pictures round the house

After running a quick errand into town, I was struck by how much more our crape myrtle trees/bushes had bloomed out. Had to get my camera! These did not load in the order I wanted but whatever...............

sunset shot from a recent evening

The red one--my favorite really

The purply-pink one as you enter the lane on its north side

Purply pink one and the white tree as you look back South

Today is hand work day, I guess. I already did the word "welcome" with perle cotton embroidery on the "Summer" piece top and bottom before I ran my errand---last seen HERE . Next up on my list is to baste the leaves and stems on July Button---last seen HERE. Then if I have the time and/or inclination, I can sew up the last 15 giant 4 patches for D4P. See how it goes.

unintended net break

 It is one thing to take some planned time off from blogging or your computer. That is not what happened in my case. I've got the pictures to show you why I was offline. First let me say, I know that this is so minor compared to what others went thru with the tornadoes two months ago. I am not complaining---it could have been worse---but relaying the story. 

DJ and I had just sat down to a bowl of homemade vegetable beef soup on Friday evening. As has happened fairly often this month, our area was under a severe thunderstorm watch/warning situation. It was getting darker and windy-er by the minute. A few bites in and off went the power and out came the candles. I don't know that I have ever eaten soup by candle light so I was just hoping that I didn't end up wearing more than I was ingesting, LOL.

About twenty minutes later our power came back on but the neighbor woman was knocking on the door. There is a tree limb from her tree in the back yard on our power line, cable etc. I don't know if you can see it or not, with the picture being so dark but that upright line in the middle of the picture above is the pole that is situated right on the property line. The other pole you see in the extreme right is across the road at the house you see in the distance. Back to the story..........

She had no power, no phone to call in the outage, etc. DJ's mind automatically leapt to the last time this happened, 5 years ago. (I probably even have a picture of it on here.) Why the tree assassin people did not cut half of this tree off, I do not know! They sure annilated many others around here. DJ said it was because it was in someone's back easement and they didn't want to drive their trucks back there. He may be right but there are a couple more limbs that come down and do this again---at 250 a pop and a 500 deductible on our house insurance so that is no help with the expenses. Again, he asks "what next?"

So anyway, the weight of the tree limb was pulling on our stand pipe. DJ was worried that it would break it off, tear up our roof and all that. We have cable internet and use Vonage for our phone---that is, when it is intact we do, LOL. The cable is broken off in all this mess you see in the picture to the right.

I was able to use my cell phone to get through to the power company on Stacy's behalf. I also got thru to the cable company but the out of state office. Typically, all bad repair things always happen on the weekend or when offices are closed, right?? We helped her out by stashing her things from the freezer into our chest freezer and found some refrigerator space so her food would be salvaged as well. She called her family to come get her so she didn't have to stay in a dark, hot house overnight.

Here you see the stand pipe bending over. The power company came in the wee small hours of Saturday morning to cut the limb free from the wire and get the neighbor powered up. This relieved a lot of the pressure on the line and kept this from bending clear over or snapping off.

Fast forward to Monday----still no cable guy, so still no phone, no internet. I was waiting and keeping the cell phone on my person at all times and charged up. I was promised that I was still "on the list" by the cable company. I was back up and running about 5 p.m., almost 72 hours without service. (and a 20 buck credit off my bill after the 3rd phone call reaching the local office, finally. ) Thank you, Mr. Cable Guy! He pulled out and the electrician guy pulls in to give us an estimate on what he will charge to fix the stand pipe.

Again, this is so minor compared to others without power, running water, no phone etc, no roof over their head. I did have a cell to use even if I missed being online. One more day and I would have gone into town to use the computers at the library. My biggest problem might have been my husband's impatience to have the phone back in service. I knew that I had done everything I could to get the cable guy out here. I was not the only one with this problem. The power company said they had about 35,000 people without power in a multi county area with that round of tstorms. Cable and the phone company, probably the same thing. We were guessing straight line winds, this time around?

Monday morning DJ used the cell to schedule the Power Company to be here on Thursday morning along with the electrician to repair the stand pipe. It does not appear that the shingles were damaged from down the ground anyway The neighbor's step-dad came and cut the tree limb into more manageable pieces but it is still on the ground on our property. We are still under a burning ban so I don't know if they will haul it away or what. DJ noticed last evening that there is another limb split on another of their trees but that one is actually planted right on the property line. We know it is theirs as the deceased home owner told us she planted all three of them from volunteers and nurtured them over the years. I am not even sure what kind of trees they are but none of them is in good shape.

