Monday, Monday

I went to Paradise. Yeah, I did! It's just about six miles from my house. Really! Paradise Piecemakers met Saturday and I took my Time Travel quilt top and pieced more of the Soaring Past Time blocks. And I peddled some of my wares. It was very enjoyable. I mean what could be better than piecing most of the day. Unless it was quilting most of the day. SO, today I worked some more on the blocks and now only have four left to put together.

When I got home Saturday we got the news that DH's friend/ex-coworker passed away that afternoon. Thank God he didn't suffer long. DH has been asked to do his funeral.

I called my neighbor today and asked if she wanted to start walking (we talked about it last year and never got started) and if today was a good day. We agreed to meet after lunch and walked about a mile to start with. I know not much for some but for us out-of-shape gals; it is a start. My neighbor quit smoking this year and I am so glad for her. It was very warm-82 degrees when we were walking. Right now the wind is blowing ninety to nothing. And in the morning it is to be 40 degrees but feel like 30. Joy. I will definitely finish the four blocks in the morning.

I would appreciate your prayers for my sister and her family. I won't go into detail here but please pray for a peaceful solution to the custody issues involving their granddaughter.
This is not a desert photo. Really! This is located in Colorado. This is a National Park in Colorado that we visited back a couple of years ago. The dark figures are people walking toward the dunes. It was so weird to see this huge sand dune between a couple of mountains.This is a picture of some of our ladies from Kraz-z Quilters on one of our fabric field trips. I'm the one in the back in the lavender shirt. We had lunch that day at a lovely tea room.

I keep forgetting to take my camera with me to take pictures of our pigs. I will remember one of these days. Promise.

Blessings.

Redwork

I didn't know how to post pictures when we drew the name for our "Hillbilly Romance" quilt so I thought I would post a picture. But as you can see it's not a very good one. I tried scanning one and yuck. I will post another when I can.

Just thinking

Ever just need to sit and think? Thought so. That's what I've been doing this morning and reading and praying. We got a call day before yesterday from the wife of a man my husband had worked with. His cancer has spread and it is not good. We went to the hospital yesterday afternoon. We did what we could--we prayed with them and loved them. He probably has a matter of days left. That is our prayer--for God's mercy.

My dad died from cancer when I was 30 years old. My youngest child was a baby. My children don't remember him. My mom and dad divorced when I was 19 and it was very much a earth-turning-upside-down kind of a thing. My dad was unfaithful and my mom was bitter and is. I felt betrayed. What I had always been taught not to do--they have done. My mom lived with my step-dad for three years before they married all in the name of Social Security. Meaning--she could draw widow's pay because the length of their marriage. To be honest I have done things I have taught my children not to do. I know that we all make choices in life. It's like the children's books that you can choose one way to go and the story is different. I am reading Max Lucado's book "When God Whispers Your Name". It 's been a long time since I've read one of his books. And it's just what I need right now.

I didn't intend for this post to come off heavy so I will post a picture of my beloved Max and later I will get some pictures of our baby pigs. Larry wants to keep the heifer we were going to butcher and breed her and raise a calf.

I don't know how Max got into this position and didn't hurt himself. You do see that his front legs are turned one way and back legs are turned the other, right? I took this through the patio door because I knew if I opened the door he would move. We bought a dog house for him after a wind storm tore the roof off the plywood one Larry made him sometime ago. He rarely used it. The cats did. He doesn't like the new one any better. He sleeps on the patio on a mat I made from some of my practice quilting. Larry found (correction--Max appeared at the sand plant some seven , eight years ago) and was chasing the large haul trucks and Larry knew what the outcome would be and we needed a dog, right?! He brought him home thinking he was a female because he is built slender. I called him back and asked if he had not checked the plumbing any better than that. Anyway, Max is mine -- no doubt about it. He does what I tell him--most of the time. He will help me herd the pigs into their pen. He doesn't work for Larry--he tries. Larry doesn't know how to talk to him. And when you're trying to put animals in a trailer I know now to put him on a leash. It works a whole lot better.
He goes with me to feed the animals. His favorite is when we have baby pigs and when they are old enough to run around. He is in doggie heaven. Max's one fault--he hates water. You know what that means; you got it. He hates baths.

