Show and Tell

Recently I spent three weeks at my DD's in PA. I had a lot of sitting around time so I got three books read and three redwork pictures made. I like these kitty scenes. By the way, my DGG who was in the hospital is doing very well now.
Click on pics to see them better.

After I got home, I put together some very old blocks (maybe late 1930's). They were in an old trunk that belonged to my grandmother. These 8 blocks were made but not put together. I really liked how they went with each other into this pattern. I added a backing by hand and gave it to my Aunt for her 85th birthday.

After our cooler than normal weather, we are now having hot weather. It went from the 70's to over 90. Strange. I got my little flower garden in front of my house cleaned up and the pond started. After a recent storm, the turtle is not spurting water. Oh, me.

Most recent unemployment rate for MI is 14.1 Still highest in the nation. Good news yesterday was they are going to open an auto plant and GE bringing in something too. But these won't help for months. Very hard times here yet.

Good news on the family front. My 25 year old DGS has gotten his first full time job. After finishing his masters degree, he worked three part-time jobs last year. One of them is now full time. He has been living in a room with kitchen privileges but is now looking for an apartment. He is in the Boston area.

Home Again

For the last three weeks I've been visiting my DD1 and her family in PA. My DGD was in the hospital and I went to try to help. At least I could let the dog out. My DD and her husband needed to keep working so I tried to be of some help. My DGD is home now and doing well. Kipper went with me and enjoyed visiting with his old doggy friend Lady. She is a year younger then Kipper - 10 years old - but she seams so much older. She has arthritis and is deaf. I wonder why some dogs age faster than others do. They also had a cat. Kipper was good with her although he stole cat food and gained weight. I did to. Gained weight - not ate the cat's food. Not we are back to out regular diets and hope to take a few pounds off.

The first picture is the pile of mail I picked up at the post office today. I have no idea how the picture turned up side down. Almost all my bills are on autopay so this is mostly junk, but I must go through it.

The other pictures are of a jeans quilt that I made and gave my daughter a few years ago. I don't think I took a picture of it then so I took some while visiting. It was interesting to make but ended up being heavy. I guess that also means it is warm. The red plaid seen in the last picture is what is on the back. I collected jeans and some are those my DGD wore.

While out today, I also make a stop at the grocery store. Prices in PA are so much higher than here in MI, or even in FL. A box of pudding mix that costs 89 cents here was $1.39 and that was at a major grocery store. Gas is now $3 a gallon here.

Michigan is hurting so much from the economy mess. Our last official unemployment rate was 13.5% but it is expected to reach 20%. It is so sad to see all the stores closed and houses abandoned.

Letters

Thanks to Tonya at Lazy Girl I actually sewed something. I've been in a slump for some time now and this challenge was just what I needed. Tonya asked for people to make letters for sounds of Halloween. We will send them to her for her to make a quilt. The first pic is the correct color. I don't know what happened to the second pic but it really is the same color as the first one. Click on the top one to see the different prints I used. Tonya wanted different font styles used and I decided I didn't like the R in OR so I replaced the one in the top pic with the one in the bottom pic. I have left the words for Tonya to make into whatever shape block will work best. It will be so much fun to see the end quilt.

Spring is finally here in my part of MI. It is still on the cold side with a heavy frost this morning. The tulips are shivering a little.


A week ago I remembered to go block off the top to my propane tank so the robins couldn't make a nest in it. I was too late. Not only was there a nest but eggs too. They are so blue. Now I won't disturb the nest until the babies are gone. Last year they died so I hope they make it this year. I'm glad I won't need a gas refill until they are gown.

Salad
Look what I just brought home from the grocery store! I stopped to buy some cottage cheese and found some great looking produce at very good prices. Those tomatoes smell so good. They are definitely vine ripened and were $1 per pound. The broccoli heads were the same price and the corn was 19 cents per ear. The pineapple was $2.

For lunch I had a huge salad. In my refrigerator I already had some field greens, carrots, celery, radishes and carrots. I also added grated cheese. mmm good. What is your favorite salad dressing? Mine is fresh lemon juice and Splenda.

What will I make with my goodies? veggable soup? BLTs? goloush? peanut butter and pineapple sandwich? baked sweet potatoes? or maybe boil them and then "candy" them with Splenda pancake syrup and butter? I do enjoy food.

