Quick Pics

We've moved on to ductwork, electrical, and lighting. yay!

I sent off another card last week. I had a lot of fun with the trim. Did I post this one yet? I don't remember.

This one was supposed to be icy, but it looks more bridal. oops. And it did say "Happy Birthday," until I added the ribbon. Now it says "Happy Gwen" to the casual observer. Either way, it works. :)

And I finished another UFO baby quilt. On to the shower in an hour. I'll probably gift a different quilt, as I coughed while making this one and haven't had the time to wash it. oh well. Goals are good, even if then aren't always met.

After the shower, I'm off to the Bakersfield Quilt Show. So much to do, so little time!!

This Week I

guess I baked apricot nut bread and took a picture. I'd forgotten that I'd baked anything.

I basted two more quilts, and have quilted one of them. I'm in the process of stitching down the binding. It's another UFO baby quilt.

I took multiple naps.

And tonight I caught three kitties napping. From L to R are Hecate, Charlie and Edgar. Hecate and Charlie are watching the police cat (a black & white neutered tom) try to jump the fence. It's getting tough for him, as he's gained at least 5 lbs since his surgery. There's probably a pool guessing which day he completely fails to clear the fence in one try. The day is getting close.

I've also been out to the walnuts, where they are now wiring the electrical. The siding is up, the attic ladders are installed, the next thing you know it will be insulation and sheet rock. It's a beautiful thing.

Today I

finished a quilt for hire.

Basted another quilt for hire.

And really wished I'd had my camera along when I spotted the sun gleaming on the new fallen snow in the Sierras. Spectacular!

Best Laid Plans

I had grand plans to drive down to Road to CA on Sunday, see the show, visit with friends, and pick up my quilt. That didn't happen. Instead, I'm sticking close to home, with some bronchitis and possible pneumonia. What a drag. Literally. ;)

I went by the walnuts, to see the progress. Five days absence from the project means a lot of siding has gone up. This is the view of the south side. Behind the window is a 3rd car bay, for tinkering or storage. The garage door is a drive-through, from the front of the property to the backyard.

This is the west side of the garage building. Grant and his brother were challenged with trying to get the siding around the lip of the overhang. Not a lot of fun, but very well done. :)

This is a view of the northwest corner of the garage building and breezeway. The door goes into a room with heating/cooling, where the boys want to put some exercise equipment.

You've seen this view of the northwest corner of the workshop before. Other than all of the siding in place, it doesn't look much different.

This is the north side of the garage. They still have some siding to install.

Oh, and look at that. The east side of the garage really needs some siding.

We walked through the structure, with Mr. Cat leading the way.

A boy and the dog followed.

There. Good enough?

Apparently Mr. Cat is a photo-phobe, as I snapped this just before he took a swipe at me with his left hook. Enough of the paparazzi already, enough!!

On the quilt front, I'm in the middle of a quilt-for-hire. Let's hope I kick this bug quickly, as I've got a LOT that I'd like to finish in the coming week.

A Single Card

I made this last week, and left it out to be mailed. When I got home, it was still on the piano. I mailed it yesterday. Hopefully it arrives before the recipient sees this.

I had a lot of fun with the fuzzy couching. There are also a ribbon, beads and a vintage yellow button.

On tap for today: gotta finish the latest quilt-for-hire. I am a week behind on my goal. boo.

Mother's Garden

After a dozen years of her absence.

On The Road Again...

This time I'm south, rather than north and west. It's just about time for Road to CA to open, and I'm helping with a bit of the pre-show busy work. I'll be back home, lickety split, then back to see the show on Sunday. zoom, zoom.

The sun rose as I flew over the Grapevine. Strange to have clear skies in the valley and clouds over LA. (clicking on a picture enlarges it. This one shows gorgeous rays of sunlight, streaming down to the city below.)

When I left yesterday, my lovely icicle was returned to my hot little hands. Hello, my Lovely! I haven't seen you in AGES!! You're looking better than I remembered! Then again, I never even looked at it. I put in the last stitch, shoved it in a box and shipped it away 14 months ago. It's nice to have you home, Baby, even if "home" is a hotel room this evening.

Blogger flipped the picture, but I wanted to show the crystal dew drop at the point, and the fuzzy icy hoar frost on the edges.

The close-up got flipped too. Mr. DeMille, next time do a better job, please.

The icicle had to be two sided. Did you ever see the sleeve I made for it? I thought the lace was a lovely touch. I didn't put many beads or crystals on this side. I ran out of time.

And I guess that's about it. I need to report for duty in 25 minutes. Have a fantastic week, and if you can fit Ontario, CA and the Road show into your schedule, it's always worth a look-see. :)

Fancy Cat

Edgar's winter mane has returned.

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful..."

Lots of Work To Do

And look who is helping.

She's not helping me, she's helping her man. He was digging holes, she was right beside him.

While they were working in the backyard, the farmers were working in the orchard. Once the blower had cleared the leaves from the berms, the tractor came by to crunch the leaves.

