techno Deb

So, I'm attempting, still to circumvent my camera and load pictures another way. I don't have time to sit and mess with my phone to get it configured with Blogspot. Each time I try, it tells me that the system may be down and to try again later. I just don't have that kind of time. So, today, I popped the micro sd card out of my phone, put it in the adapter and plugged it into the computer. I will now try to upload straight from the micro sd card without having to upload them to the computer. Poor thing has too much crap on it anyway.

Here goes nothing. :)
Holy Crap! It worked! That's excellent!

Ok Mom, you will now get to see pictures that everyone else sees on Facebook. :)

This is the Grotto. Or part of it. I took this after we painted the bench, so that's really what I was photographing, but you can see part of the Grotto.

Anyway, it's not even 7am, but I've been awake since 4. Thought I'd have time to mess around with the photo thing.

Gotta get busy.

peace,

Deb

Thanks were given

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very nice. C was home for the holidays. I had her from late Tuesday night til Sunday afternoon. Now she's back at school and taking her finals. I can't believe that her semester is almost over. Time just went by so fast. So now, what I need to do before she comes home in 2 weeks is quilt all the tops that I need quilted by mid December. I have my quilting frame set up in her room and I promised her that I would remove it during Christmas break. Having it in there for 4 days was not a big deal, but 4 weeks...well, that's a different story.

I didn't get much done while she was home so today I've got to hit it pretty hard. Already working on the daily & weekly house chores, but I also need to baste 2 quilts for hand quilting for a friend. I can do that on my quilting machine. It will give me a chance to practice loading/floating a quilt top. I'm still pretty slow when it comes to getting the quilt actually loaded on the machine. Then I've got a flannel quilt top that's just for the living room, but we sure need the flannel quilts in there over winter. I'm also working on some baby bedding for a friend of Chris'. She used to manage a Starbucks, but has since left to be a stay at home mom. She's due in February, but the dr says that the baby might come by Christmas, so that's a priority.

My son starts his dream job today at Nintendo. He's wanted this since he was 4, so that's not a bad deal. I'm so happy for him. :)

Well, I guess I should get away from this electronic stalling machine and get busy. Laundry to fold, trash to take out and a kitchen to straighten up. A cold front came through yesterday, so I need to clean the fireplace and bring in some wood as well. And I'm sure a bunch more stuff that I've forgotten.

Peace,

D

Getting things done

Look at this! 2 days in a row. lol. I guess if I do all my computer stuff all at once I'm in good shape. :)

Yesterday was a busy day. Started off doing regular Monday chores, changing sheets, taking out the trash, etc. I pulled some chicken backs and wings out of the freezer and started some stock so I'd have enough for Thanksgiving. I'm always amazed at how much stock I use with that meal. It's still bubbling away in my crockpot. I let it simmer for 24 hours before I strain it and can it. It makes the house smell so good! The next item on the list was working on a quilt repair. I'm so close to being done that I can almost taste it. 5 more patches to replace and it's finished. I'll do that today. I worked on it 2 hours yesterday. Then a lovely neighbor came over with his wood splitter and we worked for an hour on one of the piles of wood to get it split and stacked. He and his friend split and I stacked. We got quite a bit done, 3 stacks 4 feet tall and 9 feet wide. That got us about halfway through one of the the 3 piles of wood in the backyard. I guess we had way more than I thought we did. I need to get the ax sharpened next time the scissor man is at the shop. We still have a long way to go. Now that DH is only working one job, he'll have more time to work on the pile, but I thought I'd get him started.

Next I worked on a Christmas gift for a while and then it was about time to start dinner. DH had to work late last night, so I cooked a nice meal just for me which I think is always weird. But he has to come home sometimes and having a nice plate of food waiting is the best welcome home.

After that, I switched over to working on the shop sample for the Civil War Tribute quilt block of the month. I volunteered to make it since I can't afford to sign up for the BOM. I make it, I keep it. Those are the new rules. I made 2 blocks last night which was all of month one. I'll cut out month 2 this afternoon and work on it this evening. I put my handcrank on the coffee table and sat in front of the fireplace while I worked. It was nice. Our very first fire.

