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!

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!!

Cold!!!!

We are having our first really cold weather this year....it is now 32degrees at 9:00 AM and I know that may not seem really cold to some, but to me it is COLD!!!  It is also very gray out which makes it feel even colder...fortunately, I am lucky enough to be able to stay home and just feel sympathy for those who need to get out!

I am listening to Diane Reames on NPR as I write...the discussion is about the lack of civility in politics...perhaps instrumental in the craziness of the Arizona shooting tragedy...I personally believe there is a definite connection....we all need to realize that our words can be heard by all...the crazies and those who are sane, and it is an obligation of those especially in the public eye to be very careful of how they voice their opinions to incite others to their way of thinking!

And now on a happier note!  Work on my Kaleidoscope continues!

                                   Phase I of my Kaleidoscope  

                                      Phase II of Kaleidoscope
                                      

                     Layout of paper piecing for Kaleidoscope with phase III on paper!

Each phase I complete seems to create the need for another phase.  I am working now on phase III.. I design on paper first, then break it all into a paper-pieced project...so I think phase III is going to be the last!  Most of the fabric I have used is from our trip to Alaska last year...2009.

New Computer!!

Santa came early for me this year... I have an Apple laptop which I think I am really going to like!!  It will take me an age to figure it all out, but so far so good.  I have heard Mac's are really good for graphics etc and that is what I like to work with mostly so we will see what fantastic things I can come up with...right now just trying to get the basics down.

My daughter, Andrea has a Mac so I am hoping for some very good tutoring from her! (I can hear her groaning already over that!)

We finally are having some cold weather!  But it is sunny so doesn't feel so bad...we are keeping our grands' dog while they are "off schedule" with Kathleen's surgery and she doesn't even want to get out!

I am going to try to get some pictures downloaded in the next couple of days so I can get some posted on here.  I have been working on a couple of things for my Guild and for grandkids, nieces, etc. that I need to photograph.

Finally a cool day in Texas!

"I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work!" Thomas Edison

Yesterday....105!  Today...79!  And Monday when we were in Granbury, our car temperature showed 113!  I don't think I hae ever seen a themometer read that high!

I just watched a short video that one of my quilter friends had put out on Facebook...It was an interview by Susan Shie at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.  Susan's website is http://www.turtlemoon.com/ and her blog is http://www.susanshie.blogspot.com/ .  I didn't see the interview on either yet but I bet it will show up soon.  I am interested in her technique more than I am in her final product...although it is very interesting, it is just a little way out for me.  But she is a marvelously creative spirit!!  I would love to take her workshop sometime.

I just finished reading "A Reliable Wife"...it is touted as a Gothic novel and, although it is set up similar to that genre, it is more contemporarily written.  It takes place in winter, Wisconsin, 1907...a gentleman puts an ad in the Chicago paper for a reliable wife and as it is described..."she is anything but reliable"!  It is written by Robert Goolrick, author of "The End of the World As We Know It".  This is his first fiction novel and is a very intriguing read.

I am now starting "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver...a book sent to me by one of my "blogger buddies" after I had mentioned I had not read it.  I think it will travel well with me as we head out.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

"To see far is one thing; going there is another." Brancusi

I was reading an article in today's paper why we have been having such extreme weather patterns...we went from pretty cool and wet to really hot and dry with no gradual change in between.  And according to the experts, the culprits are those bad little winds...El Nino and La Nina.  Now the paper explained what they do to mess us up but my brain lost interest when it became technical!  It's like when in classes in college...I loved learning about the stories behind events, be historical or scientific, but when it came to the dates or the theorems etc. I shut down!  It was a good thing a lot of my tests were essay and I was pretty good at the ol' BS (and that doesn't stand for Bachelor of Science)!

My husband had a little surgery a week and a half ago...he is now back in the land of the living...went through a few rough days, but much better now.  He is not able to do as much yet as he would like but we are very lucky to have good help in the family as far as mowing and yard stuff.  Our granddaughter (the yard girl) and her dad came out Monday evening to mow and weed eat for us.  We really appreciate that especially the dad as he worked all day, then came out to do our yard for us.  I am sure there were many other things he would rather have been doing.....like his own yard, for one!

Our granddaughter...that baby who was just born a few years ago...is going to be sweet sixteen on Sunday..you think your own children grow up too fast, but that was nothing compared to the speedy aging  of grandchildren!!  She is taking driver's ed right now...and although I have great confidence in her abilities, the very thought of her out there on the road with all the crazies...I shudder to think!!!

My guild, Trinity Valley Quilters Guild, is having our annual quilt show in September.  Every year we have a specific challenge just for members.  I always try to do something for it....it is a fun thing..not too serious, usually.  This year the challenge is to make a quilt any size from 50 or more different fabrics.  That was no problem!!  So below is my top for the challenge...I have not quilted it yet.  It is a unique size...21" x 42" and no, I did not use scraps from the donation quilt which is making the rounds to other meetings, etc to sell tickets.   All these fabrics are from my own little stash!!  But I have a bit of a dilemmia...after finishing the top, I reread the criteria and discovered that one criteria is to take a traditional quilt block and create a quilt using the 50+ fabrics, interpreted in the maker's own fashion!  So it doesn't have to BE a traditional quilt, but must be based on a traditional block!!  In putting the cart before the horse...I have the top, but not a clue as to what traditional block I can say I used!!  HELP!!  Can anyone give me any ideas as to what block this might possibly be related to????

