Today

Is volunteer day for Evan and I.  I started out this morning on the computer.  Moved to making breakie and lunch for my man who had to go South today for work.  Then I decided I was sick of how icky my washer looks, so I got the Windex (which I use to clean a LOT of things) and started scrubbing.  We have well water, which is very hard.  It leaves a lot of icky deposits.  I hate it.  Would love a water softener............maybe someday.

Got the washer much cleaner, and pulled out the book, which said to clean the inside, use a cup of bleach, a large load size of laundry detergent, and for good measure, I threw in some Arm & Hammer Baking soda which I get in the laundry isle (not to be mistaken for the A & H laundry detergent - this is JUST the baking soda in a larger box).  It worked really great.  Even tho we were told not to use too much bleach because of the septic system.  I know others that use bleach all the time and have no issues with their septic, soooooooo.....

Gabbi got a hair cut.  Unfortunately, I nicked her a couple of times.  UGH.  I really must start taking her to get groomed....I'm just cheap.  She also has an ear infection so she isn't feeling quite herself.  :-(  
Evan is keeping her company.  He's such a good dog.  :-)

 







I have been working on my knitting (sweater for me).
Isn't it pretty?  I love this purple.  100% cotton.  Yum.



 I've also been working on a baby blanket - crochet - for my new Granddaughter due in December.

  This is the edging.  I tried not to have any real holes that the baby can get a finger thru.

Well, its time for me to go get ready to volunteer.  Poor Gabbi will have to be here alone.  She'll be ok.

Off I go!

Catching up

So I'm trying to play catch up.  I have lots going on and sometimes, my brain gets overwhelmed, and then I shut down.  Trying really hard to avoid that.

Right now, my lip and nose and cheek are numb from being at the dentist.  I hope it wears off soon.  I had to eat so I had some mashed potatoes and made a can of brocolli & cheese soup.  Yum.  Good lunch.
So yeah, this is a week of catching up.  My pinwheel quilt is tied - I couldn't figure out a good quitling for it, so I tied it.  It looks good tied.  Not sure I did it correctly, but it's tied.  I will take it upstairs and I will cut the backing fabric, and wrap it around the front to bind it.  The back is fleece, so it'll have a little soft edging to it.  :-)  It'll be a nice lap quilt. But because I found a boo boo (my stitching didn't hold on one of the hst) it won't be going anywhere else.  It'll make a cozy lap quilt during winter.  

I'm working on my knitted sweater; it's going ok - I had to rip it out once because somehow, there were a bunch of holes in my knitting.  I'm trying to pay a lot of attention and do well with it.  Afterall, I want to wear it.  There is a little section of it that has stitches that look a little funny.  It'll be on the back so hopefully, not too noticeable.  I'm going to keep going with it and try to get it done. Knitting makes my thumb joints hurt.  Not fun.  So I can only do a little at a time and have to give myself a day or 2 in between if I over-do it.


I'm getting the edging on the baby blanket I'm crocheting, but I'm starting to think, I don't really LIKE the blanket.....sigh.  I think that I'm going to rip it out, and I'm going to use a smaller crochet hook than I used because I don't really like the way it feels/looks.  But, I may have second thoughts.  We'll see.  I'm not going to make any snap decisions.  LOL  


Lets see...oh, right.  I need to work on my mystery quilt from Kelly Anns Quilt Shop in Warrenton.  I haven't gone up to get Clue #3 yet.  I haven't finished Clue #2 but need to get #3 before the end of the month.  


I have the Precious Moments Noah's Ark quilt that I need to cut, then put a new border on, put the backing on and quilt it (still don't know exactly how I'm going to do it....).  I don't know if I want to use flannel in the sandwich or batting.  Still haven't decided that.


I have a couple of ideas for wall hangings....but haven't gotten to those yet.  Sigh.....so much to do.  Right now, my motivation is out the window!


I did order the pink Hershey Kisses from the Hershey store.  The tag on them say "Its A Girl!" and I have the 4 oz canning jars to put them in. I was going to use the 8 oz but they take too many kisses.  The next project will be to get the labels printed and on them - o wait - I have to BUY the labels first.  Staples in town only had the 1.5 inch and I want 2 or 2.5 inch labels.....and I didn't need the size package they had there anyway.  I don't know if I'm going to go to the city and try to find them or what.


I have the design for the invites done, and did a sample.  It is a pink Onesie with the invite printed on an iron on sheet, and then ironed onto the onesie, front and back.  Cute!  I got envelopes that this will fit into.  I have to do the directions to the complex on paper and then we're pinning the directions to the onesie.  A bit of a project.  But fun.  
So I have the jars, the candy on the way, the onesies all washed and dried (but now need ironing) and the invite almost perfected, will print those out and get them all (26) ironed on, and then I'll be done with that part of the shower planning.
O, and I also have the plates, cups and napkins for the shower.  Got all that at Dollar Tree - whoohoo!
Gotta get the plastic ware still....


