Camp Loopy

Camp Loopy started yesterday. This is where I am:

I just started the heel flap on these:

I could have put these aside and started the ones for Camp Loopy, but I decided I'd rather finish the pair I'm working on first.  This summer is Be Kind to Joanne Summer!  I'm trying to reduce the stress in my life, and having two pairs of socks going right now would just add to it.  And that takes all the fun out of knitting, or quilting, or pretty much anything else.  I don't need deadlines right now.  vbg

I've signed up for a Tai Chi class at the local community college for the same reason -- a little stress reduction, relaxation.  Also signed up for a Hatha Yoga class.  I need to lose at least 30 pounds and this is the summer to do that.  The pastor at my church has issued a weight loss challenge from June 1 to September 1 -- lose 10 pounds (or in the case of two people that signed on -- gain 10 pounds!).  He's planning on sending out encouraging emails every now and then and who knows what else -- on September 1, we'll announce how much we've lost -- he'll even issue certificates! LOL - and then he's organizing an Ice Cream Social after church that day! I had already planned on losing weight and have been walking on the treadmill most mornings -- soon hope to walk outside too.  My girlfriend and I have been texting back and forth in the mornings with our progress.  I'll have a starting point tomorrow - doctor's checkup with labs, so hoping along with the weight that the A1C goes down and the cholesterol and blood pressure.

I've been weeding and working in the yard this week.  My lawn guy is working up a price to mulch my flower beds, which will help a lot.  I did it myself last year, but only a small section and I had to make multiple trips because I bought bags of mulch and couldn't carry more than 6 at a time in my car!  Pretty sure it'll be worth it to have him bring it in bulk and spread it.  I have a big limb down in one of my flower beds that I'm going to have to hire a tree guy to remove also.  I hate having to spend the money for things Bill used to take care of, especially with the house on the market -- but I may be here a couple of years before it sells, so I will enjoy the result I think.  And if it does sell - well then it was worth spending the money!

I'm not taking on any more challenges quilt-wise this summer either -- only projects I plan to keep up to date is the quilts for Jo's little women club.  I finished the top of the last one, but haven't quilted it yet.  Goal is stress reduction this year, exercise, and spend as much time outside, when its not too hot and humid, as I can.

Until next time, Blessings.

My long weekend: spent Saturday doing some yarn winding, then about 3 pm found out someone wanted to see the house at 8:30 am Sunday, so ran around like a chicken with its head cut off cleaning, like I should have done earlier in the week! vbg Yesterday, we celebrated grandson Mikey's 3rd birthday (actual birthday isn't until June 5, but he doesn't care that we celebrated early.) So, today I spent in the sewing room, making 18 tiny shoo fly blocks. Maybe later this week I'll put them together -- it's the third quilt for Jo's Little Women Club.

All my plans for weeding and such have gone by the wayside because the weather turned colder and wetter. Maybe later this week I'll do some of that too. I did do a few days of knitting 5 rows, but I have to say my hands have been killing me. I have arthritis in my hands; they are not only sore, but ugly, too! I've had to wear my thumb braces every night to bed - real attractive that, too!

Until next time,, blessings.

Weeding

Today I managed to get out between the raindrops and get some much needed weeding done. The first picture is the part I finished -- this is my daylily bed and the weeds grow as tall as and look like the leaves of the daylilies, so you really need to get in there and try to pull them from the roots! I call them duck-weeds, because it doesn't matter how well I go over each area, there's always a weed that ducks down til I'm all done and then jumps up and says Here I Am!

This is the next section I hope to do tomorrow morning. It was sprinkling this morning and I went out when it stopped and then just as I finished, it started raining in earnest.

Feeling pretty accomplished - vbg. Now for a shower and time to knit my five rows on the socks! Until next time, blessings.

Playing

The Loopy Ewe has a Camp Loopy every summer.  I always thought it sounded like fun, even though I don't knit (I do crochet, but don't feel like it most times!).  Anyway, they are having another Camp this summer that starts June 1.  So, I bought a skein of fingering yarn, "Lorna's Laces" hand dyed in Denim and it arrived today (really good service from them, btw).  It's not that I don't have a shelf full of yarn already, but you have to buy from them to play, of course.  I do love the yarn.

