Christmas quilt

No, it' not a kit. It's not even a pattern. That means it's my own creation! Can you believe it? OK, it's Quilt Crossing isn't banging on my door
asking for the rights to it, but I think it's
pretty darn cute.

Eat Your Heart Out

This is almost as good as a gingerbread house...We crank it up to 140 degrees and pretend we are in Hawaii. If only the scenery was better.

Sledding in Garden Valley

Yesterday we all piled in the motorhome (even Nanny!) and went up to Garden Valley. They have a tubing hill furnished with homemade snow. Paul, Rich, Rachael, Emily and Tater had a great time tubing down this hill. Tiff, Nanny and I had a great time sitting in the motorhome, staying warm, drinking hot chocolate and watching everyone out the window. The only accident was Paul doing a somersault midair after hitting a hill. No concussion. Just a scab on his scalp.

New Quilt

New quilt finished.
Thanks again for a great Thanksgiving everyone. I only gained 3 pounds on the scale, but gained 50 pounds of love from my family!

This girl's in business!

So I opened an ETSY store, and who would have guessed the first two things sold were the 2 things I put on because I never really did like them and only wanted to get rid of them. I'm going to drag out this pattern and make a few more (and raise the price). I had a 3rd one, but I gave it to DI. I'm such an idiot.

Christmas projects

This is one end of a table runner. There is a matching reindeer on the other side. The table topper is finished - holly in the corners and berries in the middle. Thanks Tiff for this fabulous fabric.

Christmas table topper. I think the corners need something. . .maybe some holly leaves.

Torture

Have I got news for the CIA. It's time to throw out water boarding and substitute yoga...yes, I said yoga. After attending an hour long session yesterday morning, I'm convinced that this practice would be much more effective than any other torture method available. I would have given up my deepest darkest secrets to have been able to get out of that room as fast as possible. The terms down dog, ashtanga, and bhujungasana are words that strike terror in me upon hearing them. Who knew that bending over, putting one arm between your legs, putting your other arm around your back and trying to clasp hands was good for you? I say, if you want to shake your own hand in a tricky way, DO IT IN FRONT OF YOU! Make me eat jalepeno peppers, play Perry Como nonstop, let me sleep on the mattress downstairs, but don't make me go to another yoga class. (OK, maybe I'll try it again tomorrow.)

My new storage system

I was complaining (who me?) that I needed more storage in my sewing room, so Paul and I came up with this cheap, quick solution to the problem. The plastic tubs are the same width as the bed, so they are quite spacious. I am going to get 3 more to finish the top shelf. I love it so much I can hardly stand it. The top of my sewing table is no longer a constant mess. Affixing labels to each drawer is my goal for today.

I just finished my morning fruit smoothie and am feeling real good - do kiwis ferment?

Thanks Jen and Brad for reading this. I'm off to the gym. . .

Looking for a Home

This quilt is looking for a really big wall to be hung on. Any takers?

Oh, what fun we had last weekend. Thank you Brad, Karen, Matt, Jen, and anyone else who helped make our visit so much fun. I'm so grateful you have such a wonderful home for us all to congregate in without feeling like we are on top of each other. Having Eileen there was spectacular! Thanks Eileen for making the trip. Now, if I could just get those cheers out of my head. . .

This is a quilt made for my friend Judy whose daughter is having a baby girl. We picked out the fabrics and I think it turned out beautiful!

The week's recap and a quilt

My most recent "Hodpodge" quilt. I'm not sure why I love making these so much, but this is my 3rd one and a 4th is in progress.


Thursday - Rich's birthday and a family outing to Whitewater Pizza. All would have been well had Emily been content with a child portion of Mac and Cheese instead of REALLY wanting an adult portion. That's what I love about her - she is not easily swayed.


Wednesday - teaching Beehives to quilt just may be the most challenging thing I've ever done. Seams that are supposed to be nice and straight but resemble the Eastern seaboard make me want to rip my eyes out. But I do manage some genuine praise when someone actually does something correctly. When they come back in 10 years and show me quilts that are making because I got them started, I'll think - wasn't that a great experience!


Tuesday - (Yes, I know I'm going backwards) - 4 hours with a friend's son fixing our computers. It's so nice to be back in business.


