Special Day

Greetings All ! Today is a special day for three special people! Our son Mitch, our nephew Chuck and dear friend Darlain, all have birthdays! We wish them all the best of everything and hope they are having a special day! We'll call Mitch tonight and have a chat!

Nate has been off work two weeks now - he works for a company that makes foreign car air conditioners and heaters. J.D. is still in Bloomington and taking it easy. . don't know his plans for the rest of the summer. Need to check in with Tracy this evening, too. Mark pops in and out - he is still switching cell phone batteries with me. He is working but some of the lines have been closed down - they make Toyota car parts.

We have had a lot of rain this past week. The field out back had water standing in it and it is just too wet to plant. The field across the road is planted and corn is peeking up!

Last Sunday Chet took a friend and me out to lunch at a buffet. We went to pick up the friend and I saw her poppy's blooming so I jumped out of the car, went up the alley and took a few pictures of them. Aren't they just so perky! Love poppies but haven't attempted to grow them myself! We hadn't called ahead for reservations but they took us in anyway! So much food - and such a small stomach! I think we were there for a good hour. The waitress told me they had over 500 reservations between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. I'll bet there were some sore feet that night!

This windmill is on the restaurant lawn - it was whirling that day - but not creaking like ours did on the farm! Seeing the windmill reminded me of the milk house that butted up to ours - and then I remembered Dusty Miller scaring us and chasing us up the windmill, scampering around and sitting on the roof of the milk house - sisters - ringing any bells?

Last week while digging through the big closet looking for the box of feed sacks to take to quilt guild, I ran across a bag with a "project in progress" in it. This throw was started in a class I took in Fairfield, Ohio - when Mitch and family lived there. Now that was so long ago, I don't remember when I started it. Diane and her Mom from Upper Michigan and I took the class. I'm wondering if they ever finished theirs! I had most of it finished, had to sew the rows together and add the borders; and made the binding too. Now it is hanging in the closet with others to be quilted some day!

The flying geese quilt, aka: Goosey - Goosey - is now finished. I gathered up the odds and ends of leftovers from other projects to make the binding - six different fabrics in the binding! It was tossed into the washer and dryer and it is now a cuddly throw size quilt.

Yesterday I started a new project - a maple leaves table topper. Dug out batiks and other fall colored fabrics and cut out the three different size blocks I'll be using. 3", 6" and 9" blocks with spacers to fill in. Love batik maple leaf projects! The 3" blocks are finished - they are done first because they are difficult to handle at that size! Hopefully the piece will be finished some time this week.

Please notice I have corrected the date and year on my camera! It took a while - but I think it's right now! (The wind mill picture was taken before I changed the date.)

And that's about it, folks - till next week - take care.

Short Post Today

My post today will be speedy - can you hear the pre-football game in the background? The way the Colts and Packers are playing, Chet is having a hard time finding a team to root for!

Nate came over and pulled the air conditioning unit out of my bedroom, brought his battery charger over for Chet's rider mower (guess what Chet's getting for C'mas) and stayed and had a light supper with us.

I finally got through to Mark - he's fighting a cold for two weeks now - guess I should make a pot of chicken soup for him - but don't think he likes my soup. He's still working on the Hot Tub on the Truck project!

Chatted with Tracy yesterday, she's now in Hattiesburg and will begin her new job on Monday. There are two heart specialists in this practice, another RN and a couple practicers. In a couple of weeks she will going to an equipment training session.

Had an email from Mitch - he's been traveling - says he's trying to keep jobs for 450 people. Such a big job - but we're proud of him and all he's accomplished.

We've had a quiet week - just my speed! I went and had a haircut, went to lunch and then drove up to a nearby quilt shop looking for fabric for sashing and borders to set the blocks together that I "featured" last week. Unfortunately there wasn't enough on the bolt, but she says she has more coming in - so fortunately, I get to go back soon. I also dropped off the red zig-zag quilt I'd been working on but poor Caroline is so busy right now so I'll have to be patient and wait.

So instead of giving Caroline a rest from MY QUILTS, I've gone and dug out my Blocks Stash. I made a "big bunch" of blocks using light scraps and a white background fabric. I put together one large top, 75 " x 90" , on Friday and Saturday. I'm not sure what that layout is called. I used 120 blocks in it. So this morniing I got out the blocks again and put together a small top, using 20 more blocks. This layout is traditionally called Fields and Furrows. There are 30 of the blocks left and I will stitch them up using another layout. I love the Barn Raising layout and may do that provided there are enough blocks to make the layout work. (I don't intend to make anymore!)

The reds with cream zig-zags is about a 26" square piece, made of leftovers from the Red Strip Swap several gals from the chat room exchanged. (Click on photo to enlarge it and look for the peppers fabric - from a Texas Gal) - isn't it cute? The smaller quilts I'm able to handle on my sewing machine and now I have a stack of them to work on. I'm always glad to see a snow storm blow in - then I can get in the mood to work on the quilting and finishing up projects.

I've had my lunch - and am ready to go take my nap. . . . till next week . . . . take care.