It's a wonderful life

Busy, but wonderful!!!

Back from my 4 day island trip,

so back to reality!!!

1:  I worked all day Thursday at the LQS,

2:  I cooked and baked all day Friday,

3:  I partied all day Saturday

4: and I partied all day Sunday.

(there were massive amounts of cleaning and prep for number 2, 3, and 4, but I'm skipping that part and just going with the partying!)

Number explanation:

#1: self-explanatory - fun, fun-fun!

#2: this picture - cake for 120 people! 

[also, potatoes for that many, but boring pic :) ]

And since there is no point of reference,

this measures 22 inches by 30 inches...

(I am sick of just the smell of icing!)

But, the above picture leads into the

parting explanation of #3...

Below is one of my brother-in-laws making the

party parking sign for

his Dad's 80th birthday surprise party...

As part of the surprise, we hosted a square dance. 

The pic below shows a walk-through for square-dancing-newbies

before the music starts. 

(That's my in-laws centered.) 

 Yep, 80 year olds can still shake their feet!!! 

(And, yes, helping with a party for 125+ people makes you tired,

but not too tired to square dance!)

Then on to Sunday:

All the tents and tables, soda machine, snow-cone machine, and etc, etc, etc,

come home from B-I-L's and get set up for the

#4 Party....

Sweeties' work party here at our house on Sunday afternoon -

so more cooking, cleaning and set up/tear down.

Just under fifty people, so piece of cake  (no, no more cake!!!! hehe).

I might need another vacation!!!!
But, still a wonderful life!!!!

it is a state of mind

time off......
what exactly does that mean?
You know, time off from the regularly scheduled stuff....
stuff like laundry, shopping, cooking, making the HandiQuilter hum, work at the LQS.

I like all of the regularly scheduled stuff......
even the laundry!  (You just have to twist my arm to make me say I like laundry!)

Really, I do like all of that stuff!
I feel that I am blessed to have clothes to wash, and money to buy food. 
Even though I earn part of my living by quilting other's quilt tops? I still find that enjoyable - not work at all.  And ditto for the hours at the LQS.  I get to see other quilters' works in progress, help them choose fabrics, and visit and hear about their families and share with them.

So, my recent plan for four days off?????

Well, I have a new book to read :

(Sherry Hartzler's new              "Island Passage"; more on that later),

and my block of the week for this past week,

I have a stack of blue and white fabrics and a quilt pattern,

some floss and a hoop

(yes, from the looks of this picture and the quantity of floss that I have,

it looks like I need professional help),

All this  is the "stuff" that I would do at home, anyway,

sitting in my usual lazy-girl chair...

But the plan is this:
I am just doing all of this "regularly scheduled stuff" in another place.
A place with a lake... :)
with some like-minded girl friends... :)

That is my time off -
doing all of the regular stuff in a different location...
a.k.a.: vacation

It is a state of mind!
:)

validity

This is a long way to a point, but here goes:
I was thinking back about all the smiles in my life. 
And this thought came to mind:

A while back I went to see the movie "Julie and Julia" with a friend and her mom.
It you haven't seen it, the movie was a happy, updated version of so many movies put together.
Very enjoyable; anyway, in the movie, Julie is rejoicing that she has her first comment on her blog about cooking her way through Julia's cookbook.  
I smiled along with everyone else at the movie when she rejoiced.

When I had time that night I checked my facebook:  friends are all good and accounted for;
and then I checked my blog:  I had a comment from "Sheila".
Sheila?, who's Sheila?
And then I about danced around the living room.
"Sheila" was my FIRST COMMENT from someone I didn't know!
Just like Julie in the movie, I felt happy.
From a comment.
From someone I didn't know....
Silly, I know, but it made me happy.

I think it's the validity.
No matter age or family position or whatever, we are all a little the same.
We all go stir crazy in some way, looking for connections with our friends and family, whether it be facebook or texting or blogging or phoning or talking over the side fence, or meeting at the park or quilting with friends or cooking with friends or book club.

