Grass, and more Grass

Not much happening on the farm except the grass is growing faster than I can keep it cut. There hasn't been much time for sewing as I have developed an obsession to get all the grass cut that's around the house. Our area experiences grave fire danger so I'm trying to get it cut before it's too dry. Hopefully it will stop growing at that point.

I will be fitting the chair cover on for a "final fitting" tomorrow. I'm getting to the point of wanting to be done with it. I want to do something more fun! Like getting back to quilting! Or Annie dolls, or...anything.

Since I haven't been doing much at my sewing machine I don't have any photos to share...unless you would like to see "grass that's as high as an elephant's eye" really is. Can anyone tell me what song that line is from?

I was totally lazy today. I just couldn't make myself go out and start the weed eater or lawnmower. So I didn't. What a luxurious feeling! Totally decadent! I could get used to it very easily.

A friend is blogging how many miles she walks each week so i thought I'd start too. Nothing today, I'm afraid. She's aiming for 18 miles each week. I think I'll start with 1 mile each day, or maybe a little more, but I know it won't be 18!! We'll see.

Sunday Thanks

That I live where it's peaceful
For the birds that share my part of the world
For a/c
For my soft cozy bed when night falls
For long summer days

Have an Awesome week everyone!

Summer Is Here! Finally.

We are finally catching up with the rest of the country temperature-wise. It's 103* in The Dalles. Seriously glad I'm NOT there but I DO enjoy the warm weather.

How times does go by! Between the grandchildren being sick and my mother's illness (and then, of course, I just COULDN'T be left out!) I've been very busy. Usually my yard is very colorful with pots of flowers but not this year. Too busy with other things.  So I need to get busy and make some colorful quilt tops for QFK to fill my need for color.

We ended up having an Un-Fourth of July. We all got together along the river where the fireworks were supposed to be. But...alas! We were experiencing very high winds and they cancelled the show. We live in a very arid area (usually) and fire danger is an ever-present threat once the rains stop.  We still had a great (chilly) time picnicing and visiting with friends and family. I'm sure it will be remembered for many years as "Remember the year it was so cold and windy and they cancelled the fireworks." How the temps change is just a few days!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel getting that now hated chair cover finished. If I'm diligent it could be finished this weekend. What a burden off my shoulders that will be!

I did a first this week. My daughter bought a cute little fabric purse that only had a snap closure. Of course, she wanted a zipper. I found a matching zipper in my stash, and by hand basting it in first, I was actually able to insert it, and it came out looking ok. I was pleased with myself.

I have a friend who is a avid greeting card maker who just started her own blog. It is:
               katsretirementjourney.blogspot.com

I think she will be posting regarding herStampingUp group, card making and other things.

I came across this remark by Jerry Seinfield the other day and thought it was worth repeating.
                       "Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason."
.The poem by Robert Frost has long been one of my favorites so I got a chuckle and a few thought-provoking moments from that line of Jerry's.

THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY

Why does the real summer weather come after the day's start getting shorter?
Why do hair and grass always need cutting?
Why when I try so hard to be neat does my house still get messy?
Why do days go by faster the older you get?
Why does the wind quit blowing when it gets hot?

MY THURSDAY THANKFULNESSES

I'm thankful I had the money to pay the tire company when they came out along the freeway and changed a flat for me.

I'm thankful for warmer weather.

I'm thankful for the unexpected money that came today.

I'm thankful that my husband still has a job when so many are unemployed.

I'm thankful for my family.

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!

I really DO know how to spell

Sometimes my fingers aren't as fast as my brain though!  Or is it the other way around? The word is DIVERGED not DEVULGED !! Sometimes I hit the wrong key and publish a post before I intend to also LOL

I finally figured out a way to do continuous bias, yippee! The placemats are all done. After I mend a small tear in a pair of pants for DD I'm going to finish a cute little pot grabber I saw on another bog and she was kind enough to mail me the pattern. It's a little chicken. It's been so long since I started it I will need to read the directions again to see what needs to be done next.

