How Funky Is Your Chicken?

The quilt shop in my mother-in-law's hometown is giving you the background material and asking you to make a chicken block out of it and return your block to them. When they have enough chicken blocks to make a quilt, they have a volunteer put the quilt together. The quilt will then be sold or raffled, I don't know which they are doing, and the money will go to the domestic abuse shelter. You may also donate finished quilts to the shelter. They try to supply all of the ladies and children with a homemade quilt when they leave the shelter. You may go here to view free patterns of other chickens and critters!

I normally don't enjoy doing applique projects. When the quilt shop owner asked me if I would do one, I was hesitant to take her chicken wire material. The Princess opens her big yap and says, "Take it, Mom, I'll do it". I accepted the material, thinking, "Whew, I got out of that one!" By the time we finished shopping and got back out to the van, the Princess informed me she didn't know if she would have time to do the block because she had graduation gifts to finish and two summer jobs. Great! Now I have to make the stupid chicken. It actually was fun, simple and not too putzy, though. I did not mind it all once I got started!

The top picture has the eye sitting on, but not sewn on yet. I don't know if I like the eye or not. Do you think I should make a different color eye, embroider one on or not have an eye on there at all? The King says the chicken has to have an eye, it would be rude to give someone a blind chicken. I see his point, but I also thought it looks a little too busy with all the stitching in that small area. Any ideas, input or opinions?

1948??

Pic courtesy of Google

A couple of weeks ago we were at Dan and Carol's, the King's parents, house. They are doing a huge spring cleaning, decluttering, remodeling project. Carol had a chest full of magazines and craft patterns that she wanted to go through. We started hauling piles and piles of patterns and magazines from her chest to the table and going through them one by one. We worked on this for three hours, then it was time for us to leave. She had to finish up on her own, and we were not half way done!

All of the magazines I saw were craft magazines, covering a wide range of decades! Several of them were from the eighties. I remember looking at those with her when the King and I were dating! I never dreamt she still had them. Many of the magazines were from the seventies. Her girls graduated from high school in the late seventies and the King was in high school during the late seventies. That meant she had a lot more time on her hands than she had had for several years. She still has many afghans in her house that she crocheted during this time. All of her kids have afghans she crocheted then.

We found a few magazines from the early sixties, when her children were quite young. As we looked through those patterns, she showed me toys and Christmas ornaments she had made for her kids. Her writing was even on some of the patterns, marking her place!

One pile I pulled out of the back of the chest had several magazines from the forties! Are you kidding me, Carol? 1948? You were only seven years old then! What are you doing with these oldies?!! They had been her Mom's. We started looking through some of those old, smelly, musty patterns! We saw her Mom's writing on some of them, marking where she had left off. Many of the patterns during this time frame were for crocheting or knitting doilies, tableclothes, lace on the edge of a ladies handkerchief. Carol and I were both able to pick out doilies that her Mom had made for us! Did she still use these magazines in the eighties and nineties, or did she have the pattern memorized by then? Neither of us know. I can still see her sitting in her chair, crocheting, but I never looked for a pattern. As soon as someone showed up at her home, she would put whatever she was working on off to the side.

A few days ago I was talking to Carol on the phone. I asked her if she finished going through the chest of magazines yet. Yes, she had. I asked her if she found any more of the old ones. She found one from 1936! She believes that pattern book was her Grandma's! There was writing in there, too, but she does not know if it is her Grandma's writing or not. That particular book had patterns of crocheted edgings on ladies dress collars. Carol remembers a few of her Grandma's dresses having a fancy edging on them. I am assuming those were her "good" dresses. I wouldn't think she would have taken the time to doll up her everyday dresses like that. But maybe she did, who am I to say?

At first I was laughing at Carol because she had stacks and stacks of craft magazines stashed in her trunk. However, as we got going through them, it brought back many memories for both of us. It was neat to look through some of those ancient patterns, too. There were a few patterns for crocheting the edges on pillow cases. I remember seeing some of those when I was a child. I don't know if they were at one of my Great-Grandma's houses, a Grandma's house, our own house or somebody else's house. Too bad we don't pay more attention to some of that stuff when we are little tykes.

