Some questions-some answers-

These are the blocks I am working on in the Robyn Pandolph fabric. Even though I tried to fix the colors, the one on the left is truer to the real tones. The red dot is more of a wine color and the green dot is more soft and olive. Well anyway, it's coming along a block at a time.

I planted flowers today and my body is screaming from the shoulders to the knees. Getting old is not pretty. It's taking me days to plant a couple of trays of flowers that normally would have been in the ground a while back. I planted a sweet potato vine in among some other stuff. Just for giggles. The lady at the nursery said I should be able to pull up some sweet potatoes in the fall. Clearly she doesn't know who she's dealing with. Around here I wouldn't be surprised to see a critter sitting in the flower bed in Sept with a salt shaker and a fork full of potato. Makes for interesting viewing.

I had meant to lay out all the blocks that I finished and take a picture of them for you but that will have to wait till tomorrow. It's late in the day here and I need a big cold drink and a lot of pain meds.

One of my favorite blogging people quit blogging today. It made me think about my reasons for starting this and how I feel about it now. Not sure. Maybe I need to think about it when I feel better. This blog has not turned out to be what I originally intended. I wanted it to be more of a journal of my thoughts and my life and opinions. Since the blog got discovered by local folks, I don't feel free to comment on things and give my true feelings about things like politics. It's not that I'm a particular political pundit but I have been slammed viciously in other places for speaking my mind. I guess I thought I had a tougher skin. These past few weeks some things that are very hurtful have happened culminating in a REALLY hurtful experience this past weekend when I opened the paper and honor was bestowed on numerous people for their work in the community. Not one mention of my name and I've been at it for 12 years. People were honored who left and retired more than 2 years ago. I've never been one to stand in the room screaming "look at me, look at me" but I guess the old saying about the squeaky wheel is true. They even honored a woman who came 6 years after me. When I mentioned this to the director of the Ecumenical Lay Council, of which the Food Pantry is one off-shoot, he told me they only honor people when they leave. With that, I told him I quit. I actually thought it would be unkind of me not to come back in Sept after my son's wedding, and finish out the busiest time of the year. They can look for someone who will write over 500 letters in December and pay for the postage and all costs associated with the job. It's the printer ink that kills you(kidding). I really loved my job and the communicating with so many generous people in the community. It was a time sucker but I made it what it is today. Time to pass it on to someone else. I will miss it but it will leave me with a boatload of time. That's the upside.

Anyway, I think that this accounts for my mood and then reading that a good friend won't be blogging just made it a kind of sad day all around.

Well, I'm off to try and do some more blocks and try to regain my sense of humor and question if it's time to re-think the blogging thing. Maybe just come back in another bloggy form?? I'll let you know and I appreciate ever one who is nice enough to comment. You make the day much brighter. Thanks.

Missed you so much

I hardly know where to begin. So much has happened while I was lost in space.

A few days ago I tried to upload some photos of a new piece I'm working on but I'm still in the throws of not getting Windows 7 and the myriad ways that it makes computer life easier.....NOT. I have come to the conclusion that I now get it completely when people say they want to beat up Bill Gates. Go away with your stupid useless "improvements" At some point why can't they just leave well enough alone? It used to take me less than 5 minutes to upload pics. I could do it while my tea brewed and bagel toasted. The photos from the other day are somewhere off in the mist. I have no idea where they are.

All this is by way of explanation why I'm showing you fabric instead of blocks. I cut into my stash of Robyn Pandolph goodies and have 7 blocks complete. I'm hoping to be able to show you soon. I'm making Ohio star type blocks with lots of polka dots as the complimentary fabric.

It is birthday season so we celebrated Rogers by going to PA to visit our best friends Rich, Diane, and their daughter Erika. We are hoping that Erika will come and stay with us for a time this summer.

DIL to be Dani's parents came home from Italy the other day and I was lucky enough to be the recipient of a beautiful crucifix from the Vatican. I got all chocked up when I un-wrapped it. What a thoughtful thing to do. They are such good people. Yesterday, I took the plant I had bought for Cheryl to her and she let me see the gorgeous photos they took in Rome and Florence. Just beautiful.

On the Food Pantry front...I'm done. I have left he building with Elvis. I gave them till June to find someone to take my place and they did. Sadly, the person they found is the treasurer...you remember, the one that goes missing all the time. As my friends Sally and Tammy have already said, there will soon be some angry donors in our village. I don't mean to imply that the job can't be done by anyone but me but it certainly can't be done by someone who already doesn't do the job she signed up for. Wait till the fall season when there are nearly 500 letters between Thanksgiving and New Years. Twelve years was enough for me. I have so many personal family things going on now that need my attention so it was time to say adios. The job began to take over my life.

After James & Dani get married in Sept. I can get into my sewing room and stay there most days. At least that's my plan.