I went to a dermatologist today and got a "sun spot" taken off my cheek. This is the second time and it was quite large. Three weeks ago I had two moles removed. Those spots are healing nicely. No chance of cancer in either one.

I stopped at the drug store on the way home. I got some large bandaids for my face. The only ones my skin will tolerate are the flexible ones. I forgot to take one with me to the doctor. I also picked up my refills on my prescriptions. There were three of them and the bill was $436.79. This is the same price as it would be if I sent away for them. Yes, I have insurance. That was just my copay. Unfortunately, none of the drugs have generic forms. That was a three month supply anyway. I also have another one that I didn't get today. And I'm actually healthy. Just arthritis, bladder spasms, gastric reflux and diabetes. Well, that may not sound like I'm so healthy but with these drugs, everything is well under control. So maybe I shouldn't complain.

On the way home it started raining again. We have had major huge rain storms in the last two weeks and I have water standing all around my home. My windshield wipper is torn up. How come I can't remember to get it fixed when it is't raining? I have two dehumidifers running in my basement and am constantly listening to make sure my sump pump is running. I had to put Kipper in the basement shower three times yesterday to get his feet and legs clean. He has a fenced in yard to run in and there is lots of water and mud. The last time he went out, I put him on a leash and just let him get on a bit of grass.

I've actually gotten into my sewing room and will make a quilty blog soon.

Blogger Quilt Festival

Today is the last day to get into Amy's (Park City Girl) Quilt Show. What a great idea.

I have so many favorite quilts but chose to enter "What's In A Name?" I made questions and the answers were the names on the quilt. I still usually refer to it as my space quilt.

It was made for a challenge to commemorate 50 years in space. I used my version of Tonya's letters and really enjoyed doing it. I hand quilted the stars which gave it just the right finishing touch.

Soon after I finished it, Astronaut Barbara Morgan went into space. She was a teacher and then became an astronaut. I really admired her. She was very pleased to receive it and donated it to Idaho State Historical Museum in Boise, where it now hangs. She dedicated it to teachers and students everywhere.

April in MI

I've been busy getting ready to come back to MI from FL and then busy getting things done here. You know, things like doctor to get my labs done and Rx refilled, dentist to get teeth cleaned, dermatologist to get a couple moles taken off my face and tax person to get that done. Lots of other small errands with delays. In the five months I've been gone, the laboratory where I usually get my blood work done has closed and many businesses are on four day weeks to try to save energy. Things are very difficult here with 12 percent unemployment, which is highest in the country. I do notice that the grocery prices are lower here than in FL and both places are lower than in many other parts of the country.

Last week Mother Nature send me a taste of winter. Most of our weather comes from the west but this came directly from the north. The left side of the tree faces north. It only lasted one day but the temperatures have continued to be cold.

Winters here are hard on roads and other things. The cement holding my clothes pole down has heaved. Notice the water in the field now the snow has melted.

Joyce on J's Quilting Blog has a picture of her muddy road. Oh, this brought back memories. My road has been black topped for years now but for many years we were the last house before cars got stuck in the mess. Everyone came to my house to call for help. Those were the days before cell phones. I kept calling the county to get them to close the road - put up a sign to warn people. They hated to do that because then they would have to do something about fixing the road. The school bus couldn't make it either and we had mud emergency routes with places the children had to go to to get on the buses. Winter is very hard on our roads here in MI and the pot holes are terrible. People send pictures to the weather person on TV to see who has the worst pot hole. Recently I was driving on a paved road where they had put up a sign saying "Rough Road Ahead". That meant the top layer of the road was all broken up and there are places with major pot holes so drive about 20 mph and good luck.

Space Shuttle Discovery March 15, 2009
Click to enlarge these.

The weather was perfect. Dusk was falling. It was 7:43 and there it was. I live 90 miles from Kennedy Space Center. Actually you could view it from much further away than I am.

The first picture has no telephoto. The rest have some. It was easily seen. The sun was very low in the sky and it colored the vapor trail a beautiful pink.

I was surprised that I could see the separation. See the third picture. And how long I could see the shuttle after it separated. See the light dot in the last picture.

If you haven't done so, google the launch and see some wonderful close up pictures. I have visited the launch pad and and area where the press took those pictures.

If you are ever able, visit Kennedy Space Center.

Strawberry Pie

Yes, this pie is as good as it looks. And it has no sugar added.

Now is the strawberry season here in Florida. You can buy them at the strawberry farm, farmer's market or grocery store. I bought a half flat.

