Last night, I went to bed with my ruby slippers on in case the house fell on me.Wow-that was a wind storm. The good news-nearly all the leaves are blown away. All except those tenacious oak trees. They still have leaves from last year hanging in bunches that just won't quit. This is a pic out the port hole in my bedroom.Sorry for the quality of the shot but it's through a screen. My husband put this moon viewing window in when we built the house. It's in a corner of the bedroom and when the time is right the moon shines right through it so beautifully. At top you can see the stained glass bluebird I bought him for Christmas one year. This little quilt below is made up of hand dyed fabric that a friend gave me a while back. I made a baby quilt for a friends son and liked the colors and 9-patches so much I made extra and put this little wall hanging together for myself. There's nothing perfect about it but it is very cheery and bright. It will be coming down now so that I can put up more seasonal things. Maybe it's the artist in me but once I get the basic construction of a top done I get very slap happy about the finish. The checkerboard border didn't finish the right size because I am math challenged and I just wanted to get done so since it was not a gift for someone I just slapped that baby together. I should pay more attention but at that point my mind is raing on to the next thing to do. I think I will go out & spend some time picking up broken branches and fallen debris in the driveway and rejoice in the fact that it looks like the sun is coming out-Wahoo!! Dry air and sunshine-what a great blessing.

Just Me & The Boys & thanks

I'm home alone with these guys today and frankly they've been no help to me at all. So I left them to their own strange devices and face making and gave in to the cleaning bug....wow did I need a good dusting and frankly the carpet was alarming. Bleah. Of course this would have been a lot easier if the temp. in my house wasn't 70 degrees-It's November, isn't it?I'd be happy to have this all winter long but then I would put on the air conditioner and vacuum with wild abandon in my shorts... with a margarita(no salt). I know, there are many who say 70-that's chilly(I hear you Texas people loud and clear) but here in the northeast 70 in Nov. is just weird and so wrong...so wrong and yet so great. Trying not to bitch about the weather since that, along with bodily function complaints, are a sure sign of advancing age. I have a pot of pea soup on the stove and so the all the signs are in place for winter..but 70, hmmm.

I want to thank all you lovely ladies who were kind enough to comment and those that sent me e-mails-WOW. You guys are inspirational.I live in a house with four men. Now they are the sweetest guys you could want to know, but nevertheless typical men. Most of the time you could be laying on the ground gasping and they would look up from there assorted hobby things(books, computer games, name an electronic gizmo)and say something like "Problem, Dee???" So when I get encouragement from people I don't even know-I'm SO THRILLED. What a great group of women you all are. Take a quick bow...go ahead...o.k. Today Janet, of Just bee-cause made me laugh out loud at the crack of dawn-what a great way to start the day. Her Thanksgiving recipe is hysterical. Scroll down to yesterdays entry for a laugh. Talented lady that. Anyway it's great to be in such company. I also read Crazy Aunt Purl today and this was also laugh-cramp inducing. Not a lot of quilting stuff getting done today but a funny and amazing thing happened as I was writing this-My son came home and said he really liked the Japanese lantern quilt from yesterday-I believe he said this because it was on the staircase to be taken up to my work area and he nearly fell over it-see- They love me !! They really love me...Maybe I'll make biscuits(suckah)

Japanese lanterns & WIP wed.

Got a bunch of stuff to do right now but I'll come back later. Until then-here's a piece in progress. I started it to hang above our kings size bed so it's quite long. The lanterns look like they're swinging in the breeze. I'll post a better pic later-Just wanted to get in a WIP today...

Favorite things by talented friends

Another gloomy rainy morning around here. I always thought I could easily live in the pacific northwest but after a few of these days in a row I wonder about that. Here is a shot of some of the things that make me smile in my workspace. These are works by some of my favorite artists who happen to be bloggers too. The red shoes are by DebR of (what else) Red Shoe Ramblings-who is not only a wonderful artist but a very tlented writer as well. Visit her blog for something new and really interesting every day. She's very prolific and funny. The small piece next to the shoes is by Deb Boschert of Deborah's Journal and if you click the pic (tee hee)you can see it better. It's done on a piece of really beautiful hand dyed fabric and stitched with beads. I love her work and if you go to her blog you will see that she has written a a book on how to make these wonderful pieces. It's very inexpensive and well worth having. Very detailed descriptions and insights to technique. Go get you one! Before they're gone!!!! On the right is my latest purchase and the picture really doesn't do it justice. It's "Kimono Collage" by Gerrie Congdon of Crazy for Fiber. The whole thing is beaded on top of really lovely pieces of kimono fabric. It makes me happy just to look at it. A riot of color and beauty. I really love red and don't know why I don't have more of it in my house? The sampler above is by my cousin Susan who was kind enough to make this for my son James when he was born 22 years ago. Since he's a little (heh) too old for this to hang in his room anymore I absconded with it. What I haven't put up yet are 4 postcards, also by Deborah B. that I am having framed. They are bright and cheerful and just delightful to look at. I can't wait to get it done. These are some of the things I try to focus on when I am in a gloomy rainy mood. I hope your day is brighter. I'm off to the grocery store. Can't put it off any longer-there's nothing to eat for breakfast(it's all about me, you know!)

conspicuous consumtion and orphans

This is a REALLY bad pic of the fabric I ordered from Hancocks for my son's quilt. Sorry you can't see the spider mum fabric on the left and next to it the dragon, the leaves and watery Kanji. It's really great fabric and I'll take more pics of progress where you can see the actual details. This morning I was searching for something to post on WIP Wed, I came up with a number of things I had completely forgotten. I think that's so much fun.Like fabric archaeology. For a while, when I first started quilting I tried a number of things to see what I liked. I did a lot of paper piecing and I still do. A fascination with houses led me to make a number of quilts like that and I also tried applique. Most of the applique was done as gifts for children. Happily I found out about fusing and since my eyes are not as good as they once were-that will be the method I would use for any future applique. Anyway..here are some more houses I made while on "the great HOUSE jag. They are just so graphic and fun I couldn't stop myself. There are more houses, unfinished and found this morning. They will appear eventually. I also found 9 log cabin blocks made from the first Moda fabric I ever got. Once you go Moda-there's no going back. I really love working with that stuff. Along with all that there were a bunch of orphan blocks, some PP sailboat blocks, a few mini log cabins, a pp sunbonnet sue, some long ago abandoned pp Christmas ornaments and last but not least, a couple of tops that I had folded and put away probably for lack of batting or backing.. Lots to do....Yesterday was so gloomy and the rain and wind kept me inside instead of going to the JoAnn's sale to use my coupons. I know I will regret having to let those coupons expire because I need wonder under, backing, batting, thread and such. I spent a lazy day watching dvds and doing laundry and ironing. The best part was that the guys took pity and got take-out both days. How lucky am I??? Saturday was Chinese and Sunday was Greek. Yumm.
Yesterday I talked to my friend Trisha regarding the quilt that unfortunately went along with Max to the great beyond. She's going to make another one and I, for one, am thrilled and will post a picture when it's done. It was a reminder to take pictures of your finished work before something unfortuante happens-like being buried with a relative...scroll down and see the entry about Max if you don't know what I mean and care to.
I have to get along to the Food Pantry to pick up my mail and deposit checks and such. It's a busy time right now-everyone remembers the needy at the holidays which is very wonderful but for me it means keeping up with the thank you letters right away, lest I find myself with hundreds rather than just half that. Everyone who gives a donation get a personal thank you from me. Be it grocery food drives or checks or even kids and money from lemonade selling in the summer(very cute) It's something I have done for a while and we could (and soon may have to) print out form letters but I really hate to do that. In the past I only had to write 20-25 letters a month but now it has become a popular charity in our community and people even send memorial donations when someone dies. That requires two letters-one to thank the donor and one to the family of the deceased in acknowledgement. It has become a big job. I just finished a pile of letters last week. Often lately, I make up a letter for money and one for grocery donations and just change the name and addresses on each one, as well as, any pertinent info such as the dollar amt. I became discouraged last year when I made an error on the dollar amount and recieved a really snarky letter from the person who made the donation. He suggested that I was a moron for getting the amount wrong. Since I do this as a volunteer and I pay all postage and cost of this operation, I suggested to that person in a follow-up letter that perhaps they would like to take over my job, as volunteers are few and far between and...mistakes happen and can easily be corrected. It's very discouraging to be a volunteer and have your a__ chewed out because you did some small thing wrong. A that time we went through our records and it turned out that in nearly 1700 letters, I had made two mistakes. Figures I would get the one hump in the crowd. Further proof that no good deed goes unpunished. Have a great day-and thanks to everyone who left comments. It's a really nice surprise and fun getting to know new blogging friends.