Stand on your head today

 I have been so busy this past week that I had to actually cancel a quilt retreat that I had been planning all year.  Where has my summer gone? I have taken a class for which I planned before I thought about it too much, have had a buddy spend a weekend here, (our rock birdhouses above) (sorry I forgot to flip them) and went to lunch twice this week with friends. That usually shoots the heck out of a day.  In addition, we are planning to leave very soon to spend a few days in sunny CA with our son and his family.  I have had to arrange for the critters to board, now laundry to do, packing and met with neighbors to let them know our plans.  So the rock houses, stand on your head, are supposed to be bird houses and although we have made them in the past, I left mine back in the move and wanted another one.  This one above belongs to my friend...the funnel is topped with a drapery rod finial sprayed silver and mine below has a very long blue plastic funnel.  We also used a different adhesive which I will not recommend as I am still finding it on my skin and it has been a week.  I do not jest!!!

Now the image of the oreo pig is one I am using as inspiration for a primitive quilted wall hanging and I hope to finish it soon.  I have loved the pig chopping blocks that I have found.  I am currently working on several quilts and hope not to start another before I finish these.  I keep having ideas and I usually succeed in finishing my projects, but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment and have only myself to blame.  I missed seeing my friends in Encampment at the quilt retreat, and loved having my friend who came to do the birdhouses and am blessed that two of my neighbors have become such good friends that they each took me to lunch this week.  I am truly blessed to have such friends in my life.

"Be a friend to yourself, and others will." ~ Scottish Proverb

August so soon

Oh my gosh, it is August already! The last part of July was a whirlwind. Our daughter and her husband came for Frontier Days and everything between my last post and the first of this month has been a blur.  We had two terrible hail storms, a picnic with many, many past coworkers, finishing the pond above and time spent with neighbors, lunches, coffee meets and quilt shop trips.  This week is the county fair and we have hit numerous garage sales on weekends. As the days begin to shorten, I am reminded that the snow won't be far behind the end of this month.  I had pictures of the pond progress, but for some reason, lost track of them.  These pictures are not very good, but this pond is in the shade most of the day and tucked next to the deck, it is pretty sheltered.  I was able to use the old pump that I have been packing around for over 20 years though and love the sound of the water falling.  I have been able to schedule two months of rooms at the library for our sewing and quilting group, and we are trying to schedule a couple of trips to visit our two kids on the west coast and don't know if that will happen any time soon.  I also have a friend coming this weekend for a crafting project. So, now I hope to get back here on a more regular basis.....perhaps?

"If you want to be original, be yourself." ~ Anonymous

Washtub coffee table

 So bear with me while I tell you some of the things I have been doing.  First I had a good friend come and stay a few days and she conned me into going to the Wy State Garden Convention with her here.  I have to admit that it was wonderful and I met so many great people for those 3 days.  We did some garage sales also while she was here.  But this post is about a project the Mr. helped me to complete.  I have been packing this old washtub around with me for over 20 years and had been trying to come up with an idea to make a coffee table small enough for my living room without spending a lot of money.  Those of you who know me know that I like to reuse and recycle so thanks to Pinterest, I decided to enlist the Mr. to copy an idea I saw.  He is so willing to go along with my hairbrained ideas. First we cut a from

piece of plywood for the bottom of the tub. I found fencepost tops at the local hardware for the feet. We went to the local Restore for Humanity and found a table with a top that would work and it was only $9.00.
He took the top of and we discarded the rest of it since it was pretty much destroyed anyway.  I then sanded it and gave it several coats of black spray paint as well as the post tops.  The screws protruding had to be cut off as they were too long for the wooden bottom piece. I sprayed the bottom wood piece with a silver textured paint that I had on hand. The bottom piece was adhered to the tub with construction adhesive as well as the new feet and each was allowed to dry several hours.  So there are several pictures here and after scrolling to the bottom, you will find my two babies modeling the new

coffee table which I simply love.

Baking again

I used to bake a lot...in fact I made quite a few wedding and birthday cakes years ago, but I also have a weakness for breads and carbs in general.  Unfortunately, those turn into sugar when they settle in your system and I have been trying to watch my sugars. I have been pretty successful so far.  However, that has limited my baking! I find that I am not the only one with this love for breads and my neighbor, bless her soul, sparked the need to find a scone recipe that wasn't too sweet.  In fact we were on the quest to bake biscotti.  How sad is it that friends have to schedule time together by checking their calendars. This biscotti lesson was scheduled days ago and last night I scheduled a quilt trip with a friend for a date the two of us could find  open.  Even that was difficult.  We just are blessed to be able to stay so busy with these friends.  So these are the scones that I tried and I would make them again, tweaking the recipe a bit.  This one had chocolate chips which I would eliminate and dried cranberries which work really well. I would also cut them a bit bigger...8 pieces rather than 12.  It was a pretty basic recipe, not too sweet, which could be adapted and I will make it again.  We did make the biscotti...carbs again...but it is also a "go to" recipe and perhaps I will post it another time.  Baking is always more enjoyable when you do it with friends.

