Keeping It Going in Alabama

Happy Birthday, Emily

2012-01-31T12:05:00.002-06:00

It's been a long journey from Lu's Learning Center to Washington and a fun one.

We love this girl and are very proud of her strength and maturity. Hoping it will be a happy day.

Castle Stairs - the Ups and Downs

2012-01-30T14:33:00.006-06:00

I've had this Castle Stairs pattern in mind for several months now for twin boys expected to arrive in a couple of months - I hope not sooner!

My first thought was to make 2 little quilts, but I'm waiting to see if I get one finished first.

It's the most interesting and satisfying project I've done in awhile. This is how it looked after 2 rows.
The designer of the quilt, Kelly from Kelby Sews, has written a wonderful tutorial. She warned about what would happen if you make the same mistakes she did and emphasized pinning and paying attention so much that I followed her advice, and so far it's been a dream to sew.

Every time you sew a strip, it has to be trimmed off. Kelly recommended lining up the 2-1/4 inch line on your ruler with the last seam, and every time I hold my breath that it's going to be off. So far, it's been perfect, and that means a lot coming from me!

Now for the downer.

I had found some of this Riley Blake fabric when we stopped at T&C Pharmacy in Opp, Alabama. Don't let the name fool you. It's not only a pharmacy but a Radio Shack dealer, a Christian bookstore AND a beautiful fabric shop. The people are so nice, and the shop is just full of colorful fabrics. I bought a few pieces of the Mod-Tot line and then saw this pattern, so I ordered a jellyroll (for non-quilters, a roll of 2-1/2 inch strips of all the patterns in a particular line of fabrics). Unfortunately, even though I thought I had read the directions well, the pattern designer's jellyroll had 35 or so fabrics in it; mine had 21. I was happily pinning and sewing and pressing and trimming, and my pile of strips kept getting smaller and smaller. At some point, I came to the realization that I was not going to have enough.
I thought about going to Opp next time we go to Andalusia and get a few more fabrics, but then I wasn't sure what they would have so went ahead and ordered another jellyroll. This might even give me enough fabric to make a companion quilt - something like this.

So here we are waiting for the new jellyroll to arrive. Five rows done, and there are supposed to be 12 rows in all. I miscalculated pretty badly, although I might not do that many if it's looking big enough after 10 or so.

I think the little boys will love the bright colors and funny little animals.
I've gotten quite attached to them myself.

I've just finished a book that I can actually recommend as being one of the best books I've read lately. It's Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah. I almost stopped reading during the fist half because the characters didn't seem to interest me enough. But I kept on. It is a heartbreaking story within a story of a Russian family in Leningrad during the German invasion, and it's very hard to read but such a good story you have to keep on reading to find out how it ends. It sure makes me treasure a warm home and food and a safe place to live.

Mama just showed us a laptop in a sales paper and expressed an interest in it. How can that be? There probably aren't too many laptop users about to be 89 years old. Or maybe there are. I still don't have one!

Little Bits of Sewing

2012-01-27T16:43:00.009-06:00

That's all I have to show for this week unfortunately. We had some nice rain and warm temperatures. I played mind games with a runaway dog on Thursday, bought groceries on Wednesday (saved about $60 at Publix and Wal-Mart), finished one book and started another.

Talked on the phone and e-mailed some. Better yet, cleaned out one e-mail and deleted bunches of old e-mails.

Worked 20 hours.

We watched Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs and discussed with Emily and Elise.

The week sure passed quickly.

Pinterest has been good for me, if for nothing else than to make me feel guilty enough to do things. I have a "Things to Make" category, and I pin the things I like and might make in the future to that board. Several times a day I notice that someone has repinned my idea to their boards or "liked" it, and I feel like everyone is making these things but me.

I guess that's as good a reason as any to make useless things just because they're cute. So here goes--

I finished 4 of these purse organizers. It didn't even make it to Pinterest, but I had made one earlier and really liked it.

So I did 3 more, varying the heights and lengths. Very easy and fun to make.

I'm sending these to the girls to see if they like them or to give away. One is snuggled down in my purse and not going anywhere.

Then I made this cute little thing from some leftover fabric.

I read about these when Emily was doing a lot of playing in the snow, and I know how much trouble she has with her hands getting cold, so I planned to make some of these for her birthday. On second thought, the snow is gone now. Maybe they're really for her patients!

The first one was really teeny but just what I was looking for. Mama noticed it, and I asked her if she would like some bigger ones for warming her hands in the mornings. She has circulation problems and can hardly hold a cup of coffee in the mornings. I thought she could heat these in the microwave while her coffee is heating or just any time she needs them.

They were a big hit. So---

I made some more.

I had these charm squares of Fandango by Kate Spann which I really love but had never used. I made each side different and a size somewhere between the small one and the large ones. (Did I notice on that link that this fabric was ON SALE? Hmmm)

I think my favorite part is filling them with rice with a funnel and watching them plump out like little pillows. I think the bottom 2 could use more plumping.

My last thing was this grocery bag or tote. I can't say it was easy! I think I started over from the beginning 3 times, but once I got the hang of how it was supposed to be (and stopped forgetting to "yarn over"), it was great, especially for car trips.

I did learn a new technique called an I-cord. I had never heard of it and nearly gave up on it. I just couldn't see how it was going to work. So I looked at the video on You-Tube and had the AHA moment, and it was downhill all the way after that.

A pretty neat way to made a border and especially a handle. Mine is not as neat as I would like it to be, but at least I understand it and can do better next time.

So there's a little feeling of accomplishment, but you should see my sewing room. Next week will be for cleaning it up. I have a feeling the weather is not going to be so nice from now on for awhile, but it will make us appreciate spring when it gets here.

Snoqualmie Pictures

2012-01-18T14:10:00.006-06:00

As we enjoy our unseasonably warm weather, I've been getting pictures from Emily. She was so afraid there wouldn't be enough snow to cancel work, but it sure looks like there was.

There may be more today. I'm looking forward to more pictures when they get through enjoying it.

I tend to enjoy snow like Jack.
He was born in South Dakota and spent the first 4 years of his life there, but living in Alabama for 3 years spoiled him. Emily bought this cute basket for yarn, but Jack had other ideas.

Speaking of keeping warm, I stole this picture of Gus from Debby's Facebook page. Just trying it out for size.

And while I was stealing pictures, I decided to get a couple more. I knew I could find cozy kitties on Sherry's blog.

Here's Nicholas enjoying the snow last winter. I'm not sure they've had any snow in TN yet this year.

The ultimate snuggling picture. Finnegan and Bentley. Sweet boys, all of them.

What I'm doing today - well now that it's half over.

I spent the morning organizing coupons and grocery lists and buying groceries. Pretty successful. Spent just over $100 and saved $41. It would have been more, but Mike and Mama kept adding things to my list that weren't on sale.

We also did one more chore that's been bugging me. I had the easy job of sorting through the various bottles and boxes, and Mike did the actual cleaning. Sounds fair to me. Maybe under the cabinet needs a little attention too.
The knitting is a project that I pinned on Pinterest. It's not quite as quick as advertised or as easy. You sure have to pay attention!

Here's a nice take on Pinterest. I thought it was a little silly at first too and still am not sure how it works, but it sure does keep my to-do list more organized. I tend to want to read all the books on my list and do all the projects faster since someone's looking now. The first thing I ever pinned was a knitting needle caddy, and since then 40 people have repinned it to their boards and 7 have liked it. I have no idea how these 47 people found my Pinterest board. Mine is pretty much bare and unimaginative, but every day I get emails saying so-and-so has pinned or liked or commented on something I have.

I left some dishes in the sink when I decided the cabinet needed cleaning. Then I stopped to check my email. Then I thought about blogging and taking some pictures and stealing some pictures, so now an hour later I'll creep back in and finish those dishes.

Small Accomplishments

2012-01-17T14:02:00.007-06:00

I came to the computer to start my grocery list for tomorrow and ended up 2 hours later writing this - with no grocery list in sight.

I tried to remember how I ended up getting so sidetracked but can't even remember that. I went to the kitchen for something and saw the dishwasher needed to be emptied, and then the mail came. I mentioned again about how nice it would be to hang the grocery bags in the garage near the car so I wouldn't forget them as much.

This is where they usually stay - in this overcrowded section by the garage door.

Now with one simple hook, they are neatly out of the way and able to be seen from the car if I forget to take them.

We've done so many things - or Mike has since he's been home. Mama now has a bird bath and bird feeder in front of her window and loves them. The back yard beds are all cleaned out and ready for spring flowers. All the cabinets in the kitchen open and close smoothly, and the scuff marks have been touched up. And we still find time for reading, watching movies and sewing(me)and computer time.

I completely finished a project this morning, sewing the last of the binding on. Now to put it somewhere where I can find it next Christmas.

We (I) want to plant a tree right outside the kitchen window but aren't sure what kind. I want a star magnolia. I've loved them ever since we had one in Thomaston, but I hardly ever see them.

It seems perfect for blocking the kitchen-window-to-kitchen-window view of our neighbor's house. Except in the winter time when it's bare, but there's something comforting about looking out your window in cold or rainy weather and seeing the lights on across your yards.

Speaking of reading, Emily mentioned that she couldn't read a book I recommended until she read her 100 Best Novels. I asked for the list, and she said to Google it. Cheeky child. I did, and there are many lists, but I found one I like and will try to get a few of those in. (Nothing like tailoring your list to suit you!) I like Radcliffe's 100 Best Novels List. It looks like I've read a lot of them, but I'll see if I can't reread them. Most are probably free on Kindle. Ulysses will go to the bottom of the list. It's on every list I see, and I can never understand why. I've tried too many times to read it.

My mind is too full of things I want to do and not enough time to do them. I'm also hearing hints of a trip to Washington in a couple of months. Fingers crossed it will work out soon.

A Little Sewing, A Lot of Doing Nothing

2012-01-14T16:42:00.010-06:00

I love days like this with no place to go and no expectations. It helps that it's really cold with no temptation to leave the house for anything.

It's nice to get bring Darby and Stella into the den and let them entertain us while we drink coffee and read, although that's pretty short. They'll play and interact for a few minutes the best a dog and cat can do until one of them gets mad and bites too hard or goes off in a huff.

We're trying to teach Darby some more tricks since she's a good student, but we can't think of anything she needs to know. She refuses to obey "Stop escaping and running all over the neighborhood," and everything else seems a little frivolous. She will sit, shake hands. She'll change paws if you say "other one." She can sit up on her back legs, roll over, let me put a treat on her nose and wait for the signal to get it. She brings her "puppies" to you and is in the process of learing to put them on the blanket - but only for a treat. She does pretty well with "get on your blanket" with most of her body, depending on whether there is a cat taking up some of her room.

Lunch was a bunch of good leftovers and easy to make. I did boil the leftover rotisserie chicken for soup later, and it smells so good. Mike's in there doing something with the mixer. I heard him grumbling about where the cinnamon was, so it sounds like maybe ginger snaps.

After I worked about an hour, I decided to do a little sewing. Since the first 2 purse organizers worked out so well, I thought I would make the other 2 but a little larger. I've gotten the interfacing ironed on and ready to sew.

and have started putting the binding on the Advent calendar I did earlier.

That will be 2 (or 5) completed projects the first 2 weeks of the year.

I started Tenth Circle by Jodie Picoult, and despite a depressing subject, it's very interesting and readable. I love going to the library and having a nice stack of books just waiting for me.

I was planning to read while the football game was on - some sort of NFL playoff or something - but Mike says it's over in the 1st quarter. Oh well, maybe it will get more interesting. If not, we have all those movies recorded.....

I think we may be enjoying this no-schedule life too much. Or maybe not. We slip a little housework in here and there. Mike did wonders for the hinges on the kitchen cabinets and touched up the paint. I may not have done as much, but cleaning the bathroom counts double. And working for an hour.

It WAS ginger snaps.

Yum. I need milk.

Rediscovering Lee Smith

2012-01-12T17:54:00.004-06:00

Twenty years or so ago, I discovered the author Lee Smith and read everything I could get my hands on that she had written. I'm not sure that I liked every one of her stories, and no one title stands out as being especially wonderful, but I really was crazy about the way she wrote. When I was working in the library in Thomaston, I read everything we had there and later on bought some of the paperbacks or checked them out of other libraries.

Mike and I were in our library earlier this week looking for a few books I have on my list to read. I found one of them and a couple of other ones that looked interesting, but as we started to leave I saw the shelf with the Lee Smith books on them. One of them, Fair and Tender Ladies, didn't ring a bell, so I brought it home and started it that same afternoon. I could do nothing else but read that book!

It's amazing, and I didn't want it to end today. I've sat there and forced Mike to listen to excerpts, so I'm sure he's glad it ended.

It's written in the format of letters from the heroine Ivy Rowe from the time she was 14 years old until she is an old lady to family members and friends. The author knows and portrays the dialect of the area and the era so well.

It definitely made me laugh and cry and broke my heart thinking of things families like hers had to go through trying to keep farms going or work in the coal mines 100+ years ago, just trying to survive. So sad.

I now have a list of all of Lee Smith's novels and am going to try to go back and read and re-read as many as I can find. Ob-session!

I was looking through our bookshelves to see if I might have one of the books on the list, and I remarked that I could spend years just reading and re-reading the books we already have.

It used to make me sad when I worked at the library that I would never be able to read all the books I wanted to in my lifetime. Although I have given it a good try. I now have too many other interests to read like I used to, but I'm going to make more time for it instead of spending so much time on the computer - like right now.

We also recorded 3 movies on our magic new cable thing, and I have one waiting for me now. Retirement is not so bad!

Carrying On

2012-01-11T17:33:00.005-06:00

It seems like weeks ago that I wrote about losing Maddy, but it was only yesterday, and there are so many reminders that make me just catch my breath.

I halfway complained about what a tremendous appetite she had the last 6 months or so and still weighed only about 5 pounds, if that. I was buying Fancy Feast Seafood Classic in boxes of 24, and they would be gone in a week. Of course Stella helped her eat it, but it was mainly Maddy's favorite. It was strange not going to the catfood section at Publix today.

I walk through the living room and look for her in one of her favorite places - on the table by the front window so she could have a view of the neighborhood or on the dining room table so she could catch whoever walked by and ask for another bowl of food.

I loved the way she would run in front of me when I picked up the paper and mail with her little bow-legged trot and then roll on the driveway for me to pet her.

It will get better as the days go by, I'm sure.

On a brighter note, a picture of the sky as we drove back home last week.

I think the balmy weather is over for awhile. I kept hearing the words "bitter cold" in the weather report today. Strange times. Emily said that Ryan's folks in South Dakota have never gone this long without snow. I know when she lived there, it would start snowing in October and not let up until February.

My winter mantlescape. It was complicated to do. Find some dried things in Michaels and stuff them in a vase and then vacuum up all the mess it made on the floor.

A Hard Thing

2012-01-10T11:22:00.003-06:00

Today we lost our Maddy Cat.

Maddy with the black velvet feet and the loud purr. The one who has moved with us to 4 different states. Also known as Baby Cat and Mississippi Cat.

We knew she was getting older and that something was different with her. She asked for food all day long and never seemed to be full, but she seemed content to just eat a lot and sleep a lot and spend a little time purring beside us, so we waited for a sign of what was wrong.

She woke me up about 6:30 this morning crying from the sunroom where they sleep. She always does it, and I usually put her off a little bit, but this morning she was persistent and got louder and louder. When I checked on her, she was panting and trying to walk but not able to move her back legs. I tried to comfort her, but I could tell she was in distress, so I woke Mike up and tried calling the vet's office. I got Dr. Golden's home, and he agreed to meet me in 30 minutes at the office. He said that he suspected a blood clot and that it wasn't usually a good thing.

It was tough to wrap her up and get her into the carrier, feeling like she was in pain and scared. She calmed down a little though in the car.

