ACCOMPLISHMENTS TODAY

Hey there, what freakish and weird weather we are having in my part of the country, from the tv it also sounds as if this isn't the only place for weird weather.   The winds are howling here and every so often the roaring sound sounds like a huge eighteen wheeler is ready to barrel on through the house, oh my, but these winds are sure powerful today and while yesterday was so warm temperature wise, it plunged this morning and seems colder somehow. 

I have been busy today and accomplished more today than I have all of last week!

I made my full crockpot full of stew yesterday, mmmmmmmm it turned out just yummy!

Today I made a huge bowl of my favorite marinated salad, so easy and quick to make and such a nice add to recipe if you wish to change it up!  

Cauliflower, broccoli and red onion, but you can keep adding to it with any of your favorite veggies, even some crispy bacon or your favorite nuts.... Delicious!!

IF anyone would like this recipe, I am happy to share it with you.  Dead easy to make up and as I said so yummy.......

I had myself a wonderful hot and soothing shower, what with my leg as bad as it is I flt I needed the heat to help me get along today, then, I gave myself a fresh hairdo, then proceeded to do a load of washing, fed the feathered friends, and fed myself lunch of veggies and fruit.   Then I also received the gift of a video and a snap shot of my new granddaughter today, what a thrill, so thank you so much my darling daughter-in-law for this gift today.

Finally, I actually sewed this afternoon and am on my third place mat to match the  table topper.  Soon these will be completed and I may give myself permission to begin a new project. LOL, I am really making an effort to complete projects one at a time because like so many others who sew and who quilt, we tend to have too many irons in the fire.  I promised myself to make every effort to finish one project before allowing myself to begin another this year.. How about you, are you finishing one project at a time, or, as I was last year and before have more than two or three projects on the go?  

I am into the making of place mats and table runners/toppers lately, but I do so want to get my fabrics out and play with them and hopefully change my direction and make up a baby quilt as friends are expecting their first baby and I would like to have that gift finished and on its way to them before they welcome baby.  Something  easy like this one

When I awoke this morning I had the feeling that I was finally waking up from a rather long sleep, even though my name is not Rapunzel and my hair isn't long, but I did feel like I had more energy than I have had in months, maybe this means I am healing?  Ya think?

Time to get something to eat so I shall have a huge bowl of stew with some fresh 12  grains baked bread, then, off to put my feet up and inspect the couch and my book that I am currently into the middle of, I promised that if I accomplished what I had today that I would spend a little more time reading, so it is reward reading time for me this evening. 

THANK  you so very much for stopping in to share some of your precious time with me today and I do so hope you will leave a comment, it would be nice to meet you!

Life is uncertain.  Eat dessert first.  ~Ernestine Ulmer

FIRST QUILT

I don't know where you live, but around here it feels wonderful temperature wise!  This morning around nine o'clock I decided to step out onto the deck to fill up my bird feeder and the warm spring like air hit me with such a wonderful clean scent to it and the temperature climbed from -13 Celsius to near plus 10 Celsius. Talk about a total turn around in temperatures in just hours.  Though the weatherman said we'd have rain and then freezing rain yesterday and overnight, in my little spot on earth it simply did not happen.  

Celsius is read from the left and Fahrenheit is read from the right side

Mind you tomorrow the temperature is supposed to dip into the minus digits once again tonight, but for today I will enjoy all of this fresh air wafting into my house.  I have opened as many windows as I dare and turned the heat off for awhile.  My house is doesn't smell stale anymore,  LOL   I wonder if the sun will manage to break through the cloud cover today?

I unearthed the first quilt I ever made and when my hands grasped it to take it from the box it sent my memories back into the past to the time I was just beginning to take a serious interest in quilting.  I remember how enthusiastic I was choosing the fabrics and the color choices.  Not knowing enough about seam allowances, these seams were sewn at least 5/8" and the size certainly was/is not a regular single bed size, but what odds, it measured out to be 52" in its width by 78" in length, and truth be told I was so darned proud of this quilt and even congratulated myself on what I believed was a wonderful choice of borders and binding.  The lady who quilted if for me must have had a good chuckle, but she never ever told me about my mistakes.  

Can you remember your first quilt, do you still have it?  I simply could never part with this first quilt, it is worth a fortune to me because at the time I made it, it was the most exciting thing I had ever done.  I continue to use it every summer because it's really a summer quilt.   Is anyone making the card trick pattern anymore?  

