Catering Quilter

He's Home!

2012-01-25T15:10:00.000-06:00

That would be the Hog Man. He got that nasty old worn out hip replaced with a shiny new one. His pain is pretty much nil. Amazing! He can now place his foot flat where before he walked on the ball of his foot. He is having to learn to walk correctly. He is doing so good.

Everyone has been so terrific. A big shout out to all the family. THANKS! Couldn't have done it without you. Most of all we are so very thankful for God's provision. His mercy and grace and favor.

Blessings,

One of our sunsets

2012-01-20T09:10:00.001-06:00


This was taken several weeks ago. Just beautiful.

2012-01-20T08:43:00.002-06:00

We have a blue ribbon winner! Aimee entered 5 items in the youth fair in her county show. She got four blue ribbons and a second place. Doesn't she look happy? We are so proud of her.

Lovey had her pigs yesterday. She is a Blue Butt (Hampshire and Yorkshire cross). She was bred to a Hampshire. There are more pigs behind her under the heat lamp and on the heated pad. I named her Lovey because she loves for you to rub her belly. Her belly is a little busy these days. LOL

While I had the camera I walked around and took pictures of all the other pigs. Remember these?

And these?

They have grown.

We have two left from the Blue Butts above and three left from the Hampshire litter and one from the Berkshire/Hampshire litter. Hog Man bought two Yorkshire gilts that will be replacement sows someday. That feeder holds a ton of feed and has doors that the pigs lift to get to the feed.

This is King, our boar. He probably weighs 500 to 600 pounds. He is a registered Hampshire.

This is Berky (My daughter said we were very original with the name. LOL) She is a Berkshire. King is behind her. They are scrounging around for any feed cubes that may be left over. She is bred to Hoss below.

This is one of our Yorkshire sows. She is #4. We never got around to naming her. She needs a name; don't you think?! She is dirty! She should be all white. This one is supposed to be bred and due in late March.

This is her sister #3. They were from the same litter. We've called them #4 and #3 so long I don't know if other names would feel right. LOL As you can see she is getting a tummy. She will have her litter in March.

This is Hoss. He is our new boar. He is a Hampshire cross.

And this is Princess. Hog Man named her. She is in the pen with Hoss. She is very "mouthy". Meaning she talks to us a lot. We hope that she is now bred. It is a "wait and see" until her date for her next heat cycle comes around. A female will come in heat every 18 to 21 days.

We sold two gilts and a boar early this month.

There you have it. Our hogs who are funny, stinky, and hungry what seems like all the time. LOL

Blessings,

Checking in again

2012-01-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

I haven't been on the computer much except to read a few blogs and check email. Larry/dh/Hog Man has been needing something to keep him occupied. LOL Did you know there must be thousands of hunting videos online to watch. I had no idea. Thank God for the internet.

We went Friday for one of the pre-op appointments. Took Hog Man to Cabela's to look around afterwards. They have an elevator. I did not remember that. Hog Man did. He had a good time looking around. That place is always busy.

I had fabric sales two Saturdays in a row. Very successful. Thanks everyone. The Sunday after the first one I woke up at 1am (Ruby barking like crazy outside). I got up to see what was tripping her trigger. Someone's dogs out roaming. I get steamed about that. Don't get me started. I had a horrible throbbing headache. You know the kind. The one you remember having when you had the flu. I started praying. I don't need to be sick right now kind of prayer. Thank, God, I never got the full blown stuff. But laid around Sunday and napped and rested. Sunday night I wake up to hearing Hog Man in the bathroom emptying his stomach. Poor guy. He can't move around too fast these days. So, yeah, yuck. It was just a 24 hour thing; thanks be to God. So we both were pretty worthless for a couple of days.

Went to quilt club Wednesday. We're seeing the end approaching of Bonnie's quilt. Poor Bonnie. She fell and broke a bone in her leg right before Thanksgiving and is just now being able to bend her leg a little each day. The break was right below her knee. Bad place.

We had snow the first part of December. It melted right away. Not anymore since then. We've had some well needed rain the past week. We have what we call wild rye grass in our yard. It needs mowing. I don't ever remember having wild rye that grew so much in the winter and needed mowing. I've got to get down and get an air tank so I can air up the front tires on the riding lawn mower. Then I can mow. Just one more thing to do. : )

Oh, Amanda, our daughter, and Aimee, DGD, came the first Sat. of my fabric sales. I already knew that several were coming and thought maybe I could use some help cutting fabric. SO glad I called her. We were swamped the first two hours. Amanda cut fabric and Aimee carried bolts of fabric back and forth. They were wonderful. Did I tell you that my daughter--MY DAUGHTER--who always said she didn't like sewing is SEWING? Maybe it was she and I back then. Maybe I wasn't patient enough with her. Because she said when I was helping Aimee--"Mom, you're different now." My reply--"I'm older and wiser now." Why or why does wisdom have to come with age? How many times do we say I wish I knew what I know now back then. Anyway, I am so glad she is sewing. And she and Aimee are doing it together. : ) But you know I am watching them and I am so grinning. Amanda is going to get to say the same thing some day. "I'm older and wiser now." LOL

We have another pre-op appointment this next week and then the surgery we have been so waiting and praying for will happen soon.

Remember these? I replaced the three yellow centers that had fabric that bled on them. I turned them over and cut away the background fabric to make it easier to hand quilt. Next I will square them all up and begin cutting sashing fabric. Then lay it all out on my design "bed" and put it all together. Hopefully I can get them done in the evenings this next week.

Blessings everyone,

Sewing

2011-12-31T08:14:00.002-06:00

Sewing but not on quilts. Our daughter, Amanda, along with the kids came yesterday. And brought Aimee's new sewing machine Santa brought. Yes, Aimee has her first sewing machine. They hadn't even taken it out of the box yet! So we figured out how to thread it and did some test stitching. Got all familiar. Wound a bobbin with pink thread and away we went. Aimee likes skirts. She doesn't like jeans I have recently been informed. So skirts it will be. There are lots of free tutorials online for tiered skirts and skirts made with elastic waist. Perfect! Would you believe I was so busy I didn't EVEN think to take pictures? Of course, you do. It happens all the time. LOL

I had to clear out the bedroom where I sew when my sister and brother in law spent the night when they were in Texas visiting. I have this table/chair/bench type thing that Larry's brother made in high school in woodworking shop. I have it in the extra/guest bedroom and most of the time it is in table mode with tons of stuff stacked on it. Lots of my UFOs and PIGs (and we're not talking about the four legged variety-LOL) to be exact. I had to find a home for all this stuff so I could make the room presentable. LOL I set aside one of the projects I ran across and thought I just need to work that up and get that out of here! That's what I have been saying a lot this year. So after I got the room all tidied up and all ready for their visit I set up a machine on the dining room table and finished up that project. Dixie from quilt club had brought a shopping bag one day and said "If anybody wants to take this home and finish it they are welcome to it." She had started a fabric basket made from cotton clothesline covered in fabric and it just wasn't working for her. I had made a couple of those baskets and thought -- why not? Well, needless to say it turned into a UFO. Like I was saying I got it out Christmas Eve and started. She had already done the wrapping and had tried sewing it and she said her machine just wouldn't sew it. I took out what she had sewn and thought I'd make quick work of it. Not! For what ever reason I couldn't get the beginning of the coil to work either. After several attempts and unsewing--gggrrrr-- I decided to cut the cord and start at the other end. No more problems. Got it done.

Then I was still on the "basket kick" so found some narrows strips I had been putting back for making baskets and started another one. A scrappy purple one. I added the flower to cover my ending. I still have to work on my ending. It's not as neat as I'd like. I like the scrappy ones. I sat and wrapped some more clothesline while watching TV.

I found the tutorial for the flower here.

Instead of a button for the centerI appliqued a circle to both the front and back.

Speaking of Dixie-- a couple of years ago I had posted about Dixie's husband being in a small airplane crash and asked for prayers. He passed away several days after the crash. A year later she met a man at church. They started seeing each other and married last February. They have been so happy. She has said that he has been so good to her and she really knew what a good marriage was like. Her husband suddenly died a week before Christmas. He had been sick the week before with upset stomach and sitting on the potty and lots of pain in his abdomen. She took him to the doctor. Long story short, he needed his gall bladder out. Surgery went fine. There were complications. He already had a weak heart. Poor Dixie! She is comforted by her faith in God and that He will see her through this.

Blessings,

Checking In

2011-12-28T19:01:00.000-06:00

I thought I would check in. It has been a busy month hasn't it? Also nerve racking for us. We've been waiting by the phone for a surgery date. The call finally came! Late January Larry will get his new hip joint. Yay! It has been a long wait and now just a little bit longer. But the end is in sight. Praise the Lord.

I didn't get hardly anything sewn up for Christmas gifts. I just couldn't concentrate. Instead I did some cleaning and straightening. I think I tend to do that sort of thing when I am feeling anxious. I need to do a whole lot more cleaning and straightening. LOL Some sorting and tossing, too.

I went ahead and took the Christmas decorations down and put them away yesterday. Probably the earliest ever. I want to keep things in order and stay busy getting as much done before Larry's surgery.
I will miss the quilt retreat. It is scheduled the same time as his surgery. There will always be quilt retreats

So I have a pictures from Christmas parties I will post soon. I just wanted to check in and let you know I am still alive and well. LOL

Blessings,

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:24:00.003-06:00

I wish everyone out in blogland a very Merry Christmas. May you have a blessed time with your family and friends.

Blessings,

Snow!

2011-12-05T07:48:00.001-06:00

It is snowing this morning. This is looking out my dining room window to the south at our crooked pine tree. Weird, huh? I heard sleet hitting the window earlier in the wee hours and then when I got up and looked out--it was snowing to bit the band. At almost 8am it is still snowing a little. They are predicting for it to come to an end soon. Our poor pigs need web feet. It has been raining for days and now with the snow they have some sloppy pens. Poor things. But we are so grateful for the rain. This will nourish our trees and grasses after this long hot, dry summer.

I have a busy week planned. Two quiltey group Christmas parties and a trip to Post Oak to take my store and do a demo.

Ya'll stay safe and be blessed.

Marilyn

Another finish

2011-11-28T08:24:00.001-06:00

These colors are washed out. It is much brighter! I used Bonnie Hunter's pattern Crayon Box. It is very easy to put together and as you can tell it is very scrappy.

Actually I finished this a week ago -- just haven't posted. What have I been doing? That's a good question. LOL Oh yeah, I straightened up my sewing area (reorganized--although I'm the only one who can tell- LOL) and did some cleaning. I finished appliqueing the centers on the Dresden Plates. Yay! I had used blue marker to mark the turn line on the plates and rinsed them in plain water. Laid them out to dry on towels. Oh dear. One color -- a bluish gray bled a little. I will hand wash them in Synthapol with some color catchers and see it that won't take care of it. If not out comes the seam ripper and take out the offending fabric and replace it. Better to find it now than once the quilt is together. So that's part of what I will be doing today.

And this week I also have a customer's string quilt that I am repairing and then will quilt. Then I need to get the guild's Christmas party invitations labeled and in the mail. Larry has a doctor appointment tomorrow. One more step before hip replacement. He has his okay from his primary care and heart doctors. Yay!

This year we didn't gather at Larry's parents for Thanksgiving. First time in many a year. They went to see Larry's aunt and sister. Instead I cooked lunch for us. Chicken and dressing and the fixings. And pies. I have a new favorite. I made pecan and buttermilk pies. I always make pecan but not buttermilk. The buttermilk pie made me remember my mom's Jeff Davis pies that she made years ago but a little different. Really they are made pretty much the same accept one uses sweet milk and the other buttermilk. Correct me if I'm wrong. I added a little cinnamon to mine. Just a dash. Oh, and I have a new favorite pie crust recipe using olive oil. It makes me feel so much better not using shortening. I was genuinely surprised how well it turned out. I rolled it out between waxed paper and it turned out perfect. Our daughter invited us for the evening meal. We enjoyed spending time with them. Our other kids went to their other destinations for Thanksgiving. And I stayed home and enjoyed some down time. No shopping!

Blessings,

WCQG Bus Trip

2011-11-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

The guild took a bus trip to Stitchin' Heaven yesterday. It was our first ever and not the last. We had a ton of fun. We left the Decatur Wal-Mart parking lot around 8am and we were driven (quite possibly the almost best part) to Quitman, Tx. We arrived around 10:45 and immediately the shop was filled with 40 women. There was plenty of room for us. They had prepared little demonstrations for us. Our bus trip coordinator had arranged for lunch through Stitchin' Heaven so we didn't have to leave to eat! They had ordered club sandwiches, chips, water, and cookies for us. It was part of our ticket price. And of course there was shopping! Those who wanted to played fat quarter bingo after lunch. Then mid afternoon we loaded back on the bus. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel in Denton then loaded back up and arrived in Decatur before 7:30pm. There were snacks, water, games and DOOR PRIZES on the bus. Karen did a great job getting the trip together.

I took this standing at the front door. There were many samples hung throughout the store.

This was their classroom--where we ate lunch and here they are playing fat quarter bingo.

I was on a mission to find fabric to sash Amanda's dresden plates. I found two pieces that I think will work well. I may rob some from another project -- you know -- the P.I.G.S. -- project in grocery sacks and replenish them when I get to them. LOL I also found a really cute fabric for DGD Aimee's butterfly quilt that we will probably start on the next time she gets to come.

I just had to have this fabric! It will be perfect. And of course we have to have some polka dots and bright pinks and yellow!

And don't you think these will go good with the Dresden Plates? I'm planning on making sashing with nine patch corner stones and then a piano key border -- real scrappy.

And then there was this scrap bag of mostly batiks --squares and rectangles-- that I couldn't resist. I was asked what I was going to do with them. I didn't know at the time I just knew I fell in love with them. After sorting them and caressing them : ) I'm thinking Christmas gifts! Little zippered bags. Tote bags. God, could you please give me superhuman ability for say two weeks so I can get everything done that I would like to make. : )

We were given goodie bags on the bus and there were several fat quarters for the stash. Can there ever be too much? Don't answer that!

Here's a C.A.S.A. quilt I finished. These are crumb blocks sewn block to block with sashing and borders. I have another one quilted that needs trimming and binding. I will get that done today while Larry is gone hunting. Here's a link to a tutorial for crumb quilt blocks and another (I'm not sure if I will ever make any as small as Bonnie Hunter's blocks.) But I have learned to never say never. : )

I had a little escapade with the pigs while Larry's been gone. Friday evening when I went out to feed there were feeder pigs out of their pen. These four are probably 40 to 50 pounders. The sows had rooted the sandy soil out under the fence of their pen trying to get to the feed trough and the feeders had crawled under the fence. I got all the hogs fed and set about figuring out how was I going to get them back in their pen? They wanted to go everywhere but there. But darkness helped. One by one they went to their pen knowing that was where they needed to be and they wanted to be together. All but one. It was the stubborn one. By the time it decided it wanted in the pen it was pretty dark. I was gone all day Saturday so I didn't get to feed until Sunday morning. Uh oh -- they were out again! Repeat of Friday night. Hunger and thirst were on my side. Got them all back in again -- there was one again that was the hold out. Probably the same one! This time the sows are locked up in their pen. Normally we leave them to graze all the time. Let's just say they won't be tasting any grass until the pen situation is remedied.

Have a wonderful Sunday and now I'm off to make a binding and get 'er dun. Then more Dresden Plate centers need appliqueing. Just a few more!

Blessings,

Blessings to our Veterans and Service Men and Women

2011-11-11T09:30:00.001-06:00

A big Thank you to all who have served or are serving our country! Also thank you to their families who have been by their side. They don't always get noticed for their service as well.

11/11/11 -- Too cool! Isn't it wonderful to be alive on a day like today? Make the most of it-- live like today is the most important day of your life. And tomorrow.

Blessings to all,

Did you feel the Oklahoma earthquake?

2011-11-06T11:42:00.001-06:00

I had fallen asleep on the couch and didn't. Larry woke me up and said he could feel it in his recliner and he watched the angels that hang from the mantel swing back and forth and said he could have sworn the wall was moving. I was so groggy that I just looked and him and went back to sleep. Then this morning I remembered and got online and googled it. Wow! 5.6 is an earthquake.

