More travels with Dee

Here are the adorable 92-year-olds. Miss Mattie & Uncle Don. I hope if I'm lucky enough to get to that age I am as with it as these two. Of course, it probably comes from good living so I most likely blew that one.

The real occasion for the trip was two fold. To celebrate their 25th anniversary(second marriage) and to celebrate my 60th. If you call doing a lot of spending celebrating then you could say I had a sweet old time. Our house was(seriously) off Beaten Path in Mooresville so you could say we were off the Beaten Path (har). If this place is off the beaten path then Lord let me wind up there. We saw houses that made your mouth drop open and one in particular that had turrets covered in copper. Holy Moly gang. There were about 15 workman's vehicles in the driveway. Just imagine that bill?? Anyway, there were miles and miles of breathtaking places. Many on golf courses (Hi Rian). I could just imagine her driving by in a golf cart. I could also imagine someone having to marry a Saudi Prince in order to afford just the help needed to clean these 6 bedroom/w guest cottage mansions.

Our house was very beautifully located on a little finger-like tributary of Lake Norman. Very pretty area.

Here is the captain and deckhand of the 9 passenger pontoon boat that was rented for the week. Roger misses the boat we used to have. He doesn't miss the work it took to keep it in shape for using.

Unfortunately her Daddy couldn't make it up from Florida so she had to suffer through everyone ooooing andahhhhing to make up for it. Miss Tatum is a natural ham.

Blogger is being mean and giving me a hard time so I better move on to the loot while I can. Here is some of the stuff. I wanted to make a Christmas quilt out of the Holly Jolly Moda fabric and so I stocked up on that stuff and will work on it soon. Lets see if I can make something for this Christmas before it actually arrives. I got a 20-pack of Robyn Pandolph fabric in her beautiful soft tones to add to the collection that I already have. Something large and bed-like will be happening there. The Posh fabric by Moda is for a quilt I haven't worked out in my head yet. I so loved Nicole's Posh Baskets that she showed on Sisters Choice blog that I sat and stared at it for days on end and I'm going to get myself a basket pattern that will hopefully look one tenth as great as hers.

There's more to show since I made trips to the ten thousand malls around the area with the girls and stopped at Barnes & Noble and Home Goods and several other places. I'll be back with some more tomorrow. Right now I have to finish sewing another row or two on the Lavender Passion since I sewed this weekend in the Quiltathon with Judy and friends. Not much accomplished but I did get a few rows done in between the mountains of laundry. Anyway, back to that. Talk to you soon.

I'm back...didja miss me?

I missed you!. While I was missing you all, this is where I was hanging out. A view down to the dock on Lake Norman, NC. The lone hiker is BIL Bob after the boat trip of that morning. I have a bunch of pics to show but of course Blogger is verrrry slow today and I have much to do. Maybe tomorrow I can show you some of the birthday loot I managed to scam for myself in Mooresville at a cute little quilt shop I have found a couple of years before and managed to locate again. I had my fist full of money and left smiling ladies behind after making a mound of fabric on the counter and some of this and a little of that. Very fun day out with my husband. We went on to lunch near Spencer at Hendricks BBQ for the pulled pork where Roger took one look at my face taking a first bite and said the whole trip was worth that smile. We last ate at Hendricks 8 years ago and were leery that it could possibly be as good as we remembered it. It was!

All in all the house was very nice and very big. It was too cold in the downstairs for the rest of the Florida cousins and the North Carolinians, so we had the whole downstairs to ourselves. Believe me when I tell you it was a very, very, good thing. Oh how we suffered through the large screen TV, leather couches, pool table, air hockey table/game room. Sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet and suffer(not). Our king sized bedroom was comfortable but since it was downstairs there were no windows and it got a little cave-like at night. No big complaints though. Believe me, there was enough complaining going on upstairs for an army. Some people are just never happy. I just kept busy and did a lot of reading and such. We picked up Aunt Mattie and Uncle Don(the 90-year-olds) from their place several miles away and did a lot of dinners and one really great lunch. The best part was meeting little Miss Tatum at 2 1/2, who I had yet to meet. The most adorable child you can imagine. Sweet and well behaved. Only one small incident and I've seen much worse. She was over-tired and bored and, frankly, if I could have gotten away with it I would have pitched a fit myself.

Here she is in all her sweetness.

Well, I have a ton of stuff to do and I plan to bore you with pictures of fabric tomorrow. Hope you come back and find me again. I clicked around and see that not an awful lot has happened while I was gone. I'm enjoying seeing the new art being made and catching up with every one's stuff. I'll be back with my stuff tomorrow. Missed you guys!

So long for a while

The coming week is full of so much activity and preparation that I'm saying goodbye to blogging for a while. For the few pals that still pop in I just thought I'd let you know.

I'm leaving you with a recommendation for a fabulous read and I hope you will follow up on this one. It is the diary of Eleanor Coppola during the time she was raising a family and simultaneously following Frances, and later, Sophia to movie locations. It is so much more than that. It's the diary of a woman who is conflicted by family love and devotion and artistic calling left fallow. A story that most of us can relate to at some point. Being torn between the very essential desire to be everything to everyone is natural for women and it is both a blessing and a curse. I have found so much to love about this book it is one I'll re-read again and again. Aside from the mothering stuff, there is also the really fascinating story of a woman surrounded by unbelievable talent. Her tales of being on the set for the all the Godfather movies, the journey of her film diary of Apocalypse Now, called Heart of Darkness, and for her daughter Sophia's movies "Lost in Translation" and "Marie Antoinette" are worth the money alone. The eventual re-discovery of her artistic self begins to evolve throughout the book and I really wanted to make it go on to see where else Eleanor has gone since. I hope there is another book of diary pages to come. She has a sweet, simple style that is set down without conceit or verbal boasting. I love her voice and I think you will too. One of her pieces art installation art, made in conjunction with several people, is a tribute to those we have lost. Her son Gio was killed in a freak accident in his 20s. It is such a touching story to hear about this installation that I wish I could go and see it. It moves around the country to various places and sounds like it would be well-worth a trip to visit.

