Christmas is over

It is time to take the tree down and pack away all the little houses and the stockings. Yesterday I took down the air mattresses and put the trundle bed back. All the children are safely back in their own homes. We ended the year with a little excitement.  We got a call from Mom's residence that the aid who gives her pills at night, gave her the wrong ones. They wanted to send Mom to the hospital and she was having no part of it. It seems that they had given her a dose that had been missed a morning earlier in the week. Mom was fit to be tied.  She was already in her warm bed and wasn't going anywhere. She really pulled the 100 year trump card several times. "I am 100 years old and you woke me up." I decided that she was better off at home, she was being very lucid, and as mad as she was, her blood pressure was fine. I called her this morning and she was dressed and ready to go to church.

Christmas

Christmas came and went with all the fun and food and good times. All but one of our children came home for the holidays. Hubby cooked up a beautiful feast.  We certainly had a white Christmas and soon the last of the kids will leave and we will get back to ordinary.

Mom's One Hundredth Birthday!

One the 21st of December my Mom, Dorothy, celebrated her 100th birthday.  We had a party for her at Henry Ford Village where she is in an independent apartment. We had in attendance her sister-in-law with her two children from Ohio,  and lots of her nieces and nephews and great nieces and great nephews.  She also had my brother and I with our spouses along with grandchildren and great grand children.  There were several friends from the village there as well. We had a wonderful time, Mom was going strong and we kept suggesting she should maybe sit down.

Two new Quilts Done

I finished two quilts. It seems I never learn.  I tend to do my quilting in the fall before Christmas. I have to get the frame down in time to put up the Christmas tree and I don't want to stay inside during the summer. However, hand quilting two queen sized quilts back to back is hard on the old arthritic hands.  The leaf quilt was especially big and took four spools of quilting thread.  I don't like the quilt.  The picture on the pattern looked a lot nicer.

Pattern

Actual Quilt

 But my daughters liked it so I am giving it to Martha  The other sampler quilt started as a quilting class project.Gretel liked it so I am giving it to her. However when I put it on my bed I had second thought but she will get it anyway.

City Scape Wall Hanging

In 2011 I made a wall hanging for over my bed. At that time we had a wonderful cat, Arnold, who liked the look behind pictures on the wall. He did this during the night with the picture which hung over our bed. For our own safety, I replaced the picture with a quilted wall hanging. 
              Arnold passed last year and our current cat, Fervor, has other vices.  But we painted the bedroom a different color and it was time to update. I saw this picture on Pinterest and resized it and made this hanging.

Cataract Surgery

Well, I have reached that age. I couldn't read the signs when I was driving. I had the right eye done last Monday and will have the left done next Monday.  I am stunned by how much better I can see already. Everything I see with the untreated eye is tinged brown. I have too admit I was terrified to have them work on my eye but I am thrilled with the results.

Television Advertisements

When watching television commercial, one can see some unusual bits of logic. There was an ad for a large home generator which claimed it was needed because without it you couldn't charge your cell phone during a power failure. ( An expensive solution to the problem. ) Another ad, this one for an allergy relief medication says "six is more than one."  (Duh, Really.) A last favorite is for a law firm whose client claims, "They were more than lawyers, they were human beings." ( We have all heard of lawyers who were not human beings.)

Two New Quilts

I finished a twin sized quilt for Keegan to take to college. It is called Wine Country. I machine pieced and machine quilted.  The quilting on the second half of the quilt is much better than the first half.  It shows I am learning.

I also finished a scrap quilt.  It is a real "I spy" quilt.  It is a single bed quilt that I machine pieced and machine quilted. The kids really enjoy finding the animals

on it.

Sporting Clays for Eversight

Eversight is a charitable organization that provides cornea transplants for those who need them. Last Saturday they had a fund raising event at the Grand Blanc Huntsmen Club. Hubby and my son,Jim, went and shot sporting clays.  I went to keep score and have lunch.  They had a good turnout for the event but neither of my guys won prizes.

The Eclipse

Hubby and I flew out to Portland Oregon for the eclipse.  My son, Bill, drove us down to Albany, Oregon to his in-laws home where we could see the total eclipse.  Sam and Treasa are always so good to us and this time was no different. We sat in the front yard to watch the eclipse. It was surprisingly that when only a little sun was showing it was still quite bright.  However when the total happened it got dark and surprisingly cool.  You could hear cheers from all over the neighborhood and expressions of delight at the view.   We spent the rest of the week at Crater Lake and at a fur trading post in Portland and finally a cruise through the Columbia Gorge.  It was a great trip.

