this and that

I have a subscription for this magazine and haven't had a chance to crack it open yet.  It's interesting to read how they started their businesses as I hope to open one some day.  I get some valuable information from these ladies.

Another subscription that I have.  I was thrilled when I found they started a magazine on the more traditional and primitive quilts.  A favorite genre of mine.

Picked this cute piggy bank up at an antique shop.  It was way too cute to pass up.

My niece Angie gave this neat bird to me.  It's body is an apple if you can't tell.

sweet face

rear end

birds eye view (pun intended)

A face that said "take me home Robin".

One Friday Toni and I stopped at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.

Britt Schmiesing made this hand-printed canvas.  I always loved bookhou goods and this is the closest I can find. 

Sam and I went to the flea market in Decatur the first weekend in August.  I found this pretty blue bottle. 

I picked up this handpainted shore bird also.

This book was published recently and I picked it up.  I enjoy learning about the active quilt designers. 

This picture was taken on Tuesday.  Such a dreary, windy cool day for August.

A ceramic magnet I also picked up from the Museum of Art.  It is made by Ralph Stuckman.  The raised tree caught my eye. 

Fun stuff, I enjoyed sharing with you. 
Have a great day!

The Weekend

As I had mentioned in my previous post, I went away this weekend with my girlfriends.  We go to two stamping conventions in Ohio every year. Sometimes all four of us can go and other times only 3 or two.  We went to Sharonville Ohio this time to the Stampaway convention.  It's just a great time.  We have a routine downpat..get up early, go to Wapakoneta Ohio for breakfast, get to the stamp show, go to lunch at Macaroni Grill, and we picked up pizza to take back to the room.  Next year we have decided though to get take out Chinese. We rearrange the furniture so that we can stamp, bring out our snacks and drinks and take out our purchases to see what everyone bought and to decide if we need to purchase that too!  We watch tv, stamp, talk and have a great time.  I look forward to the stamping time in the hotel room as much as the convention. 

The next day, Marcos paper always has something going on and so we make a trip out there which is 45 minutes away at the most.  We spend a couple of hours there and then sometimes find other places to see or go home, depending on how much time we have. 
We found a great Mexican restaurant to end our international tour. 

In this picture is Toni and Michelle.

Theresa

These birds stamps came in a set of four and are by Dina Wakley.
The background I stamped also with Wendy Vecchi stamps.  I layered two stamps to make it.

It's fun going and learning new techniques.  This tag has dye ink and acrylic paint with stamped images. 

I just love this purchase.  It helps make the large stamps images stamp so clean.  Gonna get a lot of use out of this.  Mega Mount..

Thanks for stopping, so I could share my fun weekend.

Unusual Pair

When I came home on Sunday from a weekend trip with my girlfriends, these were sitting on my desk here.  For my husband I had gotten some nice martini glasses to make lemon drop martinis but we didn't have vodka.  So he picked up some along with the MiraLax (I'll get to that in a minute.)

Isn't this just a beautiful bottle?  You can see through it to see the flying geese.  I just love it and will keep it.  When we make the martini's I will share.

Now for the MiraLax-I don't share really personal stuff but this is important.  My Father passed away from Colon Cancer when he was 70 in 1995.  He battled it for 5 years and of course my siblings and I need to get colonoscopy's.  I am the youngest and probably the last one to get the test, which was 4 years overdue, because they recommend that one starts at 50 years old. 

I had the test in July and a large polyp (almost an inch) was discovered, clipped off and sent for inspection. It was not cancerous but the doctor felt sure that in a couple of years it would have turned cancerous so it is very good that I went.  Unfortunately the scope could not reach everything, I had a twist that it couldn't get through and since the doc had already clipped the polyp he didn't want to do any other procedure.

So, I had to do the cleansing once again for a barium enema and my caring husband picked up the drink of choice. 

The instructions are to mix the whole bottle with 64 ounces of light colored Gatorade.  This, my friends, is impossible for me to drink.  The best I did was to drink two very large glasses of this concoction. It did the job.  In July I threw up and was miserable, this time it was a much easier experience. 

I hope I don't have to go through the barium enema again. I will spare the details but your dignity is taken from you for a while. 

I am sharing this with you because especially if you have this cancer in your family, then GET IT DONE.  I know two people whom I am close to who NEED to get it done. The prep is tough, the colonoscopy is nothing.  You are put out ,it is over with, zip, zap, done.

Colon Cancer is Awful....Your families are counting on you. 

party cats

Finished my party cats picture today.

Here it is in the beginning stages. It was fun, I enjoy watercolor so much. 

