Heading Out

I won't be posting for a few days. We've decided to head to Colorado tomorrow morning. We haven't been to the Denver area to visit Tom's family for over 5 years. That said, we're not real sure how I'll get along at that altitude considering how much more oxygen I'm using than five years ago. We'll just have to play it by ear and if I find I'm not tolerating it, we'll turn around and come back home.

We're going to take our time traveling. Will stop in Dodge City tomorrow afternoon and have dinner with a distant cousin I've never met face to face..or if we did we were both too young to remember. That will get us to Denver Thursday and we'll have a couple of days to visit with family and attend a wedding on Saturday. Then on to Greeley Saturday evening for a couple days with Tom's mom and sister.

So I'll see you all next week sometime. For now, here's another Dutch Treat block finished. It's called "Dinner Party". Isn't it cute?


You all be good while I'm gone!

New Blog

My friend, Cynthia of Iowa Star Quilts has started at new blog. Stop by and welcome her to blog land!

Wheels On Fire

That's the name of the Dutch Treat block I completed this week.

It's certainly the only thing that has been on fire here this week. No other quilting or sewing going on unfortunately. The sutures were removed from my eyelids Thursday. Maybe one day I'll feel brave enough to share before and after pics. Two other doctor appointments seemed to swallow up the week.

Happy weekend everyone!

Tom's Challenge

So now I'm back with TWO posts for today.

I told you all that Tom joined my quilt guild last month. That was just in time to take part in our 2009 Challenge which is due at tonight's meeting. He finished the binding on his this morning.


Tom says binding is still "bondage" as far as he is concerned. That is what took the longest. The art part of it was fun. It is called "Retirement - Priorities". It's a look back at his career and a look forward to enjoying retirement with me.

I think he did pretty darn good, don't you? It's 12 X 18".

I'm Still Here.

I haven't really fallen off the face of the earth. Just haven't been on the computer or quilting much this past week.

Last Tuesday I had a bilateral blepharoplasty..in laymen's terms...eyelid surgery...to remove excess skin that was affecting my peripheral vision. You can read about it here.

The procedure itself was totally painless. I can't say the same about the first evening. What with the major swelling and recovering from the laser use, it was pretty darn painful! I was told to use frozen peas in little baggies to help with the pain and reduce swelling. Problem is I'm one of those people who get a brain freeze every time I eat something really cold and so as soon as I put the peas on my eyes, I not only had the pain from the surgery but major brain freeze as well. I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to EAT the peas...and I didn't! But putting them directly over my sinuses gave the same result.

Thank God for good pharmaceuticals. By the next morning the pain had subsided though it's taking days for the swelling to slowly start to resolve. As a result my vision has been a bit blurry and therefore computer and quilting are a little difficult. I know the end result will be worth it.

I did manage to get two Dutch Treat blocks finished though. Don't look too close..I certainly couldn't!

Teddy

Diamond Squares

Vintage Beauty

Today I had the absolute joy of spending time with this wonderful antique quilt. A friend from my guild got this vintage top at a flea market I think, had it hand quilted by a church group, and then asked me to do the binding.

What a fun quilt! The fabrics are definitely not all cotton. Some appear to be rayon or something similar. It's tempting to share pictures of each and every block with you as it is so much fun to see how the block changes with color placement. And a few of the blocks appear to have been pieced with whatever fabrics where available...there's no rhyme or reason to the fabric combinations.

All of that just makes this a very, very intriguing quilt I think. The piecing wasn't done by a master quilter and there are mistakes and problems. But I'd feel fortunate to own this quilt!

I love the block and think I may try to draft it and try making one myself. Problem is I couldn't come up with the fun, funky combination of fabrics no matter how hard I tried.

Thank you Sherry for letting me work with it today.

A few of my favorite blocks...............

The hand quilting was done with a Baptist fan pattern overall.

I also managed to get another couple Dutch Treat blocks done in the past week.

Tetrus

Field of Daisies

Another Giveaway

There's another great giveaway going on over at Sew Fun Quilts. She's celebrating her upcoming birthday so go on over and wish her a happy birthday, sign up for the giveaway and then spend some time reading her great blog.

