My Doings

Seems like I just posted, but I see its been several weeks.  Sorry about that.

I've been really busy lately working on quilts, getting some rehab done on the house, and oh, yeah, work. 

I got back two quilts from my long armer (actually two different ones).  So here's a little show.

Here's my Christmas Irish Chain.  I've never had a Christmas quilt before, so this one is rather special for me.

Full Sized Quilt

Close Up of Quilting with Christmas Bells

Detail of Chain

And here's the Trip Around the World quilt that I made from fabric that I bought when I was in Florida over Christmas.

Huge Queen Sized Quilt



Detail of Feather Quilting

The rehabbing on my house is going well, but slow.  I decided I wanted my laundry area on the ground floor of my 2 story house instead of down in the unfinished basement.  I happened across a contractor who lives about 3 blocks away (I love buying local), got good references for him, and talked to him about what I wanted to do.  There was an empty hall way between my downstairs half bath and my family room.  The hallway went to a door that went out onto the back deck.  But since there's a big sliding door in the family room, I never used that door, and I thought I could remove the wall between the bathroom and hallway, and move the bathroom wall to enclose the former hallway and put a laundry area in the downstairs bath.  The contractor has done 80% of his work, but now we're to the point of replacing the flooring, which I wanted to do anyway.  I'm about ready to pull the trigger on that, then my painter will come in and paint the walls, the contractor's electrician will come in to finish the electric, and the plumber will come back to finish the plumbing.  Then the contractor will replace all the doors (I've been living without a door on my downstairs bath for the past 3 weeks) with new 6 panel doors, replace the molding that we saved, bring the washer and dryer up from the basement and ta-da!  I have been taking pictures of each step and I'll show it all when I've got it done -- before and after.

Tuesday I leave for Phoenix for some training and will return on Saturday.  I've got relatives out there that I expect to be able to spend some time with and will do a little sight seeing.  So I've got my sewing machine put away for a while between being out of town, etc.

Out in the flower garden, the snow is gone and the crocuses are coming up.  I have little purple buds.  The day lilies are being brave and are starting to peak their heads above the cold soil.  The big maple tree in my front yard is starting the process of budding.  When you look out at the landscape, no real green yet, just a hint of yellow around the edges of the willows.  Nothing showing on my forsythia yet.  But we all feel like Spring is finally on its way!

Update from Wisconsin

Yes, I know its been quite a while since I posted anything.  No excuses, except for a busy life.  That, and it's a pain to upload pictures.

Last Fall I bought fabric for a Winding Ways quilt.  I sent out 12.5 x 12.5 inch pieces to have them Accu-cut as I don't like to do templates.  I got them back pretty quick and they have been sitting in a box since before Thanksgiving.  I finally got them out to work with.  Here's my first block.

I had to take it apart and put it back together about three times before everything matched up.  I got about 15 more blocks done and then got bored and put them all away for a few months.  I have enough blocks cut out for 56 blocks.

One of the reasons that I put the Winding Ways blocks aside was that I bought some darling flannel and was itching to sew up a larger baby quilt.  Nothing fancy, but here it is:

Of course, I ran out of the pink border fabric for the last side and had to go back to the shop and buy another quarter of a yard, but now the top is done.  I have the backing for it, so on Thursday at the church quilting meeting, I'll take it and sandwich it on the big tables.

I got my Christmas quilt back from the long armer, so I am in the middle of sewing on the binding for that, too.

The other big news around here is that I had the kitchen and family room painted last week.  Its a dusky blue color (was white).  Everything except the big furniture had to be moved out and was deposited in the living room (which made the living room VERY cluttered).  Of course, now I've decided I need to replace the flooring in the two newly painted rooms so I don't want to put very much stuff back because I would just move it out again.  Then I finally got a (good) quote on moving my laundry facilities to the ground floor instead of my unfinished basement, which would impact the flooring since we'd be moving walls.   I haven't called the contractor yet to accept his quote to even find out his timeframe, so heaven only knows how long it might really be.  So I'm figuring that the mess in the living room might be there for a month or so.  I know it will all be worth it in the end, but in the meantime, it is kind of irritating.

