Way Back Wednesday 7/30/2008

Another photo from the archives. If you click on the image to see the larger version you should be able to read the names and see my Great Grandmother as a young woman (before her marriage) and her parents, my Great Great Grandparents. This GG is my maternal grandmother's mother. Her name was Icie Brewer and she married Henry Newton Gillihan.

Now....to modern times:

Home today with ice on foot. Finished my book by 9am so trying to figure out what to do for remainder of day........... The dogs are doing their usual - sleeping the day away.

Met Cousins Erica, Lea, Sarah and my mom for dinner last night at Cracker Barrell. None of the dinners sounded good for some reason so I had blueberry pancakes for dinner. They were very good and hit the spot even at 6pm. Not a pancake lover but almost anything with blueberries is fine by me :)

Green Thumb Sunday

An orchid blooming in the screen porch



I completely missed the blooming of my Stanhopia orchid. I guess because it was hot and the rains brought wind there was short window for admiring the lovely scent produced by this orchid. I had Jerr water my orchid two days this week and the thing opened and died in between my water. Bummer..... Isn't it strange how it blooms fromthe bottom of the wooden basket? That's why you can't plant them in a pot!

Sad, spent blooms is all I found today.

This dendrobian just won't stop! And, it's beautiful.

Costco Lunch

Hubby went to Costco today and I dediced to see if I could make a lunch using only his purchases. I did it and it was great! White peaches, blueberries, rotisserie-chicken-oriental-salad wrap, and shrimp with cocktail sauce. LOVE those white peaches :)

What I did to the Cat on Saturday

BEFORE:

AFTER:


Garden shots will come later today - my digicamera needs charged. Had it plugged into charger most of yesterday but did not realize that the charging device was not pluged into an outlet. Oops :)

Took My Mom To Mamma Mia

Saw it, loved it! Highly recommend.

What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging, Sewing, or Gardening

Instead of doing the things I should be doing, I've had my head in the "Cat Who" series of books. For those who haven't read any of Lilian Jackson Braun's books, these are short, quaint little mysteries with interesting small town charachters. They are perfect for summer reading. I was reading 1 or 2 a year but now that I am out of school, I am reading 1 or 2 a week. I really need to stop and get some other stuff done, LOL. If you're interested, here is the list:

Qwilleran, Koko and Yum Yum series:

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards (1966)

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967)

The Cat Who Turned On and Off (1968)

The Cat Who Saw Red (1986)

The Cat Who Played Brahms (1987)

The Cat Who Played Post Office (1987)

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare (1988)

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue (1988)

The Cat Who Went Underground (1989)

The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts (1990)

The Cat Who Lived High (1990)

The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal (1991)

The Cat Who Moved a Mountain (1992)

The Cat Who Wasn't There (1992)

The Cat Who Went into the Closet (1993)

The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (1994)

The Cat Who Blew the Whistle (1995)

The Cat Who Said Cheese (1996)

The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (1997)

The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (1998)

The Cat Who Saw Stars (1999)

The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (2000)

The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (2001)

The Cat Who Went Up the Creek (2002)

The Cat Who Brought Down the House (2003)

The Cat Who Talked Turkey (2004)

The Cat Who Went Bananas (2005)

The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell (2006)

Anthologies:The Cat Who Had 14 Tales (1988)

Short and Tall Tales: Moose County Legends Collected by James MacKintosh Qwilleran (2002)

The Private Life of the Cat Who…: Tales of Koko and Yum Yum from the Journals of James MacKintosh Qwilleran (2003)

Ratbone Rescue Dogs

Dotee #3 - Flower

I named this one Flower after the past matriarch of Meerkat Manor. No glue gune used here - everything is hand sewen except the body which was done on machine. I did some bead work on the body (look close up to see) and I used a very cool yarn for the hair. Think you will seeing lots of dolls with that hair cuz I had to buy a skein of it. Also, I bought clay and made/baked some faces today for future dolls. This dotee art doll craft is fun! So small they are not expensive in terms of money or time. Vickie

Saturday Morning

Had dinner last night with mom at a nice Tex Mex place. She had chicken chimichanga and I had shrimp fajitas -both were great. Friday was mom's last day of working full time - at least for a while. She is going to work weekends for the same company until she finds a suitable employment arrangment.

