Babies, Moms and Donkeys

Have you ever made a quilt you just plain did not like? I mean from the get-go, from fabric purchase? I did one this week:

This is for my DGS who will be born in August, the same little guy whose parents went along on the Utah trip. Mom loves soft, quiet, no-contrast colors so I went specifically looking for those types for a quilt for her first baby.
I hate it. To me, the colors are blaaah and the lack of contrast booooring. (the picture seems to be a bit more saturated than the actual fabrics) It looks like the type of "comforter" you'd buy at Sears for $19.99. I have to keep telling myself it's not for me, I may never even see it again. When you make a gift, whose tastes should be involved, anyway? Do you bestow a gift quilt in your favorite colors or the recipients? Do you even ask? **sigh** You can see a tiny bit of the border at the top: it's a nondescript plain solid beige. Goes perfectly with the other colors. I want to get it wrapped up quick.
In more interesting ideas, I've followed Ami Simms Alzheimer's project from it's inception, and was finally inspired to try my hand at a little quilt that represents my take on Altzeimers.

Against a sunny, light and happy past, are the shadows of loved ones we've lost to this horrid disease. My grandmother left us 10 years before she passed away, and her final years made me constantly think of Shadow People. This is still an idea in the making, I don't know where or how it will end up. Maybe I just need to make it for me.

I introduced you all to my darlin' donkey Paco several months back. We adopted him as a wild child from the BLM 5 years ago. He was born wild and was wild when we brought him home. He's super smart, so it didn't take me long to convince him that we're family; now he'd sit in my lap if I'd let him! He will let me walk up to him when he's lying down, and I can sit down and relax on him - he won't move a muscle, but I think he purrs.
He's been broke to halter since the beginning, but I never got around to training him to ride. DH's oldest granddaughter Devyn decided she wanted to ride him so she spent a couple days walking him around with a saddle on, and the other evening she hopped on!

I was sitting in the patio sewing on binding when she yelled for me to look - amazing! He never turned an ear, in fact in this picture he's got his eyes nearly closed! Now, this is not to say he moved around a lot - he took maybe a dozen steps when I went out there and called him to me, but he wasn't too concerned about someone on his back. We had a fun evening playing, and he loved every minute.

Another Utah pic, or maybe I should say Mom pic. We went to Bryce canyon and she spent a long while gazing out over the miles. I could only suppose what might be going thru her mind. When she finally turned around, all she said was "Puts you in your place in this world, doesn't it?" This might be one of my favorite pictures of her even though we can't see her face.
And yes, it certainly puts you in your place.

Remember

As we think about the thousands of men and women who gave their lives in service, don't forget the families of those soliders. They have also given their lives, maybe in a less visible way but gone none the less.
That warm snuggly puddle of baby grew up and died alone halfway across the world from home, and the Army couldn't find enough pieces to send to his mother. The little Princess who delighted her daddy with her dancing came home in a box, and her daddy was given a flag and told Thank You for your sacrifice. They deserve our prayers and thoughts as much as the sons and daughters they lost. Today we Remember all of them.

Sew Good Strings!

Ahhhh - - the sweet taste of Virtue!! I had a sew day here yesterday for my mini group, the Sew Goods. As it turned out, only three of us were here, and what a time we three had! Leslie and Lynn sewed their little hearts out, we all gabbed like hens all day, ate soo good food, and I cut and cut and cut.....

A laundry basket of scraps that have been building up for ages, was annihilated. I dumped the totes on my kitchen table and told Leslie and Lynn to take what they wanted 'cos I'm tired of them. I spent all day cutting up the rest!

A nice bucket of strings...... And

Nice neat stacks of squares; 3", 2 &1/2 and 5's; and some 2 &1/2 strips too. I really wanted to do the entire basket, plus 2 totes I've had for years, but my back finally gave out after about 6 hours. I have a little pile of scraps still to cut, and I'll do those today BECAUSE -- I've been hooked. Addicted, turned on, lit up & smoked; by string blocks. Just for yucks last night about 10 pm, I decided to make a couple to satisfy my curiosity. I had a piece of yuck fabric still in that basket, and I used that for backing, because I object to picking paper if I don't have to. Oh my. Well. Good gracious. I have seen the light!!

