Beautiful day

Friday's I'm off at noon. This week I took my camera with me. We had an extremely warm day. It was just gorgeous, 70 degrees. I decided to stop my Cassandra's office and the clouds were so neat so I took a couple pictures.

I don't usually have my camera with me when I see clouds like this so I had fun. Of course I only kept a couple.

We have such large flocks of Canadian Geese in our area and I've always wanted to take pictures. So today I decided it was the day. I ended up driving to a couple different spots and nothing. Then I decide to head off towards Ethan's school to sit and read until time for him to come out but as I was driving the sky to the right of me just got black with them. Of course there was no place to park so I had to drive past, turn around and come back. I took several pictures and if you click on the picture to make it larger you will be able to see the geese just

hovering over the wet lands..we have a large area set aside for that. After a while they just got up and flew off again.I just sat there watching then hover then settle.

I decided to drive up a little further and found a place to park at the bottom of walking path that goes through the wet lands. This was the view I had..just gorgeous.

I'm sitting there and all of a sudden I can hear them but I can't see them anywhere. Then out of no where they start showing up...but in long lines. It was tough to get pictures but I was able to get a few that really turned out pretty nice.

I even got one where I was looking straight ahead then folllowed them over head and snapped the picture.

I was so tickled that I got some good shots on my first time out shooting pictures.

Again if you click on the pictures you can see the geese a lot better. I'm hoping I can get out and get a few pictures this summer instead of sitting on my duff every weekend. Not that I'm quitting quilting but in between projects I need to be a little more active.

Hope you all enjoy my new hobby...

Happy Easter

Well another month has passed and so quickly. Can you believe it's Spring and soon Easter will be upon us. It's time to put up another wall hanging. This is my second applique made in 1994 and I think so far one of my favorites. It's my Bunny Angel. The lady I took this class from won so many awards from Keepsake quilting she stopped competeing. She was fantastic. I really love to applique but sometimes it takes a little to long from start to finish. Most of the time I have a small project that I can work on inbetween my machine projects. I have this one hanging up behind my desk at work.. Mid month I'll take it down and put up my Log Cabin Bunny. I really like that I have some place at work that I can make new ones and change them regularly. It's nice to show off my handy work.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Well, it's St. Patrick's Day once again.. This is my latest creation. I had a pattern from an old quilting magazine for the Shamrock in a multiple block table runner. I try to hang something seasonal behind my desk at work so I thought only one shamrock and the Irish blessing would work best.

I appliqued the top shamrock and just sewed the blocks together with an inch green frame. Would you believe it if I told you I did it over a weekend. Well really I started it on a afternoon of the 5th after a drive up to Portland and back and finished the binding on Monday night to have it at work for March 7th.

Since I have my April one all done, a flying Easter Bunny... will post next month...


Happy St Patrick's Day

Latest Memory Quilts

Well it's been a little over 2 months since my last post. I haven't been just sitting around either, well not all the time. If you have been reading my blog, you'll remember my telling you about making a memory quilt for Lucy and a memory Pillow for Gretchen. On Ben's birthday, Jan 5th we found out another Fur baby had passed and an others cancer had come back. So in a rush to get them done I started two more quilts.

Amber was 5 years old when she passed from something as silly as swallowing a rock from the back yard. This caused a problem with her bowels bad enough to need surgery. Poor thing didn't come out of the anesthesia. She was such a pretty silly girl, I just felt I needed to do another. So I started selecting pictures and deciding which pattern to use.

At the same time we also found out another fur baby who had whipped his cancer for a couple years, had it come back. He was not expected to make it to another Christmas. So I was busy picking two sets of pictures. There was no real deadline but at the same time I was making my gift one of the other ladies who does mosaics was making her gift. I thought if I could get mine done in time, I could send it to her and she could send them together. What's amazing about her is that she is the one who lost Gretchen not all that long ago, so in still getting over her grief, she is helping someone else get over theirs. The hardest part of making these quilts is to figure out when you have enough pictures and the right sizes to make them. I was almost finished with all the pictures and had the black frames done when she posted a tribute to Amber and the picture just had to be in the quilt too.. I pulled out my flannel wall, put the pictures all up and after sitting back and looking at several layouts, finally worked out the rows.

