The Next Step

The floor?...foundation?.....the cement over the radient heat wire?....pipes?...has been poured for Ashleys house.  The houses you see in this picture are from the 'first' round of this program, but this is what Ashleys house will look like in back. Not a very large footprint, but thats ok.  The kids are having a ball helping build these houses, their neighbors and their own.  Stephanie helps too. 

Fix That BooBoo

I noticed that I mentioned the new sewing machine as not having to use a presser foot....boy is that a big boobah....duh...have to use the presser foot, you don't have to use the foot control to run the machine, Vicky, you big dummy!  [sorry Phyllis!]

I am back to using Steph's laptop for short periods when she will allow me to.  We set up Ben's computer and fried it first thing....we think/hope it was the power strip we were using as that is the 3rd machine to bite the dust!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So until/if  I get me laptop back I will be out of the loop.....and boy do I miss that laptop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  With my moms dementia, I used it to escape into another place while sitting right next to mom, amazing how wonderful that was.  Now I am reduced to my game boy, old school, people, very old school!

thank you for missing me

 Susan--my bday is December 31....always a party...shall we start early QF??

On to sewing content....lets start with a sewing machine story.

Picture #1 is my  old Pfaff, I was too lazy to take the cover off for the photo.

  

{so i copy/pasted a pic}

Loved this machine, but as it got older I decided to get another...an upgrade...

That's where this one came in....another Pfaff, a 'recontitioned' one.  Disliked this machine from the day I brought it home, but sucked in my gut and used it anyway....until about a week ago.

and that's where this Brother machine came into my life, via FedEx....So far this machine and I are happy together!  It purrs for me, seriously, it purrs!  And you don't have to use the presser foot, you can use a button on the front of the machine to sew with.

 I can see into the drop-in-bobbin spot to see how much thread remains on the bobbin. Reason #1 on my want list.  And this new one has the needle down option, reason #2 on my want list. [There are also new machines being made that use a treadle!] 

oops...how did that picture get in here....Rhiley, teeth, curls, blue eyes....still no eyebrows.

The 9 Mosaic Blocks, sort of arranged.  Some of the blocks are smaller than others, even though they all started out the same size...I think.

my laptop would not start one morning.  that wire is what was messed up.

and now Dan needs a second one because the first new one got messed up too....quite a few swear words were used during the whole process, as I am sure more will be used when we get the second wire.

Hello Stranger!

Stranger being me in this case....or es-tranged.....I have been off the computer because it would not start...good reason, I know.  But....my son set up his for me, so I will upload pix tomorrow and all that sorta stuff...

Kindly Correction to a Commenter

Quilting Fitzy said   "I'm a rock stealer too, and you'd think we'd have enough with our desert landscaping, lol. Nope, never enough!"


Dear dear Fitzy....we don't steal rocks, we find new places to place them, just as our dear Mother Nature does {as in rushing rivers, waves on the beach, etc.}.  We just place them in unnatural settings, like on top of the tv....where that 'nosy' rock is watching my every move!  You are just another rock replacer like so many of us.  And some of us do other things to rocks, like crochet them jackets or paint on them... [scroll down on the second link, Geninne has some great photos to peruse]


Edit to add...or get a pile of rocks given to you like Dorothy did.  Finestkind!
Fitzy....a rock tumbler....sweet!!!

Boom.....Boom.....

Around 1:50 this afternoon, we were all shook up....

an earthquake?  an exploding meth lab?  the nearest johnny-on-the-spot business?

nope. nope. and nope, though that would be pretty shitty....

Turns out, some unsuspecting float plane pilot invaded the air space around Seattle while president Obama was here, so 2 F-15's {of the super sonic jet variety} were dispatched from Oregon toot sweet and made their presence felt in the way of 2 sonic booms that shook the shit outta all of us!  The dog was still shaking half an hour later.

story here on komo newsthe shirt here ava. here

From Other Blogs...

Be*mused has this awesome picture in her flickr albums.  Mola type design is something I would love to do...but maybe not so large.