Cold front came in. It's 38 degrees right now. Lucky for me I have a cat in my lap.

I need to get busy. I'm going to finish that repair job, meet with another client about baby bedding and start cutting down the asparagus ferns. My gardening book says to cut them down when they turn brown in the late summer/fall, but they never do. I guess November 17th is late enough. After that, it will be Civil War blocks and maybe I'll dig through my own pile for a quick project and get that taken care of.

Have a great day!

Flying through the holidays

It certainly has been a while. As fast as I thought life was speeding by at the first of the year, it's certainly picked up it's pace. The last 3 weeks have been filled with making samples for our "Quiltapolooza" at the shop. I don't have pictures yet since everything was top secret. The event was yesterday afternoon and was a great success! We had twice the amount of folks there than we had at our first one. And the biggest surprise was revealed. We've acquired the space next door and are expanding our shop. We'll have a really nice kit cutting and storage area, plus a classroom to seat up to 20, which is amazing. Our old classroom will become notions, patterns and books and the rest of the new space will be for fabric. It's all very exciting. I'm also the "internet marketing director" which means I'm the only employee at the shop who knows how to use Facebook and Twitter, so I've established accounts for the shop.

Personally, I'm trying to keep up with things and stay ahead of the holidays. I'm using the FLY lady system, which is awesome. She has a program "Cruising through the Holidays" in which you imagine that you'll be going on a 3 week cruise starting Dec 1, and you need to have everything ready for Christmas before you go. It's a 15 minute a day task and it works.

My son and his wife have moved to Seattle and have both found jobs. My son got his dream job at Nintendo, something he's wanted since he was 4. We're all happy for that. C is doing amazingly well in college, and has been told if her grades stay where they are through the end of the semester, she'll qualify for the Honors Program, which is awesome. We're VERY proud of her.

Today, I catch my breath and try to prepare for the week. I've got a really busy schedule besides working, so I really need to be on top of my game in regards to laundry, household chores and meal plan/prep. It's so much harder when I don't have someone here to help me out. I can't just text C and tell her I'm running late and would she start dinner.

Off to chore land, and then I need to make stock for Thanksgiving, finish a repair job and load a quilt that I'm basting for hand quilting. Besides decluttering my utensil drawer, changing sheets, blah, blah, blah. :)

Oh, I'm also working on (in the evenings) a crocheted rug for the living room. It's so chilly in there in the winter, I'm hoping it will help insulate the wood floor a little. The dog likes it.

Stay busy out there!

peace

photos of things

It has been brought to my attention that I no longer post photos on my blog. I'm working on the whole "uploading from my phone thing" but in lieu of that, I took some photos with my actual camera this morning and will now post them for all to see. :)


This is my quilting machine set up. It's my new baby. I have quilted a lap quilt on it already, but I forgot to take a picture of that. I'll do that later. The frame is a Handi Quilter frame and the machine is a Juki TL98Q. It's a mid arm quilting machine and I love it. I've been baby-ing some tendonitis this week. In my efforts to get everything set up and ready for the machine to arrive, I sorta over did it. Luckily I already had a quilt loaded before it got too bad, so I at least got to play Monday afternoon. I'll be buying some more batting and loading another this weekend. I have all these quilt tops, some even with backings ready to go. AND NO BATTING! It's a tradegy.

This is "the Grotto". It is the time sink in my back yard. You can see that I have planted some lettuce up in the bio filter that my nephew and his friend put together. The neighborhood squirrel likes lettuce. I supervised the bio filter project. Rocks are heavy. The filter was the first structure added to the sad little pond. Then my nephew and my son dug out the flower beds and trimmed the crepe myrtle and pruned back the trees. They even did the rock border for me. We spread the mulch and then I couldn't find anything to plant. Too early for fall/winter plants and too late for summer plants. So herbs in pots and a bird house are the decoration right now. The next project is cleaning up the dog run that you can see behind the pond and painting the bench swing. We're working out from this corner.