Free Day

Normally I work in our church office on Thursday mornings. This morning was no different; I got there around 7:20 am, fired up the computer and went into the kitchen to get a pitcher of water to take care of the plants. When I was finished with the plants, I went back into my office to check the e-mails, but my computer was not on. Hmmm…I thought for sure I had turned it on. I must have meant to, but never did…so I turned it on. I then grabbed some of my dishes from the church kitchen and took them out to my vehicle. Went back into the office, and my computer wasn’t on. This time I know for a fact that I had turned it on. I tried to turn it on again, no go. Check the cords; everything is the way it should be. Try to turn it on again, nothing. I told the Pastor I broke the computer, it won’t work at all or even turn on. He came and looked it over and he couldn’t get it to do anything, either. Pastor thinks that computer is eight or nine years old and that it has reached the end of its life span. While he and the elders figure out what to do about another computer, I get the day off! Now it is a free day, for me to do whatever I want! So many choices, too. I can crochet on my next afghan, work on Trucker’s quilt, make a table runner for my sister-in-law’s birthday, bake some goodies so our cookie tin isn’t bare, read my book, prepare Sunday’s Sunday School lesson or do some cleaning. I don’t think anyone should do cleaning on a free day though. A free day should be a fun day, don’t ya agree?!!

Pattern is called Remnants and can be found in Afghans For All Seasons Book 3.

I finished this afghan last week. My yarn cupboard was over flowing, so I needed to use some of the yarn up. The Princess thinks it is an ugly afghan! I will be sure to remind her of that when she is snuggled up in it on the couch. I have to admit, it’s not the prettiest one I ever made, but I remember where most of the scraps came from that I used up. The pink is from the Princess’s afghan. The dark green and gray are from an afghan I made for my Grandma several years ago, I think my Aunt and Uncle have that afghan now. The blue is leftover from a 25th wedding anniversary afghan I made for some friends. Mom bought the orange for me at a garage sale along with a garbage bag full of yarn. The mint green was used for the King’s brother’s wedding gift. Even if it is an ugly afghan, every time I look at it it will remind me of all the other people that kind of are a part of this blanket!

Quilting Boo Boo

pic courtesy of Mom

Last night I was working on Trucker’s quilt. I was sewing strips together when I realized that I didn’t have the same number of strips of each material. How did I manage that? I re-read the pattern. Yikes! I am only supposed to sew six strips together and I already have twelve or fifteen done. Shoot! I will be spending some time ripping seams out this week.

Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment. I have not had a cavity since I was a little tyke, I hope that is still the case. After my appointment I am going to take my resume into a few places around town. We’ll see if anything comes of that.

For the fun part of tomorrow, I get to make the King’s birthday supper. His birthday is today, but he was ice fishing with a friend and Trucker. Since they didn’t bring any fish home, we are having beef roast with mashed potatoes and gravy. Oh yeah, peas too. Gross!

The Two, Three or Four Year Afghan

The Princess's afghan.

The pattern came from Herschners Blue-Ribbon Afghans.

I saw this afghan and pattern in a book several years ago. I knew right away that I wanted to make this for our Princess. It is a big, heavy afghan; the kind I knew she would like to snuggle up in.

I was in WalMart one day and saw bright pink yarn. I thought she would like the color, but did not know for sure. A few months later she and I were in a Good Will store, and there was the yarn – much cheaper than it was in WalMart. I showed the Princess the yarn and she said she liked the color. That was two or three years ago! Maybe four, I don’t know!

We got the yarn home and I started on the afghan. I like to crochet during the evenings while watching tv. This afghan was too thick and heavy to have sitting on your lap during the summer months, so I didn’t even try to crochet then. It was strictly a winter project. During the last couple of years, I learned how to make quilts. Quilt making then took some time away from her afghan. Along the way I quit working on her blanket to crochet a baby blanket or a wedding gift. The Princess was beginning to think she was never going to have her afghan. I was beginning to think the same thing!

