July 3rd. I LIKE Thursday

 

Our conversation starter for July 3rd

do you like picnics? Are you a sit on a blanket on the ground person, or a table outside? Tell us about some picnic that stands out in your memory ( who was there, foods, time and place, etc)

July always meant picnics. When we were at home, we often ate outside on a big picnic table my dad built. It was so long, my mom made a tablecloth out of aqua and white and purple plaid terry cloth. As the first kid with a family it was handed down to me. When my kids were little we often had a picnic in the city park in the summer. We didn’t have air conditioning and it was cooler under the big shade trees in the park.  a lot 

As I sat on the front deck earlier this week , I heard an unfamiliar bird song. 

I tried to see the bird that was singing. A tiny yellow warbler, my Cornell Lab app said. I finally spotted him in the big golden willow. He is not much bigger than the leaves. I had my phone nearby and took a picture before he flitted away. I tried to magnify it, but he still is very well camouflaged. 

Not much else to share this week. Laundry, cooking, some cleaning. Saturday was the funeral for a good friend. So hard to do, but there were lots of people there we hadn’t seen in many years. Why does it always take a funeral to bring friends and family together. 

Mr Busy has started cardiac rehabilitation, and the 4th of July all his sternal precautions will be lifted. He is doing well, with just some bouts of AFib. He doesn’t have symptoms but the blood pressure monitor picks it up. As do the Telly leads when he’s at rehab. 

I’m looking forward to not following him so closely and getting back in my sewing room. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful.

A

of pot luck picnics growing up, such as family reunions, or childhood birthdays, church gas I 
I remember a lot of pot luck picnics growing up, such as family reunions, or childhood birthdays, church groups, and always a great variety of food

I LIKE Thursday. End of June

 

A watermelon margarita at my favorite Mexican restaurant with my favorite son!  It was so yummy!

Mr Busy wanted to stay home. He’s still not comfortable out in public. 

Hopefully I will be able to come back to blogging soon.  I won't promise every week, but as often as I can.

Check out some other blogs over at Not Afraid of Color. 

Mr Busy came home on Tuesday the 10th of June from Rehab. He is doing well, but somedays there seems to be a stall on the road to full recovery. We have trouble keeping his blood pressure up. Opposite of my issues, keeping my BP lower!!  

I am so thankful that our son was able to come a spend 16 days with us after his dad was released to come home. He has been a huge help. He mowed, turned on the sprinkler system, hooked up my outside hoses. He helped me cook and shop. He drove us to and from Dr. appts and pushed the wheelchair. 

Then last Thursday, he decided to fix and refinish the top of the "pony wall" in our living room. We have lived in this house since 1988 and this top on the wall was uneven, slightly cupped.  

So he built a router sled ⤴️ and cut down and sanded the plank to make it completely flat and true again↘️. 

Now it is back in place. Isn’t it pretty?

I have a quilted runner that fits the whole thing, but now I don't want to cover it up. Would a long skinny one look dumb?  Maybe two shorter, narrower matching runners?

On Tuesday afternoon he flew back to California. Back to working full time and loving up on his kitty. 

Edit:  Due to weather, planes could not fly to Denver on Tuesday late afternoon, then they found a hole in the forward luggage area and had to wait for a mechanic, from Denver!, to certify if it was flight worthy. DS decided by then he would miss his connecting flight, so rebooked a flight for Wednesday and I went out the airport to pick him up. 

A painted donkey at our airport.

Mr. Busy and our son, as we saw him off on Tuesday, (then he didn't go)

Today I will stitch with some of the Thursday Stitchers.  It is time for our states annual Quilt Wyoming, This year held in Rock Springs. I hadn't planned on going and in retrospect it's a good thing.  Because of Mr Busy's Triple Bypass and last Wednesday, my best friend's husband was killed in a motorcycle accident. The services are Saturday. 

Hoping to get my Glowing Hearts done very soon. Wish me luck. Diann mentioned a hint about adding the large HSTs to the striped hearts that made them "perfect". Does anyone know the secret?

Happy Thursday Y'all!  

It sure seems like summer!  Will be 84 and sunny today!

June 5~ I LIKE Thursday

 

               

LeeAnna’s conversation starters for this first week in June:

what piece did you pick when you played monopoly? who did you play with, how long would the game go on? were you a buyer of property and put houses on them?  As the oldest, and then the Mom, I took whichever piece was left. But if I had to choose, I picked the Top Hat . I played with my siblings, cousins and later my own kids. Mostly bought property. Rarely did I get houses. 

who kept the bank?  My brother, my dad or our oldest(if just our small family) As kids grew we switched off. 

(let's see, for me the shoe/boot if I remember right back that far)

 

I support Diversity, Equality and Inclusion….Always!

A small table topper for May’s Table Scraps Challenge. Green scraps made crumb blocks, then green thread wrote “fresh grass” !  Not well, I’ll redo with hand embroidery. 

Before Mr Busy ended up in the hospital and had major surgery, we ordered  a 3 piece set from Menards. A regional big box sort of everything store. It came and needed to be picked up while we were away. Enter, our grandkids. They took care of it. 

The Summer Reading Theme at our library for both adults and children is “Reading Colors Your World”. This display is by the checkout desk. There are colored displays all over the library. 

