My Quilty World

2012-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

I need to have my head examined.....WHY would I ever think other than its a pretty quilt that I wanted to make a queen sized log cabin with 8 inch blocks in burgundy and creams....its going to be a gorgeous quilt but with 80 8 inch blocks I'm now wondering how soon I can actually finish it. I have two centers done today, no I didn't work but just a few minutes so it didn't literally take me ALL day to do these two tiny blocks, but it almost too a pair of tweezers to keep them under control. The blocks finish out at 3 inches.... two down 78 more to go...once the centers are done the logs will be fast. Everything is 1 1/4 inches. VERY TINY....and big fingers don't play well together. Wish me luck I'm going to need it. That IS a quarter.....

2012-02-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

Here is the quilt that I did for the Coyote Hunt that finished up this past weekend. I don't think I have ever given a quilt away that I wanted out of my house as badly as this one.

It is a free pattern from Windham Fabrics, a collection called "Home Sweet Home" as the center panel also states. Not the prettiest fabrics, but I have never had a pattern that was SO POORLY put together. I have almost enough left over fabric from the recipe that I can make another quilt. They wanted the borders to be cut lengthwise instead of across the width. I hate borders cut on the lengthwise as it gets to tight on the frame leaving the center of the quilts that are all cut on the bias to sag or balloon and make a huge "D" cup area.

First off the center panel was two inches smaller than the pattern required so I had to add fabric around the center to make it the size the pattern said it needed to be before I could even begin to do the rest of the quilt blocks. Luckily the background fabric of the pieced ones is the same background of the center. The pattern was stated to be an Intermediate pattern, but it was so poorly written that it should have been marked as Advanced Advanced. The pieced blocks are 12 inch finished, but if you haven't the knowledge of how they were actually put together one would have just sat and cried. The top and bottom hour glass blocks as they called them were actually WAY to big to fit into the place you were to make them for, but there wasn't any indication that you were going to have to cut them down to fit an 9 inch hole when they sewed out way over sized from that. The spacers between the pieced blocks were cut to big so if you lined up the sides as they were and sewed them to the center section you were about 3 inches off.....SO you can see just how badly I wanted this out of my life. I even thought it was operator error and that I wasn't using a true 1/4" foot, but that wasn't the problem....grrrrr it was just a huge mess

I have addressed a formal complaint to Windham Fabrics, but to date I haven't gotten an answer.......

Now am/have cut out two more quilts that I will be working on while I heal from my lovely knee surgery....
i will need something to keep me sane as I wont be able to get into the basement for a few weeks. Now off to get a few more things cleaned up here...I need to find the spare room and the treadmill. As that will be getting a huge work out when I get home. Now off to do the dishes and get a few steaks onto the table.

2012-01-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

LOOK What I'm getting....Yeah I know I need another sewing machine like a hole in my head, but Gee's could you turn this beauty down. Its the 160th Anniversary of Singer...model 160. ITS huge...from left to right its almost 24 inches and stands over 10 inches. The left side comes off so you have an open arm and the piece that comes off is a HUGE gadget box. It comes with a snazzy red carrying case and the amount of goodies that comes with is wonderful. More feet than a standard sewing machine and feet that I don't have with other machines so it does have a future of getting used, and not just be a pretty decoration. It should be here in February and its killing me to wait....

2012-01-26T06:09:00.000-08:00

WOW....two days in a row. Don't get use to it....:) but I totally forgot a very important quilt. I've been quilting for what seems like a zillion years, and I have never made a quilt for Gene. What a bad wife I've been. I was able to get an AccuQuilt die cutter for about give away prices last year (otherwise I wouldn't have it), and I got with it the large Tumbler die....when looking at another website just before Thanksgiving I saw a quilt being shown that was given to a soldier that was being deployed to Iraq. Well to self, "I can do that", so off to the studio I went and literally 30 minutes later and that includes the time digging out the fabrics, the top was all cut and ready to sew.

Well, I have to say I could get use to that, but my only complaint about the system is that there is SO MUCH fabric wasted when you use it....but this was old fabrics (left over from Big Red) that were pieces chopped into some bits and yet some yardage, and then yet not enough so back into the bucket to another small piece. This die cut pattern makes a nice large lap quilt, almost head to toe..... He loves it so that is good.

Also as you know I have found a quilt store to teach at, but I also have found a sewing machine dealership to teach beginning sewing in the line of simple crafts or home deco. The pin cushion is this next weekend, and the candle mat is scheduled for before I have surgery. The Candle Mat pattern is my own pattern that I have packaged for sell....YEAH my first step by step four color pattern.

2012-01-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

Where does one start when one has been absent from here for so long:

Was able to spend a rainy day at the Columbia County Fair....not much for rides this year as the rain was coming down so hard, we found a tent game and play Bingo....Siana scored big time and won three or four prizes, me I just got a cow...

Schools in our area got started about three weeks late due to Hurricane Irene, even though we weren't effected personally there were lots of people whom needed help, and lots of items were collected for the needy. Hurricane Irene's eye went right over the top of us and those in the outer edges of the blow were just about leveled. The last roads were just opened in the last few weeks, and some of the towns still are trying to get back together.

Then we no sooner recovered from the tona of rain that we got that we got over 15 inches of snow...that was the middle of October.

In early November Siana and I started to interview Colleges...she has since been accepted into four colleges, and now must make the choice of which she wants to go to... This is a picture of Geneseo, NY

Her choices are:
New England College, New Hampshire
Canisius, New York
Well College, New York
Augustana College, South Dakota

Been busy with quilts as well, one for our bed, a baby quilt, quilted one for a customer for her daughters wedding present and one to be given away at the Third Annual Coyote Hunt for the Kinderhook Sportsman Club.
didn't get a picture yet.

Then came Christmas....to busy to put up the big tree and really to be honest starting to feel really crappy with my knee so the tiny tree was all that we had this year....which in reality was just right...

and all the cookies that I made for Siana's teachers... these were the fun ones to make and so easy....

I will be having my knee replaced in February...looking forward to the surgery so I can get back to quilting full time and life gets back to normal....

In closing here is a small wall hanging to think about and Siana's Halloween costume....

Hope it doesn't take me six months to get back but if it should know that I'm out there some place....

Okay Who Stole Time Again....

2011-08-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

I got an email from a friend last night that made me sort of chuckle...it basically said when are you going to up date your Blog... You have left me hanging I want more China pictures. This made me chuckle...I didn't know anyone was waiting and I really hadn't realized it was that LONG since I was here last. SORRY...my bad. So if I do lapse into the unknown...just kick me I'll take care of it.

I can't even begin to tell you how vibrant the colors were on the buildings. When the Olympics were there in 2004 they started to redo the paint on the buildings, and determined to do it just like the originals were done...all by hand and with tiny tiny paint brushes and to use the same paints....so they do seem a bit muted, but they are so so gorgeous. Also the gold paints I understand are made of or partially made of real gold. The wavy roofs are a cement substance that is like our interlocking scale roofs...if you take one off the whole roof slides down.
We were there in April so all the fruit and flowering trees were in bloom...one of the few good smells we were able to experience. The culture shock was pretty intense when you walked outside and the heat was already high and the humidity was making everything drip right away. Making the sewer smells and the un-kept hygiene of many a huge surprise. It was a even bigger surprise to learn that not all homes were as modern as ours here in the USA or even in the modern sections of the areas that tourists were living in. Some of the sections of the cities there are maybe 20 plus families sharing the same toilet or bathing area...not always in the same area. Many of the people that live in these areas have to walk maybe a block away to get to them. Their compounds are very mazed and skinny skinny streets between the houses.

This is one of the crab apple trees in the court yard of the Summer Palace. Which is about 12 miles from the Forbidden City. They whole Forbidden City would pack up and move to this location as it is closer to the mountains and a man made lake that is shaped like a sliced Peach...and the palace area is the center or pit area. The grounds were gorgeous and the winds were blowing off the lake and it was down right cold that day. Also I don't have a picture of it, but there is a concrete boat that can ride out on the lake. But the day we were there it was to windy for the boat to be on the lake so we didn't get to play on it.

Looking out across the lake...and there are walkways and gazebos out on island.

The Great Wall of China....next time on my blog. Have to get busy and get some quilting done and then I need to go run over something so we have some meat for supper......