We're go glad it was Dr. Golden who met us. He diagnosed her with arterial thromboembolism or saddle thrombus and said that it was maybe treatable but that she would still be left with a serious heart condition and more than likely paralysis. She's such a no-nonsense cat and has been so dependable and comforting to us that I didn't want to cause her a lot more pain and fear if there was no real hope.

You never know whether you've made the right decision, but Dr. Golden said that this was nothing that could have been prevented and really not much do for it. He gave her a sedative, and she was calm and sleepy within a minute. I had a few minutes to pet her and talk her to sleep, and that makes me feel a little better - that she was peaceful at the end.

We do miss her though and will for a long time.

We've been married for 44 years and have had a gray cat for every one of them.

Nadine 1967 to 1985.

Chappy 1985 to 1996.

Lili 1996 until 2006.

Maddy 2000 to 2012.

Well-loved and long-lived kitties, all with their own peculiar personalities - some more peculiar than others. What memories we have of them all.

Sewing Day

2012-01-05T11:29:00.011-06:00

A good sewing day - at least the morning so far. I finished something - totally and finally finished a project down to clipping all threads and taking pictures. I have to say my sewing might have been better than my photography today.

First I had to stop and do some pressing and taking pictures of the little clothes I mentioned earlier. I'm still going to get some stain remover and do a little patching, but I wanted to stop and see where they stand.

The bonnet! It's just perfect with hardly a flaw - except for the fact that I don't think any amount of starch is going to make it stand up enough to frame a baby's face. It's almost like netting it's so thin.

Perfect little tucks along the brim.

The ties are not in good shape but what detail at the ends.

This is a bad picture of the embroidery on the crown, but it's beautiful.

This is the dress that supposedly goes with the slip from earlier.

There are some bad stains and tears, really shredding, and it probably can't be fixed too well, but I can still enjoy the work.

The bottom with the lace and entredeux.

The sweet little open sleeves.

I even like the placket and little buttons.

There are several reasons that make me think these clothes might have belonged to Mike's mother. First, they were in her cedar chest. Second, she didn't have any daughters, and third the little apron below has an E, and her name was Eleanor. The puzzling thing is why we never knew about them. I'm thinking maybe she received them from someone who discovered them and returned them to her after she was under the effect of the Parkinson's disease and she didn't understand what they were.

The apron with the embroidery on the bib and gingham binding and ties.

I love the little monogrammed pocket and the embroidery on the bib.

Now to my totally different sewing.

I bought several pieces of the Andover Fabrics "Meet the Gang" when I thought I was going to be making twin boy and girl quilts for expected twins this spring. It turns out they're both boys, so I needed to use my girl fabric (and totally need to start on the boy quilts - but never mind - first things first).

Emily and Elise both liked them, so I decided to do us a purse organizer just for fun.

I used the tutorial from The Giving Flower blog. This is just the first one I saw, and it looked easy (which it was), but doing a search for this tutorial, I saw many more and different versions of the same thing. I would maybe make this one an inch or so taller and an inch or so longer since I have a long billfold.

Here it is in the main fabric and a coral one with the little birds. I won't go through my steps. I don't sew "pretty," and no one wants to see pictures of the broken needle and scraps and thread all over the floor. Just see how I finished something. One down, 2 - maybe 3 - to go!

But I'm proud of the way this turned out.

I used the measurements suggested, but you can make the pockets any size. My main needs were for my phone, pens, and hand lotion. All the addresses and phone numbers from that address book are in my phone, but that's my security blanket, so I still carry it.

Standing up without the billfold in the middle. Stiff interfacing makes it stand up well.

It needs to be a little longer for me.

When you change purses, you can just pick up the whole thing and transfer. I do well to find one purse I like, so I change only with the seasons - and that's even iffy sometimes.

This is down in my purse. Fits nicely. I'll probably use one pocket for my camera since I'm always groping around for it and my phone at the bottom of my purse. And there are still extra zipper spaces in my purse for lipstick and keys and all the other stuff that collects.

So there! I did it. I've made this MY day. I do nothing I don't want to, and Mike doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to either. I hear him clinking and banging in the kitchen, working on some wayward cabinet hinges and touching up some paint - and occasionally bursting out with a self-congratulatory sentence or 2. No modesty there. Like me.

No telling what we might get done this afternoon after a lunch that neither one of us is going to volunteer to make. I did breakfast....

Just another Day

2012-01-04T16:53:00.002-06:00

Nothing interesting happened, and I couldn't even find anything interesting that other people did to fill this space.

I did go to our Turban Ministry at church where 6 of us ran in circles in a tiny room trying to remember where we left off before Christmas. The button sewer-ons and the puckerers finally settled in, and the 2 of us at the machines gave it a try. I'm not sure there was much accomplished, but there was a lot of conversation and fun. We'll do better next month.

I managed to save a good bit of money on groceries, making myself go into CVS and Dollar General where I got detergent for $2 a bottle (28 loads - it was supposed to be $1 but I didn't want to stay there arguing) and lots of paper towels, toilet paper and shampoo for very little and still have a $10 store credit at CVS. Publix didn't have many exciting things, but as long as I can get Alpo for $.32 a can (instead of $.78 and on-sale Fancy Feast), I'll enjoy it. I believe I saved $30 on a $100 trip without even concentrating hard.

Mike is attacking our cabinet doors and painting some worn edges plus replacing some broken hinges, so he was busy while I was gone.

This afternoon it was nice to play my senior citizen card and take a nap before working. The checkout boy at Publix didn't automatically give me my senior discount at Publix, and I had to ask for it. Nice boy.

January 3

2012-01-03T16:08:00.005-06:00

Wow. Three days in a row.

It's beginning to feel like January now - down to the 20s tonight and tomorrow night. It's fine as long as I don't have to go outside, but unfortunately tomorrow is grocery day, and Friday and Saturday are going to Andalusia day.

But it's warm and cozy inside with a fire to enjoy and coffee to drink. And this timid daffodil that refused to bloom at Christmas time. This may be all I get, but I love the way it looks against the gray sky outside.

We discussed our tendency to enjoy the fire and coffee and just sitting too much, so we got up and cleaned house for a couple of hours this morning. Mike cleaned all the kitchen cabinets, even the ones over the refrigerator which have been ignored for 5 years. I did lots of odd jobs and only got side-tracked twice.

We have packages to mail to the daughters with some of their things that either wouldn't fly or wouldn't fit their bags. I needed to finish up a stitch or 2 on these dishrags before I mailed them. This should make cleaning up fairly cheerful.

A sprig of this interesting succulent is on the way to Washington. I'm not sure what it is, but it's trying to reach the ceiling
With the house kinda clean and the groceries bought, Thursday is going to be my sewing day. I'm tired of looking at these blogs with pictures of all these quilts and projects people completed last year. I'm counting those dishrags for 2012 since I just finished one of them today!

Sweet mysteries

2012-01-02T17:01:00.002-06:00

These delicate little baby clothes were just discovered in my late mother-in-law's cedar chest last month. The search is on to find out who they belonged to. They were definitely hand made, some stitches by machine and some by hand, but that embroidery on the slip seems almost too perfect.

I waited until too late to get a good pictures and ran out of time to talk about them, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. There are a few more, but these are the ones that cleaned up best. Soaking in buttermilk worked somewhat, but they're going to take a little more cleaning and then asking lots of questions of those who might know where they came from. I'm afraid we'll never find out.

Welcome 2012

2012-01-01T09:08:00.010-06:00

I'm sure it will be better than 2011. I'm going to try to keep up this silly journal once more. TRY. Let's hope some fun things happen and that I don't forget to write them down.

I like Jeannie's resolution from The Old-Fashioned Baby blog.

We managed to stay awake for midnight, mainly because we knew Darby and the cats would freak out at the sound of firecrackers and wake us up anyway.

This morning both my eyes are bloodshot, and I'm wondering if anyone at church will notice. The only indulgence I had was at about 11:30 - 2 pieces of Dove Dark Chocolate and a glass of Diet Coke.

No resolutions because I never keep them, but we have already started some new things that I hope we can continue.

One is walking. It may only be once or twice a week since the weather is not always nice, but it's a start. We usually enjoy it except for the time when we misjudged the huge storm coming in and -- well, just think of the old saying "soaked to the bone" - humans and dog. It was kind of fun, at least for me.

The other is breakfast. We both hate breakfast, at least early in the morning. I usually have a protein bar and a half a glass of milk, and Mike has about 3 cups of coffee. For a couple of weeks now, I've forced myself to make us a healthy breakfast, and we've done well. Always with milk and fruit and/or juice. We've had eggs, southwestern eggbeaters, cereal, oatmeal, whole-wheat toast, bagels. Sometimes we just go through the motions, but usually it's pretty good and has to be helping.

This is our official first year of retirement. We've tested it for 4 months now, and it's worked out fine. The insurance we chose has paid for anything we've thrown at it except for Mike's flu shot and a few co-payments. The 4 medications we take between us are either $4 or $7 a month. So maybe we made the right decision.

The "fixed income" is probably going to work. So far it has. And I even have a little money to spend wildly on fabric. Or shoes.

We and our families are relatively healthy, and we're thankful for that. With 2 parents not too far from 90, we can expect problems there, but everyone is handling things well. The nursing home is working out well for Roy, and Mama is still making a lot of her own meals, doing her housework and voraciously reading 2-3 newspapers a day plus watching the news twice a day and her soap opera faithfully at 12:30. She even still sews a little bit.

We're going to tackle the house and get some projects started. It's hard to know where to start, but we need to make some improvements. I'm looking forward to having a garden this spring. Mike - maybe not so excited but willing to go along with it.

I'm on the verge of actually finishing a quilty project. My friend Barbara and cousin Sherry (who are quilters who finish many things a year) are always optimistically giving me things in hopes that something will catch my fancy and make me finish something. I'm kidding, they're just nice and extra generous. But as soon as the girls moved out of the guest room, I moved my sewing machine and ironing board in there and started a project. It was a panel for an Advent Calendar with 25 little pockets that Barbara gave me a long time ago with some more Christmas things. So cute. I worked on it for a few days and finished the front, added a backing and batting and even quilted around the main area by hand while I watched Auburn's bowl game last night.

All I have to do now is bind it and stick a dowel through the sleeve, and it's ready to hang. I love all the little pockets!

I learned to do Pintarest, and while I won't ever be as enthusiastic as some people, it's a nice place to keep those random projects and ideas you run across on other blogs or just in general. People are so creative, and I have no shame about profiting from their creativity. Facebook doesn't interest me that much, even though I do check it periodically. I've mastered my new Android (or whatever that phone is called) - at least for the one or two things that I do with it so far. If I could only stop losing it. Lots of books I want to read but will never have time for.

We've rediscovered Masterpiece Theater on Sunday night - or Masterpiece Classics, I think it's called now. We're loving Downton Abbey and hate that the first season is finishing tonight. We have to watch it twice because we miss some little plot or some funny thing the first time around. Good news is that the new season starts January 8th, and it looks like there are some more nice shows too.

So it doesn't look like a boring year coming up. I think it will be wonderful. We'll come home from church and eat our red beans and rice that Mike made yesterday and eat our turnip greens and sweet potatoes.

And then go for a walk. There's only a 20% chance of rain.

Busy Baking Day

2011-12-12T14:01:00.008-06:00

Yesterday I made chocolate chip cookies - my old recipe that I've used for 40 years - and today I made cranberry almond ones. I decided that those are the only 2 cookies I should ever try to make. They're foolproof, fairly easy and, best of all, delicious.

Mike chopped the fruit and made Gaby's punch while I did the baking. Yummy smells.

Big mess!

The first 2 cranberry-almond batches. Unfortunately, there was 1 cookie in each of the batches that was "ugly" and we had to eat it, so I only got 44 from the recipe.
Here's the recipe:

Cranberry Almond Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 large eggs
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups chopped fresh cranberries
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Beat butter at medium speech with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add almond extract and eggs, beating until blanded.

Combine flour, bakig powder, and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in cranberries and almonds. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 9 to 11 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 3-1/2 to 4 dozen.

May be frozen up to 6 months.

This is the best thing I've bought this year. I think I'm late to the party, but it makes plopping out cookies so much easier than in the past. How did I live without it?

Oh, and here's the chocolate chip cookie recipe. I like it because it has the slightest salty taste and lots of chips and pecans. So easy too.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup granualted sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1 (6-oz) package (1 cup) semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup broken nuts

Cream shortening and sugars, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture and blend well. Add chocolate and nuts.

Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 3 dozen.

I also made some cranberry bread since I was chopping cranberries anyway. It's an old standby, but it's been a few years since I've made it. Stella has enjoyed the new holiday things around the house.

Guarding the manger. We were amazed that she climbed up on the velvet-covered table, crawled under the little tree and settled herself down without causing even one ornament to fall.

When she asked to go outside this morning, she didn't bargain for rain. Here's her "Let me in immediately" face.
So the baking is done now and I don't having anything to cook until Wednesday when we get ready for the girls to come in on Thursday. Then it's Mexican casserole, chicken enchiladas and a new Southwest salad I'm going to try. We'll spend Friday and Saturday in Andalusia and probably make the usual turkey and dressing dinner before Emily has to head back to Washington. Elise gets to stay with us until Christmas.

Holiday Pictures

2011-12-08T18:27:00.013-06:00

I'm not through with Thanksgiving yet.

When we went to the nursing home to visit Roy at Thanksgiving, I was amazed at the size and color of these marigolds. Beautiful. And a bee too. They had already put in the winter/Christmas landscaping the next time we went, but I didn't have my camera.

This is the nursing home foyer before the tree was decorated. It's much prettier now.

Roy's magnifier - which keeps him up on the outside world - reading newspapers and cards, etc.

Again, more and better pictures next week now that he's settled in a little bit.

I've been slowly decorating around here a little bit but just a few things.

Plants.

I planted the narcissus bulbs and the amaryllis bulbs the same day. I'm not sure what happened to the narcissus. They popped right up but seem to be just sitting there. I may have watered them too much since this pot has no drainage.

This amaryllis I love.

Usually the stems grow and grow until they're so tall they're almost tipping over, but this one grew a few inches and then started to bloom, the shortest I've ever grown.

And my crazy "Christmas" cactus. It's likely to put out a few blooms when you least expect it any time of year, but just for this occasion I got one bloom only.

A few more random pictures. Nothing like the beautiful mantels and table settings I love on the blogs I read, but just using what I already have, it's nice and cozy and pretty festive,

The small tree in the den. I have to say I enjoy this one more than the bigger one. But they both make me happy, the big one with all the memories and this one with where we stay most of the time.

Side door wreath. This is one of my favorites. Elise either bought it for me in Greensboro or bugged me until I bought it. The pears have a tendency to fall off now and then and seem to need a little glitter updating. These stockings! I made them in 1978 and have never been allowed to replace them. It was Emily's first Christmas, and she would stand beside me and sift her hands through the sequins while I worked. Fun times. I've tried to do similar ones for Stephanie and Ryan but never came close to the gaudiness of the originals.

And that's it. Wreaths hung outside and getting ready to make wassail and cookies in a few days.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:45:00.004-06:00

With just the 3 of us this year, it was a tiny tailored Thanksgiving feast. Only the things we liked and very few dishes. It was perfect. Stuffed as usual afterwards, but LOTS of leftovers in the refrigerator.

We had the usual turkey and dressing - this time turkey slices from the deli at Publix - and dressing that has just the right amount of seasoning and moistness.

Sweet potato casserole and brown rice and mushrooms.
Sugar snap peas (frozen - 5 minutes to cook and really good) and sauteed mushrooms.

A surprisingly good strawberry cream pie that we bought for some occasion and never ate. It came in handy today when neither of us wanted to cook a dessert.
It was a nice meal all in all. We missed the ones who weren't able to be here, but we'll see them in a few weeks.

Speaking of baking, this was Mike's next-to-last venture.
It's not an overstuffed sub or a loaf of French bread----

But a pineapple upside-down cake.

