Mismatched Quilter

Goodbye Good Boy

2010-09-17T20:10:00.002-04:00

For anyone still checking this blog, I just wanted to share that Kipper died today. He survived surgery for an intestinal blockage that was caused by him eating a wash cloth but it had done too much damage. I'll miss my best friend and companion for the last 12 1/2 years so very much. Katie

2010-01-27T12:01:00.000-05:00

Goodbye to Harper

We know that our senior citizen dogs will not be with us forever but we can't imagine how our lives will be without them. Libby and her DH are living through the sadness of the death of their dear Harper.

These are pictures of my dear old guy Kipper. He will be 12 years old in a couple months. Whenever Libby wrote about Harper, I related to Kipper doing the same things whether it was keeping the squirrels out of her yard, snoozing under a bush, riding in the car, going for walks or playing in the snow. Both dogs were saves from shelters when they were puppies.

Harper will be missed by her family and by many blog friends.

2010-01-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Aquarium

These are some pictures I recently took at the aquarium in Tampa, Florida. It is a wonderful place.

Obviously the first picture is a sea horse. Is the second one a water plant? Nope. It too is a sea horse. The third picture makes that a little clearer. Click on the pictures.

2010-01-14T11:59:00.002-05:00

Elsie the Cow

Does anyone else remember Elsie the Cow?

She was the famous mascot for the Borden Company. During my childhood she was the most recognizable product logo in the United States and Canada.

When I was a kid, my family lived in the small town of Elsie, Michigan. There were many diary herds in the area and I believed, erroneously, my town was the home of Elsie the Cow.

Elsie's husband was Elmer and he later went to Borden's chemical division to be the mascot for Elmer's glue.

2010-01-11T13:16:00.002-05:00

What Makes A Good Day?

Eat fruit from my cereal bowl.

See sun shining in my window.

Watch a doggie's wagging tail.

Listen to Golden Oldies music.

Receive a call from a loved one.

Laugh and laugh with my friend.

Find a magazine in my mailbox.

Feel the good soil of my garden.

Create with my sewing machine.

Smell the air after a rain shower.

Expand my horizon with words.

Smile from a memory once lost.

2010-01-07T18:54:00.002-05:00

How Cold Is It?

I know it is very cold is most of our country and I know what that means in my home state of Michigan. But it is interesting what very cold weather means in Florida. What am I talking about? Last night it was 27 degrees for five hours in mid Florida - between Tampa and Orlando. That broke the local records. Abnormal cold weather has been here for over ten days, which makes everything worse.

I know the cold weather with ice and snow is hard on the cattle and other animals in the north. The cattle here in Florida are doing fine but other animals are having trouble. (Did you know that cattle is the second largest business in Florida? It is second behind tourism and larger than the citrus business.) Florida has fisheries. Some are private businesses to produce fish for aquariums. One place has some indoor tanks and moved at least some of their fish to them. Another place did not have indoor tanks and ninety percent of the business was lost. I know zoos in the north make plans every year for their cold sensitive animals. Florida does too. Some of the animals are taken inside and some have heating put into their outdoor homes.

The wild animals are having problems.

The manatee begin to suffer health problems when the water gets under 60 degrees. They are coming in mass from the gulf into rivers and outlets what are warmed by springs or waste water warmed by manufacturing. The areal pictures show the manatee are massed together in these places. People are being asked to stay away from the masses of manatees so they won't be frightened and swim into cold water. One manatee missed the route to warmer water and ended up in a ditch. They have rescue people who picked her up and took her to warmer water.

Cold blooded animals such as the alligators, turtles, and snakes are having trouble. (Did you know that alligators don't feed until they are at a certain temperature?) One of the latest warnings is that the rats are trying to move into buildings to get warm too.

While up north the crops are now gone or dormant, many of them are in peak here in Florida. Florida provides most of the vegetables and fruits in the U.S. during the winter. Where I live in Florida, there are many fields of strawberries. They picked all they could and then ran sprinklers to cover the plants with ice. This actually causes them to stay warm. They have had to use the sprinklers for so many days that the green berries have been damaged. So far they have saved the plants. They have also sprayed the lower branches of the citrus trees and so far that crop is doing good. The vegetables have all been very damaged. The strawberry and citrus producers have water spraying systems but the lettuce, tomatoes and all the other vegetables don't generally have any protection and will have to be replanted.

I just learned about another effect of all the watering to protect crops. The ground is being so saturated that sink holes are causing both road and home damage. Sink holes are always a problem in many areas of Florida and home owners buy riders to their insurance for them, but the watering is increasing the problem.

Airplanes are being delayed in major airports such as Tampa because they are covered with ice in the morning. The Tampa airport has no de-iceing equipment. The planes must wait until mother nature melts the ice on the planes.

While in Michigan we use natural or propane gas to heat many of out homes, electricity is the major source here. They have used record amounts during the last two weeks. All the stores are sold out of space heaters. Some schools are having problems. There is a backup to get service on heating units that are not working. They have put a hold on turning off any one's electricity for unpaid bills until the cold lets up. It is expected to last another week and there is a possibility of snow during the weekend. The last time that happened here was 1967 but they think sleet and freezing rain will be more likely.

They have opened their emergency shelters for the homeless. At least three persons living in tents or other make-shift structures have died. They have also already used up their budgets for the emergency shelters.

Including mine, many mobile homes here are very poorly insulated. I don't have a roof over or additional insulation or new siding. Double pane windows are about unknown in Florida. I have a good heating/cooling unit and it has been running a lot. I sure don't look forward to seeing my next electric bill. I prefer to have my home cool and keep the thermostat at 60. Lots of soups, tea, clothes and quilts. Kipper is grown out medium long and has a nice coat for this weather. Many of the little dogs that live near us have sweaters to wear.

I suppose I find all this so interesting because it is such a contrast to winter in Michigan. What are the biggest problems from the cold weather in your area?

2010-01-04T16:09:00.002-05:00

Books

I've been reading books lately. Although I read many types of books, I love historical novels. While spending time sitting with my friend Shirley while she slept, I began reading the John Jakes trilogy North and South. I had read them many years ago but I also like to reread books I especially like. Mr. Jakes is really good with a story but is also so careful with the accuracy of time and place in his books. I do appreciate that.

My DD1 gave me a book for Christmas that has become my favorite ever book. It is titled The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It is now in paperback. The dog Enzo tells about his life with his human family. It is so well written. Mr. Stein sure knows dogs. And he knows about car racing, although I have to take the word of others for this. It is the weaving of these two together that makes a most thoughtful, heartfelt story. This is the only book that as soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it again, so I did and I know I'll read it many more times. I'm not sure if someone who hasn't lived with a canine friend or doesn't have my philosophy of life would love it as I do, but if you get a chance, give it a try. I'd love to hear if you like it as much as I do.

2010-01-03T10:59:00.003-05:00

Hot Chocolate

Well, I hard copied all the files I have. Some are very complete, even with pictures. Some are just notes with ideas to write about. Some were written 10 years ago and some have been scanned into a document. Some have already been printed in one of my Life Story Books.

I can do some writing directly on the computer but to organize, I need to use actual pieces of paper. Now I'm trying to decide if I should put them in a box for now or punch holes and put them into a notebook. I also have zip bags full of recipes so maybe I should put both a notebook and the loose stuff in a box.

It is cold here in Florida. Well not snow, ice and all that cold. But cold enough to water the strawberries and other ground crops and open shelters for the homeless. Even though I know how it works, it still looks funny to see the sprinklers putting water on the crops so it will freeze and protect them.

For breakfast this morning, I had hot chocolate and toast. This was a favorite of mine as a child. I would butter the toast and add strawberry jam. Then I would dunk it into the hot chocolate.

Now I make hot chocolate from dark cocoa. My favorite is a Saco product which is a blend of natural and Dutched cocoa. I have always preferred the dark kind. How great that now they say this dark chocolate is good for our health. Now I use Splenda rather than sugar. I mix the two with a small amount of water. Then I add milk and heat in the microwave. I like to use a large Pyrex cup. The final touch is to add a dash of vanilla. I have discovered that WalMart here in Florida is selling Watkins vanilla. It is very good and reasonable in price. If I have it, which I did today, I add whipped cream.

2010-01-02T09:41:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year

Has it really been four months since I posted? Life just got in the way.

I spent much time with my dear friend Shirley. She fought brain cancer for 18 months and died on November 29, 2009. Kipper and I are now in FL. I've been giving myself much leeway as I grieve my friend.

I finally feel like thinking about a project. I made a mental list and that may have been a mistake because now I don't know where to start. I still have not finished my genealogy stories I have been writing but most of that material is in MI. I have started stories about my DH, who died 11 years ago, and would like to get back to writing those memories. And I have started stories about food. Yes, there are recipes but also stories about them. I also have stories about pets that I'd like to put together. I already have about 40 miscellaneous stories and would like to get them organized and added to. Then there are sewing projects. I've really been in a dry spell. I did some red work as it was easy to carry with me. My sewing machine here in FL is not working properly and if I'm going to quilt, I need to replace it. And I have books I want to read.

Should I do a little of each or .....? Prioritization and procrastination have always been my roadblocks.

This blog was primarily to be about quilting. Maybe I need a different one now.

Lots of questions and no answers just now.

2009-08-26T19:03:00.000-04:00

Sewing Room Mess

I know I've been gone for way too long. I've been spending a lot of time with my friend Shirley who has brain cancer. And been very lazy about doing any sewing.

So how did my sewing room get so messed up? I pulled out lots of containers and today I filled four boxes for the Iraqi Bundles of Love. Looks like I could have filled a lot more. I got them all packed and into the mail. The four boxes weighed 32 1/2 pounds. They sure seemed to weigh more than that. Of course the weight didn't matter because the postage was a flat rate. I really filled each box as full as I could get it. I had the first one all taped up when I thought of something else I wanted to include - a picture of myself. So three of the bundles have my picture and one of my sewing. I really like the idea of this being a women to women project even if it uses a marvelous man to accomplish it. Art and all his military helpers are just the greatest and I'm sure they will try to get the bundles directly into the hands of the women. I hope they can somehow get some of them to the Kurdish women too.

While it is so true that we are now a world community, we also have local communities. Mine here in Michigan is still hurting so very much. As so many people move away to find jobs, it is believed that the city of Flint will soon have half the population that it had at its peak. Currently, Flint has a 25% unemployment rate. There are so many boarded up homes and businesses. People have been donating
back-packs filled with school supplies. It is hard but we are a determined people. We built the auto capital of the world and now we will start all over to build something else.

2009-06-27T13:34:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-06-10T19:16:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-05-12T12:56:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-04-30T14:40:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-04-24T09:19:00.001-04:00

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.

2009-04-15T12:17:00.001-04:00

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.

2009-03-16T09:22:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-03-12T16:38:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-03-10T14:06:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-03-10T12:51:00.000-04:00

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.

2009-02-16T12:51:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-12-30T11:44:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-12-18T11:09:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-12-06T16:20:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-11-19T13:11:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-11-19T12:31:00.000-05:00

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?

2008-11-11T11:47:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-11-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

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

2008-11-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-11-02T12:19:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-11-02T12:01:00.000-05:00

Look What's In My FL Stash.

Oh my! So much fun.

2008-10-28T15:33:00.000-04:00

Posting From Florida

Kipper and I are safely in FL again and just in time so I hear. It is even cold here and may break the record for the low temp tonight. Not pool weather here but it won't last long. And it is great weather to ride my bike while Kipper runs with me. Sunny.

Our trip went fine. My son was able to come and help me close up my MI home and get us to the airport. We had to change planes in Detroit and were delayed for an extra half hour because they had so many wheelchair passengers to get seated. Sure glad I didn't have to have one this year. They gave Kipper water. He must have been panting. That is the first time I've known of them to do that. He is a seasoned flier and does so well.

My daughter was here to pick us up at the airport. She had been to my house already and had it all opened up. She even bought groceries and dog food. That was Saturday and on Sunday she gave Kipper a hair cut - a nice short one. He had been rapidly growing his winter coat.

The palm is in my neighbor's yard, as is the grapefruit tree. The ducks have multiplied and were at the pond last evening.

