Just sewing along

Continuing to keep myself occupied in the sewing room.  I wanted to practice making a "quilt-as-you-go" quilt so I worked on this blanket using an old sheet, and a couple of curtains.  I should have make it one panel wider and I should have used loftier batting but I'm learning as I go.  The batting I used is probably better for wall hangings...but now I know.

I like making quilts this way as the hardest part for me is having to stand up to put the quilt top, bottom, and batting together on the kitchen table. With this method, each square is quilted so once the rows are connected and the binding is put on, the blanket is finished.  I'm using my walking foot a lot more than I ever did and that's helping too.

I also saw this video for making Christmas ornaments so I thought I'd try it out today.  You use a lid or bowl to draw a circle on two different colors of material and then you basically just sew, turn, and sew the sides together to make a pinwheel of sorts.  You add a button or decoration to the middle and put on a cord for hanging.   I plan to make some more but I'll use a larger lid next time.

 Sue and Paul brought over a birthday pizza yesterday along with some flower bulbs and some flowers already blooming. She's coming back in a couple of days to help me get them in the raised beds and the pots on the back deck.  Need to do a little cleaning up out there and Sue is especially good at that time of thing.

                                                       Jenni came by too.

Here I am enjoying Sunday golf on tv.  Hunter was later to mow the back lawn. He tried setting me up with my selfie stick and cell phone but he couldn't get it to work. He wonders if maybe my phone is not compatible with it.

Here's some pictures Mary sent me recently.....

                                                        Andy with the Seahawk

                                                         Jake and Andy at the circus

                                                           Mary and Jake in the car

Jake at a farm with his nanny.  The tractor kind of scared him a little.  So cute.

Stupid feet continue to give me grief and I'm not real sure what's going on down there.  I'm trying to wear sensible shoes with the inserts (most of the time) but I don't think that's the problem.  I'm going to hold off making a podiatrist appointment to see if the problem fixes itself.  If I walk carefully, I'm okay but I can't flex my foot to give it stretching exercises.  Something with the Achilles I think.

Well, I guess I'll hit the sack. Was up at 6 a.m. this morning and it makes for a early night if I don't get a nap during the day.

My birthday Week

Been a busy week; at least busier than I usually am.  Drove down to 7 Cedars on my birthday and had lunch with Joanne Gilles, Linda Pederson, and Lew Morello. Unfortunately, I didn't check the picture that I had the waitress take and it came out too blurry to use.  I won about $33 and then Mary Gaboury called and said she got to my house a few hours earlier than I expected so I took off for home.

We hung out around the house for the rest of the day and night, visiting and catching up on news. We don't get together as much as we used to since her and Dave move to Yuma for the winter. She'll be leaving next week.  We decided to drive into Port Townsend and look around for a bit. Visited the cemetery as I wanted to take a bunch of photos of the Lashua tombstones for a relative who was researching ancestry.  I found several along with this one of H.J. Carroll, which made Mary and I chuckle.

The Lashuas were related to Joyce Cozad, who had been in my class in the early grades before her family moved away.  I always wondered what happened to her and was pleased to find out.  I didn't realize that another classmate of mine (Mike Logue) was a cousin and I could have asked him. Anyhow, here's a picture of Joyce in the third grade. She's in the brownie uniform, 3rd row on the left.

Joyce's nephew (and later her sister) shared stories about her life and some photos.  I'll always regret that I didn't pursue looking her up sooner. Her nephew wrote:

Joyce's mother, Alice Lashua, and her dad, Floyd Cozad, had three kids: Joyce, Floyd "Bud", and Janet. After Floyd passed away, Alice married Walter Johnson, my grandfather. The family moved to the tri-cities area. Alice and Walt had two kids, Cathy and John. The family then moved to Albany, OR. Joyce graduated high school in Albany and then married her sweetheart, Don McMahon. They had two kids, Roy and Rod. They moved around Oregon until they got a divorce when Roy and Rod were in high school. Joyce settled down in Hillsboro, OR and worked at print shop and then a medical device manufacturer. She had four grandkids. She indulged in quilting and would go on quilt expeditions with my mother. When she retired, she moved to La Pine to be closer to her kids and grandkids. She passed away a year ago February from ALS.

