NeedledMom

Wednesday's Words and Pictures

2012-02-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

Gosh...it's been two weeks since I last blogged so there is lots to share. There has not been a lot of sewing as we have been away for a bit.

We had a delightful trip to Florida. This is a time when I normally meet up with a fellow friend and blogger, Midlife Mom, but it was not to be this year. Her father had fallen off of a ladder and was in the hospital so she was staying with her mom and getting things sorted out. I am glad to report that he is doing much better and is now home in Maine with Louise. I did miss our chats and will have to make up for them up next year!!!!

We were staying near Key Largo and this year we made the drive down to Key West. It was a fun and interesting drive. I always love the colors that you see in that area. I am sure that we would be fined by our HOA if we were to paint our home one of the luscious colors that can be seen. They have such a tropical feel to them.

Of course I love seeing the flowers - especially the orchids that are planted on the palm trees. I would love to be able to do something like that here, but I would worry about a freeze.

Can you imagine doing a topiary like this on your house? The entire house was done like this and this is only a small section of it, but I found the rats very interesting.

During our stay we enjoyed a fun concert with KC and the Sun*shine Boys.

We returned home for two days - long enough to unpack, do laundry, shop and repack for our annual trip to the Sierras with the children and grandchildren. The snow pack was nothing to write home about, but we did find some good areas for sledding and, of course, the skiing areas were open for those who ski. We all had a fabulous time - snow or not.

The techy group.

Birthday boy.

Dinner in shifts!!!

Sun rising on the mountains.

While we were away several wonderful packages arrived in my mailbox. Some wonderful Valentine fabrics arrived from Annie. Aren't these fun fabrics? I think I see a valentine quilt coming.

From Pat a package came with a glue stick and another pretty piece of fabric. I will use the glue stick for the paper piecing that I do. I tend to go through it quickly so I am excited about trying this new brand. Thanks Pat.

I joined up for the Year of Mug Rugs and the February mug rug arrived while we were away. Jeanne also included some fun charm squares in the package. I have enjoyed using my seasonal mug rug!

Also from Jeanne, I received fabrics that I won from the Blog Hop. Aren't the colors pretty? They remind me of the Florida Key colors!!!

As I said, there has not been a lot of sewing going on as we were away. I did manage to finish up my heart quilt for the auction next week.

As well, I made the doll school uniform that I make each year for the grandchildren's school auction which is in a couple of weeks. It feels good to have those both finished.

It's a rainy day here so I am heading in to my sewing room for some fun.

Added later.......

Is this new word verification driving everyone else as crazy as it is me???? I simply cannot read some of those words. I notice that I am leaving fewer comments due to it so thought I would add a hint as to how to get rid of it on your blogs.
to turn word verification off:

Go to dashboard, then settings, then comments, scroll down this page until you find word verification- fill in the NO bubble. Click "save settings" at the bottom of the page.

February.....Really?

2012-02-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing that February has one extra day this year because it has arrived much too quickly for my likes. How about yours?

Of course a new month also means that the new BOMs and swaps are out and the fun begins all over again. Surprisingly, the It Takes 2 blocks are only two blocks this time. I did finish my second set of blocks and look forward to a lighter load this round. Building the house was a tad challenging with the set in Y seams.

I mailed off my Valentines mug rug to my secret partner so I can show it to you. If anyone wants to jump in for this swap, you can still join. It's one mug rug a month for the months with holidays and lasts one year.

Then I made another for a friend who loves cats.

As well, Judy (no Blog) and I swapped accessory bags. She sent me the most gorgeous beg and it was packed full of fabulous goodies for sewing. I love everything about the beautifully made bag and Judy spoiled me with all of the fin things inside. I don't know if she follows my blog, but if so, thank you soooo much.

This is the bag I sent Judy.

I finally finished the December Birdie Stitches block. Thank you, Terry, for the great tree design. These are the last three blocks and now I can assemble the quilt.

We've had lots of fun grandbaby time this week as well. One little one celebrated his first birthday.

A little fun balloon time.

Is there a better way to show a picture of a quilt than this?

Well....tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Will the groundhog see his shadow in your neck of the woods? He will be seeing it here. I wonder what the percentage is of his being correct? I'm sure we could "google" the answer.

A Reason to Celebrate

2012-01-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful week it has been around our house!! We have been blessed once more with a beautiful little grandson. All are doing well and he was welcomed home today by his big brother and sister. The week can't be much better than that.

It also started off in a fabulous manner. For Christmas our children gifted us a dinner prepared by a chef (and friend of our SIL) for all of us at our home. The menu was amazing and consisted of seven courses. We had so much fun and it was such a thrill to watch all of this happening in our kitchen. Sadly, we were missing one DIL who was ill and one son who was away skiing. Guess that just meant more food for all of us. ;-)

A few of the courses.....

Seared Nantucket Scallops with avocado risotto, mango lime coulis, chipolte oil and crispy plantains.

Merlot poached pears stuffed with gorgonzola dolce and served with peppered balsamic syrup, arugula sprouts and honey port aioli.

Mascarpone and apricot Napoleon - pistachio and thyme twill, Mascarpone Mouse, Muscatel soaked apricots and basil honey.

Does anyone know how to deal with Blogger's problems in commenting? Several of the blogs I follow are not allowing the page for comments. Instead it simply comes up as a blank page. I have read where others are having the same issues, but have not heard how to resolve them yet.

The sewing studio has been a little quiet as we have been busy with little ones and houseguests, but I did have to finish up a quilt for the newest baby. Our children absolutely loved the book Goodnight Moon. I was so thrilled to see the line of fabrics with the same title. In wanting to highlight the fabric prints, I chose the wave pattern. I also put Minky fabric on the back of it so it is super soft. I was a bit apprehensive about the stretch of the backing, but it quilted BEAUTIFULLY. If you haven't tried it on the back of a quilt, I highly recommend giving it a go. I'll be linking this quilt up as a January finish with A Stitch in Time.

I also decided to join in the It Takes 2 quilt along. You can check out the link on my sidebar. Instead of the red and white, I have chosen a chocolate brown and a light aqua. The first blocks are done and the patterns are now out for the second series.

There seem to be many Dresden Plate quilt designs showing up on blogs this year. I am thinking that one may be in my future as I have always loved them. I may have to use the line of fabric, Montecito, from Connecting Threads that I won a few weeks ago from Stephanie's giveaway. Stephanie always has such an inspiring blog and I love the wonderful, bright colors that she uses. If you are not familiar with her, please be sure to check her out her blog, Loft Creations.

We are waiting for the arrival of our first storm of the new year. I doubt that it will give us much rain, but we are hoping for at least some snow in the mountains. Our winter has been so warm lately that my sweet peas have started to bloom already. They smell as heavenly as they look.

I think that areas like Portland and Seattle should run a nice pipeline down our way and give us all of their excess. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way to do that? Anyway....I am hoping to get into some good sewing projects while I watch the rain come down this weekend. I hope it is a great weekend for all of you too.

New Year....Old Project

2012-01-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness! Have you seen all of the wonderful Quiltalongs, challenges, swaps and projects that are out in blogland for 2012? How does one ever decide which projects they want to start first? If I could only work it so that I didn't ever sleep I might be able to do a few. LOL

I always start out the year with the best of intentions to finish up some of the UFOs sitting in my closet. The new year seems like such a fresh slate to start working on them. Then someone comes out with an amazing quilt that I can't wait to start. Then there are the quiltalongs where it is so much fun to see what fabrics and colors others are using. Oh....did I mention all the swaps too? Oh my!!!! One could really be in over their head - quickly.

Several years ago Melissa had a signature swap. I was new to the blogging world and thought it would be fun. It really was, but my wonderful blocks have sat in a box for all this time. 2012 was my year to get those out and put them together. Ta da......

To this....

I added a little of this.....

to create these........

Quilted the sandwich and

Even added a label! Yeah, a UFO finished!!!!

It was fun reading the names and seeing how many of these quilters I now follow. I'll be linking this finish up with Thearica and A Stitch in Time.

From there I went to my yellow and blue blocks that Emily and I swapped last year. I added a few more blocks to make it a little larger and will add a scrappy border on it to finish it off.

Each year we attend a Valentine's dinner dance with an auction. I have started a heart quilt to donate for the auction. This is an easy Moda Bake Shop pattern.

I managed to finish up the last of my Civil War blocks. The year is now finished and I can start to put those together. I think this will be a really nice finish. I love the colors.

A lesson that I learned while sewing this week......NEVER leave your camera on your cutting table!!!! Live and learn, as they say.

I received a wonderful package of hand dyed fabrics from Deborah in the UK. This was a win from the Sew Mama Sew giveaway. The fabrics are absolutely gorgeous and are so soft. They will be so much fun to sew and I know they will work up beautifully. Deborah does some amazing work and you should check it out.

Like many of you, we have been having some gorgeous weather lately. I had a yellow cymbidium orchid that was blooming in the yard and brought it inside to enjoy it even more. There are six stalks of flowers on this plant and these are the first two to bloom.

That was my first week in 2012. I hope that I can continue to finish off some of the other UFOs I have sitting around AND work on some new ones.

The Calm

2011-12-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

This always seems like such a calm time of the year. The cooking and parties are behind us and it is such a wonderful time of the year to pause and reflect on Christmas.

We had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas. I am still trying to dig out and have not located my camera with the Christmas pictures on it yet, but I am sure after a few more rooms are cleaned it will appear. I am not worried YET!!!! Meanwhile I do have a few pictures from another camera that I happened to grab.

Before....

Getting ready to open gifts.

Opening gifts.

Enjoying the excitement.

