CONTINUING THE TREND...update

I have now completed 38 of the 80 blocks. I'm getting there!!! Everything I had cut is made. Now to cut the pieces for the remaining 42 blocks!

I've decided I want to make a vintage bib apron... something from the 40s or 50s. Oh the fun I am having as I surf the net looking for patterns. Anyone with knowledge of a good pattern or a site where such a thing can be found is welcome to comment or email me.

Until another update....

CONTINUING THE TREND...

Today I've been sewing. I got up early with plans for an outing, but those plans got rewritten and I put the at-home time to good use by sewing on some of my unfinished projects. (UFOs in the quilting world). The picture below shows some pillowcases to complement the Christmas quilt I just finished putting together. The fabric choices for the pillowcases are fabrics featured in the quilt. The set on the left are standard size and the cases on the right are king-sized. Now I can move forward getting the top layered, quilted, and bound.

I am changing my thinking on whether or not to get the Christmas quilt machine-quilted by a professional. I am nearing completion on a king-sized quilt top that will be on my bed during the non-Christmas season (i.e. the rest of the year). I am thinking it might be better to have the everyday quilt professionally done and then machine quilt the Christmas top myself. I am not that good at machine quilting and to do a king-size top will take a great deal of time. These are the identical reasons why I should have the more visible quilt done by a professional.


The blocks below are a sampling of the blocks I need to make in order to complete the other king-size quilt I am making for my bed. A total of 80 blocks need to be made. I have completed 19, have 19 more cut and ready to sew. Then there will be 40 more to make, but I at least have the prints "paired up" the way I want to make them. Huh??? Did you notice I only accounted for 78 blocks? That is because the first 2 blocks that I made were cut wrong and finished at the wrong size. I need to round up some scraps large enough to cut pieces for the 2 remaining blocks. I have plenty. Likewise, I will be making pillowcases to match this quilt, too. The backing fabric is on order and should be arriving in the mail within the next couple of days.

There are many plans for upcoming adventures. County fairs, wine festivals, Oktoberfest, a first-time outing to the baseball stadium to watch the Texas Rangers play the Detroit Tigers, and more. In the meantime we continue to swim and enjoy the sunshine. Not many signs of autumn around here yet!! Will share photos of these events as they become available.

Until then....

AN ACCOMPLISHMENT AND AN ADVENTURE

A major accomplishment! I finished the top of a Christmas quilt I've been working on for what seems like years! Now to get it ready for quilting and binding.

Yesterday morning we left Dallas early to take a load of belongings to Galveston for Janelle. College starts on Monday morning and she was moving into her apartment for the year. Here are some highlights of the trip. The day was wonderful. We left about 6:30 a.m and returned this morning about 2:00 a.m. A long day... but an adventure.

Houston skyline:

The architecture along The Strand on Galveston Island is exquisite. Charming and quaint. Every year toward Christmas there is a Dickens festival on The Strand. I can picture the Dickensonian costumes to perfection in this setting.

This is an offshore drilling platform in dry dock... perhaps it is being repaired or dismantled.

Some of my favorite "people"... of the two-legged and four-legged variety!

The beach is a sight to behold. The deafening sound of the waves is calming despite the enormous power being generated as they crash upon the land. God does such good work!

We watched the huge freighters as they passed in the ship lane, headed up to Houston in the ship channel or out to sea.

A sampling of island wildlife. Fiddler crabs and hermit crabs are abundant in the tidal pools we investigated. It is difficult to photograph hermit crabs since they hide in shells. You never see the creature inhabiting the shell vacated by snails and the like. But you can be sure when you see a snail shell scurrying along at breakneck speed there is a hermit crab inside!

Barnacles are beautiful in my opinion.

I stood watching this crane as he "fished" for his evening meal.

Until the next adventure...

TIME TO SHARE

Whew!!! The days have gone quickly and I've not updated the blog in quite a few days. I've been busy; first with work, then with hobbies and chores. Time to share some pictures....

Here is the 3rd block for the Mystery BOM being done at Fat Quarter Shop. The collection of fabric is Peace on Earth by Moda. Very soft holiday hues.

Here is the progress on the other BOM I've been doing.... Dash of Christmas Spirit using Vintage Holiday fabrics by April Cornell. This is a king size bed quilt and, as you can see, takes up a great deal of space when spread on the floor for a photo!! It currently measures 96" square and I need to add some border prints to give it a more finished look. I have received the backing fabric I ordered, so will be ready to send this one to be quilted as soon as I can get the final details completed.

I am amazing myself! The picture below is yet another BOM I started years ago. I've been working on it lately and now lack the 16" borders on each edge. It also is king-sized, but this one will be machine quilted by me.

