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Archive for November, 2010

My Thanksgiving….

25 Nov

This is a pictorial review of my Thanksgiving, beginning with the Turkey I roasted myself! This is the first Thanksgiving in a few years that my family and I have been able to be together, and I am very excited! I knew I was happy about it, but didn’t realize until today how excited I was!!!!! Yay! For those of you that may not know, I AM NOT a cook. So, with that statement hopefully you can understand my bird excitement! It was really easy to do too. I defrosted it in the fridge since Monday, and then took it out this morning and took out the giblets (yes, I did remember that ) and stuck him in a 350 degree oven for about 4 hours. I started checking him at 3 hours, but it took a full 4 for him to look like this. I started out with him in this little disposable roasting pan, and stuffed an onion inside for flavor and rubbed a little butter and salt on the outside. Then I covered the pan with tinfoil for the first 3 hours and took the foil off for the last hour. I hope it tastes as good as it looks! We will find out at 4 PM.

I also watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, for the maybe 44th time in my life. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without me watching that parade! Here are a few of my favorites for you to enjoy too….

First, my favorite of favorites!

Second, their turkey. I think mine is better Alton Brown from Food Network was the pilgrim on top….

Third, another favorite, Kermie!

Next, Hello Kitty! Another big fav in my house.

The last few are:

Yep, Horton hears a Who with his little Who clover, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and The Smurfs.

Santa of course ended the parade, but sadly I wasn’t able to take a pic of him in time. But I’m sure he’ll show up again, probably about December 25th.

The last picture I have to share is of the pecan pie Daughter number one made for us. I can’t wait to take a bite…yum! She’s an old pro at them, she has made 3 or 4 now….I’m so excited! My Daddy is coming too….we are going to have a wonderful meal!

So, as I depart to put the finishing touches on this fabulous family gathering, I will share with you one of my favorite ditties:

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump, may your potatoes and gravy have nary a lump. May your yams be delicious and your pies take the prize, and may your THANKSGIVING dinner stay off your thighs!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Let me know how much you are enjoying your day as well! Angela

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Posted in Family, memories

Pieces

22 Nov

Pieces
Living breathing
Yearning aching
Moving wanting
Searching waiting
Wondering knowing
Learning lying

Hating dying
Waiting trying
Watching listening
Crying whispering
Drawing pulling
Pushing giving

Earning paying
Needing spending
Suffering emptying
Lurching propelling
Going staying
Molding forming

Washing pouring
Consuming burning
Walking crawling
Running flying
Coming leaving
Helping taking

Suffering hearing
Reasoning whining
Starting finishing
Choosing trying
Losing taking
Going making

Holding yielding
Trembling shaking
Imploding exploding
Confusing distracting
Labeling reacting
Seeing leaving

Firing polishing
Knowing glowing
Sanding smoothing
Washing clothing
Sawing screaming
Maturing growing

Opening closing
Starting stopping
Sowing reaping
Birthing dying
Beginning ending
Finishing completing

I have been known to occasionally write poetry, off and on since 9th grade English class. Very often it comes out when I am going through a difficult time. This poem was written during one of those times. A friend of mine calls it a word string. At the time I just felt like I had so much STUFF built up inside me that if I didn’t find a way to let some of it out I was mentally going to explode. As you can tell I had a lot of questions rolling around inside of me. So this is what came out. No explosion. Everyone was safe again .

Have you released built up emotions in a similar way? How do you deal with your overwhelming emotions? Let me know what you think of my expression, and tell me about yours…..thanks. Have a great week! Angela

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Posted in memories, poetry, Ponderings

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

12 Nov

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day. I always remember Memorial Day, but somehow forget Veteran’s Day. My Grandfather served in World War 1. One of his battles was in the Black Forest in Germany. He loved to tell us stories about some of the places he traveled, but would never talk about anything that happened during the war to me. I know he was in Germany and Italy, probably France too but I don’t remember specifically. I loved my Grandpa. He passed away when I was 12. I have a tiny little picture of him in his Army uniform somewhere. Sorry I can’t share it now, I will be glad to when I find it. My dad also served in the Air Force, but not during any wars. Thanks for protecting us, both of you. That’s kinda what dad’s are suppose to do, and you both did it well. I’m proud of you both and love you lots! John Wayne said: “Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.” I’m sure every veteran we have ever had hopes this too, that wars would not be the means we had to use in this world, but I’m thankful for those brave enough to put themselves in harms way to protect us and our freedom. I’m not an advocate of war, and I hate some of the things that come from it, but I will never forget the sacrifices that my Grandpa suffered to protect us with his service. There are many service men and women who are sacrificing for us still today. When you see them, thank them for their service. The least they deserve is our thanks.