Happy Saturday. It's dreary looking here. Hope yours is full of sunshine.

50's Fabrics

Today is the day for 50's..birthdays and fabrics. I promised earlier that I would share close-ups of the nifty 1950's fabrics in my Amish Dahlia quilt. Since there are 49 blocks I've posted all of them to an album on my Photobucket site so you can go there and look if you are interested, but won't be bothered by the slow loading of this page if you aren't. I just love looking at them and remembering how many are scraps from Grandma's dresses and even one that was my own skirt.

Tom spent part of an afternoon this week practicing his free motion quilting. I think we need two Jukis!

Happy Birthday, Lindy!

Another daughter-in-law is celebrating a birthday today.

When Mike began dating Lindy this is the first picture he sent of her with her son, Martin. I knew she had served in the U.S. Army for 16 years at that point, so I didn't conclude he was marrying a professional clown. However you have to admit it was a strange choice to introduce your future daughter-in-law. LOL.

It's hard to believe that Lindy is turning 50 today..

She is definitely someone who knows how to squeeze the most fun and excitement out of every day.

She and Mike have been enjoying vacation this week in San Diego.

Wishing you 50 more, Lindy and all of them just as much fun! We love you.

Stargazers

No quilting pics again today. But I have to share photos of my gorgeous Stargazer Lilies. They get better every year. We counted over 30 blooms today and more to come.

I will forever associate these with my Grandmother, Esther. One reason is that I gave her some Stargazer bulbs for forcing indoors a couple years before she died and know that she enjoyed them so much.

The other reason is that my lilies were blooming like this the day we returned from her funeral in Iowa. She died 15 years ago yesterday. I think of her all the time and miss her so much, but have to admit that when these beautiful flowers bloom for me every year I really feel her presence.

Recipes

Not much quilting or sewing happening here. Baked two more loaves of rye bread yesterday and then this morning baked 7 dozen crescent rolls for a funeral at noon. By the time we got home from the funeral, the major part of the afternoon was gone.

A friend sent me a link to a wonderful recipe site. Check it out. Lots of good stuff!

New York Rye Bread

Here's the recipe:

NEW YORK RYE BREAD
2 pkg. yeast
4 tsp. sugar
2 C. warm water
2 C. buttermilk
½ C. honey
2 T. vegetable oil
2 T. salt
2 tsp. cider vinegar
2 C. rye flour
8 ½-9 C. flour

Dissolve yeast; let stand 5-10 minutes. Stir in liquids and salt; add rye flour. Beat in white flour ½ cup at a time. Knead 5-10 minutes. Let rise double (about 1 hour). Knead 30 seconds. Divide in half and shape into desired shapes. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise until almost double (about 45 minutes). Brush loaves with water and slash tops. Bake at 400º 35-40 minutes.

Note: I usually make ½ recipe at a time. This will still make 1 very large loaf or 2 smaller ones. I use my mixer to knead the dough and I brush with butter upon removing from the oven

A Little Bit of Everything

No particular theme to today's post....just lots of pictures to share.

Over the last two or three days days I've completed four Dutch Treat blocks to bring my total to 164..slowly but surely I'll make it to 196!

Window Musketeer

Flower Pot

Earrings

I've received three new siggy blocks...

From Chris in Belgium

Ann in France

Angelika in Germany

Thursday we drove over to Parsons for a short retirement get together for Tom. He received this plaque from his team members.

This certificate signed by the governor.

And a great first edition Kansas history book also from his co-workers.

Friday we drove to Grove, OK for the Grand Lake 'O The Cherokees Biennial Quilt Show. As always there were some great quilts...like this blue ribbon winner.

You can see the rest of the pictures I took here.

Saturday I baked some rye bread. This recipe is called New York rye and it's one of my favorites. If anyone is interested, let me know and if enough are I'll post the recipe.

My hoya is putting on a fantastic show....8 blooms at once! Lately it pretty much blooms non-stop with at least one bloom at a time..sometimes a lot like now.

Sunday the quilters at church posed with my finished quilt.

A productive and enjoyable few days.