I need to make a check list - not like me not to have one.

I think I need a nap.  I'm exhausted!

God Bless America!

Today is the 9th anniversary of that fateful day that changed the lives of Americans.  As I sit here, I remember where I was, what I was doing, and that I wasn't scared so much as I was very very sad that in our lifetimes, this is what was going to be a moment that was never forgotten. 
A lot of people my age and older remember that day when JFK was shot down.  Or the day his brother Robert was shot down...........I vaguely remember that. 
But September 11, 2001 is a day I'll never forget.  I was bathing a dog in the vet clinic I worked at, with 2 people I got along with and respected.  We listened to the radio, we got chills running up and down our backbones.  We were worried about our loved ones.  We didn't have television there so we could not see what others were seeing as it was being reported.  We could only listen, make phone calls and try to ensure our loved ones were safe.  We went on with our lives because when you work somewhere that animals depend on you, you need to keep going. 
I hated seeing the sights of the people dying that day.  I tend to want to remember the people that were brave enough to try to help.
I also remember the silence in the skies in the days following.  The lack of flight.  No planes - none except occasionally the fighter pilots.  And when we heard those, we froze.  It was so strange....we lived centrally located to three major airports and it was not normal to not hear planes all the time.

I pray for all those that have lost family and friends on that horrible day nine years ago.  I pray that this country never goes through another awful day like that.  I know that our great country has survived some awful times.......wars, the stock market crash.........so I also pray that we grow stronger as a country, a humanity that remembers that it all can be gone in one fateful moment.
I appreciate the freedom I have in this great country of ours.  I wish that all of us, every American, could pull together and realize that as one, we are stronger and braver, than as many that are scattered and fighting each other.

Today, I take my Therapy Dog Evan to the library for the kids to read to him.  We are there about an hour, and then I come home, leave the dogs behind and gather things that I need to take to our quarterly meeting for the Welcome Waggers Therapy Dogs.  We have a meeting and a lunch - today will be a picnic.  It's clear, cool, and the weather is very reminiscent of the weather nine years ago.  I pray that today will be a better day and that we will enjoy ourselves.  In the back of MY mind, I will be remembering those lost nine years ago. 

God Bless America!

What I've been up to....

This has been a really busy week for me......as usual, it wasn't "supposed" to be.  Somehow, I manage to find reasons to leave the house.....not sure what that's about - maybe cuz the weather is so beautiful right now and I love to be out in it - except for the allergies!

At any rate, I have been trying to get some of my projects done.  Or started......

Here is something I bought yesterday - I saw them last week and I didn't get them then, but I love glass, and I couldn't resist..........

Its a quilted BALL canning jar.  No, I don't can.  But, I love the glass and I can use this for anything --- but there was a purpose for buying it.  I am going to fill them with silver and pink Hershey Kisses.  For my daughters baby shower......I will order the pink kisses online and  the little tag says "It's a Girl!"  The lid of this jar is silver.  It will match the silver kisses.  I will be buying round labels for the top and designing them myself.  I'll be adding a ribbon around the top too.  These will be thank you gifts.

Then there is this:

This is a blanket for the baby.  But it's huge - it covers me from chin to toe and I'm 5'2".  Maybe I should have cut it in half and made two.  But I like it.  This is the kind of blanket that will last a long time.  Its comfy - the back is fleece.  I just sewed straight lines up and down....and yes, there is a bumpy part on the back but I'm not ripping and resewing!  If this blanket gets the use that it's meant to, that won't matter after awhile.  I'm sick and tired of sewing and ripping and resewing.  So this is staying as is.  Its comfy and that's all that matters.  
This blanket above, is a companion fabric to the Noahs Ark Precious Moments panel I bought.....

This is the panel.   The panel that has given me fits for 3 months now.  I originally had the above companion fabric on the back of this panel, and batting in between.  I was hand quilting it, and I had the entire inside of the panel sewn.  Then I ripped it all out.  I hated it, the stitches on the back were horrible, and it just didn't look right.......