I live in a senior mobile home park here in Florida. We have pot luck dinners each month. Most of our residents are natives of another state. Some are snow-birds, like I am, and some are now year-rounders. Each pot luck is put on by the people from a state or combination of states. We set up the tables and clean up afterwards. We also prepare the meat and desert. Each person pays $2.50 to cover the costs involved. This week the residents from Michigan put on a chicken dinner. We made homemade cakes for general desert and strawberry pies for the diabetic residents. I made two and they were good. Actually I made three - two for the dinner and a third for me. I had to eat a piece to make sure it was okay before taking to the dinner, right? I also gave pieces to some people who couldn't attend. One is a lady and her husband who were about my age fifteen years ago when my dad lived here. They were so kind to him and I'm so happy to do a little pay back now. My closest neighbors, who watch out for my home when I'm north, also each got a piece, as did another friend who just got home from the hospital.

Here's the recipe. It is so simple.

Bake and cool pie crusts. See my April 17, 2007 post for a no-fail recipe.

For each pie:

Wash, hull and slice 4 cups of strawberries. Put in baked, cooled pie crust.
In a sauce pan mix 2 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 3/4 cup of Splenda and a large box (or 2 small boxes) of sugar-free strawberry jello. Bring to a full boil to thicken. Pour over strawberries. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Store in refrigerator.

If desired, top with whipped cream before serving.

You can make a sugar version by substituting sugar and regular jello.

Hope you can buy some fresh strawberries and make this one. If not keep this recipe handy until your part of the country has some.

Kipper

I give Kipper a bath every month. It is a major process. I have a shower here in Florida that is bath tub size but has glass doors that go to the floor. I keep a bath seat in this shower. So I take off all my clothes and sit on this seat while Kipper stands in the rest of the shower. That's right, there is no photo. "S" Kipper likes to get bathed and is very good but his fur makes him hard to get wet. The shower head comes down and we run water, add oatmeal shampoo and scrub. First one area than another. I wash his head last and use no-tears baby shampoo there. Kipper is very good about not shaking but it is hard when I spray water on his head. When done, I drape a towel over him and he shakes. I dry him a little and then he takes over and uses his big tongue to dry himself. I know many dogs roll to dry themselves, but Kipper only rubs his head on the rug. He drys very quickly.

After he is out, I clean the shower and then the rest of the bathroom. Finally I take a shower myself. Three tasks done.

Next I brush Kipper's teeth with his electric toothbrush. He loves this. Then I check his ears. With his perky ears he never has any problems. Finally I file his nails with a battery-powered file. Some of his nails are white and it is easy to see where to cut but many of his nails are black and it is very hard. Even if I cut them, they also need filed, so now I just skip the cutting. Kipper does not like having anything done with his nails, so we have a system where he hides his head behind my back as I work on each paw. Out of sight, out of mind? Anyway, it works. The last step to this long process is to give him a little brushing and launder the towels.

Kipper's last haircut was a couple months ago. For this current hot Florida weather, he needs cut again but I think he'll need some fur for the Michigan weather when we head back at the end of this month. Since his last haircut, he has areas where his hair and fur has not grown back. They are mostly along his back. They are hard to see in the pictures but you can see the color change in the last one. They don't bother him. There is a little dandruff-like flaking. He has been scratching his head a lot lately. I know it is his spring allergy. He gets it every year here in Florida and also in the fall in Michigan. So, yesterday I took Kipper to his Florida doctor. I like him very much. He thinks the alopecia areas are not indicative of any disease. Kipper has no signs of hypothyroidism. He already gets Omega oils in his dog food. The vet gave him a shot for his allergy. It usually works in a few hours but he is still scratching his head today. I sure hope it gives him some relief soon.

Flowers

Aren't these beautiful? No they aren't in my yard here in Florida but in a friend's. We took several days of hard frost (and more than once) this year so many of plants have been cut back. These came from bulbs.

What's Happening?

I haven't posted in a while. No good reason for not doing so. I've just had nothing to say. And not been doing much either.

