Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Returning to "Normal"

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and extended family!  The turkey was one of the best we have cooked..don't know what makes the difference...we do about the same thing every year!  Everyone is healthy...the weather was perfect...fun times: eating-playing games-watching football-a lot of laughing!!

Now to get back to a few projects...my Crones challenge: "When You Wish on a Star";  my new group-Art Quilts Around the World- challenge: "My Profile"; and our bed quilt which is from Karen Stone's "Unusual Lone Star" pattern (this has been a long term project!).  I also want to get some journal covers made for some gifts for Christmas.
And one of my daughter's just gave me a set of India Inks and pens for my birthday (a hint-hint gift!) which I am anxious to take a stab at!  Along with a couple of wish list books..Sue Bleiweiss's "Sketchbook Challenge" and "Journal Fodder: 365: Daily Doses of Inspiration".  And my other daughter gave me  a gift certificate to one of my favorite fabric shops!  Do they know their mom or what???

I have made blocks for a "Sandy Relief" that Michelle Foster of Quilter's Gallery has been promoting.  I made12 blocks and sent them to someone else who will add them to others and make the quilt.  Then it will be sent to the East Coast to help someone after the hurricane.  Here are my blocks:

12" blocks-totally from scraps
If you are interested in participating, this is an ongoing project and you can find out more by going to the Gallery link.  The blocks are very easy and really help with the scrap bag stash while helping out others!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

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


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

This and that!

I have been working with all the pictures I have downloaded to my new Mac laptop...For some reason, many of the folders of pictures that I had put on the external hard drive for storage were duplicated...sometimes more than once. So I am trying to get them all straightened out on this computer.....there are literally  thousands of them!

This picture from an old slide was taken when we lived in Alaska in 1964-66...we had only been married a few months when Dick was transferred there courtesy of the Air Force.  And then we made a return visit to the area a year ago...46 years later.  Since the quilt I am now working on is from the fabric  I got in Juneau, and has totem poles on it, I thought this was appropriate.  I have the kaleidescope  nearly finished...just need to put all the sections together, then add some sides and get it quilted.  I haven't decided whether I want to add beading or not...will see.

Busy week coming up...Friday night we are going to dinner and a concert with our daughter's in-laws, Saturday we are all going to the big Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo, there will be about 12 of us, then out here for a BBQ dinner to celebrate my oldest daughter's birthday and other daughter will be spending the night as she lives about 80 miles away....a little far to drive back home late;  it is always good to see her for a long visit anyway.

 Then Monday, I have the studioQ bunch here...that is my art quilt group..Monday night is our granddaughter's National Honor Society Induction.  Tuesday there is a Diabetic Support Group meeting which I may attend..not sure.  Wednesday, my third class for Diabetic Education...Dick has been going with me which is a big help to have an extra set of ears to hear all about it.  Thursday is our poker bunch, meeting for dinner and card playing. And I think that is all for awhile...so maybe I can get some really constructive quilting going!!!

Friday, November 19, 2010

A new beginning!

Yesterday was a significant birthday for me...the big 70!!!  I had a card from one of my high school buddies mentioning that I have now caught up with the rest of them.  Being a November birthday, I was one of the youngest of my class...back when we started school, January 1 was the cutoff date, so everyone born in the same year started school at the same time, so I started first grade at five....we didn't have kindergarten or preschool then.  The card was from one of the bunch that gets together every five years in a different city to celebrate....we have decided that maybe we shouldn't wait five years though!!!

With a new year for me, some goal setting is in order.  I have a list of quilting projects I want to get finished this year.  I want to finally really organize my pictures on my computer and scan and make DVDs of some old ones.  I have a jillion recipes I have collected I want to organize and actually use!!  I had started a "life story" several years ago and want to continue with it for posterity....my "legacy" for my kids!  There were so many things I heard from my grandmother that I don't remember, wishing I had paid closer attention or had written them down....and now there is no one to verify any of the things I do remember!  I only had one living grandmother when growing up...both of my grandfathers and my maternal grandmother passed away before I was born.