We discussed pan sizes ahead of time, and he decided to go against all odds and used a layer cake pan. There was a cookie sheet there to catch any batter than may run over. Unfortunately, there was nothing to catch what ran off the cookie sheet except the bottom of the oven. The smoke and smell did clear out after 3 days, and the cake was delicious - what was left of it.

We spent the afternoon aimlessly, taking Darby for a long walk and riding around and exploring some. We talked to Mike's dad who is newly in a nursing home and heard what a good Thanksgiving dinner he had and how much progress he's making - getting up and visiting friends, talking on the phone, etc. Big improvement over the past few weeks.

Just talked to Emily who is preparing her own dinner for friends. Homemade cranberry sauce, fried turkey, dressing. She gets upset with me because I change the dressing recipe so much (this year I forgot to add "day-old bread"). Pretty soon, she'll be comfortable with her own recipe. and I'll be trying to copy her!

Today is Gaby's birthday. She gets to share her big day with our Thanksgiving Day. I'll have to see if she's tried the sweet potatoes and dressing yet. Happy Birthday, Gaby. I know you're dying laughing over the cake disaster above.

Time for Food

2011-11-15T10:04:00.008-06:00

This is the time of year when everyone starts talking about food. Gaby and Dina have been asking about our traditional Thanksgiving dishes and are going to share the Guatemalan holiday favorites. I'm already a big fan of their punch and am looking forward to making it again soon - maybe this week.

We're passing along recipes from Alabama to Texas to Washington to Guatemala for dressing and sweet potato casserole. Everyone makes their dressing differently, and it's hard to tell someone what YOUR recipe is. Once the cornbread is made, then you just start adding the chicken broth and veggies and herbs until it's like you want it. I'm sure I'll make it with a daughter this year, so we'll write down exactly what we do - this time.

Mike and I christened our new mixer last month with a delicious recipe - Pecan Cheesecake Bars - and since a few people have asked for it, I thought I would post it here. I even took pictures for the momentous occasion of my actually cooking something.

The recipe is from this cookbook.

Makes me want to go back to the Red Rooster and sew and eat and laugh and eat some more. On well....

Here is the unveiling of the mixer.

We kind of shared duties, but he got the fun part of putting things in the mixer while I was stuck chopping pecans.

The flour, brown sugar and butter are mixed with a pastry blender along with the pecans and patted into a pan for the bottom layer.

The cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and milk are mixed to make the center filling.

After this has baked and cooled, the topping of brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and eggs along with more pecans is added.

After another baking, this is what it looks like.

Yummy with a glass of milk.

PECAN CHEESECAKE BARS

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar, divided
1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups finely chopped pecans, divided
2 (8-oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 cup pecans. Press mixture evenly in bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan; bake for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add milk and vanilla, beating until well combined; pour over cooled crust. Bake for 15 minutes; remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine 3/4 cup brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter and eggs. Stir in 1-1/2 cups pecans. Pour brown sugar mixture over cream cheese mixture. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until center is set. Makes 2 dozen.

I'm going to go wait for the thunderstorms I was promised by the Weather Channel.

Just to Keep Life Interesting

2011-11-11T05:59:00.005-06:00

I'm a bad blogger. I do remember to take some pictures, and I do have things I want to remember, but I just forget to sit down and record them. So this morning since I woke up first and had some extra time, I thought I would cause a little havoc.

I was packing the children's Christmas boxes for our church and just couldn't resist. When Mike wakes up, he pretty much stumbles to the coffee area, and it will be interesting to see his reaction. It's bound to help get rid of a little grumpiness.

Boxes packed and ready to go.

I have a lot of pictures that I downloaded this morning, so this will be random.

We have a long way to go on getting the house the way we want it, but Mike has attacked the yard, and it's coming along. I took this picture of my pitiful side door plants at the end of a summer of neglect.

With just a little work, we've improved that area. The "bricks" are neat plastic/rubber-type rectangles from Home Depot that are light and easy to work with. We'll probably use them again somewhere in the back yard.

Just no time. I'll do more tomorrow.

Daughters and their cats

2011-10-28T23:37:00.004-05:00

A message earlier from Elise: Mountain lion makes his way across several counties near & around Lubbock within the last several days. More news at 10 on Channel KCBD. The kitty crew will not venture out this evening due to sheer terror experienced by their mother on hearing the news.

Later we heard the critter had been spotted near Shallow Water, TX, which is a safe enough distance from the kitties.

And a picture on my phone from Emily earlier today asked, "What doesn't belong in this picture."
It was too small to figure out on the phone, but she sent an email just now, and it was easy to see Jack practicing his Halloween stare.

2011-10-21T13:06:00.004-05:00

These two items arrived the same day. My Medicare card and my Smart Phone. I guess that says something, but I'm not quite sure what. I guess I'm kind of proud of being a senior citizen and still being able to maneuver my way around this phone.

At first, I refused to change phones, just wanting to settle for my old flip phone but one with a back this time. I've been carrying around a backless phone for months now, but it worked fine and dialed the correct numbers and rang decisively, so what more could I have expected.

I just didn't know.

Until my Evo came. I probably know about 1/100 of what you can do with one, but it has been fascinating. I'd still prefer to read and write email and do internet things on my big computer, but when I'm on a trip or just curled up on the couch and don't want to leave the room, I just get out my cute little phone and explore.

There are many things that I don't know what to do with and never will, but so far it's been a world of fun. It's now possible for me to download books from the library onto my Kindle - which is on my phone also now - without even leaving the house. I can also download audio books from the library. There are things I can do with coupons and grocery shopping, but that's all confusing right now. Mike has a matching one, and he's passed me in knowing what he's doing, but he's had a Blackberry for years and knows his way around a little bit.

Another good thing is that I've caused our children endless amusement with my learning process.

Elise: "Mom, you texted me this cryptic message just now. It must have been meant for someone else." I've now found the punctuation marks, so they should all be thrilled with my texting now.

Emily: "No, Mom, it's not a Droid. It's an Android. No, not an I-phone. An Evo." "Ryan's shaking his head." Hey, no mother-in-law jokes. I could be asking how to use a DVD player. Wait. That's over? I guess I missed that. I went from VCR tapes to whatever it is that's going on now with TVs.

Speaking of TVs and couches, when I moved here, I arranged my having-seen-better-days furniture around a rug in front of the fireplace. Cozy. And where is the TV in this picture?

Behind those doors. Behind the couch. For a person to watch TV, they would have to either lie on the couch or sit in the chair and try to see over the couch. So I just didn't watch TV for 5 years unless someone came and helped me rearrange the furniture temporarily for a football game or something.

But now that Mike is here, we thought we might find the TV and turn it on - with pretty dismal results. I saw a room redo in Southern Living yesterday, laid the magazine down, and proceeded to move all my furniture around.

Excuse the props of ladders and vacuum cleaners, but I do think this is more practical. Not so cozy - kind of disjointed - needs a big coffee table - but maybe it'll work. This is just the rough stages. The TV is now accessible right across from the couch and main chair.

I'm open for suggestions and decorating ideas. And some shows on TV worth watching.

I've just come in from the 2nd pruning expedition.
We worked nicely for about 30 minutes, and then the differing of opinion started. We were flagging down passersby asking for names of marriage counselors. I gave permission for the 20-foot "shrub" to be chopped down at the ground. Easier than arguing.

Live Goes On - and Very Nicely

2011-10-20T10:06:00.005-05:00

For months, I never wrote anything because the same thing happened this year that happened last year - spring came, things bloomed, I complained about the heat and lack of rain during the summer, fall made me happy, and then I complained about the cold weather when winter came. The dog got out/learned a new trick/did some cute things. The cats were cats. I worked and went to the grocery store and post office and sometimes the fabric shop. I regretted so little time or inclination to sew. A few times a year, I would go someplace or eat lunch with a friend. I talked with my family and visited them sometimes. Took Mama to the beauty shop and Wal-Mart every Friday and to church on Sunday. Worked, it seems, all the time.

But times have changed, and life is fun again - or most days anyway - since Mike's moved back. He didn't take well to retirement the first month, but just yesterday he realized how much fun it was to work at your leisure in the yard with no deadlines to be back at work on Monday morning, to take a walk in the middle of the day, to sit on the front porch with a cup of coffee. We're working hard, doing some cooking, lots of laughing, a few meltdowns on both sides, playing with our new phones and his new computer. And most of all enjoying the nice weather.

I don't have time to do pictures today, but I have a few and will be back more often hopefully. The trouble with doing a lot is not having time to sit down and post journal entries and download pictures. We (mainly Mike) have spent the week on cutting back and cleaning up our front and side yards. I don't have any before pictures, but maybe I can do some after ones. We went to my godson's beautiful wedding in Jacksonville Beach and have pictures from there. I'm going to add this blog entry of Sherry's, the mother of the groom. She has some sweet pictures of the wedding plus some quilts. I'll add some more later.

My mind is so full of things I don't want to forget.

Just a few hurried pictures taken when I was trying to cheer up the inside of the house a little bit.

The napkins need washing, so I don't have the napkin rings on yet, and one placemat is upside down, but it makes me happy, especially with pumpkin spice candles and cinnamon roll coffee to lift your spirits.

So life is good for the most part. My father-in-law is still feeling bad and needs prayers, so please remember him, that he will be feeling stronger and able to enjoy life a little more. Also prayers for our friends in Guatemala who are battling devastation from flooding. E-mail from Gaby: "The rain started a week ago and we haven´t seen the sun again. Please pray for us, pray to stop the rain."

Rainy Night

2011-09-22T21:34:00.005-05:00

Nice rain tonight. Good soaking rain that's way overdue.

The thunder scared Darby so we let her come in, and she enjoyed cleaning out the cat bowls in the kitchen and then relaxing with an after-dinner chew stick.

We're cleaning out cabinets and drawers and the garage and just about everything for a possible yard sale next weekend. The pet cabinet yielded a few interesting things: A dog Halloween costume and a few cat hats that Elise talked me into - which never stayed on a cat head for more than 3 seconds.

Good dog. Patient and long-suffering dog.

This is Darby maybe 6 years ago when she was too young to protest. They'll go into the yard sale along with various other things that haven't been used in that long.

The cat toy box was full of odds and ends of amusements, but Stella was not impressed by any of them. She stared at the mice and even tolerated one on her head but would only give them a bored look before she fell asleep under their gaze.

I took a lot of pictures when we went to South Carolina last week, but I'm too tired to sort them tonight. I'm ready to hear more rain.

Settling In - Sort of

2011-09-11T09:55:00.011-05:00

Thanks to everyone for the comments. There is still some glitch that won't allow me to respond to them, but I do appreciate them.

The final resting place - I hope - for the calendar. It looks much better here, I think.

This was another area to be dealt with - and was. The cutest little computer came in that box. Mike's not sure the screen is large enough for viewing his massive amounts of correspondence, so he may not keep it. I'm kind of hoping it comes my way. I sure don't mind hand-me-downs.

New kid on the block. The $4 Wal-Mart mixer I bought last Christmas after burning my other one out on cookie dough has competition.

Although the little one didn't do such a bad job on mashed potatoes yesterday.

This was a gift from our children and has been sitting on the floor of Mike's closet for weeks. I was not allowed to open it for the reason mentioned above. We may have to savor it in the box another day or so before we can enjoy it.

Before-and-after time. Just to prove that retirement is working.

We both worked this morning on the pyracantha. This is how it looked last week.

I mainly pushed the wheelbarrow to the street, clipped the lower branches, and hyperventilated when the loppers tried to get too close to the fence. If the main gardener had had his way, there would be a small stump there now and no berries.

Much better.

The heat was pretty fierce, and I didn't get to enjoy the other improvements, so I concentrated on another inside job.

This is a nice little pantry that was just a catchall and a place for Mama to keep all her things.

I spent a little time on it, and it looks better. At least now I know where some things are.

Before the floor got swept.

That will probably be all that gets accomplished this week, but I'm happy with it. Can't work all the time. We're going to S. Carolina on a "business trip" this week, so I should get some knitting and embroidery done. Then Sunday, I'm going to meet Barbara at the quilt shop to see what's new at Kudzu Blossom. Just looking.

I wonder if there are any quilt shops on the way to Greenwood.

Marking Our Territories

2011-09-08T09:48:00.003-05:00

Well, now that we're a household of 3, it's going to be interesting to see what kind of adjustments we make. Right now we're circling each other, testing the waters, seeing what's going to be tolerated, and where we're all comfortable.

Mike wasn't home 3 hours before I found this.

My first thought was No WAY that's going to hang on my cabinet. Why do we need a calendar anyway? And then I noticed the retirement article. I think he's had it on his bulletin board in TX for years, but now there's no "thinking again." It's still there, but I'm looking for another home for it.

I'm finding things taped in unlikely places, things on the floor at the back door, rubber-banded stacks of "stuff" everywhere.

It's kind of overwhelming. When Mama moved in with me 5 years ago, we kind of combined things and weeded them out gradually, but we still have more than we need. And now there's going to be a 3rd set of "things" to sort through and integrate.

I decided to start on the coffee area this morning since we all drink coffee and have 3 distinct areas for making it. It was just me in the kitchen, so I took the liberty of cleaning out the cabinet and leaving only the cups/mugs we use plus a few sentimental ones on the top shelf. Mike's out of town today, but I'm sure that's going to be met with, "WHAT? You got rid of that?" "Where's my _____?" And the Splenda packets that are now nicely in a plastic container will be inspected, probably counted, to make sure I didn't throw any away. In fact, he's probably reading this on his Blackberry and doing a U-turn to come back and rescue his things.

Hoarder meets minimalist. It's not going to be pretty.

These are most the mugs Mama brought with her, plus some of Mike's. She takes a few down at Christmas to use every year, but other than that she uses only 2 or 3 for her tea and coffee. I've left them down for sorting and will be keeping my fingers crossed I don't have to put them all back up.

So much better. If only it would be that way tomorrow.

The takeaway spot on the floor by the back door just will not work. It might have worked living alone in an apartment without a dog, but last night I noticed Darby tip-toeing, as only a dog can do, with something in her mouth. After running after her and checking, I saw that she was gently carrying a shrink-wrapped container of jerky (meant for a gift) to her area to check out alone.

I'm on my way to start on the glasses next and then maybe the small pantry.

Your Paper is in the Microwave

2011-09-05T08:27:00.003-05:00

The rains from Hurricane Lee finally reached us during the night. I woke up to a nice pounding rain and just smiled at the thought of all that nice soaking we were getting.

As I picked up the newspaper in the driveway, it was pretty heavy. I was laughing about with the nice couple who walk the 2 yellow labs by here, and she said, "Put it in the microwave." I was thinking hairdryer, but that sounded like a good idea. It worked fine.

Only slightly curly.

My recipe: Cook for 1-minute on each section. Repeat 3 times or until done.

The bonus was that I saw a column by one of my favorite writers, Rheta Grimsley Johnson and read it while I waited.

Mike is crossing the Mississippi this morning with no rain yet. He left Lubbock yesterday at 5:30 a.m. just ahead of a little rain there and drove all day until he ran into I-20 slowdowns because of a wildfire in Kilgore, TX, and/or LSU football traffic. He only made it as far as Ruston, LA, and spent the night. Unfortunately will probably become a Storm Rider as he crossess Mississippi and Alabama. His whole route has tornado warnings until early evening.

Latest Folly

2011-08-31T22:51:00.006-05:00

I don't need another hobby, and I sure don't need one that's going to zap all my self-esteem - not to mention my poor dog's. But I'm a glutton for punishment.

Every week, Darby gets fluffier and fluffier, and I started thinking about that twice-a-year grooming bill - $65 each time - and figured I might could learn to do that. Last week I started with scissors and trimmed a little each day, but considering she's like a small black sheep, I didn't see too much improvement. My niece was here last week and told me all about how she has clippers and trims her parents' dog. She worked at a vet's office, and told me it "wasn't that hard." Hmmm.

