Whew!

I am so glad that Christmas is finally over! I get so stressed out this time of year. I finally feel that I can breathe again. The holidays are sad because I think about my mother, too--she died on Christmas Eve 27 years ago and I still miss her, especially around the holidays.

We had a nice, quiet Christmas with just DH and myself, DS and DDIL, and my dear MIL. Oh, and Monty, of course.

Monty likes his "Bobo" toy we got him for Christmas, although he doesn't play with it, he just snuggles up to it. When he was a puppy our other dog would not allow him to play with any of her toys (and all toys were HER toys) so he never learned to play with things. Now she is gone but he doesn't know what to do with a toy. Poor baby! He also got a brand new "shirt" which is what we call his harness. Here he is guarding Bobo and DH from the evil photographer (me.)


This squirrel frequents our yard. His right eye is permanently damaged, but he seems to do just fine with one eye, although he didn't see my son and I sneak up on him and take his picture several times. We were only about six feet away. He dodges traffic all right (so far!)


DH grew this Double Dancing Queen Amaryllis. It has three blooms open, and each has three layers of petals. Isn't it gorgeous? The stem is only about six inches long.

I had to put away all my sewing stuff so that we could use the dining table for Christmas dinner. I just finished getting everything back out this afternoon, so I plan on sewing this evening and over the weekend. I am working on a couple of fabric postcard swaps, I'll post pictures later.

DH and I went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets on Wednesday. I enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was quite as good as the first movie. This was less believable, and showed less detail regarding how they accomplished some of their capers, like breaking into Buckingham Palace (would it really be that easy??) But it was good fun. DH is going to see Charlie Wilson's War tonight (not my cup of tea.)

Off to the sewing machine!

Still here...

I'm still here, although I've been too busy getting ready for Christmas to post for awhile. The photo above shows six of the twelve blocks I have made to put together into a baby quilt for my gift stash. I like the secondary pattern they create. I found the pattern in the latest issue of McCall's Quilting magazine.


I received this Snowman postcard from Priscilla in Minnesota--I wish my camera could take a better photo of it.


This Snowman card is from Beth in New Jersey and is hand-painted. Again, too much flash.


This one is from Chris in Great Britain. I love the icicle stitching around the edges.


This is a card from Roslyn in Australia, for a "My Favorite Color" swap.


...and this one from Maureen in the U.K.....


This from Sarah in the U.K.--lots of special stitches here.


A bright yellow card from Jackie in Texas.



...and a bright pink one with silk flowers from Monica in Texas. The butterfly is machine embroidered.

Other than the baby quilt blocks, I haven't done much sewing. I still have three quilt tops to quilt, but they can wait. I have to have some tests done by the cardiologist next week, and I probably won't get much chance to sew until after New Year's Day.

This gorgeous amaryllis is an Orange Sovereign. The bloom is 7" across! My DH grows these beauties, and I just have to show it off. His website is www.sotexplants.com.

Keeping busy!

I made 6 of these postcards for a Snowman swap. I used glitter glue, beads, and spangles to glam these up, but the fabric was so cute I had to use it. I mailed them in plastic sleeves to preserve the beads. I only mailed 4 of them out--the others I kept for my own use. I always make at least one extra for myself--you never know when one will go astray in the mail.




I just finished binding this small quilt this afternoon. I made the center medallion of a UFO with stars and planets several years ago, then used it in a Round Robin in my quilt group. I loved the result--especially the appliqued space monsters someone added in round two. I quilted rocket ships into the navy blue corners, and landing craft and stars in the last round, the teal triangles. The back is a fabric of space creatures tossed on a red background. I intend to use it as a table topper, so I removed one round to make it the right size. The round I removed was simple yellow triangles to take it off pointe. Since it was square, it wouldn't have made a bed quilt, and was really too large for a wallhanging, anyway.

Tomorrow there is a potluck at Eastern Star, and I'm taking corn pudding and some fresh-from-the-bakery bread. Then on Thanksgiving we'll all go out to eat at Luby's. I just don't have the energy to cook a big meal this year. I'd rather just have a quiet day.

The wait is over!

I finally finished the red and green quilt! I got the binding done today. As you can probably tell, it is HUGE!! 132" square. I really like the way it turned out. Although it is just draped over the bed in these pictures, when the pillows are tucked in and covered, the quilt goes from floor to floor on three sides on our king sized bed. It is also very heavy, even though a light-weight cotton batting was used. The quilter (Heirloom Elegance in Corpus Christi) did a great job on it. This quilt is for DH and myself, and I am very pleased with it. Each block is different, and it took me almost a year from start to finish. I still have four quilt tops to quilt and bind, all are wall-hanging size. I also still have two postcard swaps to do this year as well.