The weather this year has been quite unusual for us. Something I read in the Sunday Anniston Star from Shane Harris, one of the extension agents for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System probably described this best in his gardening column. (He was talking about how it is hurting home grown tomatoes). He wrote "The first half of 2011 will be remembered as a time of crazy and weird weather. First was snow and ice in January. Then there was a very early spring in March, followed by record deadly tornados in late April. In late May, we had several days of very cool coat weather and frosts. Suddenly, the pendulum swung the other way, and June brought very dry conditions and extreme heat as if it was already August. Who knows what the next six months will be like?"

Got me but let's just say, La Nina was not a very nice girl!

Read more: Anniston Star - On Gardening Weird weather hurting home grown tomatoes

The next day's round of storms brought quarter sized hail. This morning's, just a little rain. Skyler is spending a good bit of time hiding under the bed with the alert radio goes off and the thunder boomers start. One bright spot, is that we are catching up with our rainfall totals a bit more. The grass is back and green from its earlier frying.

In the meantime, I did a little embroidery and read a couple of books. Sunday afternoon, parts of Monday, this morning, I worked on this Puss in the Corner or 4=9 uneven nine patch, as Billie Lauder would call it. (I am using her technique from her Quick Quilt Tricks booklet. )

I have a pile of blocks ready to add the last cut strip to them stacked by the machine. To keep from getting the sequence "messed up" and to keep my interest up, I did one row of blocks at a time and attached them. It is conceivable that I could have the top done or near done by days end if I wanted to push it. This one counts toward another Belles Scrap challenge tops for 2011. So does the diagonal 4 patch chain you see in the printout by the machine but I only have 2 rows of it completed (hanging under the PIC)

But in some ways, I really do not feel like doing much. You see, I have been having some balance issues again for the last two weeks almost. BPPV to use the medical name for it--benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. I wish it would go away like it has before but I guess that is the "paroxysmal" part of the deal. This time just turning my head or bending over is enough to set me off, rolling over in bed---ugh. I can't be driving and riding in the car is not any better, in fact maybe worse. Hills, curves and light strobing between the trees----not good. This has kept me pretty close to hearth and home especially if I have to take some meds for it.

I missed going out to the sewing date last Friday. Betsy said that the plans had changed for Ben's QOV anyway---he has one from another source apparently. We will make him one once he is home from the rehab facility, I guess. I can hang on to the blocks or use them in one of the veteran's quilts or the next QOV. I am also missing our field trip today to a quilt shop in Mableton, GA. :-(

We all have physical problems and such. I try not to dwell on this. If this is how life is going to be, I best adjust and get on with it. Thanks for hanging in---------

finished to flimsy

I just finished taking the last stitches on the borders of the FAB bday giftie---woohoo! Finished to flimsy.

Nope, can't show it till we have the reveal. For a variety of reasons, another birthday has been pushed back a month when hopefully everything has calmed down and we can all be in one spot, one weekend in early June. Still, I want to get this moved on to the recipient sooner than later as I have other things on the horizon.

I'll pull some backing in a bit but it is doubtful that I will spray baste it and start quilting it this evening. I want to do a little maintenance on the machine before I swap out for the one I use to quilt. Truth be told, the Brother is way past due for a service call but it will not happen this week. Or next.

Tomorrow my quilt group is having an all day sew-in. We used to do it for two full days and kind of got out the habit in recent years. We can work on whatever we want to but I plan on spray basting the giftie first and then focusing on a donation top and/or blocks. Most likely that will be the top I had started with the triple rail blocks but I have some bowtie block materials in the car as well. I already made my "dish to pass" this morning. Next thing I know it will be time to make supper. This day is going quickly!


So to keep this from being a pictureless post a view of some of the flowering stuff around here. Both are invasive plants/shrubs and quite fragrant. Above, you see the honeysuckle that is taking over the needle point holly at the end of our lane. To the right, Chinese privet is pictured. Everywhere you drive, you see one or both of these growing, flowering and stuffing up the nose, LOL.

We are due for some stormy weather by mid week again. Not surprising considering what I know has been brewing up in the Midwest. The St. Louis area was badly hit over the weekend. DJ and I are Cardinal fans and the team was playing host to the Reds this weekend and they got all the games in. (And even better, the Cards won 2 out of 3!)

I hope you all had a good Easter weekend. DJ and I elected not to go the traditional Easter meal with ham and all the go-with's. I wanted scalloped potatoes but not enough to have the oven on for 90 minutes when it was up to 81 inside my house before we turned on the a/c. We went with steaks on the grill which was a real treat for us. Since I am NOT planning anything special for his birthday meal later in the week (he wants to go Cici's for pizza lunch) I told him that steak meal could go for both his birthday AND Easter. Since it took us 3 days to get that grill put together, I am going to use it!

