Peekaboo& Wip-less Wed.

Sorry I've been away so long. Life gets in the way. Here you can see the donation quilt all bound and ready. All except for a label and a note to include to the lovely young woman soldier who will be receiving it. She is in a rehab facility in Colorado where she is recuperating from a gunshot wound to the eye. I hope this will bring her some comfort.

The handsome man holding the other side is James. Since he was off school and work and Roger was home we all trooped off the Sweet Mama's for lunch. Delish! I got absolutely nothing accomplished but it was a beautiful spring-like day. Sunshine and 56-yay!

Over the weekend I made Rian's braised short rib recipe which won rave reviews. Boy is that good eats! I watched "Marie Antoinette" which was all quirky and fun(until the end, of course) and drooled over the costumes. I had read the book by Antonia Frasier and I thought that Sophia Coppola's use of modern music was interesting. The costumes...well.....the shoes.....OMG. I'd watch again just for the rich fabrics and shoes. Of course the real Marie was a chunky little German like me so that was all wrong. Kirsten Dunst didn't have much to say and there wasn't really that much dialog. In fact it was a videolog of pre-revolutionary France and the disconnect between the royals and the common folk.

Then on Sunday, while the beef was braising, I watched "A Good Year" with Russell Crowe. I expected to dislike this movie based on reviews-all bad.That doesn't usually matter that much to me because I've liked some movies that get bad press and vice versa. I don't know if it was because I just wanted some light and frivolous comedy or what but I really enjoyed it. What's not to like about inheriting a vineyard in Provence? Russell did look a bit overblown like he had indulged in a bit too much of the grape-blowzy-but then I think that's just him. I do wish the trend to look hungover with a two day growth of beard would end though. He looked a bit like he needed a bath. I rated it on my Gladometer-"glad I didn't pay $10 bucks in the theater but happy I saw it."

I was not able to get in Little Miss Sunshine-maybe this week some time.

I am putting the binding on two kid quilts for Bethesda so I really don't have any Wips for today. Later, James and I are headed for Trader Joe's-he wants some soy stuff and I am after edamame and whatever. I have a lot of work to do for the Pantry but the weather is luring me out of my cave-like existence. Perhaps a little walk on the beach later? This is the time of year when you can find interesting shells and beach junk. Soon they will sweep everything clean-feh!

Eggplant Parm, flicks, and a snarky book revue

Here's what I've been up to today. Eggplant Parmesan ready to go into the oven. Nice red Montepulciano smelling delicious in the glass. Three movies and a book. I've been trying to keep busy and not think too much. Monday, I have my mammography early in the morning. I don't think there is something wrong but I guess I'm enough of a pessimist to not be so sure. It's that whole hubris thing again. Never be too sure of anything. Fate lies in wait. I'll be able to relax when they say I'm O.K. Until then, I'm great at worrying and keeping busy staves off the demons. Eggplant parm helps a lot. I guess the thing I really hate the most is being squished and scrunched to take the pics. I am, how you say, buxom with the fullness of the boobage.

I got this great book about Venice from the Library as well as a biography of Kathryn Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn. A veritable Hepburn festival. The Audrey book is clearly written by a man in love with his subject and is very gentle and sweet- not too much depth. The Kathryn is really bitchy. The guy has taken everything that everyone ever said about Kate and Spencer and Kate's life and slashed and burned his way through all of it mostly with conjecture. He writes with the premise of "if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck etc." regarding her sexuality and relationship with Spencer. All of the stuff may very well be true but the manner in which he writes is...well...bitchy and down right mean. Not a nice book. I tried to glean the stuff I hadn't read before about her and just sift away all the crap. I really couldn't care less about their sexuality- so what if she was bi-sexual and Spencer was a falling down nasty drunk. None of it came as a surprise but it's written with such venom. Anyway, it would have been great to know more about the events of her life and less about what he thinks might have been. Now- in a total turn around I was bored for something really fun to read last week and picked up a copy of Tammy Hoag's paperback "Prior Bad Acts"-what a fun, fast, read. Maybe it's just that I have read a lot of heavier stuff lately but it is light and well written murder mystery. I have to say I've read a couple of her books and she gets better with each book. Me likey! Fun stuff not much effort required...perfect for the mood right now.

I got Marie Antoinette just for the costumes and I heard that Little Miss Sunshine is pretty good. I got a good year despite it's horrible press because right now I would kill to see anything that takes place in Provence or any other wine country for that matter. I'm just so ready for the sun to keep shining and the flowers to start blooming C'mon spring! I'll be back with quilty content soon. On tomorrow's menu is Rian's recipe for beef short ribs. I hope I do her proud.

Addendum:If you haven't checked out the horoscopes on Crazy Aunt Purl(sidebar) you should. She has captured the Gemini so well. Also the story of her cats and their personalities makes soda come out of my nose from laughing.

