Awww.....

Gee Whillikers, Michele over at Heart and Hands has passed me the nicest compliment!
It's a GOOD THING to make people smile; everyone should do it every day. Multiple times! There comes a stipulation tho, (isn't there always?) that we do a meme using the letters of our name to describe ourselves. HEH!! Two letters (Su) don't come close to what I'm about, so I'm using the Bee part, too.
S- simple
U- understanding
B- Bi-pedal
E- ephemeral
E- eloquent

Too bad I don't have more of a name....
Now I need to name 5 others who make me smile:
Gypsy
Ms. Jan
Arrrgh matey, it be the Pirate!
New Kid on the block, Michael
And of course, Bren

Dang - 5 isn't very many! I have a lot more on my blogroll that I can't miss! Consider yourself tagged, and go forth and multiply - LOL!

**************************************************************************

Poor Paco is so bored and lonely without his bud that he's getting into trouble. I told you I found him on the deck outside my bedroom, right? Well, this morning he was on the kitchen deck. And the gate was still chained, but he lifted the whole thing off it's hinges!! And once he figured out he could do that, the battle was on. He liberated himself 4 times before I finally set a sprinkler to keep him away from the gate. (Donkeys hate to be wet) I tried setting a ladder across the gate thinking he couldn't get close enough, but he got his head stuck in it and we had a moments panic before he shook it off. Picture a donkey with his face stuck in a 6 ft ladder - it was hysterical after the fact, scary during. Hunny finally came home and fixed the hinges so the gate can't be lifted up anymore so I wonder what tricks are coming next?

This is Paco on my yard's side of the gate, I am in his yard - doesn't he look innocent? There he is being all friendly, chatting with chickens like he comes to tea every day. He's really a love - he'd come in and sit on the couch if I'd let him, or take a nap on my bed!
Cuervo summed up a lazy Sunday:

Do cats have it right or what? If you look closely you'll see little rainbow reflections on the carpet and wall. Those are from a large crystal hanging in the window behind him. When I want to make him crazy I'll spin it a bit, and he tries so hard to catch the little things! DD calls it cat torture, but he falls for it every time, so he must like that game. I hope.
The Cocoa Cuddle is about 3/4 quilted. I stared at that for 2 days and not a single quilting idea came to mind! Usually the pattern will kind of tell you how to quilt it, but this one just whispered, "wouldn't you like to have a Snickers?" so in the end I did a meander all over it. My friend Leslie will gasp, but it doesn't look like a mattress, really!!! ROFL --
We're supposed to get a nice rain tonight and I'm SO ready. Our last significant rain was April or so, and that's a long stretch. It's soup and stew and chili and punkin pie time!! Yeaaa!!! Happy October everyone!

Almost done counts, right?

Considering that on wednesday I had four completed blocks and a stack of pieces, I'm OK with having an unquilted top by Saturday morning. I would have quilted it today, but I played outside for awhile. Took Paco for a walk, like the giant dog he thinks he is. And he loved it. I also shampooed the carpets in the family room and living room. Gee - it was a pretty full day!

"Cocoa Cuddles" - how's that for a chocolate yen? LOL -- the problem I thought I had with the 4 blocks shown previously was that they were not symetrical. Now I see that they weren't supposed to be. It was going to be bigger, but it was such a booger to piece that I stopped at 60". Now you have to see another vacation pic - this time it's me in the tub!

I got such a kick out of this -- it's HUGE!! I looks like a tub for Shaquille! I'm almost 6 ft and I felt like Edith Ann in her giant rocking chair. Great fun. Now I want one for my, ummm, living room? LOL!! Can I have real ducks, too?
Some friends called today to invite us to a show, they had extra tickets. I have to set this up by explaining that Hunny is quite a bit older than I, and didn't listen to ANY music after the Big Bopper died. Really, no joke. Anything recorded after that day is all garbage, and the only reason bands are so loud is to make up for lack of musical talent. Bring on Riders of the Purple Sage and he's a happy camper. So, Hunny talked to them (I was out with Paco) and this is how he told me:
"Jim and Lynn want to know if we want to go to a concert with them tonight, some woman singer"
"What kind of music?"
"Has to be rock'n'roll, that's all they go to. But if it's some woman it can't be that bad. Not like that crappy group we saw last year" {that would be ZZ Top, 2 years ago}
"Sure, why not?"
So I called Lynn.
"Hey Lynn - who's playing?"
"ALICE COOPER"
I think I hurt myself laughing. Oh dear - can you just see that??? Hunny is SO conservative, and SO narrowminded in his musical tastes that Alice Cooper would have caused him to stroke out.
But Jim and Lynn and I would have a heck of a good time laughing at him!!!