Blessings,

A whirlwind of activity!

2011-10-31T09:15:00.002-05:00

That's what it has seemed like around here. LOL Week before last I sewed five more tote bags for the veterans. I worked in the yard--dug grass burrs, mowed and weed eated. Cleaned house. All in preparation of company coming. Larry's parents came and most of our kids and all their children. We had Mason and Paisley Friday and Saturday nights. Mac and Aimee spent Saturday night with us. Amanda and John brought pumpkins for them to carve and they had a good time doing that.

Okay, can you see Paisley marking on herself with her marker? Caught her in the act.

Paisley is scooping out the "guts" of her pumpkin. She really got into this activity!

On a sadder note--one of the ladies in our quilt guild suddenly died and her funeral was Friday afternoon. Then Larry's employer passed away Wed. and his funeral was Saturday. I was so busy getting things ready that I didn't think my menu through enough. Forgot to buy bread. I made biscuits. I forgot to buy cream of chicken soup. We managed without it. No one (hopefully)knew the difference. : ) All in all it was a great weekend.

We have had some FOG several mornings. We're talking thick! It didn't burn off until almost 11am.

How 'bout those Texas Rangers? Are you watching the World Series? I haven't got a clue most of time what most of any of it means. LOL Not a good baseball follower. Update: It was intense watching some of the games especially the 7th one! Of course, I wish they had won the Series but since they didn't maybe next year.

I've washed laundry and hung out on the clothesline AFTER the fog lifted. I got things put away and picked up after the weekend. I will put the clean sheets on the guest bed. Larry has been home since last Thursday. Since his employer had passed away and the shop is relatively close to their house they thought they would allow the family some private time without all the noise and also allow more parking for extra family and friends coming. SO you gals know what it's like to try and clean or do ANYTHING around a man. Extra patience is required. LOL And the questions--what are you doing now? What are doing that for? Why don't you do it this way?

I told you I would keep you posted about Larry's hip replacement surgery. He's had the x-rays done for the first diagnostic visit. We have an appointment with the DARS rep this Friday morning to discuss the plan of action. Woohoo! Update: We attended our appointment. Doc wants more x-rays -- of his knees now. Hopefully things will start progressing.

This post started out week before last. It got pushed to the back burner. LOL Hence the updates.

So, I will add recent activities and not put off posting for another week. LOL Would you believe I have done very little sewing? I patched some of Larry's bib overalls and sewed one more tote and turned it in. Our total totes 194 and possibly some others will be turned in. What have I been doing? Working outside! The weather is gorgeous. I have declared war on the sunflowers again. Seems like this battle is never ending. I tried pulling them up before the rains and it was impossible (they just broke off or worse didn't budge) not to mention too hot to be outside much less pulling weeds. So with the wonderful rains we've had the conditions are perfect. I got a lot done over the weekend and hope to get more done today.

Since Larry took off for his appointment Friday we used the day to get other errands done. We both needed new tennis shoes and Beall's had a good sale. A trip to Tractor Supply, of course, for stuff for the pigs. A trip to the feed store and then it was time for lunch. We tried a new place in Bridgeport called Rock City Burgers. We got the jalapeno bun. Very tasty.

Blessings,

We were busy little bees!

2011-10-16T08:25:00.002-05:00

That we were! Yesterday was a work day at guild. We needed to finish up our charitable projects. The last two years we have provided the local DAV auxillary with 200 tote bags for veterans. They fill them with whatever they fill them with and gift them to veterans in the hospital. Most of the totes had been made-- just needed a few more. Isn't it always just a few more? Like a bad dream. Just a few more. Chasing you through the night hours -- just a few more. I think several of us had dreams like that last week. LOL I brought a few more home to do-- oh, dear. I hope to get them out in the next few days so I can move on to MY projects. Yeah.

We also worked on Christmas stockings for C.A.S.A. We estimated 100 needed. We got the bulk of them done yesterday. Woohoo! Lots of talking, eating, laughing, and humming of sewing machines.

It was a very good productive day. Guess what happens next month on meeting day. BUS TRIP! Oh, yeah! I will report every detail. And hopefully have pictures. Because as you see I didn't take my camera yesterday. I had too much stuff to pack and carry. Yeah, that's my story and I staying with it.

Blessings,

Rain!

2011-10-10T16:01:00.001-05:00

And lots of it! It started raining late Saturday afternoon and didn't stop until Sunday morning. So wonderful. When Larry (DH) went out Sunday morning to check the rain gauge it was over-flowing! It holds 5 to 6 inches. Praise the Lord.

Remember this quilt?

Our darling granddaughter Aimee came and spent Friday and Saturday nights with us. Her mom and dad were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Congrats, kids. We had such fun. She wanted to sew. =D A girl after mine own heart. I prepared the backing for her quilt Friday afternoon before she arrived. BUT before the sewing could begin--there was the usual everyday stuff that had to be taken care of like feeding animals, preparing our evening meal, cleaning up afterwards, etc. Then I asked what they wanted for breakfast - sausage and pancakes- okay. Went out to the freezer. Uhoh! Things in freezer thawing. Not good. Relayed bad news to Larry aka DH. We begin process of transferring items from non-working freezer to other freezer and freezer section of refrigerator. I wound up with a large bowl of meat that had thawed too much to refreeze so I made room in the refrigerator. After getting all that moved around it was 8pm and I really didn't want to start sewing that late ALTHOUGH Aimee really wanted to. I convinced her we would sew the next day.

Saturday morning--I had bananas that needing baking into banana bread after cooking breakfast. Got that done. I had promised Larry and Aimee chocolate chips cookies. Got those started with Aimee's help. We had a late lunch of leftover chicken and spaghetti. I asked her to go with Papaw to the feed store. She did. While they were gone I prepared one of the round steaks that had thawed for smothered steak. Got that in the crock pot for our evening meal. Now all set for sewing!

I had some pieces of batting that needed whip stitched together to use for small quilts. So Aimee and I got one whip stitched for her quilt. Then we layered the backing, batting and top and safety pinned in a few places. I found some yellow embroidery floss that would work. She had wanted me to machine quilt her quilt but I thought it might be fun for us to tie it. Saturday afternoon we tied. And we tied. And we tied. We took a break. She went with Papaw to feed the animals and I got our meal together. Just as they got outside it thundered and the bottom fell out. They got soaking wet and enjoyed every minute of it!

To make a long story short--the tying was finished Saturday night. I had planned on turning the backing forward for binding. I miscalculated. Oh no! I didn't allow enough for the top and bottom. So Sunday I had to make binding. Aimee did help sew the strips together. We had to stop and help Larry in between. We had so much rain the weaned pigs were standing in water. He made a pen for them in a dry area. Aimee and I helped transfer them. Funny little squealing pigs! Then it was lunch time. Pork chops (that had thawed) with rice.

Then we pressed the binding--pressing the seams open and then pressing in half. But the sewing had to wait. Sigh. Larry aka DH had sold a pig and had an appointment to get it to the butcher. He loaded her while we were pressing. We rode with him to Weatherford. I wanted to go just in case he needed any help. Last Wednesday we had another hog to deliver to a butcher in Muenster. Had a blow-out on the trailer just a little over half way there. No spare. Limped on in and made to the butcher before they closed. Whew! The butcher knew of a mom and pop tire shop just a few blocks over. He made the call. Praise the Lord, they fixed us right up with a used tire and we were on our way. So I had wanted to go along JUST in case he had a repeat of Wednesday evening. The other tires on the trailer--yeah--need replacing. One of these days.

Back to the quilt--I decided it would be best for me to machine sew the binding on. I got that done when we returned from Weatherford. Just in time before we needed to meet Aimee's folks in Jacksboro. Whew!

Today, I turned the binding and finished it by machine. Not the best job I have done. : ( But it will have to do. It is in the washer now and then I will toss in the dryer.

Now to finish the C.A.S.A. quilt I machine quilted last week. It needs trimming, binding, washing and drying. Then to make a backing for another C.A.S.A. quilt and pin it on the frame and quilt. But that quilt will wait for tomorrow.

I hope and pray that you've had rain if you needed it and of course as always--

Blessings,

Quilts and Pigs

2011-09-29T11:41:00.000-05:00

What else do you expect from me? LOL

I sewed this together several weeks ago. I've been using Bonnie Hunter's Leaders and Enders method with the little squares then sewed them leaders and enders again into four patches. Then I used Mary's pattern
4 Patches on the Diagonal and put them all together. And of course my quilt top is turned the opposite from Mary's pictured in her instructions. LOL It is VERY scrappy. Some people like scrappy and some like "controlled" scrappy. I like SCRAPPY. But next time I might use solid or solid looking fabric for the large half square triangles. What do you think? I will definitely be making more quilts from this pattern. I have lots more squares! LOL I haven't decided whether to add a border or not yet. What do you think?

We have four litters of pigs that have been born with one more due in a couple of days. The pen on the left has one mama and one baby. This mama had trouble having hers and we were very blessed that she and one baby are alive and well. The mama in front of the camera has six babies. Can you see the little ones in the back napping in the sun? These babies are around 3 weeks old. They are starting to eat feed and will be weaned soon.

These are still in the barn and are from a litter of ten. They have a Berkshire mama and a Hampshire daddy.

These are Hampshires babies also still in the barn and also ten in their litter.

Aren't they all sweet? I just love to hear the mama hogs call their babies when their milk lets down. They all scramble to latch on and fight over teats and squeal. Hilarious.

Blessings,

Picture Perfect Weekend

2011-09-26T17:52:00.001-05:00

That's what we had at the Post Oak Quilt Show. DH and I had an outdoor booth and it was an absolutely fantastic weekend. I was busy last week preparing for the booth: cutting fat quarters, yards, etc. I organized totes; priced items; made a few kits up; etc. We had a good profitable time. I counted how many fat quarters and yards we sold. I am so surprised. We sold a good many but you know you can barely tell that they are missing! Did God multiply? Did they fluff up? It is amazing for sure. Thanks to all who came out and stopped by our booth. We had a great time. And most of all--Thank You Post Oak Quilters.

We got everything unloaded and put back in it's place. And again DH was great help. I couldn't do it without him. I did call ahead and got some help putting up and taking down the canopy. Thanks to the Scarbers and others who lent a hand.

One of our customers showed me a picture of a quilt on her cell phone asking if I had the pattern. I did not. I did some searching today. I hope she reads this so she can find it. I found it at Joy's Fabrics & Quilts in Godley, Tx. The pattern is called Quick Pieced Posies by Jan Ward. The link below is the a jpg of the quilt.
http://www.joysfabrics.com/Bluebonnets2002.JPG

DH has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon Wednesday about his hip. I will keep you posted.

Blessings,

Giveaway

2011-09-16T07:34:00.002-05:00

1 Choice 4 Quilting has a GIVEAWAY! Hurry on over and register. You have choices! She wants your best quilting tips for new quilters. While you're there look around--can you say SHOPPING.

Have a good Friday.
Blessings,

Some Little Visitors and the Quilting Room

2011-09-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

DGS Mason and DGD Paisley came to stay for a few days this week. We played with sidewalk chalk, dug in the dirt, rocked the baby, road tricycles, played with toys, etc. etc. They were very good and lots of fun. Aren't they growing?

I remembered to take my camera to quilting on Wednesday. I remembered to get it out of my purse. I remembered to take pictures. Thumbs up!

Below is Mickey's beautiful quilt. This is a Pam Bono pattern. We had borrowed her pattern and were in the process of making the blocks for a raffle quilt when the building burned. We lost six blocks in the fire. I had made one just like the sunflower one in this quilt.

Bonnie pieced this one from cute flannel prints that were donated to us. From left to right are Bonnie, Marie, and Mickey.

Kathleen is crocheting since there wasn't room at the quilt to quilt. We had several afghans donated that were not finished.

Sharon and Jan are almost ready to turn the quilt. This quilt belongs to Sharon. She had it ready to be quilted and when hers was lost in the fire we told her to bring it and we would quilt it. I hadn't realized until I took this picture that I should have tidied up the quilt top before taking the picture. LOL Some of the papers are the stencils that Sharon traced so we could determine the quilting lines a little better.

Here they are removing pins and unscrewing the c clamps to turn. Do you see that trunk behind Sharon? That was donated to us. Pretty neat, huh?

And here they are turning what has been quilted. The little disk you see is used to cushion the c clamp.

So there you have it. I will take my camera again-- when I can remember!

Blessings,

Visitors and COOLER weather

2011-09-06T08:51:00.000-05:00

My daughter, Amanda, called on Friday evening and asked if they could come over Saturday evening for supper and visit. YES! That meant I had to clean house. I hadn't done any good cleaning for awhile. Just vacuuming and laundry for a couple of weeks--so I tore through the house Saturday morning. Washed several loads of clothes and hung out. Stripped our bed and washed sheets. I straightened and dusted. Picked up the sewing room--seems like it always needs picking up. Things come apart in there pretty fast.

Amanda's husband asked if we might have fried okra for supper. Since we didn't have a garden this year we have to rely on the grocery store or MAYBE someone who did plant one. We'd had some okra gifted to us last week by an older gentleman that DH knows. Would you believe he stopped by with just the right amount for our supper? And it was so good. The last time DH barbecued we had some German sausage in the freezer and he grilled about five pounds and I froze it in separate packages for future meals. I got out enough for our meal and Amanda had asked for my fried potatoes. I decided homemade ice cream would be good so got that together and DH got it going for us. Our meal was great and we had a good visit. DGD Aimee asked her mom if she could stay and spend the weekend with us.(She wanted to sew. : )) They hadn't planned on that. They had shopped at a thrift store that day and had picked up a couple of clothing items. I told them we could run to the store for a toothbrush and undies. So that's what we did. She had finished the body of her quilt last time she was visiting. This time we added her border. We also had to comb out one of the Cabbage Patch dolls hair and rebraid it. We had a great time. We took her home yesterday and ate lunch at their house and enjoyed sitting on the porch with a cool breeze.

The weather is much cooler! We stayed in the eighties yesterday and overnight low was 59 degrees. Woohoo! The a/c is off. In fact it felt pretty darn cool this morning.

Please pray for the wildfires across the state of Texas. A huge fire is burning east of Austin--where nearly 500 homes have burned and thousands of acres. The Possum Kingdom fire is still burning. This one is in the same general area as the one back in April.

I'm praying for rain for all those who need it and for relief for those that don't.

Blessings,

Goodbye August 2011

2011-08-31T22:15:00.001-05:00

Parting is such sweet sorrow. NOT! Come on September with cooler temperatures and RAIN!

I lied. I told you a week ago I would take pictures of our new quilting room. I forgot. I forgot to grab the camera as I was leaving. Today, I put the camera in my purse and forgot to GET OUT and take pictures. One of these days I will remember to do all three. We were laughing and cutting up today. Dixie was talking about how a cut up her new husband is. He keeps her laughing and that is so wonderful for her.

Part of the reason I forgot to take pictures--I had finished quilting Jan's quilt and brought it to her at quilting and of course everyone wanted to see it. And then several of us had C.A.S.A. quilts we had finished and had to show them. And then I had brought examples of the backing fabric I have on hand for Jan to see for her next quilt. And then it was time to quilt. And then it was time to eat. And then it was time to quilt again. And then it was time to go home. Blah-blah-blah.

Here's Jan's quilt. Isn't it pretty? I don't know if you can tell or not. I used a snowflake overall pattern. And after I took it off the frame I loaded this little C.A.S.A. quilt. Got it quilted and bound within two days. Fastest I have EVER gotten a quilt done. Woohoo! Of course, I sewed the binding on by machine. I didn't have matching purple thread so I used a variegated purple and used one of the specialty stitches on my Kenmore to sew it down instead of by hand. Much faster! I have another quilt loaded and I'm quilting it. I will also bind this one. Hopefully I can get it done by the weekend.

Jan's quilt.

C.A.S.A. quilt. The colors are washed out in both pictures.

Wildfires are burning again. Possum Kingdom Lake has a huge fire burning. Twenty or more houses have been burned and thousands of acres. Today a big grassfire started up south of Bridgeport. Two houses and possibly a third have burned. I will know more tomorrow. One TV station out of DFW is reporting that it is 0 per cent contained. From our viewpoint the smoke line was much smaller before sundown. Another station has reported a more accurate report. Firefighters will remain tonight and watch it closely for the next few days.

