Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Oh Christmas Tree......







The days have been so full of Christ-mas Tree fun! I wish I could write all the happenings down to share. Alas....not enough hours in the day. The children are the most adorable and awed at cutting their own tree or even selecting a "pre-cut" tree. Then when DH puts the tree in the "Shakee"(see top photo) to rid it of the falling old growth that gathers on the limbs, then their eyes really "pop" as well as the grownups that have not had the pleasure of seeing the machine work! This is all winding down this week as December 25th draws near. I have been so lucky to hold cuddly infants of 3 and 4 weeks old and some 4 and 5 months old!!! Our GKids are teens now and live in Oregon so holding a little one again is so sweet! We have had several young "expecting" Mom's here also. One told me she was due in 10 days....eek, I immediately offered her to sit on the porch bench if need be. She laugh!!! I informed her our DIL lived just down the road and is a nighttime LABOR/DELIVERY nurse at the nearby hospital 4 miles away!!! We LOL together! One visitor was so special to us....our former Doctor of 40 years. He is 85 now and has dementia. His wife who is 81 (and looks 40 w/beautiful gray hair) generally comes without him; this year she brought him to get their fresh cut tree. When he asked who we were and we told him, he then remembered details about us!!! I wished I had taken their photo. We feel so honored that our current Doctor and Dentist come and bring their grown kids every year for their Christmas trees!!! They are in their late 50's. I wish I could say we will see them when they are 85......that would really be a miracle for us! We see hundreds of folk during this time and some have been coming w/their kids and now grandkids!! I have gotten the Christmas cards addressed and in the mail and the package for the Oregon family sent. That is a huge accomplishment!! As my energy level is not what is used to be. So everyday I try to do a little of the preparations to celebrate the birth of Christ. Here is our Christmas Tree (looks just like everyother year) and a view of the tree yard....... 3 1/2 weeks later!( It was too cold and rainy today to take a photo of the "Choose and Cut" 5 acres of trees.) You will notice that there is no packages on the floor at the front of the tree. That is because we have to have a open spot to reach the tree stand to give it fresh water every day. (That means getting down on the knees!!!)Trees need to be treated just like fresh flowers as they drink water everyday. Some days a quart some days 2 cups!!!!

Thursday, December 06, 2007

More Fun Views!






I just had to take these photos ( w/my PhD camera) ! The colors of the sycamore's are just as vivid yellows as they can be! I am "thinking" quilt here. Calling it "View through my window"!

This nice lady and her 35 mpg "commuter car" w/a 9 ft Noble Fir tree just cried out for a photo opp! My DH "lashed" the tree w/his clever tying to through the windows, etc....she was a peach and turned out we know folks incommon and she lives about 25 miles away!!!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Getting Ready for Christmas !






Meet "Rosie Reindeer"!!! She is 18 years old! Our creative DD Penny made her for us. I hang her every year in the same spot on the porch! Last year a "critter",bird,mouse, (I don't know who) ate one of her lovely eyelashes!!! So, she needed help, a gal just cannot be in public w/one eyelash. So...off to the cosmetic department at the local drugstore to find just the right look!!! Well, she is so "glitzy" now! I even touched up her nose "makeup" as well as her lips! Please click on the photo to get a real neat view of her! The little toddlers that come to our tree farm always want to "kiss" Rosie! I love making her look pretty w/a fresh wreath. She hangs up above the "sales" table. We grow 5 acres of "Choose and Cut" trees and also bring in some fresh cuts of Noble Fir that we cannot grow at our elevation! We keep them in water and they stay fresh. Take a look we just filled the "lot". It is a lot of work getting things ready as we open the day after Thanksgiving. I still have more decorating to do! The weather is cooperating w/sunshine. We had frost this morning,brrrr! Whew! Where are those darn kids when you could really use them!!!!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Home Again





























We returned a few days ago from a very restfull 10 days! The weather was typical fall and we even had a wonderful thunder and lightening storm on the last day! Here is what I did accomplish while away. I so enjoyed this trip. Here is what we came home to!The double rainbow is on our property lines and so I couldn't for looking for the "pot of gold"! Dang! But look what else was waiting for us, actually it was waiting for DH. Our wood supply to be cut and split
(I can never get these photos in the right sequence even when I "tell" them where to stay!)



































