Showing posts with label Instagram Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Instagram Week. Show all posts

9/18/16

Odds and Ends

We arrived home late yesterday afternoon. Already, we have the trailer unpacked, and most of the laundry is done. Smitty has been out. Sadie and Smitty have explored Smitty's clubhouse for any stray critters that might have moved in while we were gone, and we've all had a pretty good night's sleep. Can't beat that.

When I took the pictures off my phone this morning, I found a few stray odds and ends. On our last day in Swan Valley we had breakfast at a local restaurant with our friends Bill and Marei. As is often seen in small towns, a corner of the restaurant had shelves of items hand made by the locals for sale. When I saw this, there was no turning back. It had to be mine.


From there, it was a fairly short drive to Boise where we stayed for the night before moving on yesterday morning. As we were pulling out of the RV park at Boise, we noticed this catio. Pretty fancy, huh? Any cat would be envious of this.


It isn't far from Boise to the state line, and this sign is always a welcome sight. As much as we love traveling (especially RV traveling), it's always good to be home.


It was still a long way home, however. We caught our first glimpse of the Columbia River just east of Arlington.


Eastern Oregon is what we think of as high desert and fairly arid. Western Oregon is a much wetter region, and it wasn't long before our rainy western climate caught up with us.


It rained hard the rest of the way home, which is always scary. Fortunately, it was a Saturday and so traffic was light and fairly calm.

We had leftovers in the refrigerator for dinner last night, and then we watched a little TV and hit the sack. This morning has been spent getting things pretty much back to normal. It was nice to spend some time on my embroidery this morning in a more leisurely fashion than our driving days allow.


You can see that this one is almost finished. There's just a little left in the middle, and then there's a bat flying in the upper right corner...a little difficult to see in this image.

Now it's rehooped and ready to go. A couple of more sittings and I should have it finished.


In the final half hour before we left home two weeks ago, I started cutting strips for my newest project while I waited for Mike to finish his packing. This is the beginning of the table topper I'm doing for the Let's Book It challenge in September. This is the Pumpkin Patch table topper designed by Julie Weaver and included in the current issue of Quilter's World.


Before we left, I was able to pick out the fabrics I wanted to use, and then I got five of six colors of strips cut to piece the pumpkins together.


When I was ready to cut the sixth color strips, Mike came and announced that he was packed up and ready to go. Here's where I left it, and there it sits, waiting for me.


And now, I'm back where I left off. Things are pretty well put away and it's time to sew. Fortunately, Past Self was smart enough to freeze some leftover dinner items. Last night Present Self checked the freezer and pulled out three days worth of meals. It's nice not to have to go to the grocery store right away.

So what's been going on in your neck of the woods?

7/29/16

Give Me a Head with Hair, Long Beautiful Hair

Yesterday I saw a new hairdresser who trimmed my hair. And before I go on, I should tell you that I absolutely hate my hair. I never minded having fine straight hair when I was a teenager during the 14th Century, and when it was in style. You know...when the Cowsills were at the top of the charts. (Please tell me you're old enough to remember the Cowsills.) 



Now, I'm wishing for thicker locks that will hold some curl. And it doesn't help that I've been unhappy with my hairdresser literally for years. It's hard to make a change...and how do you find someone who knows a better way when you hold the world's record for the most difficult hair? In my world, every day is a bad hair day.


So anyway, I sat myself down in her chair, sucked in my breath, and told her what I wanted. And she actually listened to me! We were off to a good start. And she told me about three different ways of rolling up a perm (not on yesterday's menu), and what she thought would work best with my hair. And she ran her fingers through my hair, fluffing it, inspecting it, and telling me how she thought it should be cut. Given my experience with hairdressers over the course of a couple of decades, this was such a nice change. So she gave it a good trim...that I like...and she stripped the chemicals out of it. And it's softer and shinier already. She completely inspired confidence, and so next month, I'll let her give me a perm. Fingers crossed.

When I got home, I got an early start on dinner, and then I went to work on the latest Chicken Buffet block. This is my project for

These always start with sewing this large four-patch together.


This time, I'm making Chicken Caesar. (These patterns all come with recipes! Such a fun book.)


I traced out and fused all the appliques...