I'm going to play along, although I doubt I'll enter the contest.  I think that if I knit five rounds most days, I might actually finish a pair of socks by June 30.  That said, I'm not making much progress on the socks I have on the needles!  So, today so far I've knit three rounds and have two to go.  If I can manage to do at least 5 rounds every day, I might have these finished before I start the new pair on June 1!

Nothing happening on the house - could probably have another open house, but I'm afraid the only people that go to open houses just want to see what the inside of my house looks like, or want to get decorating ideas! vbg  So, I'm taking a very large patience pill, and going about my days rather calmly.  I've finally hired someone to mow and weed eat -- he uses his own zero turn mower and his own gas and he's really rather cheap -- which just makes me wonder why it takes me so long to finally check out the prices!  Now I can spend my outside time weeding the flower beds - and I hope to get out there the next four mornings to do that. 
I have done a little quilting -- finished quilt #2 of Jo's Little Women's Club #12. It's called AbbyGayle's Scraps.  I do like this one-already put it on an end table in the living room!

Until next time, blessings.

Spring!

Fall used to be my favorite season - for the colors and the weather that starts to cool down after a hot summer, but now I think I love spring the best. I love the idea of re-birth, the beautiful flowers that spring up after even the harshest winter. Here's a couple of shots of my daffodils - they spread more and more each year and I love to see the masses of them.

And then my favorite spring flower - for the fragrance alone - the hyacinth. They don't spread like the daffodils and I only have one or two in different areas, except for these pink ones in the front bed.

And these Virginia Bluebells came from the family homestead -- literally -- outside of Polo, IL. My husband's aunt and uncle homesteaded 80 acres there and when we visited his aunt once, when she was in her 90's, she gave me a clump of these bluebells and I planted them and they come up every spring. I have peonies from his mother's house, too. It's like having a treasured heirloom I think.

And finally, my pink tulips that I planted just a couple of years ago. Tulips come back every year, but around here they don't increase, and very often decrease and you need to plant more.

Update on the house sale: We had a good open house a few weeks ago, the biggest one my realtor has had in about 5 years (so the housing market around here is on it's way back). We've had three separate showings and one guy came back a second time, but no offers have been tendered, so I'm getting on with life and not getting my hopes up. I did decide once I have an offer in hand that I would buy another house north of Rockford, where the taxes are less. I won't be buying a condo -- too many rules I don't want people to make for me! A smaller house with a tiny yard will work fine.  It just has to have a finished basement big enough for my longarm and my antique table!

I've been doing some outside work these past few days - burning brush, picking up sticks and mowing.  But today it's a bit chilly and supposed to rain, and I have a cold, so today I'm getting back into the sewing room and work on project two of Jo's Little Women Club #12 - AbbyGayles' Scraps.  Hopefully I'll have some quilt pictures soon!
Until then - have a good one!

First project is finished

This was the first project from Jo's Little Women Club 12 class I'm taking. I stitched down the binding today even though I really just wanted to knit!

Mitered the corners of that great striped fabric and then cut the binding on the bias so it would stripe that way.  Not a big quilt, but fun to make.  I started hand quilting it, but it's been so long since I hand quilted anything that I just couldn't get a consistent stitch, so I ripped it out and threw it on the longarm and practiced using the rulers to do diagonal lines through the blocks.

I did spend a couple of hours knitting on my next pair of socks, too.  Now I'm going to head outside for a little fresh air -- kinda windy out, but in the 60's and dry for the first time in over a week..  We have another week worth of rain heading our way too.

Pass the Waffles Please

I thought I'd have a picture, but it's raining today, so pictures will be taken on Saturday. Waffles? I'm done waffling and just signed a contract with a couple of realtors to sell the house.  This is my final decision!  I will be moving to the big city of Rockford once my house sells and I will buy a condo -- no more yard work or shoveling for me.  And, hopefully, I'll eventually be able to do some traveling after I get settled.  I signed with the realtor that sold our house in Rockford 19 years ago when we built this house, and she brought another realtor along that works out of their Byron office, so I get two realtors for the price of one -- pretty good deal.  That's my big news of the month!