We've had a few more snow falls that have fun (NOT) to manage.  Today its beautiful outside:  sunny and probably 45 degrees.  I was out and didn't even need my coat!  I'd like to think that we've seen the last of the snow (of course we have piles of it everywhere that are slowly melting), but then we all remind ourselves -- THIS IS WISCONSIN!


Because Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Okay, so Saturday morning I was putting the borders on my Trip Around the World quilt and flicking TV channels.  And I came across a cooking show that I had seen one other time and kind of liked, so I left the channel there.  Have you ever watched Ciao Italia?  I caught her in the middle of making Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms and thought I could give it a shot.  Here's the hyperlink 
Chicken Marsala

I like watching cooking shows while I quilt.  Mostly because I normally don't watch like my life depends on it and don't have to worry about missing dialog if the machine is running too loud.  I like watching football while I quilt for the same reason.  If I'm watching a movie, then I end up backing everything up to catch what I missed while I was sewing and then the next time I get up (to iron a piece, or cut something, or just go to the bathroom), I don't come back behind the machine, but sit on the couch and just watch the movie and then don't get anything done.  I guess that's the problem with sewing/quilting in the family room in front of the TV.

Anyway, try the Chicken Marsala.  It was really good (even though I didn't use the parsley).

Chicken Marsala!

When I went to the grocery store, it took longer to find the Marsala wine in the alcohol section than the entire rest of the trip.  I finally asked, and after the customer service manager looked for awhile, we got the store manager and he came and walked right up to it.  There were 4 rows of various wines and only ONE Marsala.  But I got home, pounded the heck out of two chicken breasts, doubled the amount of mushrooms, and ended up with a very yummy dinner.  DD ate all her mushrooms, all her noodles, and about 20% of one of the chicken breasts.  Then asked for a PBJ.  Oh well.  So she's not a gormet.

Trip Around the World Top Done!

This afternoon I got the top done for the Trip Around the World I've been working on for that past several weeks.  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.  The pictures don't do it justice; it looks much cooler in person.  What looks blue is actually a royal purple.  Its another queen sized quilt.  I do have any idea what I'm going to do for the back, so I'll need to figure that out before I take it to my long armer. 

I don't have any clue what to name it.  Any ideas?

I bought a Nook Color this week and have been playing around with it.  I downloaded a few free books and also bought a couple from the Best Seller list.  There's alot that this thing can do that I haven't played with, tho. 

The weather here is finally above freezing.  I'm hoping that some of the snow will start to melt over the next few days.  I'd probably better put some salt down on the sidewalks so that the melted snow doesn't turn to ice overnight.  I'd hate if anyone slipped and fell.

I'm thinking about making Chicken Marsala for dinner for tonight, so I guess I'd better get off the computer and go buy some chicken breasts and wine at the grocery store.

Blizzard and More

Like most of the Midwest, we got socked Monday and Tuesday with more snow.  Monday was the dreaded Lake Effect snow, then on Tuesday started the good stuff.  I got off of work early on Tuesday to pick up DD.  It didn't take me as long as I expected to drive home and since I had a few minutes before school let out, I went down to the harbor to take a few pictures.

Snow blowing off the ice flows towards the bluffs

Port Washington Light House drenched with frozen spray

Both school and work were cancelled for today, so after I got up and around this morning, I went out to clear the driveway.  It was quite a lot of work since I had a 3 foot drift stacked up against my garage door and a 4 foot pile of snow courtesy of the snow plow at the foot of the driveway.  I have a smaller snow blower (I can actually pick it up to put it into my car when I need to take it to the shop), so I had to use the snow shovel to reduce the height of the drifts and piles so I could blow the rest away with the snow blower.  The sidewalks have to be done per city regulations (or else you get a ticket), and the snow there was up to the top of the snow blower housing.  It was really tough going.  I was out there about an hour; usually, I can snow blow the driveway in about 30 minutes.

