ANTIQUE QUILT

Hello all. Sorry it has been a while since I wrote, but I have been busy. Life seems to always get in the way of every project I have. I was over at my friends house the other day and she brought out a quilt another friend of hers gave her as a birthday gift. It was an antique wedding ring quilt. She was asking all kinds of questions to me and wanted to know if I could fix the old torn material and add batting and quilt it. I told her about the value and she is not interested in value and wants to be able to use it and hand it down to her daughter later. So I now have an antique quilt I get to redo. I am sorry I have not taken any pictures yet but I will this weekend and then I will post them here for all to see. It is really a beautiful quilt and not too much work to do to fix it.

Where did the time go?

Enjoy a couple of zoo pictures of their bird show. Hello all. I know it has been a while since I posted anything. Well Rob finally got a job and I have been working like crazy so there has not been any time for anything else. I have got to finish cutting out my squares for my jean quilt at some time. This weekend is chalked full of stuff again. We have a birthday party on Sunday for the family September birthdays and I have to make my Grandmother's famous chocolate cake for it. Saturday I am taking the kids to the zoo for member appreciation day and World animal event. By the time we get home I will have just enough time to make the cake before I am too tired to move. Poor Rob will not be there for most of it. His new job is 7 days a week and around 10 hrs a day right now. The poor guy does not know if he is coming or going. hopefully the kids will give him a break this weekend. He is going to take Sunday off to be with us at the birthday party since Mitch and My birthday were this month. I will grab the chocolate cake recipe and post it before the end of the week.

QUILT

I have started on a new jean quilt. I spent most of Monday cutting some squares to get it started. I have a 7" square and a 6" square as well as a 2" x 6" rectangle and I think I want to place them as shown. I am not sure.

Like this I think. I am not sure. Any one else have any ideas?

The Great Pumpkin Quilt BOM

I just found a wonderful blog called The Shabby from a blog I follow (P.S. I Quilt ). It is a wonderful blog about fabrics and quilting. They are starting up two new BOM patterns soon. The one I fell in love with is The Great Pumpkin Quilt BOM. It starts in October and runs until next September and is the cutest thing I have seen. It has such wonderful fall colors in it that the moment I saw it I knew I had to start it. Once I sign up for it I will start posting monthly on my progress with it. If you love quilting and sewing you have to check out the website Shabby Fabrics. I love their fabrics and collections. They have some of the cutest patterns too. I think I am loving the Bittersweet Amber Fat Quater set by Nancy Halverson. It has so many of my favorite fall colors in it. Just thought I would share a wonderful site.

QUILT

Ok off to another project. I am going to start on a new jean quilt this weekend, since it is a nice 3 day weekend and the husband will be working it. It will be quiet enough for me to be able to start It has to get done by Christmas to give to my brother-in-law (Tom) this year. I made one last year and we took it over for the gift exchange and found out we had the wrong person and it had to go to the other brother-in-law (Russ). We let him know that if he did not like it we would get him something else. Well he opened it up and loved it. He would not even let the wife touch it. So now that we have Tom this year, I will have to make another one for him. I am trying to decide if I should back it with flannel or fleece since he will probably use it for when he goes bear hunting in the snow. I will have to see how bulky it gets first. Any suggestions out there? I will start posting pictures as I go so you can see my progress.

Crochet Washcloths

I have done another washcloth. It has the same Halloween colors but in opposite configuration as the last one. I have also made a beanie.  I was not too busy this weekend so I was able to finish a couple things.

I enjoy crocheting right now because of the warm weather. I will soon start on my quilting again. I can not wait. My husband is going to be moving my sewing machine out of the bedroom and to my very own spot in the dining area so I can be social while I am sewing. I hate that it is in a dark corner in the bedroom right now. He comes in while I am sewing and wants to visit with me and it is hard to do that now. He wanted me closer so on the weekends he did not feel like he was the only one in the house. I can not wait. It will probably happen this weekend. I will have to take pictures when it is all done.

crochet Washcloths

Hello all, I have been working on some washcloths the last couple of days. I really like crocheting and thought I would start on some washcloths. I gave a set to a friend for her birthday and they were a hit with everyone who was there. I had an idea to make a few and see if I could sell some. Here are a couple I finished this weekend.

I like the orange and black one better because it is coming up on Halloween. I am now working on another Halloween one that is opposite colors of the orange and black. It will have a black center and orange outer rings with a black trim.  I will probably start on Christmas and Thanksgiving colors next. I am also going to be starting on some sewing projects soon. I have this great idea about making some neck pillows and a few baby quilts soon. I have some wonderful ideas for the baby quilts. I will post more pictures as I finish them.

