Thing to come

Today I traveled with 3 other gals across the border (the line that separates Wyoming and Colorado) to "The Ranch" where 18 different vendors displayed their wares and wonderful quilts! It was a one stop shop hop and the individual shops in this region will continue to offer discounts if you visit their shops in the next few weeks. The goal now, is to visit these shops and as I understand it from fellow quilters, it is a lot of fun! I saw some old friends and learned a great deal from both the vendors and the quilters with whom I traveled...so thanks to all!

Today was also a little sad. I am still awaiting news about a dear friend in Tuscon who fell and broke her hip and is in surgery as I write this and I also had news today that the sister of my best friend passed. Thoughts are with both families.

As we slowly continue to finish and decorate the basement I dug out these baby dresses and sweater which were mine as a wee one. In the cedar chest, these things just sit waiting for a life. I decided to hang them where I could see them on a daily basis as we have no babies to wear them.

Things to come....well a blog or two back I mentioned that my daughter gets me sidetracked at times..bless her soul. So I have been collecting and searching my stash for goods with which to start on projects for my summer retreat with my crafting gals. The teapots will be houses for birds to nest in and the plates will become antique light fixtures, lamps etc. As I complete these projects, I will post, but this is just a preview of things to come.

I have started some seedlings and have emerging from the soil, spinach, cabbage, a sunflower, cosmos and more. Now I need some sunny days and warm weather as my home doesn't have many sunny windows. I am ready to be out in the garden!

"There is no time like Spring, when life's alive in everything." ~ Christina Rosetti

Sylvia's Sampler blocks

Finally, all of the blocks for my sampler quilt have been completed. Deciding how to assemble them will be the next obstacle. At my quilt guild meeting this week, one of the girls who was hand quilting there, showed me a new pin she had received. Jennifer Chiaverini who is the author of the quilt series inspiring this sampler, offers pins to accompany the books which she is signing. I am still trying to navigate her blog. I want one of these pins!!!! Having read several of her books, I realized that I am way behind on this series and have to get busy.

On another note, this week has been motivational for me as I have received two project ideas for the craft retreat which takes me to the cabin at Elk Mtn during the summer. As soon as I finish the examples I will post them. One from my daughter is a bird nesting box, using a china teapot. It is really cute and the other is a reproduction antique lamp, using a china plate. This idea came from the very generous gal who is our hostess for the summer retreat. I can hardly wait to start working on these two projects!

"The mind grows by what it feeds on." ~ Josiah Gilbert Holland

Class of '63-Good times

Growing up in a small rural town has it's dis- advantages, but those small towns are dis- appearing and with our ever increasing technology, so disappears the close-knit relationships that were formed in small communities. Our world has become smaller and our circle of friends becomes "larger" with the introduction of sites like "Facebook, Twitter, and even these blogs." But are these old connections really "friends"?

Two days ago, the Mr. and I had the most wonderful day reconnecting with old friends. Actually, for the most part, these were my classmates, most of whom had gone to school together for all twelve of the first years of our education. Since our town was so small, our school was small. We were also the last graduating class and of the few who actually graduated together, it has been impossible to get us all together at any one time. Going in different directions... college, the armed forces, marriages, divorces, deaths, we scattered. However, now that most of us have reached the age of retirement, it was amazing to see that except for one of us now living in the state of Alaska, we are all within an hour or so of our little town.

We grew up as family...slumber parties, birthday parties, dances, roller skating, movies--always together..usually 4 boys and 4 girls, sometimes more, sometimes less. Our Senior Sneak trip took us to Colorado Springs with our sponsor and his wife. During the night, we coasted down the hill where our motel was, with one of the cars and went for a "drive", but couldn't resist telling our sponsor the next morning. Times were different back then...perhaps not. At any rate...it is unusual for a class of our small size to be able to gather as we did, all still in pretty great shape and not to have lost anyone. One of the guys, was unable to make it as he was on a cruise, but it was relatively short notice. Most of us had not seen each other for years and some not since 1963. I normally do not post pictures, but this is a great bunch..a motley crew of sorts, but the Class of '63. I treasure these old friendships.

"A friend is a present you give yourself." ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Little white dove

Again, I find that as a retiree, there are not enough hours in the day and not enough days in the week and not enough weeks in the month. I do know that I am lucky to be so busy and for the life of me don't know understand those who find retirement boring. What do they do with themselves? We spent part of last weekend in Casper where the Mr. played on a team pool tournament and the weekend before we had a good friend stay with us. Because it has been a while since I posted, I have been too busy to get to the blog. Forgive me. I make no other excuses!

The Mr. has been feeding the banded doves all winter and we have gone through lots of cracked corn. As spring arrived so did "Little White Dove". The doves we feed are grey with a dark band around their neck. Exactly what they are is debatable. Different sources claim a variety of explanations as to where they originated, but most do agree that they are escapees from domestic birds. So we were surprised to see this white lady arrive and after some amorous males tried to attract and woo her, she picked a mate. They feed in our front yard away from the other flock in back and he stands guard while she feeds. Hopefully they will nest nearby and with luck, perhaps another generation of white doves will survive. "Running Bear and Little White Dove".