But once I got the driveway done, I was able to come back in and QUILT!  I worked most of the day on my new Trip Around the World and got the first half of the top done.  I just took this picture and still have time for most of another quarter to go before the end of the day (I hope).

DD has gone for the evening to play with a friend, so I have the house to myself.  What a luxury!

New Trip Around the World

While I was in Florida over the holidays I went fabric shopping at the LQS (I know, shock, right?).  At first nothing grabbed my eye, but then I saw this:

Gold and yellow are totally outside of my comfort zone, so I walked away from it a couple of times,  But I kept coming back to it.  It spoke to me.  So I picked it up.  It spoke to me some more.  It said it had some friends that wanted to go, too.  I just had to find them.  So after much searching and adding and subtracting, here are the friends that wanted to come, too.

Originally, just the green and yellow friends came home to play.  But there was some yelling and screaming and crying that they needed some of their purple friends.  So a couple of days later, we went back to the LQS and found the purple friends.

No, the original inspiration fabric is NOT in the rainbow of colors.  He said that because he's so special, he needed a special place.  We negotiated and decided that he could be the main border.

See how well he plays with others?

I'm using the tube method and am ready for the tube seam on the first quarter panel.  When I have that together, I'll take a picture and post it for you.

On a totally different front, I am keeping an eye on something I'm trying in the oven.  DD and I are going to a Super Bowl party next weekend, so I'm testing an appetizer recipe.  Its not too hard:  bacon wrapped water chestnuts.  They're in the oven and will be ready in about 15 minutes.  I'll take a picture, but you'll have to wait until the next post to see it and find out how they turn out.

Have a great evening!

Midnight Snow



Midnight Snow


I saw the sample of this quilt at my LQS and for the FIRST TIME EVER, wanted to make a quilt like the sample.  They didn't have any kits or patterns, so I made notes, bought the fabric that they still had, came home and ordered the rest off the internet, and started this quilt between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I added the pieced border and I think its the first time I ever put a block on point. Earlier this week I finished it.  Instead of taking it to my longarmer, I quilted it myself on my DSM.  Not extremely happy with the quilting job, but happy enough not to tear it out.  I'm keeping it and going to use it as a throw on the couch for the winter, even though its big enough for a queen sized bed (sigh). 


Tomorrow I take the big Christmas Irish Chain top to my longarmer along with our church raffle quilt top which is going to be raffled off next September.  I need to iron both backs tonight.   I'll show you those as they come back home.

Next... I started cutting out strips for a new Trip Around the World from new fabric that I bought when I was in FL over the holidays.

Today the temperature was -8 degrees when DD and I went out this morning (me to work and she to day care since it was a no school day).  Tonight when we got home it was -2.  We're not expecting it to warm up any tonight or tomorrow.  But a heat wave of 18 degrees is expected for the Bears/Packer game on Sunday.

Hope you all are staying warm!  Go Bears!

Update from WI

Not much going on.  We're back to school and back to work.  It's snowed a few times, and it's cold.  It's 10 degrees F.   That's Wisconsin in winter.  We get used to it.

I guess the big news (at least at work) is the upcoming game of the Chicago Bears against the Green Bay Packers.  Now, I've been a Bears fan for 25+ years.  So I take some ribbing, but this week it has gone to a whole new level.  Let's just say that we've all agreed to disagree.  And that who ever wins this weekend, it will be the best team.

Last Saturday, while Green Bay was winning, I made a pot of stew.  I know, I know.  Not too exciting.  But the last time I made stew (about 10 years ago), it didn't turn out well and I was very disappointed.  This time, everything worked and fell into place (see what happens when you follow the directions?).



Stew right after I added the veggies - everything still bright green



Stew Done and Ready to Eat 

The stew was so delicious.  Of course, I didn't follow the receipe exactly. Nowhere did it say add 1 1/2 cups of red wine.  But you know, if it's good enough for Beef Burgundy, it's good enough for stew.
Of course, I didn't really measure 1 1/2 cups of wine.  I just uncorked the bottle, took a sniff to make sure it was still good, took a swig, and poured until I felt like stopping.  But it was about 1 - 2 cups.

