Monday Morning Two Weeks Later

Today marks the beginning of my second — or is it third? week in my new place. It really feels like home now since I have my TV and sewing machine. And I’ve found another quilter here as well! We do have a way to find each other!

One of the nurses, kinda hard to get along with at first asked me what I was making and I told her it was a doll dress. Then she asked if that was the only thing I make and when I told her I also make quilts she was excited, telling me she was a quilter too. She came back several times during the day to talk quilts, telling me we are the only ones here who quilt. We are going to try to get some others interested enough to take a class we want to start!

I spent some time in the gazebo watching a barge go by on its way to the Mississippi river and all of the possible points of call on that way South. Took a few photos so let’s see if I can put one in here.

Nope! Using my phone and it just isn’t happening! It’s possible none of this will happen because I’m not having a lot of success answering comments without the laptop. WP keeps asking me if I am Angela. They just won’t let me in to some people but give no objections to others. Kinda makes me wonder what is going on!

Ohio River from my backyard

Yay! I figured it out! . And found a photo with the barge in it! This is gonna be a good day!

Musings

I’ve spent a lot of time lately musing about a lot of things.  Like right now I’m wondering what happened to the first draft of this post?  It was finished and ready to hit “publish” when I hit something else and made it disappear.  I felt like a magician for a minute — right up til I looked for my missing draft and didn’t find anything at all but a blank screen staring back at me.  That seems like a bad way to start something on a cloudy, frigid day.

For some time now I’ve been thinking that someone should have given me an IQ test before allowing me to begin using the “smart” phones.  It’s kinda sad when the phone is smarter than the person trying to use it but that seems to be the case with me.  My cell phone is proving to be my downfall and leading to my turning the atmosphere around me rather blue st times.  For example, this morning I attempted to place a call to one of my siblings.  Simple enough thing, right?  Nope!  It rang two times and then nothing was happening.  I pulled it away from my face to see if it could tell me anything about what was wrong and discovered I had him on hold along with two other people who are in my phone book.  Have no idea how this happened and not sure I ever want to know but I think the poltergeist who lives in my apartment is hard at work again.

Speaking of my poltergeist, he/she has taken my remote again.  It was in my pocket where I could find it and now it’s not.  I’ve written about my ongoing problems keeping up with my remotes before but this is getting ridiculous!  How on earth and in the universe could a remote control to my television jump out of the pocket it was in?  And just where in this building did it take that big jump?  Oh, it will turn up some day and I certainly know how to walk over and flip a switch to turn the tube on and off it it becomes necessary, but I’m spoiled by some of this modern technology.  Go ahead and laugh folks, it doesn’t bother me.  I’ll probably laugh harder than any one else could if I find it hiding in the fridge or sitting somewhere in plain view yet constantly overlooked by me.  Life can be amusing in these so called golden years.  Maybe I should have said frustrating since at times it is, but mostly just funny.  Come to think of it, these things were a lot funnier when they were happening to my parents and grandparents.  There is a warped sense of humor working here so I’ll slap my own hand and move on.

I have managed to find some gold on that dirt path I travel though.  It can be found all around if you open your eyes and look up from the dirt.  In fact, I looked up while attempting to walk in the hall outside my apartment door and then by focusing on something higher up managed to walk the entire distance of the hall!   Not bad for an old lady who has fallen as many times as I have lately.  I may not ever win a marathon but I can now walk the length of this hall and back now.  Sure, I fall into my chair as soon as the door closes behind me but the biggie here is that I walk!

I’ve put these photos up before but now seems like a good time to share some of my gold.  Here goes!

And here are some of the quilts that keep me occupied lately.

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Where Oh Where Has The Time Gone?

It was springtime only yesterday and now I will be attending one of the last Fall Festivals in the area later this morning.  And from there it will be countdown to Christmas.  But whatever happened to Thanksgiving?  That one seems to be a forgotten holiday now, along with Columbus Day, once a nice Federal holiday.

It hasn’t been that long since the hill on the farm was covered with daffodils, and now they await next spring.  The Autumn photos were taken a few years ago because I just haven’t been out riding around enough to see anything worth photographing this year.  My health has not been of the best and most of my time, with the exception of a weekly visit with my only living Aunt, is spent here at home, mostly working on quilts that I’m making for my family and friends.  I have about 18 quilt tops sewn  together, a dozen of them pinned to the backing and ready to quit or in various stages of being quilted, while I just finished binding the sixth one for the year.  Don’t be too impressed — most of them are lap sized with the largest was a twin size.  But so much fun to do again, taking me back several years to a time when I made king sized ones.

I should explain that I am working on so many at the same time because what I am able to do depends on which joints and muscles are working at the time.  Each action requires a different set of muscles, so like everyone else, I do what I can as I can and pray that I will get more of them finished before my time to leave this realm comes.  At least they all keep me off the street corners at night.

These are just a few of the quilts I’m working on at the moment and they are all my favorites.  But I guess if I had to choose the ones I love the most it would be the two family memory quilts, one using a cousin’s family photos and UK Wildcats fabric for sashing and the other with my own family black and white photos on a red background and black and white sashing around each photo.  I have a dozen or more of those quilts planned, mainly because I’m from a large family and want to use every photo I have on enough quilts to cover the entire family.  Who knows?  Given enough time anything is possible!

FOTOS

TODAY I’LL BEGIN TO POST PHOTOS OF SOME OF MY CHRISTMAS PROJECTS.  YEAH, I KNOW CHRISTMAS IS OVER FOR THIS YEAR,  BUT I’M STILL WORKING ON SOME OF THE QUILTS FOR THE KIDS.  I MIGHT HAVE TO JUST CONSIDER IT ALL AS BEING AHEAD FOR NEXT YEAR!  SOUNDS GOOD TO ME.

