2012 - it's a wrap!

Bye Bye 2012!!  That year did go by at the speed of light.  But looking back, I did manage to get a lot done.

DH and I enjoyed a week in Palm Springs at the height of grey, rainy winter at the Oregon coast.  I hung out with friends and a quilting group Sweet Pea is in when in Palm Springs area.  Great fun - and something I hope to do again this winter.

I traveled to Nebraska twice this year.  Once for Mom's birthday in April and again in October to help get her ready for winter!  And of course, attend the Quilt retreat at the 4H camp!!

Believe it or not there are 26 FINISHED projects from 2012!!  Whoo-hoo!!

Starting with a composition bookcover for a swimming friend (no picture).  Then 4 baby quilts for the Brookings Community Baby Shower; 5 name banners; flannel receiving blankets; 3 twin tops for some of my sister's Grandkids; 6 Christmas stockings with 4 more to finish in 2013; a Green Bay Packers cloak for the neighbors' cast iron pig bank [I'm sorry to report it's the 'cloak of defeat' - unintentional, I assure you!!] a few challenges; and more!

The finishes that I truly loved this year are:
1. My UFO - Pies and Tarts - hand quilted by a group in Nebraska.  A challenging project for a 'non-applique' person.  But I love how it turned out.

2.  Community baby shower log cabin quilt - from blocks left over from my DS's wedding quilt the year before.

3. Best Buds - a 'out of my box' class I took.  Picking a photo; having it photo-shopped and then painting it, then FMQing it ... grow, grow, grow!!  I love it and may have to spirit it back my DD's and hang it here.
4.  Miss P's kindergarten quilt.  I adored reproducing one of her drawings of a unicorn.  I enjoyed working with the bright and WOW fabrics - still stretching that box!!
5.  Those sunflower table runners - what fun to have them out and not hidden away as the worse pillow shams ever!!
6. Reminiscing - I love this quilt and so glad I got it finished this year!!

7. Bento Box meets Broken Dishes - the UFO I finished for my DH for his Father's Day present - it even kind-of goes with our couch!!

I also read 62 books this year - almost all fiction, because it's me!!  Several historical fiction through our book club.  Recommendations??

Jack McDevitt - science fiction series that starts with "The Engines of the Gods".  I love his characters and the SF is more personalities; less technical stuff!!

Suzanne Collins' Hunger Game series - I'm not sure I put them down.  I know I was desperate for the 3rd one!!  Long lines at the library!

Buried Prey by John Sandford:  I love this series and this one was a 'cold case' that gave us more info about how it all came to be.

Redshirts by John Scalzi  Science Fiction - I like Scalzi's sense of humor.  His first book I read was "Old Man's War"

Dies the Fire by S M Stirling Science Fiction - End of Civilization story here in Oregon - I really enjoyed the characters in this series too.

Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon  Fun premise and a new twist on 'empty nest' syndrome!

And yes, I'll admit it .... 50 Shades of Grey series by E L James  What can I say - it was addicting!!  And we had so much fun giggling about the fact that we were reading it ... a true guilty pleasure!!

Oh, and one more great moment!!!  Finding a Japanese Ice Tea bottle washed up on our beach!! Probably from the Tsunami ... just think of it's journey!!

Happy New Year from the Oregon coast

It’s hard to believe that it could be 2013 already.  But I’m always surprised by how fast time is going. Is it a sign of age?? Could be - I’m there!

This picture is a pure Boyd production!!  It’s 2013 written on our own beach, the picture was taken by my DH up on our deck.  Coordinated by cell phones!!  Truly, a 2013 production!!  And a good thing too – because the tide opportunity was short – I could not have gotten down there, drawn out the numbers and made it back up to our deck to take the photo before the tide washed away the numbers.  That l-o-o-n-g log that has washed up on our beach this week is an amazing 72 ft long.  I walked it off in my new waterproof boots – the roots were in the tide!  It just makes you wonder how the heck that log got to the ocean?  The rivers aren’t that straight and wide along the coast.  AND then how did it get thru all the sea stacks to sit right there – so we could wonder about it!!??

In case, you couldn't see the actual year in the sand - it was a l-o-o-n-g shot from the deck!

Our holidays got a mixed review this year – we passed around a tummy flu and L’s family lost a beloved pet.  There were lots of fun moments and memories; but all in all, we’re glad to be past it!!

I think my Notebook computer is on it’s last legs.  It’s made blogging a PITA these last few months.  That’s my excuse for scarcity of blog entries and I’m sticking to it! No new computer in sight - but I will resort to the desktop if needed!!

