Let there be Socks!

My mother is the one to blame, I guess. I just can't sit and do nothing, and it never fared well to tell her that I was bored! Only boring people get bored, she would say. So I read, and I sew, and I write letters and read my mail.

And I do love to read! My eyes are tired today, though, with the overcast skies and more warnings of rain and severe weather. The grass is looking great, and the flowers are all starting to bloom nicely - so are the weeds. Tomorrow will find me doing a little weeding here and some planting at the new house, too.

The grand kids were over the last two days in the pool, and the little one is now mostly swimming instead of drinking the water, so it's pretty fun. Today was to be burgers and brats on the grill, but it rained, and they decided to stay home instead. Son and his girls will still come for their Monday night feed in a bit, and I decided to make meatloaf for them. His two girls head back East this coming weekend to visit their mother for a month, and meatloaf is one of their favorites. So meatloaf it is!

I decided that since my sewing is boxed up and most of it is sitting at the new house, I would find something else to keep my hands busy. My friend, Judy, found this book for me, and started me out with understanding what I am to do with this new project. I think I am going to like this! Ask me again after 6" of knitting and purling on these 2 circular needles!

4 + 1

So the holiday is upon us, and I have nothing to report on the sewing front. I DID complete a little RR exchange which I can't show you, and I did manage to complete 2 blocks for another group exchange that I completely forgot to take a picture of.

Since the thorny issue last reported upon, I've been on the move hither, thither and yon. Picking out paint colors, keeping the house spotless for showings, enjoying grandkids when I can, and even working (gasp!) at the LQS 13 miles south of here has made the spring just fly by.

Nothing exciting. Just letting you know that the foot is healed, the heart is happy, and I am still living in one house and prepping the new one. We'll be here in this house until it is sold or until I close the pool in Ocotober. So, in the meantime, here's my lovies of the moment.

These are 4 of my grandkids - the one on the left is an extra one (not mine) but she claims me as hers whenever she can. The next one from the left is oh-so-me it's frightening!

No, Clyde, this is not your sister, Bonnie! Clyde seems to think that this cast iron kitty is HIS to love and lay on. No matter what room I move it to, he finds it and "talks" to it, then curls up by it to take a nap.

Now, this is what I call sibling love. This is how they both take their afternoon naps - mind melding!

A Thorn in my Side (foot)

I was brought to tears last week about this time when I was out at the new house, walking the back perimeter of the property. I was truly enjoying the beautiful day, and discovering that we have a little stream that feeds the East fork of the Grand River when all of a sudden!

OUCH!!!!

I walked right into a patch of black locust trees, and couldn't remove myself without stepping on a HUGE thorn. It went right through the thick sole of my tennis shoe, and got me on the left foot, right at the big toe joint. I pulled the thorn out, and went ahead with our walk, remarking we would have to keep the grand-kids out of this area until we could get it cleaned up.

Within the hour, my toe could hardly move, and by the end of two hours, it was extremely swollen , red and hot to the touch. By the time I could take myself to the doctor's office, they told me to go to ER where I found out that Black Locust trees have toxins on their leaves, bark, thorns and fruit.

So, after a Cat Scan of my foot, and 4 hours of IV antibiotics, I was sent home with Percoset, oral antibiotics and instructions to keep my foot elevated for at least 2-3 days until the swelling went down. I also got the warning that if I got red streaks, or it kept swelling, I should return to the ER upon which I would be admitted for "further treatment".

Put the kabosh on my weekend, let me tell you! But I am happy to report that by the end of the 2nd day, my foot looked pretty normal, and it was only a bit tender. Just think, though, without the wonders of modern day medicine, I would have gone the way of Jake in Lonesome Dove after he got a mesquite thorn in his thumb...off into the sunset.

Tomorrow, the arborists are meeting us to discuss the demise of these nasty trees! In the meantime, I am walking ever so gingerly on the property.

(I just can't figure out what I've done with the font size on this entry, so if it looks like I am screaming, I'm really just confused!)

Moving, moving, moving

Wonder where I've been? Me too!