I don't have the money to send all of them to a professional quilter, so I only send the very special ones. The Christmas quilt is special, only because I always wanted to have Christmas quilts for the beds in the house so I can decorate the rooms during the holiday.

Back to the picture..... I really like the narrow red section. This was not called for in the original pattern, but I've decided I prefer this to the original. There is a distinct advantage to putting a project away and bringing it out for completion after an extended time. My perspective on the appearance is now changed and fresh ideas on how to finish the top are popping into my head. I will also be making pillow cases to match this one.

There was one other adventure which I can share. I had intended to share pictures of the event, but there are too many and most don't mean much except to those "who know". This is the final year the Dallas Cowboys football team will be using Texas Stadium for games. The new stadium is getting more and more stadium-like in appearance, as you can see in pictures I've shared in previous posts. As a special celebration of this final year, the franchise opened Texas Stadium last night to the public so we could watch the Cowboys practice. The special other had never been inside the stadium (and I hadn't been since 1974!), so we thought it would be fun to go take pictures before the stadium is demolished and "no more". We saw old former Cowboys... Tony Dorsett, Calvin Hill, Cliff Harris, Randy White, and many more I can't recall. We saw the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders perform a dance. (Harry liked this part the best, I think). It started pouring heavily midway through the activities, so we got to see torrential rain pour through the opening which gets the field soaked but keeps the stands dry.

Next week I'll have some fun pictures to share (I hope). I am going to the gulf coast this weekend as we deliver Janelle's belongings to her college campus. I hope to spend time on the beach and at the pier taking pictures. Unless the weather doesn't cooperate.

Until then.....

PROGRESS REPORT

I finally reached a stopping point and took a break long enough to share those photos I promised. The next installment of the Mystery BOM from Fat Quarter Shop was received and promptly completed. The "special other" doesn't like the colors. He claims they look too matronly and remind him of something his grandmother would have. ROFL .... to me that is a good thing. It means it conveys the notion of nostalgia.... the very thing that calms my being. He likes bright, vivid colors. And when it comes to Christmas colors only the brightest, truest hues will do in his mind! In this instance I disagree with him... unless we are talking lime green in lieu of pine green for the holidays! (I have a holiday tablerunner pattern and fabrics that are the brightest lime, turquoise, and cherry colors you ever saw!)

This is the latest progress on the king-size Christmas quilt that Cindy and I have each been doing. She is finished. I lack a narrow border and then the final, outer border. At the present the top is measuring 96" square. I will add borders to make the final dimensions 109" x 109". WOW!! It is huge. The main reason I am slowing in my progress now is because the top is so large, so bulky, and so HOT during these days of infernal heat. But I am plodding forward and hope to complete the borders in short order.

Of course we have been watching the Olympics. Since this is a household with a swimmer, we are glued to the TV screen whenever Michael Phelps is swimming. My son's best events include backstroke and butterfly so he is particularly enthralled when those are the heats being featured.

One final word..... Cindy, you and your family are in my prayers and thoughts. A big quilty hug to you.

Until I have something further to say.....

MORE LATER...

I've been busy. The plan at the moment is to stay on task and share some pictures soon.

Until then....

*SIGH* of Contentment

All is right with the world again. The special other is home safely and I have made a serious dent in the pile of blocks needed to complete the Christmas quilt. I only have 22 more blocks to go! Wow....I've assembled 60 blocks since the post last Monday decrying the need to make "only" 82 more.

I did some very uncharacteristic things this weekend. First, I went to a local quilt shop to see the sample blocks they had on display for the upcoming 1st Saturday Club. I thought about signing up until I saw the blocks. I was very disappointed. None of the colors were anything I'd consider remotely interesting. So I walked away from the store empty handed. Didn't hurt my feelings one bit. I tried to find something to buy, I really did.

Then I went on a quest for some Guava Jelly. I have a recipe that calls for a glaze which contains guava jelly. The nearby "regular" grocery store didn't carry any. Knowing that guava is native to Mexico and regions south, I tried the Mexican food aisle at the grocery. Still no luck. I decided to try the Azteca Meat Market down the street. Yes, they had it, but talk about being out of my element. There was not one sign in the store posted in English.

I entertained thoughts of going to Goodwill or Salvation Army stores to find a replacement blender. I have bad luck with blenders. I usually break the jar/canister portion. This time the motor burned out. Well actually, the gear that turns the blade in the bottom of the pitcher got stripped. My son has no idea who did it, but he was the last one to use the blender to make an ice cream milk shake. Must have been a blender gremlin.

Now I am tired. It's been an exhausting week and a tiresome weekend. Tiresome because of the ungodly temperatures. It was still 99 degrees at 10:15 this evening when the news was broadcasting. Tomorrow the local meteorologists promise temperatures in excess of 107. Oh goody!!! Can hardly wait.

