finished things.....

One of my favorite check-out girls at the store is going to college.
I will miss her.
I made her a going away/happy last day gift.
In my excitement to get it to her on her last day, I forgot to take a picture.
Crispy was working with her that night, so I called and asked them to take a picture of the mini quilt. They did a nice job, except the laugh should be on top so no words are upside down.



All the replacement boards are painted brown out in the shed. IT looks SO MUCH better than it did! All the wood is the same. It used to have chunks of 2 x 12's stuck in there.
They will be perfect to make a work bench top some time, they are nice and sturdy and thick.

...black paint came out too.

The table was in the living room. Ozzy had chewed on it as a puppy.

I think it looks rather classy painted black. It may go back to the living room.

The big flat black thing is the door off the cupboard that is hanging in the garage. I will have to get the full history of it. When I asked tractor joe if I should paint the inside too (it's pink)

he said, "no leave it, that is what Mom wanted it to be"

I wonder if she even remembers it. I will get a picture later.

The other cupboard is from my Aunt Meta's garage. I don't know what exactly it was for, I just agreed to take it when she was cleaning some time ago. We have used it here and there.

Both of those cupboards will go into the shed for storage.
Now I am eyeballing everything....looking for things to paint black.

I have even thought about the kitchen cabinets...would they look good in black???

my uncle....

My uncle, Gwen's dad, passed away on Sunday. He was strong, tough and rugged

... and at the same time the most gentle uncle anyone could have.

when I think of him, I think of...

camping in the mountains, cut off from the rest of the world...it was magical.

For about 30 years he ran Triple O Outfitters in Idaho. Even though he recently sold the business, I found their website.

I found this picture and "stole" it....Hunting was a big part of the business. So was the Lewis and Clark trail ride they offered....

I found a blog by juli thorson ....she had been on the trail ride. She describes things way better than I can.

Here is another stolen picture. This was taken when he took his 13 year old granddaughter (Gwen's daughter) hunting and she got her first bear!! That must have been about 5 years ago.

We will all miss him a lot.

before and after, ozzy...

This is Ozzy in a before shot....
he was getting awfully hairy. We went to Algona for his haircut

and bath

and toe trimming

and what ever else they do for the "bronze package"

I was able to get more thread for quilting stuff!! Hopefully I will get to work on things this week.

before and after, the furniture

This was Tuesday morning,
the old couch was taken out and then we waited.... Shortly after noon, the truck arrived with the furniture we bought.
The couch and recliner.
This is a compromise between tractor joe and me.
He doesn't like sectionals, I don't like recliners (even if they are the most comfortable thing in the world)....we both got something we like and don't like as much. Over all though,
we love it!

The big wall quilt that I made, but never hung, was laid artfully over the couch by tractor joe. Who knew he was a decorator too!

Now, go back to picture #2, there is scar on the wall where the air conditioner was removed and patched years ago. We saw it so much, that eventually we didn't see it. My Mom would see it every time she was here she would wonder why we hadn't done anything about it yet.

"you can make a quilt and hang it there to cover up the patch"

While you can still see part of the patch, most of it is covered by the Crooked Cow quilt!!


Someday we will paint and really fix it. I have been busy painting other stuff.

the trade stuff and my logcabin quilt....

A while back I agreed to do a swap with Anne in England.
For a collection of light fabric she would send a heart wall hanging.
Seemed like a fun thing to do.
So I talked to her, well emailed her and
started gathering up fabric to send.


I sent my package of fabric off and waited.
Finally!! I got word that it had made it.
That was a relief, I had never sent anything internationally before....unless you count Canada, but we are attached, so it doesn't seem as far. No major oceans are involved.
...And my wall hanging was on its way!!!!

...and then the other day this sweet little wall hanging was in the mailbox.
I was so excited. Those hearts aren't even 2 inches across. They are so small and delicate.
I love it!
But Anne felt she took so long to get her stuff back to me.

so.....a surprise was also in the package....

she sent a companion wall hanging.

It is also just as sweet and delicate....

I am in awe of her work. It is beautiful. I walked around holding them up trying to decide where to hang them. I still haven't decided. There was also a postcard from her area and candy. I just finished that off as I was writing. The "jelly tots" said 25% fruit juice...so they must be healthy.

