Tangled Threads and Seaweed

Holiday Wrap-Up

Well, I suppose its over for another year, right? We put the kids on a plane yesterday, headed for Anchorage. They enjoyed being home in Texas, didn't get to see everyone they wanted to, but had fun with everyone they visited. It was interesting (and frustrating, at times) to see how they divided their time with various family members as we all celebrated the holidays... but its all part of being married and learning to merge the families. When it all shakes out, you just enjoy and appreciate the times you get to spend together...

The kids flight from Dallas to Chicago was delayed on departure, then delayed again on arrival by gate congestion, so they missed their flight to Anchorage.  They expected to have problems since they only had a 40 minute layover to change planes, so they spent the night in Chicago and flew out to Seattle and then Anchorage today. When I last spoke to Kevin this afternoon, they were on the way to pick up their dog at the boarder's house. He said they had some fresh snow in Anchorage and it was cold. (we had cold weather and snow here in Texas while they were home!)

Our holiday was good. We were able to get together with some of Joe's siblings and have a meal and a good visit. We spent Christmas day with my sister and her husband, cooking steaks and playing games. Everyone got gifts that they wanted. The kids loved their scarves and gift cards. Joe got music CDs and gift cards, I got clothes and a Ipod Shuffle (the itty bitty one). Joe also gave me a half-day of spa treatments at a local place - an hour of massage, a pedicure, and a facial... whee!!! So I'll be scheduling that for sometime next week! Isn't he a sweetheart? 

I frogged the blue seed-stitch knitting... sorry there isn't a picture at the moment but I'll make that up to you later... I swatched two or three other things with that yarn and ripped those out too. I am now knitting a Mistake Rib scarf from that yarn - cast on 25 stitches, and K1, P1 every row - each row will start and end with a knit stitch. Its working up fast and looks good. My friend Robin sent me a pattern for the Directional Scarf, which I think I'll work up in some pretty variegated Noro wool yarn.  (thanks Robin!) This blue scarf will probably be mailed to Alaska to the kids.  Kevin said he thinks he'll have to share his black scarf with Tara - so if I send her a thicker ribbed scarf maybe he can keep the one I made for him.

My 48th birthday was Friday the 28th. It was a day like all the others - which isn't bad - we went out for coffee in the morning, ate supper out with the kids, I think I had a nap, I got several cards in the mail and a new pair of pjs. On my birthday its just natural to reminisce about my childhood birthdays, and of course I missed my mom. My sister called to tell me she had found a little notebook with my mom's things, in which she had written what we received for our birthdays and Christmases each year. So when my sister called, she asked if I remembered what I got for my birthday 40 years ago (when I turned 8 years old) ... of course I had no idea, but that was the year I got a white willow basket for my bicycle. Sweet, huh. I do remember my 9th birthday - I got to have a party. All my friends gave me money - $1 apiece. I told everyone I wanted money because I wanted to buy a parakeet, and my dad had promised to buy the cage if I got enough birthday money to buy the bird. I still remember how excited I was when we went to Woolworth's and got the bird and the cage. We all loved the parakeet. I named him Pretty Boy and we taught him to talk, and we let him out of the cage during the day. He loved to sit on the curtain rod in the kitchen window while my mom was cooking and doing dishes. He would also sit on the faucet and try to drink water out of the tap. He was a good little buddy - he lived about 10 years. That really has to be my best birthday memory!

If I don't post tomorrow... I wish you all a Happy and safe New Year!   

Do You Ever Wonder?

I wonder what my dogs are thinking. Do they dream? Do they really understand what we say? My Goofy dog will bark at me and try to climb up in my lap. ("try" being the key word, as he's 50+ pounds of big black dumbo dog) After I shove him back down for the third or fourth time, he sighs and flops onto the floor (yep, like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum) and goes to sleep. What's that about? I obviously don't get it.

Joe woke me up this morning from a dream. He said my legs were twitching like Gracie's when she's having a running dream, and I supposedly said "YOU go to hell" right out loud. I think its funny but I don't have a clue what that was all about. I doubt if I was chasing rabbits...

You know those knit swatches hanging on the yarn display racks at Wal-Mart, Jo-Anns, Michaels, etc. Where do those come from? Do the yarn companies have people knitting 4" squares to be sent to all the retailers? Can you imagine that you've been given a huge case of foo-foo yarn and your job is to knit swatches until the case is empty? Like hundreds of thousands of swatches? Or hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children knitting these swatches for pennies a day? Or are they knit on a machine? I wonder about this. It boggles my mind. I asked Joe and he says they are knit on machines. Even the snarly foo-foo yarn?