WIP Wed & more of the hawk

These photos are really not great but it's snowing and the light is awful. I hope you get a better idea by clicking and enlarging. I made these blocks a while back. I had a misguided moment where I thought I would make them for a quilt for my son as a graduation present-Gad! what the hell was I thinking???? Well...I was thinking that he loves black and white checks and purples and such. Of course I soon came to my senses and realised that white....welll...WHITE anything for a young man. So I stopped at about 20 or so blocks and put them away for future consideration. I really like the graphic back and white mixed with the purples and deep pumpkin color. Wish I had more of that pumpkin fabric.

Yesterday I sewed the squares together. That's the extent of my sewing this past week. At least I managed to get something done and hopefully escape those winter blahs or blues. As I go around some of the blogs I notice I'm not alone in my disconnect from things artistic. A lot of really talented folks have been complaining about the same vague feelings. I don't recall feeling this way in winters past. Maybe it's a kind of defensive amnesia but I really used to like the whole inside working on quilts cavelike feeling. This year, in a winter with less snow and bad weather than usual, I feel all out of sorts. Well, this too will pass. I think my friend the hawk remained in whatever enclosure he hangs out in when the weather is not good. Just as well, I can waste a lot of time on standing chipmunk watch. My brilliant husband(hi Honey!) blew-up one of the pics and took out most of the glare for you to see more of the bird. I'll be back with better pics tomorrow. Here's a closer shot of the blocks.

I hear throught the grapevine that there are some quilts coming my way to bind for the QOV that the Quilt Studio is donating. I can't wait to see them in person. I promise to take better pictures when they're done.

Feeling hawkish

Here's what I've been up to for the last few days. We have a number of hawks in the neighborhood who unfortunately feast on such things as my beloved chipmunks and squirrels. Now and again you will see giant wings swooping down and making off with a fuzzy gray or brown thing and so it goes with the circle of life-Ugh! The raptors themselves are magnificent to see though. This one has a wing span of about 3 or so feet. I think you can enlarge by clicking the pics.

These last few days he has decided to make his perch on the front porch-directly over the little cinder block where the chipmunks launch themselves across the yard and where the squirrels feed on birdseed we put out for the mourning doves. You can tell when he's around because there isn't a living thing moving in the air or on the ground. I am fascinated my his size and patience. He let me open the door and move the camera around to get out of the glare of the door glass-well almost. He was getting a little skittish so this was as far as I could go. I'm about three feet from him. That's amazing and unfortunate at the same time. I think he belongs to our neighbor who has raised a number of raptors. He used to have peregrine falcons as well. The sun will be gone from this part of the porch soon and since it's 17 degrees out this morning(hello...where's my springy temps?) I suspect he will be on his way. I keep referring to the bird as a him when it very likely could be a female searching for food for the young. It just looks like bird who could kick the crap out of another bird and thus makes it male-like in my eyes. Silly really, since I could kick the crap out of a number of people myself. I would do this while frying up some bacon and bringing home the bread...cause I'm a woman W O M A N....Oh wait...where was I? The bird, yes...anyway, my fallow quilting period seems to be lessening and after a week of not sleeping but a few hours a night, I got a full night sleep last night.

I will be back tomorrow with something new to show for WIP Wed. For now I will follow the tale of the bird a few minutes more. I'm torn between not wanting it to leave and not wanting it to leave with anything cute and furry. I stand ever vigilant in defense of the chipmunk population.....This thing is actually big enough to carry off the neighbors cat.....meow

Even my WIPs have the blahs

I got some fabric from the Keepsake Medley mailing-it's a selection of Kansas Troubles fabric line. A little dull for this time of year-I wish they would consider the dark winter moods that prevail and perhaps they could send something that makes me go Yippee. The fabric is , however, beautiful-it's Moda and has a wonderful hand. I'm sure whatever I put it in will look lovely. I need to stop whining-sorry. I can't even stand the soound of my own inner voice(suck it up, Dee). I will not whine, I will not whine....
As you can see I'm still plugging along on the nine-patch. I really love the way those look. No matter what fabric you make them out of they're happy little blocks. I may set this on point and keep it simple-not sure yet. That is my style though. It will come to me as I work along. I don't often set out to make a copy of anyone's patterns. I kinda find this boring. It has to have a twist to it or I get ADD and will flit off to another project. For a girl that liked coloring inside the lines I have an amazingly short attention span.
The good news is that the temps are rising and the sun will make an appearance today. I have some errands and some Food Pantry work to catch up with so my day is kind of pre-planned already.
I hope you have some fun with your day.

building things-two ways

Not sure if I ever showed this- I made it for my husband last year. When he went on a trip with my BIL Bob to Alaska-I cut out the strips and sewed like crazy. I think he likes it. It certainly keeps him warm. I just picked out every blue fabric I owned and cut strips from all of them for the log cabin blocks-I set them in a barn raising pattern because we often visit Amish country in Pa. and he has always loved the actual act of barn raising where all the families come together to build for a person. If you've seen the movie Witness, you will know what I mean. They make a party, of sorts, out of the work and it speaks strongly of community and family. Two very important things to my husband. He's a wonderful man-I am a fortunate woman.

