A Rainy Day of Fun

Today started out with a phone ringing waking me up. Patrick had just left. That was fine with me. I was up and showered. The phone was another one of those "unavailable" phone numbers. They seem to call at least 3 times a day. Getting tired of all those calls, but just let the answer machine pick them up.

I went downstairs thinking I could get a few hours in on the quilt before coming up to watch my shows on DVR.

I worked my way down to the right side of the quilt. I was able to get it going pretty good. I probably could have had this done, but I was busy with playing on the table as much as I was in quilting on this. I still was able to get a couple hours in on it.

I finished up the butterfly, so it's done. Now I just need to get about 6" to the border with the border to finish it up. Then I need to finish up the border once it's off the frame.

Once I got going, it was fun to get more done. This is where I quit it this morning. I'll work on it again tomorrow.

It is rolled to the point where it won't go any farther. So, this is where I need to get it done! I need to just sit down and work on it.....tomorrow.

Then I headed upstairs. I went through my cook books to see if I could find a good chicken recipe - now this is a hard task, because of picky eaters in this house! So, as I read some recipes, there was tomatoes, garlic, bread crumbs, etc.....half of them had mayo! Mayo is out in this household. Patrick gags on mayo of any kind. So, half the recipes were..."nope"...while the others had something that was a ......"nope"....leaving me back in the beginning - what to make. So, I went back to our old favorite and did lemon chicken, which needed to cook a good hour and a half.

When I wasn't working on cooking or looking for a recipe, I was cross stitching.

My heart seems to keep me coming back to working on this one.

I was able to get a good 400 stitches in this afternoon. It's really going pretty fast. I'm really enjoying working on this. I am itching to get back to my birds with embroidery too. I may have to do this and that next.......

NO, I NEED, NEED, NEED TO WORK ON DAD'S QUILT!! I really do! I pulled out the triangles today and really do need to iron those and put some star blocks together....I'm really bad about putting this off. I keep telling myself my dad won't live forever, and it would be nice to have it done before he goes. I have his stripes ready to applique on. I really need to go down and cut the fabric out and have that ready to work on. I will try to do that tomorrow. Since quilting is Friday - yea, I know, at the folks - I could put them together. I need to get that ready....so, let's see what I really end up doing tomorrow.......

Happy Quilting!

A Cloudy, Tiring Day.

This morning started out with a 2 mile walk. We ct it short today. I then came home to play a few games. As I played, I was falling asleep. UGH....so  thought I would rest on the couch, but then talked myself out of that. Instead, I did laundry and vacuumed the house.

After all that, I went downstairs to work on the quilt.

This was my starting point.

I worked this area going in and out, around the circles, and butterfly.

I decided to put my initials in the butterflies on the bottom of the quilt. So, the one on the left has "W" in both wings. The one on the right has "E" in the right wing with "T" in the left side of the wing.  The next butterfly will be "L" on both sides.

I'm going to roll it tomorrow, if all goes well.

Not sure if one can see what I did on the butterfly but it was a easy idea. I was trying to figure out how I was going to do the initials on the middle one, but worked it out. Wonder if anyone will notice it when it's done. (Other than those who look on my blog and know what I did)

That put me into 1 pm. I kept working on laundry and actually am drying my last load as I type this. I then came up to work on my cross stitch. I seem to be more in the mood to work on my embroidery stuff then quilting, but I'm getting back to it.

It's coming along pretty good. I've had some fun things going on while working on this. I have flung a needle in the chair. So, then I'm looking all over for the needle so I don't get poked when I sit down. I've also lost my washers as they make a lot of noise, they are still not that easy to find. I had to rock my chair (not one of those rocking motions we do when we are in a rocking chair!). Tipping the chair and dropping it, is more like it. Then I have a hubby looking at me and asking, "What did you loose this time?" Can't win!

I'm still moving along. I did copy my dad's "CMSgt" strips that I'm going to applique done for a block. I seriously need to get moving on his quilt!! I found out he has a "leek" with his "fix" on the heart last year. So...here we go again....he laughs and says, "They keep trying to keep me alive." I don't care, as long as he's here a little while longer.

