A first for me

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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,