Ohhhh.....a new seat in the house!!!

Christmas Day brunch on the patio. Please pardon the lattice stripes!

I have been thinking that I should grab my keys and head to Las Vegas. Like many of you, I signed up for different giveaways on the recent Blog Hop Party and I actually won. In fact, I won several of them. I guess it makes up for years past when I did not.

A wonderful package arrived from Cherry. I am actually quite excited about starting another Christmas themed quilt and she has me off to a good start with the Flurry jelly roll. I don't know if you remember seeing the incredible Accuquilt Christmas tree tutorial that she did - the red one, but you must check it out. She has put kits together to sell due to the huge response from her readers. That is another project on my list for next year.

From Scott at Blue Nickel Quilts I won some wonderful spring fabrics. These too will be so much fun to incorporate into my sewing next year. I guess it is never too early to start thinking about spring!! That's my way of thinking as well.

Marlene at Kissed Quilts chose me as her winner of her ombre fabrics. I LOVE these fabrics. They feel fabulous and the shading is spectacular. These will really make up nicely and be beautiful when finished.

From Because I'm Me I won some lovely coasters. Don't the colors remind you of a tropical vacation with crystal blue waters? They do me. I also LOVED the little card that was enclosed with them. It is so sweet with the button flowers, but it also has the instructions for care of the item on the back. It is such a fabulous idea and I think I will start doing that on gifts that I make and give.

I did have a chance to do a little sewing with my granddaughter who wanted to make a small quilt for her parents. She did an incredible job on it and did the FMQ by herself. I sewed the binding on for her, but she chose the fabrics and sewed them all together on her own. I see a budding quilter here!!!

2011 has been a great year around our home and I am looking forward to ringing in the new year with all that it has to offer. My wish is for a very happy and blessed 2012 to each of you.

Merry Christmas to All

2011-12-21T12:04:00.000-08:00

I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I have actually been trying to catch up on things that need to be done around here

One thing that I am thrilled to have been able to accomplish is some sewing. I had purchased some of the wonderful laminate fabrics before I broke my arm. It has been in my sewing room and I was expecting that I would not get to the gifts until after Christmas. My arm was freed up last Friday and the machine has been smoking since.

Accomplished.....four raincoats. Actually they are fully lined in flannel so there are really EIGHT coats!!!!

Sewing on the laminate was a breeze. I was really worried about it, but it went well. The first one I used clips to hold my seams (per the directions) which were awkward, but I quickly learned that pins do not leave holes and the rest were made using pins to hold the seams. These are Amy Butler patterns and made up easily, but I did make a few changes to the instructions when I felt I like another technique better.

We have been enjoying the Christmas season and all the fun preparations with the grandchildren. Cookie making is always exciting especially when it appears a flour bomb has exploded in the kitchen.

We had our semi annual quilt giveaway at our December guild meeting. Look at the stack of quilts on the table that were given to our different charities - 344 total. As well we had stacks and stacks of pillow cases, burp cloths and bibs that went out.

We enjoyed a Christmas brunch with our son and his family last weekend.

As well, we have been celebrating birthdays. We have three grandchildren with birthdays in December - one on Christmas Day.

The buddy is asleep on it's back!!!!

I received some wonderful mail lately. Maria sent me this darling fabric from her little corner of the world. She does the hexie flowers each week and I think I may have to join so I can use this cute fabric in one. Thank you so much, Maria.

I also received a lovely star ornament kit from Paper Pieces through the Christmas Quilt Show from Sew Cal Gal. I think these will be beautiful hanging on the tree next year.

Connie had a giveaway of a handmade ruler holder that I won. This was made by her husband, Builder Bob, and he did such a wonderful job on it. It is made out of red oak and is such a nice addition to my cutting table. I really needed one to keep my many rulers controlled. Thank you, Connie.

I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a new year filled with blessings.

Christmas is Coming

2011-11-28T12:57:00.000-08:00

....the goose is getting fat. Poor goose!

The blogs are so exciting with all of the Christmas decorating showing up. I really enjoy seeing all of the creative ideas out there. Does everyone else too?

I started to put a few things out yesterday. I hung my Christmas Cactus quilt and I love it. I think I have shown the completed top last winter, but here it is bound and hanging. It will be such a nice addition to our future Christmas decorating.

To see more great Christmas quilts check out SewCalGal.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Saturday which is our tradition. I had lots of help from the family - especially my dear hubby who cooked the turkeys, made the gravy, stuffing and potatoes. It was delicious and I told him I might relinquish the job to him in the future!!!!

Lots of directing going on.

Some of the grandchildren came over and set tables and did prepping of veggies. Thank goodness for a wonderful gang of help!

Grandpa overseeing the process.

Part of the gang for Thanksgiving. The rest came later after a soccer playoff game and church.

Our son's new family member.

Not much quilting going on here unless a quilted jigsaw puzzle counts. Can you tell I am bored?

It will be nice to get this cast off so I can use scissors, knives and rotary cutters again, but I am able to use the fingers more now that the swelling and pain has subsided. Yeah! The bad hair days remain!!!!

This was what we enjoyed this morning. You know it's going to be a great day when it starts like this.

Keep up with all the great Christmas decorating as I am loving it!

A Pause

2011-11-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

There is a wonderful 11-11-11 Linky party for mini quilts going on today. I have always enjoyed doing mini quilts because they offer you a chance to work on a technique that you might not want to attempt in a full sized quilt. In my dreams I have always thought about doing a red and green Pineapple quilt to display at Christmas. Years ago I did this little mini (14") and stopped with the top. This week I did the quilting on it and put the binding on. It will have to do until I get that big one done.

I had great hopes of a nice post today with lots of fun stuff, but it isn't going to happen because I am celebrating autumn with the fun color of orange...as in a cast. Boo hoo!

That's what happens when one steps off a curb and catches their foot between the curb and a rubber tire all the while trying not to fall and seriously break something!!!! Do you think I will tire of orange in six weeks? Maybe I should have gotten red for Christmas. I apologise in advance that I will not be able to comment as I can only chicken pick at the keys. Know, however, that I will be reading your blogs. I must focus on what I am able to do and not what I cannot as we enter the busy season of Thanksgiving and Chritmas.

A million thanks goes out to all of our wonderful veterans today as we celebrate Veteran's Day. They all do an amazing job of keeping us safe and free. THANK YOU!!!!

Fall

2011-11-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

The days are definitely shorter and darker. From the weather channel it sounds like it has been an early winter for many across the states. This morning I was out wandering in the gardens and noticed several plants that are very un-fallish. I have a couple of iris that are typically spring bloomers showing their pretty colors this autumn.

I am looking forward to next year's bloom as I have added a few more to the plantings. Alice was digging up some of her plants and asked me if I would like some. I look forward to seeing them come to life and bring fond thoughts as I remember her each year.

As well the roses are putting out what will probably be their last flush of blooms before I prune them next month.

The bougainvillea is also gorgeous along the fence right now. These are definitely great drought plants as the less water they get, the more they bloom.

Halloween was exceptionally quiet this year. I doubt that we even had ten trick or treaters and half of those were a bit old to be out. There is just something about handing out candy to kids with beard stubbles that does not make my day!!! We always have our children and grandchildren over for soup and chili dogs before they head off to a few of the neighbors who know them. It's tough to get a picture of all of them as everyone is too excited about getting out or eating their stash.

I received my ALQS6 swap mini quilt in the mail this week. It came from Misha (no blog) in Washington state. I absolutely love it. The colors are fantastic and her work is just spectacular. The irregular shape is so wonderful. I wish she had a blog so we could all follow her.

Also in the mail I received a package from Jill of some great novelty prints and some selvages. Slowly, but surely I am getting enough selvages for a good selvage project. There are so many wonderful things to be done with them and I am excited about giving them a go.

I had picked up a kit at the last guild meeting and finished it up this week so I can return it this week. It is all flannel and so soft. Some little one will love it.

As well I had a Christmas panel from Timeless Treasures that I made into a lap quilt for the Christmas season. I will donate this one to the grandchildren's school for their auction later this month.

The week has flown by again and it is hard to imagine that we are already into November. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas is right behind. Do we all have a million projects left to finish before then??????

A Few Projects

2011-10-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

As October exits here I find myself in awe at the speed this year has gone. They do seem to be going faster and faster. We would normally be turning the clocks back this weekend and I must say that I am quite happy that we are not. It always feels like we are plunged immediately into winter.

Our weather at this time of the year is often quite warm with the blowing of the Santa Ana winds. Of course this also means fire season for us. With the little rain that we received a few weeks back I have noticed a carpet of green grasses sprouting on the hillsides. Hopefully, that will help keep the fire hazard down.

I recall one Halloween when we had a terrible fire - from the hills to the ocean. We were living in our previous home which happened to be the first house coming out of the hills. There was nothing but hills in front of us. The winds were blowing something dreadful. I looked out the front window and saw a tiny "puff" of smoke at the top of the third ridge of mountains. My husband was away camping with the boys and due back momentarily. Our home had a wood shake roof - very bad in a high fire risk area. I climbed up on the roof with a water hose and started to water it down. Neighbors laughed because the fire seemed so far away. In actuality it was perhaps 35 miles away. That little "puff" grew into a raging fire swept at an incredible speed and we were given the mandatory evacuation order within two hours. The television networks were filming in our front yard.

My husband had arrived home by that time and he took over manning the hose while the children and I packed the car. I had told them to just pack things we could not replace while I grabbed the photos and a few other special things. We left for my in laws who lived about ten minutes away from us. It was most interesting to see what was in the car that the children found irreplaceable - the American flag, the Bible, a snake, tortoise and the bowl of Halloween candy!!!!!! We still chuckle about that. Our home was spared, but many others lost theirs. The fire burned through Malibu and finally stopped at the ocean.

