Thursday, 07/30/2009

I just realized that I haven't blogged about the new picture I put up as a header. This is a Bottlebrush plant and while I have read about them many times, this was the first one I had ever seen. It was growing in front of the elevator that we took to get to our room in El Cajon while we were on vacation. It was so big, it tipped the 3rd floor and was in full bloom. I want one... ;o) If you click on the link, there is a picture of the hotel and the bottlebrush plant in front of the blue tiled elevator.

There's not been a lot of hobby-ing in the last few days except in the evening. Since we had to take the curtains down anyway, I decided to cut them down. While the "puddle" look with fabric on the floor might look ok, it's not too great at keeping the dust and dirt off the curtains...not to mention the bugs out here in the semi-country. No.. I'm not drinking 2 or 3 cups at a time.. lol The coffee cups are to hold the fabric down...

As an aside... Now that DH has assisted with cutting the window film and the curtains, he has decided that he needs one these cutting mats to use in his shop. He cuts the glass for the picture frames he builds and this would sure help to line it up straight. Wonder what they'll say at JoAnn's! lol

Isn't it great to have gardening friends? ;o) DH came home yesterday with this batch of wonders. Today they will be peeled, sliced, blanched and dipped into corn meal to be frozen. It's a shame I can't eat them right now... sigh But... I'm 10 pounds down on my diet, so there's no stopping now.

Tuesday I found that I had finished spinning the chocolate merino, the Cotswold and the bamboo. I dyed the Cotswold blue and tried to dye the chocolate Merino, but there was no way. I think if I want to dye it I will have to use acid dyes or some other type professional dye instead my old stand by Kool Aid. Since it has been raining the drying was time was quite long, so it wasn't until last night that they could be rolled into center pull balls.

Have a good day... ;o)

"What you see is evidence of what you believe. Believe it and you'll see it." ... Dr. Wayne Dyer

Tuesday...07/28/2009

A couple of days ago I was trying out the idea of free motion quilting on my machine and used a couple of small pieces of scrap that I had lying around. It took a bit to catch on, but I finally did and finished quilting the whole thing. It seemed such a waste to just throw it away, so I decided to make a book cover with it. I dutifully came inside and got a book, measured carefully, sewed it up and... voila'! ... it's too small... deep sigh

Not to be outdone by a measuring stick...



The book cover will now become a dpn knitting needle roll... VOILA' ! .... Of course, there is a little to be done. The divider seams for the different dpn sets have to sewn and another ribbon will be added on the other side so it will close properly.
There is another piece of this in my workroom that will be made into a book form with pages to hold my circulars. That idea just popped up, so we'll see how that works out... ;o)

The truth is that I have been wanting to make one of these for a while. I have been slowly gaining dpn and circular knitting needle sets for a while now and have had to continually hunt in my little case to find the sets that I need. So this is a good thing...



We finished the window film on the master bedroom yesterday...which also has lots of window space on the west and south sides of the house. After all the climbing to reach the tops of the windows and bending to do the cutting, I was ready for a sit down...

So...after supper I finished the spinning of the bamboo batts that I bought a year or so ago. There were two batts, but one was of a color that seemed more mud than anything else and I really did not like it when it was spun. I pulled as much of the brightly colored bamboo fiber out of it as I could (it was a wool/bamboo mix) and spun it in with the other batt. Getting the single onto the knitty noddy was as far as I got last night. It will be double plied, but that will have to wait until this evening.

It rained some yesterday and when I went out to take some pics of the flowers in the back yard it was very much like a really bad sauna. It is supposed to rain again today and tomorrow... and that's good as long as I am putting up the window film. (It keeps the windows from being too hot and the film holds better)

As for the pictures...


The trumpet vine is outdoing itself this year. It makes a perfect rounded top to the 10 foot tall stump we left of tree that died during the drought three years ago. It's a wonderful draw for the hummingbirds that swarm around it during the day.













The crepe myrtle is not as showy this year as it was last year, but it is still one of my favorite plants.


"All the abundance you want is already here. You just have to tune it in." ...

Everyday Wisdom by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Energy Efficient Window Film... I Like It!

We have 16.5 linear feet of windows in our office...facing west. The Texas summer afternoons are not easy in here even with the window shades drawn. Yesterday we started putting energy efficient film on the windows. We found some that reduces 70% of the sun's heat and 99% of the UV rays. (Did you know that UV exposure causes the back of your eyes to burn until they turn yellow? I didn't either until my ophtholmologist told me mine were yellow...hmmm) The picture makes it look like it really darkens the room...but it doesn't. It does however make what's outside much clearer by reducing the glare.

I have to say that I would enjoy this job much more if we had solid pane windows instead of having to cut all these little ones...but even with that, it is so worth it.

The snail/mushroom quilt is now ready to quilt and the le Tour de Fleece is finished... These are blogged about on Fabric Follies Two .

Have a good Sunday...

Weather, Workroom and Working It Out

It's hot outside today...and a heavy sort of hot at that. It rained during the night and was cloudy when we first got up this morning, but now it's just steamy. We are both back on the Atkin's Diet and have found that if we go to Grandy's we can both eat all we want, stay on the diet and feel like we have been "out to eat"...lol So, this morning we went "out to eat" and then to Kroger's. So much for my "day out"...lol But with the muggy heat out there getting warmer all the time, I have to say that it was all I really wanted.