While I was waiting for them to come out this afternoon, I started my next pair of socks -- this time I'm trying the two at a time on circular needles and managed to get the first row of ribbing done today.  The needles are metal and very slippery so I'm not used to that -- the double pointed ones I used were wood.  I'll continue with these and maybe get used to them, or I'll go buy wooden circulars!  Either way, I'm having fun and looking forward to having a whole pair done at once! And I'm glad I did the double pointed for the first ones, but I think I'm going to like this technique too.

They're finished!

Maybe next time I can get the stripes to match -- just worried about learning to knit with these!  Couldn't wait to get them done though.  Finished the second one this afternoon, then drove over to Pearl City to see Lynn Hagmeier, of Kansas Troubles Quilters at Yellow Creek Quilt Designs.  She did a book-signing at my favorite quilt store -- and Kansas Troubles fabrics by Moda are my favorite fabrics!

Back to the socks:  I cast on my next pair onto two circular needles!  Now that I have one pair on my feet, so to speak, I'm going to try to learn to do the two at a time way. Probably won't be any quicker, but if I can learn to do it, I'll have two done at once and that's a real bonus!

I'll have more news later this week - been kinda busy around here.

Quilt Stuff

It's been ages since I took any kind of quilt class. After awhile you already know how to do everything, I think! That being said, I signed up for a year of Jo Morton's Little Women Club #12. First class was this afternoon. The instructor is Kay Steinmetz and the class is at Quilter's General Store in Rockford. I signed up because I love taking these type of classes from Kay. The last one I took from her was Tulip Farm I think -- from Blackbird Designs. I do tend to finish my projects like this -- sometimes not during the year but usually soon afterward. The class was from 12:30 - 3:00 but we didn't go that long and I was home by 3. So after lunch/dinner at 3:15, I decided to at least cut the fabrics for the blocks. Well, one thing led to another, you know how that goes, I ended up making the four patches and even squared them up. This is what one block will look like after it's sewn together:

Totally felt wonderful sewing this afternoon at home and going to the class earlier.  Can't wait to actually get this top put together.  I didn't get border fabric today, so I'll put the top together and take it in for border fabric.  This will not be a big quilt, so I may even hand quilt it -- that's how good it felt to play today!

It's a Sock!

Far from perfect -- but it fits and I learned a lot.  Already started the second one, but taking a break now.  I think I worked through most of the hard parts so the second one should be a little easier.

It's certainly been enjoyable just sitting and knitting.  Definitely have a new obsession, but will still go back and quilt; sock knitting can be done in the evenings now when JR is in my lap and the tv is on!

Answered My Own Question

I took a nap! I do not sleep well at night, so am always tired and out of energy. So, I took a nap, then loaded a small table runner of Kris' on the longarm and quilted it, and then checked my to-do list and the last thing on it for today: Cut Pussy Willows branches. So I trekked out in knee high drifts of snow and cut some pussy willow branches and put them in water. I hope they take root and then I'll plant another pussy willow tree in the spring. (That's where the first one came from -- Bill gave me a flower arrangement once with pussy willows in it and they took root in the water and now it's a 15-20 foot tall tree.

Think I need to solve my sleeping problem!

Chaos

I can only live with chaos for so long before it drives me crazy. I call messy surfaces chaos because they stress me out and fill me with anxiety until I finally clean them off. Thing is - I'm the one that makes these messes -- the dog certainly doesn't pile things on the table or the counter in the basement!

After picture of the kitchen table -- the items on the table now are what are on there every morning --still rather cluttered, but at least its a controlled chaos!The lamp is usually against the wall -- I like lots of light when I knit or applique.

I didn't take a before picture of my kitchen island, but it was as messy as the table was. I had to clean it off in order to make cut out sugar cookies today, and then clean up the mess, and put the quilt back on.  More controlled chaos and fresh cookies to be frozen for Easter!

The mess on the counter in the basement -- it's still there! That'll have to be a project for next week. I do have a terrible habit of dumping the paper down there because that's where my filing cabinet is, and my main computer.
 Basically, I need to come up with a plan to actually get something accomplished without making a mess and still have lots of time to knit and quilt and read, etc! Anybody have any suggestions? What works for you?

Snow Day!