And it wasn't too hard at first, but I was nervous, and the closer I got to the skin, the patchier it looked. I could just stand to work on her about 10 minutes a day, and now she's started grabbing her puppy and running out the door when she sees me pick up the clippers. I have to trick her into coming to me, and then she will relax a little. She seems to be perkier though with her short haircut. I'll just try to hide her for awhile.

I saw this picture yesterday. It's not Darby, although it could be. It made me laugh because it's so similar. I truly had that much hair and maybe more.

(I think I'm supposed to give credit for pictures I borrow, but I can't remember where this one came from.)

The niece, Robin, who tricked me into thinking this would be easy came to pick up a serger that Mama was giving her and ate lunch with us. It was a nice visit. We don't see her often enough.

Passing down the talent and skipping a generation. I still haven't taken the time to figure out mine.

Robin's a good seamstress. She taught herself to sew and makes a lot of her clothes, including the dress above. I didn't get a good picture of it, but it has ruffles, beads, tucks, lace, all kind of complicated things. I know she'll put it to good use.

So here are my pitiful "before" pictures. These are the first projects Mike and I are working on when he gets here. Is this not sad? It's just been too hot to go outside and do anything.

And here's the biggie. The pretty berries are lost in all those limbs, and it's moving into the neighbors' yard. With the cool weather and not having to work so many hours, I think we'll enjoy it working on it.

I'll have "after" pictures maybe Monday.

Waking Up

2011-08-30T23:40:00.003-05:00

Let's see if I still remember how to do this.

There haven't been any skies like that last picture since then. The vine stilll grows and flourishes in the heat and dryness. A welcome sight since I've let everything else dry up.

It was a long nap, and things are changing. I've been "reminded" a few times lately that I need to at least come here every week or so. I wasn't sure if anyone would notice.

The biggest change is that Mike is finally coming back home to live. We've joked about changing the blog to "Keeping my Sanity in Alabama." We're both wondering how it's going to be sharing spaces again.

I can't say it's been fun making do on my own these past years, but I've learned a lot - how to be more responsible, for one thing. No one is going to get those bills out on time except me, and no one is going to push the trash can to the street except me. I've learned how to repair things around the house or find someone who can - or ignore it. On the other hand, we both have our things we like to do, and it will be interesting to see how we combine them.

I'm totally looking forward to it. We've held our breath and jumped into the Medicare/Social Security world. Just a little intimidating, but maybe it will be fine. We're both looking forward to a little more freedom although I will work part time. I might see some fabric I need every once in awhile.

I also need to change colors or pictures or something to make this blog pretty, but I probably won't if it takes any time or patience.

At least I'm creeping back in slowly.

Can It Be?

2011-06-16T20:31:00.006-05:00

Do I dare hope?

We got a sprinkle, it looks like, the other night but nothing like what we need. I've just been straightening up my sewing room and ironing some fabric with the back door open and the wind blowing like mad. There's a nice constant rumble of thunder, and I can't keep from going to the door and letting the wind blow in my face - cool wind too.

I have nothing to show for my days of non-blogging.

Well, I may have made a bigger mess on the guest room bed. It's a pretty mess though.

I think I mentioned the Bottled Rainbows quilt before. (I go to Rachel's blog just to get my daily dose of looking at pretty things.) I'm not admitting that I've started a new project before I finished all 35 other ones. I haven't cut one little square or rectangle.

I did get all the Kona cotton colors and laid them on the bed and then started throwing scraps and fat quarters at them. It's addictive. Every time I see a fabric that's interesting, I have to run it by my colors and see it it fits in one of the rectangles.

Here is the result of some of my fabric flinging.

Some of the colors are easy to match and some of them I've found nothing yet. Barbara is bringing me some of her scraps Monday to see what they look like. I know. I'm bringing in more fabric. Maybe I can send some home with her.

Those birds just might show up in 3 of the rectangles

These 2 blue fabrics below, the cone-shaped ones, are from my late mother-in-law's sewing basket that I inherited. She had cut out a good many fabrics in the Sunbonnet Sue pattern, maybe when she had her first grandaughter back in the 70s, but she didn't get it made, and I have a beautiful treasure chest of what I guess are now vintage fabrics to some. They're small pieces but perfect for projects like this.

Speaking of vintage - we're counting the days for Social Security and Medicare. Mike has filled out the application on line, and he's actually going to quit his job - retire! - and move back here. What we know about the process would make a very thin book, but we're trying to learn. He will quit the end of August, and I'll go part time the end of September. I can't quite give up my fabric money, as meager as it seems.

I've crept back into the couponing world and decided to see if I could do it with less stress, and I did enjoy my couple of trips to Publix and Walgreens. At both places I spent around $60 and saved $45 - plus I have $14 in Walgreens money to go back and buy something else. I don't want to talk about my CVS trip. I'll remember now that just because an item has a sign hanging under it that says "Buy 1, get 1 half price," it's not necessarily talking about that very item. It may be a store brand with almost the same labeling that's on sale. I still got a $10 gas card for buying things we need there. Mike's 3 Schick and Gillette razors (with 15 cartridges) for 33 cents apiece were definitely worth spending some extra time clipping and sorting. I tried to get them free but failed.

I'm going to check on that rain, but it's not sounding rumbly any more.

I just noticed the comments from the last blog entry - long time ago. I'm flattered that Gaby thinks I might have grown the strawberries. If she could only see the little bird-pecked ones in my flower bed!

And I'm also flattered that I've inspired Lalobe to start crocheting again. I'm a bad influence like that. Her blog is another one that I have in my favorites under "New Favorite Blogs." It's worth checking out to see the cute guinea pig she trapped. The blog is in German, but there is a translation beneath. So, I guess guinea pigs are pests there? I need to go ask. {I wasn't able to leave a comment, so maybe she'll comment here.} Blogger/Google/FB have all been ornery the past few days.

Looking for something cool

2011-06-04T09:06:00.009-05:00

Not much is happening around here except it all of a sudden got hot. Really hot. I was walking around with my camera seeing if I could find anything interesting to record and thought the strawberries would be a welcome sight to take the place of those crocheted hats.

I can't even complain about the heat much because the Texas folks can top anything I have to offer. Think triple digits. And the ones in Washington are just a little jealous right now. They don't have summer yet.

I'm not gardening much at all this year, and it's a good thing with the lack of rain. These Althea trees just bloom and bloom without seeming to care about rain. There are 2 colors at the front of the house. This purple one is just covered with blooms, but the pink is not blooming at much.

I discovered Stella/Molly's new sleeping place, although why she would choose a steamy garage instead of a cool house is one of those things known only to cats.

This is going into the garbage.

I went to make a cup of coffee the other night and didn't see those comforting blue lights or the "Ready to Brew" message. When I punched the button, there was nothing except the icon for the largest cup, the travel cup. I pulled out the manual and tried everything they suggested but still nothing.

I did a Google search and found hundreds of testimonies about how badly manufactured the Kreurig brewers are and the company knows it. In fact, they don't mind replacing them because people love them and are going to keep buying them and, more importantly, buying the K-cups.

So I went to the web site and e-mailed my complaint. Got a message saying to call this telephone number. So I did. The customer service person went through all the steps of finding out why it wouldn't work, all of which I had already done. Then she asked for the serial number and told me to mail back a small plastic part to prove I actually had the brewer and they would send me a new one. It's sad. I was pretty attached to my it and had taken such good care of it. But I'll love the new one as well, I guess, as long as it lasts.

Last Minute Crocheting

2011-05-21T13:32:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday a lady at church was carrying around a little purple crocheted hat with a bow on it. During greeting time, she was going around asking if anyone crocheted. I said I knitted and somewhat crocheted.

She was starting to collect children's caps for the cancer center at UAB and asked me if I would make one by next week. I foolishly agreed and figured it would be easy to find a little hat pattern. But I was so wrong. I couldn't believe how hard it was to find just a simple little hat. No elf hats, no pig hats, no bunny hats. Just a plain maybe striped hat!

I tried a few, and I either didn't have the right yarn, or the pattern was just crazy (think Barbie hat).

But I finally found one last night (a ladies' hat that I did smaller) and crocheted one with a flower to match. Not totally thrilled with it, but I think it's fine. I figured I could go look for some different yarn and pattern next week when I had more time. Then I remembered some Peaches and Cream cotton yarn that I have plenty of for knitting dishrags. It took me probably 30 minutes to do that one - fun and fast. So now that I have a kind of pattern, I'll look for some boy-colored yarn and some school colors too and leave off the bottom trim.

Here are my works of art.
I actually participated in the Friday Night Sew-In that I've signed up for before. I need to run send a picture of something I've finally finished.

Camera Gremlins

2011-05-19T12:04:00.004-05:00

It's kind of a ho-hum week around here except for my garage door breaking and getting repaired. I took 2 pictures of it and was trying to figure out how I could make it interesting enough to mention on the blog.

Then I plugged my camera into the computer and 7 pictures popped up and downloaded. When I looked at them, I had no idea where they came from.

It's been years since I babysat the grandcat Jack, obviously in the fall of some year.

Life is hard for a cat. Just exhausting. Too tired to stand up to drink water.

Then there were a couple of just random bookshelf pictures taken at Christmas - what Christmas, I have no idea.

But I was glad to see this one. I mentioned a few weeks ago when I was listing my unfinished projects that I had the finishing fabric for a block-of-the-month quilt but had no idea how to put it together. I knew it was log cabins, but I didn't know what direction to place them. Here's my answer.

I'm not sure I like it now, but I think seeing the whole quilt makes more sense, a pattern of the light part of the log cabins. I might place the blocks another way. And I've never been crazy about the bright pink/red color used. I might redo those blocks - on the off chance I ever get around to finishing it. I won't be using that pink and white flower border either. That didn't come in the kit, thank goodness.

As for those pictures of the garage? Maybe they'll turn up in a couple of years.

Isley Says War Eagle

2011-05-14T13:51:00.002-05:00

What do you mean Cam's not going to be back next year?

Sweet girl. She's 2 months old now. By this fall, she can shake a shaker and cheer the tigers on.

Saturday Morning Meaderings

2011-05-14T10:11:00.010-05:00

Since I've decided not to spend a lot of time on flowers this year except for the geraniums on the front porch and some petunias by the back door, it was nice to see that my Texas vine has already started blooming. I think it's officially called a trumpet creeper. The bees and butterflies are enjoying it, and it sure softens up that old gray fence.

If last year is any indication, the blooms should be covering the fence by June. The blooms fall off and make a mess and the vine just kind of takes over, but it makes an easy-to-look-at corner that I didn't have to work to get.

I did notice this beautiful little guy just looking at me when I opened the back door. You have to click on the picture a couple of time to really see him. The cats and Darby wage war on all creatures in their territory, so I hardly ever get to see one. It's probably a matter of time until he gets eaten too if he hangs around.
I surprise myself at being able to get this close to him because of my phobia about creatures without legs, but I kind of like lizards. I don't want them surprising me though, and I might not hold one, but I can admire their coloring and - well cuteness.

Speaking of cuteness, I was looking for a picture of the plumeria in the above picture to see how much it has grown and found this. The plumeria is in the background. It was probably 8 years old then. It's now 15 years old.

Darby is the sweetie in the chair. It's hard to believe she was that tiny. She used the chair as her ramp for hauling her toys up and down. When she wasn't biting heads off the flowers. I'm glad she's out of that stage.

But she sure was cuddly. I'm now going to sneak into my sewing room and try to work on my quilt until I get interrupted or until my lack of focus takes me somewhere else. If I even make it there, I'll post a picture of what I did.

Unfortunately, this is all I got done between phone calls and a little guilty housework. It's better than nothing, I guess.

Boring Health Things

2011-05-12T10:09:00.001-05:00

(The Blogger people were working on their stuff today and took this post off temporarily. I noticed the comments were gone, but I think that's all that changed.)

They finally wore me down.

My daughters and even Mike have been proclaiming the glories of agave nectar for months now. I didn't pay much attention to it at first. After all, it wasn't MY idea, was it? I picked up Elise's bottle when she was here last month and saw that it had 60 calories a tablespoon. Really!?

But then regular sugar has 45 calories a tablespoon.

I started thinking about my coffee. I use about 2 teaspoons of sugar in a cup of coffee (I guess - I don't measure), so that's 30 right there. No one would use a tablespoon of honey in coffee, maybe a quarter. So I gave in and bought some.

Emily had been recommending it this week too - natural, no chemicals like in the artificial stuff - which I can't make myself like anyway, I do drink Milo's or Publix tea with Splenda and love that though. Maybe I'll have to start making my on agave nectar tea.

The one cup of coffee I used it in was fine. It's sure more convenient - just pick up the bottle and squeeze.

If I ever cook anything that calls for sugar, I'll try it there too.

Speaking of reading labels, (I think I kind of alluded to that above), I now have to get serious about salt. Should have been all along, but it took a swollen ankle - twice - to get my attention.

My blood pressure was high at the doctor's office yesterday, which it sometimes is, but she told me I had to be on a blood pressure medication. I mentioned that I don't like taking medicine, and she mentioned that I probably wouldn't be real happy with a stroke either. She said not to take it personally - that a high percentage of people over 50 have to take an antihypertensive just because of aging arteries.

So here they are. If something like this saves my life, I'm all for it. Once a day. Small pills. Cheap. I didn't get them at Wal-Mart but found that I can get a 90-day supply there for $10.

Now, I'm studying the sodium count on all the things I like. I believe the normal sodium allowance by the American Heart Association is 2300 gm a day. Sounds like a lot, but there is so much hidden sodium in all the things I like. I've already cut down on diet colas. They only have 55 gm apiece, but I think I'm addicted to them. I'm now just having 1 every 3 or 4 days where before I would have 2 or 3 a day sometimes.

I've gone back to an old favorite - juice and club soda or tonic water. I can't find the white cranberry any more, so I'll go with this flavor. The juice still has 50 gm of sodium, but you get a bonus of vitamin C. It's a really good summer drink too, with the (sodium free) club soda making it fizzy.

So those are my health tips for the day - or maybe full of misinformation - I don't know. I'll see what works for me to get my blood pressure back down. I hate the whole no popcorn thing. I can do without sweets, but I love popcorn and chips as a snack.

Busy Work

2011-05-11T07:24:00.003-05:00

Now that Emily and Ryan have received "the package,"I can post a picture of a little project I did complete.

Having a daughter live a continent away is sad. I sometimes start a box to mail and keep it for weeks, just putting in things I think they might like. I guess the main ingredient in this one was self-rising corn meal. For some reason, they've not been able to find this in Washington, and good ole southern cornbread needs it. I also packed a bag of grits. As she was unpacking it last night, she was saying she was going to make grits and salmon for supper. Way to merge the south and the NW!

I used her Anna White Sierra fabrics in these 2 dish towels. All these fabrics are sitting in a box waiting for me to find time to make her quilt. This is just a little teaser. And we love those knitted dishrags. Just a way to make me feel closer to them.

I also emptied 3 of her scrapbooks and sent a whole bunch of pictures from junior high and high school for her to dispose of or keep - or pay back her friends on Facebook. Lots of good material there.

I'm getting ready for my annual doctor's visit today. I guess not annual because I did miss it last year. Fingers crossed there are no surprises.

64th Mother's Day

2011-05-08T18:23:00.002-05:00

Here's Mama after church. She got a corsage for being the next oldest mother in the congregation. There's a 90-year-old who always beats her, but she did beat out the 87-year-old this year since she turned 88 last week.

I put her picture on Facebook. She's always talking about that "Face thing" that people are so busy on. I'll show it to her later and see what she thinks.

I love getting packages

2011-05-07T11:22:00.010-05:00

It seems like last week the UPS man rang the doorbell more than usual, and even our postlady had to make a trip to deliver something.