Thanks for stopping by---------

WIP Weds, #22?

No progress here in the sewing department on ANY count. No embroidery, no borders on the May block, no cutting, no sewing, definitely no quilting. Nothing, zip, nada, zilch............well, you get the picture.

What I did do was go through a stack of my old cooking magazines and enter the recipes into my cooking software. Now I can donate all those to the friends of the library and regain some space on the book shelf. Another bonus---some new recipes to try in coming weeks. Who can't use some inspiration or a new twist with the same ingredients? For example, I can heartily recommend last nights dish, Fish Tacos in Avocado Sauce. Unfortunately that link may not open for you unless you subscribe to one of the Reiman Publication family of magazines--this one was in Taste of Home. Tonight I am trying Meatball Sub Casserole which hopefully gives us some for the freezer down the line.

So what is on tap for today now that I am done with THAT big project? I have a mailing to send out to the quilt group regarding our summer schedule. The church where we meet is having ARC camp in the fellowship hall again Tuesday-Friday all through June and July. This is the 3rd year they have done this and the pastor gave me a heads up a couple of months ago which I appreciate. The first year it was a surprise due to a communication breakdown. Last year we tried to meet on Monday's instead which didn't work out very well. SOOO this year we have some field trips planned for two of the meeting and we will meet at two of the members homes the others. I can't trust that everyone will read their email (if they even have email) in a timely manner so a mailed note it will be.

Then if I have time today, I will start cutting. Norma and I plan to sew on our version of Terry Atkinson's Bridge Creek Blossoms on Friday. Other than washing some background fabric, I am no way near ready. I am going to make a donation quilt sized version to test the pattern this time around. LOL, maybe I'll even get those borders cut for that May block. The box of homespun fabrics has been parked on the sewing table all week, waiting.

To keep this from becoming a pictureless post, I thought you might like to see some of the flowering stuff around the yard again. In my travels around the county I have seen stella d'oro day lilies as well as the tiger lilies out. So far the angel trumpet variety are the only ones in our patch under the Rose of Sharon bush. At least I think that is what they are called, LOL.













The gardenia bush is just starting to bloom, on the east side of the bush that gets the morning sun. They smell heavenly and look so pretty till they brown up. DJ said to wait to take a picture till more of the buds open up in a few days. See how well I listen?






I had not even noticed till I left to walk this morning that the crape myrtle was flowering! The pink and the red bushes are not but the more mature tree version sure is. See how gray it looks outside? Been like this for about 6 days running now. Oh the sun might peek through but not for long stretches plus we have had rain and even thunderstorms over the holiday weekend. They still say we are behind on our rainfall totals so I shouldn't complain too much about rain but ugh, this dismal humid stuff is getting a tad old. Only good thing is that DJ can get some of the yard chores done when there is some cloud cover and it is a bit cooler out.





And look who was waiting for me when I came back up the lane with camera in hand? The screen section of the door is about 21 inches up so you can see how long he is when he stands on those back legs to peer out and meow at me. I honestly don't think he wants to try to sneak out but he wants ME back in.

I promised DJ some muffins for 10 a.m. coffee break time so best get out to the kitchen. What kind? Not sure but I guarantee you that I can find a recipe pretty easily. Blueberry, maybe? I'm craving chocolate so we'll see. I normally make these decisions when they can go a couple directions on the way out to the kitchen, LOL.

Thanks for stopping by............................

another block

#8 of 12 Feeding the Birds Santa from Bird Brain Designs---just finished, pressed and photographed. Much of this block was completed as I traveled back to IL this past weekend. Some bad patches along I-57 and to a certain extent 1-24 led to some less than stellar stitching but I kept plugging, LOL.

You see, my dad turned 80 earlier in the week. All but 4 of the family/extended family were back "home" for surprise celebration on Saturday afternoon. I left here on Friday so I could share a ride up with my family who live in TN. (DJ stayed home) We left at 6:30 Sat a.m. to ensure we would be there in time to surprise Dad. My sister from Colorado had flown in earlier in the week so he had already been surprised once. To say he was stunned and touched by all this would be an understatement.

My brother and his family who live about 15 miles away from my folks had us all over for supper. The whole mob scene, LOL. Jen arranged for a professional photographer to come and take pics of the group and various family groups too. I didn't take my camera---someone will have pics to share with the group.

By Sunday some of the group had to work but most of us went to church (took up most of two pews, LOL). Then off to a Chinese buffet for lunch that Mom and Dad like-----back in the car again for another 7 hours and another night in TN before heading home Monday.


