A Fly on the Wall

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Barb

OK – I know that JSS had a big gathering recently without me.  Or at least they thought I wasn’t there.  But I really was.  In a slightly different form.
 

Did you see a small bug flying around?  Landing occasionally on the coffee table…..

….or the edge of the dining table perhaps as you ate your breakfast?  If you had taken the time to look really, really close, you’d have seen a small camera being carried by this little fly.  Because you see, that fly on the wall was really me!  Taking pics of the gathering for the blog.  Because it’s a requirement for all JSS gatherings to be on this blog.  A must.  Like this pic of breakfast….

Doesn’t that look scrumptious?  With peaches and cream cheese involved, how can you go wrong?  I was so busy landing on each person’s plate and taking small bites that I totally missed pics of the bagels and special cream cheese spread too.  I’m sure those of you who were not there are really sorry you missed it.  I enjoyed every tiny bite!  Bet they didn’t even notice me.  They were too busy stuffing their faces with all of the food that Karen and Gloria prepared…..

…. and guest chef, Sue!  She was busy carmelizing onions.

Don’t they look extra yummy?  She did a good job.

Gloria took everyone on a guided tour of her gardens.  So I buzzed out and went along with my camera.  Here are some of the pics I got of her beautiful flowers!

Apparently Gloria likes to dig in dirt as much as Karen likes to dig in fabric!

All of the quilts around the house were made by Karen.  Isn’t this one on the foot of the bed pretty?  And there’s one on the wall there too.

The Sherbet Sisters showed up again!  This time we had two raspberries and a lime sherbet – or is that lemon/lime, Gloria?

You had to look up to see all the cool decorating ideas at Gloria’s house!

Kay gave origami bird lessons to Jules and Lynn……with a dollar bill?  The things these girls do!

Lynn entertained everyone (as she does so well) with more stories of Uncle Ed!  Before long everyone was laughing…..

But Judy L laughed so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes!  By the way……..

This is Uncle Ed.  He’s a permanent fixture at Lynn’s house.  You’ll have to ask her all about him.  I’m sure she’ll have more stories to share the next time we get together.

Any time an important announcement was made, the bell was dinged.  Here is Patti dinging the bell for an upcoming announcement!

Like Lanelle announcing her daughter’s marriage.  Hope this fly on the wall got that information correct.  Things were happening so fast, it was hard to keep up!

Ding!  Another announcement!  This time from Karen – that her daughter would be moving from Chicago back to Fort Worth in December!

But of course, the best ding was to announce that lunch was ready!

Oh, my!  Doesn’t that just look the yummiest?  This fly could hardly contain herself as she flitted from dish to dish and plate to plate…..

Here’s another view….. and can I just tell you that a certain someone (whose initials are JL) wanted to take this “bean counter” buffet table home with her!  Good thing it was extra heavy.  And can I also just tell you that those girls in the background don’t seem at all anxious to get to the lunch?  Gave this fly a chance to sample everything before they loaded up their plates.

And load up their plates they did!  Pulled pork sandwiches, cheese spreads and crackers, tossed salad, fruit salad, layered salad, cucumbers – way too much food.  Just like any respectable JSS gathering.

And this was dessert.  It was determined that the yellow stuff was not lemon.  It was “banilla” says Judy L.  Whatever it was, I call it delicious.  Scrumptious.  Mucho pleasing to the palate.  Yummy.  You get the picture.

And then, as in all JSS gatherings, there was Show ‘n Tell!  But I think that will have to wait for later.  This fly needs her beauty sleep and thinks it is good to save a few things for another day.  You’ll really want to come back and see those pics.  These JSS gals really know how to quilt!

And thanks Gloria & Karen for letting me in for the day.  You just never know who might be carrying a camera around these days.  Even little flies might be welcome after all.

Hugs,
The Fly

Posted in food, quilts | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Christmas in July

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Barb

It’s Christmas in July time!  And only 125 degrees here in Texas.  OK, I do exaggerate a bit.  But it doesn’t feel much like Christmas around here.  Except it sure looks like Christmas!  At least at Quilter’s Dream it does.

