Sunday, September 25, 2011

chillin

So, yesterday all day was spent at the Ladies's Lounge with the other scrapbooking ladies.  I did not scrapbook the whole day, I brought a couple of other crafts to work on.  Lately I get burned out just doing one thing the whole time.  So, I started a new Steelers wreath and did some crocheting along with scrapbooking.  It was nice.  We always go somewhere close downtown for lunch since it's like a block away.  It turned out to be a nice, relaxing day.
Today I woke up too late to go to church.  I was sort of bummed, but I was also super tired!  Once I woke up I worked on my bible study homework and decided to make some zucchini bread.  I love the way the house smells when it's baking!  It was raining out this morning so it was quite cozy. 
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Tomorrow, it's back to work so today I'm just taking it easy.  I'm a little apprehensive about a recent change at work, a lady just left and I'm wondering what the dynamic will be now.  I'm sure I'll find out pretty quickly which way it will go.

Friday, September 23, 2011

green Friday

I've started the weekend pretty well, I think.  I woke up super early for me - like 7am!  no alarm.  I made a wreath for my friend Jan.
Oregon Ducks wreath
I really like the way the "O" on this one turned out. I let her pick which one she'd rather have, this one or the first one and she said it was tough to decide because she liked both for different reasons but ended up picking this one. I think I might take the "O" off the first wreath and make another one like this one. Need to buy more poms.
pear
While walking out to the craft house I noticed some pears on the ground near the pear tree out back. I figure that must mean they are ripe? They don't feel soft yet so not too sure. I was looking up pear recipes in my Ball canning blue book to see if I might can some up?
After cleaning the office I met Jan and Charese the fairy princess for lunch. We checked out a new restaurant that just opened that is an Indian restaurant. It was sort of funny because I am a very picky eater, but I am keen to try new things. Charese had told Jan she was worried about going there because she thought I wouldn't be able to find anything! The thing that as long as there is a veg dish without a white sauce I can usually find something and be happy. I can report that the restaurant was delicious. Service a little slow but I'm sure that was because it was PACKED and they are very new. I'm happy for the owners that it seems to be very popular!
After that I drove over to one of the retirement homes where there was a blood drive happening and gave blood. Not my favorite thing to do but I am happy that it can help people. Apparently this year they are pretty low on donations so I felt even better about not wussing out :)
What's everyone else up to this weekend??? Anything fun and exciting?

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

better late than never weekend update

And so, what have I been up to?  A little bit of this and a little bit of that!  I actually finished this project last weekend but didn't want to share it until the recipient had rec'd it so as not to spoil it.  I signed up to do a swap on swap-bot for quilters.  I have been wanting to make a mug rug forever so thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it out.  I made up a little pattern for the mini dresden plate, I can't find the exact tutorial that I followed to make the pattern, but this one is sort of close.  Basically you make a circle and divide it in 4 then each 4th divide into 3, cut out a wedge and then shorten a little and add seam allowances.  I decided Fall colors because I thought that would be appropriate.  And because I love fall colors :) 
Then I was looking around Pinterest and came across a type of wreath that just made me swooon!  I thought, I have to make one!  They are made with giant mesh ribbon.  I looked all over our little berg and the widest ribbon in the colors I wanted were 2.5".  So this is the first wreath I made.  The colors are for the Oregon Ducks.  Around here you're either a Ducks fan or a Beavers fan.  I'm not really either because I don't watch sports, but I do like to put up a wreath! 
I liked the way the first wreath turned out but couldn't really get over the other kind with the super wide ribbon.  I googled "deco mesh" and turns out it's 21" inches wide!  Dang dude!  And, since I am super impatient and did not want to have to wait for shipping I thought of tulle.  It's super cheap and wide.  So, I followed the same basic priciple and gathered a bit, pinned it down and then every 12 inches or so gathered and then pinned about 3 inches from the first spot.  I had a bunch of yellow ribbon left from the first wreath so I added that.  I'm not thrilled with the "O" but, eh, it needed something.  I used foam backed with cardboard and just glued on some poms. 
The first wreath I gifted to Karlie and the second one is going on my front door!
Now for the super exciting find of the whole weekend!!!!!  Um, okay, so my whole life I've had this sort of fantasy of living in Maine.  Somewhere on the East coast and living an LL Bean kind of life.  Part of that life would include sitting around in Adirondack chairs near a lake just gazing out or reading a book with a glass of sweet tea.  Not that sweet tea is an East Coast thing, I think it's more of a Southern thing, but hey, it's my fantasy :)  So, I walk into the Hospice thrift and I'm browsing around and sometime after I got in there these chairs were dropped off......green chippy Adirondack chairs!  Eeeek!  Two of them with $4 marked on each one.  Double eeeek!  Of course that store only takes cash and you can use a debit card if it's $10 or more.  If you know me at all you'll know that I sure wasn't going to pick up $2 worth of stuff to be able to use my debit card and I never carry cash!  Bah.  But, I was at the store at 10:02 the next morning when they opened with cash! 
adirondack chair!Here's one of them, I really should have swept off the deck area for the pic, sorry!  But, you get the idea!  I'm debating sanding them down to the wood and sealing them.....or just finding some sort of sealer to keep them chippy.  I already know what my Mom with say - leave em chippy.  I just don't always love chippy though, it makes me feel unkempt for some reason.   Anyways though!  I LOVE them!  l.o.v.e.
Sunday I went to the quilt show at the fairgrounds.  I haven't really been to a quilt show before and I'm not sure how I felt about it.  I certainly appreciated the workmanship and the stitching was perfect.  That's kind of it, though.  Too perfect.  There were a few quilts that were just gorgeous, beautiful colors and some originality.  There were a lot of traditional quilts, cutesy quilts, and some kind of plain ones.  I didn't see anything my style really.  Not that I have a particular style I don't think?  It made me realllllly want a real quilting machine.  I love my little singer, it's really worked hard for me.  And really, who has 4 grand laying around for a sewing machine??? not me, that's for sure!
This Saturday there's a scrapbooking thing, that should be fun!  Not sure what I will work on yet.  Maybe cards again?  It will be nice to chat and catch up with the ladies.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Fruits of my Labor Day

