Fantastic Friday . . .

Busy times here, but it is all good! I have been so energized and loving life after many months of the doldrums. What is the difference? I am not sure, but, at my doctor's suggestion, I have been taking a lot of Vitamin D3. Maybe it is all in my mind, but I feel so good every day.

We have had the little guys visit a couple times in the past 10 days. Last weekend they were here and we loved every minute. Here is a cute picture of Walker watching Barney. He has just started to really love Barney and he has to sit in this little rocking chair with his favorite blanket. We took both boys with us to a memorial service for a friend on Saturday. It was a couple hour drive away and it was held in an arena. He a very distinguised horseman and an extraordinary driver of draft horse teams. Many people took turns telling good memories. It was very cold in the arena and Weston was sitting on my lap with his coat wrapped around him tight. Walker and Bob has gone off to the kitchen area where it was warmer, but he was not able to hear the service. After dozens of memories and tears were shared, Weston looked up at me and said, "Grandma, somebody just needs to say amen". Our friend would have loved that - he loved little guys and their honesty.

I am just finishing this huge quilt - it is a king and I got way to ambitious with my quilting plan. I am loving every minute, but I have not been able to quilt every day and only a bit on some days. Life seems to have others plans at times. There have been lots of thread changes, lots of ruler work, some stencil work, and some frogging. It is all part of the game I know and I am so glad to be back.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Another good one . . .

I had a neighbor who lived "up the hill" from me here. She was in her 90's and I was visiting her one day. I said, "Annie, it is such a beautiful day - don't you think?". She replied, "Carol, every morning I wake up, it is a beautiful day." Annie left us about 5 years ago, but her words and wisdom are everywhere.

Today was a beautiful day - for me anyway. I expected to wake up to snow on the grass and when I got up, there was no snow except on the mountains. It was going to be a beautiful day. When I went on Facebook, my son, who lives here wrote "Ah, the Bridgers are beautiful with their first blanket of snow." You see, he is an avid snow skier and one of the local snow areas is in the nearby Bridger Mountains. To him the site of the snow made his day beautiful. It is all a matter of perspective.

I am working on a large quilt that will be in the window of one of our local quilt shops - the one downtown. So, I am using this as an opportunity to practice some detailed quilting and try some new things. This picture shows one of the inner borders where I am doing some curved cross hatching using a new ruler from Ronda Beyer that is sold by Quilters Rule. The print in this inner border is much more muted in the real quilt and the quilting shows up a bit better than in the picture. I was surprised when I saw the picture as the fabric looks really busy and it doesn't look like that with the eye. But you can click on the picture for a better view. I love this big ruler, and she has several other sizes and shapes that I also have and am anxious to try,. The curve is just right and the etched markings are perfect. On the Quilters Rule site, Ronda has a couple videos I think where she shows how she makes curved cross hatching easy. I have done it a bit before, but these rulers make it so much nicer and much easier

Please have another beautiful day.

Good news . . .

I just got a call from my sister-in-law, Ann. She is at the quilt show in Spokane and she had to tell me that a quilt she did that I quilted won a second place ribbon. It is so much fun to hear that kind of news - especially since I didn't know she entered it at all. This is the only picture I have of it - in progress. Thank you, Ann, for entering the quilt and for calling to let me know that we won a ribbon!

Mittens and visitors . . .

First off - I did get the mittens finished that I talked about trying in the last post. They will be so warm and just as cute as they can be. And, they are very easy. I lined these with fleece, but I have some cashmere recycled sweaters that I want to try on the next pair for lining. I think they will make nice Christmas gifts and it is fun to put the different sweater combinations together. These are red and dark charcoal although it looks black in this picture. The patterns worked really well and the instructions are great. Give them a try if you have some felted wool around. You will like them!

Weston and Walker visited today and we had a great time. Weston is getting so "grown up". He likes to play games on "PBSKids" and this is what he was doing here. He goes to a local sports group two mornings a week and is in pre-school three days a week so he is kept busy. Walker is just enjoying being 16 months. He talks (we don't always understand), runs, eats, laughs, and loves everything. When it is time for his nap, he just walks into the room with his bed here at Grandma's house, gets in his bed, lays down and "lights out". They are lots of fun to have as visitors.

I have a new quilt coming in tomorrow that I am going to quilt for one of the shops here. I am excited about it and that feels good.

My "muchness" is flirting with a return . . .

Each day for the past couple weeks I have noticed some subtle changes. Things seem more interesting - more colorful - more fun. And, I feel more certain, spicier, and have a bit more of my old courage. I think I am getting my "muchness" back. I wonder why it went away.

I spent some time reorganizing my desk. I cleaned out several file drawers in the office part of my studio and threw away a ton of stuff I have held on to for way too long and just generally did some thinning out. It was kind of fun to go through the files from my past life, enjoy the memories and toss it out without a hint of remorse. I have more to do, but it is lighter.

I also found a good free pattern for making mittens from recycled felted wool. Here is the pattern. So - I got the pattern ready and got my felted wood ready from my endless stash of recycled wool sweaters. I am going to use this little vest I found some years ago - it is already felted, pressed and ready to go. My friend, Gail, in Denver had a pair that she had been given - she said they are so warm. Hers were lined with recycled cashmere sweater, but this pattern shows using fleece and that is what I am going to use. I will try to get them done in the morning. . . supposed to only take 30 minutes.

We are supposed to get a freeze tonight and it is the first one so far this fall. So I wanted to bring my geraniums in and I decided I had best go dig them up and get them into some pots this afternoon. I have never done this before, but I have 4 geraniums this year in my outside pots that I just love and they have bloomed and bloomed all summer so I am going to try it. Then when I got done with mine, I went over to my good friend (neighbor) and dug up some of hers as well. We both bought the same ones last spring and have raved about them all summer. She and her hubby are back in Indiana doing some family ancestry research and won't be back for another 10 days so I told her I would do it for her as well. Anyone have good luck with keeping geraniums blooming all winter and then putting them back out in the late spring?

And tonight while I was watching "Dancing With The Stars" I got in some good design work with my new EQ7. It was a really good day. But, I am not sure if I ever combed my hair all day. It was not important. LOL.

Beautiful quilts and beautiful colors . . .

But, no pictures as I ran off and forgot my camera. Bob and I took a drive to Livingston to see a quilt show sponsored by their guild. It is a quick 25 minute drive. The quilts were really nice and I got to visit with quite a few people I know from the quilting world. I also met Janna in person. I read her blog regularly and love it. She and her husband also have a motorhome and she is also a longarm quilter. It was fun to meet her in person - it felt like I know her. Blogs are great! I need to do a better job with mine.

We then took "the long way" home through the beautiful Shields River valley and then back through Bridger Canyon into Bozeman. It was a great day in the sunshine with stunning fall colors nearing the end of their show.

"I've never known anyone yet who doesn't suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around... We're all eight years old again and anything is possible." Sue Grafton

Yellowstone . . .

It was a gorgeous day! We decided to take off this morning and head to Yellowstone Park. The park is about 100 miles south of us and the scenery between here and there is spectacular. We just took our time and enjoyed the day.

These pics were from our stop at the Upper Geyser Basin. I am not sure what I will do with the message I am getting, but the combination of colors and textures is whispering in my ear. It was a wonderful day of inspiration and gratitude.