A New Look

I've been playing around with redesigning the look of my blog...need a little more color in my life!!!  I have also added the "followers" widget so please feel free to join me if you are reading my blog....it will give me an opportunity to view more of other bloggers!  I also have added a couple of blogs to my list...one is "Zentangles"...something I just discovered recently...very cool!!  And "Sunday Postcards" which already has a huge following.  Both blogs have Flicker photo pages which are also note worthy.

The last time my studioQ bunch met, we drew a "mystery" block in our sketchbooks.  It was a mystery because no one knew what they would look like when finished.  I had everyone draw a square...from 6" to 9" approximately.  Then we passed out sketchbooks..and then added a series of three vertical lines, passed again..draw three curved lines..passed again.  We did this for about six line instructions, passing each time, then we had four or five "coloring" instructions...for example, pick a colored pencil and color three areas, passed...then another color and amount of sections to color, etc.  The last challenge we had to do was to take the block drawn in our own sketchbooks and try to reproduce them in fabric!!  Here is what my block came out to be and the fabric I plan to use.  I had decided to create a paper-pieced pattern to make mine.  We meet again Monday so I need to get busy!!

"The Help", a novel

I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I highly recommend this book to all to read and, although it is a novel of fiction, I can promise you is based on reality.  We lived in Mississippi in the '70s for about seven years.  Coming from white bread Midwest, none of us had really experienced the Southern mentality.  Now, it is a beautiful state and we met many wonderful people there, but lying below the surface at that time was unbelievable racism.  A few examples:

• the schools in the small town we were living in had only been integrated five years.  When we dropped in to see the schools before we made a decision to move there, the principal there said "Well, being from the North, you probably want to know about our blacks"  (I wanted to ask if they still owned them!)
• I was getting my haircut....the guy who was doing me was chatting with one of the other hair dressers. He said that he just broke up with his girl friend because he found out she had kissed a black guy! (I quit going there!)
• the Baptist church in town cancelled a traveling choral group when they found out there was some black singers in the group
• when I took over the Girl Scout Troop, we had to move our meeting place to the Catholic Church because we had some new little black girls in the troop and the Methodist church would not allow us to use their facilities.
• out in the country was this little rundown private skating rink which my girls had been to, so I took some of my troop out there to set up a date to skate.  The lady who owned it got me to one side and told me we would not be able to use the place because it would really hurt her business...she didn't care but she couldn't take a chance! (my girls didn't go there again).
• I taught in the middle school which had been the old black school..1-12.   When integration took place, the town built an elementary...1-4. Had a middle school..5-8. The high school...9-12 had been the original white school...1-12.  One of my oldest daughter's friends' grandmother told me she could not wait until the girls got out of 8th grade so they would not have to go to that "colored" school any more!
• There was quite a big difference in the structures of the two schools but I am pretty sure structure was not what the grandmother was referring to...and she really was a very sweet little old lady...just that mentality thing!

Now we had some wonderful times there...it wasn't always doom and gloom but I did learn that it was a different world...one that I hope has changed drastically in the past 30 years.  It was a terrific experience, one I would not trade for the world.

The Best Laid Plans.....

Two/three weeks ago, I was lined up for many appointments....weather interfered one week/ everything cancelled and I stayed home.  This week, every day was booked with something to do.

• Monday-TVQG Board Meeting..check
• Tuesday-doctor appt. for diabetes checkup...kind of check (I went but didn't conclude appt.)
• Wednesday-Diabetes Education Class..(make up for a cancelled class)
• Thursday-scheduled cataract surgery (cancelled)
• Friday-post op checkup (cancelled)

When I went to my pre op at the opthamalagist's, I was told I needed to take a form to my doctor to have her fill out and sign that I am OK for surgery. So as I had an appt. today, I took it with me.  Then my doctor's people tell me that I was not scheduled for a physical needed for the form..the story is really boringly longer but to make it short, I had to cancel surgery, reschedule, cancel dr. appt., reschedule...I really blame the gal at the opthamologist as she led me to belief it was no big deal..

Ah, well..now I can go to my guild meeting Friday and hear our speaker....Bonnie Hunter... www.quiltville.com.
She has a very fun website...check it out.

Now This Is More Like Why We Live in Texas!!

After a really brutal couple of weeks of weather, we had a really wonderful weekend.  This evening we were even able to sit on the porch and have a little adult beverage while cooking some 'burgers.  And last night we actually got out of our "Saturday Night Netflix and popcorn" comfort zone and went to a concert at the Ed Landreth Auditorium/TCU Campus.  It was put  on by the Classic Guitar Society of Fort Worth.  The guest stars were Sharon Isbin (guitar) and Mark O'Connor (violin).  We had heard them on NPR and decided to give it a try....it was fantastic!!!  Loved every minute of it!!  What talented people!!