I'm hoping by the weekend that Roger can help me with the photo thing. It's no fun without pictures. I have been so busy that I missed the "Spring Quilt Festival" and a couple of "Interpret This" series. Sorry ladies. I plan to get around and see what lovely things you have created soon.

hello goodbye

I have men, drywall, paint, and dust. All of it going on around my sewing room. So, for now, I've put my machine in the safety of its case and covered up the computer in there-lots of dust...lots. Can you say wet-sanding? UGH! I'm doing some hand work on the Kaffe piece when I get a chance and there's a rumor that the men will be leaving in a day or so. Nearly done is a term I keep hearing. I see a lot of painting going on. One of the guys loves to sing. I believe that he's Spanish and can understand a lot of what he's singing. BIG HUGE voice full of songs of unrequited love. Oiy Vey!

Hope to be back in the swing of things soon. Sorry I haven't been checking up on you guys-talk to you soon.

This & That

Hi Gang! Can I get a Woo Hoo for Mozilla? My son put Firefox on the new computer and all appears to be right with the universe. Now if the guys get finished with the drywall and painting, I can get back into my room and fondle some fabric again.

The allergy season is upon us with a vengeance this year. I've had to resort to an inhaler, cough syrup and the occasional Benadryl to get through the night. The result of which is that I feel like I'm in a fog.

I notice that many of my bloggy friends are taking time off to do springy things. I need to get to the local gardening store to check out some flowers. Last year James got me the most beautiful hibiscus in the prettiest shade of pink. I would like to find another of those. We don't have a lot of space with good sun. I say this because most of the yard is in intense full on sun during the hottest parts of the day. Over the years I have found that it works best to plant the front bed with sun tolerant plants rather than too many flowers. They just fade away in that harsh light. This hill that we live on is bumpy and claybound. Unfortunately, my back no longer allows too much of the kind of work that would fix that soil.

I'm having a major staff problem at the Food Pantry. Our treasurer resigned and the search for a new sucker...eh... treasurer had resulted in the powers that be hiring someone who is not only not a good candidate for the job but also missing in action. This change took place 3 weeks ago and I've not heard a single word from this person since then. I rely on the paperwork being forwarded to me from said treasurer in order that I may send the thank you, memorial donations, and grocery gift cards to the right people. Today, I went down to see my partner in crime, who runs the day-to-day action at the pantry itself. In the mailbox there was a stack of about 60 or more letters containing checks just sitting there. Some of that money should have been deposited weeks ago. My partner, Sally also goes every weekend to COSTCO and buys a palette of food costing around $500. There are 3 receipts from her purchases, which she charges on her AMEX. That's $1500. on her personal charge account that has not been reimbursed. There are donations in memory of a person who has died which require 2 letters each and they are 3 weeks old. Memorial donations should be acknowledged immediately. Not 3 weeks later.

As you may have sensed, I'm a little pissed. I think this woman was talked into doing a job she really didn't want and she probably figured she would do it when she gets a chance...sometime. here's a rumor that she may appear tomorrow and Sally says she will call me when & if she gets there. We will be having a conversation. All of this is by way of reminding you that "no good deed goes un-punished" and "things can always be worse"-I'm living in a cliche.

I just got back from the Pantry and a visit for tea at the Library with my best pal Terry. Picked up a few good books which I'll write about tomorrow. Right now I have to go address the problem of the Laundry, which I capitalize, since I swear, that stuff multiplies overnight and thus has a whole life of its own. Someday it will overwhelm me when I open the door and I'll never be found again. Shhhh...Does that stuff look like it's moving closer to me??? It makes for a good horror story. She went to do some laundry and we never saw her again.

Send out a party if I'm not back soon, will ya?

Wherein I don't embrace change.

New computer-windows 7
Taking a deep breath and counting to ...a million


Went to the baby shower Saturday night. I'll keep it short and sweet-we were finally served dinner at 9:30 (Got there at 6) Pam, Geri & I were chewing on the tablecloth by then. The food was really good-at least what I can remember since I inhaled it unchewed in minutes. The place was nice and the room very pretty but VERY NARROW. More like a corridor. It made getting around kind of difficult and I couldn't really get any pictures worth showing. Since I wound up being the driver, my plans for having a few were dashed and I had to remain completely sober. A nice buzz would have helped a lot.
The result; I love my best friend Terry more than you can imagine and I love her son(I love both of them)too. I wish things were a bit different with less tension but it was a nice welcome for the baby about to be born very soon. Nuf said...
The quilt and diaper bag went over really well. I ordered it from Suzan at Hazelnut Hill who I've mentioned before. It's gorgeous. I really wanted to keep it myself. It's a perfect travel bag and very chic. When I can show you a picture I will-soon I hope. The next bag I get will be from Suzan. Getting tired of giving these very cool bags away. I want one for me.

I will return when I can figure out why the world needs windows 7. I really was so comfortable with my old computer. This is still a little overwhelming and it does things that it takes time to figure out. I don't have that much time right now.
Hope you have a lovely day. I've got men replacing sheetrock today-dust galore and I can't go anywhere. They're almost done, thank goodness.