By the way, it's official now. HAPPY AUTUMN!!!

It's the start of quilt season!

Flowers and Fun stuff

I have my mojo back.....finally!!! After 4 dry months I finally have the itch to get sewing. YAAA!! So I've been finishing up a UFO - pictures tomorrow - and playing with a new scrap block. Too much fun! We "had" to go out to dinner with friends tonight and I didn't want to go. DH stood in my sewing room doorway counting me down - "We have 2 minutes......we have 1 mintute...we're gonna be LATE! Now C'mon!" Geesh - where'd all that patience go?

I've also been actively appreciating this wonderful plant outside our front door: Angel's Trumpet - what a great name!! It's certainly big enough for Gabriel. This is my hand, and I have by far the biggest hands you will ever see on any woman, anywhere. Bigger than most men, and this bloom dwarfs my hand. Plus they are so fragrant at night that the scent wafts into the house - it's heavenly!

I'll show my finished UFO tomorrow - all quilted and everything! But here's a fun scrappy block I'm working on:

I'm going to retreat in a couple of weeks, and I need a good project and this could be it. What do you think of the pale green for a background? I get tired of the same white or off-white backgrounds. All my scrap quilts look the same! I've had this big hunk of green sitting around, and what the heck - cut it up!

I have another vacation pic for you - 2 actually. You may have seen pictures of this gigantic Paul Bunyan and Babe; they live a couple hours north of us, and we always have to stop. It's a touristy place, but they have good bathrooms - LOL!

Now here's one you haven't seen - a close up of the giant:

Is it just me, or is this CREEPY CREEPY CREEPY???? They even have it rigged so he turns his head and flaps his jaws and talks! Someone sits in a crows nest somewhere and watches people walk up, then makes the creepy giant say things like - "What a nice purple shirt you have on" or "That's a cute doggie - what's his name?" CREEPY!!!!!! Thank goodness the ox doesn't talk. Oh yea, BTW - that's not a black shirt under the red - it's CHEST HAIR!!!! Eeeeewwwwww!!! All he needs is 6 gold chains hanging in all that fuzz.

Bleeeaaahhh - I hope you aren't eating!

Shop-Hop Fun!

We're home from our little jaunt, and it turned into a full blown shop-hop! DH patiently, even happily, scouted out every quilt shop in every little town that had one along the coast of Northern CA and halfway up coastal Oregon! I plundered, er, shopped, 8 stores in 3 days - a record for me. I enede up with 99 FQ's and 13 yards of pretty, and a few toys.

Hunnys indulgence on this trip was antique stores, so we hit every one of those, also. He's on the lookout for a perfect treadle machine for me, and old slot machines for him. We saw this old Singer like the one my Mom owned that I learned to sew on, in the bentwood case. I was horrified to learn that my Mom threw hers away some years back, and always thought I'd like to have one for sentimental reasons. So here's this 1910 - 1915 model 99 in pretty good condition. The case is pristine, not a scuff or scratch anywhere on it, and the paint and decaling on the machine is pretty nice, not perfect. It's missing the needle plate and it smells like rancid old oil, but all in all a nice find. This model has no reverse!

