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