Halloween happened on November 1st that year amidst the ashes and putrid smell. Of course that was when we had lots of trick or treaters. These days we may see a dozen or so at the door.

In my attempt to catch up on some sewing that was on the back burner for the past month, I have made some good headway. I finished the Christmas stocking and will need a couple more next Christmas with two new grandbabies due in 2012.

I worked on my Civil War blocks. I think she saved the most challenging ones for when I was away. I am still playing with the Confederate Rose. I have made it twice already and it still is not the correct size. I enlarged it as she said, but grrr....it is not coming out right. I think I will just sketch it out and use my own templates.

My September Birdie Stitches block is done and the October one will be finished shortly.

Don't ask me what this mask is suppose to be as I have no clue. My grandson asked for it and I obliged. I had never heard of the guy before so I can't remember the name. But......it's done!!!!

Lastly, I made another mug rug for a friend's birthday.

That was my week. How about yours?

Randomness

2011-10-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Random thoughts and movements - that's all that is happening around here. I feel like it is a constant game of catch up after a delightful month away from real life. I am not complaining about it, but it is amazing how long it takes to get back to being "in the groove" of life. Of course it would help if I didn't have to spend hours on the phone with customer support figuring out printer problems and figuring out why I have had nothing other than a blue screen on the television since we got home. All is settled now and we are now able to watch more than DVDs!!! Great news!

Speaking of DVDs....is everyone out there enjoying Down*ton Abbey? We are loving it. Surprisingly, we only heard about it when we visited Ireland. We have since caught up on Season One. It is similar to Up*stairs, Downstairs, but a bit more modern.

I am hopelessly behind in my Civil War blocks. I think I need to make five to catch up. I am finishing my September Birdie Stitches block and it is almost time for November's to come out. Sigh!! But......I have been doing some sewing since returning. Halloween is approaching and I have finished a couple of costume for the little ones. This family consists of a flower and a watering can. The parents will someday have to take the wrath for coming up with this idea.

A couple of mug rugs also made their way into my sewing machine. I loved the witches undies fabric.

My quiet time stitching has been a cross stitch Christmas stocking. I started it on our trip and have the backstitching left to do. I love to see the features come alive with the backstitching.

While our British guests were here we did spend a lot of time in the studio. The guys were golfing so the gals kept busy piecing and quilting. We managed to complete four quilts (except for hand sewing the binding down), but somehow I only managed to photograph three of them. We put them all in a Space*Saver bag, sucked all the air out and she managed to carry them on board with her.

We took four little ones to the pumpkin patch this week. It is an amazing place on a farm near us. The children had as much fun as we did.

A pumpkin house!!!

We then picked up lunch and went to the park to eat, play and feed the ducks. I hope they slept well for their parents afterwards.

This week while watering my pots I noticed two seed pods on my plumeria. I have raised these for years and have never had even one seed pod. Needless to say I was thrilled to see it. This is a plant that was my father's so it is even more special to see it.

They look like little helicopter blades.

I wanted to share a couple of fun pictures from San Diego. We were on the 25th floor and each morning the fog would roll in. We loved looking down on it.

The morning we left - looking the opposite direction with the moon shining on the bay.

The last random photo is one I snapped after church last Sunday. The children were fascinated by this dead snake that was in the parking lot.

Back to the Routine and Loving IT!

2011-10-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Wow! It certainly seems like I have been away from blogging F-O-R-E-V-E-R! I must admit that I have really missed checking in on everyone and seeing and reading what has been going on as we enter the fall season.

We left here on September 11th, flying via Minneapolis to London and then on to Dublin, Ireland. It was a long 27 hours of travel, but the trip itself was worth every minute. We spent several days in Dublin touring the sights that the city offered. The weather was perfect and great for long walks.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Dublin view from the top of the Guinness brewery.

I love how they formed a shamrock by the way the brew was poured.

Kilmainham prison.

Artwork done by this cell's prisoner.

The "tart with a cart" in front of Trinity College.

The millenium sphere - the joke of Dublin.

The second day we met up with our driver who would be our companion for the trip. He has lived his whole life in Limerick, Ireland and was a wonderful traveling companion. He knew the backroads and how to avoid the tourist traps - our favorite way to travel. We took a lot of pictures so I will share just a few of them snd not bore you to bits.

Cashel Castle

Cashel Abbey

Many Celtic designs to be seen.

Hayfield Manor

....and gardens.

Garden at Muckross House in Killarney.

Beehive huts.

Dingle Bay

Cliffs of Moher

A pot of gold and a leprechaun????

Irish greeter to the Kylemore Abbey.

The vertical rows seen are still remnants of potato rows planted before the potato famine.

Very "interesting" piece of art - side view mirrors that form a design visible from the air.

Returning to Dublin, we flew back to London where we commuted to Southhampton for our return trip home aboard the QM2. The transatlantic crossing is always a delight and a great way to get back into the time changes as you gain one hour a day verses eight all at once.

No more Irish green to see.

Loved the lobby's flower arrangements.

We arrived home on a Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon our dear British friends arrived for a visit. It was go, go, go for all of us. Being that they were on a similar time schedule, we were all up at 4 a.m. and ready for bed by 7 p.m. !!!!!!

We all headed to San Diego for a business convention over the weekend. Having bid them "goodbye" yesterday morning we headed home. Now.....it's time to catch up on cleaning, laundry, sewing and blogging for the past month.

Tuesday's Happenings

2011-08-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

A new week and a clean slate for this week....how exciting is that????

We had a packed full week last week and this week is wide open - for the moment. I am sure it will fill up quickly, but it is fun to anticipate all that I could accomplish.

Last Thursday we had an exciting visit to downtown Los Angeles. It is funny that I have lived here for so long and have never really explored the history of downtown L.A. It was a walking tour directed by a friend whose great grandfather was an architect and designed many of the buildings so the walk proved most interesting.

Of course City Hall was on the list of must sees. I have read recently that they are going to renovate it and open it once more. It has been closed for many years, I believe since the 1994 earthquake. There is much history there including the Charles Man*son trial, the Sir*han Sir*han trial, and the autopsies of Marilyn Mon*roe and Bobby Ken*nedy.

From there we toured a few more of the older buildings.

The old L.A. Times building

The outer wall of the new building recapping history.

Wedding, divorce....the choice is yours. There was also a sign saying they did taxes. That's what I call one stop shopping.

The stark contrast of old and new with the winged Dis*ney Concert Hall.

One of the most interesting of all was the gorgeous Bradbury Building. It was unusual in it's day because it had an open skylight rooftop. Now used as an office building, many of the gorgeous elements remain. The iron work on the inside is AMAZING!!! My pictures do not do it justice.

Still working elevators.

A little brighter view of the amazing iron work.

Along the route was the historic theater district with the million dollar theater of Sid Grau*man. Again, the building was gorgeous.

With all of the walking a beverage stop was welcomed and what a stop it was. The pause was at the Edi*son. This was once the power source for much of the downtown area and has been converted into the most incredible bar. One descends two flights down into the heart of the old coal burners and workings of L.A. It was discovered during renovations of a building and they decided to keep it as it was and do the conversion. It was quite dark inside and the pictures that I took really do not show its beauty, but if you ever get to L.A. be sure to make it a stop.

A bit more walking and then it was off to dinner at the private California C*lub. We had our own table set up in the library and the food and service was amazing.

We then had a couple of little ones for a few days which kept us jumping. ....and cleaning!!!

Saturday evening we had a small dinner to celebrate some momentous events in my family. The evening was warm and we ate outside and had a great time.

The 65ers with their new Medicare cards!!!

My retiring sister and hubby.

Married 25 years!

The gals - sister, baby sister, SIL, me, DIL#2 and my mom

Standing - brother, son #2, BIL. Seated - BIL and hubby.

Sunday afternoon I locked myself in my sewing room and didn't come out until I had to cook dinner. It felt fabulous! It is amazing how much I miss just a little bit of creativity.

I finished my ALQS quilt. There is still time to work on one if anyone is interested. They have to be finished by October 3rd. I needed to get mine finished because September is going to be really busy for us. The flowers are origami and the quilting is a try at some swirls that Wendy had given instructions for on her blog. She does the most amazing FMQ on her Bernina.

I only added three more flowers to my garden this week. I decided to give a purple one a go this week. I just couldn't wait to see how it was going to look.

I am planning on heading to my "fun room" now and play a little. I am planning on finishing up the binding on my Christmas Cactus quilt so I can use it this year.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!!!!

2011-08-22T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well......not really lions and tigers, but certainly bears.

For 35+ years we have been camping in the high Sierras each summer. We started the camping/fishing trip with our children when they we young and now it is fun to see the grandchildren enjoying the trip as well. This was our weekend for camping.

The elevation is quite high - 9800 feet so the temperatures are considerably cooler up there. The temperatures drop into the upper 30s and low 40s at night. The air is so light and any exercise makes you realize you can quickly huff and puff. The scenery is just spectacular and snow is still to be seen.

This is the lake where we did most of our fishing, but there are three lakes and a stream in the campground.

Doesn't it look like a bear is carved into this tree?

This is the first year that we have encountered bears. They have become really pesky up there and will get into anything. Both nights they were in our campsite and creating problems - walking on the tables, upsetting our paper goods, pots and pans and generally tearing up everything they could find. UGH!!!! Did you know they like coffee grounds? It did not make for a good night of sleep because we were constantly having to shine our flashlights on them to get them to move on. It definitely gave us something that we will talk about for years to come.