I love surprises, and some of these were. Other things I was expecting.

The one that got the most wondering about was this one.

I was expecting a package from Sherry, but this was Shari's Berries, and we're not all about fruits except on quilts. I saw that it was to me, so I started to open it, and then I noticed Mama's name there too, so we both got to make predictions about what it was. The first things we encountered were melting ice bags. Hmm. Must mean food. We kind of missed the words "perishable" and "fragile" on the box.

Then there was this. Fan-cee.

At first glance, it looked like huge pieces of candy, but then looking closer we saw strawberry stems and realized that's what was inside. We're kind of slow.
But such a fun and different gift from our son/grandson) and daughter-in-law for Mother's Day. And delicious. We can't let them sit long because the strawberries need to be eaten SOON. Or that's our story. And strawberries are good for you.

Oh, this was on the outside of the box.

Right after that, I received this.

It's 4 free K-cups from Green Mountain Coffee, the Barista Prima Coffeehouse selections. Thank goodness! I was getting tired of Rain Forest Nut and Breakfast Blend. Notice the hole in the top of the Italian Roast. That means I've already tried this, and it was good. I wonder if it was that good or if it was because I knew I was drinking "a deep roasted delight, done right." Now I won't have to bother with those that are done wrong. Can't wait to try the French Roast "a sweet smoky love song to the cafes of Paris." It kind of seems wrong to have a cup of that on my dusty front porch (but I am).

And then this came!

Kind of exciting, huh? Quite a contrast to the latest trend for everything to be smaller and sleeker. This is a 90s dinosaur. But I'm looking for anything to make me enjoy my job better the last few years (make me faster/make more money.

When I first started doing transcription 16 years ago in-house in Atlanta, we would all rush to get the "best" keyboards, meaning the clickiest and fastest. When I went home to work, I got the tech guys to give me a couple of the old ones from the storage room. One after another they died, and for a year or so, I've been using a modern IBM one with a soft touch. And it really made a difference in speed - or so it seemed to me. Or maybe it was boredom and my rather-be-sewing attitude. Who knows? You can't buy them just anywhere, but I found a company who sells them and ordered one. I now have this one plugged in, and it's truly clicky and LOUD. It offended the cats, so they won't stay in the room with me. But I expect to double my earnings this month.

My last surprise was from Sherry. I knew it was coming but didn't expect such a treasure chest of goodies. She works at a beautiful quilt shop in TN that is closing, sadly, and since I can't be there for the big sale, she chose for me. She knows me well.

There was this cute little suitcase just packed with goodies.

There is an American Jane pattern and all the fabrics to make the quilt. Every one of them. No making decisions and wondering about colors. It's all right there ready to go.

I love every one of the fabrics.

Next is a panel and borders for another cute quilt. You can cut up the pieces and arrange them any way you want to. Looks like fun too.

And there is this old-fashioned apron panel with the instructions printed right there on the fabric. How can you go wrong with this? I love it. Something tells me this might get cut out and worked on soon.

Thanks again, Sherry.

My new plants look right at home on the front porch, dust and all.

The ferns look too low in the picture, but I think they're about right.

Every year there is a nest of baby birds at the top of the last brick column. There is obviously a hollow there because I've never seen the babies. I just see the mother flying in and out bringing bugs. It's so sweet to hear those first little tiny peep-peeps and then hear them get louder as the days go by. Right now, they're actually a little raucous in there and might be getting ready to take off. I try to keep the cats off the front porch, but they're very interested in the mother's comings and going from behind the living room window.

I'm going to take my French Roast coffee out there in a minute and see if I feel like I'm in a smoky Paris cafe.

--------------

So sad. I went to the little box to pick out my French Roast coffee, and it was GONE. In the coffeemaker with the hole in it. Mama took it. I told her to help herself, and she did! I guess I'll have to order the whole box next month to find out how it tastes. I tried the Columbian, and it's good too, not as good as the Italian but better than usual.

Court Street Curb Market

2011-05-06T20:23:00.005-05:00

Mama and I drove to Wright's Curb Market on the corner of Court Street and the Southern Blvd today and got some vegetables, none of them grown here but pretty anyway. We also got some squash and a cantaloupe, and Mama got a bag of oranges and some boiled peanuts. They let her sample the peanuts, and it was an easy sale.

There are so many flowers and plants you can't take them all in. Mike took a lot of pictures there last week, and I'm waiting to see those.

I knew I was going back after the geraniums I had seen. I'm the only person in my family who likes them. I don't know how people couldn't love something this pretty. I'll take better pictures when they're out of the car.

I also added 2 ferns for the front porch - as a Mother's Day gift in case anyone forgot.

I've moved them to the front porch, but I've left the rear hatch open, and right now 2 cats are allowed to roam in the car. I did read once about someone bringing home ferns and there being an unwanted visitor in one. The ferns sat in the car all afternoon, so I know if there was a visitor, it's already crawled out and is hiding under my seat waiting for me to get in a lot of traffic to show itself.

Thus the cats.

This little bottle makes me happy. As usual, I'm easily pleased. I was in JoAnn Fabrics last month and saw these bottle in the tempt-you-as-you-check-out rack. I thought they would work better than my plastic water gun for shooting a certain cat who likes to scratch carpet. It does work - great - but there were 2 in the package for maybe $1, so I put Windex in the other. Elise says it might even make her want to clean to have a bottle like this.

The UPS truck and postlady have been ringing my doorbell the past 2 days. I'll get pictures of my surprises for tomorrow.

Sunrises, sunsets, and a handsome corgi

2011-05-05T14:01:00.008-05:00

Because of my lack of interesting things happening around here, I've asked 2 guest contributors for their latest photos.

The first set Emily took on her walk around her neighborhood with my grand-dog Griff.

A warning on the first picture. Kathy or others with severe aversion to 8-legged creatures might want to scroll quickly to the second one. It's NOT REAL though. Just someone's idea of a cute gate.

I know it doesn't help. If someone thought it was "cute" to put an image of a snake on a gate, I would be terribly offended and avoid passing by it.

I can't see these flowers close enough to know what they are. It looks like a fruit tree, but I don't know my fruit tree blossoms. Emily and Ryan are slowly learning that some things that grow well in the south don't too much like the NW (tomatoes), but hostas do really well. Hers are coming up from last year.

Someone is thrilled to be out of the house to romp in the sunshine.

The next set was photographed by my falsely modest husband (well, hardly modest at all). Some people are storm chasers. He's a sunset (or sunrise) chaser.

The storm one was on the way back to TX the night before the tornadoes hit MS and AL.

Others are around Littlefield, TX, and the last 2 were taken in Mexico City from the hotel room.

Enjoy.

I went into the quilt shop just for a minute today to get a couple of colors for the scrappy quilt, but I won't post pictures, because I've already told Mike that joke about the lady whose husband didn't mind how much fabric she bought as long as it was in fat quarters because she had told him fat quarters were free.

I'll have to think of something else.

I'm Hopeless

2011-05-04T09:44:00.008-05:00

I think I've already mentioned my problem with starting too many projects at one time. There are folks out there in blogland who are dangerous to my vow to not start another one. I probably need to not look at any more. I just can't help it though.

I have categories under my Favorites with Blogs, Quilting; Blogs, Sewing; Blogs, Smocking; Blogs, Knitting and Crochet and on and on. Some of them are so full that I started a new category this week: New Fun Blogs to Read.

It was Rachel at Stitched in Color who first introduced me to Bottled Rainbows. It's very different but intriguing. It used the same concept of quilting as you go that I love, and it uses scraps, which I also love.

Here are a couple of examples. So pretty. The orange one. And the plum one. Scroll down to see others.

Here's a finished one by Crystal at Sonnet of the Moon.

I'm not starting this - NOW. But it's nice to know how to do it, and I will add it to my list of want-to's.

Speaking of which, let's take a look at what I have that I want/need to finish/start.

No wonder Mike's worried about moving home.

Elise's quilt, of course. It's getting done gradually.

Emily's quilt that she's waited for for 3 years. It's next.

Christmas pillowcases and fabric I couldn't resist last December.

A Christmas panel Barbara gave me at the same time.

A block-of-the month right after I moved to Montgomery. The quilt looked gorgeous hanging on the wall, and the blocks were fun to too. And I have all the fabrics to do log cabin blocks to finish it - but. I'm not quite as crazy about it as I once was.
The next block-of-the-month at Kudzu Blossom. I like this one better and intend to finish it. Lots of pretty Civil War fabrics.

I want to make myself a Latte Log Cabin like I made for a gift 2 years ago.

I loved working with the Michael Miller neutrals and got enough fabric to made one but this time not under pressure to finish at a certain time. I still can't believe I pulled that off in 2 months.

This one is a "what was I thinking" project. Sherry and I went to a quilting symposium for a weekend and took several classes. One was this wedding ring quilt taught by Judy Neimeyer.

It was a fun class, and she did a great job, but once I was home and didn't have Sherry to laugh with me and spur me on, it kind of just fizzled. I'm worried now that I won't remember exactly how to do it since it's a little tricky. It was my first paper piecing project, and I loved it.

And not to forget things besides quilting, I have this blanket that I finished 10 years ago and still have to weave in the last thread and clip. How hard could that be?
A smocking disaster when I decided to get back to smocking after a long vacation. I refuse to toss it, but this neck binding needs to behave. I'll try cutting a new one and see what happens.

These 3 need buttons or snaps or buttonholes.

I need to be locked in my house for a year with no access to fabric shops and no computer, just a supply of thread and needles, and see if I can plow my way through these things. I can think of worse punishments.

Following Directions

2011-05-03T11:49:00.006-05:00

I did sew today. Finally

Two things had made me not as enthusiastic about getting back to the sewing machine.

One is that the light above the machine had burned out, and it's one of those special kinds that takes a lot of expertise to change, i.e., a husband on a ladder. So Mike changed that for me last week.

Nice. I have a couple of lamps/lights at the machine and windows, but there's nothing like a good overhead light.

The second is that one of my blocks didn't match up like it should, and I just didn't want to take out the stitching and fix it. So I did that this morning - 10 minutes at the most - 5 minutes figuring out where the discrepancy was and 5 minutes actually picking out the seams and resewing.

So now I'm good to go and did these 4 blocks in what time I had left. I cut out a bunch more, but these were the ones I got sewed.

Elise had picked out this sweet blue print for the outside triangles. It's been around so long, she may have once had a dress made from this - something was cut out of it. It's a softer blue than the picture shows.

The directions said to cut 11-inch squares and then cut them in half diagonally to make triangles. I did that and then couldn't wait to try them out with the blocks. Ummm. Not what I expected. It took a few minutes of wondering and then going back and reading the REST of the directions - cut those triangles in half to make smaller one.

That's more like it. I think that will work.

I spent a little more time sitting outside in the wind and watching the clouds swirling around.

While we need some rain, I feel bad that it's raining in the northern section where they're trying to recover from last week's damage. I'm keeping one eye on the Weather Channel.

I hear the rain now. Perfect for working this afternoon with the back door open and a nice cup of coffee - Rain Forest Nut, of course.

Oh, today is my mother's birthday - 88. If she didn't have osteoporosis and back pain, I would be having to hide the car keys from her. She says she could drive anywhere if she could walk to the car without her walker. She still does a lot of things. She's the one who brings in the mail every day and empties the dishwasher when it's full. She locks the doors and turns on the lights at night. She keeps her own rooms and bathroom clean - and half the time mine too. She's now threatening to pull the weeds in the front beds. She's the unofficial neighborhood watch person, and those weeds could seriously handicap her seeing every person who walks by the house and keeping up with how many days the neighbors have been on vacation.

I guess that's my job for tomorrow morning.

Maddy speaks

2011-05-02T08:17:00.009-05:00

We need to talk.

Meow Mix is NOT the same as Fancy Feast. Not in the least. And if we don't eat it, you don't really save any money. Are we on the same page here? Fancy Feast. Seafood only.

It's always nice to have heart-to-heart conversations with your pets. I sometimes don't speak or listen to mine individually for days at a time.

But this one holds no grudges and thinks I'm just wonderful.

Stella/Molly? My mother tells her every day she's the most beautiful cat in the world and how wonderful she is, so she doesn't have much use for me, especially since she suspects I'm the one the water spray comes from when she scratches on the carpet. She's not sure, but it sure seems to come from my direction.

You can't trust that Stella. Maddy knows.

See? These cats have lived together for 5 or more years and get along so-so, but they delight in sneaking up on the other one and attacking.

Getting back to blogging made me to decide to look around and see what things I'm taking for granted. I may not get much done today (I still haven't had breakfast after being up an hour), but it was worth it to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful May morning.

This is Darby's doghouse lantana. It's blocking her door, but I can't seem to get rid of it. Barbie bouquets, as Elise and Emily call them.

These gardenias smell so good I just had to bring a few inside.

Along with some mint leaves.

I planted this Easter lily we got as a gift last week next to the rosemary that I had to rescue from the basil and mint. This is the kind of gardening I like - easy to dig hole, fragrant "weeds,"and instant results.

One old friend left wandering around from yesterday. He got Windexed. I really have to get some ant spray - although Windex seems to work just fine.

My new vow to sew every day is going to be challenged today, but I did press my latest fabrics to cut out for Elise's quilt. I had the squares laid out on the bed last week for her to pick and choose, and she didn't reject one of them. Either we have the same taste, or she's just tired of talking about it and wants me to get it sewed!

I love this stripe. Instant bias.

Elise is such a traditionalist, I didn't think she would like some of the more modern prints, but she surprised me.

Her rules: No pink. No paisley. No stars. I did sneak a little pink in there but not too obvious.

Tornadoes and Ants

2011-05-01T20:18:00.005-05:00

Here is an interesting/awful web site (if it works) that shows aerial views of a couple of areas of Tuscaloosa before and after the tornado. You can pull the bar back and forth to see the before and after pictures.

It's just hard to comprehend something that awful and just 3 hours from us. I'm a weather watcher and love a good storm, and when I look at the Weather Channel map, the rain and storms seem to always miss us and concentrate in this very area. I will never be envious of them again. Naturally we had warnings all day, and I was keeping an eye on things and enjoying the brisk wind, but all the rain kept just missing us.

Mama was watching TV and saw the warnings about Tuscaloosa and called my brother's house in Birmingham. My sister-in-law was oblivious and about to take a shower, but she naturally freaked out with my nephew living in Tuscaloosa. She got in touch with everyone, and they were okay, but Mitch didn't mind admitting how scared he was. I've watched videos of the storm several times, and I can't imagine dealing with something like that.

For my promised pictures of the day. Not very clear, but you can double click and see a close-up.

I had noticed a few ants earlier this morning but couldn't find any insect spray, so I sprayed them with Windex and went to get ready for church. When I went back to the kitchen an hour or so later, they seemed to be partying on the Windex. I found a can of ant spray finally with just 1 or 2 good sprays left, but that seemed to finish them off.

These weren't the little bitty ones either; they were the big boys, and they came ready to cart off anything they found. They had found their way down to the cat bowls and covered the few kernels of food in their dishes and were moving along the baseboards looking for more. They even made a trail down into the garbage disposal. What a mess. Guess I'd better grab some spray tomorrow.

Better in May

2011-05-01T07:43:00.005-05:00

When I last came here in April, my last post was about struggling. I promise I didn't succumb to all my problems. All the "things" seem to be up and running fine - not that I've had a chance to use the embroidery machine. But the computers are fine, and I'm making some progress on cleaning out closets and the garage. A little progress but some.

My main struggles lately are with focus. I have way too many things running through my mind that I want to do and way too little time. I get frustrated and end up doing nothing, just wasting time.

Like reading other people's blogs.

I found a blog last night that I had never seen before,Stitched in Color, and the author Rachel started something huge. She started off by stating a few things - quilting related - that she shouldn't say - just a burst of honesty - and invited others to comment and vent along with her. Much to her surprise, people came out of the woodwork to state their feelings and say things in a somewhat anonymous setting that they wouldn't say aloud. Now there are more than 400 comments and still going, it looks like.