So I guess I'll have made a whole top by tonight. LOL!! I have baby quilts coming out my ears, all with a deadline, so what am I doin' playing with strings???? Good grief, this is fun. True "No Thinkum" sewing at it's best. And boy the potential! My mind was racing most of the night with ideas and colorways...... DH stood and stared at them for a long time and said - "You can call this one Helter Skelter" Hmmm...... What a fun day. Today I am all alone all day, (Yippeee!!!) because instead of the annual Bluegrass party we go to at some friends ranch, I was going to drive down to see my kids instead. DH has gone to the party without me, and now I get a call that my kids are all gone off in different directions too. SO - here I sit!! Gosh, a day alone has so much potential. I might draw the drapes and pretend I'm not here when the grands from next door come calling - is that a bad Grandma? Oh well -- Bad Gramdma, Good Quilter; it's a choice we make sometimes...LOL!!! Play on!

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I really really hate those letter jumbles so I'm going to try life without them. Hopefully the creepy spammers will leave us poor innocent quilter ladies alone........

HOME, James!

Every time I go, I'm struck all over how breathtaking the whole state of Utah is. Flying into Salt Lake City and driving 200+ miles gives a very good perspective of it, too! My Mom had a huge itenerary set up of places to go and people to see, and of course that never works out like you think it should. We had a very pregnant lady, my DDIL, and a 3 year-old, and long days in a car is a prescription for misery. So we didn't see it all, but we had a marvelous visit!

My Mom looking out over Bryce Canyon. She is doing SO well! The cancer marker in her blood that started at 3300 in December, (when she was 2 weeks away from death at best) has continued to drop like a stone and is now 249. (soap-box rant here -- HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY DID THIS!!) Learning to live with insulin-dependent diabetes is her biggest problem, and she's doing quite well with that also.

This is a small abandoned store in Marysvale that I just love. Doesn't it look like a future quilt store? My step-sister and I used to get grape Nehis and sit on the bench out front, waving to traffic like crazy people. Most of that town is abandoned buildings, my next favorite thing after quilting. I cannot resist - I have to go poke around them!

This is my DS#1 - he is a geologist, and Utah is Geo-Heaven. He swore he wouldn't bring any samples home but of course he did. we did a little gold panning and he found a few flakes, but he has samples of several interesting rocks. He is 6'5" tall and 260# - a big boy, to show how big this hole in the rock is. This little rock cave-ette is about 6 feet off the ground and was facinating to me but little interest to the Geo-Guy. It was fun to have him explain the science of all that incredible scenery.

The petroglyphs at Fremont Indian Museum were incredible - I have to go see them every time I'm there. Like I'm afraid they might not be there next time I go, LOL!

Oh, quilt stores? WOW - Utah is a target-rich environment!! I searched Utah quilt stores and come up with around 100! Alas, I got to see ONE. First, in the remote corner we were in, there isn't anything let alone quilt stores, and second - when we were in civilization my travelling companions wouldn't let me find one. Harrummph! Still, a wonderful trip. My DGD was an absolute angel, so patient and well behaved and engaging - the perfect kid. Not to say she didn't have her moments, because 3 is after all, 3. Still in all, to be away from her mother for a week and in the home of (to her) strangers - she was amazing. And I am exahusted - In case anyone wonders? God knew what He was thinkin' to only give babies to young women!

And the Winner Is.....

Mary!! A big Thank You to everyone who stops by and visits, and leaves a comment. It's been a great year!!

Tomorrow I'm off to Utah for a couple of weeks - this is just too exciting. My son and DDIL are going also, and we figured out that he and I haven't travelled together in 21 years!! That was a shocker, since we were always going someplace when he was young. Seems too strange. And this trip, he's in charge, he's making all the decisions - I'm the Gramma in the back seat, so that's more strange. I'm going to enjoy that actually - he gets to pump all the gas!

Under the heading of Mixed Emotions comes the third anniversary of Tim's death, on Friday. I hate that I have to be gone then, it's the way everyone's timing worked out. DH can not handle this reality at all - he will probably never be able to deal with it. Even on his best days if someone mentions Tim, he crumples. He still can't bring up the good times, the good memories, only the bad. I wish he could. Losing a child is just so shocking, so against every Law of Nature, that accepting it is difficult at best and impossible sometimes. Losing one horribly makes it all the worse. There are no family pictures up in our house despite the 5 living kids and 8 grandkids; all the pictures are in boxes. DH can't handle seeing Tim's picture, and I will not put up the rest of the family and leave him out. Someday.