These have quite a bit of embroidery to add in details. I always trace the embroidery when I trace the applique, then flip it over to the fabric side and draw in the lines for stitching. When I'd cut out these pieces, it was time to stop for the day.


This morning, I finished up Block #12 for the Bee-utiful Quilt-A-Long. This one is "Bee Grateful". Those sunflower centers are made up of about a zillion French knots.


Block #13 was ready to go, and so I got started on that.


After all those French knots, I decided I wanted to start with the colorful flowers, and I stitched this much before quitting.


I'm hoping to get the Chicken Buffet block finished today, but there is much to do on the home front. The cucumbers are filling the refrigerator again, and so I'm going to get some more Calico Sweet Pickle Relish soaking in the brine. It needs to soak for 24 hours before cooking and canning. It makes a small batch, and so that won't take too long either today or tomorrow. 

Also, the annuals need watering again. Our weather has warmed up significantly, and so I'm spending more time keeping things alive in the garden. Smitty likes our watering sessions because he gets to go outside. He's still a hunter at heart, and always will be. Yesterday he brought a little gift to the door. This is always very exciting for Sadie.

Mom! Smitty brought you a present! Come and see! You're gonna love it!


Oh gosh, thanks Buddy. (Gack, gag, choke.) And finally, there's always housework it seems. A couple of you asked about this housework business. I assign myself certain tasks as repeating events on my calendar. Then, I can move them around within a day or two if it falls on a day when I'm busy or something...and, frankly, even when I don't have anything to do, I'm usually too busy for housework. So, these tasks tend to get pushed out for a couple of days until I have a bunch stacked up. And today, I'm determined to get caught up.

So off I go...and I swear, I'll meet my Fitbit goal today, even if it kills me.

4/9/13

Photo A Day Challenge: Week 14


These are the images I posted for Week 14 of the Photo A Day Challenge at Fat Mum Slim.

April 3--Something beginning with "A" [Attack Cat]


April 4--This happened today [I quilted]


April 5--Something good [Walking with my friend]


April 6--Air


April 7--Dreamy


April 8--On my plate [Leek and Asparagus Frittata--yummy!]


April 9--Tiny


FYI--If you're interested in giving Instagram a try and/or joining in the Photo A Day Challenge, I wrote a tute for my friend Lisa and posted it on my "test blog".  My test blog is a private blog I keep to try out different things on Blogger without posting them publicly.  No one can access my test blog since it's not meant for public consumption.  But today, for you, I'm giving you the link to the tutorial I created for Lisa. Enjoy.  And you'll be able to poke around and see what sort of "tests" I've done, but doing so could be bad for your health.

4/2/13

Photo A Day Challenge: Week 13


Looking for the March NewFO Linky Party and giveaway?  Click right here.


These are the images I posted for Week 13 of the Photo A Day Challenge at Fat Mum Slim.

~~~March 27--Pair~~~


~~~March 28--In the mirror~~~


~~~March 29--Goodnight~~~


~~~March 30--Relax~~~


~~~March 31--Stuff~~~


~~~April 1--Play~~~


~~~April 2--Blue~~~


~~~Bonus Image (Gracie scores some lap time~~~




3/26/13

Photo A Day Challenge: Week 12


These are the images I posted for Week 12 of the Photo A Day Challenge at Fat Mum Slim.

~~~March 20--Clean~~~


~~~March 21--Working [keeping the birds on their toes]~~~


~~~March 22--About You [hate trying to pick something for these "self" ones]~~~


~~~March 23--What you do for fun [bake yummy stuff]~~~


~~~March 24--Up [I did two for this one.  First this.]


Up  [Then I saw this ceiling at a winery, and I liked it better.]~~~


~~~March 25--In your drawer [lotsa socks]~~~


~~~March 26--Something you did [I noticed these tulips making their first appearance]~~~


1/29/13

Instagram Week 4


These are the images I posted for Week of of the FatMumSlim Photo A Day Challenge.

~~~Jan 23--Electric~~~


~~~Jan 24--Stripes~~~


~~~Jan 25--Landscape~~~


~~~Jan 26--Together~~~


~~~Jan 27--Sun~~~


~~~Jan 28--Through ~~~


~~~Jan 29--Grow~~~