Yesterday Kipper went running with me as I rode my bike around. Then he ate supper and was soon snoozing on the couch. This is his usual one ear cocked-up position. Somehow he always knows when I get the camera out and gets up but he was so tired this time, he only opened his eyes a little and quickly went back to sleep. As I write this he is in exactly the same position. Ah, the life.

I am still unpacking and cleaning but hope to get to the sewing machine soon. I brought down a couple of the quilt tops I had ready to finish and hope to get to them soon. I am so happy to see the Hancock store is still here and I will soon be going there to buy some batting. soon.

2008-10-21T20:55:00.001-04:00

A Bit More

I didn't explain very well the problem I had with food stamps. It was the people who were "living for a week" on food stamps. One of them said she bought her daughter "snackables' and juice boxes for her lunch but had to put back the frozen sausage biscuits she wanted to buy for her breakfast. And the canned veggie prices were a special just last week. I do think we need to help people learn to cook from scratch. One thing they do at my local food give-away place is to give out recipes and the food needed to make it. Good idea.

People with food stamps have several problems. One of them is getting to the grocery store. And the selections at local grocery stores is often very poor. It amazes me that chain stores don't carry the same produce in their stores in the poor area of a city than they carry in other areas. I sure think there are lots of people that are needing help now days. And not just with food. I often donate toilet paper, laundry soap, toothpaste etc. And dog food too. People are having a rough time keeping their pets. Lots of senior citizens are having it tough too. We have a van at our local center that will take seniors to stores and doctors and such places. They also bring them into the center for lunch. The big soup kitchen in our nearby city is feeding over 300 people a day - many of them are children. You can also donate to them food left over from things like funeral dinners. And then there are the working poor. Everyone is hurting.

I know my local food prices are lower than in many other parts of the country. This week a gallon of milk is $2.69 at Walgreens drug store. The regular price at the grocery is $3.59 and will probably be a dollar more than that in FL. And there are so many people just barely making it in good times in FL. I think Walmart has the best prices on spices. Not everything there but onions and cinnamon and such.

Okay on to other things.

I've been cleaning out a little and found the two pictures I made about 45 years ago. At the time I had two little children and was a stay at home mom with no car. I joined a craft club that sent me a craft every month. After lunch, my daughters took naps and that was my time. I know lots of women who said nap time was when they got so much done. Not me. I ate my lunch and worked on a craft or read a book.

This summer I have been going into my senior center working on my family genealogy. A great volunteer there has been a lot of help to me. I discovered she was going to make her grandchild an "I Spy" quilt. I decided to cut her some squares from my stash. I cut two of each and kept one set. They are 6 1/2 inches each. Now I need to decide if I want to take them to FL.

I'm busy getting ready for my trip to FL. My next post will be next week from there.

2008-10-17T19:12:00.000-04:00

Who?

Do you know who Cynthia McKinney, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Bau are? I didn't either until today when I filled in my absentee ballot. Along with Ralph Nader, they are also running for President. My vote is cast. Hope you also vote.

Afghan

I was putting this one away and wondered if I had a pic of it. My mother made it. She used several designs and made many afghans. I especially liked this one as it looked so modern. I should have taken a close-up pic. Just click on it so a better view.

Fall Outing
Today Shirley and I went for a ride to see the fall colors. They are at their peak with lots of red color now. We went out for lunch and then to the orchard. I had to have a fried cake (donut) made with cider and a glass of fresh, unpasteurized cider. Absolutely delicious. Wish you could have come with us.

Duster

Do you have one of these Swifer dusters? They are just wonderful for anyone who has trouble getting up high or down low to dust. It also bends to clean things like ceiling fans. It also gets in long narrow places like behind the microwave. I'm sure they have other brands but it sure has made my life easier. No excuses now for things being dusty.

Low Cost Eating

I don't know if they are doing this in other parts of the county, but here in MI, they have had a push for people, especially public officials, to eat for a week on the amount of money a person on food stamps would have. They have had the stories about the people moaning about missing their coffee and having to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day. One said she would be eating a lot of macaroni and cheese made from a box. It can be an economical choice but there is no need to eat it every day. How about making coffee at home and taking it to work in a Thermos? Or take a tea bag and heat water in the microwave at work? Also those people getting food stamps, would also be able to get free hot lunches at school for their children. I got thinking and did some math to see how I would do. For one person, I would have $3.40 cents per day. Of course I couldn't eat in a restaurant or have goodies at the orchard but I'd eat very well at home. My Cheerios with milk, sugar substitute and banana was about 75 cents. Choices for lunch were several sandwiches including toasted cheese (made with 1 1/2 slices of real cheese - none of that terrible cheese food stuff), tuna, egg salad or that peanut butter one - any of them for a $ or less. I also often eat a cup of cottage cheese with canned dices peaches or tomato and whole wheat crackers. About a $ and a half. Or a bowl of homemade soup with crackers or bread and butter. Or serve it over a home made biscuit. Add a glass of milk and a couple chocolate graham crackers or save them for a snack later. Supper might be 1/4 pound of pork steak (on sale this week was 50 cents), fried potatoes with onion, green beans, radishes, dill pickles, carrot sticks, bread and butter. Cup of tea. Maybe a dish of custard or pudding. I'd definitely be under the $3.40. I know I eat what is on sale. And food prices are lower here in MI than in many parts of the county. And fresh fruit and veggies are getting expensive. Bananas have just gone from 59 cents a pound to 69 cents. That means a medium-size one is 25 cents now. Apples are so expensive that they can be $ each and they are in season too. But canned vegetables were on sale this week for 2 or even 3 cans for a $. I sometimes treat myself to a "day old" donut which if half price (25 cents) after 5:00. I bought fresh bread baked in the store. Regular price for the cracked wheat, which is my favorite, is $1.99 You can't buy anything you want and can't buy premade foods but you sure can eat well.

I definitely can eat well for little money. Now buying medications is another story. Sorry for the rant.

I

2008-10-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

Fall Color

The color is at its peak and this was a beautiful sunny weekend. I heard that the reason for so much yellow this year is because we had a lot of rain this summer. Click on the pics to see more.

2008-10-10T17:32:00.000-04:00

Custard

One of my favorite foods. That's plenty of nutmeg on the top.

Liberated?

Fran over at Making Memories One Stitch At A Time has a funny post about housework not interfering with quilting. She mentions about putting dirty dishes in the oven when unexpected company was about to arrive. Hum. She didn't say anything about forgetting about the dirty pans and later heating the oven without checking it. Now I'm not saying who I heard once did that.

How about having to take something off a chair in the living room so they can sit down? There is something on every one of them. Well all of them except Kipper's couch, but it is full of dog hair.

Someone once said my house always looked lived in. I was really impressed that he could think of a positive thing to say. It was positive, wasn't it?

Once I heard a tip. If your house is dirty and unexpected company is coming, put the vacuum cleaner out and plug it in. They interrupted you about to clean. Humm...

Another time I took a survey in a magazine about what kind of a housekeeper I was. I only missed SLOB by one point. Suppose I fudged on a question?

I've tried many plans like Fly Lady's suggestions but .... About the only suggestion that I try really hard to stick to is to not bring any new things into my house without taking something out. It is so hard for me to get rid of things.

Fran said there shouldn't be so much mess in her house because there are only two adults living there. Oh me. There is only one adult living here. Does Kipper count? He only leaves one bone and one toy around.

Fran said her mother always picked up and put away. My mother, who worked full time outside the house, would scrub and wax the kitchen floor. When it was dry she would cover it with newspapers. I never understood that.

I do know that my mess makes it harder to find things. But when I put things away, I can't find them either. At least I keep telling myself that. I do hang my keys on the hooks just under my favorite sign.

So why am I a messy person? For one thing, it doesn't bother me. I do know it makes it harder to clean. Maybe that's why I put that off too. Yes, I do procrastinate and am poor at prioritizing. I have a poor sense of how long it takes to do anything. And I get distracted easily.

Oh, well just a happy, junky person here. I'm not sure that is liberated but it's me.

2008-10-08T21:11:00.000-04:00

My Favorite

Here are more of the quilt show. I liked lots of them but decided this is my favorite, at least today. I love the embroidery and hand quilting. It is titled Chelsea's First Christmas, the pattern is red work embroidery and it was made and hand quilted by Viola.

How about that tree quilt? It makes me want to start one of my own. The title is Avery's Double Digit Birthday. It was made by Mary and quilted by Arlene.

Today I went with my friend Shirley to the U of M Medical Center. Shirley is my friend who has brain cancer. She gets blood tests done every week and goes for an oncology check once a month. Her lab tests have been too poor to let her take her chemo for the last six weeks. But her blood work is good now and they will give her another round of five days. She takes the same oral chemo that Senator Kennedy takes for the same tumor, but Shirley's was located in a different part of the brain. Today Shirley took another respiratory antibiotic treatment as this chemo increases the chance of getting a type of lung infection that is very hard to treat.

What I wanted to tell about was the wonderful things they do at this Medical Center to ease the patients' tests and treatments. They have beverage carts in several areas. Someone comes around offering everyone currents magazines and puzzles like Sudoku. In the laboratory area there are art quilts hanging on the walls. Really professional art. Sorry I didn't take a camera. The fabric arts council had a small loom there and would help you to do a few rows of a table runner under construction. A pianist was playing show tunes from memory. He must have been from an orchestra. I have also heard a
guitar played. Today a soprano sang a few songs. One of them was the theme from the Sound of Music. All these things are going on in the waiting rooms. It is very nice. The staff is also so kind. I don't know if all big medical centers connected with teaching hospitals are this helpful, but this one sure is. My friend sees the head of the neuro-oncology department. He is the kindest doctor and is teaching this to his residents. I'm sure they will end up all over America and will help many other patients in the future.

2008-10-07T18:57:00.000-04:00

More Quilt Show

My own quilting activity is null so here's some more pictures I took at a nearby quilt show in September. This is the display where the only requirement is that the quilt has a star somewhere in it - the fabric, pattern and/or the quilting. Aren't these great?

The first one was chosen for the entry (first quilt you see). It is titled Color My World, the pattern was bargello color wheel and it was made and quilted by Debbie.

Title: "Stack and Slash Stars"
Pattern: 5 pointed star
Made and quilted by Diane

Title: "Ohio Star #2"
Pattern: Ohio Star
Made by Michelle ad quilted by Karen

Title: "Star Bright"
Pattern: Cutting Double
Made by Carol ad Quilted by Sandra

This time of year, as I get ready to migrate back to FL, is not my favorite. I am very good at procrastinating and it catches up with me now. I must do many things before I leave. I printed my four page list off my computer. Lots of appointments with doctor, dentist, financial advisor. Lots of people to notify. Things to pick up and finish up and clean up and pack up and .....

The good news is I don't have to pay for the first suitcase I check. I bought my ticket before they started charging so it doesn't apply to me. Hope it works when I get to the airport. Second suitcase will have a charge of $25 as near as I can figure from the information. The other good news is that when I finally get to FL, it takes me only a few days to get everything up and running and all my procrastinated jobs are done so I can go back to retired mode - that means quilting. Ya! The flying date is October 25.

2008-09-29T16:05:00.002-04:00

Update

Blowing the dust out of both the internal and external fans on my computer has definitely helped reduce how hot it was getting.

My no-fail pie crust recipe was on my April 17, 2007 post.

The site where I got my blog book is www.blurb.com/

Okay, what else have I forgotten to answer?

2008-09-28T19:58:00.000-04:00

Book of Blog Posts

My book of blog posts during 2006 has arrived and I am most pleased. The cover is shiny and did not photograph well but there it is. Click on the open book to see it better.

When they download (if that is the right word for it here) each post was on a separate page. This left a lot of blank space. I wanted to move them together and I did it by copy and paste. Sometimes the program would kick me off and I didn't want to loose any posts during that, so I used copy rather then cut. Of course then I had to delete, too. Took more time but.... Anyway, I cut 250 pages down to 194 and still left room for me to write comments here and there after the book was printed.

There are many custom techniques available but I stayed with the ones they offered. (Remember I am very challenged on the computer.) There are several and you can mix and match them. By doing this I made some pictures smaller and others larger. The program will tell you if you have selected a size that will blur it. You can just choose a smaller one. When I finished the book, it told me I had six pictures that were blurry and I should reduce the size of them. I didn't bother and now I can't figure out which ones they are. A page with just four pictures makes excellent pictures. You can comment under each pic too. A page with two pics and writing is also very good. I had choices of formats with the pics in various places on the page.