Until another time....

T G I F ! ! !

Life has swirled around me as though I'm in a daze. First of all, the heat outside is oppressive!! Positively stifling. Even walking out the door in the morning to go to work feels like blasting your face in a furnace... or moist sauna depending on how high the humidity. Puts a person in a real funk.... and that is where I stay.

The "special other" is still out of town. Let's skip that topic altogether, thank you! Finally talked to him last night for about an hour so those doldrums subsided to a more tolerable level.

My seventeen year old is being squirrely, for lack of a better term. His age should tell you all you need to know about that one!

I want to sew and cook. The cycle perpetuates. Those are the activities to which I resort when I am feeling stressed. I am beginning to wonder if there is anything that will hasten the dissipation of these feelings.

Recent changes at my main place of employment have been welcomed as positive changes. That is at least one thing I am NOT stressed about.

Things are slowly coming around.... slowing looking brighter. We'll see.

Until I work this out.....

ONLY 82 MORE TO GO!!

I've been working on a Christmas quilt again. Last weekend I received a Christmas card in the mail. Yes, you read that correctly. A friend lives in the northeast and there is a radio station which has a Christmas in July celebration each year. Right around July 25th I received the card and was directed to "do something cool" in honor of the winter celebration. Since there was no snow for a snowball fight, nor frozen pond for ice skating (although if I'd wanted to fork over some hard earned cash I could have rented skates at the Galleria for a spin around the giant rink), I settled for sewing on a Christmas project. Here is the progress report....

Lots and lots of these.....

...turned into some of these.

Piles and piles of these (plus piles of green and piles of red)......

...turned into these.

And when I finish making 82 more of the blocks above, I can sew it all together and get this:

Or not.

Until I have more to share.....

LIKE OLD TIMES.....

Today has been a day like old times. I've pretty much done nothing but sew and cook all day. I suspect there is a reason for all these stress-relieving activities, although I am not sure I can pinpoint a cause. All I know is that I am in a grumpy mood and don't feel like being around other people. I don't suppose the fact that the temperature is hovering above 100 degrees for the past several days with promises to continue to do so for the foreseeable future has anything to do with it!! Never!!! Like someone said to me.... I've been living here for 42 years. You'd think I would be used to this heat by now. I find the opposite to be true. The older I get the less tolerant I am of this sweltering hot spot.

My solution to combating the heat is to stay in the air conditioning unless it is absolutely necessary to venture outdoors.

I went to take pictures of my progress on the blocks I am sewing.... the camera battery needed to be charged. Cancel that idea!! That means the next time I share a pictorial progress report it will look like I have really been ambitious.

Now the secret.... someone dear to me is going out of town for the next week or so. We've not been apart for more than a day or two for the past couple of years. I am feeling very unsettled, out-of-sorts, and insecure about this. It is driving me nuts that I am being so emotional about it.

Yes, sewing and cooking are good stress relievers.

Until this passes........

THIS AND THAT... AND A LITTLE MORE

It is HOT HOT HOT outside lately. Shouldn't come as any surprise since this *is* Texas in summer, but just once I'd like to wake up some morning and hear the high today was only headed to 70... or even 80 would be a relief. But no.....

So I stayed in the air conditioning doing some sewing projects. The picture below is further progress on a king-size Christmas quilt. I am running out of space to spread the thing out for pictures...unless I start moving furniture. At the present stage, it measures 68" square and will eventually be 109" square! Please forgive the lousy picture. I thought I had the camera on auto-focus and instead it was on manual focus.


The mail finally arrived... and included was the Month 2 Mystery Block-of-the-Month I am doing with several other blogger friends. I was glad to see it since it was only coming from South Texas and had been notified a full week ago that it had been sent. I never dreamed it would take an entire week to travel about 300 miles! But the block arrived and I can quit worrying. I sewed it together after I worked on the quilt shown above.

Here is a picture of the first 2 blocks side by side. I really like the colors and the sense of festive holiday they exude.

So now I am ready to proceed with more of my in-progress projects. This afternoon I had a notion that I'd really like to make an autumn pumpkin pattern I've been meaning to do for several years. I have all the supplies.... now to find the motivation.

Until I decide what to do......

WE SET OUT ON AN ADVENTURE THIS MORNING.....

We got in the truck and headed west, young man! First we stopped at Whataburger for breakfast. Then we put liquid gold (aka gasoline) in the tank. We got on the highway to Fort Worth and saw a few sights. You know you are getting close to Fort Worth when you pass Six Flags Over Texas amusement park (well at least if you are driving west from Dallas).