Scrap quilt

I finished my scrap quilt. I got the idea from Quilty Folk. I have enough scraps to make hundreds of these quilts.  I machine quilted it.  I am not real good at that but it will do. I still have 5 quilts ready for quilting so I had better get busy. By the way, that's the new color of my bedroom.

Sewing for Children

I love sewing for my little grand daughters. I finished cowgirl outfits for both girls.  Sofie's is blue and Molly's is pink. I embroidered cats of Sofie's and rocking horses on Molly's.  Years ago I made a similar outfit for Mary that had butterflies on it.

A Family Vacation in Ocean City

We just spent a week in Ocean City, Maryland with six of our children and their families.  We rented a wonderful house that Mary found on the internet. It slept 18 and we had 16 there. The weather was perfect.  The sea was a little rough but lots of fun.  Hubby paid for the house and the kids provided the food.  Boy! Did we eat good. Salmon and chicken kabobs, barbacoa. a clam boil, steaks, and taco salad.  My kids are wionderful cooks. Obviously not inherited from their mother..

Martha's Place

We spent a few days at Martha's new home in the Poconos.  Martha is working now on the east coast and has rented a delightful house in the Poconos.  We went for the 4th of July weekend.  It was so relaxing and we really enjoyed ourselves. On Saturday we made a trip to Bushkill Falls (The Niagara of Pennsylvania-not quite) While we were there we saw numerous deer right from the house.
Mary and Gretel came with their families for the 4 th. All of us had a great time.

Another Quilt Retreat

I went to another quilt retreat at Create a Memory Inn. As Usual we had a wonderful time.  My daughter, Gretel came from Brooklyn to join us.  I finished another quilt top and now I have two of them waiting to be quilted.  I will do the sampler quilt by hand and I don't want to start that until the fall. The other I will machine quilt so I can do that as soon as I choose the backing.

Scary News

Hubby's daughter called Sunday to say that our grand daughter, Kameren, was in pediatric ICU with type 1 diabetes. She is doing better but still in the hospital. Hubby and I have marched in the walk for JDRF but never expected it to touch us so closely.

Sauder Village Quilt Show

Yesterday, Carole and I went to a quilt show at the Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio. It was a terrific show. Lots of hand quilting. They had four women demonstrating the art of hand quilting and all four of them did exquisite work. (made me feel totally inadequate). They had a woman there who had collected discarded or unfinished old quilt tops.  She then had volunteers machine quilt them anyway they desired. They were stunning.  She will then auction them off for different charitable groups or art groups. The village had a lot of old buildings, a model train, glass shop, restaurant, and chocolate shop.  We had little time because we drove down and back in one day and it was pouring rain so we really didn't see much of the village. They did have a fantastic quilt shop. I wish it was closer to home.

A New Quilt

I finished this quilt.  I told my grand daughter, Kameren, that she could take it to college with her.  She is in the eighth grade.  She said, "well, that's a long time away." If only she knew it is just the blink of an eye.  I especially liked the striped binding on the quilt.  I have to remember to use that more often.
    I also finished the pillow my sister-in-law, Marilyn, did for me.  She does such beautiful work.  It is needlepoint.  I have some of her other needlepoint hanging in my kitchen.

Little Red Riding Hood

For Christmas several years ago, my daughter, Amy gave me a knitting book called, Once Upon a Time, On the cover was this Little Red Riding Hood cape. The pattern came in adult and child sizes. I made the child size for my two granddaughters but as you can see they have some growing to do.  One on the women I knit with on Mondays suggested that when you have something in stockinette stitch, it will make the pattern much more exciting if you intersperse some purl stitches.  I was very pleased with the effect. Notice the Wolf buttons. The hood covers all of Molly's hair.

Oh No!

Last week my daughter and my granddaughter were home together and decided to take a nap. Mommy fell asleep but Sofie did not. Instead she got into Mom's permanent markers and decided she was a tiger. Mom got it all off with lotion and long baths,

Quilt Retreat

Last weekend I went on a quilt retreat at Create A Memory Inn.  My daughter, Gretel, came from Brooklyn to join me.  We had a great time.  I put the sashing on my sampler quilt and Gretel finished the top of a baby quilt. While we were there we got a little snow but it was gone by Sunday when we came home.

Wind Storm

Last Wednesday we had the windiest day I can remember. Hubby and I drove to Waterford for our haircuts.  Thirteen Mile Rd was closed because of downed wires. 12 mile was closed because an electric pole came down.  M59 had traffic lights out and Macedace Lake road had a tree across it. Wednesday night most of our subdivision had no power (we did). Thursday I drove down Inkster Road and was surprised by the number of trees that had been hauled to the side of the road. Friday, Carole and I went to Port Huron.  The lights on Evergreen and the I696 expressway were still out and that is a big intersection. Up in Port Huron many traffic lights were out and many businesses had no power. When we got home Hubby went to order a pizza to find downtown Berkley had no power. They were saying that still on Saturday, 80,000 people in Michigan still had no power.