I am packing to leave for a while and my birthday(the big one) is Tuesday. I've dreaded this one for a while but oddly enough along with it's arrival, I have found a certain sense of peace and a small, but strong, developing, fountain of artistic energy. Maybe you just need to get to "your time" in life and it begins to unfold in lovely ways for you. Letting go of certain angry things and seeing what is important with new eyes makes for a sense of peace. To a small degree, I am doing what I advise others to do when faced with possible unpleasantness-I think of it as theatre. I have begun to write ideas for art down with a little detail included so that I will remember them fully when I return and begin a hopeful, creative, year ahead. I'm not sure what happens to others when they reach this age but so far for me, I have begun the important job of ceasing to care what other people think and I imagine that's when the real creative process can begin. A few ideas with a common theme are rolling around in the caverns of my brain. Some are fabric related and some are back to the basics of artwork that I began so many years ago.

At any rate, since there is so much prep for this longer than usual trip and few friends are stopping by anyway(can't blame you-nothing artistic gong on here)I will go on a blog hiatus for a while. I'm not sure if there is any computer connections where we are and I don't have a laptop anyway.

It's over 90 and humid here. Very unusual weather for here this early. Anything over 80 is pure hell to me and for good measure I'm heading down south in a week. Bah!

Take care and I'll see you later if I don't melt. Hope I don't run into any flying monkeys....I'mmm melllting...melllllting

Checking in with sniffles

Since I have nothing note worthy to show on the quilt front, here are some pictures of the local atmosphere.
I have caught the current crud that is circulating through our house and the area in general. Much coughing, sneezing, sore throat and, as a result, not much sleeping. All of this makes for a crabby Dee. I feel better today so this thing seems to be quick to come on and not too long lingering. I'd really just like some solid sleep. Enough bitching and moaning.

The weather has turned quite warm, and as is the norm on an island, pretty humid too.

I wish I had something arty or quilty to show but life is getting in the way big time right now. I'm hoping that July will bring a lot more quiet time for finishing things and playing with fabric. In the mean time I'm enjoying checking out what you are up to. Many women designers have just finished coming back from Portland Quilt Market where they showed off their gorgeous designs and many of the new fabrics coming in the next season. Check out Anna Maria Horner, who has fabric and designs to drool over. Also in my links is Pam Kitty Morning who stunt-sews for Alex Andersen, among others. It's fun to see what they are showing. The best and certainly most fun lately is Nicole of Sister's Choice. Nicole makes the most beautiful quilts you can imagine with very yummy fabrics but what I adore most is her dog Ozzie. Ozzie's adventures are hilarious. He has more personality than 3 dogs and major attitude. Ozzie is the juvenile delinquent of the dog world. Just scroll down and see what mayhem he can cause and while you're at it enjoy the work of a fabulous quiltmaker. By all means keep scrolling until you see her Posh Baskets. I could be talked into doing bad things for that quilt. hmmmm. Maybe that's why I like Ozzie-I see a bit of the larceny in my hairy little friend.

Have fun- I hope you have weather like ours. It's beautiul.

Lovely Weekend & Critters

This is one of the many chipmunks that live in my yard. The actually live in that cement wall in the background there. There must have been a population explosion recently since the tiny heads that pop out of the cracks look to be babies. They are so much fun to watch. Anyway my husband was swift enough with the camera to get this shot of a little guy who came up on the plant table for a drink. He got some good Goldfinch pictures as well but I'll show them another day since Blogger seems to be having a bad day.

Our weekend was really nice. We celebrated Roger's birthday with a BBQ at our friends house. Good food and very nice friends. Yesterday we just had a BBQ here and our traditional root beer floats to begin the season. Yum.

On the car front-James has found a car he wants to buy and it seems like a good deal so he will be occupied with those details this week. Cross you fingers that all goes well for him. James and no car =unhappiness. I'm just happy it looks like he'll be getting a car that is much newer and doesn't require months of work before it's road worthy. Not that it will stop him from the endless additions he will no doubt make over the next months. He is, after all, a car guy. I'm also happy that it will be settled before we go away in a couple of weeks.

James girlfriend's Mom, Cheryl, had a birthday the same day as Roger so I made her this little wall hanging. Her house is newly re-decorated and she loves this type of thing. I added another border using the red fabric in the roof and hand quilted a little in the red border.

I also found a new Quilt Sampler at the store last week. Love all the great shops they show and always look forward to the latest issue. Funny thing though. I have never made a quilt from any of the patterns in any of these issues. Mostly because they are full sized quilts and I have that "no room" factor to consider.

Lots of hemming to do today. A couple of pair of pants for Roger and a couple for me. It is verrrry humid here today and not all that cool. I finally had to turn on the air conditioner upstairs. I have a lot of laundry and drying to do today and the heat up there will just make the upstairs very warm. We've been unbelievably lucky with our weather so I have no complaints. By last night though, it was pretty humid and sticky sleeping weather.

Hope you have a good day and something fun to do.