I thought you might enjoy a few pics of all the quilts for the special event….
 

Aren’t they pretty?

Here are a couple more.  You might remember that table runner on the left from a previous post in this blog.  I made that one!

And look at all the pretty Christmas fabric!  Lots to choose from.  And all on sale!

More pretty quilts!  And if you don’t recognize the one on the right, you haven’t been paying attention on this blog.

Kits for a cute, simple table runner, some wool pieces and a cute scissor fob with kits for it too.

So if you’re in the Colleyville, TX area this week, come by and pick up a cute kit for a Christmas quilt.  Everything Christmas related is 20% off!  Refreshments and free patterns too.  I hope to see you there.

 

Merry Christmas in July!
Barb
P.S.  Do not look for my placemats while there.  That project got put on the back burner for a bit.  Too many things going on!  And you will see them completed here soon.  Stay tuned….

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One Down, One to Go

Posted on July 17, 2010 by Barb

A deadline.  Again.  But you know me by now.  It’s what I live for.  To finish just in the nick of time.  And get no sleep in the process.  Will I ever learn?

My latest deadline is Monday.  That’s when Christmas in July begins at Quilter’s Dream, the Quilt Shop where I work.  I really need to get my two projects finished before Monday, because they need to be hung in the shop before the customers arrive Monday morning.  My goal was to get them both finished by Friday night.  But I have a new plan.  One project is placemats and I figure they can go on a table in the Christmas Room and be thrown there at the last possible minute Monday morning.  Good plan, isn’t it?

And the good news?  I finished the other project.  So I thought I’d show it to you.  To get you fired up to come to the Shop next week and see it in person.  I’m very pleased with the result.

Here it is as I was quilting it.  I love the colors and I love plaid.  And it’s flannel.  The softest flannel you’ve ever touched.  I wish we had touch-a-vision on this blog.  Because you really need to touch this fabric.  It is so soft.  And I will enjoy it much more when it’s not 125 degrees outside.

Isn’t it great?  Would be a good manly Christmas gift, don’t ya think?

With polka dots on the back.  I like polka dots too.  Almost as much as I love plaid.  And stripes.  This is my kind of snuggly quilt.

The border is actually a houndstooth check.  And you want to know the best part?  None of that center fabric is pieced.  It’s all one big piece of fabric.  Printed with those little four patches and blocks.  Cool, huh?  So all I did was sew the borders on and quilt lines where the seams would be if it were pieced.  Too fool everyone into thinking that it was pieced.  Did I fool you?  I’m calling this one “Last Minute Lap Warmer.”  You can throw it together at the last minute.  Like I did.  To meet my deadline.  I’m sneaky that way.

And after the binding was all finished, I had to throw it in the washer.  Because I love even more the soft, snuggly crinkledness that quilts get after they are washed.  It’s in the dryer right now.  And I have a feeling I will have to take another picture when it is dry.  Because it will be even more photogenic then.  Didn’t know quilts could be photogenic, did ya?

I also had to have a treat.  Because I had worked hard all evening.  So I had some of this.

Please disregard the fact that it says “low fat” in big letters.  I didn’t let that stop me from having a big bowl.  And it was good even if it was low fat.

Doesn’t it look pretty in this bright orange fiesta bowl?  And then, just because I could, I did this:

Because anything is better with chocolate fudge sauce and because Dear Hubby had bought it and because I deserved it.  I ate the whole thing.  It was very yummy.  Orange, Pineapple, Raspberry Sherbet is quite good smothered in chocolate fudge sauce.  In case you were wondering.

Boo sat right next to the computer and watched intently as I ate the whole thing.  He didn’t even want to lick the bowl when I was done.  He just wanted to watch for some reason.  And I had to post that picture because I think it’s cool.  He moved as I took it and also the shutter stayed open quite awhile because there was not enough light.  Isn’t it weird how you can see right through his ear and the top of his head?  He looks kind of ghost-like, doesn’t he?  Anyway, Boo wanted to say hi to my blog friends and I thought you should see that cool picture.

I also had a fun thing happen at the Quilt Guild meeting today.  I met Bertha.  And I wanted you to meet her too.