The color is good. I choose to put a thin black border around each picture and I like that. I choose an easy to read font and made everything bold. The original made everything in a small letter size so I had to highlight it all and change it. There might be a way to do the whole book at one time but I couldn't find it. I enlarged the headings, I think to 14. The body of the post was 12 and I made the date/time small and a different font. I like that. For most things I like 1 1/2 spacing lines but for this I used single spacing. It is very easy to read, especially with the bold and larger size print.

You can also choose page colors and backgrounds. Other than my cover, I stayed with plain white. The pages are automatically numbered.

Now I think I should have proofed the posts. But they were posted on my blog with all the errors so....

Overall I'm pleased with my book. Computer screens are nice but there is something special about a book to hold in your hands. And this is a great back up. I haven't been able to figure any way to do that to a disc so...

I don't know when I'll get to doing a 2007 book but I want to.

2008-09-28T18:30:00.000-04:00

Raspberries

I have four small raspberry bushes just outside my back yard fence. Some years they produce just a couple berries and other years, I get enough for my cereal. It mostly depends of how much rain they get. Two of the bushes are too near big trees. They try to produce berries twice during each summer. In July there were a few berries but the birds and Kipper got them. Kipper tugs any that he can through the fence. It is fun to watch him check them out - prickley branches and all. He thinks I planted the bushes on the wrong side of the fence. They are my favorite fruit and Kipper never turns them down either. We have had a lot of rain and recently the bushes made a good crop . I bought netting and covered the berries so they could ripen without birds or a dog getting first chance at them . This has resulted in me having had a few on my cereal every few days lately. Look what I got yesterday! That is the most berries I've ever picked at one time. Half of them joined my banana on my corn flakes this morning and the other half jumped on vanilla ice cream after dinner. Umm good!

Do you have a spoon like that? I love this one for cereal and soup. It is a Chineese soup spoon. You get milk or broth with every bite.

2008-09-27T18:50:00.000-04:00

Repair

At one time I made and repaired much clothing for my family but no longer do I do so. There is always an exception and these shorts are it. They are a favorite of one of DGDs and she caught a back pocket on something and badly tore the material. The plaid helped hide the repair and they are now being worn again. I was intrigued with the elastic tabs and buttons on the inner waist band. There is one tab on each side and each has three button holes. What a nice way to adjust the waist band for an exact fit. I was thinking this would work well for me to get more room after I stuff myself on those cinnamon rolls. hehe

Today my helper and I got my yard ready for winter, well it is almost all done. I left the turtle to move water in the pond but will take it out in a couple weeks. Very tired tonight but very happy to have this task done. Oh, you might be interested to know that my homeless (employed but living in his car) helper is making arrangements to rent either a room or part of a house for the winter. Sure hope it works out okay for him as Michigan is no place to be homeless in the winter.

This will be a short post as I am limiting my time on my laptop computer. It has been getting hot and when this happened before, it was a only a short time until it fried. I have been backing up files and trying to figure out what to do. I found an article that says it may be because of dust in the machine and explains how to clean it. Have any of you ever done this? I think it is unique to laptops. I've decided to seek someone to give me another opinion and assistance.

I'm running a timer and limiting my time here to one hour so must run for now.

2008-09-21T14:38:00.000-04:00

Finished

I have finished my first orphan quilt and the first of my New Year's Eve challenge quilts. I started with some abandoned pinwheel blocks and used scraps to make all kinds of others. I had never made a row quilt before so I guess that makes it another first. Three for one. Alright!

I added top and bottom borders for a finished quilted size of 39 x 58". I probably should have added borders on the sides too but it is an okay size for a child's utility quilt. I used the same border fabric on the back.

I quilted it on my sewing machine with a regular foot. My walking foot was hiding and unavailable. I did some adjustments and thought it was going to work fine. And I think it may have if I had done a lot of pinning. But I was too lazy, and instead I did some spray basting which resulted in some very uneven quilting. I do like the method of just sewing forward, stopping with needle down, making a slight turn, using the back stitch to sew a short distance, again stopping with needle down and finally pivoting so the next forward line crosses the first line. Another time I would definitely pin, pin, pin and make the quilting pattern larger. I wonder if it would have been as fast to tie it.

Anyway, this quilt allowed me to let my creative spirit run wild and that was so very much fun.

2008-09-20T22:45:00.000-04:00

Good Food

Did you ever think about a food and just have to have it? I so wanted cinnamon rolls. I made these from frozen bread dough. I added butter, Splenda, cinnamon, raisins and walnuts. Just the way I like them.

I also made vegetable beef soup with all fresh veggies. It was really good too. Yes, I do like to eat.

2008-09-20T22:34:00.000-04:00

Another Look

I have been refolding my old family quilts. Well, that was the task but I also looked, photographed, and thought. This is one my mother had and I've wondered who made it. The quilter put her initial and the date 1930 on it. I have figured it out. It is my mother's Aunt Elizabeth Archer who lived in West Virginia. Why I didn't think of her before, I don't know. My mother was fond of Aunt Lizzie all her life. I'm still puzzled at the middle initial but that doesn't mean she didn't have one. If not a middle name, sometimes people were given an initial instead. I can't find any record of her having one. Her maiden name began with a D. What is that middle letter on the quilt?

2008-09-16T22:25:00.000-04:00

Quilt Show

These are pics of some of the quilts by the local African American Guild.

This one immediately caught my eye and tugged at my heart.
The scrappy one is 48 x 37 1/2". It took Margaret six months to make it. Comments said, "Used dryer sheets are cut to 6" square. Scrap pieces are sewed onto each dryer sheet. Four blocks are sewed to make a square. This throw was made for my son Allan for his hospital bed."

This one was really stunning. I'm not sure how it was done but top quality. It is 72 x 90" and Jeffalone made it to commemorate a family reunion which was held in Houston in July 2008. It was raffled to the family members and the proceeds were used to rent a travel bus for a three hour sightseeing tour of the city for the entire family. A male member of the family from Indiana won the quilt. I'm so glad he let Jeffalone bring it back to Michigan for display.

Although there were no contests or judging, this one was my favorite. The colors and design are really striking. My kind of quilt. "Bright" is 106 x 88 1/2 " and was made this year by Mildred with the quilting by Kathy and the binding by Margaret. The pattern is Roman Stripes. It was made in a class from fabric donated by Mildred's sister. She made it for her daughter. Mildred says it was,"fun and a joy to put this quilt together."

As you know, I have been collecting fabric to make a B&W quilt. It was from another quilt I saw at this same show a few years ago that I got my inspiration to make a B&W one. That one was a sampler. This Bear Paw is inspiring me again. It was made by Dianna and I got to meet her. Very nice, enthusiastic lady. Bear Paw on Parade was made this year. It is 92 x 67". She taught her quild members how to make this patten and one of the members gave her the idea to add the red.

2008-09-15T10:52:00.000-04:00

Ready to Sandwich

I have seven quilts ready to sandwich. I bordered those that I felt needed them, and made backs and binding for all of them. I hate making binding and that black was really no fun. I haven't dealt with the batting yet. I have a roll of cotton but these are utility quilts that will be laundered often so should have poly. Everything so far has come from my stash. Yay! Next step is to do some cleaning up and get to the sandwiching.

The last pic is the selvage from a large piece of fabric. It is so pretty. It it is probably hard to see but the pattern goes right to the edge and then there is fringe. I tore it wide enough so I could use it for something. Oh me, I'm trying to reduce but this sure says, "Keep me!"

What kind of quilter are you? That is a popular question that we often ask ourselves and others. Yesterday I was thinking about it again.

My DD-L found a site called Share My Quilt. People post pics of their quilts and others rate them and comment. I enjoyed looking at some of the quilts and managed to ignore the ratings. There are no stories about the quilts or the makers.

Saturday I went to a quilt display by the African American Guild. They are just the neatest group of ladies. And they display all their work with such pride - pride in just having made it. I have gone to this show for many years now and I love it. There are all levels of all kinds of work. Much of it would not be admitted to most shows. That is why I love it so. They do a very professional job of displaying all the quilts. No ratings or judging. Each info tag has a comments section and they have written great things there. (Yes, I took pics and will share more soon.) They made many of the quilts together at a community center where they have gone for years. Some of the quilts are made with a teacher to help them. A few are hand quilted and many have been finished by a long-arm quilter. There were panel quilts and even a whole cloth one. And a jacket and some ethnic faith-based themed ones I'd never seen before.

Anyway, two types of quilting sharing their love of quilting. As I look and contemplate, I learn more about myself.

2008-09-12T19:48:00.000-04:00

Inspiration from Old Dishes

Today I was reading in Yesteryear Embroideries about her Grandma Pearl. She showed her Grandma's dishes and thought about how people made-do during the depression. I started to comment on her post but decided instead I'm write here.

My grandma was named Edna Pearl. These are some of her dishes that I have. They too would be great inspiration for embroidery.

I remember my grandma cutting up envelopes she received to use for scrap paper. She listened to the radio and wrote jokes and other tid-bits from the programs onto the scraps of paper. I have a few of them. I also remember her big ball of twine that she saved. The butcher had tied it around the paper he wrapped the meat in. These memories are more from WWII times when there were lots of shortages too.

I have a friend who does remember the depression. With her mother and siblings, she had moved from a farm to a small city. The markets gave a pig farmer their produce that wouldn't sell because it had started to spoil. My friend's older brothers would go to the pile of fruits and vegetable and take pails of them to bring home. As a young girl, it was my friend's job to cut away the bad spots so the family could eat the good parts.

Making a Blog Book

On Taniwa's blog I learned about a place called Book Smart. (www.blurb.com/) They are able to download your blog posts and then you are able to edit them into the format that you desire. Then you buy a hard copy book that they send to you. I have always wanted to do that. I have written three books about my life and words and memories are precious to me. My big problem is my poor computer skills. After several days and help from my DD-L and Taniwa I got into the program. It has taken me two days to edit my posts into the font and form I wanted. There are probably better ways to do my editing but I did a ton of copy, paste, and then delete. I did get dropped many times so I was afraid to cut and paste. For someone who is more computer smart, they could do some great things with this program. I did my posts for the year 2006 and condensed them to less than 200 pages. I am going to do one more read through and then order the book. I haven't attempted to correct my blog posts but am just trying to make sure I don't have page duplicates. The posts had goofs, so my book will too.

2008-09-06T11:04:00.000-04:00

Design Wall

Look what I have. I got some help and hung up a design wall in my den. Just no room in my sewing room for it. We actually put up regular quilt hangers so I can easily take it down and put up a finished quilt for display. I'll probably get a couple more hangers to hold a finished quilt but I only had two in the house and they are fine for the design wall. I was using a sheet of plastic table cloth with flannel-type background but it didn't hold the fabric well so I put a layer of cotton bating over it and it works fine. What do you use for your design wall?

I'm still working on preparing UFO's to be quilted. Remember this flimsy that I made in FL last winter? Actually, I have two of them. I thought about using one for the backing but decided to piece some other fabrics and made two backings. I only took a pic of one of them.

Then I used the leftover cut pieces to make eight more 12" blocks. I put six of them together to make a doll blankie and used the last two to make pillows or are they doll beds? They have a double layer of thick poly batting in them. I'm thinking I'll do some quilting in them - just to hold the batting in place. I plan to get the back for the doll blankie pieced today. I made enough binding for the two big quilts and wonder if there will be enough to the doll one. Probably not.

My LQS is dressing orphan dolls. They were acquired from garage sales. They also are making doll blankets so I decided to add a couple blankets for the child too.

This brings back great memories. I was a Girl Scout leader for many years. We had a large project of dressing dolls for donations. Our local Good Will kept all the dolls that were donated and the Girl Scouts made clothes for them. We would display them in a store window and any girl would love them. I wish I had a pic of them. I'm sure I took some but...