I've been cleaning and sorting through my workroom for the last few days. There is still much to do, but finally there is progress showing through the mess. During this process, I have come to the conclusion that an entire re-do is necessary. Getting rid of the refrigerator was a major step in the rearrangement process. Now there is room for another shelf. That will help immensely in finding more actual working space on the tabletops.



The "Snail and Mushroom" quilt block is finished. There will be an edging put on two sides, then the rest of the quilt will be made around this block. The complete quilt plan has not totally evolved, but I am thinking there will be tall pines on the left and underneath will be a long block with floral applique... But we will see how it comes out...

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl

My heart is breaking for Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho and his family. I hope he and they know that there are many Americans who are sending their hope and prayers for his safe release. We have a son and 2 grandsons serving in the military during this trying time... May it end soon...

The Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan...Thought Provoking

When all the wrangling for position and corruption of politicians and all the day to day irritations and every now and then when it seems that life in general is just pulling me down... I watch and listen to this. And realize how eternal and circular are the loves, laughs, tears and majesties of this world. And that the best we can do is be kind to ourselves...and to each other.

Comment Freaks

I'm sure I am not the only one who is incensed with some idiot using comments on my posts as a way to advertise. The one on my previous post is particularly annoying because I can find no way in the blogger layout to delete it. If anyone out there in cyberspace knows how to delete this from blogger posts, I would be most appreciative to learn how.....

HOT!... and Vacation Pics

It's so hot this week that staying inside is the only reasonable choice (if you have one). It's supposed to be 104°F today and was at least that yesterday. Wichita Falls is expecting 107°...as is Yuma, AZ. How did anyone survive before air conditioning? We have turned our hot tub down to 83° .. which holds it around 92° and sure makes for a nice cooling off dunk in the afternoon. I think this heat is worse than the heat in Arizona... the humidity is so heavy. So... who was that was complaining about so much rain...??? ;o)



I took this picture on our way home from Phoenix while we were on vacation. I love these cactus "trees". They are the most amazing looking conglomerations of vegetation that I can imagine. And they were everywhere. Reminds me of a sci-fi otherworld-scape.


The really good thing about the entire trip was that after we reached Pecos, TX there were no itchy eyes, runny noses or clogged sinuses. It seemed that my (and DH's) allergies just disappeared.

If you ever get a chance to go to Pecos, TX...go. The museum there is huge and extremely well done for such a small town. This bar is the original one from the saloon and is in the original building with the original tables and chairs . The mannequin behind the bar is a recreation of the bartender that worked that bar ... he moves wiping the bar and talking about the history of this building. It's great. There are 50 rooms filled with history in this building and the adjoining one next door.






There is one room filled with nothing but memorabilia about Judge Roy Bean. If you have never heard of him, he was called "The Hangin' Judge" and named his little piece of the West "Langtry" because he was obsessively enamored with the world renowned actress Lily Langtry.


















These Indian grindstones fascinated me. Can you imagine how many generations it would take to grind down the one on the left and in the middle?








There is much more in the museum... I have many, many pictures but enough already..lol





It was terribly hot that day and after we toured the museum we just went back to the room and slouched for the rest of the day. Ventured out again around 6pm to find some supper.

This Best Western was new and did we ever love this room.....

Nielsen Ratings...Our Turn

Have you ever wondered how "Nielsen" gets his ratings for the television shows? I have. Now I know. We had a call just before we left for vacation asking if we would like to participate in the Neilsen ratings for last week.

DH was not interested, but I was... if for no other reason than to see how it worked. I told them that we have absolutely no use for regular television... that we hate all the useless "reality" shows that are so scripted it reminds us of the 1950s wrestling matches.... and who in their right mind is "entertained" by watching people scream and yell at each other... ughhh They said that was ok... they wanted us to do it anyway...so I did.

There is a chart for every television in the house...even if they are never turned on. All you do is fill out the channel name and number for each show that you watch for a week. Easy peasy. List the channels you have available to watch and enter any shows that you have saved on a DVR and when you watched them. Really nothing to it. Then there is a place in the back where you fill out what you really think of television in general. Boy! Did that one get filled in quick...lol

Mine are to be put into the mail today. Two of them with nothing but our names in them. They were never turned on.

And now...the next time anyone talks about "so and so" got the top Nielsen Rating, I'll know how they got it... and so will you... lol

Charles Ward

Charles Ward married my mom over 30 years ago. He has been a staple in our lives for a long time. He watched my children grow, my sisters' and brothers' children grow and now all of their children grow. He worked every day. He loved to grow things.. had a lovely lawn and pecan trees everywhere on their small yard and grew a yearly garden. Fishing and boating were "his thing" and he made sure everyone got to go if they wanted to go. He was "Mr. Fix-it".

Charlie loved his two daughters Lindy and Cindy. They never had anything to do with him after the divorce of their parents, but that never stopped Charlie from telling anyone who would listen that his Lindy was the greatest basketball player on the team. He talked unceasingly about them.

He died of leukemia on July 3rd. He was 83 years old. He is missed.