Well, I worked like crazy getting Amber's quilt done and shipped it off to North Carolina. Amber's quilt and mosaic were sent to Germany. Veronika received her gift on Friday and was so touched. She knew the mosaic was coming but not the quilt so she was doubly surprised when she opened the box.

As soon as I shipped Amber's quilt off, I started on Zooies.

For some reason this one held a special place in my heart. I think because this time the fur baby was fighting to stay alive. Because they had gone though so much in the past with his cancer, I wanted to get it to her before he passed. With each update from his mom, getting it done quickly was important.

I was wanting to get my quilt to them so they would have memory of Zooie wrapped up in it after he was gone.

My gift was received the middle of February. Here is a picture taken by Karla of Zooie wrapped in his gift. Zooie passed away on March 3rd having lost his battle with cancer. Karla said she has wrapped up in Zooie's quilt whenever she misses him.

I'm so glad I was able to get his quilt to them before he pass. They were able to wrap him up and now have Zooie smell to comfort them too.

I have enjoyed making my memory quits and will continue to make them when needed. The funny thing about them is, is that I haven't met any of these families and since they are spread all over the states and now in Germany, I probably never will. But the out pouring of love and support the Flickr site has will do me just fine. I've made some terrific friends on the Flickr site.

Happy New Year

Well another year has come and gone. A year older, a little grayer and a few pounds lighter..more to loose.

I'm going to try and write a little more this year and not just when quilting. After all it does say "Emma's World".

We, Ethan and I brought in the new year last night. Cassie crapped out about 10:30 or so and Ben went to a midnight run to bring in the new year. Ethan and I watched Chances Are, then the only thing we could find was the Back to the Future trilogy they have been showing all week. We both like the western one which started at 11. We switched to the ball and watched it drop then because we didn't want to listen to any of the music went back to the movie.

I think Ethan made it about a half hour into the movie and fell asleep. I finished watching the movie and was into the 1st one again when Ben pulled up at 1:50am.. He came in 8th overall and 1st in his age group. He said it started sleeting about 15 minutes before the run so keeping from sliding on frozen ground was an extra bonus... It was about 27 when he left the house at 10:30.

What's really silly is he got up a little before 8 and was off to the day run that started at 10. He should be home about noon...probably frozen. Lucky for him it doesn't seem to have done any raining this morning so at least he didn't get wet while running.

I'm fixing spaghetti and meatballs for dinner but will set out the usual cheese, meat (hickory farms beef stick) and crackers. We put out cheese spreads to have with the crackers too. But this year I'm fixing my bosses Artichoke & cheese dip. She brought it for a second year to our company holiday party and everyone just loved it. Decided to make it for Christmas eve and they all loved it and asked for it again. It is so easy to make...just throw it all into a slow cooker, cook on high for an hour then serve with bread for dipping..

Well, I have the rest of today and Sunday to rest up before going back to slave away. The next day off is the 17th then the 19th when Ben and I drive up to Portland, weather & roads permitting, to go to a dog show. Dawn is suppose to have Ticket at the show and several of Paris' pups from her summer litter. If all goes well, we should have a Dobie puppy by the end of June.
I'm really excited about that.

With Ethan off to college next fall the house will be so empty. Chase & Tootsie don't need me except to let them out to potty and feed them. Ben still works late most nights so a new puppy will be just the thing and I've wanted another Dobie for years.

Well I think that's about it for today. Hope everyone brought in the new year with friends and family and have set goals for the new year.. later

Time off

Just before Thanksgiving my boss did our evaluations. I work for a non profit organization and it's been pretty slim donations so I was asked to voluntarily reduce my hours. They wanted my room partner and I to reduce our hours so Tony took another 2 off and I lost 4. He suggested leaving early on Friday or coming in late on Monday.. Coming in late would make me not want to go to work at all but leaving early sounded okay. So the beginning of Dec. I went from 40 to 36 hours. It's not much but when you put out $355 for insurance the $120 I'm loosing could be tough when Ben has slow days.