Today is Friday. It is a strange and wonderful month for me, all at the same time. The month of Thanksgiving with all the food and trimmings a small army could eat! We’ll be celebrating at my house this year because Daughter Number 2 will be recovering from surgery, and I get to have them home with me. I’m looking forward to it! Turkey with stuffing, dressing for my Daddy, twice baked potatoes for Daughter Number 1, other fixin’s to go with those and cheese cake by Daughter Number 2 for dessert. Yum!

Several other things have also happened during this month as well. This is the month of my marriage, and the month of the beginning of my separation. It seemed so strange that first year to have separated from my husband the same month we had promised forever to each other. The first year was horrible, somehow I got through it and got to the new year and new spring and summer. Now we are a few years past it all and I”m glad things have turned out the way they have, really very grateful. I enjoy my life now and wouldn’t have it any other way. I am also glad my marriage produced my wonderful children and grandchildren, can’t imagine life without any of them! Speaking of children, that brings us to….

Ole! Happy Birthday Daughter...

Tomorrow. It is my baby’s birthday. My BABY is gonna be 25! Just doesn’t seem possible for her to be that old, then again my oldest child is my son and he is 30. Time flies people! Time flies and things change, and you really have to learn to enjoy where you’re at and drink in every moment you can. So tomorrow we will celebrate my daughter’s birth, going out to dinner and see if we can get someone to sing Happy Birthday to her like last year. That’s what the pic is from, the Mexican restaurant we took her and the family to. She declared it lots of fun even with the hat on . Good sport she was! We’ll have cake and presents, and maybe even watch a movie after if she wants to. It is also the month of several of my friends birthdays so it is a month of celebration. Happy Birthday to all and to all a good night! Ole!

Do you have any thing to celebrate other than Thanksgiving this month? I think I have at least one reader who is one of the friends with a birthday this month, right? Hope you have a happy everything everyone! Angela

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Posted in Family, Friendship, memories

Trees and Patches, Blocks and Tops

11 Nov

Red Tree

Fall is here, or isn’t it? The color of the leaves tells me it is, but sometimes 80 to 90 degree temperatures tell me it’s not. Oh well. I’m happy to see all the beautiful colors of leaves around me. I spent part of my lunch hour driving around taking a few pictures and just getting some fresh air. Don’t we all need that sometimes? I have an idea for using a leaf design for a full sized quilt one day, but I’m not starting that until the current one is finished!

Anyhow, this is the blog I promised to show you my next step in quilting. It kinda surprised me when I realized I had finished all the blocks for this. I really have enjoyed learning the new patterns, and fighting with the designs to hopefully get them mostly correct when they were finished. A couple were very challenging, but all were fun and interesting to do. I’m realizing I could use the very same materials in different ways with the same patterns and end up with a completely different top. But this is the one I want to finish now! So as promised, here that next step is.

At my last class my instructor Stephanie helped me begin to lay out all the quilt blocks I had made so I could begin to get a feel for the final design. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had only been looking at them in little piles, and didn’t realize I needed to just lay them out to see what they were going to look like as a whole. I played around with what was there, decided on rail fence in the corners and friendship stars in the center. I tried to break up the purples and aquas, seemed to be to many laid out together or something. But this is the way I finally decided to start….

After I decided that the layout was appealing to me, I began to sew the individual blocks into strips, as you can see 5 blocks in each strip, which made 5 strips. The size on some of my blocks was off, the log cabins were smaller than some of the other blocks, so I had to adjust some of my stitches to absorb the difference as much as I could. When I started thinking about sewing the blocks together I realized I wanted it to have more of a framed effect so I decided to put some 1 inch strips between the rows as I sewed them together. I really liked it! It gave the quilt a different look and feel. What do you think?

I am still working on adding borders. I am planning on surrounding the quilt in a small 1 inch border of the green fabric, adding a 2 inch border of the blended blue batik print, finishing with a larger border with a few leftover quilt blocks mixed with the butterfly fabric. I am getting very excited to be this close to finishing the top! I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished….

