Friday, May 20, 2011

Life is Good

First of all, thank you for all the kind comments you left. I had to chuckle at Dawn's comment because it is exactly what I had said to my husband. It was a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." We used to read that book to our children and have always used those words in describing difficult days. The days since have been delightful.


I received a package in the mail from my aunt who is cleaning out cupboards in anticipation of moving. She found four china mugs that belonged to my grandmother. Since my grandmother had given me her china, she sent the mugs along to me. I remember my grandmother using these mugs as we enjoyed our wonderful visits. I can still see her rubbing the top of the handle with her thumb as we chatted. My grandmother LOVED her coffee from before sun up to well past sun down. She also ONLY drank her coffee out of a "real china" cup. A chunky mug would not do. Needless to say, I am thrilled to have them.

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Notice the gold rubbed off the top of the handle?

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Treasured!
DH and I drove to Las Vegas to see the desert in bloom and to catch "The Jersey Boys" again. The music is so fabulous. We happened to end up with tickets to their third year anniversary in Las Vegas so they had a special cake presentation after the show. That was exciting.

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The birthday candles kept relighting.
The desert in bloom is always such a pretty sight. I really wanted to see some of the hot pink blooms from last years trip, but they were sadly not in bloom at this time. There were some bright pink ones, but the thorns on those were amazing.

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The small town of Kelso is along the way and we stopped to eat our picnic lunch there. I can imagine the town in it's prime, but the train station, post office and jail are about all that is left. I am not sure that I would like to be locked up in this jail during the summer heat.



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The train depot.

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They did cover the bars as you can read here.

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Still not too inviting.

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I doubt that it is still in use.
Life has been busy with family fun things, but I have had a chance to get a little sewing in. My mom has a gal who helps her in the mornings and she loves an old apron that my mom has. The apron is really old and ratty looking after all of these years so I brought it home and made a pattern from it. Susie will now have a new one.


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Nice and clean for the moment.
I finished another one of my PhD projects. I really like the way this one turned out and I am glad it is finally finished. Three down and only one more to go before the end of June.

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Modern Siggy Swap blocks.
This panel quilt was made for the youngest grandson. It is suppose to have another two borders, but it was getting way too big for its purpose so I stopped after the road border was applied. I figured he could play with little cars on it too.
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It is still pretty big.
Lastly, I haven't yet shown the latest of my Civil War blocks. The latest ones seem to be going together a bit easier. The measurements are a bit more accurate. I still need to do this weeks before the new one comes out tomorrow.


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Blocks 16-19.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead.   I'll be busy with a little canning as the first peaches are ready.  There is nothing that says summer more than a bite of a fresh peach.  YUM.


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S-U-M-M-E-R
I apologize for no links and lack of spellcheck, but Blogger is not allowing me to use any part of the toolbar.  Is anyone else having the same problem?  Maybe it is just me.

31 comments:

  1. Oh! what a lovely trip! and the peaches... that is really summer! (not like here...)

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  2. The peaches look delicious and I'm sure you'll enjoy eating them!

    Love the cups that were your grandmother's! How nice that you have them now. Love that table mat they are on too.

    The train quilt is really cute.

    Loved all the pictures you included and I'm glad your bad day earlier led to all things pleasant!

    Karen

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  3. Love all your quilty pics and those of your trip. I can almost smell those peaches. One of my favourite fruits. My aunt has some china like your gran's. It is lovely for you to have something with such precious memories. Enjoy using them, so one day the memories will pass on to someone else.

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  4. It must be a grandma memory kind of week.

    Oh, my - peaches already!! Wow.

    We have a desert-y area out east of us here that has wonderful cactus full of flowers. We went in July and missed a lot of the wild flowers. We'll need to try again a bit earlier.

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  5. Glad you had a great day. Sorry about the car and the cat day, that's too sad. Have a coffee in one of those pretty mugs...I'm sure that will make the day even better.

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  6. How wonderful to have your grandmother's china cups! Love the story about the little spot that is worn on the handle. Too often dishes were put away for "good" and never used.

    Beautiful job on the Civil War blocks:)

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  7. yes blogger is messing up big time lately. i cannot believe you were able to upload so many great pics! i never can upload more than 2 at a time. frustrating. happy friday!

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  8. How wonderful to have your grandmother's china cups with the memories attached.

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  9. Oh...I enjoyed seeing all of your pictures of Vegas. The quilts were wonderful!

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  10. For a start, in case i forget, love the little car track quilt, I have done a few of these now, and love them.
    Peaches..yum!!
    And the cacti are very "man who shot liberty vallance" we love that movie and the cactus roses here.
    Civil war blocks look great, you are getting lots done!! I haven't seen Jersey boys but love the music! Tracey

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  11. So many pretty pictures in this post! The desert in bloom is so pretty - I agree. And those peaches.. whoa.. love them!

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  12. What a delightful post. I love the cups! Blessings, Kerrie

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  13. What a great week...glad things turned around. Love the signature block quilt, it turned out wonderful!

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  14. Quilts are wonderful - china cups are precious - pictures are fabulous - and the peaches -YUM!!!

    Hope you have a run of 100000 good days to make up for the rotten one!

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  15. Glad to hear life is going better after your bad day. Love the border on your siggy quilt. And your Civil War blocks are gorgeous.