My Baby's Baby Boo Boo & the trip

I'll give you the bad news first. My son was in an accident. He's fine but his Baby has a crushed nose. Just enough of a push to cause problems with alignment and other stuff that all adds up to $$$$$. It's getting the once-over to see if it's even worth fixing. This may mean nothing to you and I but this car is his BABY. He washes and tweeks and polishes and improves and compounds and such. I am so grateful that he is alright but there is that little part that feels really bad. he's in that stage of life where every time he gets two nickels to rub together something comes along to screw up the momentum. Now he probably has to get a junker to drive while the fixing is taking place or another car all together comes to stay. Again, very, very happy that it wasn't worse. He's just getting the old Poor Baby Moment from Mom.

I may have confused some of you regarding the trip to come. We aren't leaving for a few weeks. I've just had to throw myself into gear and shop for things I've needed for a long time. On that front...I think I'm done. I have re-vamped the wardrobe enough for now and can't thank Lands End enough. They are a great company to deal with and they make clothes that fit women who are not size nothing and don't appreciate looking like a teen-age slut. By the way what's with the tops that look like maternity wear? How many women of my age and size should be wearing maternity tops. Further, do these women think they are hiding any aspect of their figure by covering it in billowing, blouson , empire cut, shiny, material of questionable origin covered in giant screaming red poppies? I saw some sights today at the mall that nearly struck me blind. Well I'm making sausage & peppers and I must get moving. I'll take your kind wishes for a good trip and just save them for a couple of weeks. I hope you have a great Memorial day Weekend. It's Roger's birthday on Sunday. We have a few things planned. The picture above is one small portion of the huge patch of Lily of the Valley in front of the house. The smell is heavenly. Talk to you soon.

Darcie-Hand dyed beauties

First, I want to thank all of you lovely women who were nice enough to look at my Amish-style small quilts and leave such thoughtful comments. You all made my day and then some.

The luscious beauties below came to me in the mail yesterday from Darcie Grager. Darcie is a long-arm quilter and fabric dyer extraordinaire. I wish you could feel these gorgeous fabrics. They look like suede and feel wonderful. She's amazing. If you haven't been over to her blog to visit and see the amazing work she does, don't miss out on seeing some real beauties. Anyway, a few entries ago she showed a mariners compass and the fabric was dyed by her for a class she was giving at her sister's shop "Comforts of Home" in N. Dakota. Those ladies are one talented team. The fabric she showed(above) just made me think it was time for another Amish-style quilt I have had in mind for a while. As you can see, the colors will be more muted and less black. I'm thinking of using black as an accent and that will be lots easier on the eyes for hand quilting. So-thanks you Darcie for this beautiful fabric and for the special surprise piece that was included in the package.

On the vacation and birthday front, things are humming along and I finally found some pants that fit nicely as well as sandals and jammies etc. I have much to accomplish this week so I'll cut things short today and just say, again, thanks for visiting me. Once the trip is over I hope to get back to posting on a more regular schedule with actual quilty stuff to show. Talk to you soon.

In the Amish style

I'm showing these quilts I made that reflect the Amish style. I always admired these quiet women so much when we would visit Lancaster. Their sparkling houses and polished wood makes me long for much more dedication to keeping things lean and spare. Of course that's not how real life is-at least for us for the time being. We've got stuff. I'm showing these for Kathy of Inspired by Antique Quilts who had a question regarding black fabric. She has a great sight with outstanding work that makes me drool. Anyway-I've always used Kona or Moda black and I bought a bolt of Moda and was very happy with it. I wish my eyes were good enough to keep up this kind of work but in the future I will have to resort to brighter versions of antique Amish quilts to try my hand at. Maybe just a touch of black instead. I have given a couple of these small ones away and I have another in the attic in storage that was made by an Amish woman in Lancaster. It's a square in a square in hunter green and purple and black. The pictures are clickable and I'm sorry for the poor quality of the second one. You can't really see all the stitching-that's the thing with black on black.
I'm swamped with stuff for birthdays and trips ahead so I hope to get back to regular posts some time soon. Gotta go make dinner-it's Thursday night quilting with the girls. Hope you have a great evening.

Bloomin' Delicious Weekend

My son's girlfriend, Dani, gave me these amazing tulips for Mother's Day. They were creamy off/white when she handed them to me yesterday and this picture doesn't do them justice to show how golden, salmon, pink they have turned. Beautiful flowers. Every time I look at them they change in some way. Lovely. The roses came from my BIL Bob. A dozen long stem beauties and each one is a different color. All of this flower largess was started by Roger with his annual gift of 2 very large and beautiful Hibiscus plants for the porch. They remind me of Hawaii-good times. Needless to say I am in flower heaven. James took me out to lunch on Saturday. We had a nice lunch and chat and then stopped at Ralphs famous Brooklyn Italian Ices where we purchased the first Margarita and Lemon-lime of the season. I can't offer you any since we have made pigs of ourselves and snurffled up all of it. Roger BBQ'd wonderful ribs and roasted sweet potatoes for me so all-in-all it was a delicious weekend.
We enjoyed watching the last of Survivor last night-the best one in a long time. Yay to the girls! Although that skinny blond finalist was a bag of mean bones. I sort of wished that Amanda would have won but after her pathetic crying jag at the last vote I was a bit nauseous my self and can see where some of the jury felt the same. Parvati won and once again proved it's not how you play the game but how many people you sleep with on the way to victory. The men were pathetic and deserved to loose. Whenever I hear the name Parvati I think of Tony Soprano's horrible sister, Janice, who took that name in an effort to be very California flower child. Not easy for a mob sista from New Joisy.
The low point of the weekend was yesterday when James slammed his finger in the car door and it immediately began turning black on the nail. We fixed him up with a bag of ice to put on it and a pain killer last night to sleep. This morning he stopped at the Dr. to see if he needed to have any infection drained(gasp). Thank goodness it was a no. He got some pain medicine and went off to work. Considering he works on cars with his hands, I imagine today was not a fun day. Well, that's about my weekend. It's very cool and rainy out today. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer and sunny. I have much shopping to do.
I haven't been posting much because there isn't anything blog-worthy happening often. I guess it's just a blog slump but I notice that many others are in the same boat. Must be the season..whatever it is I'll be back with updates soon. Thanks for checking in.