Thursday - (do you know the correct order of the days of the week?) - parent/teacher conferences. Always an interesting experience. I let them do most of the talking and they walk away thinking "what a great conference that was!"


Friday - Went out to lunch with some teachers. One of them has a husband out of work. So to earn money, he goes to garage sales Friday mornings, packs everything up and heads for Pasco WA to sell stuff at a swap meet. Curious, I asked why Pasco? Because the Hispanic population up there LOVES buying his stuff for twice as much as he paid for it. Better go check out this swap meet guys - look for Robert from Boise.
Dug a bush out of the front yard that was dying. It's twin on the other side of the driveway is coming out today. Tried pouring boiling water and vinegar on the weeds (instead of Roundup), but wanted to bed to look good TODAY, so I just dug them out instead of waiting to see if the home remedy really worked. Watched a great movie downloaded from Netflix - Betrayed. A must watch.


Today - I woke up around 5:00 a.m. - I go through these cycles where I sleep like a normal person for a while, and then I only need 5 hours or so a night. I really get a lot accomplished in the 5 hour cycles. Read my 2 favorite blogs from Pasco. Got a quilt ready to go on the longarm today. I've been collecting quilting designs online, so I'm ready to do same major practicing.

Camping in the Arctic

It was off to McCall for probably the last camping trip of the season. I wish I could say that this was our campsite, but unfortunately it was in the middle of a field with a few trees. All the good campgrounds are closed for the season, mainly because only idiots go camping this time of year. You may wonder why I say idiots - - because the temperature was 10 degrees the first night we were there. It went up to a balmy 14 the next night. Thank goodness for Paul Davis space heaters! Although, the highlight was getting to use the men's bathroom because they were painting the women's. But the best part was watching Paul break into a sweat when we went to dinner. We hadn't checked the prices first, and the cheapest thing on the menu was 2 wimpy chicken breasts for $16. I thought he was going to pass out. The lobster was $49. Needless to say, we won't go there again.

The New Couch

Here's the new couch with new pillows, new pictures on the wall, new quilt to go on the new couch. It just needs a whole bunch of family sitting on it!

Thanks again Karen/Brad and Jen/Matt for being such great hosts and letting us invade your homes for the weekend. We had a GREAT time! The ride home was quite treacherous (not) with snow all over the roads (not) but other than that all went well.

We all should be so dedicated. . .

So my YW partner calls me last week to tell me she won't be there this week and that the only member beehive we have will be out of town as well. So there "might" be the one non-member girl who occasionally shows up, but she has called her and informed her that she will be the only girl and it's a Beehive/Deacon activity with the deacons in charge (oh, help!). So I go tonight, thinking I'll only be there for the opening song and then leave. Well....she's there. OK, I'll muddle through a corny Deacon activity in the gym and go home early. What??? We're going to the local swamp to pick up trash??? It's 30 below zero out there and it's almost dark!!!! I talk like crazy in the car on the way to the swamp, telling the only Beehive that I will take her anywhere - do anything - rather than go to the swamp. Oh no, she really wants to go pick up trash. OK, I agree, but I'm staying in the car!!!! So I do and she does and we all go back and eat 3 donuts at the Church. It feels so good to be a dedicated Beehive Leader.

P.S. It's only partly a swamp. It does have walking trails in it and is semi habitable. They did find a "hobo" spot with Top Ramen wrappers. He had moved on.

The teacher of the year making applesauce with her class. I still haven't washed all the stuff. . .

Another camping trip?

Yes, it was off to the mountains again in our RV. We took Tater and Emmy to Cascade and had a blast. Lots of bike rides, roasting some stale marshmallows, a fox sighting, and lots of memories were all part of the trip.

Dreams Do Come True

This is my new longarm sewing machine. Isn't it just awesome!!! The table is almost 12 feet long, so I can do BIG quilts. Tonight I'm putting a quilt on so I can try it out!