I found the cutest flannel at Jo-Ann's earlier this spring. It's bright green with red plaid ladybugs. There was only enough to make boxer-style jammies with it. Oh, well. Then, if I get left alone for awhile I will work on whittling down the fabric stash. It does no one good just sitting here.

I want to start doing Quilts for Kids and Newborns in Need. Small quilts that I can easily do the machine quilting in my tiny space. How I envy those with sewing STUDIOS !!

Friday Ponders

I love it when it rains HARD during the night and then dries out so I can do yard work later

I love trying to figure out how to do things on my own, and do them RIGHT

I love watching the deer browse in our fields

I love the scent of the air after a good rain

I love watching the little finches at the feeding station

Have a great weekend everyone!!

BEJEWELLED QUILTS BY BARB: ACCU-GO GIVE AWAY!

Enter now until June 12 for a chance to win one of these fantastic little machines. Go to her blog for complete details on how to qualify for entries.  And be sure to tell her Grandma Shell sent you. Once again it is
http://bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com/

Have we ever had rain the last few days!  And this is only round one the weatherman says. Oh, my!! But everything around here is still so green and beautiful. I just hope it dries out enough so I can get the mowing done.

I don't know where the little quote came from but thought it was worth sharing.  I found it in a journal book that I keep interesting qoutes in.

    "Giving is Living

    Each day, ask God to show you little ways you can be a giver, even if it's simply holding the door for      another person or assisting someone with his or her struggles.  Once you catch this whole attitude of giving, confrontations on the freeway cease to be confrontational, irritating sales clerks don't seem so obnoxious anymore. and daily chores like laundry and carpooling take on a different meaning."

One of my online quilt grous is doing a challenge this month. The challenge is to do a quilt or wallhanging of something you're a fan of.  I'm still at the deciding point of choosing between Robert Browning and Robert Frost. I love the following lines that Browning wrote.

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven--
All's right with the world!

Or this portion that Robert Frost wrote:

Two woods devulged in a yellow wood,

What I've Been Doing

In between rearranging and trying to declutter my home I have actually managed to sew a little. Two more pillowcases for my main little man. One is scraps of a jungle print that I'd made a shopping cart cover from and the other is very bright tropical fish. Who knows just why I bought that fabric but it's going to a good use now.

I haven't been able to mow the grass for going on three weeks. I know, if it gets much taller they're going to designate it wildlife habitat! This morning it was dry, not windy and not too cold so yippee-skippy I got the lawn mowed, most of it. I was in the process of trying to put up a couple of hose hangers and a hanger for a new wind chime when the rain came. With a vengeance!

If you would care to read a first-hand experience of a rattlesnake bite victim visit My Romantic Home . It's interesting to me since rattlers are common in this area.

I have ONE place mat all done, done, done that coordinates with the blue and yellow table topper. All I need to do to the other three is put the bias binding on. The genetics from my left-handed mother are showing through. I have several tutorials on making continuous bias, and if you think I can begin to figure them out !! When I read them it all makes perfect sense, it's when I try to do the actual sewing that I run into problems. I have my square of fabric, have cut it and sewn it into a parellogram, marked the cutting lines, but i just don't seem to be able to line up that last seam. So I'm letting it 'cook' for a bit.

This weekend I MUST do some sewing on that chair cover. I have cut it in two and fitted it on the chair to see what the next step needs to be, so I'm making progress. S-L-O-W-L-Y.

Can I share a Grammie story? Like you have a choice LOL My daughter called me on the cell phone while I was on my way home wanting to know what I'd done to Little Man. It seems he was lying on the floor crying his heart out because he wanted to go home with Grammie. is that sweet, or what?


Thursday Thankfullnesses


That God takes care of us

That I got most of my lawn mowed before the rain came

That I wasn't the one bitten by a snake

That everything is so green and beautiful after a good rain

That the birds music is so enjoyable

Where'd April Go? And other thoughts.

Did I miss April?  Must have, it still feels like March.