I thought I was going to save Bertha’s picture and one day do a posting about the people who read my blog.  But I couldn’t wait.  I wanted you to meet Bertha!  Bertha told me today that she reads my blog every day.  Right after she reads the obituaries.  I’m happy to be a part of Bertha’s day.  Isn’t she just the cutest?  “You made my day, Bertha! Thanks for reading and being my friend in Blogland.”

By the way, Suz, it was 1:50.  So I wasn’t too far off now, was I?

Hugs,
Barb

Posted in Boo, food, quilts | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

My Bucket List

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Barb

OK – I confess.  I don’t really have a Bucket List.  But if I did have one, I’d have something to cross off today.  It could be a good thing to blog about, don’t ya think?  Maybe you all can help me come up with more things to add.  For the sake of the blog and all.  I fear this blogging thing could get me into severe trouble. 

Oh, well.  Here’s my list as of today:

Barb’s Bucket List

  1. Fly in a glider airplane with Dear Hubby
  2. Mush a dog sled in Alaska

So there you have it.  Two things already crossed off.  Bet if I thought about it, I could come up with a few more.  Although I think it defeats the idea of a list, if you add things and cross them off at the same time?  Not sure that’s what a Bucket List is intended to be.  But it works for me.  So we’ll just leave it that way for now.  Be sure to let me know if you think there are things I should add.

And now for some pictures of item #1.  From today.  I must say that I got a bad case of nerves when I thought about the day.  And almost tried to get out of it.  But I had promised Dear Hubby and I wanted to be supportive of his hobby.  He’s as passionate about flying as I am about quilting, so I was trying to keep things in perspective.  And be excited about it for him.  Of course, “excited” translated to “I want to throw up now” for me.  But what’s a Bucket List item if it doesn’t involve a little fear and trepidation?  And I did manage to keep my lunch down for those of you who might be concerned about those pictures.  Not to worry.  You can keep on reading.

This is what a glider airplane looks like.  And that’s Dear Hubby behind the tree limb, pushing the plane out to the starting place on the runway.  I was taking this picture from inside the little office area where the air conditioner was going strong.  Did I mention that it was 125 degrees outside?  At least that’s what it felt like.  So I was smart and staying where it was cool.  And getting wimpier by the minute.  I was also thinking that anything that could be pushed on the tip of the wing with two fingers was not something I wanted to be inside of when it left the ground.

Dear Hubby checking out the plane to make sure it’s flight worthy.  Don’t you love his Gilligan hat?  It’s his favorite.  He nearly had to let me use it for my lunch while we were flying…. if you get my meaning.  Some sacrifice, don’t ya think?

Of course it doesn’t help when the signs that greet you when you arrive look like this:

Did they think I might want to stand in front of a moving plane?  Just because I was green doesn’t mean I was crazy.

When I saw this one, I wanted to claim to be a small child.  Or a cat or dog.  Just so I’d have to stay behind the fence and off the field.  Anytime you go somewhere and the signs that greet you say “Danger” in big, peeling letters, I’m thinking you might want to rethink what you’re about to do.  And I was feeling very unauthorized.

But nothing doing.  Dear Hubby took me out and before I knew it I was strapped in.  I mean really strapped in!  If I’d seen the “ask 21” sign on the side before I got in, I would most certainly have claimed not to be.

Here’s another view.  Did I mention that the gray thing strapped to my back was a parachute?  Another reason to get out now – before leaving the ground.  And that is really not a smile on my face.  That’s a “get me out of here; what have I agreed to do” look.

This is Robert, the Tow Plane Pilot.  I informed him that I was the Official Photographer for this flight.  And after they gave me instructions for how to jettison the canopy, get out of my seatbelt and pull the cord on the parachute in case of an emergency, I informed him that I would not be hanging on to my camera as well.  But that I would get as many shots as I could on the way down and would he please recover the camera when he recovered the rest of the debris.  He promised that he would post all the pictures on the internet for me.  See how I’m always looking out for you, my faithful blog followers?  “Thank you, Robert!”  And thank you, God, that Robert didn’t have to post the pictures for me.

