Happy Valentine's Day from the Wet - errr - West Coast!

I am busy getting back to 'normal' life.  It's amazing how many naps are required after a cruise!  I was doing fine until the travel day.  I, of course, woke up very early 5 am Florida time.  We visited a quilt store and then dropped me at the airport.  Where I was very well acquainted with a TSA lady!!  Seriously, I may need to add her to my Christmas card list - she knows me better than most of my friends! :)

I love the fact that the gates have 'electric plug-in bars' now.  And if yours doesn't, I'm sure there is one close by.  My phone was dead and with the long wait, I got it charged!

Back to my day, I don't sleep on planes.  or cars ... thank goodness I do sleep on ships, but by the time I got home to Portland, it was 1 am - 4 am Florida time!!  I'm way too old for 20+ hours awake!  I babysat Mr M the next day and I was mighty cranky by 3:30 pm!!  I'm blaming this nap cycle thingie on that!!

I do believe I promised you some pictures.  These are in no particular order, but I'm starting at the top and working my way down.

Mary and I having our first scrump-dilly-ious dinner in the dining room.  They take such good pictures of you on a cruise.  Is it the lighting? Are you relaxed? and of course, they charge a premium for them.

I'm reminded of a tax purposes photo that was taken of our family cabin.  When my parents protested the tax valuation, the clerk showed them the photo of the property.  My mom said she needed a copy of that photo - it had never looked so good!!

A Haitian boat for spear fishing. Ladies, these boats look like they should be on a small lake!  They ride the currents to fishing places and found they were having trouble getting back to the island.  So they developed a sail system.  The mast folds down and out of the way until needed.  AND the sails are patchwork made by the fishermen - or their wives!  They were fascinating, don't want to ride in one, but cool to look at!

Back aboard the ship - and what a ship it was.  This is one of two hot tubs that hang off the side on the 11th deck!  Very popular place.  There were 3-5 more hot tubs mixed in with the pools, but this one was great fun to sit in!

Independence of the Seas is YAR!!  Huge ship, very elegant.  3500 passengers; 1500 staff!!  On deck 12 they have a track for walking and jogging.  THREE times around equalled a mile!!!  It was awesome.  

We were in classes during the at sea days, but it never really felt crowded - after the muster drill.  And maybe when we had to be tendered in at Grand Cayman.  There were lines that day, but not when we disembarked back in Florida.  They did a fine job!!

Here's our intrepid group of quilting cruisers.  This was the luscious stairway off the promenade deck. It was a gorgeous ship!!

Home sweet home!  There was a love seat to the left.  Closet and bath on either side of the door.

It seemed spacious to us, considering we were in the 'cheap seats'.  And I was expecting an itty-bitty port hole!  This one was HUGE!!  And we loved our view, just one deck above the ocean.  We knew if we were moving or not!!!

More about the dream trip later ... this could take awhile!!  Good to be home, even in the rainy season!

We're B*A*C*K!!!

What a great time - I highly recommend if you're looking for a quilt tour.  Join in "Sew Many Places" by Jim West.  They treat you like a rock star!!  So fun.  I did miss phone and wi-fi.  But managed to live without it ... although we all fired up standing outside our terminal!

I wrote a daily diary and when I get all the way home I'll post all the fun and pictures!!

Heading for a worksop this am with the fabulous Jinny Beyer.  We'll be working with her this weekend.

I head back to Oregon Monday night.  So 'talk' to you soon!

I'm OFF part 2?

Wonderful flight to Ft Lauderdale (I wonder where my 2 yr old is, not on this flight either!)  Smooth sailing; both bags arrived.  Caught the shuttle to the Hotel.  Saw the STRANGEST sight in the van.  A guy hauling you-know-what on a motorcycle.  Instead(?) of a helmet he had a full body racoon hat on.  And trust me, this isn't the weather for fur!!  The tail and back legs were hanging off his shoulders.  The driver asked, "We're all seeing the same thing, right?"  Yep we were.

Ipad doesn't want me to talk as much!  It cut me off mid-thought.  But my work around was to move my last paragraph to this post and continue on!!  Sounds like a "Carry On" poster.  "Carry On and start a new post!!!"