First, we bought a house, then declined the contract because of what we found in with the inspections. Then, when we least expected it, we found another one that was even better! It's on three acres of land, brand spanking new, and is being finished exactly the way we want it. The builder and his wife are just super nice people, and they will be our neighbors when their new house is finished in the next month or so. There will only be about 9 houses all together on this cul de sac and the street behind it, and it IS COUNTRY!!!! We love it! We'll close this Friday and take possession of it then, too.

Just to show you how much in the country here's a couple of pictures of the house from the front which faces west, then the north and south sides of the yard.




We have a lot of landscaping to do. At this house, we've spent the last 8 years planting over 50 trees and I can't begin to count how many perennials.

In the meantime, I've been getting this house ready for market, and it got listed this past Friday. A showing on Saturday went well, they want to come back again. Tomorrow is the realtor walk-through for five hours, so we are going to go "plant" our new mailbox at the new house during that time. I also had to get my two SAMs (storage and moving) ready with all the extra furniture (read that as sewing tables, sewing cabinets, sewing tools, fabric and a few pieces of real furniture) to make the rooms look better and bigger. They got moved this morning to the new house, so that's done.

Because we've had so much rain lately, we've had to cut the grass about every other day here at this house, and we just got finished doing some paint touch ups. I can't think of another single thing to do. I've even planted about 8 flats of petunias and have all my lawn ornaments out.

So. That's what I've been up to. Not sewing, but dreaming of sewing in my new 18' studio space with another 12' X 13' resource space, AND an unfinished space with a window that has a sink hook up and drain where I can paint and dye to my heart's content.

Here's Hubby on the stairs going into my space:

Kitchen nook
Living room with hubby on the hearth

Part of the kitchen

Looking into the dining room

Come on over and stitch with me! (or help me with the landscaping)

Buddies R Us Round Robins

This has been a mighty busy week. But I'll tell you all about that later.

Today I want to share our most wonderful round robins. We revealed our round robins the first night we were in Cambria (and we're home now). The person who was getting theirs back had to sit on the sofa with her eyes covered while the others all o-o-hed and a-h-hed. And there were lots of tears when we opened our eyes, and OMGs! and laughter. There was a lot of laughter all week long! What a wonderful way to start the week off!

You see, Carolyn and I stitch together in KS, and Wendy and Sherri stitch together in CA. I have known Wendy for a long time now, but I nor Carolyn had never met Sherri. Wendy had met Carolyn a couple of times in the last couple of years, but didn't really "know" her. So we decided, if we were all going to spend a week together, the best way to get to know each other was to do a round robin.

We each started our block, then passed it to the person in our own state to add a 4" border. After the requisite amount of time had passed, then those two blocks were sent (each in a sealed secret envelope) to the other state/s, where a 6" round was attached. The last time the quilt tops were passed, an 8" border was attached.

It was a lot of fun, and I loved doing this. Next year we are going to do row by rows instead of borders - which I am not entirely sold on. BUT, the year is young, and I am otherwise occupied, so I haven't thought too much about it yet. LOL! Of course, we haven't started anything yet, so who knows - we might change something, again. I think the CA girls went to a guild meeting where there were going to be other ideas of how to do round robins that aren't "just" borders.

Be sure to click on the pictures for the details in a larger format. The embroidery on the picket fences might not show up well, but I hope so - it is exquisite and so detailed!

Carolyn started with the flower center
Sharon - brick border, Wendy-wavy border, Sherri-piano keys and butterflies

Sharon started with the feathered star
Carolyn-flying geese, Sherri-broken stars, Wendy-gradated final border

Wendy started with the house and tree
Sherri-gold/brown with heart corners, Carolyn-postage stamps, Sharon-sunflowers/arches

Sherrie started with the appliqued and embroidered house
Wendy-Anka's 9 patch/log cabins, Sharon-appliqued words, Carolyn-Red points, picket fence and embroidered flowers/trees

Bye bye Cambria and Buddies R Us until next year! We've already booked for next year (through Scenic Coast properties for those of you who asked).

FABULOUS!!!!