Here's the part that slays me every time. DH is a MASTER finagler, he loves the Art of the Deal. They wanted $110.00 for it, and he paid $30! I don't know how he does it, I can never stand to listen in. I get too embarrassed so I have to get out of range, but I'm always amazed when the total comes up. He has a gift!
We have also been idly discussing getting a boat, and in the harbor of Gold Beach, Or, we found my new ship:

LOL - I love this wreck. I've been watching it decay for about 4 years now, and I have a ton of pictures of it, I just love it. The most hilarious thing along coastal Oregon is these signs:

Holy Cow! Maybe hilarious isn't exactly the word I want, because the threat here is very real and has happened in the not-so-distant past. But the signs themselves cracked me up -
Now we're home, back to reality, and a get away was just what we needed. Refreshed and renewed, and raring to go. The day we got home I cleaned up my sewing room that has been usd only for junk storage all summer, and set to sewing - YAAA!!!! I'm even working on a UFO -- double YAAA. More on the trip later - I have hundreds of blogs to catch up on, from just 5 days - better get busy!

Outa Here!

Hunny and I need to get away - badly. Tomorrow morning we point the truck North and see where we end up. Presumably someplace in Oregon, because there just isn't very much left of California north of us -- lol! I have a list of quilt stores and Hunny has a list of antique stores, and we've packed a cooler and snacky things, and we're just going to wander. Adventuring, we call it. We'll come home Sunday.
Maybe.

My little donkey Paco is bereft without his friend Dolly. Tuesday when I came home, he was standing on the spot where she died. He doesn't want to play, or shove me around, or try to bite me - he just wants to bury his head against my tummy and stand there. Last night I heard something strange outside, and when I flipped on the floodlights, there stood Paco on the deck outside our bedroom door! Scared the snot out of me, briefly; then I had to laugh because I'm the one who didn't chain the gate closed. Dolly must have taught him how to open the gate, the chains were for her! He's going to have a stream of visitors while we're gone so he won't get lonely..... :-(
Hunny and I have been telling each other Dolly stories all week and being sad. I hope getting away will give us something else to talk about and lighten us up a bit! It's amazing what a hole that horse has left. That crazy, silly, mare, who loved to curl her lip up and lived to buck DH off onto his butt. LOL - there's some great stories about that old girl! Like the time she pulled her saddle off of a tree branch and dropped it into a creek! I thought I'd laugh myself sick over that one. We used hobbles on them when we were up in the mountains, kind of handcuffs for horses, so they couldn't run off. They can move, but very slowly. Well, Miss Dolly could hobble as fast as I can walk, especially if someone had a peanut butter sandwich. It was hysterical to watch! Ahhh -- good times.
More to come - see you on the flip-flop!

From Good to Bad

What a weekend. I'll be happy to get to work so I can relax. Saturday I spent the day down south with all the grandkidlets, a huge treat for me! Last Tuesday was my DD's birthday, and friday was my DGD and I, both. So saturday we partied. Took the two older girls to the park for a picnic and playtime, then off to visit both the new baby boys - ya-hooo!

3-month old Jayden is on the left, and 5 week old Nicholas on the right. It's going to be so much fun watching these guys grow up together - they are already so different! Well, stands to reason; look at this-

This is my two sons with their sons. (Man, I love this!) So each new baby looks like his respective Dad, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Saturday night when I got home I was met in the driveway by our oldest DGD, telling me DH's horse was down, and had been down for 1/2 hour or so. I went out and took a look and knew immediately this was bad. I called the vet out, and rounded up DH and set up floodlights. DH and the vet arrived about the same time, 9 pm or so, and pretty soon we knew we were going to lose Dolly. She had evidently had a stroke and her backend was partially paralyzed. We had to make the sad, awful decision to put her down. Her registered name is GO DANCING DOLL, and she lived 24 very good years. This horse was instrumental in saving me when I broke my neck in a riding accident years ago, on top of a remote mountain. She took DH a long hard 12 miles away to find help, and stayed strong the whole time, collapsing when she finally got back to her own barn.

That horse had more personality than most people you'll meet - one of her nicknames is Miss Lips - she can undo gate latches! She was with us for 16 years, a definate part of the family. To compound our sadness, Dh and I have been struggling with my old old dog, and had finally made a date for her to go to Heaven, this week. It's so hard to lose two old friends in one week. Our house won't be the same.