It's 220 miles from Salt Lake City airport to Moms house -- how many quilt stores are there in that stretch? I'll let you know! Bye bye!

Buffalo Gals

Dh and I have friends who have a large ranch outside of town, where they raise buffalo. BISON they'll say in retort. Whatever - they are magnificent creatures, and huge! I am 5'10", and the top of my head is about even with the top of this guys hump - very intimidating.

There's nothing gentle or friendly about them either - "domesticated" is a very very loose term! I spent 15 years around a dairy farm with large cows, and I've had horses for most of my life so large animals usually don't throw me. I think these guys could throw me tho - for sure!! We all went to dinner the other night, and before leaving we spent some time walking around the ranch, it's so beautiful. We heard gobbling and away across a pasture were these two characters:

The wild turkeys are all over the place now, and it's that time of year: they need to do their best to impress the ladies. These two were hysterical, they were so puffed up, and doing their Macho Dance, bumping chests and head butting. There was a lone female just out of this frame seemingly oblivious. we watched them for a long time, they never got tired and she never gave them the time of day!

These are her irises, about done for now but still quite a sight to behold. There's probably 150 feet or so of iris beds, several feet wide. <> - it was so nice --
The "travelling" activity is getting into high gear, no quilty stuff the past couple of days, and probably none till I get back. I feel like the White Rabbit, scurrying about checking my watch. OH NO!! My watch needs a new band! I better go write that down or I'll forget..............

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope everyone has the best Mothers Day possible, whether you are a Mom or not, whether you have your Mom or not, it's a special day for very special people - Hug a Mom!

I made myself a special MD treat:

SO unlike me -- I've been so good and managed to drop about 20# in 2 months, so this is all I made. I know me. And I'm going to be sparing with them, and enjoy them sloooowly.....

Got Mom's purse finished today,

it's a Cowboy purse, for sure. She has a remuda of horses, and loves them above anything. Of course she gets a Cowboy purse. Monogrammed, even, and lots of pockets, and horsehoes inside. What I didn't get pics of is the cell phone pocket on the side, and the Saskagewea (sp?) gold dollar that I glued over the magna-snap. Kinda cool.

Getting ready for a long trip is always a bit anxious for me -- I know I'm going to forget something. I have 5 active lists -- Work, Home, Madeline, Pack, DoBefore. Not too anal, no not me!

Out to dinner tonight to an old hotel that's been renovated, in a teeny charming town called Upper Lake. (ever hear of this one Rosy?) I'm really looking forward to this! But first, a nap - oh goody!

Happy Days!

Happy Bloggiversary to Me!!

Whoo-Hooo! I just noticed that not only is my blog one year old this week, but that last post was my #100!

Isn't it amazing, wonderful, magical how we have this space age tool available to us to get to know people we would never dream of knowing. We can 'meet' someone in our own town or across the world, and find out that we're not all that different after all.

Way too much fun -- and in the new tradition of quilt bloggers, I will draw names from everyone who comments, and send a nice little gifty to you. (Probably after I get back!) I'll draw names from a hat on the 16th, one week from today. Happy Anniversary!

As Promised!

I love LIFE - as soon as you can blink, everything changes. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but at least we can count on it! LOL - So, as promised, here is Baby Grandson Quilt #2.

Obviously LIFE was kinder to me today.
I never seem to be able to get the colors to photograph true, and I don't know if it's the camera or the computer. They're nicer than this looks, anyway.
I left work at a resonable hour and came directly home and sat and sewed, and it all just flowed along. Whoo-hoo! My plan for this evening is to cut another one. If all the pieces are cut and I have a plan, it's so much easier to pick up a few here and there, right? Once those are cut, I need to turn out a purse to take to my Mom - per my Dad's request. (Technically he's a Step, but I've known him since diaper days, so I can claim Dad) He showed me the ancient, battered bag my Mom has been using since the Carter administration and it didn't take much convincing. He put in his requirements so I have my marching orders. Oh goody!! Too much Fun, not enough Time. Anyone heard that one before?

