No, I'm not....

I thought I was back, but it turns out I won't be blogging for awhile, probably not until January. I had cataract surgery in my right eye, and may be having it in my left in December. I can't see very well, so this will have to wait until my vision gets better. Sorry.

I'm back!!

**********

It's been awhile since I've posted. I've been having vision problems, and just found out that I will be having cataract surgery in November. I've also been tested for sleep apnea, and will start wearing a CPAP machine about the same time. I hope I will soon be doing much better.

I made 36 of these Sewing Kit in a Jar units to sell at our Eastern Star Rummage Sale on October 24th. They sell for $7.50 each and contain a mixture of vintage and new sewing supplies.

Here is a photo of the table I decorated for a recent Eastern Star meeting. I made the centerpiece, which has flower "hair" with a raven sitting in it. Below is the cake that was served.

My older son and his family are arriving tomorrow to begin their tour of duty at Corpus Christi NAS. We are so looking forward to having them nearby! They will live on base, and we live only about 5 miles away. My younger son and his wife live about the same distance from us in another direction. We are pumped to all be together again!

**********

New sewing room

**********

July's image swap was Rosia from Paper Imagery Designs. These are the ones I received.

from Lee H.

from Jennifer R.

from Dianna M.

~~~~~

June's swap was Marshall in 4 x 4 size, from PID.

from Lee H.

from Jennifer R.

from Chris L.

**********

It's been awhile since my last post, and I said I would share photos of my new sewing and craft rooms when I got them organized. Well, that's going to take longer than I thought! I have been working on them for a couple of months now, and they aren't even half loaded yet. But at least they are semi-organized, so I can show them to you.

This is my craft room. The closet has wire shelving with lots of bins of craft stuff, plus boxes and other containers that haven't been sorted yet. The other shelves are for books, magazines, and vhs tapes that I am in the middle of dubbing to DVD. The printer is on the left, and you can't see the computer desk; but you can see the top of the TV in the foreground. The work table is under the window, with storage for beading and jewelry supplies and cardmaking supplies.

To the right is the drawing table, currently covered with stuff. The cart on the left holds desk supplies, and the one on the right holds scrapbooking supplies (I don't really do scrapbooking though, it's mostly stuff for making ATCs and cards.) Behind the door are two purse racks. I make a lot of my own purses, and this was the only place I could find to store them.

~~~~~

This is the Singer Fashion Mate (237) that I picked up at a garage sale for $20. It had a broken stitch width lever, so I bought one on eBay for $5 and fixed it myself. I have yet to try it out, as I have no table to put it on right now. I understand that these are real workhorse machines--all metal parts except the faceplate and spool pin. It weighs a ton, too. It will do straight stitch and zigzag, and the feed dogs lower. It will make a good back-up machine.

~~~~~

Now, here's the sewing room as you walk in the door. My Husqvarna Viking Rose and my Singer 600E Touch and Sew are set up and ready to go. The pegboard holds a lot of stuff, and there's a rack next to the window that holds rotary cutters and rulers out of the way of little hands. There's a worktable in the center of the room for cutting and pressing. The quilt rack holds items that are waiting to be machine quilted.

To the left of the door are three bookcases. My battings are labeled as to size and stacked on the top left side.


My finished quilts are on the top right.


The bookcases are full of bins holding fabric by color or category, and the one on the far right hold books and projects in progress.

A closer look at the pegboard and the ruler rack. There is a window to the right--the sun was bright today!

Then to the right of the window is the closet. My serger is to the left, my thread rack is on the right (this is only about half my thread!) The TV is currently not hooked up. I don't know if I'll ever get around to getting a cable box for it. The door to the room is on the right edge of the photo.


I still have about half my stuff in storage, so the rooms won't always be this neat. But they work for me. I may rearrange the furniture a little, once I find out if the layout works or not.

~~~~~

So you see I have been busy, so I have a good excuse for not updating this blog sooner. I'll try not to be so remiss next time.

**********

Back to work

**********

I entered 5 charms in a contest for Cloth Paper Scissors, and received the charms below in return.

by Michelle H.

by Lisa H.

by Laura B.

by Jo D.

by Elizabeth D.

~~~~~

The monthly image swap for April was Craig by Paper Imagery Designs. Here are the ones I received:

by Wanda H.

by Sarah W.

by Lee H.

by Eileen B.

by Betty M.