Getting punch-drunk here.  We'll 'talk' again soon!

And I'm OFF!!

The next few blogs will have few, if any, pictures in them.  I'm relying on my Ipad to post and I haven't found any easy tricks to add pictures!  I'll probably either update this entry later or do a photo heavy one next month! Yep, I won't be home until February!  But don't worry, DH is holding down the fort at home.  Soaking up that good weather we've been having all month.

I'm sitting at the airport gate in Portland and it's truly o'dark-thirty.  On my way to Ft Lauderdale and a quilters' cruise!!


As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted by the "get ready to board" announcement ... on my way to Ft Lauderdale via Houston to board The Independence of the Seas.  A Royal Caribbean ship.  I'm going on the 'Soul of a Quilter' cruise, a benefit for Libby Lehman.

This all came about because my good friend Mary won the cruise at the Des Moines AQS show last October.  Now really, can you imagine any cruise prize that would offer it for ONE???  I'm pretty sure that even "single" cruises offer 'for two' so you can take a buddy!  BUT, she won a cruise for one.

I've never been on a cruise before.  My niece was on one years ago, and she compared it to being in jail with chance of drowning!  Hope this cruise goes better than that!!

My DH thought a quilt cruise should be my dream vacation, and has been encouraging me to go on one for years. And of course, Mary is the perfect person to go with!!  She is a researcher by trade and we put her in charge of anything we want to know more about!  Don't tell her, but when we find a picture of a quilt that we want to figure out, we hand it off to Mary, saying, "I just don't get it.  Maybe you can figure it out." Within very little time we are presented with a EQ7 drawing, pattern, fabric requirements and even templates.  It's wonderful!

So I emailed her and asked if she had a roomie yet.  Lucky me, she does now!  We've managed to coordinate everything long distance.  Class supples, tour options, room choices, clothing options and of course, Mary is in charge of 'research'!!

My first challenge was getting to PDX at 4 AM!  I really have to talk to my 'travel agent' about that!! [DH!]  I drove up to Portland and stayed at my favorite Portland B&B - my DD's.  I had all the help I needed from Miss P and Mr M [7 & 5 yrs old respectively] and DSIL, after getting off work at 2 am - drove me to the airport at 3:30 am!!

That's 'other duties as assigned' in this family!!  Thanks J!!  This flight is going well, no screaming baby or 2 yr old behind me kicking the seat!  That's my usual flight experience!

Next challenge is Houston airport.  I'm in row 23; over the wing; it's a full flight and I'll have just under an hour to make my connection.  Last time I was in Houston I was doing my old "OJ Hertz Rent-a-car" commercial run to get to the gate.  You know you're in trouble when you come in at the very last gate in C and need to get to the very last gate in B!!  They were paging me for last call as I got off the airplane.  I did check in with my arrival gate, had them call and say I was here.  Then I took off - as only a 61 yr old water aerobics participant could!!!  It wasn't pretty, but I did make it!  Hoping for closer gates and a minute to use the bathroom this time!!  I'll let you know!

No time to update in Houston.  My gate connections were fairly close - 40 to 31.  I even had time to use a bathroom, and pick up a chicken salad wrap at Good Foods.  It was wonderful and if your airport has one of those ... it's a great choice!  After breakfast at 3 am - I was ready for food at 11 Pacific time.

Happy New Year + 15 days!

Funny story (?)  I wasn't blogging because I felt guilty about not blogging!  Well, that wasn't going to get better any time soon!  So, I'm b*a*a*a*c*k!!  [Hopefully!]

I do believe it's time for the 2013 roundup!  I know I love looking back on hobby accomplishments for the year.

First of all, I lost 20 lbs this year.  Not as much as I'd hoped for :>  But on the other hand - it's still off!  I was sick and tired of being overweight even though fairly healthy (for 61).  So after seeing Garcinia Cambogia on the web - I ordered it.