Found objects & the search continues

As I unwrap the various layers of stuff stuck in limbo(the closet) and move things to the new room, I keep coming across things I started and never went any further with. This is one of those things. The rows were un-sewn and stuffed into a bag a while back. Probably in the mid 90s from some of the fabrics. I really love making triangles but I stink at it and I'm fairly sure that's why it got stuffed into a plastic bag and forgotten. In my new found mind set where I stop being hard on myself and just have fun, I put the rows together today and even though nothing lined up I'm enjoying looking at it. I'll throw a border and binding on it and use it for a table topper. This was so old that I actually found the triangles had been outlined in light pencil. I must have cut them by hand...BY HAND...can you imagine? Based on my usual math avoidance and sloppiness, it's not really as bad as I thought when I found the bag. It's wavy but wavy and done is better than another UFO.

It's another pretty spring day here and the temps are even a little chilly. I don't mind that since I'm not a hot weather fan. Spring could go on forever as far as I'm concerned. Besides, I need to find a wedding outfit/dress whatever and the faster the time goes by the more panic there is. I do have some information that I'm willing to share but it's not good news. All the pretty dresses are in the small sizes. Crap! Further, I can't find anything in a nice suit with pants. You know what I mean? Perhaps a pair of silk pants and a pretty flowing (coveryourbigboobs) silky top and light jacketkimonowhatever. Now you understand why I'm thinking of having a cocktail at 4 in the afternoon. The sun is over the yardarm isn't it? I leave you with a picture of where I should be sitting to get my sanity back.
Talk to you soon.

Cooler heads and temperatures

Thanks to everyone who read and commented even though I was having a minor meltdown. My friend Rian was right. I just needed a cookie, or something like that, a treat of some sort. The something like that was Sushi. I visited my local sushi maker and had a spring roll and a spicy crab roll. That, and the fact that the temperature has returned to something like spring is making me a much happier Dee. My photographer got a couple of shots of early spring in the harbor. Not too many boats right now but in a week or so there will be a lot more. One of those shots shows a boat pulling the free- floating docks into place. After a long winter people can begin to use them for small boat tie ups or to fish off the docks from. Is it flounder season yet? I think it may be.

Yesterday I finally got off the stick and finished the baby quilt. Not sure if I mentioned it but I decided to try my hand at quilting it with the walking foot. I did some echo quilting around the blocks(straight line-easy) and finished it up yesterday. I also bound it with the walking foot which is not something I normally like to do but I always forget that a baby quilt is going to get the crap kicked out of it and doesn't need to pass muster from judges in a quilt show. It looks perfectly fine and I can check off that thing from my list.

The little nine patch that I made a while back from civil war type fabrics is almost finished. When I'm done here I will finish putting the binding on and that will be another finish. Wow! Two thing in one week. Can you stand it?

Well, I'm off to figure out what's for dinner and then head to my sewing room. My sewing room...doesn't that sound lovely. It sure does to me. I'm finally growing comfortable and happy in my new space. It need some work but for now I'm a happy camper.

Loves & Hates

I should probably tell you to proceed at your own risk.

Kinda losing my patience with Blogger. I can't seem to make the pictures appear the way I used to. They won't move to another spot either so just bear with me. It may just be that I'm a little cranky since we are having July in April. Not a happy thing for me. My very favorite time of year is spring and anything over 65 really annoys the crap out of me. Humidity is not my friend. The stores are all still being heated and I need to go shopping. Last week I went and finally gave up it was so hot and airless. What are they thinking. Open a frickin" door.
And now, for something completely different... The "Amish Abstractions is so beautiful you just want to make everything in it. Most especially this 16-patch you see here. I could probably tackle this one since it isn't black and I might not go blind doing it. It's a beauty. Wonderful book. Those people who own these quilts are very fortunate. I can't imagine letting go of this particular quilt though. Maybe establish a collection somewhere and let this one stay home.

Other wonderful things I have read lately are, "Fear the Worst", by Linwood Barclay. This guy can really get you to ignore every other thing going on because you can't put down the book. I recommend it but don't start at night. It's like that potato chip commercial where you can't eat just one. You'll never get to sleep. I am going to go to the Library and get another of his books tomorrow. He has several out and one new one on the way. I love "discovering a writer" and then finding he's already written a bunch of books. Woohoo!

I am enjoying "Committed" by Elizabeth Gilbert of "Eat, Pray, Love" fame. Very interesting and touching story about putting your money where your mouth is in a relationship. Fun read.

