Saturday Snapshot Mother Nature May Be Bipolar

And she may be off her meds!!

Monday, Mr Busy and I took a road trip. We drove 60 miles to the nearest place to buy the National Parks Senior Pass. The price is going up some time this year. We had a lovely drive, it was partly cloudy by warm enough for just a light jacket.  It looked like this at home. 

Then Tuesday this happened.! 

And Friday it looked like this . 

This is the view from a friend's front porch. She says, "Uffda"

This is the view from my front deck at 6:30 a,m.

It finally quit snowing about 2 pm, and the official total was 13".   It was heavy and wet. We need the moisture, but I would have preferred rain.  Today is forecast to be 45 and mostly sunny. It should all go away. Already the streets and roads are clear and my deck is thawing.


I am linking this up with Saturday Snapshot at Melinda's Blog, West Metro Mommy Reads. There are a few rules, so check them out and show us some of your photos.


Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finish It Up Friday An Early Birthday Gift

I'll be linking this post at Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish It Up Friday!  Come  look at everyone's finishes. And join in the fun and add yours too.



This week I finished a stitchery started in late October. My intention was to finish is for my daughter for her mid-December birthday. But, stuff happens and it did not get completed. So I finished the stitching and then searched for fabric for a pillow. I decided on this Nancy Halvorsen fabric in a modern teal and gold and a bit of orange red.  This year I am purposefully using my stash. I only had enough for the 3" border on the front of the pillow and a bit extra.

 I used another lighter aqua from Nancy Halvorsen for the back. The extra was enough for the flange to cover the zipper. I had never put a zipper in a pillow before, but wanted to try every since I found a well done tutorial on Chrissie's blog, madebychrissied. You can see her tutorial here. It is her new and improved tutorial and I love it. I followed it very closely and it was amazingly easy.

 You can see I used a red zipper, but it was in my stash, the right length and it's covered up with the flange. Besides, it matches the little red flower-like circle in the fabric.  Win! win!  I will put this away for DD's 2017 birthday and hope she likes it. Her apartment will have a little bit of Christmas decor this year.

That is all that was FINISHED this week, but I am working on a skinny mini wall hanging from Patch Abilities and getting projects read for retreat next week. I may have a post for next week, it I get the wall hanging finished, but I don't think I will be able to link up with Crazy Mom Quilts on Friday. Our retreat location is remote and the internet service is sketchy at best. But I will try. I will pre schedule the post, so maybe you can find me directly.


Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Saturday Snapshot - Just a day late

Here are a few of the reasons I've been busy. This is a pillow with a pocket. I made it for our great grandson just because. The original pattern was intended to hold a book. I altered it a bit and added the strap which is secured with velcro. It hold his tablet.  He loves airplanes, can you tell?

This is a counted cross stitch project I have gotten back to. I started it in 2001. OMG....my eyes were getting so bad that I put it away. I have newer glasses now and have added magnifiers for close work. It is better now. Hopefully it will be done by Christmas 2017!

 This is another of the pillow with a pocket example. This matches the quilt I made for our youngest great grandchild. It has a shallow pocket for mama's cell phone or maybe a nursing pad or two. Mama uses it as she rocks and nurses Bella  before bed.  There is also a label for the quilt. I have attached it now, it has all her birth information.

And this is a crumb quilt. I was auditioning  border fabrics.  For those of you who don't know, a crumb quilt is a quilt made with all the bits and pieces of fabric that most people throw away. I can't bear to do that. At 12-15 dollars a yard for fabric these days, I have this whole quilt for no money expended, just my time and the thread to sew up the pieces. Even the backing is pieced from some chunks of fabric already on my shelves.

 Here it is done. Not a big quilt, but a throw to go over my legs as I sit and stitch or watch a movie.

A close up of the scrappy black and white border fabrics.  Betty Boop and Mickey were cut from triangles of fabric that the groomer tied around our Shih Tzu's neck after her bath and cut. We lost her in December, so these are little scraps of remembrance.


So you know I haven't been idle!  Haha!


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finish It Up Friday Binding, Book and Bitty Owl!

I managed to finish the binding on this crumb quilt.