I did NOT have the success that I read about on the web, nope, didn't lose a 100 lbs or 20 dress sizes in a week!  Shocking, I know.  But I did have more energy and I felt better.  The first couple of weeks can be a little grim - gastric, if you know what I mean!  But then life is normal again.

My cholesterol went down and my PA was happy!  And my body was changing shape enough to be noticed even when I'm just maintaining.  I've been on it 6 months.  I'm ordering another round - then reassess where I am.  I do NOT want to regain.  I'd love to lose 40 more.  But okay with where I am. - for now!!

Now for the good stuff!!

I read 64 books last year, with a lot of rereading old favorites.  Like ALL of the John Sandford series.  Don'cha just love Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers??  All are fun to reread.  My favorite new one was Silken Prey.

Recommended books include:

Room by Emma Donoghue.  Riveting and you would think it would be creepy to read but it really wasnt'.  Promise!

The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman  I love books about the Coast now,  contemporary or even historic, surprisingly enough.  Good Read.

Betrayal of Trust by JA Jance  It was very good, although I especially love it when she blends her two series.  JP Beaumont of Seattle and Joanna Brady from Arizona.

Touch and Go by Lisa Gardner  I lost Ms Gardner for a period of time, I'm glad that I have a few books to catch up with.

I had a 'medium' year of quilting.  [I honestly don't know where the time went, since there's proof I wasn't bloggin!!]  I finished 16 projects - most you saw pictured over the year here.  Four were UFOs which always feels awesome!  Many projects involved muliple items - like the 7 schoolhouse pin cushions for my "Finishing School" - good reminder, I need to get busy on this year's pin cushions!!  Finishing School is coming up at the end of February again.

Seven receiving blankies.
15 Christmas Stockings!!
A pennant banner 63 feet long!!
8 pj pants - the MOST fun to give to the grands!!
12 cute little wool house gift card holders to my small group and selected friends!
NOTE:  Gift card holders are great for containing a package of sewing machine needles!

My favorite finish this year was Mr D's "Big Boy Bed" quilt.  I'd started this back when Mr M needed a BBB quilt.  He had bunk beds, so I was going to make two, different, but kind of alike! By the time I had the first one done and the second one started ... the bunk beds were history!  All it took was a dog barking, walking into his room and finding him hanging upside down, thanks to a shoelace being caught!!

I can't find a picture of this right now.  I don't think I posted it on the blog.  My job is to find one, take another one and post it next time.  Promise!!

I was pretty active in the Post Card Exchange group I belong to.  NINE exchanges!  They were fun - especially "Chocolate"  You know that is my favorite!

Oh, I may have spent a little time on Pinterest this year!!  I have 9.1K pins and 1K followers!!  Quilting is VERY popular on Pinterest!!  In fact, I had to force myself to come back to the blog when I checked the numbers just now!!  LOL!

I went to Nebraska twice.  In the spring it was an usual visit.  But in the fall I piggy-backed it to a quick trip to Des Moines for the AQS Show there.  It was fabulous fun!!  And a wee bit of a spending spree!

Miss P got a Target "American Girl Doll" for Christmas.  Now the only other doll clothes I ever made were for a troll doll (Barbie's daughter!) when I was young.  It was a rectangle with armholes cut out of it and a matching belt!!  But NOW this Nana has been possessed by making doll clothes for her!!  Just look!

  

The pink dress is from Two Hour Doll Clothes by Anita Crane  But there is some tailoring involved (rats!)

The skirt in the middle was from a web site!  The original skirt wasn't hemmed and had tulle under it.  But since this is for a 7 year old and years of play (I hope) ahead of it, I changed it.  I hemmed the skirt and cut apart a new shower scrungy for the perfect underskirt!!  Turned out darling, trust me!!

The PJ bottoms on right are from Doll Fashion Studio by Joan Hinds.  These patterns are very well done, I recommend this book.  I made the leggings under the pink dress from it, the PJ pants and I have many more on my To-Do list!!

The teal t-shirt on the right is from a Liberty Jane pattern.  This may be the easiest item I made.  Their patterns are really well written and I got this one free registering on their site.  Check it out!  I may even break down and buy some of their patterns!!

