Everything but quilting

I think I have done everything but quilting today!

I spent 2 hours in the storage room cleaning up/inventoring our food storage. Our Church encourages to have a one year supply of clothing, food, and water on hand for emergencies....disasters, loss of spouse, loss of income, etc. I usually do some canning each Summer to Fall, like jams, salsa, tomatoes, fruits. I don't think we could live on what we have currently for a year. Maybe 5-6 months. I would also be serving very boring meals....lots of tomato based meals or treats (cakes, muffins, brownies). Could I live off of brownies and spaghetti sauce for 6 months? (I think I actually did, back in college!)

Today was also a windfall of postcards. I received mail from Germany(2), Malaysia, Maine, California & Connecticut. I need to purchase some art/museum cards at a local museum to send out by the end of the week.

Daughter V has not finished her dress for the Prom. Let me see, today is Tuesday and prom in Saturday......oh, she has loads of time. Talked to a friend Jenny yesterday, and she said her mom didn't have her dress done in time, so she sewed Jenny into it about 15 minutes before her date arrived. That's cutting it too close for me!

Happy Earth Day!

What a week!

I got looking at my blog and realized it had been a few days of no posting...the days have been just flying by this week.

I got involved in a few new postcard exchanges: Things with feathers, Springtime, Critters and Museum art postcards. This week I 've gotten cards from all parts of the USA, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe. The best card? The one from my niece J and her family in the Azores (South of Portugal).

When last I posted I was taking dinner to the new three. It went great. We had baked chicken with onions, cold mustard potato salad, brown rice done in a chicken stock with mushrooms, rolls, tropical jello salad with mandarin oranges, pineapple and raspberries(from my vines), plus a couple of veggies. For dessert....E's favorite....apple cobbler. Her MIL loved the dinner and not having to cook for a change....said we should do this once a week! I had planned to steal baby Tayge, but he had a meal of his own in mind, so E spent most of dinner nursing in the other room. It sure was hard to go home. I just didn't get enough baby/grandma time!

I have not sewn for an entire week....very strange! I am going to make a couple of receiving blankets for a baby shower tomorrow-another boy. My sewing room is so clean, I almost hate to destroy it!

I have done alot of indexing for the Family History program this week. The project did a major computer upgrade on Tuesday, and now it is even easier/faster to index. The 1905 Wisconsin Census is finished, so now I am doing the Irish 1945-1958 death index. The most common names: Boys-Thomas, Michael, Patrick and James....Girls:Mary, Margaret, Bridgit, and Ann/Anne/Annie/Anna.

On to the sewing room.........

Goals and learning new things

Devils Gate, Wyoming

Completed Sept 2007

I decided to try and get my quilting projects/goals done off of my "to-do" list right from the start, instead of always letting them drop to bottom and not getting done. I received the vintage row quilt #2 directions of Tuesday and got it done of Wednesday. I think it looks pretty good. I've never done pinwheels before. The photo with this post is a 8" X 11" wallhanging I did in a night class last September at the Utah Annual Quilt Fest. I made the goal to have it done immediately, and I did...hand appliqued and machine quilted in 2 days. I loved the class!

No baby yet...poor mommy-to-be, but it's better he stays in there for the fullest time instead of coming out too early!

I played on the computer this week and went to quilting.about.com to their art quilt forum. I found out what "discharging" is....basically, removing the color from the fabric. I also watched a TV show yesterday (unusally for me) called "Quilting Arts" with pokey somebody (didn't catch her last name) and saw the technique of adding fibers and adding colored foil to your work. I had seen both at the art quilt T and I went to last week, but didn't know how to do it. Of course, now I am ready to jump in and try all these fun procedures. One poster of quilting.about.com said she was going to make a list of all the new techniques she wanted to try and then pick one each week to experiment with...I may just try that too!

T and I were suppose to go somewhere today and do something quilt related to celebrate National Quilting Day (one day early) but she got too busy-she's a VERY busy woman! I may spend this evening or part of tomorrow doing something quilt related. I have kept up on my "10 minutes a day of quilting" goal from Quilting Diva.

Postcards:I received cards from Paris (France), Bristol (England?), Pennsylvania (USA) and Vancouver B.C.(Canada). I sent a card to the Netherlands to a girl named Suzanne....to Suzanne from Suzanne!

Suzanne

Sunny, cold Sunday

My hubby did some outdoors clean up yesterday when it was about 50 degrees...then it snowed a few inches last night. I am very ready for Spring! I want to see bulbs bursting out of the wet ground into beautiful blooms...I want to wear just one long sleeve shirt and not layers....I want to walk the dogs without spending more time dressing to go out compared to being outdoors.

I spent a quiet day indoors today (missed Church) because of a bad cold. I watched a video, worked on this blog layout (still not completely happy with it) and slept a few times.

I realized that I made many "lists" on this blog and got thinking about my life and my lists. I am always making lists. I have lists for the family, grocery shopping, quilt meeting (I'm one of the program planners for 2008), doctor visits, calls to make, birthday cards to send out....lists, lists, lists! Am I accomplishing anything with these to-do papers? Most of the time....yes.

Looking forward to this week, my "list" includes-driving to school, babysitting so a friend can go to the Temple, E's baby shower, sewing/quilting, cleaning, cooking, book club and a dentist visit for me. I am also going to send out postcards for the "wish you were here" exchange, plus one for postcrossing.com.

Have a very productive week, with or without a list!

Suzanne

Saturday is a special day!

I still remember singing the song "Saturday is a special day" when I was a kid. Okay, I sing it as an adult too!

"Saturday is a special day,
It's the day we get ready for Sunday;
We clean the house and we shop at the store,
so we won't have to work until Monday;
We brush our clothes and we shine our shoes,
And we call it our"get-the-work-done" day;
Then we trim our nails and we shampoo our hair,
so we can be ready for Sunday!"

Music by Chester W Hill
Lyrics by Rita S Robinson


Saturday's are always so busy, trying to get ready for the Sabbath and the upcoming week.

Hubby did tons of laundry and some Spring clean up outside (if Spring ever comes). Meanwhile, I ran errands: gave out the rest of the invites for E's baby shower, meet E at BabysRUs for some supplies, filled up the gas tank (pump shock!) and purchased the quilting/stipling foot for my new Viking Sapphrie 830 (sewing machine). We've had a hard time finding cloth diapers (my eco-friendly daughter!) that are good/thick/useful....I may have to make some-yuck!

I also got a new postcard from Australia-Kookaburra Bird card for my bird card exchange on sawp-bots.com. I mailed out 5 pc's for the "people" card exchange-used up my Minerva Teichert painting cards of pioneer women.

I use to blog alot on a weight lose site for about a year.....didn't lose much weight, but figured out alot of things/situations that had been bothering me with some relationships and situations.

Looking forward to a productive week of sewing/quilting and the upcoming baby shower. I can't believe E is going to be a mommy! My baby is having a baby in just a few weeks! She is sticking out pretty good and I think she is ready to have that baby in her arms and out of her body. I remember those feelings, even if it was a billion years ago.......