 It was my first attempt at making scrappy crumb blocks. They are addicting in a way and frustrating in a way. I want to sew all my scraps into usable chunks of fabric. And it seemed like the way to really did into my scraps buckets, but I found that I did not deplete my scraps like I had hoped. I have lots and lots more.

 You can see that lots of my scraps are browns, oranges and fall like in nature. Not the usual brighter modern colors we see so much today. But I think they work just the same. It is fun to look at the scraps and remember the projects they came from. Some were gifted to me too. My DIL gave me a huge black trash bag of scraps leftover from "dammit dolls" she made for family and friends several Christmases ago. So there are kitties, baseballs, crayons and other novelty type prints.

 I had a large stash of black and white fabrics from a quilt I made for a step-granddaughter for her college graduation. Plus the Mickey and Betty Boop fabrics came from the fabric scarves that the groomer tied around Emma's neck after her spa days. I can't throw cute fabrics away!! So made a scrappy border. Not too intricate, I just sewed pieces together and then cut them to match the dimensions of the sides.

I also finished this cute little owl -pot holder, trivet or something. She is too cute to use as a hot pad, I think she could just be a cute kitchen wall decor.  Would you use it to set a pot on?

I have 3 other projects in the works this month. A pillow for my daughter, a wall hanging for me and a Christmas decor project. I'll post them as they are completed.


And I finished my current book,

My review is here

Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Finish it up Friday - NADA!

FINISH IT UP FRIDAY  at  Crazy Mom Quilts


****A request for HELP at the bottom of this post. ****

This week has not been as productive as some in the past. I have a new challenge looming and it is not finished, nor will it be for some time. I will share it, if and when, I get it done.

This is just a peek. Hexies and an antique churn dash block.










Nothing was finished this week. I am sewing the binding on my crumb quilt. So hopefully by next Friday that will be done.

I am loving the lime green!


I have a retreat coming up the first weekend in May, so I have been busy cutting projects.  Half square triangle that are 2 inches will finish at 1 1/2,  Way outside my comfort zone!!

 I like to have most all of the cutting done beforehand if possible. I don't cut well with others!  :)   I love going to this particular retreat both for the camaraderie and for the setting.

But because it is a remote hunting lodge, we bring our own bedding, towels, and food in addition to machines, fabric, notions, tools, ironing boards, cutting mats and all. I am almost too old to tote all that stuff. So I have promised myself to actually "retreat" and take some "me" time too. Walk in the beautiful surroundings, read a book, do some hand stitching, maybe even take a nap. It is hard to sit at my machine for 8-10 hours a day. I just cannot manage it. I'll let you know how it goes this time.



Stay Busy and Stay Happy

PS:  Last week on Finish It Up Friday, I was visiting all the linked up blogs. There was one that had a link to the procedure and diagram of how to sure your seams in the binding were in a precise spot. For color matching. Also to make sure the seams did not land at the corners. I have tried to find it again. If anyone, can tell me where to look for this diagram, I would appreciate it. There was a drawing, and it had to do with measuring the sides of the quilt so that from point A to point B around the corner was the length of the binding strip between joining seams. Thanks.

Saturday Snapshots April Fool's Day 2017

It's been a long time since I linked up to Saturday Snapshots hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy reads.  I have been absent, not reading much, busy with new stuff.  I lost my mojo in 2016, this year is better.  Here are some pictures of some changes.

This is my daughter holding her new granddaughter. Isabella was born in early July.

She is tiny here

At Christmas in her Bronco sleeper and sitting in her bumba seat. 

And now she in crawling and wanting to stand and walk around furniture. She is such a different baby from her brother.

And he has changed too.

We were on a walk in early March. It was sunny here, not too cold, still brown grass and leaf less trees, but blue sky and not much wind. We have a Children's Memorial Walkway near a small lake in the middle of town and Joe found a . Carson's Courage Cars. You can read about that movement by clicking the link. He was really tickled but didn't quite understand why I wanted his picture before he could have the car.

I have been sewing too.There are some past post here on the blog. And I have been reading. I hope to get back to this page more in the future.  Spring is near and my attitude will improve with the sun shine and warmer weather.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy