This just in(for all the crafters out there)...

*snort*

Because I'm missing the gene....

That allows me to follow rules I will be doing the One a Day 9-patch-along one day a week and not every day. Tomorrow is my day and since I'm going to try and do two quilts(I think), I'll be making 14 9-patches! That's a LOT for me in one day. Hope I can handle it. I will probably also use a different setting than the sashing she has but I'm not sure yet.

In other news...










We went here yesterday and had a blast! It was chilly and the wind was fierce but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. They bounced back and forth from the spray pad to the playground thing and wore themselves out. We arrived at 10:30 and stayed til 3:30!! I forgot to take pictures of the water until everyone had left!



If anyone is considering getting a pet, a cat specifically, please get two(littermates if possible). Several years ago we adopted sisters Ruby and Rosie together from our cousins and they are perfect together. I can't imagine how either of them would have gotten along without the other! Rosie is the most hateful animal I've ever known, we all would have been miserable with her alone. Ruby came with her because she'd had an accident and lost part of her tail. I felt bad for her and wanted to help her heal. She is the sweetest, most loving cat we've ever had and has bonded deeply with Sarah. However, if she'd been the only one we took I think she'd be very neurotic and a pain to deal with. Bringing both of them home has given them the best of both worlds, they have us and they have each other.



We adopted Jasper and Gypsy last January and again, I couldn't imagine either one of them without the other. Jasper is a scaredy cat and would have hidden under the furniture for months if he'd been here without Gypsy. She is the more loving of the two but he can be very affectionate at times. They, like Ruby and Rosie, spend hours sleeping side by side and grooming each other. Jasper has taken up the role of "mama" to Tallulah and now to Tibert(not Buster, sigh). Neither of them had siblings to come with so it is wonderful that Jasper has stepped up to nurture them.

And last but not least...

I found THIS in the cabinet above the microwave! I think it is a sweet potato.



And for Pit...

Something family and something quilty....

They are my mom's parents, Edgar and Thelma, we grandkids called them Daddy and Mama Mammer. He was born in 1904, she in 1907. My mom is the baby and her sisters were starting their families when she was just 5 years old. More than half of my 11 cousins are now in their 50s and 60s. In fact, many of my cousins started their families when *I* was in grade school. I've got 17 1st cousins once removed who range in age from 16 to their early 40s, and at least 35 1st cousins twice removed!! There are 5 cousins who are childless. I haven't seen some of them in well over 20 years, we're flung from San Diego to New York State, Texas to Virginia. Wish that wasn't the case, it would be nice to catch up with them!


(Mama Mammer with her sisters and her dad, she's closest to him)


(Mama and Daddy Mammer-top, Mama Mammer with assorted aunts, uncles and cousins, probably mid 1960s)

Sometime before I was born, Mama Mammer made this beautiful quilt. I love the geometric fabrics and the sunny sashing. She made many quilts but none for my children, I think she stopped being able to make quilts and crochet when I was just a small child, I don't remember her ever working on anything during our visits.



Yesterday I came across a 9-patch quilt-a-long at crazy mom quilts, and new immediately that I was going to play along! If you are a quilter, please consider joining in! I plan to do my sewing once a week because I have no place to leave my machine up but I will probably cut and plan each day, seriously I NEED more distractions to keep me from the housework!

Last summer my mom generously shared her floral fabrics with me. I had wanted to make a framed square quilt from a 5.5-inch block with 2.5-inch borders but it never got underway. Now I have a new and improved purpose for all these wonderful strips!



I'll pair them with some more solid fabrics from my stash, wish I had a large enough solid piece to work with but I don't and this is STRICTLY a stashbuster quilt. It is so nice to be quilting again, it has been a loooong time!

Blog surfing again...

(snapdragons in front of the girls' bedroom window)

I do this now and then, now because I'm practicing Housework Avoidance(and getting quite good at it, I might add!)... Some of these have been in my looooong blog folder for a while but some are new to me. Enjoy.