Life is good, I'm still doing my projects, and I'm loving how things are going. Always Happy Quilting!

Brazilian Embroidery Day

Today I was up and running. We walked 2.8 miles today.

After walking I was getting all my stuff together to give to both Pat and Donna. Pat had her embroidery that she had in the fair, Donna had her quilts, and I had my stuff for our meeting. I was ready to go.

Arrived at the meeting and there were 8 members there already. It was awesome! We talked about ribbons that we got. We talked about how they were judged, and realize the judges really didn't know anything about Brazilian embroidery. I did realize my peace was up for Best of Class. Not sure which one got it. That did surprise me. Guess I need to take a photo and send it to the newsletter so we can say what we did in our group.

I worked on my second bird today. I added the blue and finished the orange. I worked on the white as well. Trouble is the edge of the bird that I had done, didn't look good, and got in the way. So, I cut it out (which wasn't easy) and decided to try again. It looks a lot better than it did. If one looked at the piece before this, there is a difference.

After embroidery, I was working on this. My "Nantucket Rose" is coming along great. I do get a little frustrated with the flowers, but I do figure it out and fix it.

I really do like the stair step method. I've been getting a lot done. It has come in handy. I'm actually getting a lot done faster than doing it the older way.

The rest of the week is mine, till Friday. I'm going to try and get some quilting done, if not get it to the point I can take it off the frame.

Something just came up and I have to finish this now. I'll be back tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

Bowling Started Today

Today I really did sleep in! I couldn't believe I slept till 9 am today. It was nice to sleep that late.

I worked on a pie, cut the tomatoes Patrick brought in and cooked them. I was busy with laundry, cooking, and cross stitch today. I want to see if I can get a good ketchup made out of it. I was going to do a sauce, but there were some green tomatoes in that batch.

I have been getting a lot done. I love the way this is coming out. Patrick doesn't like the fabric I'm working on. I don't mind, there really isn't a lot of it that is going to show.

I really don't have much to say about what I was working on.

We did have our first night of bowling tonight. I did pretty good. The first game wasn't what I would have liked, but we are just starting so it doesn't matter. I bowled a 159, 188, 197. Got better as I went on.

Be Happy Quilting!

Trip to the Threashing Bee in Toledo

Today I woke to find Patrick on the couch. Guess I kept him up. Oh, well. He went back to bed, and I played for awhile.

Phil was coming over, but then that fell through. We decided to go to "Threashing Bee" in Toledo WA. It was a lot of fun seeing the different kind of machines that were out there. One even reminded me of the time we were in ND with dad's family. I got a ride on the tractor they had at the time.

And of course I found a couple quilts there too. This one was hanging to help keep the heat off the people at the station. It was machine appliqued.

They were sawing this log in pieces to go in the machine that was pulling the wheat.

This fire truck was great! It's in awesome shape.

Patrick waiting on me to take a photo! lol - This was a long row of tractors.

Really liked this one.

One end of the threasher machine.

This was awesome to see! They were working pretty hard.

We had a good time. I even clocked our walk and we did a little over 1 mile. 

We came home for about a half hour, and I worked on my cross stitch. Then we went to the movies. We saw "Florence Foster Jenkins." It was pretty good. I did enjoy it. 

Came home and worked on my cross stitch again. So far I've gotten 200-300 stitches. I am getting into the lacy area of the dress. I haven't taken a photo yet, so it will be posted tomorrow with a lot of progress done. 

Enjoying a fun Saturday is awesome! We had a good day and I'm still getting stuff done. Happy Quilting!

This Month is Going Fast!

Today I was up and over to Ruth's by 7 am. I ended up helping her with her Safeway page on the internet. I am always keeping up with the computer, when I end up helping family! We did get our 2.5 mile walk in today as well. Patrick was sleeping when I left, and gone when I got back. I worked on my Hay Day game and went downstairs to work on my quilt.

I worked on the quilt while Patrick was gone. He had a meeting today, otherwise he would have been home all day. He was home by 10 am and went to work out in the yard. While he was out there, I was downstairs getting my quilt done! I was able to roll it again.