"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting." ~ anonymous

Trunk re-do

This is an old trunk that I purchased over 20 years ago and it has followed me for the six moves since.  It was always my intent to refinish it in some manner and is in relatively good shape.  I discovered that it does have original hardware although some had been painted and the leather handles have been replaced.  The tray is missing, but the paper inside (sorry I forgot to take a picture), is in wonderful shape.  Finally I began that process this week. I first stained the wood with a can of some stain that I already had on hand and it really looks great.  Then I proceeded to paint it with another jar of acrylic paint that I found at Hobby Lobby on sale for little or nothing. The last step was to embellish the hardware with "rub and buff" .  I did spray it with an all purpose clear matte spray. Forgot to mention that it was actually pretty dirty, so I spent some time just cleaning it with some steel wool and a soft cloth and mild all-purpose cleaner.  The canvas had a few worn places but all in all not bad so I did not attempt to remove it.

I am totally please with the results and can cross one more thing off my bucket list!

Gardening in Wyoming

 Gardening in Wyoming can be challenging and I used to be much better than I am now.  Part of that can be attributed to my age, but mostly to the weather and each year it seems to become more difficult.  Global warming? Most of the people I know are not believers and feel that everything cycles.  I probably won't live long enough to see another wonderful gardening cycle, like I remember if that is true.  We have had rain, and more rain and some hail and even some tornadoes.  The tornadoes were a few miles north of us this weekend, but they did significant damage and destroyed eight homes, all rural thank goodness or it would have been much worse.  Because of the rain and hail, what I have planted has suffered and with such a short growing season, I am not sure it is worth the effort.  I do have a few pots that get moved several times a day and so far so good. I do have this wonderful African violet that is blooming and after only a year seems to have outgrown the pot. Perhaps I will have to be satisfied with indoor plants for now.

Our library group has taken a break from the library quilt and sew days for the summer, but above is the last completed quilt for a wall in one of my bathrooms...it is titled "We're on a Roll".  I have started a Wedding quilt since I received an Accuquilt Go machine and a couple  of dies for it.  It has taken a few sessions to get the hang of putting it together on the machine as this is an old pattern which was traditionally hand stitched.  I will try to get a picture of a couple of squares, which are not really square, but rounded in shape.

I had my friend of over 50 years come to spend the weekend with us and we hit garage sales, saw the movie "Book Club", and toured the botanical garden.  Had a wonderful time.  Our neighbors bought a new truck and they have two vehicles in their garage already.  With no room for the new truck, they purchased a Hail Protector and honestly, it looks like a large caterpillar when it is inflated.  They won't let me paint eyes on it, but it has gotten a lot of attention from onlookers and probably does a good job.  I will try to get a picture of it also when they inflate it again.

"Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives." ~ Alexandre Dumas the Younger

 I have been posting now for over 10 years although I have taken a couple of breaks, one most recently.  However, now with summer on the horizon...(I am really not fond of winter), I can get outside.  For some reason, the sun energizes me.  With this more moderate temperature, we can start the garage sale circuit.  I have always been a fan of recycling and re purposing...part of my genetic background I fear.  Mom and Dad did not throw away much, although I am sure that the cream separator probably went to the dump. We darned our socks, mended and took care of things.  So last week I picked up the two Pyrex bowls, a pattern I have in other pieces, for $2.00.  What a bargain!  This weekend we picked a piece of electronics, brand new in the box for $3.00. It will replace an old set of pieces that allow us to project a  television program from one tv to another wirelessly.  Yes we are tv people. Our children have always made fun of the fact that we have them in nearly every room.  I watch a good deal of public television, and we don't always watch the same programs. We also meet a wonderful bunch of people and I pick up pieces for friends who volunteer at the hospital...They provide baskets for cancer patients with all kinds of goodies.