Ya'll stay safe and be blessed,

Wednesday

2011-08-24T09:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, quilting with the Kraz-z Quilters. I will take my camera and take pictures of our new room.

I have updated our Wise County Quilt Guild blog if you want to see pics from Saturday's meeting.
http://wisecountyquiltguild.blogspot.com/

Blessings,

A "GO" Giveaway

2011-08-23T16:03:00.001-05:00

MooseStash Quilting is holding a giveaway of an Accuquilt Baby Go die cutter. Hurry on over and sign up and do me a favor--tell her I sent you. I'm going now to sign up. See 'ya.

Blessings,
Marilyn

We had a wonderful meeting at guild last Saturday. I took pictures of the show and tell and will link to the post on our WCQG site just as soon as I download the pictures and do that. Ahem. Tonight I have been invited to a local group to peddle my goods. Be back soon to post more.

Update on Friday

2011-08-19T20:55:00.001-05:00

DH came home. We ate. Then I asked him to look at the mower and see if I had something set wrong. Yup, it was operator error. I was told I didn't need to choke it except on a cold start. Okay, got it. I finished mowing. Did some weedeating before it got dark. Good end to the day.

Tomorrow morning is guild meeting. We have a special program. I will take my camera.

Good night,
Marilyn

Dresden Plates

2011-08-19T15:21:00.001-05:00

I got to thinking--yes, I know it happens and sometimes it can be dangerous. LOL I got to thinking that YOU might like to know how to make Dresden Plates. Oh please say you do! Even if you don't I'll still luv ya.

Here is an awesome tutorial-- Of course these are the POINTED blades with I believe ARE easier. Anyway you get a nice finish on the edges.
http://www.designsbyloftcreations.com/2009/04/easy-dresden-tutoria l.html

And then I saw these Dresdens with 3D triangles created by Edyta Sitar and my heart skipped a beat--literally. This is a free pattern if you register with allpeoplequilt.com . Oh, how I wish I had found this BEFORE I needle turned my edges. I am so doing this next time!
http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/table-toppers-runners/bold-sunburst_1.html

And I wouldn't have found the link above IF I hadn't listed to Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio program where she interviewed Edyta Sitar. Big plus I now know how to say her name. LOL Edyta is a very talented quilter with some very good techniques and tips.

And remember these? http://cateringquilter.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-won.html I am still thinking of how I want to set them. I absolutely love these.

Enjoy and I hope you might want to try making a Dresden Plate.

Blessings,
Marilyn

Best Laid Plans

2011-08-19T12:28:00.001-05:00

You know when you get up and have things you want to get done and then they start going down hill? You've had one of those days, too?! Then you know how I feel. First thing this morning I call to see if DH's prescription is ready for pickup. It was out of refills--I knew that--I also knew they would fax the doctor. They haven't heard from the doctor. I call the doctor's office. They say they didn't get the fax. Also the doctor won't be in until Tuesday. Call pharmacy back and they will loan us enough until then. I love our Brookshire's Pharmacy. They have a drive-thru window. It rocks!

I get that done plus other errands. I filled up the gas can so I can mow the yard. I get changed and fill up the mower. It starts just fine. I start mowing. I kill the engine to pick up a stick I didn't see before. It's hard to start back up. But it does. I had to stop another time. That time it wouldn't start up again. Drats. Double drats. I only like about fifteen minutes more. Hopefully it is only an air filter stopped up or something.

Have a blessed and productive day,
Marilyn

More progress

2011-08-18T16:03:00.000-05:00

One more Dresden Plate block done. Total 16 so far. I think I will give myself a day off. The Dresdens are getting a little boring. Don't worry I'll be back to them. And don't worry I won't be starting a new project -- I have plenty on-going ones to work on! LOL

It's still hot here 106 or 107. I thought you needed to know that. You can suffer with me if not in person then in spirit.

Local news: A body wrapped in a tarp hidden in a barn was found about a mile and half from where we live. Last night DH and another guy went to visit a friend in the hospital in Ft. Worth last night. His friend picked him up and when they left our house they took the county road toward Hwy. 114. They saw police cars in front of a residence. They returned the same route and there was a sheriff's deputy positioned at the same house with the yellow tape you see. After he got home and right before he went to bed he asked me if I had heard about a body being found. The man they visited has a relative who had called him and told him since he lives in the same general area. Today a man has been charged with murder. They have identified the body as a female but don't have an identity yet. This sort of stuff happens on TV shows that we watch. Another tragedy: a young boy on accident fatally shot himself this week in our small town . I can't imagine what the family must be going through.

Blessings,

Wednesday

2011-08-17T09:27:00.000-05:00

Again, all ready. Where does the time go? In the last post I wrote about the Dresden Plates. I hand pieced number 16 last night and hopefully tonight will get it appliqued while watching TV. My stitches have improved as well as my turning a good curve. I've always shied away from needle turn applique before. It just always seemed so feedily (is that a word?). But you know -- I am finding I can do feedily. Surprise, surprise.

Have I told you about the Dresden Plates? If so bear with me--I AM menopausal! And lately the hot flashes are back--no fun--especially in 100+ weather. LOL We did a reprieve Saturday. It stayed in the 80s most of the day. So nice. But I digress. Back to the Plates. I started out planning this quilt for my daughter for her high school graduation. At that time two sweet ladies in my Kraz-z Quilters Agnes and Jessie started helping cut plates because I soon found out I didn't have enough variety in my very small stash at that time.

Agnes had moved to our area from Austin after her husband died from Alzheimer's disease. She was a go getter. She could quilt circles around me and did on a regular basis. She made many a baby quilt for young mothers in our area. I remember going to her apartment. I picked her up or took her home from quilting sometimes. She used one of those rolling walkers and up until the last years of her life always insisted on loading it herself. But you know what? She never drove a car. She said she always lived within walking distance of where she worked. She was an accountant in a department store for years in Austin. Her and her husband had one son who gifted her with three grandchildren and one is now our sheriff.

Jessie had raised four boys on a farm and buried two husbands, both died from cancer. She was married to each one 27 years. I loved to listen to her stories of her boys and raising them. She always said she never had time to make raised (yeast) bread. It was biscuits or cornbread at her house. Cook oh, that woman could cook! She told of bathing her boys in a washtub in the summer out in the yard. This kind of stuff is what I love about quilting around a frame!

Both ladies have gone on to their reward. I can still hear them talk. Jessie always thought we made too much of a fuss putting a quilt in the frames. Principle--too many cooks spoil. She's pretty much right. Sometimes it sounds like a bunch of hens. Let two or three put it in and it goes much smoother. LOL Jessie ALWAYS put her quilts on the frame by herself at her house. I remember going to her house once with the Kraz-z Quilters. She had some nice quilts. Funny thing about her--she never used quilting thread. Just regular cotton thread.

Agnes and Jessie cut out most of the slices of the Dresden Plates. I didn't ask them to they just did. And they weren't too happy with me not getting it together snap, snap.LOL I hope they are smiling now. And that I am enjoying doing it is even better. I wasn't so much into piecing then. I had just learned to hand quilt and felt pretty intimidated by piecing.

The Dresden Plate quilt is no longer a UFO (unfinished object) but a WIP (work in progress) for those who might not know. My daughter has been patient --somewhat. She knows her mother. She has since graduated from high school, college and is now working on her masters. It will look nice in her older style home.

Thanks for visiting and blessings to you,
Marilyn

I need your help

2011-08-15T13:47:00.002-05:00

I am in need of advice. I have fifteen Dresden Plates so far. I am thinking of yellow centers. Originally (in the 90s)-- yes, it is an old UFO-- I was going to use Marti Michell's pattern. It is 80 x something. My daughter doesn't have a full size or queen size bed anymore. She has a king. So either I have to revamp this pattern or I go for something else. Right now I am voting for something else. I spent a lot of time yesterday looking for ideas on the web. I saw sashing - plain, pieced, no sashing. Here's a link to the pieced sashing. I saw piano key type borders out of the same fabrics as the slices --I like that. I saw little mini dresdens set as cornerstones. I like that too. At this point I figure I will probably have to make more Dresden Plates. I do like the on point setting of Marti Michell's pattern. But I'm not in love with the basket in the center. I had already planned on just using a plain Dresden block there. I really like the softness of these fabrics. I played around in EQ5 last night --thank you Patsy-- and came up with a layout on point with sashing between the blocks and half Dresden blocks in the side setting triangles. If I go that route I've to get busy and make another 17 blocks and that includes the halves. I have plenty of the background fabric. My original plan was to use it for the backing of the quilt. I don't have enough to do that anymore.

Whatever I decide to do means more piecing at this point. I have a turn coming up -- there are two people in front of me-- at Kraz-z Quilters and I would really like to get this ready for my turn. So I've got to get it ready because I really would like to have it hand quilted.

I am open to any and all suggestions.

Thank you.
Marilyn

Rain!

2011-08-11T13:19:00.001-05:00

It is raining! Hallelujah! Oh, Lord, please let it rain all over the state of Texas and everywhere it is dry.

How's your day?

2011-08-11T08:26:00.002-05:00

I was up early. The little doggie, Sissy, woke me up at 2:30am to go outside. Back to sleep after she gets her business done and awake at 5:15. Unload the dishwasher, wash pans that soaked over night. Put a load of clothes to washing; got DH off to work; then started mixing up banana bread. The bread is out of the oven -- I am always on a quest for a good loaf of banana bread. If you have a recipe you like I would love to give it a try. I know, I know banana bread is pretty basic. But there are differing amounts of baking soda, fats, and liquids. This recipe this morning called for buttermilk. I will let you know how I like it. I had a slice years ago of a lady's banana bread and if there was ever a perfect loaf of banana bread it was hers. That was more than 30 years ago. I told her how wonderful it was and she acted like it was no big deal. I asked her how she made hers. She said, "I use ______ in my bread." My two older children were very small and I must have been distracted and of course another factor I was still learning to cook. It couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that she was an accomplished cook with four children and a husband and I was still learning cooking terms and other things. It couldn't have had anything to do with I felt inept in her presence and too timid to ask her to repeat herself. I cannot remember if she said she used butter. Or she could have said lard. I don't know but I have been in search for that perfect loaf of banana bread ever since. I have never tried lard. I've heard it makes wonderful pie crust. It's that whole lard thing. Lardo--has always been a slur word for people overweight.

Speaking of weight--ahem. I haven't had much exercise this summer. No garden. No yard work due to the drought. Staying inside due to the heat. All have added up. As in weight gain. I'm going to blame The Pioneer Woman! It's all her fault. She posted about iced coffee. I love iced coffee. I like it best with chocolate syrup and milk. And one isn't enough! But I found out yesterday I'm not alone in the weight gain department. Several at quilting spoke yesterday of gaining weight. It's been too dang hot to do anything! But sweat! And evidently sweat doesn't weigh that much. Except when it's IN your body. That is a big injustice! It's my story and I'm sticking to it. ANYWAY we all know weight is easy to put on -- harder to come off. So again I am in need of reducing my intake and increasing my activity.

Time to change the subject! LOL We have lower temperatures! Yesterday it was only 106. Today it should be less and by Friday or Saturday it will be iffy to hit 100. Yahoo! We even have a chance of rain. Yahoo!
Thank you, God.

I hope to connect with a lady today who has a couple of boxes of fabric to donate to our Kraz-z Quilters. We have had lots of donations. People have been very generous. We have been blown away.

Time to hang out that wash.

Blessings to everyone,
Marilyn

Wednesday

2011-08-10T08:19:00.001-05:00

And I don't have to remind you what that means! LOL Kraz-z Quilters! I missed last week with the grandkids here. We normally pop in for a few minutes so I can show off my growing grandkids but it was going to be like 108 to 110 and decided we would just stay home and sew IN THE A/C. I found out they were few in number and went home around 1pm anyway.

We are close to breaking a record heat wave. There is a record set in 1980 of 42 days of 100+. Saturday will be the day to be the breaker. We have been around 108 to 107 for the last several days. Tomorrow is to be just as hot and then (I think) we begin to come down a degree or two every day. Saturday and Sunday may or may not get to 100. Here's my thinking: Two thoughts here--If we've endured this awful heat wave what are two more days to set a record--I mean shouldn't we get SOMETHING out of it? That's the first thought. The other--let's be done with this NOW! The sooner the better. LOL

Gainesville which is about 60 miles north of us got rain last night. Yay Gainesville! We could see the clouds. They looked so nice. So inviting. This morning DFW weather news reported 56% humidity. I had washed DH's bib overalls after he got home yesterday. I forgot to hang them out until about night fall. I thought -- What the heck--I can always throw them in the dryer. I got up around 5:15 and they were perfectly dry. In normal summer weather conditions they would not have dried. I have been hanging clothes on the clothes line all summer to save on the electric bill.

I got a phone call yesterday from DGD Aimee. She had gotten her package. The last of the doll clothes I had sewn. She liked them. Just what I wanted to hear! Now to start thinking of what to do for DGS Mac for his birthday next month. Any ideas? His great grandmother made him a DS case. I had thought of a messenger bag for him to carry his stuff in. But not sure about that. His dad might think it looks too much like a purse.

Blessings to you,
Marilyn

Childhood Illustrator

2011-08-09T13:49:00.005-05:00

In my sidebar I have changed the Blog of Note to Featured Site and please go visit Sarah Jane's Studios. She is an awesome illustrator of children. She has prints, posters, stationary, embroidery patterns in her shop. Also she has a fabric line out called Children At Play. I just love the innocence! So please go visit and come back and let me know what you think.

I so want to get some of her embroidery patterns and embroider. It must be sewing all those doll clothes. Tee Hee.

Blessings,
Marilyn

Glorious Monday to you

2011-08-08T12:12:00.003-05:00

I don't have much to add to that. LOL I could complain about how HOT it still is. But it wouldn't do any good to complain. I could complain that the leaves are falling like it was autumn due to the drought. But it wouldn't do any good. So no complaining!

I finished up all the doll clothes for DGD Aimee and put them in the mail this morning. I forgot to take a picture. I am such a bad blogger! I was in a hurry and I simply forgot. I will describe them -- I made a t-shirt from a red print with dog bones and kitties and doggies; a royal blue knit skirt, a royal blue pair of leggings, a long-sleeved blue background with multi-colored hearts print tunic; a coordinating print striped pants; a black floral print jumper; and two hobo bags-one blue jean and the other taupe linen) and a purse out of the same striped print as the pants. My fat sack and tote bag sewing experience came in real handy. I lined the purse and squared the bottom corners. It turned out so cute! I will see if DD Amanda will send me a picture.

Aimee's dad made her bunk beds for her dollies for her birthday. And she got a new American Girl doll - Kit. She was thrilled. Good thing I made more clothes--wouldn't want those dollies to run out of clothes. LOL

Back to work. I've got a new shipment in to price and machine quilting to do.

Ya'll have a blessed week.

Marilyn

Grandkids

2011-08-04T23:15:00.000-05:00

The older two grandkids came for a visit. DGD Aimee wants American Girl doll clothes so that's what she and I are sewing on. We'll finish piecing her quilt that she's worked on the last several visits. DGS Mac has folded some origami shapes, watched TV, and played computer games. We're off today to Wal-Mart to find velcro for the doll clothes that doesn't have the adhesive. My sewing machines do not like it. Do you how long it's been since I've sewn doll clothes?!

We dug out the Legos that their uncles had played with when they were young. I love to listen to kids play and use their imaginations.

Aimee is sewing her blocks together and into rows and the rows together. She's worked on this several times when she come for visits. This time it was sewn totally together.

She is sewing this for a C.A.S.A. quilt. Doen't she look proud? She thinks it needs a border. What do you think and if so what color?