The one book I don't have a picture of here is "Cleaving", by Julie Powell, whose book was made into the movie Julie/Julia. Not sure what possessed little Julie to go off the deep end but her book is HORRIBLE. I can count on one hand the number of books I'm tempted to throw in the trash(as witnessed by our overflowing library) this is one of those. Only the fact that it was a Library book kept me from flinging it into the wind off the dock. It's gruesome but I can get past that since I get the whole thing about a chef wanting to be a professional butcher and know how to properly carve apart an animal for the public consumption. What I don't get is her "voice" in this book. She's nasty, cheating on her husband(who must be a complete dork to put up with her crap) and writes a book about it. She uses her husband as a poor put-upon sad sack character in the book but refers to the lover by an initial -nice touch...not. I rarely hate the written word but I really hated this book. It's snarky, nasty, condescending, and hateful. I'm not a prude, I know people have affairs(I worked in retailing for 14 years...the stories!!!) and do things undercover but she seems to gloat about how she is fooling her husband who comes off seeming like a real moron. Not a pretty picture and I wonder if she will regret how she comes off in this sad piece of writing.

Anyway, for some reason or another I seem to be Miss Crankypants today. So I'll leave you and go do something productive. I need to clean the filter in the air cond. upstairs just in case! Couldn't sleep well last two nights since the room as very hot and the love of my life still gets really cold with too much air on him. The meds he takes do that to a guy. Funny thing is he used to be the one that got hotter than me. Now we have dueling thermostats.

Hey! What day is it??

Wow did this week get away from me. Time just seems to be flying by. REALLY! All those trite sayings about the blink of an eye are true. I'm working on the baby quilt doing machine stitching...eeeeeek. I'm trying not to be to critical of myself and a friend suggested a very simple approach to the machine quilting. I went to the machine and tried all the fancy stitches, thinking that I would use one of them as a single tack every few inches or so. It's not bad and better than tying it to death. I'm not in love with that anymore.

We have taken to asking James about things in terms of "the last whatever here at home", as in "what would you like for Easter dinner for your last one as a single guy etc". The result is that we are having Thanksgiving for Easter. Turkey with all the trimmings. Roger and I would dearly love to have a great piece of roast beef or Leg of Lamb. Red meat is supposed to be out for the BIL Bob(not that he doesn't filch the extra burger after he's finished his chicken.) The Happy Couple doesn't particularly like lamb. It's not a fav for James and Dani has the whole " eating Mary's little lamb " problem so turkey it is. Good thing we are happy with that choice and frankly what smells better than a turkey cooking? Sadly for me, I think the temps are going to be near 70. I'm hoping it won't get that bad here near the water. We do tend to get the off the water breezes that keep things sort of cool. Here's hoping!

Roger put up a design wall in the sewing room for me. I can't wait to get going on some of the things I've started that are just a bunch of blocks right now. Got the cork boards up too. Thanks Honey!
Terry and I drove out to JoAnns last night. I started quilting and realized that I was nearly out of plain white or ecru thread and I had no lavender or yellow at all. Since the baby quilt needs either of those, I picked up a couple of rolls of each. There was some half priced Easter stuff that Terry needed for a child's basket. Other than that, not much to get excited about.

I have much to do to clean up around here and I hope to get back to the quilt and at least work a little on it today. It's so beautiful out. Spring is pushing through and that subtle green is everywhere. Just lovely.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend.

I'll update the blog later but I wanted to give you a chance to go to the "Interpret This Blog" for the monthly reveal. Really great work and once again, I love seeing everyone's take on the subject. So many artists, so many ideas. Wonderful. Leave them a message if you can. They really appreciate the kind words and critique.

Happy Monday. Hope your weekend was as sunny and happy as mine was. Here are two of the things that made my weekend happier. I'm finally coming down the stretch on both these tops. You probably don't remember but The nine patch was double the length. As I was putting it together I realized that half of it would make a perfect table top piece for one of my very favorite people. So I separated it in the middle and made one top for her and I'll keep the other one for me. I don't have any more of that cheddar yellow or the small red border but I'm sure I can find something pretty close somewhere and isn't the search half the fun.

One of the happier things this weekend was seeing the wedding dress of my Darling Daughter-in-law-to-be Dani. The dress is so lovely and it made me tear up a little just to see it. I told her she should just sit her Mom and I together between a large box of tissues. Things are really moving along now on the wedding front. The happy couple registered at Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy's so I'm sure they will be getting a lot of lovely things. I'm getting very excited and nervous for them. What a sweet time this is for Dani & James. It makes you remember all those feelings of so long ago. Very sweet memories and sweeter still to realize that they still going strong.

As you can see from the picture above I also put together the baby quilt. I need some backing and then I'm almost done. I wish I could machine quilt this but I'm not great at it so I guess I'll tie this one all over the place.

Roger took Friday off and we went for a walk on the beach. It was so hilly and such a mess from the terrible storm of two weekends ago. It made walking a bit harder than usual. Couldn't get our footing very well. I suppose the Village guys will drag and clean the sandy beach sometime soon. There's a lot of trash laying around that blew in. Still, the temp was 67 and very sunny so it was a nice moment.