As I've told you before, my area here in MI is hurting so much. Lately, there has been a drive for school supplies. Some churches have been taking children to the store and getting them new shoes to start school. Ninety-seven percent of the students in an area elementary school qualify for free hot lunches. They are also giving them breakfasts. Now they are doing a back pack program for weekends. Every Friday the students get a backpack to take home. It has enough food for two meals and two snacks for the child to eat over the weekend. The kids bring back the empty backpack to be filled for the next weekend. There is some government subsidy for the hot lunches but all the backpack food is donations. Regardless of your political inclinations, I urge you to support programs like Head Start and hot lunches in schools. And health care too. Money put into children's needs will only pay back multiple-fold in the future.

2008-08-31T21:27:00.000-04:00

Dog Gone

After five months my DS's dogs Betsy and Tess have gone back to live with him. They came here while DS and his family sold their house in AL and bought one in MI and moved. I was glad to be able to help them by keeping the dogs and Kipper and I will miss them. My DS showed me how to give a dog a haircut. Can you believe that Kipper grew all that fur in just a couple months? He is one COOL dog again. Tess got a cut too. They are both very well behaved and seemed to really enjoy the grooming. Well, except for the ears and feet.

The last pic is of my tomato plant that was so pokey about producing ripe tomatoes. Sure lots of great ones now. By the way, Kipper just loves tomatoes. He doesn't eat people food except I give him a bit of some fruits and veggies for a treat. Probably his favorite is a bite of banana but a bit of tomato is high on his favorites too.

I decided to be more realistic and reset my goal for Finn's New Year's Eve Party finishers to two quilts. I can always increase that goal. I planned to spend all my time finishing UFOs. Well my LQS bulletin just came in the mail. It has two classes that I could finish before I head off for FL. Oh, I am tempted. If I finished two shouldn't I be able to start two new ones? Makes sense to me. I don't quilt to any rules anyway so.....

2008-08-29T19:18:00.000-04:00

Where Have All The Greens Gone?

Recently Finn challenged us to finish some UFOs. She is letting each person determine what "finished" means. I'm not much of a joiner and hate deadlines so I thought about it long and hard - well for a couple minutes anyway, before I joined. Finn asked how many quilts we planned to finish by the end of 2008. I'm not good at judging how long it takes me to do anything so should I say 1 or 2 or ? I decided on 8. I told you I'm not good at time perception. I really need to finish some quilts so why not.

I decided that the first step was to get the UFO ready for the final quilting. Is it big enough? Does it need borders? What about backing and binding?

I sewed the duck fungly together and auditioned borders. I didn't like any of the stoppers - not black nor any of the reds. This is not a bold quilt and I wanted the ducks to be the eye focus. So I just skipped the eye stopper border and finished with more of the green. Then I cut and ironed more of the green for the backing and binding. So all it needs is sandwiched and quilted. I plan to get several quilts to this stage and then.....

Now for a rant. Where have all the greens gone? First what is wrong with my camera or is it my computer? Everything looks blue. This strip is shades of green and look at it. I have been complaining about not being able to find true green colors. The last pic are all greens from my stash. The pic has completely lost any shade of green. The darkest fabric is the green in my duck quilt. It is the very color of the green in the Mallard ducks' bills. Looks gray/black to me. So I shouldn't rant about these colors because you can't see them accurately anyway. But I will anyway. I looked on the Internet and found these greens - avocado, olive, spruce (a light green mixed with so much blue), moss, teal, seafoam (looks like a light blue to me), willow (looks gray), pine (looks blue green), hunter (even this one has a lot of yellow in it), lime, nectar and jungle (that one is black and green). Is this all my computer or have a suddenly developed a color vision problem?

Okay, rant done. Back to the sewing room.

2008-08-25T10:32:00.000-04:00

They're Ripe

How pitiful is this? But bigger ones are coming. Yey!

Quilting Stash

Recently I've been reading blogs about whether to keep a stash or not. I am definitely a stash keeper. Actually my stash came before I started quilting. I started sewing as a teenager. My mother sewed but she also worked full time so didn't have a lot of time or patience to teach me. My grandma did. I also took home economics classes and by high school, I was sewing many of my clothes. I continued to sew after I was married and and babies. Eventually I took more classes and even made coats for my DDs and my a pair of pants for my DH. Notice that I said "a" pair of pants. That was never repeated. Anyway, I always had some fabric around.

Stash keeping comes naturally to me. I'm a pack rat. I have a strong desire to keep lots of things, especially old things that belonged to my family. I also have some old fabric.

I like fabric. I like to look at it and think about what I might create with it. Sometimes I don't know why but I just know that a fabric has to come home and be in my stash. I like all kinds of fabric but am especially drawn to bright colors and bold patterns. I also like to put fabrics together in different ways.

I am amazed that some people make quilts like I would clothing - by finding a pattern and then buying the amount of fabric needed to make it. Sometimes I have a pattern in my mind but for the next step I often just select some fabrics, start sewing and then add as I go. I haven't been very good at seeing in my mind what it will look like, but I think I'm trusting my insticts and am better at that now. Maybe I just feel freer to jump in and see where the jouney takes me. I have made a couple mystery quilts at my LQS where I had to have some preparation done. I had to have so much of a light medium and dark. I watched other quilters shop with the advice of the staff. I did this once and never finished the quilt. I'm not sure why. I liked the fabric but maybe not the pattern. Maybe just not together. I'm not sure. For the other mystery quilts that I made at the LQS, I looked through my stash and occasionally purchased an additional fabric. Once I made a small round-the-world quilt and it had to be preplanned. But the selection of fabrics to flow together was the fun of doing it.

Another thing I've done was buy fabric from places where I traveled. The quilts made from this fabric remind me of my visits there. The Williamsburg, Virginia, fabric went into my DGS's quilt and I used the Hawaiian fabric for one that I keep by my TV/hand sewing chair.

At one time, I'd finish my quilt and only than look for backing fabric. I never had a piece large enough in my stash and had problems finding reasonably priced fabric that I liked. So for a while I kept my eye open and whenever I saw a potential backing fabric, I bought it. Now I have a backing section in my stash. I'd never cut into those pieces but for the current duck quilt I'm working on, I did. I'll have enough for the backing too.

I also keep leftover and bits of fabric. I have thought maybe I'd make a quilt using these bit s but I don't know if I ever will.

Only lately have I thought I needed more fabric choices in areas of my stash. This is all the yellow I have? I've also become more aware of trends of the time. Why aren't there any forest green fabrics now? I like various colors with yellow, red and blue coming to my mind just now.

Lately I been facinated with making 4 patch posy quilts and keep my eye open for potential fabric. When I find them, they go into the stash. I also aplique and keep bits and pieces for that. Sometimes I get an idea for a theme and gather stash for it. For a while now, I've been collecting B&W fabrics.

I also have a secondard stash in FL. It is much smaller than the one here in MI. When I think about my migration trip in the fall, I think about projects I might want to take with me. I have been taking one suitcase filled with sewing goodies, incluidng some fabric and books, down each fall but this year, with the extra charges for this suitcase, I'll have to think more carefully.

Of course blogger's spell checker isn't working today. Also sorry about the glare in the pic. There are mirrows in the back of these china cabinets. Not sorry about the mess - just a working room.

2008-08-18T12:02:00.000-04:00

Not Yet

My neighbor just brought me over these two large ripe tomatoes. I know what I'm having for lunch. I went out to check mine again. Does it look like that one might be thinking of changing color? They are smaller too but there sure of lots of them. I did trim away some of the leaves and the sun can get to them. Patience, Katie.

Duck Quilt

I discovered that the black fabric I thought about using with the duck fabric was bleeding a little so I had to wash it several times with one of those color grabber things. I found this green (does it look blue in the pic?) and decided to use it. I have a lot of it so can use it for backing too. I decided to cut the duck fabric 4.5 by 8.5 and the green is 4.5 square. I'm flipping every other row to get this pattern. It makes it easy for me to keep any ducks from turning upside down. Now I think I might like the duck fabric to have run horizontally. The light from the window onto my ironing board messes up the color. The bottom pic is better but... The green and tan match colors in the duck fabric. This is the most lickity split pattern I have ever used. But it makes a nice looking quilt. And it got me back to sewing on my machine. And using some fabric that definitely falls into the fungly category. I know this isn't really the fungly sewing Tonya suggested but it was her inspiration that got my machine humming and here's one big thanks to her. I'm even looking at some other patterns and thinking. I really need to get inspired to sandwich and quilts these tops next.

2008-08-16T08:49:00.000-04:00

More Fugly Fabric

I finished another exact copy of the blue butterfly flimsy without borders that I last showed you. They are big enough to stand alone but I think they would look really good with borders. These are fast and easy. I've never done this before and it was just what I needed. I have so many fungly fabrics in my stash. I am attracted to bright colors and bold prints. The ducks have been around for a long time. Wonder what I had in mind when I bought it. The tan goes well with it but it has some blue (see the top area) stain from a fabric that faded when it was washed with it. I had rewashed it but there is still some of it. I think there is enough good fabric to use, though. I went for the yellow again but then the red. But there is no red in the print. It would be okay but I think I like the black better. This would be more of a man's quilt and he might like the black. Looks like I have enough of these fabrics to make a throw. I'll have to do some thinking to keep the ducks upright. There are a couple small pieces of butterflies. One is half and the other only a 14 inches. They have a brighter orange than the pic shows and I have a lot of orange fabrics. Any ideas? I had to show you the red/orange wave fabric I have. It is the same pattern as the blue I just used. I just love them and they are good quality. Next decision is borders for blue funglies. I think I will name it Blue Butterflies. I must think about quilting these and some others I have ready to do.

2008-08-14T10:51:00.000-04:00

Blue Fungly

I had so much fun with the last one that I hunted through my stash for more fabric. Oh, there is that butterfly one. There are yards and yards of it. What else? The blue wave-like fabric has been one of my favorites that I occasionally drool over. Okay, use it. The yellow is brighter than the pic shows. This pattern is so easy and yet looks so good. I turned all these blocks the same way rather than opposite rows like I did in the first one. This one is also a row wider and longer so with 8" blocks, it is the same size as the first one is with borders. These make a nice size for a cover up when in a favorite chair. I had so much fabric left so.... Should I make more blocks? Yup. I'm already working on them. Should I add to the the one I have or make another throw? Hum......

Ancestor in Civil War

What I'm I reading? A very detailed book about the Battle of Trevilian Station which was the largest all-cavalry engagement of the Civil War. Am I a Civil War buff? Although I enjoy historical stories, I'm certainly not interested enough to read 391 pages about the details of one battle. So, why am I reading it? My g g grandfather was there as part of the Sixth Ohio Cavalry. I have been trying to put to paper the information and stories I know about my ancestors. I didn't have any info on this branch of my family but thought I should at least write the names of my grandmother's parents. On the internet, I found the cemetery where they were buried and found that my G'ma's grandparents were also buried there. There was a lot of info on the computer about this area and soon I discovered that Lafayette Williams got a $6 per month Civil War pension for an injury to his leg. I went to my Senior Center to use Ancestry.com for more info. I decided to spend the $25 and get a copy of all Lafayette's war records from the National Archives. Lafayette's enlistment papers of October 1, 1863, show he was 5' 7" tall, had blue eyes and brown hair and his complexion was light. He was a farmer. Lafayette was hospitalized on June 15, 1864. After four months in hospitals (first in Washington D.C. and then in Pennsylvania) he returned to his unit and served until the end of the war. I wondered where his unit served so I looked it up on the computer. Can you believe there is a list of all the places and battles where the Sixth Ohio Cavalry was? Oh this computer info is really great. So where did Lafayette flight? In Virginia. He was at Appomattox Court House when General Lee surrendered. Do you suppose he actually saw it. Not likely. but possible. Then I wondered where he was when injured and hospitalized. Trevilian Station. Of course I had to look it up and discovered this whole book about the battle. They had an inexpensive, unread used copy and I had to buy it. It just came yesterday and I have read 45 pages. Included is information about the generals and cavalry movement. There are also quotes from people who were there. These are what I find the most interesting. Lt. Asa Isham was also there with Custer's Michigan unit and on pages 37 and 38 the author quotes his description of the march before the battle. There is nothing particularly exciting or delightful in thumping along at a trot in a cavalry column. The clouds of dust, sent up by the thousands of hoof-beats, fill eyes, nose, and air passages, give external surfaces a uniform dirty gray color and form such an impenetrable veil, that, for many minutes together, you can not see even your hand before you. Apparently, just at the point of impending suffocation, a gentle sigh of wind makes a rift, and a free breath is inspired. Dust and horse-hairs permeate everywhere. Working under the clothing to the skin, and fixed by sweat, the sensation is as though one was covered by a creeping mass of insects. Accumulations occur in the pockets; the rations come in for their full share, and with the bacon, particularly, so thoroughly do dirt and horse-hairs become incorporated, that no process of cleaning can remove them. But there is no better appetizer than horseback jolting, and little squeamishness with genuine hunger. A hunk of dirty, raw bacon, with "hard tack," on a campaign, are partaken with keener relish and enjoyment than "a good square meal," when engaged in less arduous duty.