Jerry is working a big tent sale so he doesn't have a day off this weekend so no family dinner with the moms tonight. Instead, I am going to take Marge to lunch at Pickels deli and my mom is coming over tomorrow and we will find smething to do together.

I have to take Daisey to the vet this morning for her yearly exam and shots. As if that isn't bad enough, I gave her a bath this morning. I've included a photo of her looking worried when she heard the bath water running. She will get excited when I take out her travel harness and leash thinking she might go to the park or beach. I've been following her aorund all morning trying to get a "sample" but have not been successful.

A couple night ago a loud sound woke me from sleep and the ratties ran into the guest bathroom looking at the wall and growling/barking. Since that is an exterior wall next to the front door, I opened the door to see what happened. Daisey bolted out of the door and started running down the sidewalk. It's almost midnight and I'm not thinking clearly having been awoken from sleep so I started to chase after her in my nightgown and no shoes. It's really not the type of clothing one intends to wear outside in front of a helpful neighbor. I guess we will have to move soon ;)

Oh, I promise I wil quit rambling soon but I did start another doll last night. Because I'm doing beadwork I didn't finish in one night. Today is too busy so it will probably be tonight before I can post a photo. Have a great weekend!

Dotee #2 - Ladybug

Let me start by saying the colors are all off on this. That bright orange is actully red and a deep red not an orange red. Please meet my Dotee #2. Her name is Ladybug because of the fabric I used for the body of the doll. Yes, I do have a collection of insect fabrics (you've seen two of them). More about Ladybug after the photos :)

The ladyblue fabric is actually quite beautiful. It's a buttery yellow with deep red beetles. The skirt fabric is also a buttery yellow, albeit a bit brighter, and it has very small sparkles. I added the larger, red "gems". Truth be told, I was trying to make a tootoo (spell?) because I wanted ladybug ballerina.

I keep looking at Dot's blog and intending to make a beaded, smaller doll with more intricate work and less glue gun but these keep coming out of my hands. I guess I just need practice and better eye sight for beading.

Dotee Doll

My blogger friend Julie posted her first Dotee doll and invited other crafty friends to make one as well. I found a tutorial, and some great examples, at this blog so I couldn't help but try my hand at making one. This is my very first doll and I am naming her Miss Vickie because we have a lot in common :)

As you can see by this full frontal photo, both Miss Vickie and I have a little "junk in the trunk". She adores dragonflies and so do I! Her dress is made from a small dragonfly print and there is a dragonfly bead hanging from the bottom of the doll.

Here's her close up. In case anyone is wondering about the hair - I call it dryer lint hair. Basically I am a quilter and "we" wash fabrics before we use them so there is always this balled up mess of threads on the cut edges of fabric when you take them out of the dryer, They just look so artful that I have been saving them (hubby has suggested throwing them away several times) knowing that someday they would be useful. Today the dryer debris became doll hair.

I've had this dragon fly bead for many years and never found a use for it until tonight. I also had a packet of those dark purple beads which were perfect for the project.
Love the angeled shot! Makes her look so artsy and less crafty. LOL

Finally, you can see I embellished with buttons. I was determined to make her from supplies I had on hand and I was successful due to the number of abandoned craft projects I have supplies for:) I've already cut out fabric for a few more dolls so I will have to make a trip to a craft supply store for beads - I was thinking one of those kid bead kits would be cool because it comes in a container with a variety of beads.

Ratbone Rescues

Got some updated photos of Ratbone dogs that I thought I would share. This first one is Holly in California. Ain't she purdy?


The second is Dito in Florida. Isn't he sweet in his "adopt me" bandana?

