I like...

….unplanned time!

I know, it's a strange "like", but

this Summer, my time and schedule

has been so planned out, that I am

ready for some free time...

Time to do whatever I want...

No deadlines to meet...

No expectations of others to fulfill...

I want to go for a picnic in the Mountains

I want to sew for as long as I want

I want to read into the night

and maybe all day too!

I like unscheduled time!

See other lovely "I like" posts at

Not Afraid of Color

I'm having trouble posting

Ever since I installed Windows Vista, all my posts are messed up...I need my daughter V's computer smart boyfriend to figure out this problem pronto.

I didn't get any sewing and/or quilting done today. I did repair a some PJ bottoms for my SIL...new elastic. I did get my monthly free needles at the sewing machine dealer I purchased my machine from in December. Only two more months of freebies. I picked up some patterns and material over the Memorial Holiday for some Summer outfits for the granddaughters. Hopefully, I'll get the clothes sewn and see the girls before the Fall! I did start to take the inventory on my sewing/quilting items. I started with a three-ring binder with photo's of the room-each wall. I have also began to organize the photo's of the quilts I have made....though I have many quilts out there I never got photos of at the time.

In closing:(I remembered for this post).....favorite place to visit every so often...Antelope Island, here in Utah. I live about 10 miles from it. The island sits in the Great Salt Lake. It is connected to the shore by a nine mile causeway. The lake water has such a high salt content (higher than most oceans) that anyone can float. Just don't open your eyes underwater.....painful! The photo below, by Phil Douglis, is the view I have from shore when the weather is clear.

The island is home to a huge herd of Buffalo. Each Spring, our neighbors go over onto the Island on horseback or on ATV's and help with the Buffalo Roundup. The local vets check the animals for disease or injuries and make sure the herd is healthy. One year, a mommie buffalo died in childbirth, so a baby was left to die. A local man "adopted" it and raised it with his horses and cattle. He taught the buffalo to walk on a lease....they were stars of our city parade every summer for years. After a few years, the buffalo got too large (when was he ever small?) to walk among humans, so he "retired" to a cattle herd. Buffalo can live for a very long time...lots longer than cattle.

I like to go to the the island, because it makes me feel like I am at the ocean, and I REALLY miss living by/visiting the ocean. I grew up until 18 years old never living more than a mile or two away from the pacific ocean. It's hard to get sea water out of your veins!!!!!!

Do you have a favorite place? Why and where? Share on your blog.....

I learned ALOT at quilt meeting yesterday....mainly, that I have not insured my quilting items well enough in case of a disaster. Our speaker, Linda, is a quilt appraiser, but she also organizes quilting/sewing rooms for insurance needs. Here are some of her ideas/suggestions:

1.Organize first to see what you have-take an inventory-write it all down

2.Take photo's of your room/shelves/closet/drawers/furniture-keep photo's & inventory list somewhere safe outside your home. What should you list:
Machines and furniture/tables/lamps.....how much do you have invested in your Machine(s)
Fabric-by the yard, fat quarters, jelly rolls....do not list it by the price you got it on sale, but the full current price you would pay to replace it
Equipment:Rotary cutter(s), Scissors, rulers, pins, seam rippers, etc.
Thread: How many spools do you have....I have 107 (I counted last night)

Patterns/Books:Again, the replacement price, not the sale price.

Quilt appraisals:The price to put on it is not the material and thread you have in it, but what would it cost you to PAY someone to reproduce it, including the cost of materials.

One thing she shared for bloggers....you can save your blog to a memory stick concerning your quilt post that show a completed quilt (size and description in post) and take it to your insurance man as proof of lost items.

I am giving myself a challenge....to inventory my sewing room over the next 30 days, including:

Sewing machines: 4
Equipments:rulers, rotary cutters, scissors, etc.
Thread:already done-107
Fabric:this is going to take time!
Patterns/Books: Oh my!

I am also going to have a couple quilts appraised at the Utah Guild Meeting in September (free service provided for up to 2 quilts per quilter)

Has anyone else already done this? Anyone want to take the challenge?

The dress is done, so this weekend..

I can do something else! Weeding....sleeping.....cleaning....quilting.....reading! So many choices!

V's dress is very cute. I'll have photo's tomorrow when they attend the actual prom. V is very creative with her sewing. She has been in my sewingroom since she could crawl, so maybe some magical sewing fairy has influenced her for the good all these years. She finds a pattern for a basic dress, then goes from there. Her prom dress is a retro 1950-1960's look. The pattern is a strapless fitted bodice with a pleated skirt that goes just below the knee. She added straps that are trimmed with ribbon that she also used in a belt. I did the zipper (badly) since she doesn't do zippers. She is alot more advanced in her sewing ability then I was at 18 years old. My Mom was a supreme seamstress, so I never had much need to do it myself if Mom could do it faster, easier and better. It is definitely prom season on the blogs....over at dressaday and quiltswithlove both have posts about creating prom dresses.

We made our annual trip to J & J Nursery last night for veggie garden plants. We start alot from seeds each Spring ourselves, but some plants don't do well that way in our area, so it's easier to buy plants. We got tomatoes, peppers(sweet & hot & call 911!), zucchini, cucumbers, and pumpkins. We are also going to try cantaloupe and watermelon this Summer. I picked up 6 new herbs to add to my kitchen herbs. It's still freezing at night, so the plants go out on the porch during the day and back in the house during the night. Izzy the cat has attacked a couple plants for fun.....bad kitty!

I have continued the indexing for the Family History project online. We had a new assighment come out today......letters and documents for the Freeman Project. Some of these records will be the only records some African American searchers will ever have to follow their trail back to their own ancestors. There are all sorts of records, so when I sign on to index them, I never know if I am going to be looking at a land record, or a marriage record, or a death record. We are trying to have everything indexed and double checked for publishing to the internet by June. Lots of work to do!

Happy weekend!

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.........