Pretty colors . . .

I love these colors together - these are in one of my planters - it captures my eye each time I head out somewhere. The second photo is from a bouquet that Bob gave me a few years back and I have kept the photo. I love these colors. Hmmm - maybe I need to get busy and gather some fabric? What do you think?

Still quilting here - staying busy, busy. We had a great supper out with some friends we haven't seen for a while last night. Fun night. Off to get some quilting done - loving this energy.

This is turning out okay.

This vintage top that required all of the work to get it square is now on my table and it is turning out pretty good - much better than I had ever thought possible. I can't even begin to tell you how long I pressed it. It was all pieced by hand and it was on its way of being a parallelogram. Here are a couple pics. I am quilting and that is wonderful! Hoke (my IQ) is sitting this one out and I am bonding again with my Miss Daisy (my A1). I think I love doing this freehand stuff. Life is good here today!

Time away . . .

I am taking some time away from blogging for a while. Everything is okay - just busy with that bucket list.

Bucket list . . . a rant!

I am really ticked off with myself. What have I been doing? I just realized that if I want to make beautiful quilts, I can't make placemats. One of the items on my bucket list is to do another show quilt or two and enter them in shows. For the last 2 years, I have been doing everything but that!

I just realized that if something is on my bucket list, I need to focus on only that and get to work. I can't take anymore classes in order to enjoy meeting other quilters. I have to focus and get to work. Every moment of time in my studio must be focused on doing the work necessary to make beautiful quilts. I can't waste another moment of another day - I have to go now.

I am not sure where this awakening is going to take me once I get over being so hacked off with myself. I do know I must get to work and do it or sell all of the stuff in my studio - the fabric, the multiple sewing machines, the IQ, the A1 - all of it - because that is why I started this journey. Making beautiful quilts to enter in shows is either on my bucket list or off. Right now it is on and I want to do it. I am going to make every effort to achieve it!

If you read my blog, please remind me!!!

Another great evening. . .

Food and Friends . . .
We had some great friends over tonight for dinner. We started our vegetarian eating with them a month ago. We all did this for health reasons and are doing pretty good. I made vegan tofu spinach lasagna. I am getting better at it - it is the second time I have made it and it was pretty darn good. We added a great salad - lots of cut up veggies and some good bread for dipping in seasoned olive oil. Joan brought fresh from her garden strawberries and we had a bit of almond creme - an ice cream substitute. It was a tasty vegan meal.

As they were leaving, they said, "Let's take off for a couple days - can you go?" They have a nice 5th wheel and have not been out yet this summer. Of course we have Gus mostly loaded all of the time, but Bob has been wanting to get some things done around here. We have the little guys out to visit tomorrow so we will see what happens. If we head out, we will leave Saturday morning and would head to the southwestern part of Montana and dry camp in a spot they like. I would love to go see the ghost town of Bannack, MT. It was the first territorial capital of Montana and is now a state park. More on that later if we do go - and lots to do here if we don't. It is a win win either way!

So - how is it going?

Food . . .
We have been on our vegetarian experience for one month now and we are really enjoying it. We both feel much better and have actually lost a few pounds. As you remember, we started out being vegan - no animal fat of any kind including dairy and eggs. We then added in some dairy and eggs when we felt we needed to, but we are more and more moving toward being vegan. At first, I really missed my cheese, but I have found other products that fill that need. Tonight, however, we had "5 Cheese Tortelloni" with pesto and a huge salad. So, that will be my cheese for a few days. We got this idea from one of the tasting stations at Costco. The tortelloni is packaged there and they had just tossed it with the Kirkland pesto - it is really a wonderful combination and a little goes a long ways. Our salads have come more chopped up veggies of all kinds with a little lettuce. This one here is the dark lettuce also from Costco - "artisan" - little heads of great tasting lettuce. Tonight I chopped up sugar peas, carrots, celery, and red pepper to go along with the lettuce. We have also taken to dipping our bit of bread in a little olive oil with some seasoning. It has been a wonderful month of trying new things and we are enjoying our vegetarian life style.

Fiber . . .
Today I got out an old project that I started on several years ago and had to put away. It belongs to the daughter of one of our good friends. She wanted it finished as a gift for her sister, but then she asked me to not work on it for a while and she would get back to me as some things had changed in her life and her sister was moving around alot and she might not want it finished. So, I put it away and nearly forgot about it.

It is now time to get it finished. It is handpieced and the top was shaped like the first drawing. I knew I had to make it look like the second drawing in order to "square it up". She also wanted a border added. Today I moved one of the stars and started on adding the edge pieces. The first pictures below show how the edge looked and the second one shows the one side that is done. It has been difficult for me to "get with it" after letting something go for so long, but I am glad she waited to want it finished. I am a better piecer now than I was 3 years ago and it would have really been much more of a challenge for me than it is now - now it is pretty easy. It is just not my favorite thing, but I will get it done for her. After the sides are complete, I will square off the ends and add the border she wanted. I am hoping to get it loaded on Miss Daisy by Thursday. I plan to use Hoke for most of the quilting, but I might change my mind on that - who knows. I just know it is amazing to me that I actually could locate the project and now it is going to be finished. Whoopee!!!

