Odds and Ends

Just a couple of pictures to fill in the non-quilty gaps of my life, because NOTHING quilty is happening at my house currently!

Time for an antenna ball change and I didn't get this one posted yet,
Happy Smiley Sunshine Man
...he gets me through those gray-foggy days of early spring.

Isn't this beautiful?

A gift from my sister (last Christmas!), made from jewelry making beads and findings...
it is the teeniest, tiny-est, cutest little thing...
I have a miniature collection and this is the newest addition

And our current project...
starting today....ugh ugh ugh...this is the BEFORE picture (taken last summer)...
see all the St. John's wart? Today Chris and I are mowing it down.

Then we will be taking a break for BBQ chicken lunch...then off to Old Bridge Winery in Remote for a wine tasting open house. The wineries in our county are having tours today and we have never been to this one. There is an old covered bridge on Hwy 42 which we will stop and take pictures of. It is less than an hours drive from our home so we will be back in plenty of time to continue with the "the project". After the winery trip, we will start digging up the front of the yard where the St. John's wart is, we are terracing the front and re-landscaping...a project that has been on our to-do list for over 20 yrs! Next wknd will be the big work-wknd...we have a work-party of 9-10 people coming to do the hardest manual labor stuff...the Party-Q'er will be fired up and running all wknd....and speaking of Party-Q'er....look what I found in my livingroom a couple of wks ago...I think he was trying to get it put together and roll it out to the deck before I got home from the office, but I caught him!!! He is so funny...a Grillmaster and his Party-Q'er. When I mentioned the fact he was putting it together on off-white carpet his reply "it just came out of the box....it isn't dirty" MEN...

Enjoy your Saturday, the sun is suppose to come out today and the rain is suppose to go away...sure hope Mr. Weatherman is right!

And then there were three....

January, February and July are complete (minus the embellishments which I will do on all 12 at once). Aren't they cute?

I think I may have a problem on my hand once this is a done done project...you see...when I finished January I took it to show momma...she wanted it pinned to a wallhanging where she could see it. No problem, I thought, I will pin each one up there as I get them done and she can keep up on the progress and encourage me along the way. Last night I took July up to show her and pin to her wallhanging. She ooh'ed and aah'ed and yakked about it, giving it her stamp of approval. I was almost done with February so worked on that until it was finished but didn't leave it because I wanted to get a picture of it...OH NO....NOT ON HER LIFE was she going to let me out of her room with February...it was to be pinned to her wallhanging where she could see it, end of story! Man...I had to do some major fast talking to get it out of there. I think this is going to be a shared quilt~one month for you...one month for me...one month for you...one month for me. LOL Not a problem...if she enjoys it, it can hang in her room as long as she wants it to.

The following three EQ drawings are my top 3 choices (in order) for setting these darling snowmen blocks. I like them all but the first one I really like for all the lacey white space it offers, like the airy-ness of snowflakes falling...thus far it is the setting I go back to as my favorite, but the other two settings are calling my name as well...just not as loudly LOL.

And just to keep up todate on antenna balls...this is is currently on the car....no, I don't consider myself to be a princess....yes, there is a story behind it...KatieBug gave me this antenna ball because "Gramma, I don't have a car, but I wanted this antenna ball. Can you save it for me until I get a car?" She was 4 years old at the time LOL...Kids say the darnest things! Art Linkletter would have found a challenge in our precious granddaughter!

Like Chopping Wood ~~ Warmth X2

I am working away at getting Gramma's Aprons (Novemeber 6th post) quilted....and loving the process, it's been a long while since I have completely handquilted a quilt.

I had a heck of a time finding any stencils that I wanted to use for the border quilting, finally decided on three different ones that I liked somewhat equally ~ mixed and matched and came up with a plan to use all three! I knew I wanted to put flowers on Gramma's Aprons...thought I might want something vine-y with leaves between the flowers...really like cabling so played around with what I had and what I found and am really liking how it is all coming together... even if it would make some seasoned handquilters gag from using all three of these stencils on the same quilt!! LOL

Just like chopping wood for the winter woodpile, this is keeping me warm while working on it and will keep me warm when it is ready for use. While working on it each evening it is draped over my legs...Akira usually is content to wiggle his way under it and lay on my lap..which is much easier for me to quilt since he is not laying on my bossom, his favorite place to nap!!!

Today is KatieBugs last volleyball game of the year....wrestling is about half over for Rex and Tristan....basketball is just around the corner (all 3 grands)...always hopping with the grandkids, and we try really hard not to miss a moment of any of it.

Christmas gift purchasing is pretty much done at our house, an easy year for us, we knew what we wanted to do for almost everyone early on and had pretty much finished our shopping even before it was time to get started! This afternoon we will get boxes ready to be mailed out on Monday. Still no tree up at our house...at this late date I am thinking it will not happen. Decorating didn't happen either. I do have a few things out that are out only at Christmas but we are not decorated like usual, Ed usually does a fantastic job of getting a nativity display on the lawn and lights on the house, nothing this year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, between his continued recovery from back surgery and my so very graceful fall off the deck (landing on my right shoulder) neither one of us is in any kind of shape to do any of the lugging and toting around that it would take. Next year! Next year!! Next year!!!Here is a pic of my Christmas quilt, it went on our bed this morning. This was finished in 2003, but I think I started it in 2000...got the top done but couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to do the applique Before or After the machine quilting so we used it on the bed for 2 years as an incomplete top. I finally decided to do the applique AFTER I got it back from my machine quilting lady. She did an absolutely wonderful job! The quilting is holly leafs and berries, makes me smile. There are usually 10 or more bears dressing in their holiday attire on the bed as well..but they are packed away, waiting for next year!

Jack-dolph

And today was Antenna Ball Changing Day...so here is a pic of the one coming off...I warned Jack-dolph to keep his eyes closed but he must have peeked at some point while the car was speeding along and now I see he has lost an eye...poor Jack-dolph!! Jack-man is currently on the car, but I don't have a picture to show you...soon...I love Antenna Balls!!!

There you have it...an update for what is worth!

What are you up to???