Sunday, May 31, 2009

Maybe Today

Maybe today is the day I can get some sewing done. Saturdays are busy kid days. There were 4 softball games. Last ones of the season, and two birthday parties to attend.

Nicole and Alea.Alea

Nicole
Kii Kellerman turned 10 and had 18 kids at his house for a celebration that included a scavenger hunt involving 10 neighbors. A wheelbarrow race involving wheelbarrows. And a potato race that was the funniest thing to watch.

Andreaux Smith turned 9 and had the classic pizza party. My darling Kevin is sporting his new hat. I am not sure how I am going to get it off of him. Who would have thought that an 8 YO would wear plaid shorts and a plaid fedora.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Had a great time in Seattle. We walked about 10 miles. So fun and a good way to induce exercise in those opposed to it.
Here are two reasons to hang your tomatoes. One would be that the sun is better in the morning, and two, the deer can't reach them. See how they ate my sweet 100 and peppers?
Alea had a soft ball game in a faux snow storm with 90 degree weather. Look carefully, the cotton woods were shedding terribly. The sky was pretty cool too.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Dress Making

Don't know why but I have been in the mood to sew clothes. Maybe it's this post from Amy Karol at Angry Chicken.I have made 3 skirts in the past weeks and now I want to make a dress. This is the one I chose. It looks easy enough, it does say easy on the pattern envelope. I found this pattern review site it has been most encouraging.

I chose Katie Jump Rope fabric called Ribbon Sunflower by Denise Schmidt. I had some help choosing. I ran errands with DH and ended up at the fabric store. He helped me choose the fabric. I tend to wear a lot of brown and black so he encouraged me to expand my pallet. He has this great sense of design and color. It was a fun day.

You can get the fabric here at Sew Mama Sew.

When we got home from our errands (weed eater, fabric and pattern, lunch, postoffice, office, he was even sport enough to take me to a thrift store!) the kids were home from school. It was homework time and getting ready for a baseball game-Kevin, and a softball game-Alea. No more project time.

Eric is on his 8th grade camping trip to Yosemite for 3 days. What a blast.I know he is going to have a great time. We as a family don't camp, I don't see the point myself. We live in the woods. Maybe we should try it sometime. Looks inviting doesn't it?

DH and I are planning a weekend getaway this weekend. Guess where we are going. Yep, no kids.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Filling Time

Tomatoes growing up after just 3 days.




Made a skirt. New Look 6757
Made 2 more blocks from Judy's Block Of the Month. One more to go. The BOM is over but I am still plugging away.
Finished the Cat/Bird quilt.

Looks like trees and flames.....Santa Barbara!
Open house quilt, with Ms. Thompson
Alea with her teacher.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I have been looking for Topsy Turvy Tomato planters at our local stores and they have been sold out for weeks. I got tired of waiting and my tomato plants were looking for their home. So I made my own.
Two 5 gallon pails, a big drill bit to make the hole in the bottom, a sponge, and a couple of hooks to hang them. Here they are. Any thing has to be an improvement over my last years yield. My flower beds were not a good choice of location for my plants. They are hanging on my Quilt Shack.


I started looking at blogs on Artful Quilters Blog ring and saw inspiration from Diane here.
I am behind on making my friend her cat quilt for her birthday this year and I got very excited to see something I could probably do. My attempt at art quilting is not so original and a pretty close copy but I lack artful imagination. I am trying to bolster that quality in myself.
I remember watching a utube video about thread painting by Nancy Price. well here it is a thread painted branch. This is my first practice but decided it was ok to use. Actually I was afraid the next one would not turn out as good. The cat and the bird are applique.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A Parade

Alea was in the 52nd anual Mother Lode Roundup Parade on Saturday. Her and all her little Daisy friends sang and walked 1.5 miles Down the streets of Sonora.

Nicole.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Some Things

Well here it is. I figure this is as picked up as it is going to be. Just tilt your head a little sideways and imagine me sitting in my chair and just staring off into the stash shelf.

My exercise area has turned into a sitting room but still enough room roll out my mat and ball.This is the first project I made here. It is a comfort quilt for a friends 20 yo daughter that has cancer.

This is my progress on Geese in the Forrest. I might call mine geese in the fall.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Today is our 19th anniversary. This is our wedding photo.


We got married at about 7AM over Yolo County Airport in a hot air balloon and then jumped out! Jeff and I met skydiving and it was a big part of out lives for a very long time. We are retired now and glad for all the friends and memories.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

A Hair Cut and a Fancy Dinner

DD #1 had a black and white dinner at our church this week. She said she did not have a black and white dress so she could not go. I did convince her that a purple dress would be acceptable. As she endured all the compliments she asked it they were true.







There was another hair cut in our family. Too bad is was not a more positive experience. Number one son was having trouble keeping his hair combed and out of his eyes. The solution was a cut. I even took him to the hair stylist. It looks really good but he is not looking forward to school tomorrow.




I got my stash put away. I went out there to take a picture of the lived in quilt shack this morning but I need to straighten it up first.