One can see how much was rolled. I'm going to have to roll one more time but I'm thrilled this is so CLOSE to being done!! I will only have to quilt the borders and then bind it! I may actually get a quilt done this year! I love the way it's coming out.

I love the flowers on the deck. The fusha looks great.

Instagram friends where asking where we all work on our stitching. I took a photo of the mess! I have the coffee table full of my tools! I clean it up off and on, like the table downstairs - so everyone can figure out how that works.

I have the trash handy and a light that I love. It's bright and is not an ott light. I like this one better than the ott light. Again - a mess.

I've been getting quite a bit done on the cross stitch. It's not anywhere near 3/4 of the way done. I d like the work. I've been working on the upper dark area, and that has been getting me confused from time to time because of how close each of the red colors are! But it's working so far.

Patrick took me out for the afternoon and then we went out to eat. It was nice to get home and work on my cross stitch.

We are looking forward to seeing more done on the quilt and cross stitch! Happy Stitching!

Enjoying a Day of Quilting

Today we walked 2.8 miles. Came home and couldn't believe how exhausted I was, so laid down on the couch and fell asleep pretty fast. Mom called around 9:15 am. So, figure I got about 45 mins of sleep in. She said dad was having poker guests at the house and she wanted to get away. She asked if I'd take her to our Thursday quilt meeting. I told her I would and would be there in about a half hour. She sounded like that wasn't quick enough!

I went and picked her up. It was funny to see that she was ready to go. I packed up what she wanted to take with her. We got the walker in the van. Decided to take her car and not mine. Mine is too small for her to get in and out. I was impressed at her way of getting into the van. She used the handle and pulled her body up to swing herself around. She looks like she lost some weight - which is a good thing. Mom was hungry for breakfast, even after I told her we'd stop and get lunch. So, we went to McDonald's and got ice tea with her breakfast of a Egg McMuffin. They asked if she wanted 2 for $5 and she said "YES." Then we went to subway and I bought us a 6" sandwich with 2 cookies. (Changed my mind later and brought a cookie home to Patrick).

We arrived around 11 am at the meeting. I usually like to get there around 10:30 am but that's okay. It was nice to have mom join us. Everyone was enjoying seeing her again. She loved the attention.

We stayed till around 2:30 pm when everyone else was getting ready to leave. We had a good meeting.

As for me, I was able to get the leaves and petal of the flowers done. I then spend a while chatting with Rita at the shop. I took a break for lunch, then walked around the shop. Checked to see if Rita was going to be getting Ed-Mar floss. We were looking at the samples that where there for her to pick from. Told her what we use and she'll order some after her inventory is over. It should bring more people to her shop with that floss since it's hard to find sometimes.

Today we hit 90 degrees again! Not one of my favorite degrees. UGH.

I'm still working on my cross stitch. I love the way it's coming along. I'll be getting into the "confetti" here pretty soon. I'm not crazy about that part, but that's okay too. I'm starting to get the lacy work done on the apron (white part). I love the way it looks. I'm going to try and add more tonight.

Tomorrow is my day home....so is it for Patrick. He does have a meeting to go to, so I might be able to get some quilting in. He has to do his meeting around 8:30 am. Not sure how long it will take. Me, I'm going to try and get some quilting done. I also need to mop the floor tomorrow.

In the meantime let's all be Happy Quilting!

Getting Caught Up Today....

This morning we walked for 2.7 miles. Closer to the end of our walk a BIG dog came up to us. She was very friendly and all over the place. She followed us home, so we put her in Ruth's yard and called the number on her collar. Apparently, the dog came from over 2 miles up the road. I was so worried about the dog when she kept crossing Jackson Hwy. Ruth said they came and got her, so I fell better that we did the right thing.

Came home and worked on laundry. Then headed downstairs to quilt.

I did get this area done. I've been getting a little at a time done. I need to get more, but today I didn't seem to be in the mood to quilt.

I took the quilt outside to see if I could get a good photo.