Let me know what you think so far of my project, and share any personal things you might be working on too! I would love to hear about it! Talk to you soon, Angela

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Posted in sewing

We’re a Class Act…

09 Nov

Candice and her quilt

Today I want to introduce you to Candice and Stephanie. Candice is taking the quilting class with me and Stephanie is our teacher. I have really enjoyed my time with these ladies, and am a little sad the class is almost over. I barely got a picture of Candy’s sweet face with the quilt she is making her new grandson, don’t you love how the colors work in this? I have told her many times I’m glad I’m not as competitive as I used to be, because she has been Speedy Gonzales putting this thing together . But she reminds me she has time constraints on her as Grandson is due to be born imminently! I’m so happy she is joining the grandparent club! Best thing ever! And what a beautiful heirloom she is making for that baby!

The Top!

We have been putting in lots of work on our samplers, and as you can see it is making a beautiful quilt! Candy’s blue material looks like it has tiny stars in it too, and I love that she used it in her Friendship Star blocks. I also really like the way she laid out her blocks, I love the pattern in the center with her Log Cabin blocks. I also like the placement she chose with the Friendship Stars too. Candy will also be adding borders to this, and I will try and share another pic later of how it looks with those! I think it is just lovely!

This is also a beauty….Stephanie, our instructor, has made this circular quilt. I think it is about 4-5 feet in diameter. It is a large single dragonfly on a cream background. She took it to a long arm quilter who does free hand design and although you can’t see it in this shot, there are bunches of dragonflies quilted into the background as well. The quilting on the wings is a wispy circular pattern that almost looks like flames to me! I love this one too. I am sure circular quilting is more common than I realize, but this is the first time I have seen one this large. It is very impressive!

Stephanie has had all kind of tips and suggestions for us as we have worked on our samplers. I really appreciate the fact that she wants our quilting time to be our no-stress zone. I already have lots of stress going on at the moment, so this has been a nice place to get away from it. Stephanie has really made the class fun for me, and Candy has been a delight to be with! Both ladies are very sweet, one more sardonic than the other, but both willing to put up with the Chatty Kathy part of my personality . I warned them both that if I talked too much they would just have to tell me, I thought I should come with a warning label sometimes! They laugh at my silliness, and we measure and cut, and sew and iron. I’m sure I can’t get the exact quote but one of Stephanie’s children told her: “You cut large pieces of cloth into tiny pieces of cloth to make a big piece of cloth? Why?” Why indeed!

No matter what I am certainly enjoying this class! Next time I will show you my top and how the putting it all together process is going. So, what do you think? Have you ever made a sampler, and how did that go for you? If you aren’t a sewist ( a new term I’ve found and love), what mix of adventures have you put together? Would love your comments and stories! In the meantime, I’ll be back at my machine working on my sampler! Until then, Angela

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Posted in Friendship, gratitude, sewing

Don’t Make Get My Flying Monkeys….

08 Nov

Flying Geese quilt block

Well, you don’t know this, but I do. I’m a little behind on my quilt blocks and procedures. Let me present my last and one of the easiest quilt blocks I have completed to date: Flying Geese. You use triangles to put it together. In my case, you sew one smaller purple triangle to the larger multi turquoise one, iron, and add second purple triangle. That makes what I called a flying goose. . Then you make a second goose and attach the two for geese. Easy Peasy. No Flying Monkeys required.

I really enjoyed this one, it went quick and easy, no complications like the 9 patch variation and the friendship star. I must say the star looks much better than I thought it could. I blogged about it last time. I almost called those pesky Flying Monkeys out on that one to get it finished, or ripped apart . Thankfully, the color in the material I used for it blended so well it hides my imperfections pretty well. I really enjoyed the ease Flying Geese went together with. I made zero mistakes with it as far as I can tell, so that makes it and the Rail Fence my most successful blocks so far. I think my Sampler is going to turn out great though. Since I had to bring up Flying Monkeys, I’ve got an awesome Halloween card from Boyfriend that I want to tell you about. . . . . .

Wicked Witch of the West

This card made me laugh! I love the Wizard of Oz. It is one of my all time favorite movies. I love Dorothy’s parting words to Scarecrow: I think I’m going to miss you most of all. I love how all the characters develop and become friends and love each other. It is such a great movie. The card reminded me how much fun I have when I watch it. I didn’t watch it for Halloween, but maybe I should have! I may have to start a new tradition next year….

I am getting more and more excited about this quilt everyday! I have a a piece of material with scenes from the farm of the Wizard of Oz I may try my hand at next. Tomorrow I will show you have far Candy’s quilt has come, and a beautiful one that our instructor Stephanie is working on. In the meantime, hope you have a fun day, without too much trouble. But if you get in trouble, just remember to blame it on those pesky monkeys! Talk to you tomorrow! Angela