The camping grandchildren.

#1 son's family

#4 son's family

Our two best fishers!!!

Ghost stories....not needed after our first night with the real bears!!!!

S'mores galore!

There was time for some hand sewing on the 6 1/2 hour drive which I always enjoy. I had hoped to do a little more at the campground, but that wasn't how it worked out. Sigh!

Three finished flowers for my flower garden.

Birdie Stitches August block.

#33 Indiana Puzzle CW block.

Busy Summer Days

2011-08-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

The summer is just flying by us here. Each week I think I will get this or that accomplished and then the days fill up faster than I can blink my eye. Such is life in a big family and we love it. After all.....what would I do with a block of free days???

The week has been busy with birthdays - my brother, my DIL and a grandson. Lots to celebrate and no pictures to share because I forgot to grab my camera. Such is life.

I spent two days in the garden with weeding and removing spent summer flowers. By the end of the day I wasn't sure whether the body would even go upright again, but it felt good to get the jobs finished. The reward is when the blooms appear in appreciation of the hard work.

My flowers for my How Does Your Garden Grow quilt-along did not reproduce as quickly this week. I only added one and a half flowers this week. I think I am ready to change to a new color this week as I believe I have enough yellow ones.

Speaking of yellow flowers....look at my gorgeous orchid that is blooming. My father would have loved this one. He had a huge greenhouse in the backyard where he raised prized orchids.

I did manage to work on the last Christmas stocking for our darling neighbor girl. I just need to line it and add the hanging tab. Santa will be pleased to know where to place the goodies this year.

Lily Pad Quilting had a giveaway for a collection of fat quarters and I won!! I am thrilled with these fat quarters and I really love the line of fabrics. Thank you so much to both Lily Pad Quilting and to the Fat Quarter Shop for being the sponsor.

We've been trying to get lots of grandchildren sleepovers and one on ones in before school starts again. This week it was this little one's turn. She had wanted to come over and make bread with me. We had such a great time and lots of giggles as well.

My sewing room has been quiet this week so I don't have anything to show from there. Hopefully, next week will be more productive.

I have to share what was in our neighborhood this week. They had a vintage car show and this pulled up. It was a food vehicle, but I thought it was cute. Enjoy the week!

Monday Mish Mash

2011-08-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's a wonderful sunny Monday morning here - a first in about a week or so. We have had so many cool, foggy mornings that the sun is a welcomed sight. I hope it sticks around for awhile.

Three of our children and their families have been away on vacation this week so it was a great week to settle into the sewing room and stitch the hours away.

My flowers continue to bloom in my Flower Garden Quilt-Along. I only added two more this week as I had a lot of other hand stitching that I was working on as well. Be sure to check out the different flowers that everyone else is creating and consider joining in with us.

I finished my last row of the Rockin'Robin. This was a hexagon row and you could arrange them as you please. This is my row.....more purple.

The daughter of a long time family friend is expecting in a few weeks. They are having a shower for her this weekend and I did up a baby quilt for the little guy. This was a pattern from Moda Bake Shop and I think it will be fun to quilt.

Don't you love getting those squishy packages in the mail - especially when you are not expecting them? I received one such package this week from Em.http://mcelebrates.blogspot.com/ I have followed Em for some time now and her work is so creative and colorful. I would love to be a mouse in the corner of her sewing room to see how she comes up with such great ideas. Be sure to check out her blog and see some of the AMAZING pieces she has done. You will not be disappointed. Thank you so much, Em, for the wonderful fabrics and the necklace. It has been a delight to be a blogging friend.

Another fabulous package that arrived this week was from Thearica. I had won a surprise "squishy" package and look at what came. These fabrics are just gorgeous and I am so excited about using them. The colors are so soft and wonderful. Don't you just love them? As well she included a jar of her homemade pickles. This was when the jar was full, but trust me, it is empty now. They were delicious!!!! My DH and I both love them. Thank you, Thearica.

I have signed up for the past few few years to the Another Little Quilt Swap and have done so again for round 6. I have posted pictures in the past of some of the gorgeous quilts that have come my way. Round 6 is now open and if you are interested in joining in please go and sign up. You will not be disappointed. I love the way that this swap is run. You get to view the completed quilts and then get a choice in the one that you would like to receive. The quilts are due to be finished in October so there is still time to finish one and join with us. Kate has done a wonderful job with the swap in the past so please go over and sigh up for ALQS6.

There won't be as much sewing time this week as it is a bit busier than last. I best get going on it!!!

How Does Your Garden Grow

2011-08-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

For so long I have been seeing the hexagon "One Flower Wednesday" sew alongs on various blogs. The flowers always look so pretty. Someday I will definitely make a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, but I have decided to join Thearica for her "How Does Your Garden Grow" quilt along. You can make any kind of flower and I have decided to go with yo yo flowers. I have an idea where I will go with it and I hope it works out. Check out the link and join in with us. These are my first three flowers. I worked on them while riding in the car - a great takealong project.

My real flowers are doing pretty well too. This is an area of the patio where the plumerias are blooming. The smell is just heavenly.

Thanks to our generous neighbors who were gone for the weekend, we had some extra fun in store for the children. It was quite refreshing.

"jump, jump...we'll catch you"

The latest two blocks of my Civil War quilt along are finished........

as is the July Birdie Stitches block.

I can't believe it is already August. School will soon be starting and it will be Christmas again before we know it. The years are going much too quickly.

A Break in the Action

2011-07-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

With a momentary break in the action, I will try to get a quick post in. The week has been a bit busier than normal with plenty a wonderful grandchildren time and a little trip to San Francisco to celebrate my sister's birthday.

With airports the way they are these days, it is really quicker to jump in the car and drive to San Francisco. We did that last Thursday. We left a foggy home and headed up the coast, stopping for lunch in Santa Barbara. The beaches were still fogged in there as well.

Lunch was on the pier with the mountains slowly clearing of the fog.

San Francisco was quite cool - and foggy - which is fairly typical. It was rather nice for us as we all enjoy doing a lot of walking and those hills can be a real workout. The cool temps were a nice relief. We walked for miles each day and enjoyed all of the sights and foods of San Francisco.

Farmer's Market at the restored Ferry Building

Expensive eggs!!!! I've heard of U pick fruit, but eggs????

The Bay Bridge

Cityscape

Ferry Building clock tower

The Golden Gate Bridge in the fog

Chinatown

This was the hill that almost killed us all. It was so steep that they even added stairs.

DH, BIL, brother

Me, Sister and SIL

The cable cars are a must when you visit. They take the hills beautifully, but I am thinking we should have taken them UP the hills instead of DOWN. Instead we had to "climb halfway to the stars" to get back to our hotel.

The hotel was gorgeous and a welcomed sight at the end of each day.

The lobby staircase.

Fresh flowers each day - GORGEOUS!!!!

Returning home on Sunday to "babysit" our #1 son's dog while they are back on the East coast. This is a great pooch and we have enjoyed having a dog back in the house.

On Monday, our #3 son and his wife left for a week in Hawaii so we have had special grandchildren time. Needless to say, it has been a busy week. Of course the first day we had a slight accident when one of the boys fell out of a tree and broke both bones in his lower arm.

We have also managed to be quite productive. We even got nine batches of jam done which will probably last about one month with the number of sandwiches made for lunches!!!!

Our jam testers!!!

Needless to say, there has not been a lot of sewing going on except in the wee hours of the morning. I did manage to finish my next two rows of the Rockin' Robin, but other than a little car sewing, that was it. Next week is a new week!!!

Wednesday's Nothingness

2011-07-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

The peaches and apricots are finished and strawberries are left to do, but I have slipped a few fun projects in between the chores.

We have a granddaughter turning eleven this weekend and she asked me if I would make her a dress for her birthday. The request was as follows - a full skirt, a big bow, ruffle on the bottom and sleeves so she could wear it to church.

Ta da.........

#1, 2 and 3 Full skirt, sleeves and ruffle.

#4 The bow.

Sorry about the breeze that didn't allow me to get a great picture. I also added a few extras. These are made from the fabric, fused onto felt and using those great snap products. She will love these.

Hairpins and ring

My sister's birthday is also this weekend and she is an avid reader, but no interest in sewing. How opposite can we be????? I had seen the perfect quilt for her on a blog and made it up with some scraps. I think she will love it.

Lastly.... we've enjoyed a few fun days having this little angel around. She was a little crabby as she is cutting four molars all at once. Ouch!!!!

Don't you love those first pigtails?

Bristlecones and More

2011-07-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

DH and I took a little road trip this week and visited a spot that we have wanted to visit for many years. Each time we drive north to the Sierra mountains we always pass a sign for a turnoff to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. This time we decided to make it our destination location.

The Bristlecone Pines are the oldest single living organisms known. The forest, located in the White-Inyo mountain range, is at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet so it is springtime there at this time. The wildflowers were just blooming and were wonderful to see.

The oldest of the Bristlecone pines is called Methuselah and is nearly 5000 years old. It is located along one of the hiking paths, but they do not point it out to avoid vandalism to it. Shortly after a Nat*ional Geo*graphic article came out about it in the late 1950s, someone broke a branch from it.

Gorgeous stumps everywhere.

Snow capped Sierras peeking through behind a high meadow.

The needles were really quite "bristly" feeling.

Springtime flowers.

After visiting the forest we continued eastward into Nevada and spent the night. We saw many abandoned gold and silver mining towns and noticed that there seems to be more activity around some of the mines which we assume is because of the increase in the cost of the metals.

Once a booming city.