My Mother Always Told Me.....

2011-05-03T21:14:00.001-07:00

That as I grew older time would fly faster. Yeah, like what did she know she was old...(maybe 50) at the time, but hey wasn't that old when you were only 13, and not liking her or anything else in life. Well, I am here to contest she wasn't as batty as I thought. Things have been hopping here in my neck of the woods, and as much as I hate to admit it I'm still after being home for over a week STILL on China time. Its midnight and guess who's up and doing dishes and now sitting here trying to be quite so the rest of the house doesn't wake up.

About March 15th or so, the APQS forum received some horrible news that one of our quilty sister's hubby had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer....it didn't sound good when I first heard the new and felt compelled to do something...so I gathered help from other forum sisters and threw literally a quilt together in less than three weeks and blocks came from as far away as Guam and Scotland. And here is the results of that effort. Having lost my Brother-In-Law recently to this nasty illness, I couldn't just not do something, and with help we did a pretty awesome quilt...I was so pleased with the blocks and how it looks so country...and how well it would fit in there home.

I am still uncomfortable doing feathers, but one never overcomes a fear without practice so I practiced on this quilt. Its not perfect, there are a few huge backtracks in some places, but I felt good when finished, and decided you couldn't see it from a galloping horse so hey it would be just like this. Besides it gives it a homemade look and isn't that what we go for when we don't use a computer driven longarm.

I finished the quilt just a few days before we climbed onto a HUGE plane an flew with Siana's school to China....it was the trip of a life time and if you had looked into your crystal ball when I was dreaming of someday visiting China I would have called you a lier...I really never thought I would EVER get to use my Passport. Never really saw a need for one and now its got TWO stamps and a Visa in it. That's almost as great as the trip was.

We landed in Beijing, China 17 hours nonstop from DC later up over Greenland and the North Pole...I think we even saw Santa's real house, not just the one in North Pole, Alaska. We landed about 2pm their time and we hit the desks running, we even had our first tour before we were allowed to go to our hotel and get our suitcases.
The next day we met our local tour guide and one of the stops that day was the Forbidden City....my camera battery died fairly fast so I will have to steal more pictures from Siana, but here is one from my camera. Then off to the Summer Palace.....where the Emperor would go to stay during the hot weeks of the summer...its about 12 miles from the Forbidden City, and in those days about 2000 years ago all they used for transportation were Elephants and crude wagons so I would think that trip would be a bit long.

I will get into the traffic situations there in a later post, lets just say the New York City Cabby's aren't even beginng to know how to drive, they all should go to China to get lessons.
After leaving the Summer Palace our part of the combined Tour broke off to jump a Bullet Train....for Tech Valley High School's sister school Tianjan Number 41 High School in Tianjin. Its a huge huge school, and more based on a American University than one of our normal high schools. They put on a program for us, with dancing, music and singing. And after a grand tour of the school, they transported us to one of the BEST restaurants in Tianjin....the food kept coming and coming, yes it was different, and the frog was great until someone told me what it was. I knew it was a small rodent or something small, because of the bones, but I didn't really want to know what I was eating until it was over.

Well, what took us only 22 minutes to travel by Bullet Train, took us over three hours to get back, and it didn't help that our bus driver got lost for a minute or two and we all had to use the bathrooms REALLY REALLY bad. That too will be a subject for a later conversation...the toilet's in China were a bit of a culture shock...all I will say right now is I'm glad I learned how to use a bush when I was a kid, and I wish I had better knees now. I think I can go to sleep now...so will post more pictures in the days to come, and try to get myself flipped around better with sleep patterns.

I honestly wish I had tried to learn the language a bit more, I know I would have enjoyed several things better if I had.

Not Impressed with Mother Nature....

2011-04-01T16:11:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I woke up to a not nasty day, it was cold and the wind was blowing, but it wasn't snowing.....Then today I woke up to a heavy snow from the No-Easter that blew in last night. Now mind you that I didn't wake up to the 12 inches I was to get, but the 2 inches I did, didn't make me happy. I am so done with winter.....we have recorded over 91 inches of snow and that is a lot for New York. It was a prelude to our moving back to Montana, and I have to admit I did call Gene several times while I was standing in knee deep snow, pushing a snow blower around if he could remind me why we were moving back to that part of the world instead of Nevada.

I'm sorry I really hadn't even realized that I was AWOL since November. Can't remember December although I know we did have Christmas, I had to take the tree down by myself, and its a huge 8 foot tree, we only have 3 inched at the top...didn't take any pictures I guess. I do know that Siana has me hopping and it seems like I haven't been in the basement for months. I still have Amy's quilt to frog. I have one more to sew and quilt before China, but that will be an easy quilt. It helps when you have a mission and this one is one of those. Will blog when its done and delivered. It will be done before we leave for vacation....that's only 13 more days and a 16 hour flight and we will be in China for 9 days....its a place I would never in a million years expect to be going to. Now with that behind me...Australia and Brazil on looking pretty good.

On March 14th I helped Siana deliver a quilt to her teacher that is now off on Materinity leave....This little quilt was a easy quilt to do and I do loved how it turned out in the 30s prints....might even have to make one of these for me some day....but I do think that there are at least 60+ quilts ahead of it. I had APQS make me a 7 foot traveling table with the new Bliss system,to take to quilt shows this summer or to a quilting retreat.... have to add that if and when I ever sell another system, I will be adding Bliss to my 14 footer. Its really not much different than what I have with the M&M wheels, but I do like the new carriage for the head so will consider the investment.

Then on the morning of March 19th at 6am we got a scary call...Siana had a sleep over at a church funtion the night before, and was then going to be traveling up the mountain to a friends house to do a math compition with sevearl of her classmates....enroute she dodged a deer hit a patch of black ice, over corrected the steering,and FLIPPED her car. Luckly there was a snow bank in the ditch to catch her, but she was pinned in the car. Poor cell service, so didn't know where she was, didn't realize till it was over that she was trapped in the car and couldn't get out and that several people drove past and didn't stop to see if anyone was hurt or even in the car. The car wasn't damaged much a few minor dings, but she was lucky that she didn't get a ticket,(the sheriff, fire department nor the EMS's didn't even check to see if she had a drivers license or if the car was licensed properly) but it did break out a couple of the windows, which I got replaced yesterday. She didn't get hurt, just shook up a bit, and now she has a bit of trouble driving on wet or icy roads. Today she started off to school in the snow, got nervous and came back to the house....so I had to take her to the bus stop this morning. I know with time and experience she will get over this.

So its been a bit busy around here......I'll try to not be away so long and when we get back from China...I'll be sure to post pictures.

One Down and One to Finish

2010-11-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

First off I want to say HAPPY Turkey Day to all out there....I hope and wish for a happy and safe holiday for those who are traveling and a huge turkey day nap for those who aren't.

We had a Fantastic turn out for the Chinese Trip kick off...we piggy backed it with another TVHS event and it was a huge success, or at least I felt it was. The kids had a huge huge jewelry craft table and sold and sold items to the point were we now need to make more for the Christmas Holiday event scheduled for December 10Th. The committee had 135 people attend the Baked Ziti dinner and two gift baskets were raffled off. I completed a quilt just in time for the event, the binding still needs to be hand sewn down, but it hung with the other crafts and seemed to be well received. The quilt will be raffled off to a lucky person in either February or March just before we leave for China. If you would like tickets please contact me via email at drycreekqlts@msn.com and I will make sure you get them before the drawing. This is a queen sized quilt...hasn't been washed, but will be as soon as I get the binding done and then I can post the exact size of the quilt...it has a poly batting in it as they wanted a fluffy quilt.

Now I need to get busy busy and frog the three rows of Amy's quilt that I don't like and get it finished and mailed to Reno....agrgh its always something, so glad someone taught me how to skin a quilt...now I just need to keep fingers and fabric out of the blades way.

Life is good

2010-11-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

As nasty as it is outside with the pouring rain and the promise of snow by morning, it seemed the perfect day to set the first batch of semi-daily bread. I only bake homemade bread during the fall to spring as the house gets to hot and stays that way. So first up this week is oatmeal bread...so yummo. Toasted as well as fresh out of the oven with butter and jam.