These are the doll clothes we sewed. The purple tank top was a free pattern found here. The dress was another free pattern found here. There are lots more free patterns just check them out. When we went to Wal-Mart I found the two patterns showm. Aimee wanted PJs for her dolls so we used the Simplicity pattern to make the pants and tops. I love sew in velcro to make doll clothes. It rocks! Not pictured is a skirt that I managed to get done minutes before we left to take them home this afternoon. I had a scrap left from the skirt I made Aimee last year. And I mean a scrap! It was barely enough to make a gathered skirt with an overskirt and waistband. I got out the Kenmore. Poor baby hasn't been used much since I fell in love with the little Elna. I drew lines on the skirts and Aimee sewed one of the decorative stitches spaced horizonally down the skirt. The stitch was a scallop and we used the last one as the edge of the skirt and I took sharp scissors and cut the fabric away from the scallop stitching. Looked really cool. She is such a slave driver! We didn't get the jumper or the purse we were going to sew done and she asked me if I was still going to sew them. And then she decided that I could sew them and mail them to her. She is so into completing projects and can't stand to see something incomplete. Oh I forgot! We also make pillowcases. One for both of them. I forgot to take pictures. : (

And since it was so hot we watched movies and of course we had to eat ice cream!

We have had 109 to 110 temperatures this week. These very hot and dry days are going to be memorable. DH pulled our well. We have public water for the house and animals but used to use the well to irrigate. The well hasn't worked for several years. We figured it was the pump. It could be the pump but for sure the water level has dropped and it won't do any good to put a new one in right now. We'll keep praying for rain.

Blessings,

Okay the clouds are gone

2011-07-26T17:11:00.002-05:00

And the temp went on up to 100. According to the news we started the day at 86 degrees that set a record low.
The clouds were nice while they lasted. And the little shower of rain was so nice to see.

Ya'll hang in there this long hot summer.

A Cloudy Sky

2011-07-26T12:51:00.000-05:00

That's what we woke to this morning. And mid morning we had a little shower of rain. Woohoo! Praise the Lord. The temps have stayed in the mid 80s so far. Another Woohoo!

Yesterday was crazy. You ever have one of those days when you have something you want to get done and it just doesn't happen. Yeah. I was paying bills and such. The telephone company has changed their billing. It fouled up the way I normally pay my bill by telephone. I FINALLY got a human voice to talk to me and we got it all settled. All that automated stuff that doesn't apply-- don't get me started. But to the telephone company's credit -- the person on the other end was very polite and helpful. And our neighbors down the road have telephone service--the repairmen were there yesterday installing new boxes on the side of the road. Thumbs up.

Like I was saying yesterday didn't go as planned. The phone would ring. It was all personal. Family and friends and they wanted to talk. I'm okay with that. But it sure can change your plans. LOL I'm back on track today; we'll see how long it last. LOL I've got the vacuuming done. That always makes me feel better. Soft cleaner carpet under my bare feet.

I have four or five Dresden Plates left to do. And then I will explore how big I will make this quilt. I'm working on it in the evenings while watching TV.

Blessings,

Scary Moments

2011-07-25T08:55:00.001-05:00

On Friday afternoon we had a grass fire across the road from our house. I discovered it around 2:30 when I went out to spray the hogs. As I walked out the back door I smelled smoke and as I rounded the corner of the house I saw smoke coming across the road. And the wind was blowing at a pretty good speed. I ran back in to call the sheriff's office. Then I ran to change out of flip flops into socks and rubber boots. Then I thought to call DH to come home and help. By the time I got back outside you could see the flames. When DH got here (probably only 5 to 10 minutes) the flames were to the road and as high as the power lines. The firefighters arrived very quickly. The wind was out of the southeast so the neighbors to the west of us were in the most danger. DH and I both got water hoses going -- he down at the barn and me at the house because the flames were also traveling up the hill. We were basically wetting down our side and DH was spraying in the air to keep any embers from catching our side on fire. We were praying and spraying! I was concerned for our neighbors.

We have two pine trees on either side of our front gate and as you know pine trees catch fire very quickly. So that's where I was directing the water. The firefighters got a handle on it really quickly. Our neighbors homes were spared one lost a tree next to the road and part of their lawn burned the other neighbor has really high hedges in front of their house that burned.

On Saturday afternoon the fire rekindled where it had begun--in the middle of the field across the road. The fire is unexplained. I saw Mr. & Mrs. Davis (the ones who lost the hedges) walking up the hill looking at the damage. I met them on the road and visited. She had seen a small pickup truck drive out shortly before the fire started. There isn't anything in that field--no house --no crops --no reason for a pickup to be out there. We suspect meth activity. Either producing or dumping the products used to make it. I also found out that the Lara family was gone at the time of the fire. I had been gone running errands and probably been home about an hour when the fire started. Both neighbors lost telephone service-- the boxes on the side of the road burned. Our box is located up the hill and around the corner -- so we still have service.

It is so very dry here. The grasses are all brown except where it has been irrigated. It looks like winter. I can never remember it being this dry in the almost 23 years we have lived in this area. I am very grateful for the fast response of the firefighters both Friday and Saturday. Our neighbors homes could have burned and even ours if the fire had not been contained as quickly as it was. Thanks be to God for our protection.

Needless to say my plans for Friday afternoon were changed! I had planned to do some house cleaning. Nope, didn't happen. I was zapped after the excitement. Instead I began to applique the Dresden Plates on the background squares. It's been too hot to do much of anything so I sat and sewed all weekend except when we went to Wal-Mart, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply. I am making great progress on the Dresden Plates. I only have four or five left to do out of fourteen. That is IF I don't decide to make more to enlarge the quilt. Hmmm. Gotta think about it.

So today I will do some cleaning and some quilting on the machine.

Have a blessed day and may God's protection be on you.

It's Wednesday!

2011-07-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

And you know what that means--Kraz-z Quilters. We are going to meet today in our new place and sew on C.A.S.A. quilts. I have to load up my sewing machine and stuff. So this will be a quick post. I would have gotten my things together last night but I called my sister and she's going through some stuff and just needed to talk and be encouraged. Would you say a prayer for her? Thank you.

What follows is a post I started earlier in the month and totally forgot about.

I washed the quilt I keep on our bed. I wash it in the washing machine on the gentle cycle and dry it spread on a plastic drop cloth on the floor with fans blowing on it. It is hand quilted and that's why I do it that way : ) -- just my way. It surprisingly drys pretty fast. I usually do it at night so we have the walking space during the day but this time I did it early in the morning and it should be dry before Larry comes home. I don't think I've washed it since we've had Sissy. I trust her somewhat. But I thought it might be better to be awake when it was on the
floor. ; ) I love a newly washed quilt. It feels so soft and smells so good!

Blessings,
Marilyn

Uncle, Uncle

2011-07-14T09:00:00.004-05:00

I give up! Please no more 100+ degrees. Our grass is cooked. It is absolutely horrible to be outside after 1pm in the afternoon and until 8:30pm before it even begins to be tolerable. Please, Dear Lord, give us relief from this heat and please send us rain. From the US weather map sounds like a lot of people feel the same way. The drought has been made much worse by the heat.

Good news! We have a meeting place for the Kraz-z Quilters. Two of our ladies attend a church in town who offered the use of a room (that they weren't using) that is just perfect for us. We will experience added bonuses of a kitchen and fellowship hall nearby. The fellowship hall will come in handy when we want to tie C.A.S.A. quilts, bring our sewing machines and have a sew in, eat our noon meal. We are all doing HAPPY DANCES. We will be back to quilting in a few short weeks. Woohoo!

We have a new litter of pigs born yesterday. Lovey gave birth to thirteen piglets. Twelve are alive and doing well. That's a lot of babies especially for a first time mom! We have two fans and a drip on her constantly to keep her cool enough. I will get pictures in a few days. Update: When I checked on her around 2pm two laid dead. Then at 8:30pm she had stepped on five more. Such is the life of a pig farmer. Hopefully she will raise the remaining piglets without further destruction. Sometimes you get some that are good mothers and sometimes you don't.

DH had an appointment on Friday morning with a representative of DARS to see if he qualifies for assistance. The rep felt like there wouldn't be any problem. DARS from my understanding is a rehabilitative program to assist children and adults who have disabilities and developmental delays to live and enjoy a more productive life. And in their program they help workers to either return to work or be able to stay in the work force. Folks, we believe our prayers have been answered. He will get his hip replacement he's been needing so badly. He is such a trooper. He has been working -- with a bad hip and in this horrible heat. Please continue to pray for my DH. Thank you.

I attended TAQG Rally Day July 9. It was my first time to attend. Terry Clothier Thompson was the speaker. She spoke on civil war quilts and had many beautiful quilts in her trunk shows both morning and afternoon sessions. There were many door prizes. I came home with one! A pattern for a quilt. The entertainment was "roll on the floor" hilarious. The Fat Quarters (there are four of them!) were totally enjoyable. Four women all admittedly menopausal quilters so you can imagine the jokes and lyrics to their songs. One of the highlights was seeing all the donation/raffle quilts the different guilds had on display and the opportunity to buy a ticket! Our guild's quilt this year is a snowman quilt named "Snowmen on Parade". We all made a block or two. We were given a fabric (blue glittery tone on tone) fabric and told to make a snowman block. We could use a snowman printed fabric or make an applique of a snowman. It is a unique and truly one of a kind quilt. I will post a picture sometime soon in the future. We will draw a winner in December.

These photos were taken from the afternoon session when she talked about appliques quilts. Don't you love the strawberry quilt in the center?

Sunday we celebrated DGS Mason's fourth birthday. He wanted a "bounce house" party. I had never experienced a bounce house before. Let's just say there was a lot of bouncing and sliding going on (without this grandma LOL). Lots of three and four year olds in attendance along with their parents. I think some of the parents enjoyed it as much as the kids! There were two sets of twins in attendance. One set had identical girls and the other a boy and girl who looked just like their father and mother respectively. Both Mason and Paisley had been sick during the week with strep throat. Has this been a weird year not only for weird weather but weird sickness as well?

Mason is going up the slide.

I tried to catch him in mid slide. Didn't happen! He's too fast. One of the twin girls is climbing up. I think that is my DS#2 Marcus about to send someone? down the slide maybe Paisley.

I took this one over someone's shoulder (other grandma--okay quit hogging--LOL) of DS#2 Marcus and his baby girl, Paisley, as they landed. Can you see those smiles on their faces? I think they were having fun.

Update: More good news--not only did the Kraz-z Quilters have the offer from the church of a room for a meeting place. But the insurance company who covered the burned building told us to gather a list of things we lost in the fire and get it to them. So after our club president arrived back in town after vacation she and I got busy gathering information. We have offers of at least three quilting frames we can choose from. The local paper did an article on the fire and that the Kraz-z Quilters had met there and our loss and what people could donate. So I received a phone call from a lady who has fabric to donate.We are feeling really blessed!

Blessings,

A total loss

2011-07-06T09:12:00.001-05:00

The building where the Kraz-z Quilters meet burned last night and is a total loss. I saw it on the 6am news on Ch4 FOX DFW. Then I had to drive down and make sure it was "our" building. It was.

We have spent years meeting every Wednesday--probably nineteen years--in that building. Immediately you begin to think "What was down there that was lost?" Number one-Sharon's quilt was on the frames being quilted! She and her hubby are on vacation. Hope she doesn't hear just yet and can enjoy the rest of her vacation. Dixie had brought her mother's sewing machine and left it for the club to use when we needed a sewing machine down there. It was a Singer 15-91. Manufactured in the 50's. Vintage. All the C.A.S.A. quilts we had made -12 in all-- and were collecting and getting ready to present to them. Our quilt blocks for our next raffle/donation quilt. Our scrapbooks. Marie told me she had taken the original and another one home to show someone. I had one at my house. So we can have those for memories sake.

Marie's cutting table, the refrigerator, the orphan blocks we were going to make into quilts, quilting books and magazines, batting for C.A.S.A. quilts. And the list goes on.

I am the treasurer and treasurers are responsible for keeping the club's financial things at their home. So those things are preserved.

One good thing--the business owner in the front of the building had decided to relocate her business so had been in the process of removing her things. I'm not sure she got everything out though. She has had so much loss in her life in the last several years. Her only child was killed in a tragic car accident two years ago. She had just brought us some of her clothing and asked if we could make a quilt with them. The clothes were lost in the fire. That will be devastating for her.
Edit: I have talked to the business owner. She only had six tanning beds and a few other things left in the building. She had already moved the majority of her inventory and sold display cases. She did ask about her daughter's clothing but was not as upset as I thought she would be.

Bad thing--a new business was supposed to be moving in. Good thing--they hadn't moved in.

The phone keeps ringing. Members calling. We are all so sad. I told one I think we need to meet and have a good cry. She said a funeral. Yeah, it feels like a part of us has died. I know we may find another meeting place. We had already been looking because we had experienced some problems. It's hard to find an inexpensive place to meet in a small town. Some have suggested a church. Churches are getting to where they don't want quilters. We take up room they need for well--their church. I understand. We had already decided that if we lost our meeting place we would start meeting in each others homes. So I guess the decision was made for us.

And I know the Bible says that whatever the enemy meant for evil God will turn around for good. That's what I am standing on.

Blessings to everyone,
Marilyn

Happy Independence Day

2011-07-04T07:12:00.000-05:00

Thank you, God, for the freedom to worship you! Thank you for the United States and may she bring you glory.

Marilyn

R.I.P. Max

2011-06-30T05:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, my devoted border collie has died. He died June 16. We knew it was a matter of time. In the last several months he lost his hearing and he had started losing weight. Larry had kept asking me if we didn't need to put him down. I kept putting if off. And yes I miss him.

I missed him last week especially. Ruby doesn't work for me like Max did. I could point in a direction or speak "Pen Up" and he knew what I wanted. We just clicked. Like I said I missed him on Friday. I was in the yard picking up the hundreds of small limbs that fell in the storm while I was gone. As I am rounding the far corner of the house with an armful what do I meet? Hogs! They had gotten the yard gate lifted off the hinges and were in the yard. I went and got the rubber pipe we use to herd them. And commenced to run them out of the yard. I thought I had them all out and here comes one around the house. Out you go! I managed to get the gate back on the hinges and started back to the job at hand. When I hear the gate rattle. Yup, they did it again. I give up. I call in reinforcement. "Larry, could you come home for a minute and help me?" And he did. All taken care of. But if Max was alive those hogs would have been out that gate and on their way!

He was just special. He would sleep right outside the door like he wanted to be as close to us as possible. He hated thunderstorms. Thunder and lightening would set him to trembling. Many a time we have put him in the garage to ride out a storm. In fact the last two winters he spent a lot of cold nights in the garage and on the mat right by the door. Of course.

Larry brought Max home from work one day. At the time work was a sand mining plant and Max was chasing the large haul trucks. Larry knew he wouldn't survive doing that and asked if anyone knew he belonged to. He didn't have a collar so he assumed he might be a stray. He has entertained many people as he spun when they drove by. You see we have a fence. He loved chasing anything that made noise. A clanking trailer. A truck full of boys whistling and calling him. Etc. He would hear them coming and race off the back porch to meet them and would spin until they got even and then take off -- always in the right direction to chase or race them. And believe you me you didn't want to be in his path! When we got Ruby she had to find out the hard way. LOL And even I was run over when he came off the porch like a shot one time. We have been told by so many people when we are giving directions to our house. Oh, I know where you live! You live where the spinning dogs lives.

I called my kids to let them know of Max's passing. After all he was our family pet for 13 years. The morning after he died I heard a commotion in the yard before sun up. I had just let Sissy out to do her business. But it didn't sound like her or Ruby. Well, it wasn't. Someone had put a stray over our fence into our yard. We'd had two puppies "arrive" in our yard the same a couple of years ago. This one a little female. Two to three month hold. Not a border collie. A mixed breed of some sort. Not sure what mixture. Larry immediately welcomed her to my dismay. This all happened during quilt show/booth, Father's Day, step-dad's surgery. When I got home I convinced him we had two perfectly good dogs and she would make someone else a good pet. Some people may not want to hear this but we took her to our nearby shelter. She was a sweetheart and I did consider keeping her. But she wouldn't leave Sissy alone for one minute. She thought she was a play toy. Poor Sissy. So hopefully she is finding a good family that will love her. She would love kids. Oh, I gotta tell you. I called my daughter after the new doggy "arrived" and asked if DGD Aimee had prayed for a new dog. You see when their beautiful black cat had to put down due to a serious illness she prayed and asked God for a new kitty. The next day there was one looking in their storm door. DD Amanda said no she didn't think Aimee had prayed for another dog. I don't know. God listens to her prayers. Maybe I should get with her and us pray for a dog a lot like Max. Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

Blessings,
Marilyn

It's Wednesday!

