Finally, A Little Winter....and Rain!!!!

Fabric for the Color Challenge-January 2012

      I am working on a pattern by Bonnie K Browning "Color My World" for my Color Palette Challenge.  

     Today was the first meeting of the Trinity Valley Quilters' Guild board of which, as librarian, I am a member...new officers, new budget, lots of new ideas!!  Way to start the new year!

     Tomorrow, back to sewing....I have a couple of challenges just about ready to post!!  If I can get my pictures to work on my blog, that is!!!  I still need help with that!!

      One of my fellow guild members, Donna Keating, has two months on the about.com calendar for 2012.  All the quilts are very nice, and Donna should be complemented for having hers chosen....and TWO at that!!

     The weather finally took a wintery turn today...and with rain!!!  Much needed so I won't complain too much!

   

Finally!!!!

RAIN, BEAUTIFUL RAIN!!!!  Finally we have rain...it started at our house about 7:00 last night and hasn't stopped yet...(9:30 AM).  Two hours ago we had FIVE inches in our rain gauge...and still coming!  And it has been a very gentle, steady rain...soaking into the ground not just running off!

Weekends activities have had to be curtailed....Rangers playoffs with the Detroit Tigers was delayed twice last night with the game finally ending after midnight...A Rangers' win, I might add!!!

We were at a marching band contest yesterday afternoon and saw the preliminaries.  North Crowley Mighty Panther Band was selected to compete again in the final round in the evening...we left before that...and I am sure they were probably rained out.  And it is hard to complain when we have so desperately needed rain.

Part of the French horn section standing at attention at beginning of show

A backdrop for the NC program "Medal of Honor"

The Mighty Panther Show "Medal of Honor" has a patriotic them, based on honoring our armed forces and fallen soldiers.  Really good show!!!

Zentangle Challenge #34-Opposites Attract

Curved string/straight tangles

Straight string/curved tangles

My Haiku to honor "Opposites Attract"

"Curved string, straight tangle

New Challenge from Christina

Straight string, curved tangle!"

     This week's challenge came from Christina aka stART, a talented lady who has hosted the diva's challenges before...very successfully, I might add!  This fun challenge was to do two things:  one tile is drawn with a curved "string" and using only straight lines for the "tangles".  The second tile is to use a string drawn with straight lines and using only curved lines for the tangles.  One could choose to do either challenge but as I did both and couldn't decide which I liked better, I am posting both!

      Now, looking forward to Monday to see what new challenges lie ahead!!  AND...we actually got RAIN today at our house...It rained lightly for several hours this morning; not nearly enough but wonderful to get!!!  It is amazing how a little cooler weather (89.6F) and a little moisture helps everyone's mood!!!!

Musings on This and That

"No individual raindrop considers itself responsible for the flood!"  Anonymous 

I like this quote...since it is anonymous...I think I will claim it!  I finished reading "South of Broad" by Pat Conroy ("Prince of Tides" author) and found it to be very good...a little of "The Big Chill" feel to it on a little different topic. 

And I am now reading "The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake.  I've not read anything by her before but will try to find more of her books....really good.  It takes place in a small seaport town off Cape Cod and Europe at the very beginning of WWII..1941 to be exact, before we entered the war officially.  I highly recommend it to all...just for the value of remembering what occurred in that time frame...the persecution of the Jews and our country's fear of anything "different" (immigrants from Germany, Japan, etc).  With the current feelings towards Muslims and illegals, we need to recall the error of our ways sixty years ago against those who were innocent of any crimes just because fear existed.  Unfortunately, it seems to me that even with all our sophisticated technology and supposed enlightened intelligence, we are still in the dark ages as to our compassion and understanding of other cultures and beliefs....a very closed minded attitude prevails, I am afraid! 

What I really want to do is to go to DC next week and participate in John Stewart's Rally for the Return of Sanity!!!!  That is certainly needed in this country!!

On a more cheerful note...had a great time playing poker last night with our buddies...I was actually ahead at one time, and almost broke even!  And...Texas Rangers are World Series bound!  TCU won their game tonight against Air Force.....and....my alma mater, Missouri, tromped on #1, Oklahoma for the first time in 12 years!

Go, Frogs!!!

Rainy day here in our part of Texas...the North Crowley band was to play at Regionals for UIL today; I haven't heard whether they got a chance to or not....will talk to the kids tomorrow.

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!

Rainy Day

"Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow'! "  The Talmud

This evening, my chauffeur and I drove over to Burleson to attend the meeting of confirmation sponsers.  My granddaughter is being confirmed this spring and has asked me to be her sponser.  I feel very honored to do so...she is such a special young lady (I almost said "little girl", but that is no longer true.)  It was a rainy dark night; that is why Dick went with me...night driving is not a favorite thing for either of us, but at least we were able to do it together.  Four ol' eyes almost make a good pair!!  (Actually eight, as we both wear glasses!)

I played most of the day on printing with the gelatin blocks again...I want to do a few more tomorrow, then better start thinking of something to do with all of them....of course a few of them will go to the trash, but I am really liking some of them.

A Special Day...July 20th!

Picture Title....We've been there!!!!

Yesterday...July 20th...was a really neat day...I was too pooped to write about it. so will do so this evening. First, it was the anniversary of our man on the moon! As I told my Facebook friends, I remember it well...a very hot day in Missouri watching the event on our small b/w television trying to pacify a hot, tired teething baby! Yesterday was also my Dad's birthdate...he would be 97 if still living The 20th is also the date we signed the final papers on our property 11 years ago.

Yesterday...I had lunch with a good friend..we ate at the Flying Fish in Fort Worth....yummy! A unique place that has a heart! You know of people who "rescue" different breed of dogs? Well, they have taken it upon themselves to "rescue" all the unwanted Billy Basses of the World! Does anyone remember when someone came out with those plastic mounted bass on a board...just like a catch; only when you punched a button, the fish's head would turn and sing some ridiculous fishing song to you! The restaurant must have 50 on the wall and have little signs on the table that they will give you a free catfish dinner for turning in your Billy Bass!

And the last good thing about yesterday...it RAINED!!! (also rained a little this morning but the drought is not broken)

Still no rain!

Today was hot and sunny! It is beautiful and would appreciate the sun if we didn't need rain so badly! And I had fixed veggie/beef soup for dinner...it is supposed to be much cooler by the end of the week so maybe we will have it again and it will be more enjoyable!

I did finish my inventory for the guild library today, just need to double check it and tweak a couple of things; then need to put the pockets and check out cards in the "new" books. After that I can take them to the next guild meeting and be done with it!!! Once I got started, it really wasn't that bad of a job; I just procrastinated too long!

I now have my next block from the Creative Crones on my design wall to add to...it is very neat! I like to put the new ones up to think about what I want to do. I have a pretty good idea for this one, but will let the idea "bake" for a few days. I would like to publish it, but I don't want to show it until we have our final trade. When we have them all, I will publish all of them.

I am also working on a quilt for a friend who really likes my"Southwest Twister". I never like to do the same thing twice so I am making this one from a "Snail's Trail" design and it will have tesselating colors, too.

I first named this one "The One that Got Away" but changed it to "Southwest Twister"

Today while we were eating breakfast and reading the Sunday paper (a lengthy event!), a flock of Cedar Waxwings landed in a tree right outside the window. There must have been about 50 of them! They were just passing through on their migration South...they stuck around most of the morning then took off. They fly as one; when one takes off, they all do in unison!