This is the fireplace in the kitchen and it got a workout Sunday afternoon as I sat at the table and knitted!  So absolutely enjoyable!
Today we're in the midst of a winter storm.  Along with 8 or 9 inches of snow expected, we have 30 mph wind gusts.  The roads will be impassable with the drifting.  I had a hair appointment this morning, but wisely rescheduled that.  Plan for the rest of the day:  Knit!

I am so looking forward to spring!

Second sock?

Nope!  First sock redux!  I was about an inch from starting the heel flap last night and discovered I dropped a stitch about 4 rows ago!  So, I said I wasn't going to rip it out again, but I did and I started over and did 3 rows.  Today, I ripped that out and started over and now have about a half inch of ribbing left to do.  It was looking pretty bad and I'm glad I started over.  This time I don't have any gaps from one needle to the next and I haven't added or dropped any stitches.  I discovered:  I can't learn to knit in the evenings in front of the tv -- the dog is up and down from my lap constantly, the phone rings, I lose my concentration and I'm not good enough yet to figure out how I kept increasing or decreasing my stitches. 
I spent most of yesterday on the computer, so today I decided to stay off the computer and actually accomplish something (I did accomplish a few things that needed to be done yesterday, but it still feels like I wasted a whole day.) 
First of March - oh yay -- February is behind us.  I think starting a new month is like starting a new year - another 30/31 days to make or break a habit, a fresh start so to speak.  I cleaned my coffee pot!  I used to clean the coffee pot on the first of every month, but got out of the habit, so starting a new habit there.  This month I'm going to eat out of the freezer -- every time I open it something falls out, so I need to clean it out.  March is a No-Spend month for me -- which mostly just means I plan to pay attention to where my money goes this month.  It's a good time to do this since my Visa credit card was compromised and they're sending me a new one.  It was obvious to the company that I don't usually spend $289.56 on groceries at Target in Palatine, IL!  I have my card, so somehow they got my card number online I suppose.
I don't use my credit cards a lot, so it's fairly easy to see when they've been compromised.
I think staying off the computer til late in the afternoon, early evening is going to work for me -- I enjoyed knitting this afternoon and quilting this morning.

Top's Done

I put the blocks together and then just slapped on borders. The quilt designed by Monique Dillard in the Quilt It Today magazine used 18 blocks, set on point with red side triangles and a couple of borders -- one of them pieced.  It's really a pretty quilt.  But we didn't exchange enough blocks and I doubt anyone really wanted to make that big of a quilt anyway.  I had just enough of the sashing fabric to do the sashing of the blocks -- would have been nice to have a little more for another border, but that's okay -- using up stash is a good thing!

Don't tell Kris, but it was fun to do and actually got me back to the sewing machine to piece something.  The only quilting I've done for the past few months has been some applique.  And, I'm finding I enjoy applique more than piecing for now -- I think I go in streaks as to what I like to be doing! (If Kris knew I had fun, she'd come up with another challenge project in no time!)

I'm waiting for the guy to come and plow my drive out -- we got somewhere around 5 or 6 inches of snow yesterday and today and it drifted across the drive in a couple areas that are probably a foot deep or more.  I did get the snowblower out to blow a path for JR to get out to the grass (gotta think of these things when the snow is deeper than your dog is tall!

It feels like a good day to make some soup and knit the rest of the day.

Design Wall and Blocks

Now that I've made up my mind to stay here awhile, I can put my design wall back up -- and leave it up.  I use a photographic stand as my design wall -- I can take it anywhere, but I usually just leave it up in the cutting area of the sewing room.  I just roughly stitched a sleeve in a piece of Warm &  Natural batting and slid it on the crossbar of the stand. 

You'll notice I did square up my quarter square triangles and put the two different blocks of the quilt on the wall.  Maybe next time I'll actually sew them together! 

While I was in the basement sewing room my mail lady came to the door to deliver a box with my new soap molds, so maybe later this week I'll start another batch of soap.  The very wet snow has started and is being blown around by the north wind -- I felt really sorry for the mail lady!

Wow -- two posts in the same day!  Yay me!

Winter Winds

Can you see the flag to the right of the evergreens?  We must have 40 mph winds out here -- I know we're only 90 miles from the Windy City, but this is ridiculous.  And this afternoon we're supposed to get more rain/sleet/snow.  Did I tell you I hate snow and cold and winter in general?  But hopefully, this will be winter's LAST hurrah!  Spring can't be far behind, can it?!

