Creative delays...

The girls and I finally started to get our crafty, creative groove going again.

A little one trying hand sewing for the very first time.

 The Christmas quilt was completed!

Nearly hurt myself dancing all around the house.

A big thanks to Glenn for help with the photo shoot.

What would I do without him.  Don't want to know.  :)

 Em completed a wee little quilt which she is very proud of.

I must say she did a very fine job for the very first one.

The cutest mushroom fabric on the back.

 And lots of squares of her favorite scraps that were just lying around.

 Then there was a wee break taken so we could celebrate someones 7th a wee bit early.

The birthday candles magically disappeared and some desperate improvising took place.

Big sis made the birthday cake all by herself.  She is becoming quite the little baker around here.

So after all of that, an unexpected blogging break will be taken as we will be whisked away to a family member who needs us to be by their side.

So until then, take care and keep finding happiness around you.

Pics will be shared when I return.

xxxx

Awesome weekend...

Where do I begin when telling about how great of a weekend I had.  

Saturday morning the girls woke up to find all the seeds sprouting like mad.  I made an executive decision that we were not starting the second tray of seeds until next week.  That way we can have harvest times staggered a bit.  That way I get tomatoes all summer long, hopefully.  One can hope that there advantages to being in charge and making these kind of decisions.

 There was a new 'cafe' to try out upstairs in the spare bedroom of all places.  The service was superb and the food outstanding.  Loved my salad along side my steak and potatoes.

Compliments to the chef!

She was wondering if she would ever get on the show "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives".  I told her not right away.  Maybe with a little work.  :)

 On Friday the most wonderful of wonderful things happened!

The quilting foot for my new sewing machine came in the mail!

I really think I snatched the box out of our mail carriers hands.

I'm just glad she knows us pretty well and didn't take any offense to the snatching.

She had been well informed of the weeks of frustration that I had been suffering and I don't think it phased her.  She even told me who the package was from, so I think she kind of prepared herself for what ever was to come.

You don't know how freakin' awesome it was to get back to quilting and getting the Christmas quilt finished on the machine.

Angels were singing for me.

 Now I'm enjoying finishing the binding on the back.  

Two more sides to go!!!

You know I'm jigging while trying not to stab myself with the needle.

I must depart from all this happiness for a short bit so that dinner can be made.

But rest assured that I will be back at the quilt very quickly so that I can do an even bigger jig to celebrate the completion of this quilt.

Pics will be coming soon!

xxxx

Honestly...

I must be absolutely honest when it comes to this whole sewing machine 'fiasco'.  I've not handled it well.  I  let it drag me completely down for the simple fact that I can't stand starting something and not being able to finish it.  You don't know how it bugs me to see the Christmas quilt just sitting there waiting to be completed so that I can move on to others.  I have been making calls every where trying to find the part I need, which has been a very frustrating 'adventure' to say the least.  From "we have it in stock." and then get a call hours later stating that "oh we were wrong." to "we can order it but it's on back order from the company until the end of May.".  Seriously!  Do these people not understand the dire situation that is happening around here.  I need it NOW!  Yesterday I finally get a call back from someone saying that they have found the part and it will be shipped out to me on Monday.  I'm not holding my breath at this point.  I will just hang in there and see what happens on Monday.  I had begun to wonder if all this trouble and disappointment was really worth it for a machine that was over 10yrs old.

Then steps in Glenn.  My sweet dear husband.  He had a day off during the week the other day and made up this plan to get me out of the house and do some running around for the day.  I should have known something was up because he is not one to go shopping unless there is something he absolutely has to have and can't live without.  But I suspected nothing due to the fact that he and the girls planned on stopping at their favorite old bookstore while we were out.  Then after lunch, looking at books, a little window shopping, we headed in the direction of home.  But a detour happened after he exclaimed "Hey, you needed a few things from the store didn't you?".  So to the store we went.  Yes, Walmart.  Not my favorite place but I wasn't protesting that day.  So through the store we went just looking at your normal things you need at home stuff.  But as we were walking by the craft area Glenn stopped and asked the lady if they had sewing machines.  I obviously gave him a curious little look.  Around the corner we went following the lady to where the machines were sitting.  Glenn asked her if any of the models had the drop feed feature on them and after she gave him a look like "what do you know about that?" he looked over the display model, the box and then exclaimed "this is the one!" and put it in the cart.  Yeah, I was shocked.  After asking why we were getting it he told me because he could not stand to see me so down about the whole machine issue and he wanted to see me happy again.  I just about melted.

As I have said before, he is going nowhere.

All mine and a definite keeper.

Even after 24 yrs.

So here is my new machine.  I diligently went through the manual yesterday because I did not want to screw anything up with this one.  I know it's not "top of the line".  You know over $1000.  But it's mine and it can do the free motion quilting.  I did have to order the optional foot in order to do that but that is okay.  I know it's coming.  I've been watching the package online, moving quickly my way.  Don't you just love those tracking numbers!  I tried out the straight stitching at least and WOW is it quiet!  Dreamy you know.  It's not fancy.  But as long as it let's me do what I want to do, I'm happy.  And Glenn went out of his way to get it for me which makes it even better.

