It's a flimsy

I went ahead and did it anyway. I'm still not sure I like the green polka-dot. It is bright for sure!

Blessings and happy quilting,

Feeling Better

I am feeling better. I was very lazy last week and now I have to get busy. We had guild meeting Saturday. Jeanne and I were hostesses for refreshments. She brought the fixings for yogurt parfaits and I made banana muffins, iced tea, and orange juice. It was nice to see everyone and see their show and tell. I took the pink 4 Patch Stacked Posies to show. They want me to have a class and show them how to do it. Yup, it's contagious. Can't even get near one I'm telling you; so look out!

Here's a picture of the 4PSP I'm making with the fabric I posted sometime back. I showed my Wednesday group the method of 4PSP using that fabric. This weekend I sewed the blocks and then I tried a different setting. I need some comments. What do you think? My husband tells me he's not sure. He thinks I need a lighter color to border the blocks before I put them with the polka dots. I like this setting but I'm thinking that the kaliedoscope effect is getting lost. Maybe the green with pink polka dots needs to go and be replace with a lighter color. Please, please give me some insight!

I plan on putting nine of these blocks together and bordering with focus fabric for a baby quilt. I have 51 more blocks and will probably make another baby quilt and throw.

I hoed in the garden this morning for a few hours. We got a tiller but the grass grew too quick and the tiller is having a hard time with the grass. So I will do it the old-fashioned way. Hoeing and pulling. I am making progress. Only half of it has a lot of grass in it anyway. Good exercise for me! I am going to sew some more of the blocks after a shower -- ewwww! and I'll see you later.

Blessings,

A Pasta Salad Recipe

I found this recipe in The Best of Concho Cookery produced by The San Angelo Standard-Times which is a cookbook I got while we lived in San Angelo, Texas. This cookbook represents a twenty-five year gathering of winners in the Concho Cookery Contest sponsored annually by the San Angelo Standard-Times copyrighted 1982.

I have changed up the original to our liking so I will list the original and then my changes. Okay.

One Dish Salad

3 cups cooked rice, cooled (I use pasta--elbow, or twists)
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives (I have used the diced version)
1 pkg. frozen sweet peas, cooked accordeing to pkg. directions (I'm not a fan of these so I omitted
the peas)
1/4 cup chopped pimento
3/4 cup coarsely grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped red onion (any variety will do--the red is pretty)
1 8 oz. pkg. sliced ham, cut into strips ( had our ham from our hogs and diced it and I have used diced chicken and it is equally good)
1 cup cheddar cheese cubes
1/2 pkg. dry Italian salad dressing mix (save the rest for the next salad--no worry--you will probably make it again real soon)
1 cup mayonaise ( I use Miracle Whip) or you can use a lighter version
Tomato wedges (I'm not a fan of tomatoes in pasta salad--soggy)
Lettuce leaves (if you want to be fancy)
I also added chopped celery, red bell peppers(kinda a duplicate with the pimentoes I guess), yellow bell peppers or green bell peppers.

Toss the first eight ingredients in a large salad bowl. Stir the Italian salad dressing mix into the mayonnaise. Add to salad and mix well. Chill. Serve on lettuce leaves and garnish with tomato wedges. Makes a big bowl and is perfect in my opinion for a hot summer evening meal.

If you make this and like it please leave me a comment. If you make changes, let me know I might like YOUR changes.

Blessings and happy quilting,

It was a "Mason" weekend!

We had DGS Mason this weekend so his mommy and daddy could do the activities they each had to do. He is on the move now. So there was picking up somethings out of his reach. And we played ball. They have been playing with him at home. We were so amazed at him. I have lots of cabinets doors he wanted to check out. I use big rubber bands on those that have knobs that meet each other. It always worked for DGD Aimee. He's a boy! He figured it out. His dad is an engineer and his grandfather is a diesel mechanic; do you think I have my work cut out for me?!

Yep, he just pulled the doors open wide enough for him to get his hand in and commenced to extract. Like I said DGD is no dummie for sure and this tactic worked real good for her but he is another story. This will be a plus when he is older and I "need" him to help figure out a problem. We had "surprise" visitors this weekend. On Saturday morning we found two young raccoons in our hedge by the patio. And later DH looked up in the tree beside these hedges and saw another one. They're gone now. I don't know WHERE they have gone. DH sure didn't want them in his barn where he stores his feed. Max found a mole and killed it. It was on the patio Saturday morning, too. Good boy! I just wish he would scare that amardillo away that is digging holes all in the yard at night.

I demonstrated the 4 Patch Stacked Posies pattern at my Wednesday group last week. It was fun showing them my addiction. You think it's contagious. I sure hope so. Hee, hee. I wasn't feeling the best in the world. I went to the doctor this morning--urinary tract infection. I used to get them all the time in my twenties. I could've lived without this one. I am drinking water, cranberry juice, taking my meds, and posting. I will live. I will live. I will live. Keep saying it long enough and I will convince myself.

Thanks goes out to Patsy again. She is responsible for the signature. If it wasn't for you, Patsy, I wouldn't know how to do anything. Now can you could tell me how to do the linky thing so that when people click on your name it would take them to your blog? Sure would appreciate it. Hugs.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Finished!