So what is going on with the pictures? Are my neighbors having an outdoor quilt show? Nope. We had some freezing nights a bit ago here in mid-Florida and people covered their plants. The quilt in the first picture looked to me like it really should have stayed on the bed. Very pretty. The one in the second picture is really a woven blanket but is a nice inspiration for a quilt, huh? The third is a tree all covered up and it made it. The last one shows what happened when a plant didn't get covered. It was the hardest freeze here that I have ever seen and it lasted for several nights. I don't have any plants that need covered around my home except a hibiscus and about half if it froze. I tried to cover it one night but the wind was so strong that I give up. The plant is still alive and will come back another year. They water the strawberries and burn smug pots for the citrus and they make it through. The garden crops including tomatoes and green beans aren't unusually so lucky. However, I was able to buy both this weekend at the farmer's market. I feel guilty telling about the "bad" weather here when everyone up north is having such a terrible winter. My DD1 in PA has been without electricity for three days. They have a generator for the refrigerator and freezer and used the fireplace for heat. I'm trying to send sunshine to all of you.

Yesterday, I broke down and bought a small bottle of real vanilla. It is so expensive. I was tempted to buy the imitation kind for a dollar less but decided to just give up $5 for a little bottle of the real stuff. I tried the farmer's market/flea market and discount stores where I have gotten it before, but they have none now. I plan to make some banana bread today. This makes me think about how women used to keep their spices locked up and they kept the only key. The spices were that valuable.

Kipper is doing fine. He got a short hair cut at Christmas time and has been growing his fur back but for some reason it is not growing on his back and upper part of his neck. Their is a row of longer hair between the two areas. Strange. He never did this before and my DD2 says he is having male pattern baldness. :)
Well, he is a handsome older guy anyway. Hard to think that he will be 11 years old in a couple months.

I haven't replaced my broken sewing machine and just haven't had an urge to get any fabric out. Hancock was having a batting sale so I bought some Thermore and have been hand quiting one of the tops that have been waiting so patiently. I have six inch diagonal direction lines finished. I was going to call that done as the Thermore says it only has to be quilted every nine inches so this would have been enough. However, I started doing the other direction. If I would work on it every day, I might get it done. This is only the second quilt I've hand quited and I'm using two strands of embroidery floss. If I would work on it every day, I'd make more progress.

Got to go get that banana bread going now.

Another Hair Cut

My DD2 gave Kipper a hair cut and this time she cut his ears and even his face. Oh well, it will grow. And he is cool. Then she took him to the dog beach to swim and play with the other dogs. He sure loved that. Kipper doesn't look like a 10 year old does he? There is a little tell-tale gray under his eyes but he gets away with it very nicely.

We have had warmer than normal weather lately with 10 days over 80 degrees in December. Normal is low 70's. We are back to that today.

Oranges are ripe and even some early strawberries but they weren't too good.

All that snow up north is nice to see in pictures but I'm glad I'm not feeling it or trying to drive in it. It is flowers here.

2008 is almost over. It has been a very eventful year. Wishing everyone a very happy, healthy New Year.

Finish

I have finished a UFO butterfly quilt. It was quilted by hand and bound in black.

I also made a utility quilt for my DGS. I wanted to use fabric I had but just wasn't happy with any of it for a young boy so I bought these two patriotic fabrics. It went together easily and looked nice. Then I looked through my stash for something for the backing or fabric I could sew together to make a backing. Nothing. I went to Hancock and discovered their selection of St. Jude fabrics. They are just wonderful and a dollar of each yard is donated to them. This is such a wonderful place to donater to anyway. I really loved the pokadot fabric so bought it for the back - and extra for the stash. I also bought some coordinating fabric from this collection. See the bottom picture. Sorry the color is still not good. Enlarging it helps.

The quilting of this quilt was a disaster. I put on my walking foot and the sample looked fine. But when I went to reverse, the stitches were very short. So I ended up only going forward and turning the quilt. Ugg. With most of it done, I left it and went to bed one night. The next morning, everything was wrong. I broke needles and got thread messes. For the next hour I worked on it. I finally decided that the plastic area where the bobbin case goes is somehow broken. This is an inexpensive machanical machine. I got it when the needle of my even older and cheaper one refused to move from right to left (couldn't make an accurate 1/4 inch seam). I bought it for Florida and didn't want to spend much money as I figured it would be damaged with the high humidity when I went north for the summers. I found this machine in the back of the closet and used it to finish the quilting and putting on the binding of both quilts.

Now I need to think about getting another machine here in Florida. When I put in a new heating/cooling system, I got a control that regulates the humidity when am gone. I also keep a dehumidifier set up and draining into my kitchen sink. These work well and I haven't had any machine damage. So now I guess I need to start shopping. Well, after looking at my finances again.

