51 years

 This past week the Mr. and I were married 51 years...I read in a column that a wife said that whenever she started to talk to her husband, she could hear his ears slam shut.  Lunching with my quilting buddies yesterday I mentioned that and they all immediately knew exactly what I was saying.  They all have been married similar lengths of time and for some reason we all find ourselves repeating nearly everything we tell our other half.  That is what 51 years does to a man I guess...the ability to slam the ears shut whenever a wife opens her mouth to speak.  But all in all it has been a pretty good 51 years and we have much for which to be thankful!

We went across the border to CO last weekend as the Mr. was playing in a regional team tournament and I took a long-time friend.  (pool tournaments are not very good spectator sports)
I have had 3 other different spoon rests with this same little bear and have broken all three.  This wonderful friend bought my last one and I told her I would probably break it..the ears get chipped and the handle has gotten broken.  One flat one flew off the stove and the bear fell into pieces, the last one, with the broken handle, eventually also flew off the stove and the bear itself fell off.  She knows I love these bears and saw this one this weekend.  He is different, and quite large and really adorable.  I knew it would be expensive, but she insisted on getting it for me (Birthday and Christmas present for me-EARLY).  This one can sit at the back of the stove and see how it even holds a ladle? Love, love, love it!!

 So we girls met another friend and spent 2 days hitting antique shops and eating, and a quilt shop and eating, and coffee and eating and watching ice sculptures and eating.  Loveland CO was having their Valentine celebration and having ice sculpture carvers and the streets were blocked off and music was playing and there was food.  Did I say we ate?  Anyway, even though it was our anniversary and the Mr. did take me out to eat on Thursday, it was a great weekend and we got back before the storm hit on Sunday afternoon to this sunset in the evening.

"Great thoughts come from the heart." ~ Marquis de Vauvenargues

The "eyes" have it

 Ahha! See the eyes?  A couple of days ago I pulled the shade to see what I could see and these deer were staring back at me.  Of course the sun wasn't yet up so all I saw were eyes!

 Now in the pasture where our land joins the Spur at the birdhouse here, horses are grazing and this is the first time I have seen them in this pasture. There have been coyotes, prairie dogs, goats, antelope, deer, elk and moose, but the horses have never ventured up this way so far.  Turns out there was an open gate and they are now back down by the river in another pasture.  

Not much has been happening in my world so the lack of posts is just a sign of that.  Life is good, but quiet and even though the rest of the country is experiencing winter and weather so bad, we have had spring here.  You can see by the lack of snow on the hills in the background that mother nature has been kind to us. Hopefully the mountains have enough snow for decent run off this spring, 'cause things here are dry.

The quilt is finished and folded on the bed in the spare room.  It was one of the most difficult ones to actually quilt for some reason and is quite large, but it is pretty if I do say so myself.  I have been kept busy doing some cleaning...I clean cupboards etc. after the first of the year so my spring cleaning is done before spring actually arrives and speaking of that...daylight savings time is only a few weeks away and then there will be more daylight at the end of the day.  I can handle the dark in the mornings, but I don't like it so early at night. 

"The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have." ~ Lin Yutang

Steamboat

 Not a floating means of transportation, the name refers to a famous rodeo bucking horse.  It is also a symbol for Wyoming in a sense.  It is on our license plates as well as numerous other things.  Tourists to our state take home a myriad of souvenirs which ol' Steamboat adorns.  A batik fabric was printed this past year in several color waves on which Steamboat becomes the star.  Being pretty expensive at $15.00 to $20.00 a yard depending on where it can be purchased, I only got 3 half-yard pieces this fall and this is what I made with one of the fabrics.  I was able to get 6 placemats by "fussy Cutting" the horse and rider which left much waste.  (I won't throw away the leftover, but will find a use for it.) One other piece was the 4 square apron I posted earlier.

Our quilt group is working on a raffle quilt which will feature the Wyoming square as well as the image above in an alternate square. Hopefully this quilt will generate a lot of money.  The fabric is available at quilt shops, but has to be ordered in advance for the most part for another printing this spring.  It is a limited print and I feel privileged that I was able to get a few small pieces for myself.

Oh....Christmas Tree

With half a cloth napkin, or in my case half a fat quarter, (or small piece of fabric) I cut the two half-circles out above, and on the right side of the main fabric below, stitched near the curved edge a piece of pretty trim.