This finished out at 48" square - good enough, huh? 2 down, 2 to go for this kid, then I get to work on new Baby Grandson #2 - due in August. He'll be going to Utah with us next week -- hee hee! Maybe he'll clue me in about colors, etc?

Whatever!

Ya know those times when you feel like this:

But you'd really like to feel like this:

Yep - today was my day. Started off all bright eyed and bushy tailed: up at 5, and sewed for 35 minutes, a first for me. I don't sew in the mornings because I'm getting ready and psyched up to go to the lions den. But, Sunday evening I started a baby quilt for my soon to be grandson and it was rolling right along so I picked it up this morning. So far so good. I really don't know where it took that terrible turn, but by noon anyway, everything I touched turned to fertilizer. By the time I got home, I was ready to get lost in this little quilt. Doncha know I sewed 2 of the blocks in sideways??? And in this setting, it mattered. Went outside to water plants, and the hose knocked over some plants in pots. Go to feed horses and as I flung the hay, it disentigrated all over me; a walking tower of donkey chow. Fed the chickens and one walked under the stream of feed and the whole thing missed the pan and went all over the ground. Collected eggs and 2 of them broke. In my pocket. Started a load of laundry - how can you mess that up? Well, if after you get it going you stand and stare thru the window at the clothes going round and round and suddenly see a cell phone; THAT'S how you can mess it up. Open a bottle of wine, you deserve it. Only half of the cork comes out, the other half is bobbing around in the white zin. How the heck do you do that??? Talent. Oddly enough, I still want to be happy! I want to get this baby quilt all together before I hit the rack tonight. I want to jiggle to the music blasting in my sewing room. So all I can do is laugh - thank goodness every day isn't like this! Tomorrow my silken smooth life will come back. Sure it will!

I'll show you the baby quilt tomorrow -- promise!!

Patty over at Morning Ramble, is a brand new Grandma, to beautiful Mei- Ling. Instead of having their little miracle at home to love and enjoy, she is in the NICU with some extremely challenging problems.

The power of prayer is a wonder we cannot explain, and I'm asking that you include Mei-Ling and her family in yours. If prayer is not a regular part of your day, please send as much positive energy as you can to a tiny baby in Texas and her scared (first-time) parents, Melanie and Casi. If enough of us believe that she'll be home soon and well, it will happen.

No quilty news from me today - except that the RWB quilt is selling tickets at an alarming rate! It's already sold over $100 worth in 2 days, and we'll be selling them for 2 months! As to what to call this venture; well, we try not to call it anything. "Raffle" quilt is an old term that fits, even tho the semantics aren't exactly what the Gaming Commission wants us to use. DH is an Investigator for our state GC, and he suggested we try to avoid calling it anything, but "drawing" or "fund-raising" won't attract any undue attention. Isn't this DUMB DUMB DUMB - we can do it, we just can't SAY we're doing it? Duuuuhhhh..........

DGD and I, accompanied by DS1 and DDIL, are leaving in 12 days for Utah to visit my Mom. DS hasn't been there in 21 years! DDIL has never been, and Mom hasn't met her Great granddaughter. Mom is extremely unnerved at the thought of anyone calling me "Gramma" - she actually asked me on the phone if that is what I am called! Ummm, that's affirmative Mom. Well, she had hoped if she ignored it, maybe I'm not quite as old as it seems and ergo, neither is she. Given her recent terminal diagnosis that was too sad to hear. I cried for an hour over that. Madeline who is 3 & 1/2, is excited about her first plane trip, and if the plane goes too fast she intends to "tell that guy to SLOW DOWN!" that guy is of course the pilot - ROFL - can you just see this indignant 3 year-old banging on the cockpit door yelling to slow down?? She won't have Mama or Daddy, just old Gramma so I hope the flight is not too traumatic.

This trip promises to be by turns wonderful and heartbreaking. How in the world do we ever learn to live with endings and loss? Will this be the last time we have 4 generations together? I can't fathom my granddaughter growing up not knowing that incredible woman, that's too strange for me to get my mind around it. Shoot - I plain can't imagine a world without her in it at all. <>

Raffle Quilts and Murder

Well, I beat my personal best time for finishing a top. This little 30's job was an unfinished top at 2pm Sunday, and I finished doing the hand work on the binding at 7pm. That same night. Whoo-hoo! I had to piece out a backing, then quilt it, make binding and sew it on and finish it by hand.