"Made It Myself" Monday

Below are 7 purple and beige blocks I made for a Row Robin. For those unfamiliar with a Robin, you make a block, pass to another person in the Robin who adds to your blocks and passes it on to the next person in the Robin. Usually you end up with what is referred to as a medallion quilt due to most people working around your center block. With a Row Robin each person in the Robin adds a row of blocks (in this case 12" blocks) to your origional row. This was supposed to be an exchange via the internet a couple years ago but it fell apart when one or two people did not follow though. I worked ahead and made this group of blocks but never had an opportunity to send them. I'm considering making a seperate wall hanging from each block and giving them to 7 people (not telling who) at Christmas time. Oh, the patterns are FREE from the Quilter's Cache which is a wondergul site for block patterns although I have to turn downthe music ;)

1. Paper Stars


2. Shooting Star


3. South Carolina Star


4. Victoria's Star

5. Boxes and Bows


6. Florida Star

7. Old Snowflake

Photos:

#1 This block is called Paper Stars. If you go to the Quilter's Cache web site you can see it on this page . It is 4 paper pieced sections. Visitng the pattern page will show you how it would look with many block connected.

#2 This is Shooting Star 2 (there must be a #1 somewhere, LOL). Very traditional pattern. Click here to go to the pattern page.

#3 South Carolina Star is the name of this one. If I recall it is a bit more complicated but none are too hard because I managed to do them! Click here if you want to see this pattern.

#4 Love some of the fabrics in this Victoria's Star - the blueberries and the cats. I believe one would need at least 4 of these blocks to really appreciate the pattern. Peek here to see what it would look like.

#5 I used quite different shade sof purple on this Boxes and Bows. It's sort of the odd sheep in the group although in person it is quite beautiful. Here's the pattern.

#6 Florida Star. Here's the pattern. I adore the pansy fabric in it.

#7 This is Old Snowflake made with funny shoe fabric. The pattern is here.

Green Thumb Sunday

This Sunday I thought I would share the garden scene outside my window. Florida neighborhoods are built with retention ponds for stormwater runoff and evaporation. Some are unmanaged and quite unsightly. Our neighborhood association has created a park-like atmosphere with plantings around the two ponds and benches under the oak trees. I love the stillness of it in early morning, especially after a rain that has refilled the pond. (As always, click for larger views)

Here's the big Crape Myrtle. Isn't it lovely? It's branches were a little weighted down this morning from last night's rain. In fact, when I was taking photos it was as if it was still raining because of the rain falling from trees and shrubs.


The photo above compares the size of the big Crape Myrtle with the young one next to it. Sorta of a Mutt & Jeff photo. The photo below is a closer up of the younger plant.


One of the benches shaded by an oak tree. There are two benches under oak trees - one on each corner that faces the cross street. My neighborhood is shaped like an H.

This is the view across the pond. I am captivated by the mirror effect. Soon there will be ducks, herons, ibis, or spoonbills to stir the water.

Now to my yard. I have to admit I have been neglectful of my front yard this year. Perhaps in the fall....when it cools down..... This pink alamanda(?) is a sad vine on my mail box; however, it continues to bloom no mater how sad the vine looks.

My front walkway - no way you are getting a close up of this :) I've cut the areca palm out several times but it comes back because I would need an excavator to remove it all. I give up. It's the plant under which yellow jackets nested last year and I was stung several times while weeding. I love the african iris and it does well in that sunny, hot spot.


Inside that window is my office. I am inside that window right now typing! Houses in our neighborhood are very focused toward the backyard (typical suburb) so this is the ONLY window in my house that faces the street. Naturally the dogs love it.

I took this photo of the pond from my side of the street so you could get a perspective of the previous photos and see my vantage point.

This is a photo of my MIL at Applebee's last night. We had planned on cooking out yesterday and I bought hamburgers and polish dogs, my mom made pasta salad, and mom & I bought a watermelon off a truck (which turned out to be fabulous) but about a half hour before we were to pick up Marge my mom became suddenly ill and went home. Instead of cooking out for 3, we took Marge to a restaurant near her grocery store and then went food shopping for her.