I have to go grocery shopping today. We are out of a number of things. It's gray outside but warmish. The snow will be gone in a few days with these temps-fine with me.

My son is cleaning out his closet. There are no clothes in there-only huge bins of Legos-He still thinks we bought them for him-truth be told-I bought them for me. The other night he was down on the floor putting together a boat and he made me laugh. We will put them away in the attic or basement for the grandchild to be---someday. I signed James up for the Lego Maniacs Club years ago and he has some very expensive sets-like the space shuttle and Ferrari and a fabulous pirate ship. Some pneumatic pieces as well.

The reason I mention this is that he has the same bad habits that his Mom has namely-Packratitis. This is only a very small portion of his collection. I think since they were all in his closet-we have a new member of the Closet of Shame Club in our house. I just never really thought about it much before. Oh well, I guess there are much worse things you can see in your kids. Like mother like son...I'm ok with that this time.

Regarding yesterday and the Oscar dress-up fun. thanks for the nice comments. I'm never sure which way to answer so I think I'll try to replay in the comments themselves. If you get a chance go over to the link on the right and click on Red Shoe Ramblings where Deb has a link to her interview with my dear friend Gerrie Congdon-fiber artist extraordinare..and all around smart cookie. Yay Deb and Gerrie. Anther link you should not miss is Kristen LaFlamme-one of the most original artists working in fiber today. She lives in Germany, for the time being, and also has many great photos of the wonderful festivals taking place there regularly. Kristen just did an exchange of art with Terry of And so It Goes-another great site. I'm not sure who got the best of the bargan-I would kill to have a piece by either of them. Terry's "Bird & Rice Bowl" is an all time fav of mine. Well I'll leave you with these assignments for today(hee) and get to the store-I'm hungry(big surprise there).

Playin' Dress-up

Here is the outfit I wore to the Oscars last night. What? You didn't see me?? How very un-observant of you. This came about because Deb of Red Shoe Ramblings (link on the right)asked us to play along and pick outfits we would wear if we were attending the show and we were the perfect Hollywood body type and could wear anything- I found a number of beautiful things but frankly-red looks Mahhvelous on me. Just ask my husband. I won his heart in the little red summer dress. Yesseree!! So I had fun doing something girly-girly. I live with 3 guys and so girly girly things are far and few between. If I were wealthy-I would buy these shoes just to look at them. Deb will understand...shoe fetish here! Can't walk in them but who cares.

I seem to be in the doldrums-much like a lot of other blog friends. As a skip around the blogging universe I notice that a bunch of people are feeling as blah as I am. Still working on the nine-patch piece and looking for a pattern for some very special fabric I have been saving for a quilt for myself which my generous husband has said he will pay to have quilted in the far off future when I finish it. (Whew-runonsentence) I have collected fat quarters of really lovely Robyn Pandolph fabric for a couple of years. I just can't decide what to make them into. They are pretty, soft, florals. I have a couple of ideas I may play around with.

Yesterday we attended a birthday coffee hour for my late MIL Dot's best friend, Evie. She is known as Aunt Evie to us and she's very well known in our village. It was nice to see her. We don't get to visit with her nearly enough and she's so thoughtful and funny. After that we all came home and vegged out for the rest of the day. Woke up this morning to 3+ inches of fresh powdery snow. It's warm so I hope it will go away soon. I'm ready for spring. Here's my other outfit and, of course-my Manolos. Oh Baby!

Going to play with fabric possibilities-see you soon.

A welcome touch of spring & WIPs

Not sure why it always amazes me how much the weather affects my mood. Yesterday we had a delightful taste of spring. It was 57 in the afternoon and I went to the store in a sweatshirt. Very lovely.

This is what I'm up to lately. Ever since I donated the quilt to QOV and Deb Geyer was nice enough to quilt it so beautifully, I have been searching for the extra blocks I made and put away. I knew they were in there somewhere. When I finished the quilt top I was in that mood that I didn't want to see the stuff for a while so I tucked away the left-overs. I think when I made the quilt I must have been in the throws of a major menopausal frenzy. I made so many nine patches I couldn't believe how many.... anyway, I'm working on putting together something out of them. There may be enough nine patches for two somethings. Now if only I could work up some of that frenzy energy-wise. Also, when you enlarge you will see how the blocks are very wonky and that's what happened to the quilt top WONKY-pretty, but no matching corners. I'm just going to ignore that and use them anyway and fudge the results.

I have decided to put a binding on this mini and call it a table topper and done. It was made by using up pieces of fabric that were left from other things I made. I just randomly put together any two pieces I picked up and so there you have it. It was also a trial run for that fusible batting. I wanted to see how the stuff worked and, apart from making it very stiff, which may be good for keeping it in place, it seems to work well. We'll see what happens when it is washed. I hope you all have a productive day. I'm going to go out and breath some fresh air and stand in the sunshine while we have it. It's a rare day in Feb. One last thing, I want to say how much I am enjoying going through the Studio list and seeing all the new people and their sites. What fun. Try it when you have a few moments.