I got to do the handwork outside on my new lawn enjoying the weather, my yard and just being alive. It was so nice, and relaxing and calming - I'm going to have to do a lot more finishing! I tried a new (to me) thread too - King Tut by Superior. It's way nice; a 40 weight with a real nice finish - I was so pleased with the way it looks. If you click on the picture you should be able to see the white borders pretty well - the quilting shows so nicely.

This is the pattern I copied from Quilting Peach, one that she makes for Quilts of Valor. I espically like the quilting on this one, it's all stars and squiggles. Both of these are bound for raffles, 1 for for Kidney Disease Awareness and the other for a Patient Emergency Fund. Now with those out of the way, I can concentrate on my fans. One of my mini-group buddies gave me a good idea, and I have to try it out......

What's that? Oh, what about the murder, you ask?

Well, it's like this. There is a mockingbird that lives nearby, and keeps very very early hours, (or very very late hours) and there's no sleeping happening around here after about 3:30 am. That bird is SO loud, and SO obnoxious and SO relentless - it NEVER shuts up! - and it has SO many people feeling antagonistic, that it may be a scramble to see who will shoot it first. Aren't birds supposed to sleep when it's dark? And where's a nice bird-eating hawk or snake or something when you need them? When I was sitting outside doing binding and enjoying the peace, the little buggar sat on top of a power pole and yada-yada-yada-yada'd the whole time. I was too lazy to get up and get a gun, besides it was too close to a house. There's a neighbor up the road who swears he's going to take up falcon training just to take care of every mockingbird in the county.

I'd have to help him.

Rainy days and Saturdays

We got word yesterday that DH's brother has passed away in Colorado after many years of illness. He was Hunny's hero growing up - 11 years older and of course those guys are the best. That and a rainy day today has made things real low energy here, so we've just been puttering, napping, watching TV and doing not much. I worked on borders a bit, but kept losing my train of inspiration.
It was a good day to talk on the phone tho, so I did that a lot! The mailman brought me goodies too; wonder how hard it would be to arrange goodies in the mail every day?


These are an e-bay purchase made when I was bored and not sleeping one night. Pretty colored jewels! I can't resist when something is all co-ordinated like that. My other pastime is this puzzle, a Rebecca Barker Quiltscapes scene, a gift from my friend Leslie.

It's been spread out on this coffee table for more than a month, and I fidget with it a bit here and there. It has 1000 pieces, and it is hard! The puzzle shapes are strange, and there are a lot of 'em! It's been real fun tho, because everyone who comes in has to sit and try to place a couple pieces.
My funny story of the day has to do with this rain, and the recent extensive work we've done in our front yard. This yard has always flooded badly whenever it rains, and part of the landscaping process was a lot of grading to take care of that problem. Today is the first decent rain we've had, so I peeked out to see how it's handling the rain. And the upper part of the yard was flooded! What the heck.... grab shoes and umbrella and head out there. HA! As it develops, the house next door which is a bit higher elevation than ours, has runoff water coming down their drive. Part of it just runs into the street and into the roadside ditch, but the underground pipe that carries their downspout water from the whole house stops short of the street, so all of it has been pouring into our yard, causing flooding. I grabbed a shovel and did a quick diversion, then stomped in to talk to my DH. "You have got to go talk to that kid! His runoff water is flooding our yard!" and Hunnys says, "What should I say to him?" Me - "You're his father - take him out behind the barn!" ROFL -- yes, that neighbor is our DS1, who lives there with his wife and 5 children. Hee hee -- I had to laugh. All that tractor work, and I fixed it with a shovel in 5 minutes. It has continued to rain with vigor all day, but the flooding is gone.
Now it's time for a nice fire, some dinner and a glass of wine and off to bed.........

Siggie Swap Blocks!

Oh boy o boy o boy - I've been watching for these, and they're here! DH came in with the package, saying - "Who do you know in Australia?" "Oh, lot's of people! And it's not just Australia, they're from all over the world! I can't wait to see where they've all travelled from. Just think, some have gone from Europe to Oz and now to California - can you believe it? Think about it - the WORLD, honey!"
And I ripped into that bundle - practically not breathing.

And the very first block on top was from Ms Jan, who lives about 60 miles from me.

