I'm not dead, just buried!

I know I've been missing and don't worry, I'm not dead, just buried under "STUFF". Now some of the stuff is nice stuff, like this stack of quilts where you'll most likely find me, but the rest of the stuff is because, a) Christmas is over, b) New Years bring new fresh beginnings, c) we shampooed the carpet and moved everything off of it. d) I decided I wanted the furniture changed.
Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' too it. Moving the entertainment center (large) will give me a lot more room in the family room so that's why the move, but it also had a LOT of STUFF in it. Some things I haven't seen for years and probably don't need or want anymore. SO... I'm sorting out and cleaning out and in the middle of it all, I get a stomach bug and have to work as well, so there it sits until. HRH can get the cable lines moved (ripping up carpet and putting wires underneath), and help me sort HIS part of the stuff for the bone yard (what I call the trash). Well, you know HIS stuff is treasure and my stuff is junk. That's the way men think, right. So this is how the new year is going begin in our house. I hope to de-clutter this year. I'm tired of it and want to simplify a bit, no, a lot! NOT my stuff, you know, but his stuff and stuff not quilt related. SO I have a guard posted near this stack of antique and family quilts so they won't "go issapear" as my kids used to say. (that's disappear to you kidless ones)
Have a great New Year.
Carline

Merry Christmas

Well, we are still snowbound, I did work yesterday because my boss came to pick me up. I am scheduled to work the day after Christmas and the weekend, but boss man already told me that if the weather is still bad not to worry about it. He isn't working, so can't give me a ride.

I am battling depression and now I find out that my son and family (the only family close) won't be able to make it for our celebration tonight. So it's just HRH and me! The kids are completely snowed in and haven't had electricity for 5 days now, they also had two trees fall on their house. Luckily the trees hit the eaves and the deck and not the actual house so not as much damage. My son is busy cutting the mess up and getting it out of the way. Yes, OUR WHITE CHRISTMAS, is causing it's share of problems. So, long story short, I have to suck it up and realize that most people have more problems than I do.

We have to realize that the ultimate gift was the Gift of the Savior. I think of how much I love my children and grandchildren and then think that God loves us all more, much more than that and it rather puts things in perspective. The season is about Christ and not the trappings the world. I am thankful this season for all of my friends, the ones I see regularly and my cyber friends. I wish you all the best. Like I've said, we have already been given the best gift we could ever want or need. Jesus Christ.
Love to you all,
Carline

SNOWED IN!

Well, This is how my car looks so you can see, I have pretty much been snowbound the past 5 days, HRH put chains on his car and was able to get around some and he went to work today, but I've stayed home. I finished my Christmas gifts, made Pour and bake Ginger cake for the neighbors, homemade sweet/hot mustard and decorated it for other people I wanted a small gift for. I've found that so many people give cookies, cakes and candy so.. I make mustard. It's a recipe I've had for years and everyone loves it. It's different and now people expect it. One year at work I didn't make it and everyone said "Hey, we want our Christmas Mustard" so a tradition was born.
I thought I would cut our a flannel quilt today, but the counter where I cut my fabric was messed up with wrapping and baking stuff so I took a nap instead. FELT MIGHTY GOOD TOO!

My Son called from South of us in Oregon to say he had no power and hasn't had for a while. He has a wood stove in the basement and his teenage daughter was making fudge. He had to go outside with a chainsaw and cut down a tree that was getting heavy with ice and in danger of falling on the house. So, the weather is causing all sorts of problems around here and chances are the kids will not be able to make it here for Christmas dinner and the opening of gifts. We may have to postpone that till the first weekend in January. I am supposed to work the day after Christmas and the weekend. We shall see how the roads are. You people in the Mid-West and East can have this stuff or send us your road crews. We don't have the knowhow or resources to deal with this. The news said that the last time we had this much snow was 1968 40 years ago.
Merry Christmas to you all!