Kipper was in the bedroom and had something in his mouth. His jaws were locked tight and whatever he had was falling out of his mouth. It was definitely wet and looked furry. I asked him what he had and he crouched down and pleaded with me to keep it. Oh me. Did he have an animal? And inside my house. I told him to leave it and he begged to keep it. I insisted and out came a large gray glob. It least it didn't move. What was it? A well chewed spool of my gray quilting thread. You know, one of those big cone ones of cotton thread. I remembered dropping it and not wanting to crawl under the table to get it. Then I forgot to pick it up. That will teach me.

Kipper and I are going to my DD's for the holidays. Hope everyone has a happy, healthy time with families. See you next year.

Mobile Home Park

This is a sign in my mobile home park in FL. If you can't see it, the bottom two lines say, "Seniors at Play Strictly Enforced." I ride my bike and Kipper runs with me through the park every day. I stopped to take the picture and Kipper thought he better check to see what other dogs had been by. There are lots of dogs, and some cats, too in my park. Many of the other mobile home parks don't allow dogs at all. My park has only about 300 homes so is one of the smallest ones. There are 600 mobile home parks in this county and most would have many more homes than mine. Most, like mine, are senior (over age 55) parks.

It has been cold here. Okay, nothing like up north. I've sure been happy I came south when I did. Here is Kipper curled up to keep warm. He always wakes up when I get the camera out but was so comfortable that he only opened his eyes this time.

It has been good soup weather. I made squash soup. Roast a butternut squash and remove the flesh. Boil some potatoes and onions in chicken broth. You can boil the squash with the potatoes and onions but I like the roasted flavor better. I beat the potato/onion/chicken broth mixture with an electric mixer, add the squash and then put it in the blender. Put back in the pan and add milk. I think you are suppose to use cream but I use whole milk. Since I drink skim milk this tastes like cream to me. Season to taste. I use seasoning salt, butter and bits of cooked bacon. For a large squash and a couple potatoes, I use two cups of milk. Really good the next day and the day after that too.

I have finished making 12 hot pads for my younger grandchildren to give teachers and other people for gifts. I bought that insulated batting and made the first three by adding a second layer of plain cotton batting. Then I decided the second layer make them too thick to use in your hand to grab something hot from the oven. The two layers make a nice pad to set a hot dish on.

Western Flowers

I have been hand quilting with stars the butterfly quilt. For some reason, I thought it needed close quilting and started putting the stars about an inch-and-a-half apart. Really dumb idea but now I've started it .... I try to work on it for an hour each day and have about half of it done. It really is easy work while I listen to audio library books that I download onto my computer.

I just had to start a new quilt and have made another top. I'm intrigued with doing blocks using three fabrics. Two of them are fungly but color coordinated and the third is a contrast. I was going to make the blocks like the butterfly quilt but I goofed and ended up with the 12 inch block pictured in the first picture. The second picture shows one arrangement of the first batch of blocks. I cut a few blocks and then sew them and then repeat the progress. The third picture is the arrangement I decided on. The last picture shows the finished top. I pinned it to my drapes. I need to get some quilt hangers and make a design wall here in FL. The top picture has the best color. I see the diagonal line more in the quilt than this picture shows it. This is a easy fun quilt to make. It is 42 by 60 inches and I used every bit of the blue and the flower print. The flower print was left over from the backing of Walk in the Woods that I made in FL during the winter of 2006. I use it for a chair throw.

Snake

Recently I was cleaning out the air fungus in my shrub everygreens which are located at the front of my home. This stuff, which I think is called Spanish Moss, lives independently of the tree but fastens itself to the tree, often at an elbow. They say it doesn't kill the tree but it grows and as it does, it takes over the green leaves. I don't want this to happen and I don't like the looks of it, so I went out to remove as much of it as I could reach. I was dressed in blue jeans, a long sleeve shirt and gloves so I could pull the branches down and wiggle into the interior to get to the trunk. Suddently I see some color at about my eye level. What is it? Oh, my. A snake is curled up on a branch. It is very small, about as big around as my small finger. I go get the camera but I'm not about to move the needles of the tree to get a really good shot. The snake does not move at all and I wonder if it is alive. I'm sure glad it wasn't on one of the branches that I pulled down or it probably would have been dumped on my head. I asked a neighbor about it and she said there are a lot of them and she usually sees them on the ground. I checked the next day and it was gone. The third picture is enlarged so you can see the color better but it is not as big as it looks in that picture. Anyone know what kind of snake it was?

