Shopping is an addiction!

This is the scene outside my front door this morning. Brrr But I have no guilt about whether I should try to make it to work or not!!! LOL We were warned that this storm was coming - snow, freezing ice, sleet, hail, more snow. But no one warned Whitley County that they would have an earthquake last night. That is as much a freak of nature as the lady who had 8 babies Monday. Why would she want that?

Lily and I went to Cabin Arts Quilt Shop Friday. I got lots of beautiful material. See the striped material. That is the piece I started with and wanted to match for my DIL's king size quilt. The three purple at the top are for Mo's queen size quilt I've been working on for weeks. But I now have a deadline to finish it. Mid-March I am headed to Jacksonville with stops in Lancaster, SC, Savannah, Ga, Lakeland, Fl, Key West, Fl. Can't wait to get out of this winter weather. Just knowing there is a reward at the end of this winter is motivation enough to hucker down and endure.

See the muted material on the bottom? That is material Cord picked out for me to make her a window seat this week. So I guess I am a quilter for hire now!! As you know, I never took Home Ec in school; everything is self-taught. The only things I sew are projects and costumes. So does that make me a seamstress - I spelled it that way because working for someone else is stressful.

Extraordinary Weekend

What an extraordinary weekend! It was all about family. Ray drove in from Jacksonville so Mom had to cook all his favorite things - fried chicken, soup beans, corn bread, fried cabbage, swiss steak, baked garlic potatoes, and all the fixins'.
All the sisters came over on Saturday and Sunday. We laughed, we reminisced, we made plans. It was wonderful.
Jake and Em's day care was closed Monday for MLK Day so I went to Wilmore to babysit. Ray went as well so they got to know their Unkie Ray. It was so much fun to play on Em's stove and with her baby dolls. To watch them dance, to listen to Jake begin to learn to add, to watch Ray and John interact.
All that made my heart swell with pride. I knew Ivan was there with me in spirit taking pride in what we had left for the world to enjoy.

I finished John's looooooong lap quilt - it is ready to wash and then I'll take a picture. It is made of batiks so there isn't much coordinating in it.

I am binding my Valentine wall hanging. I started a lightning quilt for myself. Pictures when they are finished.

It is soooooooo cold but at 7 degrees the dogs still got to go to Pendery this morning. We were as cold as the Obama's were yesterday. My prayer is that they can make a better world so things will be more secure in the future - for me, for you, for my sons, for my grandchildren.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

I know it is January but...... This cold is not easy on someone who has to walk a dog!!
We did something new yesterday. We went to lunch at Karlo's - had a delicious tomato soup which fit the weather. Then went to a matinee ($1.75) of the movie Australia. I loved the scenery in that movie. Especially when Hugh Jackman took off his shirt. It was enough to warm you up!! LOL The movie theatre was quiet - no children or teenagers at that time of day. And I think the average age of the others was an old 68!! Maybe that's a good place to find an old man - although if he was rich, would he be in the matinee? LOL

Still quilting but nothing is finished. I usually have only one project at a time going. But reading other quilters' blog, I decided to try having several things going at a time - which might teach me patience - not - as the cable guy says - git 'er done! So, I have the purple quilt, redoing the beading on the four seasons wall hanging, John's long lap quilt, the Valentine wall hanging, and the wall hanging for the mitre project at church. All in different stages, I don't know if it will help my patience but it is keeping me from being bored.
Today is Haylee's 19th birthday. All of my nieces and nephews are adults now! Makes me feel old!

Winter Time

This is where I want to be!!!

Instead this is where we were this morning!!! Lily keeps the treats in her pocket so Lucilu and Prissy stay close to her!

Not much quilting is going on around here. This is a ribbon embroidery piece I tried to make into a wallhanging. I was using velvet to surround it; the velvet crawled so much that I got nowhere. I may try water soluable stabilizer between the satin and velvet the next time. But for now it has been put in my UFO - unfinished objects - pile.

This is my four seasons wallhanging. I used a Bartlett pear tree as my theme. But I am not happy with the bead work. So I took all the pearls on the spring section off to try to put them on more randomly for the beautiful white blooms the tree has in the spring. And there are not enough beading on the other three. So I have been doing hand work which doesn't show much.

So for now, I will continue to blunder on!

What is in my future? Manicures, pedicures, hairdos, prom dresses, homecoming dances, ballgames, high heels, jewelry - how much fun!

Have a good one!

Char

My idea of a Super Bowl is a toilet that never has to be cleaned!

The Holidays are Over!

I don't know why the holidays make me so blue. When I was growing up we called that time when you didn't want to deal with anything or anyone and felt in despair as "putting on your long blue" - referring to the robe you kept on for days on end while your mood changed. I don't know if it is because the holidays never live up to the Hallmark moments the advertisements tell us we should have. Or the fact that once you grow up, Christmases never seem to live up to your childhood memories. Or the worrying about whether your presents are adequate, you have enough food for everyone, your house is decorated fine enough. Whatever the reason, for me, I wish I could put on my long red and the last two weeks of December would just go on by me. But now that I am on the other side of the holidays, I can look back on some good memories.
On the 20th we gathered at Cil's house for an exchange of gag gifts just between the sisters and nieces. Christmas Eve we all went to Lily's to exchange gifts. Thanks everyone for some good stuff. Christmas Day we went to church for some spiritual moments and reminders of what the season is all about. Then Lily fixed dinner for all of us. Last summer I had bought some shuckey beans in Whitesburg and those beans were the highlight of dinner for me. Lily and Daddy could always make those beans taste like something besides "leather britches".
New Year's Eve Lily, Ric, Sam and I celebrated with dinner at York Street Cafe. The dinner was delicious and the atmosphere was festive.

But the highlight of the Holidays was spending January 2 with John's family to celebrate Christmas. The grandbabies made the day for me!

John kept an eye on the babies during dinner to make sure they behaved in front of Nana and Aunt E.


Emerson enjoyed the chocolate cake we had for dessert!

Jake had to bring the Ben 10 toys to the dinner table with him!

He had gotten so hot running around from toy to toy he had to remove his shirt! Just like his Uncle Ray - whose birthday was Jan. 2 - 36 years ago he was a 5 pound ball of white fuzz!

I don't have any pictures of Annie cooking our delicious dinner, picking up the zillion little pieces of toys Nana and Aunt E brought for two babies who won't need another toy for years or trying to remove the oodles of wrapping paper all over the place without throwing away any of those small parts!

I made it through to yesterday - Ivan's birthday - he would have been 68 - I would have been married to "old man"!!!

Thus ends the holiday season for me. On to an exciting 2009!