Here's something funny from the "global warming" files. According to the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News website, its 42-degrees there today.

 

Here in the Texas panhandle, its icy and 32-degrees. Yup, its warmer in Alaska!

Joe takes the dogs walking a couple of times a day, even in gloomy wintry weather. I think its a great day for a nap...

 

December Rain

Wow, we sure have wacky weather here in the Texas Panhandle. Today the wind has blown 30-40 mph gusts and we've had rain, glorious wonderful much-needed rain. And its warm - like in the 50s. So weird.   

this is the view from my front porch.

Gracie was out a few minutes ago when the rain hit. She was so funny - she came barreling in the doggie door and stopped in the living room to look at us. She was soaked, and she looked like she wanted to say "what did you do THAT for???"

Signs of Life

I live in one of the places in our country that is experiencing spring weather. Gosh, it has been gorgeous this week...  my apricot trees look like they are covered in popcorn.  Here's a couple shots:

And the peach trees aren't very far behind:

I am SO happy to see these buds on the trees, even though I know that we'll probably not get much fruit. Between the birds and the squirrels, we'd have to stand guard 24/7 to protect the crop. 

Monday evening Goofy and Gracie ate a whole bag of Hershey Kisses with Coconut Cream filling.  I knew something was up the minute I walked in the door - Goofy tells on himself by going to stand in the corner by the front door and he won't look at me.  Jeez it made me mad; I had just opened the bag and only had 3 of them before I went out for awhile, and I put it way back on the breakfast bar.  I admit, I didn't even think of the thing about dogs and chocolate until the middle of the night.  See, Goofy was buzzing from the chocolate (the theobromide in the chocolate is a stimulant - and the content is much higher for dark and baker's chocolate). We were up and down all night long - he was hyper.  The next morning they both seemed fine, and ate like normal.  The only other adverse reaction was that Gracie threw up mid afternoon, and there was a significant amount of blue and silver foil in it...  I did call the vet that evening, just for peace of mind, and was reassured that because they weren't even solid chocolate that there was probably nothing to worry about.  (good, because I wasn't really worried anyway)  It just made me mad that good chocolate went to waste.  (probably better than going to my waist, huh?)

Works In Progress

I mailed the kids' quilt to Sophie yesterday, Priority Mail, so she should have it by Friday for binding.  Here's the next one to be quilted:

Isn't this just the CUTEST thing you've seen in a long time???  I just have to smile every time I look at it.  Debby McCarter sent this top to me.  She also made the one I just finished quilting.  I think she's awesome!!! 

So I'm open for quilting ideas - I have pulled a medium blue-to-violet variegated thread by Valdani to quilt this with.  My fast idea is to do a meander and throw in some stars here and there.  I could also do a medium size double loop meander.  (a circle inside a bigger circle, then a traveling line to the next circle set - about the size of a half dollar and a large lime) I guess I could also do squiggles, stars, and loops all mixed together.  So - any tips???

I promised some pics of the raw edged flower quilt blocks that my quilt buddies and I were making. 

There are 24 of these blocks - they are about 11" square - I'll set them 4 x 6 and put a border on it. The pattern is in a book, but I don't know why you couldn't draw one of your own.  Its just 3 squiggly circles, set one inside the other, cut into quarters, mixed up and sewn back together.  One of the girls in our group cut a 4th set of small circles to applique as centers in the blocks, but that wasn't part of the original design.  It looked pretty cute, but I don't know if I'll bother with it.  Looking at the blocks again, they aren't bad as they are right now.  After the blocks are sewn together, the pattern calls for large raw-edged leaves to be machine appliqued - they overlap the seam lines so they aren't added during block construction.  The leaves really add to the quilt, so I need to get some cut out and ready to sew.  Ta-da! That's my WIP for this week.

I've also been playing with fabric postcards and mixed media ATCs.  Anyone else like to make those?  Its so much fun - like being back in school when we made collages with pictures and construction paper.  My cutting table is a wreck - I have paints and glues and papers and scraps all over the place, but its been refreshing to dabble in something new.  I'm also still working on my mixed media scrapbook from the online class I took with Lenna Andrews; its on the back burner because I'm quilting right now, but I always have scrapbook ideas running through my head.  It will be wonderful when I can retire and play ALL DAY LONG. 

