ICE!

I've had several of you email me to see if we've survived the first ice storm of 2007. Thank you. Yes, we have. It started last friday morning and we received about 3" of the white stuff. If you've never been outside when it's raining b-b's, it's quite an experience. Mini-hail is what DH called it.

It's now tuesday (Monday was a federal holiday) and I'm back to work. The major highways are clear, but our back country roads are still slicker-than-you-know-what.

They're predicting freezing temps for most of the week and another ice-storm coming in later this week. Just what we don't need with construction going on.

Speakin' of construction...I took this picture the night before the storm (when it was 70 degrees outside).

It's my 25x25 basement. The rods poking up will be a wall dividing the room in half...which is also support for the garage up above.

AND.....you know when it's storming, I have to spend part of the time sewing. This is what I started (and finished) over the icey-weekend.

It's a double 4-patch which is scraps from my last two homespuns projects. ONLY scraps and it's 72x72 before the borders. I don't wanna see anymore homespuns for awhile!

Troy calls it "the ugly quilt", but I betcha it'll work good keeping us warm!

It's tuesday, so it's back to work!

Bricks'nStones

Anybody remember this quilt-start?

Well...it finally grew up and turned into this:

As soon as I get the backing figured out, it's going to Bonnie for quilting. Yes, I'm on her list so it won't be a surprise to her! I have faith that it's going to be marvelous when it returns.

If anybody wonders--the dark border is green not black. The next thin border is a dark ecru/camel (plaid)color. I thought taking it outside would let the colors show up, but on my screen it looks dark too.

BTW--it's 84x104 MOL

AND.....I still have homespun scraps!

BULLSEYE!

This bullseye has been an ongoing project for awhile. There's another bullseye out there somewhere waiting to be finished...but I won't mention her name....!

The fabrics are homespuns and it's all over my house.

Troy is standing on a chair so it's a little deceiving how big the quilt actually is. I think I measured it 64" wide--he's about 5'9" and it's as wide as his arms will spread...is that an exact measurement?! Not a big quilt, but big enough for him to wrap up in.





Now....how do I quilt this darn thing? Round and round each circle? I have barn-red homespun (checked) to go on the back so it's going to be a heavy quilt. Nice and warm!

The picture makes it look a little yellow because it's under my kitchen florescent lights. It's very warm-rich colors.

Quilting ideas?!....please?

Starting a new Year

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted. The holidays always put me in a grump-of-a-mood and it takes me awhile to get out. I get so tired of all the commercial attitude that my friends have towards the Christmas Holiday and it's easy to slump down into my own little world and dwell on myself. May be hard to describe, but my Zone Manager said it the best...he told me to keep my family close and celebrate in our own way--let the world go their own way and do what's best for us. That's exactly what we did.

It's now the beginning of a new year. This year will hopefully begin the start of some new things in our life.

#1--a new house. I have a big hole in the front yard where it's been too wet to pour concrete for the basement. We have 6 months to be in (before the interest goes up) 6 months!...that'll be here before we know it.

#2--a promotion at work. Our family is as guilty as the next--the more I make, the more they spend!

#3--drivers license for my youngest driver. This thursday he (hopefully) will take and pass his drivers license test. The pickup is ready but I don't know if Mama is.

#4--a new pet. We lost both of our dogs in the past few months. Yes, Andy is also gone. It was a tragic death (one I don't want to describe), but we have a new chocolate lab. --pictures later. He has been neglected but with some TLC from us, he'll be a wonderful pot-licker.

#5--new relationships. My #2 son has a wonderful girlfriend and has become closer and closer to her. They have dated off and on for 7 years and I told him that he better not screw it up...I like her and she fits in so well with our family.

#6--back to sewing. I finally have a project that's almost ready to go to the quilter. How can you buy a whole bolt of fabric for the backing...and you need 9 more inches?! arrrrrrrrg...I'll make it work somehow.

I'm listening to Gerald Ford's funeral on the television as Kissinger is talking. Sure brings back lot of memories from my Jr.High days. I'm not a political person but was raised by a politician and I can so relate to the public life. The funeral makes me think about going thru the same emotions with my own parents as I buried both parents before I turned 40..."Abide with Me" was played at both services. Did you hear it this morning? Brought tears to my eyes. Susan Ford is holding up a lot better than I ever did.

Life goes on...my Dad use to tell me that Life is for the Living...you cannot change what's gone...keep living and remember who raised you!