I had better get back to catching up with some house work and laundry. Talk to you soon.

top o the mornin'

If the temps keep up the current way we'll all be walking in clover soon. I've been around here long enough to remember snow in April though so I remain cautious. Hope you're finding a good way to enjoy St. Paddy's day. We're being typically non-traditional around the McDonald House. Yesterday I went to the grocery store where they were being typically annoying by charging sirloin prices for corned beef. The least expensive piece I found was over $17. I'm not cheap but I'm not an idiot either...I'll wait till tomorrow when the corned beef is on sale for half price. It's still too much but you have to have some corned beef now and again if you hope to remain a registered Irish soul. It's funny about those prices. Years ago I used to get lamb shanks and skirt steak for next to nothing. No one knew about them and few people wanted them since they didn't know how to cook them properly. They were really cheap. They've now been discovered and you can't get them for a reasonable price to save your life. Not sure how people with larger families do it. Braised lamb shanks are so good it's ridiculous. Two smallish lamb shanks yesterday were around the $9. mark.
Crazy!

On a "Support your local talent" note, I ordered a diaper bag from my favorite bag maker Suzan. She has a company called "Hazelnut Hill" and I had a bag made for my DIL-to-be for Christmas that was just beautiful. On her blog she is showing the diaper bag she made for her darling new Grandchild. I thought that would be a great idea for the up-coming baby shower. So I ordered one and she can get it to me by the date I need it for. She really makes beautiful bags. They are so well-made and she always uses fabulous designer fabrics.

I'm still working on the several projects that I showed in the last post. Managed to put a bunch of circles into the Kaffe Crop Circles wall hanging. I think it looks really good but I did manage to forget how ungainly it is to sew all those circles. Round and round I go.

James and Dani are full speed ahead on the wedding plans. Dani begins her training period for her new job at the end of the month so I think she would like to get a few things settled before long. It's not a big fancy production but it will be a nice wedding with dresses to get and cake to order and center pieces to pick and so on.... The time really flies by. It's nearly April-the wedding is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Yikes. What's worse is that I have to find a dress. What I'd rather have is maybe silk pants and top. We'll see what I can find.

Well, I hope your day is green and lovely. Don't forget Suzan if you need something one-of-a-kind and beautifully made. I'm not getting paid to promote-her work is just lovely and she's a really sweet & funny woman.

Talk to you soon.

Crop Circles and garden pathways.

I put aside this Kaffe piece I worked on a few weeks ago after not being able to decide how to do the quilting. I've now decided that I'm going to make a number of circles on it as quilting. It's very angular and I think the roundness of the quilting design would be perfect. That's what I'm up to today. Well, that and grocery shopping and laundry, kitchen clean-up(much needed), and
maybe some more work on this. Those lines you see are the original quilting lines I drew with water soluble marker. It's getting spritzed in a while and then I'll work on the all-over circles.


I have been watching Victoria of Bumble Beans make these small pieces that look like garden walkways made of broken tiles and I really wanted to see if I could get one put together quickly for some handwork. I miss doing that and I'm sort of tired of the only other things I've got to work on...(adult ADHD?) Anyway, I have bags of bits and pieces so it took about half an hour to find myself a pleasing arrangement. We'll see how long I can keep up with the applique since my hands are very arthritic feeling lately. Maybe I should learn how to do that on the machine? How hard can it be?







Sorry for the quality of these photos. I think the camera battery is going. Everything looks drab and fuzzy. Maybe it's my eyes.





I spent some time playing around with the arrangement of these baby quilt blocks yesterday as well. They look so bright and cheerful. I really hope the Mom likes the quilt since I know nothing about her and we haven't even met yet. Lets hope it works out. The shower is in April so I'd better get going a little faster. I think I'm just going to tie the heck out of it and say it's done. I think the happy couple are registered at Babies r Us, maybe I can find them something to go with it.
As you all know, I vow never to make another quilt for a baby every time I make another quilt for a baby...sigh.

Back soon with more.

Spring is sprung

I had to find this image on the net since the crocus in my yard are so far up on a hill and virtually un-reachable, except by the squirrels and chipmunks who probably moved them there. At any rate, if I could climb up there, this is what you would see popping up. Daffodils to follow and hyacinth coming along soon. Now we just have to make it past the next few weeks without the S word. It's really a lovely day. The air smells sweet and the birds are singing.

I'm working on Food Pantry issues today so I can work on sewing tomorrow. Also, it's haircut/color day tomorrow. It can't come a moment too soon. When I made the appointment it was after a haircut that was really just a clean-up trim. Not thinking that by 6 weeks later I would be totally frazzled by the mess that is my hair today. I'm not fussy about much except my hair. If it looks(like it does now) raggedy and out of shape I'm a cranky mess.

There was good news in our world last week. Our DIL to be Dani got a job. She has been searching for a while and had many resumes out. The job market has been so horrible that things kept falling through and she was in that terrible go-round where they wanted someone with experience and how can you get it when you can't get a job. Finally, last week she got hired for what seems like it could be a good job. I'm very happy for her and for James since we wondered what would happen to the wedding date if some of the pieces didn't fall together. Fingers crossed, now things are looking up and they can resume looking for possible places to live. It's very expensive around here but I'm holding out some hope that maybe a miracle will happen. I would love to have them nearby. Time will tell.