Since returning home, the usual home tasks have intervened. Laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. The pollen is getting to me a bit unfortunately but I figure it could be a lot worse. Some suffer way more than I do with allergy symptoms.

The azalea bushes are out though half of this bush looked almost dead a couple weeks ago. As you can see it is loaded with blooms now though.

Ah, spring---the good and the bad. What's a scratchy nose and throat and a whopping headache when you see pretty things like this?

The long arm quilter called to say that my Strip Twist quilt is finished and ready for pick up. I'll run up to Boaz tomorrow to get it. Some binding ahead of me, I would say. But for now, I think I will pull out the April Freckles snowman stitchery (shown in the previous post) and get it finished up. Back to a multiple colored floss project, LOL.

spring has sprung

Happy National Quilting Day! If you don't celebrate that, go for the fact that it is officially, if only by the calendar, the first day of spring. We are at the mid 60's today with sunshine and a light breeze blowing. Lovely day! Warm enough to shut off the furnace and crack a few windows. Skyler is loving it, running from window to window and back to the front door to look out.

The picture shows him up on the buffet in "begging" position and that point he thought he needed his "treat" bite. He kept wiggling so I didn't get the cute head to the side shot, LOL.


I took some outdoor shots to share---the daffodils in fuller bloom than a previous shot.
















The camellia is loaded with blooms though it has been trying to bloom for months. In previous years the frost would zap them but I guess the sustained colder weather this winter convinced it NOT to bloom too early. Or not as much anyway.
At any rate we haven't seen it looking this good.







The Bradford Pears are not quite there. I swear this just happened overnight---buds to just starting to open. Soon it will look like popcorn bushes. Same with the forsythia. These are in the neighboring subdivision. The two rows at the subdivision entrance are not quite there but will be in a day or two, I bet. I have spotted some tulip trees out as well when out in the car.

I am still embroidering but off on another project. I decided to switch gears on the calendar quilt-lets and do stitcheries instead of fusible appliques at least on most of them. The Art to Heart button set that I purchased as part of my Christmas present should still work. I spent some time on Thursday organizing the floss that I needed and made a run to Hobby Lobby for what I needed. I have been piddling with the March block and will be ready to layer it for quilting as soon as I get the verse part embroidered. Break out the sewing machine to add some sashing bits anyway.

Hope that you are having a lovely day where you are--------

Sunday check in

Shown, the Two of a Kind/Cheap Trick a third of the way done. I have one other "mini row" on the pressing table and another pinned and ready to feed into the machine or I would have a start on the middle third---the long rows. As the quilt grows it is getting harder to tell exactly where each color will land but you know what? As long as it isn't the exact same piece or the same print in a different colorway, I am NOT taking it out. IIWII and I like it!

I stalled out the last couple days in the sewing department. It has been paper pushing and tossing, if the truth be told. Stuff stacks up when I am busy sewing though I separate out the things that need to be dealt with soon. The rest waits. The catch-all basket, desk cubby and top desk drawer are all cleared out leaving the recipe and quilt pattern printouts to be filed---or not, LOL

DJ asked "why are you taking a picture of that?" Blog fodder, I replied. He didn't know that I mentioned having the kudzu removed. Anyone in my family or friends who have visited our home know what it looked like back there too. Our neighbor DID come over and took a good bit of it out. A small section in the middle remains as not only was that area not level but we have a narrow area behind an overgrown bush or two that he could not fit through with the heavy equiprment. There are some tree stumps there as well. Anyway, there was no need to risk dumping the endloader or the ground giving way and falling from about 10 foot up. You see, they cut right through this hill to put the road in below. Our little lane is the OLD section of it that went up the incline and back down. That is why the across the road houses are on an even level with our house but the road is not visible between.

Friday the Persephone Garden Club had their annual plant sale and I went. My pal Judy is a member and the quilt I just bound for her was going to be raffled as a fund raiser. (I thought it was for the Salvation Army auction though she is making one for them too) All the proceeds go to local charities at any rate. Last year they had to cancel it due to the drought conditions but that has been reversed so the sale was on. They even fed their customers sandwiches, desserts and punch/coffee! I asked Judy for suggestions on what to plant on Pippi's grave site since the frost zapped the marigolds we had planted earlier in the month. Hosta, it is. Will tolerate the full sun, like the afternoon shade and sound virtually indestructible. DJ pulled out the copy of Gardening in the South for the care reference and planted it for me.