As I'm enjoying this Federal Holiday.....life is going to be very busy in 2007...bring it on!

Simple Apron

When I went to Houston, I picked up some 1/2yard pieces of citrus fabric knowing I would make something for my DIL. She hinted that she'd like to have an apron and I found the perfect fabric for one.

I ended up only using two of the pieces and saved the lemon piece. She can make something out of it later. There are some decent sized scraps and I may (time willing) put them together for a hotpad or potholder.

Since nobody in my household would model, I used a flannel shirt hanging up instead.

ONE homemade gift for Christmas.

...at least the tree is up!

Several of you have asked...DH is lots better. He still has a inhaler that he uses several times a day, and still isn't 100% but he's doing much better.

Thanks!

Life on the range.....

I've been nursing a DH with pneumonia. It started with strep and then went down to the lungs. Having a spouse set there and say "I can't breathe" and being able to hear the rattle was scarey. After a trip to the ER with two injections and three prescriptions and a night of throwing up the pain meds...yep....being a SPOUSE and MOM can be lovely sometimes. Thank goodness for that little blue insurance card.

On the new-home-front....I have an electric pole and meter. We had a week of ice/snow storms and that put everybody about two weeks behind. Don't know how they figure their days but I've learned not to argue with contractors if you want them to work. Maybe friday (or sometime this weekend) I'll have the start of a basement. I keep looking for a raincloud. You can't dig a basement unless it rains, right?!

On the sewing-frontier.....I've made the citrus yardages I brought back from Houston into an apron. (picture later-nobody would model). I just need to sew the ties onto it and it will be done. I'll have ONE (Count them ONE) homemade present for Christmas.

Speakin of Christmas....SOMEBODY reminded me that Christmas was coming. No, I still don't have a tree up. It's still in the garage setting there will dust still on it. I mentioned that we needed to get it out and the response was "what's the hurry". I'm not the only one at my house not in the mood for Christmas.

Oh, I forgot...the tile-guy is suppose to come out tonight too. Have to describe how I want my shower built.

Life on the Range....

A start to being done...

I have cussed and discussed this quilt. It's going to be a baby gift for my niece who is due in May. Got the bright idea to do something different.

Well, I've showed you the blocks while I've been working on the embroidery and tonight I got them sewed together into the rest of the blocks.

No, the picture isn't the best. My holder-upper kept wiggling and the light wasn't the best, but hey..you can at least see what I've got put together.

If I haven't said it before, this was a kit bought back several (more than several) years ago. I'm sure it was a store-owner who put it together, but I can honestly say she did a really bad job on the instructions. The directions on sizes for the embroidery blocks didn't match the sizes for the finished blocks and that makes for a cranky seamstress. If you can tell, I had to put sashings around most of the blocks.

There was a drawing for the layout and I tried my best to follow the diagram. I did have one set of flying geese left over and one plain block remaining. May insert the flying geese on the left side where there are more plain blocks to give it some movement there--like it isn't busy enough?! There is also a light blue fabric cut for a 2 1/2" border that I have yet to sew on. Maybe tonight.

Don't even ask if I'm going to machine or hand-quilt this.....after the border gets put on it, I'm not going to look at it until after Christmas.

edit ***I may ship it over to CindyB and let her quilt it for me! She's SUCH a good friend!***

New RED Sled.....

There have been several years that I just haven't been in the mood for Christmas and this is one of them. Don't know if it's the thought of this being our last one in this house or that we're busy (which we've been busier). Haven't figured out what the culprit is. Is it sad that I don't even want to drag out the decorations?!

Thought I'd show what we did buy last weekend. The roads were too slick or go to work, but DH managed to get me out of the house to go pick up Troy's new vehicle. No, it's not new but it'll be new to our farm. It's a 2001 Dodge pickup. We teased him that it was a PM--purple machine, but after searching we found out it's called a deep scarlet red. He will be easy to buy for Christmas as it has four slick tires. Troy's already talking about chrome rails and maybe a toolbox so he's got something to work towards. I think the kid has more in his savings account than I do.




The pickup is actually from a sad story because the Grandma and Grandaughter bought the pickup together, but the GD couldn't/wouldn't make the payments on it. Step-dad took it away from her and told Grandmother to sell it. Hate to say that her loss is our fortune but sometimes that is how life is.

But..you know what's really funny....we've had this vehicle for five days and do you think Mama has even got to drive it yet?! nope..... He has offered to take me wherever I wanted to go...he's such a good kid!