Fun stuff

I know, I'm supposed to be working on that baby pinwheel quilt - and I am! I have 10 blocks already done. But I've seen this around and it looks like fun, so I had to try it.

I). YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet and current car)---Ceasar Century
2). YOUR GANSTA NAME (favorite ice cream flavor and fave cookie)--- Chunky Monkey Molassas
3). YOUR FLY GUY/GAL NAME (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) S-Boe
4). YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)---Red Horse
5). YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)---Leigh Los Angeles
6). YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)---Boe-Su
7). SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)---The Orange Tequila
8). NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)--- Joe-Ed
9). STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)--- Lady Stetson Jelly Belly (ROFLMAO!!!)
10). WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) --- Helen Phillip
11). TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)---Dennis Denver
12). SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)--- Autumn Lilly
13). CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Peach Jeanie
14) HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)--- Yogurt Redwood
15). YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Quilting Rain Tour

Oh my gosh - that #9 stripper name -- Holy Britney, Batman!!

Ok - Ok -- back to work. Now, why don't you copy this and put it up on your blog?

Grinding Gears

I just know there's a "gitalong" gear somewhere in my brain, so I'm going digging. The first thing you do when you're in the doldrums is buy fabric, right? So thanks to e-bay I got a cool set of CW FQs, lights only. I have a terrrible time buying lights, I always want the LOUD stuff. These are so pretty, shirting prints, and they'll go with a lot of stuff. The blue stripe is going to be the cover of a doll bed mattress, I think. It looks like ticking. Now, the next picture is a test.

This is the sum total of my work for August - I think. Or pretty nearly, anyway. I'm not a real big chocolate eater, but occasionally I get cravings. This was going to be the guiltless Chocolate Cuddle:

Here comes the test part. See anything wrong with that? OK, aside from the seams that don't quite match........anything else?

I also got Judys book, finally. I had pre-ordered it in May, then got an e-mail from Amazon saying it wouldn't be released till October, then read on someone else blog that they had theirs, from Amazon. HUH??? I checked it out, and sure enough, mine came very shortly. And it's terrific!! I love 9-patch designs, but I would have bought it for the border designs alone -- awesome. Hey Judy -- your next book should be border designs!

Finally, I got this goody box in the mail Tuesday from my pincushion swap partner -- two cute pincushions and a cool tea towel. I love the little mushroom house -- too cute!
Now if I can't use all this to get motivated, I'll have to start dragging out the stash and re-folding all of it and making it all neat.
Or maybe have a margarita and a nap, LOL!

Dog Days

I haven't fallen of the face of the earth - yet. Just going thru a rough patch with my back and not able to spend any time sitting - i.e., sewing or blogging. Consequently, nothing quilty happening, but maybe if I post my oldest UFO's it may shame me into finishing the blessed things whenever I can get back in the saddle. The first is about 6 years old (and I've only been quilting for 7!) and I really really liked it. LIKED - past tense. Now the big blocks look clumsy to me, and I would do the colors differently but it's big and could go on our king bed like my Hunny is always asking for.

This next one is the second quilt I made - real smart, huh? Sashed diamonds; what the heck was I thinkin? But in my ignorance I forged ahead. It's name is Niagra Diamonds, for all the spray starch I used. The reasons it sits undone is the crummy meandering in the sashings (???whaaa???) and the funky fabrics. I had just seen or learned about freestyle meandering, so I thought it'd look good in the sashings. WROONG. And I don't want to pick all that out. Interesting that I still love diamonds...........

I'm afraid to drag out all the rest of the UFO's - it might be over 20 and then I'd be embarassed to show my short attention span.
A long hot holiday weekend is for relaxing, right? HA HA I took that to a new extreme. Saturday morning was a super guild meeting and lunch out afterwards with girlfriends. The rest of the day was spent in bed. All day Sunday on the couch, flat and watching stupid TV. Sunday night we went out with friends to a restrauant 45 miles away, then Monday all day flat again. It's getting hard not to be discouraged. Hunny made beautiful shish-ka-bobs tonight for dinner -- Yuummmm..... and a decadent fruit salad to go with it. Much as I'd love to have a great big bowl of ice-cream I will resist because the bright spot is that I'm about to hit the 40# lost mark, and I threw away all the big clothes. So no ice-cream, I'll savor success instead!
Now I'm off to hit as many blogs as I can before I go flat again -- see you in the funny papers!