Friends . . .
Tomorrow I am taking one of my quilts to a local quilt show in a neighboring small town. One of my friends has a quilt shop there and she asked if I would bring "Tumbling Through Time" to hang in the show. I was honored that she would ask so I am going to deliver it there and then meet up with another good friend from Helena for lunch. We are going to meet once a month for a show and share session. She is a stamper and does some sewing, but no quilting. We have decided that each month we will bring projects completed, in progress and in our dreams to share and enjoy. And then we will challenge each other to finish projects in progress and get started on the ones we want to get done. They can be stamping, sewing, crochet, knitting - whatever. We have been good friends for a long time so I am thinking this is really going to be fun and I should get lots done. I am taking this place mat that is in progress. It is one of the ones I have done from the Saturday Breakfast Club projects and I have so much trouble getting them finish. Hopefully when I see her next month I will have this and all of the others done and quilted. We are aiming at the second Tuesday of each month, but this month we changed as I had a dentist appointment today.

What a wonderful visit . . .

Friends . . .
Years ago - well years and years ago - I was a young divorced mother living in Helena and teaching 4th grade. One of the other young teachers and I became good friends for the three years we were there together. Then we both left our teaching positions there and headed off to different universities to go back to school and get our masters degrees. I came here to Bozeman with my two young sons and she headed off to Greeley, CO. From there, our life paths went in different directions and we have not stayed in touch. She was back in Montana for a visit this week and came yesterday for a long day and an overnight long visit. We picked up right where we left off all of those years ago. It was just a magical time and one I loved so very much. It was a perfect hug of friendship. Just being around her and her vitality turned back all of those years and I am feeling 30 this morning. I will bask in this.

And now . . .
She left early and I now have the whole day to myself in the studio. We worked hard this week to get the house duties caught up, washing caught up, yard work caught up, and hail damaged appraised and one vehicle fixed already. So, I am off to my studio this morning. I want to finish a vintage quilt redo that has been on my radar screen way too long. Pictures later.

Good things . . .

1. The dishwasher stopped getting dishes clean so we tried all of the cleaners and suggested cleaning methods to help out when you have really hard water. It is 15 years old, so just decided it needed to be replaced. We went to Lowes to find a new one and the sales person there told us about "Limi Shine" - bought it at the grocery store and gave it a try. We might not need a new dishwasher.

2. This beautiful iris is a gift from our neighbor and it is one of the few she had that were not "hailed out" last week.

3. Both cars have had the insurance stuff done and one is already in for hail damage repair and the other one is scheduled in a couple weeks.

4. The chipped crown on my tooth could be just smoothed off and it didn't need to be replaced.

5. A friend from my past is coming for a visit this Friday - I haven't seen her in 20 years. We taught together as young teachers many years before that and then our paths went in separate directions.

6. Our closest grocery was open late (it is 11 pm) so I cold buy a couple mouse traps to catch a mouse in the house I think I saw tonight. I didn't have to go clear across town to the all night Walmart.

It is all good!

Long time coming . . .

"I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better." Maya Angelou

Always learning . . .
My blog is titled "Third Act" because I am at the stage of my life where this is my third act. I came to that because I have divided my projected life span (God willing) into three parts and I am now starting into that third part. It is the best of times! However - and that is a big "however" - the learning I need has not come as quickly as the years. This weekend was a major "ah-ha" for me.

So this was the deal . . . We were invited by my Bob's sister to come to their cabin on the lake to celebrate the 4th of July. It was nice invitation and my Bob accepted as he didn't want to hurt her feelings. She also invited our son and his family to join us. Doesn't that sound exciting - a long weekend on a beautiful lake with lots of water toys? I went along with the decision even though my intuition sent up many warning signals. So, we asked the "kids" and they thought it sounded really good. They have two little ones under 5 as you know. They have a little camping trailer and we have Gus. We would go up a few days early to get a good camping site for us at one of the campgrounds and they were assured there was room at the cabin for them with their little trailer as they couldn't get up there early and you can't "save" camp sites.

So here is reality. . .
1. In order to get a camping site near the lake on any summer weekend, you need to be there by mid-week at least and certainly for the July 4th weekend. Due to the late tree trimmers and the major hail storm, we couldn't get away until Thursday afternoon.
2. We went and took the last camp site in the least desirable campground, but it was better than nothing, huh? It did have a great view of the lake.
3. Bob's sister had also invited all of the relatives from her husbands side of the family. When we went over to the cabin after we got situated we found way too many people. All of the vehicles (mostly trucks) had to park in the space "promised" our kids to park their trailer. And there was a lot (and I mean a lot) of family issues going on among those who were there. And everyone brought at least one dog including us.
4. The cabin is small on a little knob with a busy road between it and the dock - hmmm - lots to manage with little kids in tow.
5. The weather has not been very summer like regardless of what we would like and this weekend was no different - wind and rain and cool temps.

So here is how it worked out . . .
1. The camp site we found was big enough for two RVs - not the best location, but really fun to have the little ones right next door when they arrived Friday evening.
2. We survived the cold, wind and rain.
3. We limited our time at the cabin so as not have to endure or be involved in the family issues, busy road, dog issues, etc.
4. The water toys at the cabin were used a bit and enjoyed.
5. Most of the weekend was spent at the little campsite on the knob in Gus out of the wind and rain.

And we learned - we will ask better questions like "who and how many" - and know we can pass on the invite with a gracious "not this time" when we get the real scoop. We should have known better. You can probably read between the lines on some of this, huh?

But . . . we had a good time with our son and his family. We got to practice walking with Walker. We got in some really good laughs at our location, the family drama, and the continued learning. We were thankful to have a camp site with a great view and the RV's for shelter. And, it was a good 4th of July.