yellow ribbon while my sister's neighbor put a flag on her mailbox. I was celebrating my Nephew coming home from Afaganistan while she was mourning the loss of her grandson. He is the first soldier our county and little town has lost to this awful war. The whole town turned out to honor him as he was brought home. It has hit quite close to home as it could have been my nephew instead of her grandson. We are a family of many who have been in or retired from the military. We give thanks to all those who are now serving their country.

2009-11-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get really bored and don't know what to do with yourself so you sit in front of the computor and play silly games. I seem to be in that "boordom" mode for the last month or so. Can't get too interested in anything so find myself on facebook tending my crops, milking my cows and collecting eggs on farmville. Now just how silly is that for a grown woman of 70 years?

I've found some games that are challenging and tend to spend waaaaay too much time playing them when I should be being creative in my sewing room.

My little fawns are growing up into young ladies and gents. They come each and every day for apples that I cut up for them. They're spoiled and I love doing it. My yard is their favorite laying down place during mid day. I can look out my window and see several of them laying down chewing away on their cuds.

My sister came out a couple days ago to use my quilting machine. She came all afraid that she would ruin it and it would be difficult to use. I loaded up the practice piece I use, on went the machine and I turned her loose. After a hesitant pass or two she got right into it. Of course as it happens I got a bobbin in backwards and we crawled around the floor under the machine picking out one big birds nest. The top she did was for her granddtr's birthday on Saturday. It's on to pantograms next for her. She did a supurb job and even wrote her gdtrs name in one of the borders with the year.

I've been spending my evenings in front of the TV handquilting my 12 Days of Christmas wall hanging. I'm down to the last four blocks before I do the small connecting squares and finish with the embelishments. It's so much easier to do them after the quilting. The beads don't tend to pop off. I will be happy to have this one done and out of the way as I'm really getting tired of it. It's a beautiful pattern but 7 months on the same project is way toooooooo long.

We've been working on our raffle quilt for next year and only a few more star blocks to finish before we can lay the blocks out and decide on how it's to be.

It's to be a tripple Irish Chain with star blocks in the centers of the chain. One of these years I'm going to win the raffle quilt and I would like to win this one. vbg

John (DH) called this evening. His ship may be leaving in a day or two to go down off the coast of CA where the helo and plane collided. He says while he doesn't like to get underway this is different. He feels the families should be able to have their loved ones back and not left out in the ocean. They are going on a recovery mission. Please say a prayer for all the families of those that have lost their lives.

When we think of our gratutdes and what we are thankful do we ever think of our Coast Guard. Mountain Rescue, our Military members at the end of the day? These people risk their lives daily to help each and every one of us in one way or another. Each of us has military members in our family be they current or from years past that we should thank and say a prayer for. Today I took down my yellow ribbon from my garage in support of my nephew who has returned from Afiganistan.

I leave you tonight with my silly kitty Roscoe who might have well has said "don't bother me I'm busy eating my salad".

2009-10-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

I thought I would update my blog tonight and while there came across this entry from 2009 that I had saved in Drafts. After reading it I thought it surely did apply to this time of year when we give thanks for dear husbands, children, family, and our very lives. As we get along in years we change how we think...things that were never important to us as young people become so much more important as we travel along the road to our twilight years.

When I initially wrote this entry, I had just been to the doctor and given the news that I had a very bad heart. A year later, a new doctor and my heart is fine even though the medications I was prescribed I never took. I had been told I had to stop smoking (yes I really should) and couldn't have another drink ever. New ultra sound and my heart has improved and in better condition than it was a year ago.

Here is the post I found in my drafts. My mother had recently passed away and I was feeling a bit sad and, siblings came to mind, how much they do for each other and are always there when needed. . We've developed a much closer relationship since we lost our mother. All our little complaints about each other, our getting angry and not speaking have gone by the wayside.

When I started this blog with Maverick Quilters it was with the idea that yes I am a maverick. Little did I know maverick was not only in quilting per se but in who I am and how I live my life. Long ago I decided I am who I am, take it or leave it.

Today I thought a lot about my sisters/brothers, how much they mean to me, how much they do for me, how they watch out for me and are there when the need arises. I'm not getting any younger and there are times I just can't manage to do what needs doing. My youngest sister came out today and stacked a cord of wood for me. She didn't expect anything other than a hot cup o' coffee and maybe a cookie or two. My BIL lost his job a year ago and they live on unemployment, they do manage the very necessities, pay their mortgage and get by. However little goodies they can't afford. If I can help in anyway I will, so today altho' she is my sister and will help me whenever I need it, I pay her for her most gracious help. I'm a firm believer in the fact that they may be family but if you had to hire somebody for the job you needed to have done you would pay and pay very dearly.

It gives us all a time to pause and consider the very job we need to have done. What would it cost us to hire it out, who would we hire and would they be reasonable and dependable. It also gives us the thoughts that altho' they are family their time is precious to them and they could be doing something else. We also need to think about how often we take advantage of our siblings, mother, father as they have a special skill that we don't. The sister that can make a new BBQ cover, the brother who fixes the annoying little things wrong with your car, the sister who can put down flooring as good as any professional around. We all take advantage of our families even when we don't mean too. We need to think of how we would all feel if we were on the other end of the giving.

Today it's not about me or what I am accomplishing, it's about family and how much a part of our lives this very family is. My family which now is my siblings mean everything to me. Without them there is no reason to be. They provide my lifeline when John is out to sea. They are there for me, I can call at anytime and they will come.

When you lay your head on your pillow tonight, say a prayer for your family that they will enjoy a long and healthy life.

Summers Gone and Winters Coming

2009-09-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

Gosh, where did summer get off to so quickly. One day it was June and the next here it is almost October and winter.

It's been quite a summer for me. We lost our brother in May quite unexpectedly. He went for a colonoscopy and had a heart attack. A week later we were attending his funeral. The very day they were taking my brother off life support my former friend arrived at my door early in the morning telling me she couldn't wake her significant other up, that he was cold. Before long I had the EMT's, sheriff, coronor, security staff and her family all in my house while the necessary arrangements were made to remove him. I finally left as we sisters had to get to the hospital telling them to lock the door when they left. Not long after that my garbage man fell off his truck landing in my driveway suffering some serious injuries. It was quite a week and gave me pause to re-evaluate how precious life is and how we should live it as if it were our last day here on earth.

Life went on and we had our 4th of July celebration, our family picnic , John returned to the ship and we ended the summer celebrating our youngest sisters birthday.

My sisters and I have been working on our raffle quilt for next year. We spend a couple Saturdays, potluck in hand in one of my sister's shop sewing away. We got carried away and purchased fabric without thinking. When we came to our senses we realized the colors we chose were way to kiddy and girlish for this bunch of farm raised family. Traditional patterns like Log Cabin and Irish Chain with fabric colors more resembling what we grew up with will do much better than a modern quilt pattern with bright colors. Off to the LQS we went for more fabric which we all like better than what we had picked out. Our pattern is a Dbl Irish Chain with the Ohio Star block as the center of the chains. It's turning out quite well and we've yet to froggy stitch blocks as we did last year due to paying better attention to seam allowances.

I started this update several days ago and re-reading it how depressing all this stuff is. Life has a way of rearing it's ugly head and kicking us square in the patootie. If we let us get ourselves down we haven't the time to stop and smell the roses. I think I am going to stop and smell the roses and try to dwell on more pleasant things other than death and dying in the future.

I've been working on my 12 Days of Christmas wall hanging and I'm almost to the point where I can do some trapunto stuffing. I'm quite pleased with how its turning out and although its been a trial and error with fabrics for the different blocks I'm down to the very last one.

I've just a bit of embelishments to do and stitch down and I will have 10 of the 12 blocks finished. This has been a really big project for me as my eyes just aren't what they used to be and needle turn is getting to be more than I can do. Don't you just jate getting old? I'm sorry I've duplicated one of the photo's and haven't a clue how to remove it.

I've been seriously waisting my time and thought y'all might get a bit of a giggle. We all need a little laughter in our lives. I signed up for facebook and before I kew it I was playing at building a farm, tending my crops and helping my neighbors. As if this wasn't enough of a time waister, I am hooked on the bejeweld blitz and spend hours trying to get ahead of my sisters and SIL. While my little game of farming doesn't take much time that silly game has me hooked and I spend hours trying for a better score, something enough to surpass the top player. I keep telling myself just one more game and then realize this must be what a gambler says as he/she puts that nickel, dime or quarter in the slot machine.

I'll leave you with a gorgeous sunset on the beach at my sister's house taken while they were out in the kayaks.

Gratitudes:

Family who are always there when you need them.

Children and grandkids that are all in good health.

Sisters to spend a Saturday with sewing.

The gorgeous autum weather with no rain in sight.

A day for ME to spend as I like.

A toddy for the body when the day is done.

And most of all the friends I've met in the net.

2009-06-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Like 4 giddy teenagers, cars loaded down, my sisters and I gathered at the beach for a jammie party with plans of stitching away at our projects, good food, lots of giggles, a kayak paddle and watching the sun set over the water dancing in our heads. Cars unloaded, air mattress's set up we were ready for the fun to begin, no kids, DH's, gkids, friends or neighbors allowed.

Out came my fabric, pencils, fusible sheets and away we went getting these blocks ready to blanket stitch down. With a flurry of scissors, and iron they were finished in a flash, ready for some blanket stitching, a new baby quilt in the making.

I brought a CD of the slides my Mom had taken over the years that I've been scanning and we giggled and laughed over them as my three sisters remembered this or that picture, where it was taken and when. A treasure for sure.

We viewed the DVD my nephew put together of the past and present to play during our family reunion. We auditioned music to put to the slide show and couldn't decide on a thing.

We stuffed ourselves on clam chowder, salad, chips, hot crab dip and rhubarb bars that were positively decadent, keeping an eye on the flag flying in the wind, hoping it would set down as the tide came in.

At dusk, we bundled up, piled in the old station wagon and down to the water we went. With a cloud cover and rain showers promised the sun didn't co-operate and slowly sunk beneath the horizon without a bit of color. The wind finally set down as dark arrived. With 2 new kayakers, one a none swimmer we weren't able to have our paddle even tho' the water we were going on wasn't very deep and could easily have stood up should any of us tip over.

As 3 am rolled around the wind out of our sails, eyelids heavy, we all went to our respective beds, leaving my sisters house trashed. The next morning we all staggered out at different times and were lounging around in our jammies, chatting over our morning coffee deciding on making bkfst when the phone rang. Holy smoke it was sister's DH, he was almost home from his weekend excursion and needed to be picked up in an hour. With a flurry of activity, the house got cleaned up, clothes were thrown on, cars packed and off we went on our merry way, a good time had by all, promising to "do this again".

Jazz Men

2009-05-01T10:37:00.001-07:00

It's finally finished and ready to be delivered to our friend Sarah. It's been a long time in the making and a special thanks to Judy Laquidar of Patchwork Times for the pattern. While I normally don't use white on the binding I didn't have enough of the red or blue left and the music notes look better than I thought they would. I'm still not very good with my LA and haven't used panto's yet so wasn't able to do the quilting as I wanted with music notes spread overall. My holders are my youngest sister and her DH.

2009-03-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm so bad, I haven't updated my blog in ever so long. With John home it's hard to have puter time much less doing any sewing of any kind.

I did finish the Jewel Box for a friend. I'm finding as my years increase and my eyesight decreases as much as I love using black in a quilt it's going to be a thing of the past. My old eyes just aren't what they used to be. I love the bright colors of the batiks and think this one is so Maverik, no rhyme or reason but scattered just like the friend it's going to.

Some time ago I participated in Judy Laquirara's "Quilt for an Hour Leaf Seasons". I was looking for a pattern for a music themed quit and liked the leaf seasons but couldn't see the quilt with the leaves. Looking through the patterns she's posted I found "Through the Grapevine" downloadable here

http://www.patchworktimes.com/eq-projects-to-share/

and knew this would be the one. It's a great pattern. I have one border to add and then I can put it on the frame.

Our raffle quilt for our family reunion is finally put together. I'm hand quilting it this year as it begs for it. My goal is a block a day and so far I've kept up. Today I took a the day off and sat back to read a book. I've never been one to use a thimble instead using fingernail. After a bit it gets sore and I have to take a day off.

My sisters and I have started a BOM, The 12 Days of Christmas with hopes of having it done to hang during the holidays. Now that the Raffle Quilt is together we needed a new project. We have enjoyed our once a month get together to chat and stay in touch. We all came prepared loaded down with stuff from our stashes to share and chose the easiest block to start, the 11th day of horns. I'm sure that each and everyone of us will have a different blocks when finished. This one was done by our Mother and one of our sisters was the lucky one to recieve it as a gift one year.

