Still Here

Yep, I am still around despite the fact that my good intentions to be a better blogger seemed to have flown away as quickly as February.   

The weather has been so nice and that tends to take me outside more than staying inside and stitching.  It has been the calm before the storm as I hear we are in for another big series of storms starting tomorrow.  What is it that they say, "Make hay while the sun shines"???

I managed to finally get my Allietare quilt finished.  I put the binding on and them remembered that it was suppose to have a scalloped edge.  Dang!  I may eventually take the binding off and redo it with the scallops as I love the look of scallops on quilt edgings.  Of course, that means that I will need to redo the binding with a biased binding too. 

Before I do that I need to get Scrap Dance Waltz and En Provence quilted.

As those of you who have followed my blog for awhile, it is the time of the year for the grandchildren's school auction.  That means it is time to get my 18" doll uniform made.  Have I ever told you how much I love sewing doll clothing????  ;-)

See those perfectly matched plaids?  TOTAL accident, but don't you love it when that happens?

As I mentioned, we've had some really nice temperatures lately and my Temperature Quilt is "heating up" nicely. 

I'm part of a couple of bees/swaps this year.  The first is our Gridster Bee.  The block this month was a pineapple block for Sherri.  I really enjoyed this block and can see a pineapple quilt at some point in my future. 

Using the same design I made a little garden flag for Jeanna. 

The second bit of fun was a mug rug swap with a group of gals who have sewn together for several years.  This is the block that I made for my partner's request for a Halloween mug rug. 

Ida made me this darling Valentine's mug rug.  I really like the scrappiness of it.  I love swapping out my mug rugs throughout the year and keep a little quilted box of them on my table.

We went to our eldest son's for their Super Bowl party.  What a game!  Taco Man came again this year.  I am fascinated by how this is done.  It is thinly slicked meat skewered with pineapple.  It is then cooked from the back while rotating.  As it cooks, they continually slice off the cooked part into nice little shreds for the tacos.  Can I tell you that it is delicious?

Several of my orchids have started blooming with lots more to follow.  They must know spring is quickly approaching.

As well, the Christmas cactus is finishing up with its blooming.  They stay outside all year so their bloom depends on the weather each year.  This is a special plant as it is an offspring of one that belonged to my grandmother.  I have started so many new ones from the initial piece she gave me. 

I'll see if I can do a better job of blogging.  No promises!

From the Land of No Sew

Greetings from the Land of No Sew.  Life has been busy in other ways than sewing.  We've been busy celebrating family times with birthdays and Easter while enjoying house guests.  It doesn't get better than that.

Any spare time has been spent in the gardens.  One of the nice signs of spring's arrival is the blooming of the cacti.  I love this very prickly cactus with it's heart shaped paddles and stunning flowers.



This cactus was started two years ago with a single paddle.  It is almost to the roof now.



The flowers on it bloom in yellow.




This pink cactus is one in a pot with giant and showy flowers.






We had several birthdays in April including these three grandchildren.

The active little one with a pink cast for Easter!!!!

Easter was celebrated at our son’s home with the extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  It was a spectacular day filled with fun and joy.  We took lots of photos, but here is a shot of the grandchildren all together (minus 1).




This is a picture as we were trying to round everyone up for a group shot – not an easy task when there are around 150 people. 




I’ll try to do a better job of showing some sewing projects in my next post - if I remember how to use the sewing machine.  ;-)  

.....and the Beat Goes on....

and on...and on.

I am still around, but there has not been much computer time lately.  I can't believe that it has been nearly a month since my last post.  Lots has happened in the last month so I will only catch up on small bits of it. 

My mom had surgery several weeks ago and her recovery involves two months of bedrest so there have been many hours sitting in hospital rooms.  She had a rough start, but things are looking up and she is doing pretty well.

May is always a crazy month for our family with six birthdays, two anniversaries, Mother's Day, final school year events and the such.  This year we also added several bridal showers and a couple of business trips.



First Communion party



Glass flowers hanging from the ceiling at the hotel we stayed in for business in San Antonio



A side trip visit to Hoover Dam on business in Nevada



The new bridge that was built to avoid any terrorist attacks at the dam itself.