Holiday Traditions

I am speaking in church on Sunday and started thinking of the true meaning of Christmas and how far we have gotten away from it over the years (society, not just me). Our past few Christmases we have spent by ourselves since our kids don't live close. The years before we indulged overly spoiled grandchildren who could care less about who gave the gift or even the thought that went into it. One year I spent about 6 months making a porcelain doll for our granddaughter, I made all the clothes as well and had a lovely quilt to go with her. Our GD pulled her out of the package by the arm (she was 7 years old, not 3 or 4) and tossed it aside and ripped into the next package. My heart sank and DH was so mad he wanted to take the doll back home with us, having watched me make it and the excitement I expressed as each step was finished. Then and there, I decided to make less of gifts and more of the meaning of Christmas. Christ is the meaning and he was our Gift from our Father in Heaven, our gift to him is our love to fellow man and obedience to the principals he taught.
A tradition I had as a child was Christmas Eve Candle light service at church, where there was no sermon, just singing carols and then during the last song which was always Silent Night, we lighted individual candles and the overhead lights were turned out. It was magical. I still miss that tradition as the church I belong to now doesn't do that.
What are your traditions?
I am still interested in traditions and how they came about in your families and what they mean to you. I am also asking co-workers for theirs and will post them later. The whole subject of traditions is interesting...more later, after I get feedback.
Carline

Maggie's first day alone

Well, today was the first day I had to work and HRH did too, so Maggie was in charge at home. We didn't even have time to take her for a walk so both of us were worried about her all day. I was afraid of coming home to a mess although she is so good and hasn't had an accident except when she was a wee pup and they were very few. Then I thought about doddling a bit and letting HRH get home first so he could clean it up...but I didn't and then envisioned how a dog would look trying to stand with her legs crossed. Anyway, we were pleasantly surprised. She ran straight for the door after greeting us with a "baby" (her stuffed toys). What a trooper, 9 hours alone and no accidents. She got an extra cookie for that one. I swear, I should have had dogs all along and not kids, No, just kidding. Maggie is such a love though. My Puppy Love. I tell her that all the time, ya think she understands. The other dog owners at the park always marvel at how well she minds and one lady said "It's because you two love her so much and show her", "you never use one of those shock collars on her or yell at her". So nice to have our parenting skills admired. Never happened with the 2 legged ones.
We are putting in a dog door for her as soon as the weather gets warm enough to have a big hole in the wall for an extended period of time.
After re-reading this, I thought...maybe we should have gotten those shock dog collars for the kids! The sweetness didn't work with them at least when they turned 14 or so. They were always sweet when they were little, and usually well behaved too.

and this shredder doesn't have to be turned off to keep the dogs ears safe, well maybe not!

Goin' Green

Now some of you may remember in the dark ages when we all decided to GO GREEN, I can't remember what we called it then. Remember when we were advised to only flush, well, you know, when there was something to really flush. The new ALMOST FLUSH toilets came out about then too, 1.6 gallons of water (the first time, you always have to flush twice now). I did my part and sorted glass by color, recycled paper at work, you know the drill. Well then all of our appliances started being what we may as well call disposable. They didn't last till you got the warrantee registration card sent in, Really! Which leads to this. I bought a paper shredder when we moved into town and couldn't burn out papers outdoors in a "burn barrel" any longer, so in order to avoid identity theft (who would want my identity anyway?) I would shred all of my papers, this lasted 1 month until the shredder died. We then put a paper sack beside the desk, when it is full of "papers" HRH takes it to his shop and builds a fire in the little pot bellied stove. But wait, we have the newest shredder now... Called Heidi, shreds a lot. This cat wont leave the papers alone, she chews them, bites them, fights with them, We have our own GREEN SHREDDER and it only costs pennies a day for cat treats and she even hunts mice (fast food) so we have an environmentally sound shredder/critter eliminator. Who knew we were so out to save the earth, one cat at a time. Bless her heart, maybe tomorrow she will get two treats and a bowl of milk too.