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  16. Those peaches are making me drool and I am not kidding!!!!! The ones we get here are often woodie and and rather bitter. When we do get good juicy ones I just devour them! Funny when I was pregnant with Son I ate peaches ALL the time. I just craved them!

    The cups that were your grandmothers are lovely. What a wonderful thing for your aunt to send them to you!

    So glad you got to see the Jersey Boys and enjoy their wonderful music!!!! I'm not jealous, green is my natural color! ha!

    That was a nice trip through that town. No, I don't think I would want to spend any time in that hot building!

    Your quilts are lovely as always!! The one for your little grandson is so cute, he will have fun with that. I like doing panels sometimes as they come up with some really fun ones!

    We are going back to NYC in September with Acadia. We are going to see a show but I don't know which one yet....wouldn't it be a howl if it were the Jersey Boys! Also going to a Yankees game and to a golf tournament, not sure I will like the golf but I can take my book or some handwork. :o)

    Still raining here, it's just unreal but is so much better then the mess the people are in in Joplin! How Sad!!!!!

    R is in Massachusetts but will be home tomorrow night. I have been trying to get some things packed up out in the sun room in preparation of it being torn off. We keep adding and adding to this project so they will be here all summer I bet!!!!! :o( Just think I am going to have a 20 ft. long closet plus a walk in!!!!!! I can't wait!

    I finished my Love Bear wall hanging except for doing the eyes and backing. It came out rather large so I may donate it to the church nursery as they have lots of wall space and I don't know if the gal I was making it for does.

    Take care and have fun canning those yummy peaches!! Love to you both! xoxox

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  17. I'm glad things are going better for you :-) thanks for sharing your pictures. What a lovely cup with special memories.

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  18. Wonderful china pieces and a darling table topper!!
    An awesome siggy quilt! Nice job! Love the border print! 8-)
    What a great quilt for your grandson! Too cute, and lots of play value there!
    Civil War blocks looking good! 8-)
    Yummy peaches! Mmmmm....

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  19. wow! lots going on!!! wonderful trip!
    peaches look amazing!
    The quilts are gorgeous! love the boys quilt!
    Your grandmothers mugs are amazing as well!!! so lovely!

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  20. How wonderful that you received your grandmother's tea cups, such heartwarming mementos of her!! I'm loving the fact that you can see where she rubbed off some of the gold with her thumb while she'd drink her coffee:-)

    I'm so glad that you enjoyed seeing the Jersey Boys again and what a treat that it happened to be their 3rd year anniversary in Las Vegas!

    It always surprises me that the desert gets blooms but then I tend to forget that cactus produces blooms!! Such delicate looking flowers and I love the colours.

    Such a beautiful building the train depot in Kelso is. Oh my, no, I can't imagine being in that jail either! lol What a shame that post office isn't still in use but I can well imagine the stories the walls could tell of years gone by:-)

    I have no doubt Susie will love the apron you made for her, she'll be thrilled for sure. How awesome is that quilt you made for your grandson!!! You are one talented lady, my friend.

    Those peaches look soooo delicious! Our apple trees are just now in bloom and hopefully we get a lot more apples out of them than we have been getting the last two years.

    I hope you're enjoying a great week, dear Mary. xoxoxo

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  21. What a great quilt (the one for your youngest grandson). We used to have a rug like that, but I think a quilt is so much nicer. Easier to move around...I could barely move the rug without my kids helping me.

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  22. What a wonderful memory to have of your grandmother - the cups are beautiful.
    Most people forget that the desert can actually be beautiful. I love it when the cacti are blooming.
    The quilt for your grandson is wonderful! Where did you get the center panel?
    Love the colors in your civil war blocks.
    Mmmmmmm - fresh peaches. Your look delicious!!

    Have a wonderful weekend :)

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  23. Nice blog and very loverly projects !!!

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  24. Thos mugs are lovely, yes bone china is needed to drink tea from. Your quilting is beautiful, you are so talented I cant imagine the time that must go into all this work. Oh yes and the peaches......I love them!

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  25. I'm so glad that you have your grandmother's cups and the sweet memories that go with them. I'm blessed with a few cups and a quilt that she made. The train quilt is really cute. Thank you for all the neat pictures.

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  26. What's that saying "no grass grows under your feet" or something to that effect! ;o) Goodness you are a traveling bee! How wonderful!

    I do like your finished projects! The signature quilt is wonderful and the panel quilt for your grandson is perfect! Thanks for sharing! Cheers!

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  27. Beautiful quilts. Your grandmother sounds like my kind of woman. :)

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  28. Interesting to me because the pictures are so different to here.

    The shrubs you asked about Mary are Azalias.

    Sounds like a fun trip.

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  29. Love the apron! It looks a lot like ones the ladies used to wear when I worked at a church daycare...

    I also love the quilt you made for your grandson....what fun he will have with that!

    And the peaches? YUM!

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  30. Hi NeedledMom, I LOVE those quilts! You know you always make me so envious when I see you working away on blocks and new quilts. I used to quilt non-stop while I was going to bee. Guess why I don't go to bee..LOL! One day.. for sure! It sounds like you had a wonderful vacation. But I need to go read your previous post. Obviously something wasn't going so well. Thanks so much for the visit. I always love seeing your lovely work..and that apron is just awesome!

    PS. I too love the Royal Albert china. That's my favorite pattern. Don't own it..but I'd love to.Ha!

    xo
    Donna

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  31. I love those cups and know that made you so happy. This peaches made my mouth water too!!! YUM!

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