And with that in the raising and waiting stages I ran to the basement to start a new project....I know, I know I don't have time for the ones I have waiting for me, but this is a raffle quilt for the China trip kids, and parents that will be also going over in April of 2011. Gene and I will both be going with the group so lots of excitement building for that. Its a school trip for the Tech Valley High kids and Siana has been looking forward to it since her freshman year.

And still slowly finishing up Amy's quilt...at least now its on the frame so guess I had better head back down and get busy now that the bread it out.

Gee where did October go.....

2010-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at the blog and wow....late entry was October 1st. And I have to say my feet haven't hit the floor till now. I did finish the kitchen and have to say that not only does it look MARVELOUS...its actually stayed clean for now going on 3 weeks. Siana and I had a come to Jesus talk about the living room and that too has stayed clean...bath also and my bedroom....now we just need to have a coming to terms with her room, but I guess as long as the guest room/office is a mess of sorts I really can't yell to loud that her room is 6 feet deep and growing. I thought I was never going to finish....there were cabinets that had three different layers of paint on them, as silly me couldn't decide what I wanted to paint...so there was a WHOLE lot of stripping, and I mean the cabinets not me. When we moved in the walls were a ugly dark robin egg blue...with a white ceiling, and I figured that was only white because the past owners were to lazy to paint them. They had the same original paint from 1969 and they moved into the house in 1997. Finished the ceiling with a new pretty coat of white paint and then the walls a pretty pretty coat of shiny white. The cabinets were another matter I couldn't find the perfect color so came close and then made the Lowe's counter person add a ton of black and with three more doses of that finally coming to this perfect blue.
(sorry about the blurry picture I will address that later)

Well no more than finished the kitchen and swamped out the house and then the picnic people started to arrive...only all 50 that were invited didn't come so THERE was food coming out of my ears. Gene loved it, he had pork ribs for 3 days and nights. I told him that the next time he does this and tells me that he had invited that many without confirming a firm head count I was only going to cook for 20 and those who come late will just have to do without or a hotdog...there always seems to be an over abundance of those around when there is a picnic, and should I totally take pitty upon them I might cook them a burger.

The day before we had the picnic Gene and I got some bad news....a very good friend of ours from Montana passed while bird hunting in North Dakota...so off we flew to attend the funeral...it was a huge huge attendance and we were so glad that we went. We reunited with people that we hadn't seen in over 20 years and it was nice to know that they are looking forward to us returning when we retire in say 5-6 years.

Then Missy Siana...got her drivers license...so now we have three active cars and they all seem to going in different directions. Good in ways, at least now I have time to get into the basement and have actually a huge quilt on the frame. So why am I here you ask...needed a break and had to tell you a funny...that I did. Remember the blurry picture up top...well that is because when I was painting the kitchen I happened to look out and saw these guys in the back yard.
We have several does that live in our backyard area and this year we had a huge nusery...and this little yearling buck was the babysitter most of the time. We have called him Toughy because if you come up the driveway to fast and he thinks you are going to hit one of the herd he puts his head down like he going to charge the car. Such a cutie he is. I thought when I saw his older brother a few years ago, the he had gotten into a fight and lost his right horn....well, now I'm thinking its a genetic thing, because Toughy has the same short horn as his older brother. Me thinks the girls need to venture out a bit further and find a new man to breed with. Toughy and his mom both have the huge white ring around their eyes...almost makes this bug eyed.

Okay now to the stupid story....just after I took these picture of the kids playing in the back yard, I misplaced my camera. I was stressing getting the cabinets done, we had had several days of pouring down rain, so I couldn't paint inside or do the stripping outside. With all the humidity here, the paint wasn't drying and I was getting panicy. Well this day, was a good day the deer came out to eat and I was taking pictures through the screened window, as I didn't want to chase them away, but dang if I could find my camera just a few minutes later. Oh, well, went back to painting and didn't think again about it till I went to take the garbage out of the compactor....yepper that's where the camera was, laying right there on top. I didn't even look inside just compacted it, heard a HUGE loud pop...gee what was that, don't remember putting any glass into the thing...oh, well. Puttered around a bit more, letting the garbage really get down into the sack and I would take it out and walk the large can to the bottom of the hill. Yepper....the camera was laying right there on top, all smashed and looking quite pitiful and in just seeing if the camera will work I took this last shot of the finished room. Guess I need to hang my head and just go buy me a new birthday present early, as this one was my April birthday present to myself this year. Geesss I hate doing stupid stuff. But you have to agree when I screw up I do a marvelous job.

BATH is done now onto the Kitchen

2010-10-01T16:00:00.001-07:00

Five years ago when we moved into this house, I didn't have the pleasure of getting the keys and having several days or weeks to get the house cleaned up and moved into. Gene was still on crutches and wasn't any help at all...although after we found out that the truck driver that was to drive the moving truck that I rented didn't have a drivers license he was able to drive the automatic shift truck to the house, but the hired help unloaded and literally plopped it in the middle of rooms and left.

I promptly pulled all the wall paper off ALL the walls to only discover that the previous owners just covered up the walls that hadn't been painted since the house was built in 1969. I don't have pictures in this computer of the house before and after, but imagine a primairy blue crayon and that was the walls of the kitchen...

The living room was a dark dark ivory, and has since been painted white....hall is wallpaper that I can't get off, because they wallpapered it to the sheet rock without priming it first and it will tear off the sheet rock covering...that has since been premiered over, and will be painted next week.....its ugly huge pink and green flowers showing through the primer right now. Three bedrooms upstairs were painted nasty colors...two a dark pea soup green and one a dark dark melon orange.

In the bath once I got the nasty paper off, I couldn't do much more than paint, but what to paint and how to deal with this this nasty tile, and until we have the money to do a TOTAL rework with upgraded tube, toilet, and only one sink what to do.

OH,what to paint it. I had several places on the walls where I tried out different colors and wasn't liking any of it. Then Tracy and Linzi came over in April on holiday. Which was also during the time that the Iceland volcano decided to blow it's top so they weren't able to escape after they cleaned my quilting studio so I asked the question what do I do with this room. SO off we went to the paint department of WalMart. I mentioned I was thinking or using a border strip, but which one and what the hey was I to do about the paint as I didn't think anything would look good with this ugly brown trim. Never challenge Tracy...she will prove you wrong, and I am so so happy with the way it turned out.

Window curtains and the new shower curtain aren't finished yet...but the material was also picked out by the girls....now Why didn't I get them to redecorate my bedroom while they were here. Well guess they just need to come back and finish they job. LOL

We got new hardware for the doors and drawers, new light and Gene rewired the wall so that now we can use the hair dryers and curling irons...before we had to run an extention cord from the ceiling. This house surely wasn't built with a wife or woman in mind...there are NO plug-ins anywhere in the kitchen or the bath.

NOW off to the kitchen, it to had sample colors all over it...and its going to be just as purty as this once finished.

Fall is here and all the colors are starting to show....

2010-09-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well I wasn't really talking about fall tree colors, but the colors that show up when you screw up and let a 20 gauge shotgun slip down your arm when you thought you were ready, but really weren't....yep, no butt pad, and three rounds of trap shooting will do it every time, that's a total of 60 shots in a length of about an hour of playing. I hadn't ever shot a shotgun and decided I wanted to learn how to "TRAP SHOOT"....found a gun club and they let me play with them, and even were nice enough to give me some pointers on how to hold the stock against my shoulder, and "Welding"...that's when you put your cheek against the stock and get into perfect form. New game, never before shot shotgun...one of Jess's that he never used, and me a rifle person had to learn a whole new skill. When shooting a deer there are a lot of breathing control and with "Trap Shooting" it's a quick and fast motion of yelling "pull" the clay pigeon flies,(never in the same direction, you finding it fast and pulling the trigger. First round only got "6 of 20" second one "11 or 20" and the last and getting more sore with each pull, as the damage was really done in the first round only "9 of 20" and loving the fresh air and getting to play with Gene. Once I'm healed up, you can bet I will be back out there and even have the application to actually join the club that was so kind to let me play.

On another note, today I decided to go gathering. In the fall I seem to get the hunting and gathering urge and since I don't hunt for meat anymore, well in the wild that is, I decided to go Acorn and Hickory nut hunting. Acorns are EVERYWHERE this year the Hickory ones are a bit small and very few, I think due to not much rain this past year. Will process these and grind them into flour/meal, and will use them in cornbread and pancakes, and even regular bread. That is once all the yucky taste is washed out...first you roast them, then you shell them and then you boil the Tannic out of them...dry and then grind.