Then below with right sides together and the print up, stitched on the same stitching line to sew both together, leaving a small 1 1/2" opening for turning.

With hemostats (or another method of your choice) I turned to the right side and pressed.  The fold at the top is off-center..experiment with this.

I stitched down from the top, both sides to the first row of trim.

For a favor at a place-setting for example, the silverware and napkin can be inserted.  This was new to me, but my quilt group had seen it before and I just had to try it.  I think it is pretty cute!

Once every week we meet from 9:00 to  3:30 and sew with our machines on whatever project we are each working on.  We have shared so much knowledge and it takes us at least an hour to get to the actual sewing.  I have been blessed to have met such a great group of gals.  On another note....I saw my dental hygienist yesterday for my regular cleaning and express to her my concerns about an issue with a tooth..it is cracked and needs repaired.  These teeth are supposed to outlive me my dentist told me, so I plan to live several more decades and will have to get it fixed. I have far to go and roads to travel before I leave this earth.

Wheat weaving

 A couple of weeks ago, I took a wheat weaving class locally and above is a lover's not and below is St. Bridget's Cross.  I actually forgot the story about the cross and there were several versions, but in the example above, we actually learned this braiding pattern as well as another similar one.  Note that below, some of the beards on the wheat are black.  We were told that these were actually grown specifically for weaving and they are really black.  I should have thought to take my camera to document the process, but the wheat had to be soaked for several hours prior to weaving and we had to keep it wet.  Needless to say, we had "puddles of water" all over the table!

I so enjoyed the weaving and my mind was spinning, trying to imagine what other natural plantings could be used...lavender perhaps?  I grow lots of lavender.  What about other herbs?  Hmmm.......

Add a row

 As the new year is advancing slowly and every day the sun sets a minute later, I am aware that spring is just around the corner.  Well, maybe around the section..(1 mile by 1 mile square for those who don't farm), would be a better analysis.  IT'S COMING FOLKS!  Until then, I find myself holed up in the sewing room for the most part. The apron above is a simple pattern and is made from one yard of fabric.  Being short, one yard would make the apron too big for me so I made mine about 26" square.  It should be made of one piece of fabric, lined with a coordinating fabric and with one corner turned back at the top....voila!  I only had a half yard of this pricy Wyo fabric so I improvised and truly, I love it.  But I am an apron person!  I wear one a lot 'cause I guess I am just messy by nature.

My wonderful quilt group meets every Monday to sew all day.  It is my therapy.  This group consists of advanced to beginner quilters and we all have learned a ton from each other.  We decided that we would do a project this year to challenge all of us.  We are going to do a row by row quilt, but each quilter will add one row to another quilter's project and pass it on to another.  There are at the onset no rules, however each quilter can add fabric to their first row so that others can use that fabric for some consistency or they can choose to just contribute the first row and see what the others add.  I have done this before with a square and have others add borders of their choice and at the end, we each have a unique quilt, with every friend contributing.  So the square above is one my friend wanted to do, but it was only 6 inches and she wanted a larger square.  I thought it would be fairly easy, but that top leaf square was a real challenge. I did persevere though.  But after all is said and done, the bottom leaf just looked funky.  I checked the pattern and it is correct according to that, but I now realize that the little white triangle should be flipped.  I like to color outside the lines, but this is just wrong. I will correct that.

Happy Birthday

 Just a couple of quick pics to finish up 2014.  One other square from the quilt and above, the glass block, which was one of the summer projects from the "craft week" with my best buddies.  I have started to actually "quilt" the top which will be about 90 X 90 when finished and I did complete the Christmas Tree wall hanging from a post last year. The snap doesn't really do the glass block justice, as it is really pretty with the colored lights and it is a small block...not as large as most I have seen.  Goodbye Christmas and hurry up spring.

The happy birthday is for my hubby who is 70 today.  We are hoping for a better year this time, with no surgeries.....  more camping and adventures and hopefully a little more time with my children.  As I realize the spring, summer and fall of my life are gone and all that is left is my winter, and that is the least favorite of my seasons, I have much left to do.  Winter here is cold, snowy and sometimes dreary as it tends to isolate us to some degree.  Even when we were in the city and had access to nearly everything, when it is cold, I do not want to be outside.  It can be very pretty that is true, and perhaps the Mr. likes it so much is because he was born in the midst of it, but really.....?  Brrrr
So Happy Happy to the Mr. and to all a Happy New Year!!!!