week of crafting

 I am so struggling with the operation changes of these new devices.  I took photos with my iPad of our week of crafting and cannot figure out how to put them on my blog from that device so here are 3 of the totems that I made.  So sorry that I don't have the girls' things as they are gone.  We made pinecone angels, 3 totems each, painted birdhouses and some wooden initials (our last name initial).

 We ate lots of wonderful food, probably gained a ton and thoroughly enjoyed our week together. I will get a couple of the birdhouses posted, but will continue to work on the other pictures.

So next year we have decided to make miniature gardens and are already planning for that project.  I did get to take one afternoon and was able to show them the Encampment museum and they bought tickets on the quilt that the Senior center quilted.

We have all known each other for years, over 45 for some of us and try to get together several times a year and joke about our "Golden plus" years...would that be "Rust"? Does that come after silver and gold?  Anyway we will have many good memories when we are rusting away in a nursing home perhaps.  I had a cousin and 2 of her roommates long before they passed and after retirement, spend time with us years ago and we used to call them the "Golden Girls".  We now find ourselves in that era.  Hopefully, we will be doing these silly things for years to come.  So with remnants of glue gun spider webs and silicone and gold spray paint on my manicured nails, stay tuned for more silly stuff.

"Friendship is the golden thread that ties us together." ~ Anonymous

More to come

This week I will be having 4 of my favorite people here for a craft and slumber party and of course there will be food and chocolate.  We will be taking lots of photos too. My garage is filled with boxes of glassware and birdhouses and plates for breaking.  This is about the 6th year for our retreat and I am looking forward to it again. Plan to check in soon for updates as today the fun begins!

Catching up

 A few weeks ago I posted this suitcase with the quilt square I painted on the front.  Finally I have finished to my satisfaction the interior.  The Mr. helped me adhere the inside front with contact cement and I completed the folding organizer which folds flat for transport.  The suitcase allows room for my travel iron, starch, fabric, books, cutting surface, rulers of all sorts and the organizer holds everything else.

It also sits on my table with easy access to everything and unfinished quilt squares can be sandwiched flat between the folded organizer for transport also.  Voila'.

Enough of that!  On to other things!  The flower gardens are beautiful now, but the veggies?  Not so much.  Those critters ate so much of the small plants, that recovery was not possible!  The Mr. and I spent a few days staining the railing and seats of my Juliet balcony outside my sewing room and we have a flatbed trailer of stuff ready to haul off to the dump. There is a lot of work to do always it seems and our ol' bodies just don't work the way they used to do.  We do have our camper ready to haul to the camping spot and we are so fortunate to still be able to do that.  Blessed as we are to be able to enjoy the beauty and solitude of our nearby forest, it is always work too.  One of my quilter buddies is leaving to go east to live with her children.  She lost her husband this fall and must now relocate.  I am having the group here to "say goodbye" on Monday morning, so will spend some time on Sunday getting ready for a brunch.  I love to bake and although I don't do it much any more for a group this large, I am making a coffee cake, a danish and some scones.  We will also have fruit, juices and coffee.  I hate to see her leave, but the Mr. and I have also come to realize that we will not be able to stay here forever and I do miss spending holidays with my children.  I was so grateful to my granddaughter, Lexi for the time she spent with me, helping me to navigate my iPad and I we so enjoyed being exposed to her personality.  Her Grandpa is still relating the experience  (with her navigational skill  on the freeway) when we went to lunch.  She is still taking classes this summer and will be 22 this fall, but what a fun gal!