Still attempting to learn how to upload photos from my phone. Bare with me

Something weird...

Something weird is happening to me. I thought that when C left for school, I'd be huddled in a quivering mass in the corner, waiting for a phone call or email. Amazingly enough, that hasn't happened. Sure, I get sad every once in a while, and I certainly miss her. With text capabilities and the ever present Facebook, we're in pretty close contact on a regular basis. We even watch tv together occasionally. I know in my heart that I did a good job raising her (or her raising me..whatever). She's smart, she's responsible and she makes good decisions. I also know that her campus is small and sort of set apart from town. She's on an island off an island...so yeah, not a lot of traffic coming and going, so she's pretty safe. I find that I don't worry about her physical safety and she's made some good friends. So it's almost like all those years of worrying and protecting have kind of come to an end. Don't get me wrong, I will always worry when my kids travel, or go to a new place or just are gone from me. I'm their mom after all, and that's sort of our job. But I'm confident that she'll be fine. And in knowing that, I'm free to get back to me. Like I took a 22 year hiatus from the Deb business to raise the next generation. So, maybe, now back to Deb. I'm putting together my own outfits, for instance and enjoying it. I bought LIP GLOSS. For myself. Without asking the lady next to me if she thought it was a good color for me. And I like it. I'm deciding what to cook. What to watch. What to do. When to eat. I always used to ask her and we'd work out something that was good for both of us. Always working together. And I'm SO glad for those years we were together. I will cherish them always. But I taught her to compromise and share and get along when neither of us felt like it. Valuable life lessons.

And now that I'm here by myself a lot (DH works two jobs, 70-80 hrs per week) I'm able to see what needs to be done around here. Before I was her caretaker. Now, I guess, I'll be the caretaker of the house and the yard more. I can devote more time to these things. I feel like I have the time to putter in the garden for a few hours and not have to worry about fixing dinner at a regular hour since I'm the only one that's home to be fed. Things like that.

Yesterday, I made laundry detergent again. I've been meaning too for a month or two, just never had the 15 minutes it takes in one lump. So I jumped on it yesterday. Today, I'm making and canning apple sauce and also some green salsa. I've got 6 pints of apple sauce processing now, then the salsa will go in the canner. That makes me feel happy. I'm also contemplating removing a piece of ugly furniture that I've had for at least 15 years. It's the last item leftover from my last marriage and I'm very excited about ridding myself of it. I've also been working through the piles of stuff in my sewing room. I took everything off of my work surfaces (ironing and cutting board) and while they're still piled in there, I can now work in there. And I'm making a dent. Slowly, but really it took a while for it to get bad in there. I can't expect to get it all finished and out of there in 2 days. I'm almost to the point where I can start focusing on making items for sale on etsy. That's exciting. I will finish some fall placemats that I started this time last year. They've been in the pile. Maybe this is what my new life will be. Focused, a little more relaxed and a little more time spent caring for me.

I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship....

Back to the Future

I've started reading this magazine, Mary Jane's Farm, and when I read it, I get nostalgic. But for what? I grew up on Air Force Bases and none of my relatives were farmers. I get the same feeling when I watch a Western or see a quilt book with quilts from the Civil War and I wonder what is it in my wiring that makes me wish I was a pioneer farm woman. Sometimes I look around my home and I think that if I was, there'd be more crocheted rugs on the floor and the spiderwebs in the corner would be gone and my home would be warmer and cleaner. I wonder if I'd be considered lazy or if I could keep up. Sometimes I feel that I have no direction, that I just ping pong around with great ideas and lots of lists, but that I never see anything to it's fruition. I want to change that. I need to change that. It's an exciting thought and an exhausting thought. But what a difference I could make around here. The yard would be mowed and the garden beds weeded and neat. The house would be painted and repaired. My family would have an oasis away from the outside world.

