Saturday in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:59:09 -0700

Another tiger lilly. That seems to be the only thing interesting that I can take pictures of these days. And somehow, I'm not sure they are as good as they could be. Anyone have any ideas on how to take better pictures of tiger lillies?

Our parish picnic was today. I made a couple of chocolate chip cookie pies (new recipe!) this morning, then worked from noon til 3:00. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. I'm not used to being outside in the heat anymore. It was nice to get together with people that I don't get to see that often.

I've been trying for three days to get some more photographs uploaded to iStockphoto, but nothing happens. Don't know if it is my computer, or something else. My slow connection doesn't help matters. I was able to upload over 100 pictures to Snapfish last night.

I've started working on a lap quilt made from homespun fabrics. I was able to buy several new pieces on Friday at Wal-Mart. Hope our local store doesn't close their fabric department!

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Blogging again in the country, finally!

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:45:49 -0700

Three year old twins

After two days, this is the best picture of my three year old twin granddaughters that I could get. They don't like to sit still for anything, much less pictures! These are the girls I made the dresses for. I think they would look cute in them, but they weren't interested in trying them on. They are independent thinkers already.

We had a good time with all our company. We had six children here on Thursday that were three and under. I tried to get a picture of all of them, but that was impossible. They played pretty good together. It was too cold and rainy for them to be outside. Grandpa did take some of them for a tractor ride.

On Friday night, we all went to our youngest daughter's wedding reception. She had gotten married in Hawaii in November. I tried taking a lot of pictures, but most of them didn't turn out very good. I changed the mode on my camera to night time to take a picture of a fountain with colored lights, then forgot to change it. The shutter was open too long for all the rest of my pictures. Some of them are rather interesting in a weird sort of way. I'll post one or two of them anyway.

open shutter at wedding

I have a whole set of pictures with light streaks now. Looks like some kind of weird light show.

I stayed in the city on Saturday so I could take care of my youngest baby while his mom worked and took at nap. Everyone else went to the zoo. It was a beautiful day.

I was wiped out yesterday. Had a headache all day. It wasn't that it hurt that bad; it made me dizzy, kind of like being seasick. I was still tired this afternoon. Guess I'm too old to be a party girl!

We had a sprinkle of rain this morning, then sunshine this afternoon. I took a few more pictures of dandeloins, iris, bugs, and some pretty little white flowers that I don't know the name of. I'll post a picture to see if anyone can help me out!

small white flowers

Here are my mystery flowers. Does anyone know what their name is? They are bulbs that come back every year. They bloom at the same time the iris do. I am forever digging them up after they die down so they have gotten scattered all over my flower bed.

I feel like I haven't quilted forever. I cleaned up my sewing area and put everything away before the girls got here and I haven't felt good enough to get it out yet. I did a couple of loads of laundry today, including washing all of my spring sweaters. I laid them out of the table on the porch to dry, but they were still damp this evening, so I covered them up with a sheet in case the cat decided they looked like a good place to sleep.

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. I have to get a huge filling because I can't afford a crown right now. Oh, well. The filling may last as long as I do! LOL

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Busy day in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:23:10 -0700

Img_5194 - Baby

Baby came with me this evening when I went out to take pictures for this week's Photo Quest. This picture didn't make the cut for the contest, but I had to share it anyway.

Didn't do any quilting today. Had a very nice visit with two of our sons and their families. We had sandwiches for lunch and ham for dinner, so I didn't wear myself out cooking all day.

I started cleaning up some of the pictures I have saved on my computer. I am running out of room! I had to delete a bunch of files just so I could get my pictures off the camera. Need to do more deleting. Or get more storage.

Time for bed, but I want to try to send some pictures to Snapfish. Wish it didn't take so long to send them.

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Rain and quilting in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:01:36 -0700

Tulips

I don't have very many tulips anymore, but these opened up today. I took a walk this morning while it was still raining lightly, but I couldn't resist going back out with my camera tonight, even though I have already submitted my photographs for the challenge. We got almost an inch of rain this morning. Everything is so green and pretty.

I didn't do much quilting today. I started on another pot holder that I will work on again tonight. I also worked on two more projects - the dresses for the twins, and a table runner that I'm knitting with fabric strips. I know it sounds weird, but I think it is really pretty. I will try to post a picture tomorrow.

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A little quilting in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:52:32 -0700

Wildflowers above the lake

The weather was so nice yesterday, that we went out and walked around the lake. I was surprised by how many different wild flowers I found growing on that one hill side. There were lots of these small white flowers and some even smaller light purple ones.

The did some more work on my flower bed yesterday, too. I finished moving the iris out of the fence row where they never bloomed. I had moved them out of the flower bed when I wanted room for more annuals, but now I have decided that spring flowers and lots of them are my best bet. It gets so hot and dry that I have to water constantly to keep things green all summer. This way I can just add a few petunias, etc. around the edges.

I did some quilting last night, but don't have any pictures yet. Maybe tomorrow! Stay tuned.

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Quilting in the rain

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:02:52 -0700

Baby lovie and burpie set

Here's they results of my first efforts to work with chenille. Much harder than it looks! Came up with this set of burpies and a lovie, but don't plan on making anything else soon, at least not for a day or two!

I do have a couple of ideas I would like to try, so it may not be too long.

I did make three more shoo-fly blocks today. I really like the way they turned out, but don't have the right fabric for sashing and borders.