NEW DIRECTION

Hello,
I have decided I am going to start posting about my crafts more than anything else. I am going to start making things to sell. I am in the process of crocheting dishcloths first. I am also wanting to make quilted potholders and casserole holders. I am also going to start posting my quilts. I love quilting. I started quilting over 8 years ago and love it. I have not been able to quilt for about 6 months while moving around and getting things set up. I now have my machines and a wonderful cabinet that my grandmother gave me just this last year after she passed away. So now it is time to pull it all out and get started. With the economy the way it is, I have to think of new things to do to generate income. I have been told I should put my things on Etsy and see how it goes. So here I go off to a new adventure in my life. 

Leona's Quilting Adventure: Taffy Go Round Pillow Tutorial by West Wood Acres ...

Leona's Quilting Adventure: Taffy Go Round Pillow Tutorial by West Wood Acres ...: Happy Sunday!! For the past several weeks I have been working on a wall hanging for the Make Mine Modern Summer Swap on flickr. My partner r...

This is a very cute Pillow Tutorial. There is also a great Giveaway that goes with it. Amanda with A Crafty Fox is very talented. I like what Leona is doing with her crafts and quilts also. It is always nice to see different projects from different people and get a feel for what is trending out in the quilting and sewing world. 

Covermates

So a couple of weeks ago I won some Covermates on Airing my Dirty Laundry, One sock at a Time, I was so excited about it. I never win anything so this was extra special. I received them the other day and had to open them up first thing. I love them, it is great to be able to cover things without having to find the lids to things. I am the type of person who always misplaces the lids to my Tupperware, or worse yet, I think the dishwasher eats them. I have used them to cover brownies that are sitting on the counter, to cover my vegi's in the refer., and to cover the cat food can, since we only give her 1/2 a can in the morning and 1/2 the can at night. These are great and I love them. I thought I would share with you all that they are definitely worth getting.

WEDDING DAY

So as I said yesterday here are the wedding photos. Jay is a little different and he got to wear his Mohawk and ear plugs. It was a warm day, around 85 so he cut off his pants to make them long shorts and he wore his converse shoes. It was definitely a sight. Shannon is 5 months pregnant and she wore a pretty white short dress. They piggy-backed onto her father's vow renewals for the wedding. It was a Native American wedding for her father and step-mother. It was a simple wedding but very nice and small.

They all had a good time. I loved Shannon's step mothers dress. It was a Native American dress in white suede with all the feathers and ribbons on it. Her head dress was simple but elegant. She had a headband that matched the dress with feathers and beads down the back on suede strips. After the wedding they had a nice buffet. They had several different salads and cold cuts. There were also Hawaiian Meatballs and rice, little smokies, fried chicken, fruit, and vegis. It was good and filling too.

After a while of visiting and well wishing they decided to cut the cake. That was an adventure. Jay's cake was a Star Wars cake and the wedding cake was standard.

All in all it was a nice wedding. I wish them all the luck and fun of many years.

wedding crazies

So this last weekend started off on Friday evening with a phone call from Rob's step brother asking if we would like to go to his wedding on Sunday afternoon. Now this is very funny because we had been talking about not hearing from him since 4th of July and that they had mentioned that they were going to get married in August. So of course we would go. I will have to post pictures and the adventure tomorrow.

So, ok that changing all the plans we had for the weekend. Now we would be doing yard work on Saturday and clean house and laundry all in one day. Oh boy for me. Thank goodness my 14 yr old decided she was going to help. Just as we finish doing yard work and laundry we get a call from a friend wanting to know when we would be over for his girlfriend's surprise birthday party. Ok I did not know that there was one this weekend but I guess I missed that. So we had to jump in showers and run over there because she would be coming home in two hours. Thank goodness I had just finished crocheting a set of dish cloths a couple days ago and low and behold her favorite color is purple(the same color as the dish cloths). Instant gift yeehaw!!

So now the house is going to have to get cleaned early Sunday morning before we leave for the wedding. Oh my goodness it was a jam packed weekend. Had to go to work Monday just to rest.