I'll have a quilt to show you later this week.  I'm busy burying all the loose threads and hope to have a picture taken at my quilting meeting at church on Thursday. 

Hope your winter is going well.

Happy New Year!

Ok, so I'm a day late.  DD and I drove back to WI from FL over the past two days and I didn't have access to my computer while on the road. 

We had a marvelous time in Florida this year, even though the weather was a bit cooler than we would have liked.  I even had frost (gasp!) on my windshield one morning.  But it beats what we returned to last night.  While unloading the car is was a brisk 16 degrees and a windchill of about -20.  Well, that's what it felt like, at least.

So you want to see more pictures, huh?  Well, okay, twist my arm. 

Late Christmas night a storm blew through.  So on Sunday (the day after Christmas), we went down to the beach to see if we could take some pictures of storm surf or storm spray. 

Stump Pass State Park, FL

4-5 foot waves coming in from Gulf of Mexico

I was looking for a break water for the spray to blow up against, but didn't find one.


The next day (our last full day in beach territory), I went down to Boca Grand to take pictures.  Boca Grand is an island that sticks out into Charlotte Harbor and its where a lot of rich people live.  In fact, the day before, George H Bush and son Jeb and their families arrived on the island.  They stay pretty secluded and I never saw them, but I might have seen some Secret Service people hanging out. 

Boca Grand Beach 2 days after Storm

Entry Way to a House

 The Boca Grand community is very interesting in that many people on the island get around on golf carts.  You can see teenagers driving, elderly grandparents driving, all over the island.  They even have their own roads to drive the golf carts on, parelle to the regular roads.  Some of the other residents get around on bikes.  So you have to be really aware while driving, looking out for the golf carts and bikes.

A Family of Bicycles

On Tuesday, we drove from my Dad's to my Mom's house.  She lives about an hour north of Tampa.  One of her Christmas presents was a big lap sized quilt that I made for her.  I couldn't post about it earlier because she reads this blog (hi, Mom!).  Its a Christmas color quilt that I even machine quilted myself.  I made myself one, too, but in a double bed size.  Its going to my long armer since I won't need it until 11 months from now!

On Wednesday afternoon DD, mom, and I went to the Homosassa Wildlife Park.  Its part nature preserve, part zoo.  Zoos generally bother me because I don't like seeing the animals caged up.  But this park has many of the birds and water fowl in a non-cage area, so I don't feel so bad.

Two Swans A-Swimming

"And then Mabel said ......"



Sleepy Brown Bear



Wild Squirrel

Mom and DD

So we're home again.  I'm sitting here in my heavy robe and slippers, sipping some hot chocolate, dreaming of the warmth of Florida (relatively speaking, of course).  DD is still in bed (my bed, she had a bad dream) and I need to get going and start the rest of my day/year off.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to a happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday.  We did.

Last Saturday (Dec 18th) DD and I (with Molly the golden retriever) drove from Wisconsin to FL to see my parents (divorced and in two different towns 2 hours apart) for the holidays.  We've been at my dad's since our arrival Sunday evening and are having a great time.

On Wedsnesday we drove down to Sanibel Island.  We went to the Ding Animal Life Refuge and mostly bird watched.  Afterwards we went and had a lovely Mexican lunch, then found a beach to spend the rest of the afternoon.  Sanibel does have lovely beaches, but Dad and I agreed that we really prefer our normal beach on Manasota Key.

Christmas was yesterday and it was a big success.  DD was totally blown away with her presents (a cell phone and a DSi were the big hitters).  I got a new camera (yes, I picked it out, but didn't have to pay for it, nor even wrap it!).  The pictures above from Sanibel were taken by my old Olympus point and shoot.  Its been a great camera for me for the past 4 years -- easy to stick in my pocket or purse.  But I'd been thinking about getting a new "big" camera for a couple of years.  I ended up picking a Canon Powershot SX 30i.  Here's some pictures I took yesterday walking around my dad's place.