I did ask if we could just decorate the new red-sled and not decorate anywhere else. Well, you know boyz...they jumped on that idea. Dont' think the DIL or girlfriend would go for that so one of these days I'll put up the tree...sometime.

Why do they start playing Christmas music on the radio in November? Maybe I'll get in the Christmas spirit before too long.

Difference in a day....

Difference in one day to the next!

Somebody made a comment about my dog being outside during the snowstorm. I was gonna say that he (Andy) has three different buildings (including our house) that he can go into or he can stay in the Igloo house with 8 cats keeping him warm. BUT...then I think about the saying my Mama use to say when people said things out of turn... "they need to sweep in front of their own doorstep before they sweep in front of anybody elses". Yep....I was gonna say that.

Even Gray-cat thinks it's too cold to come out and play! He's one of the main "heaters" in Andy's doghouse.

November Cold Day

I know it's winter, but I still don't like the cold. Woke up this morning to a howling wind of 60mph and blowing snow. We don't usually get this type of storm until January or February. So, whoever left the north barn door open would you please shut it?

Most of the schools in our area were shut down as were the schools in the metro OKCity area. If it was just snow it wouldn't be so bad, but when we get storms the ice and sleet usually come first. We're just Okie's...we don't drive well in snow and we know it. We stay home.
Luckily our calves were smart enough to come up to the barn and get in the shelter. Dh puts hay out to intice them into staying. Even this old woman was smart enough to stay home from work. After I called in and asked if anybody else showed up, one of the guys told me to stay put. Most of our offices were shut down because of the road conditions. Yep, us Okies know when to stay home.

It was a good day to work on my embroidery. I have all of the squares done for a baby blanket I'm working on. (the pictures shows some of them) The reproduction fabric is in the washer and I have a bunch of 3 1/2 inch squares to cut to finish the top. My niece isn't due to May, but the hand quilting can be slow and cold weather puts me in the mood to do hand work.

It's in the forecast to get 5-10" of the stuff. We'll see how far off they get. The funny part about our snow...it comes in sideways.....

What American Accent do you have?

Saw this on QuiltingFitzy and decided to find out how I sound....like I didn't know?!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

I've been an Okie for my entire life and live only about 15 miles from where I was raised. No, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Saturday Morning Sunshine

I'm use to getting woke up on my day's off with noises in the kitchen, but this morning something different woke me up.
I took this from my bedroom window, so you know how close he was to my house. Yes it woke me up(dh was already gone) but didn't aggravate me in the least. He told DH that he wanted to have all of the concrete and stumps gone today. May take another trip to get everything leveled up.

Thought I'd show what I've been working on. Sewing has been far and few around here with a housefull of company, but since there's a deadline on these banners they've got to get done.

They're only 5" wide and 42" long but the poly/satin fabric is a booger to work with. I put iron on interfacing on the back of each piece and that helped, but it still has the wiggles when you sew it down. I'm debating on whether to put tassle at the bottom of them. The pastor suggested them, but all I can find is gold. I did find some white-pearl cotton yard and am going to try to make one and see how it looks.

I laid them out to take a picture and one of the boys said I misspelled HOPE. I coulda killed him. I then told him that I shoulda made one that said FAITH---faith in that Mom ain't gonna clobber him!

I'll take a picture when they're hanging at church.

Twenty Seven Years

Yes, twenty seven years ago these two people said "I do" on this day. Back in 1979, the 23rd was the day after Thanksgiving and we've always had to share our arriversary with lots of relatives.

It's ironic that we've started a lot of milestones on our anniversary, and this year is no exception. We're starting a new home for us to live in the remainder of our lives.

Remember the trees I showed in my last post that were being cut down? I thought I'd show that they are on top of the ground now. They will be cleared away this weekend and the spot will be leveled off.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with a housefull of kids. Isn't that the way an anniversary-holiday is best spent?!

Happy anniversary honey....and yes, paying the backhoe bill will be a wonderful anniversary present!

Our six month project

Saturday we started a project which will take approximately 6 months to complete. We're building a new home. We've been planning, drawing, thinking, and saving for years....are we ready?...probably not, but we're going to tackle it.

This is the home we live in now. The main part of the house was built in the 20's and was built from used lumber from another house that stood here. It's been added onto three times.

I've showed pictures of it before. It's a small home, but I've raised three boys in it. We've been here almost 17 years, but it's time to make a change.