Birthday Gifts...Halloween

2010-08-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Someday I will be the one whom will have bought all the gifts needed for a WHOLE year, and they will be all wrapped and waiting for the day that they need to be delivered, instead of my frantically flying around trying to decide what to make. I have one friend that no matter if its a birthday or Christmas there is at least one handmade gifty thing in her care package.... I knew last August that in 2010 the 29th would be her birthday. SO why did I wait till yesterday August 25th to even start to look let alone in knowing that it's a three day mail delivery, and put myself in this frantic situation.

I do know that I sometimes do work better under stress, and a deadline, but gee wheeze, I don't have to put myself through that anymore, so why do I still do it.... Luckly for me I picked up a few new Quilty Magazines while in JoAnn's on Monday and found this cute cute little wall hanging....

Its in the current issue of Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting. Its the same issue that has Dawn Cavanaugh's longarm placemats and a quilt that she quilted....love the issue...lots and lots of goodies in this one...you will have to go see it if you haven't already gotten it. The maker of the quilt is Kelly Mueller, and she is called "Miss Witchy"

I made my Witch 13 inch square instead of 12 and left off the bats...couldn't find any buttons I liked...went together very fast and its a great gift...or for hanging at your own home.

Also I did a bit more quilting in her hair than the original...this one won't every be washed so no biggy.

It left in todays mail so I hope it gets there on Saturday....but oh well, Monday won't kill us either I guess.

OOPS....better late than never

2010-08-24T16:47:00.001-07:00

Today is Amy's 35th birthday, and yes about 6 months ago she mentioned that she would really like the quilt I actually started for her and her hubby say....12 years ago. Well, I sort of blew her off and really didn't think she was that interested in it, and then when we were in Nevada last month she again mentioned it and really really wanted her purple and green quilt. Even asked if I knew where it was....Answer was yes, BUT...wouldn't you rather have something different. SO off to the fabric store we went, and yes we bought many many yards of a fabric....we won't say what I really thought of it, it was a nice aqua backgrounded batick with a dark brown swirly thing all over it. Pretty yes, but what the hey am I going to do with that, she only wanted a two colored quilt.

Okay got home and started a "Day and Night" a Eleanor Burns pattern....it took me two hours to do one flipping block....What was that about a Quilt in A Day. Poo on that mess...so off to the store I went after I went shopping in my own stash and patterns and came up with a "Fire Escape" pattern by Atkinson Designs and some fabrics, but needed more....

I altered the pattern to make a KING sized spread and had to do some major math, but when its done I think it will be pretty....only 10 more rows to go and its ready for the frame...I will be using a R & S Design board the in and out circle.

They don't want a pillow tuck and it hangs well over the foot of my King bed so hope once its washed it won't shrink to much. Will post photos once quilted.

Can We Say...

2010-08-19T18:59:00.001-07:00

What the ..... is that trucker thinking.

Well the load from Washington got here on Tuesday...the driver a very young man decided that he was TOO long to make the driveway, which both Gene and I thought well he could if he tried. But he choose instead to come across a fairly shallow ditch and enter the pasture at the bottom of the property. Well that worked well.....he got SO stuck that his tractor tires were being pinched by the trailer floor so that he had to have a huge wrecker come and pull him not only out of the ditch but back up onto the road. I was very surprised that the bill was only $275...I thought he would have to pay WAY more than that to get out of that mess. I did tease him that the wrecker was more than likely still laughing at him and that is why he went so easy on the bill...and we were having cars go past one right after another. I also told him that I figured that was because the next door neighbor was calling everyone and telling them that there was a idiot stuck in the pasture. He was pretty good at the ribbing, but man it made for a LONG day and some sore knees the next few days.

I hooked up the little green trailer, ran it down to the truck and unloaded the trailer and two trips later and 93 boxes including a 60 inch flat screen TV got it all into the house.

I am so running out of room here.....I found my studio with the help of good friends in Feb and March to only loose the spare bedroom downstairs once againg to BOXES....arg, what the @#$%@!#$% am I going to do with all this stuff, and I have to move it back to Montana when we finally retire.

Siana's Hopefully Last Surgery!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sitting in Granpa's chair and being cranky is Siana's job for the next few weeks....but other than that all is well. Her surgery is for a birth defect and if it had been caught as a tiny infant she would have worn braces on her legs for several years, but no one knew and this is her story for now. Hopefully all will be better in the future and she can live a rather pain free life for the next 20-30 years before she will need total knee replacements.

M&M Wheels for my Millie

2010-08-01T18:21:00.001-07:00

I finally got the new M&M wheels on my Millie tonight and I can't even begin to tell you the difference. I was so blaming my stupid self for not quilting for several years and loosing the niche and now I was going to have to retrain and relearn everything and start over...wash out, such a failure.

BUT no way...after about 5 minutes of playing...I actually can see back tracks on feathers something I haven't been able to do on this machine since I got it...I was ready to sell it and go find some other hobby to play with, but now I just will have to keep it and get busy with the tons of fabric in the basement.

They aren't perfect by any measure, but they are the closest things to feathers I have gotten since I sold the old ULT II..... Pretty impressed even with myself....and now I wonder if there are others out there that haven't bonded with there machines for the same reason I didn't this one.... I'm sure it was the wheels. I also would have said I didn't have any drag and all was fine...silly me there is a TON of difference and I am not ice skating by any means...I can even do feathers without the stitch regulator on... I'm so impressed.

I also have argued many times that my wheels weren't leaked grease...well with closer looking tonight I found that 6 of the 8 were leaking... Hanging head now...

I do need to put a call into APQS tomorrow...I have two new wheels that aren't in the center as I think they should be, and wonder if I need to shim them up a bit more or what they would suggest, and am wondering if that may be the tiny bit of drag I do feel. Even with this minor problem, I can't believe the difference they have made...and I'm pretty proud of my wonky feathers....

Vacation Photos and Highlights.

2010-07-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well Vacation for Gene was to start on July 12th, but as usually all went South at work so he wasn't able to get into the car and head out till Wednesday the 14th...DAY ONE we left at 6am from Elizaville, and drove pretty much straight through unless the car needed fuel...so no pretty pictures unless they were taken on the fly from the car. Here is a shot from the Erie PA area as we were driving the coast of Eric Lake...a great building and it would have been fun to get all four sides...and it looked so real.

Our first night was spent in Fremont, Indiana....not much for dining in the area, and I sure wouldn't suggest going to the poorly resemblance of a Pizza joint, but it was food and finally we were in our hotel room, to sleep like the dead till 6am this morning.

DAY TWO: Fast breakfast and once again on the road again. We were able to stop in Portage, Wisconsin to meet with Liam and Scott. Had a Great lunch and would have liked to stay longer, but as life would have it we needed to get on the road again.
And he came with gifts.....THANK YOU so much...I can't wait to get to Great Falls, Montana an be able to get the sewing machine out of the car to sew. I did bring a project, but hey, a girl never has enough going at the same time... look at what I got..a huge Moda fat pack and a ceramic thimble to add to the collection.

Sleeping tonight in St.Cloud, MN...

So aorry about that, but this is the first real wifi that I have had since leaving St. Cloud, MN. Miles City, Mt was the next night's stay and it was HOT and DRY so different from what we had left in New York. As we crossed North Dakota I took some pictures of a Crop-Duster, a Iron Sculptur and the Teddy Roosevelt National Park as we passed the badlands. If you have never been there I'm sorry, the pictures won't give you much to go by, but they are vast and they are gorgeous.

I'm loosing the internet...grrr will update when I get home on Friday, but in short for now...we had the memorial service for Gene's mom...short and sweet...we spread her ashes on the old homestead that she grew up on as a child... moved on to Billings to see sister and family. Went Prarie Dog shooting...got two...only shot twice...amazing even to me, I'm not usually that good of a shot. Continued onto Great Falls to see another sister and family. Have started to hunt for floor plans for new house to be built when we retire in 5 years.

Went out to Seattle to clean out Jess's storage shed, all is now in the hands of movers. Got to spend some time with Sheila...didn't want to leave...