This week a handyman is supposed to put up the bead-board panels on our bathroom ceiling, then it will be time to strip off the wallpaper and repaint the walls and vanity. Why anyone painted the bathroom orange is beyond me, but why we lived with it for another 18 years is truly unfathomable. It will be a nice soothing pastel blue when I get done with it.

Amaryllis "Green Goddess"

Amaryllis "Yellow Goddess"

Amaryllis "Apple Blossom"

DH has been putting his plants to bed for the winter, although several of them are still blooming and will continue throughout the winter. These amaryllis are setting three to four blooms per stalk, and have more flower stalks ready to shoot up in each pot. They really are gorgeous.

The Halloween party went well. My friend had lots of fun foods, and we played some games and socialized. There were only 13 of us there, so I had several goodie bags left over. I sent some to my grandchildren, and DH took the rest to work and passed them out there.

We had a lot of trick-or-treaters this year, and many of them commented on how cool it was that we gave them Play-Doh. I even had one teenage boy tell me that on a scale of one-to-ten our house was a ten! No tricks played here.

DH brought me this rose yesterday. Isn't it pretty, with the striped petals? Unfortunately, it has no scent. I think I would pick scent over color where flowers are concerned; DH says that most of the roses that are unusual colors have no scent.

I just finished making 12 postcards like this one for a swap called My Favorite Color. My color preferences change with the seasons, so right now I definitely prefer orange. The cards are supposed to use no other colors. The background fabric is medium orange with red-orange flowers and yellow-orange circles, I used orange thread to couch down orange fibers and sew decorative stitches on it, attached orange felt squares with either an orange button or a decorative bar-tack stitch, then added orange spangles and beads. The rick-rack in the upper left corner is actually a bright neon-orange color as well, although the flash makes it look yellow. I have to mail these to the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Turkey as well as to several locations in the US. I am mailing them in clear plastic sleeves. I only hope the beads make it through okay, especially the long bugle beads. They usually do, but the bugle beads are more brittle than most beads, being glass beads, and have sharp edges that can cut through the thread. I'll just keep my fingers crossed!

I'm signed up for two other swaps, snowman cards in December and the Letter M in January.
I'll show those when I get them finished.

Parties, pyracantha, and politics

I have been busy this week, and felt like I accomplished a lot.

The goodie bags are complete for Wednesday's party, I have prizes for the games, and the gift bag for the Witches' Gift Exchange is ready. Thank goodness all that is left is the party itself!

I finished machine quilting this lap-quilt which was started several years ago. It is bound and complete except for the label. What appears to be pink in this photo is actually a rust color. I really like the way it turned out.

We had a cold front go through last night and this morning. This tree is the only pine tree in the neighborhood, and is in our front yard. It lost a lot of small branches and pine cones.

The pyracantha is just loaded with berries this year. I plan on using some of them for decoration this fall and winter.

My Halloween decorations are ready for next week, such as they are--although I haven't bought enough candy yet. We're also giving out small cans of Play-Doh to kids that are the right age to use it.


The caladiums and the coleus plants are doing well, but soon they will start their downward slide towards winter, if you can call it that here in South Texas. The temperature will only get into the low 50's except for one or two colder days.

I need to start the next quilt, but I haven't figured out how I want to quilt it. I guess just getting it done any old way would be better than not doing it at all. Maybe I'm over-analyzing the problem.

We learned this week that my elder son will be going to Iraq at the end of March. I'm not happy about it, but I don't get any say in the matter. I think the best way to deal with the anxiety is just to pretend that he is home in Virginia with his wife and kids. I don't hear from him very often as it is, so hopefully it will be easy to pretend. I hate this war and wish it would be over soon. I don't think any one in the government has any idea of what this war does to people on a personal level. The best joke I have heard recently has someone telling the president that three Brazilian soldiers have been killed in Iraq, at which the president puts his head in his hands in despair for a few moments, only to lift his head and ask, "Just how many is a brazillion?"

When election time comes around, the only politicians to get my vote will be the ones that want us out of the Middle East. Reacting to a threat is one thing; creating and sustaining an artificial threat is totally different.

Busy, busy!