Yesterday I got a fat quarter selection of the new April Cornell fabric you see above. I can't seem to make the picture move to where I want it and I'm done trying to play nicely with blogger. Anyway, It's so pretty I can hardly stand not immediately getting in to it. For today though I will just have to fondle it and think of something pretty to make with it. Maybe a birthday present for a friend is a possibility. It would also make some pretty, girly, dresses in that pattern I bought last week....hmmm

On the the paperwork. Back soon.

I wanted to add that I finished that book, "A Reliable Wife" by Robert Goolrick. It's not big so one night and an afternoon did the trick. It's really well written but toward the end it could have been a bit better enriched with more explanation of the characters intentions and the explanations given just didn't seem to justify the attitude of the bad guy. Not sure that makes sense but the character of the son and his long separation from the father just left me sort of cold. I felt loose ends didn't get tied up for me very well and mostly I wondered why the father would want him back and further why the son spent his life in such ruin. Even at that, it's a book worth giving a read. The writing is very good and he manages to make the weather and the land a character. Kind of Steinbeck-like. It has very violent moments and some sexual content. Give it a go. I really couldn't put it down for most of the book. Like so many books I've read lately, the ending left me wanting so much more.

Friday Fluff

I was looking through some older photos and came across a picture of our Clivia plant. It belonged to my late MIL Dot and resides for the winter in Bob's basement. The plant is so root bound that it can barely stand up. I called on a Master gardener friend of mine to explain the best way to take it apart and make at least two new plants out of it. I will screw up my courage and tend to that soon. I'm a little shy about doing that kind of thing since last fall I decided to take my 45-year-old Jade plant apart and just keep the central large, original stem and some of the cuttings. Over the years, I have simply plucked off pieces of the Jade, stuck them in the soil and they grow like mad. Can't count the number of little plants I've started from that old one. Anyway, as fate would have it, the nice fat original stem is not doing well. I'll leave it alone under the grow light but I'm increasingly worried that I murdered my favorite plant. Should have just re-potted the old thing instead of cutting it apart so drastically. Rats.

I just started to read this book. I borrowed this picture from Amazon and it's not really clickable. So far I recommend it highly. I like a good murder mystery and lately I find that I'm getting bored with some of the writers that I have been reading for years. They aren't writing bad books, just some of them are a little formulaic and in one case I had no trouble putting it down and reading a little here and there. That's a sure sign for me that the book is a little blah. I like the un-putdownable book. That seems to be less and less a factor.
However, this particular book is a good read so far and I had a lot of trouble putting it down yesterday. Hoping that it's as good as it appears. The writing is just beautiful. Vivid descriptions and a detailed, evocative, writing. It begs you to continue just to read more about the two main characters and the writer has made the town and it's people a sort of character as well. He's a descriptive writer and you find yourself feeling cold with his talk of the harsh, killing, winter taking place. It's bleak but fascinating. Sort of puts me in mind of early Stephen King. I'll let you know how it holds up. I suppose you can't expect a writer to make every book fabulous and I think the books that are written in series formula like Kellerman, Grafton, Connelly, etc. are bound to run hot and cold. Too bad. Especially the way books are priced today. For that and a number of other reasons, I think the Kindle may be the answer for someone like me. At least I don't think you have to pay as much for the Kindle versions...not sure about that. Space is at a premium around here and we are trying to jettison as much of the stuff as possible. If not we will wind up like the Collier Brothers.....buried by the stacks.

We are having snow showers today. Enough!
Off to the sewing room.

Curtains and such

Hope you got a chance to go see the Interpret This artists. If not, scroll down for the link and see it. Also the Twelve by Twelve Group is showing their work for this month. It's all about Colorplay this month. It's Blue & White with a Touch of Black month. Lovely work.

I'm making curtains for my BIL Bob's kitchen. Frankly, I think he couldn't really care less about the curtains but we've reached the stage in life where buying anything for birthdays and other celebrations is kind of moot. Bob is well set and his main mission in life is travel. The house is a place that holds his clothes and bed. He's very close to retirement and I suspect that when that happens he'll be out of here more than not. He's taken to buying himself books by the shopping bag full and his taste in those is science fiction. I haven't a clue what he's read or not read at this point so book giving is another thing that is random. Suffice to say that when it comes to birthdays and such, Bob's a tough nut to crack. He's super generous to us so I feel like a gift giving failure. He just doesn't NEED anything. Friends gave him a coffee maker last Christmas..it's still in the box. He uses ours the few times he drinks coffee. Anyway, this birthday, I decided, instead of giving another gift that is left by the wayside, I'll make new curtains for the kitchen in his part of the house. I'm almost done and glad of it. I need to move on to something interesting. Sewing curtains can make you feel sleepy. It's gray outside, That's not helping the mood.
I know everyone is so ready for spring. Today I came home from the grocery store and I heard a bird trilling out in the garden. This morning I saw chipmunks running on the wall outside. So happy! The light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train soon. Ran into a friend of mine at the store, she said she was itching to take a walk outside. It's just to icy and too many snow banks on our hills. Makes for dangerous walking on these narrow roads. Patience. That's what I told her...stop that laughing.
Hope it's sunny where you are. Back soon.