Are you ready for Christmas?

It seems that every year, I say that I will get organized for the next year and then I do it all over again... being behind that is. Well a few weeks ago I asked the king of the house HRH to make a list of people he would like to give a small baked or handmade gift to because he usually waits until the last minute and asks " did WE fix anything for " the Smith'"? I know when he says WE that he means me, I say, Well, this part of WE didn't how about your part. BLANK STARE. So I thought I would get a head start on it by asking for the list. Guess what, it is 10 days till Christmas and no list yet. AAARRRGG! He is being silent on the decorating front too as everything is in the attic and I can't get it down. We don't have any decorations except the silver vase of Holly. You can't kill them so now what. I'm sure if I buried him in the yard somewhere that someone would notice, although with the mole hills taking over our new lawn, hummm, I'll have to rethink that one.

I hope to get gifts wrapped tomorrow so I can send the out of town things on Monday and Cards, I have signed and addressed 350 cards at work and haven't even thought about ours. Maybe I can just start on next years projects and call it good.

I hope you all are doing better than I am!!!
Carline

Virginia Reel

This is one of my favorite scrap quilts made just for cuddling on the couch. It doesn't match a single thing in our house so I don't know why it even happened. I think I started with one block my secret pal gave me at quilt guild and went from there. This pattern is fun, but very easy to get mixed up or backward if you're not careful. There's one little scrap with a tiny peacock on it that I am forever looking at and thinking something got spilled on the quilt. I have tried to pick that off a hundred times. I guess when I get old and feeble I will have something to fiddle with. Who am I kidding, I'm already kind of old and I've been half crazy all my life. I'm In trouble.

This and that

Well, the next 4 days are work days so not much sewing will be going on around here. I am finishing off some Christmas gifts but can't show them yet as the recipients may be reading this blog.

Work at this new job is harder than I thought in that my energy level isn't used to it yet. I need to toughen up and get used to doing something 8 hours at a time with no breaks to bake, sew, go for walks with Maggie, read or take a little nap. I have been off work too long, I guess I am spoiled. I didn't plan on "coming out of retirement."

We are facing a real cold snap this coming weekend with projected snow a couple of days (for this part of the country, this is a big deal) Our homes aren't ready for cold weather so I called my single female friends and reminded them about things like winterizing the sprinkler systems and covering faucets, etc. I know this from years of living on my own. Now, I just have to remind HRH and he is so good about it. In the Portland/Vancouver area where I live, the world shuts down when we get a couple inches of snow or worse yet, ice. My brother-in-law who lives in Northern Canada just laughs at us here. Schools close down for "snow days, people stay home from work, the streets are empty of cars. Maybe I won't have to work Saturday after all.

Have a great day and I hope you get time to do what pleases you. What the heck, do it twice.
Carline

Give away at the Stitching cow

Ok everyone here's a great giveaway at the Stitching cow. Please go over and check it out.

Flannel Log Cabin

I made this quilt bed sized, but we usually use it on the couch on cold winter evenings or when the King of the House (HRH) snores so loud, I can't sleep and I have to resort to the living room to get a few winks. I wanted to make the back one big block and couldn't really figure out the dimensions so HRH did it for me. Do any of you have your hubbys do the geometry part of quilt making? (I had my boyfriend in HS do all my homework in that subject so I really didn't learn much in that subject). Mine also finds errors when I am laying my quilts out. Rather, I should say, he finds them most often after they are quilted and bound. There are always errors, it seems, and no, they weren't meant as "Humility Blocks" I have enough mistakes without planning any.
I need to start another flannel quilt soon for my grandson's graduation. He lives in Montana and plans on going to college there so he will need a warm quilt. I can't seem to settle on a pattern though. He loves to hunt so I have purchased all hunting /outdoor flannels for it. I usually let fabric marinade in the closet for a while, until it tells me what to do with it.