Good Monday to ya!

There is sunshine! Yeah! We had rain Saturday. 1.25" to be exact. Yeah! DH came home sick early Friday morning. Yes, he has the crud. But today he is much better. He had the sore throat, achy, coughing, fever crud. So I have been playing nurse. He is not a good patient. Doesn't like taking medicine. Yesterday afternoon while he slept I sewed. The block to the left is from http://www.quilterscache.com/ and is called Soaring Past Time. Here is where all the little flying geese are going.

And this is one of the blocks that I won waaay back when I was in the quilt guild several years ago. It is called winding blades and the blocks vary but all a green color. This is the Time Travel quilt coming together.

We had quilt guild meeting Saturday. It went well. Our president liked her blocks. Remember the pink and purple one I posted? There were some really pretty ones. Some folks with embroidery machines embroidered their blocks, gorgeous. There is one lady that does wonderrrfuull machine applique. And the colors. She is a very lucky lady. And she does a good job as president.

Ya'll have a great day and blessings.

I'm BAAACK

And here is the finished block. It's not perfect. But neither am I. But it is 12 1/2" like it needed to be. Done is good.

Thursday

Good morning! I know I promised I would post a picture of the block I'm doing for Saturday's meeting BUT when I started to cut it out I didn't have enough of the background fabric. I needed
3 1/2 " more. Just three and half! Well, I had to scramble to find another one that would work and I did. I have it almost completely sewn. I will post a picture later. But to give you a picture here are the flowers I got for anniversary.I should have taken the picture when they first came because as you can see they are fading fast.
Can you see my yellow walls? I love yellow! The crocheted table topper/doily was given to me by my mother. I have a matching one that is slightly smaller and she found them at a garage sale several years ago. I don't crochet. I watched my grandmother and she tried to teach me but I just didn't pick it up. I did try knitting years ago and made a scarf I think but gave that up. I'm glad to see that knitting and lots of needleart are doing much better. I will post again later when I have the block sewn up.

Blessings.

Good Tuesday to Ya!

Hi, to all. Hope you are doing well. We had a beeaauutiful weekend. 70's and sunshine. Last night we had a cold front and we were forecast to have rain; but no. Wind but no rain. Hope you had rain and no hail, Patsy.

Back to Friday--DH had a beautiful bouquet delivered during the day for our anniversary. Yellow is my favorite color and he had (I think he had them) make it up in yellow roses, daisies,
and gladiola with purple and green filler in a lovely purple vase. I was surprised because I can probably count on one hand how many times he has bought flowers. We had a nice weekend together.

I am going to cut out the block for Saturday for guild meeting today and sew it up. I will post it tomorrow. I am committing myself here. Today, I will make the rolls I promised to bring tomorrow. Actually, the bread maker will do the work. I will put the dough in the refrigerator tonight and shape and bake in the morning. Jan is bringing chicken lasagna. And I don't remember who else is bringing food.

We put Jan's quilt in the frame last week after we rearranged our quilting room. Bless her heart. It is a beautiful quilt top with butterflies made in the drunkard path type pattern in bright, scrappy colors. But her borders are too large and are wavy. We will try our best to quilt it and make it look as good as we can. Anyone having problems with borders; scoot on over to Bonnie's Quiltville. She has an excellent tutorial. I am going to print out her directions and give to Jan. She doesn't have internet right now.

Speaking of Bonnie, how about that girl?! She moves into her new house and has time to post to let us know what's going on. She is great. I really hope they enjoy their new adventure. And Judy L. moved her blog and has a slightly new look. Best wishes to her with her move.

