Something New

 Well, I'm finally getting around to writing a blog post to see if the new set up works.  Of course, I don't really know how I will know if it's working or not.............??

So, to catch you up........Willow is still a joy to have around...........especially when she's sleeping!

Right Cici?  

Willow's favorite thing to do is go for a car ride.  The UPS truck driver has learned not to give her a treat until he's ready to leave and then he tosses the treat out into the yard to get Willow out of his truck.  

Work has been very busy this summer.  We've had lots more people in for museum tours.  We also got new computers, so that took a lot of time to get set up.  The picture of Cici above is my new screen saver at work!  No matter how difficult things get, if your cat is looking at you upside down, it makes life better.

David and I did get away for a weekend (after the vacation cancellation).  We traveled to Hannibal.  The hotel was awful - both rooms they put us in - at least the second one had some air conditioning.  The best food we had the whole weekend was the free ice cream cone in the Dutch Country Store.  But the sights were fun.

We climbed ALL the steps to the top of the Mark Twain lighthouse (then realizing we could have driven to the top!)

The view of the Mississippi was beautiful!

You can read all about the light house here...........including the number of steps we climbed!

Ever since our trip to Maine several years ago, I have had a thing for lighthouses.  We also saw the new bridge.  You can read about it here...........

And this is the statue of Huck and Tom at the bottom of the lighthouse hill.

We also enjoyed the view from Lover's Leap............

We took an evening riverboat dinner cruise.  It was fun.  The music was good, the food was OK, but some of the people were obnoxious.

Our shadows walked down the ramp in front of us!

There were a few neat little shops in the historic district.  Otherwise, Hannibal is not a very pretty town, lots of old abandoned buildings.  It does have THREE quilt shops though.  I liked this quilt that was hanging in the Hickory Stick Quilt Shop.

And this one in the window of Bits & Pieces.  The third shop was called Batting by the Roll and it was open only on Thursdays or by appointment, so we didn't get in to see that one.

I have more to show and tell, but I'll post this for now to see if it's working..........if I can figure out how to tell.

Christi

Trying Something New

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Christi

Oops! I did it again!

 You know that big rain I mentioned in the last post, well we think what precipitated it was the washing of all the windows on the house!  I had started by washing 2-3 windows and that had only brought thunder and lightning, so the hubs was bored and he washed all the windows on the main floor, including the ones I had previously washed (due to having a large puppy named Willow, you couldn't really tell that I had washed them)............. the power of washing windows!

On Monday this week, I washed the car.  On Tuesday, I washed a few windows that needed it again (need I say, Willow!), and on Wednesday, I washed Willow!  And then it rained Wednesday evening.  And I hadn't realized that the hubs had his planter prepped and reloaded to replant some beans that had been washed out by the previous flood!  So now, we're in the waiting game again to hopefully have it dry enough to replant beans.  And, the weekend trip (replacing our vacation) to St. Louis is off.  What can I say?  How about this...........I solemnly promise to never clean or wash anything AGAIN!

We did have beautiful weather for the 4th.  We cooked out, and enjoyed the outdoors.  Of course, by the time the actual 4th rolled around, my allergies were in high gear.  OUTSIDE is just not my best side!  

We also attended a production of Greater Tuna at the Maples Theatre in Macon with my parents on Saturday afternoon with lunch out and a stop at Ben Franklin to look at fabric.

Some sewing has happened in little bits and spirts...........

My snowflake quilt is completely finished.  I love this snowflake meander quilting pattern and the light silvery gray thread makes it show up.

And in keeping a little more with the season, I have the flag blocks for my flag quilt finished.  I used red and blue homespuns and muslin.  I still need to find something to set them together with.  My trip to Sew Sweet a couple of weeks ago was cancelled due to the flooding, or this might have been a completed flimsy by the 4th.

The braided table runner got trimmed and a border added.  It's ready for quilting and will just have a scrap of muslin on the back.

This was the first table runner from the one pound scrap bag.  I used some of the scraps on the back as well.  This is also the July tablerunner of the month at Sew Sweet.

And another started project got all of the blocks completed.

These spools are 12" finished blocks that were started as part of a block exchange with my guild.  We were supposed to bring a certain color of spool to each meeting and exchange.  Well, I got the first month's finished and forgot to bring it to the meeting.  Then, I missed the next meeting, then I brought the wrong color (and hid it so no one would know), so finally decided that I was not meant to participate in the exchanging of blocks.  I pulled the box of parts (basically everything was cut except the colors) out and finished them in no time this week.  I have an idea of how to set them together using some more of my scraps.

So, there is quite a pile of completed blocks in the sewing room, which means there will soon be more things hanging in the TBQ closet, which seems to only be growing, so I probably need to spend some time with Lucey the Longarm..........

Good thing we're not taking a vacation!  And for those of you saying that just like in Field of Dreams, "If you book it, he will come.", that truly is a Field of Dreams.  

Well, it's Thursday again, so I have promised Willow another trip.  I think we'll head to Orschlens.  I need to look at a couple of things and we need more dog shampoo, bacon bones, and possibly a new toy.  Three different toys seem to have exploded their stuffing all over the floor in the past couple of weeks.  Perhaps we'll look for something with a little more durability.  