Joe's had a relapse on that bad cold/upper respiratory crud he's had for the past month.  He had gone to the doctor a couple weeks ago and got some high-power antibiotics and decongestants, but he got sick again when he went to Austin last week for a hospital board conference. I think he's going back to the doctor today.  Poor guy, he aches all over from the coughing and can't sleep, so he is a bear... and all the coughing makes his back hurt worse.  He's even using an inhaler a couple times a day.  I hope he gets well soon, he is so miserable.  So far, I'm pretty much over it - just a little nagging cough every so often. 

Spring is almost here in West Texas - my fruit trees are budding and the birds are coming back through here on their way home.  Our last freeze date is April 15, so we've still got a few weeks for some more cold weather, but the end is in sight.  Yee-haw.  I hate winter more and more every year.

5 Things Meme and Other Things

I've been really busy over the last few days - nothing to show (as in NO photo evidence) but all the same, I've been a busy girl. 

We got 10" of snow from Friday night thru Sunday morning (1/19-1/21).  It was awesome - that heavy wet stuff that is full of good moisture for the ground.  The slight melting yesterday afternoon was strictly due to the sun shining - it was only 34 degrees - but it translated to 1/2" of moisture.  I wish I'd taken some pictures of it.  My husband took my camera to the local nature trail on Saturday afternoon though, so perhaps I can get some of his pics to share later.

I spent several hours yesterday cleaning the barn/shop/studio.  I'd let it get to the pig-pen state and it was making me crazy. Excessive clutter totally stifles my creativity, so I had to get things put away and the carpet swept.  Joe hung a couple racks for his embroidery hoops, which was a great improvement and needed to be done for quite awhile.  I've got my eye on some wall-mount shelves so I can get a few things off the sewing surfaces, too.  I had a customer quilt come in late yesterday afternoon - boy was I glad to have just cleaned the barn!  So I'll take some pictures of it and share them later.  Its not the greatest piecing, but its a very striking quilt and will quilt up very nicely.  I also got a couple of quilts in the mail this weekend to quilt for the 40 Quilts service project.  These are so nice!  They will make some children very happy.  I've also come across a couple of smaller quilt tops in my own stash that would make good quilts for children, so I think I'll get those quilted also.

5 Things Meme
I got this from Suzanne - I'm supposed to list 5 things about myself that I haven't talked about before, and then tag 5 more people (so if y'all want to do it, then do it and just post a comment so I can come visit and see what you wrote about!).  Not to be confused with the 6 Weird Things Meme that's also going around in blog world...

So, 5 things:

1.  In high school, I wanted to take art class every year, because I loved drawing and painting so much.  I was so angry when I realized that the jocks all took art because it was a blow-off class, and even more angry when I saw how the teacher flirted with the jocks.  At that time, she was in her 50's and thought she was "all that".  It was infuriating to watch those guys play her, and to realize this was not a class that I could get much out of.  That may have been one of the first times I was disappointed by an adult that I wasn't related to.  I didn't sign up for art after my freshman year.  When my son was in high school (same school, 25 years later) we visited the open house nights and I almost ached with envy when we saw the art projects in on display in the library.  The teacher was someone I'd gone to school with, and I was wishing that I would have risen above my contempt for the teacher and continued taking art in high school. 

2.  You may not have noticed, but I've started blogging about the books I'm reading this year.  Check out the link to my book blog in the Nitty Gritty Details in the left column over there... I like to read mysteries, thrillers, true crime, autobiographies, non-fiction, memoirs, and well-written fiction.  I sometimes resist reading the top best sellers because I don't want to fall for the hype, but I might read them on down the road at some point.  I really like the mid-size paperbacks that are around $12-$15 at the book stores - good fiction, often first time writers, kind of quirky stories.  I also buy a ton of books from the book store sale racks - good hardbacks marked down to $2.99 - $5.99 apiece.  In my small town, this is a coup.  We don't have 2nd hand book stores or half-price book stores or overstock book stores here. 

3.  We would like to retire to a tropical country in about 10 years.  In our dreams, we would live somewhere like Costa Rica or Bali, (where there are a lot of expats) and just fly back to the states periodically for medical care. We'd have our son forward our mail to us, and have him handle our affairs.  In reality, this will probably not happen.  But its nice to dream. 

