Today in My Life.. Oct. 18, 2013

Today is:  Friday, October 18, 2013

I got up this morning:  around 5am.  I stopped taking my sleep meds about a week ago and found that I don't sleep past around 4 each morning.  But... I am not so tired and sleepy during the day.  If I need a nap I can doze right off to sleep and awake refreshed instead of the constant tired and sleepy and unable to doze that was happening with the meds.  Also.. another plus.. I find that the heavy heart beats and arrythmias that I was feeling every night when I went to bed don't happen when I don't take that med.  This is a good thing.. :)

I am hearing:  the ticking of the clock hanging in the hall.  It is the first clock that Jerry made.  I had just learned to paint roses so that was the motif it got.. :)

Out the window:   it is still dark.  I don't know why I am so surprised at this... it is, after all,  mid October.  Daylight Savings Time will end soon.. November 3... and then it will stay dark even longer in the mornings.

I am wearing:  my blue gown.  At 6:59 am it is almost time to dress, but not quite.. ;)  I have finished one cup of coffee and at the end of cup two I might consider putting on the blue jeans and t shirt for the day.. and then again... maybe not ...lol

I am thinking:  sometimes that a move to England might be a really wonderful thing.. ;)  I grow so weary of our government acting like the idiots they are... sigh   Anyway.. perhaps I am just tired of our president haranguing on ... if it's not "Bush's fault" then it's "the Republicans"... and the bad thing is that our media leads everyone to believe that he's right.. sigh  How sad for our country...

I am thankful:  for Mariella of Knitting Nonni whose knitting inspired me to learn to knit.  :)

From the kitchen:  in a "round about way".. :)   I spent a few hours with my friend Pat B.  of Confessions of a Fiber Enthusiast some time ago.  She prepared a light lunch for us that centered around her home made pimiento cheese ..  Wow..

It was great.  So, since my sweet DH loves pimiento cheese, I decided to try to make some myself.  Turned out really good!  I was surprised at how really easy it is to make..

Here is an "almost" recipe since I never measure anything.

Pimiento Cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 jar chopped pimientos
2 to 3 tbsp. salad dressing ( I just taste it.. if it's enough I don't put any more in!)  :)

Mix well and place in covered bowl.  It tastes better if you let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours or so... gives the flavors enough time to meld.   The next batch that I make will have cream cheese added to give it a creamier texture.  Will let you know how that works out.. :)

Creatively:  speaking there isn't much getting done these days.  I find myself in a slump.  In all honesty though, the house has been a bit of an uproar.  New desks in the the office that didn't work got moved into the "guest" room that has become my work room.  And a lot of time has been spent with Katie keeping her from damaging her broken front legs... soooo Things are settling down now and yesterday I got out the fabric that I bought last week for a king size quilt for our bed.

I'm thinking about a Split Rail pattern and then I get to thinking about a Log Cabin with the red centers... can't really make up my mind.  Guess there really isn't any great thing about the choice here.. can always make another quilt using the other pattern!  :)

I am going: to the Health Dept. today to get a flu shot.  I went to Target Pharmacy last week and was told that they did not have the vaccine that was recommended for persons 65 and older.  It seems that there is a vaccine that protects against 4 kinds of flu and the one they had only protects against 3 kinds.  Now I wonder why that is?  It seems the 4 kinds of flu vaccine has a shortage.. :/

Thought for the day:  I found myself quite down in the dumps last week.  Suddenly I remembered something that my dad used to say.. "Sing!"... so I did.  It was really bad singing.. I just wasn't really in the mood, but the strangest thing happened.  Suddenly, immediately .. my mood changed.  I can't tell you how amazed I was!  You can bet that I won't forget that word of advice again.. :)

The weather is cooling down here in North Texas and what a relief it is.  We've had rain for several days now... a slow and invigorating rain.  Makes everything feel clean and refreshed.

Hope your days are good.. :)

First Prize and Judge's Choice!

The Red River Quilter's Guild in Wichita Falls, TX. hosted their Quilting in the Falls: Bi-Annual Quilt Show on October 9th and 10th.

DDIL enters each show with a quilt that she hand quilts.  Her work is so perfect that even though she encourages me to enter my quilts... no way...lol   So here I am in bragging mode and delighted that she placed with a blue ribbon and also won Judge's Choice this year.

She does much more than just quilting.  She crochets, embroiders, knits... and is just as talented with those crafts as with the quilting.
Have a look at some of the things she is working on now at her blog Black Cat.  It's written in Japanese, but the pictures are self explanatory and there's always Babblefish.. ;o)

Congratulations, Tomomi...