This afternoon I might actually get to the sewing room to square up some quarter square triangle blocks.  My friend Kris always has a challenge or two up her sleeve and the latest came from Quilt It magazine -- a red and white quilt made with quarter square triangles, so 6 of us exchanged some red and white 5" squares and we're all making a variation of the quilt.  So far I have my triangles made, but that's it -- Kris already has 7 blocks made!  Guess I'd better get busy.  Later....

Found!

I seem to forget to write anything here for months.  Really -- I'm fine -- not lost or anything!

It's been a busy few months, or a boring few months -- I live in the midwest and it's winter so not a lot of outside activities and I tend to get caught up in doing a lot of nothing - sort of hibernating in the winter.  It finally is getting close to spring -- well, it's sunny today even though the temp is only in the 30's!
I've been cleaning house and getting rid of stuff in anticipation of putting the house on the market again, but now I'm re-thinking that.  My daughter thinks I'm a waffle -- can't ever make up my mind! But I've spent a lot of time thinking this winter -- the plan was to move to the big city to a condo -- have someone else do the mowing and the snowplowing and do some downsizing of course.

But, I really do like my house -- Bill and I designed it ourselves and had it built.  We have a beautiful piece of wooded property here -- I saw 8 deer out beyond the woods this morning.  In the city you won't be seeing that.  Plus, with a condo you still have to maintain it yourself -- so I might as well stay here and pay someone to plow my drive and mow my yard.  I won't have to give up my beautiful sewing room, and I doubt any of the condo's have a fireplace in the kitchen -- which is where I've spent the past few days -- just knitting in front of the fireplace.  We used to love to have a fire there every morning -- our days always started a little later just because we were enjoying the fire.  I still have plenty of firewood in the shed, so I might as well enjoy it.

The upshot is that I'm not ready to move yet and hopefully I'll know when I am!
In the meantime, I've been learning new things. Last year I made it a point to learn to make laundry detergent and soap.  It's been kind of fun and I just finished a batch of soap -- I leave it for 6 weeks to cure and that was up on Thursday.  I ordered a couple of new molds so I'll make a new batch next week or the week after.  Another reason to stay here -- I have a huge kitchen and it's very convenient to make soap in it.
This year my goal is to learn to knit socks.  I've been following Judy and Mary's blogs for years and been so envious of their sock knitting!  I taught myself to crochet years ago, but never learned to knit.  I tried to make dish cloths last year, but it was super boring!  And I love the idea of making two socks at a time, so I bought all the books and the circular needles and the yarn -- the whole kit and caboodle.  I was bound and determined to learn that way, but when I finally got around to sitting down with it I discovered it looks easier than it is!  So I went back to Judy's blog and she just happened to post a month or so ago what book and what yarn she made her first pair with.  I did a search and found the book and the exact yarn was on sale at that site (I can't remember which one it was), so I bought both and some double pointed needles and set about teaching myself to knit socks!
I have ripped it out and started over about 3 times, and this is very far from perfect, but I'm going to continue on and hope the second sock is better and the next pair will be good!  I'm loving knitting on dpns -- I love knitting with smaller needles and I love watching a recognizable item hanging from my needles!  I've even been looking at other things to knit -- but I'm not going to start anything else until I've got socks down pat!

So that's what I've been doing in front of the fire in the kitchen this weekend.  I really need to put it away and clean house tomorrow though.  And, hopefully it won't be 3 months before I write again.

November

This year is flying by.  Thanksgiving is going to be here soon.  I am so not ready!  I've spent the last few weeks finishing the outside work -- leaves are mulched, garden tools are put away in the shed, snowblower is in the garage ready to go and I have a load of wood in the garage.  Had the first fire of the season yesterday afternoon -- it wasn't particularly cold outside, just felt a little chilly inside and it was nice to sit in front of the fire and do some applique- which I haven't touched in a month!  I start having withdrawal symptoms if I don't get some sewing done!