My girlfriends Wendy and Sherri met us at San Luis Obispo airport and this is what the back of the van looked like after we got our stuff loaded. There was only about a 10" clearance to the ground!
We rented a fabulous 4 bedroom house right at the edge of the ocean. This is the view from the front of the house when we arrived. It was just gorgeous no matter whether it was sunny, foggy or raining!

Another view from the deck of the house.

And this is the 180 degree view where we sat to eat and to laugh and chat most of the time when we weren't sewing. You can only see two sides of it, but there are windows all around!

More of the view from the inside seating.

The other side of the same room looking out.

Can you believe it? An entire separate area for sewing! There were windows there, too, where we could see and hear the ocean!

BUDDIES R US!

Sherri, Wendy, Carolyn and Quiltgranny

Next entry will be pictures of our round robins, quilt shop reports (and there were many!) and pictures of all the things we got accomplished!

Off and away!

Sorry, Readers, that I have been away from the blog since before Easter! I've been running hither, thither and yon getting ready for the big Cambria, CA trip. I leave bright and early tomorrow (Sunday) morning and won't return for an entire week!

I got this charity quilt done (from a wallhanging donated to use) and it is now packed and ready for me to quilt it in CA.


I've gotten the wedding commission quilt back from the quilter and the binding stitched on it and to the owner just in time before their first wedding anniversary. I've gotten the May baby quilt to the quilter along with having the diaper bag and changing pad completed, too.

I have three kits cut and packaged, ready to sew when I get there. I've also gotten the windows all cleared so the window cleaners can come on Monday morning and Hubby can take care of them.

Today was a birthday stitch day with my sewing group The Amazing Quilt Babes, and last night I finished up four 6.5" blocks for our monthly exchange. No pictures this time around as we were in a rented room at a Marriott and we worked on multiple things for the birthday girl!

5 loads of laundry all done means I can now pack my bags.

I also got a blogsite, complete with PayPal buttons created for some friends of mine who will be offering deeply discounted fabrics, notions and yarns. Check it out - you might find something you just gotta have! (I hope it all works right). They are the Fiberfanatics and they sure are a lot of fun to work with!

During all of this, I had to stop going to the gym - as a matter of fact, my trainer sent me home from a training session and said not to come back until a doctor said I could. Sooooo, off I went to a massage therapist, and a couple of hours later, I was seeing a chiropractor (for the first time). The long and the short of it is that I have osteo-arthritis in my L5 (the vertebrae right above the tailbone), and it has degenerated quite a bit AND a bone spur has developed too. After 5 treatments with electrical stimulus, ultrasound and some adjustments AND some ice packs. I can move around a bit easier. When I get back, I'll start traction therapy.

And last, but not least. Hubby and I bought a house!! Our taxes in this county and state have gotten ridiculous. PLUS, our house is quite large and not necessary. We close on the new house May 2, and hope to have this one on the market by June 1, but we'll see. We'll be moving into the state of Missouri, but in actuality it is only 8 miles further east than where we live.

You can see it here on live maps (and rotate the picture). We'll own the property all the way to the tree line, and through the cul de sac. 3.3 acres should give some nice vegetable gardens!

I think I have a lot of work to do when I get back, eh?

BONSAI?

What a surprising end to a busy week!

I've been puttering around, trying to get all the fabrics I need and the parts department collected for my upcoming trip to Cambria. 3 of my friends and I will be having our own personal retreat the first week of April in Cambria, California, right by the ocean! I'm am getting pretty excited now!

I've decided I am going to work on my Michigan fruit baskets, and Hubby has decided that the quilt now needs to be king sized. That means I have 52 more baskets to make. And THAT means I have a lot of parts to get ready. Remember these? I have about 20% of the half square triangles readied, but that's still about 400 more to go.

So, in the middle of this, one of my neighbors who follows what my art projects are, stopped by to see if I would be willing to make a lap quilt for her husband. I was showing her my ideas, and then I showed her this one for the size.
She gasped and asked if it was available; it was JUST what she wanted! So last night, I sewed down the binding, and sold it to her today. She thinks she got a bargain, and I am pleased with my profit - so we both win. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it after it was completely quilted, but you get the idea, right?

While she was here she asked if she could talk to me seriously about contracting for a commissioned art piece. It was my turn to gasp (inwardly), and we talked a bit about what she wanted. Her husband is an avid Bonsai horticulturist. I guess that's what you call them:) He is difficult to buy for, and what man isn't?, so she thought he would enjoy an art piece of a bonsai. She is planning it for her bedroom, and has given me complete liberty with color, size and materials. Of course, I couldn't let the idea go after she left, so here's my first sketches of where I want to go. Now, it will just have to gel in my head for a while until I get there.

The Kanji script is BONSAI-two words that mean tree in a pot. Nothing special there, eh? I did learn, however, that there are and sharis and jins in bonsai, which are bark stripped areas either on the trunk or a branch, so I can have a higher contrast in the trunk areas for texture. I also learned that all bonsai pots should have feet for proper drainage, and the shape of the pot is artistically matched with the shape of the tree. The kind of bonsai I seemed to be most attracted to in many different types of pictures was always the Moyogi, which is an informal upright. The windswept ones are just too severe, and the cascading ones, while beautiful, just don't inspire me to work on it in fiber.

Now, I have something to look for when I am out shopping on the left coast. I think I'd like to find something light and airy for behind the tree - maybe even an old piece of kimono silk? Who knows where this story will take me?

Eye Candy for the Sewl

Here's a bit of what I've been up to lately. A LOT!

The first one is the completed 30" Broken Bento Box sample for Fabric Quilt's booth at Spring Market. The new line of fabric is called Crystals. It's quilted in silver metallic threads.


Next up is another Amazing Quilt Babes birthday stitch day quilt. The birthday girl, (Shirlee-back row, second from left) chose a Kaffe Fasset pattern, but modified it to pretty pastels and brights, and used Dale Fleming's circle method. This meant the background for the center medallion was whole cloth with circles added. The group pieced pinwheels and a couple of us pieced more circles for the outside blocks.

And last is the commissioned baby quilt set that is now ready for quilting. The pattern is "Charmed" by Black Cat Creations and finishes at 48" X 64". Ahhhh, relief at last!
The bag is from an Amy Butler pattern, and uses a TON of fabric for all the inside pockets. The roll that is peeking out is a rolled-up changing pad, made from terry cloth (inside), over 2 layers of polyester fleece, quilted to the teddy bear fabric.

Catching Up

I have been SO busy! This will be a four-letter-word post, so divert your ears now...I've been at W-O-R-K for the last 6 days! The LQS ladies all went to Florida for the week with their hubbies, so I got to be boss for the week. Not too bad, but all in all, I much prefer to be at home in my stewdio. So, I have a lot of catching up to do, don't I?

First of all, I am going to post my Bulls Eye quilt made from hubby's shirts for a new friend, Lois, who needs to see what this looks like completed.


For those of you who don't know the story, here it is:

My hubby got sick in 1998 and lost about 100 lbs. over several years of illness and recovery. He's a natty dresser and wouldn't admit that he couldn't/shouldn't be wearing his button down shirts that were too big. So, slowly, I removed them one at a time from his closet, never returning them. Of course, they ended up in my stewdio to be made into a quilt for him. Every week or so, he would call to me, "Honey, have you seen my blue plaid shirt?". When I gifted his quilt to him for Christmas, he was so excited! He said, "How wonderful! A quilt just for me?!! And it's plaid! It looks just li-k-e m..y p-la-id shirts???" If you look closely, you'll see that I added some other fabrics for interest - he really didn't wear musical notes or chickens on his plaid shirts!

Next catch up thing to attend to:
My friend, Karrin, tagged me a while ago to post 7 weird or random facts about myself. Here are the rules, but I will just let anyone else play along if they want.

THE RULES:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

About me:
1. I used to be a police sergeant a long time ago.
2. My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, mayonnaise and sugar on Wonder bread.
3. I can write with my feet.
4. When I was a child, I had a blind, one-legged rooster as a pet.
5. I have an extreme aversion to heights.
6. I still use Mentholatum to cure anything connected to a cold.
7. I can't carry a tune, but I love to sing (if no one can hear me.)