February Blahs.....

We had a problem with our heating system around here for the last 2 days. I deleted the post from yesterday since it wouldn't play anymore. I hope you got a chance to hear it. If not-go get you a copy of Josh Groben-February Song- I'm not sure what album but there can't be that many. Look for it. I am a late convert to Josh. My friends have been on the Josh bandwagon for a while and Pam even went to a concert in the fall. That guy can sing a song. I love the crystal clear tone of his voice. No funny stuff just clear and beautiful. Sort of like Frank Sinatra way back in the day. I know-I'm old. I love music though-all kinds and it affects my moods in a big way. I can across the cut from Josh on some other blog and, sad to say, I can't remember where or I would go back and re-load. Drat!

I'm doing a bunch of work for the Pantry today and some much needed house cleaning (bleah) Nothing like a bright sunny day to bring the horror to your attention. I would dearly love to get back to some sewing but I probably will have to wait until another day. I notice that most of you all have not posted anything lately either so I don't feel too bad about my lack of quilty content. Maybe a walk in the sunshine will lift me out of this. I really hate February. I'm not fond of its cousin August either. they are the extreme times. Contrasting in extremes but nevertheless awful. I wonder how it ight be to live in a more temperate climate? When we were in Hawaii-we used to laugh at the weather reports on t.v.- blah blah blah...another day in paradise, yadda yadda. I think I might like to be bored with terminal prettiness-weatherwise about now.

Above are some of the things I've been reading these past weeks. If you get Vanity Fair as I have for 25 years-and you like old movies and film noir, this months Hollywood issue has a fabulous section where they have told a visual noir tale with all famous actors in 40s costumes and make-up as if it was a black&white movie. It's worth the price of the mag. The photos are so great. Very well done and fun to read and look at. The Julia Child book was great. It's the story of her life in France learning to cook as a young bride and mostly told in pieces of her own diary. Very amusing and fun read. The other book is a tale of a woman traveling through China by various methods of travel and the stark realities of that journey. It's a cautionary tale of how you can be in love with the idea of a place and then get smacked in the face with the truth of how it really is. Fun read as well. I will send it to the first person who would like it and tells me so in the comments.

The Better Homes quilting mag is changing its ways-I like it. It's a bit up-dated from the usual traditional stuff and a welcome change. I may give them another try at some point. I cancelled them along with Quilters Newsletter, which now can't possibly suck enough. Anyway....have fun &

See you soon.

Ice Storm halts WIP progress

I did manage to finish my son's quilt and he slept under it last night. No pics though. I've shown it many times already. Some more pictures of the harbor a few days ago. I will probably have some pics of today's ice storm later this week. Right now I have one eye on the chicken soup, one eye on the boys slip-sliding away outside, and one eye on the blog(Oh wait!-that's one eye too many) We have not had a bad ice storm for a long time. I'm writing this as I pray that all the twinkling little branches outside and power lines stay right where they are and don't fall-I've lived through a number of these things and it's not pretty. I live pretty near one of the power plants on the Island, so it usually gets up and running fairly soon, but I hope we stay lit-power-wise,that is. We may get lit, otherwise as well, but I'd like to be able to see the stairs as I trip up them.

I got a great haircut-It's a good time of year for bangs and I definitely needed something to perk me up. All of the pictures we took in N.C. have me looking as if my forehead is THIS BIG. So I asked Diane to give me a little wispy bang thingy. It looks smashing if I do say so. A little less of the helmet head thing and more chunky pixie. Yep, that's me-chunky pixie. My friends Gerrie & Rian made me laugh with tales of their haircuts. I can relate to Rian's in particular. When I worked in the cosmetic business I did a lot of work on runway models at first and then print models. They would often come in needing a quick snip here and there. One day I didn't have time for my own cut(electrician with no lights syndrome)and I took a scissor to my own head. I cut here and there and had a little cocktail and cut here and there-until I had a very, very interesting do. At the time, I got my hair done once a month at Vidal Sassoon. When the guy saw me he yelped and then decided to make it work for me, in the words of Tim Gunn. I had a Twiggy haircut. It was about two inches long and if anyone remembers Mia Farrow in her Frank Sinatra days-that's what I'm talkin' about. Interestingly enough-it became the rage with a lot of models and folks. Recently, I saw a photo of Dame Judy Dench(love her) and she had the same hairdo. Unfortunatley, I have too many chins now. Back then I was a mere slip of a thing at size 8 and 5'2'' It does seem appealing though. I'm also very much interested in the white hair thing that Meryl Streep had going in The Devil Wears Prada- I love that hair color and wonder what it would be like.