Coming home we took the road through Death Valley. The temperatures were surprisingly low for this time of the year with the high being only in the mid 90s.

Heading onto the floor of the valley.

Loved these gorgeous sand dunes. I would have loved to have slid down them.

It’s always good to get home and sleep in your own bed again. Guess I am a homebody at heart. I always seem to become more aware of my gardens when we return.

The plumerias are starting to bloom. This was a piece of one of my father's plants.

JUST starting to bloom. The smell is heavenly.

A late blooming Clivia.

An even later blooming iris.

The bougainvilleas that froze this winter have made a wonderful return.

I had a couple of nice packages waiting for me when we got home too. The first was a whole bag of I Spy blocks from Michelle. The little ones just love the I Spy quilts and it is so nice to have a great collection of them for making up quick quilts. Thank you, Michelle.

I also had a whole bag of goodies from Leona that I won from her fabulous giveaway. It was loaded with fabulous items for quilting and I know that I can use all of these. Thank you, Leona.

Lastly, I received my mug rug from Leona’s Mug Rug 2 Swap. I just love it. I love the bright colors, the design as well as the wonderful fabrics and quilting. Unfortunately, my partner did not include a blog link to share. I would really love to follow her work.

The picture does not do this one justice.

My sewing machine has been humming away since I have been home. My daughter came over to make some burp cloths for her SIL so I made a few for a shower that I am attending in August. She worked in pink fabric and I worked in blue. Everyone seems to know the sex of the babies these days. I always like surprises myself.

My next row of my PURPLE Rockin’ Robin is finished. There were plenty of HSTs in this row!!!!!

Lastly, here are my latest Civil War blocks. I can’t believe that we are over halfway done with the year already.

The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy around here so I may not be around as much as normal. I will continue to read blogs, but please forgive me if I don’t always comment. I have a ton of canning to do – tomatoes, strawberries, peaches and apricots are all in right now. Too bad it can’t be spread out throughout the year.

It’s About Time

2011-07-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

It’s definitely about time that I get a few words written down here before I forget everything that has happened.

We are always pretty busy around the July 4th holiday and this year was no different. We host the LARGE (100+) family party each year so there is always plenty to keep us busy. As well our son, DIL and their two little ones come for a visit. We always enjoy their company. They only live two hours away, but we all know how that goes. Lives are busy!

So….what has been going on here??? Where shall I begin? We’ve celebrated a couple of fun birthdays.

The big "1"

Yes....it is alive!!!!

We’ve done baking.

My three Monday "housecleaners"!!!!

…..went to see Cars II,

….entertained houseguests,

........watched tree forts being built,

The little one on the right broke his arm later in the evening and it wasn't from falling out of the tree!!!!

and dug up our tortoise eggs (finally)!!!

We’ve watched the quail bring their babies to the feeders.

There are nine babies and two sets of parents, thus why some babies are larger than the others.

Of course we also celebrated the 4th of July.

Should I claim that I know him????

Lots of volleyball.

Ground flowers are always fun.

So are sparklers!

Watching the fountains!

Why is it that they think if their ears are covered they won't "see" something????

Do you remember from my last post how I lost my scissors? Can you imagine my thrill to learn that I won a pair in Thearica’s (www.pigtalesandquilts.com) giveaway. Just look at how cute these little scissors are!!!! I am sure they will put my lost ones to shame!

I have actually been doing a lot of sewing in spurts around here. There was a lot of mending that had to be done (boring), but also a little fun. I have several guild donation quilts that still need their binding before next week's meeting. I did finish my first round of the Rockin Robin (see link on sidebar) quiltalong. I am really pushing my limits here because I do not do purples!!!! I decided to do this completely with what I have in my stash and this is the first row.

A bit more detail.

Something else that I am really excited about was winning one of the Beam and Read lights from Mdm Samm. It has gotten harder and harder to work on my cross stitch projects as the daylight dims and the eyes get older. It sounds like it is the perfect tool for the projects I have stacked and waiting. I’m also looking forward to using it with my Kindle. Thank you Mdm Samm and IHAN.

Seeing Circles

2011-06-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

I have been giving some serious thought to joining in on the Yo Yo Quiltalong (see button on sidebar). Do I need another challenge? I probably do not, but my 30+ years of guilt are beginning to take over.

You see, I have a bag of yo yos. These were lovingly made by my husband’s maiden aunt and I inherited them. I am sure she had grand plans for them as many are assembled in settings of four already. I just do not know what her plans were going to be. Thus, the dilemma.

Also included in the bag was a good amount of pink polished cotton fabric. I am sure that must have been needed for the project, but where???? It has a very interesting stamping on it. I am thinking that perhaps this was originally purposed for curtains and never used. I am just not sure about the color. Maybe the pink is what made her give up on the project. What do you think?

Has anyone ever seen a pattern that would use the yo-yos in this manner? There are seven of each block and fourteen (I believe) of the solid blue. I have 952 yo-yos sewn together and then a whole bag of separate yo-yos ready to go. As well, you can see the cardboard pattern for cutting them out. The yo-yo size would match the Clover large tool with each yo-yo measuring 1 1/4 inches. How many more yo yos do you think I will even need?

I had them stored in an old cedar chest along with so much more that I will share in future posts. I literally have not opened the chest in years. There are several vintage quilts, blocks and unquilted tops as well as lots of beautiful embroidery and lace edgings. This was another piece in the cedar chest. I have no idea who did the needlepoint, but I hung it up in my studio.

DH had the day free yesterday so we took a drive up to the wine country. One of the more beautiful wineries in the area is the F*ess Par*ker winery. Do you remember Davy Crockett????? Same guy! Here are some pics that I took of the winery he built.

They say that roses are planted at the beginning of the rows of vines in the same colors of the grapes. The reason for this is that the roses will get a disease before the vines will. Thus, if the rose gets a disease they will then treat the vines for it as well. Interesting.

I always bring some hand work for the car rides (no sense in wasting a little free time). Yesterday I brought along my June Birdie Stitches block to finish it off. I think I have the Bermuda Triangle in my car. I had my cute little embroidery scissors with a fob attached to them. I went to use them and they slipped from my hand. I heard them fall and have searched and searched for them. They are literally NOWHERE to be found. Even DH looked and he couldn’t find them. I have no idea where they could have dropped. I know that someday they will show up, but I just do not want to dismantle the whole front seat to find them.

I had to resort to using my garden clippers that I keep in the car. They were a miserable substitute. I finally gave up and finished the project last evening. If you notice, my June block varies from the one we are suppose to do. Terry (http://terrytreasures.blogspot.com/) had a design without all of the words and I did a take off from her design. I think the wordy one will make a nice label on the back.

We watched a couple of little ones this week and I will close with these photos….such nice sharing!!!!!!!

GO, Go, Go

2011-06-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

The first day of summer and we actually have sunshine and temperatures into the 70s. It is heavenly.
The week was filled with lots of activity with out of town company, not a lot of sewing and not too many pictures.

Joanne (http://joanne-threadhead.blogspot.com/) provided us with a wonderful quilt along earlier this year and had a giveaway for those who sent her a photo of the completed project. Not only did a have fun completing the quilt, but I was her winner of her favorite quilting items. They arrived in the mail this past week and I could not be more pleased with what she chose as her favorite things. Just look at all these goodies.

She included a stack of Apple Core blocks that she cut from her Accuquilt GO. The fabrics are perfect for my décor and although I was a smidge intimidated with all the curves, I thought I would give them a try. They went together so much easier than I thought they would and I am pleased with what will be a table topper. There is no way I would have ever cut these out by hand, but for you with the GO cutter, you should give this die a GO. Thank you, Joanne.

I am participating in the Mug Rug 2 swap and finished my mug rug for my partner. I thought it came out so cute that I made another one for myself.

That was about the extent of my sewing this week other than 18 bean bags that three of the granddaughters and I made this morning. The girls are riding their bikes over each Monday to “hang out” with me during summer vacation. We are really having fun together. Can you imagine that they want to help me clean?????? They love cleaning and helping with the laundry. How do I keep them permanently?????

The other exciting news is that Momma tortoise started digging her nest to deposit her eggs. She is about a month late this year and I think that is due to our wet and cool temperatures. She dug five hours yesterday and another three already today. They do NOTHING fast which is probably why they live to be 125+ years old.

We had a wonderful Father’s Day here as we celebrated all of the great, loving, and dedicated dads in the family. We heated up the pizza oven and everyone had fun making their own pizzas. I don’t have a lot of pictures because the wives were too busy waiting on the guys!!!!

It sounds like it was a pretty boring week around here, but it was truly just go, go, go. I just don’t have pictures to show for it. It is nice to have a semi normal week this week to get caught up with all that did not get done last week while entertaining.

Bits and Pieces

2011-06-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

It seems the week has been in bits and pieces this week with lots of starts and stops. I don’t seem to have accomplished much, but I do have a decent excuse.

We had four of our grandchildren with us for several days while their folks managed to get off to Palm Springs for some R&R and a little sunny, warm weather. Of course we had a wonderful time with the children as well so it was a win, win situation.

Do they look sad leaving their children?????

On one evening we took the little ones to a BBQ and carnival. They had lots of rides and games, but we were fascinated with the balloon artist and the face painter.

This fellow could make anything.

I think this was Luigi.

Help...there is an owl that landed on my head!!!!

A green frog is better than that silly face stuff for this guy.

Is it crawling up my arm?

Totally hot with flames. That ought to impress the girls.

As was to be expected, the following day was filled with laundry and cleanup so sewing was placed on the back burner until yesterday. I did manage to finish up the quilting and binding on my last PhD project – ahead of the end of June deadline. Whew!