Sunday, October 28, 2007

From "Fishland"











I am starting this post from "Fishland"! DH has been having reallllly good luck w/his attempts to lure those trout to his "little teeny flys". So, he is a happy man! He asked if I could find some fabrics to make a "fabric tube rod holder" to protect his $$$ rods in the PVC tubes he attaches to his pickup camper boat carrier. I of course said I was certain....(trying to keep a straight face).... the LFS would produce just the right choices!! ;))) Well, I have only been to the LFS twice already for the cosy baby flannels in the photo. We are in the heart of one of the best trout fishing and deer hunting areas in northern California and I tell you this little "burg" of a town has a "Ben Franklin Store" fabric department that keeps this in mind when they stock their fabrics! I was lucky enough to buy the last yard of the navy blue fabric on the bolt! The green rod fabric was a little more available. The gold/brown is for the actual rod pocket holder. DH loved my find and he has asked for a accessory cover for his fly tying box as well as a scrap bag. (That is a HSY.) Oddly enough the store carries some great quality fabrics as well as "craft" fabrics. Their prices are competitive also. So, I may make one more vist before we leave here! I developed a "muscle spasm" in my left "wing". So it is slowing me down. I brought my mini fan project and have done the fan's, the hard part is when I go to the next class to learn the rest!
Here are some of the "loot" I found!


Sunday, October 21, 2007

Fishland!

Well we made it to the remote northern part of California.....I call it Fishland. DH's favorite places to "wet" his handtied flies! We are "holed"up in a cosy "cheap" motel. It is so nice and clean and has a small kitchen .....if a "person" wants to use it! I brought my "Featherweight" and UFO's! The kitchen table seats four and is just right for setting up my "stuff'! This is my private sewing retreat! Maids at my disposal! Eat in or out,my call! Did some sewing on a mini fan project I showed you sometime back. The fall colors are in their "elegant peak"up here. The temperature is in the freezing at night.....long undies is the dress code! I am anxious to get to the LFS,it is just about 3 blocks away! No photos yet. I just figured out how to work my laptop! Hope they do not cut off my wireless connection, I don't know where it is coming from! LOL!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Where Do the Years Go!







Here we are celebrating DH's 70th birthday and our 42 years of wedded bliss, with sons and mates! Now we are off to "fishland".

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Catching Up!












I finally got back here! The last weeks have been full of preparing for our quilt guilds annual show! I "volunteered" to chair the judging committee. I have served as an assistant scribe so...that must have qualified me to a promotion!!! We had 143 quilts entered to be judged. The total entered to show was another 200!!! Wow, it was really spectacular! I was able to have some really great gal's to serve on the committee. Our guild hired two judges in order to speed up the judging process. The day was from 7 a.m. until about 4:30 p.m...of course the judging started at 10:00 a.m. sharp. We needed to get the tables setup before the judges arrived . The doors opened at 8:00 a.m. for quilt check in procedure and ended at 9:30 a.m.. there was a different committee for the check in process, thank goodness. That in itself is another giant job. I had worked on the judging "paper chain" for a couple weeks prior. Quilts were "pulled" at the last minute due to not being completed by the quilter....OR....added at the last minute. Only from the waiting list of course!!! Whew....it was down to the "wire" for that! I am so grateful for this new age record keeping on the computer!!!! Our judges came from out of the area. They both are highly qualified. (They both judge at the Pacific International Quilt Show, held in the San Mateo area south of San Francisco,Ca! Which is this weekend. I have never been able to attend that show. )Our show was a huge success. I am sure when the final tally is done , we will have paid the bills and made a profit!!!! I did enter a few quilts. Only one that won a blue ribbon was the quilt "Under The Rainbow", I had entered in the Labor Day weekend County Fair of which I have a post on that. Here it is again! Only with a 3rd Place Ribbon. Different Judges, different opinion!!!! ( I am considering putting it on eBay!) I had a offer from a local person already. I'll have to think on that!
Now, what I really want to share is the photos of the other quilts that I thought were among the spectacular! The deer one is all raw edge machine applique, it is wonderful and called "Prince of the Forest". Received a 3rd place award in its category. The other quilt is called, "Flight of Imagination"! Talk about illusion, this is it! Do you see the "stairs"? My friend Ann, made it and she deserved the 1st Place that she received for her entry. Let me know what you think!!!





Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Emily's Purse










Emily is our 14 years old beautiful grandaughter! She loves purses and western themed items. She is involved in 4-H Club horse activities. Soooo, I made her this purse. It is made from a old pair of Grandpa's jeans!!! The pocket was his "wallet" pocket!!! I put velcro to close it incase she puts her cell phone in it. She loves "blingy" and so that just made this all the more "glitzy"! The zipper is for "safekeeping" her stuff! That was a challenge in putting the zipper in! It is a oldy "invisible" one from my clothes making days. She fell during a volleyball game and landed on her wrist and has a "compressed fracture". Hope when she gets this in the mail it cheers her up!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Mini Fan


Here is my newest assignment from the mini paper peicing class I have attended for 3 years, that meets once a month, except for the summer! Our instructor says this year we are going to have more challenges!!! The fabrics that I chose reflect a victorian "attitude"in shades of burgundys & purples! The challenge is putting the bias cut "fan trim" on by "blind" hand stitching. It is 1/8" in diameter! The triangle piece on the bottom is also "blind" hand stitched!
Hopefully by the time I do all 18 of them I'll have one perfect!!!