It's a thought...

Camping and Copperheads

Hi All,

welllll, the camping trip was last weekend. You know, the big camping trip with 4 generations and we all have a great time and plan for next year's trip? This one was cut short by the copperhead bite I received on my left ankle Friday evening. It was about 10 minutes to midnight and I was walking back to my tent with my daughter. I must have pissed him off just right. He got my ankle right on the inside bone.

Mom and Dad bundled me into my sister's van and DH held his hands around my leg sort of like a tourniquet. We drew around the initial swelling and bite marks with a purple sharpie and time stamped it. 11:52. Into town we went, Mom holding out her cell phone until she could get a signal and then calling 911 to direct us to the nearest hospital. Luckily, it was only a 10 minute ride away. I was in the er within 25 minutes of the bite. Tetanus shot administered, iv line set and ready to go. They observed me for an hour or so, marking the advancing swelling before finally deciding to give me some antivenin. Up to this point, I'd not had any pain meds and the pain was an intense burning sensation. I finally asked for something and they decided on Demoral. I typically don't even take aspirin. 5 minutes in I started to feel lightheaded and ask DH to go get the nurse. My blood pressure tanked...like 77/40. Stopped the antivenin asap, flipped my gurney upside down and began trying for another iv line in my right arm to administer fluids post haste. That was a little scary. After I was stabilized, they called the ambulance crew in to transport me to a bigger hospital in case I needed any more emergency treatment, like a fasciotamy. The local er just wasn't set up for this sort of thing. Off to Ardmore we went. Another er, more bloodtests, oxygen and then admited to a room around 6 am. Lots of signing things, questions, pokes and prods and I was finally able to go to sleep around 7. They released me around 4 pm that day (Saturday) at which point we stopped and bought crutches and returned to the campsite to pack up and head home. My foot, which had sort of stopped swelling in the hospital bed began it's creep of fluid up my leg and the pain was pretty intense. We had both driven our vehicles to the site as we had a child and lots of equipment with us. I drove the truck home, 100 miles since my car is a manual. No shifting for me, that's for sure.

Since then, I've been either on the couch or on the bed. I've been trying to hobble around. sometimes it's fine, sometimes it hurts like a son of a bitch. Missed work all this week and don't have to be anywhere until monday at 9. Then we go down to Galveston, Tx to deliver our youngest to college at Texas A&M, Galveston. So glad it wasn't her that got bit.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'll try to keep up with posting until I'm healed so other people can compare stories. I had a really hard time finding any sort of information on recovery time and what type, if any tissue damage I'm going to be looking at. They've got all the medical stuff, but no after care. I guess they just clear you and send you home, but no one really documents the recovery time.

peace,

Deb

Houston, we have a cucumber!

I had planted all my melons and squash and cucs in the front yard this year. I have such a problem with the dreaded squash bug that I decided to trick them and plant somewhere far enough away that they couldn't find my plants. It seems to be working! I found 2 full size cucumbers last night and plenty more baby ones. Yay! The cool weather and all the rain we've been having just spurred them on to cucumber greatness. I tried Thai Green cucs this year. We have a problem with it being too hot here and the cucumbers get bitter. I thought if I tried some from a hotter region than it might work better for me here. I haven't tasted them yet.

The kids are moving in this weekend, and we're all pretty excited about it. They'll be moving here to save up for their move to Seattle this winter. We figured with C going to college and there being an empty room, it would work out ok.

Hope you all have a great day!

d

Day of rest?

Yesterday, C and I headed over to my sister's house to help paint the outside of it. Little did we know that there would be nothing for us to do. My nephews were sanding the fascia and my father was replacing some woodwork on the front. All that was left was for us to go to the hardware store and pick paint after eating some leftover scones. Then we got back and had lunch and came home after that. Got home around 4 and I got to work here. Did 2 loads of laundry, then I made a big batch of breakfast burritos and put them in the freezer. I made 3 batches of double crust pie crusts and got them into the fridge. I was planning on making a chicken pot pie (or two) for the freezer and a peach pie, but lost momentum after dinner. I ended up doing a small quilt repair and then watching a movie with C and then it was bed time.