Oh, and you don't have to worry about the applesauce, it's all done and in the freezer.....about 35 pints.  I even managed to arrange the freezer with last year's applesauce in the front and the new stuff in the back.  Yeah, we pretty much doubled the amount of applesauce in the freezer.  Guess "things" will be flowing smoothly for awhile.

Christi

Best Laid Plans

 You know that saying, "The Best Laid Plans" from the Robert Burns poem, "To a Mouse"?  Well, we have been experiencing that here in spades (note the "in spades" expression from the card game bridge!).  We went to bed on a Thursday evening, knowing it was supposed to rain a little and woke up to this.........

The road to the East of our house..........

The road to the West of our house............

That's what 10+ inches of rain in less than 12 hours will do!  So, we didn't go anywhere last Friday.  In the late afternoon, the water went down to the East, which was good so that the feed truck could get here.  It took a few days for the road to the West to reappear!

And in keeping with our theme of "The Best Laid Plans", we have now cancelled our summer vacation.  The plan had been to pick up Sarah and head south to New Orleans in a week, stopping to see stuff along the way.  The week had been selected because we would be without pigs.  However, apparently the sows have been producing like rabbits and they are weaning an average of 13 pigs per litter, so pigs are arriving early.  There was just no way to fit in a vacation between groups this time.  We are settling for a weekend of fun in St. Louis.  And, now we don't have to rush to get the applesauce done, or worry about the sweet corn being ready without us, and I can still judge at the county fair, and go to the cattle show to watch some of my favorite ladies show their cattle (ok, we're trying for the lemonade here).  The only one who was thrilled with the cancellation was Willow.  She wasn't sure she could make it 5 days without us being here.  Also, David and Sarah are glad I was adamant about not booking our hotels and tickets without the ability to cancel, so we are getting our money back.

We have had so much rain the last week, that it has been hard to spend time with Willow since she isn't at all afraid of water and mud, but doesn't understand why she can't come inside.  So, yesterday I took her on a little road trip.

I just had a couple of errands that didn't entail a lot of time in a store, so we spent the trip together.  We're practicing so that she can go with us on vacation in the future!

We followed the hubster out the driveway.  He was transporting a couple of pigs to another barn to be loaded on a truck next week.  Notice the corn on the left.........it's not quite as "high as an elephant's eye" (Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma), but I think it grew a foot overnight......sort of like my teenage nephews do from time to time.

In the sewing room yesterday, I worked on a braided table runner pattern that I had picked up at the KC quilt show I attended in June.  I used the fabrics that I bought in my bag of scraps that were sold by the pound!  

I got the 2 strips done and then had to "braid" them together.  I was sewing the flying geese star points of another quilt as leader/enders.

Partial seams were involve, but it worked!

It still needs trimming and a border.  I used the scraps left from the pound bag of scraps and have already made another table runner and it is quilted and on a table.  That's a pound of fabric that went quickly!  Photo to come.  

And where was my assistant?  I think the lack of sunshine this past week has gotten to her.  She spends lots of time napping in the window seat hoping the sun will hit her.

Have a fun fourth weekend!

Christi

Is it hot enough?

First, let me state that it is me, not Cici, typing this blog today.  We have been enjoying some wonderfully high temps this past week.  I made popsicles for Willow by partially submerging a dog treat or toy in a plastic container of water and freezing it.  She likes them, but would really like to play with them INSIDE, in the air conditioning.............the melting prohibits this!

 She now has a wading pool on the patio so she can take a cooling soak whenever she wants.  She still prefers to be inside.

Here she is cooling her belly fur..........she held that pose for quite awhile!  And she has given up laying in front of the back door (after a few bonks on the noggin), and has found a new favorite spot, further back, right over the air vent!

And, when there is something interesting to watch on tv, like the Westminster Kennel Club Show, she will hang out in the living room.

And Willow's favorite thing to do is go for a ride.  The UPS truck has learned that if the door is open, she will jump in and go wherever. 

 

And while Cici hasn't been blogging, she has been helping in the sewing room.  We worked on the Laundry Basket Mystery Quilt...........

She checked the directions for me.  I used blue and neutral scraps.........

Here is the center portion completed.  We're working on a star border now.

And, much to her dismay, Cici got a bath at the beginning of June.  It's not that she was particularly dirty, but I have a couple of piano students for June, and one of them is allergic to cats, so a bath can really help cut down on the cat dander.  

It didn't take too long to dry out.

We also pieced this table runner which I'm hoping to quilt soon.

I quilted an embroidered quilt for my mom.  I did custom work, putting in sashing and cornerstone motifs and doing free motion around the embroidery.

And I have been working on my guild challenge project.  I have 2 blocks done.  They are tiny, 44 pieces in each little block.  Cici thinks these pieces might be too small to work with.

Happy Father's Day!  I'm excited because we are eating out today, unlike Mother's Day when I had to cook the meal and then take it to the family dinner.

Christi