Scraps

Friday 
was a
scrap day:











I went and met up these nice ladies:
Friends and new friends.

Cherie, Monica, me, Valerie, Mary, Beckey, and Sharon. (can you tell I just set the timer on the camera and ran to get into the picture?)It was a great time. We cut up our scraps. We all cut up our scraps into one and one quarter inch strips and sewed them into bodies for scrappy chickens.
We worked on "Free Range Chickens" by Country Threads. In five hours I cut up my scraps and sewed five, repeat FIVE! scrappy chicken bodies. OK, I also talked, laughed, ate lunch, talked and laughed more, and in between all that I made five scrappy chicken bodies. Oh yea, I also won the great door prize gift bag of quilty stuff. And Mary, the WONDERFUL HOSTESS, gifted us each with a very nice scrappy pin cushion. Then I loaded up all my scraps and machine and paraphernalia and went back home.
Where I should have been doing this:
















and this:
















and this:

This is were D.D., the HQ machine will live when she gets back home from her vacation. She should be arriving shortly! And I really want to make her feel welcome.

So she can help me finish up all the scraps in my life.

It all comes down to scraps, don't you think?

97 years young and still "with it"!

One Couple: 5 children

plus

5 spouses,

plus 19 grandchildren,

plus 15 their spouses,

plus 40 great-grand children,

plus 8 their spouses,

plus 8 great-great grandchildren.

I think that's 99 related people

(if I'm not missing anyone)!!!!!

and this was a great party to celebrate 97 years!!

It was a great party: family galore visiting, an Alis Chalmers tractor cake, Neapolitan ice cream, candles, the whole works. And Grandpa Frank is one warm, happy, funny, caring person. I asked him what he wished when he blew out his candles, and he said the only thing missing was that his friend wasn’t still here. It brought tears to my eyes…his friend being Grandma Ruth (she has been gone a little over a year, she was 95). They were married 67 years I think. They still held hands and kissed each other every morning and every evening. Then Grandpa told me he “couldn’t believe he had that much family..look at all of them, and they were all related to him!”

Here are

some of

the folks

that gathered

that day...

some came earlier,

some came later...

(That's Grandpa in the white shirt in the middle).

I would like to promise myself that I will stay a warm, caring, happy person as I age. And you are my witnesses. You have to promise that you’ll call me on it if I’m not. And hopefully, I’ll still be “with it” when I’m 97!

"I Have a Feeling"

Do you ever feel "run over"? I'm sure you know the equation:


"Run Down" and "Hung Over". Squish that together = "Run Over".


Only I don't think I'm run down and I don't drink, so I'm not hung over,

so maybe its just a mental feeling. Or maybe it's just the gloomy sky,

or the barometer, or the cycle of the moon or some such explanation.

So when we feel "run over" do we complete our projects or let them be until we're back to par?

And par: that brings golf into the situation! How the heck did golf get into this? (Why is par used in this context AND in golf?) The outcome of the project may have a better finish if completed under the better circumstances. You know, Feng Shui'd or something!

My hand stitching usually is a great relaxer, but even that isn't working today.

So, I'll wait to finish my latest project until when my "I Have a Feeling" feeling is a goner. Instead, I think I'll take a walk on the treadmill (it IS raining), maybe read more of the book I have trouble putting down (it's a GREAT book: "Three Moons Over Sedona" by Sherry Hartzler), and then make some homemade chicken and noodles for dinner. Homemade chicken and noodles always have a cathartic effect - we'll see if it works against "I've Got a Feeling".

O H I O Snowmen pattern

This is a quick & easy stitchery/piecing pattern. It makes a nice wall hanging or pillow, and is designed by: me!

(No stunt stitchers used).

You just need a couple of fat quarters of white fabric, embroidery floss and some scraps of red and grey fabric. Easy-peasy. Makes a great wall hanging for those Ohio State fans...think gifting. You do know that Christmas is only NINETEEN weeks away, don't you?

GO BUCKS!

The pattern is available at Always In Stitches-a great quilt shop located in Grove City, Ohio. Phone: 614-539-7845.

OOOH WHOOO!!!

This weekend is to be another beautiful weather weekend. Its one of those get your floppy hat and sunblock on, crush up some ice with some fresh fruit and call it a smoothy while you sit by the pool with a good friend or a book weekend. And throw in an umbrella or two - one for the smoothy, and one for the poolside! And if you feel quilty/guilty, take a sketch pad with you!
Happy hot weekend!