Darn it, I can't remember where I found this one of the cat silhouette.....I just thought it was a great shape!!

Stephanie got to go river tubing yesterday with her boyfriend and his family.  Bring me a river rock says I before she left...so she did,  can you see the nose and eyes in it?  Steph says it reminds her of the tree from Pocahontas.  I think of Ziggy...

In My Little Grass....Skirt...{isn't it supposed to be 'hut'?}

Rhiley Goes Hawaiian

There it is.  The new bathtub. Boring? Absolutely!   But practical.  Boring for sure. Still has the sticker on the front....sheesh, what kinda housewife leaves the stupid sticker on the front of her tub?

Look...It's A SEWING Post

This is Block # 9 of my Mosaic Blocks, the last of the empty blocks, but it's not necessarily finished.  I stitched down the Wedding Ring {from a swap hosted by Christine Thresh, using one of her pattern idea-developments...she didn't invent the original pattern, she just re-invented a way to put it all together...an easy way I might add!} 

I have a few quilty peoples autographs...my first quilting teacher, Roberta Horton....

Valori Wells...We went to the Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon in 2000 and I got a chance to chat with Valori and Alex Anderson, whose autograph is in the picture with Bethany Reynolds'ssss.  I took an online class with her and have always enjoyed her Stack 'n' Whack method.  {I got to be a Call Girl on Simply Quilts and chatted with Alex then too. Episode # 613}

And last I have Laurel Burch'ssss.....ok, it's only on the selvage, but I thought it fitting to add to this block.  I had to stitch the autographed bits on here with the sewing machine....I had used a high thread-count fabric for the autographs and it's a bitch to hand sew.  Otherwise all the sewing so far has been hand done, but the seams will be machine done.

Bathtub Woes

Ben, ie: Tub Removal Dude

When we bought this place, the tub in the 'girls' bathroom had a crack in it.....

it's next to the screw driver.....so you can find the darn thing!  I worried about it screwing up the floor beneath it.....hah....it never even got through to the lino that was of course under the tub.  [this is a manufactured home after all]  Could'a slapped some duct tape on it and left it for years!

So...just because the space is for a 5 foot tub doesn't mean you can get a 5 foot tub into the space!

Stay tuned for more for Tub Drama.

Sweet....I finally have a light in the dining room!  This place came with a really really ugly chandelier...besides the cracked tub.  The chandelier was easier to toss, so out it went, and now 3 years later, I have what I wanted...a home made light fixture.  The basket was formerly a fruit basket on the counter.

The latest in the Self-Help-Home-Front. This is the radiant heat in the floor of Ashley and Danny's home-to-be.

So here I was with Rhiley who is teething and didn't want to lie down but really needed to be asleep.  My arms are not long enough to get a shot of both our heads....

On the creative front, I actually got 3 inches of had sewing done last night!!!  We had family visit last week, and nary a picture I took, so I didn't get any hand work done even though I had 2...can you believe it?....2 whole days with out the girls!  I couldn't even enjoy it, damn it.

...sat down beside me....

wellllllll........not exactly beside me, but up on the wall-ceiling join.  I had to call for back up.   Ben and I tried to get a picture of it spread out....but alive....that wasn't gonna happen...

my finger for size ref. in the squashed state.  

 [no coffee was wasted during initial sighting.]

Now for some pretty things.....

Lily

Megan

Auntie Steph

Slice of Orange?

Nope.  That's the moon.  We had orange skies the other day because of wildfire smoke blowing south from British Columbia.

We finally have this corner almost done, the tree needs planting.  But our rocks are finally 'on display'.  These are rocks from road trips, along with the driftwood on the other side of the ramp.

Once Upon a Time the big girl was the size of the little girl, the blond hair is even the same.  Of course, the little girl will someday be a big girl too.

I came across this awesome doodle on Jill Buckley's blog....it's my VJ symbol!! It's also the symbol for Capricorn, of which I am one.  And since my initials where VJ, this became my signature for all things.  [i went from VAJ to VD...sheesh]