Boy, has it warmed up around here! Recently I read a description of the 4 seasons in Alabama on a cooking blog. According to the author who lives somewhere in the state, they are as follows:

• Almost Summer
• Summer
• Still Summer
• Christmas

I had not heard THAT one yet but I think there is some truth to it. DJ is always insisting that we didn't have any spring. Well, yeah we did---it was when the pollen was blowing and we had 50's and 60's for highs. Still, I suppose that perception is reality in his case. We are into our 3rd or 4th day of high 80's and not ready for it though it is not as humid as it will be in a month or so which makes things fair less bearable. There are two closets in my bedroom, one of which I use for coats and off season clothing. I switched the winter stuff out yesterday and took 3 bags of stuff to the donation boxes. Spring purging. If that doesn't bring on colder weather, I don't know what will.

My only real goal today is to put away the Easter decorations. Personally I like the rabbits myself but it is time. I put two of the ones that were tucked away in the sewing/computer room in the living room to be sure they made it into the box and DJ made some crack about them reproducing. He also made some crack about being blinded by the light hitting off my white legs when I took the outside pictures too. What do you expect after winter and jeans? Funny guy or just thinks he is funny??

DJ did the laundry while I groceries so I still have things to put away--wash it if you will but let me fold, hang my stuff. You can see what Skyler thinks about it being laundry day. Just try and remove those from under him! Another shot I took of him shows him at full meow when DJ took out a few pieces. Looks like his blending right into those whites with that full belly exposure.

DJ has a birthday coming up on Tuesday. Normally we would go out for lunch on or near the date but I have quilt group. I think he has made his selection about where I am taking him. He was no help with deciding what kind of cake or pie he wanted--whatever you feel like fixing. Sigh, that is what I always do though I do take suggestions. Because I needed to get the supplies in, I finally decided on Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting from the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. THIS would be a similar recipe. It was a little night time reading going through the two recipe books, LOL. Oh , I also spotted a really yummy sounding brownie recipe in the chocolate version of the cake mix book that I could take to quilt meeting sometime. Flag that page too!

Guess that is it for this installment--hope you have had a good weekend at your home.

WIP, etc

It was a busy week last week but not so much in the "creative" department. From Monday till Saturday afternoon, off and on, I was slogging on the binding on my version of Scrappy Bargello. Considering that I started this on Super Bowl weekend 08 that is a pretty fast finish of a personal quilt, thanks to Norma quilting it for me. Trust me, I have projects way older than this one.

Yesterday I got out the 'ol rotary cutter and raided the stash for the background yardage for my version of Two of a Kind/Cheap Trick. I had cut the print pieces about 10 days ago but after all, that binding I was itching to sew! The picture above shows where I left off last night when the storms began rolling into the county and I needed to power down.

As explanation, the reason that I keep using the name "Two of a Kind/Cheap Trick" is that I know of two versions of what is a very similar pattern. I found the "Two of a Kind" pattern in the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine April 08, Issue 91 designed by Darlene Zimmerman and her daughter Rachel Shelbourne. BUT Miss Rosie's Quilt Company issued a very similar pattern and called it "Cheap Trick" RQC #97. The sizes to cut the sectioning are different mostly because the "Cheap Trick" version that Sheila shared with me was designed to use charm squares, layer cakes or fat eighths rather than the scrappy yardage and fat quarters I had to work with. In my case I took the cutting instructions from one pattern and the piecing directions from the other

There is also a little bit of difference in how you approach the piecing in the two versions but not dramatically so. Basically there are NO real blocks---it is pieced as a bar quilt and the pieces go on point to give the illusion of overlapping sections, like a modified Card Trick quilt in a way.

edited: 4/21 My mom told me recently that she had seen a Hanky Panky quilt at a quilt show in Bloomington (IL) that reminded her of the "Two of a Kind" (2oK)quilt. She thought it might be easier to piece IT than the one I am tackling. It turns out Zimmerman and Shelbourne designed it too! I like that one too but I believe that this is new take on a old block. It is attributed by Barbara Brackman's numbering system to Farm Journal is called Squares Upon Squares #1104 . Not that I would piece it the same way as shown HERE but Quilter's Cache has a version of this block. Another one that is similar and again, an old block from the Nancy Cabot days is Squares Within Squares #1102 b. If I were doing either one of them, I would be eliminating some seam lines especially if it is sewing the same colored squares together! Rectangles surely would work. Another day perhaps.

Because the magazine and pattern both show a smaller quilt than I wanted, I drew it up full/queen sized in EQ, more to help in calculating how many strips, squares, etc to cut. The coloring is more or less what I am following to aid in laying out the sections. You really need to watch what you are doing when you pick those pieces up. I have found that if I isolate just the row I am working on by folding over sections of my printout and block out the preceeding rows I have better luck verifying the layout. Then I concentrate on just sewing each "mini" row at a time before moving onto the lower half. So far, no ripping----yet!