Our "validity" comes in little pieces in different ways and shapes at all times in our lives.
As women, we are friends, moms, sis's and s-i-l's, aunts, cousins, maybe grandmas; all these other women occasionally feel the same as we do.
We are there for each other - I think THAT is validity.
I think it's ingrained in us from before we can remember-validity.
It's just part of who we are.
Validity is happy children raised in a happy, blessed home.
Validity is normal parents who are working their hardest to raise children that appreciate and are thankful for all the blessings in their lives.
Validity may not be exactly the right word, but I think you understand. 
Anyway, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment occasionally...(that's another smile in my life).
Thanks for being wonderful people, wonderful friends, wonderful family, for being a part of my little piece of the world.
Its a wonderful life, blog comments or not!

lollygagging

Lollygagging.  

Lollygagging means: to waste time pleasantly. 

I have been wasting time pleasantly....

Lollygagging in blogland.  

Wasting time pleasantly. 

It's a good feeling, visiting all your bloggy friends. 

Keeping in touch and getting updated

on what's going on in their circle of the world, wherever that may be. 

Not really getting much else accomplished. 

But I have made some great new friends

and acquaintances that may become friends. 

And I see all the creativity and it inspires me to stay creative! 

So that in itself makes it worthwhile to lollygag. 

Lollygagging and blogging....

lollybloggagging! 

Try saying that three times fast!

toe-may-toe/toe-mah-toe

How do you say tomato???

Check this out:

This is my Roma tomato plant...

Never had tomatoes look like this before...
I think they may have crossed with something....
They are kind of pointy
like a Hungarian hot wax pepper...
or an Ancho hot pepper...
But, they are starting to turn red
like a proper tomato should...

It scares me just a little...
the thought of what the taste could be....
more hot, hot, hot
than toe-MAY-toe/toe-MAH-toe...
but on the positive side,
I could make salsa and not have to use two ingredients...
just these funky tomatoes that may have a hot pepper taste!
I'll let you know...

my back door

I love back door guests.
Which, I guess, doesn't make them guests, per se,
if they are comfortable enough to come in the back.
Remember that old saying...?
Back door guests are best!


It's true.


Here are a couple pics taken out my back door.

(No, that is not a fish out of water.

That is a citronella smoker.

You know,

put in one of those little citronella candles,

 light it,

and the smoke wafts through the fish belly and around your legs,

and counteracts the mosquito contingency in the neighborhood.)

Back to the pics.

My back door guests are all the great, late summer insects and wildlife.

There are dragonflies, well, flying.

There are damselflies, also flying.

Flitting butterflies and sulphurs galore.

There are frogs croaking.

The yellow finch have started feeding

in the seeds of the purple echinacea a.k.a purple cone flower.

The cicadas -

well, the cicadas are just chirping up a storm.

And you know what that means.

The cicadas started their noise-making on June 25th.

JUNE 25TH!!!!!!

It was a Friday.

Waaaaay too early!

Make note of that, I did!

That means first frost on Sept 23rd here in central Ohio!

But I digress.

Again.

Sorry.

I love this time of year.

If it wasn't Africa-105-degree-at-10-a.m.-in the morning-blazing-hot,

I would be sitting on this porch right now -

checking out my backdoor guests!

one weekend in August...

So, the weekend was great here in central Ohio-
still blazing hot and humid, but that's Ohio for you in August!
Anyway, Friday evening,
Sweetie and I met up with some friends
at the "World's Biggest Little Fair"

And check out who else was there!:

The Budweiser team was hitched and parading around the fair grounds.

Cool, huh?

Then, Saturday, a friend and I headed

on a driving trek up toward northern Ohio

and visited the Outdoor Quilt Festival in Wellington, Ohio

here are a few pics:

The wagon ride was an extra if you wanted to go out

to see the elk and hear the history of the farm.

In the pic above, this is the original barn with horse stalls.  Some of the inside stalls even had quilts hanging in them.  Aren't the quilts all great?  I liked them all, but the one on the far left above the door, that one inspired me,

 so here's a close-up:

The inspiration was to keep using my one and a half inch square scraps as leaders/enders!

Maybe someday I'll have enough little squares sewn together to make one of these puppies!

These old quilts were hanging inside a barn, maybe a feed room,

but were also a couple of my favorites:

Here's a close-up of the one on the left:

pieced using shirtings and then hand embroidery stitching in red:

Very, very inspiring, isn't it? 

It was a great morning.

Then we headed to a couple of quilt shops

that we had not been to before -

that was just a little dangerous!

Sunday afternoon,

I got to work at the local quilt shop.

The "Wool Crazy" group met. 