I've been carrying the panel here and there with me.  I had it on this design wall for a couple of weeks.  I knew I didn't like it as is.  The person that I ordered it from (online) had cut the edges of the panel really short and left me no seam allowance at all on the edges, so if I just quilted it, and put a border on it, I'd lose all the outside edges of those little blocks on the outside.  Also, the green and blue blocks on the border just were not making me happy.  I love the images, but I hate all the blue and that green, well, its bright.  When I got this, we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl grandchild.  We now know its a girl.  :-)  I hate all the blue in this.  Not crazy about the green.....and that little border just outside the panel and inside the big border?  Its a pale color with little butterflies.  I love butterflies, but that strip does NOTHING for the panel.  But, Jenn loves Noah's Ark and Precious Moments, and this is the ONLY panel I could find......its a 2009 fabric and it's nearly impossible to find at all even online at this point.

SO, it is what it is.....I've been waiting for it to talk to me.  It has ~ it's told me that it doesn't like being what it is here in the photo.

Yesterday, I went to Wal Mart.  Yeah, I know, don't pass out - I sometimes get fabric from WM.  It's ok.....really.  The fabric in this panel is nothing to write home about.  I could have gotten really expensive fabric from a quilt shop (sorry Kelly Ann) but, at the point I'm at with this thing, it was ok to just get what I got.  Anyway, back to the story..............
I took it to WM and a very nice lady there named Ruby helped me.  She did something I hadn't thought of doing....





She folded back the sides and top/bottom.  And whaddaya know - it looks SO much better!

This helped me to decide what I wanted to put with it.  I chose yellow.  I had already picked out the yellow.  But Ruby said, she thought it needed something else......I said I was going to put pink with it but had made lots of pink stuff and wasn't sure that I wanted more pink.  Also, there is VERY little pink in the panel - but there is just enough....Can YOU see it???  With the pink fabric next to it, it really makes the pink pop!  This panel NEEDS a darker color in it - darker yet still bright.  I love this pink with it, so pink it was.
I also like the yellow, so I got the yellow.  I'm thinking of making the pink and inside border and seeing how I like it.  I may use yellow for the outside border and I'm going to use it for the backing also.  I will put something in the middle....not sure if it will be a cotton batting, or something loftier.  I don't want this blanket to be too heavy.  
And I think I'll tie it.  I can't seem to decide on a way of quilting it that I'm happy with.  I broke my darning foot so I cannot FMQ till I get another foot.  If I FMQ, then it detracts from the design of the panel.  If I follow the lines in the panel then it becomes kind of wonky.  So I'm thinking of tying it.  But, that doesn't really sit well with me either.  I'm just really confused but hopefully, after I get the border(s) on and it looks different, maybe then I'll be able to figure out what to do from there on.  This is when I wish I had a machine that embroiders.  I can think of a few little designs that would look cute.


I also worked on my Mystery Quilt from Kelly Ann's - I'm behind tho.....this is July and part of August's work.....

I really need to get moving on it, and I need to get to Kelly Ann's to pick up September's clues.............I'm procrastinating.

These are the pieces close up.  It's really cute.  I can't wait to see what it will look like all put together.

Here is my bin with selvages.

I decided to put my chicken to use.  I'm tired of chasing my little tomato pin cushion around the table when I'm trying to take pins out or put them back when sewing and removing pins......she works really well and I like looking at her.  So she's staying as my pin cushion.  She didn't match anything in my dining room anyway!

Last but not least, here is my pinwheel quilt, on the floor near the closet.  I can't seem to get the quilting right on this, either.  I have 2 rows in there of straight stitching I need to rip out.  I've sewn and ripped 3 times on this quilt.  I'm frustrated.  Now I really think THIS quilt NEEDS to be tied and it will fit the quilt perfectly.  The backing is fleece on this one also.  Yummy chocolate fleece and so soft!  Not sure who it's for yet....its just a lap quilt.  Maybe a gift?




I have volunteering with Evan tomorrow - we have "Reading to the dogs" at the library in the morning, and then in the afternon there is a meeting/gathering/picnic at Mary's house for our quaraterly meeting.  Fun!  Lovely weather predicted.  Which reminds me, I have to make a macaroni salad.......better go check to see if I have the macaroni to make it or I'll have to run out and get some.  Sigh.


Off I go.  I feel guilty for not posting as regularly as all the people who blog every day.  I don't have an excuse.  I just get too busy - but I do find time to read everyone else's posts!

Blogs and Give Aways

I follow LOTs of blogs.  Probably too many!  I spend quite a bit of time reading because I get highly inspired by others to be more creative.

One of the blogs I follow is Here - Ryan is doing a give-away this week.  It includes an AccuQuilt Go! machine....  I so hope I win, but the chances are slim (I'm a poet and didn't know it!).  There are over 1150 comments left.  What are the chances I'll get randomly picked????  But, I can always play - ya can't win if you don't play, right?

Thanks Ryan - I love your blog whether I win or not!  :-)