Chocolate wafer cake in a giant "R" shape

Work in the sewing department has been next to nil.  To tell you how bad it got, when I walked into my studio over the weekend I walked into a cobweb!!!

I did manage to finish my May mug rug for the swap and my mini quilt swap.  Both were mailed off and I received word that the mini has arrived at its new home.




Birthday mug rug for a friend

May mug rug swap



Mother's Day postcard for my mom



Mini Swap quilt went to Wendy in Montana

Awhile back I was asked by Jeanne Gwin (at The Learning Curve~Quilts and Such) to participate in a fun quiltalong with eleven other talented quilters.  We are all working out of the same book, but working on different quilts from the book.  This is my completed top.  I will write up a review on the book and show you the completed quilt shortly.

Of course the garden also beckons at this time of the year.  There is lots that needs to be done out there, but there are some wonderful blooms going on as well.




Blooming cactus



Blooming orchid

This final flower is a Streptocarpus from my father.  The freeze got to the plant this year, but I managed to salvage one leaf and got it to root.  I now have the first bloom on it and hope to have many more.

After watching four grandchildren for a weekend a few weeks back I found that my blocks had been rearranged.  I loved this and guess it says it all!

I apologize to all for not being around to visit much.  I will do it more as time allows.  I thank all of you who have e-mailed me to see if I was "okay" while I wasn't posting.  Blogging friends are wonderful!!

A.W.O.L.

Yep.......I have been AWOL from blogging.  I really do have a good excuse so I shouldn't have to feel guilty.  Right?

It all started off when my mom's computer died.  We ordered a new one for her, but in the interim I loaned her my laptop.  I do have a desktop, but that is a little difficult to transport.  My desktop is so painfully slow that browsing is almost impossible.  To do a blog is not my idea of a fun day.  Soooo....I now have my computer back and will be checking everyone out again.

Yesterday I spent the day with some fellow helping me with tech support to set up my mom's internet.  After two hours (most of it having him repeat what he just said - such as "e, like in Tom" ), he told me I would need to get a computer guy to come to the house to check it out.  Hello??????  It turns out that my mom has been paying for her DSL for five years but has been using an unsecured network because she could not get online with her DSL.  Yikes!  Long story short.....after four phone calls and promises that they would return calls (NOT) she has a new cable provider coming out tomorrow to set her up. 

In the computerless time that I have enjoyed (?) I have actually had a wonderful time cleaning and playing.  My ovens and refrigerators are now clean, the garage is cleaned.  Closets, drawers and cupboards are also cleaned.  It is amazing what can happen around here.  One would think I was "nesting" or something.  Thankfully...that is not the case.

May is always a busy celebrating month at our house.  We have two sons, two grandchildren and a DIL with birthdays this past week along with Mother's Day.  Everyone was here last Sunday to celebrate.  The guys took excellent care of us - cooking and cleaning up.  As usual, it was loads of fun and the weather was perfect.

The MOMS relaxing on Mother's Day.

A little sidewalk chalk coloring.

A little sidewalk chalk eating!!!

Is there more on the body than on the patio?????

Now....that's a BIG grapefruit!!!!!

Chasing bubbles.

One of my cacti.  It is stunning when it blooms.

These blossoms are about 8" in diameter.

Along with all the celebrations and cleaning, I was able to play a little in the sewing studio.

Results of the RWB no sew swap that I participated in.  I had a few minor changes due to poor instructions on my part and one fabric that was iron sensitive.

Jelly Roll Quilt along.

As well, I must share with you some of the winnings I have had lately.

This was from Terry.  I love the varigated embroidery floss!   Thanks, Terry.  

I have been eager to try some sashiko and this will be perfect.  Have you seen Joy's work.  It is amazing.

I was lucky enough to have my name drawn in this month's Schnibble project.  It is a signed copy of Carrie's new book and two charm packs to start my next Schnibbles project.  I can't wait.

I will be AWOL again until the end of the month as we have the joy of entertaining houseguests from England.  As I write this they are flying across the pond.  They are our dear friends and we will be enjoying them to the maximum while they are here.  They are looking for a little "sunshine on their backs" as they wrote.  Let's hope we can provide it for them.   I will be checking back with you at the end of the month.  Be good and have fun.....can you do both????