Friday, August 31, 2007

SHOW TIME!! UPDATE!!!!


OMG, I could not believe it!!!

If you have been a "fan" of my posts, you know that I have been working on this quilt since early March. Now is it "show time". I entered it in the local county fair, which is this Labor Day weekend! Lucky me!!! The judge gave my "Under The Rainbow" a Blue Ribbon and Best of Show in Traditional Bed Quilts!!!! (they are pinned to the quilt) As if the 1st prize Blue wasn't great enough I won $50.00 from a local fabric store who sponsored that category!!! When I started this project I was not "in love" w/it!!! As it progressed along in construction of the borders, I developed a fondness for it! Then when my personal long arm quilter, Marian, finished I really started to enjoy it! After I put the binding on then it won me over! ;0)

Here is a update as of today September 3. This morning I went to the fairground to pickup my quilts and when they were given to me the person (Sandy) said: "Oh, by the way you have also won the 'VIEWERS CHOICE AWARD' !!" I just went numb! Thought I was going to faint!!! Did I hear her correctly say that? Yes, I did!!! As you can see it included a $50. gift certificate from the same fabric store "Kerries"! I am overwhelmed that the fair goers gave ME that honor!! I forgot everything else that I had planned to do after I picked up my quilts and drove the 10 miles home "on a cloud"!!! DH said it didn't surprise him at all!!! I also decided that I would take the rest of the day "off"! The quilting "angel" smiled on me!


Then and Now














A few days ago I watch a weekly quilting/sewing show that featured some fabric dyeing methods. I have never done "yardage" dyeing, except for tea dyeing fabric, with real tea! So, I decided I want to try the "over dyeing" trick on fabric that was shown. I can't remember the year it was I bought this pink dye as you can see in the photo it was a looong time ago! I don't even remember what I was going to do with it!!! Yesterday I went and bought a package of the Purple dye. Now, my point is this: I paid $2.99 plus tax for the new dye!!!! Came home and was putting it a cupboard with laundry items and that is when I found the box of Pink dye that cost 35 CENTS!!! The instructions are the same almost but the box design has changed. There is no price on the new dye box! I'll show you the "overdyed" fabric when I get it done in the future days to come. Woo,I just had to share!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Down & Dirty!!!!




Don't ya just love the title!!! That was the name applied to a Mystery Round Robin challenge by our http://www.llqg.org guild presented at the May meeting. I have never participated in this segment up until this time!! Here is how it went: (available for 9 persons at first) You sign up,then the committee, tell you to bring a "big" paper bag w/your name on it to the June meeting. OK, I thought that's easy! Then at that meeting your bag goes on the table and in it, secretly, they put the instructions!!! Which say, choose 3 fabrics, background, focus & complimentary. Then it also tells you to cut your fabrics in certain sizes for 9 different blocks and have a gallon zip lock bag for each block w/name and number on it of each block that YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS!!! Then you put the fabrics in the proper zip bag! Then..(.you still w/me) we took them to the July meeting and the "committee" separated the zip bags to be put in our individual bags and then they put your pattern in w/them (now I know what it is I will make) for you to take home and put the 9 together and bring them back to the August meeting!!! (Oh, yes, you are assigned a specific pattern. That is the only one you know about!!) Well, it just so happened that the pattern I was given did not fit the sizes of the strips of fabric that the other participants had cut!!!! Eeek! I then call the committee....oh gosh....she was so embarrassed and she sent me another pattern...okay that was good! Except....then the fabrics were not the right size for this pattern!! So..... I then called the other participants and explained and they were so gracious and sent me new cut fabric strips!!!! I then called them and thanked them and proceeded to create only 9 blocks of the same pattern (show above) called "Flying X's"! Whew....at last I felt good. We then were to bring them to the August meeting and we were giving back our own fabric blocks that we made for each other!!! Does this make sense!!!
And they were all to be unfinished at 9 1/2 "! Wow, they all were just. Imagine 9 all the same size by 9 different sewers!! Okay, the last step was to put them together anyway we wanted! Well, I have mine put together, not very imaginative, but there they are. We "show and tell" at the September meeting. I don't know if I will have a back on mine by then or not!!! (I don't know if using the black to stash them is legal or not !) I really did have fun....believe it or not!

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Giving Thanks!