Fire has hit close to home. One of my grandsons set a pizza box on the stove and it caught fire. Thinking it was out he put it on the back porch in the trash. It errupted into flames and their rental house was destroyed. They lost everything. Help for them has appeared like magic with furniture and a fund set up to help get them back on their feet.

I leave you with my cats who think this stove is the cat's meow. Even when it doesn't have a fire going they take up residence in front of it.

Gratitudes

My son and his family are okey after the fire.

My sisters who are my quilting buddies.

The sunshine today so I could restack wood.

Snowed In

2008-12-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

I've been snow bound here in my "little cabin in the woods " for 11 days now and no end in sight. This is the most snow we've had in many years and I wish it would go away. We're going to have a White Christmas that's for sure. John (DH) has been calling for weather reports daily as he is due to come home Christmas Day for his two months off the ship. He's in Portland where they too are having record snowfall while his big 4WD truck sits here at home in the driveway. On the way home his last visit the starter went out, it rained buckets and he couldn't get it fixed. It's now ready for this winter driving via a tow to the local Ford Dealer.

I'm surviving thanks to my brother who delivered a care pkg of M & M's, (Marlboro and Miller) and picked up the quilt my sister had me quilt. Another care pkg arrived via my Bil and sis of coffee, kitty food and a few other supplies as they needed to pick up yet another quilt I had quilted for her. Both Xmas presents for her Son and GS. Aren't family great. Its not that I'm afraid to drive in this weather, it's the other drivers on the road up here on the side of a mountain that worry me.

While being cooped up I finally finished handquilting this top. It's a kit quilt from years gone by and was completely embroidered when I found it in my MIL's attic. It's all washed up and ready to put on my bed come spring.

this is my first attempt at doing a large quilt. It's not fancy just big meander with curly cues in the red center blocks. I'm still in the learning process but with several more tops in the wings will have good practice.

As the year comes to an end we all think of our goals for the coming year. This year I hope to complete all my goals while not making big unrealistic demands on myself. Last year my goal was to finish all my UFO's which I never accomplished as life took on a life of its own. Instead I did a lot of cleaning out and getting rid of those I no longer wanted to do.

My goals for 2009:

Organize my sewing room to be more user friendly and clutter free.

Machine 7 of the 8 tops I have in a tote.

Hand quilt an antique wedding ring top.

Only start one new quilt for a friend.

Use up my stash for backings.

A fabric Diet only batting.

If I manage these then I can always add something else. I want to have a feeling of accomplishment as next year comes to an end rather than feeling there were way to many things left to do.

I'm thankful for:

Family that makes sure I'm taken care of when DH is on the ship.

For care pkgs during this snow storm.

All the wonderful friends I've met over the net.

Having electricity, so many have been without in this cold weather.

My wood stove that keeps me warm and toasty.

2008-12-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

Another month and more has passed since I updated my blog. I just haven't been feeling like blogging. Don't know what's the matter with me these days. This past year has been so long for me with so many family and friends passing away. Just recently my youngest son's half brother commited suicide. He was only 43. It's so heart breaking to know he was so troubled he took his own life. He didn't leave a wife or children to mourn but he left siblings, nieces and nephews who will miss him.

My sisters and I finally finished Mom's Duds quilts and are passing them out this coming Sunday. We were rather naughty and called our out of town siblings and told them they had one more gift coming from our Mom. Only one asked what it was and we just said "you'll have to come collect it to find out" so all of them will be there to get their gift along with the remaining settlement from the estate. It will be a nice get together before Xmas for a bit of catching up with all of us.

The past few days have been spent finishing up with blocks to do a jewel box for a friend of ours. I still have a small border to add then it will be complete and ready to quilt. I hope to get the border on tomorrow, do up a backing and be ready to quilt it soon. I'm calling this one "scattered" as it started out controlled but ended up every bit as scattered as the girl it is going to.

My youngest sister has recently caught the quilting bug. All us sisters shared the quilt blocks our Mother had made and never assembled. Her first attempt at squaring off, laying out and assembling is quite the maverick. She's using her blocks to make quilts for her children and grandkids for Xmas so they will have a quilt from their grandma. She's very talented in every way. Ask her to lay a floor, climb up on the roof, fix a car, she can do all those things. I laugh when she tells me I have no business up on the roof. What, she thinks I'm old and feeble, but yes, balance is not my strong point and I certaily would fall off the roof were I to get up there.

I've learned a very valuable lesson recently. Having some "fire retardant" gloves I loaded the wood stove for the night. Laid the gloves next to the stove and promptly went off to bed. Very shortly I smelled smoke and got up to see what was going on. Walked into the living room to a cloud of smoke hanging near the ceiling, flames shooting from those gloves and the wood trim on the slab scorched . Grabbed up those gloves and into the sink they went. Opened all the doors and on went every fan in the house. Realizing I could have burned the house down I had a very hard time falling asleep that night.

Gratitude
Sisters to share quilting nights with.

Happy Birthday to Me

2008-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

It's not a Long Arm but it's mine and I love having it. I've been wanting a quilting set up for a long time and after looking around decided one of those table top outfits just wasn't what I wanted. My sister has one and even she dislikes it. Then one day surfing around Craig's List I stumbled onto this advertized. Just three years old, the price was right and just what I wanted. It's the closest to a LA as I could get, extends out 120" altho' with my limited space I've got it down to 5 feet. It's going to take a lot of practice to do all those fancy motifs but I'm learning. My first practice is on the frame and when it's done I'm sure my fur balls will love having another quilt to stretch out on. They won't mind a bit what it looks like.

3 down and 4 to go.

My sisters and I have been busy. We decided we didn't want to see someone walking down the street wearing our mom's duds and are making each of our siblings as well as ourselves a memory quilt from her clothes. It's been a good thing, we've cut and laughed, remembered dressing mom is this or that suit, remembered the ones she really liked and the ones that didn't get worn very often. We've had a fun time while putting these together reminiscing about our Mom laughter where there could have been tears. We thought they would be ugly but they've turned out kinda pretty. We're going to wrap them as a last gift from our Mom this Xmas. How fitting that the suits she made and kept her warm will now wrap her children.

I love my wood stove and so does Lady.

Summers End

2008-09-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the summer has come and gone. Seems I just blinked my eyes and winter rains are upon us already.

This summer has been a busy one with little or no sewing involved. We finally got our Mother's estate all settled and formed a Limited Liability Company as a real estate investment. With real estate being in the dumps, selling the property left to us would not be a very good idea at this time. So with that in mind we sent out an invite to all the heirs to meet us for a weekend potluck work party to clean up, haul junk to dump, fix fencing, trim trees and paint the mobile home.

The day dawned bright and sunny, 9 of the 12 heirs showed up dressed in their work clothes ready to man lawn mowers, weed wackers, power washers, chain saws and paint brushes. With clipboard in hand I assigned jobs as everyone grabbed up their tools and off they went. Armed with No Tresspassing/No Dumping signs the fence got repaired, the signs hung. 4 weed wackers buzzed, garbage/junk left for the dump and chain saws made short work of the to-do list. By the end of the day all were tired but very satisfied with what we had accomplished and only the mobile home needed a bit more washing before painting.

The next day those of us who had no other plans assembled again to finish up the mobile home. My brother borrowed a paint sprayer and made what would have taken several hours a short job. By the end of the day, having run out of paint we decided we could quit and finish what little bit of painting needed done on Monday while everyone else was at work. Not so. After a huge lunch of Chinese, temps in the high 70's we felt more like a nap than finishing the trim paint. vbg Now the rains have started and we'll have to wait for a sunny day.

Many thanks go to:

All heirs who showed up and worked their butts off and made this work party a sucess.

My SIL, Biena, My BIL, Roger and nephew Kyle.

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

Until this year Memorial Day has always been another holiday to me. Yesterday two of my sisters and I gathered together some gardening tools, a bucket of flowers from their gardens and off to the cemetary we went. I've never gone back to the cemetary after the death of one of my family, but this year I did. My other sisters always went, cleaned up the markers, left flowers and in past years took our Mom with them.

It was a beautiful day, the sun shining over the long rows of flags the VFW had erected along the roads in the cemetary. We arrived with our gear to find someone had already been there ahead of us to decorate our parents, our aunt and uncles graves. We called another sister to find out if she had been there ahead of us and yes, she always came each year and this year was no different. We trimmed and washed the markers then went around to other family members graves and continued with trimming and setting out flowers. When we were finished we still had flowers left and placed them on graves that looked forlorn.

Memorial Day will never be the same for me again, thought only of as another holiday but as a day of rememberance for those who have gone before us and those brave soldiers who have given their lives so we may continue to live in freedom.

In the past year our family has come together, more so since we lost our Mom when before we saw each other once a year at our annual family picnic. I've come to appreciate my brothers and sisters not for who I think they should be but for who they are.

A Very Special Quilt

2008-05-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Our family raffle quilt top for this year is finished. It's now at my sister's home for her to quilt on her LA. While there's nothing really special about the pattern or fabrics as it was a kit, the very fact that it is the very last quilt my Mom had her hands on makes it one very special quilt. In the past my sisters and I have never added our names to the drawing although we've always bought tickets for our children and grandchildren. This year we sisters are buying tickets for ourselves as well with high hopes of winning this quilt.

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day the first of many to be spent without my Mom. My sis and I went to the cemetary to clean up the funeral flowers, leave a boquet of lilacs for Mom to enjoy and also made up boquets for our sister, her baby, my auntie and my BIL's granny from the best of the left over flowers. It was a peaceful day for us. I'm not a person that does cemetary visits but this year it seemed a good thing.

I've been spending my time scanning slides, boxes of them my Mom had taken over the years. It sure brings back fond memories as I scan pictures of me and my youngest sister. We have a special bond the two of us. Don't know what it is but Mom always said she was just like "Dona" and the next words out of her mouth were "I'll send you where they have a barbed wire fence and can keep you in". Funny thing, our farm was fenced in and that barbed wire never kept her in. Mom always used to threaten me with "I'll send you to the convent in Seattle where they have brick walls". It's been fun to look once again into the past and see my Gramma, my parents when they were in the prime of their life and us kids were all way younger. It's given me an idea for our Family Picnic this year....a picture board of "Back Then and This is Now".

I haven't had much time for sewing this past month or two but tomorrow my sis and I are finally going to add the last border to our Family Raffle Quilt and get the backing all ready so another of my sisters can quilt it. This year I'm going to add my name to the tickets as it's the very last quilt my Mom touched and will be special. I usually don't put my name in and buy tickets for all my kids and grandkids instead. We sisters have decided we should get together once a month for our own little quilting group. There's four us us living close and if we add our brother's wife and one of our nieces we'll have a nice little group. We so enjoyed the few times we all got together to work on the raffle quilt at Mom's apt.

This week is the last of the things one has to do to settle a loved one's estate. We see her Attorney on Thursday to see how to notify the rest of the siblings and one Granddaughter who is remembered in Mom's will. On Sunday we siblings will all get together and settle Mom's personal possessions. It will be a sad occasion for us all.

Gratitudes

For all my blogger friends who left comments on my post about MOM

My Mom

2008-05-04T21:18:00.001-07:00

My beautiful Mother passed away on April 25th surrounded by her children.

My Mom was the sweetest, kindest, loving woman I know. I never saw her without a smile. She wasn't very demonstrative but we all knew we were loved. I never heard her utter a bad word about anyone and if we did she would frown. She never missed a Mass, getting there in the rain or snow. In later years she would make it to church coming in with her walker. In the past year when she was confined to a wheel chair my youngest sister and I took her to Mass on Sundays. When we arrived late on Easter her parish priest stopped in the middle of his sermon to welcome her. She touched everyone she knew in one way or another.

She was always "put together", had a matching suit of clothes on, a pin on her lapel and a handkerchief in her pocket. In later years when her eye sight became so bad my sister and I would do her clothes before we took her to mass.

She was a superiour cook and while I never learned to plan and cook a meal while I was a young girl, she taught me to make the best cinamon rolls which become my Saturday job while my older sister cleaned the bathroom. I can still bake a first class apple pie, my turkey's are stuffed to this day with her dressing and I don't make cinamon rolls any longer.

She was a knitter and taught me to knit. I could never master 4 needles making sox or mittens. My stitches were always twisted, but I learned how to knit sweaters.

She crocheted. Her doilies graced every table in the house. I learned how to crochet from her and made my own doilies. She left behind a suitcase full.

She was an exceptional artist. Her paintings won ribbons at the county fair, hung in her credit union and grace most of our homes.

She was a seamstress and made all her own clothing right down to her drawers. My 3 younger sisters all wore "home made panties". My youngest sister's biggest wish growing up was to have a pair with a label from a store in them. I can laugh at them, I always had "store bought" undies.