I noticed that many people have the same problem I do with sewing. There's so much talent and creativity out there, and there is now a means of showing it off, and it's kind of intimidating for me to read about.

There are people who do quilts in one day, or at least stick with them until they're finished, and do a great job. I feel bad that I will have a picture of something I started and then it just kind of ends.

And then lots of us are too hard on ourselves with this blog thing. I started this as a journal of sorts and not a showcase of my talents. Some days, just getting a floor mopped is blog-worthy, and I should make note of that. Instead, I've not seen anything lately worth taking pictures of - or more likely don't have my camera handy - and I don't want to just talk without pictures.

Mike and Elise were here last week, and he took enough pictures for us both. I'll steal some of those when he gets them ready.

So now that I'm back, I'm going to find a picture to post this afternoon and then write something every day in the month of May.

And if I don't, I'll come back and erase this and pretend I never said it.

Struggles

2011-04-06T08:13:00.007-05:00

I enjoy it when my life goes along smoothly, and I don't have to face unfamiliar things every day. Like in boring and predictable. But lately, the machines that run my life have all rebelled and are refusing to cooperate. First, Mama's monitor screen starting fading in and out and turning pink, so I was looking into getting her another one. This is her old one. In the meantime, I was cleaning out a closet and found this.
I temporarily plugged it in to see if it would work and called Mama to check it out. She looked from one to the other and back again and frowned and said, "I don't like it."

I said, "You haven't even tried it."

She said, "I don't like the way it looks. It doesn't look like a real computer."

The fact that it isn't pink and it's easy to see has convinced her. And the fact that if she had to buy a new one, it would be expensive and still wouldn't "look like a computer" to her.

Next the embroidery machine. I took it to the repair place (an hour's drive away), and they fixed the carriage and said it was sewing fine. Well, when I got it home, it was not sewing fine. I ruined 2 things trying to embroider a simple design. I looked again at the repair slip, and it said "Bobbin is popping while winding." That's not what I told them. I said the bobbin was popping while sewing.

So it was back to Opelika. It was really a nice experience once I showed Eddy what the problem really was. I got to sit there and watch them completely dismantle my machine and put it back together, but they found the problem. Something about tension making a loop underneath the needle, and the bobbin thread was getting caught up and sticking, therefore putting pressure on the carriage. I like to pretend I know what they're talking about.

I haven't tried it since I brought it home yesterday. I'm kind of scared to.

And lastly, my revived computer. My Computers and Beyond guys whom I thought were my friends installed VISTA on my computer. Vista Professional to make it worse. Not that I have time to play games, but Free Cell is not even there in case I'm ever on a boring conference call.

Nothing is familiar. I keep getting messages like, "This file is corrupted" when I try to transfer files from my external drive to the new computer. That's a scary thought. My embroidery software which I finally got installed is not compatible with Vista and is making me very unhappy.

I spend all my time doing searches on how to fix Vista bugs, but today I'm calling the guys and telling them I want to go back to Windows XP. Probably can't be done, but it's worth a try.

Meanwhile, my flower beds are getting weedy, and the containers need new plants, and I need to vacuum the floors.

Otherwise, life is good if I'll just let myself rise above my mechanical problems. I'll try not to be so negative next time.

I guess I can use the old expression - If it weren't for bad news, there would be no news at all. Something like that!

I have a feeling next time I write, I will have been able to dig in the warm dirt a little bit and work some more on my quilt. Fingers crossed.

UPDATE: I just talked to Sam at Computers and Beyond and told him how mean he was to me to put Vista on my computer. He said, "I don't like Vista, but you had a Vista CD in your drive." What!? Then I remembered I had tried to reformat it myself before taking it in, and it didn't work. Turns out Dell doesn't like you to do it yourself or something like that. So Sam thought I already had Vista and just was replacing it.

BIG sigh of relief. He immediately agreed to go back to Windows XP since my computer is licensed for that.

We're friends again - or will be once he does his magic stuff tomorrow.

Breaking a Commandment

2011-03-22T10:25:00.005-05:00

Coveting. That's the one.

I want my neighbor's dirt.

Sunday afternoon, my neighbor Christy asked permission to park her dad's truck in my driveway to work on a vegetable bed for her to grow her tomatoes and okra.

Yes, it is beautiful and yes, I want one - or two. Mike gave me 2 raised beds for my birthday a few years ago, but they had to stay in Columbus. I loved working in the soft black dirt and being able to sit on the side and plant and weed. Here the soil is just hard clay, and it's no fun to dig in.

I had to laugh at Gaby's comment from yesterday. I wondered about the "old tires" around the trees and figured she had me mixed up with someone else, but then I remembered what is around the trees on my side yard.

I guess it is to conserve water. Keep down weeds? My father-in-law says it might be to protect small trees from the mower. I don't know, but I think they've outlived their usefulness and need to come up. Those trees are not the healthiest in the world, so I might try to perk them up soon - somehow. I'm not sure what they need.

I got a picture of that wonderful wisteria up the street when Darby and I walked early this morning. It's breathtaking even from my kitchen window a block away.
A couple of other pretty things. The weeping willow is huge, just beautiful. There's not much blooming on our streets right now.

Darby ready for her outing.
I've worked some more on the quilt and now have about 60 blocks out of around 100. I'm still enjoying it but running out of different fabric.

I tried to ignore the mistake on this pair and probably could have gotten away with it, but I knew.
Mama has to go to the doctor in Prattville tomorrow, so I think we'll come home the back way and visit this fabric place that she used to go to 50 years ago. It's mostly upholstery and home decorating fabric, but there are a good many cottons there too. If it's still open.

I took my embroidery machine to Opelika yesterday, and they agreed to look at it but that it could be 2 weeks before they got around to it. According to how much cat hair they find, Gaby!

I did do my first investigating of a possible new sewing machine. I've been saving my money, and now it's time to narrow it down a little. We have Bernina at the quilt shop here and Viking at the JoAnn Fabric store and then Janome and Brother in Opelika. I was pretty excited about 2 they showed me yesterday, the Janome Horizon and Brother Laura Ashley. Not too different in price but still pretty expensive.

I know I would get good service and support here at the quilt shop but not quite sure I want to pay the extra money for a Bernina. I know they're probably the best, but I'm weighing my pro's and con's and might be just as happy with a cheaper one. I'm not sure how good the service and support is with the JoAnn shop. The salesperson has not been overly helpful when I've bought a couple of attachments there. She would probably get more interested if I were looking at a sewing machine though! That seems to perk those salespeople right up.

I'll have to test drive a few. Some of them cost nearly as much as a car.

Quilting machines are competing to see who can give you the most space for fitting a quilt under the arm. This is pretty descriptive.

I'm reading what I can and hope to make a good decision.

Life on Forest Edge

2011-03-17T17:00:00.008-05:00

Good news is that the weather is wonderful - warmish and sweet-smelling with all the trees blooming in the neighborhood.

Not so much my yard. I wandered around the yard with my camera and found a few bright spots but more things that need a lot of work. The weeds have a head start already in the herb bed, but I do see the rosemary under them all, and a couple of others.

The rose has buds.
And the maple tree is putting out those sweet little leaves.

The strawberry plants are blooming along with the pansies, and that clematis that I thought had not made it through the winter is budding under the pyracantha blossoms.

This lantana is a problem. It's gotten so woody that I can't get it up without a lot of digging, and it's blocking Darby's dog house.

Not that she ever goes in it. She just sits at the back door and shivers and looks pitiful when it rains.

I've mentioned the tree before that the yard boys kept mowing down, but this past year it's gotten big enough to fight back.

I called it a ginkgo at first because I had no idea what it was. I made an Arbor Day donation once and received a bunch of little sticks that I started in various places. I grew the dogwood in a big pot for a couple of years until it died, and there is another one that's slowly growing. But this one seemed to like the place it was planted (in spite of the trimmings) and is rewarding me with blooms.

Alan told me it was an Eastern redbud, I think, or some sort of redbud, and I do believe it is. I think it's going to be pretty in a few days/weeks.

So what I have I done this week? Looks like break things. My computer keeps giving me threatening messages and blue screens in spite of about 4 virus protectors and anti-malware things I've installed. I have everything important saved, so I'll take it downtown tomorrow for the guys to take a look at it and try to revive it.

Mama's computer turned pale today, and she can barely read her emails. She said she was dusting it, so I've played around with the controls but can't seem to make a difference. She may need a new monitor.

And the 3rd in the string of bad luck is the worst of all. My workhorse embroidery machine.

It's worked so hard these past few months embroidering all those little designs for Isley's quilt without a glitch, but I tried to do a simple little applique last night for Emily with these fabrics

(so she doesn't lose hope on my starting her quilt) and it wouldn't go to the center of the hoop. I messed around with it a little bit and decided the carriage is way un-calibrated - maybe even broken. I don't remember doing anything different, but it sure looks a little wonky and won't go to its proper home when I push that button.

So it's off to Opelika to get that fixed but not until next week. I hope the repairman doesn't find a cat toy or something blocking it.

In the meantime, I made a few more blocks for Elise's quilt. It takes over 100 pairs of blocks, so I'll be working on this for quite awhile.

I made a trip to the library yesterday and decided not to go downtown and just take what the Pike Road one had. Not much in terms of audio books, nothing really. I'll try these 2 but don't have much hope for them. I started one of the books last night and struggled through a couple of chapters and gave it up. Boring. I'll start the Ken Follett one and see how that goes. The other 3 ambitious books I brought home are the interesting one about "Parenting Your Dog" with some good ideas for trying to get your ideas into their little brains. One is a sewing book that I read to Emily last night without her having the benefit of the pictures, and another is a landscape book - just for fun. No pressure on anyone. Not at all.

And since I had to make my weekly trip to Wal-Mart with Mama, I rewarded myself with these 3 bright dish towels.

And that's it for another week.

Creeping Back In

2011-03-13T09:41:00.008-05:00

The lack of inspiration to write anything on this blog bothers me, makes me feel guilty, and makes me worry that I will wish in a few years that I had written everything down. I'll (as always) try to do better. I can't drum up any interest in changing the layout, making it look nicer, or anything like that.

BUT----

Big news. THE QUILT has its baby.

It got finished and mailed to Washington.

And here is Isley herself - in person. Parents Stacy and Kyle declare that she is perfect, 7 pounds, 9 inches, 21 inches long.

She's beautiful, and I can't wait to meet her.

I do have a little bit more to show on Elise's quilt. I'm trying to make a few pairs of blocks a morning.

Some work and some don't. Here's a reject. It just didn't get along with the others.

It's a fun quilt to do. Let's see if I'm enjoying it this much when it comes time to match up the rows and put it together.

The weather is finally getting nice after all that rain and wind. I'm hoping to start taking Darby out for walks in the mornings and enjoy some of it. Today it's church, quick trip to the grocery store and work until 7.

Later - Just saw this on Facebook. I have no shame about stealing pictures from Facebook!

Isley's going to have to fight dad for her quilt, it looks like.

Ready to Roll - With Fabric

2011-02-24T11:42:00.007-06:00

I can't describe how I've looked forward to this trip to Texas. All by myself. Driving all afternoon listening to my audio books and drinking tea. Stopping and spending the night at a hotel and having all that time for just me. And then getting to drive all day the next day with my books and tea and just me. Nothing self-centered about me!

I packed all the fabric that I thought Elise would be interested in for her quilt and am taking them for her to choose. The ones we can match, we will, and the ones we can't will give us a good excuse to visit Rachel's Fine Fabrics. I guess it's wrong to hope we won't find matches for all of them. I know Rachel has missed me since my last visit.

I went to the library downtown just for audio books and left Mama in the car while I went in. I locked her in and told her to call 911 if anything happened. The worst thing was a stare-down with this big girl dressed in purple in the car next to ours. I think Mama probably won.

These look like they might be interesting. Four of them in case 1 ends up being no good.

Mike has just read "Great Expectations," and it's always good to have good literature to discuss on our side trip to - somewhere - next week. I chose the Grand Canyon, but it's too far. He says Utah, but I think we'll compromise on Colorado. Anything mountains. Anything beautiful.

I have my Kindle with its spiffy new orange case - with light - that Mike sent me.
And lots of sewing projects for when I stop tonight. Maybe Shreveport. It's just according to when I get myself in the car.

Darby went for her annual shearing yesterday. She hates the process but loves the look. I swear I saw her admiring herself in the window glass as we left the vet's.

She doesn't mind that she got told she needed to lose weight. She just gets half a can of Alpo and a quarter cup of hard food a day, and I've been feeling bad about that. She must be stealing more cat food than I realize.

Maybe she needs to spend more time herding.

I love being able to see her cute little feet without all that hair.

She really wants to go. She probably remembers all those McNugget Happy Meals she got last time.

This was looking through the cat door as I packed the car. If she lost that weight, there's a chance, maybe, of getting through that door.

So I'm off. Nearly. In a bit.

Puppy Fetching

2011-02-15T09:55:00.010-06:00

No, not new puppies. Certain people may want to breathe easier now. One is enough.

The dog who lives here, Darby, is a very smart dog, and I just don't have time to explore all that she is capable of. One thing she has learned is to clean up the yard when she comes inside. Every time she goes out, she has a toy (puppy) in her mouth, so by the end of the day she has 5 or 6 scattered over the yard.

It's become a game to us, and she is totally enthusiatic about it - at first. After bringing in about 3, she starts looking inside as if to say, "I BROUGHT you a puppy."

This is how it starts. She runs up initially with one puppy in her mouth, usually her favorite sheep.

I take it and then say, "Go get puppy."

Here comes another sheep.

And then a pig.

One one more, some kind of rodent-looking thing. The enthusiasm is fading.

.
It's funny how even though there may be a good many toys outside, I can always count on her having the 2 sheep and the pig.

I'm working on her handing them to me now instead of dropping them at my feet.

Mike sent me an article the other day about a dog who has thousands of words in her vocabulary. I wish I had time to work with Darby. She knows some things like "out" and "eat" and, of course "no".

When I ask where the kitty is, she'll run all over the yard looking for one of our cats. She has enough Border Collie in her genes to have tried to herd the 2 cats, but they put a stop to that from the start - with claws. Now when they try to snuggle up to her or wash her face, she keeps her eyes averted. Never trust a cat.

Elise's quilt is growing slowly. I'm happy with how fast it goes together. I do an assembly line thing with it and can turn out 4 or 5 pairs in a morning. Just finding those free mornings is the problem.

I'm having to work on my tendency to want to "match" or use a neutral with every dark. Elise wants it more scrappy, so I'm going to have to put some combinations together that go against that tendency.

I was going to take step-by-step pictures of the construction of the set of 2 blocks, and thought my Ott light would be a good light for it. Wrong. It looks like they were taken at the bottom of an aquarium.

Anyway.

It starts with two 5-1/2 by 20 strips.

These are cut into 2 wide and 4 narrow strips.

And sewn togther with opposite colors.

And pressed with seams going the opposite way on each one.

Then these 2 sets are cut into 6 more pieces.

And arranged into Block A and Block B.

Easy as it can be.

If the pressing is done right, it will lay flat and pay off later when they're all joined together. I need all the help I can get.

I still have some tweaking to do - maybe or maybe not. One corner doesn't quite meet, but as long as the blocks measure 6-1/2" x 6-1/2", we're not worried if every corner matches. Maybe when I enter one in a quilt show one day. Yeah, right.

This is a better idea of those blues in the sunlight.

It's a beautiful day today, and I'm going to try to get outside a little bit and enjoy the sunshine.

Maybe not as much as Stella though.

Withdrawal pangs

2011-02-10T16:42:00.005-06:00

Or is it pains?

I've been in a lovely pink and green fog for a couple of months now working on Isley's quilt, and it is totally finished now. Ready to go to Washington. I think Washington is ready for Isley too, at least 2 people I know are.