Taken from the street, about 40 feet away

Taken from the street, about 50 feet away

Hope you got everything you desired for Christmas, whether it was gift wrapped or the love and warmth of family and friends.

Snow Snow Snow

Here's a few pictures that I took after snow blowing this afternoon.  Hope you are all staying warm!

Our Lilac Tree Weighted Down with Snow



Snow Covered Cran-apples



Jared Done!

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I got the call that Jared was done at my long armer.  I immediately made plans to pick it up.  Last week I added the binding and then on Saturday, I was able to find someone to hold it up for a picture.  So here it is:

Jared is based on a Bonnie Hunter design.  I don't know if I'll keep the name Jared or not.  Right now its on my bed (total of 3 quilts and a comforter).  I do love the more traditional designs.

Special Music at Church

Last Sunday, DD (in the middle), one of her friends, and her band director were the special music at church.  Both girls are in 6th grade and have been playing for about a year and a half.  The director is a very special guy, directs all of the bands at the middle school, and can pick up and play about anything.  He even gave the girls extra credit for their extra practicing and playing.  Here's the video clip.  Enjoy!

Another Month and Another Post

Ok, just who exactly stole October?  It was right here, just a few seconds ago.  You know, October in all its colorful glory with the leaves lightly falling and sun spakled sidewalks.  You remember, being able to go out for a walk without 3 layers of clothes.  Well, goodbye, October.  Goodbye.  November is here and boy, is it cold.

And of course, the leaves are all still here.  They're just all on the ground now.  Yes, I will be spending my Sunday afternoon raking and blowing leaves.  And probably one last round of mowing the grass.  Then the mower will be moved to the back of the garage and the snowblower pulled to the front.  Not much of an even exchange, if you ask me.

October was a very full month.

One of the best things that happened in October was that I joined a women's volleyball league.  Now you may remember that I had double knee replacement surgery in April.  It was very successful and I've been strengthening my knees/legs by walking (until it got so f.... cold that I couldn't do it without looking like the Micheline man).  So I started in late August looking into playing volleyball.  Well, I found a couple of leagues at a few bars, but most of them were wrapping things up 'cause they play outside in a sand court.  I finally found an inside league, but they were full up.  They took my name as a substitute, but I've never heard from anyone.  Then I saw an ad in the weekly paper looking for women to play volleyball.  I called right away and gave the guy my contact information.  He told me a coach would be calling me to give me more information.  I waited for 4 weeks, but finally someone called.  So, we've now played 4 matches:  won 2, lost 2.  I have done okay considering I'm 50 years old and haven't played since high school.  I've made some good plays and some bad plays.  But no more than the average 20 year old on the team (who also played on a high school team).  None of us old farts dive after the ball, so I'm not expected to do that, either.  The league runs through March, so I'm looking forward to alot of good games and fun.

I've been quilting like crazy, but don't have any pictures right now to show for it.  I've done two Christmas Irish Chain tops, one a throw for a present, and one a bed sized for me.  I'll try to have pictures up soon.

Halloween was in October at some point and DD went trick or treating as an Amish girl.  I grew up right in the middle of an Amish community (although not part of it), so I'm pretty familiar with Amish life and customs.  So when DD and I went back last summer to Indiana where I grew up, I took her around to Amish country and she loved the whole back to nature idea.  We happened across an Amish girls black hat at a craft fair and the idea took off from there.  I bought her a pair of heavy black knee socks, an inexpensive pair of boys dress shoes from WalMart, and made her a dress and apron.  Here she is.

Also in October, DD had a few days off from school, so I played hookey too (alright, I took vacation days).  On Friday we went to downtown Milwaukee and went to the Discovery World museum.  Its an interactive science museum right on Lake Michigan.  Very cool (and I'm not much for museums).




DD lying on a bed of nails




DD in front of jellyfish tank




Petting Sting Rays (you can't see the rays)



 

DD has also been participating in gymnastics for the past 2 months.  Its put on by the Parks and Rec program and she finished the last practice last week.  She's better than the little kids, so they put her in with the other middle school and high school girls.  It has made it very challenging for her.



