Sunny Sunday

Oh, it's so pretty out today - crisp but still nice. I only stepped outside to take a few pictures and there is a bit of a breeze. It seems that when I moved to get a good shot, the wind blew the piece in the other direction. I think I'm going to have to sneak over and use one of my neighbor's fences as a backdrop for my outdoor photos!

Contrary to what some of you may belive - - I really do cook. The picture is of the "makins' for a pot of chicken noodle vegetable soup. The chicken is in the pot and stewing away. Can you smell the Rosemary and Bay Leaf? And don't forget the onions! Hopefully this pot will yield three meals for us. (I try to eke as much sewing time out of a pot of soup as possible!)

Spoke with Tracy Friday night, she's moved her belongings into her house in Hattiesburg but is still working in Slidell, LA. She did find a job in Hattiesburg and will start there in two weeks.

Haven't seen our local two sons in two weeks - Had supper out at Marks and Nate brought over fudge from Metamora. Did you know you can slide that creamy fudge into 1/4" slices and have it last a week? The Wisconsin son and his family are always so busy. I imagine they are enjoying the home up on the Lake; it must be beautiful up there now.

From my sewing corner - - I made the miniature Churn Dash piece last week. I caved and bought some fabric online. Lovely fabric, it feels like silk. the photo doesn't do the colors justice. It measures about 18 x 20" and is machine quilted.

The "lone" block is from a book I got in the mail yesterday. I just had to try it quickly this morning, and like it so have dug out my tub of plaid fabrics and background bits and pieces and will continue to make more blocks. Chet will be watching the Colts win over the Packers footgall game this afternoon, so he'll never miss me.





And now the ladies from the chat room will get a sneak peek at what I did with the red strips we traded a few weeks ago. The sailboat fabric is for the back of the quilt. Carolyn, my longarm quilter gal will be wearing sunglasses when she works on this - cuz it's REALLY REALLY RED! And of course there are leftovers of the reds so I made a small quilt like this.

Time to run - football previews are on and it's "taxing" to my ears. Wishing everyone a good week.

Sunny Indiana

Lovely weather, not at all like autumn - but the leaves are turning and more and more crops are being harvested! Nate & Mark are taking advantage of the weather and riding their bikes whenever possible. Lawn mowing has slowed down but Chet goes out and pets and polishes his riding mower a couple of times a week.

Ah - my Sunday Routine - time to blog. It's a challenge to come up with a few pictures and something to say about them - I hope the non quilters & knitters will bear with me. (I'd put a smiling face here if I knew how!) It's been rather a quiet week - except for one day, this week. A friend was going to Columbus and invited me to go along. She had a couple of specific things to shop for and we hit Hobby Lobby first and found one of the items. Then we decided to go to the other side of town and visit a quilt shop and have lunch. (No, I didn't buy a thing at either place.) We had a lovely quiche, a bowl of fruit and a Coke for our lunch. We got into the van and planned to go back into town and stop at the store she needed to go to. Alas and alack! The van started but would not shift out of neutral! She tried several times to get it to shift, turned the steering wheel because this had happened before and she didn't have the wheels "straight". But it didn't work this time. Fortunately she has an AAA membership and made a call. The phone conversation was frustrating because it was difficult for her to understand the operator. We had to wait about half an hour for a tow truck to come. The driver walked up to the van and said "I guess you need air or gas." We said no and again explained the situation. He tried shifting the van, no luck - then he turned the steering wheel to straighten the tires and still nothing. So the options were to be towed to the shop and have them look at it or be towed back to Greensburg. She opted to be towed to Greensburg and have her mechanic take a look. Well, after some effort, we managed to crawl up into the cab of the tow truck and we were on our way home! And darn it, I didn't have my camera with me or I'd be sharing a picture of the handsome driver and the shiny tow truck. Ah - my life is just one adventure after another! I'm glad I have friends who help keep my life interesting. When I last checked with her, a diagnosis hadn't been given!

Remember the picture of the red quilt blocks I posted last week? Well - that top is ready to go to the longarm quilter. All I can say at this point is that "It's a lot of red"! Eight of us from the chat room exchanged five fabric strips = 40 different red fabrics + I dug into my reds bin and pulled out quite a few more. I'm guessing I have over 50 different red fabrics in that quilt top.