Tuesday Chit Chat

The things you find when you're not really looking! I paper pieced these bears paw blocks about 10 years ago and didn't even finish quilting it. There is only one set of paws that aren't done so that will be a snap. That's probably what I said right about the time I put it aside and started something else. Impulse control much Dee???

The pansies are making a riot of color this year. Usually we have gotten the little violas or mini pansies but this year Roger picked up a bunch of beauties of the large variety. This particular color, what would you call it, violet is so intense that in the twilight it looks like it's glowing. Reminds me of the way moonflowers look in the moonlight and early dawn. Very ethereal. So pretty.

Thanks for your comments on the diamonds mini but I have to say my favorite comment is from one of my favorite people and I can't stop thinking about those hypnotized chickens of Terry's. I wonder how that works although I can't imagine it would be hard to hypnotize a creature with a brain the size of a pea. It does make for a fun thought though. A whole fence full of hypnotized chickens-that's funny! Our neighbor across the street has chickens and at least one rooster since I hear him every morning welcoming the day. I know some people find that annoying but I really like the sound of a rooster crowing.

If you get a chance you should hop over to Jodi's blog, The Carolina Quilter and check out the quilt she made for her church on just about a moments notice. That girl is amazing at thread painting and just about everything else. Beautiful work Jodi. Jodi is a Bernina sewing machine dealer in Inman, North Carolina and her business is doing well but she still finds time to make something beautiful "in her spare time". I know she's chuckling at that one.

I better get myself moving. I have a few stops to make today and I like to get out before the crowd and the temps are supposed to go into the 70s today. That's ten degrees higher than I would like and the stores seem to be trying to save on A/C. by attempting to suffocate their customers. Great retail thinking. Let's see...can we make the store airless and hot and the prices very high and then lower them and call it a sale???!!!! Don't get me started on retail shopping in 2008.

Talk to you soon.

Chickens and diamonds

Because I adore you all so much and want to make your day a happy one, I want you to click over to Deb's blog and check out the fun. Go on...I'll wait....Jeopardy music............. Oh your back! Isn't she the funniest? For that matter, chickens are just hilarious without doing a thing. I'm always amazed at the sense of humor exhibited by nature. You just know that whatever the plan was for chickens, someone had a fabulous sense of humor that day.

And now, for something completely different-Above you will see my little harlequin mini blocks. I was looking for something different to do the other day and a thought popped into my feeble brain. Why not elongate a square block into a diamond...Duh! I had some scraps from something else and just sewed up a bunch of blocks. Don't know what's to become of this-I was just playing around as usual. It needs something different for a border-I'll let it age a little and think about it tomorrow(Scarlett)

I'm going to do some never-ending laundry and ironing and then relax with a movie or book. Haven't decided yet.

Talk to you later.

Friday catch-up

I put these two small things together and they now await borders and any interesting finishes I can come up with. Mostly I can't believe it's Friday again. What's up with that? I'd say time flies when you're having fun but um...no. I haven't been feeling well the past few days and have kind of pushed myself to do anything. Some days I feel like I could tackle anything and then I get a couple of days like the last few. Blah!

I am in the process of finding some things to wear for a trip coming up in the not too distant future. We will be in a place where it's way too hot for me. One of my dirty little secrets is that when people complain about the rain and cool I may outwardly sympathize but inside I'm cheering. Don't like heat and I can't sit in the sun at all so it holds no interest for me. When I was a young girl I would bake on the beach for hours and turn golden brown. No more for me. The medicine I take makes me burn almost instantly. Not just burn, but big watery blisters...ugh! The house we are renting has a pool and the relatives all live in Florida so no doubt they will revel in the pool and the sunny days. Roger enjoys the sun so he will enjoy. My idea of sitting in the sun would be more like being covered from legs to head with stuff. So anyway, I'm trying to find some stuff to wear that won't look too stupid on me. Not an easy task. While I'm not a moose, neither am I a delicate little person. I cannot tell you how stupid I look in Capri or cropped pants. My legs are short and I look like a cartoon character who has high water pants. Really dumb. Not going there. I have linen pants in multiple colors which will have to do. They are, in fact, my fav pants and I have two new pair from last year I haven't even hemmed yet. I need some light tees and cool tops. Also on the list is a robe and some new jammies. I will head out next week and see what I can find. Land's End is my fall-back option. I got some great tees recently from them. We'll see what comes up. I need to consider what to take for handwork and will probably take some redwork in an effort to look busy and not make eye contact.

My initial response to this adventure was not positive for several reasons I can't go into here. Family drama-nuff said. My husband has suggested to me that I view it as theatre, which is what I usually say to him when faced with this type of thing. So, I will now view it with theatre in mind. I plan to take the camera, of course, so I can give you all a glimpse of crazy when we get back. Anyway, all of this isn't happening for a good while so I'll keep you posted. Looking for clothes is about as painful for me as surgery. I hate it with a passion. Clothes today are made for tiny little women with tiny little tushies and cute, perky boobs. W

Well I'm off to the mighty Viking to do some sewing after I give the place a once over with the Super Sucker. The dust has become dramatic. Talk to you soon.

Friends..near & far.