Hmmm, things to think about when you're waiting for the sun. Keep a good thought for my guys out there with sleet falling sideways and 17 degrees. They are putting down snow melt which we only do as a last resort. The door are frozen on our cars and the trees are cracking-Brrrr

Walking on water&more stuff from the closet

Here's a picture of the harbor iced over nicely. I'm told that it hasn't happened in a number of years. Funny, but I can't remember. I used to live right on Main St. that leads down to here and I can remember those days and the big freezes but I guess I haven't gotten out in the dead of winter much lately.

Here is a nice little sailboat belonging to some poor hapless soul who probably went away thinking that the harbor never really freezes and breaks your boat in two. There's one or two every year this happens. It's big news for the rag in town they call a newspaper.

Last but not least, we have quilting content for the day. I have spent some time in the closet these past few days for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that I know there is a box in there with many more nine-patch blocks like the ones in the donation quilt that Deb Geyer quilted for our QOV for a woman. Anyway, this turned up. With it were a few more foundation papers to make some more. The thing is I have to get some more Kona cotton. It's got a really nice texture and feel and believe it or not other cottons look different when the blocks are done. You can tell that a different fabric has been used. It's probably the reason I put them in the closet to begin with.

Well, I'm off to the salon to get a cut. I was desperate for a haircut and my usual appointment was probably going to get cancelled tomorrow because of the snow and ice-The woman who cuts my hair is a treasure and she's booked weeks in advance so I would have had to wait patiently(not) for another time. Lo and behold-I called today to see if anyone had cancelled and YOWSA!! some poor soul did. I will feel much better when I get home. I can take a lot of stuff happening to me but my hair looking horrible is one thing that makes me very cranky. It's all grown out of it's shape and on my neck. You know what I mean. Men never understand these things, my husband was laughing at me because I was be-moaning the foul weather tomorrow and cancelled appt. Now at least I can feel perky.

A raspberry to February & 6 Wierd things

My son will kill me when he finds out I posted this but I had to laugh when we came across it. I used to blow raspberries on his tummy and feet and one day he blew them back at me. It just made me happy to look back at. He still makes me happy, thank goodness.

I think I've done the 6 weird things before but I'll play along again, since there are many more than 6-shut up. Anyway-you're supposed to tell 6 weird things about yourself that your freinds will probably not know already. and the tag a bunch of people-

1-My feet are two different sizes- the right is slightly smaller than the left and I'm blessed with a second toe that is long so it hits up against my shoe and drives me crazy(Oh that's why) I also have restless leg syndrome-didn't know what it was for years that made my legs tingle and strange pinpoint pains and such. I love my husband even more because he has to put up with me constantly re-arranging my legs in bed.It's har d to find a comfortable position and takes a long time to get to sleep. They have meds for it but they are of a sedative nature and I don't like feeling like that. The last thing I need it to be more inactive. I do find walking on the treadmill helps just a little. I always thought it was just the result of having jobs where I stood on my feet for 10-12 hours a day in high heels and such. I'm sure it didn't help. I'll live with it.

2-I'm a history nut. I love all types of history and since I'm also a bookaholic you will find many volumes of many types of history on my shelves.I think it stems from not having much of a history myself. Mainly I'm into Asian, and American Indian and right now I'm reading The Mayflower which is the true story of the years following the landing and founding of Plymouth and surrounding areas. I've probably read about thirty books on Asian(mostly Chinese) history. We had, years ago, a book on the history of the town I live in which included court records of trials of various people-many famous around here-for really interesting offenses, like riding horses on Sunday, an offense which used to get you the stocks. I think a member of a family around here got their hands on it and now I can't find it again.Public drunkenness was big in the early 1700s I'm also reading a book right now called "The United States of Arugula"about the history of the foodie movement in the USA-very good.

3-Unlike some of my friends who shall remain nameless(ahem)I have never been arrested(there's still time for that and only because they never caught me) but I have had a serious addiction. I was addicted to 12-hour nasal spray. You know how they say on the box "do not use for more than 7 days"? I used it for 25 years. So much so that it became such a problem that I had to have the inside of my nose cauterized because I got nosebleeds that wouldn't stop. The second time the ENT did it-I was in such pain that I told my husband if it didn't take and my nose bled-just let me die. I'm never going through that again. Like a hot poker to the brain. Yeah....like that! Again, such are the wages of sin....(hee)

4-I sense things. It's not like esp but sort of an image that comes to me. I think a lot of people have this. It happens, unfortunately, a lot with regard to people dying. I will think of someone who I haven't heard about for a long time for seen-or maybe a famous person, and suddenly within a day that person has died. Its companion is my exceptional BS detector(never fails me) and my superstition about saying things out loud. I have a thing where I get a sense of dread or fear or something that is off-putting about someone or something. It's like a bell going off. I believe that it saved my life more than once when I was single and I find it is very strong with regard to my family, particularly my son.

5-I only drink one kind of tea-It's PG-tips from England and my husband orders it for me by the package of a thousand from Amazon. He's a good soul that man. All other black tea tastes like pisswah(pardon)and is unfit for consumption.

