Well, here I am again. What a year this has been. I see that my last post in here was in April. Shame on me, but I have been very busy around here since then. Lots of traveling, buying a new (to us) motorhome, getting rid of the old one, burning down our rental house, dealing with the weather, and cleaning up the grounds after the straight-line winds blew down a bunch of our trees. I was also elected to be president of our local senior center, so that also takes some of my time. I never realized all there was to do, when you want to burn a piece of property. We had to move the pressure tank from the old house to the one we live in, as well as changing the direction of our well.

I thought I would miss the second house, but the only time I actually do is when I am headed north on the road past our place. LOL I can now look out of the south windows in our home and see at least a half mile away with nothing blocking my view. I love it!! We burned the house near the end of June, on a day when the temps were in the 90's. I felt sorry for the firemen who were here for the training session, because they had to wear all their gear, and it was sooooooooooo hot! We had 28 firemen in our yard and it took them 2 1/2 hours to get the house burning!! It was so funny, and you should have seen all they did to try making it burn. Some of the stuff they did is not supposed to be done, but they were running out of time and daylight. Got some nice pics of the fire, and a couple are even worth looking at. I am glad that is all done now, because the place looks so much neater now, with the house gone. We now have a dump station in that area, as well as a new flower bed. Should look very nice next summer, just in time for our next bluegrass party in September.

I have been working on quilts quite a bit, too. Got one pink and purple quilt all done and ready to deliver to Angel in Arkansas, which comes in March. I also made a matching pillow case to go with the quilt, and that can be used to store the quilt when she is not using it on her bed. Sure hope she likes it. It is a snowball quilt, with the center of the block being pink and the corners are purples. It turned out very nice, and I machine quilted it. Have also been working on a block of the month from a couple of places on the computer. One is Carol Doak site, and I even got to be a block tester for the November block, which turned out very nicely. We have done 6 blocks now, so it will finish up in May next year. I chose to use black background with brights of the designs. The other block of the month, or week, is going on in the quiltchat room, with the blocks being the same ones that get called for BINGO in the chatroom. We get a new Quilter's Cache block every week, and when they end, we will have 20 blocks made. I have 6 done now, so we are moving right along.

Right next to my computer chair is the small wall quilt I have made to go along with the chatroom stocking exchange. It is red, white, and green fabrics, with a touch of gold, and I machine quilted it with gold metallic thread. I think it turned out pretty, and hope my swappee likes it. I also made her a pretty little teddy bear, and soft and girlie looking! LOL
I am rather sad that there are so few of us from the chatroom that actually joined in for the swap this year, as I think there are only 8 of us doing it. The economy sure screws up the fun stuff in life.

I will be back soon with more of my life's happenings to share with you. I will have more pics for you to look at, too. Please bear with me, because I am trying to do better with keeping up with my blog. We will see how it goes! LOL

Quilty hugs,
Ele

Learning pictures blog!!

Posting pictures

This is the center block of my Yours Truly Round Robin quilt I am making, along with a lot of others from the Carol Doak paper piecing site. It is called "yours truly" because it works like a normal round robin, except that you do all the rounds yourself, so you don't have to wait for someone else to send your lovely quilt on thru the mails. This is the first time I have made one of these from the patterns of Carol, so I am really getting my brain stretched. We do get suggested things to do for each round, and so far, I have gotten all those right, I think.

I am hoping that the fabrics I chose will last until we get our last round done, and my black is starting to run low. I may have to punt here! LOL The next picture is how my quilt looks after round 4. I want to work the burgandy and green into the next round, but am having a bit of a problem wrapping my brain around the idea of really sharp points!! Math was/is not my favorite subject, but have to use that to figure all my sides, so they come out looking nice. I will be working on this some more, just as soon as I finish sewing more pillow cases, which will be for donating to Ronald McDonald House thru my local guild. What a fun project, and I have become additcted to making them in bunches. Not lots of heavy sewing going on here, because we are in the middle of doing some well/water repairs here at home, and I just don't want to get my fabrics all messed up. I have a lovely quilt that will be hand quilted by me, all ready to load onto the quilt frame, but must wait until the water work is all done.

Some of the liberated fabrics from Arkansas will definitely become pillow cases, but I will show that picture in the next edition of this blog. Hopefully that will happen before too long. LOL

At any rate, please look at my round robin quilt and give any suggestions you see fit to share. I will need the help.

Thanks and hugs,
Ele

Feb. 28, and 7 more sleeps!!