~~~~~

I have a brand new grand-nephew! I made this quilt for him. He will soon have two new female cousins, so I'll be trying to get two more quilts done by September. This is the Pansy Table-topper from e-Pattern Central, with the pansies changed to a more generic flower.

~~~~~

I think I already mentioned that while we were in Fayetteville, AR my sister machine quilted three quilt tops that had been sitting in a box or some time. I finally got them bound and although I still need to put labels on them, I wanted to show them here. I don't remember where I got the pattern for this first one. I intended it for Christmas time, but doesn't it remind you of watermelon?

This next one was a kit from Michael Miller fabrics called Ginkgo Glory. I have another kit that matches it that I haven't even started on yet. I wish my camera was better. My sister quilted koi fish into the background and it looks great!



This last one was a series quilt from Quiltmaker magazine, called Mr. MacGregor's Garden. I finished it nearly ten years ago--but I never could figure out how I wanted it quilted. My sister actually used invisible thread in her machine with an allover pattern, even though she had never been able to use it before. It worked like a charm, and doesn't detract from the fusible applique.


I am so thrilled to finally have these done! I have been moving things back into my "new" sewing room, and in unpacking boxes and bins I have found several unfinished projects. I'm hoping to get them done in the next few months.

When I get all the furniture in the new rooms I will take some photos to share here.

~~~~~

One of my older son's best friends got married recently. Coming from a fundamentalist Protestant background, I had never been to a full Catholic wedding before. It was a beautiful service. Many of the boys that were members of my sons' BSA troop were there, all grown up now, of course. It was a real trip down memory lane. I only wish my sons could have been there. They would have had a blast!

~~~~~

I have finally started back to the dentist after 3-4 years. My last dentist retired just as we lost our dental insurance, so we couldn't afford to have dental care. As a result, my new dentist is going to have to do extensive work to get my teeth back in good shape. So far he plans on at least 3 crowns and 3 fillings. I don't mind going to the dentist like some people do. I want to keep my teeth as long as I can. But it will be an inconvenience for the next couple of months.

~~~~~

Saturday is the Installation of Officers for this next year of Eastern Star. I get to wear my lovely new wine-colored dress ( :-P) for a whole year, twice a month. I'm in the same position I have been in for the past year, so I'm comfortable with it. After this year I want to take a break, though.

**********

**********

Well, we're back home again, after being gone for over a week. We had a lovely service for my MIL in Stillwater, OK. We saw relatives and friends we hadn't seen in a long time. It was a stressful trip, but we then traveled to Fayetteville, AR to stay with my sister and her family.

We really needed a break, and we couldn't think of a more beautiful and peaceful place to get some R & R. Something else we haven't seen in a long time---real trees! They had a really big ice storm this winter that damaged a lot of trees, mostly pines and magnolias, but they were still gorgeous to us. This is my sister's backyard AFTER the tree trimming.

Still beautiful, isn't it?

The flowers were blooming everywhere, like these bearded iris:

And these peonies, in every color imaginable:


It rained almost every day while we were there, but to us it was like manna from heaven! South Texas has been so dry lately, although after we got back we did get almost an inch of rain here.

We were missing our dog, Copper; but my sister's dog, Gypsy, made it her mission to keep us from getting homesick. We spoiled her while we were there! I wish I had gotten a picture of her.

We had a great time going to some garage sales with my sister and niece. We bought way too much stuff! We couldn't resist--garage sales here are pretty sparse. At one stop we found five large grocery bags full of fat quarters. They were marked 25 cents each or $25 a bag. We talked them down to $20 a bag and my sister and I bought all five bags! We then laid them all out and I took this one and she took that one, over and over until we had them split equally. Here are the bags I brought home:

~~~~~

I enjoyed garage sale-ing so much that last weekend I did it again here. The sales weren't as good, but my prize purchase was this framed piece of scherenschnitte:

~~~~~

On the way home, we stopped in Quitman, TX at Stitchin' Heaven. I bought the pattern and fabric for this purse there. It is a pattern by Kathy Fernholz for Indigo Junction called Pocket Perfect. It made up really quickly, although I added my own touches. It calls for one outer pocket but I made two. I lengthened the straps, and I also added two inner pockets to the lining, as shown in the lower photo. I love the purse, but I think I'd use a regular interfacing next time instead of the Timtex called for in the pattern. Just my preference.

