Monday, June 2, 2008

Monday Giveaway

Serena from Embroidery Treasures is having a Monday Giveaway of Machingers quilting gloves . I have read wonderful things on these gloves on various groups. If you would like to enter, just go to her blog and leave a comment before June 9th. Again, this one is only open to U.S. residents.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

National Cemetary - Parents Anniversary



Today, my parents would have been married 63 years. This afternoon my husband asked if I would like to go to the cemetary where my father is buried and I of course said yes. It is a National Cemetary for the military. They keep it very nice, but I guess the drought has affected the cemetary, too, as the grass was looking kind of like mine at home. It looks a lot like Arlington National Cemetary as far as the headstones and how they look to be laid out. If you notice in the picture some headstones have writing and some don't. That is because this is taken from in front of my father's headstone, toward the road, and that is the back's of them. The ones that have writing are where the spouses have passed away also, and are buried above the military person. It is very beautiful there, especially on holidays like Memorial day and July 4th, then they have flags everywhere.
It is about 41 miles from my house to the cemetary, and we tried out our new GPS phone. I think that we are going to like having it very much. If I can keep my wits about me enough, we shouldn't be one of those old couples who drive off to the store, and end up mosquito bitten in the woods a few days later. Although, I guess if I can work the GPS, I can find my way to the store and back. I forgot my camera and we went back home and I'm sure caused the little lady inside the GPS some stress. She kept telling us to make a legal U-turn. (Yes, I'm kidding, I'm not old enough yet to believe there is a little lady in there)
This morning I worked on my OC and finished the 20 big blocks of step 5 and have the triangle blocks ready to assembly line sew. I'm hoping to get more done tonight, although I am running out of steam so it may be tomorrow. Hopefully, Bonnie won't do the next clue until at least Tuesday, and I should be caught up for the first time.
I don't know what happened to my blog template, and my pretty patterned sides, all day it has been black. I hope I'm not going to have to redo.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Another Giveaway

I just found another giveaway. It's at Camille's Place and she's celebrating
300,300 visitors. There is still time to enter until June 08. Her blog is a treat for the eyes and very interesting and informative. So please visit Ribbonwiz's blog and leave a comment.

Thimble, Handquilting, and Cell Phones

I had replied to a post on Fabricologist Anonymous and Lissa had just had a little shopping spree, including a silver thimble from www.thimblelady.com
My brother one year for Christmas had gotten me a gold thimble, I think 10K, and the next year got me a silver thimble holder. He loves to go to pawn shops, thrift shops, and garage sales, and often gets some bargains. I thought that I would just share a picture of them. I don't know if they are antiques or anything like that, but they are a couple of my treasures.
That made me think to show my so far only hand quilting start (actually, I do have 2, as I have an Eagle Scout quilt started for my son, who has been out of Scouts for many years, so I guess I should consider finishing it). It is all ready and quilted, will be queen sized when finished, and it is a sampler quilt. Not too much quilting on it, but I worked very hard on it, I thought. I need to sew the blocks together and I will have a UFO finished that I did back about 22 or 23 years ago. It has been to this point since then. The colors are much softer than in the pictures. These were made using Georgia Bonesteel's Lap Quilting technique.


My husband and I are retired now, he has been for about 5 years, and I have been for about 2 years, and since I was the caretaker for my mother, we didn't get out of the house too much. We are hoping to do some traveling, health permitting, and so for our anniversary (which isn't until the end of next month), I got a new phone with GPS. This is my first phone that wasn't black, and wasn't the free giveaway at the time, and I am enjoying playing with it. I will have the internet on it for 2 months, and then when the rebate comes back I will cancel that, but for now I can play all I want.
Unfortunately, all these things sidetrack my OC, but I have got step 5 cut out, and half the blocks stacked up and ready to assembly line sew.


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Apology and Explanation

Yesterday, I changed the template on my blog, and I lost the Mystery Quilter and Stashbuster Ring links. I apologize for breaking the circles, and I have emailed the leaders to see how to get it back onto my blog. I'm working on it.

Note: With help from Suzette the Stashbuster web ring link is back on here. From what she told me, I was also able to add back the Mystery Quilters web ring link, so I am no longer the 'weakest link'.

Giveaway


Here's another great site, and a beautiful giveaway. This one unfortunately is only open to US residents. It is from Serena at Embroidery Treasures. Here's a description:
"This delicious fat quarter bundle consisting of 10 fat quarters is from Benartex. Victorian colors of burgundy, olive green and pink are evident in the Aspen collection by Marianne Elizabeth! Perfect for so many projects!"
You have until June 2nd to post a comment and enter.