Our new furniture arrives tomorrow. The living room is cleared out (mostly) and the rug doctor machine was put to work over the weekend. This morning as I sat there looking at all this empty space, it occurred to me that it was the perfect time to lay out my log cabin quilt......
and sew it together.


I wasn't sure how to go about it....in the end I went for chunks instead of rows. That seemed to help keep it all straight....(no blocks turned the wrong way)

I am down to the last 2 seams.

Now I am on the look out for some backing fabric.

When tractor joe got home he said to me, "you are going to keep this aren't you?"

OH yeah, this is ours.

need to go shopping.....

I ran out of thread while quilting this.
This project is on hold for now,
along with the fish quilt.
That's 2 items I need...thread and that heat and bond stuff.

My tractor book is getting closer to being declared done.....

Going through an old book, I look for sentences that would work,

cut them out and glue them in.....

It's kinda fun.

Tractor joe says to me "I never said that!"

I know, but it works in the book.

This is a good time to start clearing out the living room. We want to clean

the carpet with a rug doctor machine before the new furniture arrives.

live laugh learn love.......

This has been in the works for awhile....

It started with the 9 patches that just weren't exiting me, so they were set aside.

Then I made the electric fan blocks and I wondered...

would they work for a border ?
I was so excited when I had just enough of the 9 patches to go around the 4 electric fans. Everything was sewn together and it sat on the living room floor just like this.

We walked around it.

(it is just laying on the blue fabric that I used for the inner border)

I was surprised no one said, "aren't you going to pick that up?"

Then I thought about words.

live

laugh

learn

love

and I made them......

...they are a little bigger than I wanted. As I write this I am in the middle of adding spacers and fillers to them....trying to figure out how to make it all work.

related furniture.....

A couple weeks ago Karen and I were discussing how we were both on the lookout for new furniture for our living rooms.
She wanted a standard sofa and I wanted a sectional.
A week or so ago I received a text from Karen, she was on her way home from a mini vacation up in the twin cities..."have you seen the Slumberland ad?"
No I hadn't.OMG....there on the cover was my sectional!
I showed tractor joe right away. "look! here is the sectional we want!"

(I should really say "I" here, he wasn't thinking about such things at all....and, of course, wanted to know what was wrong with the old one he was stretched out on.
Well for one thing we can update the basement furniture....replace the 70's couch down there with a 90's one....and when he is laying on a new sectional, I would still have a comfortable place to sit!)
Several texts later....(we were sidetracked with me watching the radar for storms Karen was going to be driving into)....she said had bought the sofa and love seat....and had sat on the sectional at the store. She thought this was the sectional I would want!

A few days later we did end up buying the sectional! Now both Karen and I are waiting for our related furniture to be delivered. Right now it looks like next Tuesday will be the big day!!

Quilt news: I can't decide if I want to start this QuiltAlong

and here is KarensTrip

the fish wall quilt...

Last week I pulled out a kit I had bought ages ago. Seemed like a good day to start it.

The fish are appliquéd on it. So I went for my heat and bond....

I had like 12 inches left, not enough to do it all.

sigh

But I could start the background for it!

This is as far as I got that day.....

Then the power went out.

Dang....I forgot there was a scheduled power shutdown. The silence was deafening.....no radio,

no TV, no video games, no refrigerator humming, no air conditioner running...

it was actually kind of nice. I never did go back to sewing when the power came back on.

Next day......

I changed it a little....made it more rectangular shaped instead of square.

I turned one of the blue fabrics around and used the back....I liked that side better.

Kitty you are in the way! I am trying to show something here.

On Woodie's left side is the back, on her right is the lighter version that I used.

The last of the heat and bond was used up. There is now some seaweed and two fish attached. But I don't have any pictures of that yet. School starts soon, so eventually I will be out shopping for more supplies...and get this done. Crispy has claimed it for his room already.

please vote for mine!!

Quilting Gallery has been doing a weekly quilt contest. Every week is a different theme.
Every week I go and vote.
But this week......I went and entered!!
Here's my quilt.

Follow the link and go

VOTE here for your favorite and hopefully it is mine you will be choosing!!!!

you'll be looking for Noah's Ark and joe tulips!

baby quilt, or maybe not....