Book Reviews

In case you think I'm not really a quilter because I haven't produced anything in months, here's a FF - (finally finished!) doll quilt, made with leftovers from Judys Hour a Day. Half of which is still on my design wall, the other half lying on the floor where the wind blew it.


Instead of whining about how pathetic I am, what with a raging ear infection and all, I thought I'd share some of my best August reading material. (BTW - having never had an ear infection before, I have a whole new HUGE respect for these poor kids who get them repeatedly. It's awful!!)

OK - hopefully I've re-established my credentials, so I can show you these:

HILARIOUS!!! I loved every word of this one, but I have to tell you - DH kept asking me what was so funny. He agreed with every word, but his opinion was that the world shouldn't laugh at this poor, afflicted man. Which only made me laugh harder. And it has a great o henry ending that I'm not going to tell you about - it's a must read!

Elaine showed this one a couple of weeks ago, and I immediately clicked over to Amazon and got my hands on it. I told you she inspires me, right? It's plain old fabulous. It's small, it is a Readers Digest publication, and they only have one size printer I guess, but packs a a jillion patterns. No wait, it's 1000. 1000 good ones too, not just re-hashing old ones, plus they really teach how to adjust for shaped blocks, how to make a square peg fit into a diamond shaped patch. Terrific, well worth the bucks.
Finally, Mark Lipinski's Ode to himself; Quilter's Home. The first couple of issues I was a bit annoyed that it's all about him, but hey - it's his magazine, and he's witty and informative so why not?

Great article in this one about black fabrics/threads and batts, and a very interesting one about quilt show judges.

Last year at this time I was scrambling to get my quilts together for our guilds annual show, and here I am again. When am I going to get it? Maybe I'm not supposed to show quilts; it makes me crazy anyway. Maybe I'll sit this one out. Of course, a very petite, 70-something ball of fire named Jane will hunt me down and kick my lazy butt if I try that, so I better get inspired here pretty quick. I have lakadaisical syndrome, LS for short. I spend all evening reading blogs and surfing my favorite websites and watching Alex and Ricky, but the light is still off in my poor sewing machine. Packages come in the mail with fantastic fabrics found in fairyland, but they're languishing in their wrappers. What the heck???? What gives?? I tried a new sharp rotary blade, and it's still sharp and new 2 weeks later. Am I the only one rolling around in the doldrums? What gets you out, any suggestions?

Hunny just brought me in some great BBQ ribs for my pitiful dinner party - LOL! I'd wash them down with champagne but I'm on 2 antibiotics so what's the point? Geeesh ..... I need a cure, fast!

Michelle, over at With Heart and Hands, a Quilting Journey, has deemed me worthy of this honor, and I hafta tell you - If I had seen it first I would have tagged her! Despite a bit of an overdose of all the junk Life can throw at you, Michelle remains serene and composed, and never fails to turn herself outwards - always reaching out. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you don't know what you're missing. Once a teacher always a teacher, and she has so much to teach us all -- especially how to keep a glad heart and inquisitive mind. Sista, I am truly honored; thank you.

A lot of us don't overtly try to inspire others, but everyone who sets out to keep a blog and is fairly consistent about it can't help but inspire. Whether to dig out a particular piece of fabric and "try that" or reading that we're not alone out here dealing with Life - there's comfort and wisdom to be found with all of our invisible friends. We all pretty much have the same issues, so reading how So&So a continent away handled that problem, or seeing the way Ms. Who has kept a sense of humor thru it all helps every one of us keep the chins up. We're electronically sharing the weight just as we would have shared it over a communal quilt frame 100 years ago, and I really like that. Blogging touches a need we all have to connect, to reach out and to be reached by others.