Being addicted to doll clothes now, I have a board on Pinterest.  Follow me, I will try to pin every good and usually free pattern on the board. There's a link on the left side of the blog.

I'm going to close for now.  Lots more to tell you.  Can't promise when I'll be back, but I have high hopes!!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a good night!

Oh, dear, I knew I hadn't felt good this fall.  I caught a respiratory virus the middle of October and I just kept getting it back everytime I felt better.  Then today I saw my last blog post was the first of November. Oh, dear! Sorry for the silent treatment!

It's obviously been a low-key two months.  We continue to have stellar sunrise and sunsets here.  Winter is the best for those, other than during seasonal monsoons!!  But it's been a dry fall-winter, and they just keep coming and coming!  DH has been headed out for golf the last 4-5 weekends, because you know, it could be the last chance for golf til spring!!  

My Christmas letter for you!

 Happy Holidays from the Boyds!

December sunsets on the Oregon coast are the B*E*S*T!  Here’s a view from our deck.  Wish you were here.

We’ve had an exciting year with a new member joining out family.  A&J2 have a new little boy, K.  At 8 months, he’s a great sitter, but needs a little work on his ‘dismount’!

D, being 2, is w-a-a-ay too busy to pay much attention to K.  He loves matchbox cars and ribbons!  He pretends the ribbons are snake monsters! What a great imagination!  Life is busy for A&J2!

P is 7, in first grade and loving it. I asked her if she had new friends and she explained to me that there were 28 in her class – all new friends, of course!  Did you know 1^st graders write book reports now???

M is 5 and in preschool.  He loves Legos, doing puzzles (he’s still a whiz) and riding his bike.  It’s so much fun to see the G-kids growing and learning.  We love this time!

When we’re not visiting the kids, Rick’s golfing and bowling; I’m quilting and going to water aerobics, but there’s a lot of walking the Coastal Trail and whale watching mixed in too.  After 5 years on the coast, it feels like we have ‘grown into’ our retirement – and we love it.

Wishing you and yours the best in 2014

Of course, the names have been shortened to protect the innocent (?) But, because I'm not limited to a 1/2 page of paper - here are the family photos that we couldn't decide on!!

D & K getting to know each other!

M & P hanging out in the kitchen.

Last night's sunset.  No wonder we don't get much done in the evening!!

Happy New Year to all!

Need a quick home-made baby gift?? Receiving blankets to the rescue!

An online friend lamented that she just heard a good friend is having grand-twins due in November.  She has to make quilts, but two in that time frame????  Here's my advise - based on experience, of course!!

Make a set of flannel receiving blankets for each newborn for the shower or new baby presents - thus, buying you time to make a crib quilt.

For one blanket(although I usually buy enough to make at least 2.)  I buy 1 1/3 yards of two flannels (front and back) - JoAnn's flannels are pretty darn cute and usually on sale or coupon-eligible!  Prewash.   (Empty dryer lint-catcher often!!) 

Layer right sides together; smooth or press.  Trim top edge with rotary cutter.  Fold down that edge diagonally. Mark with your ruler where to cut to make a square blanket.  Cut.  If you're making two, repeat and cut the second one at the same time.  Your edges are already together and the flannels are sticking to each other, easy, peasey!

Sew each pair of flannels together, leaving an opening to turn.  Turn - I found that a wooden knitting needle is great for creating edges and turning the corners.  Slip stitch the opening closed.  I top-stitch starting in one corner all the way around on the edge.  Then arbitrarily pick a place easy to follow to top-stitch again inside 4-6 inches away from edge.  On my Janome I follow the place where the free-arm splits.  Wherever, find a mark/guide/line on your machine that's easy for you to line up consistently. This second top-stitching seems to keep the blanket from getting too wonky - just a simple shake out of the dryer lines everything up again.

On my card I write:  Enjoy these blankets:  Wash and dry with cottons  - perfect for swaddling, tummy time or protection from those really big burps!

These blankies are simple and easy.  But they're a big hit every time.  And used too!!

When I'm "on my game" I have a few blankies stockpiled ready for the happy news!!

Enjoy!  doni @ Oregon coast