I enjoy reading obituaries...not for the morbidity of them but because I am amused  of how families phrase the death of their "loved ones"....now, that's a phrase I really abhor!!!  It is so...I don't know...pretentious? maybe...I can't think of how to express what I don't like about....but it just leaves me cold!

And another gripe I have....I listen to talk shows and it really irritates me when those answering the questions say "Now, that's a good question!"  That has become such a pat response...why not just answer the question without having to preface with an inane comment!!

Boy, I guess I am getting kind of bitchy in my old age!!!  On a happier note...I attended my guild meeting today and really enjoyed our speaker...Deb Karasik....she is a paper piecer and does really fabulous work.  She also donated a book with a CD to our library.  She and her husband are from San Francisco, actually grew up in the Bay area so I had to chat with them about my daughter having just moved back from there.

Oh, and another goal...I am going to try to be a better blogger!!  I don't know how many people ever read my blog, but I like getting my thoughts down...clears my head for bigger and better (???) thoughts!!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Friday Update

                 "Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are cheese." Billie Burke

     HOT here in Texas...my car registered 102 on my way home from running around today.  I do not do heat very well...way too tiring!!!

      The Trinity Valley Quilters Guild Meeting was today...we had a real cute speaker, Amy Stewart Winsor... http://www.winsorartquilts.com/   She lives in North Carolina and does "whimsical" quilts.  Very cute quilts and an entertaining speaker.  She had good ideas on some techniques that she shared with us too.  We had part II of our book sale today also.  Last month's sale was  good but we had a lot of books left over so this month I decided to put them all on Half-price....they sold very well!!   We would have had more but two boxes were sitting on the floor in the storeroom and there had been a little flooding problem sometime since last month.  The cardboard boxes were soaked and the books ruined!  Ah, well...it made for less work for us to get them out and to haul the remainder to Half-Price books to sell. (We have a very nice maintainence man at the church where we meet and he offered to dispose of the ruined books.)

     I only turned in one quilt for the show this year...applications due today.  It is my challenge quilt that I am hand stitching..."Chinese Coins: 170 X 2".  I titled it that because it is a Chinese Coin pattern and I used 170 different fabrics plus three of four different blacks, then the "X 2" is because I had six columns which I split in half to make 12 columns.  I am using perle cotton thread...black and colors to match the squares.  I'll post a picture when I am finished.

     After the meeting, I had some running around to do...that's when I got so hot!  I went to Calloway's nursery to look at their pottery...had a 20% off coupon.  I am on a mission to find a tall...maybe 4 feet...slender blue or red pot to put on my front porch.  I will then put some sticks or something in it...I am giving up trying to grow any flowers on my front porch...too hot!  Everything just melts....but no luck at Calloways today. 

      On my way down Hulen, I stopped off at the kids house.  My granddaughter is having her 16th birthday party Saturday at the Benbrook Stables...going horse back riding and then to her house for a sleep over.  I had made her magnets to give to the girls as a memento of the occassion which I needed to drop off. I caught them just at lunch time so joined them for lunch and a viewing of "Modern Family"..the funniest sitcom on television!!

     Then to Half-Price books to be rid of the remainder of our guild sale books....that place is always a Zoo!!!  Very busy!  And on to Berry Patch to pick up my acrylic extension table for my Bernina.  I had ordered one four weeks ago when they were on sale with several gift cards I had accumulated, but when it came in two weeks later, the wrong one had been ordered.  So they had to reorder the right size, and it just came in yesterday.

     My last stop was Tom Thumb to get some groceries so I won't have to leave the house all weekend!  On the way home, I had thought about stopping by the Y to do a little work out, but...oh, too bad...I have perishables...so I just came on home and took a nap instead!!!
   

Friday, July 2, 2010

Rainy Day in July!

"The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age" Lucille Ball

     I had collected several "humorous" little quotes to pass on to my friends as they age...so thought I would share a few with my blog friends!  (I think Lucille Ball just blew her advice...be honest and lie in the same sentence!)

     We have been experiencing the greatest weather for June/July in Texas!  We have been having rain and temperatures in the 80's.  Not so bad considering we have already had 100+ temps earlier in the summer!  And on the county road which runs right by my house, we have been eating dust or mud for the past four months.  Today, the road guys have been resurfacing it!!  Oh, the little pleasures of life!!

