Design Wall Monday Dec. 19

I believe this is the first Design Wall Monday I’ve participated in this year… better late than never ya think?  LOL

I actually have something on the Design Wall and have spent part of my day sewing the remaining strip sets together and cutting triangles.  I’d like to try and get at least one more block made before all the holiday hustle starts.  Sorry about the picture - It’s night and my iPod doesn’t take great pictures – the colors really are much nicer.

The Pattern is called Bouillabaisse by Pie In The Sky Quilts.  I first saw a finished top at Southampton Quilts when I was up working the Fall Shop Hop.  I cut and began piecing the strip sets 2 weeks later when I went to the quilt show up in New Hampshire.  This first block was completed at that time.

Check out the other listings today on Judy L’s Patchwork Times site…

Tis The Season…

At least that’s what I have heard… hard to tell here with the weather being so warm.

But I’m not complaining… my folks came up north to visit for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving and since they are from Texas it was much easier on everyone to have the temps in the very moderate range.  I only had one miserable trip driving down to VA to pick them up from my brothers house – all the other trips were fine… well - if you completely ignore all the idiots out there driving around – but that’s a whole different subject. 

So is anyone going out Shopping on Super Saturday?  LOL - Not me!  I went out to one department store last week at a local Mall to take advantage of a 2 day sale.  I went in – directly to the department I had business in – selected my items and checked out.  It didn’t help that I didn’t feel good (the beginnings I’d later learn of a 24 hour bug – bleah) all I wanted to do was get back out the door. 

My sewing room was yet again rearranged to accommodate guests.  You would think I’d finally “get it” that using the day bed for storing bins and bags and stacks of stuff/projects/fabric isn’t a good idea.  Apparently I’m a slow learner…

So not much sewing going on – but I did finish (no picture) a smaller version of the Swoon quilt as a shop sample.  The pattern called for 9 blocks – I made 6 blocks to finish it off closer to a twin bed size quilt - by adding a 6 inch outer border it finished at 66 x 92.  This is a good pattern to use up some of those coordinating fat quarter you have – but you will need FQ’s that have a full 18” of width.  There is no extra for errors in cutting… I have a couple blocks where I had to sew pieces together to accommodate an error on my part. 

Here is a pic of the grandkids in Hawaii!

Happy Holiday’s Everyone!

Boys Will Be Boys...

The Engineer opened a new bar of soap today... Which reminded me that I never told y'all about the lovely lady we met recently.

She is a young wife and Mom living with her family on a near-by dairy farm. She - in addition to homeschooling her kids and helping with the dairy - has her own little business on the side making and selling soap.

So one beautiful fall Saturday we stopped in to buy some soaps.

I picked out a nice "Oatmeal, Milk and Honey" and a lovely "Lavender Flowers". I hadn't paid any attention to what The Engineer had chosen...

That'll learn me... LOL

Do Not Tell Me If I Am Wrong...

Because it seems to be working for me.

I have to press ALL the seams open on these blocks I am working on (and not liking it a whole lot).

The other day as I was pondering open seam I decided that it might be easier to do if I wasn't working on a flat surface.

So I pulled out my old ironing 'ham' - and it does seem easier...

But like I said - if this isn't true - don't tell me until I am done.

How Is Your Memory?

Do you take a specialty ruler out to use only to realize you don't remember how to use it?

Since I know I have a mind like a sieve sometimes (often) I know that keeping the instructions with the ruler or in a safe place is important.

Here is what i do.

All of the original instructions go into a clear bag I keep on the shelf. Everything in one place - no guess work! I also make a copy of some of them to keep with the rulers I might take out of the house - that way I'll never loose my original instructions.

I also use this approach with kitchen/household appliances and gadgets. Everything into a bag - I find those zippered linens bags a great size. I know right where to look for the book for the stove when I want to clean the oven.

And I discovered yesterday that I have the booklet for the breadmaker I left in MA with my daughter. I'll have to remember to give that to her...

Maybe I should write myself a note...

The pictures are of my Deb Tucker Flying Geese ruler with it's copy of the instructions - the other picture is of some of the stuff from my 'originals' bag.

So how do you keep things organized?

There Is An App For That

It occurred to me that I could probably write and send a post to the blog using my iPod - and sure enough... there's an app for that!

So here I sit with my feet propped up and not a computer in sight.

And to check out the picture feature - here's a big sloppy grin...