Soooo, that's what happened here yesterday.

:)

Deb

Today was pretty good...

Got up and ran into town to the farmer's market. Seems stupid to have to drive into town from the country to get to the people who live in the country, but I did it anyway. Got some good local natural meat, some cheese and some veggies. I'll have to come up with something delicious.

Also today, C and I turned this
into this:

And then I finished this:
And then I ate some ice cream. :)

Tomorrow we're heading over to my sister's house to help paint. I don't think the painting will be too much fun, but seeing everyone will be nice. Mom and Dad are there as well so it'll be good to be together. As much as we don't really agree on much, we sure end up having a pretty good time together. Strange, but good.

peace,

deb

I finally had to throw out last year's solar oven. The cats have been using it for a scratching post. I guess I'll be on the lookout for some good boxes.

T-shirt skirt

C discovered a great website called Threadbangers and found an online tutorial on how to make a skirt out of a t-shirt. It was supposed to be a jumper, actually, but the shirt wasn't quite as big as we needed it to be. I took a photo of it with my phone and uploaded to my
Facebook account, but I have not quite figured out how to get the photo here. I can't get them to upload from my phone to the blog, so here's the next best thing. A link to the photo. C didn't want her face in the photo since she will not be wearing the skirt. It's made from DH's old Misfits t-shirt and since she doesn't listen to the Misfits, she won't wear the skirt. Doesn't want to be a poser.

Hope you enjoy. I'll work on the technical aspect of posting pictures from my phone, but in the meantime, I'll just post links.

peace

compassion

It's been an underlying theme this week. I keep hearing the words "we are connected to everything on the planet and everything we do, good or bad, radiates outward and affects many others". I wonder what God and the Universe are trying to tell me. Or maybe it's just something that I need to ponder. Or just act upon.

hmmmmm

I tried to send a picture and an update but so far it hasn't posted. We'll see if this one posts

My Yard

My yard is a mess. I won't even sugar coat it. Won't even take a picture of it. It's an embarrassing, over grown, brush pile strewn mess. *sigh* I guess I shouldn't make a plan to put in more flower and veg beds if I can't even keep it nice now. My main issue is the mowing. And the weeding. And the edging. You see, my DH, who is really a Knight in Shining Armour, Works. And when I say that, I don't mean the M-F 9-5. I mean Monday through Sunday, 2 jobs, 19 hour days, 80+ hour weeks. He rarely has days where he has the time to mow, much less the energy. We have a very temperamental mower and besides all of that, I just can't start it. I've tried. I tried yesterday and the day before. I can't really afford to hire someone to do the yard work, and the young man I have hired to help me with the heavier yard chores (pruning, firewood, etc) could do it, but I don't want to waste that time and money on something that I could theoretically do myself. So, I've decided that I will acquire a reel push mower. You know, the kind without any power source other than the person walking behind it. It makes a really nice sound when you mow, sort of a whirring. I can handle that. And, once the lawn is mowed, I'll be able to do the edging, and then the weeding. I guess I just don't see much sense in sitting in an overgrown lawn weeding a flower bed. Hence, my yard is a mess.

d

Today, I'm learning how to blog from my phone. Perhaps I'll be able to update more often this way. Never near the computer when i feel like sharing something

Quilts in the Sidebar

I just took a moment and looked at all the quilts I have listed in the sidebar that I need to finish. I think those were posted months ago. Ask me if I've finished any of them. Go Ahead! ASK! The answer will be a resounding "NO". How embarrassing. I guess I should maybe focus on getting some of them done. Maybe one a month or something easy like that. Once C moves down to Galveston, I'll have plenty of time to be productive. Y'all are supposed to keep me accountable!