We are all still stitching away on our projects;

 I shared some green "army blanket" holly leaves with the group.

We are coming along, slowly, but surely.

Then, to finish the evening, Sweetie and I went to a movie with friends.

Whew!!!

Back to work tomorrow at the LQS!

Isn't life great???

Calendar addition:

If you are anywhere near northeast Ohio this
Saturday, August 14th,
put this on your calender of events to attend:

Ohio Outdoor Quilt Festival

I am not in anyway affiliated with this event, but would highly recommend attending.
It is just a beautiful experience, with quilts everywhere.  I repeat, everywhere!  Check out the website if you don't believe me!  (Better yet, go and see for yourself!)

There are quilts hanging on clotheslines,
across fences and gates,
on an old pump house,
a horse stall barn,
in the paddock,
on the granary,
on the house,
on the chicken coop (at least that's what I thought is was),
on the equipment shed
and any other outbuilding that has a flat surface!!!

This is a working farm!, so you can purchase
an elk-meat sandwich to eat while there,
or frozen to cook when home!  Yum!

A friend and I are planning on attending, so maybe we'll see you there!
Let's meet for lunch...

half bushel

This is a half bushel box....

 This is what came in that half bushel box...

well, most of what came in that box :)....

Peach heaven!

Well, they should be named that.

Really, they are my favorite variety of peach.

Their season is very short here in Ohio.

And sometimes this variety is hard to find.

The variety is ...

well, I don't want to tell,

'cause then you will look for them too,

I then I will have an even harder time finding them...

Oh, well,

I was taught to share,

so the variety is:

..........

The smell just makes your mouth water.

Did I tell you how wonderful they taste?

(see, I told you I can share)

and how easily they peel?

OK,

sorry, I will tell you.

They are called

C.H.

Well, those are the initials.

OK

That stands for Canadian Harmony.

There, I said it.

(Thank you, folks from the north,

for sharing this great peach variety.)

Now, I am asking you, the reader,

"Please, please, please, 

don't go pick them all so I can't have any for my freezer."

I'm telling you, they are the best.

But if you like something else, that's OK,

you just stick with those!

hot & sticky

And it's not just the weather I'm talking about!!!

Yesterday I forgot to wish you

Happy

National Smore's Day!!!

OK, I did not eat a smore yesterday...
It was 92 degrees here in central Ohio... and with the high humidity it felt like 105!!!

Do you know how to make a smore?
In a perfect world,
and the best tasting smore, in my opinion,
is made over a wood fire. 
(Yes, you can use the hot coils of your stove burner and a fork, but this is highly dangerous---the marshmallow can catch fire,dripping fire balls all around your kitchen as you try to put it out,  and the fork heats from the tines down through the handle and can cause 2nd degree or more burns to your little fingers!   No, I'm not speaking from experience here, just from common sense!)
Here are the instructions:

1. get a campfire going with some nice, dry logs & some little kindling you have picked up from around your yard before mowing.  While that is starting, whittle a couple of four foot, fallen branches until one end of each is nice and pointy.
2. prep your graham cracker by laying two squares out onto a plate or napkin, and topping each square of cracker with chocolate candy bar pieces (I like dark chocolate).
3. THEN, roast your marshmallow over the nice, hot coals of said campfire (by this time, the fire will have burnt down to nice, roasting embers. (Roast the marshmallow until nice and toasty brown.  You will know when it is ready when it starts to sag off of the roasting stick.)
4. When ready, put the marshmallow on the prepped graham cracker/chocolate and top with second chocolate/cracker combo. 
5. Squish the chocolate into the hot, melty marshmallow until the marshmallow starts to ooze out to the sides of the cracker sandwich.
6. Devour said smore, making sure to lick fingers and thumbs to remove all evidence.  And there will be evidence, that's part of the whole experience.

So, that is not too involved, is it?

The problem with this whole National Smore's Day??????
It feels like it is 105 DEGREES outside!!!
Who wants to make a fire and create more heat when it's this hot?????

So, you tell me,
who, exactly, comes up with making these "National" days???
It just doesn't make any sense...

National Smore's Day should be in October...
when you'd like to sit around an outdoor fire and enjoy the heat it puts off....
Or, when you already have a nice blazing fire going in your wood stove or fireplace in your home.

