Finale

It has been a difficult few weeks.

My dear father passed away on December 11. 

He wanted so much to get back on his feet after he fractured his ankle last January, but one thing and another delayed his healing.

In November, he developed breathing issues and spent the month in two different hospitals.  Sadly, he was unable to recover.

Dad enjoyed reading my blog.  He'd often call me in response to a post and we'd have a laugh or talk more about it.  He loved seeing my quilts and other projects and was always complimentary. 

I tried to give him a quilt many times or offered to make one with his tastes in mind, but he always politely declined.  He was content with a simple bedspread on his bed.  When he dozed in his chair, he covered up with a bright green wool afghan my mother had knitted in the 1970s.  He was sentimental that way.  In fact, the only time he ever used one of my quilts was this past September when he asked to "borrow" one while his afghan was at the dry cleaners.  It makes me smile thinking about that.

There is so much more I could say about my dad, and perhaps I will another time.  He was a wonderful father and will be dearly missed.

Love Is All

Happy Valentine's Day!

Found this while cleaning the sewing room today...
I think I'll finish it as a mini.

Roses from Norm.  He thought these yellow ones were the prettiest.  They sure are!

He brought this little primrose home from the grocery store a couple weeks ago too.  With all the white stuff still piled up outside, it reminds me that spring is around the corner.

Valentine's Day here is pretty simple—a card, flowers, and something yummy for dinner.  We had homemade lasagna and a nice salad.

Another fabric scrap find.

I'll also make chocolate-dipped strawberries before I head to work this evening in a little while.  Gotta have chocolate (at least I do)!

I hope you're all feeling loved today, and every day!

It's Tuesday...

Feels like a Monday to me, how about you?  Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. 

I started what may be a baby quilt on Saturday.  I am told the mother-to-be does not like pink.  She is expecting a baby girl. 

As you can see, I am doing what I can to help her overcome this.  ;)

We celebrated my dad's 80th birthday yesterday.  Fortunately, we got most of the grilling done between the raindrops and had a dry place inside the garage to enjoy the festivities.

My brothers played an impromptu mini-concert for Dad.  Since Glen Campbell is Dad's favorite singer, they were sure to include one of his songs.  My brother Darrell, on guitar, had the lyrics written in his notebook (they're a bit complicated in parts), which daughter M. dutiful held for him.  It was a great time!

I uploaded two other songs they did, Drift Away and Sweet Home Alabama.  The latter cracks me up.  When one trips up, the other is there to set him back on track.  And, yes, they do know the right words, but apparently like to have fun with them sometimes.

A Patch of Sun

I had guests yesterday, my dad and my daughter and her boyfriend, who came over for dinner.  We had good food and conversation, as always, and laughed a lot.  After the turkey kicked in and some became sleepy, my daughter and I moved to the living room where I still had the leftover kaleidoscope quilt pieces stacked in piles by color on the floor.

So we played and talked, and played some more, like when we used to put puzzles together except more randomly.  M. has a good eye and is very creative, and in no time flat, she had put the yellow and gold and white half square triangle pieces together into this configuration.  She said it reminded her of sunshine, like the patch of sun coming in the window of her apartment in which she and her cat had curled up and napped recently.

I needed to clear the floor today, but I snapped a photo so I could remember this arrangement.  Then I figured I may as well just sew it together.

My sewing room is in the basement, which is usually devoid of natural light, but at this particular time of year, the sun has moved a bit and peaks in through a small, southern facing window for a few minutes in the afternoon.  It happened to catch the squares as I had them laid out on my table.

A patch of sun, indeed.  That will be the name of this mini.  And it will remind me of the light my daughter brings whenever I see her.

Later, after everyone had gone home, my husband and I ran to Goodwill for a quick poke around.  There were a few small Pyrex pieces looking for a new home.  The smaller bowl was the perfect size for some berries at lunch today.

 Talk about sunshine, that orange piece does the trick, doesn't it?

Happy Valentine's Day!

My husband came through with my special request for Valentine's Day!

He had to go to three different stores before he found it, commiserating along the way with a few other beleaguered spouses in hot pursuit.