This is the quilt that we finished for QOV.

It only got a blue ribbon at the fair. I really don't care. I made it for the QOV quilts. The eagles are the ones I made, Donna put the blocks that were donated. I like the way it came out.

After taking pictures, I worked on the applique pieces for the next block. These are ready for me to work on at our meeting tomorrow. I wanted to be ready with something to work on.

Between laundry, I was watching the shows I have on the DVR. I've been watching the "VERA" show that's on public channels. It's pretty good. I do like it. I started to watch a movie that I taped but it was time for Patrick to get home so I wasn't able to see rest of it. Will try and watch the second half of it tomorrow when I get home.

I started the cross stitch at this point,

and ended at this point. I will be working on it here in a few again. We had to leave to the bowling alley to attend our meeting. We start bowling soon. I don't care for this group, but I'm only bowling because of our partners wanting to bowl.

Today was a busy day, a good day, and I was getting caught up on a few things! Happy Quilting!

A Day at the Casino....Cross Stitching next....

This morning wasn't a day of walking...which would have been better! I was up and at my folks dropping off apples by 7:30 am. Next stop was at Art's to go to the Red Wing Casino in Yelm. I drove, because of his eye sight, I always drive.

We arrived around 9 am. He went to the keno area and I went to the non smoking area. I went to the games I like and do pretty good at....till today....but I can't complain, I did win $20 right off the bat. Shame that didn't keep going. I played my favorite games and didn't get very far. Then I went to try another game...not any better. My money was dropping fast, and I had about 2 more hours to go! Ruth hauled at me, as she was there too! We played at my favorite game. Neither one of us did any good. Then we went to the Wolf Run game. We were doing good with 40 cents a shot! I was bouncing up and down like a ball while Ruth was staying steady at her machine. I moved around, but she did great at her machine. She had 6 bonuses while I was working on my second. Then I look over and she's got another bonus. She won $18 first, then next spin she won $20. Then next thing she won was $74!! We both were in shock! We laughed at how she kept winning and I was lucky to be moving at all. Then I looked at her bid! She hit "max bet!" She was in shock, she didn't know she did and we both burst out laughing. By the time her bonus was over, she won $157! So, she did great. Me, well, I was down to $27 by lunchtime. We met Art at the Deli and he won over $200!! I couldn't believe I was the one that was behind! I only won $2 on keno....but I did come home with a little more than the $27 I had before lunch. UGH! Should have stayed home!

Stopped in to see the folks when I got back. They were busy in the kitchen. They got a lot of apples from us, plums, and pears from someone else. They were cooking the plums and trying to give me some. Nope, didn't want to do any more cooking.

Stopped and visited with Patrick. Then came home. It was about 4 pm before I finally made it home.

I was able to get this much done last night. It's coming along. I'm surprised at how much fun it has been working on this. I quit the top area because I had the same color for two different spots. I asked Christine Haus (Stitching Shop) if she could send me the one I don't have. Then today I noticed I have another duplicate for two colors. I went downstairs and pulled out my DMC colors for the two I needed. Decided I'm not going to worry about 2 colors. All my stitches are the Madeira floss. It's like someone said the other day...."Who's going to know what floss we use - other than us?" Good point.

Tomorrow I'm home. I'm going to enjoy being able to go downstairs tomorrow and quilt. I can also get caught up on laundry and then watch a few shows I've been dying to watch! In the meantime, I'm going to get caught up on my mess (put a few things away and clean up a mess I made looking for something!)

So, I'm really, really looking forward to tomorrow. Not that I'm not looking forward to working on my cross stitch when I'm done here.....Happy Quilting!

Life..Gets in the Way....

Today was the usual walk. A rush back to the house to get going for my dental appointment. About a half mile down the road my phone informed me I walked 3 miles in 24 minutes...blah, blah. So, pulled over and shut the program off.

Arrived at the dental office and played a few games. One of the gals there asked me where my project bag was. Told her I didn't bring it today. The look on the gals face that was doing my teeth was priceless! She didn't know what I was asked and I had to tell her. I always bring something I'm working on, like applique, embroidery or whatever I could take along.