Today for the first time in awhile I cut out a new quilt and started making blocks.  This is the "Three Sisters" quilt from the Winter 2012 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.  I loved the quilt when I first saw it and then really loved it because it was designed by the ladies of Yellow Creek Designs -- they own my favorite quilt shop!  So, last week I drove to Pearl City and bought some Kansas Troubles fabrics and started the quilt today.  The three blocks above have taken me practically all day to make!  And they are only 6" blocks.  But maybe that's why it took me so long -- those tiny pieces!  It's fun to make and it also has applique in it, which I will do needleturn, not wool.  There's no deadline and I'll just keep plugging away!

Gratitudes:
A beautiful, sunny and warm day to spend in the basement sewing!
Listening to George Strait on several cd's while I sew, and Kenny Chesney and the Zac Brown Band.

October - My How Time Flies!

It's been four months since I've posted -- can't hardly believe it.  What have I been doing?  Oh, a little of this and a little of that!  We've been hit with the drought that half the country has been hit with -- good for me because I only had to mow a few times all summer!  But now fall is in full swing, and the trees are dropping their leaves -- which means getting out the mulching mower -- I do not rake!
We had a "quilters' garage sale" - got rid of some old fabric and lots of scraps as well as other garage sale stuff like the "Pack and Play".  I did okay -- Kris did really well, but she had more "stuff".
I've been trying to get the fall outside work done -- up today is taking down screens, power washing the porches and washing windows.
Hasn't been a lot of quilting going on, but have managed to finish some applique projects and prep more.  This first one is a quilt that was in the Fall Primitive Quilts magazine (love that magazine, btw).  This was fun and easy and quick.  
                                    
Next is"Fred - there are enough Jacks around" designed by Kris and she also gave me her leftover orange and some black squares so I could whip this one up.  The applique took no time at all and I used a fabric I bought last year for the border. 

Then these next two are from Bunny Hill Designs.  This is her Merry, Merry Snowmen block of the month quilt.  After doing her Henrietta Whiskers free quilt last year, both Kris and I decided to start this one.  I do love the Bunny Hill designs for applique.

I have block number 3 prepped and try to do a little applique each day.  I also have 5 other applique quilts prepped -- just for variety and I like to have something ready for a grab and go type thing.

I've tried my hand at making soap and laundry detergent this summer -- just for fun.  The laundry soap is so easy and works great, so I'll sell some of it for our "Parable of Talents" project at church -- always fun to raise a little money for the church.  I've also been doing the Power Point for church and helping out the financial secretary whenever she needs me.

That's about it for now -- time to get busy making hay while the sun shines!

Happy Independence Day!

Gratitudes:  I was born and raised in the USA!  And Thank God for our Freedom.  Thanks also go to all the men and women who have fought for our freedom since the first struggle for independence to this very day.

And another thing

Time sure flies around here.  I was going to try to keep up blogging more often and here it's been almost three weeks since I blogged.  This is what I've been doing in the interim:  This first shot is a picture of my back hall before I cleaned it.  That bookcase is solid maple and we've used it as a catch-all for gardening stuff and etc., for 18 years.  I cleaned it off and took it to the shed/shop and sometime this summer I'm going to strip it and refinish it and put it in the library where it belongs.  The door goes to the back yard; the garage door is on the left and the door to the half bath is on the right.

The after shot. Bill made the bench on the left and used it for all kinds of stuff -- hats, gloves, knives, miscellaneous.

I did clean it out, but forgot to take an after picture -- this is the before!

And my latest adventure:  I've been wanting to try my hand at making soap for a few years now and finally got up the courage yesterday afternoon.  These came out of the mold today.  They need to cure for 6 weeks, but I'm pretty happy with my first attempt.  I've been following this blog for years  down--to--earth.blogspot.com.  Rhonda is very knowledgeable on a lot of subjects and I love her writing (and envy her writing ability too!).  She published a book a few months ago and I bought it and have read it twice.  She's doing the whole simple living thing and what I really like is she encourages everyone to do their own version for their own reasons.  My reason for making soap?  I like the idea of no chemicals and all natural.  I've been buying handmade soap for a couple of years now from the Oregon Soap Shoppe near here and really love it.  But I just wanted to try making some myself.  It took me half the day to get everything organized and set up -- the soap making itself didn't really take all that long.  I learned a lot and maybe next time I'll add some fragrance, or not.

