Great Day for a Picnic with my Mom

Several of the adult care facilities in town today had a big picnic at a local park.  Mom was one of a half dozen from her facility that participated in it.  I joined her at the park. The day was a lovely summer day. The tables were all under huge maple trees, creating a wonderful umbrella of shade for everyone. Mom was in good form and bantering and joking with everyone. Towards the end I could tell she was getting more confused as she was asking what Dad was doing while we were at the park. I imagine tomorrow she'll be confused and tired, but that's okay. She had a delightful time today and that is worth a LOT.  

I don't know how many opportunities I will have to do things like this with Mom, so I am trying to take advantage of as many of them as I can. I feel so blessed to have this time with Mom.

A Purple & Brown Day - it's a GREAT thing!

We have several flowers in shades of purple in bloom right now around our yard...

They are so cheerful looking.  The miniature roses are still blooming and our white hydrangea is flowering out now. We continue to enjoy the fresh raspberries, picking them daily and adding them to our cereal, or topping them with some whipped cream, or just eating them out of the bowl.

The kitchen has been smelling wonderful this morning with Oatmeal/Cranberry/Chocolate Chunk cookies baking. Just put the last pan into the oven. Oh my, are they ever delicious.

Just look at all the cranberries and chocolate in the dough.

Ready to bake

The jar is fuller than this now, but not for long.  My will power with chocolate anything cookies is, "yes, I will!"  LOL  The oatmeal and cranberries and DARK chocolate do make them healthy though. But I do suppose we're not meant to eat them 6 at a time.  sigh

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Late last week I saw something going up and down the street. I knew it was a car but all I could see from my chair, looking out the window, was a pole and a blue object on top.  After a few minutes the "AHA" lightbulb went off. 

It was the Google Mapping car going down our street. I remembered them talking about it on the news the night before. Kind of fun. I wonder how long it takes for it to be up on their site?

The first crop of raspberries has arrived and oh my, are they every delicious.  I'm taking some over to Mom today. She loves the fresh berries.

Yesterday after church DH and I took a nice long walk along the river. The city has put in a wonderful greenway trail for walkers and/or bikes.

There are several small lakes along the way and several trying their luck with fishing. The fish were winning.

We saw and heard many birds, red winged blackbirds, robins, a hawk and an oriole and then some small swallows who have their nest in this hole in the tree.

On our way out as we were passing a man going the other way we exchanged greetings.  When I asked how he was doing he replied, "I'm more blessed than I deserve."  I love that. It is hard to know what his story is, but isn't that reply true for each of us, or at least it should be.  I know God has certainly blessed me much more than I deserve. Thanks God!

Lichen with Latitude

I put the finishing touches on my June Alpha-Dorable 12x12 quilt today.  It was a fun project and a challenge as it has been a while since I have designed a paper pieced pattern.  I am pleased with the results.

Oh my.... sooooooo GOOD

DH and I were invited to my sister's for Father's Day dinner. When asked what I could bring she said dessert. Hmmm.... what to make.  I pulled up my Pinterest  http://pinterest.com/newgirlbj/chocolate-is-the-answer/ account and went through my "Chocolate is the Answer" board. There were several wonderful looking delicacies posted, but when I came upon the Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake  (Kraft Foods) I knew I had THE dessert for the occasion. You see, I am rarely over at my sister's house when there isn't a cookie jar with Oreo's in it.  The only alteration to the recipe I made was instead of using Cool Whip (I don't do Cool Whip) I whipped up some heavy whipping cream. Worked great.  The filling?  Oreos, cream cheese, and whipped cream. This recipe truly does serve 16! Oh my!

I'm making progress on my June 12x12. Now to decide how to quilt the border. It is an important part of the 'creation' for this month.

Updates & Things I'm Praying About...

DH is down to 2 days of work left. 

Adam hurt his knee - waiting to hear if he'll need surgery. Not great when you are looking for a new job.