After the dentist, I headed over to Rite Aid to see if I could get my toothbrush heads. They had them for $10....nope, didn't like that price, so headed to Kmart.....again $10....nope didn't like that even more....went to Walmart (and trust me, that was HARD for me to do!), sure enough they were there for $7.88. Since I was there, I decided to TRY to look around, nope!, couldn't find anything else other than the powder. Okay, time to go home.

Got home at 11:30 am and did laundry. Played Hay Day for a while. Then I went to the computer to get some information.....BIG MISTAKE! The computer is not starting like it's supposed to, so it was time to back up all my stuff from the computer in the computer room......UGH. I worked on balancing both checkbooks, backed up the two accounts. Then I went into the photos and went through them, grouping them and deleting what I didn't want. Once that was done, I put them all on the thumb drive that I bought for the photos. May fill that up yet!! Then I went into my genealogy program and backed that up....actually the first family took me 2 1/2 hours, now I'm backing up the other family files. (Still backing up). Next I have to get my secretary stuff of the computer onto a thumb drive, so I won't have to worry about it if the computer quiets. My nightmare is that I won't be able to get into the computer for my stuff.

Fixed supper and now I'm feeling like I didn't do a thing! I wanted to quilt and cross stitch today, but it didn't happen. No photos today....sorry. I did get my floss in today and that made my day!!

Tomorrow is casino and I'm looking forward to it. Hope to be back to Happy Quilting!

Time Flies, Still Quilting.......

This morning I was able to sleep in, felt good.

I was able to quilt on the quilt downstairs for a couple hours. It was nice to see the process. It's coming along great. I'm having to figure out the trails from the bottom of the quilt. No photo today.

Came up and enjoyed a good day with Patrick. We watched a couple disney movies.

I got a lot of time in working on my cross stitch today. It's getting to the skirt and background.

Tomorrow's my dental appointment, ugh! Will try and get more quilting in when I get back.

Went to the fair and got Donna's quilts, and Pat and mine embroidery. The mumms one got a red. They docked me for the pencil marks on the project. (My mistake, used the wrong pencil). My flowers (first one) got a blue ribbon. The quilts of valor quilt got a blue ribbon. Was docked for a few things. I need to take aphoto of it before I give it to Donna.

Life is good, may we all be Happy Quilting!

Rolled the Quilt Again Today.........

Well, I didn't walk.....I did get woke up about 4 times last night! Three of those were from Patrick's work. No clue why, but used to it. Wish his employees knew a little more about how to do things. Oh, well....Patrick knows his plant from the back of his hand, so it's better if they call anyway.

So, we both were up at 7:30 am this morning. I know Patrick wanted to sleep as much as I did. So, I played for a little while and then did some cross stitch before we went to the movies. It was another cartoon. I love cartoons!

Came home and went downstairs and quilted.

This side of the quilt was done. I started what I could.....

working my way down the quilt. I was able to get a butterfly done. That leaves me three pieced butterflies.

Then I rolled the quilt. I'm getting closer to having this done and ready to come off the frame. I'm actually looking forward to it. I need to roll it one more time, and then it will be ready to come off the frame. I need to decide what I'm going to put on the frame next.

After 2 hours of quilting, I came back upstairs to watch TV with Patrick. The heat was bad up here, but I did okay. I was able to get this much done. I'm getting ready to add some green for the flower background area.

I've been able to get a lot done today and am thrilled. I couldn't ask for more! Tomorrow we have a meeting for bowling. After the meeting, we will stop and pick up the stuff I took to the fair. Don't know how we did with the embroidery, but looking forward to getting it back.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy being Happy Quilting!

Another HOT Day Here in Chehalis!

I started out as usual, another 2.7 mile walk. We had a good visit and enjoyed the weather this morning - a LOT cooler then it is now!

Came back home and worked on getting my stuff ready for the quilt meeting at moms. I took my "box" of "Plant Your Own Garden" by Rebecca Campbell. That is the blocks that everyone is making for me. Hieldi finished her block - which means all of the blocks I gave out are done. I didn't get a photo of it, because I left the blocks at moms. She's going to help me by doing another block. I have 7 blocks done now. Which means I have more blocks to applique yet to go.