And last but not least of what's been happening the past few weeks.  We made it through the second anniversary of Bill's death, and our happy occasion was the day before when Mikey turned 2!  Will graduated from preschool -- he'll be 5 this summer and heading off to all-day kindergarten in the fall.  Briana graduated from 8th grade and will be heading off to high-school in the fall.  The picture below was taken Saturday when we celebrated all 3 events!

Gratitudes:  Family
Trying something new - always good to expand the horizons.

Road Trip

Kris, Jan and I went on a road trip today to Wisconsin (we live in Northern Illinois).  First shop was in Belleville, WI and is in the new Quilt Sampler magazine just out, called Patches and Petals.  Great little shop in a restored 1905 building with wooden floors and center staircase.  Lots of samples of quilts I'd like to make "someday"!  And the only thing I ended up buying was four cotton towels that I may applique something on, or I may not -- they're nice and long though and I like that for hanging in my kitchen.

Next stop was the Mill House Quilts in Waunakee, WI.  Great shop -- it's been around a long time and was in the Quilt Sampler magazine many years ago.  We spent a lot of time wandering around and looking at everything, but I didn't buy anything there!  I sometimes think I have so much fabric that I'll never use -- too much fabric, not enough time -- that I don't buy anything.
We did walk over the tracks to the pub  next door and had lunch on the patio though.

Third and final stop for today was JJ Stitches in Sun Prairie, WI.  JJ's was also in the Quilt Sampler magazine many years ago.  We've all been to this shop before, but I really love it -- lots of civil war repros and my kind of antique colors -- the darks!  I absolutely fell in love with a quilt on the wall (should have taken a picture but didn't even think of it).  I bought the background fabric and a bundle of fabrics for the squares along with the pattern:  The picture on the front of the pattern does not do the quilt on the wall justice -- the background was a deep cream/almost yellow color and all the 1" finished squares are the darks in the stack.  I love the quilts made with tiny squares, but don't usually make them because I really don't like working with the tiny pieces.  This one is mostly strip pieced and I think I might be able to handle it.  Who knows when I'll actually get around to starting it!

All in all it was a very good day -- it was a great day for a road trip!  And I can fondle fabrics and dream about starting this quilt!

Gratitudes:  Kris drove today and it was nice to spend time talking quilts.

More building

Having finally made the decision to stay, I've been making other decisions much easier!  I asked my son-in-law, Aaron to make me a water barrel.  I've always been interested in conserving and reducing my carbon footprint and saw water barrels for sale last summer at the Farmers' Market for at least $100.  Aaron made one for them last summer at a fraction of the price, so I asked him to make one for me.  They brought it down for Mother's Day (it's actually my birthday present because my Mother's Day gift is a handmade planter that the grandkids made filled with a variety of annuals.)
So, Aaron told me what I had to buy and what I had to do to set the barrel up.  I have it at the corner of the garage and the overflow spot should drain right into the part of the downspout that Bill buried way back before the sidewalks were poured that drains way away from the house.  I had to take the solid downspout off and replace it with the flexible one -- once again really happy that I invested in that trusty power screwdriver!  Now I'm just waiting for rain!  I have it set up on blocks so I can fill the watering can from it for watering my tomatoes and peppers!

Back when we lived in a subdivision, we had about a 3/4 acre lot and a big garden (including an asparagus bed that Bill planted).  He also built a compost area with landscape timbers right out by the garden.  It was great.  Then we moved here, have 23+ acres, but a smaller garden and a lot of trees.  Still have an asparagus bed that he planted that first year and the asparagus is still wonderful, but he didn't bother with a compost area.  He was more into cleaning up the woods and the garden really isn't much -- the kids were gone by that time.  But, as I clean out my weedy flower beds and the garden boxes, I collect a lot of stuff that could be composted, so...I bought a tumbling composter from Home Depot.  I put it together on Saturday -- only took about two hours and once again -- that power screwdriver was a lifesaver!  Being a quilter, I've always understood a guy's fascination with power tools, but now I understand it even more! vbg

I put it out in the garden area next to the 5 blueberry bushes Bill planted -- I took the picture in the late afternoon, otherwise it's pretty sunny out there.  The asparagus bed is just adjacent to this area -- you can probably see the tall ones that have gone to seed back there.  I have two tomato plants and 3 green pepper plants in the boxes and a whole bunch of weeds too.  I'm just going to try to manage a small garden this year and maybe next year I can add a little more.