We’re back at the coast and the weather has been pretty awesome.  Sunny days, walks in the forest and lunch out on the deck.  DH is actually golfing as I type!! 

It just makes me wonder what’s coming up to ‘average this out’!!  Must be all those years in Nebraska where the good weather was just setting us up for some really bad weather! And of course the memories of past March monsoons here at the coast.

DH and I celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary December 28^th.  And they said it wouldn’t last!!  Someone asked what we attributed to our longevity – my DH said, “Don’t pay close attention!!”  Hmmm, I wonder what happened to “find the right mate???”  But it’s definitely a cross between luck and working hard to keep close.

When we got married, an old woman at our church wrote on our card: “Marriage seems like it should be 50-50 but sometimes it seems like 80-20 from both sides.” It was confusing as a young bride … but it sure stuck with me – obviously, I still remember it 40 years later.  And it helps to remember the percentages are not always on your side.  I’m the first to admit, my DH spoils me rotten!  I’m lucky to have found him and luckier to get to keep him!!  Here’s to many more years together!

December went fast but there were a lot of projects worked on.  I finished the Beach Nana and Beach Papa Christmas stockings and I’m happy to report – they even had presents in them at the family celebrations!  An auspicious beginning to be sure!  First up on the 2013 list is to finish the Grandkiddo’s stockings to hang with them here.  I even have the stocking body made for the new little one to join us in April – name to be added later!

I machine quilted “Reminiscing” on my DSM and am pleased with the results.  I love the quilt and it looks awesome in our condo.  The pattern was Reminisce by Lori Smith [From my heart to your hands].  Scrap Happens, my small group in Lincoln, decided to divide the outer border blocks up and exchange them with each other.  That was 6-7 years ago.  There were 3-4 Reminisces hanging at the Lincoln Quilt Guild show [over-achievers all] and they were in a row; different over-all colors; and different ‘sides’ on top.  Well, we had to argue with many fans that they were all the same pattern!! Even with identical blocks in each quilt. Color and value makes quite the difference. 

And although mine wasn’t finished until December –oh-so-many-years-later; mine is not the last of the 9!!  One gal made a very cute quilt with the exchange blocks – didn’t attempt the pattern at all. One is still being quilted [for years] and 2 are still in pieces – and there are A LOT of pieces on this one!  It was definitely one of those projects that when finished, made you wonder why it took you so long???  Very rewarding to see it done!!

When I was in Newport in November – S, my very creative friend, had the most interesting thing hanging in her window.  3” circles cut from double-sided scrapbook papers.  Sew 3 circles at a time down the middle; no space between trios.  Fold 1^st and 3^rd  circle out to make it 3-D.  Very clever.  I found the double sided paper at Michaels; found a friend that had a scrapbook cutting machine; she cut my circles perfectly for me!  Then sewed them together New Year’s Eve.  They turned out so-o cute.  I left LONG threads at the beginning, alternated sets of papers; and just kept sewing it in a line.  [You hang these by the long threads.] When I was down to just one set of each trio of papers; I stopped and left LONG threads at the end. I divided roughly by 3 – I have a set of 17, 18 and 21!!  I cut between the circle sets.  Hung the first by the beginning threads; hung the last set upside down by the ending threads and I added one more trio of circles with long threads to start to the middle set.  I sewed the new trio and then over half way on the 1^st in the string – worked out easy-peasey!!  And it’s so-o very cute.  Even DH thought it was cool, but was also relieved that it was going to Miss P’s room!!

Of course, it made me think that double-sided Christmas scrapbook papers.  Cut in circles in the 1 ½ inch vicinity would be awesome garlands around the Christmas tree!  We’ll see if that makes the cut of ‘Christmas to-do’s next year.  You know the project is successful if you think of more of the same type of thing you “Need”!!

Trends??  I over-committed to BOMs this year!  And I never join those ... oh dear!  But all 3 - yes three!!!- are sew it and keep it variation.  Is that a new trend??  I'm in a 6 month sampler-type BOM here in Brookings.  I'm going with a patriotic theme.  When I re-joined Newport Guild, at the beginning of the meeting I signed up for an applique flower BOM.  I'll tell you all about it later this month - there's a notebook with all the patterns in it!!!  Truly the most organized BOM I've ever been in!!  Then at the end of the business meeting we were invited to make Mariner's Compass - paperless-paper-piecing style.  Now how could I NOT sign up for that!!  I love MCs and adore PPP!!

Oh, then there is the House BOM from Quilt Mania last year.  We're behind the times, but raring to go!!  P and I cut and fused our first block last weekend.  So cute - it makes me smile everytime I walk past it on the design wall.  Lots of detail and embroidery on these. Adorable, yes??  My block is the top one, P's underneath.