Another sight that will soon be considered synonymous with Dallas-Fort Worth is the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium currently under construction.


After a few more miles we are on the other side of Fort Worth. (Fort Worth is very small compared to Dallas) and we arrive at our destination: The Annual Parker County Peach Festival. (Parker County is immediately west and adjacent to Tarrant County, the county in which Fort Worth, Texas is contained.)


Yet another stately, grand old County Courthouse. This is Weatherford, Texas.... the county seat of Parker County, Texas.

This is the S O U T H, baby..... some of the old die-hards (aka Confederate Sons of America) spend a great deal of time, money, and effort re-enacting famous battles of the Civil War as historically accurate as possible. They use authentic weapons of the era and wear replica uniforms. The canon on display was made in 1846.

It always amazes me. Literally as soon as you are west of the Fort Worth city limits, you start seeing things more indicative of arid west Texas. All of the sudden, practically out of no where, there is cactus growing at every turn.

....and no PEACH FESTIVAL would be "official" without some..... you guessed it......

We had peach cobbler, peach ice cream, peach lemonade, peach smoothies, peach slush, and peach julep. And if that wasn't enough, we bought some to take home! Ross requested p e a c h e s!

Until I get re-acclimated to the coolness of the air conditioning.....

SOMEONE NOTICED!!

My seventeen year old son came into the room, walked up behind the chair at which I was sitting, put his arms around my neck and said, "What is wrong, Mom? You are sewing and you haven't done any sewing in forever." I smiled at this, giving him credit for an astute observation. Venturing into territory which I had not exactly wanted to psychologically explore.... let alone verbalize aloud, I explained the reason I was staying at home and he accepted the explanation without further comment. That was the extent of his clever acuity. He was out the door on his way to the pool. But at least someone noticed that I was in a different "mode".

The proof -- This is the messy cutting table.




The result of sitting at the sewing machine looks like this. These are the rows of small churn dash blocks which go around the perimeter of the center medallion:

And this is the result of my diligence this afternoon:

Now I am ready to proceed with the next "round" of blocks to go on this center medallion. (The final result will have this large square set on point.)

Depending on my mood, I might easily sit here sewing the entire weekend. We are supposed to go to a Peach Festival a couple of counties away, but the weather is just too dang hot to really want to venture far from the air conditioning.

Until I decide what to do......

GOOD INTENTIONS!!

I had every intention of doing some sewing this weekend. It is now Sunday afternoon and I've not yet started. I get the feeling I won't be sewing.

Until the next time.....

Another HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is Harry's birthday. The picture above is one of my favorite pictures of him, taken in Iraq several years ago. Janelle shared a copy of this picture with me when she was doing some photo editing, sending, and sharing. (Thanks again, Janelle!! This is one of the best!)

It is difficult to describe Harry in succinct terms. He is a highly complex individual, but there is no one better with whom to share adventures and outings. He is fun to work with in the kitchen as we create exotic (or not) concoctions. He is 'game' for new things without hesitation, whether culinary or a destination. He has been there to help me in countless late night emergencies (trips to the ER), with mechanical failures during heavy downpours (flat tires in a parking lot), by providing rides to and from the hospital as I was admitted for various surgeries, and by offering calming moral support during visits to the principal's office when discipline problems with my wayward son arose so regularly. I can only hope that I am there for him in a time of need as much as he has been for me.

Harry is brutally honest, and at times "brutal" is putting it mildly. Yet there is a fairness to his rationale, even if, at the time, it isn't quite apparent. He never minces words, always speaks his mind, and LOVES to talk about any and every thing!!! (He'll deny this one, but it is true. We once spent several hours on one phone call.... and we only live a few blocks from each other. He says I am the one who goes on and on during a call, but he can definitely hold up his end of any conversation, and there are times when I have to admonish him for cutting me off and/or not letting me get a word in edgewise. Another thing he will deny!!)

When all is said and done, meeting and getting to know Harry and Janelle over the past 10+ years has been a blessing in my life. (It took me long enough to figure it out, didn't it???) Janelle has provided a glimpse of what having a daughter is like amidst the chaos and testosterone of raising nothing but my boys. Ross has mentioned that he considers Harry a positive male role-model; a very good thing since a male role-model, whether positive or otherwise, has always been in short supply for most of Ross's life (excepting his Papa, of course).

Tonight we are going for a special celebratory dinner. Afterwards we will enjoy a traditional birthday dessert. (Alas, I do not have enough candles to torch the thing... I mean it isn't large enough to hold all the candles... I mean I can't afford all that wax!!!) All kidding aside, I am looking forward to the evening.

Harry, happy birthday to you... and many more! Thank you for being a part of my world.

Until I change my mind,

Gena