   I am changing my "view from my window" picture as the bluebonnets are all gone for this year, but we have been having spectacular crape myrtles.  And the Russian sage is really full this year too. 

The way we like a Texas winter!

Frog Fact # 17: As a defense mechanism, horned frogs can double in size to look like a spiny balloon!



Today, the temperature was in the low 70's!  This is what we like in a Texas winter!!  It is supposed to be the same tomorrow.  Today, we went into Fort Worth and spent some time with the grands.  Their mom had to work but they had the day off....between semesters.  So we watched some of their Christmas movies.."Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and a Star Trek movie while we had lunch. 

Then we stopped off at the library, got some new books; went by the "Y"..they are adding on a lot of new space to the "Y" so working out is a bit of a challenge with all the machines, etc. being moved around!

Andrea had given a proposal for a house in McKinney...we are going to head up there this coming weekend to see it.   It is a garden home in a new area; I am very excited for her!!  Looking forward to seeing it!

Texas Winter...Much Improved!

Frog Fact #10: They are susceptible to overheating and burrow or seek shade during hot summer afternoons.


Now this is what Texas is supposed to be in the winter!!  Temperatures yesterday afternoon in the mid 60's so we got a nice walk in.

I am really anxious to get to my new recipe blocks for the Studio Q meeting this month.  We are really skipping January because the last Monday when we usually meet is the weekend of the Guild Retreat at Tanglewood.  I'm not going to it but many of our members are.  So we are meeting the first Monday in February and the last Monday in February, and we are doing two recipe blocks.  One is the color or shape of pain and the other is the earth.

 But before I can get to my fun stuff, I have to take care of some guild duties.  I had to get the books ready to give to area libraries...we have about 25 libraries we donate a book to each year.  Then I had to get a cover letter ready to send to one of our scholarship recipient's college for her second installment of the money awarded to her.  And I needed to contact all the guild members who have overdue books.  Our meeting is Friday and we have announced that January is "Amnesty" month....turn the books in and pay no late fee!!!   We have done this every once in awhile and it really works!  I know people just get busy and forget they have them, in most cases!  Although we have had a few books that have moved away!

Maybe today I can get started sewing!!  I also want to get some pillow cases made for Cook Children's.  They have had labels made up to put on cases and quilts that say something about being donated to Cook by a Stitcher.  I had asked Dick to pick some up for me at the hospital Monday and he came home with about 100!!  That will be a life time supply for me!

Still cold....Fact # 5

Horned Frog fact #5: "Breaking down the scientific name: In Greek, "Phrynos" means toad and "soma" means body.  In Latin, "cornutus" means horned"...thus the mascot name Horned Toad!

Did you know there were so many pictures out there of Horned Frogs???

We didn't go to the "Y" yesterday...just too darn cold to get out.  The wind was just terrible out of the North.  I talked to my brother in Illinois and they are having snow and expecting more.  Dick talked to his mom and the same in Missouri. At least we are dry, after that little spat yesterday morning.

I have my committee of fabric cutters coming in today to cut up squares and make up the kits for the Donation Quilt 2010.  Then next week, we will have guild members sign them out, make the blocks and returh them by the February meeting.  Our guild meetings are always the third Friday of each month but it seems early this month because the first day of January was on a Friday.

Winter and Fact # 4

Horned Frog fact # 4: "The Texas horned lizard--Phrynosoma cornutum ---is the one associated with TCU.  And the most prevalent horned lizard in the state.



I think we will go to the "Y" today....even though it is really cold!  In listening to the national weather, we are not nearly as bad off as other parts of the country...or even the world.  This kind of puts a question in the idea of global warming, doesn't it?  Although, the far North is having unseasonally warm weather and we do know the glaciers are all shrinking at a fast rate so who knows!!

We are big followers of The Daily Show with John Stewart.  I really think he gives the news more accurately than any of the "serious" guys...and a lot more entertainingly!

We don't normally get Showtime, but for the past couple of months we are getting the channels for free...trying to get us hooked, but we have picked up some movies we would not have seen otherwise.  Tonight we watched a movie titled "Three Days of Rain".  A very interesting study of human nature!

Hot and hotter!!

My round robin quilt All of studioQ's round robin quilts

Our studio Q met Monday at Bethany's. She demonstrated using Shiva Paintstix on fabric...pretty neat! Probably something I will need to get someday!! We showed off our newest "recipe" blocks. Above, are my two...the top is th newest one...overlapping blocks..and the lower one is the first we did...whimisical. Our next "ingredient" is going to be a real challenge! It is "black and white teeth"....now, it should be interesting to see how everyone interprets that!! We are meeting at Wendy's for our July meeting. Also have poste the pics of my Round Robin quilt and then all of our Round Robin quilts. We are going to all finish them and put them into the show in September.

Over a hundred for the temperature again today...our tomato crop is about gone...didn't really have too many this year. Strange weather...too cool/wet; then too hot/dry! Ahhh, Texas!!

I am working on my log cabin challenge. I decided since I was promoting it for the show I should probably make one too. So far I am liking it pretty well...just making a pretty quick one so don't really expect anything from it. I also need to work on my group quilt and maybe one more if I have time. I do have one finished....my red and greens Inner City which I think I have posted earlier.