So on my calendar yet which is becoming too full of activities, are a myriad of activities.  After the quilt brunch and the camping trip and the birthday celebration first on Saturday for our 80 year old
friend, Keith, is a week long craft retreat the last week of the month with 4 of my friends.  We have several projects which will include lots of food too!  More about that.  The first weekend of August is a garage sale for the entire town of Encampment and that week a luncheon in Centennial for my school district friends and acquaintances.  All three of these are annual events that have kept us all in touch.  It is what small communities do here in Wyo.  Then the 2nd weekend of August is a quilt retreat in Encampment and I will be teaching a class for this 2 day event.  This is our 2nd retreat and the first was such a success.  After that.....I am sure something will be filling the calendar.  As long as there is chocolate....life is good.

back to Wy

 So we had a great visit with the "baby boy" who is now 47 years old and our wonderful daughter-in law and our granddaughter.  Thank goodness for this younger kid and technology.  I had gotten an iPad and was really getting frustrated with my inability to understand the terms being prompted in order to get everything up and going and my poor daughter was trying to help me via phone....I was in tears.  So the young kid got me on track.  There are so many things we are expected to know and no manuals with any device today.  But also thanks to these devices, I did not miss a phone call from and old classmate.  We are all old, but I grew up with about 7 or 8 classmates, all from first grade to graduation.  Our graduating class was only a few more...about 10 or so.  We went to the same church for the most part, went to the skating rink, went to slumber parties (well not the boys), went to birthday parties, the movies etc.   All like a family and our parents all knew each other.  I got the call while traveling and he had contacted each of the others by phone just to share new and to stay in touch.  Thanks Dan!!!

Below, are 2 pix of the iPad pouch I made for packing this device of which I have now become fond. The fabric is the Wyoming fabric and our state now is celebrating our 125th anniversary this year, in fact today.

 Now to my back yard.  For years, I have been keeping a photo of a inukshuk.  Look it up!
Anyway, I also love rocks so finally I have been able to build mine in my back yard.
Does it resemble some of the structures that sheepherders build as they watch their flocks even today?More about this next time....gotta go.

Vacation

I am on vacation but am able to blog thanks to all of the new technology.  I will be able to get back to my normal life in old Wyoming soon. I am getting a kid fix!

Quilt strip

 My absence from this blog is due to a number of things not the least of which is due to my age.  The age of technology is in a cute speedy sports car and I am still driving a horse and a buggy.  With the new laptop and the new I pad, it has been a struggle to understand each device and I need a teenager as the "books for beginners" don't quite answer all of the questions.  We ancients grew up with instructions that were very basic and most of these "primers" assume that we all have been taught the basics of technology.  It came in on a sports car to my graveled road - rather a bumpy ride I find!  Thank goodness for my daughter who understands me so the blog is up due to her patience.

The row for May which was mine to complete is third from the top. The original row was top in the second photo which included humming birds.
They cannot be seen here, but they are there and she loves the little birds.  I had a print which did have hummers in it so it was perfect for her quilt and it was just a small piece of fabric acquired from who knows where, so I "fussy cut" the birds for the center of the churndash.  All of these rows are twice as long as pictured.

We have the little hummers feeding at our patio constantly and yesterday when we trekked across the Snowy Range, we saw a cow elk with a calf.
This was the first for me and it is always awesome to witness these new babies.  The little fawn antelope are being born and we have seen a few of them also.  Each day I learn a bit more about these devices, but with the warm weather and my gardens in need of attention...I will be back when I can.

Old fashioned

So we have a new computer and I am struggling to figure everything out.  Above, I am converting an old Samsonite computer that I found at a thrift shop into a sewing caddy for traveling back and forth to my quilting group.  My intention is to have all of my fabric, sewing notions, rulers, books etc. in designated places inside-pockets, and elastic band or whatever I can invent.  I saw one at a quilt show last fall.  The exterior is so nice that I just wanted to put something on the top and not paint the entire case.  This is supposed to be the "grandmother's flower garden" square. More to come on this. The reason I labeled this blog the way I did is because I think I must still be quite old fashioned as the transfer of files which the Mr. did for the most part was not something I was able to understand.  I still like a manual which gives you step by step instructions and tells you what each step will enable you to do or accomplish.   It is how I learned nearly everything and when  I ask "why?"...I need an answer other than "I don't know".  You just do things and don't know why apparently or need to know why?

That explains my absence from the blog.

So my cat, Coalette is found here sleeping on my table in my wooden bowl.  Just had to snap her.


"Before Prozac, there was quilting."