Here it is --ta dah! All quilted and bound! And you know what I've already cut out another 4 Patch Stacked Posies before I have completed the Rose 4PSP and the Flower Box. Bad quilter! Shame on me, I know. I told you I was addicted. These are the two fabrics I am using and in the next picture are two blocks laid out for sewing. There's lots of purple in this quilt; although, you may not can tell it by the phot0. Anyway, I have cut two different size blocks. The individual squares above are cut 3" and the larger ones I have cut are 5 3/4". I will sash them with Kona Bone and a pretty purple fabric I found. I am thinking of giving this to a lady in my Wednesday group for a house warming present. She loves purple. In fact, her new bedroom is painted purple. Would my husband die or what?!

Never fails--if we have the water going in the garden it rains. A nice shower of rain just came and I had just turned off the well right before it started raining. Last time we had the sprinkler going we got an inch of rain and it was lightning and raining so hard I didn't turn off the well until it was over. I'm not complaining; mind you, we need this rain very badly. I can't wait for fresh squah, etc. etc. My daughter got her squash in several weeks before we did and she is enjoying fresh squash now. A friend of ours is harvesting fresh blackberries. She doesn't have as many this year because we didn't have as much rain. My oh my aren't some people getting massive amounts of rain and flooding? Seems like if they aren't getting tornadoes they're getting floods. And if they're not getting that then they're getting the heat.

Okay, I need an idea for the label to put on the Pink 4 Patch Stacked Posies. Got any ideas just leave a comment or email me. Thanks. I need all the help I can get.

Thanks goes out to Patsy. She told me how to get the Quilting Bloggers badge on my blog. I told you I need help! LOL Speaking of the Quilting Bloggers, that is an amazing site. I absolutely love reading other bloggers pages about as much as I love the 4 Patch Stacked Posies. If you haven't listed your blog be sure and go by and do it.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Helllloooo Summer!

Oh, joy! Temps in the mid 90's and high humidity and feels like +100. We had Paradise Piecemakers Saturday and when Clara Ruth came in she said, "Everybody repeat after me! One, two, three, I HATE SUMMER. I have put deodorant on twice and it hasn't done any good." We do have wind at our house, Thank God! The only saving in this humidity. But my personal summers don't help either. LOL But they aren't as bad as what they were a year ago.We live on a little higher elevation than ground around us and it seems the wind most always blows except in late July and August (the dog days). My prayers go out to those who have lost their homes and loved ones in the tornadoes and storms.
We had a nice time at Paradise Saturday. There were quite a few there in spite of the holiday weekend. I worked on the "Time Travel" quilt. Everybody thinks I'm crazy for working with such little pieces. Maybe I am! It is time-consuming. The quilt "grows much slower".I pieced two saw-toothed borders and got one sewn on the length of one side. These half-squares are left over from the flying geese in the "Soaring Past Time" blocks and are 1 1/2" and finish at 1". I hadn't done a saw-tooth border before. I had to dig out some books and find how they meet at the corners. Hmmm. Seems as though if I want mine to meet like what I have in mind I have sewn the width wise border in the wrong direction. Story of my life! Hello seam ripper. Maybe I have enough half-squares leftover to piece another without ripping out what I have already done. Hope so. Anyway here's a picture.


I went to Wal-Mart last week to pick up DH's prescription and some things and found this
fabric (gotta look-right?) and I want to make another 4 Patch Stacked Posies quilt and I saw this setting at http://edutach.blogspot.com/2008/04/flower-box-quilt.html#links and want to do one like it. What can I say I am addicted to these; is there any help for those of us who are addicted? Is there something like AA or NA? Maybe SnWA? or 4PSPA? I also bought fabric for the sashing and borders for Rose 4 Patch Stacked Posies at our Duckwalls or Alco for some of you so I will be getting that together shortly.

Oldest DS came Sunday and we grilled steaks and we watched a movie I had gotten from Netflix.
Then, on Monday I helped DH move some of his pig pens around. He moved the baby pigs out of the barn. We moved panels around so the calves could get to some grass near the garden. My garden is doing good! I did have to replace some of the tomatoes. I gotta hoe it out this week. We got 2/10 of an inch of rain Sunday morning early. Amazing what a little rain can do for things. Thank you, God, for the rain.

And here is a pic of DGS and DGD after one of their games.



We are almost done hand quilting my pink 4 Patch Stacked Posies at Kraz-z Quilters. Tomorrow will finish it up and then I can bind it and post a picture. I gotta cook something for tomorrow -- got any ideas?
I have a lot to do around here in the next few weeks and months--the garden, machine quilting, my "catering" business, Kid's Camp with the quilt guild in June, keeping youngest DGS a week in July, blah, blah, blah so you may not hear from me much in the upcoming months. Just know that I miss blogland and you.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Fun weekend

Whew! What a weekend! First, I had been invited to bring my "store" to Wise County Quilt Guild of which I am a member on Sat. morning. I spent Thurs. and Fri. cutting fat quarters, organizing, etc. Then loaded the car Fri. evening. Wonderful time at guild meeting with the ladies-- great show and tells and of course they lightened my load. LOL I forgot to take my camera. The car was pretty full. I think I am outgrowing my car. Not sure what we will do next. Hmmmm.
Then I hurriedly came home and unloaded with DH's help and we hopped in the car to travel to San Angelo--4 1/2 hour drive.