IF you still have pictures around of your first ever quilt you made, how about sharing it with us here?  It would be so much fun to read about how you believe you have progressed in your quilting endeavors.  If you send me a photo I will gladly put it here at the blog so others may also share your first accomplishment.  

Some time ago, Janet Wickell asked her readers about their first quilt and did a series on First Quilts on About.com and I can really understand what it is those wonderful quilters had to say about their first quilts.  I really think most of the stories with the pictures of the quilt look more professional than mine, but I certainly can remember those thoughts they put into their stories.  A very interesting set of reader stories.

Your being here today is really appreciated so thank you for sharing some of your time here with me.  I am hoping you'll pass along my blog address, because I really would love to welcome back all Followers I had with my first blog and which Blog I managed to lose this past summer.  Trying to duke it out with those at Blogger just didn't seem to make a difference even though I had been blogging for some years under the same blog name and address. 

Please remember, bloggers love to hear your thoughts on their posts, so if you have a thought or two for me today, I would love to hear your comments. 


It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven't lost the things that money can't buy.  ~George Horace Lorimer

COMING HOME TO MYSELF

I've spent the entire day avoiding doing anything, except to putter with small insignificant tiny chores which over the past several weeks I purposely ignored. However there was one chore that had to be done today, I had to actually leave the house and go to the bank.  We pensioners were paid today, LOL.  Reason for the hastes is that according to weather warnings all last night and early this morning over the freezing rain.  Apparently it was supposed to begin here this afternoon, but so far not a drop of rain frozen or otherwise.  Hooray, maybe it won't happen at all.   I hurried, did my banking, deposited all of the books I had finished reading last week and over the weekend into the Return Book box at the Library and headed on home. 

My remaining stack of great Mysteries left to read.

The weather warnings said the freezing rain would begin near lunch time, now, here it is, near 4 in the afternoon and no rain.  Oh well, least I did what had to be done outside today.  Sorting through my list of chores and have them all crossed off so now I may read and sew to my hearts content without the nagging factor of  reading when I could be sewing or sewing when I could be reading.  LOL  DO you ever have times like this?  

My main problem over the last few days in pain, lots and lots of pain which whether or not those researchers agree or not is brought on by this miserable damp and chilly weather and my excuse for avoiding doing very much.  Dry cold weather temperatures do not bother me near as much as when there is precipitation along with the chill.  Do any of you suffer from severe forms of arthritis?  As I age it seems to worsen. 

As I tell you in my small bio, I am dutch by birth and yesterday heard from my best friend in Holland of the breaking news, the Queen of Holland, Queen Beatrix is abdicating in favor of her son, Willem-Alexander.  So for the first time in over 123 years, Holland will effectively be ruled by a King!  Who'd have thunk it?  Hooray for Holland... 

One of the news services uploaded this photo just several hours ago, guess the Royals will be busy over the new several months making appearances and planning the changing of the Guard...Good luck to King Willem-Alexander in waiting..

While I have been in a mood lately attempting to avoid the pain I am in, I took to reading more than anything else, and, I have been visiting webshots, flicker and other sites containing lots and lots of quilt images and wonderful sites with tutorials and free quilt patterns.  I found so many more free patterns I just had to have along the way and have downloaded them. I am such a fan of free patterns and there are hundreds of these freebies out there, collecting the patterns is one thing, but when in the name of heaven will I be able to make them all, but I am thrilled to have them, as with fabrics we amass, so it is with a variety of quilts we would someday really like to make.  DO you collect patterns which you simply haven't found time to make yet?  I am so guilty of this pastime! 

Goodness only knows when I will have successfully moved all of my fabrics from my mothers' home.  Most of my belongings are still there, but I have no interest or haste to go and collect them, I am in what some of the psych professionals might accuse me of being, the avoidance mode...be that as it may, if nothing else, I have begun learning how to come home to myself.  These lessons are a bit late in coming, but now that I have begun the routine, I find I am rather liking it.  

I sincerely hope your weather is much better than what we have had here for the past several days and that Spring hurries to our rescue.  Unfortunately for me, skiing or skating is no longer in my ability retinue, so it is the warmer weather I am longing for.

Are you an avid reader?  Pixel of Ink has new books up for free today.....

Thank you for stopping by and sharing some of your time with me and I do hope you will return again, if for no other reason than to share some time with me.