I never saw my Mom without a needle in her hand stitching away on a quilt. Her hands were always busy. As her eye sight failed she could no longer quilt or do any of her other crafts. She would reach out feeling her blocks and ask if this block was finished. I started quilting when I moved home after being gone for many years to spend time with her. She was always gone doing one thing or another and her quilting group was the only place I knew where to find her. She made and donated many quilts to raffle for good causes. She took blocks donated to her quilting group and stitched them together into quilts for donations.

There wasn't a craft my Mom didn't master. She always said she did a craft until she got it down pat and then moved on to a new one.

My Mom was a doer. When she wanted to move, Dad said sell the house. She put a for sale sign up and sold the house in Minnesota. We moved to Washington. When Dad was remodeling the farm house here, she asked when he was going to remove a wall. He said if you want it down take it down and she did. She got a crowbar and the wall was down when Dad returned from work.

Her sense of humor never failed her. She could and did whip out one liners even in her last days. When her medications caused her nose to drip and she would forget to wipe it, I'd ask where her handkerchief was, her nose was dripping. She'd look at us and say "see girls this is what you have to look forward to". My sister always called her the "princess and the pea". She didn't like wrinkles and even when her eye sight was failing she would reach out as she was going to bed and smooth her sheets. In her last days at the hospital she would say she was sitting on a lump and would laugh when we said she must be getting pleats in her bum.

She grew up in the depression and when my father passed away she never spent on herself. She had her trailer, the farm was paid for, she needed to save for when she could no longer live by herself. When we asked why she didn't move to an apartment she always said why she should pay to live somewhere when her trailer and the farm was paid for. She watched her sister go through every penny her husband had left her and spend her remaing days in a nursing home. Mom wasn't going to end up there. She spent her remaining days in her own bed at the Assisted Living. She grew up in the era you saved to leave something behind for your children and she did. She made sure the farm was intact and we had an inheritance. She always had everything she wanted. A very independant woman.

Our parents raised us with good values. We all learned you worked for what you got. You stayed out of trouble or you had to suffer the consequences. All 8 of us turned out okey, stayed out of trouble, grew up and went on to be decent folk.

I'll miss my Mom. We were never very close but she always chose to come stay at my home when she was released from one hospital stay or another. I loved my Mom and never knew how to let her know how much. I'll miss my Sundays taking her to church.

Gratitudes

For a loving Mom who is watching over me now

2008-03-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

My sewing room is finished and now the big job of sorting out and de-clutter all the stuff that came out of there has begun. I've spent the better parts of three days going through stuff, sorting to sell, give away and just plain throw out to the trash. It's amazing how much one piles behind closed doors, under tables, hidden in cupboards/closets. Things you haven't seen in years, have no idea why you have it and probably wouldn't use it anyway. So far I've culled almost 50 quilting books, blocks, patterns, emptied 2 totes and listed a bunch of antique sewing machine related items that don't even belong to any of the machines I have. I've found things I can use, like a plaid matching foot that is nothing more than a short shank walking foot with a fancy name and will fit my old black Singers.

Along with the sewing room makeover, the whole inside of the house is getting a face lift of sorts. We're installing a wood stove, propane prices have rizen so high it's more cost efficient to heat with wood. We picked out a "green energy" stove, have an install date so it's shift furniture time. My desk top puter goes to the new sewing room, all the furniture from the living/dining room moves to the den, the den furniture to the living room, the dining table to the kitchen and my huge roll top desk will live in what was the dining making a nice little office area. It's going to be nice to have all new arrangements. This furniture has sat in the same spots for 16years and it's time for a change. vbg

I joined a roundrobbin group some time ago and signed up to participate in the current RR's. One is an Add-a-Block with embelishments. I've never really embelished anything so for me this is way outside my comfort zone. The hummer is my starter block for this exchange. As the mail date arrived before I was finished I was able to send it on to the next person and will be able to add beads and what nots when it arrives home in the fall. It will make a nice wall hanging for my sewing room.

The second exchange is a Row Robin. Another first for me. I tried out a new to me technique, machine applique. I think I spent as much time cleaning the fusable webbing off the iron as I did stitching arund those teddy bears. I don't know if I will ever do it again, trying to get around all those curves with a satin stitch boggled my mind, but it was fun and now I can say "I've tried it out". I really liked these little teddy bears and thought they would make an fun quilt for my gr-gson Elias to snuggle up to.

Day 2 in the Sewing Room

2008-03-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

My new sewing room is coming along nicely. It's been painted and the new pergo flooring over half done. Yesterday, Marcie and I pulled all the carpet, padding, mouldings, then painted the walls. At the end of the day we still had to cut in where the walls join the ceiling, the windows and doors. Thinking I would reward myself after finishing the painting I put a toddy or two in the freezer and then left them there for two hours before my brain kicked in. Needles to say, I had ice, rather than the liquid refreshment I was looking forward to.

Today we started in early to lay the flooring. After a bit of my help, Marcie banished me from the room, suggesting I go play with EQ6 and the quilt she wants to make this winter so that's what I spent part of the day doing. I'm not any better at flooring than I am at painting.

She picked out a wall hanging pattern called "Gone Away" wanting the fish to swim up/down her quilt instead of across it. I added another border of fish to make it large enough for her bed. I rather like it and had fun playing with colors. I auditioned the border fish all different colors. It was too busy.

How do you save a project as a jpg? I couldn't figure it out and took a picture of it on my monitor. lol I haven't played much with EQ6; am learning new things each time.

The rest of the day I spent washing down the louvered closet doors. I like the looks of the louvers however they sure are a pain in the patootie to clean. I'm so looking forward to having my room done so I can set it back up. I hauled so much stuff out of there, I couldn't believe it all came out of one little room. There's going to be a lot of donating going on. DH's room is full, the living room has stacked drawers full of fabric and for the first time I've got stuff under my bed. vbg.

Happy Birthday Mikie

2008-03-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today is my middle son Michael's birthday. 48 years ago he came into this world, 6 pounds of screaming, fiesty, independent baby. I know you're not supposed to play favorites with your children but of my three son's he's my favorite. He's most like me, not a dreamer like his older brother and not like his younger brother who calls once a year to let me know he's moved yet again. He remembers my birthday, calls me on every holiday.

He shows up every year for our family renunion, hasn't missed but one in 15 years while his brothers show up sporadically.

He's his own person, marches to his own drum. I don't have to entertain him when he visits, he entertains himself. I don't have to look after him. I hand him my house keys, the truck keys, the tent and he takes care of himself. Not like my older son , and his wife who expect and need to be entertained the whole time they are here with their three sons and not like my youngest son who thinks every wrong thing that happens in his life is somehow my fault. He accepts me with all of my faults and loves me unconditionally. He's very special to me, and I love him dearly.

Pieces of the Past

2008-03-14T06:43:00.000-07:00

The family raffle quilt is moving along quite rapidly. We gathered at Mom's, had a great time, and stuffed ourselves with Chineese. Now that we have all the parts in one place, the colors aren't so drab looking. I actually think it's going to turn our rather nicely.

While my sisters were all busy stitching away, I occupied myself with my 4 yo niece helping her stitch up her very own quilt for her dolly's. She was so excited when she learned that her Auntie was bringing a sewing machine for her to use. I have a little singer set up with a hand crank on the wheel specially for the little girls in the family.

While she "drove" I steered the fabric under the needle. As we were sitting there she whispered to me....."Is this my sewing machine"? I think she was disappointed when I told her "No, it's Auntie's, but you can borrow it today".

Remember the old drive in burger joints where you called in your order and the girls delivered them on roller skates? This one has been in our little town for as long as I can remember. It's been the hang out for the high school after football, basketball, baseball games. It's going in the way of progress, to be torn down and replaced by a strip mall. The owners didn't own the land and it has been sold out from under them. It's time to retire they say, they've owned it for over 40 years and Linda started working there while in high school. We took Mom for lunch on Wednesday before they closed down for good. She'd met my sister and bil there for dinner every Friday night for the past 20+years.

Yesterday I spent dragging everything out of my sewing room preparing for Monday when my handyman sister and I start re-doing it. We'll be tearing up carpet to lay down pergo, taking all the mouldings down and painting the walls. I couldn't believe the amount of "stuff" I had tucked away in that room. I filled up John's music room leaving him a path to his closet and for the first time ever had to temporarily tuck some tote's under my bed. When I start putting stuff back, there's going to be an awful lot that is gifted to the ladies over at the Seniour Center and I've offered my sister to come shop my stash for herself. Lots of what the heck did I buy this for, lots of books, magazines, trinkets since I can't think of another name for items purchased and never used.

Today I'm off to upgrade Marcie's computor. She hasn't a clue how to do more than turn it on, has never wanted one, wasn't interested until her DH's cousin gave them their old one. The other day we hooked her up to the Internet. While she might not have been interested before, like all of us, she'll soon be hooked. vbg.

Ramblings

2008-03-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

My Daffodils are up, the sun's been shining and spring is in the air here on the far left coast. I'm so looking forward to warmer weather, getting out in the yard and stitching up a storm. I have so many projects started that I want to finish up and get out of the way.

John's vacation is over and yesterday he packed his bags while I waved him off to the ship with visions of all the things I need and want to do dancing around in my head. Don't get me wrong, I love having him home for his 2 months off, but I'm just as anxious to see him return to the ship at the end of them so I can start my work vacation. A wonderful hubby he is, but handyman he ain't.

First comes the family raffle quilt top to be finished. Over the winter we've parcelled out sections as life had gotten in the way and group meetings to work on it just didn't happen. Tomorrow , Marcie, my youngest sister is coming over to stitch on our sections to be ready on Saturday when we 4 sisters and one niece will get together at Mom's and put all the sections into a top with high hopes of having them fit together as well as puzzle pieces should. We chose to do a kit this year and picked out "Paula Stoddard's Pieces of the Past". It's going to be a very nice quilt when done but I'm sure not impressed with the quality of the fabric the kit contained and doubt we will do another one. Besides this kit has enough left over fabric to piece a backing. There's nothing like the LQS for quality fabric where you can fondle it, pick out the fabric and be confindent you will like what you are getting.

Also on my agenda is remodeling. Nothing big or serious, just tear out all the carpeting which I hate as it collects pine needles like a magnet and replace it with Pergo and tile. I can't imagine why anyone would want an almost white carpet in this climate with all the rain, mud and pine needles to contend with. My wonderful sister Marcie is going to help me. She's such a crafty person, handy with a saw, hammer, does plumbing and roofing. A jack of all trades just like our Father was. "Sisters are those special friends we spend a lifetime with".

Added to that, the next on the list of to-do's is having a wood stove installed. Yes, this one I'm having a professional tackle; the home inspection is in a couple weeks. Propane has reached the point of no return on the money scale and burning wood is so much less expensive these days of high fuel prices. The amount of bucks we've shelled out since last September almost equals the national debt in my opinion.

My Mom has been a member of the Grange for over 50 years. Today at the monthly meeting and potluck she received her 50 year pin, a certificate and beautiful cake to honor her for her many years of membership and service. Most of the members I knew and had a wonderful time chatting with them and looking at pictures taken over the years when Grange was more active in our community than it is now. Our Grange has been in the community since 1907 and many members are long time farm families. After all Grange was initially started with farmers in mind.

Gratitudes

My Sisters who are friends first and Sisters second
A mom who is still here to enjoy her friends and family
Spending time with my Mom today
Being healthy enough to swing a wheelchair into the trunk of the car

2007-12-19T18:26:00.000-08:00

WISHING YOU ALL IN BLOGGERLAND A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

My Sister

2007-12-01T02:28:00.000-08:00

Death visited our family once again this year. Cancer snuck in like a thief in the night and took our sister away from us. We were all stunned at the quickness with which she went. One day she had a headache, a trip to the doctor, a MRI and off for a biopsy. We gathered up our Mom, took her down to see her after the biopsy. A week later the year she had been given turned into a week. That Cancer was growing by leaps and bounds taking away the person she was. Back to the hospital she went. We gathered up our mom again and went for another visit all seven of her siblings. They discharged her with plans for a course of radiation/chemo. One treatment, a call for 911 and back to the hospital. Again we gathered up the siblings and as we were driving down to the hospital received a call she had passed away.

Tomorrow is her memorial and she will be laid to rest at a graveside service on Monday. Tonight we sat at our Nephews and put together a picture memorial for her. I saw a side of my sister through the many pictures I never knew existed. Oh yes, I knew she drove a paratransit bus for the past 28 years but little did I know how caring she was with her charges, how she worried about them now that she was unable to drive anymore and how she decorated her bus and dressed up for all the holidays. Yes, she and her DH rode a Gold Wing but little did I know, were part of a group and traveled all over the western states setting their tents up wherever. I didn't know she rode herself. There's a lot of things I didn't know about my sister. She was a caring, loving person and was never without a package of kleenix or pair of gloves. Her pockets told the story. She was a pack rat just like our mom. Who would keep their report cards from kindergarten but she did and every occassion she felt important to remember. Graduations, weddings, births, deaths and even all the things each of her siblings and children accomplished. I felt I didn't really know this person who was my sister, she seemed a stranger to me.