And so to pass the torch -

As much as Michelle inspires me psychically, Elaine Adair Pieces is my quilty inspiration. I love her quilt style, I love her creativity and I love her outstanding workmanship. Elaines' work is what I aspire to; that's the quilter I would be if I could. Elaine has unwittingly helped me out of a quilting slump, and if that isn't the definati0n of an Inspiring Blogger then I'll eat my cutting mat. (Not really, but the conviction is there - LOL!)

Elaine - Hat's off to you! I'm so glad you share all that talent with us, that makes you the next recipient of the Inspirational Blogger Award!

(hands off the crown) VBG!!

Another Grandson!

I'm so blessed - it's almost an embarrassment of riches. Our newest boy, Nicholas Randall was born early this morning to my DS and DDIL - after a long tough ordeal, and a 7 year wait.

About 15 minutes old, meeting his grandmas for the first time, Nicholas is calm and so alert he seemed to be studying our faces. After nearly 3 hours of pushing in every conceivable position, the doctor finally said - "OK, we need to talk Cesarean" and suddenly all hell broke loose, and Kelly was whisked away. Steve was a Trojan right up until he wheeled his little boy back upstairs from the O.R. when he grabbed me and sobbed - my hulking 6'6" son dissolved back into my baby boy. Do I hafta tell you there wasn't a dry eye in the house?

Our little man weighed in at 7lb, 12 oz and 21 inches long, almost exactly the same as his (slightly) older cousin 6 weeks ago.
Now Grandma really really needs a nap - driving 100 miles back home after that was an endurance test for me!
(PS - my co-Grandma in this adventure is also a quilter, and we did sneak away early in the game to plunder the LQS, which is one neither of us get to more than every 2 years or so - LOL!)

A Grand Day

I love kid days - just love em! My wonderful grands travelled up to spend the day today - Young Master Jayden was just hangin' out --

---on his Daddys' arm! He's completely relaxed - he reminds me of a cat laying across the top of the couch. Later on, he was enjoying a little rest on the couch when his big sister and cousin came flying in and jumped on the couch together - and you can just hear him thinking - "Holy Cow!"

And just when he thought he was saved, Grandma (that'd be ME! --VBG!) tossed him like a salad, but actually he loved that. Yes, we were in the sewing room. I'm not sure why or how, but we always end up hanging out there! The girls are really hot to learn to sew, so I found a tiny sewing machine that goes very slowly and that's where they'll start.

It was the bestest day I can ever have without sewing. I even played kickball with the girls outside, remembering my promise to be just like my G'ma. They were thrilled and we had a ball. Ahhhh -- now I need a nap!! LOL! Monday DDS1 and DDIL are having their labor induced so I'll be with them - what riches I have.

Friday Five

I like reading these as they go around Blogland - and learn stuff too! You can answer as a comment or copy & paste to yours --

Pirated from The Quilting Pirate

This week's theme: Batting & Backings

1. What batting do you prefer to use? Hobbs 80/20 Heirloom, I like a heavy but flat quilt that I can quilt the bejabbers out of. For baby quilts and donation quilts, I like the cheapie cotton batt from Walmart - as it ages it's so soft and drapes beautifully. Easy to wrap up in.

2. Do you purchase batting by the yard (off a bolt) or in a bag? I buy The whole roll.

3. Do you purchase batting for more than one project at a time? Yep - the whole roll, LOL!

4. When do you purchase your backing (after a project is completed or while you are picking out all the fabric in the beginning of a project)? I buy up sale fabric as I find it, in amounts large enough for king backings, and I can usually find a piece in there that will work. I would never pay full price for a matching back -

5. What do you do with all the leftover strips of batting? Stitch 'em together for small quilts, potholders, practice sandwiches and here's a new one - wrapping ornaments or packing little breakable doo-dads.

How about you?