Had trouble in the Cascades and Sierra mountains as the trailer IS WAY over loaded and someone didn't put my front brakes together correctly when recently fixed so pretty much burned them up. Which in turn also involved back shocks and front wheel bearings. Had a nice visit with Amy and family and am now sitting in a hotel laundry mat washing clothes and wishing I was in bed....

When I get home I will add the pictures of things that I saw...not sure that the trouble is either internet connection or blogger...

as we go along I will add to this thread....

Annual Customer Quilt

2010-07-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

I have only one paying customer left from my Nevada/California area...and she sent me this darling baby quilt that she has done for a gift...Lots of Stitch in the Ditch, and piano keys...they are only 1 inch apart...yuck, but pretty.

NEW BABY DUE in July

2010-06-15T13:57:00.001-07:00

As you know we have several adopted kids around the USA...and one of the guys is having a first baby in July. Just finished the top today, and getting ready to quilt..will post pictures of it when its finished. Looking to Black and White Lava on top or maybe a Multi colors pimary King Tut not sure..will decide later this week.

2010 Australia Block Exchange

2010-06-10T18:28:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine who lives in Australia has gotten me now twice to play in their YEARLY block exchange....so far each of the two years I've played the blocks were 6 1/2 inch to finish at 6 inches...last years were a black background with a color of choice for the month (i.e. red for February, pink for April etc.)

2009 Block exchange......black background with main color reversed in each set of two...not mine one of the done ones.

And this year they chose an ivory tone on tone with a floral and monthly color, they only do 10 months of the year with one month for construction and quilting and then they have a big party during the month of December after they all get them done. I'm in the construction stage of last years, I have it almost put together and then to the frame it will go. This years blocks I won't even see till January after they have their party so won't even start construction till after that. They do 8 blocks per month, you keep one and send 7 to the exchange person, for each month and you can do more than one set (which I did this year) here is a picture of this years blocks, I sent a batch over in February and this will complete the year. I love scrappy quilts, now just need to decide how to quilt it and get it on the bed. With double blocks it should be large enough to fit the king sized bed.

AND THEY SAID WE WOULDN'T

2010-06-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Make it......to day is our 36th Wedding Anniversary. And of course Gene is off doing work stuff so he's not here to celebrate with me. Oh, that is totally okay, he has to get some extra stuff done so we can have three weeks in July off so its not a big deal at all. But what is, that people said we would NEVER make it past 3-5years. MY own mother even had bets with people and my high school principle also had bets that we wouldn't make it. WELL, I feel these people owe me the bet money....Don't you.

Gene and I renewed our wedding voes on June 12th, 1999 for our 25th...and he promises to stick around so we can do it for our 50th as well...Not sure I will make him hold out for our 75th, but will see how that goes as time does.

And here is a current picture of that the old folks look like now...this was taken at Siana's prom in May...man I should have hit the tanning booths. LOL

SIANA'S FIRST PROM

2010-06-08T11:58:00.003-07:00

I know I'm a bit late, but just now getting things off the camera.....here are a few shots of Siana and Spencer, a very very good friend.

I have one of us with Gene, but haven't gotten it off of Siana's camera.

I'm Such A Dork...and a Mess!!!!

2010-06-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

If we can't laugh at ourselves, then who else can we laugh at....Don't answer that, I find enough to laugh at, I love to watch people so you know what I mean about that subject.

Yesterday, I took inventory of my last few weeks, and came to the conclusion I'm a mess:

To start this whole mess off: three weeks ago I started down the long road of a "Root Canal" for a tooth that had a cap already on it, but had developed an infection under it. This leading to the need of it being taken off, and the lovely acts of drilling, and getting poked and my mouth getting stretched way further than I thought it could every be.

Remember when your mother kept telling you never to make faces and pull on your lips, that it would stretch them out of shape, and they would never return to their normal shape...well either I listened very well or never did it. I would never have believed one Dentist could get that many tools in my mouth and still see what he was doing. Not to mention that two weeks in a row that when he deadened it that he got enough in there that it made my left eye numb and uncontrolable. At first it was weird and then I was laughing at myself, I looked like I had a major defect, my whole side of my face drooped and sagged...but today, it went well...no eye ball defect and I have finally a temporary tooth in place of a "Meth tooth", boy that was really bugging me. If all goes well, and they get the new tooth back I will have it just in time for vacation in July.

Secondly, I was weed wacking last week and got into some poison ivy...and man even today it itches like the devil and I have of course gotten it to spread not just down my neck, but across my forehead and into my hair....what a dork.

Then on Saturday, I didn't feel my life was complete so I decided to take a header and rebreak my left foots big toe....and can now only wear Flip Flops till it heals....what a clutz... MARY BETH, I have officially joined your club, and will run for President this year, I do believe its my turn. LOL...I even had company over and of course missed the steps into the house while I was going for stuff to put on the picnic table. That's what I get for having big feet and forgetting to pick them up far enough to hit the steps.

AND then to make my life TOTALLY complete and well rounded, I lost my glasses yesterday...Now for those of you who know me really well, you know I can't hear without my glasses. I am so bloody near sighted that if its beyond the distance of my nose I'm not going to see you or hear you. I did however know where my old glasses were so did the brail thing over to them and had a fairly good day, but it wasn't until late into the evening that I realized that somewhere along the day I had found my new glasses and had actually put them on. MAN I either need to start drinking again or take a VERY long vacation and remove myself from society its very sad when you do things like that.

So see I'm a mess and need a vacation...its a very good thing that Siana only has three more weeks of school one week of camp and then off to the wide open spaces of Montana and Nevada....with a stop-off in Seattle, Washington.

OKAY WHO TOOK TIME AWAY AGAIN!!!!

2010-06-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday that it was April and I was gearing up for my birthday, MQX, and Linzi and Tracy's arrival and mini stay....Which in turn developed into a major stay. WHICH I so loved and wish that they were still here. Not because they pitched in and helped me finish the basement, but their company was such a welcome and the fun we had during their stay will be a memory of mine for life.

To start off April the fruit trees were in full swing, and you could smell them for miles away. In the Mail I recieved a birthday present from a good good friend in Reno, NV. Gail always seems to know what a girl needs and wants. Three new beads for my Pandora.
Siana and I took a little hop over the Catskill Mountains to find a new batch of quilt stores that we hadn't found or even heard of and to have a girls day....yes it was my birthday, and no Gene wasn't home so we just went and went and went... found three great shops and had fun shopping.

Our first stop was a total surprise, in the Town of Windom, NY a brand new LQS...they have mostly Civil War fabrics, but it is a cute cute store and so so clean.

Then we continued up the road heading to Cooperstown, but found this quaint shop in an antique store, can't remember the town's name sorry, that's what you get for me waiting so long to let you about it.

Then just north of Cooperstown we found this FAB place...small, but boy is it packed with goodies...they carry a good selection of fabrics as well as books and have several crafty things for non-quilters or people who do it all...they are a sewing machine dealer and very pleasent people to visit with.

Here is a picture of my birthday presents to me.....

It's Looking a WHOLE lot like Spring

2010-03-17T16:14:00.000-07:00

The Iris's are just popping up and I haven't gone out back yet to look at the Peony but I'm sure it too is starting to think about waking up. Sara got hauled off to Hudson today and was permitted to have her first Spring Bath....she has gotten to big for the tub and I'm getting to old to sit on my knees for that long of a time. Besides when she decides to shake off at the "Dog Wash" I don't have to clean it up.

WE....left just about this much hair at the "Dog Wash" as well...she loves to blow dried, and I have to admit its fun seeing all the hair blow around, even if it get up my nose, and I have it head to toe. Silly me today I wore a black T-shirt and a Black Hoodie...I looked like I had been tarred and feathered when I came out.

Hope the Swallows are back, they love to have Sara get her first spring brushing..they line their nests with her left overs. She is a good one to recycle from, her undercoat is so so soft....and many of babies in the last five years have enjoyed her nice soft baby yellow fur.