It's that time again...Interpret This!!

Get on over to the Interpret This Blog, scroll down and see the fantastic work being done by these talented women. If you didn't see last months entries for Heaven's sake don't miss that while you're there. I can't wait to see what's next. Each one of these women brings something different and wonderful to the challenge. They are all so very talented that the results are refreshing and fun to see.

If you have a cup of something soothing and a few more minutes go on over to the Twelve by twelve group blog and let your eyes feast on their results in the Blue & White and a touch of Black theme for this month. Don't forget to check out the other months gone by. They've been doing this for quite a while now and they have a book coming out through Lark Books. Very cool ladies and a fabulous group of artists from all over the world.

Anyway, after that fabulousness I wish I had something great to offer. I'm in the throws of making curtains for my BIL Bob's windows and it has to be the most snore inducing event lately. Assembly line sewing and such.
We had so much damn snow that it seems like we will never see the ground again. I'm still trying to make the new room comfortable to work in and not having much success. It's difficult to get things worked out for various reasons, one of which is that I live on a big hill and getting the heck out of here in bad weather or getting things delivered is an impossible dream in winter with this white stuff falling every other day. Delivery trucks don't like us much for good reason and unless I want to take a sleigh ride downhill I'm not going far. The week ahead may change that. Springy temps...yay!

I have much to do in the Pantry backlog of paperwork. Our Treasurer has given notice and I'm devastated. She and three other women are the only permanent staff. Up to now she would record the checks and monetary donations and send me a list of donors names, addresses, and desires regarding letter of acknowledgment and thanks. It may not sound like that would be difficult but it's complicated. Some donors are making bequests and that requires two letters. One to thank the donor and one to acknowledge the gift to the family members. Donations come in all forms. Lately we get a lot of grocery store gift cards. Kids around her get food donations from the local grocers. They do this so that I will write them a letter for there civic programs etc. The Treasurer and I have had a perfect system worked out for several years. Glossing over the fact that no one has raised a hand to help(don't get me started) I will have to deal with whatever person we can find to replace her.
The people who come to the meetings are professional meeting goers. They are all long-time retirees who come for the coffee and bagels and the ability to say they belong to an important civic group. In my 12 years of doing this, I have rarely seen a hand raised when a helper is called for. It all falls to the 3 or 4 of us who do the work. I get really annoyed with these folks. They are all representatives of their various churches and synagogues and I believe that they feel that just attending the meetings is their "job". It's very hard to get people to actually help out. Most younger women are out working now so I get it completely in that respect. It's a shame though since it really calls for patience on the part of the 3 or 4 of us. Mostly, I don't blame people since, once you volunteer for anything in the Ecumenical Council the job is yours f-o-r-e-v-e-r! By the way, our biggest muscle comes from the people who use the Pantry. They come in and help unpack bags and boxes regularly. Helpful folks who tell us they feel it's the least they can do. Good for them and good for us.
Anyway, sorry for the long rant. Spring can't come soon enough-crabby witch here!

I'm off to sew some curtains and write some letters. James brought me fresh bagels yesterday so I will enjoy a great breakfast and try to get a better attitude about things in general. The sun is trying to shine and I am happy that I don't live where my brother Pete does. He got more than 3 feet....UGH!

Memories of playin' dress-up

So glad Blogger finally let me on. I've been trying for a while and couldn't up-load any photos.

This is the pattern I ordered from Nanette of Frieda's Hive . It makes me happy just to look at it. If you haven't visited Nanette, don't wait another minute. She's the most delightful talent. The other day I saw that Nedra, of Cactus Quilts had gotten her version back from the quilter and it is so sweet. Scroll down a couple of posts.
Isn't this the most darling quilt? It brought to mind the many hours I spent as a child making paper doll clothes and doll dresses and drawing what, at the time, seemed to me to be very elegant evening gowns. It was the first art I did as a child. I remember spending hours drawing and embellishing those dresses with bows and buttons and lace, etc. I spent most of my younger years wanting to be an illustrator and later a dress designer. Back in my High School years, our school had what was called a Humanities Program. If you maintained a very high average and completed the required work in the basic subjects, you were allowed to spend the bulk of your junior and senior year in whatever program you excelled in. I wanted to go to art school(Parson's School of Design was my passion) so I decided to spend the time making a portfolio to that end. I was really good. I know that now. I can see it in retrospect, even though I had no support or encouragement from family. They didn't believe that they should waste money on sending a girl to college and especially not to pursue art. How I wish I had not been afraid. But that's an old story. Now, I really wish that I had those drawings in that portfolio. My family threw them away one year when they decided to clean out the basement. Along with the portfolio went a number of oil paintings and water colors. Still painful to think about that loss. I didn't find out until months later.