Morgan - a just settlement please

A buyer soon for Mom's house

Jenna's health

Kate's pregnancy - she's considered high risk

Nightlight - financial support

Dad's Day

Honoring the Dad's in my life today

 My Dad

Dad-in-law

 DH

Our son and his daughter

Sew Saturday

First I need to back up a bit.  Before getting to Sew Saturday I had a Fabric Friday. But even before that, on Friday morning I started working on developing a paper pieced pattern to use for my June 12x12 mini quilt. It has been quite a while since I had created a paper pieced pattern, but with my EQ7 software and some trial and error(s) it came together.

I had planned to use fabric from my stash until I was in Craft Warehouse with my sister mid morning. As I was strolling through the aisles of fabric candy the batiks starting calling out to me, "come here, come here!". As I got closer to them they started screaming, "buy me, buy me!".  Well, what's a good fabric shopper to do?  I scooped them up and headed to the cash register! That's the only way to shut them up, right? LOL

This morning, while DH worked more in his office, going through more "stuff" and boxing up some and getting other ready to give away, I headed to my sewing room for a day of sewing.  My new fabrics were waiting for me and were joined by a few others I already had and my day of paper piecing began.  

About 4 hours (give or take an hour) later the major work was completed.  

Now to work on the supporting cast....

Almost done

This week I have all but finished the "quilting" on my Holland Canal group 'slice' quilt project. 

I wanted to keep the focus on the slices and the work each of the artists did on their 'slice', so the quilting was fairly hidden, emphasizing lines, separating buildings, etc.  On the dark border I just continued the design of the picture, using a dark gray thread so it shows, but not boldly. I am really pleased with the effect it gives.  I am so pleased with how this interpretation of the picture turned out.

Thank you to Linda G, Becky, Sharon, Linda H, Barbara B, Charlotte, Barb D, Gwen and Ally for sharing your artistic talent with me. What a treasure we have made.

Several have suggested I put the piece on a stretcher frame and then use a old grayed wood for a frame around it. Sounds like a good plan. That step will most likely be after we get re-settled... wherever that is to be.

This is the last week of work (oops, the last 5 days, work ends on the 21st)  for my DH at his current job. We are looking forward to finding out where God wants him next. From all indications it will mean a move away from here. We have been going through all of our "stuff" and purging items we really don't need to hold on to anymore, packing up probably more than we should keep, and preparing for what is ahead.

My thoughts and prayers today are with Morgan, Royce, DH, Joyce, Nightlight Int'l, all those displaced by the wildfires and flooding.

Blessings of Friendships

I had been looking forward to last Saturday for several weeks. Stephanie, a friend I only knew through the Quilt With Us blog site was going to be in town and we were going to meet, face to face. In our corresponding through QWU I discovered she lives in a town where I lived for 7 years in the 1970's. It's so amazing to discover how small the world is at times.  Saturday afternoon Stephanie, along with her cousin Leanne and their DH's pulled into our driveway and from the first greetings and hugs it was as if we had known each other for years. What a delightful time we had.

Of course I showed her and Leanne the quilts that I still have available, some are packed away now, and my group 'slice' quilt that I hope to work more on this week with my new larger quilting foot.  We shared a delicious BBQ, finishing up with a chocolate yogurt cake with fresh raspberry sauce on top. YUM!

Stephanie and Leanne brought me wonderful gifts. I love the candle mat/holder that Stephanie made. Very clever! It has found a special place on my buffet.

I'm thinking I deserve some MAJOR points about now. Stephanie also gave me a box of chocolates, and as you can see there are still some left to enjoy... AND... I have been sharing them with my DH.  We're talking MAJOR points! LOL

Leanne brought me these lovely yellow miniature roses.  Little does she know that when DH gets me roses they are almost always yellow ones.  These have found a special place on my kitchen window ledge.

 

We laughed, we shared a meal, we chatted, we had such a special and delightful time.

