WIP....I am so excited...

It is Wednesday and I am doing the happy dance because in two days I will be in Houston for Market....but I have been working extra hard with my Twister.  My "adopted" daughter, Andrea, finally gave me some very good news.  I am going to be an adopted "grandma" in May.  I have been waiting for this news since last year.  I am hoping for a little girl (I want to do lots of frilly things) but I will be thrilled with a boy too!  So you know me....so impatient....I started with this.....

whipped out my little twister and a couple of hours later I had this....

Isn't so pretty and springy....going to be just right for a May baby.  Haven't decided if I am going to put border on all four sides and make it fat and square.....or just a small border down the other two sides and make it longer and skinnier.....

I just can't get over what this little tool can do.

I course I admitted I was hoping for a girl....but I have the fabric laid out to do a boy quilt just like this one.....just in case....I figure she can use the one she needs and I will give the other one as a gift.

I already have the fabric laid out for 3 more of these little twister quilts.  I like the big twister, too....but it takes a little more space to spread out and a little longer to put back together.  The little ones just work up so quickly and they make me giggle.

Going to link up over at Lee's Freshly Pieced....

then go finish packing....

so excited.

What I see....

Kit Lang - What do you see on your way to work? posted a picture of what she sees on the way to work every morning and invited everyone to share their view....so I decided to play along.  I am so blessed to live and work in a basically rural area...no big cities for me.  So here is one of the first things I see when I leave every morning....

and just for fun....thought I would show you what I see when I get to work....

I am the bookkeeper and general manager of a independently owned Chevron.  Chevron is extremely strict on the requirements of how the station should look to meet their criteria.  But these little birds are determined.....we take the nests down and within two to three days they put it back up.  This is just one of them...they also build on the opposite side.  The "e" seems to be the perfect spot for their nests.  After taking the nest down two or three times....I gave up....the last Chevron inspection....they saw birds and nests.  I figured if they graded me off, I could remind them of their "caring" commercials about nature and beauty not being disturbed.  They are not hurting anyone and actually most people get a kick out of them as they hatch little ones at least twice a year.  And as an added bonus....they earn their room and board by keeping all crumbs picked up off the parking lot.  

Well I started out good....

I got up early, drank my coffee and started in my sewing room.  I am working on my "Big Twister" quilt one row at a time and I course being my impatient self....I cut another "Little Twister" and put it together.  You see, cutting and resewing is my meditation....I kind of "zone the world out" when I am piecing.  Other than those few morning minutes....life is like fighting fires right now.

But thanks to Kelly, I am trying harder to concentrate on wellness!

My purple fountain grass is really putting on a show

and the last rose of summer

I don't know who was enjoying it more.....me or the grasshopper!

Since I am not really a big fan of fall and winter this is going to be tough for me.

and McKitty......well a picture is worth a thousand words....

Yikes! It's Wednesday again.....

I wasn't ready....Friends of the Library meeting Monday, Garden Club last night....ooh...quick pictures because I have been doing a little work on my quilts.....

I had to try the big twister....this is before....

and the first few rows....my sewing space isn't large and so I cut and sew back together as I go along...this is tougher...because there is so much fabric to hang on to as you are cutting.  Can only work on it some mornings....so since I only had a little while Monday and Tuesday....I couldn't resist trying the little twister again....

made it smaller...thinking about making my pokeno pal some placemats out of this beautiful cardinal Christmas fabric...the cardinal is our Garden club bird and we both are members.  She has a beautiful home and decorates a lot for the holidays.

Have to go to work....linking up to WIP#48.....go see what everyone is working on.

We can't do enough....

For our veterans.  These men and women provide protection for us in an unsafe world.  Aren't we blessed!  I don't know if I could do what they do.  I am so thankful to all of them.  In my younger days it was Vietnam War veterans.  Everytime I meet one today, I shake their hand and tell them thank you.  They had it rough when they came back from war.  I abhor the way we are treating our veterans of the current wars.  Their benefits are few, the pay is terrible....let me climb down off my soapbox.

So I have joined "Quilts of Valor"....I will find time to make blocks and I am so proud to be able to do so for our veterans.

Read about Tom's Quilt of Valor at the Valor Quilt Bee

Wellness report......

 

Kelly over at Charming Chatter invited us all to report on Friday what we are doing to make our life less stressful and calmer.  And since I follow Kelly every day, I couldn't resist trying this.  I do find that my life is less stressful if I count my blessings everyday.  And I do that when I get home early enough....which I haven't been doing that much of lately.  But I think it is a great idea and I am going to work on it every week.  One of the ways I count my blessings is by carrying my camera with me everyday and when I see something beautiful I stop and snap the picture.

Not a good week to start my wellness report....
Worked too much....yes
Weather not cooperating....yes
Days getting shorter....yes

But....I worked too hard so I could have everything done before I leave for Houston the end of this month for market :)

And....the mornings and evenings are so wonderfully cool...makes me want to get out in the yard :)

Nothing good about days getting shorter....I suffer from light depravation so I despise the Daylight Savings Time change.  I love long days that start about 5:30 a.m. and end about 8 p.m.  I love summer...the heat, the humidity, long days.

But my twisters made me smile and all the sweet visitors to my blog made me smile.

And my McKitty....oh, he had a very good week.
Treats :)
Long Naps :)
Head and Neck rubs :)
Doesn't seem to be affected by the shorter days.

Everyone is allowed to make fun of me

Last Saturday I helped my LQS owner with a quilt show in Ponchatoula, La.  I had a blast and I kept watching her demonstrate the "Twister".  Now I bought both the small and large twister from her last December during her "Stuff Your Stuffing" promotion and as usual I still hadn't done anything with them because I was intimidated.  Sunday I hunted down a layer cake that I had won at our Christmas party, spent the day sewing all the blocks together and then realized I had nothing in my fabric stash that matched in order to put a border on.  Well that was frustrating....all that time....then I noticed I had a charm pack of Thimbleberries and said to myself....when you get lemons, make lemonade...and guess what....not only was it easy....it was so cool.  I loved it. 

I was so excited I got up Monday morning....grabbed some Christmas fabric and started sewing.  Here's how it started:

and here's what it looks like now......

Now don't laugh at me....I was patting myself on the back....so proud of me and when I got down to the last row to attach....something looked off.  Looking at the before picture I realized I wasn't very careful about how I layed out my 5" squares....but you know what....I still love it and I can't wait to make another one.  A baby quilt comes to mind.

By the way.....I was too late to post last Wednesday...and I worked hard at getting that post together....please go look at it and enjoy my learning process.

Have a great week....see you next Wednesday!