So, while I was at mom's I worked on starting the next block.

I cut out all the freezer paper and ironed them on the fabrics. I will work on this one later. I need to cut the pieces and set them up to work on. I will do the same method that I used on the other block I did. I think it will work great, and the more I do the more comfortable I get.

Patrick took the day off and got all the apples ready. I took a box of apples to moms and my brother was there. He and his wife took them all. They were on their way back to Las Vegas. So, I need to get some more apples for mom since he took the box. It helps, because we had plenty of apples.

I haven't done much on my cross stitch over the past two days. I seem to be doing other stuff lately. I didn't get to quilt today - again, Patrick took the day off....! We went down to Kelso for supper. w got back about an hour ago.

So, I'm now in my shorts and a tank top (I'm home and not in public!) to cool down. It's too dang HOT here! We reached 95 degrees if not more. I'm melting....melting....melting. I can't seem to take the heat like this any more. When we lived in Turkey and came back to the states, I haven't been able to take any heat over 80 degrees. I've been taking a quick COLD shower at night before getting in bed. It helps with the fan on and it cools me down. Love it that way! Otherwise, I'd be downstairs in Katt's bed!

Enjoying working on what I can. Heildi gave me her patterns of cats. I'll try and remember to take a photo of it. It's really cute! I love it, and can't wait to get that one started! I KNOW, I have to WAIT! I need to finish a couple more things before I start another project....and I'm hoping.....I really am hoping....to get a couple more done!! At this rate, I may be lucky enough to start another one in about 3 months! UGH UGH UGH....wish it was sooner! Control, Control, Control.

Best wishes and Happy Quilting!

Not What Was Planned....Oh, Well.

Today I started out with our usual walk - tired of hearing that lately? - well Ruth will be leaving next week, so I'll back my record when she leaves for a couple weeks. In the meantime, I got 2.8 miles in today. I know - how do I know? - I have it going on my phone while I walk. It's neat! I see the trail I walk and it tells me how long it takes to get around. It varies because we walk funny!

Came back home and went downstairs a lot earlier than I did yesterday. I worked on the left side of the frame. I was able to get about a 3rd of it quilted.

Working it so it will end at the bottom. I'm liking the way it's coming out. I was down there for about 2 - 3 hours. Dad called and said he was going to be away from the house and asked if I would go visit mom. I told him I'd ask Patrick since he has my car. Decided I would take the truck (not my favorite to drive!) and go see mom about 2:30 pm.

I headed back upstairs and from lunch till I went to moms, I worked on my genealogy. I found some newspaper clippings on my gr grandfather, James M. Hodge. It was weird because there was a death notice of a James M. Hodge as well. Anyway, there was an awesome clipping of him being promoted to Lieutenant in the Civil War. I also found that he was a Republican and voted for Blaine! lol

Headed over to moms. She was looking awesome and doing a great job getting around. We visited for about an hour. I then headed over to Michael's to get some magnetic snaps, of course they didn't have them. So, I asked Patrick for a magnet. Didn't do what I wanted. But I've got something that will work.

The bolts (or screws) I'm using to hold the extra floss that is "parked." I order the magnets today, so when they come in I can get them to be on their own. Patrick was asking me how many needleminder's I needed....well....I have 4 needles going at once, so at least 2....he just shuck his head. I laughed...I tend to be different. I like to have things easier to work with.

I got a photo of my new great niece! Dalia Taylor was born last night! She's a cutie! She won't be shown on Facebook, and I told them, I'm okay with that! I don't do fb that much anymore either.

Okay, now I'm checking to see who actually reads this. lol - If anyone is interested in this pattern, I will send it to them. I will pick from all the names that are interested between here and Instagram. Send me an email saying your interested, and on Sept 1st I will pick the person who gets the pattern. It's not the kit, just the pattern.

Tomorrow is quilting with the group at moms. It will be fun and we'll all be Happy Quilting!