Pictures...finally!

I have finally got the computer to release my pictures. For the longest time, we couldn't get blogger and the new operating system to talk to each other. This table topper was made for Fall or Halloween to be exact, I started it before then, but as sometimes happens, I set it aside and just finished it. At least when Fall rolls around this time, it will be ready. The pattern was very hard to follow and was about like picking fly poop out of a bowl of pepper. Very tedious, for sure. I do like the end product, but I won't make another one.

Among the living

Boy, have I been a bad blogger. We got a new operating system on our Mac and it wouldn't allow me to update my blog. I'm still not sure if I can post pics, but so far, my ipad is working.

To update, well not anything too exiting. I had foot surgery in the f all and let me tell you,crutches are just plain hard work. Nuff said. All is well now.

I had one or two quilt finishes, no pics yet. I am cutting another one as we speak, called Long Road Home. It has a bizillion pieces, but I am on the downhill stretch, then I get to start piecing.

The other day we bought a case of Meyer lemons from Churchill Orchards in Ojai,CA and had them shipped. I absolutely love Meter lemons and eat them like candy, skin and all. I thought I should bake a pie though and it was so yummy. The recipe came from Clabber Girl cornstarch, recipe site. Years ago I asked my husband's great aunt for her. Recipe and she said it was on the cornstarch box. Thanks to the interner, i now have it and it is a good one. As to a picture, no dice, the computer or my ipad won't let me add one. Anyone ouy there have hints?

I will keep at it and hope to get back onboard soon. Till then, good evening

What a beauty!

We met this lovely lady and her family when we were at Muckross House, interpretive farm in Ireland. She had just fed her babies and had a quick snack. Doesn't she look pleased with herself?

We had a nice 4th of July holiday weekend at home. I was able to take a private class with a friend who teaches a fractured flowers class. She hadn't taught this one for a while and needed a dry run before she had a big class of ladies. I got my top finished and when I get it bordered, quilted and bound, I will show it to you. The rest of the weekend was just relaxing (well, not the yard work part).

Our Maggie (standard poodle child) was terrified of the fireworks and our neighbors were going non-stop for 6 days before and on the 4th. I had to go to the vet and get her a tranquilizer to get her through. She would tremble and her heart just pounded and eyes were so frightened. I felt so bad for her. We live in a state where all fireworks are legal and people go all out. One neighbor was bragging that they spent $10,000.00 this year. I can't believe the waste when so many are having such a hard time. Well, I had better climb off my soapbox now.

Yesterday was a work around the house day and I had a lot of paint touch up to do after having new baseboards installed. Finding the paint we used was the big problem. I used the wrong paint on one wall and couldn't get it wiped off. I never did find the right paint so will have to repaint the entire wall. AAARRRGGG! For now, it is hidden behind a piece of furniture, but I have to remember if I decide to move things around.

Maggie and I are off to run errands and get back home so we can perhaps go for a walk before the heat sets in. It is supposed to be cooler today, so I didn't have to get going too early, however.

Make it a good day! Carline

Patriotic weekend

Can hear the music I'm sure if you try real hard you can.

Saturday night we went to a concert by the Mormon Ensign symphony/choir. It was a satellite choir like the tabernacle choir, but not so famous and was held at the high school near us. There were 120 voices and a 60 piece orchestra. Anyway, the theme was patriotism and they sang songs that just made one weep, especially when the military posted the colors. Then about half way through the concert, they had each branch of the military march down two isles carrying the American flag and the flag representing their branch while the choir sang their anthem. Their was one female and one male of each branch and a big screen showed the emblem.

Some of the songs were old folk songs like, Cindy Cindy and Shenandoah and really brought back memories of learning those songs in primary school. Then they sang you're a Grand Old Flag and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. This song was sung at Robert Kennedy's memorial service. Not that I am showing my age or anything like that. It was one of the nicest concerts we've been to in a long time.