OKAY, HERE ARE A FEW OF THE THINGS I’VE BEEN MAKING, BEGINNING WITH THE ONE THAT GOT ME STARTED LAST SUMMER.  MY COUSIN, GREG, ASKED ME IF IT WAS POSSIBLE TO MAKE A QUILT FOR HIS NIECE THAT WOULD BE HALF UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY– HER ALMA MATER, AND HALF FLORIDA STATE–HER HUBBY’S.  I KNEW IT WAS POSSIBLE EVEN THOUGH I HAD NEVER MADE ONE BEFORE,BUT IT PIQUED MY INTEREST AND I STARTED LOOKING FOR A WAY TO DO IT.  MY SOLUTION WAS THIS ONE:

 

SO NATURALLY, BEING ME, I JUMPED HEAD FIRST INTO THE FUN AND PLEASURE OF QUILTING AGAIN.  MOSTLY I MADE PILLOWS FOR EVERYONE, BUT DISCOVERED THE FUN OF ALSO MAKING TOTE BAGS.  SO HERE WE GO!

personal photos were all taken by me.  UK and Fl. Seminole logos are from the collegiate web pages.  All others from Pinterest.

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a merry, Merry and Blessed Christmas.  It is now 15 minutes after midnight in my part of Kentucky and the roads are covered with black ice.  Fortunately, Santa travels by sleigh rather than automobile, so he is safe.  I hope everyone else drives safely so they can arrive at their destinations without incident.

My own preparations have been ongoing for several months and I’m not sure at this time if I’m behind for this Christmas or ahead for next year. I’ve attached several of the pillows, tote bags and the top left is a small quilt for my grandson,  Noah.  The photos that are not my own are all downloaded from Pinterest.

Again, I wish for each of you a Merry Happy and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Just A Few Words

In case you haven’t noticed I’ve been on hiatus for several weeks.  The early winter weather has been playing havoc with my health so I’ve been taking things easy up to a certain point.

I have re-discovered the joy of quilting, especially making memory quilts, pillows and tote bags for my family.  At the moment I’m finishing up a pieced quilt and just might get up enough energy to take a quick photo of it to post.  Don’t hold your breath though, I just sat down and got comfortable after a long night of doing everything except sleeping.   Yep, that pesky insomnia is still with me and going strong.  And my computer woes are still an ongoing issue for me.  And did I ever mention the day my phones were missing in action?  Almost an incentive to no more cleaning while I have work in progress out. I was clearing a table off after cutting some fabrics and the phones, cell and home phones both, managed to get swept off the table and into the trash container.  Normally I check that particular container before emptying it because it is kept so close to my work area, but this particular day I just wanted to get the trash out, so it was already in the compacter before I noticed my phones hadn’t been ringing.  Never a good sign around here where they usually ring obnoxiously at all the worst times.  I enjoyed the quiet for a little bit, then had to go out and replace the cell phone so I could buzz people in when they visited me.  The home phone still remains MIA and might never be replaced — or maybe I’ll wait and enjoy the peace just a little bit longer.

So, here I am at 6 a.m., having been up all night and beginning to wonder what’s for breakfast, as if I didn’t know it will be whatever I make when my naval shakes hands with my spine and I have to eat something in a hurry before my sugar crashes.  I also just moved a little bit in my chair and about 25 quilt blocks that are pinned together until I get the sewing machine out again are now in a pile on the floor.  I do tend to burrow in when working and comfortable.  I suppose it could be much worse but looking at them makes me wonder how.  Now I’m going to finish this post up and get down to floor level and pick up the nights supply of work, find a good place to store them until Christmas, try to remember where that good place is a few minutes after putting the top on it …..

Have a great December!

More Movies

But definitely never another attempt to review one!  I have searched for some time for a movie I saw when I was 19, and that was a few years back down the road, believe me!  I guess it was never very popular, “Marjorie Morningstar”, with Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly, but the theme song has stuck in the corner of my memory all these years.

“A very special love is what you are to me, A stairway to a star a night in Shangri-la of ecstasy” — those were words guaranteed to move the heart and mind of a 19 year old back in 1960.  Come to think of it, I guess they could move me even today.  After all, I just bought the movie, didn’t I?  If memory serves correctly Marjorie Morningstar was the very first adult movie I ever say.  I would imagine it this world today it would be considered a “G” rating, but as I remember it, in those days it was slightly naughty.  Later tonight some friends are coming by and I’ll play that one rather than check out the latest on the Fire Stick.

This has been a week!  My kids last remaining great-aunt on their dad’s side passed away on Saturday, just a few days after my own last visit with her.  The lady was a sweetheart, a master quilter with a boat load of awards in her corner.  Having learned that art many years ago from watching the ladies around me I can say she was legendary in my mind.  I could watch her for hours, although these last few years Alzheimer’s disease had robbed her of some parts of her memory.  With her lovely smile and cheerful face each time I dropped by though, you would never know how much she missed being able to remember the past.  It was only when she sat for a few minutes and reflected on how bad her memory was that the pain peeped thru.  Aunt Betty, forever my love and forever my hat’s off to you.  You have left a rich legacy in your quilts and a lot of memories of the better days, beginning to fade from my memory now as well.

So here we are again.  A lot of things have changed in the WP format — at least on my computer, so I’ll have to spend some time now trying to figure it all out and learn the ropes again.  Have a great week!