Cinnamon roll Recipe, Picture below

Ok, here's the cinnamon roll recipe, I couldn't remember how I take the calories out, you'll have to figure that one out yourself.
Enjoy! Any questions, just e-mail me. I use this same recipe with only 2 Tablespoons sugar for my bread. I sometimes use 5 cups white bread flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour or 4 and 3, whatever strikes your fancy.

Use bread flour only (hard wheat) and real butter makes the best tasting rolls. Really more taste and not many more calories.
7 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
good 1/2 cup dry milk
2 1/2 tablespoons yeast (I use SAF instant) Keeps forever in the freezer

mix all of the above in mixer with dough hook or by hand until blended

then add:
1/2 cup soft butter
put 2 large eggs in quart measuring cup and add water (warm baby bath temp) to the eggs up to the 3 cup mark.

Mix the above in mixer with bread hook till ready
Knead 7 minutes till dough leaves side of bowl

I do all this in my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook. You can knead by hand as well.

Spray bowl with Pam and let rise till double (I fill sink with hot water, put an over rack over the sink and put bowl with dough covered with sprayed saran wrap and cover with a towel)
Punch down and let rise as above 2nd time.
Then cut dough in two, roll out in rectangles (2) one at a time. Spread with a cube of soft butter, lots of brown sugar and cinnamon. Slice in 2" slices and put in pan, let rise till double and bake at 350 degrees 25 minutes or so.

Frost with:
8 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup butter
vanilla
4 cups or so powdered sugar.

Tacky scenes/ You might be a Redneck if???

I get so tired of tacky people everywhere being so loud and obnoxious, don't you? I was at the store the other day and a lady was standing in the isle, on the phone, obviously talking to a bill collector. She was almost yelling! "I can't pay just a little bit, because my husband spent his whole check on his truck" She continued to argue with the person on the other end. "no< I can't put it on my credit card because I am at my limit." Yada, Yada, Yada. Boy, don't people value privacy anymore. I didn't need to hear all of that. Everyone in the store could hear her and was looking. The other thing I hate is people yelling at their kids in stores. It doesn't make the kids look bad, just the parents. Many of them use language I would expect on a marine training ground. Boy, class just goes out the window, doesn't it.
Just one more reason to stay home and quilt, I guess.

Featherweight for Sale

I have two Featherweight machines I would like to sell, (DH) has been out of work for a while now and I need to get rid of excess. I will e-mail pics and details if anyone is interested. The one pictured here is a 1948, runs well, although I haven't used it much. It has a beautiful scrolled faceplate and only one spot where a little wear is apparent. It would make a wonderful Christmas gift for some lucky quilter. That spot that looks like it is cracked (1st picture) is a thread. I should have moved it but just noticed it after several people asked about it.

I've been Tagged

I've-been-tagged.by Christina at: http://patchesquiltworks.blogspot.com/
I'm supposed to put up the fourth picture of my 4th folder on my computer so here goes. It's our middle son, Jeff (We actually have two son's named Jeff.(Remember the Bob Newhart show, "this is my brother Darrell and this is my other brother, Darrell) well, it's kind of like that. I didn't give birth to this one but I love him the same as if I had. He is in his 20 somthing th year in the Air Force, stationed at Patric AFB in Florida. We are very proud of him. Being the proud mom, I had to choose 2 pictures.
I tag Paula at the quilter.blogspot.com

Baking Day

I wanted to bake, LOVE TO BAKE, so I decided to make bread, rolls and cinnamon rolls. I will give most of it away as we two don't need the calories. I have began making my own bread some months ago and figured that it is between $.60 and $.75 per loaf. Now I don't like the fluffy bread in the stores. I like the hearty stuff and it's around 3.50 per loaf now. SO this is quite a savings and this recipe from start to finish only takes 2 hours. Most of that time is waiting time. I'm home that long most days so it is cost effective and Tastes darn good to boot. Come on over, we'll have a warm slice with fresh butter and homemade jam. I'll even take the calories out. How about that?
Carline