Take the time to come home to yourself every day.  ~Robin Casarjean

A COMFORT WEEKEND

What with this being a  fantastic Curling on this weekend on tv, the still very cold temperatures out of doors I took to cooking yesterday I somehow lost track and ended up having a thoroughly happy cooking day.  I did sew for awhile, but now find a need for some frog stitching, as one of the pieces in my one place mat looks a tad wonky, time to rip it apart and resew.

I cooked my favorite dish yesterday, yummy baked beans, in the crock pot, and one of my favorite comfort foods for winter.  Mmmmmmm they tasted yummy.  Then the rest were placed into containers and put up in the freezer because I always cook more than I can eat in one sitting!  

I used my traditional oven bake recipe for my crock pot.

Now all I need to do is bake some biscuits to eat along with these... yummmmmmy

I bet some of you are just like me, when it is cold outside, cooking always seems to be just the right activity to do.  Course, my freezer is full to overflowing and it won't hold one more item!   

I remembered a friends are expecting a baby this April and it is now time to give it some serious planning, so time to begin dreaming about just the right pattern and fabric choices to make it.  I went surfing to one of my most visited sites, Connecting Threads and this time visited the FREEBIES section and chose this coins baby quilt pattern to try for a change.

I am one of those quilters who looks for free patterns and as I am self taught I generally seek out patterns I haven't tried before.  While this pattern is relatively easy it is ideal for a quick project and mailing and this one needs done because April isn't too far off and I want it to be there to welcome baby home. 

Are you enjoying your weekend?  I certainly have been enjoying mine, and while some of you won't know, our Province has a new Premier, a woman.  First woman to hold this office in our Provinces' history, so Ms. Wynne won....I hope she lives up to the potential she portrayed to have during her election campaign.

This is it for me today, I am off to stick my nose into the current book I am reading, it's a mystery and one of those I simply must get back to.  Do you have a favorite set of Authors you enjoy reading?  I would love to hear from you if you do.

Comments are free, so, if you have a comment to make, please leave one for me, I am always looking for interaction between myself and those of you who follow or stumble upon my blog and one of the best ways to get acquainted or re-acquainted with those who lost track of me due to the loss of the original blog and my posts. 

Thank you for sharing a few moments of your Sunday with me, and remember....

Happiness is a direction, not a place.  ~Sydney J. Harris

LAZY FRIDAY

Hey there, the weather here today was better than the last several days and the temperature actually climbed above -10 Celsius this afternoon.  According to the weatherman, snow is on the way but so are warmer temperatures for this weekend and next week, yippee.  Seeing as each day the light of day remains a few moments longer, to me this a great and I cannot help believing that Spring is on her way!  Mind you February and March can always lead to weather surprises everywhere, but I am looking forward to Spring.

Today was sort of lazy for me, not much in the way of sewing took place, instead I went with my neighbor to a village not too far from here and did a bit of shopping for a few groceries I felt I wanted, not necessarily did I need, but, more on the side of wanting.  For instance, I wanted to make baked beans this weekend, but didn't have molasses, now you can't have great baked beans without molasses, can you?

Maybe I shall have many more lazy Fridays in the coming months.  Seeing as I have made the choice to opt out of all my charitable works for this one year and concentrate on myself with time allotted for just whatever it is I might wish to do.

I was also surfing the fabric retailers on the net and one of my most favorite places for fabrics after the Missouri Star Quilt Co. is Shabby Fabrics.  The shop is having a great sale, and also provides free patterns, and if your into fuseable applique and houses/cottages (I just love house and cottage blocks) there in the free pattern section is a whole set of 12 X 12 Country Cottage blocks, a block of the month project representing each month of the year, what fun and they are not difficult to make up either.  The instructions make it so easy to understand and carry out.  Want to see them, then click here! 

Here is a picture of the one which would represent the month of April 

- these are so very pretty blocks and as I am not certain how long they will remain up on the site, if you want them you may wish to download them soon.   I am a follower of the Shabby Blog and Jen is none too shabby herself and has such great taste for  the most perfect choices of awesome fabrics.  If you have never visited the Shabby, why not go for a visit and meet Jen and her everything quilt related.

Thank you got stopping by today and sharing some of your time with me, I do so appreciate meeting and making new friends and hoping some of my old friends from my previous blog will find me again and stop by also.