So I started on another project - a table runner to use up some of my odds and ends. I think it's going to be alright. I need some items to donate to an auction this weekend anyway.

The lake is full!

Here's a picture of our lake that I took this afternoon from up the road close to where you turn in off the blacktop. The buildings in the background are ours, so when I say I'm quilting in the country, I really am! There was a lot of water running into the lake today, and the wind was really blowing from the south, so the lake was choppy and dirty.

I feel sorry for everyone who is suffering from all the excess water, but it has been really dry here for the past three years, so we did need a lot of rain. It could hold off for awhile now, but I'm never going to wish for it to stop raining. One day it will.

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Quilting in the country, again, finally!

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 11:26:02 -0700

Sorry I have been away so long! I went to the city last Friday, and if I ever did have a minute to look at the computer, the computer wouldn't work! Very frustrating.

Had a busy weekend. Took the baby to a First Communion for a nephew's daughter. He was good, but it wore me out carrying him around. He has asleep when I got to the school/church, so I left him in his car seat, which he is too big for, and almost impossible to carry, especially with his stuff and mine. By the time I bumped him around getting to the door, he was awake anyway! He did fall asleep again on our way to the nephew's house, and slept while we ate, which was nice.

On Sunday, my daughter needed to sleep, so I took everyone, including the neighbor girl who had spent the night, to Mass, then to Krispy Kreem for doughnuts. Then we took the long way home through a state park that has a population of elk. It was weird to see them out in the woods so close to the city. The girls were more excited about the geese and a couple of ducks they saw on the lake. It was really nice. It felt like we were a million miles away from the city.

I wanted the girls to go outside when we got home, but they wanted to play Wii. Of course they woke up their mom, then went outside. They played for awhile, then I took the three of them, plus three neighbors, plus the baby shopping for flip-flops. Two of the neighbors are older, and were actually a big help. The girls all got sunglasses and sandals, and we got little shoes for the baby. Stopped and picked up supper on the way home. All that running around did me in!

I had planned to come home yesterday morning as soon as the girls left for school, but it was almost 5:00 before I got on the road. Only made a couple of stops, but it was still 8:30 by the time I got home. Too late to start on anything, so I just watched the basketball game.

Wanted to catch up on the computer yesterday morning, but it was raining and thundering, and I was afraid of lightening. The least little bit of lightening will take out my modem in a heartbeat. So I worked on a table runner instead, and got it finished last night. I really like the way it turned out. I have tried three times to get the picture to load, but it just won't do it, so I finally gave up. I'll have to post it later.

I bought some chenille at Wal-Mart on Monday, and tried to use it in a baby lovie last night, but it didn't turn out the way I had hoped. I tried another idea this morning, but I'm not sure about it either. This may require some more thought.

I'm going to try to go out and do some yard work before the next big rain storm tomorrow. I'll try to post some pictures when I come back in.

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More rag quilting

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:10:41 -0700

Got to do lots of quilting today. Started working on a flannel baby blanket. Could have finished it, but I ran out of white flannel. Does anyone have a good source for solid pastel colored flannel? So much of it is muddy and not pretty at all. So, after left overs for supper, I started on another denim table runner. This one will have flower appliques. It is mostly denim and pink. I usually mix up a lot of different colors in my denim runners, so this one will be different. Getting my hair cut in the morning (Yeh!), but I hope to be able to finish it sometime tomorrow. I sorted through a pound of navy beans and put them on to soak, so dinner won't take long. Happy quilting!

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Rag quilting in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:42:38 -0700

Img_4289

Here's the spring table runner that I finished yesterday. It's made with 4 inch squares and 1/2" seams. The backing is white muslin. It is listed on Etsy, so you can check it out if you want to see more pictures. I would post more of them here, but it takes too long to load them. I haven't gotten any quilting done this evening; it took too long to finish the Etsy listing.

I did work on the farm lease document while the pictures were loading. About the only other thing I can do while pictures are loading is work on documents in Works. I was able to edit two spreadsheets and import them into the document, which is something I have never done before. I think the finish lease agreement looks rather professional, if I may say so myself!

It rained most of the day here again today. The ground won't hold any more water right now, but at least it is filling up our lake. I just wish I had been here to clean out my flower beds last week while it was warm.

I started on a flannel baby quilt this afternoon. Hope to finish it tomorrow. Later!

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Quilting and photography in the country

nobody@vox.com(Country By Design) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:23:20 -0700

I went out after lunch today to see if any of my crocus were blooming. Found a few purple ones and yellow ones. Saw a robin, too. I took his picture, but unless you know what you are looking for, you can't see him.

Lady, March 14, 2008

Here's a picture of my dog, Lady. She just showed up on our back step one day just before Christmas. She loves kids and will let them hold her tail and crawl all over her. She doesn't jump or bark. We don't have a fenced yard, but we never worry about her. She goes up to visit our closest neighbor almost everyday, but she always come home in the evening.

Yellow Crocus - March 14, 2008

Here's one of the yellow crocus I found this afternoon.

Water in leaves - March 14, 2008

If I had not been down on my hands and knees trying to take close-up pictures of the crocus, I wouldn't have even seen the rain from last night that was trapped in all of the tulip leaves that are coming up. It was neat, but hard to get a picture of.

I did get some quilting done today. I just have one more row to do and I will have the first of my special order table runners finished.

I still don't know where I will be tomorrow. I may have to go back to the city.

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