Quick Dinner

So last night I got home and did not want to do anything. The kids are starving, so I make meatloaf with roasted potatoes and some of our fresh green beans steamed with lemon water. I like them still crisp tender and they were so flavorful. I decided to do a little adding to the meatloaf to give it a good flavor. So I added those french fried onions to the mix (the ones everyone puts on green bean casserole.) Added some liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, Heinz BBQ Sauce, an egg, Italian bread crumbs, saute onion, garlic, fresh parsley, fresh chives, and a dash of soy sauce. Needless to say I have no left overs. I could not believe how much the kids ate. Rob had even gotten a second helping. It tasted really good. After dinner, they all suggested that I need to make that again only use more meat to make it bigger.

After dinner the kids decided to ask for dessert. I usually like to have a dessert at least once a week because I love to bake. So I made home made brownies. The kids, from their bedrooms, could smell them baking and were promptly there when they heard the buzzer go off. It was so agonizing for them to have to wait 30 minutes for them to cool.

That was when Rob walks in and grabs the pan and looks at the kids smiling and says,"Oh look mom made my favorite tonight, too bad there will not be enough for you." At which time he ran with the pan. The kids had to chase him around the house for a few minutes. When he made it back in the kitchen he smiled and said," Oh I suppose you two can each have one, but that is all." They all acted like I had never made brownies before, listening to them eat those I could not believe the noises. All the yum and mmmm out of the group made me laugh out loud. Anyone else have any good ideas for quick dinners?

The garden

Well our first items from our garden have come in. Which is amazing since here in the northwest it has looked more like fall than summer. We got green beans in. They were huge for green beans and our peas are just about ready for their first harvest too. So excited, the lettuce is just about ready too. The corn looks nice and so do the tomatoes.

I am soo excited about getting vegi's from the garden, they taste so much better than the store bought one's and it saves a ton of money on fresh vegi's.

Stuffed Artichokes

I tried these this last weekend and we all loved them. I know artichokes are an acquired taste but these are good.
4 Lg artichokes          1 cup grated cheese ( I used cheddar)      2 cloves garlic minced    Salt & Pepper to taste
2 cups bread crumbs     6 tbsp. Olive Oil       1 tsp Parsley      1 tbsp. Chopped Oregano

Wash artichokes under cold running water, cut off the stem and remove the tough outer leaves. From the top cut off about 1/4 of the artichoke. Spread the leaves apart with your fingers. Take a spoon and scoop out the fuzzy flower center. In a bowl, mix the cheese, garlic, bread crumbs, olive oil, parsley, oregano, salt & Pepper. Stuff the mixture between the leaves and fill the center of each artichoke. Place them upright in a baking dish, pour enough water in the dish to cover the artichokes half way. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil, place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for approximately 30-35 min. or until tender ( mine were larger so they took about 1 hour) Remove the artichokes from the water and let them cool some before serving.

Blind Man riding bike

Good afternoon all. You will never guess what I saw last night on my way home from work. I was on my way back from my mom's after grabbing my daughter. We were on a back street so I was just meandering through at about 15 mph. I was talking with Jess and enjoying the pretty front yards when I saw a bike coming down the street on the right side. As he was passing I noticed he was holding a stick. I thought that was odd.

So as he passed I looked closer and just could not believe what I saw. Then I started laughing because it struck me as funny. The man was riding a bike in the bike lane carrying a blind walking stick across his handle bars. Jess looked at me rather oddly and asked, " What are you laughing at?" I said, "Did you see what he was carrying?" To which her reply was, "Yeah, so what?" I said, "Do you know what it was for?" Again the blank stare with the dumb teenage,"Well duh, yeah, so?" I rolled my eyes and said, "Isn't it odd that he is carrying a blind stick while riding a bike? How is he riding a bike while being blind? Get the oddity of that?" She decided it was not that funny. What do you expect from a 14 year old who thinks she is going on 23.

I just am glad I do not have to hopefully see him in a car behind the wheel any time soon. At least I hope.