4.  The first time I met my husband, we were both at Girl Scout Camp.  I was 12 and he was 16.  He was one of the cool guys working in the kitchen, and I was just one of the dumb little girls at camp.  He doesn't remember this very well (I understand they drank whiskey in their tents at night) but I remember him.  The second time I met him, I was 15 and on a "date" at the swimming beach at the lake.  He was 19 and told my boyfriend that he was going to throw me in the lake, which he proceeded to do.  My boyfriend wasn't my boyfriend after he took me home that afternoon.  And I thought Joe was a jerk, instead of a cool guy.  The third time I met my husband, I was working at a fast food restaurant and he was a guy that came in every night about 8:00 and hung over the counter flirting with 3 of us girls.  We didn't know who he was interested in, and he probably would have taken any of us that showed interest.  Several months later, I ended up taking him to our Christmas party, and we started dating.  By then I was 17 and he was 21.  We got married 9 months later.  Depending on what day it is, he is still a cool guy and a jerk.

5.  A month ago (12/23) I got a tattoo.  Its a big purple cross on my lower back, and it is in memory of my oldest son (purple was his favorite color).  He will be gone 10 years in February.  I made a decision recently that I needed closure - to "let him go" - and the tattoo is part of that. I have known for a long time that I wanted a tattoo to symbolize my everlasting love for him.  He will always be with me, yet I am ready to move on.  Its been a long, hard journey to get to this point...

Remember, if you tag yourself, post a comment so I can come read what you write about!

Do y'all use the "categories" in your blog software when you blog?  Do you use the "categories" when you read other people's blogs?  I've never bothered to categorize my posts because I'm all over the place.  Is this something I should try?  I don't usually click on other people's categories when I visit - unless I am really looking for something specific, like a knitting pattern or a recipe.  Tell me what y'all think, ok? 

No Work in Progress

Our icy storm is becoming history.  We had 2 days of icy rain and sleet, which finally turned to snow in the middle of last night.  I took some not-so-great photos of the ice on branches yesterday afternoon.  When I took the dogs out at 4:00 this morning, it was almost magical.  There was perhaps an inch of snow, but the night sky was bright and it was absolutely silent but for the crackling of the ice on the tree branches. It was quite eerie.  I wish I could have taken a picture of that... our next-door neighbor and many other people on our street have big broken branches off their elm trees in their yards and the street.  I was lucky they missed my car! This morning, the sun came out and the thaw began.  I think we're having a bit of wrap-around weather now because its cold and overcast again, and they're calling for more snow this afternoon. 

        

Tanya asked on her blog if anyone had memories of awful quilts, and describes one that sounds rather, well, awful.  She's a new blogger, and I enjoyed reading about her early quilting experiences. I have a story that fits in the "Ignorance Is Bliss" category.  My son wanted a "farm quilt" when he was about 8 years old.  Having maybe one quilt under my belt, I knew I would have no problem with this request.  I simply took a twin sized sheet and my mom's scrap bag, and started cutting fabrics for the hills in the background, some fields, a barn, a tree, etc. and zig-zagged them to the sheet.  When I was ready to do the animals, I got a coloring book and traced the figures onto the fabrics, cut them out, and zig-zagged them on.  There was no stabilizer (what's that for?) and some of the appliques kind-of puckered a bit on the edges, but soon the top was done and ready to go to the machine quilter.  There's no border on it - just my applique and a binding that says "mooo....mooo". My son loved the quilt except it was too big to drag around.  He slept with his farm quilt on his bed for many years.  Much later, after I'd learned a few things about quilting, I was embarrassed to show it to anyone, but back in the beginning I was pretty proud of my artistic ability to make a quilt like that with no pattern. And here I've come full circle - again making quilty things without following a pattern!

On the car trip to Stillwater last weekend, I knitted a scarf.  It wasn't anything spectacular - just a skein of Lion Brand Homespun in a pine-y green color, garter-stitched on size 13 needles until I got tired of it.  It was easy and meditative knitting.  I enjoy knitting in the car, or curled up in my chair on a cold night like last night. (except last night I was reading a book!) This scarf is just fine like it is, but I got a wild hair and started thinking.... what if it was the base of some kind of artwork?  What if I tried to do some punchneedle flowers and vines on the scarf with wool roving?  What if I took some other fibers and wove them through the knitting?  What if I appliqued some dimensional wool flowers or leaves to the scarf?  I kept hearing the little voices repeating "silk purse"... "sow's ear" over and over.... yeah, its just a plain ol' scarf knit with acrylic yarn, but what if???  What if I folded it in half and sewed the sides shut, and put a layer of batting inside, and turned it into a long, narrow wallhanging? With applique and beads and charms and fringey things? What if??? 