6-I'm a stationery nut. I love papers and pens and cards etc. I must have hundreds of things like that. I can't seem to help myself, and I do eventually use the stuff. The thing is I use the excuse that I'm buying it for someone when I know full well that I don't want to part with it-it being cards note cards etc. I'm currently on a Tuesday Morning Hatbox craze-in which I will store fabric(wheee)

Well there you have the 6 weird things for now- I'll be back with quilt-art news soon. I'm not tagging anyone cause I think I've read everyones already that I could tag. Please feel free to play along if you haven't.

Heat Wave & something old - something new

The temperature is above single digits-for now. I got the itch to start something new yesterday. Cabin fever or something like that. Almost finished tying James's quilt and wow did I cut that back close. If it were being hand or machine quilted I think I would have had to take it apart and re-do. It just makes it by a hair.

I am bound and determined to use some of the fabric in my unwieldy stash. I'm not doing that crazy fabric diet because quilting and fabric are my joyful art and I can't imagine why anyone would swear off fabric. I think it must be a sort of Catholic thing because my friend thinks it's a great idea and she's one of the long suffering. She's the one who can't say the word NO, like when she allowed her MIL put that beautiful miniature masterpiece in the coffin when her FIL died last fall. I'm still thinking of ways to bribe the cemetery workers with regard to retrieval. Don't get me wrong and don't slam me regarding the Catholic remark-I'm married to one, albeit one who has drifted some from the flock. It's just that I get so mad sometimes when people spend their lives bitching and complaining about what they have to do because they can't manage to eek out the words "NO-I'm sorry I can't this time." These said friends are left with the moaning and groaning about how hard life is. I have a hard time saying no too but I'm finally at a place where I've decided to be good to myself first. I'm not saying that helping others is a bad thing, I do quite a bit of that myself, but my friend goes so far that it infringes on her personal life and relationships because, I think, someone once told her that she wasn't worthy or deserving of happiness. I feel particularly bad lately since all of this has affected our friendship in some ways. There are days when I really just want to connect and have a few laughs like we used to(no one can make me laugh like her) then I get there & she's almost the most bitter person I have ever met. I think much of this may have something to do with menopause and so I am quiet and try to be comforting having been there and done that. It gets exhausting sometimes as well as depressing-I hope she comes back to us soon. Have you ever met one of those people who asks you for advice-you give it and they NEVER, EVER follow any of it? So why ask? If all you want is a "Poor Baby" I can do that too and it requires less effort all around. Everyone is entitled to "Poor Baby" moments.

OK, I'll quit bitchin' at you all now if you're even still there....you are there aren't you????? Hey come back!!!

The houses are two I made around the same time I made the donation quilt and from the same material . I wish I had so much more of that stuff. It was such a pleasing color palette to work with-very Provence-like I loved it. I found them while I was looking for scraps in the closet. While I was doodling away time in there I came across a number of fat quarters I tucked away to use in a nine-patch something someday. They are also that same type of palette. So while I was making Chili yesterday I got them out and made some blocks. Cute, no?? Just doodling around avoiding confronting my artistic demons. That's my cross to bear. Ugh!

Stay warm and come back, I promise not to yell next time. Really..

Warm weather dreams & reality

These are some of the things that remind me of the seasons to come. Warmer ones...and could they be soon?Please??

I found these mangoes at the grocery the other day. They taste like summer to me. I know they're an acquired taste to some people but I grew up in a house with direct access to unusual food. Consequentially, I've never met a food that I don't like-except Brussels sprouts(they don't like me) and beef liver-ick. Yesterday just got away from me so I didn't have a WIP to show. Work on James's quilt is coming along nicely. I'm getting sore fingers from all the tying but that's almost done. After that, I'll bind it and throw it over my very cold son who is, sadly, working outside in 15 degree weather. He's an ice cube when he gets home. Even in layers and some heat inside the building-it's a long, cold day.

I am managing to get a lot of house work done-amazing what you can do when you have little alternative. It's a bit of a hibernation.

Lots of Jasmine tea on the menu today. Some sort of soup as well-probably chicken corn chowder. Hope you are all staying warm-more tomorrow.

Things to do when it's 9 degrees

My last post got Roger thinking about our Honeymoon in Hawaii and the state of the pictures. He thought they weren't as bad as I remembered. So we went on a search. While we had out the album, James mentioned that scanning the pictures into the computer might be a good thing for Dad to do.

This is an unfortunate shot of me when I was going through my permed and colored hair phase. Things have changed a little in 23 years. Here I am on the north shore of Oahu. I forgot how big glasses were then.

For this shot, we had to trade services with another couple who had no one to take their picture either. This is one of the pics that faded. This place is on the volcano Haleakala on Maui in a protea garden. It was a breathtaking place and this was in February. We get a kick out of this one because Roger says it's when we had matching bellies. He tells how I gave birth to mine but he's still carrying his.