This past couple of months has found many of our friends and family dealing with unfortunate situations and we have been a sounding board for many of them.  Part of it is most likely that we are all in the twilight years now of our life.  Makes one stop to think about the uncertain future.  The Mr. and I have been blessed, but know that there are critical decisions yet to be made for us.  This tree in my back yard is blooming so beautifully and the fragrance it emits is most pleasing.  But we have had rain for several days and when the raindrops hit the petals, they fall like snowflakes--all over the deck and the dogs bring them in on their feet. We have had both little rescue dogs to the vet for minor surgery and now they will be able to get groomed as they are shaggy. So, now with the gardens getting greener, I have planted seeds, pots and have some perennials to get in the ground.


"The trouble with gardening....is that it does not remain an avocation.  It becomes an obsession." ~ Phyllis McGintey

Another year

I have been absent from this blog for a few months, just needed to get some other things finished.  But I have had another birthday and find myself realizing that I am blessed to be so healthy and able to do most anything I want to do.  Spring has sprung and we have some really pretty trees blooming and we planted grass which has nearly filled in all of the ugly places where crab grass previously grew and was killed. But lots has happened to friends and we have just been busy dealing with life in general.  I had a wonderful week and have taken some pictures which will follow in the near future when I get things organized.  Just stay tuned and I will be back.

My Vintage Trailer

This is the last finished project...one of many on my "to finish" list...so IT" DONE!!!!! I now have it hanging on my sewing room wall.  This project involved applique.  Each flower, and there were many on that stem, was individually cut and appliqued to the trailer and the stem.  The collage by Laura Heine is only one of many available and I have plans to do another....a white buffalo.  In the future of course, when more of my to finish list is culled down, I will make plans to do that. The background fabric is Route 66 fabric...appropriate I think for my Vintage Trailer.  In fact, we sold our camp trailer recently. It was the fourth one and we really did not have opportunity to use it much.  Our normal camping area has been so very dry the past few years that it was not conducive to camping.  The grass had gotten tall and then dry and the forest fires had become a threat.  We did though over the years spend many, many happy summers camping with our kids and our friends.  Those were the good ol' days.

The Olympics are over and I am having withdrawal pains.  I spent so much time watching the winter sports, especially the curling.  I heard so many comments about the curling being too much to watch..apparently not everyone enjoyed them as much as I did.  Some of the efforts made by those athletes to even get there were amazing, not to mention the skill and talents they displayed in all areas of the winter sports.  We can be so proud of them!

This little piggy went to market

I remember so well, my father reciting that little poem to each of us as we sat on his lap.  I have never had much of an inclination to pay any attention to pig items, but for some reason a few years ago, I was attracted to a cutting board like the ones above and picked it up.  Since then, I have picked up these one at a time, but only if they were cheap.  I have paid mostly a few dollars at garage sales and thrift stores, but the little black one was picked up at the vintage market I attended a few weeks ago.  I paid $10.00 for it and it was the most expensive.  However, I knew that I was going to use it for the title of this collection-----"Pig Heaven".  Previously I had posted a snap of these pigs on a picket fence, but I was not really pleased with it so the Mr. drilled a few more eye and tail holes and I am much happier with this display, plus there is room for more!

The two little fur pups that I have went to the veterinary clinic to get their teeth cleaned and each lost teeth.  One for the little guy and two for the other one, one of which had broken off.  I felt like a bad mom, but really, they cannot let you know about their teeth and I couldn't tell.  Their blood work though was normal, no problems for these little guys who are 11 years old.  They have forgiven me for taking them already!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 54th anniversary...we didn't have a formal wedding ceremony.  It was at the worst time of the Viet Nam war....everyone was being drafted, I was working and the Mr. was finishing up work at the winter sugar beet season and preparing to start farming, anticipating the inevitable draft notice for men not in college or those without children.  The draft notice did come and he enlisted in the Navy which sent him on three west pacific cruises and our first child was born while he was away.  But we have survived all of these years without many heartaches and are truly blessed.

I have been trying new patterns, one of which is above.  I have seen pictures of these miniature dress forms and this one is a pincushion. My goal is to make several pincushions for a quilt retreat for late summer and this might just be one of them.  I made curtains for my sewing room window which has no view.  In the basement, my room has egress windows with window wells so there is no view and very little light, but I wanted to hide some of the metal which can be seen.  There are blinds, but I still wanted a little "girlie" touch.  Working with really cute fabric with birds on it, I labored and used velcro tabs to secure it and after two days, realized that I had hung it with the birds upside down! I took it down and redesigned it and the dress form above is made from the same fabric and it is perched upon a candlestick purchased at the Goodwill.  I received an Accuquilt Machine last week and have been so pleased with how it works.  It will cut up to 6 pieces of fabric in a precise manner and will give me the ability to cut pieces for a quilt so much faster. There are of course different dies for different sizes of pieces, but this first one I have allows 4 different pieces to be cut at once if need be.  My quilting friends have other dies and we will eventually be able to share as they are quite pricey.