Next thing I've been tagged for by Carol E.

You're supposed to reach for the nearest book, turn to page 123, and type sentences 5, 6, and 7 into your blog. Once again, play along if this interests you.

The nearest book at hand near my computer is House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday. A very difficult book to read, even if it was a Pulitzer prize winner. I am still contemplating why it won the prize. But, the exercise is interesting so here is my contribution.

"Transported so in the dim and dancing light among the shadows of her room, she seemed beyond the reach of time, as if age could not lay hold of her. But that was an illusion....."


And last, I've completed this year's sample for the new Crystals line for Fabri Quilt that will be used at spring market this year. As soon as the binding is on, I'll post it. I rather like the fabrics this year, so it was a snap to get it completed. Besides they only wanted one this year instead of two, and it couldn't be bigger than 30" - so what was hard about that, eh?

A Boy and his Chair

Grandson Stephen is saved by his big sister Audrey!

Where has the time gone?

Gosh, has it really been that long since I posted on the blog? I had a couple of emails from folks a little worried about me, but never fear! I am OK! Not sleeping in the sun like my buddies! I've just been pretty busy doing a lot of nothing and more of everything else....

Let's see: I've gone to my first ever caucus (and we were the last polling place to get home that night and it snowed!) because there were over 1300 people who showed up; I've gotten a king size quilt top done and sent to it's rightful owner in exchange for some long arm quilting; I've gotten a couple of exchange blocks completed; I've gotten 3 bindings sewn on and needing to be handstitched down; I've gotten my practice piece done for my Sumptuous Surfaces class. Oh! Sumptuous Surfaces? What's that you say?

Well, after a lot of consideration, I decided to take a Joggles.com class with Sharon Boggin. I do NOT do embroidery, but her class covers design and design elements, as well as texture. What's not to like? Even though I am not really enjoying the embroidery stitching, I am enjoying the process as well as the finished results of the different textures. I have to admit I am at the point of having to force myself to sit down and do the stitching. I'll post pictures when it is further along. My design, however, is the Smithson Jetty in the Great Salt Lake.

I really can't post many pictures of what I am working on in the quilt stewdio right now. Lots of round robins and secrets! I AM sewing a lot, though. I have no idea how many of these petals need to be made since I haven't decided how many flowers will be added. Right now, though, each flower take about 22 petals or so.

These petals are inside out since I can't show you any of the fabrics I am using, either.

It's been pretty durned cold here, and gloomy to boot. Today was the first REAL sunny day in a long time. My buddies in the above pictures snoozed most of the day and followed the sun around. When I took their picture this morning, Clyde, was on the floor directly under Bonnie on the ironing board. And Papa was in the other corner wrapped up in his rag quilt snoozing away while I was planting flowers!

OK! I PROMISE! I won't wait two weeks or so before another post. And SOON, maybe I'll be able to post more pictures of what I'm working on.

Sunny Quilting Days Ahead!

First, I keep forgetting to mention that my buddy Karrin nominated me for a You Make My Day award, which is really sweet. I know I have many readers from all over the world who don't leave comments ( and I wish you would at least say hi!), so this makes MY day, Karrin! In keeping with the "rules of the game", I am supposed to nominate 10 other blogs and let them know. This is so very difficult to do. I think, instead I will just refer you to my blogroll to the right, and especially point out Fragments from Floyd, Crazy Aunt Purl and a new one that I haven't added yet: sharonb's A Minute Ago (More on this in a later entry this week).

This blog entry is going to be like a steady stream of consciousness. A little of this, a little of that, and who knows what else?

We've been home almost a week now, and I think I am finally back into the "you're not on vacation anymore" mode. The first clue was the change in the weather - from 80 degrees to one degree catches your attention, for sure! I've gotten most of the un-Christmasing done, but now I have to wait on Hubby to re-arrange the shelving in the storage room before I can say it is completely done! I ran into Jo-Ann's last night to pick up some needles and I found some really good Christmas deals at 70% off so they came home with me and now they are in the pile to be put away too.