I spent this past weekend pin-basting three quilt tops, and today I am piecing backings for two more, then will baste them. They are all either lap-size or wall-hangings. On Wednesday I will knuckle down and start machine quilting all five, which should keep me busy for the rest of the month! I'll post photos as they are completed.

Tomorrow is going to be full, with preparations for an Eastern Star potluck dinner. I have to help set up the chapter room in the afternoon, then I'll fix a crockpot full of spaghetti and meat sauce, with garlic bread on the side. That should satisfy the OES ladies. I had to skip the last potluck (there were three this month, plus desserts for the lodge BBQ!) so they may be a little miffed at me. I can only do so much on a limited budget.

It's been raining each morning, then the sun comes out each afternoon. At least the temperatures are down now in the 80's with nighttime lows in the 70's. I do miss fall colors, though--we don't get much leaf change here. Our Arizona Ash trees are dropping their seeds now, making a big mess; and the Chinaberry trees are dropping their large seed berries as well. DH is planning to try to sell some seeds on eBay--we don't know if anyone will be interested or not.

Halloween's coming!

I am in charge of making 22 goody bags for a Halloween party for my Red Hat group. I have been busy coming up with ideas--candy, of course, but other things, too.

I just finished these 22 mummies. They are made of craft sticks, craft spoons, strips of fabric soaked in a 50-50 glue and water solution, and googoo eyes. Aren't they cute?


I also made 22 clothespin fridge magnets with foamie bats, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns attached to them. I painted the front side orange before putting them together.


I bought these door-hanger dolls (22, of course!) at the dollar store. They have velcro hands.


I got 22 brown paper bags at Michael's, stenciled a treat bag design on the front and put self-adhesive foamies on the back. They will be full when I put everything in them. I think I'm done!


Now I have to come up with some games for the party. I have a mad-lib story that will work for one. We will do a "witches' gift exchange" where everyone brings a gift bag and we draw numbers to see who gets to choose first, etc. We may do charades of horror movies, too.

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I received this fabric postcard this week from Laurie. The postcard had to feature paint in some way. She used Setacolor paints to sun-print ferns and puzzle pieces on the fabric, then added real ferns under netting. I love the colors. I have the instructions for doing this on video from Georgia Bonesteel's program, and I want to try it one of these days.

progress made

I've finished the top of the wall-hanging; it turned out quite well, I think. Now to find a backing fabric so I can get it quilted. It reminds me of watermelon, somehow.

I have some other projects in mind that are sewing related, but the next one is to finish a leaf-themed quilt top that I made about three years ago. I have the backing fabric for it, I just need to get it pin-basted and machine quilted. It was to be a lap-quilt, but I'm not sure now just what I will use it for. It would make a nice table topper, or even a wall-hanging. I'll decide when I get it done.

I haven't heard from the quilter yet whether she has started on the Christmas quilt. I told her that as long as it was done this year I'd be happy. I'll check with her in a week or so to see how she's doing.

DH had his CT scan on Tuesday. No results yet, but we're hopeful.

Back in service

I'm still battling bronchitis, but I'm generally feeling better now. Those summer colds are killer!

These blocks are destined to be a wall hanging for my 'dining room' (now serving as a sewing/crafts room.) The pattern was in the latest issue of McCall's Quilting.


The green and red quilt is now at the quilters' and hopefully will be done in a month or two. She has quite a backlog to get to. I'm just glad to get it to her and know she will get to it eventually.

DH has planted some new plants in my flowerbeds. The one on the left is a coleus, variety unknown. On the right is a Maui Ixora.


This bed has different Croton varieties in it. The center one is actually bright purple with twisted leaves on it. The sun was so bright it is hard to see the color.

Isn't this yellow and green one gorgeous?


Here are the caladiums and the hibiscus, which has seen better days.


Today I went to lunch at the Olive Garden with two different Red Hat groups, the Red Hat Rascals (my group) and our guests, the Texas Cowbelles. We had a great time. Everyone talked about something they collect. I showed some of the fabric postcards I have received in the mail. People are always so surprised that they can be mailed.


DH got his first SS check today, and we've already spent it catching up on the bills. We should be in good shape now.

Sick

Sorry I haven't posted recently--I have had a bad summer cold for the last two weeks and am still coughing badly. I haven't had the energy to do much, although I have painted some more pages of my board book, and am re-thinking the theme for it. I am now considering doing a book on my ancestors, with photos of some of them and something about each one's life. We'll see how that goes.

I am also tasked with planning a Halloween party for my Red Hat Society group. At least I have plenty of time to think about that one.

More later when I'm feeling a little better.