The D9P red and aqua swap from last year.

I am also caught up with my Civil War blocks. These are the most recent ones.

Most recent ones that I haven't shown lately.

A few weeks ago I won a giveaway hosted by Niki at Butternut Street. It was a delicious four yard bundle of Sweet Nothings by Riley Blake from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. These are sooo my colors. I just love them and will have to come up with something special to do with them. Thank you so much, Niki.

Sweet Nothings is appropriate for this line of fabric.

While most of you seem to be very selfish about keeping all of the warm weather for yourselves, I believe we are still in the winter months. If any of you feel so inclined, please send a little our way. It still hadn’t reached 60* by noon today. So much for sunny California.

So…that was my week – other than my oral surgery on Thursday. Now I look like I am storing nuts in one cheek. At least my frown line on one side of my mouth has disappeared. Always something good to balance the bad!!!!

I’m Still Here

2011-06-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

It has just been a little busy around here and I haven’t had much of a chance to consider blogging lately. So sorry. As well, everyone seems to be noticing the problems with Blogger of late. Thanks to Terry(http://terrytreasures.blogspot.com/), I unchecked that little box requesting that I stay logged in and I am now able to leave comments once more. My apologies to all those posts that I could not leave comments.
Here is a bit of what has been occupying my time of late.
Our DIL threw a 40th birthday party for our son. His birthday gift was a dog which he has wanted F-O-R-E-V-E-R. The dog was not born yet, but was due last weekend, Needless to say, the gifts were all dog related. Unfortunately, the mother dog had one puppy that was dead at birth so they are once again in the hunt for the perfect dog. It will be fun for him to help in the search so that is the positive side of the story.

He even has his dog named already.

Cousins "hangin' out" together.

40 candles in one blow....I kew he was windy.

Monkey see....monkey do????

The following morning we left for Orlando for a business meeting. I am always amazed when I look out at the terrain and the flatness of it all. We are so used to having our views interrupted by hills or mountains, but you could see for miles. It was hot and humid for them and the downtown historic area was packed with the media crews covering the Ca*sey Anth*ony trial going on there.

Isn't there a song about seeing forever?

Returning home, we had a busy Memorial Day weekend with two grandchildren graduating to high school.

Notice the three year old in a stubborn spell???

Mom and Dad with the graduates.

This week has had some wonderful celebrations in our family. Dh and I celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary on the 31st and today is our son’s 38th birthday. In a big family there is always something to celebrate.

Birthday boy.

I received the most wonderful surprise squishy in the mail. It came from Linda (http://straystitches1.blogspot.com/), a fellow blogger and friend. If you do not know Linda you must check her blog out. She is an amazing daily blogger and you will find yourself educated, inspired and uplifted each day by reading her posts. She accomplishes more in one day than anyone I know!!! She is my morning wakeup and I feel as though I learn something with each cup of morning coffee and her reads. I do hope to someday meet her as she lives just a few hours away from me. But…look at this wonderful pincushion she made. I LOVED it from the moment I saw it on her blog. Thank you, Linda.

Although I haven’t had a lot of machine time lately, I have been doing a lot of hand sewing while we were away or spending time in the car. I finished my Lil’ Twister table runner and love how it turned out.

I also got the binding on my Raggedy Ann quilt that Mary quilted for me. She did such an amazing job on this quilt. I tried to get some details of the quilting, but my pictures do not do it justice. Please go to Mary’s (http://quilthollow.blogspot.com/) blog (if you are one of the few who do not follow her incredible work) and see the pictures of the quilting that she did on it. Thank you so much, Mary. I just love the work you do.

We have a darling couple with three children who live next door. They are wonderful neighbors and Monique has always admired the Christmas stockings that I make for my grandchildren. She wanted me to teach her how to do them since she does not sew. That was about 12 years ago!!! She got the kits, started one and gave up. Each year I ask her if this is the year she will finish them. Well…I finally talked to her DH and asked him if he would be able to find the kits without her knowing. He did!!! I completed the stitching on the first one in FL and am working on the second one now. I think she will be pleasantly surprised when Christmas rolls around.

Christmas in May?

Whew!!!! Are your eyes glazed over by now? I’ll try to do a better job of posting so it isn’t all in one loooooooong post next time. I’ll leave you with this since I am having some oral surgery next week.

Brush, floss, brush!!!!!

P.S. I see that I cannot add the links using blogger. I did my post with Windows LiveWriter, but the photos are blurry when enlarged on Blogger so what is....is! Sorry.

Life is Good

2011-05-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you for all the kind comments you left. I had to chuckle at Dawn's comment because it is exactly what I had said to my husband. It was a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." We used to read that book to our children and have always used those words in describing difficult days. The days since have been delightful.

I received a package in the mail from my aunt who is cleaning out cupboards in anticipation of moving. She found four china mugs that belonged to my grandmother. Since my grandmother had given me her china, she sent the mugs along to me. I remember my grandmother using these mugs as we enjoyed our wonderful visits. I can still see her rubbing the top of the handle with her thumb as we chatted. My grandmother LOVED her coffee from before sun up to well past sun down. She also ONLY drank her coffee out of a "real china" cup. A chunky mug would not do. Needless to say, I am thrilled to have them.

Notice the gold rubbed off the top of the handle?

Treasured!

DH and I drove to Las Vegas to see the desert in bloom and to catch "The Jersey Boys" again. The music is so fabulous. We happened to end up with tickets to their third year anniversary in Las Vegas so they had a special cake presentation after the show. That was exciting.

The birthday candles kept relighting.

The desert in bloom is always such a pretty sight. I really wanted to see some of the hot pink blooms from last years trip, but they were sadly not in bloom at this time. There were some bright pink ones, but the thorns on those were amazing.

The small town of Kelso is along the way and we stopped to eat our picnic lunch there. I can imagine the town in it's prime, but the train station, post office and jail are about all that is left. I am not sure that I would like to be locked up in this jail during the summer heat.

The train depot.

They did cover the bars as you can read here.

Still not too inviting.

I doubt that it is still in use.

Life has been busy with family fun things, but I have had a chance to get a little sewing in. My mom has a gal who helps her in the mornings and she loves an old apron that my mom has. The apron is really old and ratty looking after all of these years so I brought it home and made a pattern from it. Susie will now have a new one.

Nice and clean for the moment.

I finished another one of my PhD projects. I really like the way this one turned out and I am glad it is finally finished. Three down and only one more to go before the end of June.

Modern Siggy Swap blocks.

This panel quilt was made for the youngest grandson. It is suppose to have another two borders, but it was getting way too big for its purpose so I stopped after the road border was applied. I figured he could play with little cars on it too.

It is still pretty big.

Lastly, I haven't yet shown the latest of my Civil War blocks. The latest ones seem to be going together a bit easier. The measurements are a bit more accurate. I still need to do this weeks before the new one comes out tomorrow.

Blocks 16-19.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead. I'll be busy with a little canning as the first peaches are ready. There is nothing that says summer more than a bite of a fresh peach. YUM.

S-U-M-M-E-R

I apologize for no links and lack of spellcheck, but Blogger is not allowing me to use any part of the toolbar. Is anyone else having the same problem? Maybe it is just me.

Can This Day End Yet???

2011-05-17T11:16:00.001-07:00

The day is going downhill in a hurry and I wish it was over.

Our neighborhood is very quiet and we seldom ever hear of any "events" going on. People don't lock doors and neighbors watch out for one another. We love it. Shortly before six this morning we noticed a sheriff car slowly going up the street. Interesting because it did not come back right away and there is no other outlet. Fast forward several hours when I went to run a few errands. This is what I found when I opened my car door.

Terrible me....I was furious with my DH because he had taken the car fishing for a few days with the grandchildren. For the life of me I could not imagine what he was searching for in the glove compartment and WHY would he leave everything out????? Then the lightbulb moment hit me. Yep....someone had entered the vehicle overnight. Bummer!!! Fortunately, we do not leave valuables in the car, but they managed to lift our phone chargers and our Garmin charger.

The "nice" sheriff arrived, took the report and told me that three other cars had also been burglarized last night. Lovely!!!

The day was already going to be bad because I had made an appointment to have our very old cat put down at 11:30. SIGH! It is time as he is rail thin, not eating and just not enjoying his life anymore. It was a difficult decision and I was not looking forward to the day.

After that....I will still have my errands to run - red eyes and all.

Really???

2011-05-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

It is forty years ago right now that I was giving birth to our second son. Is it even possible that all of those years have gone so quickly? I think that having sons who are in their 40s hits me harder than any birthday years that I have had.

It has been a fabulous week with lots of family events. We've had a First Communion, several birthdays and Mother's Day this week.

Mr. B's First Communion with his class.

The "GUYS" preparing the Mother's Day meal. They wanted me to make sure that I got the smoke. DH, son #2, son #1. son #3, GS#1, SIL, GS#3, GS#2

The MOTHERS - DIL#2,DIL#1, DIL#3, my mom, me and DD

The birthday girl - her birthday landed on Mother's Day this year.

A little Baggo game.

I have managed to get some sewing done with a little help from wee ones.

This was after enjoying the M&M that she found under the sewing cabinet.

While making pillowcases for a very special cause, I also made one for my granddaughter. They always get such a thrill out of having their own special pillowcase.

They also make great wrapping "paper."

Following Margaret's tutorial, I made a wallet for our grandson who celebrated his birthday yesterday. A little cash within is an enjoyed gift for a teenager. Thank you, Margaret for sharing this fun tutorial.

Mary enclosed this wonderful quilting panel with my quilts and I so enjoyed making the pillow with it. It was easy to construct and I absolutely LOVE it. Thank you, Mary.