2010 Junior Prom Quilt

2010-03-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Even though Siana is only a Sophomore, they have been invited to a Spring Prom...and Siana, bless her heart, drafted me to do the raffle quilt. Color to be the school colors of lime green and true blue. Well I found the green fabric right away, and knew I wanted to do something very simple. And couldn't for the life of me know which zillion patterns to choose from, but the current "Easy Quilts" came out and in it was a "Friendship Star" so off I was running in making the quilt. I have to admit I hated it while I was piecing it.
But now that its quilted and washed, it has grown on me. The colors just weren't my style and I was having a true problem with the green fabric. I HATE...that print, hated in the 70's can't stand it in the "Where ever" we are today. All the Green fabric has "GLOW IN THE DARK" threads...I wanted to make it for the kids as they are being permitted to purchase the chance tickets as well.

And here is a picture of Siana's new formal....Mine isn't here yet, as I needed to order it.

Valentines Day 2010

2010-02-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

With Gene in Montana...Valentines Day and his mother being so sick right now, I have to admit I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself, and I need to just knock it off.

Today...this little 15 inch Vermont Teddy Bear came to my house. Not only it is so CUTE, but it comes from a cowboy who isn't much for saying words out loud, but sure can get his message across otherwise. Now we just need to figure out what his name it....its not good going through life without a name.

And now introducing "Crutch"

One down two more to go!!!!!!!

2009-12-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

I am making three quilts just alike...two for the guys that were with Jess when he passed this pass June and one for me....here are a couple shots of the first one...it has a Dream Wool Batting in it. Liked the way it quilted up, but with even washing in COLD COLD water and hanging it to dry there was about a 4% shrinkage. I did wash the fabrics in this quilt, which something I don't usually do, for reasons of different colors and not knowing the results afterwards and that the muslin used in the quilt both top and the whole backer... I wanted it shrink before quilting so it wouldn't shrink afterwards. ....Well that didn't work. The blocks were 5 1/2 finished and now are 5 inches...but it still will be a great snuggle quilt, just need to make sure that those who will get them know not to wash in anything but cold or very cool water and NO DRIER

First Snow 2009

2009-12-06T05:59:00.000-08:00

And its looking alot like Christmas, which is good, I can't seem to get into the holidays unless there is snow on the ground. We haven't even put up the tree, no cards written yet, and only one present bought. The snow won't last ....today its to get up to 40 something and I think its already starting to melt. But me with a nasty head cold won't be popping out to check.

And I hope it sort of stops until later in the month. Siana is having her second knee surgery on the 15th and will be in the hospital until at least the 16th, and I really don't want to have to get her into the house on the slipper ice and snow. Crutches are hard enough on the dry, don't need to add that to the mix.

Here are a couple of snow pictures for those of you who don't get snow.

Time to Play

2009-12-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday Gene and I went out to the newly joined gunclub and we (I) got to play with my new toy. Its a 204 Savage that I won in September at another gunclubs benefit banquet... With each $125.00 meal ticket you got a ticket for the gun raffle, and a mit full of tickets to put into buckets around the room for drawings. Didn't win ANYTHING in the bucket drawing, and didn't win any of the silent auction entries, but did walk out with this new rifle. So trust me not complaining AT ALL.

Fresh out of the box so it took a few minutes to get the scope sighted in and that wasn't a easy task as the base mounts on the rifle are flat and the scope mounts are round...SO WHOMEVER the idiot was that put this package together really booboo'd. So more than likely I'll be getting a new scope for Christmas or new base mounts...

I got a present today......lucky me!!!!!

2009-11-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

Look what I got in the mail today....it is SO pretty and it was specially made just for ME. Why you ask? Cuz I'm special, and if you don't believe me just ask me again and I'll explain it all to ya.

Thank you SO much Shannon...it is gorgeous...and it will live here with the rest....

MY TURN FINALLY!!!!!

2009-10-30T10:03:00.000-07:00

So out with the Old and in with the new.

Most of you know that I have been waiting like a very very good girl, like since 2000, to get a new quilting machine. Well, finally with Jess's blessings and the opportunity of a LIFE time I finally have my new to me machine. Its a 2007 APQS Millie, and she is so quite you hardly know she is in the room.

It is with bitter saddness that I will be parting company soon, I hope with my older machine...."SHE" has been a GREAT machine, and she will continue to be at someone elses home. Yes, she has been used, hard, but hardly worn out, she has many many more quilts in her.

Whew Long But GREAT Weekend.

2009-10-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

I jumped into my car at 4am EST on Friday to head to the west coast so I could spend the weekend with Linda and Dennis Rech, and join the Moxie Group for their quarterly quilt guild meeting.

Non-eventful getting to SeaTac, but not sure my feet stopped once I got there....had to hit Jack-In-The-Box for Supper. Since we don't have one here on the east coast its a must have of greasy taco's and Bacon Chedder fries. YUMMO.

They off to Linda's very cute studio, which I have to add is WAY to organized for me...and WAY to clean, man she can find everything. What is the fun in that...knowing where everything it, that must be a drag. LOL

If I hadn't had been so jetlaged when we opened the champaine I would have helped finish off the bottle, but as it was two wine glasses were plenty for me and I haven't slept like that in a very long time. I don't think I even dreamed that night and the voices were even yawning when I got up the next morning so they too much have slept well.

Off at 8am for Portland area and Nora's WONDERFUL house...the Moxies were a great bunch of fun and would join them again in a heart beat, they made me feel very welcomed.

Then we hit Fabric Depot and I did my stimulus for that area, and will be expecting some big boxes to arrive whenever Linda decides she can part with my Red and White quilt. Remember I said I was going to go out there and get it and kick her ass for keeping it....well look who still has it, so not sure whom won that battle.

Fabric Depot is worth the trip, was able to get another kit like I need it, but I did need the battings and they were 35% off so did get SEVERAL.

Then the painful part was needed to get done...getting up at 3am on Sunday to once again craw into a plane and head home...it was okay, but the 5 hours layover at JFK was murder.....I could almost walk home from there.

I had a GREAT TIME....and now I need to recover...LOL

Awards Night at Troop K headquarters.

2009-10-14T08:17:00.001-07:00

Last night was another awards night for several of the Livingston, Elizaville and Milan firehouses.

One year ago, this past Labor Day weekend...the call for a propane leak came in, and Gene took off like a flash. In fact I didn't even know he had gone until I started to look for him. (Come to find out he had been gone for well over an hour before I put the loud yet muffled sound that I had heard, and him being gone together.)

As it turned out Gene and Robbie were the first on scene, and just as they were pulling up into the long driveway the house blew up....in fact the installation was still coming down from the sky when they got to the house, which was now in bits and pieces and on fire.

The owners and their son were inside...and all the training that one does when with a department sets in and they went into action. The second truck rolled up just as Gene got into the house and started to help the elderly couple from the home. Then he and another went back into the house, now totally engulfed with flames, Gene to get the son out, and the other to keep water on things while he worked... They had to move fast and they basicly threw him out the opening in the wall, and pushed their own ways out as the roof and other side wall came down.

If they had been 3 minutes faster they could have also been in the house when it blew, or if they had been 3 minutes slower they would have been recovering the three. As it was we did loose the son three days later to internal injuries that just couldn't be fixed. He had been thrown literally across the house and an old antique oak table had landed on him.

Gene and the others have been honored several time for this ordeal, and last night was the last award to be given...this one from the Highway Trooper K Department.

Here is one with me and Gene...

Batting pole.....

2009-10-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

When I bought my quilting machine I hated to have to lift up the batting so I could clip threads....I had no teachers back in those days and didn't know that you were suppose to bring your threads to the top and clip from there, I just clipped from the bottom, and lifting that batting and it being in the way lasted about 4 days.

I went to Home Depot and got a closet pole and had my hubby make a bracket so it wouldn't be on the ground and I could lift it up and have the batting on it and not have to dink with it. Also when I was moving to the next row I discovered that I had better tension on the batting and NEVER got wrinkles in there that I had to either have to work out or tug to smooth.
Here are a couple of pictures of my batting pole.... a close friend of mine has made a better pole system, but mine works well for me now, and should I ever get another machine...I'm stealing her idea, but I will still want to make it so that it is up and out of the way as this one can be.

There are J hooks at each end of the quilting machine...the pole sits in these J hooks when not in use....when in use
The pole lifts up to lay in front of the front rollers where it stays while I'm quilting, and should I have to bend over, I don't need to lift or move the head....I'm very lazy...and why should I exert myself.... When the pole is full of batting it sometimes doesn't want to stay in place. I use a couple of electrical wire claps on each end and it behaves and stays in place, as the batting is used it just lays there and doesn't jump off.