DH said he wasn't laughing at me, but I can tell. We've known each other a long time, and I know when he's being sarcastic and laughing up his sleeve. REGARDLESS!!! I'm so thrilled with all of them! I would like to continue on, so if anyone would like to swap siggie blocks with me, I'd be more than happy to! Drop me an e-mail, we'll make it happen!
One of the projects on my plate right now is to turn out 2 quilts for work; one for our clinic to raise money for patients emergency fund, and another to be used nationally to raise money for the American Kidney Foundation. My buddy at work was going to help me, and she wants to, but our schedules have clashed every weekend and now the deadline is upon us. The national comittee chair called today politely inquiring about the quilt. Ummm, actually, that quilt exists only in EQ right now, in about 14 different versions and more color combinations than the NBC peacock. (old if you remember that!) I just can't decide; I've got Quilters Block. (no groaning out there!) She didn't say anything, but I could see her pursed lips right thru the phone lines. FINE - get on with it already! Whenever I get stuck on a long phone call, boring conference call or terminal HOLD, I blog surf. Today I stopped by Peachy Kim's and she was showing 3 that she made for Quilts of Valor. Dingdingdingding!! Hey! Quick, appealing, eyecatching even tho it's simple. That's it.

I got home and spent about 15 minutes rummaging thru stash, and got the blocks made up before dinner. It will have the red inner border and the blue for outer border, and by Sunday it'll be quilted and bound and off my chest. Or maybe on it - I have a little rule that I get to have a little nap under every quilt I make, or at least an evenings worth of TV.
And now, I have to go spend some more time playing with siggie blocks -- what fun!

Thoughts from an un-Thinking Blogger

I am sure enjoying reading the Thinking Blogger rings - it's fun to follow links and end up in all new places! You won't see my blog up for that one tho, and here's why: I expend ALL my mental energy in my job. When I first walked thru the doors this morning, the techs were yelling at me that we have a patient not breathing. That pretty well sets up a day for ya! Every day I deal with blood, tears, depression, anger, sadness - you name it and we'll come up with it for you. My professional persona is on red alert for anywhere from 8 to 13 hours a day and it can and does leave me drained. I certainly have the capacity to write thoughtful, meaningful entries but for the most part I just want to entertain and be entertained. I love blog-jumping and reading so many wonderful and yes, thought provoking blogs; as long as it's someone elses' thoughts and doesn't require me to be inspirational. The reason I quilt is to let my DNA unwind a bit from the stresses of my day, and roaming all your quilty blogs is a BIG part of that now! While I am sewing, or cutting, or pressing or playing with fabric, sure those "Important Thoughts" weave in and out of my consciousness, but I always try to beat them back to whence they came. (Ohhhhh!!!! That's why I have so many headaches!) There's way too much seriousness around me so I crave simplicity and silliness and happy creative thoughts. Keep it up - you are all making more of a difference than you know! Thank you!

Ice Cream Sherbert Weekend

When I was a new quilter, I saw a fan pattern in a magazine that I wanted to make. It was made with something called "30's Reproduction Fabrics" and I just had to do it. I ventured into the LQS looking for these cute, bright fabrics, and sure enough she had them. I didn't bring the magazine so I guessed at how much - how about 1 yard of all of each. All 63 of them!! Gee, as it turns out, that was enough for the fan quilt! I finished that fan top and it's really cute but not quilted yet, 6 years later. I made another one that did get quilted and bound, but the attraction had definately worn off long before all that fabric had been used..

Now, cut to many years and thousands of yards later, and I'm on my knees rummaging in the bottomest, backest hidingist hole in the stash looking for solid black, and turned up the rest of the 30's pile. Man, that's still a lot of fabric!! In the box was another long forgotten project, Ohio Stars blocks and some nine patches. (had to be someone else that made them; they're pretty rough!) and I don't know what the heck possessed me, but I dragged it out and started picking thru. People with short attention spans shouldn't do stuff like this. Ever. There was a big stack of already cut 3 1/2 squares. Hmmmm. Lemme think. I have this fan project on the wall that needs some thinking, and it's going to be cool when I finish it. I have a few baby quilts to quilt and the babies are getting closer every day. I have the big diamonds to quilt, and a purse to make for my Mom. I also have a couple of quilts to turn out for those raffles for work. I have a lot on my plate right now and I still am not crazy about 30's fabrics. So I started a new quilt, of course. Hey, don't snicker! You'd do it too! Oh well.... I saw this in a book and started it Thursday night - it's a quickie. I even had all those solids so it's a total stash quilt, which means it's free, right? (sincker snicker)