When Quilters Gather…

I went up to the East Coast Quilters Alliance Show “A Quilters Gathering” in Nashua, NH.  It’s an annual show that I’ve been going to since 2002 – I haven’t attended every year nor have I stayed over every time but living 6 hours away certainly makes that a reasonable decision.  We had a great time – it’s always fun to get together with this group of ladies.  We enjoy the show, the vendors, and sitting and sewing the long weekend in our room.  And It’s great to see some other quilty friends who attend the show individually or with a guild group on a day trip.  Much fabric was fondled and purchased and even a new machine this year (not by me!).

This year I finally attended a lecture and a class.  The lecture was by Louisa L. Smith called “I’m stripping to show my curves”… very interesting way she has of working with fabric and something I may need to investigate further.  I also took an evening class with a couple of my fellow roommates – a Sue Nickels class on drawing feathers.  No machines involved – just paper and pencil.  I’ve never even attempted feathers… but I think I may just give it a go now that I have had some expert guidance.  There will be lots of paper work before I take needle to fabric though… I need to find that doodle thing I bought a while back and use that as I sit and watch TV.

Many years ago I began to use the curtains in our hotel room as a design wall… it’s a tradition of sorts now and I was chided Thursday evening because I hadn’t pinned anything up yet!  The picture isn’t great but here is a sample of what we were up to that weekend.  Last years projects can been seen back here.

After the show I headed to my daughters house in West Springfield, MA – she had power again as of Thursday evening.  Goodness gracious… Mother Nature had put on her big boots and stomped around the Pioneer Valley big time during that freaky October storm the Saturday before.  Much of the North East had damage but the Pioneer Valley was especially hard hit.  I found driving around depressing… you didn’t need to travel much to know that the tree damage is extensive and the cleanup will take a long time.  Some streets you felt like you were driving down hedge rows with the debris piled along the tree belt in front of all the houses.  Driving down some of those tree lined streets is a dangerous proposition as there are still some broken limbs hanging up high… waiting for the first good wind storm to dislodge them.

It did feel good to get back to the pool and back to my weekly therapy.  The gym had asked if they could take my picture and use some comments I made concerning the benefits of the pool program in their program guide.  So here is my minute and a half of fame… LOL

Each and every day I’m pleased with the progress I’m making… I’ll be truly happy if I can get to the point where I can walk fast again!

Sending WARM Thoughts…

Wish I could do more than send Warm Thoughts to my family and friends up in Massachusetts and Connecticut who are without power following this crazy October storm!

I cannot imagine how frustrated you must feel – especially since all you can do is wait until the various electrical and tree removal crews can get in to do their jobs.  I hope they will all be able to work quickly and SAFELY to get everyone back up and running.  I can’t imagine the headache this is for the emergency services folks… it’s tough work when the majority of people are effected through out the area.  You can’t get food or gas because they don’t have power either.

Both my kids are also without power since Saturday – however my daughter at least has a wood stove keeping them warm.  She’s working to keep the freezer cold by running a small generator every so often – but I think my son is going to loose everything again… he was out of power for several days following the tornado in his neighborhood this past June.

We got a fair amount of wet snow here in PA and those areas with lots of trees and power lines in the same place are suffering with the same lack of power.  We did OK right here at the Stone House – lights flickered but stayed on.  We have a conduit running from the garage to the house to ‘one day’ put in a generator… that ‘one day’ may need to come sooner than later.

Here are some pictures from Sunday after the sun had been working at melting the snow for a while.

Out my side porch to the driveway… right there at that first step is where I fell last February – needless to say I did NOT go out there.

This is looking off my side porch towards the front – the butterfly bushes are drooping over… usually taller than me which I know isn’t saying much – but they were easily 6 ft tall this year.

Again from the side porch looking into the back yard towards the garage.  We (meaning The Engineer) did go around and knock the snow off the bushes before they got messed up. 

 

I will be in Nashua NH later this week for A Quilters Gathering Quilt Show.  I had planned to drive up on Tuesday and stay with my daughter and go to Southampton Quilts on Wednesday before heading up to NH.  But now I’m not sure they will be open?  So I may just head up first thing on Wednesday and head right to Nashua… I don’t know just yet?

Some power crews must be working somewhere around here as my power keeps flickering on and off… so I better try and post this.

Stay as warm as you can…

That Was Fun!

And hectic, and exhausting… but most of all FUN!

I returned home earlier this past week from Massachusetts where I had the opportunity to work the 10th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Quilt Shop Hop at Southampton Quilts!