What a week

Ok sorry I have not posted for a while. I have been trying to be a good friend. My best friend is having marriage issues. I have been her sounding board and shoulder to cry on for the past couple of weeks. She has informed me that her and her husband of 8 years are separating. They also have two lovely children. Well they have one child that is both of theirs and one that is just hers but he has always been there for the oldest. Now he has decided that he is done with the lies and the trust issues. There is a lot of history here that I just do not have time to go in to.. . .  OK you talked me into it. They ( Amber and Jeremy) were together when he screwed up royally and ended up in jail. Basically drinking and driving at 19 and crashed and killed his then girlfriend that was in the car with him. He met Amber some time after that and they started dating. Well after all was said and done (which took two years to go through) he had to do two years and probation for 2 years and no drivers license for 8 years. While he was in jail, Amber had cheated on him with a guy and ended up pregnant. When all was said and done Jeremy forgave her (or so he thought) and was there for Shyanne's birth and has always been told that Jeremy is her father. Well, his sister has a lot of problems and has recently started dragging up the Shyanne is not his and threatening to tell Shyanne herself. And started telling Jeremy again that Amber is back cheating. They have been together now 8 years and married, but he is starting to have doubts again. Now I am not saying she is innocent either, she has gone out without telling him where she is going or who she is with and has lied some also just to make things easier because of his jealousy issues, and I am not saying she is right in this, because she is not right either. So it got all blown way up and has resulted in them splitting up this last week. I love them both very much and the kids are like my kids too, so I have been trying to be there for them. I am hoping that with them being apart for a while, they will be able to look at things in a new light later down the road.
      I hope that with time apart they will be better. I think they both need to have their fun that they missed when they were married at a young age. Neither one got to have fun in their early twenties due to them having to grow up and be parents. So I feel they are both wanting that fun and not wanting the other to be hurt by it. So hopefully after they get this stuff out of their system they will be able to look at each other in a new light and work things out. If not they at least gave it a try.
     So again I am sorry I have not had time to blog but I will try and work on it.

SUCH A DELAY

Sorry I have not posted lately, I have been going through some very stressful things. I feel like I am going to loose what marbles I have left. Things have been very tight lately because Rob lost his job and now his unemployment is completely exhausted, no one wants to hire anyone over 40 these days. Well now my credit card decided it did not like the payment plan we were working on and I was about two weeks late and they are now garnishing the wages. To make a long story short, we are about one paycheck away from loosing everything. So I have been a little extra frazzled. Not to mention we are going back to court because his ex wants more money and to take time away from Rob seeing his son. So now we have to come up with a way to pay our lawyer. But enough about what I can not change, I guess.

Summer is here, Yeah!! I have no idea what to do with the kids this year. Maybe I will somehow arrange a short weekend camping trip this year. Anyone have any good ideas?

Rainy Wednesday

It has been a while since my last blog. Sorry there have been some issues that had taken all my time. Does anyone else out there feel like no matter how hard you work or how much you put into life you just are getting no where or in fact are going backwards? Boy is that how I feel lately. I can not get into it now but tomorrow I will. For now hope your Wednesday is going better than mine, it is rainy here in the wonderful Northwest.

Sorta Sunny

Well here it is Tuesday and we are finally seeing some sun in the rainy state of Oregon. My daughter is finally feeling better, yeah for me. Mother's Day was one I do not wish to redo. Saturday evening we went to my parents house for dinner and we brought mom a bunch of flowers. She loved them and dinner was great. We had a ham and all the fixings. I did dishes and cleaned up for her after. On Sunday we got up early, which I did not want to do, and went to Rob's moms grave. She had passed away on September 7th 2010 of lung cancer, after fighting it for almost 9 months. It is rough because it is a day before my birthday and happens to be on my step son's birthday. I was not ready to go yet and see her again but decided not to tell anyone because I needed to be there for Rob. After that we went over to Schroader's for brunch with Rob's step dad who met us at the cemetary. We had a good brunch and visit. He is doing better now too. Rob is trying to do better and most days it is good but there are days where it just hits hard. After that we came home and watched hockey most of the day and relaxed. That was nice.

Monday was a little better except I had to go to work. When I got home Rob had dinner ready. We had hot dogs with all the fixin's. I know he did not slave in the kitchen all day but it was the thought that counts. Dinner was actually pretty good with all the toppings he had out for the dogs. I did not even have to do dishes. My daughter got to do those for me. So I guess my Mother's Day was Monday and it was not all that bad.

Tuesday is getting better to, the sun is finally coming out and I will get home before dark to enjoy it. I have not figured out what we are going to have for dinner yet so it may be a fend for yourself day. Tomorrow is another fend for yourself day for Rob because Jess and I will be gone to church until 8pm. So I will not have to cook again until Thursday. Maybe I will do Swiss Steak or maybe even a stir fry. I will let you know soon.