Next post will be the Annual Round-Up - and there are some pretty impressive numbers adding up!  Surprised even me.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas from Mr D ... and his entourage, including Beach Nana!

Holiday wrap-up coming up when we get home Friday!  Hope your holidays were merry and bright!

It's Christmas Letter time!!

Christmas letters - the correspondence we love to hate!!  We've all received examples of what NOT to do.  And even people with the best of intention mess up.

For example, my DD was so excited when she sent out a yearly letter, hmmm, over 6 years ago!  The very special news of expecting the Divine Miss P was at the end.  The letter was long, but it  was chatty and very like sitting down and talking to her.  I was truly surprised by people I met that said they had gotten/enjoyed her letter but no mention of the news!!  We knew they had not read it to the end!!  LOL!  That baby was a surprise to many people who should have known!

I send out a Christmas letter every year, tucked into our Christmas cards.  It's a half page with a picture on the top.  So now - you're all on my Christmas card list!!  Merry Christmas everyone!!

Happy Holidays from the Boyds

It must be December – the winter storms have started in earnest at the coast.  We had over 12 inches of rain last week and a wind that makes Nebraska’s wind look like a gentle breeze!

Miss P started Kindergarten this year and is doing great. She’s the one reading the bedtime stories to me now. Mr M started a speech therapy class once a week.  Riding the bus to school is fun for both of them!!  Mr M  also loves to play electronic games; especially Angry Birds.  Mr D will be two next spring – needless to say, he’s busy, busy!!  He’s starting to put words together – “I you”  is “I love you” and is just as cute as cute can be.

Along with lots of golf, quilting, and time spent with good friends; we started walking portions of the Coastal Trail this year.  We’ve walked 10 miles by Hwy.  But the trail winds around quite a bit more!! A 3 mile trail jaunt took us ½ mile by hwy! But the trail takes your breath away in so many ways!!  We plan to continue on this quest after the rainy season.  I’m happy to report it was another wonderful year on the Oregon coast with kids and grandkids close by. 

Wishing you and yours the best in 2013

Here's some additional pix from Thanksgiving.  

Computer games with Beach Papa

A and M chilling out!

Dinner!  We were also celebrating Mr M's 4th birthday - Angry Birds theme.  Ironic when you're eating turkey, don'cha think!!

Mr M would not smile naturally for any pictures - and we had to wrestle him out of that new Angry Bird shirt!  Go Nana - good present!  PS - that's his robot PJ pants made by yours truly!!

No one gets Mr D to smile like his mom!  Or dad!  Most of the time!

Ooops! I've been a bad, bad blogger!!

Believe you me, I mean it when I say where the Heck did November go??  Sorry I was so quiet - can't really put my finger on why!! But let's just move forward, shall we?

The whole month was a blur.  But we did have some nice sunsets!

We went up to my daughter's house in Portland for Thanksgiving.  Mr M has a November birthday.  So we celebrated that at the same time.  We ran into the worse traffic ever on our way to their house.  WORSE EVER!  So our thinking is instead of moving Mr M's birthday to Thanksgiving - why not move Thanksgiving to the weekend closest to Mr M's birthday???  We'll see - the people who still worked weren't as excited about it as we were!

Mr M is all about all things Angry Birds!!  So his birthday present from us was a bag of angry birds!!  There was a 24 piece puzzle and a coloring book [Dollar Tree]; a red short sleeve tee shirt [Fred Meyers]; the black hoodie and Angry Bird underwear being modeled on the outside of our PJs [WalMart].  It was a hoot, and may I add he didn't take this outfit off for hours, the t-shirt finally came off Saturday!!  He's giving you his best angry bird face here!

My condo is decorated for Christmas.  The threat of this big storm got me busy.  Our decorations are stored out in the deck closet.  We have a sliding glass door ... neither work well in a winter storm with rain and wind.  So-o on the last nice day scheduled I set up Christmas!  It was fun. Something about getting out decorations from years past really brings back the memories - good times come to mind. It's the only day spent cleaning with a smile on your face.

I've started the countdown to Christmas.  I have the felt/velcro advent calendar that my kids used growing up.  And yes, I put it up for me every year.  If I ever find one I like as well, I'll buy two. One for each household.  AND I'll still keep this poor raggedy one!!

My 'to-do' list for Christmas is legendary - as usual.  But I'm chipping away at it.  I belong to a small group here and we decided to exchange little somethings for the holiday.  I made the Chicken Pincushions.  At every group meeting I'm trimming mini-log cabins.  So what is more fitting than a log cabin project from me??

