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Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Catching up Part 2

 I am not working on anything particularly exciting at the moment.  I decided I needed to finish stuff instead.
I did decide on the arrangement to use on what I'm now calling "Tumbler Confetti."
Once I've finished making all the tumblers I'll color in some diamonds and play around with layout then glue them on a sheet of paper, then organize each row as I go.  Well, I will have to pull out all the papers before I can do that!  I have finished with red and am working on the Pink/Purple strips.  After that I have a small amount of yellow/orange and brown/tan.  All the strips are sewn together so It's just the boring event of sewing them down and cutting them out.

I also began a Cross stitch piece of Santa and his sleigh.  It hasn't gotten far enough along to show you yet.  The first part always involves unstitching!

I have put some quilting into Trail Mix and added another block to the Civil War Sampler.

Mostly, when I'm in the studio I'm cleaning, sorting and packing.  Nearly finished with that.
Why do I let it become SUCH a MESS?

Sunday, September 26, 2021

A Little Catch-up

 After being at the "Farm" 5 days , on Monday I took Ceili back to storage.  I managed to back it into the drop off space-It's a miracle!  Taking Ceili out is a great deal of work as I don't have a place here at the house to park it so I can load and unload.  So, I have to have a "Camping Storage area" in my closet and sometimes a bigger one in the garage.  My camping storage space is mostly clean sheets and towels and things I put on a list but I've been remodeling the inside of Ceili so right now I need a MUCH BIGGER space!  I'm about done and I hope I have it back down to a couple of totes in my closet again soon.

Anyway,  Tuesday was my birthday! Wednesday, I left for Colorado to see these folks:

 My California family!  Candice, Steve and Nora whom I had not seen since March of 2020.  I was actually in San Diego when the pandemic really hit and had to fly home on March the 10th.  I've missed them so much!  Nora will soon be 12!  And taller than I am.  It's about 600 miles to Boulder/Longmont so two half days of driving.  I had wanted to take Ceili as Quinn was going along but I couldn't find a place to park it!  So, it was hotels-ugh. We spent Thursday and Friday together-Friday we drove up into the mountains to Estes.  The girls had never been-it's a big "Tourist Trap"!  The most exciting thing was the big bull elk who sauntered down main street.

 This guy had a police escort!  One officer on foot and one in a car!  Lots of tourists that day ----both wild animals and tourists are prone to doing erratic and unpredictable things.  The girls left on Saturday night, Steve and I left on Sunday. I drove that long winding road that is Interstate 70 for most likely the 1000th time.  Felt the wind of western Kansas blow the truck around.  Saw lots of these once we hit the "Green."

Remembered other trips.  Especially one in late fall or early winter in my Granddad's old truck.  They were burning the grass of the Flint Hills--makes the grass grow better or something.  Native Americans were doing it long before the "English" arrived.  It was a sight to see all those wiggly lines of fire in the dark.
I arrived back home on Monday afternoon-tired but happy!

I didn't touch a sewing machine for two weeks!


Tuesday, September 14, 2021

The "Farm"

Last Wednesday I picked up Ceili and drove to the "Farm."(That's two possibilities covered!) The "Farm" is only called the "Farm" because it once was a farm and to let you know they're not talking about their home in Columbia!  They have wild birds and some feral cats in the barn but raise no livestock and the only crops they grow are  some cucumbers and lots of weeds!  Right now they have a "Field" of ragweed-the hated plant of hay fever season!

While I was there I took the time to take some pictures!


The road in and out-note all the corn on the right side, that's not Scott's!  The trees on the left are his.

When you turn off the road this is the house-that's the front door and they never use it!
Quinn and I walked out to the pond and the east edge of their 5 acres.
About a million little frogs hit the water!
There is a great blue heron that visits the ponds now and again.  I really love seeing it.
Then I stood on the berm beyond the pond and took shots back west.
The house.

The barn and silo.


The detached garage, an old chicken coop (scheduled for demolition) and Ceili!
There are two other tumbling down buildings on the property also scheduled for demo.
On the way back we passed the "Whomping willow" (Thank you Harry Potter)

And the most perfect treehouse tree I've seen in a really long time!
Scott says no. I'm bummed.

I spent the days working on Ceili, pulling weeds and trimming trees.
It was hot! 
There isn't yet a 30 or 50 amp outlet so I couldn't run the Air conditioning- well, not if I wanted to also run the frig, the water pump, the lights you get the idea.  Fortunately, it cooled off nicely at night.  It doesn't always do that here.  Anyway, it wasn't too miserable.
I hardly touched a needle, didn't take my laptop out of the bag!
Read some until my Kindle died-I ordered a new one.  Life does not work for me without a Kindle.
Quinn had a very exciting time!  
She got stuck between the end of the mattress and the wall one night and had a really hard time getting out!  Now, she refuses to sleep on the bed!
Later that same day I was trimming a bush that kept hitting me in the head when I heard the pool water sloshing.  Then I couldn't find Quinn.
She had fallen into the pool!
All I saw was a little sheltie head above water!  She swims pretty good considering all that fur!
She couldn't have found her way out alone though it's an above ground pool and the same depth all over, very deep for her.  She turned toward my voice and I got a hold of her at the ladder and hauled her out!  Then she proceeded to roll in the grass and collect hundreds of sticker seed pods in all that long fur-she did not like having all of them combed out!
Other than that she likes the farm, outside, no leash required, roaming about and only barking a little.  
The night sky is amazing, the stars so clear as there is little light pollution.  It was lovely.

I'll leave you a couple of sky photos!












Friday, September 3, 2021

The September Possibilities

Once again, I get to choose what I want to do.  Also, I'm still hoping to get the house on the market and that needs to be a priority so time will shrink.  Then the middle of the month I'll be out of town for a few days, meeting my eldest son in Boulder, Colorado.  I may not get much done from this list but it's good to have it anyway.

Really hoping to see this soon!


Stitching

Make progress on the Paper Doll quilt.  First,  I had Finish but the house will cut into that.

Quilt Trail Mix-if I get faster I'd like to do a fan every day.  I'm having fun with this.  The stitching is uneven but it suits the rustic vibe of the quilt.

Make more tumblers-I actually think I might run out of strips for these and I've an idea for a layout for something smallish, not a bed quilt anyway.

Make more flowers - more than one anyway.

Add more blocks to the Civil War sampler.

Finish the Biscornu pin cushion.  I've had trouble getting this one going but I want it off the list.

Make one Christmas ornament

Make one small project

Work on the "Santa's sleigh" piece which I've just begun.

I'f I'm really good-I'll make the window toppers for Ceili.

Non-stitching

Go out in the camper.  I think this one will happen as I need to get some things put away and out of the house.

Family History-Finish the Tennessee folks and get everything filed away (Flashback to Ireland-Cemeteries)


                                                          Index my photo files.

Read 2 non-fiction books.  I always read lots of fiction!

Stretch consistently.  Keeps my back from hurting so you'd think I'd do that for sure!

A Couple of kinda new things.

Work on a Miniature cottage for the fairies

Make videos of me reading Christmas stories for the grands.