My sister machine-embroidered the designs for these potato/vegetable bakers, and gave me the fabric. I made four of them there, and finished a fifth one here at home. I gave that one to my DIL. The ones that look yellow are actually a pale pink and the red one is actually maroon--I really need to get myself a new camera one of these days!


My sister also used her longarm quilting machine to quilt three tops I brought with me. I will be showing them when I get the binding on them. Thanks, sis!

~~~~~

While we were gone, I received my charms from the charm swap at MixedMediaArt Yahoo group. I think they are all wonderful! I will make several bracelets from these when I get the time.

~~~~~

Now that we are home, we have been moving my son and DIL into my MIL's house. They will be the caretakers until we are ready to sell it. Most of my MIL's stuff is still there; we will be going through it slowly over the next few months. My son and DIL have been living with us for 4 years now--it is time they had their own household. Once they are completely moved out of our house, I will be turning their area into my sewing and craft studios. It will take some time to rearrange everything in my house, but I am going to do it up right. It will be another 4 years before we are ready to move to Fayetteville, which has been our dream for several years.

Our other son will be home from Iraq tomorrow, and we were thrilled to learn that his next duty station will be here at Corpus Christi! That is if the Navy ever gets his orders cut. :-) He and his wife and three kids will be living near us for the first time. We are so excited! This is why we won't be moving for the next few years.

~~~~~

My husband went to San Antonio this last weekend and received his 32 degree in Scottish Rite Masonry. His mother would be so proud--I know she is smiling from above. She always wanted him to do this, and he had hoped to get it done before she passed. He now can add this to his list of Masonic accomplishments!

He is on the road again now, to Stillwater, OK to attend a Tree Conference at OSU. When he returns I think he will be ready to put away his suitcase for awhile!

**********

Sad news

After months of suffering with Alzheimer's Disease, my mother-in-law finally passed away last night. We will miss her, but in fact she has been gone for some time now.
It may be awhile before I can post again, but I will be back as soon as things quieten down.

Avery swap

**********

Here are the results of the monthly PID image swap: Avery.
They're all wonderful! Thank you, friends!

By Sarah W.

by Jennifer R.

by Elena V.

by Eileen B.

by Dianna M.

~~~~~

I've been asked to share the following recipe. It's quick, easy, and oh, so good!

Marcia’s Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

1 pound spaghetti, broken into thirds

1 teas. salt

2 pounds ground beef

½ cup diced onion (I use frozen)

1/3 cup chopped green pepper (again, I use frozen)

1 T vegetable oil

½ teas. minced garlic in oil

2 cans tomato sauce with Italian Herbs (I use Contadina)

Grated parmesan cheese to taste

In large stockpot, boil 6-8 quarts water with the salt. Add broken spaghetti to boiling water, simmer for 10 minutes or until al dente. While waiting for water to boil, sauté onion and green pepper in vegetable oil until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef, crumbling it into small pieces. Add garlic, sauté until ground beef is fully browned. Drain off any liquid, then add tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, then simmer until spaghetti is done. Serve sauce over individual servings of spaghetti and top with Parmesan cheese.

**********

Beautiful to look at...

***********

Three darling grandchildren!

The new table-topper I just finished...

~~~~~

My DH just inherited some "dishes" from an elderly cousin. Some dishes!!

10 pieces of Fostoria crystal, "Baroque" in Topaz yellow.

4 ice tea tumblers, 4 sherbets, a relish tray, and a small vegetable dish. I love this pattern!



Also a complete set of Franciscan "Apple" USA, circa 1950, in excellent condition. Very collectible! Four place settings with several completer pieces, plus some coordinating green glassware of unknown origin. If anyone recognizes the green glassware pattern, let me know!

~~~~~

Don't anyone try to tell my DH he can't grow iris in South Texas! These are next to our front door.

~~~~~

Yesterday my DH spent all day at the Corpus Christi Botanical Gardens' Big Bloom Plant Sale.
I helped out during the afternoon for about four hours. It was breezy and shady there, so I didn't bother to wear sunscreen or a hat. My face, shoulders, neck, and lower arms are very sunburned today--which has given me a headache. Yuk!


**********