Ya'll have a great day and blessings.

Feb. 8, 2008

Feb. 8, 1975 was our wedding day. And today 33 years later we celebrate our life together. Three children and three grandchildren from our union; so far. Thank you, God, for your blessings.

DH surprised me coming in the door awhile ago. He forgot his reading glasses. I got to give him a kiss and wish him Happy Anniversary. I was asleep when he left this morning.

Yesterday, I went to Post Oak to the Busy Bee Quilters. They are such a nice group of ladies. I had the privilege of quilting on a Grandmother's Flower Garden that they estimated was made in the 1930's. They are doing it for hire. And they do excellent work. Small stitches and evenly spaced quilting lines.
I quilted on this quilt, ladies; I made a mark in history! How great is that? We had wonderful food as always. I got out my quilting wares after lunch and they were great customers. Thanks ladies for lightening my load. Great company, good food, quilting, good weather--it doesn't get much better.And this is the block I made using the pattern from the book Triangle Tricks. The yellow check is fabric I bought to make napkins for our table. I put the block on it to showcase it. I really enjoyed making this block and the technique is quite easy. I borrowed this book from the public library. For those quilters (ahem, holding up hand) on a limited budget your local library is a good source for books. I might want to purchase this book after trying it.

Ya'll have a wonderful day and blessings to one and all.

Cold Again

Yup, it's cold again. We started out in the sixties yesterday morning and when I was feeding our animals late yesterday afternoon I was decked out in heavy coat and cap. Today is Wednesday and that means quilting day! We will finish up hand quilting the one in the frame in the first hour or so we are there and then we will put on Jan's butterfly quilt. I will ask her if I can put pictures up here. I have to go and make slaw to take, get a shower, gather my stuff, etc. Ya'll have a great day.

Blessings,

Good Monday Morning!

And it is a good morning! We woke up this morning to 70 degrees! How weird is that on Feb. 4?
But we have a cold front on it's way, of course. Sure does make it feel like spring is coming though.

On the previous post I talked about the fires in Paradise, Texas. There were six houses totally destroyed and one severely damaged and 625 acres burned. We drove out there yesterday. There were lots of houses where the flames came right up to the houses. Amazing! There were barns and outbuildings destroyed. They had a disaster relief fair at the FBC at Paradise on Saturday and I went and donated the quilt I posted. It was one that I received when I bought my used short arm machine. The lady who sold me the machine gave me something like ten quilt tops to practice on. There a couple of tops that weren't great but the rest are just fine. I practiced my meandering pantograph on it. And it turned out really well. You don't want to see some of the first ones I practiced on! I keep them in the linen closet to use around here. LOL

I woke up early this morning around 4am. I've been doing that lately. I usually pray for awhile. And this morning I did then I read Luke 6. Jesus is so wonderful. He wasn't afraid of what they could do to him. He came to set things right.

I started exercising this morning. We watched "The Biggest Loser" last night and it motivated me. I'm not obese but I am overweight. We weren't really interested in the Super Bowl this year. I guess because our Cowboys weren't playing and our reception wasn't that great. We have an antenna. But we are thinking of going to Dish Network or something. And of course when everything converts in 2009 to HD we will have to do something then anyway. I'm glad the NYG won; sorry NE.

If you've visited Judy L. at Sunshine Quilts you may have read in some of her older posts about the quilt for an hour thing she does. Well, one of these days I'm going to do one of her projects but not until I get mine done. This morning I set the timer for an hour and I did it. I worked some more on those flying geese for the Time Travel quilt. I only need 50 or 60 more I think. If I keep this up I will be done in a couple of mornings. I do the little extra seam to make the itty bitty half square triangle squares. Then I press them. I think they will make a great sawtooth border or possibly little pinwheels I haven't decided yet. I am still designing! I tried to take a picture and the camera batteries are low. I will charge and then take a picture for another day's post.

Ya'll have a good day and blessings to you.