This fall I was sick of the half finished afghan sitting in a basket in the living room. I told myself it was going to get done this year. I always leave the crochet hook in the project I am working on. That way I can pick it up at any time and start working on it. One Sunday during football games, I picked the blanket up to crochet on it some. The hook is gone. Where could it be? I had just used it a week or two before. I looked every where for it, but I only have three spots that I put crochet hooks. As I said, if I am working on a project – I keep the hook with the project, I also have a pottery dish on the end table that I put a hook in once in a while if I know I will need it soon. Other wise, all crochet hooks are on the top shelf of a hallway closet.

I asked both kids if they had seen the hook. Nope, they have not seen it. I asked the King one day after work if he has seen it. I even told them what color it was. As soon as I told the King that it was a bronze color and had been in the basket with the afghan, he got a dorky smirk on his face. I knew right then he knew where it was. He told me that might be the one he used to rig up suckers for fall musky fishing! What?? He didn’t think I would need it or even realize it was gone?!!

At least I knew where the missing hook was at now. He said it was probably in his tackle box. That’s okay, you can leave it there! I’m thinking it was probably all scratched up and nicked, and then it will catch the yarn and snag it. Instead he was using it to snag a musky!

Now I need a new size K hook. The King said I had to have another hook the same size. He informed me I had a thousand hooks on that shelf! He didn’t think it was any big deal when he took the hook because I would have another one just like it on that shelf. I didn’t think I had another size K hook. I think I have one of each size, but no reason to have duplicates. He went looking in the closet; and sure enough I did have another K hook, but it was a plastic one. I used it, but don’t really like plastic hooks. I prefer the metal ones. I worked with this hook for a few days, and then it was missing. What the heck? Now what happened to this one? I knew the King would not take this one because it was plastic and because he already had one. Again, I ask the family if they have seen this hook. Again, no one has. I am going to buy another K hook. Or so I planned. I checked our Pamida, quilt shop, WalMart and the WalMart where my mother-in-love lives. All musky fishermen must’ve needed size K hooks, because I couldn’t find one any where.

In casual conversation, Mom mentioned to me that she was going to WalMart to finish up her Christmas shopping. I told her about my whole crochet hook story and asked her if she would look for one for me. By now the Princess is convinced she will never have her afghan. I am ready to throw the whole thing in the garbage and call it done. While vacuuming one day, I find the plastic hook, full of dog tooth marks. Toad struck again!

Well, for the happy ending to this saga…Mom found me a metal size K crochet hook and gave it to me for Christmas. I was then able to finish the Princess’s afghan. As with every thing I make for people, I prayed a ton for our little girl who is no longer a little girl (even if she was when I started the thing!). I hope that every time she uses her three-year afghan she will remember how much I love her.

Next time I use a size K hook, I will have all kinds of memories! Thanks, Mom, for saving the day and saving the Princess’s afghan!

A close up picture of the afghan and the size K hook! The top picture is the color of the yarn, I don't know why this picture made it look more red.

It is finally done. Well, kind of. I had trouble on the corners, so I am going to ask the King’s Mom to help me fix those. I will see Carol over Thanksgiving, only two days before the baby shower that I need this quilt for. Hopefully she can work her magic and the corners will be much better.

Since it is not perfect, they will know it was homemade! As with any gift I make for anyone, I prayed for the recipient. I prayed that this little baby will grow up knowing Jesus. I prayed for the baby’s health. Many prayers went up for the parents, Joe and Megan. I asked God to give them wisdom in raising this little life, to give them patience, to set a Godly example for their baby and for lots of love in their home.

A few days ago I posted about the backing for this quilt. I went with the Princess’s advice and used pastel material for the backing. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but the back is peach with little white polka dots. Imagine that, she picked out something with polka dots!