Somewhere in growing up and growing older we lost being sisters. We were each others Maids of Honor, alternated having kids, traded pictures and wrote letters when we both married servicemen and tranfered around the country and sometimes out of it. When I moved back home we never saw each other except for special occasions or the family picnic we hold each year. She came to my house once and I hadn't been to hers in 30 years. We never shared as we aged , we didn't connect like sisters will. We went our separate ways, raising our children, becoming grandma's and growing older.

I'm sorry I didn't know my sister better. We could and should have been friends for who are we without our families, our sisters, and brothers. I lost when I didn't take the time to mend whatever fences we had errected over the years. I lost when I chose to stay away because she wasn't the housekeeper I thought she should be.

In this past month while I watched my sister who I didn't have much use for wither away and die I'm ashamed that I based being a sister on whether or not she kept a tidy house. She was loved by her children, her grandchildren, her co-workers, friends and the people who rode her bus.

This death has been very hard on all of us, especially my mother. It's the first in our immediate family. She's already outlived all her siblings, my father, his family and now she's starting to outlive her children.

I know I need to be a better daughter and sibling to my other brothers and sisters. I need to allow them to be theirselves and not put restrictions on my feelings for them.

What is a true friend?

2007-09-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering the meaning of "true friendship" for the past week, ever since John went back to the ship. I find myself wondering if my neighbor was the true friend I've spent the past 15 years thinking she was.

When John went back to work I thought my "friend" would be on the doorstep ready for a long visit over coffee like we had done in the past. She always called as soon as her DH went to work. She didn't call, she didn't come over and as I was busy getting my home back in order I didn't think anything of it. She'd call the next day, was giving me a breather to catch up. Days went past without a visit or call and I thought she was just as busy as I was. Back in July she'd had 2 heart attacks, had to have 4 stints put in, was doing Cardiac Rehab. Maybe she had gone down to stay with her parents, maybe she wasn't recovering as she should. I wondered and worried about her and finally yesterday I walked across the street.

She's fine, she didn't need rehab anymore, her heart is as strong as a young girls her Dr. told her. She could go and do all the things she'd done before. I tried to catch up on all her news letting her know what I'd been up to. She wasn't interested in my news, turning the conversation back to herself.

As I walked back home, I wondered what I had missed all these years. Was this the same person who cried on my shoulder, who I laughed with as she hid her cigarettes so her mom wouldn't know she smoked, my sewing and shopping buddy? What happened to the person I stood by as she went through years with an alcholic DH, the same person I helped beat her drug habit. Was this the same person who watched my furbabies when I went out of town, who had a key to my house? What happened to my friend, where did she go or was she never a friend at all?

All these things flew through my mind and it came to me. She's been distancing herself ever since she had the first heart attack. We had a long talk after the that one when she quit smoking. Second hand smoke her dad said was bad and she shouldn't be around it. I ignored the writing on the wall, letting her know I wasn't so inconsiderate as to smoke around her. No stress her dad said, so she couldn't watch the cats anymore. I understood that as well, my furbabies could become road kitties and travel with me when I went somewhere or I'd find a new sitter. These were small bumps in the road I could deal with. The loss of my friend would be harder.

I walked over yesterday with some freshly baked banana bread to check on my friend and came home with my house keys. I'm sad at how things have turned out for us, but at the same time I'm glad to know that our friendship meant so little to her.

2007-07-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Here it is another month has flown by and I've been so busy what with John coming home for his vacation, family reunion, my two sons, a grandson and GGdtr up from California for a week not to mention Dr. visits for both John and I. I swear I have been positively chasing my own tail. vbg

The kids spent a week which was filled full of things to do. They pitched a tent, staying 2 days at my sisters out at the beach. The family reunion with 105 people counted, lots of yummy food. Everything from oysters to hotdogs, many different salads, cookies and cheesecakes. The kids all had a great time playing in the flats while the tide was out and kayaking (sp) when the tide came in. A huge beach fire after most had left and kids were all tucked into bed complete with a visit from the local cop at 4am due to a complaint about the loud music (500watt jukebox) which we had just shut down minutes prior to his arrival. A hike up in the forest preserve close to the house left me with aches/pains the next day and hardly able to walk. We started out looking for the beaver pond hiking up and down the side of the mountain only to realize the beaver pond was a short 1500 feet from the trailhead. A baby shower for my sister's DIL who also won the quilt and went home to Idaho with two full suitcases of goodies. The weather cooperated being hot and sunny the whole week the kids were here. It was great having them but I sure was glad to wave goodbye at the airport and come home to collapse in my chair.

Seems I started this days ago and got interupted in the middle of my train of thought. We've been seeing the Dr's left and right lately. If it's not one thing it's another. I'm so tired of sitting around waiting rooms just to be told I need yet another Ultrasound. I doubt if it's really anything serious, just my Dr being cautious. A small mass on my parotid gland and enlarged lymph node in my neck. Might would be a good time to quit smoking, don'tcha think? Will be glad when this round of doctor visits is over. Just makes us all sit up and take notice, it's not a good thing even when feeling well or not quite up to par to skip those yearly physicals. I really hate getting old and finding my body is slowly falling apart. vbg Just when I thought we might get a mini-vacation this summer up pops a Jury duty notice for mid August when all the Dr appts would be over and done with until Sept.

I've still not been in the sewing room for what seems forever. I'm dying or is that itchin to get stitchin on something. Anything would do. I need a fix and baby Brooke will be arriving on the scene before I know it.

I've really missed reading up on all the blogs. Will have to pencil in an hour a day for blogs on my calendar and catch up on everyones summer doings.

2007-06-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Here it is the middle of June and I've been neglecting my blog and never seem to have time to catch up on what everyone else in blogger land is doing. I need a whole day to sit here in front of the computer for a visit with y'all. See what you've been up to and where you've been. It's been a busy time again. Weather has turned nice with so much to do outside, there's never enough time to get into the sewing room to sit down and actually sew. I've cleaned in there. It looks so nice and ready to spend the day with fabric and do nothing but sew.

I've finally finished the handquilting on that raffle quilt that has caused so much trouble. Last night we three sisters got together so our excellent seamstress could do the finishing touches on the windmill via machine. It's turned out well, much better than I expected. Using the variagated black (storm clouds) thread did the trick, giving dimension where needed. The windmill finally looks like what it's supposed to be rather than a space capsule. vbg

Where did May disappear too?

2007-05-30T20:56:00.001-07:00

It doesn't seem like May should be gone already. The month just began an eye blink ago. Time seems to fly when you're so busy you can't see your backside for the dust.

Today I enjoyed my backyard after a long morning with eye doctor and errands that needed tending. My Rhodies are blooming so beautiful, the birds were singing and the deer came up to the yard. They are so tame they hardly flinch when you move. I know I'm not supposed to feed them but what do you do when they rob the bird feeders?

Tomorrow I need to get busy and start on a major project of organizing/cleaning my sewing room yet again in preparation for some major sewing. I've 2 great grandbabies on the horizon needing quilts. Brooke Jo is due end of September. GGbaby #2 is due in December. Brookes quilt is picked out, fabric purchased, ready to go. I know I've been procrastinating, it's hard to keep my mind together long enough to sit down and sew with all that's been going on the past couple months. How do you sew when you aren't in the mood and do a good job of what your making?

Now the weather is sun shiney, and there's all these things to do outside. No time to sit in the house sewing when the grass grows faster than a speeding bullet, the garden needs tending, there's picnic furniture to get cleaned, the roof needs sweeping and the gutters cleaned. The BBQ needs a power wash and new insides installed.

I don't want to be inside after the long winter of gray skies and rain. I want to take advantage of all the sun and warm temps. A cold glass of beer and an evening out under the umbrella. Up here in my corner of the world sewing is for winter time when the skies are gray and the rain falls steadily for months at a time. A fire in the fireplace, a quilt on my lap, stitching away.

Leaf Seasons is still calling out to be quilted, hanging over the back of the loveseat in waiting. it's been there for some time now and should have been done. It's not a big quilt, a small twin, but there it lays just begging to be taken care of, crying out "quilt me, quilt me". What do you do when your minds miles away and life just gets in the way?

I wish there were more hours in the day to accomplish all the things I want to do but sadly there just aren't. I'm thankful for what I have and those things that I can get done at the same time wishing there was just a wee bit more time in my world right now. Just a few more hours each day, a few less appointments, less time spent in the car going from one place to another, siblings that shared responsibilites of my Mom, more time with my DH and most of all more "ME" time spent on things I want to do for me. At the same time I'm grateful to have good health, a roof over my head, enough to eat, good friends both here on Mavericks and here at home. I'm thankful I'm able to see each morning as I wake up. While life does seem to be in shambles for me lately it does go on and there will be better days coming.

2007-05-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

I've been a busy bee out in the yard on the business end of the mower and weedwacker. It's looking pretty good now just in time for DH to come home for the weekend. Got out the power washer and did the driveway while I was at it and the sun was so warm.

Last night I finally put a patch on my Log Cabin quilt I burnt a hole in after falling asleep with a lit ciggy. Yes, I know, smoking in bed is a no-no and I don't do it anymore. The LC was our wedding quilt from my mom from 28 years ago and I never thought I would be so lucky as to find a matching fabric while cleaning out her sewing room but I found a block amongst the many log cabins she's started with 4 good sized pieces.

Today I had to take Lady in to see her Vet. She developed a wobbly back end and I thought it was Diabetic Neuropathy but turned out to be a sprain. I guess I must have pulled a wee bit hard as I was dragging her out from under the bed for her insulin shot. Poor Baby, she's been gimpy for a few days. While there they did an ultrasound to check her bladder (hadn't seen her pee in a few days) which was fine and took some blood for necessary tests. Tomorrow she has to go back and spend the day so they can catch some urine to test for Ketones. Her diabetes is under control which makes me pleased as punch and now have some new guidelines on how much insulin to give her depending on her 2xdaily blood sugars. She's so used to having her ear pricked she sits quietly in my lap while I get the equip ready.

Tomorrow I'm off to have coffee with my #1 favorite sister. I know you're not supposed to have favorites. I was 16 when Marcie was born and did many a diaper changes and bottle feeds taking care of her. My 2 oldest sons, Marcie and my youngest brother grew up together. They're 51, 49, 47, 45 and more like brothers and sister rather than aunt/uncle and nephews.

While in town I get to go to the LQS and pick out the fabrics for my newest (due Sept 24) great granddtr's crib quilt. I've picked out a pattern (Springtime) from Rock A Bye Quilts by Leisure Arts. It's all pinks, not my color at all, with a wee bit of yellow and green (gdtr said no yellow or green), some applique I can do while watching TV and strip sets of squares. I told her no fancy applique this time around since her SIL is also pregnant and due in December. 2 Baby quilts to make.

Many thanks for all the wonderful comments on the green/purple quilt. I'm seriously thinking of trying to sell this quilt and wonder at what kind of price tag I should hang on it. Every year my old quilting group has a display during our Pioneer Days which gets a lot of traffic. Any suggestions on a price?

2007-05-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

It's finished, it's done and now what am I going to do with it? What a wonderful job Nikki did and I couldn't ask for a more perfect quilting motif if I had chosen it myself. I chose the backing, the threads, requested a soft lovable quilt, not a stiff board then said here are the reins they are all yours, do what you want and she did. I couldn't have picked a more perfect motif if I had tried. She's young, I don't think she's had her LA for a long time and it gave me pleasure to let her grab the reins and take it for a ride on my quilt.

2007-05-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've been able to write on my blog. I'm still not getting any quilting done as we're just now finishing up with the packing up of mom's home, getting it ready to rent to one of my nephews. We're to the point where we have a huge 2-car garage full stacked 5 feet high to re-sort, organize, designate what is to be kept for Mom, what is to be hauled to the dump and what we want to put in a garage sale. It's been a huge undertaking, but Mom is happy at her new home so well worth the many hours spent.

More treasures have come to light and while I haven't taken any pictures this time, it's been fun to look and enjoy more memories.

Several books of ration stamps from WWII

A certificate from when Dad worked at a war plant in Minneapolis

More pictures of Mom as a very young lady in her early 20's.

My 2nd grade report card from St. Anne's Catholic School in St. Paul, MN

The only letter Dad wrote to Mom, dated 1937

A battery operated tin toy bartender who pours a drink. While it no longer works I can remember my Dad playing with it, laughing and having such a good time. It was given to him as a birthday present in the 50's.

A picture of my parents best friends sitting on their Harley...I remember many rides on the back of this very Harley behind Elmer who I always called my "second daddy". .

A bottle of dandelion wine, still good and very aged. Us kids used to pick the dandelion heads and mom always made big batches of wine every year. I can't remember her making it for more than 50 years.