Tree Tomato Experiment

So this is the "Tree tomato" plant. I was warned that it liked to climb. I made a 5 foot tall trellis for it and allowed plenty of space for it to spread! It really didn't spread, just grew taller!

This is the closeup of the ruler...This tomato plant is over 6 foot tall!!

If you click on the picture, you can see the numbers on the ruler and see how gigantic the leaves are. They might be amazon leaves! The tomatoes, thankfully, are just regular size.

for inquiring minds:

This is the famous (AKA-infamous) cookie table.
Yes, this was the reason behind the drive to Florida for a friends' daughters' wedding (Congrats Kristen and Lee). Now you can see how important it was to drive 1100+ miles to get 1400+ cookies to St. Pete Beach by Saturday. Isn't it BEA-U-TI-FUL? (I'm sure that there's a math equation problem there somewhere!)

continuing the corn theme:

Ohio corn...

Fresh,

fresh,

fresh

picked.

Then blanched, cooled and cut off, you have many cobs...

then putting all the cuttings into bags and dropping in the freezer.....

so when you pull it out this winter, you remember the taste of summer and smile.

My friend D.D.

My friend, D.D., is going on vacation. She needs some spa time, I'm sure. She works so hard and hasn't had a real break for a good five years. Well, just a couple of days here and there locally for minor maintenance. So this time she is going to Utah to see her origins at the HandiQuilter home. She will have some spa exfoliation and facial time (clean and lube) and maybe some minor liposuction for tension issues. Hopefully she will come back fully rested and be ready to do some major stitching...she has 7 (7?!oh, my gosh!) friends awaiting her arrival in the studio!

97th Birthday on August 16th

The Fisher Family Cookbook is being updated for
Grandpa Frank's 97th birthday!

A recipe will be added for each of his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. The current recipes will remain ... so get your families' recipes to cousin Debbie P.....ASAP! Also, update family tree info: marriages, births, etc. Grandpa is really looking forward to it. And I'm looking forward to trying more recipes from all you great cooks!

Cast Iron Corn Finial

This CORN finial was on all four corners of the fencing around a grave site in the Huguenot Cemetery in Saint Augustine, Florida. This cemetery was established soon after Florida became a U.S. territory, and was used for the interment of victims of the 1821 yellow fever epidemic and then for the burial of members of the city's Protestant population. Why do you suppose someone would choose ears of corn for their grave site fencing? Do Y.F. victims or Protestants seem the most likely to choose corn??
This pic was taken on the "cookie to Florida" trip. Another reason to drive cookies to Florida - you get to see cool stuff like this.

Bliss

I stitched all morning, then ran to the grocery (not literally!) now doing some cooking for a quilt mystery class tonight. And while I was doing all that, I was thinking about how great a life we have. Enough of this to get us by, enough of that to make us happy...you know, bliss! What is your enough? Tell me your bliss....

new thought for today: orange puckery

I would expect this thought from a little tyke, but this is from my sweetie- a grown man! Makes me smile - its a new flavor in some kind of drink mix. Makes some kind of sense, I guess, but still makes me smile...

Volleyball in the snow

Look
carefully
at these pics -
there's
snow
in the
good
old
summer
time!!


(click on the pic to enlarge - the snow is huge)
This is one of the gatherings of our Friday night volleyball gang--
It's
really
not
snow,
but
the
cotton-
wood
trees
were bloomin'
real nice!

When Life Gives You MANY left-over Baked Potatoes...

Make Baked Potato Soup!
my receipt*:

3 ribs of celery, chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped- I grated
1 garlic clove, finely chopped















Sweat these veggies in a hot stock pot for 5 minutes, just to tender.
Add 2 quarts of Chicken stock with pieces and bring to a boil.














My stock was frozen, so that's the rectangle you see in the pot.







Cube 4 or 5 large baked potatoes and add to hot pot. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Before serving, stir in 1 cup of milk and 1 cup (or so) of heavy cream (or sour cream or milk) & a half stick of butter. Do not bring back to boil, only simmer. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle with grated cheese & chopped green onions.




I served with fresh green beans-- YUM














*receipt is an old-fashioned term used for recipe - I use it in remembrance of Grandma Ruth & Great Grandma Bevelheimer.

Too many projects, and of course, not enough time. Working on a stitchery pattern designed by Lynnette Anderson of Australia. It's called Magical Christmas Stitching.

I figure if I stitch a little each night I may have it completed by Christmas! This is one of 6, what are the chances it'll be finished before December? :)

and random thoughts that make me smile

The thunder awakened me this a.m. Way too early, but nice to hear. We needed the rain.