That's enough reminiscing today. I just thought maybe you might like something warm and fuzzy to look at. It's up to 10 degrees out right now. We're looking at a high of 17 today. Shudddderrrr.

I have my son's quilt sandwiched together and am working on it. I'll post a picture later or tomorrow. Other than that there is a major clean-up going on here. Not much else one can do on these frigid days. Early spring cleaning-but for what year? Every time I try to get started on something artistic-I'm faced with a mess of stuff and no room to work. It's time! Not to mention the dust Bunnies which have become so large that I am naming them. It was good to throw out a bunch of stuff this past weekend. I had bits and pieces of stuff that were around for years in plastic bags. Nothing that anyone would want and many things I wondered out loud at what the hell I was thinking when I bought some of that stuff. We used to have a fabric store near us that had dollar a yard fabric and it was worth every penny. UGH! When I first started it was all I could afford and I didn't know any better. Why I saved strips as small as 1/2 in. I will never know. It's great to purge!

Deb Geyer sent me an e-mail that my quilt is on the way to me to put the binding on. Can't wait to see it. I should look for something to bind it with. Talk to you later. Stay warm

Dreams to Remember

This is a picture of a Hawaiian grotto. I'm not sure which one-the place is covered with them. Somewhere around 23 years ago, Roger and I trampled trough vines and undergrowth trying to get to a place just like this-we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii.
Memories fade and rearrange themselves in little packages in our minds but this one stays fresh for me. Most of the pictures we took did not age well. It was a time when putting your film through those electronic checkpoints did something funny to the film. Had wwe known we would have developed it in Hawaii. As it is-many or most of the pictures are a little pale and misty looking. We'll have to go back and take them again. At least that's what we always say.
Im not sure if that trip will ever happen, and frankly, there are so many places I want to see that maybe another trip to Hawaii will wait a long time. It doesn't matter-I have the most important part right here in my head and heart. Last night at dinner, we were kidding around with James and his girlfriend, Dani about our long-ago trip. The conversation was funny and now that my son is 22 1/2 he can figure out that he was around for the trip. I'm a fortunate woman. With great memories. My life has been a trip. Great things come to those that open their eyes, minds and heart to loves possibilities. All good things come in time and with faith. Happy Anniversary Honey!

what's up with Blogger??

I'm not sure this will get out there in the ether at all. Blogger seems to be having even more issues than usual. Is anyone having similar problems? I can get half of my favorites on my sidebar to open. I keep getting this message

We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:
Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code and additional information.
bX-vjhbsj

O.k.-All that aside, I went to Support and help group and got a bunch of crappy indecipherable non answers.
I know there are some of you who use different services besides Blogger-if you do, are you happy with it? Which one are you happy with. I see a lot of TypePad and it never seems to have problems. Is that a better service and does it cost a lot?
I realize that you may never actually read this since Blogger might be confounding you as well. This is really frustrating. Everyday there's some problem with them. Let me know and if you're not hearing from me it's not because I am ignoring you-Can You Hear Me Now?........Hellooooooo, Love you, Hate Blogger, Dee

Wip-less with stuff

Sorry about that-my husband took the camera to work to use for actual business related needs. PPFFT! The nerve of him taking HIS camera....This is a pic of some fabric I got this month from the Keepsake quilting medley of the month. Meh!

Anyway, what I'm working on is the final construction of my son's Asian inspired quilt, which I showed you all recently. Yesterday I went to JoAnn's and took the gift cards my BIL Bob gave me. The selection was so poor that I came home with more than half the cards and was hard pressed to find a good backing for the quilt. I obviously didn't want something with little flowers on it. It didn't have to be Asian and that's a good thing because even the Asian fabric they had was sucky. I finally found a nice deep rich red with black outlined ginko leaves. At least it will give him the option of having a nice backing. I also got a bunch of cream and beige that was on sale. I should have remembered that after the holidays it's "clear out the crap days" at JoAnn's and I need to wait a few more weeks for new stuff to come in. Disappointing. I did have better luck at Borders....OH BABY, did I have fun there. Again, thanks to my BIL Bob and my husband's generous gift cards and cash, I was able to find a whole mess o stuff. So I'm all stocked up with stuff to do because, as you all know, I had absolutely nothing to do before(NOT). I guess I better get moving since I have a few things I need to accomplish so I can begin work on the Asian quilt finish. See you tomorrow.

for Pam

This picture is for Pam. These are the prple fabrics I could find. The last two on the left are Aunt Grace 30s repros in fat quarters. The dark miffle piece is a Ginny Beyer and there's about a half yard-the next 3 are quarter pieces of hand dyes and the one on the end right is a deep purple by Marcus Bros with gold vines running through. It is 100% cotton but it has a chintz feel to it. it's never been washed so that may change. The 30s repros are brand new. I would send you whatever you like. If you don't like these I will have to search further tomorrow. Just let me know. here or e-mail me. I'll do a real entry tomorrow for WIP Wed. Hi y'all

Apple Trees and larceny

No quilt content today- I did finsh the quilt top for my son and later I will get the backing with my gift cards from JoAnns. If any of you have the opportunity to-please go to Deb Geyer's blog-it's down ther in the list on the right-she finished the quilt I donated and I am at aloss for words. It brought tears to my eyes. So pretty, Thanks Deb.