I’m off to sew with friends, Mr Busy is still in the rehabilitation hospital. Our son arrives on Sunday, from California. Mr.B is scheduled to be discharged on Tuesday the 10th. 

Last Monday was our 61st Anniversary. We’ve had quite the journey. Our grandkids brought over this porch flower pot of petunias. My favorite for our sunshiny, sometimes hot,  front porch. I may not get anything else planted this year. 

I stepped out to take a photo and it’s raining!  That’s good, no hoses have been hooked up, no sprinkler system has been turned on. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful.

Table Scraps Challenge ~~May

 

Every month I use crumb blocks to make the Table Scraps projects. Except May was a strange month. I was gone from home for a couple of weeks. Suddenly it was the end of the month , so I got out the project box marked CRUMBS.  Not one single crumb blocks in green. Not even a few scraps making the beginning of a crumb blocks. 

So I started to sew pieces together from a basket I keep on my cutting table. I added pieces from a basket marked 2” strips. I even grabbed my scrap basket of chunks and partial fat quarters. 

(Sorry for the shadowy photo. I finished the binding after supper while watching season 2 of Seinfeld. )

A table topper for my chair side table in our living room. Because the “theme” for this month is Green and Fresh Grass.  I decided , in the middle of scribble quilting, that I would try to write with the thread. I’ve seen Joy do it and I’ve seen Sandra at mmmquilts do it.  

The first attempt wasn’t too bad. But the second “ fresh grass”. looks like I may have been “smoking that grass!”   I can assure you I did not, and never have. So my remedy will be to “unstitch” and redo it with hand embroidery.

Thanks Joy at The Joyful Quilter  for all you do to keep this fun challenge going.

Next ORANGE and LIFE’S A BEACH!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful!

May 31st. It’s the last day of May

 

 Not much green sewing in May. In fact not much sewing at all. I did complete 2 more potato chip blocks to go with the 2 posted about on the 5th. 

Yesterday I spent some time in my sewing room, putting things away, trying to remember where I was when, Mr Busy asked me to take him to the ER. Seems like a long time ago. There was also some pressing of some laundry that had been languishing since early May. 

 

I’ve almost finished 4 more heart blocks, for the baby quilt version of Glowing Hearts QAL. I have to add the bottom triangles. Those added to the 2 completed earlier leaves only 3 more to make. Then assembly can begin. I need to make a decision about sashing, corner stones and borders.  That will come when I get all nine blocks on the design wall 

Till then, I may ge a quick Table Scraps project done for mays Table scraps Challenge, green and fresh grass. We will see😉

Linking up with Angela at Scrap Happy Saturday. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful. 

Finished or Not Finished.

 

A lilac bush at our library. So pretty!

I’ve got nothing for the upteenth Friday in a row. But I’ll share on Alycia’s blog. I was in Colorado at Medical Center of the Rockies with Mr. Busy. An unplanned, urgent but not emergency triple bypass. I am home in Wyoming but he is at a rehabilitation facility til the 10th of June. It’s 129 miles away. So I don’t go every day. 

You would think I would be sewing. But my concentration is short. 

⤴️There are pieces cut for a baby quilts following along with Glowing Hearts QAL at mmmquilts. I have til August. 

There is partial construction of green potato chip blocks ⤴️

And there is a pile of  BH Triple Treat blocks that are in need of assembly. They looked like this on the design wall, before I stacked them up.⤵️

All waiting for me. 

Stay Busy (right?) and Stay Happy (I’m trying) and Healthy (absolutely) and Hopeful  (with God’s help)

I LIKE Thursday. 5-29-25

 

Found on the internet. 

Several things to like about this week. The first is that I  am back in my home. A neighbor who had been taking in my mail, left this on our dining room table with our mail. 

Actually, Mr. Busy is not back home yet , but closer now. Monday he was transported to a rehabilitation hospital in Casper WY. Only 2 hours from home, instead of 4.5 hours. 

Wednesday, my grandson-in-law, picked me and our daughter up and drove us to Casper. We had lunch with Mr. Busy. Then he drove our daughter back to Loveland CO, filled his truck with fuel and drove back to Casper, picked me up and we drove back home to Gillette. An 11 hour day of driving for him. I am so grateful. I spent the day with my hubby and helped out with his physical therapy. Here he is smiling for the camera on a short break in his physical therapy routine. The red pillow is a sternal protection reminder. He can’t get out of bed, stand up or sit down into a chair using his arms. So he holds the pillow against his sternum and pushes up with his legs or log rolls out of bed. It’s a lot of work. This will be his way for at least 6 weeks. 

When I returned home on Monday night, this was some of my mail. A Mother’s Day gift from my daughter. 

And my spirea was blooming. Nothing else has been planted around the house, but there is still some time. Pots of annuals can still happen. 

I missed 2 weeks of conversation starters: 5-22-25: What technology could I live without?   I could get by without a television 

5-29-25: What does Memorial Day mean ?  Memorial Day has always been poppies,  handed out at the grocery store or other gathering places to remind us of the men and women who gave their lives in the service of protecting our country and its constitution. Mr Busy’s father died in WWII and received a Purple Heart. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy and Healthy and Hopeful.