Homage to Grandmas

Red Gernaium Cottage posted a really nice story about her Grandma, and made me think again of mine. Grandma went to heaven 10 years ago, but Altzheimers took her away from us long before that. When I was growing up, we were special friends; "Linked in Life" as she said. She firmly believed in past lives and often would tell me that she and I have been together in all of our lives, all thru time. A great reader of Edgar Caycee, she loved to think out loud and conjecture - and I lapped it up. She introduced me to Kahil Gilbran and dozens of alternative type ideas of LIFE and beyond. Not in a strange, creepy way, just matter of fact and with a wide open mind. One of my best memories is going with her to rent horses for an afternoon. The expense for her must have very serious, and she saved for months to be able to take me riding. She was 58, I was 12 that summer of 1966, and we rode like cowboys. I was worried about her "advanced old age" and riding a horse, she was worried I'd fall off. We always had a galloping race along one stretch on dirt road under a canopy of trees. I can picture it so clearly. About that same time we played badmitton in the driveway and she dove for a birdie and fell, fracturing her wrist. She couldn't drive, I wasn't old enough, but there was no one else around and certainly one did not summon an ambulance for anything less than shotgun wounds. I drove downtown, scared witless, with Grandma calmly and quietly talking me thru every move. Another summer as we lay in the WWII surplus hammocks strung all over her yard, she suddenly sat up and said - "SUZY! Let's go for a ride!" I happily piled into the car with her. "Where are we going, Grandma?" "We're going to Bishop, and have lunch" Oh goody goody, I loved Bishop, this was going to be Adventure! Only thing was, Bishop was about 750 miles away. I didn't realise it, but when we stopped for a potty break and she told me to call my Mama, I blabbed and we were asked to turn around and go home. Phooey - Mamas are no fun!

Grandma and I spoke on the phone every Saturday morning at 7 am, for probably 25 or 30 years, until she forgot me. To this day I am unconsciously near a phone at 7 am on Saturdays. When in later years I was packing her 8,427 books prepatory for a move, she scared the crap out of me when she came up behind me with a loaded revolver - "Suzy, I just don't know how to turn this off" When I got done being scared, and having safely secured the gun away from her, I went looking for Mama and bawled my eyes out. In the late years, although she was a lifelong teetotaller, she inexplicably took a fondness to Irish Creame Whiskey, and sent me off to buy it. Buying whiskey in Utah is no easy feat, mind you. The little pink state liquor store in that teeny town was open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Maybe. Sometimes it might be Mondays and Saturdays, you never knew. Eventually I got the stuff, and nothing would do but I had to gag down a drink with her every evening. She slammed it straight, I cut it with as much water as I thought I could get away with, and had it on the rocks to boot. I could nurse that one little glass of buzzard barf for hours, while Grandma shot back 4 or 5. Amazing, and she never seemed the least bit lit.

Grandma taught me "You CAN, but you MAY not" "Stand straight and tall and be proud" "You shan't raise your voice" " You never stop learning" "You dasn't dare refute your Mama" and "I love you, Sugar"

I love you too, Grandma.

Hour a Day

I have to admit - I did not do Judys 'Hour a Day' project in July. Well, a little bit. I pulled out the fabric and cut it on Sunday the 29th, and finished all the blocks on Aug 1st. Does that count?

I still need to play around with the color placement anad design. The reason this quilt grabbed me is because in Sept '06, I played around in my EQ and came up with something very similar. I wanted to use my hand-dyes in a project with black and white, and I liked Judy's better than mine. I can't seem to find the picture file, but it's in my Sept 06 blog entry - funny!

The black fabric is not solid black, it has teeny multi-colored dots all over, in colors that match the hand dyes, and I only had a little over a yard of it. What I have left wouldn't cover a modest kitten! Talk about cutting it close. If I had to make 2 more blocks I'd be piecing those little 1 3/4" squares! Sure feels good to be able to sit and sew again --

Still haven't got the bobcat. We rigged a way to lock up the chickens at night so we all sleep better, but they hate it and it's an ordeal for me to try to round them up. To Be Continued.......