I harvested the onions. Not as many or as big as I had hoped for, but a whole veg drawer in the fridge full. I think they got shaded out by the sunflowers that were also in the bed and just didn't get enough of what they needed to get big. Lesson learned. Every year I learn something valuable from my "mistakes". I don't really consider them to be failures since I learn from them. The okra is just now kicking in. I got some potatoes, but again, not as many/big as I had hoped, but more than last year, so progress was made. I've got some tomato plants that survived and 2 pepper plants. I put all the melons/cucs/etc in the front this year hopefully to confuse the squash bugs and sneak them by. I also put 2 more tomatoes in the front. A friend's hubby is a landscape architect and he's going to draw me up a plan for an edible cottage garden. I'll have to work it in stages, but I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to do so this fall.

That's about it, folks. DH is working a 19 hour shift today so I thought I'd work at home in solidarity. I'll be basting a quilt and getting ready to quilt it. Might even get started. I guess I should go do my grocery shopping as well.

Happy Independence to everyone. Be safe.

d

What happened to January-May?

Holy cow, time is rushing past! Quilt a palooza was quite a success and now it's time to push forward to the college issues. C and I are leaving in the morning for Galveston for her New Student Registration Conference. We'll be there for 3 days and home Thursday night. Then, I quilt 4 quilts in quick succession to get caught up and get them mailed out to their rightful owners.

I finally got a new phone and will be investigating how to update my blog via cell phone and also sending pictures. I always think about it when I'm nowhere near a computer, so if I can send stuff in when time arises, perhaps my blog will have more entries.

Gotta go finish packing.

Peace,

Deb

doin's on the homestead

We reconfigured the chicken pen to give the girls some fresh grass and weeds and especially some shade now that the Texas summer seems to have arrived. I'm letting them play in the asparagus bed now that the ferns are all real tall and they can't do any damage. They can keep the weeds down and fertilize though, and that's pretty important stuff for the asparagus.

I finished my last 2 shop samples for Quilt-a-palooza and have been cooking stock all day. I'll let it go overnight and then pressure can it in the morning. I also have 2 chickens in the fridge that I need to cut up and cook in the morning to make chicken salad and also to have the meat for a couple of dishes for the next 2 weeks (chicken pot pie, chicken stuffed peppers and possibly chicken enchiladas). I like to get a bunch cooked up and then store it for meals. Then I'll make and can more stock out of the leftovers. Now that the heat is here, the garden is starting to grow. The lettuce is all bolting, so I'll need to go harvest what is left out there tomorrow and get it all in the fridge. Salads for this week and next, and then maybe it's done. I did buy some lettuce seed called "heat wave mix". It's supposed to be able to grow in warmer climes, and I'll plant it under the okra so at least it's shaded. The green beans are climbing the fence and I think I'll actually get some this year. If the grasshoppers become an issue, i'll let the chickens have them. Planted all the curcurbits (cucs, squash, pumpkins, watermelon) in the front this year. Ran out of room, plus the squash bugs are in the back yard. Maybe I'll be able to trick them.

Gotta run, we're watching my new dvd of Dexter, first season. Such a good show!

peace,

Deb

Alright, alright!

Shees! The wedding was last Saturday and everyone wants to see pictures. I have some of them, but not all, so I can only post a few here and there until I have them all.

So here is an authorized picture of my beautiful lovely daughter, C, who was a bridesmaid. I altered her dress and made the cloak.
Now, if I can do this correctly, I'll try to pull another of the bride over from the cd itself. All this technology...

This is my lovely new Daughter in Law, M being walked down the aisle by her father. I made the gown. You can't tell, but it's got an embroidered vine up one side of the bodice with flowers made out of beads and it's also got pearls all along the top. (I just viewed the post and if you click on each picture it enlarges it and you can see detailing)
This is the kids during the ceremony. Our minister was pretty cool. My son, A, was pretty nervous but seemed a little more relaxed by this point.