Thanks for the nice things you had to say to me. My mantra for the near future is, I will not wallow, I will not wallow, I will not wallow. That takes the place of a recent promise not to snicker about the Bushtit- made to my friend Terry Grant who is much more mature than I am. See her blog for explanations. Sometimes I really need to be followed around by an old, very large, Nun with an equally large ruler.

I love cartoons, both drawn and on T.V. I am blessed with a son who grew up with cartoons and was given the gift of the ability to mimic voices. My son does a perfect Cartman and although now that his voice has changed and it is harder for him, he would still sing "Sail Away" if I begged him. That still makes me fall down screaming. I thought this cartoon was very amusing.

Anyway, my sweet friend Dorothy in Vermont tagged me for 7 weird things and I think I've done that a couple of times. Of course I could do it several more times an not run out of things to list but just how strange does one want to reveal themselves to be in print?

So instead I am going to deviate from the norm(what else is new) and list 7 things that I am grateful for. I will leave out the customary things that we all adore like husbands and children and even BILs named Bob. This is strictly a list of things that make me happy to be alive.

1. Lemon blueberry Cake from the Copenhagen Bakery.(what? you didn't think food would be last did you?).

2. Music. There is almost nothing that moves me and defines my mood like music. My taste is very eclectic. It runs from Mozart to Pink Floyd and Jamiroqui to Charlie Parker.

3. Time. Even though I often waste it shamefully I am keenly aware of how fortunate I am to be able to have time to do nearly anything.

4.Goldfinches. Several years ago I discovered Goldfinches. My husband is probably sorry that I did since his sole purpose in life is to work to support the Goldfinch population of out Village-all of whom live outside in my yard eating us out of house, home and retirement savings.

5. I am grateful for every day that I am well enough not to have to deal with doctors. They scare the crap out of me. That God- syndrome thing is horrible to deal with. It has become blood-pressure-spike-inducing to deal with medicine men.

6. I am grateful for reaching this age and finding so many women to share the experience with. There is something wonderful about the company of women. Especially at this age. We are mostly over the angst of hormones stuff and younger women's issues so we can just compare notes and laugh about stuff. Watching young mothers is especially fun.A lot of their percieved problems are so amusing, they just don't know it yet.

7. on/off buttons-so I can turn off people like Rev. Wright-he serves no purpose except to insight anger and hatred. The on button can be used for good like this morning when I turned on the radio and discovered that The trouble-making gasbag Al Sharpton-while inside causeing a public nuisance and trying to drum up a race riot-had his Jaguar towed to an impound lot. The only thing that would have given me more pleasure would have been if they ran over Rev. Wright on the way. Someone explain to me why these hate-filled idiots always hide themselves behind the mantel of the church?

Anyone can play-consider yourself tagged and don't write me any snarky comments about my political opinions. I never do that kind of thing on here but those two are just begging for it. A public flogging would be too good for them.

Well, if you're still with me, I hope your day is a sweet one.

Let's Ponder the Possibilities

Ponder what you say? If I only had a brain. Why ponder at all you may say? Because once, long ago in a place far, far, away people came to me to make decisions and I would tell them what to do and it was good They admired my ability to organize work problems...and they told me so. The thing I may not want to ponder too much is how long ago that was. I was walking on the treadmill watching a chapter of the Sopranos on A&E and waiting for my almost 24 year old son to return from a Doctors appointment(it's allergy season to the max-he needs an inhaler poor guy) when I got to thinking about life...pondering, as it were, why it is that I can't stick to a single thing, finish a single thing, or concentrate on one thing till completion or basically organize anything. If I were my previously organized self, I would have planned how many fat quarters I had and in fact planned a quilt. Funny thing is, if it's a gift, I can organize and finish. What's up with that?

I think it has a little to do with letting go, which is a recurring theme in my life but would be really stupid in this case. The possibility exists that it had something to do with lack of concentration and a return to child-like behavior(shut up back there). The problem was I didn't really have a childhood and maybe I'm looking for it now. Case in point-Those stars I've been making. They're fun and pretty fast and I would love to have a piece on the wall like that but instead I justify my fun by saying I'll give it as a gift. Somewhere in the straw that passes for brains I have convinced myself that it's ok to make someone a gift as long as the someone isn't me. I thought for a while that it was some hormonal side effect and it turns out that it's just...well...me. I fear being happy. That comes from childhood and serious major lies and disappointments. You would think at this age I could get a grip on that but most of the time I'm really afraid of happiness. Imagine me talking about happiness with my head down and in a whisper in case the gods hear me and shoot me a wake-up kick in the ass. Imagine someone telling a table full of people that they never had a car accident. I would have to clamp my hand over their mouth and make them say sorry out loud three times. That's just asking for a Karmic slap in the head. So along with being finishing challenged, I'm superstitious. Gad...color me hopeless.

Back to the stars- in making them I rounded up all the fat quarters I could find in the Closet of Shame and realized that over the course of the last year I have dramatically reduced the fat quarter stash to nearly nothing(again..settle down you) Not that I don't have any. There are many of them but not the ones in a packet from Keepsake. I used to save them for the illusive shrouded-in-fog someday. Now I find that I have used and given so many as gifts that there is not only a dent in the stash but a gaping hole where all my interesting fabric used to be. Horrors! I could have belonged to Judy Laquidara's stash busting group and I didn't even know it. I may try to alleviate this sad situation soon by visiting places on trips and re-stocking the stash while trying to avoid the family drama. The only thing there to ponder is how low I will hide my head in shame and whisper.. Yippee!

As an after thought I wanted to answer the comments about having a cook-it is the best and he's very good at it. He worked his way to a Masters Degree in Engineering in a delicatessen. His potato salad alone makes me swoon-not to mention him

Libby made a comment about having wanted pen pals as a kid. She's right. This reminds me of that very thing. It's very much like having pen pals and in so many places-blogging is very much fun.