Yankee Quilter....my neice borrowed all mom's old photo albums to make a memory book for her parents 50th wedding aniversary. We asked they be returned so we can go through it with mom and put names to the faces. Most of her old pictures do have names/years written on the backs of them so will be fun to see who they are.

Patti....Mom has all her faculties, she's 92 and can no longer live alone. She fell and realized it was time to move to an assisted living facility.

Happy Valley Quilter....will be happy to share a picture when the sampler is all framed.

I leave you with my furballs enjoying the first fresh grass of the season. They remind me of two little cows chomping away.

2007-04-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

It's amazing the things you find as you move your Mom from home to assisted living. Yesterday, Marcie and I went to organize the garage and go through the boxes we had set aside for another day. Going through the boxes, doing the look once, throw to the garbage pile we ran across.......

This small snapshot of Mom, taken when she was a young girl on the threshold of her life. I don't remember my mom as a young woman and this picture lets me see what a beautiful young lady she was.

A group picture taken at a dance...there's my fun loving Dad kicking up his foot in the front row with mom the second one in from the left. My Aunt and Uncle standing by theirselves in the top row. A good friend's wife next to Mom on the left. On the back is stamped "Rich Economy Photographing Service" Minneapolis. I would like to think this was taken in 1947 as a last party before Dad moved us to Washington.

A crossstitch sampler, finished but never framed. I'm going to frame it and hang it in my home.

Crocheted bits of tableclothes lets us wonder why they never were finished.

A brand new tin of tinkertoys reminding us of the days we built all kinds of things with them and Lincoln Logs.

Amongst all these little treasures from the past out fell a sales brochure in the form of a large postcard addressed to our Dad advertising the new beach front develpment of Sandy Point Shores. You could get a lot for $2500, less if you bought on a weekday and there wasn't but a few houses in the whole develpment. A nice bit of history when the point was first filled in, a canal to the bay dug or the boat house and ramp built.

I wonder what other reminders of the past will fall into our hands as we go through the many boxes and bags stored away in the trailer.

Season of Family

2007-04-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Where has the past two weeks disappeared to? Seems it was just the end of March and here it is the middle of April already.

Been some really busy days for us kids as we've been hauling garbage (1 1/2tons so far) to the dump while cleaning out Mom's place getting it ready to rent to one of my nephews. Phew, never realized there was so much trash in the trailer. It completely hid all the lovely things she's had for many years, like her bone china tea cups, a porcelin figurine given to her by her brother back when she turned 16, her silver service from their 25th wedding aniversary, photograph books full of snaps from from days back in MN pre 1947, log cabin blocks by the bazillion she's put together while sitting night after night and weekends alone. Something to keep her busy. Have to admit her trailer is so bad it's no wonder she never let anybody inside and was always standing on the porch ready to go when her ride appeared.

She's settling in and getting used to assited living. Has more company (her kids) in the past two weeks than the past two years. Is enjoying all the attention she has been getting and lacking in years past. How do you go visit your mom when there's no place to sit down from the stacks and stacks of stuff collected over the years. She looks around her apartment and wonders at "all this is for me". I've asked her what she wants from her trailer and she says why would I want such and such. It's yours I tell her, all your things that we don't want to leave or sell when we rent it out.

Yesterday I went to fetch her to the Dr for an after the fall check-up and evaluation for a power wheel chair. There she was in the activity room painting a birdhouse. She used to paint beautiful award winning art, now is happy with the little birdhouse. It keeps her busy, lots of things to do here but still misses her quilting group on Mondays. She goes to an exercise class, plays bingo, attends poetry readings, can get herself in her wheelchair down to the dining room and back to her apt. She's getting back to where she was prior to the fall, independent and ready to be on the go again. Most important she's happy and safe there.....her kids are fighting over her she says.

Going to the Doctor was tiring for both her and I. Me for the 4 times I had to manhandle her wheel chair in and out of the trunk. Her for the exertion of getting in and out of the car. As we were driving into town, she said it was a good thing that I had brought her purse with us as she needed to "give me something for gas". Makes me wonder how many times one of my sisters has taken her somewhere and charged her for the priviledge. I just told her if John couldn't afford the bit of gas he could just work another day overtime. vbg Who charges their mother for a ride to the doctor?

I'm happy my Mom is no longer living alone , where the personell think she's a very nice independant lady, not a crabby independant one. They've gone out of their way to assist her in her daily needs, making sure she takes her medicine, are there to help her into bed and see that she joins in with the daily activities going on, assist her down to and from her apt. She likes it there but wishes there were more residents. She doesn't miss the Seniour Center only on her quilting day. There's many activities to do and I've volunteered to do a quilting group if there's interest in one. I'm more than happy to give a day a week of my time to sit with the ladies there and talk quilting, stitch or whatever they want to do.

Gratitudes
My Mom's safety and the caretakers at her Assisted Living
Finding my former SIL and Niece after 28 years
Call from DH who is still bobbing around in the Ocean off Los Angeles
A beautiful sunny day
Time today for some hand quilting
My friends in blogland

Comments

2007-03-31T00:09:00.000-07:00

Catherine...please encourage your DH to get his granfather a Rescue Alert system. I really believe if my Mom had had a button to push she would still be living in her trailer. I'm thankful she wasn't hurt, but also glad that it made her decide she could't live alone anymore.

Paula...I like the sounds of the slider. I polish my machine bed to help with the sliding or is that not sliding problems when trying to manhadle all that fabric through the throat of the machine.

Sharon....give it a whirl...it's fun once you get over the scare factor.

JT...maybe when I feel more comfortable with my own machine I'll go rent the LA at my LQS. I too am waaaaay behind on reading blogs. Not enough time in the day this past week.

Yankee Quilter....each day is better for Mom. She's getting used to the move and really settling in at the AL.

Table Topper

2007-03-30T22:56:00.000-07:00

I just finished this table topper for my Mom as a housewarming gift for her new apt in the assisted living facility. It will cheer her up with the bright colors and brighten up her new digs. I didn't do any fancy quilting, a SITD and 1/4" outline inside the seams.

Tomorrow we start cleaning out her trailer getting it ready to rent. I get to do the sewing room which is packed full of fabric that would take 10 lifetimes to stitch up. There's quilt tops, blocks, strips and squares all cut and ready to assemble. She's has decided she doesn't want her sewing machine at her new place. She says she can't see to sew anymore. She's sewed all her life, made herself and all 6 of us girls our clothes and wedding gowns. It's sad to see her admit that a big part of her life is gone. Today I asked if her she could still see well enough to knit or crochet a baby afaghan for her new GGbaby to be and she asked me if I was left handed so I would be able to finish if she was unable to.

The past 15 years has seen lots of changes for Mom. She's had to give up driving, her art work, sewing, and now her home. She used to be so full of life, never at home, always on the go. She was one that was ready to hit the road at a moments notice off on some trip with friends, a day of shopping, a quilt show, her quilt group, a day spent at my house, daily lunches at the senior center, card games with friends and always Sunday Mass.

I'm ashamed to say in the last 5 years I haven't spent the time I should have with her. I had my own agenda as did my siblings. They had their family, their grandkids, their life. We never once gave thought to the many long nights or weekends she spent alone feeling unloved and unwanted. This was brought home to me today when my GF and I went to visit her. She made the comment "they love me and want me, her kids". I'm going to be a better daughter in her last years than I have been.

2007-03-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

My weekend disappeared on me. I had Leaf Seasons all sandwiched and was ready to have another go at machine quilting. Late Friday afternoon as I was standing by the cutting table chopping up little squares out of big scraps when the phone rang and my sister let me know my mother had fallen . She had been taken to the hospital and thought to have had a stroke and in the fall fractured her hip. My BIL had found her mid morning laying in the bathroom after being called when she didn't answer the door for her daily ride on the handicap bus to the Seniour Center. 911 called, a ride to the hospital, MRI and CAT scan done. No stroke, no fracture. My Mom is 92 and lives alone when she shouldn't have been but too independant and stubborn to move into Assisted Living. We don't know for sure how long she had been there but she said all night long. We do know she was in different clothes than she had worn the day before. It's a terrible way to finally realize she no longer is able to live alone. We are all relieved she didn't injure herself more than a nasty bruise and a couple days of observation in the hospital.

She's been afraid for months that she would fall and nobody would find her for days. This was a real wake up call for her. She knows she can't live alone anymore.

We called the Assisted Living she had mentioned she would like to go to when the time came. Fortunately one of my sisters and I had toured the place a couple months ago and were very impressed with the owners and staff. We called them on Saturday. The director came in special to give 5 of my siblings and I a tour. On Sunday the director came in again when we found out she had to be discharged but needed 24 hour supervision. Arrangements were made, we rented a U-Haul and set up her new digs with enough of her personal belongings and furniture before checking her out of the hospital.

Mom has a lovely apartment. The living room is bigger than mine with a large bedroom, bath and small kitchen (micro, fridge, coffee pot and toaster). When we brought her in, she looked around and said "this is so big". Today I went to check and see how she had managed through the night. When I took her down to the dining room, 3 of her friends who she's played pinochle with for years and have moved there came in and were so happy to see her. While I was out arranging for the beautician to come do her hair she let my GF know "she thinks she's going to like it there". She saw a poster on the wall saying there was to be a poetry reading later in the afternoon and decided she might like that. I think this will add to her life, being around others and not sitting home night after night and on weekends alone.

I think she will have more company now that she's moved. Her home as with a lot of our elderly was so cluttered up you couldn't find a place to sit down without shoveling stuff to the floor. She wouldn't let her friends visit only family because she was embarassed at not being able to keep it clean, yet wouldn't throw or give away anything. Now we all will go visit her more often.

Lady, approving Leaf Seasons for comfort factor.

Gratitudes

My mom not seriously hurting herself when she fell

No rain yesterday during the move

Daffodils starting to bloom

Spring on the way

My siblings, BIL's and nephews responding when needed

New Tricks for Old Dogs

2007-03-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I lived dangerously and went outside my comfort zone. I'm a hand quilter. I love the satisfaction of seeing all those tiny little stitches lined up so nice and neatly giving character to my quilt. Puffy where needed and comphy to wrap up in.

Machine quilting has never been at the top of my priority list as a new trick to learn. I've tried it a couple times and always went back to doing it the old fashioned way...by hand.

With tops piling up faster than you can say UFO something had to be done. I couldn't just run out to the money tree in the backyard and pick a few greenbacks to have them done, so it's a DIY or have them continue to pile up.

Saturday morning I oiled up my machine, dug out a quilting needle, grabbed up the quilt and off I went. What a ride I had. My feet and hands couldn't get together. When my hands stopped the machine kept going. The stitches weren't uniform, the backside had pokies (JT, I love this saying). My sewing machine didn't like the thread I was using. The tension wouldn't co-operate and an hours worth of stitching took 3 hours to pick out. By Sunday afternoon I was ready to holler "never again" but kept on going. When the last stitch was in, sat back with a feeling of accomplishment and a "well, ya did it".

Will I do it again. Why of course, I already have my Leaf Seasons samiched, pinned and in the wings waiting for the end of the week when I have time to sit down and try it again. My comfort zone has expanded. I only wish Singer would develop a stitch control like Berninia.

Don't take me wrong, I'm not knocking machine quilting. I've have my favorite LAer I take my quilts to. She does such a fantastic job that I give her free reign to do what she wants. I pick out what I want for a backing, the thread and tell her to surprize me, just don't break the bank. If she's backlogged I'll waite until she can do mine. I wouldn't go anywhere else. She does with a machine what I will never be able to....give my quilts that something extra special that makes them shine. I do what she isn't interested in...hand quilt. We all have our special talents, her's is with a machine, mine is with a thread and needle.

What I've learned ......

Wind a batch of bobbins before you start

Wear those garden gloves with the rubber dots for less slippage

Warm up doing a bit on a practice square

Start in the middle

Do a quarter of the quilt at a time as it's easier to shove through the throat

Relax your shoulders or they tense up

Sit up straight not humped over the machine with your nose almost touching the quilt or your back starts screaming

Put the puter chair up as high as it will go so you are a bit above the level of the machine deck

When you start sweating it's time for a break

Do some stretch exercises while on break

BREATH

Last but not least .....put some beer one ice, you'll need it

2007-03-14T23:32:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally arriving here on the far left coast. My daffodils all have big fat buds, ready to burst into bloom. The sun has been out the past two days and the robins have arrived. It's time to take down all the bird feeders, wash them out and get them full of seed. During the winter with all the rain my poor birds only get suet cakes. Some veggie seeds have been bought, ready to plant as soon as the ground dries out.

I finished my letters and have mailed them off.

Put together a backing for a top and have it all pin basted ready to try my hand once again at machine quilting.

Another leg on the broken star is redone, two more all ripped, basted to templates and ready to hand stitch together. My schedule of one a week is going well. 4 done and 28 to go.

