Home with lots of loot!

   The only good thing about that time change was the extra daylight for the long drive home........and it is always good to return home to your own bed :)
We got the van unloaded this morning and the mountain of laundry done.  In between loads, I sorted through the fabric.
   What's on the table is from one very large shopping bag......fat quarters, pieces, and yardage, a few books and magazines.   Two more smaller bags remain to be sorted.  There are lots of wild and uglies in there.....as my daughter says it is her mission now to get all the "ugly fabrics" she  can find during her estate sale excursions.  Turn around is fair play.....wait till she sees what I put on the back of her next quilt :)

Actually, there were some nice fabrics in the bunch, and even a couple of older floral fabrics that will be perfect to share for the upcoming workshop.  And a few prints that I will turn into circles.....the cutest owl print for one.   I would estimate this tonnage at about 30 yards!  I have a lot of work to do, don't I.



  The Singer 99 K came home with me!!!  We found this at an estate sale last fall, and it has just been sitting.  As I have more room ---and stitching  projects----we loaded it into the van.  So one day soon, I intend to devote to cleaning and getting this one ready to sew.  Bet it will be perfect for sewing circles for appliqueing.













   Then I got a really beautiful present.....hand made by my daughter who has developed into a very fine metal smith.  A corded necklace with a button pendant and toggle closure.  The pendent and closure are made of silver.  Using an old button, she did a cast and mold to create the design, which I love.

    See those paisley swirls.....yep, exactly what I love.  She hammers in the texture, and solders it together....somehow.    I can't explain the details, but take my word for it, it is lovely.  All of her pieces are so very unique.  sorry.....just being a proud mama.


 The "daddy-do" project list went well, and Sir Old Man was kept busy with a new one.  Of course, it involved a trip to the big-box store for all the required pieces.  A pipe bench with wood seat for the front porch has been on her bucket list for a while.
    I sat and watched the two of them twist pipe and  figure out the instructions/pictures.  Then there was a lesson on how to use the chop saw......power miter saw, and some nail gun usage with the small compressor.  So as my daughter covered in man glitter/saw dust is doing the happy dance for "I can use power tools",  and her Dad is beaming,  I had an epiphany.....a very clear vision of how important that time was.   It was a completed bucket list day and they did not even know it.
   When she was born, Sir Old Man is known to have remarked to the nurse...."A girl?  What am I suppose to do with a girl?"   I know the answer......teach her to use power tools!  

   Tomorrow for sure, I am making circles, and triangles, and squares.
Happy stitching.  

Bucket List almost

  When I was young and quite idealistic, I envisioned being a writer.  I loved to read, I loved the words marching across the page.  The words created  images of people that were interesting, doing exciting things.  Exotic places came to life.  Imagined events became real.  Yep, that is what I wanted to do.
   By the time I entered college, reality dropped into visit.  I entered and won a few contests, yet no one chased me down handed me the dream.  I did not really have that gnawing push to go knocking on doors either.  The great American novel was not in my future.  Chasing news stories that I was not really interested in lost the fanciful appeal.  So that journalistic dream  bit the dust.
  Yet, over the weekend I had a little tinge of that old desire.

   In my email on Saturday was a post by Cathy Geier where she was sharing my review of her new book.  Click here for that post.   I had quite a giggle over it.  I find it fun and up-lifting to have others like what I say.  So I hunted down her blog where she shared the review and left a comment.  She replied that she added it to her blog because Amazon would pick up the latest post to add to her author's page.
   I am quite sure you can figure out what I did.  My fingers instantaneously typed in Amazon, and searched for her page.  More giggles and a little squeal because  there it was!   My blog entry posted on Amazon.....and I didn't have to write the great American novel after all.  Ok, I know it is not a real bucket list item, but at this age, I will take it as a nice substitute...like Tinker Bell just flew over my head and scattered golden buckets of fairy dust on my world.  
Amazing, how little it takes to brighten my day! So, thanks, Cathy....that was fun.  I am off to pull out some fabric as I plan a landscape quilt.
Happy stitching.

Bucket List Day

No sewing on Tuesday, as it was a Bucket List Day.  If you haven't seen the movie, The Bucket List, you may not understand this post.  Basically the bucket list is all the things you want to do or see before you kick the bucket.
  I heard that a group of vintage war planes were in town for tours and rides.  I told Russ, "No work on Tuesday.  We are going to tour the planes.  You have your orders."

 And we did.  I crawled, climbed and squeezed through the B-17, known as The Flying Fortress, and the B-24, known as The Liberator.  What an experience, from the tiny flight step--not deck-- to the bomb bay and the waist gunners, to the tail.  I was over-whelmed by what those men did for our country and our freedom.  This  top photo is the B-17, the last of it's kind that is still flying.   The second is inside looking towards the front and the pilot's seat. 

The P-51 Mustang was a real beauty.  This plane is a small 2 seater and known for speed.  Everyone wanted to just touch her.
There were over 240 WWII Vets that came out that day, and it was a special treat to hear some of their stories.  Several of the men had actually piloted planes like these.




The special surprise Russ was the end of the day.....when he got to take a ride in the Flying Fortress.   He even crawled into the nose gun area during the flight.  

Just nothing like sharing a special day and crossing something off your Bucket List.

It's not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away.

Happy Stitching....Debbie