Random weekend thoughts

I hate to keep showing the same boring thing but the madder and red colored blocks are what I'm up to right now. I need to find a large space to lay out the Lavender Passion blocks for sewing and I just can't find one that I can leave things laid out for a couple of days. The hearts above are one of the first things I made and they are...da, da, dah...applique. That was probably 15-16 years ago. There was this company that you could buy pre-cut squares of multiple fabrics by a company. It was kind of a crap-shoot in terms of getting what you wanted but back then there were no Packets of 5 inch squares in one line. The end result was that I got some nice pieces to use in mini paper pieced blocks and I still have the many ugly squares that I never used still hanging around. At that time I was discovering what I liked best to do and hadn't tried applique. My eyes were a lot clearer than now so I think I did a pretty good job. Always keeping in the back of my mind my grandmother shaking her finger at me for poorly done stitching. I made the applique hearts by ironing them onto freezer paper(ouch-nothing like steaming ones fingers a bunch) and the other method I used was to sew them to used dryer sheets-slit the back and turn them them applique them down. Lots of prep work. The quilt I donated to Quilts of Valor was all done this way. I sewed those blocks while my friend's husband was in intensive care and I watched her kids. This one was made with left over blocks and is only wall hanging size.

I'm making the stars for a birthday gift for a friend. First I put together 4 blocks and then I thought better of it and am now enlarging it to nine blocks. I should say I'm thinking of enlarging it. Why is it that I don't think a sweet little 4-block mini is enough. This is how I get in trouble and bogged down.

On a pleasant note, I received a very nice comment from a lady whose name is un-clear to me but I think she is a patron of the Library and knows my best buddy Terry, who works there. I hope she knows how very nice it is to have someone say such kind things. Many thanks to her and, in fact to everyone who is kind enough to leave a comment. You all make my day much brighter. I can't get over how cool it is to get comments from all over the country and, even such far away places as Japan and Italy. What a hoot! I always think of what I would do if I won the lottery- I'd try to visit everyone, everywhere. Don't panic people...I haven't bought a lottery ticket for years so you're all safe....for now that is.

My husband made the most delicious BBQ ribs last night for dinner and I think my BIL Bob is getting take-out for tonight so I'm free of cooking for today. This may be as good as it gets!

mmmmNaan & random thoughts about 60

Still working on the stars I showed yesterday so not much else to show that's quilty.

I found this old photo of our Main St. from the early 1900s. It's a bit narrower now and the trolley doesn't run anymore but that left side looks a lot like the picture. The trolley lines are still there. They think it gives the village a quaint look. They're right.

I'm probably the last one to the party about Naan but I recently made some pizza on it and it's really good. I blatantly lifted the pic from on-line images I found so...sorry, All things Naan. It comes in flavors like garlic and whole wheat as well but for me, I like mine straight. Load it up with anything you would put on pizza dough and in to the oven for 10 minutes at 400 or so. Check on the time-I'm not positive. It's very delicious and the naan is about personal pizza size, two in a bag so perfect for us.

Regarding yesterdays entry about the blueberry bush/tree or whatever it decides to be. My husband made me laugh by telling me that at first he was going to document it's re-birth from first green shoot to leaf to flower to bee on flower to the single blueberry being plucked and eaten by either squirrel or bird at perfect ripeness. It's a heartbreaking saga and would undoubtedly play out exactly that way around here. The wildlife rules the yard. It would only have made him sad, what with Roger being the real blueberry lover around here. The way I am about apple trees(well, fruit trees in general)he is about blueberries.

Last night I finished reading the last chapter in a book by Nora Ephron called "I Feel Bad About My Neck". I've been a sort of Ephron fan for a long time. Ever since she wrote "Heartburn", the story of her crumbling marriage to Carl Bernstein many years ago. She has since made a really good life for herself and is the writer of such movies as "Sleepless in Seattle", "Michael", "Silkwood", "When Harry Met Sally" and she wrote the screenplay for the movie of her own book, "Heartburn". I really liked that movie and the book and it confirmed what many had said for years about Carl Bernstein-he was a dog...a dirty low-down dog. Who better to play him than Jack Nicholson. Anyhoo...the last chapter in this small book is a short memo about turning 60. For heaven sake don't buy the book-it's $13. and really not worth it except for that last piece. Since I was born in 1948(gaaaad)I will be 60 all too soon. Some of what she says regarding 60 is in-your-face and makes you think too much but there is a part about denial which fits me to a T. 60...who me???? Another part I liked was , even though it's stating the obvious, that this is the time in our lives when we shouldn't worry about pisant stuff. Like in her case, the cost of a special bottle of bath oil. She asks us, do you really think it will be in our last thoughts on earth how much we spent on that bath oil? Well, that kind of where I'm coming from lately. I am blessed to be able to have the life I do. My husband reminds me all the time that I should be good to myself. Go Ahead and get it. That's his mantra a lot of the times. What am I waiting for? The Golden Years? Hello! They're here now. These moments are golden-right now. That's kind of what has possessed me lately to use the fabric I have stashed in The Closet Of Shame. I had so many fat quarter packs that I was saving for who knows what and guess who has only one quilt hanging on her wall in the whole house????? memememe. Dumb, really dumb. Who knows what will happen in the years to come. Use it up and find some more if it gives you pleasure. (Note, if you could see Roger now he's probably wiping his head with a handkerchief and clutching his heart and wallet)

I must stop sounding like the crabby old broad who will hit you with her cane if you annoy her. I'm really a happy person most of the time. Maybe I should look for a cane now just for fun though. I think we have some from my MIL Dot around somewhere. I can think of some people who could use a good whacking and since I would only be carrying it for effect and due to my daily treadmill work-outs, I could probably run pretty fast now. That sounds like a real pick-me-up. Whacking! yes sir, that's the ticket.