Not Your Typical Family Pet

First, just let me say this is a true story.
I'm out garage saling with my friend and we drop by her daughter's house. She asks, "Do you want to see the pig?" "Sure!" I reply, thinking I'm going to see their stuffed animal collection. So they holler out the back door for Oscar to "come", and sure enough, here he comes. He proceeds to walk in a circle and sit on command and gets a pig treat afterwards. He is a pot-bellied pig (I thought he was pregnant) and is their family pet. I wonder if they're planning on using him for Easter dinner?

Latest Quilt

This is almost finished. The binding is being sewn on during TV time. This is one I actually chose the colors for myself.

Thankful

Last night for Young Womens, we went over to a ward family's house to clean. They have 5 kids and the 2 youngest are autistic. We had heard the mom was feeling overwhelmed and needed some help. The house did need some serious cleaning, but while we were there the oldest of the 2 autistic boys was there and needed constant attention. He pushed a screen out the window, threw things, was yelling and generally causing trouble. I could totally understand why this woman had no time to clean her house. This child needed constant attention! I think the other one had already gone to bed.

When I got home, I told Paul that I would much rather have the trials that I have had than have hers. I felt so bad for this poor woman and keep wondering what else we can do to help her. My plan is to make her dinner once in a while and take it over. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me beautiful, healthy, teachable children and grandchildren!

Carrot Ice Cubes?

I know this may look like some nasty carrots, but actually, they are "peach ice cubes". Yes, I said peach ice cubes. I took some peaches and peeled them (you could possibly get away with not peeling them if you want that "fuzzy" feeling) and then put them in the blender with some Fruit Fresh. Then I poured the mixture in ice cube trays and voila! The perfect afternoon snack on a hot day. Or put a few in the crystal light pitcher to add some nutrition. Or add them to your morning smoothie (along with the cantaloupe Karen) to make it nice and cold. This wasn't actually my idea, but I'm not telling whose it really was (Liz) because I want all the credit.

A New Restaurant?

While trying to fall asleep one night, I came up with an idea for a new restaurant - Fredricka's All You Can Eat French Toast. Who doesn't love french toast??? The plan is this:

1. When customers first walk in, they see the French Toast Bar. The first thing they choose is what kind of bread (a myriad of choices would be available).

2. Then they choose what flavoring to add to the egg mixture it will be dipped in. I envision this as the same choices as milkshake flavors.

3. After the bread has been dipped in said flavored egg mixture, it goes through an oven similar to those in pizza restaurants, where it rolls slowly and is baked to perfection.

4. When it comes out the other side, you then choose your toppings - flavored syups, nuts, fruit, whipped cream, M&Ms, chocolate chips, nuts, chocolate syrup, raisins, cranberries, Hershey kisses, etc.

5. Then you advance to your table and enjoy.

Is this a great idea or what???? Who wants to be an investor?

Our second weekend camping in the motor home. We love it so much and are constantly comparing it to tent camping and saying how much more fun, how much easier, how much more convenient, how much more comfortable, how much warmer (we have a furnace!), how clean your fingernails stay, etc., etc. We spent one night at Bonneville Hot Springs near Stanley. The hot springs were REALLY hot, and we left just as the nude bathers appeared on the scene. We spent the next night at Tie Creek near Garden Valley with a stop at Kirkham Hot Springs in between. There was also a trip to the quilt store in Garden Valley where a minimum amount of money was spent. I'm afraid we're going to become addicted to this lifestyle!

So, have you ever noticed all the black spots in the parking lot when you walk into a store? We all know them as discarded gum that has been stepped on 8,563 times. My question is - will the entire parking lot be covered with gum at some point? I mean really, if we just keep spitting out gum, eventually will old gum take over? Soon, will we have to climb over mounds of old gum just to get into the store? Will it get stickier as time goes on? Will they come up with a use for recycled gum (personally, I think using gum chips as packaging material would be better for the environment)? Will greedy children try to chip out a piece to re-chew? Will it become a job for the orange-vested group? Could we re-pave the freeway with it? I think this is definitely something we should work on. The heck with health care - what's Obama's plan for used Trident?

Oh, the joys of having 2 peach trees in your back yard. I can't stand to see these peaches go to waste, so every night I go home and can like a mad woman. Who care if there are a few earwigs or rotten spots--just get those peaches in the jars as fast as you can. I can't wait to give them to my kids for their food storage.