My granddaughter came for a visit this weekend because apparently she has withdrawal tremors and bad attitude when we haven't gotten together for a few weeks. They came Saturday and left Sunday, and we had a blast, of course. At 3 and a half she's got language down real well, but still has a baby voice so just about everything she says is hilarious. "Madeline, do you want bacon and eggs for breakfast?" "Well aksully Gammaw, I was thinking we can have cweem-pupps for bekfass." And you're not supposed to laugh at that? C'mon! That's a riot! we went to the nursery to get some plants for the front yard, and I pulled her around in the big wagon. Suddenly she hollars out - "Hey Gammaw!" What baby? "I love you more than strawberries!" Wow -- beat that, will ya?

How Green is my Valley

Finally, at last, there's GREEN in my front yard!! Hooray!! For the first time in many many years - almost 3 for us here, and 14 for the folks before us. The sorriest house on the street is a good buy, but getting it up to par is a long hard haul. This weekend I'm going to hook up our dump trailer and go buy plants for the perimeter planter, so cross your fingers I don't explode from excitement! While you're at it, cross your fingers that the rain holds off for a little bit, till Monday?



The fans are simmering on the wall while I figure out the rest of the design, but so far they have handles and strings. They had tiny black lace around the tops, but DH took one look and said, "Hey! Spanish fans!" Nooooo, hunny, those are Oriental fans. But, he's right, the black lace made it too Spanish. The strings are a bit iffy too, but I'm going to call that "Artistic License." So far it looks like they'll each be set in a square on point........ but hey, I'm a little unstable so that could change.

The first episode of the Alex Anderson/Ricky Tims internet show had the guy who owns Superior Threads. He's selling his product of course, but he talked about extra long staple Egyptian cotton verses long staple cotton. I did a bit of research and found out there may be something to that claim. So I ordered 3 spools of the Masterpiece and it came today. Aurifil has been my go-to thread for quite awhile now, so I'm going to do some sort of comparison. One thing I can say right off the bat is the Superior does feel a bit smoother than the Aurifil just feeling it as it comes off the spool. I'll let you know what I find out!

Happy Easter

It's easy to forget about Easter when there's no little ones around. As it worked out, Gramps and I were each others company today, and it didn't seem too different than any other Sunday. Because all of our kids have other families, it does happen sometimes that they are all celebrating somewhere else, and that's actually OK with us, neither of us feels deprived when that happens. So, what do you do on any Sunday after church? Well, sew, of course!


At our guild meeting on Saturday our speaker was the lady who judged our show last fall, and will be judging again this year. She trained at Pacific International Quilt Show and in fact was a judge there as well) She spoke about what judges look for in quilts, and gave a demonstration of how she actually does it. Last year she had 150 or so quilts to judge, (is that right, Rosy?) and she spent close to nine hours doing it. She is meticulous, and gives really excellent comments. I very nearly had kittens when I won a 1st and a 2nd at that show, and after seeing her in action I was really bowled over. So of course I came home all fired up, and nothing to do! ((haa haa haa -- so to speak!)) The fan idea has been in the back of my head for quite awhile, but was originally just a one block wall hanging, and the fans were a much simpler design. Ummmm....not so much now! The idea is getting bigger and bigger, and it's getting embellished and 3d stuff is evolving for it, and it's getting fun! Unfortunately, now I have to stop by the LQS for some odds and ends for it. Bummer, huh?

So my Easter festivities aside from church amounted to picking flowers from the yard and making pretties in the house. The lilacs are incredible.

And in case the kids ask if the Easter Bunnycame to our house, why,yes he did! And he brought Mrs. Bunny, and collected eggs from the hen house. Just as pretty as the colored eggs are the naturally colored greens and blues from my chickens. DH and I had breakfast at church and made a corned beef for dinner, and he made a blackberry cobbler for dessert . The world is all right!

Oh yea, one more thing - I had my colonscopy on Friday and all was well, a few little polyps so it was a good thing I went. Now for the mammo....

HAVE YOU DONE YOURS?

And Afterwards, Pass Out!