Gray Monday, at least we didn't get the snow that was predicted. I think that if we get a typical winter in the years ahead, which is a certainty, we will be freaked out. Most years we have so much snow that we run out of places to put it. Not to mention the ice dams that form in parts of the yard. Before we had the blacktop-the guys would have to go out with fat iron rods and break up the ice blocks. When spring came, there would be a constant river of mud, a lot of which would wind up on the floor in our house. It's one of the things that I admire about my MIL Dot. How she managed to live a lifetime with so much muck and silt to clean up. With 3 boys, I imagine it was pretty much a constant struggle.

This picture is of an area which runs between our house and the neighboring property. It's a kind of a no-man's land. It's on the backside of our property and the neighbors house. They have a yard service that comes and cares for the property, mows the great lawn but for the most part this piece of land is just a thicket of vines and fallen trees and shrubs. In the spring-this will be so thick with vines and berry bushes that you almost can't see the ground. It becomes the place where all the squirrels, chipmunks, birds and even some turtles and such, have free run. There used to be apple trees out there, unfortunately they were old and finally had to be taken down or fell by themselves in storms. The smell of apple blossoms is intoxicating. I miss it. I have this weird thing that would qualify for one of the "6 weird things" meme but I don't have time today for that. I try to be an honest person in my life. Dealing with others, and in my personal life. It's not easy. Life is full of temptations, as we all know. The thing is, when I was a kid, my Mom brought me from Germany to America when I was 3. She had little money and needed to work.She was a dentist in Germany but had no license here- Lacking anyway to care for my daily needs while she learned the language and got a job-she temporarily stuck me in an orphanage in the countryside of a suburb of St. Louis, Mo. It was the Methodist Children's Home on Kings Highway. I remember that for a number of reasons the biggest of which was when she was able to get a free few days, she would have me picked up in a cab and brought to her apartment for the weekend and then returned Sunday night also by cab. I was new to English at this age(new to any language at 3) and they made me memorize my address and where I lived so that if anything happened I could say where I belonged. Anyway....I digress, there was an apple orchard next door and a pear orchard across the road. Some of the apple trees had self generated on the orphanage property and there were also crab apple trees. I remember clearly climbing the trees and eating the fruit. I can remember raiding the trees next door for really good apples and I still have a vivid memory of the tornado that took down the huge pear tree across the road. I think they must have been given permission to pick whatever fruit remained for the children because I remember going across the road with baskets and getting the pears. Along with this, my memory holds being stung by the yellow jackets who wanted the fruit as much as we did. Funny thing, this was back in probably 1953-54 ish and I had always wondered what happened to the place. A number of years ago, when I was searching for my father, I decided to call our local Methodist church and the pastor who married my husband & I. I wondered if there was a way to locate this place and get any records they may have had? Eureka-It still existed and a very nice man said he would look for my records but that all records that old had been left in boxes in the basement and never processed to computer so he didn't hold out much hope. Sure enough, a couple of days later, this nice man called me and said he found all my records-thus allowing me to find my father in Kentucky. It was a long strange trip, as they say in the song. It was the moment that I realized that no matter what my mother had done or failed to do later in my life-she had done the right thing by taking me out of Kentucky. Going to visit my father was like stepping back in time. I could barely understand the accent and I'm sure they could hardly understand me. No one had an education past the 8th grade and many had been in jail for various offenses. They were tobacco farmers. My half-sister once told me that it was alright that I couldn't make it to the annual reunion in July since everyone would get drunk and be arrested by sundown anyway..I had a major case of culture shock. Please don't get me wrong, but I was raised to love education and reading and culture. I didn't know what to do with this group of people except to use them as a cautionary tale for what could have been. It was then that I realized what could have become of my life if she had stayed with my father. He was a very kind and loving man but it was clear ow things would have turned out. I hope that doesn't sound selfish-it's just the truth.He's gone now and I know he was happy to have seen me. He said so often to my relatives. That's really all I wanted to accomplish when I tried to find him, since my only memory of him is of him picking me up from my bed and telling me how much he would miss me always.

Anyway, I'll leave the rest of the tale for another day since you are probably snoring and just finish by saying that whenever I am anywhere near apple trees, fruit trees of any kind really-I become larcenous. I am willing to jump out of cars and steal fruit on the run. Guard your trees.The funniest of these incidents was when we went to the Shelburne Museum and the parking lot was full of fruit trees-I waited till no-one was around and scammed myself an apple-or so I thought. I took a bite and it turned out to be a crab apple that nearly choked me to death-such are the wages of sin! This is what happens when I stand at the window and remember the smell of apple blossoms and the beauty of those lost trees. It's a long road from there to here and the ride has been fine.