Ms Grundy again

started years ago - 20 blocks in this one - made from instructions that make 16 blocks at a time - so I made 16 more to make this 'baby' quilt more a toddler size... So then I made 16 more, so then I could make 2 of these (the other top is finished) -- BUT I still have 8 left over... If you give a mouse a cookie.... I spray basted AND pinned yesterday, then quilted and bound it. DONE DONE

Everyone was home for Thanksgiving!

finally finished - Day n Night by Eleanor Burns It's lumpy and bumpy - and I will not show that part to a quilter - but it's done, and my grandson won't care.

I have wanted to learn watercolor painting for years. Now, our local library is sponsoring lessons. This is about the fifth or sixth lesson, but I had to miss a couple. Our instructor, Alexander Murphy, is a talented young artist in his own right. This lesson was about grayscale and value. We all did really well - amazing ourselves.

I had a cat who would purr so loud you could hear her over three rooms. She was very fluffy, loved the grandkids, and even played with Legos. We named her George because of the cartoon. We had her for 2 or 3 years. She just never came home one day. We live in the country - foxes, raccoons, coyotes, probably bobcats, and a friend nearby has a photo of a big cat (panther, mountain lion, whatever) at the bottom of his hunting stand (insert irony). So anything could have got her. Our other cat has lived here for 13 years, no problem.  But I miss George.

four pr mittens, one pr small adult sox, two pr baby sox mailed today to Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. It's already cold up there.

My Favorite Writing Quotes All totally stolen from  Yarn-A-Go-Go  by Rachael Herron  At the moment of commitment, the  universe conspires to assist you.  GOETHE Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else.  GLORIA STEINEM Write about it by day, and dream about it by night.  E.B. WHITE I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult . E. B. WHITE I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.  THOMAS EDISON In fiction, veracity is nice...but believability is all that you're really required to provide and all that your audience has a right to expect.  ROBERT MASELLO - Robert's Rules of Writing Whew.  Anybody who shifts gears when he writes for children is likely to wind up stripping his gears.  E.B. WHITE Start writing, no matter what. The water does n...

Had my right eye operated on today-  I am watching TV without glasses. I have worn glasses since I was 12 ( I am now on Medicare). And I can read the words on the screen! My right eye is now better than my left. I will still have to wear glasses for that reason, and my left cataract is not nearly ready for surgery yet... I have been nearsighted all my life. But now it seems my distance vision may be better...

  about 16 1/2" wide at the top x 12" tall x 4" deep  Bought the pattern and fabric in Panama CIty.  Love it!    about 17" by 18" - I have wanted to try a twister pattern for a while.. bought this template from an online friend who got it from Primitive Gatherings.  - turned out to be quite small. - not the smallest- there is a teeny tiny twister too. I sure am glad I didn't get that one!  The problem with the twister idea is that there is so much wasted fabric - so I cut out smaller squares from the scraps. These end up one inch squares:    AND in unrelated news, I am the new children's coordinator librarian at the local library. Since I worked in libraries from 7th grade all the way through the year after my Bachelor's degree(four different organizations), perhaps it was fate that that's where I have ended up...

My favorite dogs We traveled to Florida to see our newest grandson, and took these two with us. They traveled extremely well, with no accidents of any kind. They seemed to love FL. These pictures were taken by Jer, I think from IN the pool. In the top picture, you can see where Bridget's leg was shaved for her IV. Yes, that's another whole story. About two weeks before our trip, Bridget had been feeling poorly, some diarrhea, some vomiting, lethargy. She finally refused to eat -VERY unlike herself, and stopped standing up or really, moving at all. But she is diabetic. So when she wouldn't eat, we didn't give her insulin. Then she began drinking water constantly, and then immediately throwing it up. We took her to the vet. He said she had a systemic infection, gave her tons of antibiotics, and said not to give her insulin unless she was eating. The next day, she was worse, and started having seizures. I drove her to the vet's other office (half an hou...

What a great way to get started journaling - just saw this on a blog... I'm feeling  ...  I'm seeing  ... I'm hearing  ...  I'm thinking  ... I'm planning  ...  I'm going  ...  I'm reading  ...  I'm wearing  ...  I'm cooking  ...  I'm creating  ... I'm enjoying  ...  I'm sharing  ...  But I wouldn't want to do every line every day - most days would say I'm feeling tired from work, or I'm going to work. And I rarely cook. So.. maybe just a few each day - two or three? I'm feeling ... really tired after my first day at the library - not used to being on my feet all day. I'm seeing ... perfect weather -moderate temps, partly cloudy - though the creek was really high this past weekend. I'm creating ... more mittnz for Cheyenne River - Got two pr done, and Jerry asked me for finger-free mittens. Finished those in FL (Hahaha- knitting mittens under the p...

Finally finished this - about 5"square The pattern was for a needle roll, but I think I will sew it into a pincusion - square, rather than rolling so that the stitches can be seen.

I knew I had a skein of Sugar n Cream cotton, and while searching for sock yarn, I found another. Turns out a skein will make 2.25 dishcloths the size I like -about 6" square. So I gathered all my scraps, and made bunches. I like the scrappy ones too.