I grew up in Portland, so I spent a fair amount of time with her. We used to call her AJ (Aunt Joyce, for short). She had a knack for spritz cookies--something about warm hands and feeling the dough--and so we would do an annual Christmas cookie lollapalooza. 

Isn't that just the greatest thumbnail history of an aunt?  I loved it. Her sister sent me this photo taken in 1981.

Mary and I drove out to Marrowstone Island to visit her sister, Teresa, and I made a quick run down to East Beach which is a stone's throw from Teresa's home.  I also stopped by my brother's ex-wife's place so I could drop off a pie I had promised him for clearing away the brush I accumulated last time I visited Laurel Grove Cemetery.  I should have made him a pie from scratch but I like Marie Callendar's berry pies and Kris said she would bake it for me.  Here are photos I took while on the island.

 East Beach picnic area where we went often as kids

 Teresa's view is out of this world!

Sisters saying goodbye as we get ready to head back to Port Angeles

 I LOVED Teresa's collection of beach glass. She collected it for years walking on the shore below her house.

This orchid growing in her living room also caught my eye.

Before we headed out to Nordland, we had lunch at Subway in PT.  Thank you Ann and Katy for the gift card. It's always an extra treat to get a free lunch!  We also visited the bead store and Mary bought me a 'flying pig' to hang in my window. I bought a hummingbird and some cute little beads I decided to hang from my car mirror.

One of my Facebook pals, Lois Venarchick, at her popular bead shop. I met Lois back in 1977 when she was married to Lew Morello and they were living in Washington DC.

Got a few pictures this a.m. from Catie that she took of her boyfriend, Brandon.  I had asked her about his pets and I guess I got their names wrong in a previous post.  He has two lizards (one is a bearded dragon) and their names are Spike and Cthulhu. Pronounced KA-THU-LOO.  He also has a cat named Ladybug.  Must make for an interesting living arrangement as Catie has a cat of her own (Cleo), she's into arts and crafts (especially beading) and their apartment is only one bedroom.  Oh well, I suppose it's cozy.

Jake made a fast friend of Brandon last time they were at Andy & Mary's house.

Here are some pictures I saw in my hometown paper, the Leader recently. I love aerial shots.

                                       Port Townsend during the Wooden Boat Festival

                                                              Chimacum valley

                                                           Hood Canal Bridge

                                                                        Quilcene

                                                                 Port Townsend Schools

Here's me and Mary hanging out in the living room on her first night.

And here's a shot of Mary and Andy's new living room rug. I just love it!

Well, I guess that about rounds it up for now. I've got to go to a Jack in the box website and take a survey so I can get two free tacos on my next drive thru.  Priorities you know. I drove through yesterday after I picked up reprints at Walgreens and brought home one of their chicken salads.  Was big enough that I can have the second half for supper tonight along with leftover enchiladas that Jenni made for my birthday.  I do appreciate not having to cook.

Intend to settle in at the sewing machine for the next few days and work on quilting projects.  Am listening to Alaska by James Michenor (on audio tape) and enjoying it a lot.

It's my Birthday Week!

Woo Hoo! I made it to 72.  Well, almost. There's always that chance God will call me home before midnight.   Not to start this blog on a downer, but I think about death a whole lot more than I ever used to.  I'm in my 70s now and that sounds kinda old.  There was a time I thought a person was old if he or she was in her 60s but I got over that once I hit 70.

Because I have several school yearbooks on my bookshelf, I've often got my nose in an annual looking over the various classes and commenting...hmmm...that one's gone, and that one, and that one.....  It's probably a tad on the morbid side to engage in this activity but I can't help it.  Death is an interesting subject and always has been.  I certainly am thankful that God (or whoever made  up our system of life and death) decided that we wouldn't know the date of our demise.  I think I can assert with confidence that man is never going to be able to predict his death date. Unless he's sentenced by the court or commits suicide.  I never thought they'd be able to predict birth but the doctors got that figured out years ago by inducing mothers who were sick and tired of being pregnant.  I still think it's kind of sad that they can predict the sex of a baby.  Kind of takes the fun of anticipation and mystery out of the equation.