Look out behind you and for Pete sake keep it moving!

Oh my stars!& imaginary blueberries

First I have to say thanks to Roger for the new header. He was kind enough to make it for me last week and even sweet enough not to be cranky when I asked for a change in font over the weekend. Above you will see Roger's blueberry bush....what's that you say....what blueberry bush? Well truth be told we got it last spring and it never went anywhere and then the only flowers it got were during the wrong season and while it was in the basement-where there are no bees to pollinate it's darling self. When fall rolled around it had been attacked by squirrels and fat little doves and what tiny branches it had were bent and broken. He left it out all winter thinking we would throw it away with the spring trash. Funny thing, nature. It got leaves and started to look green a few weeks ago. We'll see what happens now. I did see some bees out there over the weekend. It was great to see honey bees at any time. They were playing in the pansies. Happy little bees-glad to see ya!

These blocks are paper pieced and just like eating chips, you can't do just one. They are addictive. I've always wanted to make a mini with this type of block and so now I am on the way to having one.Most of these fabrics are from the Historic Keepsake Quilting Medley of the month collection I have been saving for who knows what. A lot of them are Civil War repros.

The weather is fabulous out. Sunshine and flowers. No complaints except a few sneezes and coughs from the pollen.

I ordered some things from Land's End. What a great company they are. So far from HoP service it's amazing. Helpful people on the phone and Hey! Did you know that you can get everything you order in a box at once!! Me neither. On that note, Friday the FedEx guy dropped off another roll of thread form youknowehere. Yes, that's right. One roll of thread in a FedEx bag. The gifts just keep coming.

Hope you have a sweet afternoon. I'm off to the treadmill and then back to the mighty Viking to see more stars.

sunday spring clean-up & pinwheels

Buddha is back in the garden where he is happiest and the place is getting a good clean-up thanks to James. Yesterday it was too hot too soon. I really can't stand the heat and humidity and so living here, less than a mile from the ocean, is probably not the best place for me to be. It's home so I'm stuck with it. There are two seasons on Long Island. Hot and muggy and cold and damp. It's not so warm today so that's better.

I spent the day yesterday making some pin-wheels for a small mini quilt for a birthday gift. It was easy since I used one of those Thangles-type paper pieces. There's a lot of cutting and ironing prep work and paper pulling but then you have an amazing number of half square triangles when you're done.

Roger took the day off Friday since he is having some painful back issues. I think he's feeling a bit better. We'll see what tomorrow brings. He may have to have some physical therapy-not sure yet. In fact, he's not even sure what brought it on. I can relate. Some times you just move the wrong way and Boom! You're in pain.

I'm tackling some laundry and ironing and then some grilled chicken which is marinating in Italian dressing. Thin slicing makes it a couple of minutes on a side and you're done. A nice salad and maybe some grilled potatoes.

The wild cherry is in bloom and soon the wisteria will fragrance the yard. Momentary perfection.

Hope your day is a peaceful one.

it's officially spring

Just checking in to let you know what's cookin' (literally) in my neck of the woods. It's beer can chicken days...whoot whoot!

This guy will be ready soon and he will join roasted red peppers and fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. Grilled red potatoes. Gotta go get it all together. Back tomorrow with more chat. Hope you have something delicious cooking for dinner too.

Whoooot! Monday

This little guy came to stay with us over the weekend after a mishap with some other creature in the yard. We think he hit the window during the struggle and hurt one of his eyes. The picture is clickable. He flew under the porch and stayed there traumatized for the whole of Saturday. Happily, on Sunday morning he had departed for parts unknown. What a hoot(sorry) it was to get so close to him. He has very big talons and sat very still while we all gawked at him and gave him plenty of time to pose nicely for his close-up.

Roger planted some pretty giant pansies in the flower boxes(pic above from last year) and we watched "the Kite Runner" which I can highly recommend to anyone who liked the book. It is mostly in sub-titles but well worth the extra effort.

We are currently having spring one day and semi-winter another. Today it's sort of chilly but bright and sunny. By the end of the week-late summer. I'd be happy for a real spring but things could always be worse so I'll just quit bitchin'& enjoy.

I'm going to try to lay out the Lavender Passion today. Not an easy thing since I don't have one large space that's convenient. I may take over BIL Bob's living room floor and hope I get far enough not to be in his way. If I can just label the rows then all will be well. It's a bit tough on the back though. I can use some bending and stretching. Where did I put that Tylenol???

Back soon with pictures.

Movies & housework

Checking in with a couple of movie recommendations in between cleaning the kitch. "Goya's Ghosts" is very good and the make-up work they do to Natalie Portman is seriously award winning. Javier Bardem gives another winning portrait of a truly hideous human being. We watched "No Country for Old Men" Sat night and boy does he play evil well. Very gory but so well done. "Goya's Ghosts" is not really gory but it is about the Catholic Church in Spain during that time& dah, dah, dah.... Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Sorry, I couldn't help myself. "Silk" is about the silktrade and how it gets from Japan to Italy. I enjoyed it. Not sure about how the guys would like either of these.

I am in the spring cleaning mode and everything has a film of winter ick on it. These little treasures above are things that I have collected or been given to me over the years. Funny, how we look at things every day and suddenly one day you realize 40 years have gone by. Well, maybe not so funny. Just eye-opening. The small pieces are fetish from the southwest. I have a beautiful Katchina that Roger bought me some time ago. A favorite piece of mine. But that's a picture for another day.
I wish I could say that I have something quilty to share but life seems to be getting in the way right now I should change the picture at the header. Maybe putting that up there is actually coming true. I have many blocks of the Lavendar Passion ready to lay out but no-where to lay them. Such is always my problem with larger pieces.