It got us pumped for the 4th of July and renewed our sense of patriotism and made us appreciate all the more what a great country we live in, despite all the woes we are going through now.

blocks for GD quilt

I made a pact with myself that I would give up pleasure reading and quilting for the summer and concentrate on the yard work (which I do not enjoy at all). Well, I have been doing pretty well. I haven't had my nose in a novel since the last Jennifer Chiaverini book, The Union Quilter. It was not her best book by a long shot and I had to plow though to get finished, unlike others where I couldn't put it down. Anyway, long story made short, I started a new quilt last week.(so much for deals made with myself). My 13 year old granddaughter still sleeps with her quilt I made when she was born and it is pretty raggedy.

I am making her a lap quilt in a size more appropriate to her age. She wanted blue and I had purchased a kit from Connecting Threads, so I think this will be the one. I've made 10 blocks so far and I am not pleased with the amount of brown in it, so I'm not too sure what I will do. I'll go ahead and finish it and see how I feel at that point. It may grow on me, I don't know. The directions have you make those large corner triangles out of 1/2 sq triangles and squares. Why on earth didn't they just make a large triangle. I have it already cut out so can't change, but what a waste of time.

I also ordered some red fat quarters for another quilt I am planning and was not pleased with the quality of the fabric and decided since they were red, I would prewash them. Some came out so bleached out that they look peach colored. I don't think I will be able to use any of the collection. I should have sent them back, but had put them aside for too long before I discovered the problem. I used to get things all the time from them and was pleased, I hope this is an isolated problem, not a trend. How about you, have you ordered from them and what was the outcome?

Till later, Carline

Quilt patterns everywhere

When we visited St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin, I was pleased to see these tiles on the floor. At this point, we had discovered that my camera wasn't working, so all pictures were taken with the I-Pad. It takes great pictures outside, but not so good indoors.

I love the colors and variety here.

Another thing I was so mistaken about was that Ireland was mostly Catholic and that St. Patrick's is a Catholic cathedral. NOT! It is Angelical and that is also the main religion in the country. I guess an old dog can learn!

Yesterday, I went to the chiropractor and got my "sitting in a plane" body adjusted. I have been so miserable and today it seems much better, Yey.

I cut out a quilt for my granddaughter and got some of the 1/2 square triangles sewn last night. There are 240 of them to do, so it will take a while.

Take care and make it a good day.

Carline

Land of Castles and rock walls

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Ireland. I have wanted to go there for so many years, I can't count them. My great grandmother was born there and for years I have had this trip in my bucket list. I discovered what county, Tipperary, she was from and convinced my husband that he could drive a right side drive car on the left side of the road, and off we went.

I will have to admit that the driving thing was pretty nerve wracking to say the least. I have never seen such narrow roads and they expect more than one car at a time on them! We survived, but barely.

We flew to Dublin and drove clockwise from there around as far as we could, then dipped inward to the counties that are inland. We had planned on going up to Donegal to visit Micki, but time got away from us and we weren't able to make it. Maybe next time. I live on the Northwest part of the US and I have to say that the weather and terrain was pretty much like home, rain and all (without the gale force winds). We didn't get very good weather but didn't let that spoil our visit. We just hunkered down, bought hats and forged ahead.

I think there is a castle about every mile or so and we just loved exploring them. I will post more pictures later as I sort things out. Right now, I'm trying to get the house in order from all the unpacking and having my son and grandson housesit, but that's another story.

I have a baby quilt that I had tried to finish before I left and the baby is due in 20 days so I'm going to spend some time doing that today. It is another I spy quilt and I have to say, after this, I never want to do another one. It turned out ok and is easy, but I'm tired of it after making two in 6 months. They are pretty busy.

I hope to be better about my blog going forward, I have been awful about keeping up.

Carline

A couple of friends and I went to the farm store and got baby chicks. They are so cute and one day will supply us with lovely eggs. Now they are under a heat lamp in the garage. I got a variety of 6 and the Rhode Island red on will be called Luci, after Lucille Ball, the yellow one, I think will be Greta Garbo, the black ones, well, I'm stumped. They are (1)Barred Rock, (2)Silver laced Wyandott, both are black and white speckled. The other one is just plain black. Anyone out there care to help me name them?