Of course, I've explained about the shopping available in our small town.  So what to stuff the pin cushions with?  I'm surrounded by sand here - so I certainly wasn't going to buy more to use.  And I know better than to use beach sand [what's that fishy smell???]  I headed to the quilt store, no walnut shells; so on to the pet store.  She didn't have any and got a little snippy with me about using them for pets.  I didn't bother to tell her I had no pets.

But then I was picking something up at Bi-Mart and wandered back to the pet section ... there was a bag of corn cob bits for bedding/litter.  Hmmm, chickens like corn!!  LOL!  So I bought it.  It was everything I hoped for!  It was cheap, easy to pour into the chickens, and it even makes a satisfying crunch sound!!  I'll let you know how it holds up on the wet west coast.  But I think it could be awesome anywhere in the country.

Bi-Mart doesn't really check for your membership card, in my experience, as long as you use credit or cash. You too can have corn-cob-chips for pin cushions, if you want.  I bought the $5 membership when they opened - mainly because you got $15 worth of food to join!!

So this weekend I am working on the next items on the 'to-do' list:

Yesterday I got the 4 PJ pants done for the grandkids.  Hooray!!  There was a fair bit of ripping though!  A 1 inch waistband elastic does NOT fit in a 1 inch prepared waistband!!  So, assembly line sewing was not my friend!!  Did assembly line ripping in front of DVR. Then put it in right.  SO MUCH easier!

The funniest thing I took the time to do yesterday was clean ... a pin cushion!!!  YEP!  Out of that whole disaster area of sewing space I was aghast at my Fons & Porter 'daisy color wheel' pin cushion covered with thread and tiny dust bunnies!!  

So as I was pinning I used all the pins in 1/2 the sections.  It cleaned up nicely with masking tape to gather all the dust and threads!!  Transferred the pins to the clean sections and 'masking taped' the rest.  It's a thing of beauty now!!!  And I feel so much better?!?!

Last year I did the embroidery work for new stockings for us.  I made "Beach Nana", "Beach Papa" and the grandkids' names.  We had large knit stockings for us and our kids; back when we were the parents!  But I made quilted stockings for the kids and grandkids and the granddogs to be honest. [and possibly the rest of the world too]  The large knit ones can look greedy when we take them along for Christmas at their houses!!! 

Since I'm Lady-in-waiting #8 for UFO Queen at Stashbusters ... today is the day to finish those stockings and then sew the binding on the wedding quilt. 

But first I might just go in and admire that clean pin cushion!!!

It's Round-up time!

I just got back from a fall trip to Nebraska.  It feels so good to be back home, back on my usual schedule and in my own bed!!  Does that sound like I'm really old???  I AM!! or at least sometimes I feel that way.

I had so much fun in Nebraska.  A big thanks to J&L for their awesome B&B!  It comes with 'our own sewing room'!!!  I highly recommend a sewing room to use when you are on the road!  And J even let me - okay she was asleep, but I knew she wouldn't mind - raid her stash for some pinks!!  It was lovely.

Mom is 94 and still doing pretty darn good!  She had a 'honey-do' list and we got thru it.  I put away summer clothes; put in new waistbands on favorite pants; got out fall/winter clothes; washed shirts; cleaned out drawers; shred some old records; trouble-shot some financial/health care questions and we even had time to play a few hands of cards. Always busy and fun at mom's.

A great-great nephew was born when I was there.  The little squirt was in NICU for a week, but all is well and everyone is back home now.  Welcome to the family, Baby B - we're glad to have you.

I also packed some name banners out for presents.  R, B and I got together for lunch on a gorgeous fall day.  We walked around the acreage and enjoyed catching up with each other again.  These name banners are for R and BJ's grandchildren.

These are some of my favorite presents for the kiddos in the family.  Fun to make, and oh so very scrappy - my favorite kind!

I didn't seem to have as much time as usual in Nebraska [even though J pointed out I had more????] and there are some friends I missed seeing.  There are even some friends that didn't even know I was there!  Sorry, hopefully next time I will be better organized and able to see you all!!

At the end of my trip to Nebraska I got to go to the retreat I attended when I lived there.  Can I just say "Awesome"!!  It was truly a relaxing weekend and so much fun to get caught up with everyone.  Usually on my NE trips I manage to get to a meeting or two - now mind you, I'll keep doing that, but trying to keep up with 8 different conversations in the same room, not my strong point!!  There were 3 1/2 days to get caught up with everyone at retreat, sew and shop - very easy and enjoyable!