Well, I must get back to the household stuff and the beef stew that is simmering away. I think the guys will enjoy that. I just lunched on a dish of left-over gnocci from the other night and don't have the nerve to eat another thing today.

Hope your day is as lovely as ours is out there. Very bright and slightly limey green. It's coming along nicely out there.

Bits & pieces of everything.

While I was putting together the Lavender Passion blocks I had a lot of scraps left over. Yesterday I decided to use them to make a table topper for a gift I owe a family member. I just set them together in a log cabin block-easy peasey and that will go with us to North Carolina when we are visiting Aunt Maddie & Uncle Don later this year. Today I checked my mail at the Food Pantry, did some paperwork, and stopped to pick up some new movies. I wanted "Sweeney Todd" but they were out. Also out was "I am Legend" and a couple of others. Does anyone out there watch "The Riches"? I love Minnie Driver and Eddy Izzard. I don't get to see it since it is on later than we are able to stay up and still get up at 6 a.m. They tell me the first season is coming out on DVD soon. Anyone have any other good suggestions? Ideas are always welcome. There isn't much going on around here. Thursday night quilting at my friends house tonight. It's not quite warm and not really cold. The house is in desperate need of spring cleaning. That will be next. It's a disgusting job but I love the way things look when all spiffy and clean. Pray for me. I'm going in....

Monday Sew-up

Trying to perk things up around here with a minimum of cash and not too much hassle. This is the fabric I got for the downstairs window toppers. Something springy is called for. My furniture is a sort of olive colored corduroy so I have an abundance of green curtains. Frankly, I needed something with the green to liven up my crappy attitude. I'm hoping this will help. Work continues on the Lavender Passion quilt I am making for...ta dah...ME! So I won't bore you with more pics of the same. I made a trip to JoAnn Fabrics on Fri. Boy that place gets worse every time I go. They seem to be more interested in crafts than sewing. The fabric selection is minimal-at least the cotton stuff. If I wanted to decorate my windows with frou frou and baubbles and bling I would have been in the right place. I'm just not a bling sort of gal. Anyway, I'll be at the machine today so I can get out and do the clothes shopping I intended to do on Friday, tomorrow.
I'm off to walk on the treadmill. The going is slow but steady. I haven't mentioned it before but I'm having issues with my left hip. Out of the blue it began to be very uncomfortable a few weeks ago. Not really pain but sort of arthritic feeling. Walking seems to help but it's slower than I'm used to. I tend to be a fast walker-when I worked years ago we called it "retail walking". It was the act of scurrying around the store at top speed. I find that I never really slowed down a lot even after all these years. It's torture walking slow. I keep speeding up and have to stop myself.
Off I go! Talk to you soon

furry, feathery thursday

It's warmish but gloomy and gray here but I'm spending more time hanging with my little friends so the day isn't a total loss. In fact, it's kind of funny. It is clearly mating season in my yard. Once all the other vehicles have cleared out in the morning-it's like animal kingdom Motel 6 out there. Much chasing and tail posturing and such. Just as well since I seem to have a touch of the "pacing mania" and watching the wildlife calms me. Pacing mania results in starting many things and finishing nothing so that by the end of the day it looks like a bomb went off in here and I have accomplished nothing except leaving a trail of piles everywhere. The final straw in this wayward day was that my ironing board broke. Just fell flat on the ground. Granted it's a few years old but wow-it just fell over dead. I suppose it could have something to do with the pile of crap that lives on it regularly. So that's on my list of stuff to do tomorrow. I'm one of those people who like everything ironed (I know, obsessive compulsive). I wish I had something more interesting for you but the day is nearly over and I'm trying to get a few things done before my Thursday eve. quilting with the girls. I have to get a package of fabric ready to send out to the lovely lady who got the fat quarter pack exchange yesterday. Talk to to you tomorrow.

Possible exchange and Random thoughts

Addendum.... The fabric is now spoken for. Thanks for asking though-something else may fall off a shelf and bean me soon-thus allowing me to do another trade.

Occasionally, when I am in "The Closet of Shame", something falls off a shelf and onto my head. Fortunately most things residing there are made of cloth. This little pink wall hanging is something I made at least 15 years ago. Do you have little things that fade from memory and just never get out of the stacks anymore-this is one of those. It's perky so I think I may let it breathe a bit out here.

The second picture is of a pack of Keepsake fabric from Barbara Brackman and Terry Clothier Thompson that came to me when I was signed up for the historical fat quarter fabric packs. I've never used it for anything and it is in tact except for a 5 x 7 piece cut from the first fabric showing here. If any of you are making the Civil War Diary blocks or anything like that and would like to trade for some fat quarters of off-white-beige background fat quarters, e-mail me and maybe we can do a trade. I've had it for a while and I really need some neutral or tone on tone type fabrics for table toppers.

Not much going on around here. Spring is springing and the best part of my day is watching the goldfinches return. They really are little devils. They don't like to share and have these interesting battles mid-air for dominance of the feeders. As my husband says, "that's gotta be about sex."

I need to get some work done in order to get to the fun stuff. I have a stack of mail for the Pantry that needs attention and I want to get some vacuuming done so I can get out tomorrow and do some shopping for clothes. I have 2 pair of pants that fit me and one of them is too heavy for the weather we are having. This calls for a major shopping expedition tomorrow. One of my least favorite things to do...bah!