Thanksgiving 2008 is History

It was just me and my Mother this year. We had a very simple meal, didn't feel overly stuffed when the meal was over, and had an enjoyable afternoon. We chatted with the family in California who are doing the early-bird shopping in the morning. UGH!! One of the perks of growing older...a person no longer HAS to do those things. The "kids" think I'm too old for much shopping and I'm NOT about to disallusion them !! Although my best friend and I did agree the other day that "shop 'till you drop" doesn't take as long as it once did.

I bought the most beautiful fabric yesterday. It's pale pink with a silvery sheen to it. And so soft. It reminds me of the cotton sateen that was popular when I was young. It must have been more expensive than most, because as I recall, to have something made from sateen was a real treat.

Well, I'm off to go practice some machine quilting so I won't make a mess of this Special Quilt I'm trying to get finished.

Have a Great Weekend coming up,
And a safe trip home from Grandma's House.

Thankfulnesses:

A roof over my head, humble as it is
Peace and quiet
That I live in the country

Thanksgiving Eve

Is everyone ready for Thanksgiving? This will be the first year that I haven't cooked the Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. My family that's close has all gone to our oldest daughter's for the holiday. Someone needed to stay home to take care of things on the farm. (mainly the dogs and cats) Now before you go feeling sorry for me being all alone, I won't be. My mother is coming over and we will have a brunch of homemade soup and salad. Since I'm diabetic I shouldn't be eating most of the goodies anyway, so have a little extra for me, ok?

Before Mom decided to come over I was going to spend the day working on Christmas gifts. I'm having so much fun with my new sewing machine I hate to take the time to sleep or eat ! I have so many ideas for quilts and other sewng projects that I know I'll never get them all done in time for gifts this year.

Big Dog, aka Ringo, is getting a bed to sleep on. I don't know why, since she's in here sleeping on the floor. Picture this--she's a Border Collie and walks over and looks and looks at Daisy's bed. (Daisy is my Mini Doxie.) You can just imagine her thinking, I WANT to lie on THAT bed.

Since I believe in re-purposing things, I hunted through the "treasures" in the shop and found an old, old ragged sleeping bag. I'm going to make a pillow case type cover for it that I can slip off to wash. At least now Ringo will have the choice of whether she wants to sleep on the floor or on a doggy bed. Then I just need to make a harness so she can drag it around the house with her. Have bed will travel. Just kidding!

Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving, and safe traveling.

Seeing Old Friends and dogs.

I took an unplanned ride with a cherished friend today. Took most of the day but we had a great time. There's nothing quite like getting to visit with a friend to make the day brighter. We even got to see two herds of wild horses. (I TOLD you we live out in the boonies!)

She has gone to school to be a hypnotherapist and is setting up an office in a nearby town. So we went shopping for drapes and things for her new office. She also was picking up her granddaughter for the weekend.

My husband and I each have a dog. I have a mini doxie and he hasa border collie. I won't let her in the bedroom (she needs a bath) so she has to sleep on a throw rug close to the door. The doxie has one of those little doxie sized cuddly beds with a cover over it so she can feel like she's in a cave. Then it's stuck under a small table so she can feel safe(and out of the way). Invariably, the border collie comes along, sticks her head under the table, and acts like she wants to crawl in bed with Daisy (the doxie). It looks so funny! I think I'll get her(Ringo) a new bed for Christmas. Poor old dog. She deserves a bed too.

I'm thankful Ringo can't jump anymore or she'd be in our bed. Gotta be a limit somewhere!!

Thanksgiving Thankfuls

Family
Friends
Jesus

Useless Trip

Took the afternoon off from sewing and made a trip to the fabric store. What a waste of time. They didn't have ANY of the fabric I wanted, but I DID manage to pick up a cute flannel
for a quilt back.

Do you collect way too much STUFF? I don't have just fabric. I have more dishes than two people need, and yet we use a mismatched collection of Corelle. Even for company (country term for guests). They get a kick out of choosing what pattern of plate to eat from. So I'm not only entertaining the guests by having them over, but by the plates we use! So don't think you have to drag out the Lennox or whatever to make the guests feel special.

I also have books...and books...and books. I especially love OLD books. If my house burned down (up?) I'd miss my old books most. I still have several of the Little Golden Books from MY childhood. None of them are of any great value. To anyone but me, and I treasure each and every one. The book that got me started collecting is called Muslin Town by Gwendolyn Lampshire Hayden. (a distant relative). It's the story of a pioneer family in Eastern Oregon. It has a special place of honor right here above my computer. i could write pages and pages about my favorite books.

And then, of course, there are my family heirlooms. Some of them are more like the proverbial albatross around the neck. And I will pass them down to my children for them to drag around with them. Or not. One of my treasures in this category is an old crank telephone that was in my grandparents home when it burned on Christmas Day 1948. One of the neighbors pulled it off the wall and threw it out into the yard. Does that speak to how much more value they put on items we wouldn't think twice about? If our house were on fire I'm sure a PHONE would be one of the last things we'd think of trying to save. So, I've moved it and moved it over the past forty years. I don't dare even try to hang it on the wall. They "shore don't make them walls like they used to, Martha."

Thanksgiving

Warm home (it's COLD outside!)
Soft, cuddly dogs that love me
Friends

Quilt goof-ups

Mercy! It's Tuesday evening already! I would have had Quilt #1 top all done, but I've been having some sort of block. (No pun intended!) I keep sewing the block together wrong. They are set on point and it's driving me to distraction. UGH! How frustrating. Can I cry now?