After struggling with Big Red, I decided to do something small. The School House blocks and the Churn Dash blocks are 4 1/2" unfinished size.

One of the gals in the chat room has taken up knitting and sent a picture of her granddaughter in the cutest ruffled hat. It just made my fingers itch so I dug out my yarn bag and found some baby yarn and needles. Paged through a few pattern books and found a new (to me) pattern and decided I must do that. So here it is - it's got a pointy top - but I didn't get it in the picture. I have enough yarn to make a couple more hats - next time I will pay more attention so the pattern is correct - the lacy eyelets are suppose to be in line. But I was watching a bit on TV about Deborah Winger - such a pretty lady - she has a new movie coming out soon.

The Packer Gold scarf was "on the needles" for quite a while so I finished it last night. It looks like it's got worms - but those little wiggles are part of the yarn. Believe me, they are!
I think all my kids and grandkids are fine - only heard from J.D. He calls me while walking from class to his apartment, or while waiting for the bus. He is enjoying college so much and I'm glad. He has a friend who is a graduate student, from Saudi Arabia. Told me his name but can't remember it right now. This fella teaches on of his classes. J.D. is looking forward to coming home for Thanksgiving and having a lot of good food!

Till next time - - keep in touch and stay well.

Hearing & Seeing Things

Lovely day in Indiana today - couldn't ask for more lovely weather! I did manage to get out info the fresh air today - had some errands to do. Wal-Mart stop was one of them - the store has been remodeled recently and I just can't find a thing and the help isn't too helpful either. But I rewarded myself with an Arby's Super Sandwich - the one where the sauce runs down your arms and the sides of your mouth! Chet was at a pitch-in at church so didn't have to be concerned about feeding him!

HEARING THINGS! This afternoon I was paging though a magazine and thought I heard Christmas music - looked out and the music was coming from the ice cream truck! Hard to connect the two!

SEEING RED

I think I mentioned last week that eight of the chat room gals were having a reds strip swap - the strips are here and I've begun to stitch. That's a lot of red - right? Imagine 40 strips of fabric and none are identical - I think there will be some bright quilts to come from the swap!

I also finished up the Boxed Squares throw size quilt last week - I quilted it on my sewing machine - used curvy, wavy lines, 3" to 4" apart. I suspect there are enough solid fabrics in that bin to make another one of these!

Mark invited us out to his house yesterday afternoon. He made a pork loin with potatos, red and green peppers and onions - all wrapped in foil and baked. It was very tasty! In his back yard he has a project in progress. This is/was a 1973 Motorhome. He has torn off the "home" section and is planning to build a hot tub on the flatbed area. He'd done research online and found a few conversions - how about a boat converted into a hot tub! My first thought was of Mark's Uncle Wally and Pa Joe and their "creativity"! I will keep you posted on this venture!

J.D. phoned the other night - he was so happy - he "aced" a Finite Math test! Second highest grade in the class! We're so proud of him and confident that he will continue to do well - he's a good kid - or young man, I should say - he's 22 now. Working on an assembly line in a factory, slinging hamburgers and roofing one summer, he's learned that an education is top priority!

Till next week - be safe and well

This & That

Hi Folks - time for my weekly post and here I am with little to say. Wonder how that happens! Lovely fall weather - leaves are starting to turn beautiful colors and some are falling to the ground! We "motored" to Rushville to pick up a quilt on Friday morning and saw quite a few corn pickers in the fields and on the highway, too.

The ABATE bike ride last weekend was successful. There were 57 bikes and 86 riders and they managed to raise just over $2,000 to be donated to the Bread of Life. Their next big ride/fundraiser will be in October - Santa's Cause. They donate to families who don't qualify for assistance through other organizations. Nate gave me the website and I've not checked it out yet - but try this, if interested. http://dcsantascause.com

Yesterday I got a call from my friend Pat, she had panic in her voice! She remembered the quilt show in Columbus and wondered if I remembered it. . . well, I forgot about it . . . I do keep a calendar in my purse and write these important dates in it. I guess the trick is to look at that calendar from time to time! So today we went to see the quilts on display and there were quite a few quilts, all lovely, of course. The picture is one that was on display - it is the only picture I could take. My camera seems to have decided not to cooperate with me. It's a smaller one that I can carry in my purse - but if it's not going to work, I'll just have to carry the bigger one with me on important trips like this.