Bobcat Wars

Boy, what a weekend! I may have to stay home for a week just to recover -- lol! We went out to the coast on Saturday - my most favorite place. (The best quilt store for 200 miles around) We had lunch on the wharf - this was the view from our table:

So sad, isn't it? I had calamari and the best fish tacos in the known universe. Of course we hit the quilt store, and DH actually made a voluntary contributation to the cause! He dropped me off and went to find coffee and a paper. I spent a great hour grazing, visiting with aquaintanences and loading up. Because I have a heavy FQ dependency problem, I had to get a hit of that.

I got some yardage pieces also - basics to supplement the stash, nothing really exciting. After the quilt store we went antiquing, and there's where we had a little distraction. I found an old Singer, and the shop owner and I were sitting on the floor in this converted Victorian, examining the old machine. As I stood up, I forgot I was practically under the staircase, and I slammed my head into it at full speed, and knocked myself out cold. Don't you hate when that happens? So we spent the rest of the day in the ER at the local hospital, and that was a drag/ruined my day/wasted a weekend.

But I'm OK - lived to fight another day.
Now this is where the bobcat comes in.
I've lost 3 chickens in a weeks time to something we never saw, just heard. Out early one morning looking for tracks, we could easily tell it was a bobcat, so DH set up the trap on Saturday night, baited with a can of catfood and sure enough; we caught the grandkids cat. Sunday night he didn't get the trap re-set, and about 4 am this morning the chickens started squawking. I threw on the floodlights and ran out, but only heard it, didn't see it, and couldn't tell if any chickens were missing. 45 minutes later he was back! Again, we chased him off. About 6 am, already light, I went outside and there he was - standing 40 feet away from me on the other side of the fence. Amazing. I actually walked to within 10 feet of him!! And he just twitched his stubby little tail and watched me, then turned and casually walked away. Think that was all? Oh no -- I happened to glance up as I opened a kitchen window, and the little cuss was IN the chicken pen! By now, we had a gun out and ready, and I hollared at hunny to grab it. He went out one door, I went out the other to lure the horses away. (Had to laugh - Hunny was standing in the yard aiming a high-power rifle with a scope on it, in his undies - rofl!)
He got off a shot, and we both saw the cat scramble for heavy bushes. (And anyone for a mile or so around is awake now) We stood watching from 2 vantage points and pretty soon the cat, again casually, walked back across a clearing and back towards the hills. THAT is one brazen, or sick, little kitty.
Pretty tho - wonder if Hunny will let me get the carcass mounted?

July Doldrums

Not too much happens inside in July - ever noticed that? Seems like all the really fun stuff is outside. I had our mini-group over on Saturday and that was a blast - we made little ditty bags and had a potluck lunch: Fresh rhubarb pie, fresh blackberry cobbler and fresh angel food cake. ROFL! It's great to be old - you can eat dessert for lunch!
I have a new heartthrob:
MAN is he cute, or what??? This is month old Jayden Daniel, son of my youngest son. And a clone, I might add. I was privileged to see this young man come into the world much to my shock and delight. My other son is expecting his son in another 2 weeks or so, and after I relayed the story and told him how surprised I was to be allowed in, he and his wife sent me an engraved invitation to attend the birth of their son. WHOOPPEE!!!

Not too much machine sewing happening around here - I'm having to spend most of my time flat on my back and that Janome is waaay too heavy to sit on my chest. However, I have learned to embroider!! My friend Leslie has been itching to teach me, but the time never seemed to work out. Finally last week I went online, (bless the www) found pictures and video and tried it - hey! It's nowhere nearly as hard as I thought!

This was my first attempt - I actually bought an iron-on pattern. There's some really pretty ones out there! Then I freehanded a butterfly and tried some different stitches: And the blue washout pen ran when I got it wet. Gee - never had that happen before! I didn't think to put the dime in till it was too late, but the butterfly measures about 3 inches across. Now I'm working on a pretty big vintage Pooh and Piglet that will have my grandson's name, date of birth and all his stats on it, in a frame. I love doing embroidery, and it makes laying around flat all the time a bit more bearable. Now - I have about 240 posts to catch up on, having missed a week of blogging! You all are busy!