Now that I am done with this quilt, it is time to get started on Trucker’s again. I think I only have 240 strips left to cut. Ughhhhh! Maybe I will wait for Mom and Marv to come visit and talk her into cutting strips!!

Beautiful Day

When you are in northern Wisconsin, in the middle of November at 7:30 pm and it is 48* out, it is a beautiful day.

To add to the day, I finished the face of a baby quilt for our niece. She is expecting her first baby in January, but her baby shower is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The doctor told the mom-to-be and the dad-to-be that they are having a little girl. I hope that does not change because I went with more pink in the quilt than a little boy would be happy with! I have not decided what I want on the back yet. I have some blue flannel material with maroon mittens and white snow flakes on it that I thought about using. It did not match the front, but I liked the winter theme for a January baby. I liked it because it was a little different from all of the pastels on the front. I liked it because it was already bought and paid for, waiting for me to use it! The Princess said it looked stupid. She thinks I should go get a solid pastel for the back. Any thoughts or opinions? My favorite material in there is the blue with little rubber duckies and bubbles!

To top the day off, the Princess and I went out for a fish fry. I had baked fish with a baked potato. Yum! Yum!

Now I am off to do some baking for church on Sunday. Then it will be time to go and spend the rest of the evening reading. I just looked at the clock. I guess it won’t be the rest of the evening because it is almost nine now! I will still get a little reading in though!

More Quilt Talk

Here is the quilt I mentioned last week that I sewed for the the King. I’m tellin’ ya, if ya need a homemade gift in a hurry, buy a panel and two yards of material, the face of your quilt will be done in a day. I had one yard of the orange material and one yard of the stone material, and that was plenty. The inner and outer borders are three inches and the middle border is five inches. That made a nice lap size quilt.

Sorry I have not blogged in a few days again. We were gone over the weekend and yesterday I forgot! Over the weekend we were at the King’s parent’s house. We spend a lot of time there in the fall. They live near the hunting shack and the King and Trucker generally have to be (want to be!) at the shack a couple of weekends before deer season to get wood made and make sure the deer hunting stands are safe. We are usually over there one or two other weekends every fall to help them butcher the meat. They raise pigs and a cow or two every year for us. Is that tremendous or what?

This past weekend we were there because the guys had a work weekend at the shack. Carol, the Princess and I met Kelly (my sister-in-law) in another town and we spent the afternoon shopping and eating lunch together. I love those times together.

One of the shopping stops was a quilt store, of course! I purchased some material to make a quilt for our niece who is expecting her first baby in January. Our niece’s baby shower is next month, so I need to get cuttin’!

Quilting News

Mom made me a fall table runner. Isn’t it gorgeous? I do not know if I am going to hang it up or lay it on the table. For now it is on the buffet because the runner I had on there needed to be cleaned.

Last night I started to tie the King’s quilt. I did not put batting in the quilt; I used a micro-fleece blanket with flannel backing. I thought this would make it extra warm and snuggly, and since he works outside all winter warm is a good thing. I did not know that the blanket I used for batting would come out through the flannel on most of the spots that I am trying to tie. I only tied twelve or fifteen spots but that was enough to make the back of the quilt look polka dotted. I am going to try to quilt it on my machine, but the quilt might be too thick for that. My other options are to wait until I get back to Carol’s and use her machine or quilt it by hand.

Most of our snow melted today. I went for a walk around noon and it was like walking on a spring day. You could hear the snow melting and dripping off of the trees. The melting snow was so loud; I thought it was raining when I first stepped outside.

Winter is Here!

We had our first snow flakes of the season Friday night. That melted during the day Saturday. This morning it started snowing again. We could get up to another inch of snow tonight, but tomorrow it is supposed to be 40*. That will melt the snow again. Whew! We don’t want winter to start quite this early.

How was your weekend? I had an enjoyable weekend with the King’s parents. Saturday Carol and I went to get fifty pounds of cranberries; she was making juice out of them when I left Sunday morning.