My time in NE was filled with making new baby receiving blankies; adding a border to a quilt I was leaving there for hand quilting and a surprise quilt that I can't talk about yet!!  All in good time, I promise!  When all that was done; I'm happy to say that I got to spend time finishing the top of THIS UFO!

Mine is the blue-ish one on the left.  Another good friend "J" brought her finished quilt for me to study while I was sewing mine together.  The pattern is Reminisce by Lori Smith of From My Heart to Your Hands.  Not for the faint of heart ...but with patience ... it goes together well. 

Six years ago my small quilting group "Scrap Happens" decided we NEEDED this quilt.  We studied the colors and had a block exchange for the outside [4th] border blocks. [which I used in my outside border too!] About that time my DH remarked that he was kind-of tired of brown quilts.  J's quilt is in the awesome original colors.  Okay, I thought, I can switch the filler borders and blocks from brown to blue - that will be easy enough!!  LOL!  

Well, it was taxing to get my mind to switch them - I told you I was old!!!  Hard on the confidence too! And so the project wasn't done by our deadline - I just have to mention that it wasn't the only one not done!!!  Then I moved to Oregon; took it out once or twice and worked on the little blocks in the 3rd border and put it back away.  It's a little bigger than J's - I floated my blocks and it's not quilted yet.  That's my excuse and I sticking to it!  I hope to have it machine quilted by Christmas.  Off to the local store this week to get some wool batting.  Has anyone machine quilted with wool???  Any tips???

I'm thrilled that the top is done and happy with the coloration.  It will go lovely in our coastal condo decorating!  My quilting plan is stitch in the ditch and possibly some hand quilting in the setting squares.  High hopes, you know, is the norm in my little world!

I flew back into Portland on Oct 30.  So we stayed for Halloween with Miss P and Mr M.  So much fun watching a bumble bee and dragon go out and collect the loot!  Our pictures didn't turn out ... so for now you'll have to be satisfied with pumpkin pictures.  L&J carved these!!!  Amazing! Trust me, L didn't grow up with jack o'lanterns that looked like this!!  WTG kid!!

Ta-ta for now.  I'm home and hopefully back on a regular blogging schedule ... time will tell!!

All the news on the coast ...

Life has been extra hectic this fall.  It seemed we just got back to normal after the big birthday party and zoom - almost a month has past!!  And you know, Christmas is just a slippery slope away after Halloween!

DH went to the Sisters area for golfing with some of the TIMMS golf group for a week.  [I know you remember the shoe trophy!! Who can forget that monstrosity! LOL!] He played 8 courses in 9 days ... and being the great guy he is, he even stopped by the Sisters Quilt Store to pick me up some wool thread I pre-ordered.  He walked in; announced he was picking up something for Doni Boyd ... they handed a white sack to him and he walked out!!  And it worked for both of us!!

I thought I'd get all kinds of things done while he was gone ... but you never do as much as you expect to!!  Read a couple of books; started a couple of projects ...  I've been hooked on Downton Abbey.  We're reading "The Real Downton Abbey" for book club next month.  Netflix has the first season on demand.  But I had to borrow the 2nd season DVD because I was so-o hooked.  The 3rd season starts in January and I'm ready!! Look for it on PBS - assuming they're still there in January! That's a terrible thought!

Next week I head to Nebraska for a fall visit.  This week is full of quick appointments; lists of stuff to finish before then, lists of things to take with me ... I may have to start a list of my lists!!

The weather has been changeable - fog one day, bright sun the next.  I've been driving down to Crescent City for Water Aerobics 3x a week.  Add a few walks in the forest and you can see I've been busy!

Our Sept guild meeting here was a hoot!!  Our president issued a challenge to finish some UFOs before Christmas.  To sign up for the challenge, you had to bring the UFOs for a special Show N'Tell.  Let me just say that was the best show n'tell ever!!!  It was funny, it was energetic and we don't often get to see our 'starts'.  I loved the beloved baby blanket for a grandchild who was now 11!!! 

I'm a well-known "Queen of UFOs" and I took three projects:  1..My 'Birds of a Feather' quilt - still handquilting that one ... since 2007 apparently!  2.  My half pieced Reminisce by Lori Smith. and 3. The pile of charm squares collected from everyone last Newport Retreat to be made into something and presented at their December meeting.  The president muttered I'd better get started with that one and everyone laughed when I remarked her job is to write them down, not give advice as to order!!! 

Guilds take notice ... it's a great challenge and definitely make the show n'tell mandatory!!

Don't know how much I'll be posting from NE ... but know I'm having a blast and will have lots of stories to share when I get home!