If you wish to comment, please feel free to do so, comments are always appreciated

by every blogger, that is when we know your reading us.

   

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.  Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.  ~Raymond Inmon

STIMULATING

Good Morning to you on this extremely cold but sunny and bright Thursday morning!  Minus 19 Celsius outside my door at the moment, that is some cold!!!!   Waking up on any morning no matter the weather is so stimulating, because in waking you find yourself still in the land of the living for another moment in time, with time to do as you need or please to.  Today I choose to sit and sew, now how great is that?

I made one trip out of doors this morning to fill up the bird feeder so that my feathered friends will have food today.  Miss Black squirrel also came by to stock up on supplies and just as quickly, hurried away again.  I have no idea how those creatures of nature survive in such cold weather, it is a wonder to me.

A young woodpecker was eating from a suet ball I had hung from the edge of the roof and the chickadees are also busy stocking up.  

I finally discovered a site to fix the missing camera software so now I may share pictures with you again.  Another frustration overcome!!! LOL

Here is the table topper I made the other day and now I am happily working on putting the place mats together.   I have not been buying fabric over the past year in an attempt to deplete my fabric stash, but since moving here and having all of the cardinals around me I just had to have this fabric, so confess to buying a meter of it just for this project.  I simply could not walk past it.  Once all of the place mats have been pieced I will begin the quilting, while I enjoy the quilting part, I spend a great deal of time deciding just how I want that particular item quilted.  Do you spend much of your time in deciding the quilted look you wish to end up with?

Last week in my Missouri Star Quilt Co. newsletter there was a link to Jenny's latest tutorial, what fun, a way to make a colorful and simple tablerunner using the binding tool and a chance to use up your scraps. See it above, isn't it a "darling" piece? I so enjoy her tutorials, she always makes the project fun and easy.  I do not have the binding tool, but I am sure a 45 degree angle cut from your ruler would accomplish the same task instead of having that tool. One day soon I will order one of those binding tools.

Time to get myself back to the piecing of the place mats. 

Thank you for sharing a portion of your time with me today, I sincerely hope you will return and bring along a friend.  

The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours.  No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen.  And the fact that it practically always doesn't, matters not a jot.  The possibility is always there.  ~Monica Baldwin

 

Negligible Frustrations

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, it was some cold inside my house yesterday and through Monday night up until mid afternoon yesterday!  Wouldn't you know it that one of the coldest temperature dips this winter for us and my furnace chose that night to call it quits.....!!!!

A Mobile Home Furnace from Alpine Home/Air Products

I was lucky though, I had space heaters going all around me and while I waited for the overworked furnace repair man to stop in and hopefully get it on the mend again.  Thank goodness for neighbors who came to my rescue right away with two heaters while I waited for the technical help to arrive.  My temperature inside the house was a mere 53 F.  It was a tad chilly to say the least.  53 degrees was rather cold and I had just replaced the old fashioned thermostat for a new Honeywell one.  At first I believed possibly by resetting the new thermostat I could get it to start up again but then I did that so many times and in the end around 3:45 a.m. I had myself convinced that I had confused the system with my repeated attempts to get the furnace to fire up.  Then another thought, what if the pilot light had gone out from the heavy winds we'd just experienced, but try as I might I simply could not locate the area where the pilot light was.  Once the repairman came and took a look at it I asked my dumb question, "where is the pilot light located" and was duly informed that these no longer held pilot lights but the mechanism that started the furnace was now a glow coil!  HUH!!! I didn't know that, apparently this furnace is different from the propane furnace that was installed a few years ago at my old residence.  I felt a tad dumb to say the least when the repairman informed me differently.   Now the furnace is fixed, up and running at a comfortable 69 degrees and I am no longer cold.  Yippee 

The sewing bug finally kicked in yesterday after all the fuss of the non-heat issue, and am sewing today, and I finished a table topper and am now working on the place mats, but, as my luck would have it, time for a new and as yet experienced frustration, now the camera and my computer do not seem to be working together.....talk about frustrating!   I spent a great deal of time this morning searching for the software or a fix and discovered if I want it again I must pay Samsung $19.95 U.S. for that privilege, and I still cannot fathom why or how I lost it, because it certainly was here right up until yesterday and Samsung cannot find my registration and I cannot find my receipt for the camera purchase last year, hence the need to purchase.  

Until I do find my way around this problem or purchase the software again I shall just have to wait to share these sewing project photo's with you at another time. 