Teacup

Here is the little teacup pincushion now that it is finished ...just a little mushroom, home for the ladybug perched atop who must be a gardener at heart as her little flower garden is bursting in bloom. Is it spring there? Not here although we did not get the amount of snow predicted.

I was able to attend the Cheyenne Heritage Quilt guild meeting last evening and Kelly Gallagher-Abbott was the guest speaker. She and her husband are now representative of long arm quilting machines and she brought a wonderful slide show and a trunk show of quilts. She is such an accomplished quilter and so personable! The quilts were spectacular and some were funny and they ranged from traditional to modern and came in all sizes. Such a motivator and they brought some of their patterns and other quilting items in addition to providing the door prizes. I am so glad I was able to be in attendance. I also took a class on Saturday and completed a "Spinning Stars" table topper...picture to follow in a later post.

The grout job in the main bath (which we did last spring) was showing signs of crumbling. Yuck!
So I scraped and cleaned and mixed a new batch of grout for the small area affected so I have been on my knees again tonight and my poor hands are now like sandpaper. I sure hope being on my knees will do some good on this grout job..even I wasn't really praying.

"Life's trials may be hard to bear, but patience can outlive them." ~ Martin Tupper

Crafty me

My daughter gets me a little side- tracked with the wonderful things she finds and links to me. Creative people who are posting their ideas and are willing to share with the rest of us are inspiration for crafters or artisans of all ages. Just when I think I have exhausted ideas for my myriad of collections, another creation has been born. I have used these teacups in chandeliers, bird feeders and garden totems to name a few. Now I have another purpose inspired by some brilliant person. (I have not given credit to the artist as I don't remember it.) Atop this teacup, is the beginning of a scene which will include a little cottage, or a forest, or perhaps some woodland scene, but certainly some mushrooms. In all practicality it is a pincushion, but it could be an ice cream sundae or a snowy ski slope. The inspiration pieces had little homes constructed of felt and walkways, etc. After I received the link, I had to quit my current projects and go hunt for the cup and saucer and search for some fabric. I have a huge stash of old chenille bed spreads and found this one with the wonderful white puffs on it. I spent Saturday afternoon at the quilt shop working on Sylvia's sampler with a group of gals. Of the 8 that were there on that afternoon, 6 of us stitched away on our little nearly antique featherweight Singers. So, with less than 20 squares left, here are a few more.
We had a snow storm this past weekend which dumped over 6 inches and with warm weather following, it is a muddy mess in my yard. We do need the moisture though and as the days are slowly getting longer, I think that spring will be here before we know it.

Grandma's soap operas

I have not taken the time to get on this blog have I? Wow...I don't know where the time has gone.
My very good friend, Barb was here to spend the week with me and we had such a great time. First of all, we did some shopping in between the snowy days, ate some good food, had coffee with friends here, worked on some quilts, went south of the border to meet with our other buddy, Pat, and spent the day doing fun things. Last of all we checked out the glass show here at the Botanical Gardens before she left on Friday. It was a bittersweet visit as she received news on Thursday of the death of a family member and flew back home on Sunday early for the funeral.

This is the second square for this year's Thimbleberries quilt. Again, I made three of them and will decide which additional future patterns I will use since I will not use all 12. I have posted more of Sylvia's patterns and have made only three more squares. While Barb was here, I took her to our quilt guild meeting and we both really enjoyed the topic that was discussed. I am sorry that I don't remember the name of the guest speaker, but "Red Work" and embroidery was her specialty. What really struck a cord with me is the manner in which she approaches her work and the way that she began her journey. Examples of her work were on display in the form of quilts, dresser scarves, dish towels, many unfinished projects, but all were things of beauty. As she spoke of her introduction to the embroidery as a child, it brought back such memories and I realized how it paralleled my first attempts. She and her sister would sit together with her grandmother who gave them embroidery to master. As they stitched quietly, her grandmother could faithfully watch her soap operas. In the 50's, when television was an infant, my grandmother had a small television and she loved her soap operas which were a continuation of earlier ones on the radio. I remember a piece of plastic which had colored areas that she taped over the screen to give the illusion of "color". This was before color television...yes strictly black and white in the 50's. Anyway, she would give me floss and needles and hoops for me to carefully stitch the stamped patterns and she oversaw my work as she watched her soap operas. I rarely use a hoop and it surprised me that this expert in embroidery said that she never uses a hoop. I find that the hoop gets in the way and it tends to stretch the fabric as well as the floss.

Do little girls still sit with their granny and learn to do needle work? Not so much anymore I think. It does seem from what I observe, however, that there is a renewed interest in some young adults to preserve those skills that were lost to a generation or two. It also allows one to take time for oneself... when you sit and use a needle of one kind or another with a fiber. There is also a sense of satisfaction when a piece of needlework is finished.

"When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer." Regina Brett