So what else have I been up to since I last posted? The Bama Belles met on Tuesday for one. Several of the quilts that were out for binding were turned in so I had pictures to take. Mostly it was the aforementioned binding for me though the girls did pin several tops while a couple others sewed.

Unfortunately my camera battery ran out before I had a chance to take a picture of a top I thought I might be dealing with on our next "move it forward" day. ( I had promised Norma a picture of it as it might be one of my oldest tops---15 years old maybe?) Still, I had the opportunity to spread it out and measure it---only to find out that it is about an inch bigger at the top than the bottom! I had planned to put two borders on it but no way will it lay flat with that descrepancy. Part of the quilt was done as a pass around project with about 8 other piecers involved. That might account for why there is a difference since I pieced the 2/3rds on my own machine later. I don't remember having to ease the two sections together and it doesn't appear to be wonky to the naked eye. Back to a no borders quilt as originally planned?? I need to think on this a a bit more. What is a few more days at this point when you consider how long the top has been antique-ing, LOL?
The Belles were having a potluck dinner on Saturday evening hosted by Judy and her husband Conray. All the spouses were invited to attend this one. ( I had spent some time earlier this month sending out the invites after updating the roster) Judy asked me to ride shot gun with her over to Atlanta so she could get some food and supplies for the party. Sure, glad to go! Our first stop was at Tiny Stitches in Marietta. I knew from emails, blog reading and comments back and forth that Melinda works at the shop. I emailed her to see if she would be working--she wasn't but lives fairly close, she said and came over to meet us. Lovely lady! She pointed out some of the pieces she had made and quilted in the shop and gave me one of her sister's foldable to purse size Tote Along bags. Thanks again for that! Link is HERE for the pattern but they have them at Tiny Stitches too or as Melinda put it, they are the "East Coast distributor", LOL. I got one while Judy found the yardage she needed for her project as it is such a clever idea.
We also made runs to Trader Joe's, a party store in the same shopping center and after lunch, Costco. We had a yummy lunch at The Brickery. To be honest, I didn't have much a clue just where in the Atlanta area we were most of the day. Somewhere around Marietta--Sandy Springs maybe? -- but Judy knew where she was going so that's all that mattters! I got home about 6 pm on the dot. Judy shared some filled chicken ravioli that she picked up at Costco so I threw that in the pan, fixed some Italian green beans and garlic bread so we didn't have to go out for supper after all.

We had a good turnout at the party. I had met almost all the husbands over the years but I don't know that many of the guys had. A few maybe. We had talked about doing this for some time so it was fun to see everyone in a social setting. I had said if the guys were balking at coming then we should remind them that they would get a better meal and have better company if they came along with their wife, LOL. Delicious food but I already knew we had some good cooks in the group.

The other pictures I used for filler--the lilac in more bloom than the original one I posted about a month back. The smaller azalea is open now and the white encore variety is starting to bloom now too. The tulips were more or less a surprise as we thought those bulbs were long done. He did save the bulbs from the tulips he purchased for our anniversary in January putting them in cold storage in the fridge. He planted them in late March but those aren't them! And Skyler? It is now part of his nightly routine to run up to the top of the pass through. He starts yowling like crazy, showing off that he is up there. If that were not enough he stands up on his back legs merkat fashion or runs back and forth being anything but careful.

Other happenings in the neighborhood. We think that one or both of the people across the hard road are moving out. U-haul there over the weekend. Next door they continue to work on remodeling and painting the interior of the house. The step-dad tore down an old shed in back and even had the across the lane neighbor come in with the endloader and clear out the old kudzu mess on the bank at the edge of the lot. We need to have that done to keep DJ from spending two or three evenings each week during its growing season trimming back the new growth! We have a much longer lot ( a narrow acre) and more to have scraped off. We didn't know you could do anything with it short of burning it up and risk starting everything one the hill below on fire doing it. He talked to the neighbor about his fee--very reasonable. He'll be over when the ground dries up a bit from our latest rainfall. DJ has been doing some repair work on the eaves as well as some painting and caulking, some of it up on the roof. Definitely need to get any roof activity done before the summer heat gets here and those shingles get like hot tar.

Guess that's about it for this post. Thanks for stopping by!

Checking in

First of all, Happy Birthday to my Dad and my pal Helen--love to you both.

It is a cool windy blustery day that is more like March than April. Some of that cold wind is pushing down from Canada and we haven't even gotten out of the 40's today with dark clouds overhead. There is a chance of a freeze tonight which makes us wonder how badly the azaleas and lilac bush are going to get zapped tonight. Too bad as they are more in bloom then the picture I posted recently.