Robert took this picture for us.  I think he did it so that when he recovered the SD card from the camera, he might remember the people that it belonged to.  This was also just before they closed those canopies over us and we became an instant greenhouse.  And the temperature went up to about 350 degrees and I was feeling well-done.  And all that was before we even moved an inch.

You see there’s a good news/bad news thing when it comes to flying gliders.  Without the heat, you don’t have “thermals” to help you gain altitude, but you might be more comfortable in the greenhouse.  And with the heat, you have great thermals for lift, but you get to sweat like crazy and be very uncomfortable too.  Just a little lesson in flying for your day.

This was my view of Gilligan in the plane.  You can tell by the altimeter that at this point we were just a little over 1,000 feet in the air.  Mark had told Robert that we were going to release at 3,000 feet.  That was when he had all the confidence in the world that I was going to feel fine for the entire flight.  That was before I informed him at about 1,000 feet that I was feeling a bit queasy.  But he told me to tell him!  I hadn’t counted on him using those few words to decide to release the tow rope early.  He thought he was going to have to turn right around and get this flying greenhouse on the ground quickly to avoid having things on the back of his head that he had not counted on.  But I then figured out how to get some cool air blowing on me and I felt better.  So, good pilot that he is, he found us some thermals and he made some very gradual climbs that kept his passenger happy and we were able to stay up for about 32 hours.  Well, OK, maybe it was only 20 minutes.  But who’s counting anyway?  We actually could have stayed up much longer, but the silly passenger got a bit lightheaded and made the flying-loving pilot return to the ground.  At one point my altimeter read 1,700!  Isn’t it amazing to think that you can do that without an engine?  Guess this truly was “flying like a bird.”  And although it wasn’t as quiet as I thought it was going to be, it was much quieter than flying in a small plane with an engine.  Those things are noisy!  And now that I’ve gotten my feet wet, maybe I’ll be braver and we can go higher next time.  Wait!  Did I just say “next time?”  Do not tell Dear Hubby I said that!  I’ll deny it!  Oh, phooey….. I forgot he reads my blog.  Maybe he’ll miss that part.  Not.  On this particular blog, I’m sure he’ll read every word.  It is his passion after all.

Here are a few pics from the air….

The airport.  Quite frankly the view from the air isn’t all that breathtaking or exciting.  I suppose if you were flying over Pike’s Peak in Colorado Springs – which Dear Hubby has done in a glider – it would be.  Probably too breathtaking and exciting for this grounded quilter.  I’m happy with a short flight over Texas.  So I can add it to and cross it off the Bucket List all in one day.

Here’s a pic that Dear Hubby took of me – over his shoulder – in the air.  Please disregard the triple chin.  Too much Pioneer Woman cooking, I guess.

And here’s one that I took of myself in the air.  You can see a lot in my glasses!  Including the camera, the back of DH’s hat, my arms….

If you want to see more of the flight, we also took video!  Dear Hubby edited it and we’ve uploaded it to YouTube.  You can view it here.

Here’s Dear Hubby on the ground after the flight.  That smile is deceiving.  It’s really a “I wish I were still up at 3,000 feet” look.  I know that look.  I’ve seen it before.  He is a Happy Camper on a day when he gets to fly.

And this is me after the flight.  I know that look too.  It’s a “I am very happy to be back on the ground, please show me to the air conditioned room” look.  And a “did I really just fly like a bird in that little thing behind me?” look.

Please take me back to the sewing room where I’ve got some catching up to do.  Maybe I’ll teach Hubby to quilt so he can bond with my passion.  Or maybe I’ll just let him have his and I’ll have mine.  Works for me!

By the way, here’s another list that just got started at dinner:

Dear Hubby’s Bucket List

  1. Take Dear Wifey flying in sail plane

Happy Soaring!
Barb

Posted in airplanes, just stuff | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Family & Procrastination

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Barb

I have at least 4 million and one things to do.  So what am I doing instead?  Blogging.  Because I am the World’s Worst Procrastinator.  Or is that the World’s Best Procrastinator.  Whatever.  I am it.  Procrastination is my middle name.  I thrive on doing things at the very last possible moment.  Makes everyone else crazy.