I'm sure this was what my g g grandfather was also experiencing. I will have a full day today at my sewing machine, watching the Olympics and reading more about the Battle of Trevilian Station.

2008-08-10T12:11:00.000-04:00

When?

When will I get a ripe tomato? I am so anxious. My neighbor has some. She even shared a couple with me. The nearby greenhouse gave everyone who bought a flat of plants a tomato plant. I got two. The other one (no pic) got frosted out a week after I got it but amazing, it also came back and has grown like mad. It has dense foliage and has some tomatoes but this one is just full of green tomatoes. I think there are about 14 on this one plant.

I worked on this pond area yesterday and got the weeds out and many things trimmed back. I have more areas that need attention but it is so nice to have this area cleaned up and looking good. I see this area from my front porch.

I tried to take a pic of my fungy quilt flimsy out on my clothes line but the wind is blowing too hard. Here it is pinned over a window so messes up the color. I hope to get a good pic of its true colors soon. It is very bright and part of the yellow has a mustard tone. I tried a red eye stop border but preferred this black one. I really do like how it turned out. I needed to go near JoAnn's on Friday so I stopped in and bought some poly batting. I usually use cotton on my full sized quilts but I figure this one will be washed frequently so I wanted the poly. I didn't have a discount coupon but the batting was 40% off anyway. I bought some of an inexpensive one and also some that is fire resistant. Has anyone ever used that? I plan to some how quilt it on my sewing machine. When finished, this quilt will be about 44 by 60 inches and will make a great cover up when sitting in a chair. I haven't named it yet. Yesterday I pulled fabric to start another one. Stay tuned.

2008-08-05T21:29:00.000-04:00

What's for Supper?

I saw where Finn was having fried potatoes for supper the other day. Her pic sure made me hungry so when I found some new red potatoes at the market, I just had to have some. How do you cook yours? My mother liked the new potatoes boiled and then put them in a white sauce with new peas. For fried potatoes, my mother boiled them first and then fried them, usually using the left overs from the day before. My husband was from Arkansas and he like his fried from raw potatoes. I learned to like them that way too. I also add a little onion. Very good.

Ugly Fabric

Tonya and Bonnie are having a challenge to use the ugly fabric from our stashes. Hum... I have some alright. They made several blocks with each having different ugly fabric. I set out the three in the pic and made a block but I wanted to use the fabric up so made more of the same block. I laid them out and think I like them as in the last pic. It was good to spend several hours in the sewing room today. I know many people do all the cutting, then sew all the small squares, etc. I prefer to cut for about five or six blocks and then sew that amount for each step. Then I repeat for another five blocks. I guess I get too bored doing the same step for too long. Each of these blocks will finish eight inches. I used up all the multi colored fabric and almost all the red but have more of the yellow flowers. Maybe for a border?

My DS and family have moved into their new house here in Michigan. I sure miss having the kids visit. I still have the dogs as the area in their new house where they will live is in the walk out basement and it is still being finished.

Today was primary election day for local candidates here in MI. When I voted, someone thanked me for doing so. I got thinking and I can't remember an election where I didn't vote. I try to be informed and then express my opinion. Voting is important to me. I won't enjoy the constant hassle of the candidates from now to November but will be casting my vote.

2008-07-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

Visit
I'm really having a good time with my grandchildren. So is Kipper. He loves those belly scratches. We have been going places every day. Yesterday was a park. We have several near us. Notice that I'm getting my picture taken. At home, the books and games are the favorites. The favorite books are Star Wars, Avalon and The Baily School Kids. All of them are a series of books. Favorite breakfast is Dinosaur Eggs. It is packets of oatmeal with brown sugar in little eggs. Neat idea and very nutritious. Favorite stop when out is A&W with root beer floats. The weather has been nice - cool nights and hot sunny days but it rained last night and is very hot and humid today. I think we'll go get some prints of pics and make some scrapbooks today. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer days.

2008-07-24T20:26:00.000-04:00

Butterflies

On Monday I went to Put-In Bay which is an island in Lake Erie. They had a nice butterfly house. Just as nice was the wooden carving out front of it. If you held still, a butterfly might land on you and that was suppose to bring you good luck. The children are not my grandchildren but they sure had the luck.

I am currently keeping my three younger grandchildren ages 11, 9 and 7. And the dogs Tess and Betsy are still here. They are good kids and we are having a good time. Grandma has different rules and one is that they are on vacation while here so some rules about how much TV, video and game time is extended. They also help me with things and then we went to the river path for some exercise. The older ones have wave boards. If you haven't seen a kid use one of them, you really must. The youngest one has a scooter that he really can move with. Yup, they do use helmets.

It is always interesting to see them experience what a different home is like. They have been living in AL for the last two years so they haven't been here for a while. One of them told me she really liked my "cool" ice cube things and the way I popped them out. Oh me, she has only seen refrigerators with ice makers. Really, I'd like one of the automatic ones.

I remember one time a few years ago when I took a basket of clothes out to my clothes line to hang up. It included sheets. My young grandson watched intently and then asked if I was making a fort. "S"

I'm busy enjoying my grandchildren but hope to get back to some sewing and blogging next week.

2008-07-11T09:21:00.000-04:00

Applique Update

I finished another block in my Birds of a Feather theme. I like this one, probably because I changed what I didn't like about the pattern. It has some very odd looking berries at the end of the stems. I almost left the berries off altogether but decided on these small ones. The author had two of them coming off where the bird is sitting on the branch and they looked like the bird was straddling the branch and her feet were hanging down. I needle turn the edges. I like the 3D look so I bend and twist the piece as I applique. It gives a unique natural look that I like. I stitched this bird on the machine with right side together with cotton batting. Then I cut the batting very close to the stitching, sliced thru the middle of the batting an turned it., I use a curticle wood stick when turning. It has a flat yet sharp edge but not the point end. I pick the beak out with a pin from the right side. Then I iron and attached by needle turn. The wing is two pieces of the same fabric sewn the same way. I do a bigger turn where the wing attaches to the body and then stitich the rest lightly down. The outer edge is fastened on with a running stitch. Maybe you can see better if you click.

I should take pics of how the author designed the block and compare it to my alterations. I had a lot of trouble with the blue background block because of the symetry of the design. The pattern had the branches and leaves absolutely symetral and I moved it some. It's that crossing of the branches right in the center of it that I really don't like. I do love the birds and follow the pattern for them. Lots of fun picking out fabric too.

I have a chair with arms to support my elbows while doing hand sewing but I learned a suggestion at the class I'm taking. Put a pillow on your lap and rest your arms on it. I also have a lamp with an arm that pulls around to shine directly over my hands. It also have a three way built-in bulb and turn it up. And I have a pair of large bifocal glasses (my regular ones are trifocal) made to focus at the distance where my hands are.

It is hard to see but these are some of my favorite helpers when appliquing. The needles are Mary Arden #10. I just learned the best way to thread a needle. Rather than move the hand with the thread, keep it still and move the needle to the thread. Really, it works. Try it. Lots of people use silk thread but I have trouble with it so I use all purpose cotton covered poly thread. I do like Thread Heaven thread conditioner and protectant but I don't use it all the time. I also like Glue-Baste-It but I also do some pinning, especially when auditioning my alterations for the design. I use the finest pins I can buy. Years ago I had some smaller (in diamater) than the extra fine ones I can get now. Does any one know what number or brand they might be?

Have a happy quilty day.

Oh, I see the spell checker isn't working again. Sorry.

2008-07-09T13:18:00.000-04:00

The Rest of the Story

I've been having problems posting. Keep reading and you will find the story about these pics.

2008-07-09T13:09:00.000-04:00

Tiger Lilies

At least this is what I call them. I've also heard them called ditch lilies. Oh well, they grow prolifically and I think they are very pretty. The dog ran by just as I as taking the pic. Her name is Betsy and she belongs to my son. I've been keeping her and his other dog Tess since March. My son and family are moving from AL back to MI. They have sold their Al house and bought one in MI. The MI house was just built. Actually it is being finished for them to move into at the end of the July. It will sure be nice to be able to drive just a couple hours to visit them.

I've been sewing and wrote a post about it but blogger wouldn't take it and I lost it. If this one goes through, I'll show you what I'm doing.

2008-07-07T15:46:00.001-04:00

Katie is Quilting

I have completed one more of my birds applique blocks. I'm not doing them very fast but am enjoying do them. The blue background (click for better view) is hard to work with. It is necessary to use very light or dark to contrast with the medium tone or shade or whatever it is. I liked the white but then decided that they needed veins and outlined. I gave the bird black legs but disliked them so changed to brown and like them better.

I was at the quilt shop and saw this fabric on the discount rack. I heard 4 patch calling me. When I got it washed and some of it cut out, I started the fun part of making designs. Hum... I decided to use the back of the fabric to tone it down a little. Well, I see the pic I just had here is now gone so I'll have to post is separately. I don't know why this is happening but wonder if when I use the backspace key to wipe out what I have just type, if it also erases one of the pics. I must be more careful.

I laid out my four patches on my big ironing board but first I put down a large bath towel. The patches cling to it and don't easily get messed up. Then I scoot the board close to my sewing machine and sew two together and then sew these together to make the four patch. When the first row is done, I just pull the towel down close to me and sew that one. By pulling the towel along the patches are easy to reach and don't get mixed up.

Nice to be back at my sewing machine.

2008-07-04T08:24:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July

Our flag is flying everywhere on this our country's birthday. Long may she wave.

2008-06-27T11:54:00.000-04:00

What's For Lunch?

Do you ever get hungry for something? Well, it isn't soup weather but I just had to have some potato soup. I like my homemade soup. Here it is ready to eat. It has carrots, celery and onions. And butter of course. Yes, it was delicious. Sorry you missed it.

I also was hungry for banana bread so let the bananas get very ripe and made a loaf. I use Splenda and I think I have posted the recipe before. Lots of walnuts. Served with butter, of course.

And the fruit is just perfect for eating. It is coming from CA and needed a few days in a paper bag to reach this point.

Sorry you couldn't come for lunch. Maybe next time.

2008-06-27T11:36:00.000-04:00

What's In The Yard?

Recently I went to the local art fair. They have all sorts of personal crafted things. I bought a couple additions for my front yard. I hadn't seen the frogs before and they are enjoying the sun just fine. The turtle had been there and he prefers a little shade. I wanted some things to put on some wood I put in the garden after cutting trees last summer. This cat was perfect. Butter cups are beautiful. At least that is what I call them. My roses are past their prime just now.

2008-06-23T10:32:00.000-04:00

Getting Organized

I decided to get my embroidery floss organized. I used the trusty zipper bags but now wonder if that was a good idea. They are not acid free. I'd never store a finished piece made with the floss in these bags but does it matter? Are there acid free bags like these?

I also did some looking in some of my UFO boxes. Gosh, this one is plastic too. Oh, me. Anyway, I was thinking it contained a nearly finished or at least well progressing quilt. This was it. Should I just move everything back into the general stash? I still like the idea but do I really want to do this. Yes, but will I?

Hope everyone is doing fine and my friends in the SW are keeping cool. What crazy weather.

2008-06-17T08:45:00.000-04:00

Favorite Container

I was looking for some small black beads to use for eyes on my applique birds. Well, time to do a little cleaning and sorting, anyway. There had been some multiplying going on behind my back so some of the tubs had to go into a larger ones. It isn't done, but is cleaner and getting back onto the shelves. I'll never use all this. It needs to be sorted and much needs to find a new home. Well, not today.

As for my favorite sewing container - I think it is the drawers on wheels.

2008-06-12T19:52:00.001-04:00

Katewind of the Lake
April 19, 1993 - June 14, 2008

Fifteen years ago today, my DS brought home a puppy he named Kate. After being a loyal and loving dog for all those years, she died today.