Yesterday was supposed to be a birthday stitch day with my Amazing Quilt Babes group, but the birthday girl ended up in the ER. So, instead we were all called at 7AM, and told to bring whatever we wanted to work on. I got three bindings put on: Cherry Limeade, Marston Baskets, and Bound to the Prairies. I also managed to get the inner border put on the black/bright houses and stars. This is Shirlee's completed flimsie - she's worked on it for at least a year, I think, and we all just love it!


I started in earnest back to the gym with my trainer. My goal to be healthier this year is to lose 20 lbs by May 1. What that actually translates to is 1400 calories a day, 12,000 steps a day, and one and a half hours of "activity". Since last Thursday, I've been right at or over target on the steps, and under target on the calories. Fridays will be weigh in days, and I am looking for at least a pound and a half each week. In addition to the gym, today I went to our local Jazzercise center and joined up - wore myself out with a class! I still have 6,000 steps to go, so it will be on the treadmill here at home.

I'm working on a couple of round robins (one for my Cambria retreat) and the on-line small Mae Britt style. I sure wish I could show you! I am truly enjoying the experience.

And last! I also signed up for a joggles.com class. More on that and Sharonb's information in the next post!

Winding down

And yes, ALL the 33 beaches are just like this one!

We're into the last few days of vacation here. Today (Saturday) and tomorrow will be the end of it and then we have to fly home all day Monday. It's been great, and as always as we fly over the island on our way north, I'll yearn for just one more day of sun and surf. But that's for the next time....sigh.

We've booked a wonderful place called Serenity for December of this year to come back. Usually we arrive either just after Christmas or around the New Year, but the prices have continued to climb higher and higher. Shoulder season, as they call it, will be just fine for two weeks, and then back in time to do Christmas and New Year's at home. This is what it looks like from the beach. The little red hut is a beach bar not yet opened for the day.

There's a little place on the beach where it turns abruptly and heads off on a 90 degree turn. Every year there is more added to the Flotsam stack. Each year I take a picture of it,and now it has become art. I especially like the "no visitor" "no open" sign that has been added this year.

You also never know what you are going to see on the island. We were coming back from grocery shopping yesterday and I had Hubby turn the car around so I could get this picture. Now, mind you, goats and chickens are the only animals you ever see here (with the exceptional of ONE old ox), so I have no idea what they were thinking when they did this to their car!

Enough sightseeing and now onto more books! Don't bother to read Stephen Fry's Fourth Order. It stinks - really bad! I haven't read this bad of a book since I don't know when! After that, I read another stinker - Blinding Light by Paul Thoroux. It was disappointing because he is such a great writer (Mosquito Coast) and the book started out delightfully funny. About 25% into it, I felt as if he got mixed up with what story he was telling and completely switched themes. I barely muddled through it and was happy to put it on the bookshelf to leave behind! Then I read Elizabeth Berg's sweet Never Change, a soft character romance, and then Swimming Naked by Stacy Sims. If you are looking for a bit of brain candy, go for Berg's book. If you want to wonder how in the world do children survive weird parents, read Sims. I didn't care for Swimming Naked but it passed another day on the beach with me. Last night I started an advance reading copy that my brother-in-law left behind: Midnight Rambler by James Swain. If you like Michael Connelly, you'll like this mystery. More character descriptions than murders, with the serial killer just out of reach and enough pizazz to keep you guessing about it. The main character is also like Harry Bosch, but just a bit earlier in his "retirement".

So, that takes me through all the hardbacks available. Hubby brought the new Follett book, World without End, and loved it! I am going to go home and re-read Pillars of the Earth before I start it though, so it will have to wait. I DO have a book on my Ipod that I downloaded just before leaving - Tandia by Bruce Courtenay (the sequel to the Power of One). I am not a big audio book listener so I've saved it for last. Today is a bit cloudy and looks like a rain day, so we are planning to stay at the villa and read some more. The pool is a nice little dip if I get too hot, and we will have BLTs for lunch. Dinner? Probably some fish! LOL!

This will be my last blog entry until after we get home. I hope you've enjoyed coming along with us, and I'll be back at the stewdio on Tuesday!