Okay I've Been Bad.....

2009-10-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

Its been brought to my attention that I haven't been here since Jess's death...I'm sorry. I even hate to admit that it did take more out of me than I wanted to. When you become married and you live with someone for 36 years, your husbands family does become yours. His brothers become your brothers, and when something drastic happens to either side its just as bad.

Since the middle of July Gene has been able to finish cleaning out Jess's apartment, get everything into storage and now we wait for the estate to be settled and finalized. Jess was buried at Sea from the San Diego port, but not sure of the exact date at this time...

Also this summer Gene,I and Siana spent almost 3 weeks in Montana...family reunion, his mother getting sick, and getting Jess's affairs taken care of its been a right down whirl wind of things.

Here is a picture of myself and sisters and brothers.

Me in Pink, Clinton behind me, Ada in the green, Alivn, tank top, Ruth, Blanche and Ralph a brother to Ruth and Blanche.

We are a blended family...and Ralph is Ruth and Blanche's mom son.

A picture of just us girls.....

A Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood!!!!!

2009-06-29T17:25:00.002-07:00

Things are a bit up in the air here..and so far I have been blessed with a HUGE plater (Plate wouldn't be big enough) to hold all the things I have to get done before I head out.

As of this morning early I was told I don't have to drive across country that I'm needed in Washington ASAP and will be flying out on Wednesday morning about 5am...

BUT in the mean time I have been running here and there getting errands run so that when I leave I won't wonder if the iron was turned off or if the house payment was made. And in doing that I need to share my Monday...it was a pretty packed ordeal today.

First off meaning 7am, I had to run down to New Salem (about 80 miles) to the office Gene works at to get the hitch and ball from his pickup so that I could hook up my Durango to the trailer and get it off to the inspection station for its yearly inspection, and leave the keys for that, and the keys for the huge truck what is in front of my house here....on the way down not close to the vets, but thinking I need to get Sara in for a yearly and she needs to go into the kennel I had better call them for an emergency stop on the way back up. Now mind you that is back north but need to swing about 40 miles east to get there..and need to be there by 11am... okay.

Got Sara all lined out, she snapped at the vet and was instantly put into a muzzle...bad dog, but then I might snap at the vet if she did some of the things to me that she did to Sara.

Okay that's off my list...call a friend who was lining up my trailer inspection and the wiring that was going to be needed to only find out that this place didn't have ANY time to do wiring...inspection yes, but no way wiring. He told my friend that if we got the wiring harness we could do it ourselves. Bruce calls me what a want to do....so off he went to get the harness, and I went the other direction to finish up some errands that needed done and make some phone calls...meet back at the house in two hours. NO problem.

Or so I thought....he walks in lays the thing on the table, and we both realize the pigtail on the harness doesn't fit the pigtail on the trailer...so off I run in the OLD 1995 Ford Tauras that has been out of use, but is legal to drive to get the parts...

WELL, about 10 miles from the house I felt something hit my knee...pretty hard...looked down and there was a HUGE field mouse sitting on my knee with its HUGE eyes back at me.... startled yes, but mice don't scare me so I just started to brush it off, but that didn't need to happen as the mouse is now heading for the underside of the seat.

Get to Dodge dealership, run in get the parts...come back out about 10-15 minutes later and this lady is screaming at me that I had just stepped over a snake.... Stupid me..and my head in the clouds with a zillion things all trying to get the first prioity in my head said...where....

It was about 5 feet from my car.....and it was a simple yet about 3 foot gopher snake, but harmless, but I HATE SNAKES.... got back in the car and then realized...that mouse was running from something, and it was moving fast, not as scared of me as what was behind it as it came out of the dash. HMMMMMMMMMMMMM, I would bet that snake was in the car and I carried it to parking lot and it dropped off when it stopped spinning...it did look a bit dazed and was wondering where it was.

All I have to say, is this...I could have wrecked the car when the mouse startled me, but WILL guarantee I would have wrecked the car if that snake had come up and out of the dash after that mouse. These gopher snakes here have a bit of the rattlesnake look only the head isn't shaped right, and if I had only seen the back as it was winding down and around the stearing column I would have lost it.

I'm laughing, because I have cried way to much in the last few days...and you have to see humor where you can find it...I'm just grateful that the snake didn't follow the mouse.

It's Hard To Say Goodbye!!!

2009-06-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

As we get older we realize that there is going to be a time when we need to get prepared to start saying goodbye to friends and family...God does have a plan for each of us, but without a "Owner's Manuals", we really don't know when we will be called to come home.

There isn't an easy way to say this...there isn't an easy way to except it, but we just know it happens and those of us who are left are to grieve each in our own way. Yesterday, I lost a Brother-In-Law to Pancreatic Cancer. Jess was told of his situation just about 15 months ago, we knew at that time it could be a short few weeks or maybe, (if we got lucky) maybe we would be able to have a year or more to get prepared to say our goodbyes. We were graced with 15 months, which really is a long time if you sit and think about it.

He was able to work right up to the day of his death...in fact he was working with a co-worker when he fell ill and collapsed into a coma, which they weren't able to revive him from. He peacefully passed and it was fast as he would have wanted it. A lengthy hospice would have been much worse so we as a family are grateful for his fast fast passing.

Now the hard part begins...the healing of the family...we each have a heavy heart this morning...we each are reflecting on our most memorable moments of him...and it does sadden me that even though he was a part of my family we didn't see enough of each other. Once we all went our separate ways Gene and I to Reno and then us to New York, Jess to Buffalo, NY, back to Montana, and then to Seattle, and Tom to where ever he has been in the last 30 years...that boy has done some moving around, we all made an effort to contact each other at holidays and birthdays, but we didn't really hang around each others. Life and making a living does get into the way at times...and I guess right now I wish we could have a "Do Over" for part of it. Also it now makes me realize I haven't been that close to my side of the family either, and need to make that a changing as well. Oh, I'm in contact almost daily with one sister, but the rest have become a birthday and holiday call….not sure how that will be fixed, but will put that on my “TO DO LIST”. We will be having a “Miller” family reunion this summer, actually next month so will make it an effort to fix that then. This will be the first time I will have been home to Montana for longer than 24 hours in almost 15 years. I ran some things to Ruth in 2004 and was there literally 24 hours…several years earlier to Billings to take care of some weeds on our property out by Molt, but again 48 hours…it seems that a rush here and there was only time we could squeeze in. It’s time to slow down and as they say “Smell the Roses”.

Right now I would just settle for the smell of prairie sage after a rain on the open plains.

Just when I thought I was going to have a GREAT day!!!

2009-06-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that Gene and I collect kids...meaning we have now about 6 or 7 that call us Mom and Dad... and of course as all great parents we try to keep track of our children and know what they are doing, but some slip away and we loose total contact with them. WELL, this morning our number one son, came out of the woodwork and found us. I guess you could say we slipped away from him this time, if we had stayed in Reno, he would have known where to find us. BUT, he left and we changed our address... "Wasn't there a movie about that once..."

Well, to my surprise we now have jumped from just 3 granddaughters to 12 grandchildren ....He adding 7 to the line up today.....yep the little bugger has been busy the last few years and now look what we have... If I can convence him to send me a shot of them I will put here...but if not just know that this family has just jumped in numbers by a HUGE amount...

So lets see how many do we actually have...
There is Tim, Tom, Dustin, Carrie, Anika, Shana, Shannon AND Amy our only birth daughter.

Man that is a hand full by themselves, and between Tim, and Carrie (the only two that have children) they have just about completed the basketball team that I always wanted....

Also today is Siana's last day as being a Freshman in high school....she will be a.
Sophomore this fall. I'm still stuck on her being out of diapers, but oh, well. As she would tell me "Deal With It"...and I am...for todays celebration I made her Sugar Cookies...all nice and warm from the oven when she walked into the house

BUT on the down hill side of today it sucks....I have been in the basement most of the day unplugging the sewer once again.... grrrrrrrrrrr This make four overflows in the last 6 months. I guess I should be grateful its not winter like it was the last time.

Well back to the basement...I have a whole pile of fabric to throw out and a floor to STEAM and mop once its cleared away.

Okay Who Took 1974 ? And Where Did They Put It!