I finally got my round table topper all finished and on the table! YAY!! Now I'm finishing 4 coordinating placemats.I'm making bias binding right now.. I have a square of fabric cut and I'm going to try the continuous bias method. Well, I will if I can find the notebook that I wrote the instructions in. That's what happens when I tidy up my desk...I can't find a thing !! I found a good video tutorial at Erin Compton Designs blog if you are interested.

Here's a photo of the entire topper.

Oh, I get so tired of this! I keep telling it to left justify and it insists upon center justification. GRRR!!

The placemats have some of the same fabrics in them. When i get one finished I'll post a photo. I'm rather excited about getting to finish something for ME for a change.

I got brave one day and cut into that scary project. The recliner cover. I've even taken it over and put it on the chair so I could see how much needs to be removed. Now she wants elastic all around the bottom to keep the cat from going up under it to scratch. And a separate cover, all elasticized for the foot rest. Remind me, if I have another set of children in a future life, to teach them to sew LOL

I have a smallish bedroom so an entire bed frame is out of the question but I bought a headboard at an estate sale yesterday. It needs some repair work but I'm going to sand it down and paint it white. I've developed quite a liking for white painted furniture lately. I've also thought of doing my entire house blue and white with other accent colors but since my HUGE couch that takes up most of the living room is dark turquoise that probably won't work! I AM getting rid of those hideous green cupboards that you catch a glimpse of the the above photo. They are changing to white. I lived through those colors once, not doing it again!

Finally. I got the formatting to change to left justify.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! If it's nice I'm going to give my sewing machine a rest and go do yard work. There are so many weeds that are begging to be pulled and grass that needs mowing. I'm not sure how many flower pots I'm planting this year. It gets to be such a chore keeping them all watered and fertilized. We'll see. I love color in my yard, so...

Things I'm thankful for:

My almost blooming lilac bush

That the wind has died down. I was SO tired of the 'breezes'

For the peace and quiet of country living

That I don't have to put up with some people on a 24/7 basis

That I'm really not as old as I feel sometimes LOL

That it's finally warming up, some. I had to scrape ice from my windshield yesterday morning !!

Ta-ta 'till next time!

It almost seems strange to be here it's been so long. What a month March was! Many, many birthdays, a granddaughter and her friend visited for a few days, plus the usual babysitting duties.

I almost have the kitchen painted. Now it's on to getting rid of those UG-G-LY 1970s green cabinet doors. I'm painting them white! Orange would even be a better color!! My granddaughter with the immpecable taste approved of the shade of blue I chose. Whew! It's Behr Russian Blue if you're interested and the white is Behr Frost semi gloss. An acquaintance gave me a fantastic idea to do the walls in flat paint and then choose a width of "board" in the paneling and do just those boards in the same color but semi-gloss. When the light hits it just right it gives a tone-on-tone stripe effect. Love it!

I finished the Downey Quilts for Kids quilt and it's on it's way to Pennsylvania. When I started the quilting it was going to be Rings Around the Rosies but as things often do it evolved into Flight of the Honeybee. I was running out of patience going around all the flowers!

This is the back of the quilt

The front

And a close up of the front, sorry it turned out so blurry

And here is the birthday boy's cute cake. he's really into the Thomas & Friends!

My next project is to remake a sofa cover to fit DD's recliner. We just happened to find a cover that's the exact match to the one on her sofa. How fortunate was that, eh?! I know what I want to do but how to achieve it is another thing alltogether. I want to take the excess out of the center and have two seams that are hidden in the part that gets tucked in on the inside of the arms.  That way I don't have to mess with trying to redo the arms and ties. She keeps asking if it's done yet. Can you tell I'm reluctant to start? Any advice would be most gratefully accepted!

I wish I could get this thing to align LEFT like I tell it to. GRRR!! It will NOT change from Align Center.

SATURDAY THANKFULLS

For a day of R&R

For Spring at last!!!

For my sweet little Daisy

For living in the country

For flowers