Our parents live in the San Angelo/Ballinger area. We met DH's parents and brothers and wives at Lowake to eat steak. Yum. It's a little steakhouse that sits out in the middle of cotton fields way off the beaten path. But people flock from miles around. We've been going there for years. Spent the night with DH's parents. I stayed up late talking to MIL who is also a quilter. I showed her how to use different Clover yo-yo makers and she showed me Fabled Flowers by Kumiko Sudo. I had been searching for how to make the folded yo-yo's and there it was in the book. Yippeee! Then Sun. morning we ate breakfast and talked and talked some more. Then we went to visit my mom and step-dad in Ballinger. I had gotten an email from a cousin of mine and she was flying down from New York to visit family. We had arranged to meet at my mother's Sun. morning and eat lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. It was so fun to see her again. It has been many years since I have seen her. Her dad is my dad's youngest brother and my parents took him in when their mother passed away when he was eight years old. My dad was one of twelve. Six boys and six girls. WOW. I was born about the time he came of age and joined the military so I remember him coming to visit and, of course, bringing his family. My uncle has had dementia for a number of years and now has prostrate cancer.

After eating lunch we went to the cemeteries where family members are buried. I hadn't been back to my dad's grave since he had died 24 years ago. And I don't remember the last time I went to the graves of my grandparents who are buried in the Norton cemetery. They died long before I was born. And then we went back to my mother's house and I asked her to get out the old photographs. Don't ya just love looking at old photos? And then after a while it was time to get started home so we could feed the animals before dark. It was a very enjoyable weekend.





My mother, cousin and daughter, and me, standing.

Blessings and happy quilting,

Another busy week ahead!

Cool Mason!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! I know I did. All my kids came and oldest DS cooked. Grilled chicken breast, asparagus, muchrooms, green salad, zucchini and yellow squash, with a bundt cake and strawberries and bananas and homemade rolls. It was a feast! All the kids had not been here together since Christmas. It was nice.

DH and I worked hard the day before in the yard. He mowed (new riding lawn mower Woo-hoo) and trimmed trees. I cut stuff out of the fence (the country trying to reclaim) and clipped the hedges in the backyard. The front ones are for another day. I thought my arms would be jelly the next day (manual clippers) but they weren't--they didn't hurt or anything.

Today I finished planting our vegetable garden. I know it is probably a little late. But we have had some wacky weather. It was in the 40's yesterday morning and SOOOO windy. I don't remember a spring with this much wind. Last year and maybe the year before we had to replant several times because it was too cool for things to germinate. Anyway, I planted two rows of okra, one row of green beans, two of blackeyed peas, one of zucchini, one of marigolds mixed with zinnias, one of yellow squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Let me tell you about the tomato plants that I started from seed back in March. I started fifty peat pots. Oh, yes, I did! :-P The seed was from 2004 so I didn't know how or even if it would sprout. DGD helped me when she spent spring break with us. Maybe it was her little green thumb or something but I had bazillions of tomatoes come up. And kept coming up. I kept thinning them.
Well, I set them outside a couple weeks ago to "harden" them off. I tried to set them out of the wind. Hard to do around here. I kept moving them. To make a long story less long-- LOL -- the wind did a number on them. And they should have been planted oh, probably a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, I lost probably half of them. Did I tell you about pulling the labels out before they germinated? Oh, yes I did! :-) I gave up on them (Oh, me of little faith). About the time I pulled the last label out I happened to see a hint of something green. So now I know I started with Beefsteak, Homestead, Cherry, Better Boy, and some dwarf yellow-orange kind. But I have no idea what I have now. Surprise, Surprise! Remember Gomer Pyle? I still need to pick up some pepper plants if I can still find some. Jalapenos and maybe another kind. Gotta have the jalas for hot salsa. Oh, yeah!

Blessings and happy quilting,

Kraz-z Quilters

We had sooo much fun surprising our dear Agnes yesterday. She didn't have a clue until her family walked in the door that we were up to something. Then it was party time! We are so blessed to have her still with us; she will be 96 on her birthday later this year. And she is still quilting with us. Her stitches aren't as wonderful as they were once were but hey she has an eye infection (bless her heart--she looked like she had a black eye) and can really see good out of one eye.
AND my quilt on the frame! I used masking tape to mark the quilting lines on the outer border. I first saw this done at Post Oak at Busy Bee Quilters. They use different widths of masking tape to mark straight lines for quilting. Yesterday we got all but a few of the lines quilted and the masking tape removed. It is quick and easy and it gets the job done. With the floral print I knew it would've been hard to make a design where we could see it well enough to hand quilt it.




And before mine there was Jan's quilt a Drunkard's Path Butterfly. The colors are spectacular!

For all the mothers out in blogland--Happy Mother's Day.

Blessings,
Marilyn