2009-06-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here it is June 5th, 5 days from my 35th wedding anniversary....a little over 15 years from Siana's birth, almost 34 years from her mothers birthday and I sitting here wondering WHERE did the time go. Amy was just running into the house looking for a sangwich and scoup just yesterday...and I turn around and I have this little person who has a very high pitched voice calling me Gamma. Who we NEVER thought would be taller than 4 foot 9, and here the little snot is looking me in the eye and bragging to everyone that she is taller than her Grandma. Well I have information FOR HER...she has a half inch left to go before that can be put on the records as final. But she can brag she is taller than her mom....HEHEHEH

Where has the time gone...and I can't even begin to tell you what happened this past year, it seems like a blur, but in 7 short short school days Siana will go from being a Freshman in high school to a Sophomore....WOW! I'm not sure I'm really ready for that. It means in just a few short months she will be off to college and marriage and children, and the cycle will continue. AND worst yet it means that she will get her drivers's learning permit this next winter....yikes, it just seems like yesteday that Amy got her's. I'm at a total loss as to where time went, but it sure has gone fast this last year.

I wonder if 35 years from now she will be doing the same thing wondering where time went and remember the good and bad times of life in general...or will she be Scooby Dooing along without a worry in the world and could care less..
I guess this all came about because yesterday or I should honestly say EARLY this morning I finished a quilt for a baby who will be Christianed tomorrow, and I wanted the family to have a quilt. And I was pondering as I was waiting for the dryer to finish its thing this morning, if time will fly by for these people as well....will they turn around an be sending her off to college in what will seem like 3 or 4 years.

Can Someone Explain to Me

2009-05-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

WHERE did my summer go...it was here last week, I even got a tan from the hot hot sun, but today I am back into my steeled shoes, and long sleeve t-shirts....its gloomy outside and it can't decide if it wants to rain or snow. The Rhodie is in full bloom and the rest of the world looks like I'm in a huge soup bowl...yucks clouds and being in a hallow, doesn't help. Can't see out or up.

How could I forget this!!!!!!!

2009-05-14T17:04:00.001-07:00

Most of you know that I have been dieting for about 18 months....very closely watched and blood work more often than I want. WELL, they did a blood panel and I finally got busted. I'm suppose to take a Multi-Vitamin and be a good girl. I HATE TAKING pills...I don't like them they bug me and I even hate to take pain stuff for headaches and heaven forbid I remember to take my water pill in the morning. THANK God I never had to remember to take birth control pills...we could been over run with kids, well not really, but it could have happened.

Well, I basicly stopped taking the Multi- say a year ago....big no no... and now this little surprise has cost me a huge huge slap on the fingers as now I need to take B-12 shots. One a week for 4 and then one a month for about 6 it looks like and that is only if, and I mean if, I'm back to normal when they do the next go-round of blood work.

So...the moral of this story is if they tell you take a Multi-Vitamin...don't play God and think you really don't need one.... big bummer. Although I guess I should feel lucky, as heaven help me that I give it to myself....Gene gets that job. Hasn't played EMT for 14 years for nothing, now he gets to earn what he learned.

More Roses and Some Nice Weather...

2009-05-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

The orange rose bush popped some more buds and the Queen Elizabeth also opened.... Its finally been nice again, but that isn't to last according to the weather people...so back into the deep freeze I go. Hope it doesn't hurt the rose bushes as we are under a heavy frost alert for the next several nights.

WOW its roses already....

2009-05-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago we did get into the 90's for about 3 days and the rose bushes just went nuts...since then its been cold and nasty, but they didn't loose their buds and this is the first open rose for the year....I just love these orange and yellow roses. The next one to open will be a Queen Elizabeth "PINK" rose...will add those when it opens.

SPRAY STARCH AND STEAM

2009-05-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

As you know this was launched several weeks ago....I thank all that have ordered and send thank you's for ordering the CD, but it seems that people still don't know how to find it, and since I currently don't have a website, maybe I can use this as one and make a place for it to be easier to find the information here and the ordering information.

The CD are $15.00 USD plus postage in the USA that comes to $16.75 and all international orders have run from $16.90 to $30.00 depending on where you are at.

Please email me for the exact postage and mail address.

email me at: drycreekqlts@msn.com

Well I lived through MQX and now to the next adventure!!

2009-05-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

MQX has come and gone....it was a GREAT 6 days, but man I was totally wiped out when I got home. Two classes a day...WHAT was I thinking, and then once I was home I had three more days of go go going before I could just sit and put up my feet. There were a lot of gorgeous quilts this year in the show...and many many new faces as well as getting to see old ones. I really is like a giant family reunion....

No I didn't get a ribbon on the quilt, but honestly I didn't expect one. Its the first quilt I've done in almost 5 years that was quilted and intended for a show, but on the other hand when I made the top I didn't make it for a show.

When I made the quilt I didn't intend for it to go into a show, so in the white areas I pieced with red thread....HUGE no no. However, I did learn something. No keep in mind I haven't done a quilt for a show in over 10 years as once I went professional there weren't any categories in the local shows for me and I just didn't think I could get into a larger show. NOW to what I learned. I didn't know that the little mitered flap on the top of you quilt binding ALSO must be sewn closed. Now I got a huge slap on my hands for not doing that....so for you reading this... NOW you also know that bitty very well kept secret. Its not written anywhere, its a secret among the judges for some reason this is a new to me thing...and not all judges what it that way. So just do it and not get that ding on your point for being sloppy.

It hung very well in the show...nice and flat...but it was hanging between two HUGE bed quilts and it looked so so tiny.....

I did stand back an watch....everyone who walked pasted did stop and take pictures and that is a way better complement than having ribbons....people only take pictures of the quilting or the quilt because they like something on it.... Now was it the unusual basket weave background or the feathers, the hearts or just the quilt in general that caught their eye. I don't know, but it was sure nice to see people whispering about it, and then taking pictures of it.

ITS FINISHED....Whew!!!!

2009-04-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Its all finished, been blocked and now am putting on the binding. Will show a full view once done and hanging.

Now back to the basement to finish the binding, sleeve and label...they are made just need to attach and into the box it goes.

YEAH I didn't think it would ever come off the frame.

Almost Done!!!

2009-03-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I can finally see the bottom of the quilt....I have actually only about 3/4 of a roll left and I would see the bottom edge. Hope to have it finished by Monday afternoon, so I can take it to a friends house and she can help me block it and then I will pick it up on Tuesday and start binding and hopefully ship it Wednesday afternoon.

Oh, man I have to make the sleeve and the label yet....NOTE TO SELF...don't forget. Sleeve is cut just not sewn. Embroidery machine needs a good cleaning before it can be run, haven't even looked at that thing since last year sometime. ARGGGGGGGGGGGG to many toys not enough time to use them all.

Here are some in progress shots. My SID is pretty good even if I do say for myself...and the magnifying glass I got at Joann's a great investment, and it claps right to the light...doesn't hurt the bulb at all.

Where did this week go?

2009-03-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Its already Sunday since I posted last. Maybe that's why the other blogs I have started seem to just fad into the sunset and never to be found. Even by me. I know I have started at least 3 other ones and have lost the addresses...so I got smart this time and actually wrote it down and now as long as I don't loose the book its in I won't loose this blog either.

Yesterday Linda Rech launched off the "Spray Starch and Steam" CD for me...yeah that's done. I hadn't realized until I was putting on the final touches to it that it was literally a year in the making. The next one won't be that long, I have the knowledge now how to do it and will work smarter at it. Here is a photo of the goody...front and back of the CD holder, CD and the instructions on how to load and operate the CD.

ARGGGGH MQX Quilt

2009-03-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a quilt for almost 8 weeks now....no its not been 8 weeks continuous quilting, but it sure feels like it. I'm below the half way mark today and it feels good...at least I can see the bottom of the quilt, well almost, and I can see the my efforts have started to pan out. Here is a shot of what it looks like unquilted and I will load photos of it as it gets done. Its huge its about 78" x 78" and will have a dark red binding when finished. Its the very first quilt that I have even tried to do for a special quilt show. I have had quilts in both local shows and at a International quilt show, but they were just quilts...does that make sense. This one is being painstakenly done...I'm so trying for a perfect back track and a perfect feather. But so far feathers scare me so hopefully when this is done I will have controlled that fear and get out of that box.

Well back to the basement and more of this quilt.