Next Monday begins Christmas in July at Quilter’s Dream.  And I have two, count them, two projects that need to be completed.  And not many more days for that to happen.  So just as soon as I finish this blog today, I’m all over the sewing.  And maybe by Sunday at 4 a.m. you’ll get to see the results.  Boo might be taking the pictures.

But first….. my family came to visit this week!  And although I was not a very good photographer, they were also not very willing subjects.  But I snuck in a few shots here and there.  It was a bit difficult because they spent the whole day yesterday doing one thing.  Wii Golf.  With Tiger.  Actually they were all Tiger.  It was hard to know whose score was whose.  They all said Tiger on the screen.  Wishful thinking on their part, don’t ya think?

This is Tiger Isaac taking his swing.  You can tell he’s swinging by the blurry hands.  I think he got a hole-in-one.  They all got at least one hole-in-one.  Apparently Wii Golf is way easier than the real thing.  I watched.  Didn’t want to mess up their hole-in-one statistics.

These girls watched too.  That’s niece, Jennifer on the left and sister, Cindy on the right.  We let the kids and the boys do the golfing.

Here’s Tiger Emma taking her “hit the ball out of the park” wind-up swing.  Oops!  Wrong sport.  She got a hole-in-one too.  And she’s a lefty.  Either that or she just happened to be standing on that side of the Big Screen Golf Course.  Better known as a TV.

Tiger Jeff takes his swing for a hole-in-one.  Notice how Tiger Isaac maintained his best seat in the house for viewing status.  He didn’t want to miss a single swing.

This picture makes me laugh.  Dear Tiger Hubby put his all into his swing and became one big blur as he smashed that little golf ball.  But the really funny part is the spectators.  They have absolutely no regard for the golfer.  Their eyes are totally fixed on the Big Screen Golf Course.  The golfer could crumble to a heap and need a paramedic and they wouldn’t even notice.  They would just wonder why nothing was happening on the Big Screen Golf Course.  I think On Screen Dear Tiger Hubby actually layed on the ground and kicked his feet after one swing.  Apparently he did not get a hole-in-one on that one.

Sis, Niece Jennifer, Great-Niece Emma and I took some time out to go to a movie in the afternoon.  The boys were in exactly the same spot when we got home.  Waiting for dinner.  Then back to the game.  They were on a Tiger Mission apparently.  A Mission for just one more hole-in-one.  Then Sis, Niece Jennifer and I went to the Beauty Shop for Niece Jennifer to get a haircut.

Isn’t it cute?  She has great hair.  I wish she could share some with me.

Then before they left for Colorado to visit Gram and Gramps, we had another visitor.

Meet Dixie.  Sorry she’s a bit blurry.  We need to get new animals in our family that are not black.  They would be more photogenic.  But apparently we like black pets.

Boo wasn’t quite sure what to do about Dixie.

But Dixie sort of thought she wanted to play with the big, black animal.

And she definitely wanted to play with all the animal’s toys!

“Come on, Boo.  Let’s play!  I can take you on.  I know I can.”  Too bad that Boo outweighs Dixie by about 8 to 1.

And after Boo cleared his throat a few times and tried to bop Dixie on the nose, Dixie gave up and just played with every cat toy in the house while Boo watched.  By the way Dixie belongs to my other sis, who came over to meet the travelers and they all headed to Colorado to visit the folks.

Don’t they look extremely excited for a 13 hour drive?  Not.

Bro-in-law Jim is banned from ever wearing a black shirt while holding Dixie again.  At least for the sake of the pictures that is.

Bye everyone!  I am very happy to have projects that are keeping me at home this week.  I don’t treasure 13 hour drives with 6 other people in a van. 

I prefer a larger mode of travel.  And Dear Hubby is repairing the roof so this one doesn’t leak any rain water on us.  “Good job, DH!”

Dixie says bye too.  And I’m gonna work on finding a camera setting for “black furry subjects.”  I’m sure there’s one on the camera somewhere.

Sewing away while the rest of them ride in a van,
Barb

Posted in Boo, just stuff | Tagged , , | 5 Comments