Well, here I am, waiting to get the motorhome loaded for our annual trip to Mountain View, Arkansas. I am still hoping that we can get all the loading accomplished, because we have sooooooo much snow on the ground, it is very difficult getting around our yard. We do have the motorhome in the converted corn crib, so at least it is dry!! I am happy that we only have 7 more sleeps before we leave, that is, if all goes as we hope, no more snow, good traveling weather, and no more delays! I know, I know, that is asking for a lot, but we are sure praying for all of that, along with being able to connect with our fellow caravaners. This has been such a long, long winter, and we have had snow on the ground constantly since Christmas, and not much has melted, because it has not been warm enough to do that. Oh well, that is just winter in Iowa, I reckon.

One good thing about all the icky weather is that I have gotten a lot of quilting done. I got the breast cancer quilt from guild to put the binding on, and that is now finished. I have also made a lovely little quilt for a swap in the chatroom, and that is all ready to mail off to the lucky lady whose name I got! Sure hope she likes the quilt, but if she doesn't, I hope she will send it back to me, because it is actually one I have come to love, a lot!!

This is a week of running for medical test/check-ups/appointments, so when that gets all done, we can get busy loading the motorhome. I do know that I will be very tired by the time we get to where we are going, but will have fun after we get there. Lots of good friends to see and hug, and lots of good music to hear and enjoy. We sure love going there, and am glad we can still go. Not sure what we will do when we can no longer travel that far. Just have to wait and see.

I am hoping to get to meet up with one of the ladies in the chatroom, who lives in both Texas and Louisiana, where she works. Was hoping to do that last year, too, but it did not work out. Will try again this year.

Dealing with all the weather, doing my quilting, keeping up with the house work are about all I have been doing this month, so sorry this is boring. Hopefully, after we get to Mt. View, I will be able to write more interesting stuff. I do have 2 tubs of quilty stuff to drag along with me, including some new patterns to attempt, so will keep you posted on how those are going. I have put a picture of the breast cancer quilt in here, somewhere, so enjoy looking at that. I did hand quilt one of my UFO's. and it is now living in it's new home. It turned out pretty nice, and I was happy to have it gone!! I think Ruth will probably wear it out, just showing it to all her friends. LOL

Now it is time for me to find my bed, as I have to go for a mammogram and bone density test tomorrow. Need to be rested up for that, I guess. At least neither of those should be painful, so it should be an easy day. A quick stop at the Aldi store, then home in time to go out for a free dinner at the Branding Iron in Thompson. A couple up the road called and invited us, so we are gonna take them up on it. Never been there, but understand it is a very good place to eat.

More later! Stay warm and dry, and peace to you.

Quilty hugs,
Ele

It's Fish Fry Day!!

Got up early, so could eat breakfast at a reasonable time, before we head north for the annual Fish Fry in Nicollete, MN. We decided that we have made all but one of the last 17 years meals there, so did not want to break the chain. They cook about 3500 pounds of Alaskan Pollack fish, and a huge amount of potatoes for both American potato salad, and warm German potato salad, and unknown quantities of cabbage for cold slaw. All this is served from 11 a.m. until about 8 p.m. People come from all around the US for this event, so we enjoy being part of the process. We usually meet up with some of our friends, who all like to eat, but this year we ate all by ourselves, because all the friends must have been busy with other things. We also include a trip to Schmidt's Meat Market, because it is around the corner from the fish fry. Today we bought some smoked cheddar cheese, 3 sticks of summer sausage (different flavors), and some wild salmon filets. We also chose 1 very nice looking butterflied pork chop, to be used as a birthday gift for a 90 year old lady we know. Also gave her a jar of our homemade sauerkraut to cook with the pork chop, so she will have a very good meal, whenever she makes it.

After eating all that fish earlier, we just had ham, cheese, and spinach wraps for a light supper, then went to have birthday cake and ice cream with our friend on her big day. It is not every day a person gets to have a 90th birthday. Her kids had a card shower for her, and she had gotten 87 cards by today, and more are expected. Not bad at all, and some of the cards were very funny! I think she enjoyed her big day. She has a lovely cake all decorated, and will serve that tomorrow at her church.

I have been working hard on the little quilt for the Spring Swap for the chatroom I work in. I will have a very hard time giving this one away, as I have come to really love it, even though the colors are not my favorites, this quilt is just plain beautiful. Not sure the colors will show up in a picture, but will try. Sorry, cannot put the pic up yet, because I don't want the recipient to see it before she gets her package.

The last quilt I finished will be going to it's new home tomorrow some time. I really wanted to get it there before now, but have not had the time. I have been going to a new dentist for my teeth, had medical testing in Mason City, and will be going to Mayo for my regular checkup in about 3 weeks, and my mammogram on March 1. We are also getting ready to get the motorhome loaded for our trip to Arkansas on March 8. I sure hope some of our snow will be gone by then, so we can actually get out of the yard. LOL

Now I am tired, so think I will find my pillow soon. I will be working on more quilting stuff this weekend, especially if we get snowed in AGAIN!!