The handquilting on the Windmill raffle quilt is progressing along nicely with just borders on two sides to be completed. This year we're inviting another branch of my Dad's family to our annual family picnic.

As the weeks are flying into months I've come to the realization that I am never going to find the time to quilt all the tops I have accumulated over the years. Tomorrow I have an appt with Nikki (my LAer) to do the first of them. I'm going to tell Nikki to surprize me while not breaking the bank. I chose this as the first of them because I like the richness of the colors. The pattern is by our very own JT enlarged from a wallhanging to fit my bed. While I would love to hand quilt each and every one of them, done is better than having them hanging folded up over a quilt rack. I want to use them not look at unfinished tops.

I have a new GGbaby due come the end of September and I want to start a quilt for him/her and not feel guilty. I'm hoping for pink again, they want blue. We should know on Friday when she has her ultrasound. Lets hope baby co-operates.

I'll leave you with Roscoe taking his morning bath.

More Letters

2007-03-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

A change here, a change there and my letters are coming along. Some I didn't like and started over again. Ran out of the bkgd I was using and of course couldn't find anything anywhere near the same. I'm pleased with what I have finished and tomorrow I'm spending the better part of the day in the sewing room finishing these up so I can get them in the mail. It's been fun, it's been a challenge and aggravating at the same time.

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog, just haven't had the computer time I normally have. Life has been a roller coaster these last two months. First my youngest son's father passed away just before Xmas, the end of February, my sister came home from work and found her DH of 50 years dead on the floor, and last week a cousins DH passed away. It's made me stop to think, we're not getting any younger and it's time John and I did something about a will.

Life is now back to normal or what I consider normal here. John has gone back to the ship for his 4 month tour and it's been awhile since I've been up and dressed before noon. Making breakfast at 1 in the afternoon sure can take a bite out of the day and leaves me with no desire to sew or clean or anything else for that matter. I'm working on two schedules here, the vacation and the back to work. Vacation time is just that, I don't do any more than once over quick to get the top layer. Back to work, its like the old spring and fall cleaning. Drag out everything and deep clean.

Today I was up, dressed, war paint on and ready to hit the road for town at 8:30 am. What a change that was. Did some morning chores then reved up the ride and off to town my GF and I went. While I didn't over indulge at Joann's, just a wee small bit of bkgd to finish off my letters I sure went overboard at Walmart in the little girls department picking up a few outfits for Reese, my GGD. This has got to stop as GD is now pregnant with #2 ggrandbaby and it could get really spendy. I love shopping for my GGD.

Comments....

Many thanks to all who commented on my letters.

Tonya...I like the D as well.

Forestjane....Thumbs...yep, Roscoe does have thumbs. His front paws look just like mittens. He's a comedian and it's such fun to watch him open doors, pick up cat toys off the floor with those hands. He has joints just like regular fingers and, has that extra claw and hops like a rabbit.

Gratitudes

A safe trip back to Portland for John

A day spent with my friend Rexene

Time spent sewing today

A nice day with open doors to air the house out

Tonya's Letters

2007-01-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

Ever since Tonya posted her freehand letters I've been wanting to give it a whirl. I've been itching to stitch but not on anything that would take a lot of time nor end up being another UFO added to the already big stack. AHA, Tonya's letters would fill the bill.

Over on the FLQ list one of the gals has just moved into a brandy new home and house blocks are being sent to her. Not wanting or being able to find a house block that I liked and thoughts of Tonya's letters dancing around in my head, I decided to do letters for her with the idea she could add them to her blocks or borders. If they shouldn't be to her liking and she doesn't use them, it won't hurt my feelings and I will have ventured into the world of letters.

With my trusty side kick watching my every move, I grabbed up the fabric and went to town on them, changing my mind in midstream. Having a general idea of the instructions in my head I proceeded to get busy thinking I would do "Home Sweet Home". After 2 hours spent on "M" and not getting the result I was after, I threw in the towel and off on another batch of letters I went, changing what I had to fit what I wanted. "Friends are the Greatest" became my new mantra.

I escaped off to town again today. I get cabin fever really bad when DH comes home for vacation. I'm the type who loves to visit and have friends over, he's the type that loves to come home and never venture anywhere. His vacation to him is sitting in the garage making music. Being home is all he wants to do. So today I called my GF, loaded up all the aluminum cans into the truck and off we went. Joann's was calling, I had a % off coupon to spend and needed more quilting thread, some needle pullers (those little round rubber dohickeys) and needle threaders (the old eyes ain't what they used to be). Picked up what I needed and not one little piece of fabric followed me home.

Gratitudes

DH for understanding I need to get out of the house

For my GF who is always ready to drop what she's doing and escape with me

A sunny day in town

Burgers n Fries picked up on the way home for a late lunch

The new bird visiting the feeders I'd never seen before

Weekends

2007-01-07T00:19:00.000-08:00

I don't do much on weekends. It's my ME time to sit and do whatever I want. I did my treadmill, clean/change the litter boxes, ran the DW and emptied it, deodorized the garbage disposal and shined my sink after dinner. Just an hour or so of stuff.

I made a crockpot roast with onions, carrots and little red spuds. I've decided while it's nice to have it burbling away all day long, it smells so good, I really like the taste of a roast in the regular oven. The flavor is so much better. Maybe it's the baking rather than the simmering that makes the difference.

I pulled out Broken Star as I wasn't in the mood for handquilting and I wanted to listen to the football games today (YEA HAWKS, we're on the way to the Super Bowl). I'm unstitching all those points I have together since they refuse to lay flat and have ruffles. I've got two legs onto templates and stitched together with 2 more legs all prepped. It takes awhile to unstitch all those diamonds and get them onto the templates. It's a project that won't be done in a week or a month, more like a year and it will lay flat. I'll be happy if 2007 and it both come to an end at the same time.

My sister called today, another disaster at her place. They say they come in 3's, I hope this is the last one for her. Her DH left to go to work, got around the corner from their house and the clutch disappeared in their truck. Could she borrow mine for a couple days as they couldn't get theirs in to the shop till Monday and BIL has 3 more days of work before his days off. I don't like loaning my truck out. I don't even let DH drive it. BIL needs to get to work and with 3 rides sitting in my yard how could I say no.

My GF came over to watch a bit of the HAWKS game with me today. She's such a hoot, gets all excited and jumps around when they make their downs or score. I can't help but laugh, she's like the guys in the bars a whoopin' and hollerin', a big football fan. She can tell you who's who, what QB is the best, the stats on all the players and call them by their names. Usually has her HAWKS hat and sweatshirt on, thinks thats lucky. I admit to being a football fan and I can whoop and holler with the best of them, but she has me beat in that department. I wish I could take her to the stadium, it's right down the road. Sitting in the rain in an open stadium isn't my cuppa tea, nor is freezing my butt off, but it sure would be fun for her.

Lady can't resist a quilt. Set it down for a second to go get a cuppa and plop there she is right in the middle of it. She has to test drive them all.

Year of the UFO's

2007-01-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

On DYS we're having a challenge to count up and finish all our UFO's in 2007. Today I went on a search and count mission to see just how many of these buggers I had hiding about. These things really do multiply in the dark. There they were, hanging 10 deep on a quilting rack, stuck in a storage bin, hiding in plastic baggies, in pizza boxes, under the cutting table and on rocking chairs. 37 or 38 of the little darlins depending on how they were counted.

I've found enough orphan blocks from different exchanges to make up several tops, not that I need yet a few more of them. Antique butterfly blocks with the buttonhole stitches, lemoyne stars, both needing new homes as they aren't my cuppa tea. Sets of Shop Hop blocks dating back to 2000. More exchange blocks from the same group of folks I already have 2 tops and one completed quilt from. A couple RR's needing a border or two. Tops, tops galore just needing a backing. What the world was I thinking, how many quilts does a person need anyway?

Then there's the wallhangings, some done in classes, a couple panels purchased with the thought of using them as a teaching tool for my GGD. A couple vests, those kind that come in a panel, a couple placemats just needing the binding. What about all those denim circles cut from aging Levi legs with thoughts of a picnic quilt. We no longer go on picnics. What was I thinking?
Blocks, blocks and more blocks. The start of an applique quilt and a half finished GFG.

Some I'll keep, some I'll donate to my friend who's church has a quilt group for charity, and some will find their way to the trash.

As 2007 gets off the ground I'm taking control of my UFO's and not letting them control me. It's decission time for all these UFO's, what to keep, what to gift and what to pitch.

Happy New Year

2006-12-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

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.....

2006-12-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
North Central
The West
The Northeast
Philadelphia
Boston
The South
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Way to funny, I'm Minnesota born and the only time I've been to Chicago or Wisconsin was a Navy tour with DH.

Winter Wonderland

2006-11-28T13:07:00.000-08:00

After all the rain we've had this month the snow is a welcome site for me. It's a beautiful day with the trees looking for all the world as if a giant hand had sprayed them with whipped cream, the snow sparkling as the sun filters through the branches.

We usually don't have snow this early or last this many days here in my part of the world. It snows then is gone the next morning.

I'm not much of a snow person, I don't like being cold but today I dressed up warmly and with camera in hand ventured out into the sunshine. It's such a beautiful day and lifted my spirits after spending so many gloomy gray days stuck inside. I haven't any sewing to show, I've not sewed much at all this month so I thought I'd share my lovely day with my friends.

Leaf Seasons

2006-11-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

Leaf Seasons is a top. Yet another UFO in the making waiting to be quilted. Once again, thank you Judy. Sure would like to participate in November's Hour a Day, but have to pass on this one.

It's November and the wettest month here in WA. Once again we are sitting under flood watch and hoping the rivers across the western part of the state will keep to their banks. It's a yearly thing, filling sand bags and shoring up along the rivers. So many roads are closed here due to water on them be it from leaves clogging the drains or just plain too much rain for the ground to absorb.

The Seahawks are getting ready to start their game so must go find some handiwork and settle in.

Gratitudes

A safe trip back to Portland last night for DH in this pouring down rain.

A surprize call from my friend of 30 years who had moved since I last visited.

Finally getting Lady's insulin regulated.

Being warm, dry and still having power during this rain/wind storm we're having

In an Hour a Day

2006-10-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

An hour here, a hour there I will complete this one. I get to spend my whole weekend in the sewing room so should accomplish my goal of actually finishing this October project in October. I may not get it sandwiched and quilted but another top will join the many I have. I'm going to make it just big enough for the studio bed in the music room. It needs something bright and cheerful. Searching through my stash and not finding enough of the same fabric for the setting squares I'm going with what's there is in yellows and browns. My stash is getting pretty darned whittled down and bins are getting empty. The leafs will have to be yet more autumn colors, yellow backgrounds with whatever happens to be in the bins. I like this pattern, it's quick and easy and autumn is my most favorite time of the year.

Speaking of autumn, the trees have turned the most gorgeous colors in the past few days. We've had a bit of a cold snap not that that makes any difference to the changing of the colors. A nice day for a drive along the lake enjoying the colors on the mountains across the water. It seems in the past few years less pines and more leaf trees have sprouted up making the hills a riot of color.

Having a cold, not having much energy has given me time to sit and hand quilt. It's been a comfort to just sit and quilt plus keep me warm while being under the weather. I so enjoy hand quilting but wish I could quilt faster and accomplish more.

A note to Bonnie.. your quiltville site has joined yet another list I am on. The guys and gals there sew on treadle and handcrank machines. While many have electrics they use people power for their daily stitching. They machine quilt, do monograms, applique and all the things we do with our fancy electrics. There's something about peddleing away, the rumble of a treadle that is comforting and reminds us of gramma. Someone has referred them to your site for free patterns. The comment was made how nice it was to have an easy download with directions that you could understand. That makes 3 lists I'm on where your site has been posted. Your free patterns are greatly appreciated by all of us.

Gratitudes

Birthday wishes from my Maverick friends
Feeling better
A nice visit with my sister this morning
The drive along the lake enjoying the autumn leaf colors
Having a weekend alone to spend sewing
A day shopping with my friend Rexene

Winter Colds

2006-10-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

I've been down and out with a winter cold and it's not even winter yet. Every year at this time I manage to find myself wrapped up in a quilt, sitting in my recliner watching TV while I suffer through yet another winter cold. How do I know I get them every year at this time? My good friends mother keeps a diary and yes there it is written down, same time last year a COLD.

While not feeling well enough to even get out of my jammies, I drug out that raffle quilt from last year to start the hand quilting process. You all remember the trials and tribulations of the Windmill, the changes, the cousin problem etc. With a few changes, new improvements it's not so bad or ugly and I've even taken a liking to the darned thing. So, over the past week, I've started hand quilting it with a modified baptist fan in the sky behind the windmill giving it some depth and character. The windmill itself is just that, haven't decided how to finish it to make it look like something other than the capsule from the space shuttle. I like these baptist fans, they add a dimension to the pale blue fabric in the sky area.