I have several other projects that I have been working on this week, but no pictures to show of them yet.

The cactus are blooming in the pots and are always such a spectacular show in the yard.

These blooms are wonderful and so welcomed.

The roses have been gorgeous this year. I always love the first bloom of the year.

The Aloha Quilt book will be making it's way to Joanne in Canada. It was fun to see how many people have already read the book.

Odds and Ends

2011-05-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Summer is in the air in our neck of the woods and I am loving it. The heat invigorates me. It is a wonderful feeling.

We've had a wonderful week filled with grandchildren. They were all out last week for Easter vacation so we always enjoy some of the extra time that we get to spend with them.

J and B spent a couple of days with us midweek and we got to explore some fun places with them.

Boys will be boys and climb anything.

A visit to the alpaca farm.

Is this cute or what?

Next stop was to the fish hatchery.

These were waiting for any escaping fish. There was heavy fencing above the tanks to keep these fishers away.

They were hoping the lake looks like this when we go fishing this summer.

We had to stop at the rose nursery so Grandma could replace two rose bushes.

A great time to visit the rose garden!!!

Can we take one of these home????

Sunstruck was the rose of choice for me. I love this rose and now have three of them in the rose garden.

We wondered why the citrus were covered. They are seedless mandarins and are covered to keep the bees out. Interesting!

We had our eldest son's children for the weekend while their parents went to Santa Barbara to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. To us, it seems like it was just yesterday.

We went out to breakfast after church.

Trying to pull the palm branch down. It's harder than it looks!!!

They all love playing with the sewing machine. They made a fabric postcard for their folks anniversary. The teen embroidered his initial on his socks.

As a thank you for watching the children they brought us two of these lovely creatures to enjoy.

Needless to say there was not much sewing of my own going on, I did manage to get some binding done on two of my quilts that were returned by Mary who did an amazing job on the quilting. If you have never seen her work you have to check out her blog. She has several special projects going on right now that will be published sometime next year and she has shown a few sneak peeks. As well, she is such a delightful person.

From the Thread Head Quiltalong.

This one has been claimed by a granddaughter because of the cherries.

Look at the wonderful cherry quilting that Mary did on it.

I had lunch with a high school friend yesterday and she gave me this fabulous bag. She made it using her own hand dyed fabrics which are to die for. She really knows the colors that I love. I am still trying to convince her that she needs to start a blog.

Has anyone ever had their keyboard die? My keyboard, I must admit, needed replacing because most of the letters were no longer visible on the keys. However.....did it need to die? DH brought home a fancy new ergonomic looking thing that I am having the most dreadful time adjusting to. I know that eventually I may appreciate it, but I would love to have my flat old thing back again. Can you tell that I am not big on change?

Lastly, Linda passed this traveling book onto me and I would love to pass it on to someone else to enjoy. If you would like to read it, please let me know and I will mail it off to someone. I will select a name next Tuesday - May 10th.

Where Oh Where....

2011-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Where oh Where has the time gone? My intentions of blogging were great, but the time was lacking somehow. We really have been a tad busy. With the days being longer one would think I could get more done. Ha!

Taking advantage of the longer days.

The garden has been calling my name and I love seeing what is in bloom.

Passion vine growing in with the Bougainvillea

Clivia that are offspring from my father's.

I love this Iris' color. This is the first time I have seen it bloom.

Although this bank belongs to my neighbor, I had to share a picture with you. It is ice plant and it blooms once a year. During that time it is positively breathtaking. The rest of the year it looks like dried up foliage.

We also have a new visitor to the bird feeder. This guy can climb right up that skinny pole to get to the food. Don't ask me how.

We've had birthdays to celebrate.

We've also enjoyed houseguests over the Easter weekend.

A rather gloomy day on Easter did not stop us from celebrating the special day.

22 of the 23 grandchildren. One is away at college in FL.

Even the big kids had fun with the inflatables.

Gotta love duckings with Mohawk headgear!!!

The mailman brought me a couple more "squishy packages" last week. Those are always such fun to receive.

Talin sent me a delightful little jewelry pouch "just because." She does such beautiful work and I always enjoy her posts. Thank you, Talin.

Joanne sent me a package that I won on her giveaway. The gravel was just delicious and the fabrics are so great. I know that I will put them to good use. I love the Aurafil threads!!!

In between all of the fun, I did manage to sneak a little sewing in too. Kate had sent me some pieced tops that she had done and wanted them to be donated. I finished them up and will take them to our guild meeting for them to be put to good homes. Thanks, Kate. They turned out beautifully. Check out her blog for some wonderful art quilts and postcards.

Aren't the blues fun in this one?

I added the blue border to make this one a bit larger before quilting it.

My Spiderweb continues to grow.

Finished the top of the Modern Siggy quilt

Some of my hours have been wasted waiting for car repairs. In those hours I lowered my winning percentage on Spider Solitaire. ;( Does anyone else love that game as much as I do?

The grandchildren have this week off of school for Easter break so we will have several of them each night through Sunday. It's always fun to enjoy some one on one/two time with them.

Here's hoping the next post won't be so long in coming.

Part Two and Some Fun as Well

2011-04-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

The final leg of our trip brought us down the coast and an overnight stay at our #4 son and DIL's home. They are only a couple of hours from us, but it is always nice to be able to spend time with them and the grandchildren at their home.

We all packed up and headed to the local Farmer's Market, did a little shopping and picked up some yummy food for dinner. We are blessed to have some fabulous fresh Farmer's Markets in our area almost every day of the week since our area is basically an agricultural area. The weather, however, was cold and we awoke to frost on the rooftops in the morning. I'm thinking that cannot make the farmers happy.

Globe artichokes.

Lilacs - the smell was to die for!!!!

A variety of fresh goodies. I loved the golden beets.

Buckets of Calla Lilies.

Nothing like a fresh strawberry!

Aren't these colors great together? A quilt idea?????

Our glass elevator attendant!

Never one to sit with idle hands while driving, I had many small projects that I had packed for the trip. I made several hats for the grandchildren, finished my Birdie Stitches block and did some tatting.

Of course the first few days back home is filled with catching up on mail and laundry. Can someone tell me how does a house get dusty when no one is even living in it!!!

While we were away some wonderful packages arrived in the mail for me so coming home was just like Christmas. I had won several giveaways in March and they made their way to my house.

First was a "everything green" giveaway from Maggie. It was just packed full of wonderful "green" goodies including a beautiful hand quilted tote.

An inspirational Art Quilt book arrived from Sherri.

A lovely fall book and fabrics came from Vicki.

As well I received some fabulous cards from Tracey. Tracey makes her cards from her photos that she takes around her farm in Australia. I love how she places her quilts on her animals for the photos.

My Civil War blocks that I missed while I was away gave me hair pulling issues. If there was a way to do a seam wrong, I found it. I took so many stitches out that I almost threw them all away. In the end I figured I could live with my Little Blue Basket having tan bases instead of blue. Grrr.

This week's White House block gave me no problems. Thank goodness!!!

I really love scrap quilts and have started a Spiderweb quilt. Thanks to Wanda for some fabulous scraps (her quilts are to die for) and some fat quarters from Marilyn, my quilt is growing by the day.

One wonderful thing about returning home is to see how much the garden has grown. Everything is really blooming out and the warmer temperatures are appreciated by us and the flowers.

This orchid merely had buds when we left. We came home to this lovely showing.

My new iris garden is popping out all over.

As well, the roses are putting forth their first big flush of color.

I love the lavender.

It is a beautiful weekend in the neighborhood and the kids and grands will all be coming for a BBQ to celebrate the April birthdays.

Home Again..Home Again... Part I

2011-04-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me? We took a week off and headed up to Washington and Oregon to visit friends and enjoy a little road trip along the way.

Heading up California we took our normal Rt 395. This road takes you up through the Sierra Nevada mountain range and is always spectacular. It is amazing how much snow is still there after their record breaking winter. From there we entered into Nevada and spent the first night in Reno. We had a great meal, played a little video poker, did not win my Royal Flush and called it a day.

The next morning we departed bright and early in chilly temperatures and blackened skies as we headed to Oregon. The drive was beautiful despite intermittent rain showers throughout the day. We even witnessed a calf being born. Of course we had to pull over and watch the mother finally get the little thing up to nurse. I have mentioned before how we love to take the backroads and this is one of the reasons why. You really get to see so much more and can pull over at any time to look closer.

That night was spent in Sisters, OR - one of my favorite spots. A little walkabout town and some shopping at the Stitchin Post was a nice break from the car. It is an amazing shop.

We had a few snow flurries overnight and the next morning was the most "exciting" as far as driving went. The pass took us up to about 4800 feet and the going got a little interesting as we climbed. There were not many cars and one can see why from the pictures.

Doesn't look too bad....does it?

This was up a bit further.

The rest of the day was rainy and cold as we drove to Olympia and met our friend. Tom led us from Olympia to his home on a beautiful lake. His wife recently passed away and Tom has become quite the homemaker. He greeted us with a true NW cuisine - raw oysters and champagne as appetizers, fabulous salmon done on the BBQ and a Washington berry compote for dessert. It was all delicious. All the while we enjoyed the view from his "glass" house.

You can see how high the water is by looking at the docks.

This bald eagle entertained us in the morning over our coffee.

Rain...rain...all day!

We departed his place in a continuous rain as we headed down the coast to Oregon. That night was spent in Newport, OR - a stunningly beautiful town. Perhaps it was because the sun finally shown that morning, but the beaches and harbors were glorious.