I guessed that the embroidered squares wouldn't handle washing as well as the other parts because they're not actually quilted down. The wrinkles will iron out, but who irons a quilt? So it will have to be wrinkled. These pictures are awful - all pale and anemic-looking. I'll do some more later.

The back is just the way it's supposed to be, bright and wild.

All in all, a really fun quilt to do. It'll be hard to give it up. Maybe I can visit it this summer.

To help my pain, I started in earnest on Elise's quilt. I'll do Emily's at the same time, but I have to keep my mind on this one until I get those measurements straight in my mind....3-1/2 x 5-1/2, 5-1/2 x 2. 83 pairs of Block A and Block B and 19 single Block A's.

Here's a pair sewed together. They're easy to do, but I'm a little haphazard with my 1/4" seams sometimes. Once they're trimmed, these will be fine. I think.

These are a few pairs I just cut and laid out. Good thing they're not sewed together since I see a couple of mistakes.

It was a good day to sew - a perfectly cold and gray day. We had to drive to Prattville this morning, and that wind was not fun. Winter is not fun to me.

While we were in the doctor's office, a couple came in that I didn't look at very closely, middle-aged with a little girl. On the way home, Mama said, "That woman sitting across from us was on TV last night, yelling about the schools." I guess I miss a lot by not watching the evening news. She misses very little, from the doctor's hair and wardrobe to her opinion on Alabama politics, SEC football, whether "Days of our Life" is going off the air, and how much she hates cold weather. We do agree on that. I won't give my opinion on having to wait 2 hours to see the doctor when we had an appointment. This is just a pain management doctor - not an ER doctor with emergencies - with 6 or 8 people sitting in his waiting room in pain with overdue appointments. But no opinions. He does help her.

Home Stretch

2011-02-07T13:55:00.002-06:00

I took my final stitch on this little quilt just now. The binding went on really well, and I'm pleased with it.

BUT

I decided the embroidery squares need a little something to hold them down since they didn't get involved in the quilting of the rest of it. So I'm going to make a running stitch around every design to kind of tack it down - not all the way through but through the batting. That will be kind of fun.

I'm sure everyone was worried about that. So relax now.

It should be ready to mail to Issaquah by the end of the week.

I have 2 more quilts lined up to take its place, but I sure will miss the colors and the little critters.

Rain on the Roof

2011-02-01T19:05:00.004-06:00

Lots of it.

Wind too.

But we like it.

It's snowing in Littlefield. Maybe I'll have a picture of it tomorrow.

What's Behind Door #1

2011-02-01T14:27:00.007-06:00

In my kitchen, that is.

The sellers of this house were very proud of the spice rack they had built on the side of a cabinet and behind a door. I have to admit it was a great idea. Unfortunately, I had just dumped anything small on it and really had no idea what was there.

Last week I put it on my organizing list but that's as far as it went until yesterday when I had the step-stool out for another reason and decided to go for it.

I didn't throw out half as much as I anticipated, but I did find out exactly what I had. I found new homes for some things and brought other things in.

Since I (sort of) alphabetized the spices, I can have a general idea of where they are and not end up with 3 bottles of cinnamon candies. I went to 3 stores looking for them this Christmas to use in cornflake wreaths, not realizing I already had 2 bottles. Naturally, I ended up not making them, so now I have all 3.

These pictures all seem blurry, but I don't have time to take more.

Hmmm. I see raspberry hot chocolate mix. That sounds good for a rainy day.

That's about all I have to show for my week except for an excellent pork tenderloin that I just took out of the oven. No picture. It tastes better than it looks.

And another row of the quilt sewed down. Enough pictures of the quilt until it's finished.

And having a daughter get another year old. Emily had a birthday yesterday. They keep adding those years and making me feel old.

Rainy Day Sewing

2011-01-25T10:46:00.008-06:00

What could be better?

Maybe a nice cup of Rain Forest Nut and a purring cat along with the rain. I can't think of many things I'd rather be doing this morning.

With the pictures I took this morning, I may have made a very good argument about getting a new sewing machine.

I love my machine (Viking-Husqvarna Freesia). It's getting old but still sews very nicely. I'm familiar with its quirks and limitations, and it knows mine. I've learned to recognize the sound it makes when the bobbin is almost out, and I love that you don't have to unthread the needle to fill a new bobbin. I'm sure all the newer machines are like this now though. I really, really do want a needle threader though of my next one.

My biggest problem is space, and it's probably not just the machine, although the nice newer machines have large surfaces just for quilting and a bigger space between the needle and the other part. See below. I'm sewing in the dining room now because the sunroom is a little chilly, and it looks messy all the time. But anyway...

When I last mentioned THE quilt, I was a little too optimistic about being almost through. I conveniently forgot about all those little 1/2 inch bindings that had to be top-stiched - 6 of them across the length of the quilt.

If I thought it was hard to top-stich these little panels -

I had just forgotten what manipulations are necessary to feed a whole quilt through the little opening in the machine.

The first row is easy because there is nothing on the right, but as you work down the quilt, all that bulk has to be rolled up to the right. And you still have to guide that foot with both hands.

In this picture, I'm holding the balance of the quilt under my chin so I can have both hand free for feeding it through.

It did make for some interesting contortions and trial-and-error moves.

Maddie has been with me all the way in making this quilt. She likes the bright colors and the sound the machine makes.

She helps with the straightening.

And sometimes she even checks on the tension for me.

So - I did finish all the pink bindings. It sure has grown into a big little quilt.

This closeup shows just how hard it is to keep a straight line along the edge. But I'm happy with it so far.

Now the green side has to be folded, pressed, and stitched down - by hand!

Easy but time-consuming. I have a little of that this morning - time, that is - and a good excuse for another cup of coffee. Vacuuming the floors is not half as much fun, and rain doesn't come often enough to waste it.

The next pictures WILL have the binding on.

A Little Progress

2011-01-20T21:50:00.007-06:00

After reading back over today's post, I wonder if it's just better not to write anything for days and days or to go on and on about my messy kitchen cabinets. Or the weather. Or sewing.

At least, people who come to see if I'm still alive can be satisfied. (I promise to answer emails soon.)

I didn't set any records for cleaning and straightening today, but when I had some extra time, I sewed - and sewed.

This is where the little quilt is now. Two more rows to join together. It's stressful zig-zagging the rows together and making sure the vertical bars line up. Then you have to turn it over and zig-zag again. I found my shoulders all knotted up a few times.

Tomorrow will be binding day hopefully. The stripe is the fabric I chose to go all the way around the edges. I love putting on bindings. Oh, and I guess I need to make a label too.
My only job on my quest to organize my kitchen was a row of cabinets and drawers - underneath those perfectly straight and clean drawers from yesterday.

So I did this drawer.

Not much to do here - just make new stacks.

I love the deep drawers next to the stove in this house. I have one for pots and pans too and straightened that one too, but I didn't put a picture here because I didn't want anyone to laugh at them.

This is one bottom cabinet that I've never really visited much. One side has baking things - maybe that's why . And pitchers, it seems. I threw away some things from here. Why would I have yeast? I won't mention the expiration date on that.

So it's all ready and waiting in case I get the urge to bake a cake - or something.

AND the biggie.

This neat spice/everything else rack is behind a door in the kitchen, and when I moved in, I just put anything on here that would fit. I think it's time to clean and sort. I'm kind of afraid to look at expiration dates because I may not have anything left when it's over with. If it smells good, I'm keeping it.

We'll see.

And finally --- my buy of the week/month/year (since that's all I've bought except groceries):

Lovely.

I had a fairly new mixer with a cute little stand that stored the beaters, but I kind of killed it before Christmas making cookies. There's that baking again. I kept forgetting to buy another one, but when I was in Wal-Mart the other day I remembered to look for one.

I found 2 portable mixers. One was a Black and Decker one for $19.88 and then there was this humble little thing for - not $8.88 - or even 5.88 - but $2.77! What's Wal-Mart's Blue Light Special? Rollbacks, maybe? If it works at all, it will be fine for that price. Who cares if I burn up the motor in this one?

I also found this in Wal-Mart, but I didn't stand in line for a picture. An hour before it was supposed to be on display, there were at least 100 people waiting for a picture.

Kind of blurred, but that's as close as I could get.

Gaby and Dina, you should ask Mike what this is!

I'm Back

2011-01-19T10:47:00.007-06:00

Back with more exciting day-by-day accounts of my life, witty stories, and outstanding pictures.

Well maybe just back with whatever I can find to record. It gets really hard to find something special in every day, and sometimes I don't. Other times, I do but just don't want to talk about it.

January is a hard month for me. I just don't do well in cold weather. There is this to remind me how spring smells.

I've spent several mornings the past 2 weeks working on Isley's quilt. The fun part is over, and now it's breath-holding time, hoping all those little squares line up enough to put together. Precision is not a word I think of when I think of my "skills," and for that reason I can't believe I like quilting so much. Because it takes it. If your seams are off just a millimeter, you pay for it when you start to put things together.

So first thing I did was join each square with 2 bindings. The pink one on the front I top-stitched with my machine. It's not as easy as it looks. Frankly, it's quite hard to stay right on the edge and not run off. Which I did a few times.

When that was done, I turned it to the other side and stitched the green bindings down. You can't do this on the machine because it would show on the pink side, and no one, even the most precise person, could match those seams. Each one had to be sewed by hand, which is kind of nice, but the hard thing is making each one exactly half an inch.

I finished those this morning and trimmed the edges off top and bottom and placed them on the floor. A miracle! Those green bindings all lined up, at least well enough to satisfy me. There are 4 more rows to go, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed they will come out even too.

When I transferred my pictures from my camera to my computer, I noticed that I had 43pictures. I got kind of excited until I remembered what they were.

OR-GAN-I-ZATION.

On several of the blogs I read, the people have been participating in an organization party-like thing where you link your pictures and show what you've done. There are a lot of them where they've turned a coat closet into an office or a craft closet or something to make good use of it.

I'm not sending in any pictures, but I thought it would be interesting (and keep me on track) if I started in the kitchen and took before and after pictures of the things I organize.

The most logical and needed project was the junk drawer. Here it is in all its glory. Where did all this stuff come from? Why do I always have candles and matches in my junk drawer? Maybe it goes back to the days when the children were home, and I would have to always go buy candles for some occasion. I've probably had these same ones for 10 years or more. And what has been cut with those scissors? Looks like gardening shears. Well maybe I have trimmed a few plants with them.

And after. Amazing what was in there that I don't need. The candles made the cut, but a lot of stuff got tossed or put in their correct places.

Working to the right, the gadget drawers. We don't cook too much or use these things a lot, so I'm not sure how they get into such a mess.

A little crowded but more able to find things. I like to do this because it reminds me of what I do have. In case I need to make melon balls any time soon or baste a turkey. Or cut shortening into flour. Right!

I did a few more drawers and a cabinet, but I'll wait until another day for that.

I'll leave with a few before pictures. I'm amazed at how much empty space I have in this kitchen. The storage is wonderful. I just need to organize it.

Then I can start bringing in fabric and craft supplies to fill the shelves! Like this one.

Last of the Quilting Pictures

2011-01-13T09:17:00.012-06:00

I meant to get all the pictures up sooner, but I had a national championship to win first.

Not that I watched the game, of course.

I saw the winning field goal kicked while peeking through a crack in the door. TV sound off. Just part of the screen. When I saw a lot of people in orange and blue jumping and screaming, I figured out we had won.

WAR EAGLE.

Nice.

So on to pretty, less stressful things (to some people).

I was fascinated with these tiny little squares that Julie was making.

It turns out that I have the book that these patterns come from. It's called Underground Railroad. There's a nice story behind it, but I'm not sure of the details. It deals with hiding slaves during the Civil War and using various quilt patterns to convey messages. I'll learn more about it when I have more time.

I love sampler quilts because I get bored with doing the same thing over and over, but in the book I wasn't too thrilled with the way the duller greens, browns, and reds looked. Julie used some exciting colors, and it gave me a whole new perspective on it. Especially done in that small scale. Maybe I'll try it. One day.

I believe Judy did this one. It's the first one I saw completed, and it really brightened up the house.

Joan started - and finished - this quilt in a single day - maybe half a day. One minute she was unfolding the fabric, and in no time she was hanging it on the banister. I love the colors and how the stripes are perfect for the borders.

This was not done at the retreat but is just another example of Joan's talents.

According to Sherry's email:
I am sending a picture of quilt that Joan designed and pieced for the Houston Museum here in Chattanooga. She asked me to quilt it for her. There was a big picture of it and an article in the Sunday paper 2 weeks ago, because it is being auctioned off for the museum in Feb. I didn’t even know it was in the paper until a quilting friend called me and told me “your published in the paper”. David had to go dig the paper out of the trash.

Below are 2 quilts done by Michele. The first is from the pattern "Sweet and Simple," designed by Kathy who owns the quilt shop where Sherry works, Lavender Lime. Kathy was fun to be around, but she was on the road with her job most of the time and just dropped in from time to time. I appreciate her including Debby and me in the retreat.

I saw these blocks being done when I would go back and forth to the ironing board or cutting table. I believe they are quilted by built-in software in her machine.

It wasn't until I saw it all together up close that I realized how beautiful it was.

I love the colors and the fabric, which is maybe a cotton sateen, not the normal quilting cotton we usually see.

I did do a few blocks for Emily's quilt just to try out different combinations. These may or may not work, but at least I've broken the ice and started.

I have made a little progress on Isley's little quilt. I'm in the process of slowly hand sewing all those green binding strips down. Some are folded and pinned but not stitched, some are stitched, and some are not even folded at all. This is the slowest part. It also needs more pressing since being packed away to come home.
The back. Each row will be separated by more of the pink binding strips. Don't think it wasn't tricky to line up the name and make sure the ladybugs were all facing the same way on one side and then turn it over and have those strips meet in a certain pattern.
I can't imagine if I'd tried to match the fabrics.

It still makes me happy.

Speaking of happy - or content, I guess. Stella/Molly disturbed during her morning nap.

More Red Rooster Pictures

2011-01-08T08:47:00.010-06:00

Remembering the good times. Southern Pecan coffee in my new cup and reading some of the recipes from the cookbook I got there. I will definitely be making some of the dishes in it.

The pictures below are some of the quilts and details of quilts that were already at the house. I missed a lot of them - there were so many - and every one just beautiful. We think most of them were made by the owner of the bed and breakfast, Jennifer.

Debby: Did she or didn't she produce this rooster quilt?

Now to the week's creations. When someone finished a quilt top, they would go upstairs and hang it over the railing for everyone to admire. Such a pretty sight.

I'll start off with Sherry's quilt since I know a little bit about it. I know that most of the fabric was William Morris and that it was beautiful. I know that she grumbled about being disappointed with the contrast of the white, but try as I could, I could never see the problem. At first, all I saw was this jumble of purple, white, and beige squares and triangles.
turn into this

and then those pieces into this.

In 2 days from start to finish.

This was done by Vicki (there are 2 Vicki's and I may not have the spelling correct, but I know who did which quilts). She also did this from the beginning in 2 days - or less.

And then went on to make this one. The turquoise circles and stripes.

Vista and Judy were making small quilts to use up their stash. I think they were going to be contributed to neonatal units or charities. Some lucky children will be happy to have these.

The other Vicki was working on her batik squares.

The border/sashing was just perfect for bringing them all together. I thought it looked like a staned glass window.

Mary Lu got busy and completed this cute froggy bag almost before I got unpacked.

I think these were from her table too, but I'll have to ask her for some updated pictures of them. Once I got the pictures home, it was hard to remember who was working on what. Looks interesting though. . .

There are more, believe it or not. I'm waiting on some identification and maybe some finished projects. Then I have to get started on my own things. I need more time.

And many another retreat!

Quilts

2011-01-07T18:41:00.004-06:00

I don't have time to write much today, so I'll just post a few pictures.