 This last picture is a video, so you should be able to click on it and see her on the uneven bars.  No routine, just playing around.

So that was October.  I'll try to get the pictures of my new quilts up before Christmas, but I can't promise!



Yes, I'm Still Alive!!!

Okay, so September has come and gone and I'm finally posting.  I've got alot to share, so get a cup of coffee, sit back, and relax.

On September 1st DD started 6th grade.  She decided that she needed to dress up for the first day of school -- although I think she was the only girl wearing a dress that day.  Here's our annual picture for the first day of school.  She doesn't have her backpack because we had already gone and practiced the locker combination several times and left the backpack with the 10 tons of school supplies inside.  The little white dots on the picture are the light rain that was falling as we got ready to go.

DD and I have gone to several Milwaukee Brewer games this year, all paid for by someone else:  my company, the softball league, and a supplier.  Here we are at the Red's game in September.  They opened the roof for the game, so it got a little cool after the sun went down.  We had a great time while at this game because we were in a luxery box and could easily get up for stuff to eat, check the football game in the lounge area, or go to the bathroom. 

Earlier in September, we went to a sold out Brewers-Cubs game.  It was at that game that I had to officially change my allegience from the Cubs to the Brewers.  I've never had any Cubs clothing or other paraphanelia, but this year I bought both a Brewers shirt and a cap.  But don't be thinking I'll give up my  BEARS!  I am deffinately not ready for the Pack.

In the middle of September we drove to Ft Wayne to visit friends and experienced the Johnny Appleseed festival.  Apparently it started when I was just a girl, but I don't remember my parents ever taking us to it.  DD and I had a great time, especially eating caramel apples.  And it was great to see our friends.

Last weekend I went to my annual Quilt Camp Retreat in Green Lake, WI.  Its held at the same church camp where DD goes each summer.  The Quilt camp goes from Friday (I arrived around 11am) to Monday afternoon.  This was my 3rd year to go.  There were about 40 women there from all over Wisconsin, and one even brought a friend who flew in from Oregon!  Wow!  Most of us are veteran quilters, but we had a couple of newbies, including some who drafted her own pattern and made a complicated wall hanging for her home. 

For the first 2 days I focused on working on a quilt that I'm making for DD.  It will be a twin size to go on her bed.  Sorry, no pictures yet.  It is full of half square triangles, and by late Saturday evening, I finally ran out of the pre-finished (by me) half square triangles.  I have plenty of fabric, but after all that time, I was ready to work on another project. 

I had brought several other projects with me and pulled out my second priority, a Fall Wallhanging for my entry way.  It is based on a panel that I cut apart and added to it and sewed it back together.  I wanted something for Fall -- to last from September 1st until the Christmas stuff comes out.  I didn't want it to be for Halloween or Thanksgiving, so a Harvest theme fits perfectly.  I hung it this morning and with the pumkin and leaves I bought last year, I think the entry way table looks great!  What do you think?

While at camp, I got up early Sunday morning to get a jump start on sewing.  We sew in the camp dining hall which overlooks Green Lake.  On Sunday morning, I took this great picture of the fog coming up off the lake.  The fog wasn't there when it first became light, then came up off the water for about 45 minutes, then was gone again.  Really cool!

Last night was Homecoming in Port Washington.  We went to the Homecoming parade and the annual Chicken Roast that our church does as a fundraiser.  We were ready to go to the football game when it started to rain.  I had brought a big comforter to keep warm and had umbrellas, but since I knew the bleachers would be cool AND wet, we decided to skip the game and just came home. 

Fall is deffinatlly here now.  I went for a walk this morning and it was about 48 degrees.  I had to pul the hood up on my sweatshirt and even tie it shut to keep my ears warm!  Its not quite full color season yet, but maybe this coming weekend will be great.  There are leaves on the ground and a cool bite to the air.  We bought apple cider at the Farmer's Market this morning and I think I'll make hot apple cider with cinnomon sticks in it.  Yummm!

Hope you've enjoyed hearing what we've been up to and I hope to be writing again soon.