This is a revised post!! Our Parish Priest Father Ron had asked for a volunteer to make a plaque honoring those serving in the Armed Forces from our Parish community. So....my DH made it. He used wood from a walnut tree(a gift from God) for the plaque from our property that we had cut down several years ago and it was "curing" by the barn. Father Ron furnished the "service medals" and DH used his "Leroy" to print the names on the brass strips that he obtain just for this presentation. He then attached them w/little brass screws. It did not go as quickly as I am writing this. It took several weeks to prepare the wood, shaping,sanding and putting the finish on that hopefully will last forever! The brass name strips also had to have a coating for the names to be preserved. There is room to add more names when provided. The parishioners really like it. Whew... I am so proud of DH and his talents!
"Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow"!





Sunday, August 12, 2007

New Purse!!!























Last week after our LLQG general meeting one of our members gave a wonderful workshop on purse making!!! She had given us the materials list to bring along w/all the usual sewing supplies, machines,etc (you know that necessary stuff!). OR...she would bring kits for us to purchase to assemble! Well, of course when I saw HER kits I fell in love w/them all and chose the one of my fav's Autum Leaves! First we machine quilted them and then the assembling began....oh boy, what fun it was and here is the results of what I did!!! The "jewels" are so perfectly matched to the fabric.....autum leaves ! I think this is a "foo foo" accessorie, the next one I endevor to create will have a different closing. (click to enlarge) Well, I am on a roll.....!

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Pears and Quilts?

















Where does the time go? My Sister from Washington was here for a week and then a week later our lovely daughter Penny and 3 grandkids (10,14 & 17) arrived for a week. They swam, and swam some more, ate,fished, ate, auto races, ate,SPCA volunteered, ate,shopped,ate!!!!! Penny decided to "pick pears" in our back yard to take home! She shows John (10) how to pick pears by paying attention to the way the stem is facing!!!! Notice the authentic picking bag! She loaded up several boxes into her SUV ! No photos of when I "roped" Penny into serging some "cowgirl" pillowcases as gifts for some of Emily's friends that she rides horses with....I know you get the idea!!! That was just SO MUCH FUN! But....The "crunch" time is here to finish this "queenie"! The weather was just sooo darn hot (99 -102) every day when the "kids" were here and today it actually cooled down to 88'! (Thank you Lord!) I was just exhausted already just thinking about applying the binding to her!!! But....the machine work is done! Can I now can relax ????, think again! The handwork hemming of the binding will start "mun-yana" then.... the hanging sleeve. I have to deliver it on Aug.15th to the local county fair, which isn't open until LABOR DAY weekend. I'll never understand that time "line". I know this sounds like I am a "whiner"....now really I just have never tackled this large of a quilt until now, so yes, I guess I am "whineing"! Hummm, maybe a little "wine" will ease the tension!!!! LOL

Monday, July 09, 2007

Here Comes Santa...'s Again!

This is a paperpieced mini quilt. 11" X 12". So fun to do. Not as easy as you might think either! LOL It is out of my box of red and green scraps!

I finally gave these "boys" some character! Blue eyes included! I hope they sparkle on your screen. I found a whole sheet of these "eyes" in a box of craft supplys in the cupboard that I forgot I even had! They were just what I needed to dress these "cone heads" up! Click on them to get a better view! I am feeling much better about my UFO's. Only one more to go! But it will be a few weeks before I can show you! Stay tuned!

Hearts Galore... Finished!










Well, at last I can say I have finished something! I just got this back from the quilter,Linda, and she sure makes my pieceing look better! After I put the binding on and spread it out for the photo I thought; hmm, not bad! I will see what the Judge says at the Falling Leaves Quilt Show !Click on the photos for a good look at her quilting! A couple of the closeups are a little "too closeup"!!!! Sorry!


Sunbonnet Sue 1940!






















I have a neat friend who loves to quilt! Imagine that! She is also a neighbor and ask me to be the "caretaker" and deliverer of her very special Sunbonnet Sue quilt to display at the Falling Leaves Quilt Show on October 6 & 7.(Always the first weekend in Oct.) She and her DH went on vacation to the "cooler" places and I have to say that I am very "nervous" about being trusted w/this family heirloom. She also trust me to attach the hanging sleeve for the show display. This quilt was made by her Mother in the 1940's out of my friend (Louise) clothes! Her Mother had tied the quilt and over the years the quilt was " loved "so much that my friend wanted to have it restored. She ask a local quilt expert restorer,Wilma, to do so. This was a long process but the results are fabulous! Then it was sent to the Philippine's for the hand quilting. (another long process,but worth it!) I ask if I could share this quilt w/all of the world and my friend said it was okay w/her! So, just enjoy! Be sure and click on the photos for a "close up".