2011-06-29T09:29:00.000-05:00

And you know what that means? Kraz-z Quilters! I missed last Wednesday. It is real therapy to meet with women and quilt. But before I go I have stripped the bed and washed the sheets and blanket. I am going to put rice and pork chops in the slow cooker for our evening meal.

The telephone rang yesterday around 6pm. It was a neighbor down the road. He had 4 cartons 18 count guinea eggs. Did we want them? Sure! He had given us some before and we enjoyed them. I will take several to share at quilting today.

Earlier this month we traveled to Ballinger for a family gathering to celebrate a young cousin's high school graduation. The quilt pictured was made by her grandmother, Larry's aunt. Isn't it beautiful? I had a hard time getting a picture. She didn't even want to unfold it because she didn't want it to get dirty. But we pleaded and begged.

The sheets are ready to hung out. See you later.

Blessings and happy quilting,
Marilyn

Man is it hot!

2011-06-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

The cornbread and banana bread are baked. I sliced me some banana bread after it cooled. Yum. Dishwasher loaded and ran. I weedeated until the battery ran out. I washed two loads and hung out and brought back in. Still need to fold those. I vacuumed and mopped. I sprayed the hogs. I have emailed and paid bills. And now I think a shower is in store with some iced coffee and maybe a nap!

Blessings,
Marilyn

Hello from Hot Texas

2011-06-28T07:44:00.000-05:00

It is in the 80s this morning before 7am. Yeah. This is usually what we have in August. So--I decided to do some baking. Early. I have cornbread baked to make cornbread salad for our evening meal and banana bread in the oven now. Had some bananas that were just right. There's a load of laundry in it's last spin. I have been hanging all the laundry out to save on the electricity and besides it's dry in no time. I will finish the weedeating in a bit. I did make some coffee this morning. Only because I love it iced in the afternoon!

And in the middle of the afternoon I spray down the hogs to keep them cool. I have to tell you about one of the gilts (female who hasn't given birth). Larry bought several gilts from a breeder who had gotten these show pigs back after shows. She must have had a female owner. Everytime she comes up to me and kinda nudges me. She wants me to rub her. When you rub her she automatically lays down so you can rub her belly. I have named her Lovey. She is so sweet. She is due to have babies in mid July. She is a blue butt--one of her parents was a Hampshire and the other was a Yorkshire. So she is mostly white with black spots across her butt and a few more black spots on her face (eyebrows-lol). Some blue butts have a black blanket on their butt (that appears almost blue-hence the name "blue butt". Some have very few black spots. She is bred to our Hampshire boar. So she may have babies with lots of white and black spots. She could have several that look like Hampshires -- black with a white stripe around the chest and shoulders. We will have to wait and see. Last December Larry had a litter born and one of the little boars who he has kept is mostly white with black on his head and what looks like a butterfly tattoo on his butt. How totally embarrassing for a boy!

Stay cool!
Blessings,
Marilyn

A first for me

2011-06-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Why have I been putting it off? Learning to use the riding lawn mower that is. I don't know. It scared me. It has a motor and it is loud. I made up my mind I was going to do it. We've only had for hmmm--this is the third season. DH told me he bought for ME! I told him I didn't want it (at the time) it was HIS. At the time I was using the push mower. It was a chore especially when temps got warmer. And we have a big yard. Like I said I made up my mind this morning that I was going to do it. So I crawled on it. I'm short. If I sit toward the edge of the seat my foot can engage the brake real good. Figured everything out. Got it started. Put it in forward eased off the brake (I put it in a slow speed 8 ) and away I went. Not bad, not bad at all. I had mowed a little bit and it sputtered and coughed and died. Out of gas. Shoot! No gas in the can either. Double shoot. Grab my purse and car keys and the gas can and away to town I go. I hate going to town all stinky and dirty. Anybody else feel that way? Anyway, I got back and filled the tank. Got it going again and finished the whole yard. And it looks good if I do say so myself! Ran the weedeater until the batteries ran out. MMMM--patting myself on the back. LOL

I've had a sandwich and a glass of tea. A shower is next on the agenda. I'll unload the dishwasher. I need to clean the hummingbird feeder. I'll do some laundry. And I plan on quilting this afternoon!

Blessings,

A Site to See

2011-06-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

Pun intended! I found this site while surfing--needed some down time. You know what I mean? Of course you do. Sew 4 Home is chock full of wonderful ideas. I just had to share it with you.

Now I've got to pick up all the limbs that fell in the storm that came while I was gone. DH said there was some 70 mph winds. I believe it! He got the big ones. He just can't stoop and pick up the smaller ones and there seems a jillion.

Blessings,
Marilyn

Home again

2011-06-23T14:59:00.001-05:00

There's nothing like home. A big smile came on my face the closer I got! Step-dad's surgery went very well. It turns out it was the same side he had done several years ago so they had to make a bigger cut. My mom kept joking that he had been warned about going in some places--he could get his throat cut. Hardee har har.

Anyway things turned out pretty good. Just played the waiting game a whole lot. A whole lot more than I like. I am going to rest today then tomorrow get caught up on everything.

Catch you soon.
Marilyn

Pictures will have to wait

2011-06-19T22:35:00.000-05:00

It has been non-stop around here. But fun. Lecture/trunk show on Friday-very good. I will post pictures in a few days. The quilt show was a success. Sorry I didn't get pictures. You will have to take my word for it. Beautiful. I had a booth outside. It wasn't unbearably hot until around 3pm. The wind about blew us away. The wind this year has been very strange.

Then today all our kids came for Father's Day. Their daddy was a happy man. We had the idea to make sandwiches, veggies, chips and dip. And homemade ice cream. Oh yeah! It was so good. I love it when the kids come.

Tomorrow I leave to travel back to Ballinger. My step-dad will have carotid artery surgery on Tuesday. Prayers are welcome.

Blessings to all,
Marilyn

Good morning

2011-06-17T13:31:00.000-05:00

Actually it is no longer morning. I got up early. Every morning it's early to get DH out the door by 6am. Much cooler then. We have been having 100+ days.

This morning I got my Challenge finished. I couldn't keep my eyes open last night to finish the binding. Then off to the shower and eat breakfast and out the door to help set up for the quilt show. It was bustling. The decision was made how to orient the display poles and then setting them up. After that came registering the quilts and tagging with numbers and names. The quilts were all up when I came home to eat a bite and get the refreshments for the lecture/trunk show this afternoon. I will take my camera and take pictures. Promise. : )

TaTa!
Marilyn

Baking

2011-06-14T12:17:00.000-05:00

Cookies and more cookies! Chocolate Chip and sugar cookies--homemade from scratch. I am baking for the bake sale this Saturday at our Wise County Quilt Guild's quilt show June 18 Decatur Visitor Center 106 S. Trinity Decatur, Tx. I am having a booth along with some other ladies. It is forecast to be 100 degrees. The booth is outdoors. Boohoo! Water will be consumed in large amounts. There will be a canopy, fan, and whatever else we can think of to make it bearable. The quilt show is indoors where there will be air conditioning. There will be several more booths. Some outside some inside. A cold front with clouds would be nice--really nice. It would bring lots of people out, too. I am praying-- would you say one, too?

Thanks and blessings,
Marilyn

Can you say EWWWW!

2011-06-13T10:38:00.001-05:00

It was a dead mouse. Ewww. The smell. It was located behind the bottom panel of my dishwasher. YUP--required tools. Oh boy! A phillip's screwdriver and laying on the floor with same ewww smell. Got it taken out enough where I could remove the offending critter. Ewwww. Out to the trash tote. Cleaned it up. Spray, spray, spray with deodorizing spray. That's how my Monday started how's yours?

I made a phone call for my mom. Called her back. She's hard of hearing. She had a message on her answering machine this weekend when we were there about a doctor's appointment. My step-dad had a stroke in April and has since been in the nursing home. She didn't recognize the doctor's name and was going to blow it off! Yup that's my mom. Like I said I called the number this morning. My step-dad was being referred to this doctor by the one who admitted him to the nursing home. I made sure the nursing home would do the transportation. Called mom back. It was a circus! She had thought it might be an appointment for her. I asked her, "Mom, how can that be? You haven't seen a doctor in several years and refuse to go to one?" Then Mom says, "What did you say?" I called my step-dad's daughter and let her know. She called the nursing home to find out more info and then called me back. It's a circus. That's how my Monday's going how's yours?

Did I mention I've been weedeating every morning? Well, this morning went out really early before the mouse thing (getting up my courage). The weedeater was spitting out string left and right and ouch it down right hurt through my jeans. Took off the cover to the spool. Checked it out. Looked okay. Put it back on. Tried it again and same thing. Out of string now. Put in a new cartridge. Love those things! And now I am going to town. Got'er done! That's how my Monday's going how's yours?

Don't you just love telemarketers? Yup already had two of those, a wrong number, and someone wanting to sell me an ad. That's how my Monday's going; how's yours?

Washer is done. Time to hang out the towels. I will post again soon. Promise.

Blessings,
Marilyn

Hugs and Kisses

2011-06-03T17:40:00.000-05:00

Here is the sample I made up a few weeks ago called Hugs and Kisses by Jaybird Quilts using the Lazy Angle ruler. I had won the yellow and blue fat quarters one month so I thought they might look nice done up in this pattern. What do you think? All it needs is quilting. It was really hard to get a good picture. The wind was blowing! I caught it at a lull.

Hope you have a blessed weekend,
Marilyn

Hello!

2011-06-02T19:08:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the absence. But like a broken record--I have been busy. How do some people blog everyday and several times a day and be so busy? Not me for sure.

Let's see I have been doing some yard work. We got one of those cordless electric weedeaters. I just can't handle one of those with the gas tanks. Too heavy! The drawback with the cordless--I run out of battery pretty quick. I even have two batteries. But you know what -- if I plan it-- I can charge the batteries overnight and then in the morning while it is cooler I get out and do some trimming. I am liking the ease of starting this trimmer. Just push a button! No pulling on a cord. So that is part of what I have been doing--nearly every morning. We have a big yard.

I had a program May 16 at Bowie and presented a demo on the Lazy Angle ruler manufactured by Creative Grids. So that meant sewing up a sample : ) what a problem for someone who looks for any excuse to piece a quilt! LOL The Lazy Angle ruler can help you produce so many different quilt blocks. It is amazing! Check out Joan Hawley companion book. I have just delved into the very simplest! But if you like intricate looking but simple (lazy) you will like this.

Then I did some machine quilting. Butterflies and lots of them in purple thread on Jan's 4 Patch Stacked Posies. I have a snowflake panto ordered for her next one. Then I have some I need to catch up on. There's always the ordering and pricing. Such a big job--LOL--but somebody's got to do it. Pick me!

Then there has been guild. I updated our WCQG blog today so please go there and check out April and May. April will have the pictures of our Fat Sack Workshop. In May I asked several members to bring demos. It was a great meeting. We had four visitors and three joined that day. Woohoo!

And AND just recently we had the grandkids! First the two youngest ones cames for several days while their parents went tubing on the Guadalupe River. Then the older two came for several days. They overlapped for a few hours on Monday. DGD Paisley doesn't sleep well still. Sunday night was the worst. I was pretty zonked on Monday. Then I went to bed early Monday night and woke up refreshed. So DGD Aimee and I could sew! Gotta get her project worked on! We started sewing four patches at spring break. She got all the four patches sewn and got three rows sewn just not together. Eight more to go for next time she gets to come. She loves sewing on the little Elna. She is getting so much better. I was busy pinning and cutting for her. I let her pick her own colors. She likes bright and it is going to be bright. She is making it for a little girl through C.A.S.A.

Don't you just love it? She ENJOYED her spaghetti. No use for a bib or clothes in this instance. LOL

And yes he is as sweet as he looks. This was not the same meal as above.

Here's all four watching "Gnomeo and Juliet". Do you see the little "ham"? By the way, it is a cute movie.

And you know there is the regular day to day laundry, cleaning, meals, etc. of course. No garden this year--it just didn't happen. We've had lots of good rain but now it is drying up. The wind has blown and blown this year. Last week it was awful. The storms everywhere have been awful. We have had severe weather warnings and tornado warnings in the last few weeks. No bad weather here--just warnings--Thank God.

And now it's gearing up time. For Wise County Quilt Show! June 18. Woohoo!

Blessings,

A Quiltey Post

2011-05-03T08:53:00.000-05:00

'Bout time! LOL My posts have been lacking pictures of quilts. Today will hopefully make up for that.

Several weeks ago I went to a quilt show in Decatur sponsored by the Women's Club. Lots of antique quilts and lots of applique and embroidery.

This one makes me smile!

A signature quilt

A close up

A cathedral window

Took a picture with my hand so you could see how small these are!

There were several of this type--combination of applique and embroidery.

This one was over a 100 years old.

This last Saturday I had some shoppers come to shop : ) .

Dot brought her quilt to show me. She made this using the pattern from Sew Simple Pineapples. The fabric except for one border she bought from Quilt Catering--my store! She is hand quilting. Good job, Dot! She brought her friend Joanne with her. They were in the area camping with their hubbys and a group. Fun.

I started making these stacked moon block several years ago. I pulled them out on Sunday afternoon and finished this up. It measures 40 inches square. I will use it for a baby quilt.

Some of my favorite blocks

Have a wonderful day.

Hello from a cool Texas!

2011-05-02T21:10:00.002-05:00

Record lows forecast for tonight! We were in the 40s today. In May. We've gotten some wonderful rain last week and this weekend. The grass is so pretty and green. Our pear tree is loaded with pears. Speaking of grass--it grew inches overnight.

I put the hummingbird feeder up a week ago. They found it within an hour. This weekend we had swarms of hummingbirds. It was amazing. They drank 1 1/2 cups sugar water in two days. I've got to get another feeder next trip to Wal-Mart.

Have you seen Molly's Place blog? She's got a free Boots BOM going on right now. So cute!

Blessings,

I'm Back!

2011-04-25T14:47:00.000-05:00

And of course you didn't know I was gone! My step-dad had a stroke and I drove down to Ballinger to help my mother. He is doing good. He has been transferred to a nursing home and is going to have therapy for several weeks. For a couple of months we had suspected he might be having little strokes. The last big one he had it affected his speech and his writing hand (why is it always the one they need?). This time it affected the same way.

I am always so torn. I know they need my help. I stay for a few days and then I need to get home. It is hard. All of us (sibling and spouses) are going to need to talk and see what we can come up with and present to them. My mother is a very stubborn lady. Their house needs lots of repairs and is not prepared for anyone with special needs. My step-dad's daughter wants them to sell their house and move a town over closer to her. That would work IF she would help them. Mother said they hardly ever hear from her. So I don't think Mother is going to go for that. I live over 200 miles away. But I am the nearest. My sister lives out of state. My mother is nearly deaf. My step-dad can't hardly talk. It is a circus. I really love it where we live now. I am praying for God's will.

Blessings,

Rain!

2011-04-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

We've had a little rain. Praise the Lord. It started last night and things are still wet this morning. It is still drizzling at 8am. The Possum Kingdom Lake area where they are fighting the fires hasn't received much rain as yet. From my understanding. But the conditions are much better with the higher humidity and cooler temperatures. We only got to 60 degrees yesterday and today is to be cool. If the sun comes out it will warm up. The fire is 25% contained.

The Wildcat Fire near San Angelo is 75% contained. Hallelujah! No loss of homes! Minimal loss of livestock! And they are having some rain! The new grass that comes will be awesome.

Here is a link to a map to see the burned areas from that fire.

https://www.facebook.com/GrapeCreekVFD#!/photo.php?fbid=215078948502393&set=a.215077595169195.62858.214795751864046&type=1&theater

Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray. It is my understanding that the US Forest Service has taken command of the Possum Kingdom Fire. Thank you to all the volunteer fire fighters across the state for their hard work. And most of all thanks be to God for answered prayers, His mercies, and His goodness to all. It will truly be a good Resurrection Day!

And now my prayer is that God will help them put out the remaining fires and comfort those who have lost so much.