We have been watching the Olympics and these athletes are so amazing.  I find that I make apologies for being too busy to blog, but.......

"Happiness walks on busy feet." ~ Kittie Turmell

Busy new year

 As a child I remember my Dad telling me that I should not wish my life away. For it seems that I was always wishing for something in the future.  Probably like all little children, I wished for Christmas as soon as I realized it was nearing, wishing for school to begin when I turned 6 (we did not have kindergarten), wishing for school to be out so that I could go barefoot, and so forth--always wishing for something in the future.  Well, now it appears to me that I have almost wished my life away! When I look down the road, it has become a very short one and with each day, even shorter.  Blessed with a very healthy life these 60 plus decades, I should not be complaining.  I have such a mental list of things yet to accomplish with a short time in which to complete, that I find myself now wishing for yesterday.  Trying to accomplish some of these small things has kept me from this blog I realize. So I will start to catch up.  First what has kept me occupied is the ironing station that the Mr. so willingly built for me. I spent some time also on this which after completed require time in the sewing room, several days in fact, updating some of the odd pieces I have accumulated in the past year to make the room a little more comfortable as well as efficient for the many projects I always work on. I needed this station to be higher than a regular table and the ironing board I was using was a bit shaky.  It needed to be on wheels so that I could move it away from the wall when pressing a large piece and I needed a shelf for my spray bottles and extra irons etc.

 It was primed and I picked a pale green for the surface, purchased new pressing cloth, stapled padding and the clothe to the top, which we reused and voila!  I love it!

This took all together the better part of a week, with the construction, gluing, painting and room arranging.  During that time, I took a 4 day trip to my friend's where we attended a vintage market.  It was one of the best markets we have seen.  We both purchased items and got great deals and I even picked up a quilt rack for $2.00 at the Goodwill on our way home.  Needless to say, I have been painting a few other things with this pretty green, including the quilt rack.  In addition to time spent on these projects, I have been trying to finish a few quilt projects and then the Mr. and I took the door glass off the oven to clean the inside.  I have done this before with older ovens....no big deal, right?  Well, this oven has 3 pieces of glass.  What's up with that?  The removable one was the center piece, not in need of cleaning and the other were not very accessible and I suppose there is a reason for that.  Anyway, I was able to do a little spot cleaning, but not much.  I am NOT spending any more time wishing my life away on that oven door!..It can stay dirty and I will hang a towel over it.

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or hatch." ~ E.B. White...
Charlotte's Web

Dresden Plates

Just a quick post to show the finished quilt, the result of which is our guild's round robin choice for the past few months.  I put the bottom left plate in my bag along with a few pieces of fabric and told the rest of the quilters that I didn't care about the size, or colors, but they all chose to use the same shades and WOW! There were 2 extra--10 in all that did not match so one became the label and the other a small table topper.  Loved this project!

The New Year

 I did not stay up to see the new year in. I went to bed early and figured from past experience, that the new year would arrive with or without my seeing the ball drop.  When I got up this morning, like I thought, it had come as it had in the 72 previous years of my life, although it was very cold.  I am done with the cold...oh wait, I have no say in the matter.  Christmas was quiet here and snowy!  My purchase earlier of the turned dowel and the help of the Mr. turned out to be a sweet porch angel. I will be able to change the head gear and the items in her hands for the seasons.  We did have friends for Christmas Day and my sweet neighbors exchanged goodies which are nearly gone, (thank goodness).  Below are gifts from my wonderful neighbor from across the street.  The beautiful Chrystal ball came last year and this fall,  she followed with the metal hanger.  It is beautiful and may stay up all year.  And this year....

 This lovely glass tree with the glass balls were from her.  It is not very tall....perhaps 9 inches, but it is so very pretty and she is a treasure for sure.  Thank you Mary.  I have been quilting with a group at our library and when I told them that I had a blog, although some knew it, they asked what I blogged about.  I realize that I haven't been real consistent with it, but told them that I would blog about them.  Not wanting to publish pictures of them for privacy issues, I will be taking pictures of their projects and progresses so this is just the beginning of my promise to them.

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly. ~ Lauren Bacall