My sewing world has kept me busy this week. I made 48 string quilt blocks and will send them off to be put into a top and quilted and donated to a charity. (Pictures next week.) I'm putting binding on a quilt I picked up on Friday and quilting the Boxed Squares - have just a bit more to do and then will add the binding. 8 gals from the Fabric Stash Chat Room decided to do a red fabrics strip swap. Each of us send five strips of a different print to each other. I sent my strips off on Friday, the 19th. Gals are in No. Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arkansas, and 3 in Texas. We were surprised at the amount of time these envelopes were en route. One of the gals in Texas didn't get my strips till the 27th! Another surprise was the cost - ranged from $1.17 to $1.68. I realize there are different weights of fabric but there just isn't that much difference. I have to say I was very disappointed in the mail service. But we will each have a lovely quilt in the end!

Chet has the football game on so loud I can't stand it in here. Have a good week and keep in touch. . . . . bye now

The Week with the Weckops

The week began quietly - no more wind and rain storms. The neighbors kindly finished picking up the branches and limbs that blew down from the remnants of Ike over the weekend. We were without electricity for 19 hours but did just fine. Chet and I played 500 and Racko - I don't like to brag, but I did win all the games we played. Poor guy, guess I could have left him win a game or two. We learned that tall candles give off better light than those shorter, stubby scented candles! The only thing I missed was being able to sew - but I got over that in a hurry by hand piecing two small quilt blocks, while remembering Mom's White treadle sewing machine.

Nate biked up to Columbus to pick up J.D. - his first weekend home since August. He got a ride that far with a friend who also goes to IU. It was a busy weekend for Nate - the local chapter had a fund raising ride for the Bread of Life - aka: Soup Kitchen here in town. About 85 riders registered and I believe they rode about 120 miles. They ended up out in the country where they'd set up campers, RV's and Port-a-Potty's. Three bands agreed to come out and play for the evening festivities. Chet rode in the "chase car" - they follow in case of a break down or accident. The fire truck led them out of town and Greensburg's Finest brought up the tail end. Sign up table - notice Chet and Nate in rear of photo.

Mark and Gail - a friend of his, rode along with him.


Pictures are taken from the parking lot of the Greensburg Daily News -

The final line up and the police car! I patted the driver on the arm and said "be gentle" - he didn't really appreciate that! Oh well!

J.D. and I spent the afternoon together, we had a sandwich, chips & dip and chatted away. He's loving classes. His friend picked him up and they headed back to campus. He said he had three tests this week and had to do three pages on his website. We also took a ride out into the country to see if we could find the church that was heavily damaged in the storm last weekend. And we found it - the tree that fell onto and into the church was 150 years old - planted at same time the church was built. People were there working to clear out the tree and other debris. It is so sad to see the damage done to that building. The church was to celebrate their 150th anniversary today with a picnic following the service. Picnic was cancelled and services were held on the lawn.

Now on to my sewing world - a little corner in my bedroom! Seven gals from the Chat Room and I are have a red strips swap. We began with the idea of making the same quilt we did in all blues several years ago. I decided I didn't want to do another like it and found another pattern. So I've been cutting, stitching and pressing away. This morning one of the gals asked if she could have the pattern - well, there is no pattern. I saw a picture in a fabric catalog and drew/drafted it up on graph paper. So I spent about two hours taking pictures of the finished quilt (I've done it in all scrappy look before), pictures of the different steps involved with the piecing. (Now I know why patterns are expensive!) I asked a gal from my local guild to read my instructions and see if it makes sense to her. . . if so, I'll pass it on . . . if not, I'll rewrite at her suggestions. Bless her for taking time to do this for me.

I did finish piecing my Row Quilt and took it and the scrappy Maple leaves tops to the longarm quilter last week. That poor gal is swamped with quilts to do now - I don't know why there are so many other women tying up her time so she can't get right to mine! Ha Ha Ha My Boxed Squares is ready to quilt, too. . . need to pin baste it and I'll quilt that one myself.