Where do you think we went next? To the quilt shop, of course! I needed material for the back of a quilt I made for the King. When Mom was here the previous weekend she bought a panel and the material to go around it a few times for the King’s quilt. I have never made a quilt out of a panel before. It goes FAST! I had the quilt all sewn together in eight or nine hours. All I have to do now is tie it. I will work on that tonight during the football game. I’ll show you a picture of that when I have it completed.

Nice Story

Sorry about the spacing in yesterday’s post. Sometimes (most of the time) blogger messes with my spacing.

I am cutting the material for Trucker’s quilt. I cut all the fat quarters into blocks and strips several weeks ago. Now I am cutting all the sashing (the strips that will go in between the squares). I have to cut 340 sashing strips! I have never made a quilt that required that much cutting before. I will be glad when I can finally start sewing on this beast! Now that I am re-reading this, I have no idea why I just shared that with you. I guess it was on my mind when I started typing.

I heard a heart warming story today that I will share with you. Last night the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers. Today a sports media guy was interviewing one of the Tiger players. I did not catch his name. The player was telling about a young boy he visited in the hospital one day this summer. The little boy’s name was Noah and he was in the hospital with cancer.

When the player was getting ready to leave the hospital Noah asked him if he would hit a home run for him in that night’s game. The player said he was trying to avoid having Noah ask him that because obviously you cannot promise a home run. He handled it very well, I thought. He told Noah that he would try his hardest, and if he did hit a homer, he would be thinking about him.

The player’s first time up to bat that night – he hit a homer after having two strikes called against him. I got to see the replay of the homer and what happened afterwards at this point in the interview. After the Tiger player trotted the bases, touched home plate, he showed his fore arm. On his fore arm he had written NOAH in big bold letters. The rest of his team mates knew the whole Noah story so they were all high fiving and hugging the home run hitter. Next they showed the Tiger player at the end of the dugout by himself; crying. He said he could not handle the emotion of it all. He did not understand why he was so gifted and able to get paid to play a game when a little boy had to lay in the hospital and await his death.

Next the sports media guy asked the Tiger player if he was disappointed in losing last night’s game. I hate those questions, of course he was disappointed. The player handled it quite well. He responded that yes, he was disappointed. He played to win. He then went on to say that he has to remember that it is just a game. Many people have many bigger issues to deal with in life than losing a game.

What a guy! Listening to him talk was tear jerking, but so very true. I know many professional athletes feel this same way, I just wish we could hear more of those stories.

I was going to show you a picture of our fall colors up here, but blogger is way too slow. Maybe tomorrow.

Forgiveness

Lots of polka dot material that the Princess is making a quilt out of!
Photo courtesy of the Princess

Last night I had one of those really scary dreams that you are glad to wake up from. I will spare you all the details because it is to bizarre to try to explain, but I was getting myself into some deep trouble. I didn't know how to get out of the situation that I had got myself into.

I was so relieved to wake up and realize that it was just a dream. It was like a huge weight was lifted off of me.

As I was laying there, thankful that it was only a dream, it made me think of Christ dying on the cross to forgive me of my sins. What a relief that is! That is a huge weight that He lifted off for me. Not only did He take my sins upon Himself, but He promises to not remember them! "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins." Jeremiah 31:34b nlt Thank you Lord! While I did not enjoy the dream, it was a good reminder of what a feeling forgiveness is.

Psalm 32

Oh, what joy for those

whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sin is put out of sight!

Yes, what joy for those

whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,

whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

When I refused to confess my sin,

my body wasted away,

and I groaned all day long.

Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.

My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you

and stopped trying to hide my guilt.

I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord."

And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.

Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time,

that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.

For you are my hiding place;

you protect me from trouble.

You surround me with songs of victory.

The Lord says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.

I will advise you and watch over you.

Do not be like a senseless horse or mule

that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control."

Many sorrows come to the wicked,

but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.

So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!

Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure! nlt

While at Dan and Carol's over the weekend, Carol and I had to visit the quilt shop. What would a visit be with Carol if we didn't hit up a quilt shop?! I bought a package of five Christmas fat quarters and made this table runner. This runner only needs three fat quarters for the front and only takes two hours to make. I still have to put the backing on it.

I'm glad I had to work on this runner. It saved me having to help butcher chickens! That's a smelly, gross job! Trucker was the decapitator. Is that a word? He didn't seem to mind it. That must be a guy thing!

Dan and Carol raised forty-five chickens this year. They butchered fifteen two weeks ago, fifteen this past weekend and they have fifteen more to go. They also raise beef and pigs every year. For Christmas we always get half of a beef and a whole pig all cut up, wrapped and ready for the freezer. I love that. Between that and venison we very seldom have to buy any meat. Once in a while we will buy shrimp for a treat, but that is it!

Lesson Learned

I am working on the binding in this picture. Picture courtesy of the Princess.

Last time Mom was here, she left a charm packet with me and asked if I would make her a table runner. Certainly, I can do that. Most of the charms were shades of blue or tan, so I thought red or yellow would be a good contrast color. When I went to the quilt shop looking around, I saw a red I liked and went with that. After I started sewing all the colors together, I realized it looked like a Christmas table runner! Lesson learned...I should have gone with the yellow. Blues, tans and red look like Christmas. Oh well, I don't think she has a Christmas runner. I did not see this picture until now. It does not look too Christmas-like here. Now that the whole thing is done, maybe I'll have to look at it again and see if I still think it looks like Christmas!

Working on the runner got the Princess and I in the sewing mood. Yesterday and today we spent several hours in the sewing room, working away. She is working on a quilt made out of all polka dot material. I started working on a quilt for Trucker. Today I got twenty-one fat quarters all cut up, now I need to get the background material cut. Then it will be time to start sewing. I was hoping to have it done by his birthday, which is in October. Trucker thinks I should be able to have it done in one month! What a slave driver!

Apricot Tote Bag

Today the King and I went to Menard's for a few things. While there we bought some track lights (I think that is what they are called) for the sewing room. I had to try a small project to see how the new lights worked. Once you put a lot more light on a subject, it makes it a lot nicer to see or work!





Our Princess is leaving at 3:00 am for a week long mission trip. We will miss her, but glad that she is willing to give of herself to help others. We have been in the sixties here for a couple of weeks, where she is going the expected high tomorrow is 92*. That will be a little adjustment!


Here is my little project that I made tonight to see how the new lights worked in the sewing room. It is a little tote made to hold a bottle of wine, we filled it with a bag of dried apricots. I am sending it along with Lora, who is the female chaperone, on the mission trip the Princess will be going on. We figured she will need a quick, pick-me-up, energy food during the week. Thanks Rob and Lora for your willingness to organize and facilitate this trip. We will be praying for you and the students.

Is This The One?

Picture courtesy of the Princess.

Here is the table runner I made for our future niece's bridal shower. It was a fast and easy runner to make, so fast and easy that I got most of it done the day of the shower! Thanks to a little (or a lot) of help from Carol and the Princess. It was a Terry Atkinson pattern. I love her patterns, they are so easy to follow.

Our visit with Mom and Marv is almost over. Bummer. We got a lot of work out of them this week. Marv painted the trim on our garage. Mom reupholstered our dining room chairs. I love it when they come and visit. I almost forgot, Marv cleaned the garage today and Mom did dishes for us all week, too.

Tonight we looked at a house that they might be interested in buying up here! Just think, I could have them around all the time. As we were looking at the house tonight; I could picture Mom and I baking Christmas cookies together in her kitchen. I could picture myself sitting on my butt in her living room watching football games after church while she made us dinner! Maybe this will be the house...

Company's Coming!

Mom seems to be recovering the way she should be. She had to sleep in their recliner the last three nights, but now she is free to do what she wants, within reason. So, they are on there way up here! Woohoo! They should be here late this afternoon. She even gets to sleep in a real bed tonight. Good thing, too, because whenever someone sits in our recliner Toad thinks that is an invite for him to come up and snuggle with you.