I knew I had a skein of Sugar n Cream cotton, and while searching for sock yarn, I found another. Turns out a skein will make 2.25 dishcloths the size I like -about 6" square. So I gathered all my scraps, and made bunches. I like the scrappy ones too.

I started knitting mittnz for the Cheyenne River Reservation annual blitz. I had recently seen my old trusty handwritten mitten pattern, but then lost it again (senility much?) So I looked at some patterns on Ravelry. None of them were for the gauge of my yarn and size of my hands. I wanted mittens with a long cuff and a gusset, not afterthought thumbs. So I figured out my own pattern, making them the size to fit my (rather large) hands. The yarn is Lion Brand Amazing, in 2 different colorways.  Now, can you believe that each pair was knit from a single skein of yarn, except for about a half-inch of the top and one thumb? I love the yarn and all the colors! It is soft, too. But these really don't look like mates. As soon as he saw the brown ones, my husband assumed they were for him, but he wanted a finger flap. That's so you can get your fingers free without getting your whole hand exposed and maybe losing the mitt. I made him some about 35 years ago. So I bought anot...

My water heater broke over the weekend. There is nothing more invigorating than a stone-cold hair wash. I had a job interview yesterday, but the new water heater won't be installed until this afternoon (hopefully) (Don't jinx anything!)

another recent finish. I truly don't know why I stop ALL my projects half (or more) done.  But it's finished now...

got two kit packages for blocks at the local-- didn't have enough of the dark gold - had to add from stash

My dog loves to walk - handsome devil, isn't he? OK, his head really does look like it is too small for his body. And this picture looks like the head was added with cut-n-paste!! Poor dog!

bought a kit in Hardy AR this summer    over 230 pieces traced, ironed to adhesive, cut, placed, and soon to be sewn

My daughter made herself a wonderful going-away present. I'm quilting it, This requires me to vacuum, mop, get up and down on the floor, and sweat a lot.

Lovely day for a walk Never know what strange things you will find...

I used to buy $50 vacuums, and replace them every year or two. Then I wanted a Dyson - and found one at BigLots, for great price (MORE than $50, though). It has advertising that proclaims, "permanent Hepa filter."    I LOVE the Dyson - great for pet hair and the millions of tiny bugs attracted to our window at night because of the light. They are small enough to get through the screen, then die there in the crevice between the screen and the glass. They mound up into impressive piles.  But today, while I was vacuuming, my Dyson didn't want to fold back to an upright position. So I began removing pieces to try to figure it out. I removed a round thing that, it turns out, holds the Hepa filter. On the inside, in the part that you can't see when the machine is put together, are instructions for washing the filter. It says you need to wash the fiter every 6 months.    (hangs head in shame)  It NEVER occurred to me to open that thing up. So maybe if I hadn't got...

Thursday, June 20, 2013 It is hard as heck getting a picture of jets taking off F22 over F15

Thursday, June 20, 2013 Jacob Alex Dean, 6 weeks old

more Socks for Cheyenne River I am using up the ends of yarn left after making myself a pair. 

Also, found a curtain - WAY buried in the closet-that-will-not-be-emptied d. Well- a drape, actually, with light-darkening sealer on the back of the fabric. Now, I live in the country - WAY in the country. Few people pass by. Because of the way our house and the roads are situated, no one can randomly see in our windows. And our house was constructed Southwest-style, which is to say that the sheet rock wraps around the window insets, and there is no wood trim (no baseboards either, but that's a different story...) So we didn't want curtains at all. But at night those black squares are disconcerting. In the summer, large south-facing windows heat up the house, and of course, in the winter I can feel the cold coming in through the north. So I gradually added curtains on spring-pressure shower-curtain rods inside the window areas. There were only two windows left without curtains, and here I found the material already bought (probably ten or more years ago). So...

I got my baby quilt finished and washed to remove the chalk I used to mark the quilting. And I gave up on pinning the big quilt and used something from the stash that doesn't-quite-match for the backs of the placemats. No one is going to see the backs, anyway. They are done! My daughter and two grandkids will be staying here while their home is on the market, so I have been cleaning out the 'spare' bedroom - bags of trash, bags to go to goodwill, boxes in the top of my closet, storage units under my bed, and a small pile of named tee and sweatshirts to go to people I used to work with - Is this progress?

OK, as I was cleaning out the spare bedroom closet, I kept FINDING things.. A lovely stretch cotton mint green with multicolor pinstripes - which turned into a 5- button short sleeve with a gently curved collar- a gorgeous cotton knit which became (very quickly) a v-neck tee, and a jacket all cut out and serged edges, but not stitched. I also finished a viscose scoop-neck tee with darts. I hate sewing that slinky stuff - and somehow the front hem was noticeably longer on the right than on the left. What the heck is viscose, anyway? Have just made 3 blouses in 3 days. The jacket - not so much - as the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 80's. Cleaning out the closet continues...

Jacob Alex Dean 6 lbs 14 oz 21" long was born at 02:30 1 May Alaska time (05:30 Missouri time)