These are memories I have of her.

Riding home in DS's lap from where she was born.
Wagging her whole body along with her tail.
Running down a dock, sailing through the air to dive into the water.
Appreciating a good meal and a special treat.
Tearing through the paper to get to her Christmas bone.

Traveling so far in the car, with no complaints.
Running like the wind across a field.
Holding her head high as she brought back a pheasant.
Circling around and around to make the best bed out of weeds.
Learning and following so any commands.

Wiggling all over to see me, even if it had been a long time.
Talking with her squeaky ball.
Using her nose to nudge under my hand to ask for just one more scratch.
Sleeping with her head on my lap.
Helping out a cat and another dog.

Being the best mother to a new puppy.
Making valiant recoveries from cancer, cuts and poisoning.
Knowing how good she looked after a bath.
Holding a biscuit on her nose until given the command to toss and catch it.
Helping DS tell a joke.

Kate was a family pet and also a working dog. She was a Springer Spaniel and born to hunt. There was nothing that she loved more than to work back and forth across a field looking and smelling for pheasants. She was the smartest dog I ever knew. She followed so many words and hand signals. In the field, she responded to different whistle messages. Even for a non-hunter, it was very special to watch her work.

Not only was Kate field and obedience trained, she could figure out how to get what she wanted. As I said, she was the smartest dog I ever knew, even if sometimes it got her in trouble. When Kate was a puppy, DS trained her to go to the door and bark once to let him know she needed to go outside. DS was eating pizza in the living room. Kate was never allowed to eat people food and she knew this. She went to the door and barked. DS got up and went to the door to let her out. When he got there, she whipped around and ran to the living room to eat the slice of pizza he had left there.

Kate would take a squeaky ball in her mouth to make many rapid sounds. She would bring it to me and wait for me to squeeze it to make sounds back to her. Then she would talk back to me. We carried on quite a conversation this way.

Kate did not have any puppies of her own but when she was five years old, a puppy joined the family. Kate quickly adopted her, mothered and taught her. When Kate was ten years old, she did this again for another puppy. It seemed like she thought the puppies were brought home just for her.

I remember when Kate was a young dog and was staying with DH and me. This was before Kipper's time. We had a cat and he would go stand by the back door until someone noticed and let him out. If we didn't notice, he would finally come get someone, but Kate didn't know this. Kate started coming into the living room where we were and then ran toward the door. I said she sure made it clear she needed to go out. When I opened the door, the cat walked out and Kate turned around and ran back into the living room to lie down. And she did this for the cat that had taught her, by a quick scratch to the nose, who the boss was.

Once Kate and Tess were in South Dakota hunting pheasants. They were busy running their back-and-forth pattern looking for birds in the deep grass. Suddenly Tess fell off a steep cliff that DS didn't know was there. Tess rolled down and after a bit got to her feet. DS and Kate watched her try to climb back up but it was hopeless. DS was concerned about how he was going to get to her. When Kate realized Tess couldn't get back up, she ran some distance along the ridge until she found a place where she knew Tess could climb back up. Kate went back and barked to Tess to follow her to that area. Tess went along the bottom of the ravine but was too afraid to try the climb. So Kate worked her way down the embankment and got Tess to follow her back up.

Kate liked to play the tricks that DS taught her. DS would have her hup (sit command for hunting dogs), then put a dog biscuit on her nose. When given the command, Kate would toss the biscuit in the air and catch it. DS also taught her a joke. After sitting and looking at him, DS would ask Kate if she would rather be married or die. At the word "die" she promptly fell down to play dead.

During her life, she had her share of close calls. When she was seven years old, she got a lump on her hip area. It turned out to be a very aggressive cancer and even with surgery, the future did not look good. DS took her to a university veterinary school and a marvelous doctor did successful surgery. Once when hunting, she made a big leap right into some barbwire. She was hung up in the air on the wire but she was smart enough not to struggle. She waited for DS to come get her. She had to have many stitches. Once she dug into a heavy sealed cardboard box. Ignoring the other things in the box, she chewed into a new sealed plastic bottle to eat many dog aspirin. When found, she had bloody diarrhea. The vet said she probably wouldn't make it but she did.

Some people don't believe dogs go to heaven. I believe Kate is there and, after a joyful reunion and a good scratching, she is walking down a path with DH heading for the field to again run like the wind.

2008-06-11T08:33:00.001-04:00

Gadget Bag

I went to my LQS and made this gadget bag. Mine is utility style. I had a piece of flawed quilted fabric that I used. I also used up some zippers from my stash. No finished edges here. Just a little zigzag. And some ribbon. Other people made nicely finished ones. Mine will work fine.
I did add some string to the zippers to make them easier to pull. I hung it on the refrig to get a pic and think I'll hang it in my sewing room. It will take me a while to get all the goodies I want in it. Of course I should have thought about what I wanted to put in it before placing the zippers. The 6" ruler doesn't quite fit but it is not going anyplace. I think it will be very useful especially as a take-a-long.

What's Kipper checking out? This is the box that the clippers we bought for his haircut came in. Nothing note worthy there. Wrong. The packing peanuts are environmentally friendly. They are water soluble and 100% biodegradable. Just a little water will dissolve them. What a wonderful thing. I try hard not to use Styrofoam products especially cups, plates and boxes. Why can't this be used for other things? They are a bit softer than the bad ones but I'm sure they could adjust the product for other uses. I'll sure buy from Doctors Foster and Smith again.

I bought Kipper and me plane tickets to go to FL next fall. They are already raising prices and expect to go higher yet. I hear that people aren't flying as much. Maybe, but it sure costs to drive too. Well, a lot of the lowest rate tickets, especially for April 2009, are already sold out.

I heard that MI now has the highest unemployment rate in the US. I have a young man who helps me with my yard work on some weekends. He has a minimum wage job which is $7.40 here in MI. Even so, he can't keep up and has been evicted from his very low end apartment. He is going to live in a tent in a park for the summer. Remember those who are struggling.

2008-06-09T10:23:00.000-04:00

Rest of the Pics

This is the missing pic for the next post. Keep reading.

2008-06-09T10:22:00.000-04:00

All Gone

Kipper hadn't been cut in six months. It was such a cold spring here that he was comfortable but now 90 degree weather is here and he was matting and shedding. This is the first time my DS cut him and the first time Kipper has had all the fur cut off his tail. I did save some on his face and near his ears. DS even cuts the insides of his dogs' ears. DS said Kipper is now naked. That he is but he is also much more comfortable. He actually had a couple places where his skin was breaking down under all that fur. It is hard to tell how dense and long the layers of fur are in the "before" pic. It is very very soft fur and very very thick. The "after" pic was taken in the house and the light doesn't show his true color, but, hey, a little low light is good when naked. haha Kipper looks a little sad but he is just very tired. It is hard to stand and be a good dog for as long as it takes to get a big grooming done. Ever since he had surgery on his paw area, he does not like to be clipped there, so, DS had to be patient and let him relax. Kipper is a very good dog when being bathed and clipped. But then he is a very good dog, period.

I got my sewing machine back from repair and had to try it out so yesterday I sewed the rows of my orphan quit. The machine purrs along beautifully. The quilt needs borders.

Well, I see I have lost the third pic again. I have retyped this, after loosing one of the pics, twice. I'll post it separately this time or I'll never get this post done.

2008-06-06T21:16:00.000-04:00

Memories

The People We Love Most
by Shelby Lewis Jones

Some people touch our lives and become a part of us forever.
Even when they are no longer with us, we still think of them as being close.
We feel their warmth, and remember special things they said and did, and times we shared.

Ten years ago today my DH died. He was 60 years old and had been in excellent health until six months before he died from pancreatic cancer. He was cremated and his ashes scattered. He did not want to be buried in a place but to be part of the earth. We used a quotation by Louis Pasteur at his memorial funeral. It said, The more I study nature, the more I am amazed at the Creator. DH ask that when we remembered him, we go into nature wherever we were. Today I did.

I also looked through pictures. There are very few pictures of him as a child but here is one. I don't know how old he was but his siblings always told that his mother wouldn't let anyone cut his curly hair and everyone thought he was a girl. When he was about five years old, his older brothers cut his hair.

After he died, we made a book of pictures representing times during his life. Today I looked at it again. There are pages with his siblings, with me and when he was hunting and fishing. I think ecologist and naturalist are good words to describe him. He also loved and really enjoyed his grandchildren. The page I'm posting is from this book. It is pictures of him with his grandchildren when they were small. There were four grandchildren when he died and now he has two more. Two of them have graduated from collage and one is a sophomore in college. The little one just turned 11 years old.

I put the bottom picture at the end of the book we made. We were walking on a path at a local park. I let DH get ahead of me and snapped it. I think today he's still walking, just ahead of me.

2008-06-03T09:06:00.000-04:00

My Yard

You know nothing much is happening on the sewing front when all I have to post are pics of my blooming yard. It is neat to watch one after another bloom. Aren't these beautiful?

My sewing machine is in for a tune up. It keeps skipping stitches and they say it probably needs its timing tweaked. The local area repair person is out of business and this man comes from about 60 miles away when they get enough repairs. I took mine in yesterday and I was number six so he should be here tomorrow.

Hope your day is full of blooms!

2008-05-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

Pictures
Posting problems this morning. These are the pics for the following post.

2008-05-27T10:47:00.001-04:00

Beautiful Holiday

We had such wonderful weather for the last three days. We have had a very cold spring so this was greatly appreciated. I spent many hours working in my yard. Unfortunately the baby birds in my propane tank cover did not make it. We had several days and nights of very cold weather. One of the eggs even got too cold. You can see why I will clean up and block the "door."

I have finished another applique block. I may add more red berries but will decide that later. It sure should have been ironed before it had it's picture taken. I'll put down a fluffy towel, lay the block with the right side down and iron with steam. The pic doesn't show the background color correctly. It is a medium pink and I found it harder to choose colors to stand out against it. Maybe you should just ignore all this until I do some ironing and take a better pic.

2008-05-25T09:08:00.002-04:00

E-mail

I just discovered that the e-mail address on my profile has not been correct. I have corrected it today. If you have written to me since April, I did not get your message. So sorry. Hope I have not offended anyone who thought I was not replying. My profile also had my occupation listed as accountant. That is the biggest joke there ever was. Numbers are definitely not my thing.

2008-05-22T10:33:00.000-04:00

My Yard
Two days ago I managed to spend an hour working in my yard. Take a deep breath. I'm not much for fragrances but have always loved lilly of the valley. Wish they lasted longer. There was my first poppy. I discovered a week ago that a robin had made a nest and laid five eggs in the top of my propane gas tank. I am rural enought that they have not brought in gas, water or sewer so I have a "pig," which is a tank to hold my propane gas, which is used by my furnace. The top has controls and a valve to put the gas in. It is has a hinged metal cover to keep the snow and rain off the controls. There is a small place to put your fingers in to lift it. Mother bird used it for a door. She has built a large nest with all sorts of things. I decided to go take a pic of the eggs and discovered two had just hatched. I quickly closed it back up and hope the babies didn't get cold. The pic doesn't show it but they were wiggling around. It has been very cold here this week so I hope Mom hurried back to keep them warm. I'm sure she did. When it gets a little warmer, I'll try to get another pic. After these babies fly away, I'll block the "door" so I can use the controls and have the tank filled up.

2008-05-20T19:05:00.002-04:00

Glioma

Such sad news that Senator Ted Kennedy has this malignancy. It is the same one my friend Shirley has. Apparently the Senator's tumor is on the left side while Shirley's was on the right. It is so hard to believe how rapidly they develop. Shirley had an MRI, showing nothing, seven months before her tumor, that was larger than an egg and small than a lemon, was found. One day at a time.

2008-05-20T17:54:00.000-04:00

My Mother Made These

My mother was very talented with her hands. These are a couple doilies she made after she retired. She taught school and was happy after she retired and could work with her needles. I've been cleaning my bedroom today so I washed the doilies and ironed them a little. I know they should be starched and ironed good but at least they are clean and back in place.