NOT when it is 105 degrees-Africa-Hot-and-the-humidity-is-so-high-it-is-stifling-and-makes-it-feel-hard-to-breath!!!!!!!!

Again, who makes up these National Holidays???
I'm going to find out.
And, I'm going to start a letter writing campaign!
Are you with me?
Together we can make a difference.
Together we can be hot and sticky!!!

stitching and time travel

My friend, Sharon, has been busy.

Which in turn, keeps me busy.

She made some baby donation quilts.

She had them all pieced and a couple layered.

She marked them.

She even started stitching on one of them.

Then, you know what happened?

Lack of time.

Life.

So, she brought them to me.

To quilt.

Four baby donation quilts are now quilted.

Ready for trimming and binding.

I have the same theme going on in my life -

Not enough time to get everything done that I want to get done.

some of this done,

some of that done.

This waiting for this,

that waiting for that,

Most just waiting for time.

Which makes me think of this:
I watched a documentary on time travel last night.
Well, the subject was really the POSSIBILITY of time travel.
All of these brilliant, scientific minds from around the whole globe,
working on the possibility of time travel - going back in time to finish something.
It comes down to nano-seconds. 
That's like one-trillionth of a second.
[Ok, it's really like a billionth, I think, but I like the sound of trillionth better.
Hey, I didn't say I was one of those brilliant, scientific minds! :) ]
One-trillionth of a second, Back in Time.
At that rate, I still would not have everything done.
But I would still enjoy the stitching!

Here's wishing you an extra trillionth of a second today.
To accomplish something that you have waiting for time...

There's a winner...

The middle of last week I posted a giveaway

with a question about your favorite memory from this year. 

Six people commented to enter the drawing. 

Memories.... 

Memories of:

first grand baby,

first house,

family  & reunions,

milestone parental birthday,

challenging the mind,

and the love shown by quilters for a fellow quilter's pain.

I'm telling you, it really is
the "7th-degree-of-Kevin-Bacon" kind of world!
We have all had great
(and some not so great),
experiences this past year.
We have remained positive, and loving and
learned a little something along the way.
Are you sure we are not all related to each other???

Anyway, what some people are awating...

The Prize:

crow with pear pin keep...

(no, I still did not come up with a better name)

The prize drawing results:

Five folks commented on the blog post itself,

and one entered through email
because she wanted to remain anonamous.

With six people,

I decided the fair way

to pick the winner

was obvious -

six numbers, one die.

So, I rolled the die, and,

the winner is:

Lynnsey!!!!

Congratulations, Lynnsey!

I will get your prize to you this week!

Thanks, everyone,

for stopping by and reading and sharing.

It's going to be another great year!

Bird & pear pinkeep (giveaway)

Time has just flown by....
not bird/flying, but clock hands spinning rapidly...

One year ago today, I tried something new.
New to me:  one blog.
The blog where I have shared my thoughts and ramblings.
Shared about my Great-Grandma B
and the promise I made to her a long time ago about learning something new every year,
about friends and family,
about things that make me smile,
things that make me think,
things that make me go "Huh?"
About quilting and hand embroidery, and pattern making.
About recipes and friends and family and love and sadness.


I know that there have been earth-shattering catastrophes and destruction.
There are still wars being fought, and diseases not conquered.
I, personally this year, have lost family members that will only live on in my memories and written word.
But, it has been a great year, in my opinion.
Another year to learn and laugh and pray and live!


Another thing that I learned this year, besides blogging,
it that the world is a very small place.
The "7th degree of Kevin Bacon" kind of small.
I have met in person and in cyberspace sooooo many truly wonderful people.
People that are not so different than myself. 
We all know someone that knows someone that is our neighbor, friend, colleague.

That is what this post is about:
One year of blogging!
Of meeting folks from across this nation, from around the world.
Wonderful people that like to quilt, or stitch, or cook, or laugh, or write.
Folks that I have so much in common with.

To thank everyone

for stopping by and reading and commenting

on this new thing for me this year- this blog,

I would like to have a

blogiversary give-away.

Leave a comment

(by Saturday, Aug. 7th, midnight e.s.t.)

about your favorite memory of this year.

I will randomly draw a comment on Sunday, August 8th.

The winner will receive this

pin keep of my own design...

Bird with an emery Pear on a candlestick pin keep...

(gotta think of a  better name!)

He could be flying to your home soon!

Good luck, and thanks for visiting!