Orange Crush Step 4 - Etc.

Step 4 of my Orange Crush is finally finished, and I am so excited to finally be sort of caught up, and to be cutting into my orange and blue fabric. The blocks are kind of subdued, but I don't think that the quilt will be when the other two fabrics are added. I think it will be saying, "look at me".

Also, I just wanted to confess that the missing parts to my featherweight were in the box, but at the bottom of about 2 feet of styrofoam peanuts in a baggie. I think that they were probably taped to the outside of the case and came loose. I haven't tried it with thread yet to see if it works and sews. I see from the featherweight group that I just joined that some sellers don't differentiate between the two in their ads. I guess to them works means that the motor turns on and it goes up and down, but it may not actually sew. I guess that I will find out which mine is. It does work, and I hope it sews.
Also, if you have visited my blog, you may have noticed that with the help of
Helz from Blue Shadow Pony (I love her blog and it's name) I went to:
http://www.pyzam.com/bloggertemplates and got a new template for my blog. I like the looks better, but now I need to scour around and try to find my little buttons or widgets, or whatever you call them, for the sides. It may be a day or two though, as I hope to at least do some cutting today on my OC.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day

I have a good start to the day, but no plans. I'm not sure what my kids are up to, but my DH and I are having a quiet day. I have got Ham and Split-pea soup cooking in the crockpot, and I plan on continuing my step 4 of the OC. Yesterday, I finished 10 blocks, and have 10 more stacked up ready to assembly line sew as soon as I finish a little housework. Hope you all have a nice holiday for the ones of you who celebrate Memorial Day.
Here's the recipe for the soup, it is excellent, and an easy hearty meal.
HAM AND SPLIT PEA SOUP
1 16-ounce pkg. Publix (or any brand)Green Split Peas, sorted and rinsed - 2 cups diced cooked ham - 3 carrots - 1/2 cup diced onions - 3 ribs celery - 2 cloves minced garlic - 1 bay leave - 12 sprigs parsley - 1 tbsp. seasoned salt - 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper - 6 cups water ( I added 3 diced potatoes after the carrots)Prepare ingredients by dicing carrots etc and layer ingredients in slow cooker in order listed. Do not stir to mix. Pour water gently over layers. Cover and cook on High 4-5 hours or Low 8-10 hours until peas are soft. Remove bay leaf; mash peas to thicken, if desired (I don't), or stir to blend soup. Top with croutons if desired. Makes 10 cups.
Sorry, there is a reflection of my kitchen and dining room lights in the lid.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

3 Giveaways to Enter


I have run across 3 giveaways in the past couple of days. One is on Home Sweet Home Jo Jo's site, and she has 2 giveaway's "first prize on offer will be your choice of any 2 of the ‘Bling for Pins’ that appear in the picture on her blog and the second…..well the second is a mystery????". I think I would like the 'Bling for Pins'. The second is Go Doodles N Quilt, which I had mentioned in my post on May 18, and she is giving away an adorable doll from her new business. The third is from Doxies on My Quilt. Rhonda is celebrating her 100th post. She gave a hint of what she's giving. It sure is pretty fabric.
I think there is still time to leave a comment and enter on all three.
Happy Long Weekend.


Saturday, May 24, 2008

Featherweight

When the doorbell rang this afternoon, I wasn't expecting anyone, and was surprised when it was the mailman at my door with a big box. (Also, a baby lizard that my husband got with a paper toweled hand and sent back outside.) I only ordered my featherweight a couple of days ago, but there it was. It had to come less than 150 miles, but it was still a surprise.
As you can see, it is a bit scratched up, but I hooked it up, the light worked, and it purred along. I couldn't try any actual stitching, as the bobbin case that was supposed to have come with it wasn't there. I have already emailed the seller, so hopefully it will be coming soon. The part that holds the thread on top was broken, and that was supposed to have been included also, but wasn't. Hopefully, this lady is a reputable person and will make sure that I receive the missing parts.

I have looked on line and found a place that has all kinds of parts including the part that I am missing on the top, and it looked to be reasonable. It does look like a toy, even my Janome Jem looks like a big bully in comparison. I am anxious to see the famous featherweight straight stitch.
I was glad to have a pleasant surprise, as this morning was fairly unpleasant. I tried for hours to order some collage prints online, and finally called the company. She did the best she could, and then checked with the supervisor who told her to check with the technical people. I am waiting on them now, so I guess we'll see how they do. At least, it wasn't me.