Called my sister for a chat and discussion of what to do about the next raffle quilt for our family picnic. Might as well start early since we have last years on the front burner for next year and funds to purchase fabric. We've decided on a family huddle of our sisters/mother to decided what to do about "the cousin" who caused so many problems last year. No stitching, just a sister get-to-gether, some hor de over's, discussion with a decision. Course we will toss in ideas of what pattern to do. I'd like to do simple, another log cabin variation and the sisters want something new. I'll toss out my recommendation, something simple and easy for those of us who haven't sewn much. Colors, something subtle as we are so diversified in our choices of colors. Some like bright and cheerful, others are more dark and dreary, other muted pastels. We're a bunch we are, all different personalities. One would think being sisters we would have similiar tastes but we're as differnt as night and day.

I celebrated my birthday last week. I can't believe I'm now closer to 70 than I'll ever be to 60. I remember at 17 thinking 35 was old, decrepit and being ready for a rocking chair. Time sure does fly by fast. Seems one day you're starting kindergarten, then next you're in junior high, graduation from HS, right behind that looking forward to turning 21. Followed fast by marriage, a few kids, their school days, graduations and marriages. Before you know it along come the grandkids and then before you're ever ready up pops that first great grandchild. You've blinked and a whole life has passed by, you've grown from that child, to adult, to seniour citizen and you haven't done all the things you planned with your life. I spent my day being sick, resentfull my DH hadn't even got me a card, instead handing me a wad of cash with a go buy yourself something, feeling forgotten and sorry for myself until my son's called to wish me a Happy Birthday. So I turned 67, just another day in the year for everyone else, but my special day, one I've always looked forward to. Birthdays aren't as fun as they used to be. When I was growing up, my parents made birthdays our own special holidays. The one we could look forward to all year long. It was better than Easter or Christmas because it was ours. I miss the birthdays of my childhood.

Catching Up

2006-10-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted to my blog. Days were busy getting everything ready for my trip to CA to see my GD married.

Both quilts were finished in time, the car packed and off I headed. Was a wonderful trip. I was able to spend quality time with both my sons, their families and meet GD's girlfriends who all came from other areas to be her bridesmaids.

Arrived on Monday night in plenty of time to attend the wedding rehearsal and dinner. From there we went back to the house and proceeded to play beer pong. Now if you've never played beer pong it's rather interesting. I played but when it came to downing quarter cups of beer I passed them off to the groom as I had to drive myself back to the motel for the night.

Wedding day was warm, blue skies, perfect for an evening ceremony. The setting was lovely, with a gazebo right on the river. My pictures didn't turn out really well as the sun was going down behind the wedding party.

The cake, baked and decorated by my other DIL who's very artistic and talented.

GD Jody and I.

GGD Reese and I. The handsome guy behind us is my son Mike, the brides dad. It never fails when someone takes a picture I always end up with some of the awfullest looks on my face. I hate having my picture taken.

Gratitudes...

Seeing my beautiful GD so happy.

Spending time with both my sons on this trip.

Special gratitude for a good friend and cat sitter who spent my whole trip cleaning up after a sick cat.

Still being young enough to make long car trips alone.

2006-09-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

My friend and I went to one of the local groups quilt shows today. Most of the quilts were quilted by machine but this one really caught my eye. I'm not sure how it was quilted as it wasn't in the handquilting we all see but more of an embroidery stitch. The displays were so close together I really couldn't get a full veiw of this beautifully done work. Being a handquilter, I can just imagine the many hours this took to complete.

I was disapointed seeing so many quilts done on the machine, not that machine quilting is a bad thing as I send many of mine out not having the time to handquilt each and every one of them. I miss the beauty of seeing all those tiny stitches so lovingly made. I miss the softness, the cuddly look of them.

SBS is all sandwiched ready to quilt and yes, I'm going to machine quilt her. She's a utility quilt, meant to be loved, used, abused and washed to death if necessary. Not a quilt to hang on the wall or save for the next generation down the line. I want the ones I make for my family to be used not stuffed in a acid free paper and put on a shelf, taken out for show. SewCatherine...yes there are Halloween blocks here.

When I first started quilting, I protected the quilts I made for my family like they were my children. I intiminated my kids to death with all the directions on how to care for and treat the quilts I had given them. I was appalled at my GS's when they made tents, wrapped themself up as they watched TV. Those quilts belonged on their beds, not abused. As I've gotten older in my quilting life, I've realized when I give a quilt, it's no longer mine and what that person does with it is OK. If they want to wash it every week, that's fine, if they want to sit on all those little stitches I put in by hand that's fine too and if they make my little grandkids happy in their tents, that's a good feeling. It's theirs, it no longer belongs to me. Our quilts are like our children, we give them birth, we watch them grow then send them out into the world and hope for the best. When they are tattered and torn we know they have been loved, not abused so we get out our stash and another quilt is born.

I wonder what the women of years past would think of us now. How we make quilts not to keep warm, not because we need bedding, not of pieces we've cut from worn out clothing but from rooms full of fabric we hoard. What would they think of quilts that grace the walls or decorate our tables, not a serviceable, utility quilt to lay under keeping warm.

We still make wedding, graduation, birth, memory, signature and many other quilts. We lovingly place them in protective custody, take them out for display and save them for generations to come. Years from now, they will be found in a closet, carefully wrapped up and saved and for what reason? Quilts are made with love and should be used with love.

Gratitudes

John home for the weekend

Another good movie "Ladies in Lavender" with my GF

A fun day at the quilt show

Indian Summer days

Not finding a present from the Kitties on the floor

2006-09-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a fruitful day here at my house. I dug out all the SBS blocks I recieved way back in '99 when I belonged to a guild and we swapped blocks for birthdays. The ladies put forth great effort, way beyond their comfort zone to make these for me. Few of them appliqued at that time and you can see it in their stitches. Not that I pretend to be the quilt police, I love the effort they all went to for me. Little did I know a GGD was in the future and here it is 5 1/2 years later, her crib quilts no where near big enough for her twin bed. It was time for gramma to get busy. I dug through the stash auditioning fabric, nothing big enough to do all the blocks when I opened a container and before my eyes appeared lots of FQ's just waiting to sash these blocks. It's a hodge-podge of everything from dragon flys, ladybugs, to footprints, kitties, birdhouses and flowers all colors. She'll love it and I won't have to buy thing except the batt.

I started the hour a day a wee bit early. I wanted to get a head start as I will be gone almost a week for GD's wedding.

I made my deadline, the Compass went on the quilting frame today. I chose a couple different varigated threads, gave her an idea of what I wanted and told her I trusted her judgement. Nikki does a beautiful job, I know it will be sensational when she's finished with it. No pictures till it's done, I forgot to take any before I rushed it off to town. I didn't add anything more to it other than squaring off and a couple borders. After ruining fabric, a knick to my finger, another to my thumb, that Quilt looked me in the eye and said "Less is More, enough now already". VBG

Gratitudes

A movie with my good friend

A day sewing

Continued sunny, warm fall days

New LQS

2006-09-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

I got to spend the day with my friend running around to all the LQS in our area. We managed to hit 4 of the 5 that are within 30 miles of home. What fun we had even tho' I was frantically searching for just a wee bit of green I needed to finish off my flying geese. Sucess, while not quite the same the geese are small enough the difference won't be noticeable.

We visited a new shop to us which has been here for about 3 years or so and what a shop "Tangled Threads" in Lynden, WA is. WOW was all I could say as I stood and gawked. This is no ordinary shop with one big room and a table off in a corner for classes. Fabric here is loved. A room full of flannels, a different one for holidays, another for Batiks. You get the picture here. A separate room with a huge table for classes, a staff lounge with big comphy wing chairs to relax in. Antique sewing machines in every room. Clean, tidy and shelves filled with scrumptious fabrics. You can see a lot of thought was gone into the planning. It's not just a shop, it's a quilters heaven.

Last stop for the day, we found the perfect Batik to finish off the rest of the compass. A good days hunting for us.

Yesterday everything went wrong. More time was spent ripping out than I've done in a very long time. PPing gets me all confused. If I put it down for a day, I can't remember how I did it the last time, seniour moments to often lately. Then knicked my finger, another knick to my thumb, more ripping, ran out of fabric, dug through the trash can hoping for scraps big enough and finally called it a night. Somedays nothing goes right and the best thing is to put it down and start over the next day.

Gratitudes

Chinese at our favorite place
The very helpful ladies at the LQS
A call from John tonight
Talking to my cousin on IM
Sunshine after a rainey morning

Flag of our Fathers

2006-09-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

Friday I picked up a book with an interesting title and jacket. Little did I know it would keep me cativated all weekend. Every minute I had was spent with this book in my hand. I couldn't put it down. What I thought would be a novel turned into the account of the battle for Iwo Jima and the 6 men who raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi. Over the years this photo has signified courage and valour, but to the men who raised it, it was a few moments out of their life and of no importance. They all felt the real hero's were those who died on that island not themselves. We've all seen the famous photo, the memorial in Washington DC with it's inscription "Uncommon Valor, was a Common Virture" but yet we heard nothing of the lives of the 6 young men, 5 Marines and 1 Navy Corpsman who are in this photograph.

We've probably all heard "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" or seen the movies portraying the battle for Iwo Jima or studied WWII in our history classes but we've never read about these 6 young men and how being labeled as hero's affected their lives. We've never looked through their eyes and saw the horrors of war or saw how insignificant they thought that few minutes were.

Little did the son of one of the flag raisers know until after his father had died that he had been awarded the Navy Cross for valor above and beyond until he found in his office several boxes of papers relating to that time in his life when he went to war. His father was a very private man, never spoke of his time on Iwo Jima, never felt he was a hero and only lent a hand during the raising of the flag so captured in the famous photograph. After his death, the author spent years interviewing fellow Marines and family of those 5 other men. I feel this book is a tribute not only to those flag raisers but all the Marines who never came back.

I'm not ashamed to say I shed tears as well as chuckled as I was reading this book. So many lives lost to give us our freedom we have today. So much hoopla over a photograph snaped in 1/400th of a sec, a second raising of the flag over Mt Seribachi, a moment that was insignificant in the lives of 6 young men which labeled them hero's not for what they had experienced on Iwo Jima but because they happened to be there at that moment when the photograph was taken.

Iwo Jima was hard fought, hard won, many Marines lost their lives there. In the words of John Bradley, they are the hero's.

Thank You

2006-09-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

for all the good wishes for Roscoe. I'm happy to report he's home from the hospital, not needing surgery but on a stool softner and has pooooo'd. Whew, glad that's occured. He's almost back to normal, just have to watch him and make sure that he continues to get rid of that full colon. Ever tried giving 17#'s of squirming, clawing cat liquid medicine? I've got battle scars but I'm wining.

You're all probably getting awfully tired of this compass showing up like every bad penny you wished you never had to see again. vbg Opinions are needed here. I kinda know what I'm doing, not that I do very often but.....does this need a stopper border between the geese and rising compass's and which the mix and match points or the all the same points????? Am I getting to busy here???? In order to keep this from growing and growing, I need to square off from this point. Laid out on my queen bed the corners reach from side to side, top to bottom and GD has a regular dble bed.

Minuture's, teeny scraps and 1.25" HST's are frustration of the highest level. My Hr a Day project got scooped right off the table into a baggie. Life is to short to save teeny scraps, spend the better part of a day and having three 2" blocks accomplished. Realization set in, I don't like working with something that small. I want to be able to see what I'm working on without a magnifying glass or having it right in front of my face. I tried it...am I gone try it again? I don't think so, not in this lifetime anyway. Anybody want them, I'll gladly mail them off to you, most are trimmed, some need it.

Fall has arrived in my corner of the PNW. The trees are turning color, the leaves falling. Time to put the garden to bed, bring in the BBQ and swing cushions. Soon the rains will start bringing dark, gloomy days perfect for curling up in front of a fire with a good book. I hate to see summer come to an end. I love the warm sunny days and dread the cold, gloomy winters.

Gratitudes

Having time to sew everyday.
Having time to read all the Maverick blogs.
John coming home tonight for the weekend.
Good friends on the net

Good and Bad Day

2006-09-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

The good part of my day was spent in the sewing room laying out and stitching together the first of the borders. Still have the corners to do later this evening. I'm liking the lighter background for the floating geese more and more. Sets the center compass off rather well. After a sandwich, coffee and break will finish the corners and attach them. A good days progress.