Finally, finally I have finished my Vintage Sheet Quilting Bee quilt!  yeeeessss!  I can cross it off my list and put in my linen closet.  Here's the front view.  I hung it in one of the trees in the back yard with the fabric covered clothespins, I knew those would come in handy!
front view
And the back view, part of the reason it took me so long!  I couldn't figure out a configuration I liked for the extra flowers.  Mom suggested that I do 3 on one side and 3 on the other.  So I did that and got it sewn together but once I set it out on the floor I liked it horizontal instead of vertical.  Some seam ripping later and it was acceptable :)
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I'm so glad it's done!  The pink and orange solids were just from my stash, as well as the turquoise that I used for the binding.  All in all, I like how it turned out, do you?
Okay, new subject!  This is a little lame....oh well!  So, I've been growing my hair out and my bangs are just where they are super annoying but just long enough to barely go behind my ears so I don't want to give up yet.  K, this first pic I took and then realized that my Mom is right and just a little bit of lipstick add just enough color that I don't look dead or dying.  Okay, the dead or dying part I added!
me
me
2nd pic, a little color, much better. What do you think? Bangs or no? 

Sunday, September 4, 2011

The Band Perry

So the concert was last night and it was amazing! I went see The Band Perry in Lakeview.  I met Brooke's sister Liz and her friend Kim over there and the seats were great!  I knew some of the songs from the radio but with a live show sometimes you never know what you're going to get.  I have to say that they made one of my top 10 live performances!  SO GOOD.  Great, great energy.  You could tell that they wrote most of their own songs, they had such an authenticity and connection with them, the lyrics are witty.  And, whooeee the lead singer, Kimberly has such a ginormous voice! 
She's a little lady with a whole lotta personality, as she said herself she's the "spitfire in this punch".  All of the musicians were spot on, very lively and a nice fast pace.  The two brothers of the band were great also, they did a medley at one point where they all had a chance to shine. 
They also sang Amazing Grace and it was beautiful.  So afterwards there was a little meet and greet thing, if you wanted you could have your picture taken with the band and if you had bought any of their merchandise they would sign it.  I had planned to buy their cd because I liked the concert so much, and then thought, what the who?  I'll stay and get my picture and autograph.  I mean, really, I drove 2+ hours to see them, why not wait an extra hour and meet them? 
They were super nice and polite and of course I couldn't think of one cool thing to say, not that they'd remember anyway what with meeting so many people.  I got home about one, it was a long day, but definitely worth it! 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Do you ever feel like you were in the middle of a conversation and you knew what you were saying and then all of a sudden lost track of the point? I feel like that lately. I feel like I've been blogging about random stuff and I don't have a point. Like, I'll start to blog about the quilt I'm working on, but literally I've been working on this quilt for-ever so I feel a little pointless. Like it should be done already and I should have something new to talk about. But, I don't. Last night I was feeling particularly like I should really light a fire and finish it already! then got side-tracked! This morning I was up before 8 (on a day off!) and was stippling along and thought I might finish by noon. then got hungry....and started watching a show....then chatted on the phone with the hubs for awhile....got back to stippling and the bobbin thread ran out. I took that as I sign to go shopping :) Maybe, just maybe, I'll finish it this weekend.
I got some fun mail last night! I signed up to do a swap on swap-bot, which frankly I was little reluctant to do since the last few have been stinkers! This one redeemed those, fo sho. Check out the loot:
swap received
Now I need to get busy and gather some goodies for my recipient! I've been mulling over what I might want to send because I don't want to just pick random stuff, you know?
In other news, tomorrow night I am going to see The Band Perry! Funny story. I've known they would be in Lakeview for like 3 months. Been counting down for this. But, didn't buy tickets. Why? well, you know other stuff going on, visit to Mom that I wanted to save money for. I mean, the shopping choices there are so much better! Anyways, this past week I went online to buy a ticket and they were sold out - online. Here's the tricky part, you could buy one in person, in cash, in town. But, I live like 2.5 hours away! Bah! I was scheming, thinking maybe I'd drive over today to buy one, but then I'd have to drive over again tomorrow....no thanks. Vikkie's MIL lives over there so she asked her to buy a ticket for me. Then, got an email from Brooke's sister Liz who lives over there and had an extra ticket! Got an email from Vikkie that her MIL didn't get the tex that I didn't need her to buy one and she already did. Funny how these things happen, huh? Holy cow.
So, is anyone else starting to think about Christmas??? I really shouldn't be, but am. It was like 37 degrees in the morning this week, cold weather! Which then made me think I should start thinking about making some Christmas gifts. Not that I actually have. Just thinkin.