Someone is muttering and opening and closing cupboards and drawers in the kitchen - guess that means I need to find some lunch for him. Till next week - - stay well and be happy.

Hope everyone had a good week. We were busy with dental visits, grocery store and various errands. All the rain and wind we've had lately has caused a leak and there is a "bubble" in our living room ceiling. I called the roofer fella and he came over this morning and did some checking in the attic area and up on the roof, did some caulking and said to keep an eye on it and let him know if we have problems. He did find a couple of areas that hadn't been sealed when they put the roof on last summer. More rain is predicted today so we'll see if he took care of the problem.

Last week I posted a picture of our Granddaughter Amanda which was taken two or three years ago. Since then she has had her senior picture taken and I've posted it. Isn't she just the prettiest thing? I think she looks like her Aunt Mary!

Then I dug up this picture, also taken a few years ago of Paul, Mitch and Amanda at a Packer Game. Brrr - they look cold, don't they? And while I was going through pictures I found this one of Mitch in front of one of the Schneider trucks. No - he's not a driver - I think he tells them where to go! (Just a bit of levity there!) Hmmm - I wonder if Mitch would like my Orange Crush quilt! It sure is perky - and I call orange a happy color! The Orange Crush was a mystery quilt on http://quiltville.com Carolyn at the Rushville Quilt shop quilted it for me. (She does such great work and doesn't get upset with my color combos - or at least she doesn't tell me about them!)

In my stitching world - - still on my mission to use up fabrics in my stash. I dug out my 10 gallon Rubbermaid tub of solid fabrics last week and made a backing for a quilt. While surfing quilt sites and blogs I ran across a lovely pattern on http://MaryQuilts.com called Boxed Squares. The tub of solids was still sitting in my sewing area so I dug into it and took out all the strips already cut to size and then cut more strips. Yesterday I pieced 22 blocks and this morning I cut for about 40 more blocks and sewed up a few. I think I will make 80 blocks and end up with a nice throw size. The tub was so full the cover didn't go down snugly - but as you see from the picture, the pile is going down - down - and down. The blocks I've made are shown, too.

Back to the sewing room - take care all and be well.

Lovely day here - even if it's quite dreary outside. Sweatsuit weather is coming and I must dig out my favorite outfits! Oh, I've become such a fashion queen since retirement. Really bad thing is I'm loving it more every day.

Little Josh from next door is an avid dirt biker - he was standing at the edge of the yard, looking out at the soy bean field and muttering. When he walked back towards the houses I greeted him and he said "I can't wait till the crop is gone so I can get my bike out there!" See - I'm not the only one ready for fall and cooler temps!

Today is a special day for Amanda, granddaughter who lives in Wisconsin. The picture was taken two years ago, at a tennis meet when we were up there visiting. Amandy is on the left. I will call her this evening and hope her card and check has arrived!


I've been working on my Fungly Quilt (fun-ugly) and have it finished and ready to go to the long-arm quilter gal.

I also pieced the backing for this quilt - 81 ten inch squares. The lid now fits on the container holding all my solid fabrics.














A gal in the chatroom gave a neat hint - embroidery your name on the binding instead of making a separate label and having to stitch it on - saves quite a bit of time. So I had to give it a try and spent a morning making binding for two quilts - over 500" of binding. Am waiting on an email from my longarm gal to tell me the quilt there now is ready to be picked up and then I'll take the Fungly Maple Leaves top to her. She is so brave to do my quilting! Bless her heart!

The next photo is a start on a Row Quilt. It was a project in progress and ended up on the shelf. The two rows of Bowties were already finished. So once again I did my favorite - Maple Leaves and that row is finished. Another favorite block is the Broken Dishes or Hour Glass and yesterday I did a row of them. The close up leave is one of my favorite fabrics - sad to say there is only about an 8" square of it left. Most of the Bowtie blocks are a plaid. I plan to use a strip of solid color fabric between the different rows. The Broken Dishes/Hour Glass blocks use just one big swirly design and the background - I don't know when or where I bought that fabric but like it as much now as I did then. (Good thing cuz there's quite a bit of that left!)






Till next time - - take care - - and keep in touch.