I've seen this around blogland and had to try it - what a hoot! All my crummy Springtime celebrations all nice and typed out, ready to file!
It'll sure be nice to get ALL that junk over with!

The Quilt Show

If you haven't heard, Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims have teamed up to produce a new quilt show online, called TheQuiltShow . The first two episodes are out, and let me tell you - if you have a high speed connection, go sign up! If you don't have high speed, call a friend who does and beg. The video quality is superb, the best I've ever seen for an internet clip. And it's long - a good hours worth. This show is terrific! Not bound by network constraints, they are free to be themselves, and it's like having them in your living room. My one and only complaint is the Bernina commercials - they're very short, and only a couple of them - but for Pete's sake! The second episode has Ricky playing a Native American flute, a beautiful haunting tribute to the mountains around his Colorado home, Wahatoya. I listened to that 6 times, tears running the whole time. (Then I bought the CD, and went back to listen some more!)
Go check it out!

Melon Balls and Chocolate Chips

What to do, what to do..........the perpetual question floating around my quiltroom! Sometimes there's so many good ideas, and so many UFO's, and so much pretty stuff, that I get paralyzed. Can't start anything because I want to do it all. I finished putting together the Diamonds top from several entries back, AT LAST! The thing has been hanging on my wall way too long, taunting me. Just because I vowed that it couldn't come down until it was one cohesive top that I could fold (and stuff into a bag...ummm, or not) So there it hung, partially together. And every blessed day, that thing chided me -- "HEY LAZY! I'm hanging here without arms -- do you care??" and "Can we get a little pieceing over here?" Oddly, this comes out in a twangy Bronx accent. Someplace I've never been, but apparently they have a lot of diamond quilt top relatives around there.

So burrowing around in the wreck of a fabric closet looking for the rest of that gold for the inner border for the %$#!*^ diamonds, I happened on these blocks made at a retreat last year. They were the result of total boredom with the projects I bought with me to do, and a hasty and lustful visit to the LQS there. Gee, I had no problem whipping thru these! I have 18 of them - most are really well done, and a few have some WILD and WONKY points. (That I did on purpose. Sure I did. WHAT? You don't believe me?)
So now those are being held hostage on the design wall, and let's see what accent they nag in. The name Melon Ball came to me, I guess because of the colors - or maybe this puppy will be Jamaican?

Then for about a minute, this cute little guy was on the wall:

Because I had a WILD and WONKY hair to do a ChocolateChipCherrySomething -- for weeks! I dreamed about it, doodled it at work, searched all the blogs and magazines for other B/P's, and finally scrounged up 44 FQ's of pinks and brown, and tried something. Maybe the idea was sort of a post-modern ice cream cone - chocolate and cherry ice cream? And OH my gosh -- look at those perfect points! What a work of art! Hel-lo - eight points coming together, and it's not a thread out of whack.. Cool beans!! SO awesome! I showed everybody who couldn't get away -- "LOOKY!" And the only problem with it is:
I don't care anymore. Geeeesh!! I had a little trouble even finding it to take a picture, and I don't think it's a week old yet. Poor little orphan child..........
I haven't gotten to spend a lot of time in the quiltroom because of all the activity in our front yard. What has been for 3 years a dirt lot with weeds is suddenly becoming beautiful! It's all graded smooth, the planters are all lined out and edged - the creek is all spiffy and rocked and cool looking, and we have a little footbridge for getting from one side of the yard to t'other.

So far this has been all my DH and my collaboration, with hired help for the heaviest stuff. Last evening LandscaperGuy was here to lay out sprinkler system and calculate how much sod. DH and I have had a running argument about this lawn. I suggested that it was going to be over 1600 square feet, (it's huge) and he told me to stick to my quilting and stop exaggerating. HA! LandscaperGuy doodled it out, and it's 1780 square feet. HA! And HA again!! So LandscaperGuy looked me in the eye and said, "This is going to be a maintence nightmare, and a pain in the butt to install, all those curves" I couldn't even respond -- huh? What do you say to that? Then he followed that with, "But when it's all done it will be the best yard on the block" COOL!!! Hey, it's been the worst yard in the valley forever, so as long as it's not that anymore, I'm happy. LG says, "One of these days you'll come home from work and it'll be all done" Oh man -- I'll have an arrest on the spot - full code blue. And I'll go down smiling!