We've talked about remodeling and adding on ourselves, but different parts of the house have settled and since I'm NOT married to a carpenter we decided (after 15 years of thinking about it) that it would be more cost-effective to just build what we want.

The new house is going to be built right next to the old one with the basement being about where these trees are.

The Chinese Elms have seen better days anyway. They've been good shade but the last ice storm really did a lot of damage to them. The Oklahoma wind isn't gentle either.

The guys tied the big trees to the plow so when they started falling it would convince them to fall the right driection! It actually was a good idea. I don't think my homeowners insurance would've paid for damages to the old house (is that self-inflicted wounds?)
This picture just struck me funny. Oldest son Travis was watching Dad cut the first bite out of the tree. lol

Troy finding a safe place to stand.

Three chain saws and Troy and I picking up brush and cut limbs made a fast job out of it.

The fastest way to load and unload cut firewood. Ready for the splitter.

This is the clean yard after the guys got done. The shrubs are even gone from next to the house. When I woke up this morning, there was a backhoe tractor setting out next to the road. He's going to take the tree-stumps out and finish taking the concrete from the bottom of the fence out.

With 52 subscribers I'm hoping that I'll get lots of input to the thousands of questions I'll have about this building project. Everybody has an opinion and since this will be the first and last house we ever building I'm gonna need lots of help. Everybody up to it?!

Answers to questions so far:

The old house (minus the front screened-in porch and the back part which has a cellar underneath) is going to be moved off--it's a wood floored house. We already have a guy who wants it. They'll take several old houses and make one out of it. The walls in the house are plaster, but the wood can be reused. There's actually pieces of glued flooring(linolium) on the decking in the attic. Used and re-used. The screened-in porch has a solid concrete floor which is cracked in two places all the way thru. That part of the (roof) porch will be brased up or taken off--depending on if he wants it or not. The back part where the cellar is will be left and we can build a new top part--depending on what DH wants to do with it.

House plans: we had an idea of what we wanted and started drawing. I found a software program at SAM's for $70 that I used to draw our actual plan. Our contractor gave me some pointers as to size and location of some rooms because of how building materials come. We added 2' to the garage because there would be less waste. Cost the same, so might as well have it instead of wasted materials. Some states require buildings be looked at by an architect or engineer but we didn't need to. We're also 8 miles from town so a lot of specificiations don't have to be met. But...we're doing everything to code for loan purposes.

YES..there's going to be a sewing room...nice sized one actually. Two bedrooms downstairs in the basement and two upstairs with one of the one's upstairs being my sewing room. Two living room areas--one in the basement and one upstairs. Two full baths and a large kitchen (with an island).

I can post the actual houseplan if somebody/anybody is interested, or give me your email. I cannot respond individually to comments with beta-blogger, so bear with me.

And you think you have wind?

This is a map our office looks at daily and sorry if it's not real legible...we're having almost 50mpg gusts. Somebody turn it off? Since I'm griping, will SOMEBODY please shut the north door too? 41 degrees is also too cold for me! Yes, I know you northern people are colder but we're not suppose to have this cold of weather this soon.

Our poor old house has wooden windows and they rattled all night long. Poor DH is not a heavy sleeper and paced most of the night. I, on the other hand, learned to sleep thru anything during my bakery years. Here at work, the roof-top H&A/c is rattling up a storm. Guess it makes us aware that it's still there.

This is from another Oklahoma Map. Yep, I believe it's windy one here.
Elevation: 1614 ft / 492 m
41 °F / 5 °C
Overcast Humidity: 70%
Dew Point: 32 °F / 0 °C
Wind: 36 mph / 57 km/h from the North

Wind Gust: 48 mph / 78 km/h

Slow-going

This is how I feel right now. Seems like the days are so short that I don't have time to get any sewing/quilting done.

I have a deadline for a church banner that I'm working on but by the time I get home, supper on the table, some laundry done --you all know the routine--there's no time to get any stitching done. I'll get there, but it's just slow-going.

Hopefully pretty soon, I'll have a finished project to post. I have to have it done by Nov. 30th when Advent starts and that'll be here before we know it.

HOPE-LOVE-JOY-PEACE The four words that I've got plastered in my head! Pictures soon......