Disaster! I went Near the Kitchen

Today, Hubby has a terrible cold, so he slept in a little. I got up, took the dog out and tried to make a pot of coffee. I took the lid off of the pot and rinsed the pot and forgot to put the lid back on. I dumped the old grounds, rinsed the filter, and put new coffee grounds in.  I poured the water into the coffee maker and splashed some water into the jar of coffee grounds. I turned the coffee maker on. The coffee was terrible, full of grounds and there was water all over the counter. Who could know that the lid on the carafe was that important.

A Quilt on the Frame

I have the quilt I made from the McCall kit on the quilting frame. I was angry with McCall magazine because they took several months installments to give the directions on making the quilt but you couldn't get the scalloped material unless you bought the kit. They did the same thing a few months later with the same scallop material on a different quilt.  They must have got the material from a different project that the company had.  The piece of material had not only the scallops but other parts which we didn't use and had labels like top, bottom, etc. It is only a twin which means I can have the quilt frame up in the doll house room instead of the living room. That really takes the pressure off. Of course quilting sure took the finish off my New York manicure.

Progress on the Leaf Quilt

Carole was over yesterday and we worked on our leaf quilts. Progress is slow as we only work on the
m on Friday.  The quilt is called Third weekend in October. Last week Carole took all the fabric home and folded and organized it.  She likes to do that, I am more the wad up my fabrics. Every
time we meet she has bought more fabric.

A Week In Brooklyn

Last week was mid winter break for the schools in New York City. I went to Brooklyn to help take care of Molly. I love doing it. She had just had her fifth birthday so I helped put together a scooter and the keyboard and built a motorized train with her.  We also went and got our nails done.(In NYC it costs $9 at home it is $16.) We had a fantastic dinner at Carmines in Times Square and lunch at Rocco Tacos in Brooklyn. We even went to a basketball game where my daughter was coach for the Police Athletic League.  Our team won. We also watched hours of Disney Junior.  Molly is a big fan of Owlet on PJ Masks.

Charity Day

Yesterday the Cameo quilters Guild had their Charity Day.  Members come and spend the day making quilts and pillow cases for different charitable organizations. I was on the committee for the day.  Hubby made brownies and blondies for dessert. He was very precise and cut them evenly measuring the pieces with a yard stick so they were all the same size.Everything was yummy and we all had a good time.

Mom is still Pretty Sharp

Friday I was visiting my Mom and I was wearing a new Classic Tee that I had bought from Lularoe.  My daughter in Maryland sells Lularoe. Mom said," Maybe she can get President Trump to give her site a plug to increase her sales."  Mom turned 99 in December but she doesn't miss much.

Hubby is in Pain

Hubby is having spasms in his back.  The doctor put him on pain medicine and he says it is helping a little but it makes him groggy. Fortunately he still cooks but he cannot drive so I had to go to the grocery store. He gave me a list and even a map of the store so that I could find everything. I thought it an unusual list. Green onions, fresh ginger, salted roasted cashews, red pepper, 2 limes, pea pods and a pork tenderloin.   I do eat good.

Memories

I got a note from my cousin that her dad, my Uncle Cyril, had passed. I was never real close to him but it did stimulate memories. When I was a pre-teen, Cyril was dating my Aunt Ann and to a pre-teen a boy friend is somehow magical. I remember all the big get togethers we had with cousins and Aunts and Uncles for birthday parties and holidays. At everyone my Uncle Frank would say, "Peggy if you get any taller we will have to raise the door jambs."much to my chagrin. Uncle Joe took me to my senior prom because I wasn't at that stage yet. For my birthdays Uncle Clare would take me to dinner and a movie. They are all gone now and it is hard to imagine my children thinking of their aunts and uncles that way.

Quilt Retreat

Over the weekend I went on a quilt retreat at Create a Memory Inn in Holly, Michigan. It was a fun weekend with fun people and lots of delicious food. I started and finished this quilt top that I ordered from McCalls quilting magazine.  The quilt directions were given over several issues but I found it silly because there was no way you could get the scallop material without ordering the kit. Why buy the magazine if it is just acting like a catalogue.  The quilt went together easily (even if it was listed as intermediate).

