How on Earth did it get to be JULY???

I went to visit a friend who lives in the next building ... we see each other at gatherings all the time, but our schedules don't mesh well - and she's a quilter! But I got to visit and see her UFO stash - what fun!!! And see her condo decorated for the 4th of July. It was wonderful - little touches here and there. It all went together and looked great! So I was inspired to come home and get out the few summer things I moved. I even put them up. But they went better in our house in Lincoln!! You'll see my favorite decorations thru out this post ... none new though!

















There are get-togethers today here, but I got 'smoked' last night at the beach party. No, that isn't slang for drunk! LOL! There was a fire ... and I'm allergic to smoke! So I'm moving slow today. R just left for golfing so I think I'll hang around in casual clothes and sew! Always a popular choice! Time to "fire up" Prairie Home Companion on the web!

I'm working on the last bits and pieces of "Birds of a Feather" and hope to frame it and SID [stitch in the ditch] it this weekend. Then I can carry it around and hand-quilt details on it. We're going to Sisters for the outdoor quilt show this next week. I think we're staying over an extra day for Rick to golf some more, so hoping to have this quilt to noodle with to entertain myself! We're meeting DD, DSIL and the 2 GKs there - so I may be just napping that extra day! It's usually lots of fun family time as well as great quilt-watching. A highlight of our year. I'll let you know how it goes!















Happy 4th to you, whether it's a holiday where you live or not!

UFO Finish - 9 years in the making!

Pumpkins Gone Bad: The Bleach Chronicles.

It is a pumpkin 'original combo' of many pumpkins from different books and different sizes-arranged in my own way.

In 2000, while high on M&Ms at a retreat [smile] I agreed to make a seasonal wall
quilt for the mini-raffle, next month?? No problem!! [Let that be a lesson to all of us - never promise anything while on retreat!] While I was cutting, might as well make 2 - and you know the story - finished the one - binding it on the way to the meeting, of course. Everyone loved it - including my mom who wanted me to win it for her - I didn't!!! No problem - I'll just make another one.

Okay - change the size, I want it alittle bigger - we were doing 'stack and slash' blocks for quilts - I'll make them smaller and use them as a border. Got it all together - oh, that's a little bright. No problem, I'll just tan dye it. Well, I must have been a little distracted when adding the liquid tan Rit dye ... turned out really, really dark! Can you say "pumpkins at midnight ... in smog?" I decided to fix it by bleaching it. ... You know, they tell you not to bleach dark fabrics. You
don't bleach darks because you have NO IDEA what colors are under those lovely dark oranges! In my case it was Fuchia pink!!! Most of those 'newly found' pinks were small pieces out in the border - I could live with them. BUT the center pumpkin??? ICK!

I took it to my support group - yep, at work, what am I going to do? V, a temp from Viet Nam saw it and thought I was avant guarde using pink for a pumpkin. I said, no it was a mistake. The next day she asked what was my artist statement ... the third day I gave up explaining and decided to slip-cover the darn thing!!! So I did and threw it all in a dark corner because it was past fall by now anyway!!!

It matured for 8 years! But it wasn't looking any better!!! I found it when packing to move here to Oregon ... decided to keep it mainly cuz I was too embarrassed to give it to anyone. Two weeks ago I took a machine quilting class and lo and behold it was just the correct size for a "practice piece". And boy do I need more practice! BUT it is done in time for a finish this quarter AND the July program at guild is a UFO and it's story!!! What do you think??? LOL!


Meanwhile - a funny Miss P story: Yesterday was a very bad day for Miss P - a day where we throw ourselves on the floor screaming when mommy leaves for work. I was told I could leave too - but I make it a point not to follow directions from a 2 3/4 year old! I try to follow Mommy's rules so after lunch we could not have a hot baba, nor could we read 3 books. I kissed her and tucked her in - I was going home before she woke up from nap - when Daddy got home. And she said, "You know, there ARE other Nanas!" Then she brought up her other nana as an example!!! Dissed by a 2 year old! Told Papa that he was coming to babysit with me from now on!!! LOL!

And the winner is ... Jean Louisiana

Jean - please email me your mailing address and the card will be on it's way to you.

We had Miss P this weekend because the Hatfield Science Center was having their "SeaFest" and it was so much fun. Granted, she's a little too young for this, but she loved it. They have a Pacific Octopus that is probably bigger than she is! And he was awake so she - okay, we - were fascinated by it. The octopus at the aquarium is smaller and usually hiding in a corner asleep. So that makes it all worth it.

Most of the pictures we took were 1)a blur; 2)the back of her head or 3)just a weird expression on her face. Honestly, momma, she was having fun!!!

Summertime and the living is crazy!

Woke up monday morning - okay, DH woke me up to see a giant full rainbow over the ocean. 6:15 but it was totally worth it! For a few minutes there was even a double rainbow - it lasted long enough to take pictures. Did you know that you can't focus on a rainbow - it's a reflection! [Duh!] So you have to focus on the land or the horizon and then move to where the rainbow is. I couldn't think of one person here that I knew well enough to call and tell them to look out the window! I took a nice nap Monday afternoon!