     Our granddaughter celebrated a very significant birthday Sunday so we were all at her house helping her celebrate!!  I cannot believe that baby girl is really 16!!!

      Monday, my art group, studioQ met and had lunch as well as our usual activities...show and tell, etc.  For lunch the hostess suggested something different...we were all to bring a food that started with the letter "P"!  It is surprising how many foods to begin with the letter P...we ended up with quite a feast..we had pulled pork on potato rolls, pimento cheese with pecans on pumpernickel bread, pineapple fruit salads, pickles, peanut butter balls, pecan muffins, pasta salads, peach pie and peach cobbler...and more I am sure!

Where Nancy lives there are deer everywhere.  These three fawns were right outside her window with their
mama.
Anne brought her Kindel Book bag which she had made out of fabric painted at another meeting at my house a couple of years ago. And Heather showed us one of the quilts she did at a Nancy Crow workshop. And Nancy showed her "recipe" quilt, all finished!
.
Heather has a couple of box turtles living in her garden.  "Charlie" had suffered a terrible attack by a racoon and lost a leg.  He had been recouperating in her bathtub...I had this "turtle" pattern for ever so made up a little memento of the occassion for her.  My husband carved the toy turtle a wooden leg!!  She was very surprised!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Great Weekend!!

" Sometimes I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe!"

Race for the Cure 2010 Fort Worth, Texas
Both my daughters and the mother-in-law of one and I did the Race for the Cure yesterday...a 5K in and around Fort Worth....beautiful day and much fun had by all!  This is the 14 or 15th time I have done the race; I'll have to count my t-shirts to make sure of the number!
Have you ever seen a pink tractor before?  Pink was the color of the day!!
The crowd in front of us didn't come close to  the number of people behind us.  I think I heard there were over 18,000 people doing the race!
And... the finish is in sight!!! The race is won...of course, for us, it was more of a "Walk for the Cure", but we did out number the runners by a long shot!!


After the race one of my daughter's and I went to an exhibit at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame; a realatively new museum in Fort Worth.  The exhibit was "In the Faraway Place", paintings and photographs by and about Georgia O'Keeffe and the actual camp equipment used by her on her treks into New Mexico.

Then this morning we went to the other daughter's house for brunch with everyone...celebrating a birthday and granddaughter's confirmation which is tomorrow night.  The above mini quilt is for my daughter's birthday....she just bought a new house and frequently calls it "Casa Abba" (which is in reference to her blog).

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

From Saturday Night On, A Great Week!!

"A mind too active is no mind at all."  Theodore Roethke

Saturday...rodeo and dinner with the family at Marti's.  We were going to have the dinner after the rodeo at our house, but because we had no fridge and our power was being very erratic, we decided to do all the cooking but take everything into Marti's.  Andrea came here after everything and spent the night.

Sunday....Andrea helped me download our new, wonderful "anti-virus" etc. program.  Then after she left, the guys from Loew's showed up with our new refrigerator.  It is really nice...the French doors with the pull out freezer drawer.

Monday....I hosted the studioQ group here...we had a great time playing with monoprinting on gelatin blocks.  I had made small ones for everyone to have and covered up all my stuff in my studio to protect it from wild painters. (If you watch "Dexter", the good serial killer, I was preparing my room like he does his "kill" room!)


Here we are painting away on our little blocks.  And here are some of the prints..I have been playing around with it today on different fabric...black..and am beginning to really like the process.


After we cleaned up, while the prints were drying, we had our show and tell.  Here is some of the wonderful examples of what this terrific group can do!

Here is one of Heathers.
                               This is Nancy's "recipe" quilt, so far.


And this is Susan's "recipe" quilt.

And another quilt by Heather...using a lot of her own hand dyed.
Bethany shows a quilt she and her daughter are making together.
Wendy also dyes most of her own fabric.

Beth is showing a quilt she did with an international group.  (My new fridge in the background!)

