Last quilt square and a WIP

I got the last quilt square in the mail and here it is.  Peggy stitched a colorful beach-themed square.

And here is my progress on "Betty Broomstick."

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Two more quilt squares

Here are two more quilt squares.  Gloria stitched a patriotic design, and Lynn stitched a JBW dog.  (I stitched the dog several years ago and it is a fun stitch!)

I received the last quilt square in the mail yesterday and will post a picture of it tomorrow.  Georgia has already started on the quilt and it is going to be beautiful!  

Betty is coming along and I'll post a picture of my progress this weekend.

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Again, more quilt squares

Yesterday I started stitching on a "Betty Broomstick," an OOP kit by Lizzie Kate.  I changed out the fabric to 28 count Lime Green hand-dyed linen by Zweigart as I don't care for R&R Reproductions fabric because it's not color-fast.  And as I didn't have some of the GAST fibers called for, I changed it all over to DMC (conversions were included on the pattern - thank you, Lizzie Kate!), and then had to adjust some colors due to changing the fabric color.

I'm not that big on Halloween, but Betty is cute and so far has been a fun stitch.  I picked up this kit at the last stitching retreat I went to.  The kit was sitting on the orphan pattern/free table.  At these stitching retreats we have an auction to raise money to decrease the cost of the retreats and also because they are loads of fun.  You can donate items for the auctions and you can bid on anything that strikes your fancy.  One lady often bids on things "just because" and then you find them on the orphan/free table at the next retreat.  Such was the case for Betty; I remember when she was up for auction at a previous retreat!

Here are two more quilt squares.  Di stitched a cardinal, our friend's favorite bird.  As our friend was in the Navy, Dorothy stitched the Navy logo for her.

 

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More quilt squares

Well, the missing stove part was found.  The supply company didn't ship it next day air like they were supposed to and it will be here tomorrow.  Gee.  What part of "We heat our house with a wood stove and it's winter and it's cold!" do you not understand?  Oh well.

Here are two more of the quilt squares.  Mary's kitchen square is bright and cheerful and makes me want to go out and buy lots of Fiestaware.  Mel stitched the religious square, and as she LOOOVES glow-in-the-dark floss, the cross will glow in the dark!

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Stove knobs and broomsticks

Well, I lied.  We didn't get our stove handle part on Friday; it is lost somewhere in shipping and maildom.  DH and I are not happy and the manager of the store we ordered it from is REALLY not happy.  Luckily, the overnight temperatures are more moderate this week.  

Saturday found us in Austin.  DH went to his favorite manly haunts and I was at the I35 Stitchtogether.  Just about all of us were there and we had a guest from south of Houston, RitaD.  Most of us know her from the 1-2-3 Stitch! Message Board so it was nice to put a face with a name.

Marilyn was knitting a blanket with the most sensuous yarn I've ever fondled.  It made me want to get naked and roll all over it.  (I know, a scary mental picture.)  I received eleven of our twelve quilt squares and will be posting pictures of them over the next few days.

DH and I spent Sunday afternoon watching football.   I'm glad the Packers made it to the Super Bowl, but as I like neither the Steelers nor the Jets, I'm indifferent to the Steelers, although the Steelers/Jets game was a good one as long as we kept Phil Simms muted.  I'm rooting for the Packers and I'm so glad the Super Bowl is on the Fox network - no Phil!

Here is Jennifer's Halloween witch (she's a noted frogoholic - see the little frog near the witch?) and Cindy's rooster.  And in case you didn't cotton on - the witch is holding the broomstick that I refer to in the post's title.

 

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Honey, have you seen the kerosene?

DH and I heat our home with a wood stove.  On Wednesday night, DH was working on the recalcitrant door handle when it broke.  Without the handle, the door wouldn't stay shut.  Without the door shut, the chimney wouldn't draw.  Without the chimney drawing, the house would fill with smoke and we would cough our lungs out on the floor and die.  So we had to do without the stove until the replacement handle could be obtained and installed.  That wasn't a problem on Wednesday night when the temperature only got down to 52 degrees.  

It was a big problem last night when the temperature got down to 28 degrees.  So DH went out to his shop and brought the kerosene heater into the house so's we wouldn't freeze our bohonkuses off.  And before you panic, it's a heater that is made to use indoors and it doesn't emit lethal levels of carbon monoxide.  Besides, we have a smoke/carbon monoxide detector, and yes, it works.

The part came in today and DH will have it installed by this evening when it will get really cold again.  The overnight shipping for the part cost more than the part itself.  Oh well.  