So if the above mentioned part for the older machine makes it's way here, all the better I guess. Mixed feeling at this point.  According to the ladies at the quilt shop that is on Glenn's route, every quilter needs a few machines at their disposal just in case situations like this happen.  I think they were a little disappointed when Glenn didn't buy one of the fancy schmancy ones from them.  I think he would have been in big trouble from me if he would have spent that much on a machine.  There would have to be some serious explaining for that.

SO...

As I most patiently wait for my new quilting foot to make it here, I am giving verbal advice to Em as she works on a quilt for a special little person in the family.  I must say I'm quite pleased with her taking on a pattern (Little Man) in the book I bought a few months ago.  She is excited, I'm excited for her.  It's just going great.

 She just keeps plugging along, happily piecing everything together.  As of this moment she is finished with the block pieces and needs to place the border strips on the top.

 Someone asked me "why don't you just use the machine Em is using?".  Two reasons.

1.  That machine doesn't have the drop feed feature to be able to do free motion quilting.

and

2.  I could not even think about tossing Em off that machine while she is working so diligently on her special quilt.

What kind of Mom would I be to do that to her?

Never ever.

So I wait and contemplate over what to do with this wonderful jelly roll of  'Oh Cherry Oh' that Brenna picked out a couple of months ago.  I have some ideas from which to pick from.  And it will be completed as soon as I finish the Christmas quilt.

A little one is working on her masterpiece.

The other is creating a quilt.

I will go and sit myself down with the springy yarn stash and keep myself busy now that I'm starting to get out of the "funk".

Which I must say takes a bit of effort while seeing the skies all grey out, the rain falling and them temps barely in the 40's today.  Does anyone know where Spring is?  It definitely isn't around here.  There are record snows falling in the mountains, avalanches happening up there.  I'm not calling for roasty tempsby any means, just a tad warmer, 60's with a little sun.  That's all.

Spring has sprung...

I've been trying to keep my focus on happy things around here lately.  All of the brightly colored tulips are helping as much as possible with that task.  We had absolutely gorgeous weather a few days ago and the girls and I just could not resist going out in the yard to spruce things up a bit and throw out more seeds for our enjoyment later in the season.

The bright red miniature tulips have to be my favorite blooms every year to see after the crocuses.  There is just something about those blooms who are no bigger than your thumb that just make me smile.  I'm so glad I have them in front of my craft room so I can see them every time I walk in there.

 I'm a bit excited to see how the new blooms turn out from planting them last fall in the new flower bed.  I was very deliberate in picking out late spring bloomers so that I would have more color in the yard for just a bit longer than usual.  I'm not rushing them to bloom but it's hard to see how they all turn out.  I'm just glad to see that they are actually growing.  I even got excited to see that the peonies were sprouting.  Crossing my fingers for blooms on those this year.

 More bulbs and seeds were planted in the backyard.  Why should the front yard get all the glory?  I love ranunculus, so there were boxes of those bulbs planted.  I'm so glad that Julie introduced me to them.  The girls picked out the rest.  It's their yard also so they must have some say when it comes to what grows in the yard.  I do coax just a wee bit.  Not much.

 Then there was a trip made to the store to get seeds and a starter kit.  I thought 72 little peat pots would be enough.  Apparently not with my gang.  I'm starting to wonder how big this year garden is really going to be now that my three "gardeners" are talking about getting at least 2 or 3 more kits!  I don't recall living on acreage the last time I stepped outside.

 So besides trying to keep busy with all the springy, growing wonderfulness I have been working here and there on a new blanket.  It's made up of stash yarn that was sitting in the craft room patiently waiting on me to decide what to do with it.  So out came all the springy colors that remind me of all the blooms that will be in the yard soon.

At least when I'm working on this I'm not thinking about the darn sewing machine.  Which by the way I'm still waiting on a part that I was told on the phone was in stock but by some chance now it's backordered maybe until the end of April or middle of May.  I'm waiting a few more days to see if a couple of other places may have the part I'm looking for.  If that doesn't work out I'm seriously thinking about getting a new machine and taking the other to the scrap yard and seeing if I can at least get anything from the metal that is in it.  It's that heavy.  The Christmas quilt sits quietly crumpled up in a corner waiting to see what it's outcome will be.  With it being 3/4 of the way quilted it's just so darn frustrating just seeing it lay there.  I've made a firm deadline for the end of the week to decide on a new machine or not.  A girl has got to put her foot down and draw a line in the sand over these kind of issues you know.  Otherwise things could just get a little ugly.  :)

I'm thinking some more crochet time is in order for the day after I get homemade pot pies going for dinner.  Nothing like comfort food, yarn and spring blooms to make one feel better about a frustrating situation.