Blessings,

Marilyn

Fire Still Burning

2011-04-20T08:06:00.000-05:00

The towns of Palo Pinto and Graford were spared. The fire reached almost to Graford. Scary for sure. The winds diminished last night for a time. This morning they are blowing pretty good again. The DFW area got rain and hail (some very large in areas) but the areas where the fires are burning haven't received any rain.
The temperatures are forecast to stay in the 60s to 70s today. Big plus. It is overcast here. The fire is still burning around Possum Kingdom Lake and west to southwest of that area. Possum Kingdom Lake is south of Graham where our daughter lives.

Please pray for rain.

Blessings,
Marilyn

Tentative Report

2011-04-19T20:14:00.000-05:00

The winds have shifted. The fires seem to be diminishing. Praise the Lord. The DFW area got rain and hail. We've missed the fire and the rain.

Blessings,
Marilyn

Please pray!

2011-04-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

The fires are six miles from Graham where our daughter and family live! The temps today are forecast to be in the 90's and further west as high as 100 degrees. And the wind is still blowing.

I read on the Texas Forest Service site that since April 6 one million acres have burned in Texas. Wow!

Again as I posted previously--we are not in any immediate danger.

Thank you,
Marilyn

Grassfires in Texas!

2011-04-17T19:20:00.002-05:00

Everyone who reads this blog please pray for the state of Texas. There have been homes lost and many acres burned all over the state. Here is a link to the Texas Forest Service. A firefighter has lost his life. Small cities and communities have faced mandatory evacuations. We do not have any immediate danger where we live. Everything is so dry. We did receive a little over an inch of rain just a week or so ago but you cannot tell it now. The winds have been relentless. Friday the winds blew even more and higher. What we thought was dust in the air we found out was a combination of dust and smoke. Today we can see smoke from the Possum Kingdom Lake fire. The fire they are calling Wildcat came very close to the area where we formerly lived.

Thank you for your prayers.
Marilyn

Are you busy too?

2011-04-11T12:49:00.002-05:00

Seems like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. Now there is yard work calling for attention. I want to apologize for not posting. Everything is good with us we just have lots of things to do. Like everyone else.

I have been machine quilting. I have pieced some C.A.S.A. quilts. I am working on a sample to take when I sell my notions and supplies. I worked up an order this morning and I am really excited about some patterns from Jaybird Quilts. I like them a lot. I've been to Post Oak in recent weeks. Hello Post Oak Quilters. You ladies are special.

And a very special lady has very generously given me her copy of Electric Quilt 5! I was touched and very thankful. She and I found each other through blogging several years ago. We have contacted Electric Quilt and have the paperwork sent in to take care of the licensing. As soon as I have a little more time I will play! Thank you for your gift, Patsy.

The bluebonnets are blooming! We traveled to visit our parents this weekend. It is very dry in their area and not many there. Between Springtown and Weatherford there are some really pretty ones on Hwy 51. Some were in mass between Albany and Abilene. The ones in the drier areas are smaller and lighter blue. We got home yesterday evening just in time before some storms blew in. No hail, or high winds! Just some much needed rain. An inch and four tenths. Today the wind is blowing again. Instead of from the south it is coming from the north. When we were in San Angelo this weekend they reached 100 degrees. In April!

Wishing everyone a wonderful day,

Gone with the Wind

2011-03-22T09:04:00.000-05:00

Not really. But sure does feel like it. LOL I guess you could say we are tired of the wind blowing. But March will be over before long.

I was reading Stash Manicure this morning and the guest blogger is Jane from Sew Creat It. It's a tutorial for a Dresden Plate. Did I tell you I love Dresden Plates?

It just looks hard! Hurry go check it out.

If my want to do list gets any bigger -- well, I don't know what I'm going to do. Sleep isn't an option -- my body kinda takes over.

Blessings,

Vintage Sewing Machine

2011-03-03T09:57:00.001-06:00

Recently DH and I went to a local auction and picked up a couple of vintage sewing machines. This one has Newport Sewing Machine on the top of the machine. You can click on the picture to enlarge and read the
badge. It is in pretty much mint condition. You can see the dome lid behind the machine. I checked out the bobbin case and gave it a brushing and oiled everything. When I first attempted to sew I noticed the pressure foot wasn't coming all the way down. DH adjusted it and ta-da! sews beautifully. Through many layers. Denim included. It didn't come with a light or seam allowances on the throat plate. Easy to fix.

I did some research online to find out what I could about the machine. Best I can tell--it probably is a HA-1 or what some call a Singer clone. I'm not completely sure of this though. When I tilt the machine and look at the under carriage. There is a stamp of ZH on the bottom. From what I've read those made in Japan would have JA stamped on them. Anybody have a clue? Further explanation--Japanese companies began manufacturing these machines and copying Singer 15 after the copyright ran out.

Many believe their machines are superior because they have added amenities. Such as--again you may click to enlarge -- the knob on the base of the machine just left of the spool pin. It lowers the feed dogs. It has three settings. Normal sewing, silk, or embroidery. I haven't tried it yet. The machine only came with one pressure foot for basic sewing. It is a low shank machine so finding a foot should not be a problem. It is a beautiful machine.

The other two machines are Singers. One is a 99K made in Scotland in 1957. It needed a lot of cleaning. Very dirty especially in the bobbin area. My Q-tips and sewing machine oil took care of that. But I almost made a big mistake! I saw this red stuff and thought it was lint. I got the tweezers and started pulling it out. Something in the back of my brain said wait a minute. Then I remembered reading or someone telling me that some of the older machines have felt wicks for oil. Yup, that's what it was. So glad I didn't remove it all. Hopefully I left enough! I got it all cleaned and oiled good.

Started to wind a bobbin and had to make a slight adjustment to the bobbin winder screw. I got a bobbin wound. Threaded the machine. And sewed. Through many layers. I kept doubling the fabric strip. When the strip had gotten too small to fold again there were ten layers of 100% cotton. It didn't have a problem with four layers of denim. My 70s model Kenmore would have balked. It doesn't have the seam allowances marked on the throat plate but I can get one pretty easily.

The case it came in needs a major makeover. My DSIL does wood work. My DD is wanting a machine. This would be a good one for her and DGD Aimee. And since I was originally supposed to give the Elna Lotus SP to DGD Aimee (I am such a bad grandmother--but I love that little machine and it makes such a good one to take on retreat or to sew days and she will get to sew on it when she comes to visit--can I stop feeling guilty? I will keep a lookout for another one.) this would be a good one and could hem pants, make curtains, piece a quilt (Aimee) and would look really neat in her vintage house as well. So I am going to email DD a picture and see if I can entice her to come see me this weekend. ; ) Besides it's Girls Scout cookie time and we have an order due! Gotta have me some Thin Mints and Lemonades!

The third machine is a Singer 600 Touch and Sew. We paid $5 for it. It's going to need some repair. DH seems to think the clutch is out. It was a very dirty machine. I got it all cleaned and up and oiled. I got all set to sew and motor works but no sewing. It comes with cams to do fancy stitching. I was so looking forward to it sewing. Just for the fancy stitches! When DH gets some time --bless his heart.

He had a day yesterday. He is working for a welder. They were manufacturing flares for gas wells to burn off whatever it is that gas wells need to burn off. Somebody help? That slowed down then they built sound walls and wind walls for drilling rigs. Now that slowed down and they are working on the welder's personal farm taking down old fences and putting up new. They've had good weather for it. Yesterday DH worked fence, then came home and fed animals, had promised an older gentleman he would check out his bull dozer that wasn't working and he had to go by and check on some animals for someone. And I had started baking cookies yesterday afternoon and the first two sheets weren't done when the timer went off. My oven was on the fritz. DH always knows what to do when that happens. It's wire connections in the back. He couldn't find his box of connections so went shopping. Our little town's Auto Zone was closed. Begged some off his employer with a promise of cookies. Guess what? He got all that done and his fresh baked cookies and a glass of milk before 8:30pm. He was one tired Papaw. And he took cookies this morning for their coffee time.

Ya'll be blessed today,

Marilyn

Spring is sprung and a lot of yackety yack

2011-03-03T09:09:00.000-06:00

If you haven't listened in to Pat Sloan on Creative Talk Radio you are missing out. DH was out and about last night and I turned it on. So much talent and so many talented people still not discovered. Aneela Hoey was one of her guests via skype. Aneela is from the United Kingdom. This is a link to her blog. You simple must see her adorable embroidery patterns. Look at those stitches for the hair. Love it. I like her style.

On the home front--the fruit trees are beginning to bloom. We went from deep freeze to spring in the matter of a few weeks. We need rain. It is very dry. There have been wildfires in west Texas. We have had a few around here but if we don't get rain there will be more. The wind has been blowing and blowing. The dust came with it. I don't know if it is the dust, pollen or what but I came down with allergies/cold/crud/yuck over the weekend and am still trying to get over it. I haven't been this sick in a number of years. I feel for you folks that suffer from allergies on a regular basis. Saturday I tried to cough my head off then Monday I tried to sneeze it off. My head is still attached although SOME people who I know and love really don't think so at times LOL; better known as my DH.

I woke up at 12:30 the other night. Couldn't go back to sleep for hours. Last night slept like a rock. Boy did I need that! And during these unscheduled early wake ups--the thought occurred to me. You know we all have been hearing about Charlie Sheen and Lindsey Lohan in the news. We who are Christians and pray ought to pray for these folks. I know I am so quick with the thought : ). But really I should be quicker to pray than to shake my head. But for the grace of God I and many others might be in the same turmoil. Just sayin'!

Daffodils are up and blooming. The tulips aren't far behind. They are very small this year. Lack of rain and probably time to replant. The redbud tree across the road is about to burst into bloom. The wild plums are blooming. It seems early. We could easily have a frost and lose the fruit.

I sewed some string blocks in the last couple of weeks while working on other stuff. You know Bonnie's leaders and enders style? The ladies at Paradise Piecemakers put me onto making string blocks using Bounty paper towels for the foundation. At that time they were eleven inches square. Now they are not. More like 11 X 10 1/2 or even 10 1/4. More down sizing of product. If you think about it--fifty sheets multiplied by 1/2 inch. That is a LOT less. Are they putting more sheets in a roll? Hmm. I gotta go check. You know what? It doesn't say. I buy the big packages of like 8 or 10 and store in the garage. All it says -- 12 giant rolls = 18 regular rolls. If there are fifty sheets to a roll (sorry I don't have my grandkids around to count them for me and don't expect me to okay?) multiplied by 1/2 inch = 25 inches less in a roll. Multiply that by 12 = 300 less inches. That's 25 feet less. I know you stuck around to get to the bottom of this. LOL

Dishwasher is swishing, breadmaker is kneading, and since I have regained the status of free breathing -- I got lots of work to do. See ya.

Blessings,

Playing

2011-02-25T09:25:00.000-06:00

I've been playing with Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci. I can see where this could get addictive. Oh my! We are making a snowmen themed quilt for our next donation quilt at Wise County Quilt Guild. I am playing with this technique to make my block--stay tuned.

We have been experiencing some wonderful spring like weather. Although yesterday we had a cold front come through with dust blowing. Choked me up. This weekend is supposed to be 80 degrees. My friend Dixie who lost her husband in the small plane crash a couple of years ago is getting married this weekend! She met a man at church. She wasn't interested at first. He kept pursuing and she gave in. Best wishes for the happy couple.

Have a safe and pleasant weekend.
Blessings,
Marilyn

Hello Beautiful 70 degree Weather!

2011-02-20T19:43:00.000-06:00

Looks like DH has his hands full!

Let's see -- we had little visitors come see us. Yes, DGS Mason and DGD Paisley came for a few days while DS#2 went goose hunting in northern Arkansas. The grandkids are so lovable and loving toward each other. I put them in the bathtub together -- saves water and time. LOL There is just something about little ones freshly washed with baby lotion and in their jammies. And then off to bed! One of the best times of the day I'm telling you. I wasn't worn out this time. Yahoo!

I had done some rummaging in cabinets and totes and ran across a little dress I started and didn't finish for DGD Aimee when she was a baby. It didn't need a whole lot to finish it so I did and it fit Paisley. It is red and white heart fabric and I embellished with a heart yo-yo on the bodice. So easy and quick! Sorry, I didn't take a picture before I sent it home with them. Bad blogger, I know. Maybe I can get one of her wearing it! That would be even better and I can get back in your good graces. LOL And a big Happy Birthday to our little Paisley. She is one year old.

Friday night before Valentines DH and I went to DGD Aimee's Dad and Daughter Valentine dance. He pretty much was her dad for the first three years of her life. Thank God she has a dad now. I made her a little valentine bracelet using the heart shape yo-yo with valentine fabric and some grossgrain ribbon and a little velcro for the closure. Turned out cute. Sorry I didn't get a picture--I made it just hours before we went. That's when I got the idea and you know you just got to go with the creative juices.

Speaking of creative juices--have you ever lost your creative juice for awhile? It is a real bummer. I go through times. Maybe it is like writer's block or something. I don't know but it sure isn't any fun. I am going to confess something. Are you ready? This is big. I GO THROUGH TIMES WHEN I DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING QUILT RELATED! There I said it. I hate it when it happens but when the time is up -- it is all good again. Weird, I know.

See that book on the right? Yeah, gonna have to play!

I have been working on the ribbon border on the Star BOM from Judy L that I got stumped on when my computer didn't download the paper piecing foundation she posted. I drew up one myself and it turned out a little big. (Math involved! Oh, Dear!) I cut the papers down and have all the pieces sewn and now to join those and sew the border on. I have also been chain piecing some string blocks for another small C.A.S.A. charity quilt. I machine quilted a baby quilt for our local pregnancy center. I will piece backs for two other C.A.S.A. quilts and get them quilted. Then onto other machine quilting.

I did not get to go to see Bonnie Hunter while she was in Texas. Bummer I know. Next time I will be going. I did talk to someone who did go the lecture in Denton and they thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course. They knew nothing about her. Bless their little heart! She said she was so informative and funny. Of course.

This is a quilt top I made using The Binding Tool by TQM Products. I hung it by pant hangers from my curtain hardware over our patio door so that's why you can see the seam allowances. Here is a link to Moda's blog with an excellent post about it including a pdf file of a pattern to make a friendship braid. I made mine loosely following a quilt I had seen in a quilt magazine. Sorry I can't remember now which one. ; ) The fabrics I used in this quilt except for the white I have for sale on bolts.

Blessings,

Marilyn

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T12:12:00.000-06:00

Hope you have a wonderful and loving Valentines!

Blessings,
Marilyn

Update on the Deep Freeze

2011-02-04T10:41:00.000-06:00

Well, we got more snow. Maybe 4 inches. On top of the frozen stuff that was already there. I just looked and the thermometer on our south facing front porch is 22 degrees. Woohoo! There is a warming trend. The Super Bowl is happening this weekend in our neck of the woods. That and the weather has been pretty much what the news is covering. We are forecast to get up to 28 today. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up in the 40s. Then in a few days we are supposed to get cold again just not as cold--I hope!

Stay warm and happy quilting,
Marilyn

Still in the Deep Freeze

2011-02-03T14:27:00.000-06:00

And thank God we haven't lost electricity. I can still cook and stay warm and blog. : ) We got up to 21 degrees yesterday and today we have only seen 19 for a high so far at 2pm. The weatherman is saying we haven't seen temps this low in twenty years. Let's hope we don't see them again for at least another twenty years. LOL Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 32 degrees. To put that in perspective--that will be almost double what we have right now. Hard to believe we had temps of almost 80 on Saturday.

There were rolling blackouts across the state yesterday. Here's an article explaining what happened. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-energy/electric-reliability-council-texas/the-rolling-chain-of-events-behind-texas-blackouts/

The media were asking everyone to conserve not only electricity but also natural gas use. Well, we did our part. We sacrificed majorly. : ) We put our thermostat to 65 degrees and put on extra clothes and turned off lights. I am so glad we didn't lose power like some did for seven hours or more in the DFW area. We are forecast for possibly more snow before this is all out of here.

We have been so blessed. A family nearby who bought show pigs from DH offered to come help him with the animals. A five gallon bucket full of water gets mighty heavy carrying it from the nearest non-frozen water source (I can't even carry one). For two days they have come and helped DH. I haven't been out other than to run to the mail box and seeing to the cat. I've got to invest in some insulated coveralls. Anybody got a source for a petite round little lady? At the very least I've got to get some insulated long johns. Our outdoor dogs have been camping out in the garage. That reminds me -- I need to check their water.