I am done with my quilt squares for our friend's quilt.  I was supposed to do two, but ended up doing three because I am a math dummy and can't count or add properly; I was too chagrined to admit to my fellow stitchers that I can't be trusted with determining how many squares we actually have.  

We wanted to have 12 squares for the quilt.  When I counted up names, I had Georgia's name listed but she isn't stitching a square, she is making the quilt!  DOH!  So I thought quick and ordered a Name Tree from Stephanie at Nouveau Encore.  The Name Trees are quick to stitch so I was able to whip it out pretty fast.  WHEW!  

And I won't be posting a picture of it as it is our friend's first name and I want to preserve her privacy.  But go on over to Nouveau Encore and have a look - there are all kinds of Name Trees there!

Anyway, I am posting a picture of the square I just finished.  It is the one I "designed" that represents the stitching retreats our friend is involved with.  And my t.u. friends ought to be happy as I had to use "dark burnt orange" for the Alto Frio star.  Gack.

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I tell ya I'm wilting

We've had cloudy/rainy weather here since last week.  The sun FINALLY came out this afternoon.  I'm a plant; I need lots of sun to maintain my "all is good with the world" attitude.  Too many rainy days in a row causes me to turn grumpy and grumbly.  (Just ask DH!)

This weekend was a football weekend.  DH and I watched all the play-off games and enjoyed them.  What can I say?  We like football.  Neither of us can stand Phil Sims who provides color on CBS.  We usually mute the game and just read the closed-captioning when he is commentating.  Ugh.  

I've been working on the special quilt square that I "designed" and I'm stitching like a fiend because I need to get it done by Friday.  Our stitching group set the due date for January 22nd - the date of our next stitchtogether.  Once all the squares are turned in, Georgia will work her quilting magic so's we can get the quilt to its recipient soon.  

 

We have this fleece throw on our couch and Emma loves it, especially in the winter.  (She pretty much ignores it in the summer.)  On Sunday, she got up on the couch and was pawing at it and then staring intently at DH.  He got the hint and made her a little fleece Emma nest.  She was a happy dog.

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True Romance Part Two

Well, my dad's true romance story made it into the local paper - The Dallas Morning News - on Sunday.  There was an up-to-date picture of them (that my brother took of them the week before) in the column, but not their wedding picture.  They sent me a hard copy in the mail; you can read the column here: "Jilted GI found love on the rebound".  I think it's pretty cool myself!

I have no picture to post today of anything.  I've been working on my second square for our friend's quilt.  I wanted to design a square that showed her involvement in stitching retreats.  My hat is off to designers.  I've been beating my head on my computer monitor for about a week working on that darn square design in PatternMaker.  I just can't get it "right."  I finally had to tell myself, "Self, if you don't stop eternally 'fixing' the design, you won't have time to stitch it."  So I went with what I had and have started stitching on it.  It's still not "right," but hopefully it will be okay when seen in the quilt.

And the weather down here in south central Texas is cold (for here).  We've had nights in the twenties and thirties, and the days have only been up in the forties.  BRRRR.  I don't care much for cold weather.  When I did laundry on Monday, there were a couple of pairs of shorts in there that I wore just last week!  If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait 15 minutes...

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Winter blahs

DH and I spent Saturday day doing needed things around the house, but we spent Saturday evening and most of Sunday being football couch potatoes.  We both enjoy football and enjoy the playoffs.  Two out of the four teams I was rooting for made it into the playoffs and the games were fun to watch. 

I spent Saturday finishing up our 2010 budget and setting up MS Excel for 2011 record keeping.  DH finished the siding on our bathroom - finally!  The job took longer than normal because of the lasting effects of our bad contractor.  DH grumped around about that during the entire job.  Now I just have to touch-up paint nail holes and paint one board and the siding will be done.  It will probably take me longer to stir up the exterior paint in its five-gallon bucket than it will take me to actually do the needed painting.  Oh well.

I'll have to post a before and after picture some other day.  I didn't get a finished picture before the sun went down and it's rainy and blicky here right now.  Hopefully the sun will be out later this week.

On Saturday night, we had a beautiful sunset.

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Dog done

I put the last stitches in the beagle this morning right before lunch.  I enjoyed stitching him.  The pattern was nice as far as all the colors being in blocks without confetti stitching.  And the finished design really looks life-like!  (And no, I haven't washed and ironed the design yet so it's wrinkledy and hoopy.)

I do however have a complaint about the choice of symbols.  Many of the symbols were similar, and the similar ones were unfortunately right next to each other in the design.  I had to be very careful and check twice.  All in all though, I would recommend this designer to others.