So I sewed a couple of criss-cross coasters instead. I'll rip the necessary blocks apart this evening while I watch TV with one eye LOL At this point I just want to be done with that quilt. I porbably need to take a day off from sewing and go to the fabric store !

DH is cutting some blocks to raise my sewing/cutting table up higher to save my poor achey-breaky back. Sorry Billy. Just couldn't resist.

Today's Thankfulness

No rain
Stayed home and sewed
No snowmen in my yard LOL

It's Sunday evening already. Just exactly WHERE has this weekend gone? Sure sped by in a hurry to get somewhere else. I've been working on that quilt most of the day and decided it was time for a break. A few of the blocks aren't the size they should be so that's the next step--to fix them. Then it's on to the layout and stitching the top together. YEA !! When I get the top done I'll post a picture of it. The next one in the works is Dress Up Cats (September 07 Quick Quilts). I found the cutest multi colored fabric. It's got buttons on it. I used that as my inspiration fabric and found small polka dots and some pin dots to cordinate with it. Now just to get it done. The cats are all cut out. I just need some background and backing fabric and I can sew away on it. Then there's cupcake pin cushions, criss-cross coasters, a new sewing machine cover (for me), and get started on my give-away quilts using all my scraps. (I have CONTAINERS full!) Oh, and finish MY wall hanging. I'd also like to do a Christmas table topper of some sort. Our kitchen table is getting so beat up I'd like to cover it with SOMETHING. Think that's enough projects to keep me from sleeping too much between now and Christmas? I do.

Enough for tonight. I'm ready to vegg out for awhile.

Thankful list:

No rain today
Sun was out
Got all the blocks done for quilt #1

Midnight Mumbles

It's nearly 1 am and here I am sitting at the computer. I finally got tired and bleary eyed sewing and dedided to quit for the night. I just discovered an awesome site about using all those little pieces to make scrappy quilts for the less fortunate. This has been a goal of mine. It seems that every winter, even here locally, I hear about houses burning down and familes losing everything. Since I'm SO cold-blooded I've been wanting to do SOMETHING so others could stay warm also. The site is called Creative Scrap Quilting. Very fun site!

I have only three more block to make for Mom's quilt, then I can start assembling it. Somewhere between the store and home I've lost (misplaced) one of the FQs. So for now I'm that much short for the last block. I even checked my receipt and, yes, I DID buy enough. Now just to find where it"s in hiding! I hope DH hasn't burned the garbage yet. I'm wondering if it didn't make it out of the bag when I got home.

I'm going to toddle my body off to my nice comfy bed now. See ya all tomorrow.

Roasted Veggies

This is a wonderfuf way to use up those fall veggies. Simple too. On of my main requirements. Martha I ain't! More like Rachel. I CAN do Martha, just don't want to take the time. Anyway, here it is.

Chunk up whatever veggies you have. Today mine is pumpkin, butternut squash, red potatoes, rutabaga and turnip. I think that's all. That's just to give you an idea of what all you can use. Oops, I forgot to add a quartered onion and some carrots. In too big of a hurry. Haven't put it in the oven yet so I can go add those. Put all your veggies in a large bowl and add 3 tbs EVOO (extra vergin olive oil for those of you who don't watch Rachel), salt, and rosemary. I know I have Rosemary SOMEWHERE but she's in hiding so I used something else. Mix and place on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Bake at 450, 45-50 minutes, or until done.

Quick and healthy to boot. Enjoy

Thankful for:

SUNSHINE
My dog
My family

Julianne's Quilt

I made this one for Julianne's eighth-grade graduation. I got the bright (?) idea to make her a quilt about two weeks prior to the day we had to leave. She wanted just a lap cozy quilt, as she lives where it doesn't get to ZERO in the winter. Lucky her. As you can see it's a pinwheel quilt, with free pinwheels. She had chosen the backing fabric on a trip she made with me to the fabric shop. So I pulled colors from that VERY colorful backing for the top. It was a very fun quilt to make. I put the daisy motifs in the centers as that little do-hickey thing-y that holds the pinwheel together. Read that as, to hide where the wheels didn't quite match. Also, Daisy is my Mini Doxie's name and she just ADORES Julianne. Not reciprocated though, Julianne prefers the Border Collie, Ringo. We hid some bills, dollars not phone bills, in the little pockets created by the wheels. Although giving her the phone bills would have been nice! Just kidding!

I loved pinwheels as a child, and was very excited when someone actually bought me one. So this quilt brought back many fond memories for Grandma. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the entire quilt before I gave it to her. I'm trying to do better at photographing my projects!

UFOs

To a quilter a UFO is an UnFinished Object, not something floating in the sky. My UFOs include Garden Favorites, a Debbie Mumm block-of-the-month. Um-hmm, if you do NOTHING else! It's from 2007 and I'm on Block Seven. I'm also working on Vintage Memories. It will be just the quilt top and a backing for a new cover for our duvet. I wanted one that looked like a quilt but couldn't find one so am making my own. Each of the grandchildren will get a quilt from Grandma. I'm on the second one. She wants a black/white cat in the center of hers. I have some scraps of black washable velvet that I want to use to make the cat soft. And, of course, Christmas gifts. Those will be secret until AFTER the holiday.

It's showing the promise of another beautiful day here in eastern Washington. Cool, however. Winter is shoving Fall out of the way. Winter is never fun on The Farm. Can you say, messy and muddy? More time away from quilting due to more HOUSEWORK. That's a nasty nine-letter word! Nearly as bad as COOKING! Those all take time away from QUILTING.

Thankful for:

Saturday
Granddaughter #2 is visiting for the weekend
No SNOW...yet