Fiddlesticks- My crochet and knitting ramblings

Dandelion Quilts

Dances Wtih Wool

Driftwood

Fat Orange Cat

We are THAT Family

Coyote Craft

Tales from the Den of Chaos

the sky is pink

Cocoa Cream's Craft Closet

LollyChops

Vashay Fam

No Mother Earth

~~~Updated~~~ to add this, wow!!

Philigry

In other news...

We are expecting rain sometime today. Was supposed to be here around 4am, then by 1pm, now its almost 3 and no rain yet. Hmmmm, would be nice if they could get it right, or that the rain would cooperate!

Our swimming pool is a nursery for a gazillion tadpoles of various frog species. We know we have these beautiful Pickerel Frogs and Gray Tree Frogs but there are at least 4 different kinds of tadpoles out there. Some are as big as giant black olives and some are small as thumbtacks.

I've started a new knitting project, inspired by the first blog I linked above. Its in browns, black and whites. Can't wait to have it finished!!

I made this!!

(Apologies in advance for the TERRIBLE photography! I'm not sure what is going on, maybe its because I'm sick or something, lol) (be sure to click to enlarge)



This is my second loaf of bread made from Alton Brown's soft pretzel recipe,blogged earlier. It makes really, REALLY, good bread. I suspect the reason why it isn't taller is that it didn't rise long enough and/or it wasn't in a loaf pan. It went through two risings but the second was hurried(maybe 35 minutes) since I had to be somewhere. Next time I'll let it sit longer and try a loaf pan, or two-this thing is huge(20 slices after we ate the ends off)! This is seasoned with garlic and onion powder, savory, parsley, caraway, sunflower, and fennel seeds, along with some seasoned salt from Herbal Grace. It is wonderful toasted with mustard, black forest ham, and munster cheese.


Aaaaaaannnddd....

I

also

made

this!!!!


(obviously not blocked yet)

I am so NOT good with patterns, not one bit. But, I was looking through the patterns that belonged to my grandmother and found this book. Most of what I got from her is for bedspreads, chair sets, luncheon sets, and larger doilies so I was glad to finally see something with smaller projects. Rest assured I will NOT be taking on anything much bigger than these!



I am not sure if the one I chose(the bottom one) was the easiest or hardest of the six but I managed to complete the first square in about four hours without ANY ripping! The second square took slightly less time but I had to frog half a row a few times. I think it was because it was late and I was tired. My stitches are fairly steady even so each side turned out within a 1/8th inch of the other or better, size-wise. Now I've got to find some satin and make a pillow and get the border put on. I'm sure that can't be any harder than the sides themselves.



I LOVE the red but I don't have much left so a trip to Goodwill is in order, they usually have tons of this stuff! I also have black and brown in bedspread weight but can't locate it right now. These would be cool in a sport weight or worsted for larger pillows or purse. Hmmmm, creative juices are now flowing, stand by. I have nothing to do this afternoon so I think I'll try another one of the patterns.

Now, because he disobeys my commands to stop. being. so. darn. cute...


(just today, see how BIG he's got? I bet he's nearly doubled in size since I found him)


(he's finally -slightly- bigger than the remote)


(most of our cats are afghan kitties, he took right up with them)


(he's also a daddy's boy)


(Jeff, just because he is cute too, and slightly larger than an Oreo cookie)

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

After I wake up a bit more I plan to celebrate by spending a good part of the day outside, planted in my camp chair with a crochet project and a pitcher of iced tea! It might be at the lake or a park, or maybe in the front yard, that part hasn't been decided yet. Our temp will be in the mid-80s today so the lake would be nice but Ryan has a friend coming over, we have to get our raw milk sometime after 2pm, and the kids have church tonight so my guess would be that we'll stick close to home.

I came across these websites this morning. They'll make you think.

Christian Ecology- Christians for Environmental Stewardship

Forum on Religion and Ecology

Evangelical Ecologist Blog(see Christians Don't Do Earth Day)

ThinkChristian.net

The National Religious Partnership for the Environment

In other news...

The pretzel recipe from Alton Brown makes wooooonderful bread!!! I whipped some up Monday night to go with our leftover spaghetti and threw in onion and garlic powder, fennel and caraway seeds, parsley and savory. Instead of a loaf, I patted it down to almost fit in my large jelly roll pan, about 13x10 inches. I also didn't let it rise the second time, just once. We are using it for sandwich bread and toasting it. I can't get over how good it tastes with black forest ham. Next time, I'll leave it as an oblong loaf shape and let it rise a second time.

The girls just found their camera so pictures will be more frequent. They misplaced the cord for my camera, grrrr. Oh well, it will show up someday.

Don't Worry, Be Happy....

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. ~Denis Waitley

Forgiveness is freeing up and putting to better use the energy once consumed by holding grudges, harboring resentments, and nursing unhealed wounds. It is rediscovering the strengths we always had and relocating our limitless capacity to understand and accept other people and ourselves. ~the Simons

Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd. ~Bertrand Russell

But the greatest menace to our civilization today is the conflict between giant organized systems of self-righteousness -- each system only too delighted to find that the other is wicked -- each only too glad that the sins give it the pretext for still deeper hatred and animosity. ~Herbert Butterfield

One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to. ~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

This moral sensitivity to the sacredness of human personality -- the Commandments not to kill, not to hurt, not to put a stumbling block in the path of the blind, not to neglect the widow or the fatherless, not to exploit the servant or the worker -- all this can be found in the Bibles of humanity, in all the sacred books. All teach in substance: "Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you." But most of the great religions agree on mercy, justice, love -- here on earth. And they agree that the great task is to move people from apathy, from an acceptance of the evils in life, to face the possibilities of the world, to make life sweet for one another instead of bitter. ~Algernon Black

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same. ~Anne Frank