Well, enough philosophy for this morning. Time to get back to my daily activities.  Even though I've kept diaries off and on during my life, these past years I've been hit and miss at writing in them. Easier to just sit down and type on my blog.  Course I can't put the really personal stuff on here and that's reserved for the diary pages where I record events in shorthand.  Not that there's anything all that intriguing going on. It's mostly body aches and pains, frustration of failed dieting and exercise, and who has annoyed me in one way or another.  So much easier to tear a person apart via shorthand strokes rather than left jabs.

I watched the Emmys last night but I'm noticing more and more that these award shows are getting pretty lame.  Have been for years but I keep thinking maybe they'll get their act together this time. Wasn't the case last night.  As it was, I surfed back and forth between the Emmys and the Seahawks. They didn't do that well either but at least they were more interesting that the awards show.

TV has changed so much over the years that if you don't have subscriptions to the premium channels, you pretty much have to catch what you can when you can.  I do subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime but I don't have a lot of cable shows for the cable level I pay for. (Basic Limited)  Then again, I'm not all that interested in the majority of stuff cable offers.  I loved Nurse Jackie on Showtime (they offered a free month viewing) and was disappointed Edie Falco didn't win.  Especially when she lost to Julia Louis Dreyfuss on VEEP.  I watched Veep a few times 'cause I really like Julia but
when they overuse the F word, I lose interest quickly.  I don't expect that particular word to never be used on TV (too late for that and sadly, I've been known to use it myself) but.... there comes a time when it loses something when the writers fall back on it in every other sentence.  Veep was overrun with the F word.

Even though I've never seen Game of Thrones I was glad it won.  I did buy the first season but haven't opened it yet as I'm reading the book and want to get a feel for how the story lines goes.  It looks like the kind of show I'd find favor with.

I think I would have liked Claire Danes winning over Viola Davis; partly because I watched Davis' show a couple times and was disappointed in the way they fell back on lurid sex scenes.  Another turn off for me.  A time and a place, you know.....
Also would have liked Kevin Spacey to win but Jeff Tambor in Transparent was excellent from the word go so it was kind of a toss up there.

I spent most of yesterday working on this small quilt. I had a big pile of odds and ends of material strips and wanted to see if I could make this quilt I saw demonstrated on YouTube. I wasn't sure how many strips I needed so I just started sewing away and would know how big the quilt was when I finished.  Most of the material was curtains, drapes, sheets, and little pieces of this and that.

They sell whole kits of cut up strips in color coordinated designs called "Jelly Rolls" but they can get pricey and I have plenty of scraps to use up first. This quilt was kind of small but it was mostly a trial and error effort anyhow.

I went over to Jenni's for my birthday dinner and was thrilled to get to bring home a side dish that I can have tonight and tomorrow.  I do love enchiladas.  And my birthday cake was yummy too!  I just had a piece for breakfast which is probably why I don't feel that good.  ha ha

I asked Maddie about her recent track meet as she's doing quite well in cross country running. She ran on Wednesday & placed 2nd, and ran Saturday at a big invitational & got 4th. She's placed 3rd in the state for 2A schools.

                                                      Gracie, Lael, and Maddie

                                                       Love the looks of this medal

Granddaughter Catie and her boyfriend, Brandon Holden, shared pictures of their respective pets --Cleo the cat (Catie's) and LadyBug (the torti?) of Brandon's.  They aren't getting along as bosom buddies yet but Catie and Brandon hope they will over time.  The pets that is. Catie and Brandon seem to be getting along just dandy.  Ha Ha

Mary and Andy spent the weekend at her company's annual weekend retreat and had a super good time.  So did Jake.  When she got home, she got out a train set Jenni had given him last year and he was tickled pink to have it.

Got a picture in an email yesterday from my cousin, Marlee, showing this fishing mobile she had been given.  I think it is the cooliest ever!

Am reading a great book right now called 'Dad is Fat' by Jim Gaffigan.  Jim is one of the comedians meeting the Pope.  I recommend his book as it's hilarious!

Let's see....what else...oh...these pictures and cartoons from Facebook cracked me up...

Just stuck my head out the backdoor to see what birds were about. Found these two nearby. Not sure what they are. Flicker maybe. I'll post on Facebook to see what people say.

If you want to read an interesting topic (and if you're into old TV shows) look up "Adventures of Superman" on wikipedia.  Fabulous.  By the way, Jimmy Olson (Jack Larson in real life) died yesterday at the age of 87.  He was once the boyfriend of Montgomery Clift.