I was inspired to get my bedroom clean after buying a new vacuum sweeper. My old one is about 20 years old and is held together with duct tape. It is a Hoover upright with 18 amps. It could really pick up dirt but was now throwing half of it back into the air. I've been trying to bring myself to buy a new one for several years now. With my government incentive check in hand, I went shopping. Last Friday I went to Sears to look vacuums over and try them out. I knew I wanted one with a bag and thought about getting a tank type one. Then I found the last of the discontinued upright Hovers with self propulsion. My old one had this and I loved it. So I bought it. It also has a small beater attachment which is perfect for getting to the dog hair against the wall. I don't know how much my $200 will help the economy. It was two o'clock and my sale was the first one the clerk had made all day. And she was covering several departments. So many stores are now closed. The rest of my incentive check went into the bank for now. What are you doing with yours?

Another thing Mom was good at was tatting with a shuttle. In her retirement years, she made these cards. I loved the clowns she made. They have a soda (we call it pop here in Michigan) can for the body. It is filled with sand. The clowns can be moved to many different positions. They always brighten any room.

2008-05-15T12:20:00.000-04:00

Berries Added

I've got aspargus! I don't plant a garden any more but the aspargus still comes up every year. We planted these plants about 40 years ago and even then we dug them up from an old abandoned house. I wonder how old they are. Yes, it tasted as good as it looks.

I added some red berries to my applique and even a yellow flower. Definitely spices it up. I also appliqued a bit on Birdy's tail. I'm slowly working on another block, maybe 1/3 done.

Gas has gone to over $4 a gallon here in my part of Michigan. I know you California gals have been there but.... Unemployment here is 15 percent. And remember that only counts the people registered for looking for employment. It doesn't include people who have given up, often due to mental or physical problems. I see so many senior citizens working at minumum wage jobs. These were the jobs youth used to have. Oh, me. I bought a pack of (10) single edge razor blades and they cost $6. Food prices are outragous but my favorite store did have a lot of things I like to eat (milk, cottage cheese, eggs, Cherios, tomatoes, lettuce) on sale last week. I stocked up on the cereal and donated some to a food drive. I have mixed feelings about some of the people asking for food. Is anyone in their home smoking? Do they buy soda, chips? Are they eating fast food or buying coffee by the cup? Where do they set the thermastat in their home? Do they have cable, Internet, cell phones? I know my local free food pantry is giving out recipes with the food. Maybe some people are learning how to cook from scratch. This is the first time for so many people that they have had to start living on a budget and "making do." Of course they should have been saving and not paying interest on credit cards and then things would be better for them now. We never bought anything (except a house and car) until we had the money saved to buy it. Now it is hard to get the price of anything. They just want to tell you how much the payments will be. We went as long as 26 weeks one year when my husband was laid off, many years ago now, but without debts, we were able to "make due." Sorry about the soap box. I'm stopping at the library today for free books and tapes.

My friend has completed half of her six weeks of radiation treatment. She is doing very well and her only side effect is hair loss. We are going to get her a wig tomorrow. She is also taking an oral chemotherappy drug. She takes one pill each day and each one costs $197. Yes, there is no period there. It is nearly two hundred dollars. Her little bottle had 21 capsules and I asked her if she ever carried over $4,000 in her purse before. Her insurance is covering nearly all of the cost.

I see that the spell check is not working again so good luck reading my post. Have a quilty day!

2008-05-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

Playing

Last weekend I decided to do some cleaning up in my sewing room. I got the floor swept and found a box to hold the scraps from my big ironing board. Just had to sew. Result was this 12" block. I found a pizza box to store it in. Not much cleaning up got done but some good quilt therapy did.

Kipper also decided to play. He stole two pieces of fabric. I don't know why he likes to eat fabric so much. He isn't allowed in my sewing room but I had these by my computer area, where I do my hand sewing. It looks like he took a giant bite but actually the fabric was folded and he was chewing. Yes he has a bone, actually several, and yes he chews them. Sigh. The second piece of fabric was to be his second course and I rescued it. No pic.

Hope everyone is having a good quilting day.

2008-05-02T10:28:00.000-04:00

Background
Here are pics of the background fabrics I bought for the Birds of a Feather applique. I took them without flash so have some shadows but maybe you can get the idea. I have used numbers 2 and 3 from the left so far. Number 2 is beige and the pattern shows up better than the pic.

What's In Your Name?
When I saw this on Norma's Random Stitches I thought no way for me. If she thought "N" was hard and Granny thought "L" was hard, well how about "K"? Last night I was too worn down to do anything. I thought about reading but wandered your blogs instead. Then I decided to see how many words I could think of that started with "K". Could I use them to do this challenge? Well, here goes.

Name: Katie
Four Letter Word: kind (Please be this to my word choices.)
Vehicle: kayak (Did you know that Alaska has more water vehicles than road ones.)
TV Show: Reges and Kelly Show.
City: Kansas City (Hi DGD #1)
Boy's Name: Keith (I think there are more proper names with "K" than regular ones.)
Girl's Name: Kari (Hi DGD#2)
Occupation: kennel keeper (There's a twofer. That makes up for the TV Show.)
Something I Wear: kimono (I've been reading about Taniwa's. So beautiful.)
Actually I wear kitty-print pajamas.)
Food: kale (I like the stuff, especially with other greens.)
Something In My Bathroom: kinfolk's kids (Well, sometimes they are there.)
Reason For Being Late: keys (Can't find them.)
Something I Shout: Kipper, come. (Good dog.)

2008-04-30T13:34:00.000-04:00

More Applique

I finished the two birds. I redesigned the vine and leaves some. I didn't realize how close in color the leaves and vine were but they are OK. The pattern called for some round berries but I don't know if I will add them or not. The second pic can also be horizontal. I also used my own idea on how to arrange the leaves. It too is suppose to have some berries.

Even with the frost last night, the tulips in my yard are standing proudly today. So nice to see.

The bottom pic is the field across the road from my house. It has winter wheat and looks so green - just like the grass in my yard. For any who don't know, winter wheat is planted in the fall and grows a few inches, then dies down for the winter. In the spring it has a root system and begins growing just like grass does. It allows for a crop much earlier than spring wheat, which can't be planted yet.

Hope everything is growing where you are, too.

2008-04-25T09:32:00.000-04:00

My Little Corner of the World

I've shown pics of my sewing room, why not share my computer work area? This is it as of this morning. The dogs are Kipper, hiding my shoes and socks under the table, and one of my son's dogs named Betsy. I'm keeping two of my son's dogs for a couple months while he is trying to sell his house in AL. He and his family will be moving back to MI. Hurrah! Okay, back to my room. At the left of the first pic is an air cleaner. Works well. The small table is an old sewing machine and among other things, my pin cushion and hand cream have landed there. Love those lamps that swing to give light directly over my work areas. I also love that roller plastic drawer thing. I have one like it in FL and I just move the contents back and forth as I migrate. Also notice the Hawaii Quilt on the couch is ready for a cover up when it gets cool.

In the second pic you can see I have my comfy rocking chair and my back rest. I found these at AAA in FL last winter and just love them. Great for the car too. The ones I have are made by Tavelon. They are really comfy for the back and are let air circulate when the weather is hot.

Let's see what else is about me. The "house" my dad made and holds tissues. The clip holds papers to type on my computer. I actually hold my lap top on my lap when I use it. I love my lap top. If anyone is thinking of getting one, the one thing I would recommend is also buying an air blower to set it on. This plugs into a port (never have too many of them) and when I turn the computer on, it begins blowing air on to the bottom of the computer. It keeps my the computer from getting hot and my lap too. Best $29 I ever spent. Okay, what else? A printer, scanner, clock, timer, cup and lint brush (remember there are three dogs here now), lots of pens and such under the papers. Actually they are organized with boxes and silverware dividers. One of them has hand sewing equipment. On the lower level are phone books, stapler, hole punch, back scratcher and a thing with a long handle that holds cream to dispense and rub on my back. Another great gadget. Of course there are lots papers, files, and what is all that other stuff? Right now I am sorting and scanning pictures so have a sack for recycle paper, milk crate with files, waste paper basket and paper shredder sitting on the floor between my chair and the armour. Oh, I see the TV remove on the top of my computer. And my mouse. I prefer it to the internal one on the laptop.

So what do you think of work area?

2008-04-22T12:37:00.000-04:00

Rows Done

All my western theme orphans and fabric bits are sewn into rows. My sewing room floor sure need a good sweeping. I'm not looking forward to sewing the rows together as some of them are a bit wobbly. I like to do this type of creative sewing.

Old Block

When I visited my aunt last week, she gave me some blocks and cut fabric that were in my grandma's trunk. There is only one of this design. It is sewn by hand and doesn't fit together to lie flat. The diameter varies from 11 to 11.5 inches. I want to put some of these blocks together some way. What should I do about this one? I can fix the center either with additional stitching or by adding a round piece. I hate to remove her stitching. Should I just do some ironing to roll the edges of some pieces over? Maybe tack the roll-over down in a few places? How would I decide where to iron? It probably would help to have the pattern. I can't see any way I can save the outside points. Maybe I should remove the stitchng or some of it and start over. No one will see the stitiching after it is quilted anyway. I'd like to make a small quilt to put on a table and give it back to my aunt. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

2008-04-19T12:18:00.000-04:00

Flash From The Past

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with two of my cousins and my Aunt Mary. We shared old pictures. This one includes my great grandfather Daniel who my mother said was in the Civil War. He lied about being only 16 years old and joined near the end of the war. There doesn't seem to be any proof of this story but maybe... I know the pic was taken in 1919 as the baby died in 1920 when she was two years old. My mother is seated in front of her grandfather. She would have been seven years old. Her brother is beside her and four years old. The woman was not their grandmother but was the third wife of their grandfather. Daniel is the fourth generation of my family who first came from Germany to America in 1753. This first generation American and two of his sons served in the War of Revolution (as the documents called it). Now I have lots more pics to look through and write about. I'm determined to get my stories about my ancestors done this summer.

Have you ever eaten huckleberry pie? My Aunt Mary found one in her freezer that she had made last fall. You can't believe how delicious it was. She still picks the berries every fall. They grow wild on her land. Huckleberries are smaller than blueberries but taste so much better. Why is that true of wild berries? Now days I can find only a few wild strawberries which I immediately eat. So many of our berries are now grown because they have the ability to travel well. A lot of taste is lost when that is the primary criteria as to which variety to grow. Anyway, I shared a wonderful meal with all the pickles, applesauce, raw veggie tray, fruit/nut bread, corn, squash, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and roast pork. I'm sure I forgot some of the foods but anyway, I ate some of all of them. Everything was so good but the pie was absolutely heavenly!

2008-04-17T12:21:00.000-04:00

What's New?

I have made a couple more rows to my orphan quilt. That red and blue row may not stay. Bits of the red and blue would have been good throughout the blocks. I have enough bits and tiny orphans to make another row and then I'll decide what to do next.

A couple weeks ago I went by my LQS and while there, I signed up for an applique class. Last Friday I went to the first class. It meets once a month and there are six classes. It is from a book called Birds of a Feather. The instructor has enlarged the patterns for us. I should have put a ruler in the pic. Anyway, each bird is about 5 inches. This instructor does the most perfect applique. I took a class from her several years ago too. That was before I had hand surgery and at that time, I was having trouble gripping the needle and also holding the fabric. Now I'm able to do these things, so I wanted to try again. The instructor has so many great hints and gives each student a needle and so much more. She also lets us use her glue, thread, scissors, etc. Most of all she is very nice and allows for individual likes and dislikes.

After looking through my stash (I think I can't really see it unless it is pulled out and thrown about some.), I decided to use a purple theme. The instructor teaches the needle turn method although she has also taught the spray starch one. Her edges are so smooth and you get the feel that the applique is printed on the background. I tried to do some of this but I really like a 3D feel better. I actually like wrinkles. Although I like to add batting under my piece, I didn't do this on either bird. I did sew the wing on the left bird by sewing all the way around two layers of right- side-together fabric, then slicing the back and turning. That way I just tacked the wing down. I should have left the front end of the wing open and turned it from there and then appliqued it down. Around the birds, are a lot of vine. The instructor makes hers by just eye balling the turning and ironing of 3/4 inch bias strips. She showed us some other ways too. I had this Clover bias tape maker and hadn't used it. It works wonderfully! The end of the strips get a little off but other than that, it really works.