Today in My Life... November 30, 2009

Today: November 30, 2009

I got up this morning: very early. It's still cold, but if I turn up the heat it bothers my sweet DH and he gets in a frightful mood... lol And besides..if it were very cold I would just put on socks and dig out that wonderful huge shawl that I love to wear in the winter. It's going to be a lovely, clear day today, but am already missing all the green leaves on the trees...

I am hearing: him move around, turn on the faucet and click down the hall. ;o)

The current book is: Four Blind Mice by James Patterson. I'm not sure I can finish it this time around (already read it at 3 times...) Seem to be needing to try some other genre than the murder mystery... just can't find anything that will hold my attention..sigh

Creating: I have done several things since the last time I posted... The quilt is finished.

This is my very first bedsized quilt. It is a queen and I found it not difficult at all. But then it was an easy one..lol But now I have the confidence to continue on to one that is more difficult.

Another of the small pastels that I do in the evenings...

Knitted two scarves from my handspun Merino. Both used Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf Pattern...

The other scarf is exactly the same knitting pattern, but is a deeper burgundy than this one. Love this pattern.. simple, pretty and warm. Drapes well...

I found a free pattern on Ravelry for a men's cowl that I wanted to do for one of my sons who feels he wouldn't use a scarf very much, so I did it. I used my handspun Merino lamb..... It's my first try at doing cables and found they were not nearly the ogre stitch I thought they would be. Finished it, bound off, wove in loose ends and found that in at least 2 places I had dropped stitches off the ends of the double point needles that I used... Terribly disappointed. I tried to pick them up with crochet hooks and succeeded in one place, but cannot seem to succeed in the other one. This may get frogged and redone with another set of needles. Anyway, the small needles that were called for in the pattern seem to be too small for this yarn... the cowl is very stiff and if it shrinks at all will be too small for him... hmmm

Family news: Daughter Bev and her husband Kent were here for a couple of days over the holiday. Kent had to pop in just overnight due to work schedule, but was terrific to get to see them.

My diet: took a couple of days off while they were here. I made some luscious cranberry/orange relish and canned it... Could eat my weight in that stuff...lol

May have to buy more cranberries and make enough to last all year... ;o)

The coming of daughter and son in law was all the excuse I needed to make banana bread.. ;o) Made a large loaf and then 4 small loaves.

Yum... Yum...

Have to add in here that I have lost 30 pounds, so felt that perhaps it would be ok to backslide for a day or two. Am truly happy about the loss and will have no problem getting back to business...lol However..that is said with a serious caveat... this is once a year holiday season with fruit cake and eggnog..lol.. and I will have both before this is over... ;o)

Looking forward to: Christmas... ;o) Will be putting up my tree this year after not putting it up last year. The holidays just are not the holidays without some kind of decoration and that makes it all too depressing.... instead of happy....

Just a thought: Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself - and thus make yourself indispensable. ... Andrew Gide

Today in My Life... 11/10/2009

Today: November 10, 2009 Tuesday

I got up this morning: stumbled to the bathroom and then immediately got on the scales... So pleased to have lost once again to 181... will not give up until I pass the 179 mark this week..

I am hearing: the click of my SDH (sweet DH ) as he plays solitaire on his pc...

The current book is: The Collectors by David Baldacci... for at least the 5th time... I messed up a while back and misstated the author of The Camel Club... it is not James Patterson.. it's David Baldacci. Sorry...



Creating: Several things this past week... I started this quilt top a couple of days ago. It should be finished today and hopefully quilted tomorrow... Nothing like a little optimism..lol










Earlier this week I found a couple of oak dowels that were just lying around in the shop. Sooo.. I cut them in half, ground the tips to a point, sanded them well then brought them inside and broke off a piece of scented candle and rubbed them for all I was worth... Wow... so smooth and smell so good.. Voila' !! Knitting needles... size 17 and size 12...



The Harp has been re-tied after having the weaving cut off due to a broken warp. This is Romney wool single plied with polyester sewing thread and kool aid dyed. The fabric is very nice, but has a bit of an open weave. I don't know if it will full up a bit or not since I abused the yarn about as badly as I know how... (thanks for that tip, Abby Franquemont!)... in hopes that the final product will be much less fragile... As of last night, I only have about 6 inches left and this will be done.





I'm not sure what store we were in but there on the shelf (for almost nothing) were a couple of artist journals... one for watercolor and another for pastels... Well, you know I just couldn't leave them there so they followed me home.. imagine that... It has be so much fun sitting and doodling at night watching tv...


Anything new: is the discovery of Facebook. I am not altogether comfortable with all the family links and personal stuff that can be deduced from these sites, but I do enjoy having the ability to be in contact with so many in the family on a daily basis... Love that...