I'm starting to contemplate my quilting goals for the coming year.  At this time of year, its always about the stuff I didn't do this past year.  I don't really beat myself up, I just face up to the things that were left undone and what can I do to change that?  My personal Plan B, if you will.  Like the great Eiffel Tower fabric I bought, intending to do pillows for Tara's living room because she decorated with a Paris theme.  Now she's moving out of the apartment and won't be using the Paris stuff in her next living room.  Plan B - put with some cool photo transfers of vintage ladies and some fibers, the fabric will be great in postcards.  I didn't get nearly as many tops made and quilted as I thought I would this year, but I did get a great studio built and a longarm machine.  Next year I'll get the rest of my mom's quilting stuff moved out of storage and into the barn, and see what needs to be done next. 

And we all know quilters are good of heart.  Here's a little blurb I read about on the QuiltArt list - sending a Holiday Greeting Card to a recovering American soldier.  I don't want to get into political viewpoints.  Just take an extra minute or two, pull out the leftover cards (or go buy some at Wal-Mart) and send some cheer to the following address:

A Recovering American Soldier
% Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington DC  20307-5001

Just do it - they are our kids. 

First Snow

Oh, dear southerners.  You don't know what you're missing.  We got our first snow of the season - blew through like a blizzard with howling winds and travel advisories last night.  This is what it looks like at work this morning:

   Those are what's left of the geraniums in the planters going into my building.

  Seven inches of pure white snow.

  And its cold too!  17 degrees.  Brrrrrr.   

Joe brought me in to work today - what a crazy trip - people forget how to drive in the snow (keep moving, go slow) and they stop when they shouldn't, which means they can't get going again and are stuck.  There's a slight dip and an incline coming on the road into the plant, approaching the railroad tracks, and there was a massive snarl of traffic there this morning, made worse by the POLICE who were blocking one lane and trying to pull a stuck car out of the snow.  BECAUSE THEY JUST *HAD* TO DO IT RIGHT THEN.... instead of letting all the rest of the MOVING traffic come on through.  There are still people coming in to work, 2 hours later, because those boobs had traffic backed up for 3 miles.  And its not THAT big of a town.  OK, road rage moment has passed.  Sorry if I have offended any law enforcement types - I'm sure y'all are a little brighter than ours are, if ya know what I mean, since our dog catchers make more money than the POLICE do!  So you know we get good ones, uh-huh.  Really. 

Yesterday was Work In Progress Wednesday on the Quilt Studio webring, but I posted no progress.  I'm working on a sympathy project.  You know the kind - someone brings you their blanket or quilt in a state of disrepair and asks if you can, you know, "fix" it.  The one I'm repairing is a country blue, navy, and mauve biscuit-style comforter that is at least 10 years old.  My friend Joyce at work LOVES her "blanket" so much, but its made one too many trips through the washer.  Its set in a trip around the world pattern, with a ruffle around 3 sides.  The construction is interesting, in that the biscuits are all attached to the batting layer, which is disintegrating, and the backing is smooth.  There is one biscuit missing on the top edge.  My plan is to replace the missing biscuit and then open this up along the top edge, turn it wrong side out, and attach a new batting layer to the biscuit layer.  Then I'll trim the batting to fit, turn it right side out, and seam up the top edge.  Then I'll put it on the longarm and run horizontal rows of quilting between the biscuit rows, then turn it and quilt the vertical seams so it will be held to the backing.  It will be easy to do, I just don't really want to do it.  Its not creative, you know?  *sigh*  But since Joyce is one of my best friends, I am going to fix it up for her.

Let's get back to quilting!  Has anyone gotten their Hoffman Challenge fabrics yet?

   I had ordered my 2 yards of challenge fabric and the batik coordinate FQ pack from Keepsake Fabrics over a week ago - so long ago that I forgot that I'd ordered it!  So it was a nice surprise when it arrived yesterday.  I have absolutely no idea what I'll do, but I am going to enter this year.  From looking at the past several years' entries it seems daunting but hey, don't we all need to challenge ourselves from time to time?

And how about the Quilting Arts Calendar contest for 2008?  The theme is "A Novel Idea" and as one would guess, is based on a favorite work of fiction.  The ideas are churning here, folks.  I am a voracious reader, and have already had some neat thoughts about this one.  Don't know if it will turn into anything, but the inspiration flames are flickering.  Anyone else giving this one a thought?

I know Debra has some challenges in the works for the webring for 2007 - so one way or another I think there will be a lot of personal quilting growth going on next year.  It should be fun!