That's it for this time.

Ele

Yipppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I got my row of the month quilt all hand quilted, as of 9:50 p.m. tonight!! Even the back looks good, so I am a very happy camper. Got the binding all ready to attach, which I will do later today. Need to have it completed by the end of the month, so I can take it to guild for show and tell. The label on the back of the quilt is gonna say "Thanks for the house cleaning help"!! Well, the quilt has been in my UFO pile for the last 6 or 7 years, so having it gone, will be cleaning house!! I am glad to have this one done, so now Tom and I can redo my cave, so it will work better for me. I have not changed anything down there since we moved in, so it is time for moving things around.

We have decided to do away with our second house on the property, as it will cost us too much to repair the plumbing, after the pipes froze last month. We are gonna salvage some of the stuff inside the house, then either burn it down; smash it down; or give it away to be moved. Any one of those plans will work for us, so if you are in the market for a really nice house, call us.

We had talked about turning it into a quilting studio for me, but not having lots of extra, available cash has taken that option away. Will keep you posted in here.

I finally told Tom about the offer from the senior center in town. He wanted to know how come they asked me, if the job was such a good one. I will have to learn the answer to that, but won't until next week. I told him about the offer only after he had gotten full on my last batch of homemade soup. Naughty of me, but sorry, it worked. LOL

I go Monday to find out about new dentures. On Tuesday, I am going to Minnesota with Tom. He is going to work on some farm equipment for the steam show in Dundas, probably do some welding. I am going to spend the day with one of the wives, shopping, lunch, and gabbing. I need a "girls day", so it should be fun. Look out, thrift stores, here we come!!!

Well, now I am going to rub some Bag Balm into my dry, cracked hands, then hit the bed. Got lots of work to do tomorrow, and need to be rested for it.

Good night, sweet dreams, and peaceful slumber.

Ele

Oh, my goodness!! I do have to apologize for my gross lack of neglect for this site. I have just been so busy with the rest of my life, to keep this up. I will try to do better!!

I have been slaving away on one of my UFO quilts, and the hand quilting is nearly done on it. When I get it all done, it will become a gift to my hairdresser. She wanted to pay me for the quilt, but I told her we would barter for it. So now I get free haircuts for as long as we can manage to get together, and she gets the quilt out of my house. LOL The quilt has only been waiting to get finished for about 7 years. I will be happy when it has a new home, and I know the quilt will also be happy.

I have been working on a couple of BOM's, so that takes much of my time. I am also trying to sort thru all my stash, so have been pulling stuff out and getting that ready to donate to Goodwill, come spring. My basement now has about 6 good sized containers filled with the items I am culling. Still trying to figure out where all that fabric came from, as I do not remember buying it all. Could that be because I am getting old??

Some little tidbits of news: I have been voted in as Secretary/Treasurer of the local quilt guild, and that job starts this month. Am rather looking forward to that, as it has been a large number of years since I did that kind of stuff. Used to be very good at it, so hope I still have that talent. Another new item for my anticipation is that I have registered for a quilting cruise in 2011! I have never been on a cruise, so am really looking forward to this one. One of the teachers on the cruise will be Carol Doak, my paper piecing guru, so looking forward to meeting her, for sure. The last little bit of news is that I have been asked to run for the presidency at our local Senior Citizen group. That was a bit of a shock, because we are still considered to be the "new kids in town", and the senior center is pretty much all the old timers here. I was both flattered and shocked, but am actually considering taking the job. Have not told Tom about this one yet, so not sure how he will react. I do not think the activity level will interfere with our traveling for music or steam shows, so all that should be fine. Still pondering and praying about how to tell him.

We have been dealing with tons of snow in our yard, as is most of this country. I was a bit upset yesterday, when I got stuck in the driveway!!! I thought I could just plow my way thru the drift across the drive, but quickly found out that would NOT happen. Soooooooo, had to go get Tom from his shop to pull me out. After he did that, we just went into town in the pick-up, which is 4-wheel drive and got us out of the drive just great!! Now our temps are sitting in the low to mid 30's, and the apron by our garage is actually melting of snow. These temps are supposed to hang around for a whole week, but we will see!!


That is about all for now, but I promise to get back to this on a more regular basis. I am hoping to learn how to get more pictures into these posts, so that will make these a bit more interesting.

Until later, quilty hugs and prayers,
Ele