This morning I started my day "talking/listening" to friends via their blogs. Just took a delightful tour with Susan Branch http://www.susanbranch.com/ to Beatrix Potter's house - which come to find out was her artist studio and getaway and not where she lived.

Now for some breakfast, a bit of housework, hopefully some sewing and a visit to Mom today. 

Tidbits of This & That

I had missed the broadcast on the 4th, but caught it last night on National Geographic:

I just do not understand how a person can have another in bondage like this and force them to be prostitutes.  Annie Dieselberg has such a heart for these women and puts her own life on the line daily to reach out to them and show them that God loves them and cares for them, and helps them escape to a better life. More on the show is here: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/
(I met Annie about 28 years ago when her DH Jeff was in seminary. They have been missionaries in Thailand for many years now. I love how they have said 'YES' to God, even when He has asked them to do some very difficult things.)

While DH and I were away from the house yesterday (it was an all day realtors open house here) we stopped at a travel trailer store.... found another trailer I love....

It's the Lance 1685. Oh how delightful it would be to take camping. There's even an outlet by the table for my sewing machine, and oh so much storage space to keep all my fabrics, etc.  It is fun to dream (and drool a bit).

Speaking of sewing... my new quilting foot for the 'Greased Lightning' arrived yesterday. I wasn't expecting it until Monday, woohoo!  It may not sound like much, but it is going to make such a huge difference for the quilting and thread painting.

The quilting foot that came with the machine has a hole perhaps twice the size of the needle, so not much viewing space. I'm hoping I can do some zigzag threadwork with this one.  

I'm working on my idea for June's 12x12.... and will be creating some fabric for the 'twist' for this one using the 'Pattern' mode in my photo software.

Any guesses what from nature created this one?  Hint -- it starts with either L or M.

Treasures

Treasures come in all forms, shapes, sizes.  This last weekend was full of treasures. The best treasure was getting to spend some time with some of my Aqua Nut friends. The oldest of the group was celebrating her 70th wedding anniversary. She, Betty Lou, is about 6 months younger than my mom. She and her husband knew each other since grade school, she was 10 and he 11 when they met.  Theirs is a wonderful love story.  At the party we saw Donna, one of the 8 A.N. friends. She is quite the quilter and knitter.  It's always so wonderful when we can get together.

I stayed with my A.N. friend Jan. She and I were roomies on all of our beach trips over the years. Our group would go to the beach twice a year for 2-4 days. We rented houses that were either right on the beach or with great beach views as many in the group were not capable of going down and walking on the beach.  Jan is also a great quilter, so we have several joint interests. Besides sharing some of her great recipes with me she also gave me these earrings, knowing they would mean a lot to me.

On Saturday Jan and I visited another A.N. friend, Chloe, who is recovering from a knee surgery. Chloe is such a lovely person. We had such a good time, but I know we wore her out from our time with her.  She gave me a wonderful sugar and creamer that she had been keeping to give me. What a great treasure!

 I stopped at the Penzy spice shop on my way home. Jan and Donna love Penzy's and Jan shared some of the spice blends she has that she really enjoys. So.... now I can enjoy them too...

When I got home I had lots of great mail waiting for me.  The first was from my PC PC (personal choice postcard) Swap. It was a thread painting swap and this is what I got from Gloria -- Zentangles:

She did a great job. Kind of reminds me of a beach ball.

The other package that I have been waiting for was the books I ordered from the C&T Publishing sale.  They finally got here. WooHoo!

Lots to drool over and learn from in these great books.

It is also a treasure to me to read my emails and catch up with my quilt groups and my blogs. God has blessed me with many treasures in the friends and acquaintances I have made through this medium.

These past three weekends have been so amazing. We don't get away from home that much and all of a sudden we had three trips in three weeks. Times to see family, friends and time to rest and relax. Such a blessing.  Life is a treasure - one to enjoy, one to not take for granted, one to not waste.