Do you know others like me, always seem to be having a problem with something?  I seem always to be doing battle with something or other and get over that just in time to face another, always a Lucille Ball moment going on in my life.  Since these are mechanical and not personal or physical this time, so while frustrating, not overly important on a scale of 1 to 10, merely a 5 and eventually these will get righted and my sense of humor usually kicks in to defray most of the frustrations.   So, please bear with me, I have enough impatience for all of you,  but stamping my foot won't help me this time, LOL. 

It's weird how one moment all is well with your world and the next it can be turned on its end over something so small an item like a coil...or camera software.  

Soon I hope to share my latest project with you.

If you feel like commenting, please feel free to do just that.  I would be pleased to hear from you. 

Thank you for sharing some of your day with me, do come back, I promise to strive to be here when you knock!

How beautiful a day can be
When kindness touches it!
~George Elliston

VISITORS

I can't believe it is Monday once again, seems the older I get the faster time seems to fly by!
Speaking about flying, since moving to my own home I have been feeding the birds, and am so enjoying all who come to eat at my feeder.  There are Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, The Bluejay clan, Woodpeckers young and old, Chickadees, Nuthatches, sparrows and another smaller bird whose body is almost totally black until near its tail where the coloring melds into gray, absolutely fantastic to see them all up close, closer than I have ever been able to see birds such as these before. 

IT is so very thrilling to see these birds come calling.  Apparently they are song birds which have several different melodies, but which I have yet to hear, possibly I am not listening too carefully.  If your interested in knowing more about these beauties, just click on this link......  This will take you to the Canadian Encyclopedia site.

There are many Chickadees who come calling each and every day right up until dark.

A rather large Blue Jay, isn't he beautiful?

Eating at one of my Suet Balls I made for all birds of the neighborhood this past Christmas

Since being sick before Halloween and on into Christmas in 2012 I was not able to drive my car, sit properly in a chair or even felt the desire to sew.  However today the bug has hit and I am off in search of batting needed for a project I have been asked to do.  

Have you seen the latest Tutorial from Jenny at The Missouri Star Quilt Co., this is so easy and a terrific way to use up scraps and from the look of it takes little or hardly any time at all to achieve.

Thank you for sharing some of your time with me today, hoping to see you tomorrow and to share more with you then.  In the meantime.......

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.  It sings because it has a song.  ~Chinese Proverb

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

WELL, seems like forever since I somehow lost my original blog, and have not posted on this new blog since last year, so, to begin with to those who may remember me, and to new visitors I wish you all a Happy, healthy and prosperous 2013!
I want you to know I have been anguishing over not having been successful in regaining control of my original blog so, having said that, I may as well get back into the swing of things and let those of you who have followed me in the past know I am back, healing and beginning to get on with my new life.
Just to recap, I moved into my new digs and confess I am in love with my 1980's mobile home complete with outside deck and wonderful windows all around.  While healing from a very serious Sciatic attack brought about by my arthritic condition and from which condition the medical community has stated there isn't a thing that can be done to alleviate this problem and thanks to much stronger medication and physical exercises I am now back into doing instead of just sitting and resting.  With the aid of a cane I am now able to get around and have begun enjoying each and every day to its fullest. 
My wonderful neighbor has brought my sewing machine here to the kitchen table and here it will remain until my sewing room is ready to be set up, which won't be for a little while as that room is currently being used as a storage facility for a dear friend who has moved away and won't be sending for her possessions until better weather this spring, but, in the meantime, I can still sew and as I now live alone, have no need to tidy up the current sewing space until then.  <sigh>!
I must share some of my feathered friends with you, these dear sweet creatures come to visit me each and every day and confess they come for the food, but, how else do you get these beauties to land on your deck?  My way is shameless bribery, plain and simple.   
I am fortunate to have beautiful Blue Jays, joyful Red Cardinals, Pilated Woodpeckers, 
Nuthatches, Chickadees, and Sparrows so far.   Then as well as the feathered friends, I also have a very happy squirrel, so happy in fact he leaves the birds alone and feeds from all the seeds on the floor of the deck, isn't he polite?
I LUV GOOGLE and luv BLOGGER but for some reason I have had my share of blogging problems using it, HOPEFULLY I am back to stay and hopefully you'll enjoy all of the trials and tribulations I manage to get myself into as I march along.


Courtesy of WE(\/)IT