That's it for tonight...the pizza is almost done and I want to go spend some time with C and finish up my round robin block since it's late already. They gave me some leniency since I was having a wedding, but that card has been played and it's back to real life for me. I'll post more pictures as I come by them. Hope you enjoy them.

peace,

deb

Holy Bananas

My son is getting married tomorrow morning. How weird is that. I'm already getting all choked up. Just thinking about his life and all the things I remember about him as an infant and a toddler. I'm really glad that I bought waterproof mascara in preparation for the event. I think I'm kind of in shock right now.

Guess I should try to get some sleep. It will be a long day tomorrow.

peace,

D

What I've been doing...

I noticed the last post was from February 26th. That was about 10 days after I started working on the wedding clothes. Well, today I finished the wedding clothes. That's about 8 solid weeks of sewing. Here is a small example of what I've been doing.
This is my hubby in his brand new kilt. He looks a little dazed b/c I ambushed him as soon as he walked through the door after working a 10 hour day. But I think it looks pretty good for someone who's never made a kilt before.

Now, I have half a day plus whatever time is left after going to work to get the house sorta straightened up. Luckily, the folks that will be staying here don't care so that's truly a blessing.

peace,

Deb

Homestead Update

I've gotten the onions in, transplanted lettuce and some brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, etc), planted potatoes, started sweet potato slips, planted garlic and transplanted rosemary and dill. We built a small chicken run for the girls since they dig up my herb garden and lilies on a regular basis. Well, they can't now, so I'm planning for a real nice herb bed this year.

Canned some dried pintos the other day and also some pecans. I'm working on filling my pantry with a year's worth of food. It's good to have a back up. The garden and chickens will feed us in the spring, summer and fall, but again, it's good to have a backup.

C's cat was attacked by 3 dogs 4 days ago and we're nursing him back to health, however unwilling he is to accept it. He's just a tad grouchy these days.

Took a road trip up to my parent's place last weekend and got my almost DIL wedding dress almost done. Just some handwork on the bodice and hemming up the skirt. Still need to make an underskirt, 5 cloaks, my outfit, DH's outfit and alter the bride's maid's dresses. I've got 7 weeks. :)


I need to start some more seeds this weekend and order a few more. Maybe get some peas planted up against the back fence. Lots to do!

Deb

Ice day projects

Today we, like much of the country, were gripped by an ice storm. It pretty much shut down the DFW area. So, since I didn't have to work, I used all the time that I would be gone and did what I wanted to do. Seemed to be fair. Here is what happened.

I finished 2 pillowcases for C,
2 Civil war blocks (both the same-I swap with Sue),

An apron with hot dogs on it,
and I finished the borders on my Roman Stripe quilt.
But now I don't think I like the light purple border. I really think it needs to be a stronger border. I was going to use a dark pink with with polka dots, but it turned out to be a poly blend. Now I guess I'll find something else. Anything that's dark. Maybe green or blue. Do you guys have any thoughts or suggestions?

Anyway, that's what I did today. Not too bad for one day! Too be fair, I did all the prep work yesterday on everything. I was just finishing things today.

Oh, I watched an episode of Battlestar Galactica. My son has been nagging me to watch it for a while, and last time I was at his apartment, he forced the first season on dvd into my hand and demanded that I watch. I got through the first episode which was a four hour mini-series on Sunday and watched one episode today. It's hard to sew while you're paying attention, thus only one episode.

Gotta go get my jammies on and get settled for the evening.

Peace,

Deb

Sunday's Photo

I know I missed yesterday. We had a long day of collecting firewood and I was just too tired to worry about it. But I thought about y'all. :)

Today's photo is of my Christmas gift from my almost DIL. She knows me well.
Isn't that the most amazing pincushion you've ever seen! I absolutely love it, and obviously am using it. Thought I'd share.

Peace,

Deb

must have item

Real quick. DH has to get up at the butt crack of dawn again in the morning, but I have to keep up with my "photo a day".