Stay warm and blessings,

Hello Deep Freeze!

2011-02-01T19:35:00.000-06:00

The Artic front came into our neck of the woods last night. Around 9:30pm it started raining then during the night we woke to hear sleet hitting the window and the wind roaring. We had thunder and lightning and sleet showers. We got up this morning to the grass almost covered by sleet and snow. Our temperatures have hovered around 20 degrees F today with 40 mile an hour wind. DH bundled up to go to feed and water the animals. He put on several layers including wool socks. He put on rubber boots. We don't have the ones with liners. He was outside an hour or so and when he came in his feet were numb and hurting (specifically his toes). It took about an hour for his toes to stop tingling. Our overnight lows are forecast to be in the teens. AND the temps are not to get above freezing until Friday. Oh joy!

I mixed up more Denver Biscuits today and Pumpkin Muffins. I cooked us stew for lunch. I love making the Denver Biscuits. They are so convenient. The recipe makes a large amount and you can cut them and freeze in a single layer and then transfer to freezer bags. When you're ready to cook some take out the number needed let thaw and rise for 30 minutes or so then bake. I took these to retreat and treated my fellow quilters to hot bread! They were a hit. Did I mention I gained two pounds at retreat? Yeah. How did that happen? Let's see lots of good food and sitting and sewing. A perfect set up for weight gain. LOL

The newsman just said we were going to have the coldest night in a decade. Shiver. Being a quilter and owning quilts is an added benefit on night's like this.

Blessings,

A little more from Retreat

2011-01-25T08:52:00.002-06:00

Ann took a group picture and emailed me. Thanks, Ann.

Pictured are back row Jan, Bonnie, Kathleen, front row Gena, Priscilla, Dixie and me. Missing are Billie, Anna and of course Ann behind the camera. Billie slept late. Anna didn't spend the night and drove back and forth. The weather had turned really cold with a little precipitation she decided to stay home that day. The quilt we were holding was one from the LeRetreat House. A beautiful string quilt. The one on the design wall behind us belongs to Kathleen. She bought the kit when she and her husband took a cruise to Alaska. It is wildflowers of Alaska. It is gorgeous.

Blessings,

Marilyn

Just in time for Valentine's Day

2011-01-24T08:55:00.000-06:00

I found this cute table runner on Sharon Yeager's blog Daisy Cottage Quilting.

Here's Part 1 of the Tutorial and then Part 2 . I had been looking for one for Valentine's Day! And be sure and tell her Thanks!

Blessings,
Marilyn

Back from Retreat

2011-01-21T12:40:00.002-06:00

The Time Travel quilt is finished! Totally finished! I made the binding and sewed it on at retreat. Major happy dance going on. My fellow retreaters reminded me how long I'd been working on this quilt--Gee, thanks, everybody!--since our first retreat back in 2008! Oh my gosh, really? Back at that first retreat I think I was begining to join the blocks together. It was my travel quilt. I only worked on it when I went to sew at Paradise Piecemakers once a month and on retreats. I kept it in one of those Rubbermaid containers so everything would be together and then I could load my machine and thread and go sew. The blocks in the quilt are Fly Foot and Soaring Past Time. The Soaring Past Time blocks have 24 fying geese units. I did count at one time how many flying geest were in the whole quilt and I don't remember. And I'm not going to count again. I'm done. Rest assured that there are around 900. You see those little half square triangle in that border? Those were made when the smaller flying geese were made. I still have a bunch left over! I don't throw anything away--only strips or pieces too small to be able to make a seam and have something left to show after the seam is made.

We had a lot of fun as usual. Good food as always. Recipes requested. There were ten of us. Marie and Sharon couldn't join us this time. Biliie was a new retreater. This particular retreat house is located a block away from a railroad track. There are ear plugs in little jars on the night stands beside the beds. For good reason! Snoring is another good reason. Closed doors help too! LOL I couldn't resist taking this picture. The jar is cracked. Do you think someone may have been groping the dark for an ear plug?

Too funny!

Blessings everyone and happy quilting,

Will we ever see the sun?

2011-01-14T16:31:00.000-06:00

We saw the sun for a very short time yesterday and a very very short time this morning. We have been under cloud cover for a long time. I need me some sun!Remind me come July or August what I wished for okay?

Until that happens I will keep myself entertained. And post some pictures.

These are some tea towels I have embellished. On the left redwork with fabric trim, the watermelon I did in crayola and set with an iron, and the top picture I used my heart yo-yo maker and embroidered the letters. Then there are two sets of napkins I made from fabric. You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.

Blessings,

If you haven't checked it out--

2011-01-14T14:06:00.000-06:00

You really will want to. It being Maria Peagler's blog. She's the author of Color Mastery--don't we all need a little help with color? The link is to her personal blog. She also has a website and a blog professionally. Check out the snow they got at her house.

I also listened to Pat Sloan's radio broadcast while I did some things around the house. It is so cool to me to hear how the quilt designers we hear about and purchase their books and patterns got started and about their personal lives.

I trimmed the Time Travel quilt for binding. I cut 2 1/2" strips for the binding to make ready for my part of the demo at our guild meeting Saturday. Several of us are demonstrating specialty rulers. I will demo the Binding Ruler. Patsy, I discovered another use for the ruler. I will take pictures and post a tutorial. You can use the ruler to cut the angles for your binding strips BEFORE you sew them together. This eliminates the need to mark a line, sew, then cut. I made another binding yesterday in record time. Not sure how long-I didn't time myself-but I've never timed myself. LOL But it was definitely faster.

Blessings,

Items required--waders--this is deep

2011-01-10T13:39:00.001-06:00

What is it that makes us want to resolve to do things better; set goals; change habits? And the list could go on. What is it? Is it because for us in the northern hemisphere Jan.1 falls when there is dormancy and winter and we have a little more time for retrospect? Do people in the southern hemisphere have the same inclination? Is it out of tradition? Is it something in us that wishes for change? Maybe we either liked or didn't like what happened the previous year. Or a combination of both?

So tell me what you think but you have to get your own waders.

Blessings,

A Little Snow and Computers

2011-01-10T00:45:00.000-06:00

First a little rain that started in the night and then mid-morning the snow started. Just a dusting. It sure was pretty.

We received a new lap-top from our kids. Yesterday DS#1 came and hooked up the fast transfer cable. Our old computer has been threatening to crash. Very slow. To make a long story short--the old computer was being very very slow. DS#1 needed to go home. I stopped the transfer software download. Removed some programs. Then tried again and it worked. Praise the Lord.

Then I tried to sign in to this blog on the new computer and it wouldn't let me. What in the world? It had been working on this new computer. It worked on DH's lap-top. What gives? What has changed? I wracked my brain all day. Then tonight I searched on blogger help. Then it occured to me to try blogger in draft. It worked. Forevermore! I'm pretty sure I had been using blogger in draft on the old desktop and perhaps when I transferred everything over MAYBE that had something to do with it?! At least it works and right now that's all that matters.

When it's cold sometimes I get in the baking/cooking mood. Today was no exception. This morning I made sausage and buttermilk pancakes. Then after breakfast dishes were all cleaned up I made banana bread. It turned out really good. Then for lunch I made potato soup with broccoli cornbread. I didn't have cottage cheese for the cornbread but I had sourcream and a little buttermilk. It turned out really good. We made venison chili tonight for DH to take to work. The guys always love it. Real spicy.

Blessings,

A Challenge

2011-01-07T13:49:00.000-06:00

Quilters Dream Batting is sponsoring a challenge to benefit ALS (Louis Gehrig's Disease). Follow this link to read more about it Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge .

Blessings,

Happy and Blessed New Year

2011-01-04T12:52:00.002-06:00

I am wishing all who visit my blog a wonderful and blessed new year!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T18:57:00.000-06:00

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

And of course as always, BLESSINGS

Good Report!

2010-12-02T07:15:00.000-06:00

DH had his follow up ECHO cardiogram on Monday then we went back to hear the results yesterday. His heart is functioning completely normal. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. We are so relieved. He is to continue taking all the medications and return to the doctor in four months.

Blessings,

Lots of quilting going on

2010-11-20T22:45:00.002-06:00

November 15 found me at Bowie, Texas at the Community Quilters. I was invited to do a demo and bring my store. A nice group of ladies and full of talent. I demonstrated The Binding Tool by TQM Products. It is a wonderful tool that makes joining the last edges together when machine sewing the binding down easy and pretty much fool-proof.

The following three pictures are old quilt tops found in a home after a death in a family. Aren't we glad they have been found and will be quilted to be passed on to the next generation?

The next picture is of two adorable baby quilts made for twin baby girls. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures.

And one more fuzzy picture--sorry. I've got to work on my photography skills. This picture is of one of their blocks out of the mystery quilt they are doing. This quilter bought her fabrics from me : ) I like her color combination.

The next two pictures are from this Wednesday at Kraz-z Quilters. Jan had bought the book 9- Patch Pizzazz by Judy Sisneros and she cut this quilt out last week, sewed it up and brought to show.

Don't just love her colors. She used a panel and the technique in 9-Patch Pizzazz. And we are right down to it on finishing Time Travel quilt. Kathleen, Bonnie and Sharon are pictured.

And then today we had Wise County Quilt Guild meeting. When we were at retreat in August, we were talking. Gena was telling us about her parents lived in Indonesia, Singapore, Libya, and Australia while her dad worked for Haliburton years ago. She told us of how her mom had learned about batik fabrics. Always looking for a program for our guild I asked her if her mom would come and talk to us about her experience and batiks. She said she would ask her. Well, today Bobbi came and talked to WCQG. Beautiful fabrics she brought. Not like any batiks I have seen. She told of how she had a tux made for her husband while they lived there. When he passed away this past winter they buried him in that special tux.

The lion on the fabric is a piece she painted herself in batik fashion for her first granddaughter.
She brought shirts and asked some of the ladies to model. Click on the picture to enlarge to get a better look.

The framed unit in the background are blocks (I can't remember what she called them.) used to print batik.
Here is a link on found that has pictures and explains how batik is made.

Bobbie even had some leather pieces that had been painted in the batik fashion. Lovely.

And now some show and tell from guild members. Our Mary always is doing baby quilts with her added
machine applique.

Next is Marie with the beautiful quilt she made for her son who sails.

And there were many others that I didn't get a around to photographing. Too busy drooling. Sorry.

Well, that's what I've been up to this week. And you know the other regular stuff--cooking, laundry, paying bills, and working on the next project. Stay tuned.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Procrastination

2010-11-07T10:50:00.001-06:00

Do you procrastinate? I know I do. I put off doing things that either I don't enjoy doing or don't feel like I do well. Or that are very time consuming (with procrastination doesn't that mean they take even longer-duh!). Last weekend I was inspired by Wanda at Exuberant Color. She got a lot of quilting done that she had been putting off. It got me to thinking about all the things I have put off doing. So instead of taking the time to reason out which thing to tackle first (do you hear more procrastination?) I just plunged in. I had been putting off for some time altering some clothing. You see I am vertically challenged. Those of you who do not fit the cookie cutter fit of clothes know what I mean. Even petite sizes many times I have to hem up. Don't laugh. So here I was faced with four jackets--one lined--and three pair of pants that needed hemming up. I stayed with it until they were all done. Such a good feeling!

This weekend DH went deer hunting and I had the weekend to myself. What to do? I had thought to have a mini quilt retreat. Nope. Instead I decided to continue the fight against procrastination. I ironed. I had a closet full of ironing that needed to done. I am spilling my guts now so go easy on me, okay. I don't feel like I do a good job when I iron. I grew up in the age of double knit and didn't really learn. No excuses--I will learn now! My motto now is --"It looks better than when I first started and I will get better." A few more pieces to finish and I can celebrate. And you know what? It's like I have a new wardrobe. Pretty cool.

Next in my battle against procrastination I think I will tackle closets! My DD (the organization gifted person) always tells me when I hint for to help get me organized, "What do you want to throw away?" Throw away! So I haven't let her near my things. After all this is a personal disorganization so it must be a personal organization. And yes there may be some things that get thrown out. Uh oh, have I put off organizing because I don't want to deal with getting rid of some of my stuff? Procrastination again. The battle goes on. But you know what? The battle won't be won in one day but IT WILL BE WON!

Blessings,

Elna Lotus SP

2010-11-05T18:52:00.000-05:00

With the flaps down and ready to sew.

Flaps up and ready to store. It even came with the original sewing manuals.

I've already spoken about this machine while on retreat. I got it home and did a little sewing on it and it started making a noise. I put it away until I had time to check it out. On Tuesday I oiled and cleaned it and the noise went away. The zig zag stitches would not go the full width and the bobbin winder wasn't working. I asked DH to have a look at it. Bless the man! He got everything to working. It just needed some lubricating. It hadn't been run in awhile evidently. The machine's dimensions are 5"x12" and weighs 12 1/2 pounds. It sews wonderful. I even got it set to sew a 1/4" by moving the needle. The machine was manufactured in Switzerland best I can tell from research in the late 60's. I just had to do some sewing on it. I had a stack of 4 Patch Stack Posies blocks cut out and ready to sew. All done.

Now when retreat comes (Oh, I can't wait for the next one!) I will have a lighter weight machine to carry. And when the older grandkids come we can have two machines to work on.

DH did such a good job that we've been thinking he might look into sewing machine repair training. Hmm.

Blessings,

Wonderful Tutorials

2010-10-28T12:19:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine, Sharon, put me onto the Missouri Star Quilt Company's tutorials. They do a great job!

I am alive, Patsy. I survived. We had the little visitors for several days. The baby didn't sleep well for several nights in a row and the toddler decided to be rebellious the entire time. Mama said there would be days (and nights?) like this. And I had a birthday. I felt everyone of those years on Tuesday let me tell you.

DGD Paisley is crawling now. Not exactly what DGS Mason would like. She gets his "stuff". Oh, dear! "Nanaw, come get Paizwee!" She loves his Thomas the train engines.

Blessings and happy quilting,

I Love Small Towns

2010-10-17T15:43:00.000-05:00

I love the atmosphere where everyone seems to know everyone else. There were babies in strollers with moms waiting as small children squealed with delight as they slid down the huge blow-up slide in the center of the square in Chico. There were couples strolling and visiting neighbors. There were kids of all ages having a good time. Who wouldn't? Popcorn, ice cream, snow cones, brisket sandwiches, with the old time Soda Fountain open across the street and smells coming from the mexican restaurant on the opposite corner. Then there was a church bake sale RIGHT in front of our booth. We bought some homemade tamales and ate them while they were hot and then of course a pecan pie HAD to come home with us. There were booths selling various things--jewelry, paintings and prints, makeup, candles, home decorations, leather work, visors, sports fan apparel and plaques, and of course there was bingo.

It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue with wispy white clouds. Just perfect. It was a successful day for us and we are thankful. I had sent out postcards to all the quilting ladies I had addresses and many came and shopped. I gave away Judy L. Laquidara's book Nine Patch Extravaganza. So everyone who came could register to win. And we had a winner --Glinda T. She'll be claiming her book shortly. Thank you to the Chico Chamber of Commerce and our customers who made it a great success.

Blessings,

Busy

2010-10-12T20:50:00.001-05:00

Time flys. Let's see what have I been up to? September 24 & 25 found me in Post Oak with a booth at their Quilt Show and Trash & Treasures sale. We got up and it was raining (as in pouring). We had gone the night before and set up the canopy it was dry. When we arrived Friday morning we found out that the canopy is not completely water proof! Uh-oh. The ladies came to my rescue! They have an old time pavilion where they always have their Trash & Treasures sale and they offered to move their things around to make room for me. And they did! I told you these ladies are super nice. So we set up with them and we had a very successful weekend. The rain let up around noon each day--yes, it rained Saturday as well. It was sloppy but it didn't keep the people away. And as it turned out our canopy was used for their diners. They serve a meal with your choice of a variety of sandwiches complete with onion slices, pickles, chips, and cookie or beans and cornbread. Secretly I think some people come for the food! It's all home cooking. And they published a new cookbook this year! Love it. Thanks for the best chicken salad recipe ever. I will be trying a lot more.