The bad part of my day. Roscoe my loving manx hasn't been doing very well. He had been leaving little deposits on the carpet telling me something was wrong. A trip to the vet a couple weeks ago with treatment for fleas and tape worm didn't help his condition at all. I wish I had requested an Xray instead of just mentioning it then. I noticed a few days ago he hadn't been eating. Called the vet (emergency hospital) early this am and off we went. I knew something was wrong, he just wasn't himself, didn't come for his morning bath, wanted to sit in my lap and he's definetely not a lap cat at all, was becoming lethargic. Blood test taken, Xrays showed an impacted colon full of stool. The treatment so far has been a couple enemas with no results. Surgery to remove the stool may be necessary. I'm worried sick for my furry baby. I think thread or fabric ingested is the culpret.

To all those who wrote about their memories of 9/11 and feelings 5 years after. Thank you for sharing with us all.

My goal for tomorrow
Roscoe proof my sewing room.
Complete another compass.
Finish the HST's on the Hr a Day.

Gratitudes

A day sewing to keep my mind busy.
The Staff at Critical Care who are taking care of Roscoe
John's call from Portland this afternoon.

Back to Work

2006-09-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

Vacation time for John is over as I waved goodbye and saw him off to the ship this morning. No more days spent sitting in front of the puter downloading music for me to put on CD's.

I look forward to my time alone, getting up early, sewing all day in my jammies. Not cooking breakfast at noon and dinner at 8pm. Vacation is difficult with everything being put on hold for the 2 months John is home. Nothing gets done but the basics, cleaning goes on holiday, the vac stays in the closet till I can't stand it anymore, and sewing is non existant. Somedays I wish for a 40 hr week with 2 weeks off for good behaviour. VBG.

Today I planned on getting the yard and lot mowed, a shower and evening spent sewing. Not going to happen, after 4 hours pushing the mower around, I want to put my feet up and do nothing.

Tomorrow is another day.....the start of my Vacation Time.

On my Vacation List.....

Deep clean a room a day.
Finish the compass quilt by Sept 25.
Finish Judy's Hr a Day quilt.
Finish Handquilting the embroidered quilt.
Hand quilt the Windmill for next years picnic.
Go through all my clothes and get rid of what I don't wear.
Organize my sewing room yet again.
Catch up on everyone's blogs.

Not a very impressive list of things to do on vacation but time fly's faster than a speeding bullet.

A View from the Deck

2006-09-04T07:46:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was a perfect day to spend at the beach with my sister, BIL and friends celebrating her 51st birthday. A day for adults, no children or grandchildren.

She came along late in my parents life. I was 16 the day they brought her home and it became my job to take care of her. When I married and left home she was a year old. My son's arrived and the 3 of them grew up more like sister/brothers than aunt/nephews. The three of them still maintain that closeness to this day. She's my favorite of all 5 of my sisters and more like me than any of them.

Marcie grew up got married and settled right here while I traipsied around the country. Whenever I came "home" for a visit the first place I headed was to her house. Fishing/crabbing with my BIL developed a closeness I don't have with the other BIL's.

When we moved home, they were right there lending a helping hand. I couldn't ask for a better sister and BIL.

Happy Birthday, Marcie, may you have many, many more.

End of Month

2006-08-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here it is the end of the month and I have yet to get any extended sewing time in. Seems the minute I sit down to either update my blog or stitch DH asks "Are you busy" and I have to stop what I'm doing and tend to some business for him. It's not that I mind but I sure would like it some days if he would gather all his "honey would you's" together so I could do them all at once.

Anyhoo......here is my Hour a Day, not much progress here at all. Most of the itty bitty HST's are trimmed with a bunch more to do. Several more stacks of bits and pieces to stitch into HST's. I wanted to do this challenge, had planned on it after all what's 1 hr a day out of 24, but as with all plans, it just didn't happen. If the HST's are 1.25" how big should I do the sashing???? I will finish this !!!!

Little progress going on here either. I think the border will look good and separate the 4 compass's I will use to square off the center compass. This border will be floating geese on the lighter background. What do y'all think? I'm anxious to get back to working on it.

Last evening as I was trying to update this blog of mine, my sister called to invite us to a "CRAB FEED". Dungeness Crab is the best there is and I tell you I ate until I almost burst. There was salad, chips, dips and corn on the cob which I skipped, couldn't fill up on that while there was all that crab. VBG....DH who doesn't eat crab sat and made fun of me the whole time I was stuffing my face and I didn't care. It was delicious and a fun few hours spent with my sis and bil.

Hour a Day Challenge

2006-08-16T07:43:00.000-07:00

Finally a day for stitching. While working on the next border for the compass I realized all those snippets would make HST's needed for Judy's Challenge. I've always wanted to give a miniture quilt a try so these wee 1" HST's will work fine not only for the challenge but for this wee quilt as well. While I NEVER save scraps I just can't throw out all these scraps of batik and hand dyes without some feeling of guilt when they cost so dearly.

I've finished up 32 HST's while assembling the next border for the compass. Does this also make it a leader/ender project? Three birds with one stone. Today, time permiting, I will press, get them sashed and a photo session done.

I'm not sure I am going to like this current border for the compass I am working on. I've gone to a light hand dyed green for the background with the bright batiks to make a floating geese border ala Judy Martin. My deadline to have it ready for the LAer is creeping up so fast and my brain remains in a fog as what to do with it now. If this border doesn't audition pleasing to my eye, it's back to the cutting board and a dark background fabric. I wonder if I should have planned this better.

Gratitudes

The warm days and cool nights without rain.

Days spent with DH.

My friends terrible infection in her face has been healed.

Time for reading Blogs.

Not finding a present on the floor from Roscoe this morning.

2006-08-09T14:46:00.000-07:00

Progress is being made verrrrrry slowly on the compass. It seems everyday has something new going on and getting into the sewing room is the least on the list of priorities.

At some point I have to decide what to fill in the center with...another smaller compass or a plain circle????? I haven't decided what comes next, my original plan of a circle of flying geese around the outside of the compass brought my eyes away from the compass. I know I am going to float smaller different compass's in the outer edge but getting them there has me stumped.

Today I babysat for my Sis's grandson while she went to the dentist. What a handful he is, on the go constantly, pushing as far as he could to see what I would do. I have to hand it to her that she takes care of him on a daily basis while his father is working.

In answer to the questions on my last blog which seems forever ago.

Lumpia is like an egg roll stuffed with cabbage/carrots/bean sprouts/shrimp and about anything else you would like to add and is the size of a taquita.

Yes, we raffle a quilt for family members only and proceeds go to help defray some of the expenses to my Sis and BIL who host the picnic at their place each year as well as to purchase fabric for the next years raffle quilt. Where the proceeds went wasn't what the cousin was upset about but a disagreement she and I had.

Shakespeare in the Park.. Angelika...no this is not an original of mine, but another one of Judy Martins spetacular patterns. You can order the book "The Creative Pattern Book" from her site at http://judymartin.com/

Looks like blogger is schedule for an outage at 4 today so best get this posted before it's ate.

Family Picnic

2006-07-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

The kids have gone home, another family picnic among the memories filed away this summer to bring out and enjoy during the winter while the rain is falling and snow is promised.

A beautiful day, the sun beamed down on us and the wind stayed calm.

Lots of great food, BBQ'd oysters, salmon, ribs as well as burgers and hotdogs. More salads than you could count, plates and plates of lumpia. For those who don't know what lumpia are, they resemble egg rolls or taquitas and are super tasty. My SIL brings them every year and spends hours in the kitchen frying well over 300 of them up.

Vollyball on the beach with plenty of laughter and even a mooning by the pranksters in the family. Fireworks to watch as we sat around the bon fire toasting up marshmellows for Smoores.

We arrived to find my sister doing a lively ticket sales most of which were to my family. My cousin didn't buy a one and spent the whole day sitting on the deck with her sister and some of their kids. When I went to snap a picture as I keep an album of each years picnic she turned her back on me. Toooo bad she chose to be so childish. We all had a great time.

My DH brought out his "fart machine" and would set it down behind this or that person. Everyone wanted to have their turn and chose their victims.....I laughed till I cried.

As the day wound down and the sun began to lower in the sky my mom drew the winning ticket.

And the winner is..........
My brother Rick and his wife. While this wasn't the original raffle quilt it worked out quite nicely as they had just redecorated their bedroom in a blue theme.

Blogger isn't being nice to me today and wanted to eat all my pictures. I'll share some of my family with you later.

Busy Day

2006-07-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

This morning after coffee I got a bug and did busy work stuff that really needs doing but something I put off until I absolutely have to get it done. I'm good at procrastinating and waiting till the last moment.

Before it got sunny, I weeded my little garden and found there's not much of a garden there. The slugs have been busy chewing every little leaf off my beans so I now have stems where beans should be. The weeds were higher than the short rows of corn which was no where near knee high by the 4th of July. Can remember my DAD saying that very thing. My tomatoes are scraggly and if they actually produce anything I will be surprized. The potatoes have come up on their own and seem to be doing the best of anything. I'm not much of a garden person this year.

After the weeds went to their demise, I washed both my truck and car, then straightened and swept out the garage. Bye the time I finished those chores it was time to head over towards my sisters. A stop at both Home Depot and Walmart to do returns and I was on my way.

A bit of chatting and then it was time to load the plan B quilt for our raffle on her handiquilter. I felt like an extra shoe just standing around while both my sis and niece did the actual quilting. 5 hours later it was done and only needing a binding which I will do tomorrow evening.

Gratitudes

That I am developing a better relationship with this sister.

The closeness I've developed via the net with my GD.

Age has given me wisdom, patience and understanding.

Comments

2006-07-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

Quiltpixie....The hexagon is my temporary wall (it excapes me at the moment), a table topper I'm using to see how the compass is looking to the eye. It's a thought, hmmm a hexagon instead of the usual circle.

KCquilter....The pattern for the quilt in my June 26 blog is "Shakespeare in the Park" one of Judy Martins spetacular designs. It was in the QNM some time ago and I have it around here somewhere. Give me a couple weeks and I'll look for it for you. You're welcome to the magazine or if you want the book you can order it on her website www.judymartin.com It's basically just two blocks....snails trail and Virginia Reel (?) seniour moment here.

I spent today with the compass, playing with this next round. Started out with an orange point (lower left) and decided I didin't really like how it looked with the green points. Another green and I like this effect much better, more subtle and doesn't take away from the main compass points. Drats....I ran out of the fabric I was using in the current round...geeeze I should have known 1FQ wasn't going to do it. I'm also noticing some of the points in the outer ring aren't'showing up on the photo in the dark fabric while they do show in the real life mode. I think I'm going to be froggy stitching a lot on this one...those points will have to be changed to brighter colors and this is paper piecing. AAAAAck.

A LOL....my cousin finally showed up with the raffle quilt she was to put a 7" applique border (2 birds per side, a few flowers, a vine and some leaves) on with her two sisters 7 months ago. Hmmmm.....we have a alternate in the wings, the reunion is next Saturday, what did she think...I could hand quilt this in 7 days. not to mention adding the final borders......Super quilter I am not..My sister said it turned out rather nice and kinda pretty but needs handquilted so guess what I get to do this winter.

Gratitudes

Another day spent sewing.

Ice cold Beer on a hot day.

Listening to the birds sing.

Not finding kitty presents on the carpet.

2006-07-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

I've finally gone and done it, started the Mariner's Compass. It felt good to get back to the machine again after such a long dry spell.

I know I should have grabbed the pattern I drafted, picked my colors and colored them in, but here I am once again choosing from the batiks specially purchased for this quilt without a plan of any sort. So far I like what's happening. My compass will have 8 points instead of the 7 in the photo and end up with 64 total. I haven't made up my mind what I will do with the center, maybe another smaller compass or ?????

It's been a busy time since I last updated my blog. My kids will be here in another 5 days and John will get off the ship for his vacation next Thursday. The house is ready, the shopping almost done. Snacks and things for GGD. Just last minute things to do, mow the lawn, and set up the studio bed.

I spent the 4th with my Sis and Bil. Had a great time hanging out with them, lots of good BBQ and the most spetacular fireworks display. They live out on a spit so have the bay on one side and the shipping lanes on the other side of their home. As it started to get dark we built a huge bon fire and all up and down the beach people were setting off fireworks. We could look across the bay at town for those and somebody towed a barge out on the beach side for their display. When I left after midnight fireworks were still blazing in the sky. A good day inspite of getting to close to that bon fire and catching my shoe on fire.

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's "Gratitudes" and think it's such a good idea to post them with each update.

Gratitudes

Seeing a fawn in the backyard again this morning.

A day spent with my sister and Bil.

Time spent in the sewing room today.

Catching on fire and only burning up a tenny instead of me.

A phone call tonight from John.

My new lawn swing where I can spend hours reading.

View from the Deck

2006-06-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

Seeing mama deer with her little fawn brought me right out of the blue funk my morning was turning into after finding yet another present one of the Cats had left me on the carpet.

My day was fast going to the toilet, my fuse short, but when I saw Mama and baby, I ran to the fridge, cut up an apple, grabbed the camera and out to the deck I went. My mood instantly disappeared and the whole day looked brighter.