My sister gave me a wonderful gift for Christmas in the form of a gift card to DSW. It's a shoe store. I was gonna go practical and responsible, but went for these instead.
Way more fun, don't you think?

g'nite

Deb

Yesterday's Photo

I know, I'm already slacking. I have a good excuse, though. I worked yesterday and then when I got home, we ate dinner and cleaned up, and then dh went to bed. He had to be at work this morning at 4, so he went to bed early. And the computer is in our bedroom. Well? It's all I've got.

Anyway, here is today picture.
This is Short Round, the new stove. She's not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the old one, but she sure cooks well! We've made a quiche, a shepard's pie and some cookies so far. Not bad for only having had her since Monday. I"ve been rearranging the kitchen and pulled out the old kitchen cart from the sewing room for storage, and so far it's going well. I'd been wanting to go through everything in there for a while, and now I have a reason.

Have a beautiful day!

Deb

Technical difficulties

My Kodak software is acting hinky so I can't post a picture of my new stove. BUT, I promised a picture a day so today I'm going to post this one.
This a picture of My Chemical Romance at Edgefest in April, 2007. I was on DH's shoulders in the pit. Ahhhh....that was a REALLY good show.

The weather warmed up a bit today, topping out at 58, so that was nice. I spent a lot of the morning organizing my kitchen to accommodate the new stove and also going through cabinets and pulling out things that won't be staying. I had some old rusty pans that will be recycled and some things that got thrown away and some that will be given to my son. Not done yet, but getting there. It's going to be very nice and quite efficient. C made cookies today. She's never baked in a real oven. I had to teach her even how to turn it on and what cookie sheets to use. I'm glad I was able to teach her how to use a real stove before she moved out. Of course, she doesn't know how to use a dishwasher or a thermostat either.

G'nite

Deb

Texas Ice

Woo! I made it two days in a row! I was going to post a picture of my new stove or my new shoes but I have something different. I've got plenty of days left for the stove and the shoes (they're pretty sassy shoes....)

Saturday, we had record highs here in North Texas. 84 degrees. Today, the high was 31 and that was at 12:01 am and has been dropping from there. We also had some rain today. This is the result.

A good old Texas ice storm. It's quite pretty and I don't really mind them when they hit as it seals up all the little nooks and crannies (crooks and nannies) here in my old house. It's almost warmer. Almost.

Oh, and I worked on one of those quilts in the UFO list on the side.

Peace

deb

A Picture a Day

Keeps procrastination at bay....or so I will hope. There's been discussion on my treadle message board about this being the year to finish up our UFOs (UnFinished Objects) whether they be quilting, sewing, crafty, etc. One of the members posted that she uses her blog to keep her accountable and that she uses the list feature. I'll be employing that later on today, I'm sure. But first I decided that perhaps if I pledge to post one picture a day for the rest of the month of January, I'll get back into the habit of posting here on my blog.

So here's my first picture.

This is my stove. It's a 1927 Wedgewood number with 4 gas burners and 2 wood burners there on the end. It also has a gas oven and broiler, neither of which work. I've been using this stove for about 4 years. I bought it 19 years ago and have been hauling it all over the country until I settled and bought a house it would be comfortable in. I never got the oven/broiler fixed, so I've been cooking for my family without it. My DH finally said that I needed an oven and so he's gone and bought me a modern free standing gas range to go in this one's place until the day when she can be restored. Today is her last day in the kitchen and I needed to clean her anyway, but this morning, while making scrambled eggs, I inadvertantly dumped beaten egg all over the top which then ran down inside and dripped out the back onto the floor. My dog was quite helpful with the floor portion of the cleanup. :) I also need to go tackle cleaning out a space on my screened in front porch for her to live for a while. It will be sad to have her out of the kitchen, but I'll be thrilled to have a real oven to bake in again. Holiday dinners have been interesting these last 4 years, to say the least, and I've defineately learned some serious crock pot skills. I can just about cook anything in a solar oven, a crockpot and a 10 inch counter top convection oven.

Happy New Year,

Deb