Why is it?

Tonight I was doing the laundry. I put a pair of jeans and a pair of slacks along with some shirts, etc. into the washer. When I went down to take them out the jeans were turned completely inside out. Why does that happen? How does it happen? So many times I put things in right side out and when the washer quits, at least something is completely wrong side out.

I'm getting ready for vacation. I'll be heading out to MA to visit my best bud for 10 days. Friday is the day! I'm spending my birthday there. That's gonna be fun. I get to go to my favorite restaurant -- Bernie's. Prime rib to die for. We'll be working on several craft/quilt projects during the time I'm there. I am so ready ! !

As for my goal of reading my Bible through this year, I'm on Leviticus 8. I'm pretty much where I need to be I think.

It's good to laugh.

Today I was checking out my favorite blogs and got some really good laughs. I figured I'd share a few of them with you.

The first one is written by the DH of a quilter friend. Be sure and read his Hardware posts starting with Day 1. Warning 1 -- if there is any chance you need a bathroom break, take it now. Warning 2 -- do not be eating or drinking while reading. http://sawdustandcowpies.blogspot.com/

The second one is written by a big-city gal transplanted to a ranch. She's a great photographer, story teller and cook. Today she had some great pictures of her puppy. http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Now that I've had my laughs, I need to go out into the C-O-L-D (11 degrees F with wind chill of -7) and blow the snow out of the driveway. BRRRRRR

Productive evenings are a good thing

Tonight was phone night with my best bud. As usual, we each work on a project while talking. Here's mine.

It was a great night. I only had 2 goofs. And I fixed those. I bet my bud didn't even know I had problems. I tried not to moan and groan. LOL

Fiber Arts Club

Tonight was my monthly Fiber Arts Club meeting. WOW! Beth Ann Williams, who is an award-winning contemporary quilter, fiber artist, author, designer and teacher is the leader. This is the 4th meeting of our group and tonight the topic was "To Fuse or Not to Fuse".

First things first though. We always start out with Show and Tell. Some great things were shared tonight. We have some very talented and experienced ladies in the group along with those of us who are just getting into this area of artistry. One of the ladies has a picture of her work in Quilting Arts magazine. They had a challenge dealing with doors.

Beth Ann talked about the possible advantages and disadvantages of using adhesives. Then she talked about 11 different fusibles and adhesives. I can't wait to try some that I have not worked with and also some I have but use them in a new way. I've been trying to create a fiber picture of one of my photos. I think painting Misty Fuse and then fusing it on my background may be the ticket I've been looking for. I think I need to take a trip to Hobby Lobby and pick up a few things. Needless to say I am a little pumped tonight. I need some play time.

Another little word humor: Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest. (I love those things. Thanks, Karen, for passing them on to me.)

Weekend is over

How do weekends go by so quickly? Maybe because it was so much fun. Saturday I met my best friend from high school at The Stamp Shoppe in Kazoo. We made 2 each of 5 different cards and then we went out for lunch. Always nice to have a day with a long time friend. Later on my way home, I did something that I hardly ever do and that was go into a quilt shop, spend 40 minutes in there and not spend a dime. I was so proud of myself. It was hard though. I'm not sure I've ever done that before. A quilter rarely leaves a quilt shop after having spent so much time in it without a purchase. I'll mark it on the calendar.

Snowfall is really funny sometimes. Today I was heading down the highway and it was just raining. Turned a corner and suddenly the ground was white and it was snowing big flakes. It was snowing big flakes all the way to my destination and piled up about 3". Coming back there was snow on the ground until we hit that corner and then none. So northeast of me and southeast of me they got the snow and I just got rain. I'm glad. I don't have to shovel or blow rain.

Have a great week and try to be a blessing to at least one person each day.

It's Friday Night!

Do you know how long a 5-day work week is? It is L-O-N-G. I have not had one for over a month now because of the holidays and vacation that needed to be used.

Last night was Phone Night.... the night my best bud and I talk on the phone while working on a project of some kind. I made a couple of "Get Well" postcards out of fabric. (Does that count as Stash Busting? I used 4 pieces of 4.5" x 6.5" and fussy cut another piece.) I'm having such a fun time with them. I've made birthday and Christmas cards in addition to the get well cards. A friend wants me to make her some Easter cards. I need to get on that.

Tonight I went to Karen's for games and supper. We love to play word games. We started out with a non-word game -- Sequence (I think) -- and then after a break to head to Panera's for supper, we played Anagrams. We are very competitive at anything we play and it makes it so much fun.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Kalamazoo to meet Pat (best friend from high school) and we are taking a card stamping class together. Now, she is so good she could teach the class but we decided it would be fun to just take the class and have fun together. We get to use all the supplies at the shop. Should be a great time.

I didn't take pictures of the postcards I made last night but this top one is very similar.

This next one I made for my older brother as a birthday card. I loved that background fabric. I love the shadow effect. My best bud helped me with that.

This one was for my younger brother for his birthday. All the leaves were fussy cut out of other fabrics. Again, thanks bug for your help.