The chart is "Beagle Dog" by Orbis Pictura and I bought and downloaded it from Creative Poppy.  The designer specializes in dogs and horses according to the website.  I stitched this pattern on 16 count white Aida with the recommended DMC.  It is for a quilt our stitching group is doing for a friend who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

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Crazy 15 Challenge update

Nope.  I'm still not doing it.  Ain't gonna.  Won't.  Lots of other stitchers, both blogging and non-blogging, are doing it.  I applaud you!  

However, the methodical part of me wonders why you can't just stitch 15 projects over the year, starting a new one after you finish the previous one?  I know.  I just don't get it.  Is it the thrill of the start?  Maybe that's my problem; I get as thrilled over the finish as over the start, and I get inner satisfaction with finishing what I started without stopping.  Yeah, I know I'm weird - deal with it.  ;-)

I am stitching on the beagle and should get it finished in the next couple of days.  I have a bit of the face to fill in and an ear to finish.  

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Fit and trim

This weekend was the last of deer hunting season.  Between early morning and evening hunts, DH worked on installing the trim molding around the windows in our bedroom.  It's about two years overdue.  ;-) 

Here are pictures of an untrimmed window, DH trimming it, DH using his beloved compound miter saw, and a finished window.  Now I have to spackle the nail holes and do touch-up painting.  Then I'll have to ponder window treatments - mini-blinds and topper curtains probably.

 

I spent a lot of the weekend being a hunting widow and stitching on the beagle dog.  I got a lot done on it and I'll post a picture tomorrow.  I spent Sunday afternoon vegging out on football.  Alas! The football season is drawing to a close - whine!  At least the Cowboys ended on a win, although their overall record stinks.  But they do have five players starting in the Pro Bowl!

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A True Romance

My dad enjoys reading the "True Romance" stories in a column in the local newspaper, and the week before Christmas, on a whim, he submitted the following story to the column's editor:

I graduated from high school in 1951 in Caddo Mills, Texas.  That fall I registered for college at East Texas College in Commerce, Texas.  During that time, I met a girl in Greenville, Texas and we dated for a while.  At this time, the draft for the military was in place and...I enlisted in the Army of Engineers.

I returned to Caddo Mills after the first eight weeks of boot camp and continued to date the girl from Greenville.  I was transferred to Fort Leonardwood in Missouri.  My parents came to Fort Leonardwood and brought the girl I was dating.  From there I was transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia for additional training.  From there I was transferred to Germany.  While in Germany I received a "Dear John" letter from the girl I had been dating.  Evidently, she would not wait for me.

I was discharged from the Army in 1957 and returned to Caddo Mills.  I reentered college that year.  In one of the first classes I attended that first semester - an English class - I noticed two girls sitting in the front row.  Even then I was not too interested in dating, remembering my experience while in the Army.  I did remember that I thought one of the girls was cute.  The next semester, again in an English class, when I entered the class for the first time, I noticed one of those two young ladies - the cute one - sitting by herself.  I went and sat beside her and began to talk to her.  We talked many times after class during that semester.  We sat together in the library studying, went for coffee sometimes, and started to date.

She and her sister were living in a house off campus.  I proposed to her sitting in the porch swing on the front porch of that house one evening after we had returned from a date.  The next day, I drove back home to Caddo Mills and borrowed money from the bank and then drove to Dallas to purchase a ring.  I gave it to her just before we went into the Baptist Student Union for a Bible Study.

The study was at this point going along okay until one of the other girls in the class noticed the ring on my lady's hand.  Things got very out of hand then.  My lady's name is Eva Dean.  She goes by Dean.  She left school and returned to Sherman, Texas to work, while I finished my degree.  I drove to Sherman many weekends during that time.  I graduated on May 24th of 1959 and we were married on May 30th of that year, and have been married for 51 years.  We have two children, a girl and a boy, both married to wonderful mates.

(A sideline to this story - when my son was in junior high school, he came home one day and said there was a teacher in the school that I had dated in Caddo Mills.  When my wife and I went to the open house at the school, I met this teacher and she was the "Dear John" girl from Greenville that I had first dated in college!)

I do not know if my story will fit in your True Romance column, but I believe this lady was sent to me by God.  We have been through some tough times, but she looks as beautiful today as the day I married her.

Here is my parents' wedding picture.

Soon after my dad sent the letter, the columnist called him and spoke to both my parents and asked for a then and now picture.  I'll let you know if it gets printed up in the paper.  So what do you think?  Is this a true romance story or what?!


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