Last week my boss talked to me about my hours and my vacation and said if it got to bad for me we could go back to 40. The reduced hours is only suppose to be temporary for a couple months.

So far I haven't been able to enjoy my Friday afternoon..have had errands for Christmas but I'm sure they will be nice next month. I would like to take the afternoon and maybe see a movie. I like going to the movie with the kids and Ben but it takes a couple hours out of my day and I sometimes feel guilty but on Friday it's free time so taking a couple hours for a movie would make it sort of a special day for me. We'll see how long it really lasts.

Christmas at our house...

Can you believe another year has almost passed us by again... How did you spend your holiday? This is how we spent ours.

Christmas Eve at our place is pretty strange. My husband and kids go bowling at noon. While they are gone I get eats ready. What we usually do is have crackers, cheese, Hickory farms summer sausage, dips and Christmas cookies. this year I made little smokies w/BBQ, carrots & celery and added artichoke & cheese dip. My boss made if for our Holiday party and it was super so decided to give it a try. It's very rich but they all seemed to love it.
They are usually gone a couple hours so when they come back and we just end of snacking for the next couple hours, & finish wrapping presents. When it gets dark, usually about 5:30 or so we go out Christmas light looking for an hour or so then come home, put National Lampoons Christmas vacation and open presents. All in front of a roaring fire.
Santa comes in the morning with a couple small gifts for all.

I received a new mouse for my laptop. this one stays plugged in all the time and is really out of the way. The connection doesn't stick way out..very cool. I also received a 365 day Maxine calendar, a couple packages of Moose Munch, choc covered cherries (all from harry & Davids), new kitchen towels both for hand and dish drying. a polar bear that poops jelly beans (from hubby), a stuffed moose called Peppermint which came with a little case of peppermint candy , a new kitchen timer, can of Creme brule almonds (again hubby) and then together the kids gave us a gift card to The Electric station, a very nice restaurant.

We sort of stretch out the gift opening, mainly because we also give gifts to the girls. I got them a ball & bone out of lambskin, a toy made out fire hose and a rope made into a knot with legs. The rope they've had before but not the others. They go crazy ripping the paper off and we laugh hysterically..so funny. Unfortunately the ball didn't last long once Chase got a hold of it and the supposedly indestructible fire hose toy didn't either. She is not a destructable dog except for some toys. the bone is the only one that made it through the night and Tootsie took it over form Chase. She chewes on the rope toys too but this was funny to see her almost sucking on the toy. Chase does that on her bed which is sort of the same lambskin material..but first time for Tootsie.

By the time we get done it close to 10 and time to clean up for bed and Santa.

I got up this morning and made cinnamon rolls. We put The Family Stone in to eat breakfast and open presents from Santa. Santa gave me a new faucet for my kitchen sink. We have a super deep & wide sink that has a small shallow side w/the disposal and the faucet we have doesn't stick out that much and I'm always worried about breaking my bowls when I rinse them out. I want a new sink someday that doesn't have the divider and isn't quite as deep but for now having a longer faucet will be great. Maybe I can even get him to put it together on Sunday or Monday while he's still off.

the kids seemed happy with their gifts. We make them do a Christmas Wish list of movies, music, books or whatever. Nothing is ever really expensive but at almost 18 & 28 it's really tough to get what they want.

Cassie just made a Pumpkin Cream Pie and we just took the sweet potatoes out of the oven. Now to get the sweet potatoes in the food processor; potatoes peeled and on the stove; the fruit salad made and in the fridge for a bit and the ham out and some in the oven to warm. We did Honey Baked ham this year that way not to much left over and everyone likes it.

Well I'm off until the 30th where I'll go absolutely nuts trying to catch up because we then have a three day week end where I then come back for the 1st of the month... I will enjoy my long weekend/vacation until my next time off.

Hope you all had a great holiday with your family and friends.