I grew up in the era of flower children and Hippies(1966-graduate) and even though I wasn't really a hippie I had a real flare for designing things that straddled both visions. Not comparing myself to greatness but I couldn't help being blown away by YSLs gypsy period and it's resemblance to things I had drawn not long before. It became an era of draped and flowing designs resembling the whole Jean Harlow look. I really studied the female figure and was often complimented for my drawings of models that wore the clothes I designed. If you can remember-think Mary Quant and Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. I know, dinosaur era....

Those were wonderful and awful times. Mostly I don't think too much of that time because even though it was painful, it led me to my life today. I wouldn't change a moment of that for anything. However, I've been coveting this pattern for a while and today I bought it on Etsy and Nanette downloaded it to me this afternoon. It will be like making paper dolls again and that makes me happy too. So...that's what I will do. Find dress fabric and have some fun.

Our weather is so beautiful today. It's 45 and a bright sunny afternoon. Just a lovely taste of spring.
Time to make dinner now. Talk to you soon.

Pinwheels and such

Here's a shot of the pinwheel factory that's going full speed right now. One baby quilt coming up!

Also, based on Kay's comment I went searching for the book I mentioned in yesterdays post. Many years ago now I read "Blue Highways" by William Least Heat Moon and loved it so much. Being a history buff I can't imagine how much fun it must be to just go and explore. Of course that book was written back in the early 80s I think. Maybe times aren't as friendly or safe now. Not sure. Anyway, I read his other book, of which I mentioned the fault line and earthquake in the Chicago area and that smart cookie Kay left me a comment that made me go looking for it since I couldn't quite remember the title. I remember much of the book(it's a huge one) but for some reason(age) I couldn't remember it was called "Prairy Erth" It's a lot of book but Mr. Moon is a scholar and a lover of history. He goes into some major detail about what is basically the center of the continental US and it's origins and topography and history. I know it's not for everyone but I sure love a well-detailed history book.

I took a lot of pictures of the snow. There's a whole boatload of it and thanks to James and the trusty snow blower a lot of it is cleared away so we can get out. The weather is such a boring subject that I just decided to skip the pics. It snowed-12-14 inches-it's cold and yuck. Nuf said.
I'm distracting myself with the sewing and praying for a really early spring. If I get my hands on that groundhog he's toast. This is about the time of year when we look at each other and ask why the hell we insist on living here. Right now I can't think of a good reason but I'll get back to you later.

I'm still having problems with my right knee. Don't like that one bit. Both my good friends have knee problems and one just had surgery on hers recently. I'm not a good patient-Hate things I have no control over and apparently this is one of those things. It goes away for a few days and then pops back up again...grrrr. Not fun. Something I will probably have to address medically in the all too near future-have I mentioned my distaste for Drs lately? Surgeons are worse. You can almost see them twirling their little mustaches while telling you that they must do surgery....grrrrrrr.

Well, I'm going to the kitchen and cooking some Chicken Parm and a nice salad for my guys. They worked hard today. Hope it's a lot warmer where you are and a lot less white.

Blahh, & nothing but WIPS

I'd show you some pictures of what's happening but, unless you live under a rock, you're seeing it every five minutes on the tube.....endlessly, white, drift, cold, BAH!
Yesterday I started work on a pinwheel quilt for a baby to come in the spring. I used the Triangulations program and zipped through a bunch of half-square triangles. I love that they are perfect and square but the removal of paper and clipping of tips is tedious. That's OK since there is not a lot going on around here so I'll just listen to some music and clip and press. They are so cute. I'll have extra for a little piece for me...yippee.
Roger is home but, sadly, James & Bob had to head off in this mess this morning. I really hope they're home sooner rather than later since I hear icy stuff lowing against the window. That's very, very, bad. Especially when you live on tip of a hill looking down at the world around you. James got a ride in with his boss so his car is already up here but I doubt that Bob will make it up the hill later.
I made soup last night and, fingers crossed, we won't lose power, and I'll come up with something delicious and warming for today. There's always breakfast for dinner. Personally that's a big favorite of mine and I would eat that even if it wasn't a snowstorm.

I was just reading the news and saw a report that there was an earthquake in Chicago. They said that it sits on one of the largest fault lines in the country. Did you know that? Hmm. News to me but interesting. I read a book years ago that was about the Midwest and it's development over thousands of years. He wrote that thousands of years ago, Kansas, and surrounding parts of neighboring states, was once an enormous inland sea. Fascinating stuff for a history buff. Are you still awake....knock knock....
Anyway, I'm going to the sewing machine and playing with pinwheels-pictures to follow-maybe later.
Good luck wherever you are.