one more time

I do not know what happened to that picture of Skyler yesterday.  I have tried doing it nine different ways from Sunday by now.

The oddest thing is that IS there when I first post it.  Then it seems to disappear  leaving only the dreaded red X in its wake.  What’s more, Firefox does not even show the red X but IE does. 

Meanwhile I am probably just filling that Picassa web album with all kinds of shots of the same picture though I did not look yet to verify that.  Color me clueless at this point.  What in the heck am I doing wrong here?  Is this going to last forever?  It is not showing up on anyone else’s computer either.   I tried to edit the post---browse button is grayed out but it acts like it is loading (click done shows up)---no url code appears.

Thinking that perhaps the picture was too large I resized it---after all, I am using a new digital camera though I normally don’t play with any buttons on it.  So, I’ll try this one more time………………….

try this again---midweek post

After two days of rain, the sun is finally out though some dark clouds persist. Parts of the state did have flooding, flash flooding and tornado warnings yesterday so it could have been much worse. Some wind damage down along the I-20 corridor in the south end of the county, the paper said. Boy, is the wind whipping around out there today! I know it is nature’s way of drying things up but it is howling. I don’t remember it ever being this windy even when we had the effects of Hurricane Katrina this far north. If I were Skyler, I would be hiding under the bed or something by now.

The picture was taken through his cube as we were playing this morning. (ed note: I just plain cannot get this picture to load!! Grrrrrr and what's more I am giving up trying--maybe later then) Sometimes we put his warming mat up against it to make a longer tunnel and he shoots through there and back at about 90 miles an hour. Usually there is a mouse or too in the cube or near it. There is a pocket on the bottom of the cube, just under the sheepskin fleece that holds catnap but I believe he is one of those cats who has no effect from it. (Pippi and Tyson definitely were) His routine at the moment is to nap in the cube for several hours after supper till he migrates to either the recliner with DJ or hogs the love seat till DJ heads to bed.

I am still working on the machine applique on my FAB project—well not this minute, I’m obviously typing and on the computer. One last segment to complete and then I can get ready to quilt said project. I got quite a bit of the work done yesterday while I listened to "Dewey" on audiotape. Cute story about Dewey Readmore Books, the Spencer, IA library cat. I got up to the point where Dewey's health is failing at age 18-19 and it sounded so much like my Pippi's situation that I didn't think I could handle it and shut it off. I will finish listening to it at some point but yesterday was not a good day for that. Tears, machine stitching, not a good mix. Anyway, I’m afraid I won’t have anything "quilty" to show you till the reveal in early February on that score. The Belles meet in a week so that might be my only hope for quilt pictures since I am not sewing anything else. (Red work doesn’t count.)

I got lucky on my thread run on Monday. I had 2 definite shops that I was going to try---Hobby Lobby was one but it is a good 14 miles or so from my house at the Oxford Exchange. Maybe the Discount Fabrics place out on US 78 would have what I needed? Just about as far away but on the way to Hobby Lobby. One of my girlfriends said that they carried off brand stuff but I could look. The one and only quilt shop was just down the road from that discount store. I don’t know what they have in the way of thread but the shop used to be an heirloom sewing place—only been in there once since it opened. Another option was the thread box at our meeting place. All those locations were within a mile or so of each other and I would go if if had to. Another option in the back of my mind was to mail the two spools to my mom and ask her to make a Joann’s or Hancock’s run. (You are off the hook, Mom but thanks for offering!)

As I hit town, I thought I would stop by a store that sells mainly upholstery fabrics though some other stuff as well and gardening stuff just on the off chance that they had thread. I had only been in there once in the 11 years I have lived here. I honestly did not remember what they had in the way of sewing notions. I was able to match the rust colored thread exactly. A gold they had was a better choice that what I had. Woohoo!

I practiced some bread baking again this morning—Onion and Herb Focaccia from Prepared Pantry. I had initially thought that I might use it for our lunch sandwiches as the bread but it was not done in time. Mine did not look as pretty as theirs. Sorry, no picture as I cut into it before I thought about it. My plastic wrap stuck to it as it was rising. Maybe Press and Seal is not exactly what they meant by plastic wrap in the first place. My fingers did not leave the nice dimples that they had in the picture but looks were not everything. It was tasty! Nothing like warm bread from the oven. The instructions say that you could use this for a thicker pizza dough or even breadsticks so I might do that with the 2nd mix down the line. I put most of it in the freezer once it cooled. I would love to try their Orange Blossom rolls next but DJ said we should not get in the habit of having a sweet roll with coffee mid morning, even though he loved those cinnamon rolls I made recently. He is probably right but how else am I going to learn how to bake bread if I don’t keep practicing?? Maybe for our anniversary for a little treat.

No more cooking today as there is chili in the crockpot for tonight. Guess I should go do something productive---maybe a few stitches in Santa #2. Sunday I finished off the one in the last post that was almost done and started on the one with him holding the large star and heart. See picture HERE for what I am talking about.

Is anyone else having problems uploading pictures on Google today? I have been posting lately on Windows Live Writer without any problems but today it kept saying there was an internal feed error. Then I tried just copy/pasting my narrative and adding the pictures through Google. No dice after several attempts. Then I tried posting the pictures through Picassa "blog this". The pictures loaded finally but who knows if they will take the whole post. Guess I'll find out. Actually I had another picture of Skyler on the sewing table but I discovered that it showed too much in the background----Norma might see what I was working on. That won't do!

Hope that you have had a good day in whatever you chose to do--------

Lazy Sunday afternoon

I have been working on my super secret FAB challenge project off and on most of the week, prepping applique mostly.  The best part of the sewing weekend was that I was chatting with most of the FABS as I worked.  It is a bit like having your own cyber retreat but we were all working on our own projects and yakking in between.  By last evening, I had finished basting my sectioning down to the base.

Before I called it quits for the night I wound the appropriate colored bobbins.  Since two of the small spools had already been used on previous project, I was almost out of thread by the time I wound the bobbin.  I know from a Wal-mart run yesterday that I am not apt to find what I need in the fabric department as their thread case is about half the size it used to be----very little selection there.  If I have to use something else, I would rather know it at the beginning and make the switch.  I’ll hit the two spots locally that MAY have what I need tomorrow when the shops are all open.  There are times that I miss the availability of supplies that I had in central Illinois. How very spoiled I was having fabric stores and quilt shops all in the same town.  Hancock’s left over a year ago and other nearby places have closed too.   I do NOT want to have to go Birmingham or Douglasville, GA just to find matching thread, for Pete’s sake!  I have till the end of the month to get my project in the mail to Ms. Norma so it won’t hurt to take the day off.

In the meantime, I pulled out my Birdbrain Design Santa red work block to put a few more stitches in.  This is one project that I would like to do like a block of the month.  It is relaxing to stitch plus I can drag it into the living room should DJ want to watch a DVD or the same thing I want to watch on TV.  In critiquing my work, I think I really should not have marked those X’s on the coat hem as they are too hard to cover with two strands of floss but too late now!  It might have been better to just free form those X’s so I’ll probably just backstitch them now to get so the red pigma pen does not show.  Actually the kit came with I think a #8 perle cotton and that probably would have done the job.  I tried it but felt it looked too thick on the small facial stitching and switched back to embroidery floss in the same color.  It is all the same dye lot though so I might just use it on the area where smaller detail is not required.  Give that a whirl!

We have had some mild weather that past few days but overcast.  DJ said if he had had any inkling that it was going to be so wet this fall/winter he would have put out some winter grass seed.    In years past when we were not on watering restrictions he has had over-seeded the front yard. We had the prettiest green grass in the neighborhood. The drought is officially over so that is a good thing.  

Today they predicted we might hit 70 which is more like late March/early April temps.  It won’t last, of course but look what is happening to our poor confused camellia bush!  That thing is loaded with blooms but you just know that the frost is going to get them.  Some are opening up already as you can see from the photo.   Also a close up of one of the blossoms.

When I started to go outside to take the floral pictures, Skyler was sitting near the front door bird watching and looked so darned cute that I tried to get a picture.  I flopped down on the floor at his level but of course, that backfired.  He had to see what was up with the camera when he heard it power up.  Funny!

Then this is what greeted me when I came back towards the house.  He often will sit almost straight up on his butt too reminding me a mercat at least from behind.  He was also meowing his kitty heart out as though I was never, ever coming back in the house.  He will do this on the carport door window as well but can barely see over the bottom edge of the windowed area.  Cracks me up.  At present he is sitting in the hallway waiting for DJ to get off his exercise bike.  DJ shut the bedroom door to keep nosy kitty from getting tangled up in the foot pedals.

Well, with no other quilty content that I can share, I’ll close for now.  I hope you have had an enjoyable day at your house.  I sure have.

Wrapping up the year

Just hours away from 2009 at this point.  I cannot say that I am sorry to see 2008 head on out the door, more so than in other years.   As DJ is known to say, you cannot “wish” your life away but come on, ‘09!  Do the best you can with the time you have, I guess.  I am still thinking about resolutions and quilting goals for the year.  Does one even bother to set some reasonable goals?  It does help to have a little direction----like start walking again.  Nip some bad habits in the bud---make your bed when you get up and don’t stay in the bathrobe, jammies and slippers for hours in the morning would be a good start, LOL.   Quiltwise, I know I want to work on my redwork Santa project this year and start on the Be-Attitudes quilt---maybe one a month of those and pick one UFO or quilt kit to work on.  That’s would be do-able if I don’t get bogged down with donation stuff. 

Today’s picture is part of my picks for my Christmas present from DJ as one of my packages from Connecting Threads.  I thought that the quilts in the Quick Cozy Couch Quilts might work up for the donation quilts as such.  That cover one looks intriguing!  The Sew & Stow book has a bunch of really cool “green” projects for storage and such that might come in handy for gifties or for home use. 
The other part?  Ah,just to torment Norma a bit.  I have gotten a good start on my FAB challenge.  There is a bit of applique involved so I have some prep work to do.  I am doing this part over a piece of templar so I can turn the edges evenly and then set with a bit of sizing.  One down and umpteen to go, LOL.
DJ and I took down the Christmas decorations this morning though I still need to put the wall hangings away which will only take a few minutes.  The house looks so naked!  I DID leave out the lovely winter plate that Judy gave me as a gift and along with it, a hand painted Christmas card that a friend gave me.  Janet had sent them in a frame type card and I had one from last year as well.  I’ll get to enjoy that out atop the living room entertainment center on trips back and forth from the kitchen.

Both my boys are napping at the moment though Skyler did manage to squeeze at least one eye open for me.  Such a handsome boy, if I do say so, LOL. 

Yesterday I had occasion to run out to one of the Belles’ home (Hi, Lois!)  She has a black and white cat named Mittens that looks a whole lot my guy.  Even though he is a younger cat, Mittens far outweighs my little peanut.  I wish I had taken my camera so you could see him.  Les and Lois had to coax him down from the rafters in the garage so I could see how big he had gotten.
Not much else going on today.  The sun is out and about 60 today but gusts of wind.  There is a U-Haul at one of the houses across the road in back---we have been trying to decide just what is going on there, moving stuff in or out?  New Year’s Eve will be quiet---fix a nice dinner and maybe watch a DVD or two.  DJ tells me that the 4th of July fireworks that got postponed due to drought and fire potential are on for New Year’s Eve but I doubt we will go.  Just take kick back and enjoy the evening with my two boys instead.
Rather than prattle on about nothing, I’ll just wish you the best things possible for 09.

playing in the kitchen

Since I seem to be stuck in binding mode the past few days, both stitching it and making it, I took a break this afternoon and made a batch of cinnamon rolls. My maiden voyage in this area, I might add. I am serious about learning some new cooking skills this next year.

I ordered the roll mix from the Prepared Pantry as I really liked their pizza crust that we had tried recently. There were a few kitchen tools in the order as well. LOL, I got to admit that I like kitchen toys as much as quilt toys. I like office supplies too--that might be a hang over from my days as the "purchasing agent" among other things at the podiatric practice where I worked for 12 years.

I wound up with two more rolls than the recipe called for so I must have rolled the down out a little wider than they showed in the pictures on the directions. They DID raise up like they were supposed to though. Not entirely the same size but I think that was the pan situation (the over flow went on another pan) and the jelly roll was a little fatter in the middle section. Tasted delicious though---lots of cinnamon. Smelled fantastic in here too.

You might note that the blender now has a cover on it. The toaster does as well. I'm working on the food processor one now but Skyler keeps getting either on it or trying to get under it like he does the bed covers.

Hope you have had a good day in whatever you chose to do--------

This and that on a Monday

All too soon it will be Christmas Day. I had some quick errands to run bit ago which included a run to Wally World. I could not believe the cars in the parking lot! It looked like everyone in town was shopping for something there. Me? Just some frozen yeast rolls since we are not having stuffing and a turkey sized oven bag that I forgot on yesterday’s grocery shopping day. Quick dash in and out with the self check out.
Thanksgiving was such a bust with DJ being ill earlier in the week. We wound up having homemade mac and cheese for the holiday meal. The golfing friend showed up at 530 pm on Thanksgiving but had already eaten. I fixed the steaks I had planned for our meal the next night, more meat than any of us could eat in the first place especially since I fixed twice baked potatoes (the frozen kind—why bother with any other kind?), tossed salad (from the bag) and a Dutch apple pie. I don’t “do” crusts but the rest of it was homemade.
Normally I just make do a small turkey breast in the crock-pot but the turkey had been on sale for a decent price between the two “eating” holidays. I’ve got about 8 lbs of meat thawing for the big day. I can see that there will be plenty of leftovers---some for the freezer that will be repurposed for soups, salads and casseroles later. Wednesday, I’ll be making the cranberry sauce and pecan pie. Either way, I’m making up for the not so festive thanksgiving.

Skyler has made himself at home on the sewing room perch this afternoon keeping me company and sunning his backside. I think I wore him out tossing his little sponge ball around. Now that was the best buck and a half I have ever spent!! Early he was laying on a pile of clean laundry that I need to put away. I am happy to report that he has paid no attention to the tree ---maybe since it is artificial and has nothing dangling down on it? He has made no attempt to get to the snow village either. Jan from It's the cat's house suggested in an email that he might find the brushy trees too attractive if he did which never occurred to me! I wonder if she is speaking from experience there? No more sheep are missing from the nativity set either. I must admit that this is mainly because I stuck the lone sheep down to the bookshelf top with some poster putty rather than a reflection on cat behavior, LOL.
Good to see that sun! We were in that pattern of it warming up to rain last week. Mild, humid temps but that cold front that many of you have been experiencing around the country whooshed in last night. The wind was howling and DJ was putting more weather stripping on the front door. The temps dropped from 61 at midnight Saturday night to around 31 yesterday morning---quite a shock to the system the first trip out the door.
Speaking of sun, some fabrics I ordered last week arrived—the “go-withs” for the FAB “summer in winter” challenge. Pat and Cher are the challengers this round and after they put their heads together, Pat sent us all a yard of that speckled yellow-orange fabric (the second one from the left) . The picture does not show just how bright it really is. Darn near glows---just like the sun! I will be making a gift for Norma this time around. I am not to tell what I am making but I can torment her a bit with a preview, LOL. The 2nd gold-ish print is something I already had that I might use but the rust color, blue and the two greens are the new acquisitions.

As usual I am on the spend down program as my gift from DJ. I don’t care if there is no package for me under the tree—this works for both of us. One package arrived today and here is my picks-- two cute patterns I found online from Happy Apple Quilts. I really like the graphic look of “Charlotte’s Star” and the lap size is right in line with the preferred range for the Wrap Them in Love donation quilts. The Buckaroo Bears is just darned cute for a donation quilt too. I am thinking that you could substitute any critter or motif you wanted in that space if you didn’t want to do bears—say, a cat maybe?? Again, right in the Wrap ‘Em size range. The fabric, a fat quarter, came with the patterns. Pretty cute, huh? I just ordered a neutral package of Essential thread from Connecting Threads (on sale, even better) and Cable Confidence knitting book for next to nothing from a book club with my bonus points. The rest goes in my Dream Trip to Oregon (DT2OR) fund.
No cooking tonight as we had leftovers available for both meals. Yesterday I made a pot roast on the stove top last night, braising it in the Dutch Oven following the directions in “Joy of Cooking”. I believe it was the best roast that I have ever made. Very tender and fairly moist even without the gravy. My gravy even turned out right meaning without a swirl in the blender to get the lumps out! I made sort of a modified beurre blanc, (I think that is what it is called) with equal parts of butter and flour kneaded together and dropped bits of it into the drippings whisking with each addition. You need 1 tablespoon of each for each cup of liquid-- something I read in the local paper. I might learn how to cook one of these days, LOL rather than the slap dash methods. Okay, butter is not so good for you but then margarine would not have been either. Or red meat for that matter. You gotta eat! Once the meat package in the freezer is depleted we won’t be eating much roast or steak anyway. Who can afford it? Who can afford even chicken lately---sheesh!
Normally I would throw a roast in the crock pot or the pressure cooker, depending on what cut it was. Since it was cold out, it was a bit chilly in the living room/kitchen with those vaulted ceilings and the wind howling. I didn’t mind the heat from the stove top or the oven being on to roast the veggies later. If it were summer time I would re-think that whole deal! But summer seems so far away now that the first official days of winter are full at it.
Well, fabric ironing awaits. I hope to do a little cutting and possibly sewing tomorrow on that top secret project. If I feel the need for a little handwork, there is always binding on those appliance covers. Yeah, still not completely finished with those and thinking ahead to the next project---will I never learn?
Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas around the house

It looks a little like Christmas around the house. I thought I would share a few of the pictures with you. Of course the shots loaded in reverse order so you are starting the tour in my bedroom instead of the front of the house but hey, if the pics will load you take it!

First, the little snow village that I set up on the armoire in the bedroom. Dickens' Village knockoffs but it works for this small space. So far, Skyler has not hopped up here to see what's going on, LOL.


Bedroom door---wreath made by a friend in Illinois who has since passed away. The wall hanging was one I finished years after the fact, hand appliqued and hand quilted. "Santa Magic" designed by Wild Goose Chase. I purchased it from Keepsake Quilting as a kit so no stash busting was involved with that--more like acquisition in that case. I would still like to do the stockings in the same pattern. That one or scrap patch stocking pattern from Thimbleberries that I got as a door prize at some point................



The angel corner in the hallway. The plate is one that was given to me by Judy last week while the angels are mainly secret pal gifts, package tags or picked up along the way. Most have some sentimental value to me or I wouldn't put them out. The wall hanging was sorta adapted by me from one of the Appli-quilt books by Tonee White. I listened to the end of "It's a Wonderful Life" I don't know how many times to see if it Zuzu said "its" or "his" wings


The sewing room door--I purchased the "Welcome" sign with little seasonal hanging years ago. The snowman is the winter offering. The door banner is a Katrina Designs pattern with removable seasonal centers. Veronica so kindly sent me the Santa insert last year as well as the turkey for Thanksgiving. Pretty cute, huh?



The hallway---normally the one above lives here. Debbie Mumm Santa---not sure which book but it's been around awhile. I made it probably 6-7 years ago, maybe. The ornament in his hand was made by the same friend who made the wreath.




The tree---Mom made the tree skirt and Joy, the stuffed mouse under the tree. Skyler is quite interested in the braided tail it sports but it is too heavy for him to drag off, LOL though in this shot he was just looking out the door. No ornaments--just lights and red bows.



The Santa collection is on the mantle. Purchased over the years but the golfer Santa I made for DJ stayed in the box---that guy has seen better days and I don't know that even hot glue would help him, LOL. The stockings were purchased at a church bazaar. I think they forgot to flip the pattern so it cracks me up when I see them facing the opposite direction. Marilyn gave me the "nice kitty" stocking for Pippi a few years back. It's Skyler's now!


The VCR has been replaced so now I get the top of the entertainment center for decorating. The ceramic tree was made by my mom years ago though somewhere along the line it lost its star. I made the Recycled Santa and Snowman--patterns from Fabricrafts---somewhere in the last 11 years we have lived here. Essentially you are using a 2 liter or so bottle and dressing it up weighting it down with kitty litter or sand. (Made a Noah version for my sister as well) I didn't take a picture of the holiday runner on the coffee table, the wreaths on the doors, the purchased holiday throw on the back of the couch or the JOY door mat my godchild gave me but trust me, they are there.



And last but not least, the reason for the season. The ceramic nativity set made by my mom--that missing sheep has not turned up yet though I am still looking. Where did you drag it off to, Skyler??? The creche was purchased on a visit with my sister-in-law Ann.



Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!