Now to clean up the studio . . .

I have worked off and on for the past 10 days to complete a challenge piece for our local art quilt group.  I turned it in today.  There are a few issues, but it is done.  I learned a lot.  I never give enough time for this kind of project and with the holidays and some early January commitments,  it was no different this time.

The title of the challenge was "Gone Downtown" and it could be anything related to whatever we thought when we heard that.  In Bozeman, every summer, there are beautiful big baskets of tiny petunias hanging from every lamp post on main street and that it was I always think of so this is what I did.  I would do lots of things differently if I were to do it again, but I did like the flower basket.

There had to be a 2 inch wide entry of the gray fabric on the left someplace and a two inch wide exit of that same fabric someplace on the right.   Then they hang them all together in a line staggered so one gray exit lines up with the next gray entry. Most others did not think of Bozeman, but rather childhood memories or vacation times.  So they are all different which will be nice.  It should be interesting.

Go Broncos - - -

Having lived for many years in Denver, I am a hard core Broncos fan.  So I am thrilled that they are going to the Super Bowl in a couple weeks.

Here is a cute picture of my older son, Stan, and his two boys, Weston and Walker.  The little guys have been so excited and have jerseys for Manning and Welker that they wear often with great pride.  It will be a fun Super Bowl at our house.

Little Sassy . . .

Here is our little "wild kitten" Sassy. 

Her mom is a feral cat that has been in the community (we live in the country) for a couple years.  She brought Sassy and 3 siblings around to a safe place under one of our decks about a week before Thanksgiving - right before our week of minus 20 temps.  The kittens were about 4 weeks old then and we fed them all and kept them warm - outside - with a little shelter and an outdoor pet heating pad that Bob put together with the help of the pet stores.

We did that for about three weeks as we tried to interact but there was no catching them.  The momma was very skittish as one would expect.  We finally captured all but this one and took them to our local animal shelter, Heart of the Valley.  They make sure they are healthy, spay or neuter as needed, give shots, chip them and then put them up for adoption.  The momma, being feral, would be adopted as a barn cat and they wave the adoption fee for her.

This one was not about to be caught, but we finally succeeded about a week later.  We socialized her for a few days inside in a kennel and then we just fell in love with her and decided we wanted to keep her so we have.  And she has become a wonderful member of our household.

This morning was her first trip to the vet and she is healthy and about 11 or 12 weeks old now. 

It has been some kind of year . . .

First I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year as you welcome in 2014.

I have tried to get back to blogging - not made it as you can tell.  But I think I want to try again.  We will see what happens.

Right after my last blog from our Memorial Day trip, we moved my 92 year old mom into a senior living place where she has her own nice 2 bedroom apartment.  We worked hard for several days getting the move done, unpacked, pictures hung - you know the drill.

Then 4 days after she moved - on June 4th - she had a subdural hematoma - bleeding in the brain between the outer cover of the brain and the inner side of her skull.   It was major.  She ended up having surgery as they thought she was a good candidate for a few more years.  She has recovered over the past few months and is now enjoying her life in her senior living apartment, participating in lots of activities and enjoying new friends.  She walks without a cane or walker, takes total care of herself with just a little assistance for a couple meds.  So it all worked out well but it has been an interesting many months of hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and family - support and conflict.  Enough said on that!  I am just glad she is enjoying a bit more of life.

Our holiday time was wonderful - good memories and some time to do a little creating . . . 

Here is a project I am working on now.  It is a table runner made from dark batik.  The thread is gold metalic with charcoal in the areas where you can't really see the quilting.  The second photo has side lighting so you can better see the quilting.   It is good to be back with my work.