It's a Dog's Life

We have a three year old, golden retriever -Labrador retriever cross dog named Mindy. We raised her as a puppy for Leader Dogs for the Blind.  Mindy was career changed (flunked) because she was fearful.(She wouldn't walk past statues. They tried for a while to overcome this but to no avail.) So we gladly kept her. (one of our rights as puppy raisers) Mindy really rules the house. When she wants something she whimpers a little and Hubby jumps.  She sleeps on the sofa! Hubby gets up with her at 6 AM because she whimpers to be fed.  He started feeding her again at 4 PM but Mindy whimpers and gets fed again at noon. Mindy loves to play ball in the back yard and will do it for an hour at a time.  If you are a little slow at throwing the ball she will bark to get your attention.  She is a good dog except when she gets your mittens or socks or hats or any scrap of paper. She walks very nicely and only barks at the UPS man or another dog walking down the sidewalk when she is indoors. We have five neighbor dogs but she does not bark at them because when she is outside she wants to play ball.  Hubby never makes her go outside by herself,.

Women's March in D.C.

The March was spectacular.We took the Metro into D.C. after finding the 2 end stations, Greenbelt, and Carrolton were closed because the huge parking lots were full. At the station we waited in line for over an hour to get subway tickets.  Fortunately for me I had a senior pass that I had got years ago but unfortunately my friend, Carole, and son, Jim, didn't have tickets.  We walked for an hour and a half before we got to the Mall so we didn't hear the speeches.  I really wanted to see Angela Davis. At about 4 PM the group, we were in, was heading to the White House and we turned and went back to the Subway and stood in line to get on. It was a great experience, very upbeat. Some signs were so clever. About 10 percent men, a lot of family groups covering several generations. People who had walkers and little kids too. On the way home, on the Turnpike, we had to stand again in lines because of all the women returning home.  Everyone was in good spirits. Today, Hubby has been finding out how much it would cost to have the postcards printed from the 10 days in action plan.

UFOs

I am a project finisher. There are very few projects that I have started and not finished.( Not counting the leisure suit I started for my ex-husband and decided it looked terrible and never finished.  He still hasn't forgiven me for that.). Sometimes I have two counted Cross stitch projects going at once. And sometimes I have two quilts going.  But something has happened to me! I have six unfinished projects(UFOs). I have two more of the flannel quilts that I showed on January 10, and the leaf quilt I showed on January 14. I have a sampler quilt I started years ago in a class.

I have a scrap quilt that I started after seeing a similar one on Quilty Folk.



 I also have a fan quilt that I like very much made from floral scraps.

 

A March to save Health Care

Yesterday, Hubby, my son, Jim, and I went to a March in Warren, Michigan to save health care.  There were thousands there and it was lots of fun, Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Debbie Stabinow, Sander Levin, Gary Peters and our Rep Brenda Lawrence were there. It was cold, 18 degrees but the sun was shining. I plan on going to the Women's March on Saturday in D.C.

The Leaf Project

Carole and I are still working on the leaf quilt. Progress is still slow. It is only a nine-patch but sometimes the patches have up to five pieces in each of the nine patches.  The directions call for paper piecing which I have never found to be easy. Probably the wine doesn't help. The last patch I did had to be completely redone because the color I chose for the leaf didn't match the adjacent block with the same leaf.

A Comfort Quilt

I have a good friend, Sue, whom I met through the Lions Club.  She makes pajamas for under privileged kids. Then she gives me her scraps and I make quilts from them.  So far I have made seven quilts using her scraps and have enough to make three more. This quilt is not a work of art by any means but it is warm with a flannel front and back and no batting.  I yarn tied it. I made one just like it for myself.  Hubby uses it for naps, with the dog, on the sofa.  My daughter, Mary has one that she took to her chemo treatments.

Leon and Lulu

In Clawson, Michigan, there is the most wonderful store, Leon and Lulu.  I went there on Tuesday with my friend, Dorothy, a sprightly 87 year old, who makes me look like a lazy bum. We had a wonderful time.  I bought this coral shaped paper weight that just kept calling to me. Afterwards we had lunch at the Majave Cantina and Dorothy introduced me to a Mule.  It had too much lime juice.

Happy New Year

I have always been one to make New Year resolutions but every year they are the same.  I went to water aerobics this morning.  However Mary and Sofie came over for dinner and so the losing weight part will have to wait until tomorrow. I went to see my Mom today and had lunch with her.  She had her 99th birthday on the 21st of December. (She always reminds us that it is the shortest day of the year.) Hubby got a drone for Christmas which he says he can't believe how much fun he is having with it. I was glad to find out his makeshift wind sock was not made out of toilet paper.