So what's been going on around here? In a word, binding, LOL. I took that last stitches in Judy's quilt that I was binding for her last night about 8. I had been stitching on it for three days off and on. Judy tends to neutrals and loves the blended quilt style, as you can see. Looks pretty good on my bed, I have to say but this will be be donated to the Salvation Army fund raiser for auction. The fabrics in it are more decorator weight than quilting weight though some of the prints at center are more typical quilting cottons. I am not sure what was used for backing but it was a very tight weave and hard to needle. My thumb, index and middle finger are all a little needle bruised at this point so I think the binding on my bargello quilt will wait a few days.

I took this picture to show Norma the panto that Becky used on it. Not sure what it is called but it has a kind of fleur de lis feel to it. The local quilt shop in Oxford has a long arm machine and the owner does most of the quilting from what I understand. I have not had occasion to use her services yet but my pals sort of rotate between three area quilters and seem satisfied with the results. I was on the last edge when I could not convince Skyler to stay off of it. He really was not wanting to have his napping disturbed at that point either. To accomodate the size and weight of the quilt I had taken my sewing machine out of the table and put the table I use when I quilt in front of it but facing the opposite direction in the room. I'll do the same when I get to my own quilt.

I had a few errands to run this morning and one of them was to get something to replace the skirt on my sewing/pressing table. Between the iron cord and my waist rubbing on it, I had worn through a good bit of the fabric at the mid section of the skirting on the long side of the table. The short side was fine as I rarely have to cut from that end but it all needed to match. I was sick of that pink, burgundy and plaid stuff anyway.

I found a plain 200 count flat sheet for 3 bucks at Wal-mart figuring that I couldn't find yardage that cheap. They don't match the curtains but you know how they change decorator colors anyway. The curtains were bought 11 years ago so what do you expect? Since the sheets have some polyester in there, maybe it would hold up to wear better?? I was able to cut it in 4 sections to get the width and lengths I wanted so that worked out well. A little hemming on the cut edge and some stitch witchery to hold the folded edge under was all that was needed. The velcro is stitched down so that is enough to hold things together at the top edge. I was even able to re-use some but not all of the loop tape from the old panels so I got the job done for about 9 bucks once you got tax added in. Woohoo!! Nice fresh look in here. Of course, Skyler is quite interested in these and has been hiding and playing underneath the panels. DJ, bless him, vacuumed both the sewing room and bedroom for me while I was gone. That vacuum kills my lower back so he has told me NOT to even use it----I hate to vacuum in the first place so you don't have to tell me twice!

Before I had started on the hand finishing on Judy's binding, I had stitched it on both of my projects---"Be Kind" and the almost queen sized bargello. I will get the little bit of stitching done on this tonight after supper so decided to take the picture of it to post now. I won't bore you with the shot of it on the wall on its hanger. Easter will be here soon enough but I figure we can enjoy it for the rest of April anyway.

Other sewing plans for the week? Norma and I are planning on another "move it forward" day this weekend. I have h0pes of getting my 4 patch posie assembly finished up this time. May get a jump start on that before Friday but I hope to cut out a "Cheap Trick/Two of a Kind" top from the 30's scraps sometime this week. Sheila was kind enough to share the pattern with me but I may still use the sizes from the similar Two of a Kind I found in the APQ magazine a few months back. I drew it up in EQ mainly to get a feel of the color tracking and of course to visualize how many rows etc were needed for full bed sized. My sketch is HERE in a previous post.

Well, enough goofing around for me. Time to head out to the kitchen and get things rolling in there for supper. I had hoped to grill the pork tenderloin but it is looking even worse than it was a few hours ago so oven it is. The rest of the meal needs to be cooked inside anyway.

Thanks for stopping by---------

checking in

Today was my quilt meeting day and while I have some "quilt show" pictures to share, I will do that in my next post. Linda C also had a couple of personal quilts recently picked from the longarmer that are quite pretty too. Okay, enough of a teaser to lure you back to visit, LOL.

DJ was deep into watching the Men's NCAA game between Kansas and Memphis last night. No way was I going to go in there and ask him to hold up a quilt top!! I waited to take it this morning when I could hang it up at the meeting place. This is my "Pippi Garden" quilt that will be going to Pam's Mission to Mexico or a she calls it, M2M. It is a free pattern on the Benartex site HERE and real name is "Rose Garden". Pop on over to her place to see the top she had made in honor of my kitty. It is an easy, peasy pattern but I think I will adjust it so the center is a rectangle, maybe 12 x 18 next time.