Since we haven't had any rain, the leaves are still completely intact instead of nicely composting.

Once the flail mower (I think that's what it was) had been through, it looked like this. So nice. So clean. So orderly.

The work on the remodel continues as well. Board by board, piece by piece. Unfortunately they burned out the bearings in their favorite saw this morning, so it came to a stand still for a bit.

And then there's the design wall. No designing going on in there, whatsoever. It's more like a holding pen, in a holding pattern. So much for this week's goals. Ah well, there's still Saturday, right? Right!

No Quilting

At least the contractor is getting things done.

I took a couple of friends out to look at the remodel after guild. Chalupa was happy to see them. I took several pictures, this is the best. She wasn't in the mood to model. :)

And that's it for today. Hopefully I'll have something to do with fabric tomorrow...

No Quilting Today..

Instead, I had a BOTV meeting and a dentist appointment.

Afterwards, I swung by the walnuts and found progress.

This is the first wall of siding. The contractor thinks he can have all of the siding up on this portion of the building by tomorrow afternoon. Goals are good!

And we have a front door!! Yay!! It's looking better every day, don't you think?

Tomorrow is guild, and HOPEFULLY some quilting. Goals are good!!

Work, Work, Work

Work progresses on the remodel. See the wood frame on the edge of the house and around the windows? Soon we will have siding. yay!

This is the first quiltlet I've finished in 2012. It has a turquoise hummingbird in the bottom right corner.

"Thinking of you" is the second. If you look closely, I've beaded the centers of the poppies with green and purple beads. Some of the black-eyed Susans have sequin/bead centers.

And I've finished #35 on my UFO list, my second completed quilt (bound and everything!) of 2012. yay!! I'm feeling productive this week.

I was going to work on a quilt-for-hire today, but that didn't happen. Tomorrow is another day, and I'll be at it by noon. No excuses.

New Things

"Behold, I am making all things new." Revelation 21:5

Each day I visit the walnuts, the progress is visible. I'm loving it!!

Thimble Towne remodeled as well. This was taken from the "backside" of the store, looking towards the door. ooh, aah, look at all the goodies.

I came in on Saturday, without the time to shop. That was good for my pocketbook, as the entire wall is batiks. (What do you think of the test paint? I call it Jeremy Green.)

yep. Look at those batiks. I collect batiks. I don't know that I've ever used more than one or two in a quilt, but I have shelves full of them in my Studio.

At home, hubby has a new work truck. He hasn't driven it yet, other than the test drive. Number One Son and I went to Turlock on Saturday, to retrieve it.

And at home? I am sticking with my somewhat goal for 2012. One week down, one quilt-for-hire finished. One week down, one UFO finished. The second UFO (another baby quilt) is so far along that I am tacking down binding. The second quilt-for-hire? It's on my table, waiting for attention. I still have 5 days left this week to finish it, to meet my "1 quilt-for-hire/week" attempt for 2012.

Goals are GRrrrrrrrEAT!

Happy New Year!

(I hope to have quilting pictures tomorrow.)

Enjoying the Day

The work is once again progressing at the remodel. Filling in that last bit up top makes a huge difference. Hopefully this will be finished by the end of the month. Or the first week of February. Or the second...

At home, Malcolm seems to have decided that he's too old to share any more. MINE. All mine.

Maybe he's afraid it's going to end up in the opossum trap tonight? Don't worry, Malcolm. I won't forget to feed you.

On the quilting front, I've done a bit of machine and a bit of hand quilting. But nothing worth taking a picture of, yet. Onward and upward!

Snowflakes...

I belong to an online postcard exchange group that has its own blog. This morning, after I posted, I saw that today's Postmark'd Art post includes one of my snowflake postcards in its slideshow. Enjoy!

Glorious Sunshine

Yesterday's weather was spectacular. The sun came out first thing. There was no fog or haze in our neighborhood, and it actually got warm, in the low 60's. Without the chill breeze, it was glorious.

I'd made an appointment for the gardener to plant flowers for me (I would plant 1/4 as many, in 4x the time), so a trip to purchase them was in order. When I came out to the car, not only did I have pansies, a few snaps, and some roses,

I also had a couple of flamingos. I couldn't resist. They add a lot, don't you think? (If you don't care for them, well, they are in the backyard, poolside. I will not subject the general public to their presence.)

Instead of doing any quilting, other than making labels, I spent the sun-filled hours in the yard, cleaning up irises, tossing dead foliage, and generally doing a deep spruce. (It's sprucing the yard, not cleaning, right?) I was surprised to see the first narcissus of the season. I don't know if you recall, but for the past several years, these have been making their appearance in November. It's January, Mr. Narcissus. I do believe you are LATE.

Better late than never!

When Edgar saw me with the camera, he thought he would be a much better subject. "See my mane?"

"There's the flower, try and snap it!"

Ahh...roses! Good for a good scratch and a bit of grooming!

Today's goal: get back into the Studio, and BE PRODUCTIVE! The weather is cooperating, and I see fog, not sunshine. toodles!