We had chickens that came with the house when we bought it 6 years ago and I just loved collecting the eggs every morning. It was like Easter as a kid, all over again! When we got Maggie, we had three left and thought the dog would probably eat them, so gave them to a neighbor. Well, Maggie is a gentle soul and minds so well that all we have to say is NO to her and she will leave them alone, so we are in the egg business again so to speak. I bake a lot and the eggs are so much nicer than store bought ones.

New Chicks in the neighborhood

Easing into the 21st century

Our son visited and ushered me into the 21st century with my phone and computers. He hooked up my wireless network that I didn't realize I had. I knew we got the router, but thought it wasn't hooked up right because of course, it wasn't working for me. He also got my phone and car talking to each other and the blue tooth working, as well as getting my phone camera and my Mac on speaking terms. I wish he lived closer as I need him around about one day a week at least. . So even though things are working, I didn't get them posted correctly. I finally got the beach pictures uploaded in the last post, even though I had intended them to be in this one. Is there any hope for me? Don't answer that! I will whow the lovely sea food dinner we had though.

This son is in the Air Force and is stationed in Florida, soon to be going to So. Korea for a year. His family will have to stay in FL. He has been in for 22 years so far? He had to be at the airport this morning at 5:00 A.M. for his trip home. We will sure miss him.

We ate meals out a lot this week as we wanted to show Jeff a few of our favorite restaurants. Rib City was the favorite! I have never liked ribs because of eating with my fingers, but I make an exception for this one! YUM!

Beautiful day at the coast.

Imagine the lovely pictures of our trip to the coast last weekend. The computer keeps saying that I don't have enough power and to plug it into the usb port. DUH! That is where it is plugged into.We went with our friends and stayed at a great place. We were just a short walk to the beach and could see and hear the surf from our rooms. The four of us had two meals in our rooms, I cooked breakfast one day, Peggy cooked the dinner the following day and the rest of the time we ate out. We went to the Maritime museum and visited an old lighthouse ship and the guys visited a coastguard ship. I wasn't too interested in that. Later in the evening we played a card game called Malice and Spite. It was fun and I think I need to pick up one for us. We topped in off with visits to two quilt shops. I picked up a few 1/3 yard pieces for projects I am collecting fabric for. All in all, a great weekend for everyone. My son watched Maggie and Heidi and they were glad to see us home and were no worse for the wear.

This was my Saturday to work so not much fun going on. Yesterday I cut out 4 pillowcases I am going to make for nieces and nephews. I like to send them things for no reason or season. I think they like getting little treats "out of the blue". I'm also cutting 1.5" squares from scraps that will get used in little 9 patches for my leader/ender project. I have the entire kitchen island covered with fabric, what a mess! I had to leave it there and go to work too, and I'm too beat tonight to do anything about it. Maybe tomorrow after church. Funny thing, messes don't go away, they always wait patiently for you, don't they?

HRH "cooked" dinner tonight, we had pizza. That's the only way he "cooks". Papa Murphy pizza to bake at home. I wasn't complaining I was too tired to fix anything at all, and I love the chicken and artichoke on thin crust, Yummy. In fact, I sat down in the recliner to read the mail and fell asleep while waiting for him to go get the pizza. For some reason, unknown to me, I haven't been sleeping very well at night so I'm tired earlier than usual.

I found this little joke and thought it was cute. Enjoy and have a great weekend.

A Montana senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership. Taking off down the road, he pushed it to 80 mph, enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left. "Amazing," he thought as he flew down I-90, pushing the pedal even more.

Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a Montana State Trooper, blue lights flashing and siren blaring.
He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for this!" and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival.

Pulling in behind him, the trooper got out of his vehicle and walked up to the Corvette. He looked at his watch, then said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a new reason for speeding--a reason I've never before heard -- I'll let you go."

The old gentleman then said: "Three years ago, my wife ran off with a Montana State Trooper. I thought you were bringing her back.

"Have a good day, Sir," replied the trooper.

Lost in nothingness

I have been such a bad blogger lately, I don't know why, but I have had a bit of the blahs. I'm not sick, just no motivation at all. Yesterday before going to work, I cut out a bunch of hexagons to make another I Spy baby quilt. I had just barely enough 6" children's conversation prints to make the 63 hexies I needed. I'm sure if I looked in the closet I would find plenty of yardage that would work, but I wanted to have each one different, so this works. I figure if I just make myself do something in the quilty department, my mojo will return.