Whatta mighty good man.

I had to share this chuckle, straight from today's newspaper Police Beat column.  You can't make this stuff up.

I bet the Fashion Police would beg to differ...

May you all have a good day and be surprised by your special Valentine, who should know whether to bring the pizza or the fishnets.

Sunday Sundry 2-5-12

I finally got down to the sewing room yesterday afternoon.  It had been a long week of not-sewing, aka work, and I so needed some play time.  My intention was to start by straightening things up, as it was a royal mess in that space, but really, where is the fun in that?  

So I played with some of the scraps that were lying about...and there were a lot of them...and pretty soon I had a couple things put together.  Now, these (above) aren't necessarily colors I'd choose to work with for a bigger project, but they used up some oddball scraps, and they will become practice pads for free-motion quilting.

Then I made a different little block.  I took it upstairs to show Norm.

P:  I made you a Valentine.

N:  That's nice.

P:  Can you see the heart?

N:  (studying it)  Uh...not really.

P:  What?!  (outlining the shape)  See...here?

N:  Uh...if you say so.  I'm sorry, all I see is a "V."

P:  (frustrated)  Ugh.  Fine.  Then it's a "V" FOR VALENTINE!

We're so romantic, aren't we?  Anyway, I think it looks like a heart.  So I made another one.

And I'm loving that raspberry color of that heart/V on the left.  The whole time I was working on it, I was thinking of this:



She wore a raspberry beret
The kind you find in a second-hand store...

One day, I will find a raspberry beret in a second-hand store.  Mark my words.
Speaking of which, we are off on a thrift store adventure, so this will be short and not all that sundry today.  Enjoy the big game, if the Superbowl is your thing, or however else you choose to spend the day.

And remember, Groove is in the Heart!  I can't tell you how much I heart this song (which starts properly about 30 seconds in).  Just wish I could have found a clearer video, but you have to see the funky dancing (and Bootsy Collins, baby!) and whacked out colors and patterns, which I love.  Hard to believe it's over 20 years old already!

Favorite Things Friday - Birthday Cake

It's Favourite Things Friday once again!  The post title should really be "Birthdays AND Cake," especially when the birthday is my daughter's.

We celebrated this evening, which is a couple days early, but that is what worked out for us getting together.  I asked M. what she wanted for her birthday and she said, "CAKE!"

"How about mint bars?" I asked. 
 
"MMMMMMMMMMM," was the reply.  I took that to be a yes. 

I haven't baked in so long, people.  Something cake-ish, I mean.  I think it's been almost six months of no refined sugar for me, blah-blah-blah, I know that's boring and who cares.  Long story short:  I was going to get my sugar buzz on!

I made a family favorite, which is technically a bar, not a cake, but close enough.  Here is the original recipe:

However, since M. and I are dairy-free, and I am also gluten-free, I modified it somewhat.

I used a Pamela's gluten-free chocolate cake mix as the base, and as the second layer, a can of Pillsbury vanilla frosting with 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract and 2 drops of green food coloring stirred in.

The third layer is dairy-free chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of a dairy-free butter substitute melted together.

Folks, these bars are the crack.  Highly, deliciously addictive.  I sent much of the remaining pan home with others after I ate my share, because they leadeth me into temptation, and I am back on the wagon tomorrow.  

By the way, Dad asked M.'s boyfriend what the hand signs meant, and he said, "I have no idea," because he's cool that way.  I think it stands for the minimum number of bars you will be compelled to eat in one sitting.

Instead of putting the entire box of 24 candles on the cake, I asked M.'s boyfriend what that was in binary (because he's cool that way too).  So the white candles represent zeroes and the pink candles ones.

I sure love my kiddo and spending time with her.  She is smart and funny and talented, and I wish her all the best every single day of every year! 

Sundry Sunday - Vol. 46

I'm over the funk, thank goodness.  Whether it was a matter of time, a shift in the tide, or the mailman bearing squishies, it's gone.  Besides, who can be down on a day like this?

We did some hiking around Devil's Lake State Park on Saturday, enjoying the sunshine and last remnants of fall foliage.