All four of us went to the King's parents house for the weekend. We had a great time, as usual. Saturday Carol and I went to their local quilt shop and then off to our future niece's bridal shower. I even won a game! Well, not really a game. While we were eating we were told to look at the bottom of our plates. Someone had a plate with the groom's name written on the bottom and someone else had a plate with the bride's name written on it. I had the groom's plate, so I received a prize. Her family out did themselves with the food. Oh my gosh, I have never seen so much yummy food at a shower before. They had Nesco cookers filled with baked chicken, ham, cheese potatoes and ham and one more filled with a hamburger/rice casserole. They had all the relish trays, vegetable trays and cheese and sausage trays. Plus there were six or eight salads out. After all of that they pulled out the desserts; a chocolate cake with a butter cream frosting and a pan of apple crisp. By the time we were done eating all of that, Carol and I still were not hungry at supper time. We shared a brat and called it supper.

Sunday the Princess made a table runner for us. You can't see the focus material very well, so I took a close up of it. It is black material with cherries and stems all over it. Very cute and summery.

This morning I have a dental appointment. After that it will be off to the grocery store. I need to make sure we have some good eats here for Mom and Marv. Depending on how she is feeling, we may not be doing a lot of bumming around. It may be a lot of time in the kitchen and sewing room! If that gives her headaches, it may be in the living room, sitting on the couches and spending time together. All of the options will work for me!

Grecian Squares and Beef Fajitas

Here is the third square in my block of the month quilt. This one is called a Grecian Square. I actually completed this quite some time ago, but never got around to showing you. I still have the fourth and fifth squares to go. I'd best get my rear in gear, I think it is almost time for the next square to come out.

How come blogger never puts my paragraphs the way I want them when I have a picture? Does any one else have this problem? Any tips? I usually type while I am uploading the picture. I might have to start doing the typing in Word and cut and paste. Cheri gave me that idea when I first started blogging, and it works pretty good. I just never wanted to mess with it when I was inserting a picture. I doubt that the couple extra clicks would kill me though!

Mom wanted a recipe for fajitas yesterday. I gave her this recipe out of my Mexican Fiesta cookbook and she said they were pretty good. So good, in fact, that she ate two! Give 'em a try and tell us what you think.

Beef Fajitas

1 3/4 cups (16-ounce jar) Salsa

1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided (I would use olive oil)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound sirloin steak, cut into 2-inch strips

1 cup (1 small) red bell pepper strips

1 cup (1 small) green bell pepper strips

1 cup (1 small) sliced onion

Flour tortillas, warmed

Sour cream

Combine salsa, 2 tablespoons oil, cilantro, chili powder, garlic, cumin and salt in large bowl. Add beef; cover. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Heat remaining oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers and onion; cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until onions are slightly golden and peppers are tender. Add beef mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 to 8 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

Serve in tortillas; top with sour cream.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

This Could Be Bad!

We used to have three quilt shops in our little town. They all went out of business within a year of each other. Whenever I wanted or needed quilting supplies I had to travel thirty miles one way. Yesterday I made the trip; I needed material to make a table runner and we had to return the Princess's new camera as it does not work. I pull up in front of the quilt shop and it is all closed up, store empty, lights off and a sign on the door. Oh poop, you have to be kidding me. The Princess gets out to read the sign - and guess what - the shop moved to our town!! Woohoo! I went there today. I did good, only bought what I needed to make one table runner. Oh yeah, I guess I did buy one extra charm packet, but I'll put that to good use! You might not be too excited about the quilt store news, but it made my day.

I came across this little guy the other evening while walking. Ziggy didn't pay any attention to him. Toad did not like him. He got as far away from the little turtle as he possibly could, barking the whole time. Probably scared the eggs right out of him!! Ha!Ha!

I need to get off of here now. The Princess is making us some kind of pasta, tomato, onion and basil salad. With homemade pasta, too! What a gal. New tip high for her yesterday. She said she was never so busy in her whole life, but it was all worth it. She made $145.00! Way more than I ever made waitressing twenty-five years ago.