Jury duty

I have actually made a little progress in my artistic endeavors- I have painted out about half the pages in my board book with two coats of white acrylic paint. I have also gotten a good start on my Buddha piece, as you can see in the photo. I need to print the Buddha figure onto fabric, then I can start sewing things down.

I have also started making postcards again, and signed up for a swap with two other people, "Painted Postcards." I painted some white cotton fabric with blue Jacquard paint, painted the main design, and added rubber stamped words, some fibers, and some little embellishments. I'll take a photo when they are ready to be mailed. I'm easing back into it, but I decided it was a good opportunity to try some new techniques. I had never used fabric paints before, and was pleased at the results. My efforts may not be up to the standards of the others, I don't know. I have spent several hours on each card, but they are more 'cute' than 'artistic.' I need to work on coming up with new and more sophisticated ideas.

This will be a busy week. Sunday was my MIL's 88th birthday. She has asked us not to give her any gifts, so we took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have to set up the Lodge for Eastern Star in the afternoon, go grocery shopping at the base commissary, then attend the Eastern Star meeting, with dinner at IHOP afterward.

My DH has a jury summons for Federal Court tomorrow, so he won't be available to help. Then on Thursday I have a jury summons for Municipal Court. I have no idea how long that will take--we have been called to jury duty on the county level at least once a year for many years, but neither of us has ever been called to either Federal or Municipal Court. It might be an interesting experience. I don't mind jury duty, I just resent the fact that the county calls us so often while other people never get called at all. I have told DH that if we ever move out to the country, we have to move to a different county!

Fall in bloom

These are some of the plants currently blooming on our patio. Top to bottom: Caladium bicolor "Pink Beauty"--the flower is the ugly brown thing to the left; Portulaca grandifloria, variety unknown; Hosta lancifolia--the flowers are pale purple; Kalanchoe "Flaming Katy"; Tacoma stans "Esperanza"--known as Yellow Bells; and Crinum powellii "Alba". DH has two green thumbs for sure--hostas and crinums aren't supposed to do well in South Texas!

On Saturday afternoon I went over to my friend Carol's house. A friend of hers had a friend who was a quilter who had recently died leaving a huge stash that her family was not interested in keeping. Carol agreed to liquidate the stash for them, making sure the bulk of the proceeds go to charity. Her dining room is full of boxes and bins of the most beautiful fabrics you could imagine, as well as books, magazines, kits, and patterns. I helped her sort through about a quarter of the boxes, drooling as we went. It was a lot of fun, even if it wasn't my stuff. It was like going on a shopping spree just to browse. The quilter was obviously very knowledgeable, and didn't hesitate to spend money to get the good stuff. I want dibs on some of the things when they go on sale! Although Carol asked me to take anything I really wanted, it wouldn't have felt right to take much. I did, however, take 4 magazines that I had been trying to find on eBay. I figured that was "pay" enough for two hours of work (even if it was more like play to us!) The poor woman, a former nurse who was just my age, died of myasthenia gravis. I'm sure that near the end it must have been very hard for her to do any quilting, but it was obvious that she did her best to continue as long as she could. I felt that it could just as easily have been myself who had been affected, so I really felt good about helping Carol out, and will gladly help her again to sort out more of the boxes.

In a similar vein, on Sunday DH and I went to the storage unit that holds the lion's share of my stash (temporarily, while DS and DDIL are living with us.) I had a list of six things I wanted to search for, and I expected it to take at least an hour. To my surprise, I found four out of the six within about twenty minutes; as well as a few other things that I didn't know I wanted until I saw them. I found all my silk ribbon and embroidery floss, some perle cotton balls, some Dye-Na-Flo paints, two quilt tops that I want to finish soon, and a case of spools of punch-needle yarns. I didn't find the blue-green fiber sheets I mentioned here before, or the book on fabric dyeing which is something I want to try soon. I know they are in there somewhere, but I wasn't willing to tear up the whole place just to find those two items. I have another dyeing book on order from eBay anyway, and hopefully it will get me started.

I haven't forgotten my promise to try to become more artistic in my work. I have started on a small wall piece with a Buddha theme. I am finding it hard to let go of the perfectionist side that wants everything pristine and exact, in order to work more freely and casually with the fabrics.

I also bought a children's board book with large sturdy pages. I intend to make it into an altered book piece, using mixed media collage to express the theme "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The first step will be to paint over all the pages with white paint--and even that is hard for me to do. Once that is done I think it will be much easier to work on it. I will keep track of my progress on this blog.