I realized as I made my way north that this was my first road trip since I busted up my knee in February.  It was so good to be ‘on the road’ again – I love to travel and especially love to get in the car and drive.  (Yes I went to Hawaii this summer to hug on a new grandbaby… but I didn’t have to drive to get there so it doesn’t count as a ‘road trip’.)

I am quite happy to report that my knee handled the weekend very well!  Yes it was a little tired but overall I was very pleased that all my hard work to get my knee and legs stronger paid off… well that and those medical compression stockings I recently bought.  I never thought I’d say I loved anything that resembled panty hose on steroids – but I love these things!  I had practically no swelling in my knee after being at the shop for some really long days! 

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed seeing so many quilty friends up there!  It did my heart and soul good to see each and everyone of them – I truly feel blessed to know them.

I so miss everyone from the shop – the owners Nancy and Maureen, and the other teachers Beth, Pam, and Dale.  Each of these ladies are so creative and bring their unique style to the quilting craft – but even more important is that they are all just wonderful folks!  And I don’t want to miss mentioning Gail (a long time shop customer, quilty friend and new shop hop recruit).  She survived working on Friday (always the busiest day) and showed up again on Saturday for more!  LOL

It was also great to spend some time with my kids… I haven’t seen them since they came down here in the Spring – so I was overdue for some hugs!

OK – so what else is going on…

I found a lovely large paisley to make another 4 Patch Stacked Posie…. mmmm pretty!

I’m going to be making (with my neighbor and sister) Sauerkraut on Monday.  I’ll see if I can remember to take some pictures of the process.  In 6 – 8 weeks it will be ready to can.

Oh – I don’t know about you but I have to work a bit to try new things.  In my mind pumpkin belongs in pie.  Coconut milk isn’t anything I would have considered as an ingredient.  But my daughter last spring made a delicious soup – with pumpkin, chicken, coconut milk and curry as the main ingredients.  I’ve had this soup on my mind recently – been craving it actually.  I’ve looked at several recipes and they all use a variety of things so I figured I could just wing it.  So I threw a couple chicken breasts, a quart of chicken broth, chopped onion, and some pumpkin puree in the crock pot yesterday morning.  When I got home later I added the coconut milk and went to add the spices.  I had NO curry powder… none, zip, nadda!  How can I have pumpkin curry soup without curry?  LOL  So I added a little of this, that, and the other in there and came out with an acceptable tasting concoction for dinner.  Curry is on my grocery list.

And because I’m all about sharing the things I learn along the way…

…the problem with using a low sodium chicken broth is that it does not have enough salt in it!! 

An Update in Pictures…

We  went to the farmers market a couple Saturdays ago… and I made cabbage & sausage (no pics), tomato pies and a couple zucchini casseroles (no pics).

 

Here is a family update… Miss K is playing volleyball, 

Kai is excited about Halloween (to infinity and beyond),

and Keanu has been sharing his smile more and more.  I sure miss that sweet face – actually I miss all those sweet faces!

My husband picked grapes off our vines… two 5 gallon buckets of grapes!  And there were many, many more left on the vines.  We have gotten no grapes the past 3 years - didn’t the vines know I wasn’t canning this year?  Good thing my husband helped pick through them… I washed and cooked them down and then strained the juice.  Two days later I canned 3 1/4 gallons of grape juice.  It’s concentrated so we add some water when we drink it and down the road if I feel like making jelly I can use some of the juice for that.

I made some granola this past week… all natural, organic, gluten free, yadda, yadda, yadda, healthy for you and oh so yummy!  That filled a 2 quart jar and two pint jars.

I made some churn dash blocks out of some fat quarters that were sent to me when I was in prison recovering from my busted knee – Thanks Nancy!

A long while back Lori from Dakota City Quilter showed some blocks from a pattern called Swoon Blocks that uses 2 fat quarters and some background fabric for each block – they finish at 24 inches!  I have cut out for 6 blocks (rather than the 9 from the pattern) and this one is ready for final assembly.

And last but not least… My favorite oldest girl went to the Navy Ball with her favorite handsome Navy fella… ain’t she pretty! 

Well that about brings me up to date… except to say… I’ll be on the road later this week for my Annual Fall Pilgrimage to MA.  I am headed up to work the Shop Hop at Southampton Quilts for the weekend and visit with my other two favorite kids…

Oh and my knee… I’m very happy with my progress since I’ve been back – still working it daily at the gym and doing the extra ART therapy… but it’s all been worth the effort!  It isn’t perfect but it’s getting closer!