Happy Flowers Quilt

I was wandering through my fabric stash the other for something or another and came across...voila... a baby crib quilt piece of fabric that has to have been there for at least 5 years... Since it is pink and green...girl's colors... I guess I thought I would never have a need for it. But now there's Hannah..!! :o) Well, it is now in the process of being quilted... This will be much quicker than the last one. I will not be doing any embroidery on this one.


And... guess what... when I was in JoAnn's the other day... lo and behold...what did I find...and on sale, no less...for 99 cents... but the impossible to find in this town or any nearby town... a quilting foot! I have looked everywhere...asked everywhere. No one has one and everyone wanted to send me to Wal Mart to find one.. I had already looked there and they didn't have one. It will get it's first tryout on this quilt.. ;o)


The sun is shining today and the temps will rise this afternoon into the low 90s. I haven't looked at the weather, but I'm sure hoping for at least a week respite from the rain. Of course, along about August everyone will be praying for rain..lol.. can't be pleased....


Have a really good day...

Hannah's Quilt and EZ Shawl Update

Hannah's quilt is finished. It is now folded and ready for the trip to Arizona. I am finding that I am enjoying quilting more and more. It was never one of those things that I found relaxing or fun to do. I guess it's like spinach...it grows on you...lol

The Elizabeth Zimmermann shawl is growing. There are now 50 stitches between each marker and the shawl measures 16 inches radius. I've got to buy another needle with at least a 24 inch cable. EZ says 24" is as long as anyone really needs, but really... I have to wonder about that.

I Know, Pattie...It's been almost a month!

I don't know what has been the problem, but it has been really difficult to blog the past couple of weeks. I think perhaps the loss of Vic bothered me more than I thought it would. It seems kind of strange when I think about it. We see the Rangers perhaps once a year..if we make it to the reunion that year. But they become almost family..almost instantly. Each has his/her own personality and each is quite different. But each still manages to hang onto a tiny piece of your heart. Anyway...

I am always happy to see the redbud tree in the backyard bloom. Spring is around the corner! We had some really lovely weather for a while, but the last few days have been cold and wet with the night temps in the mid to lower 30s. When I spoke to daughter Paula a couple of days ago she said it had begun to snow...wow... She lives just north of us a couple of hours. But then, a person soon learns that no matter how warm and sunny the weather turns this time of year....ya just don't plant flowers, seeds ..anything until after Easter. It has been known to snow and freeze on Easter Sunday.

I have finished this pair of socks. Now DH has 2 pair of sleep socks that he can switch off...and perhaps keep from wearing out so fast! ;o)

I am knitting another pair just like these that will fit me. They do come in handy on those cold nights when nothing I do seems to get my feet warm. Some of those rice bags to heat in the microwave and put at the foot of the bed as feet warmers are definitely on the "to do" list...

Hannah's quilt is finally ready for the quilting. Because of the embroidery I will have to quilt it by hand I think. My brain will not come up with anything that would look good on the machine...but then perhaps I just have not had enough experience with that..lol
It's funny... there are several quilting groups here in town, but nowhere can I find a quilting foot for my sewing machine. Not at Wal Mart, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby... nowhere. Now I wonder why that is?

Here's a picture of another of the crazy quilts that were on display at the Red River Museum. What a treat that display was! These displays are changed about every six (6) months. I'm not sure if this display been changed or not, but if you are in the area it never hurts to stop by and see.....

Red River Historical Museum

301 S. Walnut Street

Sherman, TX

You will be pleasantly surprised!

It's Tuesday...

I finally finished a rough draft of the Spindling booklet I'm trying to put together for the class that I will be teaching at the Red River Museum Craft Saturday in March. I ran off a color copy and sent it to our son in Mesa, AZ to proof. Technical writing was one of his majors in college, so I'm sure it will return to me with at least a few red marks..lol

This class will be a beginner's class to learn to spin wool on a spindle. The class will put together a bottom whorl spindle just like the one in the picture so they will have an idea how to make their own. The actual spinning lesson will be with an Ashford top whorl beginner's spindle that I have purchased. There will be room for 14 in the class. Now that the booklet is almost finished, I am really getting excited about this class.

This is the embroidery work that I am doing for Hannah's quilt. I thought the blocks needed a bit of definition, so the red and green embroidery will be done on the seams, then there will be borders...then hopefully the backing and quilting. I have to hold myself back from really going all out... I have already considered painting the orange squares with little baby things...lol Or maybe doing ribbon roses... however... I think not..lol Perhaps on something for when she is older.. ;o)

Have I shown you my teapot bracelet? I just love it. It was ordered when we went to our daughter Bev's for Thanksgiving. She was hosting a jewelry party and taking early orders. As soon as I saw this I knew it was for me..lol Not that I have a thing for teapots, or anything like that... !!