This was a stash quilt. The cat fabric if I remember correctly was given to me as a birthday present from one of the Belles a couple years back. The other fabrics, donation fabric that recently routed through my house. There was enough of the lavender print to piece together for the backing but still yardage of the others. The only thing I can think is the donor was planning on making several wall hangings from the pattern that featured those prints as there a 4-1/4 yard cuts of each color--all the same colors but three different tone and tones of those colors. Enough for another use down the line. I'm thinking that old standby Snuggle Up. It felt good to be sewing again.

And here is Skyler, testing the quilt top. So far he is not so interested in the quilts but those have mostly been out of his reach. He seems to be adjusting fairly well. No more hiding behind the washing machine as he did the first day here. He does get under my bed and sleep periodically but mostly he stays out with us or in the window perches. The last two nights he has slept most of the night in the bedroom perch and is keeping me company in the sewing room version.

Last night he was snuggling with me on the bed as well. Gets on the lap too but doesn't exactly sit still. Maybe you can see his markings a little better in this picture? Gail, one of the people who commented on my last post, told me this makes him a "tuxedo" cat. It has been a trip watching him play with the cat toys but he also has done a couple of things to get himself into trouble with his nosiness. DJ said that he managed to jump up on his bathroom hamper and got stuck behind the venetian blind in the window above early this morning. How exactly, we don't know. Some dishes on the microwave stand didnt stay put either but the resultant noise scared the heck out of him--back under the bed, LOL. Guess we are getting used to a rowdy teenager now and realize just how much Pippi had slowed down in recent years.


It is quite lovely outside these days. I love spring anyway though the yellow pollen dust is a killer on sinuses. It is a pleasure to drive and see all the plants and trees flowring. Right now the dogwood is in full bloom, the wild native stuff sprinkling the woods and the bushes in yards along the way. My little dogwood tree did not survive last year's drought so this is one from our next door neighbor's yard. Only had one bloom on our camellia though the bush does look healthy. Usually it opens too early in March and then gets zapped by frost.

The azaleas are also open in full glory though ours is not all the way in bloom yet. The lilac is also in bloom. Lupines, jonquils and iris are out and we even had a few surprise tulips come up. I have also noticed the snowball bush up in the nearby subdivision is also out. Apple blossoms, red buds and flowering cherry too. Even better is that we are not so far behind on the rainfall totals--they aren't saying we are out of the drought but every bit helps.

DJ had to mow the weeds that pass for our yard Sunday and today while I was at the meeting, weedwhacked.

Guess that's it for this post----till next time. Thanks for stopping by.

quilting mode

Pippi cuddling with the laundry--nothing like warm underwear fresh from the dryer, huh? Next best would be lolling in the sunshine.

Sunday my goal was to finish up a pile of 96 HST's. Tedious work cutting them apart pressing and trimming dog ears but I don't need to tell you that. Who hasn't "been there and done that"? I set all aside that evening and watched another DVD off our shelf with DJ.

After looking at a stack of 9 donation quilts piled up on the armoire for almost a week, I thought I best get to quilting yesterday after I ran errands. I set the Viking back up, turned the table around to face the "quilting position" in my little room and got busy. This Snuggle Up and this 9 Patch were the ones I got done. Simple zoom lines for one and a grid in the other.

Today will be much the same---I've got one of Linda S tops set out (large 4 patches and plain alternating blocks in nice bright colors--pic once I'm done with it) and the sashed transportation squares. Again, zoom lines should do the job on both. Doesn't make for a particularly interesting post but that is what is happening here in my little corner of the world.
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Some have asked about my proximity to the storms last week when the tornadoes hit the Enterprise (AL) High School with such devastation and loss of life. That is in the Southeast corner of the state while I am located in the northeast central area so I would approximate the distance to be some 4 hours almost directly south of me. We had some winds and rain but nothing near what it could have been. Because of the topography of the land and the fact that these storms often roll in after dark when the air cools down, the storms often dissipate before they make their way clear across the state from whatever has happened in Lousiana and Mississippi earlier in the day.

That is not to say that tornadoes don't happen here--they do. I know I heard about the Palm Sunday tornado in '94 that wiped out a Methodist church not all that far from here when I still lived in Illinois. When I came back from the sewing retreat a couple weeks ago, I went right past the site where the church once stood and where a memorial stands in its place. Very sobering. I know that no part of the country is ever immune from natural disaster. All it did in my case is keep me home from a planned event which has been rescheduled to this week instead. The worst of the rain and wind hit about the time I would have been driving some 15 mins north of my home. No biggie. Others in the state and onwards into Georgia where not so lucky. I thank you for asking though and ask that you remember the families that are suffering in your prayers.