Yesterday I got in the car to go to work and everything that was in the glove box and console was scattered all over the car. I had been robbed! Someone broke into my car and went through everything. I don't keep much of value in my car, but I did have a coin purse with about $15.00-$20.00 of quarters in there. Of course, they aren't there anymore. What a mess! I was pleased to see that the registration and insurance papers were not touched. I have keyless entry and sometimes when you walk past the car with keys on you, it beeps and the door unlocks. I think that is what happened when HRH came home from work the night before, because I am always careful about locking my car! So... I have the police coming this morning to make the report. Doesn't it just fry you that there is always someone out there who would take rather than work for what they want! Aarrgg!

What I have been doing

I haven't felt too creative lately so I have been making cushions to take to the animal shelter. I was given some used drapes by someone who thought I could use the fabric for quilts, but I wasn't too sure of the content and frankly, didn't really like it much. The dark fabric was the lining and was pretty faded, but when I used the back, it was fine. HRH had found a few, well, many, bags of fiber fill in the garage that someone also gave me to use in quilts thinking it was batting. I had plenty of that and fabric bits that I trim and put in an old crock until I get enough I use them for dog beds too. So I accomplished a few things, cleaned up things I don't need. made HRH happy to get the stuff out of the garage and I'm sure the pets at the shelter will be happy and at 18 degrees F today perhaps a little warmer.

We are about as boring as a cabbage most of the time and New Year's Eve is one where we really shine in the boring department. We will probably watch movies and maybe see the new year in, probably not. I figure it won't look much different the next day. I hope it has been a good year for you and that 2011 will be even better.

Happy New Year

Carline

One more in the can..so to speak

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. Ours...well, it was just the two of us and we only heard from one of our three sons which was rather disappointing but I have to suck it up and go on. We had a nice ham dinner and watched Marley and Me and both HRH and I cried like babies at the ending. I read the book, but forgot how sad it was and Maggie laying with her head on my lap, didn't help. It was nice to have a quiet day actually. No mad dash to clean and get ready for a big dinner or get the packages wrapped. We just rested, read and watched Christmas movies after Marley.

Speaking of HRH, he got me a new Droid phone for Christmas and I am having quite a time even making a phone call. Steep learning curve. I have always said "I don't want to do anything with my phone but make or take calls" Someone wasn't listening! I haven't had my number switched yet so until tomorrow, I can still use my old one. I will make a trip in to the Verizon store then and hopefully have the nice young man teach me how to use this and perhaps I can even talk them into showing me how to hook up my built in blue tooth in my car. To be helpful, hubby had the store load all of his 233 phone numbers into my phone. I don't want his choice of numbers and will have the nice man at the store remove them too. I'm not quite sure why he thought that would be helpful to me. Oh Well. I did find out how to text so my grandson and I can communicate!

Truth be known, I'd much rather use my time learning a new quilting technique.

I'm not setting resolutions this year but will have a few goals to shoot for. How about you?

Baby gift finished

I finally finished an afghan I have been working on for a long while. I like to have something to do with my hands when I'm sitting watching TV. This is a checkerboard pattern and made with the softest of yarns. A young mom at church had a new baby and had also lost her mom this past year so I wanted to do something special for her and didn't have the time to make a quilt. I hope she likes it. I took it to her and she wanted to wait until Christmas to open it. A lady at the Assisted Living Facility where I used to work showed me this pattern, just alternate 5 stitches of knit, and 5 purls by 5 rows, then purl on the knit and knit on the purl for 5 more rows. Really fast and you can make any number of rows if you want the checkerboards a little bigger. I don't knit very often so like something simple. I have a book of knit stitches that shows squares of each pattern, I think they are 18" finished. Then you sew or knit them together to make a sampler quilt of sorts. I may tackle this in the new year, but I'm not sure yet.

I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy your families if they are close. Ours are not so we are by ourselves on Christmas. We are having a couple of orphans (neighbors) over for Christmas Eve for dinner and that is about it for the celebrating.