Weeknight blues

So as you know I took my daughter to the doctors. Well by the time we got home after the 2 1/2 hour ordeal, she was blowing her nose and kinda coughing. So I took her temperature, 100.8. Ok so now we get Tylenol and her throat is sore, so some chloraseptic.  After about an hour I take her temp again, 102.3. We put her in a cool shower and get her some cooler comfies on. Then we give her a little Nyquil and put her to bed. About an hour later her temp is down to 99.5. Ok, more manageable. She woke up this morning crying. Her throat hurt and her temp was back up to 101. So we got her comfy and took some more Tylenol and got her some 7up. By the time I left for work she was feeling a little better. She is getting spoiled being home with Rob today too. So much for a relaxing Mother's Day, I get to play nurse this weekend. That is ok she is my baby.

Hump day

Well it is Wednesday. Let me tell you first that I had one heck of a Monday. I had to take my daughter to the doctor and I wrote down the appointment for Monday 3 pm. So I leave work drive 1 hr to pick her up, drive another 45 min to the doctor to be told that it is on Wednesday at 3pm. So then drive another 45 min to get back home.

Now it is Wednesday, so I had her come to work with me today, there is no way I am doing that much driving again. Can not wait until we are done so I can go and get some vegi's to get ready to plant in my garden that we spent most of Sunday tilling up. I am so sore, we took down a tree and moved wood and tilled the vegi garden on Sunday. I am just now starting to be able to move without hurting everywhere.

Just Blabbing

Well it is finally Friday. Yeah!! Last night we picked up Mitch, my step son, from her house. On the way home he proceeded to tell me what he would like for dinners this weekend. So this morning I got up and pulled out my big stock pot and proceeded to cut up celery, carrots, parsnips, fresh parsley, bay leaf, garlic, and onion. Then I pulled out my stew chicken and one smoked turkey leg. Threw it all in the pot and turned it on low. Told the husband to watch it and stir it every once in a great while, letting him know that after a few hours he may sample a small amount. Then proceeded to go to work. Can you guess yet what his number one most favorite dish is? I will give you a hint, when I get home I have to de-bone the chicken and make balls of bisquick to drop in it. Anyone have it now? This year his favorite dish is chicken and dumplings. He also wants Swiss Steak, and I believe after I got done laughing hysterically, T-bone steak. Last weekend I made home made "poofy rolls" for dinner and we still have a few of those the kids can have too.


Now that I am at work and enjoying a very quiet Friday, I realize I can not wait to get home and have a nice dinner with the family.  Even though it is a lot more hectic there than work these days. The house is going to smell like home made chicken soup, and while I am finishing up dinner I will probably start on some sort of dessert as well for a nice treat. Then it is to bed early so we can get the kids motivated early tomorrow for a trip to the zoo. After hiking the zoo for the day we are going to go to New York Style Pizza for dinner. Yeah I do not have to cook tomorrow. Then Sunday we are going to my parents' house to till the side yard so we can all start our family vegetable garden for the year. I have so many goodies I want to put in it, I hope there will be room. So by the time Monday rolls around I will be glad to get back to work and relax. hehe.

I almost forgot, I also have to squeeze some time in there to help my daughter, Jessica, practice her trumpet for the concert on the 19th. She is at the 14 yr old I am scared to be in front of people age. She gets stage fright a lot the past couple years. So I have to sit in the first couple rows and right in front of her so when she looks up all she sees is me. She does great then..

I will let you all know how dinner was and will post the recipe next week.

Monday

Hello again. Well this weekend went ok. Easter was not as big this year. My child is 14 now so she does not believe in the Easter Bunny and my Step son is 10 and we did not get him until 10am so the Easter Bunny just brought a family basket full of treats. We had a great Roast dinner and cupcakes for dessert. Otherwise the weekend was quiet. I did not have to clean house or do laundry this week. My husband took care of it for me, he is so wonderful.

First and Foremost

Good morning to one and all. This is my first Blog I have ever tried, so please bear with me. I am new to this kind of thing. My family thinks I should share my knowledge and projects with people, so here I am. It has been a hard year and a half and I am still trying to recover from events so until I get into a rhythm this may be hit and miss. First off, I lost my mother-in-law to lung cancer in September. What is worse it was a day before my birthday, which is my step son's birthday. He is only 10 so it was rough on him too. I have had a few run ins with cancer before. My best friend's brother (who is like a brother to me) died of cancer a few years ago. My Aunt had cancer, but beat it. Anyway, it has not completely hit yet. Like so many other middle age people out there, I have had to bury grandparents and take care of parents in the last few years. But through all my ups and downs I have acquired a lot of things that some others may find interesting and I thought I would share those with others so they may benefit also.