2008-04-11T22:41:00.000-04:00

Looks Good

Guess what I made from those apples in my last post. LOL When blog reading, I've been seeing such yummy looking foods lately. Today I ate lunch at a place where I hadn't eaten before. They are known for their fish and pie - well not together. The fried cod was the best I've had from a restaurant in a long time. And this piece of pie came home for my supper. It was no sugar added and yup, I ate it al a mode. Very good. It is on a salad plate. That's how big one piece was.

I made two more rows putting orphans together. Now I have a 12 inch block ready to run through the sewing machine. Not sure when that will be.

2008-04-09T09:15:00.000-04:00

Orphans

I made a visit to my LQS last week. I found the apples fabric on the discount shelf. Just had to have it. Almost four yards. How would it look in a four posy patch? Have you ever made a table cloth? How do you do it? Just like any other quilt? What kind of batting?

I also dumped out the bag of orphans I had started in Florida. I tried to do some arranging on my big ironing board. I just don't know. I guess I need to get out my improvised design wall and put it up. Then I saw how Finn was making rows of orphans. Hey, would that work? I made two rows. They are about 40 inches long and 4/1/2 inches wide. I thought they would be set horizontally but I like the looks of them vertically. I enjoy making orphans but find it hard to figure out what to make to put them together. Any ideas?

2008-04-06T10:50:00.000-04:00

Back to Quilting

I saw this block on one of your sites and loved it. So I grabbed a couple fabrics and started sewing. Whoops. I need to adjust my MI sewing machine. Where does the needle go for that perfect scant 1/4 inch? And where is my favorite 1/4 inch foot? Oh, just do it. No ironing, no trimming - just sew. The result is the top pic which can't even be ironed into shape. Next I got the machine adjusted and me used to using it again. Every time this machine is turned off, it goes back to a set stitch length. My one in FL stays where it was last set. Now I'm not complaining about having two sewing machines in my two homes, just commenting on how I get used to how a machine works and how hard it is to remember how another one works. I blame it on old age. Hey, getting older has to be good for something. I remembered to clean and oil my FL sewing machine the day before I left. And to remove my favorite 1/4 inch foot. I put it in an empty pill bottle and packed it. But where? I had emptied both suitcases. After sleeping on it, I finally found my foot in Kipper's plastic shoe box - the box where I keep all his things to carry on our migrations. Hey, doesn't it make sense to put the most important things together? How dump that I was looking with my other sewing things I had brought back! So with the iron heated and the machine adjusted, I buzzed right along. Oh, no. I put the HST together wrong. The last pic is the correct block in progress. How did that other bit of stitching get in that pic? The correct block is now done and in the orphan box.

I also visited my LQS and will tell you about that soon.

2008-04-03T18:34:00.000-04:00

Ball Thrower

I just got around to emptying my camera onto my computer. Here is a Florida flashback. Kipper got one of these ball throwers for Christmas several years ago. It broke two years ago and thanks for DD1 and family, he got another one this year. But it was back ordered. Then when it arrived it threw one ball and quit so I had to make phone calls. They finally sent another. It throws balls automatically. I have it set on every 7 seconds, still Kipper gets impatient and will paw at it. I put it on a chair to prevent him doing this and breaking it. Kipper comes close to it and stares at it, as the machine makes a noise that changes. He knows exactly when to bolt for the catch. The third pic is of a catch. Click on the movie. Whoops, he forgot to open his mouth, so the ball bounced off his nose and he had to run after it. He sure loves this thing. It had to stay in Florida. In case you are wondering about the metal post, it is the base of my clothes line which had been put away in the shed.

Today I actually cut some fabric and ran my MI sewing machine. I can't find my favorite 1/4 inch foot. I know I put it in an empty pill bottle and packed it somewhere. Hummm. Where?

2008-03-31T09:45:00.002-04:00

Quilt Therapy

Yesterday I spent some time sorting out and discarding or filing miscellaneous papers. I found one I had printed from the computer in May 2006. I don't know if I mentioned it in one of my prior blog posts but if I can't remember, you probably can't either. It is a response from a doctor named Susan Delaney Mech to someone who asked if quilting could be therapy. Her response was, "Quilting has several important health benefits:
* Quilting lowers your heart rate and blood pressure.
* Quilting helps you sleep better.
* Quilters have fewer colds and influenzas.
*Quilter's wounds heal faster.
* Quilting gives you the time and space to think your own thoughts,
to dream your own dreams, and to plan your life.
The calming rhythms of quilting allow us to process whatever challenges we face and to listen for that still, quiet voice that brings compassion and guidance. Quilting is about love and relationship. It is life-affirming and life-giving. In short, quilting is therapy."

The bold to some words are from the author. I have no idea what her opinions are based on but to me they seem to be right-on. Just the message I need just now. Was it just chance that I picked up this paper or ..? Anyway, I got the message and will visit my sewing room today.

Costs to Fly

Like everything else, the cost to fly is going up again. Do you remember that when you were given a price, that was how much money you needed. Many places started quoting prices without the taxes and fees for fuel and whatever. Next they started charging for the snacks and then for the seat. I'm not talking about business or first class. Just coach. Yes, it costs to select a seat on the isle or window. Without paying more money you are assigned the middle seat. They also charge to have your suitcases checked in at the curb. This doesn't include the tip. They weigh your suitcase and charge more if it weighs more than 50 pounds. Once I opened mine and moved things between the two suitcases to keep both of them under the limit. I replaced a heavy suitcase with good pulling power with a lighter one and haven't had this problem since. Have you heard the latest? They are going to fly only one suitcase in cargo unless you pay extra for the second one. Oh, me. I think they were saying the second suitcase will cost $50. If you are flying, read the small print and be prepared for the added costs!

2008-03-28T09:32:00.002-04:00

Back Up North and Winter

Kipper and I arrived safely. Three inches of snow this morning and Kipper just loves it. Rolling and Rolling. As you can see I got the computer back up and going. No problem. TV cable was more problem but working now.

Big gratuities to my daughter in Florida who helped me with all the last minute things in FL and got us to the airport and to my son who was here in MI to help me get this house up and running again. He had driven from AL with two of his dogs to leave with Kipper and me for a couple months while they try to sell their house there. They will be moving back to MI this summer.

This morning I am off to see my friend Shirley who visited me in FL in January. She had surgery two weeks ago for a brain tumor. Very unexpected. They found it on a Monday and removed as much as they could two days later. There were no signs of it last August so it is very aggressive. Biopsy says stage 4. Not good at all. They are going to give her radiation 5 days a week for six weeks. We don't know when it will start. They would like to give her chemo but she is a liver transplant (14 years next September) and it would cause her liver to reject. She came through the brain surgery fine and was out of the hospital in two days. Now she is back to her home (alone). She has a very positive outlook and is feeling very good right now. They took her car keys away so I'm planning on spending lots of time with her. Shirley and I used to work together and have done a lot of traveling together since our husbands died. Sorry to be sharing this sad news but there was no other way to let you know why I may be away and not doing much quilty things for a while. I'm planning to get some hand work projects together for me to work on while waiting with her during treatments and such.

2008-03-25T11:17:00.000-04:00

Quilt Books

The hardest part of packing to migrate from FL to MI is deciding what sewing things to leave and what to take. All things that could rust go. The stash stays. the books are always a question. I got these books for Christmas this year and had great plans to make all sorts of goodies. It didn't happen. If I take them north, will it happen this summer? I do take pics of things I leave here. This jogs my memory when I repeat this process next fall.

Kipper is all set to fly. He is such a good traveler. He likes his kennel and they are always amazed that he gets right in. Do to his size, he must fly in the cargo. So many airlines do not carry dogs now. Kipper has always flown NWA and they do a good job. They have a special place in cargo that has temperature and ventilation control and his kennel is strapped in. Most of the larger planes have accommodations for two dogs. One time we got delayed on the runway during take- off and they turned off the air blowing to the passengers. I got the flight attendant and asked her to make sure the pilot knew there was a dog in hold. Answer came back that he knew. Five minutes later, I got the attendant again. This time, the pilot said he had air blowing on the dog the whole time. Passengers could be miserable but he's take care of the dog. Some bigger airports like Tampa and Detroit have special pet vans that carry the dog in air conditioned comfort from the airport to the plane. Kipper is very comfortable in a large kennel (weighs 50 pounds but is long and tall) but they insist that he have an extra large one so he can stand up and lift his head. Now, neither Kipper nor I want him doing this during his travel, but...rules are rules. (To fill up this larger kennel, I put a pad inside the sides - like a bumper pad for a baby bed, besides the pad he lays on.) This extra large kennel also means $80 more for a total of $300 one way travel. Mind you, my ticket cost $250 for round trip. Oh well, he is my very good companion and I say this is my smoking, drinking, gambling, golfing, hair dresser, and whatever else money. Much better way to spend it. The airlines also restricts when they will not fly a dog. This is dependant to the tarmac temperature. They can't fly if the temp will be over 85 degrees and you never know about FL. Today is cool - high of about 70 but tomorrow (when we fly) is suppose to be higher. They fly no dogs during the months of June, July, August and September. For the last few years, we had had a direct flight, but this year NWA has none from anywhere in FL, so we must change planes in Detroit. The airline requires Kipper have flying papers saying he is fit to travel. These are done on a form of which one copy is sent to the state. Since my MI vet knows Kipper, he doesn't charge me anything for doing this. Here is FL, I have established a vet too but this year the charge was $10 for the physical and $55 for the traveling form. It seems the State of FL charges the vets for these forms. Oh, me. They do know how to get the bucks from the tourists.

This is my last post until I get set back up in MI.

2008-03-20T11:40:00.000-04:00

My Iron

People have been showing their irons, so here are mine that I have here in Florida. The humidity here is hard on irons so I buy an inexpensive one and replace it as needed which is often every year. Actually this one is on its second year. I like one that is not too heavy. Those cordless ones are way too heavy for me. I wouldn't have one that doesn't have auto shut off. I like lots of steam holes. As you can see, the plate on this one is showing some use. I have cleaned it and it is smooth and still working okay. The little one is not a toy but one I bought on sale at the fabric store. It is nice for a carry along.

Another Redwork

I finished another redwork but found the flowers and leaves were not differentiated enough. I tried joining the petals and or centers and wasn't happy with either. So now I'm filling in the petals. Three more flowers and one more tea pot to do. I also found some red check material that I really like with the tea pots. It was here in my small FL stash. I have no idea what I' going to do with them. I considered making hot pads. Also thought about a wall hanging for here in FL.

My friend who was visiting has gone back to MI. Kipper and I fly back on the 26th. Oh me, that is less than a week away. I got my computer backed up. I usually do it before I migrate. I carry my lap top with me on the plane. No machine quilting for a while. I must go through my sewing things and pack what will go with me. One of my two suitcases always gets filled with sewing goodies. I have one set of clothes and most other things that stay in FL and other set that stay in MI but most sewing goodies migrate with me.

2008-03-16T11:51:00.001-04:00

Another Post Script

Be sure to click on the pics the the following posts to really see the detail.

Katie

2008-03-16T11:44:00.000-04:00

Sculpture (post script)
I have posted several pictures of this exhibit and the next one describes what it is about. I mentioned the woman who is running and forgot to include the pics so here they are. I also showed pics of the soldier coming home. Here is a distant pic of it. The sculpture used a real returning soldier for his modal. Enjoy.

2008-03-16T11:36:00.000-04:00

Sculpture Exhibit

The following several posts are all pics about this art exhibit. I love it!

If you ever get a chance to see any of J. Seward Johnson's sculptures, don't miss it. A brouchure titled J. Seward Johnson Collection discribes them best. Each sculpture is entirely made of bronze. The realism of the textures and details is the hallmark of Johnson's art, and this detailing is achieved through hours and hours of intense labor....

Mr. Johnson has made more than 250 life-sized figures and his collections can be seen in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. They are sponsored by local people or groups as is designated on a plaque. The neatest thing is how they are placed in a park. They are where the people the sculpture depicts would actually be. The brochure has the names of some of the sculptures and these I have noted. The ones I did not give the names were not in the brochure.

2008-03-16T11:11:00.000-04:00

More Scupltures

This one is titled A Little Right. Notice the detail in the close ups. The runner from the prior pic is just below them.