Family Fun

I got home last night. I had a great weekend, but as always it was nice to get home again with the rest of my family. Thursday night I got to my Aunt and Uncle's and was able to spend several hours visiting with them. I had not seen them for a year or so, so we had a lot to catch up on. They have an adorable granddaughter who is three and a cute grandson who is one - so they had some humorous stories to share!



Saturday Mom, Carol and I went to the quilt show in Duluth, Minnesota. I don't have a clue as to how many quilts we looked at, but I am sure it was over 200! They were all so pretty - and oh so much work involved in some of them. Sorry, no pictures! I forgot to ask the Princess if I could borrow her digital camera before I left. You will just have to go to a big quilt show to experience it! Many vendors there, too. All three of us came home with a few things we could not do without! We walked and looked at so much that Carol told us she was a "little famished" when it was time to eat. I never heard of anyone being a little famished before, but now I have.



Friday night I was able to spend the evening with Carol, Dave and Kelly, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. We even got in a game of hand and foot before Carol and I were wore out and done for the day.


Saturday I went up to the farm and spent the day with Mom and Marv. The farm is a piece of property that Marv's grandparents lived on and farmed when they came over to the United States from Poland. His Mom grew up on the property and it is still in his family. The house has been tore down and most of the other out buildings are no longer there. The barn is still standing, an old garage and part of the old root cellar is still there. Marv, his siblings and a few of their cousins have motor homes or travel trailers on the property and they get together a few weekends a summer. I cannot help but think about the stories that barn could tell us if it could talk. I would be willing to bet a person could not count how many tears that barn has seen; tears of anger, tears of heartache, tears of laughter, tears of frustration.


Sunday morning I went to my Grandma and Grandpa's for a few hours before coming home. Grandma pulled out some old pictures that I have not seen for a long time, others that I have never seen. She showed me a wedding picture of my great-great-grandparents! They were married in New Ulm, Minnesota. I knew that my Grandpa spent his summers as a youth working on their farm, but never knew any thing else about them. My Grandpa grew up in southern Wisconsin, I always assumed his grandparents farm was in southern Wisconsin, too. I can't believe I never thought to ask him yesterday where the farm was at! Did he travel to New Ulm, Minnesota, every summer or did they just get married there and then moved to southern Wisconsin. Grandpa said every morning after you got up, before he had breakfast or did any chores, he went down in the root cellar, drank a glass of wine, grabbed four apples and took them to the special horses. I guess they had four horses that were just for show, they never worked those four. After that, you did the morning chores, came in for breakfast and then continued on with the rest of the day. Grandpa said they all started the day out with a glass of wine, his Grandma said that was good for the digestive system. I think it would make me want to go and take a nap. The horses would not get their apples until 9:00am or 10:00 am.


After we were done looking at several pictures, Grandpa took his glasses off. Grandma found one more picture that she showed me, it was of her and Grandpa walking out of the church after they got married. I studied the pic for a few seconds and was going to hand it back to her when Grandpa put his hand out to see it. I handed him the picture; and he had his eyes squinted trying to see it (he had taken his glasses off, remember). After half a minute or so, he says, "Hey, that's you and me!" All three of us had a good laugh over that one. He put his glasses back on to get a better look and then proceeded to tell us he was good looking back in the day! Then he told me that Grandma still looks good enough to marry. Grandma blushed and Grandpa winked at me. One of those times I will always remember, witnessing a little flirting going on between Gram and Grandpa.


Now that I am back home, I have lots to get done here. But, it rained while I was gone and the sun did lots of shining while I was gone. That means that instead of getting any thing done around the house, I spent the day driving Trucker around because he had three lawns that needed to be mowed, plus he mowed one last night. He has three more to mow this week yet besides our own lawn. Now he is outside wiping down his mower before he puts it away for the night!

Check back tomorrow to see who visited the diner where the Princess works at!