We continued our drive down the coast and crossed over into California and through the Redwoods. We spent the night in the "Victorian Alps" town of Weaverville - a historic town. Our accommodations that evening were fabulous.

Oregon coast.

The Redwoods.

Loved the crazy quilt at the foot of our bed.

The champagne tub...love all the linens???

The sitting room.

The rain returned the next day as we headed for another historic Gold Rush town - Murphys. We were getting a little tired of all the rain and were relieved that the following day's trip was dry. We found some fabulous roads as we headed south. On this one we met one other car in a 60+ mile drive. The green hills were the most luscious color and the flowers were blooming everywhere. It was a fun time to travel despite the rain and snow.

Why, of Course!

2011-03-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

My neighber stopped over this week and said that he was cleaning some "stuff" out and found a box of sewing "stuff" from his mom. He wondered if I would be interested in any of it before he threw it in the trash. Why, of course!!!!!

Look at the old buttons and two layers of wooden spools of thread. How could I refuse????

It has been a crazy busy week with lots of little ones around which I love, running here and there for maintenance on the car, which I despise, and trying to get a little sewing done.

Don't you love this hair. I do hope it will eventually lie down for her sake.

Finished the embroidery and piecing of the Raggedy Ann quilt.

Borders are on the Thread Head Quiltalong.

I've been playing around with some hand sewn puzzle pieces....lots of fun.

The weather has been warm and beautiful all week and I am loving it. Today it reached 98* - perfect for this sun loving lizard. The birds also seem to be enjoying some sunshine as they are at the feeders all day.

The finches are here in mass. I love how yellow they are.

A family of quail have also found the leftovers from the feeders.

That was my week and I am looking forward to the weekend. I hope that your weekend will be terrific.

Spring....Who Knew?

2011-03-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Spring is here....right? Thankfully our male orioles have returned so we actually know that spring has arrived. We have had some wicked weather this week and are awaiting the next storm this afternoon. I am hoping that it is nothing like this past weekend's cold, wet and windy one. There are so many downed trees that it looks as though a tornado blew through. Our plants must be wondering what happened this year with a hard freeze and then the winds to torment them.

My mom's neighborhood had lot of trees down.

First the freeze and now the wind did the hibiscus in.

I got a kick out of seeing our little finches trying to stay out of the storm. They were hanging from the stucco on the house and would bravely fly over to get some seeds before quickly returning to the wall.

With the strong storm on Sunday we were left without power for the whole day. It was actually a relaxing day as we lit a warm fire and I pulled up the rocking chair and worked on my embroidery for my Raggedy Ann quilt blocks. That worked fine until dusk and then the lighting got too bad. Candles and hurricane lanterns don't quite cut it for saving the eyesight.

The luck in my Irish blood has been good to me this month. I have won several wonderful giveaways. Look at these fabulous batiks from Inchworm Fabrics. I really needed some light colored ones for my batik blocks that I have been working on so these will be perfect.

I also won a beautiful potholder from Kay. These are pictures from her site, but look at the perfection in her stitching. These will definitely not be ~~abused~~ used with my cooking, but they will be great to display. Thank you, Kay.

My Thread Head blocks are all set to be sewn together. I have them stacked and ready to sew. It will be a good sized quilt when finished.

My Civil War block collection continues to grow with one block each week. The blocks are fun to make, but the stories behind each block have been so much fun to read.

One last picture of the newest little one around here. Gotta love the red hair!!!

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. I think we all have a bit of the Irish in us as we enjoy the corned beef and cabbage. Right? I am actually about 25% Irish so I am allowed to celebrate the day. I'll be wearing the green so I don't get pinched.

I've been having fun with Sunkissed this week. I love this fabric line and find it perfect for spring and Easter. I figured a little Easter dress would look great done in it. My grandmother used to always say, "What ye sew on Sunday so shall ye rip on Monday." This statement kept running through my mind as I ripped and ripped and ripped. It was just one of those days. Grrrr. Monday was much better and I was able to finish the dress, pinafore and bloomers to cover the diapers.

The final instructions for the Cathedral Window pillow came out today and I couldn't wait to get it finished. Thank you, Melissa, for a great project for this quiltalong. I really enjoyed doing it and love the way it came out.

The strawberries are in and we have been enjoying strawberry shortcake this week. Would you look at the size of the strawberries. They are ever so sweet too.

It seems like I find myself rushing around way more than I should, but why is it that when you really need to get somewhere on time you have a vehicle in front of you going five miles an hour? That was what happened to me today, but I kind of got a kick out of following this guy and wondering what life was like back when these were new. I am sure it was a simpler time. Yes, I was driving when I took the picture, but I could have been taking a nap at the speed we were going!!!!!

I hope everyone finds their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

The House is Cuckoo Again

2011-03-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Yep! The house is cuckoo once again. About forty years ago my sister stayed with us for a few months while she was relocating. She felt so badly about being a long term guest so she would buy us a little gifts as a thank you. One of the gifts that she bought was a cuckoo clock for the children. They, of course, loved it. Over the years it cuckoo-ed itself to death and sat quietly on the wall. With no birdie coming out to announce the time we eventually just got used to the silence and it eventually stopped altogether. That was about seven years ago. Recently I found a specialist who repairs cuckoo clocks and I took ours to the shop. A month later it is now returned and working like a charm. The grandchildren LOVE the cuckoo bird and it is so much fun to hear it again.

It's a tough day to think that anything I could write in a blog could be important with the devastation that we have seen in Japan. I know that our thoughts and prayers are with that country today as they deal with what has happened and what is yet to come for them. It hits home especially hard for those of us living in "earthquake country" and makes one wonder when our next big one will hit.

With our latest houseguest gone, I have had a chance to spend a little more time in the sewing studio this week playing "catch up" on my blocks.

Block #20, the final block is now out for the Thread Head Quiltalong. I am so excited to get it finished and assemble the top. Mine will be queen sized when finished so there will be eighty one blocks total.

Blocks #16,17,18,19

I have added the third row to my Raggedy Ann and Andy quilt along and am working on the final three block's embroidery work. I love how this one is turning out.

The foundation for the Be Mine Cathedral Window pillow with Melissa is finished and I need to add my squares this week. I think I am going to do it in greens.

We've had a birthday as well this week. I had to make an E.T. cake for the birthday boy and I can't believe that I forgot to take a picture of it before we ate it. It was a hit and tasted delicious anyway!!!

My BIL getting a few baby snuggles.

Does it seem to anyone else that things tend to fall apart in groups? This week was the week for repairmen. The cable guy was here to repair the wireless router problems, the door man was here to figure out why a door wouldn't lock and yesterday the appliance guys were here to repair the stove fan, the clicking on the BBQ and a broken bolt on the refrigerator. Now....no more repairs for awhile....please.

Spring is definitely in the air, but we have been assessing the damage from the freeze that we had about two weeks ago. Our bouganvilla, hibiscus and several of our bigger plumerias really got hit hard. The region's strawberries also took a hit. It was such a strange time for us to have such cold weather. If the tortoises are correct, we are in for prolonged warmer weather as they have emerged from hibernation this week. Yeah!

Whew...What a week!

2011-03-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Seriously, has it only been one week since my last post? What a busy week it has been.

Well....the weather did not cooperate with us for my cousin's sunny California visit. We experienced record breaking low temperatures and rain. At least we did not get the snow that many parts of the state did. That would have been quite a shock. Despite the rain and cold, we had a fabulous visit.

We had to scrape the ice from the window before heading to church Sunday morning.

We visited the Reagan Library and were thrilled to find the miniature White House on display. It is a traveling show and if you ever get the chance to visit it you must go see it. Everything is on a scale of one inch to one foot and it is amazing! They have working televisions, secret service attendants and vehicles. The rooms are decorated exactly as the White House is and is constantly changed as the decor changes. The portraits of the family are all hand painted, many times using a single haired brush. There is no flash photography, but I hope you can see some of the detail.

We made our way up to the wine country and spent an enjoyable day touring the area.

Saturday evening we celebrated my mom's 88th birthday with a nice dinner with my siblings and their spouses. It was a great time filled with laughter and memories.

Sunday we had our children and the grandchildren over for a BBQ. Although the afternoon was fun, it was marred by the phone call that our son had been involved in a skiing accident. He suffered a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula in the lower leg. They took him to surgery that evening and placed a rod down the middle of the tibia and all went well. We all counted our blessings that it was a leg instead of a head injury.

Monday we dropped our company off at the airport and headed up to the Sierras to check out the "patient." He was discharged on Tuesday and we brought him back to his wife and children who were thrilled to have him home. With all the nursing care needed, I think we may get a nurse out of the kids yet!!!! He has to have an anticoagulant shot each day and one of children wanted to do it for him this morning. What a thrill it was for all!

A courtesy smile!!!

Before surgery.

After surgery.

The drive up was just gorgeous, but quite cold. We wondered if the car thermometer would register negative numbers and we found out that it does. It was -5* with a freezing fog. The trees and bushes were just magical looking - all white and icy. There was a ton of snow with the new storms that had brought such frigid temperatures to our area.

Lots more snow since our trip up two weeks ago.

I am hoping for a little more sewing time now that the busy month is behind us. I did manage to work on my embroidery for my Raggedy Ann and Andy quilt while we were driving. I am on my last three blocks of that quilt. As well, I made another doll uniform for the grandchildren's school auction this coming Saturday night. I won't bore you with another picture.

My mug rugs from Betty arrived this past week and I just love them. They are perfect for my morning coffee. I love the fabrics that she used and her work is just wonderful. This was a really fun swap and I am so glad that I participated in it.

Now it is off to catch up on cleaning and laundry as we have out of town coming for the weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend.