sunny diversions

Eye candy_ wish I could say this was from my yard but I can't. We're almost there-temps in 50s today and up to 70 by Sunday. Just as we thought-directly from sweatshirts to sweat. Not complaining mind you. It's a shock to the system though.

My husband surprised me yesterday when he arrived home with supplies for the Goldfinches-food, new feeders and such. He bought me a new umbrella for the porch. Yippee- the one we had was in sad shape and really dirty looking. This looks more like a market umbrella-nice stripes on dark green. Happy Dance.

I am spending the day doing what needs to be done in order to enjoy the outdoors and indoors more. Our grill needs a good cleaning so I can cook something yummy on it. At the end of the season last fall I just burned off the upper grill and covered it and said "see ya in the spring" sooooo that's where we are now. I cook on the grill nearly everyday in spring, summer, and fall so I need to get on the stick- Then it's off to the grocery for peppers and portabellos and maybe shrimp on the barbie....mmmmgrilled veg and...well...anything. I also grill sweet potatoes and reg. just a few brushes of olive oil and a touch of Kosher salt and you have yourself a feast. Sometimes-cut up the veg-Italian dressing-feta-toss and sigh.... Have a great weekend everyone.

12x12x4 challenge piece & thoughts on sewing

Here are some pictures of the 12x12x4 piece that I just posted on the Quilt Studio challenge page.

The Ginkgo leaves below is one of three other pieces that I began with the intention of using as a challenge piece. I have another couple I may show soon. One is some blossoms done with colored pencil on fabric.

The Ginkgo leaves are fused on pale pink cotton and it's about 8x12. I will use colored pencil to give veins and shading to the leaves.

Interestingly, the first type of sewing I ever did was needlework-crewel and cross stitch. My grandmother was an incredible needle worker. What became of the wonderful pillows and linens she made is a mystery. She did all sorts of intricate work. Needle lace, Hardanger, crewel, eyelet work and such. I wish I had paid more attention but I think I didn't because she made it a very strict and unhappy time-ripping things out that weren't perfect. A lot of yelling in German can really have a detrimental effect on the enjoyment of hobbies. My mother was a seamstress, making couture quality clothing-dresses, coats, and even pants. Same thing there. Nothing was ever good enough so I didn't pay attention-I just cringed along until I could go do something else. I really enjoy embroidery and loved needlepoint and crewel later in life. I may take up these things again. I wish my hands weren't so sore though. It may be time to start again with the Glucosamine Chondroitin.

Anyway, I'll keep plugging along-with the sewing and the treadmill and exercise....I'm really not having a lot of fun lately. Does anyone have some cheese to go with my wine? Sorry

Addendum-I just want to keep track of my daily walking for a while...

today-a liitle over 3/4 mile and I picked up a touch of speed. so far no pain-tomorrow, the mile mark!

Tale of the tummy...groan

One has to laugh...really. I realize now that the green stripes don't make me look smaller...bad choice.

Seriously-I am walking on the treadmill in prep for the workout to come. Being tortured and crunched is next. I have some lower back disc problems and so I think I need to strengthen and gain some stamina. Lord, I hate getting old. If only we could be as young as we feel mentally. I'd be in good shape.

Just thought I'd give you a chuckle-I'm on my way to do some errands and them later I will try and finish my 12x12 thingy.

Thanks to all who wondered how we made out during this awful storm. I don't know why we escaped but we did. Just a lot of fallen debris from trees and such. many other parts of the island were in really bad shape. We didn't loose power(amazing) and we live way up on top of a hill. As I said to my friend Gerrie-if the water comes up this high we can all kiss our tushies goodbye. It would have to be a tsunami type flood way up here. See you soon

Didja miss me???I missed you....

I got a bunch of things done last week and I just took a break from...well...everything. Lots of time taken up with yearly check-ups and such. Good news there for which I'm grateful. Still waiting for news from one Dr. and I'm hoping that no news is good news.

I have not finished my 12x12 piece. It's almost done and I am finding an interesting and annoying thing about myself(only one Dee???) As I mentioned before-I don't like the 12 inch sq. shape at all but that's not an insurmountable problem. I find that even though my hormones have stopped being a problem most of the time, I still have horrible days of indecision and inability to focus. I have no less than four 12x12 pieces started and I get to a point where I just hit a wall with them and put them aside and start something else. So....the up side-I have been working on a bunch of stuff...the downside-nothing is finished on time. Hopefully by Wed. I tried taking pictures of the piece I plan on using and it's not photographing well so I will enlist the help of my professional photography team(Roger) to get a better shot. It also has a lot of hand work on it and the old hands are angry with me. It's been a while since I did any kind of needlework or even hand quilting. Slow going...that's today's phrase.

All of this is by way of explaining today's picture. I had some of these lavender and purple fabrics left over from a table runner I did for a friend of mine. It seemed so springy and sweet that I decided to make one for myself. The other log cabins are some that I found and they will also find there way into a small mini or table top piece.

The weather here has been really stormy and the wind is whipping everything around. More like March than April. We really didn't have any flooding like some places but I'm sure that a few inches of beach are returned to the sea. I should take a walk down there in the next few days-lots of great stuff washes up-neat shells, rocks, and beach glass. Next week they will rake the beaches and make everything pristine and, frankly, boring.

Well, I'm making chicken soup and working on some Food Pantry paperwork I need to finish up so I'll be back tomorrow. Hope you will be too.