Of course the week before I went to Post Oak I spent cutting fat quarters, one yard cuts and organizing. I stayed up late cutting and cutting. DH took off on Friday and went with me. He is good help. He doesn't totally understand a lot of quilt things but he is encouraging and and offers his help. What is most important he values quilts and the process of quilt making!

The week after I reorganized then we had our little visitors come spend a few nights with us. DGD Paisley can sit alone now and she is so sweet. When I hold her she pats me on the shoulder. How sweet is that? DGS Mason is getting so tall. And his vocabulary is amazing. I took pictures. Want to see? I knew you would.

This past weekend we were in Wichita Falls at the Red River Quilters Guild Quilt Show "Quilting in the Falls".
We were one of ten vendors. We learned a lot. Saw some pretty quilts. I didn't take pictures; will you forgive me?

Yesterday I got two calls from two different quilt groups asking me to come do a demo. How about that?
The first one is next Thursday. Yikes! Gotta get one worked up. Saturday we have a little booth at a local fall festival to try that market. I made up postcards and mailed out today to let fellow quilters know I would be there. We'll see how it works. Saturday is also guild meeting and I will miss it. I am helping get the little program together and to some ladies on Thursday. Tomorrow is Kraz-z Quilters and we are still hand quilting on the Time Travel quilt. We've had fewer quilters the last several weeks so it's been taking longer. So we probably still have a couple more Wednesdays to go.

How about the wonderful weather? Fifties at night and eighties in the day--just wonderful. We have the house open day and night. We decided to give Roy (Roy-L-T) away. He went to a family that needed a second dog to work cattle. DH is doing better. I can tell a big difference. He isn't breathing heavy anymore and he isn't exhausted all the time. Really nice.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Quilting

2010-09-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

I've been getting caught up on some quilting. Yes! First, the Time Travel quilt is being hand quilted by the Kraz-z Quilters. We've worked on it I think it is three weeks so far and pretty much all the outer borders are done. I am using Pellon Legacy 80/20 batting and we are quilting the flying geese and smaller borders in the ditch. In the other borders we are quilting a zig zag pattern. Next week we will get into the body of the quilt and start the blocks. We only had four of us this past Wednesday. Life happens and gets in the way of quilting some days!

I got my part of the tote bags done for the Wise Co. Quilt Guild community project. Yes! I got my quilt block done for the Kraz-z Quilters' next raffle quilt. Yes! And I got the Sun Bonnet Sue block done for WCQG. Yes! And I got a quilt machine quilted and another on the frame (sorry, no pictures). Yes! Now I have to make Christmas stockings for another WCQG community project and start cutting 8" blocks for another. But before I do that -- I have a booth this coming weekend in Post Oak. Yes! Gotta cut fat quarters and yardage and get ready.

I had WCQG meeting today. It went well with lots of plans for upcoming months and our next quilt show.

DH has sold several butcher size pigs lately and young show pigs. A big yes! Four more butcher size will go tomorrow. Butcher size for us is anywhere from 230 pounds and up. When they get that size they can put away a lot of feed every day! These pigs are six months old. You might be thinking--Wow, they grow fast! And you would be right.

Blessings on all who read these words,

Exploding Pineapples and Retreat Pictures (ABOUT TIME)

2010-09-18T14:58:00.005-05:00

Here it is--my Exploding Pineapples. This is such a fast and easy technique. And very striking. You can click on the picture to enlarge. The red print is a western with boots and horse shoes. I thought I was being so smart (beware, Marilyn) Sunday before retreat I sat down and figured (I thought I had it figured out) how many of what size blocks to cut so I would be all set to cut at retreat. Not so. I totally forgot that the first two squares are cut the exact same size. Duh?! So I cut everything wrong. Fortunately I took plenty of fabric and recut (can you say daylight burning (or retreat burning). Do you see the blocks behind my quilt? Jan and Dixie came up with this design while at retreat. A very contemporary quilt with bright colors. I had taken a fat quarter from all my fabrics and there was one batik that had all these colors in a tie dye fashion that went perfect. So she came by the next week and bought enough for a border. Begorgeous!

Marie attended this retreat and we had a lot of fun and laughs with her and at her. She is 84 years young. See that little Elna sewing machine? Dixie brought it to retreat for me to look at to buy. Yeah, I bought it. It is an Elna Lotus SP. I was looking for a small machine for the grandkids to work on and for me to take on retreats. It needs a trip to the sewing machine repairman for a good cleaning.

Sharon and Bonnie deciding which way to sew the 4 Patch Stacked Posies blocks (yeah, I have another one addicted, terrible aren't I?). This was Bonnie's first retreat and from what we heard not her last! Beyond them into the next room you can see Dixie at her machine and a peek at the design wall. On the far right you see a peek of Sharon's
quilt on the design wall. She used charm packs and made the Pineapple Chunks from the Sew Simple Pineapples book by Karin Hellenby.

And here is Ann at the cutting table. This was Ann's first year to join us. She and Gena belong to another group that I mentioned on my blog before-- the Busy Bees from Post Oak. They were a lot of fun. There were ten of us this year. Ann, Anna, Bonnie, Dixie, Gena, Jan, Kathleen, Marie, Sharon and myself.

And guess what? We can't wait for the next one!

Blessings,

So Thankful

2010-09-11T05:28:00.000-05:00

My DH had some health issues recently, spent a few days in the hospital and now is doing much better. I am so thankful he is doing better. He is being a good boy taking his medications and monitoring his blood pressure etc.

I am also thankful that the summer heat is pretty much over. I am thankful for rain. We've received over 6 inches in the last two weeks. I am thankful for our wonderful kids who have helped us in the last several weeks. I am thankful that our DGS Mac wasn't seriously hurt when he fell from their above ground pool and whacked his head on cement. I am thankful for God's grace and His mercies that are new every morning. I am thankful for a new litter of pigs. I am thankful for God's provision. Thankful for His healing. He is so good.

Blessings,

Checking In

2010-08-23T12:00:00.000-05:00

I have been neglectful about blogging lately. Sorry. I just got back from retreat and I wish I could say I had pictures. I don't. I took the camera. I didn't take the battery charger. You guessed it--the battery was low. Some others took pictures and if and when they get to share I will post. We did have a good time. There were ten of us -- more than we've ever had. We stayed at LeRetreat House in Gainesville, Tx. It is a nice old house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. It is always so much fun to see what everyone brings to work on. I took the black and red exploding pineapple project to make more blocks and sew together. Mission accomplished! I will post a picture just as soon as I charge the battery. LOL

We've also had more house guests. Not quite as little as last time. DGD Aimee and DGS Mac came and stayed several days and we had a good time. We sewed. Even Mac! And he is good. I sewed Aimee a tiered skirt from one of the batiks I sell. No picture. I know bad blogger! Maybe I can get her mom to take one with her wearing it. That would be nice. I found this neat tutorial for a cute little girl's ruffled skirt. I can't wait to make her a few of course I will have to refigure for a larger size but it will be easy. Also found this and want to make one. And not to leave Mac out I asked him about making a shirt for him and he picked out a fabric. I guess I better get busy!

I am only going to acknowledge that the temperatures here have been well, AWFUL. Well over 100 degrees for several weeks. The grass is burning. We turned the cow and calf in on the blackeyed peas. The tomatoes and peppers have dryed up. I gave up on them. BUT we are forecast for cooler weather soon. Ten degrees will be so much of a difference. Can't wait.

Ya'll stay as cool as you can,

Peaches

2010-08-03T00:03:00.000-05:00

I am in love! With lovely golden luscious peaches. I kid you not I could eat my weight in these fruits. I have canned, frozen slices, frozen juice for jelly, frozen pulp for jam and tomorrow we pick more, yeah. And on the agenda is to make Pickled Peaches and Cinnamon Peach Jelly and Jam and more cobblers. Tonight I made Peach Salsa to go with our ham and black-eyed peas. And we kinda liked it. I'm going to tweak it a little. I cut up a few peaches, a little red and green bell pepper, a jalapeno, a bit of onion and squeezed a lime over it all. Some recipes add cilantro and garlic. I have since learned tonight online that I can can Peach Salsa.Gotta love the internet. On our ham I like to mix brown sugar and plum jelly or jam and spread over. We generally have our ham cut into steaks. And one steak will give us two meals.

So to recap and to explain my shriveled hands.I'm loving it! I picked 3/4 bushel of black-eyed peas Saturday morning; shelled them and canned them later that evening. We had picked peaches Friday morning and they weren't quite ripe so laid them out to ripen more. Sunday I started blanching and peeling. Cutting and freezing. This batch I froze. The previous picking I canned. These days I don't feel normal unless I'm standing at the sink cutting or peeling something. LOL We are also enjoying cantaloupe from another neighbor. Another friend gave me Jalapeno Jelly.

And here is the latest addition to our pig collection. My fellow Kraz-z Quilter, Jan, gave me these last Wednesday. Aren't they 'dorable? They are carved from wood. We are expecting a new litter this coming weekend. Bless the poor humans and beasties in this heat. Triple digits are forecast through next Monday. It is definitely August in Texas. Today I did laundry and hung on the line to help save on the electricity bill. In this kind of heat I "wet" the hogs down about mid afternoon.

DH has gotten some work the last couple of weeks. Sounds like it might be sporadic for a bit. We are thankful for God's provision.

Blessings,

Checking In

2010-07-28T01:10:00.002-05:00

Does the summer seem to be flying by to you? Well, as far as I'm concerned the near 100 degree temps and high humidity can fly by and totally away. And we did get welcome relief last evening and today. Rain showers overnight and clouds today brought some welcome lower temps.

What have I been doing? We had little house guests again. Yes, DGS Mason and DGD Paisley. They stayed most of last week. Let's just put it this way. I sure did enjoy relaxing when they went home. LOL Oh, I gotta tell you this. Mason and I were talking one morning EARLY ('cause that's when he wakes up is EARLY and his sister likes to wake up during the wee hours when her pacifier is not in her mouth). He said that someone must have tickled the sun and woke it up. I asked him if the sun had tickled him (me-what sun? it's still asleep.) and woke him up. He told me the sun didn't have any arms.

In the picture above it sure looks like Paisley is observing the quilt and the stitches. A future quilter perhaps. Sure hope so.

Not much quilting going on. I've been rearranging the sewing/quilt notions/fabric room. And I am liking it. I bought a couple of shelf units and started organizing, sorting and tossing. I have a couple more areas and then I'll be done. Have you ever reorganized and then slept (dangerous) and then couldn't find something? Yeah. Not fun. I still haven't found it. Oh dear. It will turn up. I hope sooner than later.

Like I said not much quilting going on. But there has been canning. And there will be more canning. Blackeyed peas. Yes, they recovered from the grazing of the bovine. Two weeks after their haircut I picked a bushel. That produced a couple of meals for us and eight quart jars. And then there soon will be peaches in the water bath canner. We picked about a bushel this morning and there are several more trees. The neighbor with his proposition with the plums is the same one who has the peach trees. It was so funny that morning. He came to the house and said to DH, " I have a proposition for your wife." Of course he was talking plums. The deal was he would supply the plums and sugar if I would make the jelly. He liked the jelly I had sent by way of DH. I've never canned peaches before so I am looking forward to it. And I might make us some preserves, too.

I haven't posted what we decided to name the puppy we kept. Roy-L-T because he looked like he was wearing a crown. Now not so much. His head has gotten more slender. LOL We call him Roy for short and it suits him fine.I would post a picture but someone might turn us in to the Humane Society. He looks like he starving but I know different. He's at that clumsy, awkward, feet too big for his body stage. Lately he has been wanting to chew on everything. Not my favorite part of puppyhood. It was almost hilarious the other day. We leave our outside shoes in the garage. We had just come out of the garage after putting on a pair of outside shoes and I had left the garage door open. Not smart. I kid you not that pup ran in there in a flash and grabbed one of my old tennis shoes and ran behind the nearest tree and commenced to chew. I took off running and so did he. Commanded "Drop it." and he did. We had already done this with my flip flops, Mason's crocs, DH is stilling missing one flip flop. Oh and did I tell you that with hot humid weather also come ticks. Yeah. Not so fun either. The pills from the vet fixed them right up.

Quilt retreat is coming up in August. I can't wait. I might get some sewing done.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Home Again

2010-07-11T16:45:00.001-05:00

We left Thursday for San Angelo/Ballinger. My sister, Patricia, and I (and hubbies, can't leave them out because they were wonderful) hosted a birthday celebration for my mom and step-dad. Mom turns 85 this week and step-dad's birthday was earlier this month. The party went well and I think they enjoyed it. We found a really neat place to rent that we didn't even know existed until the Chamber of Commerce suggested it to me. It was perfect! Guess who forgot their camera at the motel room? I will have to wait for someone in the family to share with me before I can post. Sorry. Thanks to DS#1 for all his help and extra trips to the store at the last minute.

We got home this afternoon and found the bovines (cattle) in the garden. Last time we left town and returned it was the same thing! Except last time they hadn't been in there long and didn't do that much damage. This time--DAMAGE! While we were gone it rained 3 inches. So it should recover from being EATEN. Maybe it's God's way of saying "You need a break from the garden." More litters of pigs due soon so stay tuned.

And can you say "HUMIDITY"! We have been having rain, wonderful rain off and on for a week or so with the tropical storms coming in from the gulf . And now the sun is out and the heat is rising. Steamy!

Sissy aka "Little Doggie" traveled with us and has made a lot of trips with us now. She has become a perfect traveler. And everywhere we go everyone loves her. They were going to charge us a pet deposit at the motel but said that we were very responsible with her and could see that it wasn't a problem. No accidents. And she hasn't had any in a long, long time. Happy dance.

Hope you are enjoying your summer. Before we know it--it will be gone.

Blessings,

Pickles & Relish

2010-07-03T20:43:00.000-05:00

I made Dill Pickles, Squash Pickles, and Hellish Sweet Relish so far. I know I'll be making more Squash Pickles as I LOVE them. I could eat them as a side dish in the winter and I'm always sad when they're gone.

Happy July 4th to everyone. Prayers for safety and a good time.

Blessings,

Making Jelly

2010-07-03T11:09:00.001-05:00

I've been making plum jelly and jam.

The plums were on the small side with deep red skins that produced a very deep red jelly.

Next I'll be making pickles. What are your favorite pickle recipes?

Blessings,

Exploding Pineapples

2010-06-28T17:24:00.003-05:00

Sorry I have taken so long to post. It has been busy around here. As promised--exploding pineapples! Karin Hellaby has simplified pineapple blocks and it is so fast and easy. She has easy to follow instructions and there is no waste! Ingenius! Check with your local quilt shop because many are offering quilt classes using this technique.

If you've been following my blog for any length of time you know that I am ~~in love~~ addicted with/to stacked four patches. I wanted to try a different fabric. I usually use florals. I have this paisley in stock. Stacked it and Voila! What do you think? I was looking for something more masculine. Did I accomplish it?

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Then I used the smaller stacked four patches in the center of these two color exploding pineapple blocks. Sorry for the wrinkles. I carried these to Post Oat last Thursday to show them. They loved them! It's so easy and very fast.

This is the focus fabric used for the stack.

This the aftermath. We had to have a new septic system put in. A lot of our backyard has been dug up to put in the new line to the tank. Most of the rock patio had to be dug up as well. It was needing to be redone--the cement had crumbled between the rocks but that was a project for the future. Well the future is now. But we also may choose to move it to a shaded area where the summer breezes blow.

This is my DD Amanda holding her niece and our DGD Paisley. Aren't they beautiful? We had a wonderful family gathering at our house Sunday. We hadn't gathered as a whole since before DDIL went in the hospital in November. Schedules didn't work, etc. The house was wonderfully noisy and full and we enjoyed some good food together--blackeyed peas from our garden, squash fresh from the garden, ditto on the cucumbers, tomatoes, fried okra and with a chicken casserole followed by homemade ice cream for dessert furnished by DD. And then they all scattered to their own homes. This photo courtesy of DS#1's I-phone. Thanks, son. I was too busy to take pictures.

I then went out Sunday evening and picked more blackeyed peas and shelled them. I slept well. Amen.

Blessings,