Veterans' Day

The external fan for my computer is not working so I can't do a long post but I do want to share some pictures of the memorial in my park here in FL after a very moving ceremony this morning.

May we all pause today to remember all the men and women who served and continue to serve our country. And remember their families, too.

Here are the pics of of the butterfly quilt that somehow got omitted for the next blog post.

Election

I am very proud to be an American today. I am an old white woman and am so proud that I have lived to see Americans look beyond religion, race, sex and most of all "hateful garbage" to come to the polls and vote for the person they thought would deal best with the issues.

Quilting and More

I brought these two butterfly quilt tops to FL and am hand quilting one of them. I am using the random star technique. Because I'm concerned that the poly batting is not very good quality, I am putting the stars pretty close together. I put in plenty of pins and sew on it on my dining room table. It has a good light hanging over it. I removed the globe and put in a bright bulb. I do limit myself to one hour at a time. It has been many months since I did hand quilting to am getting back in the groove. One thing I like to do is pull the knot through at a seam in the patchwork. I think it goes through easier. I also heard a hint on Sewing With Nancy that has been helpful. Use one of those easy threading needles - the ones that you pull the thread down from the top rather than thread the eye - for the short pieces of thread at the end. I once had some of these needles but didn't like them and got rid of them. So after I heard the hint, I went to Hancock and bought some more. It really does work. I'm using double strand blue embroidery floss. So happy that Hancock is still here near my house in FL.

I dropped an empty Pyrex cup yesterday and it shattered into so many slivers of glass. I didn't think it would do that. Anyway I finally got it all cleaned up without any injuries.

I'm still adjusting to FL. The lock on my back door here is locked when the line on the knob is vertical. My one in MI is locked when it is horizontal. The knobs on my cook stove are also in a different order so I have to stop and think if the one I'm turning on is the burner I want to get hot. Also adjusting to my cable here. In MI when I turn it on, the last channel I had it on is where it comes on again. Here it always comes on to the cable channel. Also finding the channels and times for shows I watch. And where the buttons are on my remote. My DD says all this is good for me. I say I'm lazy.

It is interesting how different we do and say things in different parts of our county. I remember being in Arkansas and saying "pardon". They had never heard anyone say that. Here in FL the news announcers talk about "wrecks". In MI we say accidents. I always think of a wreck as being a mess. Every year when I come here, I miss having the prices actually on the items in the stores. It is required in MI and here I have to look all over for a sign with the price. It seems that a lot of the time there isn't one We also have a 10 cent bottle and can deposit in MI so I'm always separating them from my other recycle items. Every town both here and in MI recycle different things. I have the list on the refrig now. I have found that Walgreen has milk for $3.69 while it is near $5 in the grocery store. I found some great smoked neck bones and made pea soup yesterday. The secret everywhere is to buy what is on sale. I'm also trying to grocery shop every two weeks with just buying milk and bread every week. I made banana cookies with Splenda and pumpkin custard too. Gasoline was just gone down to $2.29. I filled my car up. I hope people don't stop their conservation efforts now.

I got my mobile home power washed. The man also did the inside of my porch, my sheds and driveway so all the black mold is gone. I'm battling fire ants again. I tried using salt but they just move over as it doesn't kill them. I have to be careful not to use anything that will hurt Kipper. The best thing I have found is boiling water but it is a big job boiling and carrying it out to the ant hills. I'm always afraid I'll spill and burn myself.

Fabric Stash in FL

I was thinking of making another quilt top but thought I didn't have much in my stash here in FL. Oh was I wrong. See what I took out of the cupboard on the left. The top shelf has white background fabrics that I didn't take out. I had so much fun touching and arranging and thinking and wondering. Some pieces are very small but some are a decent size. The colors still aren't coming through just right but you can see the browns that I laid out and then the blacks. I brought three tops from MI to quilt and there are a couple UFO here too. I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought batting on sale. Looks like I'm all set for this winter.

In case you haven't figured it out, that is a mirror I'm taking the picture into so it s reflecting to show me, my fan and light, a lamp, the window with drapes open to my porch and my neighbors' home. I use my dining room for my sewing room here in FL. That s my sewing machine under the blue fabric in the middle and my sewing light is bent behind the machine.

See the next post for more pics of my stash.