And...the sun came out today for the first time in days....and..granddaughter made it to district swimmeet which is next weekend!!

All in all...a great week..so far!!!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Today Is NOT Saturday!

" Words are a form of action, capable of influencing change."  Ingrid Bengis

This has been a crazy day...it has felt like Saturday all day long!!  So tomorrow, I will have two Saturdays this week!  Yesterday, we played poker at our friends' house...drove through a terrible storm to get there, but had a great time as usual once we were there.  And I came out OK....I didn't win, I didn't lose!  I broke even!  Then we drove home in light rain and a little fog.

This morning we woke up to no power...our electricity was off...which meant no heat, no hot coffee, no lights......and probably worst of all...no running water!  One of the perils of living in the country...we are on a well and when the power is off we have no pump running.  Then when the power did come on, we discovered that sometime in the night or early morning the refrigerator had died....permanently! So we crammed everything into our little auxilary fridge and freezer, putting some items on the stair well up to the attic (the temperature is low enough that it is pretty darn chilly out there!)  Then took off to Loew's to get a new fridge...which will be delivered on Sunday.

We then made an executive decision to not have our "after the rodeo" dinner at our house..the power had been just too unpredictable and no refrigerator...so we are going to still do all the cooking and haul it all up to Marti's house to go there after the rodeo...great way to celebrate her birthday by having her host the party!!
Therefore, instead of spending the afternoon playing with my monoprinting, I have been cooking and getting everything ready to take to Fort Worth tomorrow.

My studioQ meeting isn't until Monday so I hope to get a chance on Sunday to practice what I hope to show the gals.  In the meantime, while getting everything out of the dead fridge, I had set my gelatin block out and had forgotten to put it away....about five hours later...I discovered it was beginning to get a little soggy and melty.  I now have it back in a fridge, hopefully it will stiffen back up by the time I want to use it.  I think to use it for monoprinting may be a short session of no more than an hour or so!  We shall see!!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Some Accomplishments....Finally!!

"Know that every human being must cross a very narrow bridge.  What is most important is not to be overcome by fear."    Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav, 1772-1810

This quote comes from book I just finished.  "Day After Night" by Anita Diamant.   After reading several mediocre books (except for Alice Hoffman's) it was really good to read a very moving book.  It takes place in a dentention camp in Palestine in 1945...based on true events.  The book revolves around four young women in particular but many others also as they try to overcome their horrible experiences in Europe and trying to get to live in Israel.  I highly recommend it for all!!



Monday, I am hosting the Studio Q meeting.  This meeting will be in place of our January meeting although it is February 1.  Then we will have another meeting the last Monday of February...our usual meeting time.  Because we have two meetings coming up, we did two "recipes" this month.  The first one..on the left is for the topic "The Color or Shape of Pain"...and the second one..on the right is for "Earth Awareness".  I guess I didn't have to have both done and will probably not show both on Monday as I think the second one is really for our later meeting.

Usually the host of the meeting does a demonstration of some kind...I am going to do some monoprinting on a gelatin block!  It is an activity out of the August/September "Quilting Arts" magazine.  I made my gelatin block today....pretty cool!  I am going to practice printing on Friday and will post some pictures so you can see what it looks like.

Busy week coming up....Tomorrow we go to play poker with our poker pals; Saturday, Andrea is coming over and we are going to go to the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo..it is a matinee showing, then everyone is coming back here for dinner and to celebrate Marti's birthday which is next Monday.

And the weather is due for a change....it has been nice..in the 60's, but tomorrow it is supposed to be rainy and get cold.  We usually have some bad weather during the stock sho time.  Saturday it is supposed to be sunny but cold..high in low 40s!  That may not seem cold to some, but it is to us!!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Great Day!!

I am ready for bed but wanted to comment on what a great day I have had!!  The weather is perfect...I have been with my best friends including Dick,  playing poker and eating...and I acutally came out ahead!  I have either talked to  or heard from my girls and grands!  I am going to  a guild workshop tomorrow to learn more about embellishing quilts/beading.  And I am celebrating my birthday, so today is the first day of the rest of my life, which I plan to live to the fullest for a long time to come!!