I'll do my quilting project before I show pictures of the big quilts that the others did. My little area started off pretty neat, but as time went on, it got messier and messier with all those little snips of pink and green and got scattered all over the room. I would find pieces in places I could have sworn I'd never been before - on the staircase, in the kitchen, in other people's areas.

It was nice, though, to have room to lay all my pieces out and sew and iron them on without interruption.

Meanwhile Sherry across the table smoothly went through her pile-o-purple and turned out a fabulous quilt that I will post pictures of tomorrow. You can see that the first picture was taken before our 3rd table mate Vista arrived. We kind of spilled over onto her table.

Now you can see Vista's neat work to the left. It was nice getting to know her and seeing the pretty things she was turning out - quickly. Pictures tomorrow.

This is how a block looked before trimming.

And this is how it looked after trimming. That was my favorite part.

I had to number them because there were 30 of them, and they had special places to go even they all looked alike.

On Tuesday afternoon, I finally had enough done that I could sew the sashing between the panels and lay it out in rows. It was very tricky trying to make sure the front pieces were in order while keeping the back right side up and staying with the pattern. What a relief when it all matched up.

This last picture is one row of the wrong side - strips with pink sashing - and under it is the other side with green sashing.

Tonight I'm working on pinning those strips into 1/2-inch strips and tomorrow I'll top stitch them down.

It's coming along and fun to do.

Big nice amazing quilts tomorrow.

Late Bloomer and More Red Rooster

2011-01-06T14:36:00.005-06:00

Look who decided to finally bloom.

This is a sad little Christmas cactus that just doesn't like this house. It used to have bunches of blooms from Thanksgiving until Christmas, but I'm thinking it needs some sort of boost. This is the best it could do, so far.

There are so many pictures and so much to mention about the retreat that I think I'll just limit today to food - although there were not too many limits on it. Every day we were served 3 meals a day. We would start smelling the food cooking and try to guess what it was long before the dinner bell rang.

Here's where we ate. A beautiful dining room with windows on 3 sides and decorated beautifully.

There was a menu posted every meal, and there was not one thing served that I didn't like, and that includes brussels sprouts, broccoli, and carrots. My favorites were the jambalaya, the crunchy slaw, and especially the cornbread. We had cherry cobbler, poppy seed cake, and almond joy pie, among other things, for dessert.

Breakfasts were great too. The first morning we had waffles with strawberry syrup, bacon, and scrambled eggs. Another day a hash brown and sausage casserole, sausages, and eggs. Always with a biscuit.

More pictures of the dining room and food.

We were even taken care of between meals. Quilting takes a lot of energy. There was always coffee ready and a little refreshment room with a refrigerator filled with drinks and plenty of snacks.
I'll get around to actual quilting tomorrow. And there was a whole bunch of that done. We didn't just eat all the time.

Back Home Again

2011-01-05T21:10:00.009-06:00

From the Red Rooster.

We flew the coop today right after lunch. Sorry for the chicken jokes, but we've been surrounded by hundreds of chickens and roosters for the past 4 days - not real ones. The pictures over the next few days will show some of them.

It was the greatest trip, just wonderful. From Sunday night to Wednesday afternoon, we had nothing to do but sew, read, talk, and eat in the most beautiful setting.

Debby and I met Sherry and most of the others at a Cracker Barrel in Cullman for supper. It's funny how the others were so unfamiliar then but ended up seeiming like old friends. I didn't take any pictures there (so as to delay the "she's weird" impression from the others) except for this interesting cabbage/kale? in the flower bed out front.

Also interesting was the way we got to the house. I think we had 7 cars and only 1 person who knew the way. We had one person who had to get gas, so we all lined up at the service station ready for takeoff.

If there's anything I hate worse than merging onto a congested interstate (which it certainly was Sunday), it's merging on a congested interstate at night with all those lights coming up behind me and not knowing what lane they're in. Luckily, we all got on without incident. We did our best to keep up with the leader who wasted no time getting there! After we left the interstate, we had about 20 miles to go of winding back roads. Coming back today it was nice, but at night we had no idea what we were getting into.

It was cold and damp, and we had all taken about 20 bags/suitcases/boxes each and had to get those unloaded and up the stairs to our rooms and sewing areas (which were thankfully downstairs). That was the worst part of the trip - except leaving to come home.

I should have taken a picture before we moved our things in, but this is our room - even roosters on the bed covers. It was fun to lie in bed each night and talk until 1 or 2 of us fell asleep. Debby and Sherry had not seen each other in 16 years, and we had not all 3 been together in about that many years, so there were lots of things to catch up on and lots of things to remember and laugh about. That was one of my favorite times.

This is the cozy little area in the hall just outside our room and another bedroom for 4. There were quilts everywhere and little arrangements. It was just hard to take it all in, and I kept seeing something different every time I looked around. The Christmas decorations were all up, which made the house even more beautiful. It will be tomorrow before I can get all those pictures posted. Get ready for Red Rooster pictures for several days!

Here is the front of the house and the lake across the street taken Tuesday when we ventured out for a walk - the easy-going-down-the-hill-but-rough-coming-back-up walk. The weather was great that day, crisp and good-smelling and just cool enough to be comfortable.

I'll save the other pictures for tomorrow - and the next day - and the next- but here is a view from upstairs of our sewing arrangement. We each had our own table and many times borrowed space from our neighbor.

I hope these ladies don't mind their pictures being here, but there was almost no time when the room was empty. We could hear sewing machines when we woke up every morning, and even after we went to bed.

01/01/11

2011-01-01T20:06:00.005-06:00

I like how that looks.

And we'll have 01/11/11 and 11/11/11 this year.

Not making any promises but I'm going to try to keep this blog more up to date. I know I'll regret all the things I've missed writing down.

It won't be right away though, because it's time for the long-awaiting quilting retreat. Tomorrow!

I'm all packed and ready - kind of - taking way more than I need but worried about forgetting something.

Isley's quilt is the first thing I'm going to work on - maybe the only thing. I've done all the embroidery - 15 squares - and layered the other ladybug squares with batting.

Now it's just a matter of strip quilting all 30 of them and then joining them together. Once the binding is on, it will be finished.

Here are some of the embroidered squares.

All the squares but not in the right order.

If this is all I get done, I'll be happy. I'm just looking forward to being with my cousins and a bunch of other quilters. I'm sure it will be an inspiration to me just to see what they're doing. I plan to take a lot of pictures but won't be able to post them until I get home Wednesday.

It's THAT Kind of Day

2010-12-13T09:03:00.002-06:00

27 degrees - feels like 14 - at 9:00 a.m.

I brought Darby's Christmas blanket into the bedroom because the sunroom is just too cold, and Stella immediately took possession. They're dealing with it.

It will be a good day if I can stay inside and quilt and read and do laundry.

Warm house. Coffee. Cranberry candles. Good day.

Pink and Green Turtle

2010-12-11T13:21:00.004-06:00

To join the other critters on the quilt.

The only reason I had time to do the turtle is because my internet service was out for awhile. Work emails are begging for help and offering overtime, so I have to put my pleasure on hold and carry on for the good of my new company, wherever and whatever it is.

Sadly, my favorite coordinator is no longer with the company, according to an email we received yesterday. That's bad news for me in that she knew all about me and put up with my needing to change my schedule at the last minute or when I didn't get enough lines to make everyone happy. Besides, although I never met her face to face, she was just a nice person to talk to and always pleasant and friendly. I don't have a forwarding e-mail for her, but I hope she's the one who left the company other than the other way around and and has another job.

The good news is that things are a little chaotic as they usually are with a merger, and maybe no one will watch me closely and see if I don't get enough lines.

My first report this morning the doctor chewed and swallowed all the way through her 8-minute dictation, and my nerves were shot when I finished it. Those sounds are amplified when they're speaking right into your ear, and it drives me crazy. Eating hard candy or cough drops is another pet peeve. Don't they know that you can hear it every time it hits their teeth? UGH. And you can't escape, just knowing every few second you're going to hear it again.

So, I'll be hoping for some good dictators this afternoon and a few cups of yummy cinnamon roll coffee. I think Mama just made some cinnamon rolls to go with the coffee too.

Ladybug Quilt

2010-12-07T14:00:00.005-06:00

Ok, it's back to a little quilting - or getting ready for it. When we go away for the quilting retreat in January, I want to have several things ready, so I'm starting Isley's little ladybug quilt. She's not actually here yet, but I'm slow, so maybe by the time she makes her appearance, she'll have a quilt.

Her nursery is pink and green with ladybugs, and it's been fun to think about what I'll do.

I sometimes get in trouble without a pattern, but I'm kind of making this up as I go along.

It started with this fabric.

And I added some more.

This will be one side of it. Each space will be filled in with embroidered bugs and birds and flowers plus a turtle and an owl. The 5 diagonal spaces will have the letters of her name appliqued in a combination of the fabrics.

Wow. Wonder if this will work.

The other side will be made up of strips of all the fabrics, and each square will be quilted as I go along.

Here are a couple of the critters. I'm a little rusty on my machine embroidery, but it's coming back to me. Some of them need a little pressing and trimming and maybe some starch.

Those owl eyes needed 2 layers of white. Too late.

I think I'm going to like it, and most of all, it's a lot of fun.

Comments

2010-12-06T18:33:00.003-06:00

I love it when people comment on my blog. Sometimes I'm not sure anyone but my immediate family reads it. And I'm probably flattering myself that even they do! It would probably help if I would find something interesting to write about and not just take pictures of trees and cats.

I hardly go back and read old posts, so I was lucky to find this sweet message from the post about Emily's race back in October.

Tad Doviak said...
Hi, I'm Tad from Tad Needs A Job. Congrats to Anne and Emily for winning the costume contest. I do, in fact, still need a job. Kind of. I'm "underemployed", which mostly means I have a job that pays less than I'd like.

But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I love to do the urban races and just wanted to let you know how much fun it was to run this race. We had a great time with Anne, Emily and the rest of the racers in Seattle.

Thanks, Tad. They had a great time too.

This is especially nice because Tad was the winner - the real winner - not just the one who dressed up the craziest. I would like to have a picture of the winning team....

Speaking of comments, the anonymous one on the last post gets a frowny face. I'd want to be anonymous too! :-0

IT'S GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER. WAR EAGLE.

I'm not yet clear if I should be a Huskies fan or a Cougar fan. Someone win me over.

IT'S GREAT!!

2010-12-04T19:05:00.004-06:00

TO BE!

AN AUBURN TIGER!

">

WAR EAGLE

Intruder

2010-12-02T08:07:00.005-06:00

Mama found this little guy in her bathtub this morning.

Here he is on the front porch thanking me for his freedom. He'd just better be glad he has legs or he would have been looking at a violent end.

Mama walked into my room earlier with a bath brush in one hand and a dust pan in another asking for help. She thought he was pretty cute (about 2 inches nose to tail) but didn't want any part of removing him.

So how would he have gotten there? These girls are not talking.

Time for quilting again. How about this for some serious cuteness?

Can't wait to get started on this, one of my 3 to take to the quilting retreat.

Creeping Back

2010-11-29T07:08:00.004-06:00

When I don't write anything here, I don't even pull up the web site or read the comments, so I missed a few. Thanks Lydia and Gaby for hanging in there with me.

I don't have too much hope for anything interesting happening in December since I won't be preparing for lots of people here. It will be just Mike and Elise, Mama and me, and we'll probably spend some of their time in Andalusia. And possibly painting....

Putting up and decorating the tree all by myself is not exciting me right now. I'm still trying to decide if I have the energy to put away the few fall decorations and bring out some Christmas ones. I'm not motivated today, but the spirit might overtake me later this week.

It's the bleak season now, and I actually like it. There is quite a change in scenery from the last time I posted.

One bright spot at the side door.

I did catch up on some of my emails (although I did have to be prodded by a couple of people), rolled over a 401K from my dying company, talked about maybe, maybe retirement for both of us next year (fingers crossed), and pretty much did a lot of reading and thinking about sewing.

If all goes well, on January 2nd Debby and I should be driving to Cullman, AL, to meet Sherry at the Red Rooster Retreat.

Some of Sherry's advice: ..... don’t get too dressed up. Just be comfortable. Meals are provided.... There’s a little snack room in the big house with a refrigerator to put your things in. We were all sitting around in front of the fireplace last time remarking about how much weight we had gained since arriving even our socks were tight. Remember to pack more projects and sewing stuff in your suitcase than clothes. You can sew or read, from the time you get up until you go to bed if you want—except for waddling in to the dining rooms for meals, so you really get a LOT done.

Wow, 4 days and 3 nights of doing nothing I don't want to. Not having to get dressed to go anywhere. Sewing with people who are also sewing (motivation to stay on task). Delicious meals cooked and served to you. Sitting around the fire at night and knitting or sewing and talking. I think I could love some of that. Plus lots of cousin talk. I can't even remember when the 3 of us were together last - maybe our grandmother's funeral a loooong time ago. That's awful, but we'll manage to catch up, I'm sure.

I'm cutting out pieces for 2 long-promised daughter quilts and a baby quilt with ladybugs for the March baby Isley. Plus I'm packing a few unfinished embroidery and knitting projects.
________________

Speaking of painting, this is the email I got from Mike this morning:

1. Go to some store where they will talk to you. Doesn't matter which
store. And the price of the paint doesn't matter. Latex vs oil not
important. The ability to cover in 2 coats is all. (sounds simple, but I will probably overthink this - and I didn't notice any help on what color paint.)

2. Tell them you want something that might cover sheet rock in 2 coats.

3. Get two gallons.

4. Consider the trim and get one quart. I don't think there is hardly
any of this in that room.

5. Don't start. Important that you not start. (wonder why he would say that...)

6. Look around and see if there's a roller frame and pan. I will buy
the brushes and roller pads. (We have 40 years' worth of paint stuff - somewhere. I think I can find those.)

Time to get started on laundry and cleaning and then a cup of Cinnamon Roll coffee before I start to work.

Blog Vacation

2010-11-15T07:09:00.006-06:00

I'm going to be back. I'm promising myself to get out of this non-writing phase I seem to be in.

I have things happening, lots of nice things. I either have nothing to say, or there's so much it's overwhelming.

I read other people's blogs, and I take it personally when they don't keep me updated. It's like a story where I'm unable to read the next chapter. Of course, that's people who have interesting lives, lots of things going on - like quilts or sewing projects that they're working on (and finishing) - or trips or holiday things. It's funny how you feel you know someone by just reading their blogs and seeing their pictures. I saw someone in Montgomery once whose embroidery blog I read, and it was strange knowing the names of her children and what kind of Starbucks coffee she likes but not feeling like I should even say hello. She would probably have even enjoyed meeting a stalker, but you never know!

I'm not even sure where my camera is, or I would have a picture of my favorite fall day today: Misty rain, cool but not cold weather, bright gold leaves in the yard, good smells, and frisky cats. I'd love to curl up and read all morning, but I have a package to mail and a 401K to put somewhere. Plus a new resolution to catch up on all those Facebook and e-mail messages I've neglected.

(Found my camera)

Mike, Emily, and Ryan were here for a long weekend, and that was great. I feel a tiny bit guilty that they had to do some wallpaper taking down, but they did an excllent job, and now it's finished! Even the corners. Even the high places above the vanity lights. They even took down those huge mirrors and cleaned behind them. Answer to my prayers. Now the ladders can come out of the bathroom, and it's time to pick out paint colors.

We had a lot of laughs, ate a lot of food, and had just a few hugs. I miss them, and I'll miss them at Thanksgiving. I'll really miss Emily and Ryan for Christmas, but it's their SD year, and there are a lot of people up there they can't wait to see and who can't wait to see them.

Sherry, Debby, and I are cooking up a getaway in January. Fingers crossed that that works, because it's the perfect way to start the new year.

Here are a few pictures Mike took while he was here at our house and in Andalusia.