This disappearing nine patch is officially done. The binding is done, it has been washed and dried.

I kept thinking red or blue binding.

Yep, red or blue,

I looked through fabric....

and for some reason I walked away with a green to bind it.

Karen has been doing a bunch of these disappearing nine patches and I had to try one too. ( herblog )

This was made with "baby" in mind. But when tractor joe saw it he said...

"wouldn't that be a nice lap quilt for my Mom?"

hmmm....maybe

"can't you see her sitting in her chair with that on her lap?" he added.

Well there isn't anything "baby" in it. It is mostly the Make Life line of fabric. It measures about 36 x 50 inches. Is that big enough for a lap quilt??

We shall just have to see. He might have a good idea.

that turkey...

In the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors there was an article on prompts.
add this shape, add that color, do this or that.....tons of them

I wrote them all down on little sheets, including....couch something on and I didn't even know what that was.

I wanted to add something to "that turkey quilt" but had no idea what.
So I drew out a little sheet from the container of prompts.

Wouldn't you know...I drew out couch something....
good grief
Well I needed to find out what it is.
Couching is a way of attaching something to your work, like wool, ribbon, thread, or even wire. You can make a picture or word or pattern.

I added light purple floss and stitched it in place with a rusty color around his hat.

That was cool, I just couched something on..... but enough of that, what else? Draw another sheet......

Add stripes.

So I had to think some more. How could I do that??

I added narrow strips of green fabric....the turkey looks like he is peaking out of the grass.

There is probably all kinds of things I could have done yet....but I wasn't feeling to adventurous.

And besides I wanted to send it off to my Aunt Barb sooner rather than later.

She got her first turkey hunting this year. She is an excellent hunter. Thanks to her (and my Uncle Hop) we have dined on different delicacies when visiting them in Idaho...

things like bear ham, elk roast and cougar sausage....and it is all so GOOD!!!!

today's enemy: glare.....

Oh look over there, under the tree....
a finished and ready to hang "canyon de chelly" picture.....
The frame is old barn wood from a building here on the yard. It was put together by tractor joe's DAD....I LOVED the way it turned out. It is perfectly primitive.
I want a closer picture.
But it is hard to avoid glare.....
I just snapped a picture of me and the glare in all it's glory.


Different angles help capture pieces of it.
The "Happiness is a journey" was applied yesterday.

It was my Aunt's birthday yesterday....

so my mom and my sister Jane met me in New Richland at the Care Center where Betty lives.

Jane put on the words and we made everyone "ahhh and oohhhh" as they walked by.

( we worked in the dining area)


Back to the photo session....

under the tree wasn't going to work.

Maybe up on the back porch??

I picked it up and set it on the table.

hmmmmm....this might work.

Well that's as good as it gets!

It was like doing a giant scrapbook page.

But wait!

What are those cute little things down near the bottom of the picture?

We need a closer look.

Aren't they sweet??

Jane was at a garden center and they were having a sale....and she bought me a few things!

... She is like the queen of garden art. She says they will be fine tucked into some of my flowers.

But they are so little.

We will spray them with something-something ( she is always using big words) and they will be fine...I do it all the time.

okay....but,

for now I am leaving them on the table. They make me smile every time I look at them.

things I worked on this past week.....

The poster sized Canyon De Chelly picture is getting closer to being finished. The frame is done....the border around the picture is done....
I ripped pictures from one of those free tourist magazines and a road map. Every thing was glued down randomly, then I smeared gesso all over it and wiped it back off some. It has a lighter look. It all sorta blends together.
Just need my sister to apply the words:
Happiness is a journey and it will be done!



I have one baby quilt done, except for the binding isn't on yet. The quilting took me forEVER.
It hard to see, but the lines go up and down too. I can't wait to wash it and really get it
all crinkly.

The sweet corn....the real deal from tractor joe's cousin.

I froze this stuff using my "super bad for you, but oh so good" recipe....

It will get used this winter when I make scalloped corn....

it is so good, I can't wait!!

I painted more papers. Lots more paper. Then I stamped and embossed things on them.

No real rhyme or reason, just did it. My tractor ride book is coming along....

I am hoping to get "finished" pictures this week of things.
I mowed TWICE last week too....lots of rain make lots of grass.
sigh...