And the rest of the weekend was spent finishing up my Christmas stuff...except for the quilting and binding!!  That won't take long as these pieces are for functional use, not "show"!!!

Table topper: 24" x 23"

Table runner: 50" x 20"

Eight Place Mats/ four of each pattern.

All of these started out with panels and quite a bit of fabric I had on hand for some time.  The large areas on the placemats were the focal of the panel and the other insets on the other pieces were borders, etc.  Any of the "striped" fabric was from my stash of other Christmas fabric....now I need everyone to remind me next December to get them out.

On an earlier blog, I showed the Mug Rugs I was sending to Canada for a swap.  I didn't know who had my name until my mats came in the mail this week also from Canada...not the same person and here they are.....

Laurel Burch and Batiks...a couple of my favorite fabrics!

Here we go again!!

Good ol' Texas weather!  Fortunately it was not as bad today as they had forecasted.  I think after missing the number of inches forecasted last week (said only a powder and we got 2-4 inches), they over predicted today.  It was icy this morning but the sun came out about 10:00 this morning and all the roads/walks cleared off....but after all the schools had announced closing!

I am big into "coincidences"...a couple of years ago I started keeping a list of them as they happened....like hearing a new word or phrase, or an idiom, tale, peculiarity...etc. that I have not heard before or for a long time...then I hear the same two or three times in the period of a couple of days.  For example, today I was talking to my daughter, Andrea this morning on the phone....in the course of our conversation, she said the phrase "drinking the Kool Aid" in reference to "buying into a way of thinking".  I had not heard that before so asked her where that came from...of course, after she explained the reference to Jim Jones' suicide events, I knew what she meant.  Now, the coincidental part...later in the morning, I was watching a show I had "tivo'd".  I am a big SciFi fan, and I was watching "V" (probably the only person in the world who watches it)...anyway, during the show...someone said something to the effect that "when they landed, everyone was drinking the Kool Aid"!  Now that is a coincidence!!  Twice in one day....OK..so that makes me a little weird!

I have been working on  my Christmas placemats...am just about finished....now if I can just remember to get them out next year at the holidays!!  I also decided to make a table runner and a table topper while I had all the fabric out.

Crazy weather!!!

And we were supposed to just get a dusting of snow...the bulk was to be South and East.  Goes to show what an inaccurate job it can be to predict weather...Mother Nature is really in charge!!

But I am getting quite a bit of sewing done.  I finished my "Mug Rugs" for a swap.  I am sending mine off to Canada.  And I am now working on Christmas placemats!  I am determined to have them ready for this year!!  I have had the fabric, some of it, for a couple of years and always wait until right before the Holiday Season to start them...so they don't get done...go to the bottom of the "to do" list...not this year!!  (Maybe!)

 My "Mug Rugs" for a swap! They are 10" x 6" and made with some of the fabric I won last year in the Quilting Arts drawing.

Br-r-r-r-r-!!!!

Texas is NOT supposed to be this cold!! As I mentioned before, the Fort Worth Stock Show is going on.  It runs through the coming Saturday; and there is almost always at least one week when the weather is just terrible!  This is the week...on Saturday when we were there it was 80 degrees..today it is barely 20 degrees with ice every where.

And it is Super Bowl Week...Oh, the hype!!!  The Packers and the Steelers are in town with all their fans who probably think we Texans are real pansies because this kind of weather is right up their alley!  It is too bad that the weather will curtail some of the planned activities though as I know a lot of time, money and effort have gone into them....not that I planned to take part...I am more of a passive observer of the festivities!!!

My kaleidoscope: "Totem" 

My studioQ group met yesterday...when the weather was still nice!  What a creative bunch of ladies!  And my kaleidoscope quilt was pieced enough to show. Here are some of the various works from some of the gals:

The front of Beth's journal...we are encouraging each other to keep a journal of ideas.

Bethany has been experimenting with stamping with fruits and veggies...this is her Mushroom print.

Susan had several things to show...this is a mini made from leftover scraps.

And Heather showed one of her quilts from her Nancy Crow class.

Needless to say, I have not gotten out of the house today, so all the activities that I had planned to do this week are dwindling...not that I am complaining!  I love staying home and now have an excuse to do so!  In fact, I am pretty sure I am going nowhere tomorrow either!!

A Great Family!

Our first born on her first birthday-1966

Today is our oldest daughter's birthday...and she got to celebrate by staying home from work because of the weather!  We had gotten together to celebrate over the weekend, so the bad weather allowed her to spend the day with her immediate family!

National Honor Society Induction..Kathleen, second from right

Last night we attended Kathleen's NHS induction ceremony..what a gal!  Less than two months ago, she was having back surgery and today, a lovely young lady all dressed up entering a prestigious organization. There were 60 inductees..a great looking bunch of kids!  Most all of her family fan club were there...both sets of grandparents, her mom, dad, and brother...probably one of the largest cheering sections there.

Kathleen with all her grandparents