Gratitudes:  I can feel the stress of the past few years slowly falling away now.  I have lots of plans, but know that nothing has to be done immediately.  I'm taking my time and smelling the roses (well, the iris and the peonies anyway!).

A Change of Heart

I have taken my house off the market.  It was a rather expensive lesson in jumping in with both feet before I really thought everything through, but now I have finally made up my mind.  This house is way too big for one person, but it was way too big for two of us!  But it was our dream house and I still love it.  It means I have a lot to take care of, but it also means there is no rush.  The major things I will have to hire some one to do like replacing the furnaces, or staining the outside of the house when it needs it.  I already have a friend's son mow the yard most of the time, but even I can do that whenever Connor is busy.  My neighbors and friends keep the mowers and other equipment working for me, or tell me who to call.  My next door neighbor plows my drive in the winter -- although I also can work the snow blower. 

I've let my flower beds go to weed for years now, but this year I actually feel like working in them again, so slowly but surely I'll whip them back into shape; a little redesigning of them has already begun.

I'm still an hour and a half away from my daughter and grandkids, but all my friends and my church is down here and I'd miss them if I moved.  I'll just be making trips up to Wisconsin to see the boys play baseball and just to spend quality time with my daughter and her family.  Otherwise, I'd be driving down here to see my friends and church - so it's basically a trade off.  Steph made me do a pros and cons list while I was waffling about selling or staying and it came out about even :-)!  I hated having the house ready to show at any moment and having to put the family pictures away, etc.  And the housing market is not back yet, so it would probably be a long time before it actually sold.  So that is my thinking on the subject!

And I decided that there are a lot of things that I can actually do myself and a few things I want to try, so I'm jumping in with both feet.  First up -- Bill always had a Weber kettle charcoal grill -- he never wanted a gas grill.  I sold the kettle at the auction because I did not want to mess with it.  So, I went out and bought myself a small gas grill.  And, drum roll please, I put it all together myself, and even went to FS to have the tank filled (I always feel like a dumb female when I have to do things like that!).  Best gift to myself was a power screwdriver that I bought when I bought the grill!  Love it!

I took the left shelf back off when I hooked up the gas -- it was just always in the way.  Fired that puppy up and grilled a pork chop the first day and had my son-in-law grill burgers on it for Mother's Day!  It works great and all the screws are tight thanks to the power screwdriver!

Gratitudes:  I finally feel like I made the right decision after two years of waffling.

Today was the first anniversary of Steve's death.  We all seem to have made it through today by keeping busy. 

 I can still hear his voice on the phone, so I'm thankful for that; and I still think about him every day -- I doubt that will change anytime soon either.  He was an amazing man whose life was cut way too short.

Change of Plans

The plan for the day was to work outside.  We'd already gotten an inch of rain by the time I got up this morning, and it's still raining -- a nice gentle rain, which is great, but rain just the same.  I'm a little bummed because for the first time since Steve was diagnosed (Dec. 2007), I actually have been looking forward to working in the garden/flower beds and yard.  I have plans to reduce the size of my flower beds and move a lot of plants around. But, I'll wait til the rain is done and do a little at a time.
Moving on, the other plan for the day is doing laundry and that's well on its way.  I'll spend some time straightening up the house, but I think I'll also spend some time on this quilt: 

The part over the longarm table is only 2/3 of the top.  The other blocks need to be sewn together and added.  This quilt is called Four Patch Plaid and is in Pat Speth's first book, Nickel Squares.  I made another of these quilts years ago when the book first came out and use it all the time in the recliner in the evening -- JR sits on my lap on it.  It's showing signs of wear, so I decided to make another.  It's a twin size which actually is a great size for wrapping in the recliner -- especially in the winter!

Gratitudes:  The rain.  We actually did need it, even though it puts me farther behind!
Connor got the front mowed yesterday before the loud thunderclap and rain.  Hopefully, if it stops raining, he'll get the back mowed this evening.

It's Official

My house is listed at For Sale By Owner.com  Listing #23861403

If you know anyone interested in buying a two story log home in the country with 23.5 acres, please let them know!  I am really ready to downsize now!