Houston Haul

Cindy reminded me that I hadn't showed what I bought at Houston last week. Sorry..it's been a hectic week, but today (the slowest day for internet dialup) I decided to set down and take pictures of my new stash. I don't think I bought anything that I wish I wouldn't of, and I don't think I remember anything that I wish I would've bought...so I think I did alright.



yellow/red front of pkg. Yellow/red fabric pkg-back --lots of fabric in this combination.

Plaid and floral flannel--Each fold is a 1 yard cut. I think this is my favorite of what I bought. Gonna be a warm quilt.

Old McDonald's Farm Paperpiece

Two paperpiece patterns.

A new hook to make rugs and a template to cut scraps with.

Star pattern to use my batik collection.

Pre-Stamped cross-stitch kit.

Citrus 1/2 yard cuts for my DIL. Think these will go into an apron.

Just Picked by Lisa Paparazzo for General Fabrics Co.

--since I was asked--and yes, I'm going to make the apron for DIL...sometime between now and Christmas morning...sometime.

A big bundle of one yard cuts in brights.

The is a pamphlet and yes it would be so simple to make, but I thought about the scraps that I could use for it. And yes..I'm very visual and need it in front of me.

A package of one cut yardage to make a small quilt.

Two books that really caught my eye. The flowers are machine appliqued to the top of the blocks. The kaliedoscope blocks are another thing that I liked.

Pamphlet from the Greek restaurant we ate. WONDERFUL place!

Four days is a long time to be away from home when you have family who rely on you for EVERYTHING, but they did alright and I really enjoyed going.

Houston

I've gone to quilt shows before, but nothing will ever compare to the International Quilt Festival in Houston.

We left on Wednesday November 1st and drove 9 hours to get there. The motel was about 5 miles from the convention center and having curb-service to deliver us right to the door was worth a lot. No parking lots, no fighting traffic, just hop out of the bus and walk right into the door.

The first day we arrived about an hour before the doors opened, but it gave us time to get our entry tickets purchased (for both days) and get up-close and personal with about 300 other people crowded into the front doors waiting for the main doors to open. It also gave us a chance to purchase a show-book and it told us the layout of the show. At least we knew which direction to turn once we got inside the building.

When they did open, it was like everybody scrambling to go to the best place first. Karen(my roommate) and I headed over to the trade show first.

I have never seen so many ideas, fabric combinations, fat quarters, books, PEOPLE, launguages, in one place before!

Everybody was so nice. One group of gals selling their patterns was from London. I looked at Karen and said "..and they think WE have an accent!"

Sometimes the crowds were horrible, and other times the walking was real easy. We got thru the entire trade show in one day. We were also warned that if we saw something we liked, to buy it immediately or make notes where it was. This was probably the best advice we received. The second day, we definitely went back to places where we wanted a second look.

Yes, I left some cash in Houston. I have yet to take pictures of all my heavy-load, but I will. I bought a flannel group for a quilt top and a red/yellow grouping of half-yard pieces. Baby fabric, some new books,a few fat quarters, a template and a new rug making hook that I can't wait to try. I'd never seen a crochet hook with a needle eye in the end of it. Probably an old technique, but something we'd never seen.

I saw Freddy Moran --asked her about her dot com pattern and she only teaches it in a workshop. Saw John Flynn, Eleanor Burns, Marti Mitchele, Debby Caffey (she a sweet gal), Alex Anderson (her booth was swamped and you couldn't get close). And probably more that I don't remember.

The actual quilt show was spectacular. I have lots of pictures, but I think the online pictures are more detailed than mine. I also don't have the credit of each quilt and that wouldn't be fair to the maker--I will post a few. The quilts that were amazing were the ones from Japan. One had 53,000 pieces in it and they were less than 1/2". The hand work was outstanding on these.

This quilt was amazing. The details were unbelievable.

There were quilts deplicting people, even a CALF(we really liked that one), sunflowers, farm scenes and even some abstract art. There were quilts for every taste and interest.

The bus ride home went fast and we arrived back to Oklahoma on saturday afternoon. A 9 hour bus ride and only two pit-stops and a 30-minute lunch break, puts you back home pretty fast! I'm still trying to catch up on my house, laundry and still need to go buy groceries. It was four days of getting to know the 29 gals on the bus even more--Karen and I were the only two who weren't Grandma's. Different tastes, levels of talent and abilities really made the trip interesting. Mama always said that you can always learn something new....you just gotta pay attention! Mama was right.

Definitely a RED RIVER where we crossed back into our state.

Next year? Where's the paper to sign up?