Temps were on the cool side, but as we walked, the layers came off.

The first trail was called Tumbling Rocks.  You can see why.

It was a paved path, though.  Nothing strenuous, just a nice stroll along the shoreline.

I'm not sure how this happened, but Norm is actually smiling here.  It looks genuine, even.  Was my hair goofy?  Some spinach from lunch lingering in my teeth?  (That link is to an awesome restaurant, if you're anywhere near Baraboo, WI.  I had the Moroccan chicken, yum.  The decor is retro fun too.)  

Anyway, this one's a keeper.

Yes, he is wearing gloves that look like skeletal bones.  Quite the sense of style (and humor).

We also did a little trail in Parfrey's Glen nearby.  The trail was quite different than last time we were there five or so years ago.

It used to wind its way to a big waterfall (that's just a tiny one we passed along the way, above), but the path and improvements got washed out with some major flood damage a couple years ago.

The new trail only goes so far, and neither of us were wearing the right footwear to cross the stream and navigate the mud and rocks to get to the falls.  Maybe next time.

Still, it was a nice walk.

Other nice things arrived in the mail this week.  One I can't show you yet because it may be a gift for someone who reads this.  But here is a surprise that arrived from Shay.  She sent me one of her fabric baskets and a fridgie notepad.  So sweet of her!

And how did she know the sorry state of affairs on my refrigerator prior to her new notepad arriving to spruce up the joint?  The woman must be psychic, I tell ya.

I saw these on Generation Q this week and my mouse made a beeline to the site to order myself a necklace.  It arrived in my mailbox almost blindingly fast.  I love-love-love it!

 

The red/black/white project underneath the necklace is a sewing machine cover I started on Friday night.  The apron fabric was another treasure from Jenny's goodie box of scraps—a entire fat quarter of fabulosity!

Here's hoping you all go forth and be fabulous today!

Favorites Friday ~ Whoop-Whoop

I am late joining two of my favorite linky parties, Favourite Things Friday and Can I Get a Whoop-Whoop?  But I just couldn't get a post together until today (Saturday).

You see, I've been preoccupied.

Obsessed may be a better word.

But listening to these audiobooks fits in nicely with my other recent obsession, mug rugs and minis.  I swear the color scheme of this one wasn't intentional.  Subliminal maybe.

They're like potato chips...can't stop at one.  I'm talking about the minis, but it could just as easily apply to the book series as well.  Here is the back:

As long as I leave the scraps out in plain view, I'll continue to pick up a snippet of this and a bit of that and make fun mashups.

So, tidying up the sewing space is in order, I suppose.  Soon, I promise.

Norm has been good about indulging me...he has watched the first two Twilight movies with me so far.  I think he's game for the other ones.  He likes the cars and bikes and the action sequences and monster encounters.  Tends to yawn through the romantic parts.  I bet he's over there rolling his eyes in the dark as well.

Here's the thing, I told him:  Women want to be desired.  Longed for.  Craved.  And by two rivals at the same time seems like kind of a bonus.  Makes for even more tension.

I made it up to him though.  We went to see the movie Drive, starring Ryan Gosling.  Not what I expected.  I had to cover my eyes in a couple parts from the gore.

Next up, after I clear the deck in the sewing space and mop my kitchen floor so I can baste it together, is the veggie/fruit charity auction quilt.  I did get the backing ready this week and cut the binding.  Baby steps.

But hubby is planning a thrift store jaunt this morning, followed by grocery shopping (blech).  This evening we're having dinner with our visitor from Utah, my cousin's husband who has been coming out annually to hunt with my dad.  That will be nice.

The weekend will go fast.  It always does!

Here's another of this week's favorites.  If you're not into rock music with a bit of a dark edge (although I can't help giggling at the falsetto "ahs"...there's something kind of Spinal Tap-ish about it), you can mute the sound and just watch the white lines, especially in the last 30 seconds or so of the video.  They would make very cool quilt designs, I think.  I am inspired to try something that mimics such lines and waves.  Reminds me of watching the old oscilloscope while listening to vinyl albums back in the day.  Good times.