I finally got my summer postcards done. Machine problems plagued me throughout. I used the coast shop hop cars and set up. I called them "Are we there yet?" I, of course, had to make one for Miss P - but put the bear in her car - it seemed like he was that big too! The map portion is a map of France - it was the only map I could find but figure that there's always "wine-ing" on vacations!


I'm going to give away one of the postcards. [the bear has been spoken for, however!] Leave a comment on my blog this week and I'll pick one person to send my extra postcard to. Drawing will be Sunday.

One last bear picture - for now!

Big Bear's a Big Hit!

Miss P enjoying her new bear!

I hate deadlines!

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. quote by Douglas Adams [Is he nuts?]

Caution: I'm cranky tonight!

I think I'm through with any big project that has a deadline attached to it. I do have a few summer postcards due at the end of the month ... but I'll worry about that tomorrow! aka Scarlet!

I also need an UFO done before the next guild meeting - but looking forward to putting into practice what I learned in a machine quilting class last week.

Last month's deadline was the "Sesquicentennial-ish" hand pieced and hand quilted project. I finally got the 'story' to go with it done this week. Coming up with a story was surprisingly hard! These quilts are going to be displayed in businesses around the county to advertise our show. There will be a map and it will kind of be like a scavenger hunt to see them all.


Last week I finally finished my 'paint chip challenge' for guild. What a bugger! It was a feathered star with feathered lightning-streak borders. only 3 fabrics allowed - and you know how I hate non-scrap quilts! muslin and very light blue + one ofther of my choice. 24" x 24" and there was 397 pieces. I'm glad I didn't count those up until AFTER I was done. It was still smoking when I handed it over to the challenge mom. There's some awesome quilts in the challenge - TOUGH competition. Ribbons will be awarded at the August quilt show. On my birthday - do you think it will give me an edge??? LOL!

This weekend I repaired my son's denim quilt. Never again! It would be easier to make a new one than repair a denim quit. I feel like I was wrestling alligators all weekend! If Miss P would ask me "Is Nana happy?" Nana would say "NO!" However, the dryer just turned off - so that's officially DONE! A & J2 visit this week - so I'm actually not going to be working on it at the very last second. I will, however, not sign this work - in fact I may deny any involvement! The repairs did not go well!

Tomorrow we go to babysit and we'll have a surprise in the car. Last week our neighbor pulled up behind me when I was getting out of the car. R is a stern-looking man that kind-of makes me nervous. My first thought was, "oh,oh - what did I do wrong?" Then he asked if I'd like a teddy bear for Miss P. Well, it's the biggest bear I've ever seen - R shows rebuilt old cars and this bear rode around in Americruises and sat in the truck when it was being shown. It's too big to sit in the backseat of the Pacifica - it barely fits in the cargo area!! Miss P and Mr M are going to love it! I'll take pictures tomorrow. We leave at o'dark thirty in the am to babysit for 2 days.

I'll be in a better mood next time - I promise.

One year down!

A year ago today we moved to Newport Oregon - boy did that year go fast!!!

Miss P is now 2 1/2 years old - has been here to stay with us many times - and we love watching her develop! You can almost see the wheels spinning as she thinks something out!

Mr M only arrived in November - 6 months old now - we've been able to be with him so much more than we were with Miss P at the baby stage.

I love lists - so you will have to put up with me.

I joined the Quilt guild at the June meeting - one week after moving! and a small group in August of last year ... I also joined water aerobics and a small stitchery group here at the complex within two weeks of living here. These 4 activities have kept me too busy to be too homesick for Nebraska.

I've finished 17 quilt projects! That number surprises me - I thought I wasn't doing so much! Of course, most of them are small wall quilts but there were 3 lap size, 2 single size, 2 almost double, and a Christmas stocking! Plus 29 fabric postcards! Not bad - glad I looked back at that!

I've read 69 books! You gotta love a town with a good library! Although it's not as big as the libraries in Lincoln, it's connected with every library on the coast and you can request books from anywhere. As you can tell - I jump from genre to genre!!!Favorite books last year included:

Run by Ann Patchett
Third Degree by Greg Iles
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Riven by Jerry Jenkins
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Winter Study by Nevada Barr
Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon
On Agate Hill by Lee Smith

Okay - enough living in the past! I've got 2 projects that I would like to finish by the end of the month. And repairing a denim quilt for my son- they are coming to visit in 2 weeks - it needs to be done by then.

I've gained 5 lbs here - thought that was going to be a bigger number - but time to reverse that trend. I'm trying to convince myself I live in a 'dry' state or rather a 'warm' state - because liquor is not the problem - ice cream is the downfall!!!

We signed another year's lease - so time to get to work!!! I'll let you know how it goes!