This is just a pretty building decoration I snapped in Detroit. 

Flowers, flowers everywhere

On my travels around Fort Wayne I came across some really nice gardens.  This lady always has a pretty garden. 
 

My lovely friend Toni showing off this shops garden. 

Beer bottle border.

Pot with pretty yellow flowers.   

little helper

The other morning I was putting together the backing and batting to ready the little monkey quilt for hand quilting.  "The Inspector" jumped up to check things out. Here she is touching the safety pins.

Sniffing the safety pins.

I position them everywhere there will be no quilting, starting from the middle and working my way out.  That's the way I quilt it also, from the middle out. 

Doing a little more closer inspecting of the piece.  I chose a vibrant black, red and sunflowery fabric for the backing. 

Finally inspecting the back for any foreign objects hiding in there.  She was a HUGE help and she assured me that she would be there for me the next time I had a project to work on. 

Looking forward to quilting this little quilt.

Happy Days to you.
Thanks for stopping!

little helper

The other morning I was pinning the batting and the backing to the little monkey quilt.  I really detest basting so I use safety pins to put the quilt together so that I can hand quilt it. 

The inspector decided to hop up and get a closer look.  See if the pins are positioned right, might taste them and try to bite them also. 

I put the pins where there won't be any quilting and I started in the middle and worked my way out.  I will also quilt that way. 

A nice bright sunflower pattern for the backing.

Checking out the back to see if it pasts the test.  I am anxious to get some stiches in it.

 

  

                                                                               Happy Stitching!

Little Pans

I picked up these little cast iron skillets the other day at the Cracker Barrel. I put a little butter, 1 egg, a little sliced pepper, chopped onion and chopped ham with salt and pepper.  I put it in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.  Long enough to make many pancakes.  It smelled so good and didn't make a mess frying eggs.  They were ready when I got done with the pancakes and the family enjoyed them.  Oh also when I pulled them out of the oven I added a little shredded cheese.  It was delish!

Thanks for stopping. 

New "used" books

Often when I see a book that I would like, I go to Amazon and pick up a used one from the sellers that are listing their books online.  I have not been disappointed yet.  I get a used book that has been loved by someone else.  I am reusing it and get them for a little bit of nothing.  I also have an Amazon credit card so I always have points that build up to use toward my purchase. 

I came across this author when I was putting a magazine article away that I had torn out of Country Living magazine that I wanted to keep.  Magazines can build up and if you keep the magazine around for that one article, you forget why you kept it and it just takes up space in the house.  I tear out the article, put it in a plastic sleeve and file it into my 3 ring binder and then recycle the magazine.  I then sit down with it and have my own magazine of each and everything I am interested in.  It's like Pinterest in person. 

So going on, I looked up this author and found a couple of books that seemed as if I would like.  The one above is the first.  It has so many good ideas and was very enjoyable.  I wasn't really keen on the small pictures butted up against each other, because I like white space in between but the content made up for it though. 

This book was probably advertised in a quilting magazine.  It caught my eye and it reviews the artistic elements with many good ideas. 

This is the second book from Bunny Williams.  It is one to just sit down and study each page.  It is big like a coffee table book and the pictures are nice and large.  I haven't taken the time yet to savor it. 

My Mom had purchased books 1 through 9 and they have much good information in them, so I decided to start purchasing the rest of the volumes a little at a time.  Pictured are volumes 10 and 11.  I am going to make the manicotti pictured on the front cover this weekend and I'll be sure to post it along with the recipe. In an earlier volume a cheesecake recipe is my go to when that bug bites. It was approved by my cheesecake loving friend this summer. 

Sit down in a nice rocker or your favorite comfy chair, with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and enjoy. 

See ya next time!

Works in Progress

I started a new party cat picture.  Had one of these started and I can't find the pad or the picture, so I had to draw a complete new one.  These are my five cats after a night of partying.  They have paw prints all over the wall, confetti on the floor and they have their hats and crown on and they are almost all at a jaunty angle.  Lets Paaarrrttttyyyyyy!

A shot of my brushes and pallet.
 

This cute little monkey quilt is all marked and ready for the batting and the backing before the quilting.
I love to do hand work like quilting and embroidery. It is so calming and one can think and figure out problems. 

This pretty peach and blue quilt needs to be marked yet.
The summer is going fast and I did not get things done fast enough. 
How about you?
Thanks for stopping. 

Good Morning!

Last week the sun rose in all is beautiful glory and then decided to disappear behind some clouds. 

It was just teasing us but that first picture was stunning.

Have a great Monday!