A little food for thought from a lexophile (no it is not a bad thing to be): The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

Game Night

Another fun night. I had a hard time deciding on the menu. We always have supper and then play games. At first it was gonna be pizza, then rotissarie chicken, then meatballs. Well, I had been craving lasagna for a while and Costco has a really good one (Kirkland brand) in the freezer section. So we had lasagna, tossed salad, garlic bread, fresh fruit salad and homemade tollhouse chocolate chip cookies to snack on. Seeing there are 5 of us it limits us somewhat in the games we play. One time it was Farkle, once dominos, once Uno. Tonight it was Kizmet (something like Yahtzee). One of the girls is going through chemo and she claimed chemo brain but I think we can't let that work any more cuz she almost always wins ... which was the case tonight.

We all work at the same place. The other four work in the same area. I'm the odd ball. No comments from the peanut gallery. We have a department called Service Partners. Two of the girls are paid employees and the other two are Service Partners (volunteers). The one going through chemo actually lives in Bahrain with her husband and is a teacher over there. She comes back home in the Summer and for the last two years has been volunteering with us. She found her cancer literally days before she was to return to Bahrain. So she is staying until her treatment is finished ... about a year. The other moved here from New Jersey for a year after trying it out for a couple months in the summer 2 summers ago and a month in the winter last year. At the end of her year we here in MI are hoping she decides to move here permanently. Her family back in NJ is not really gungho on that idea.

The weather has finally decided to cool back down some. We are still above normal but only by 10 degrees or so. And THE SUN WAS SHINNING TODAY!!! Everyone was in a really good mood. Makes me think I should post some orchids. I love taking pictures of orchids. Now you are probably saying "she's crazy, that is no orchid." Actually it is the center of one. This one below, in fact.

Macro photography is fun to play with. Sometimes it can really leave you guessing as to what it really is.

Until next time, find at least 5 things for which to be thankful.

NH primary

I've been glued to the TV since the polls closed. Looks like McCain wins for Republicans but with almost 60% of the vote in, they still can't call for the Democrats. Next Tuesday is the primary in MI. I need to make up my mind soon.

I'm getting ready for Game Night at my house tomorrow night. There are 5 of us who get together for games and supper about once a month. We will have a ball. We are all pretty competitive.

The warm weather is tricking some of the Spring flowers. They are starting to pop their heads out of the soil. They are gonna be surprised come this weekend. In honor of the warm weather, here a Spring picture at one of my favorite golf courses -- 13th hole, par 3.

This is one I took last Fall in the little city of Douglas over by Lake MI.

What happened to the weather?

Maybe this is what they mean by global warming although last week I didn't believe it. Last week we had snow and temps in the teens. This morning when I walked out the door at 6AM, it was 54 degrees. It is 62 now at 8:30PM. It was 64 I think today which set a record. We are under a tornado watch now with serious rain forecast during the night. More like April or May weather. The snow is all gone except for remains of a pile here and there. Now I like the warm weather but this is just not good for our part of the country.

Tonight is the BCS National Championship. Louisana State University(2) vs Ohio State(1). Ohio scored a TD on their first possession. I'm thinking this is going to be a good game. Hopefully I can stay awake.

Do you ever come to the point when you just can't stand your hair a minute longer? Today was the day. Luckily I was able to get in for a dip and clip. Feels much better and looks even better yet. But I sure hate to put out the money. I keep thinking I should learn to do it myself but after reading the boxes, it scares me. I guess I'll continue to pay the price.

I think this is not really a flower. More of a weed. It is one of the last "flower" pictures I took this year. I was driving down a road I had never been on before and saw these on the side of the road. It was one of those trips when I had my camera and was looking for some pretty Fall foliage. I just happened to see these along side the road. It has become one of my favorite photos.

Bible reading is going well. My daily goal is 5 chapters a day. It is day 7 and I finished Genesis 35 this morning.

I think I'll sign off. We are having a really loud thunder storm with some lightening. Not a good time to be on the computer.

A photography weekend

Last summer I spent a 4 day weekend over at Hope College in Holland, MI at a photography seminar. On Thursday night I went on a Birds of Prey field trip. There were two leaders. One was a professional photographer and the other was a circuit court judge. The two of them work together leading photo field trips for a few hours up through week long trips. This mean looking dude to the left is a Peregrin Falcon.

This next one is a Kestral Falcon. I think he is so pretty.

I'm not sure what kind of owl the guy on the left is but he sure hides well. The one one the right is a Great Horned Owl.




















Now I know this guy is not a bird of prey but he was there and so I just have to include him in here. What a thing of beauty.



I think maybe next time I need to bring in some flowers.

First of many? ? ?

I'm not really a writer but I decided I'd try doing a blog for a while at least. Hopefully it will be a place where I can share some of my hobbies. I bought a new camera about a year ago and while I'm still learning how to use it, I do come up with a good picture now and then. I'll post some of them and pictures of my quilts and fiber art creations. And if I happen to ever get a hole-in-one on the golf course, it will be announced here.

Today was a fun day. I went to an antique show with a friend. It's one thing to see things that I know my grandparents and parents had but when I see things that I had when I was a kid or my 20's, it gets a little unnerving. How can I be old enough that things in my life are now showing up in antique shows? Yikes!

I had a pleasant surprise tonight. Have you ever tried using Skype? We, I had it up tonight while I was chatting on IM with a friend from TX and suddenly my "phone" started ringing. It was my friend from New Zealand whom I had not talked to for many months. It was a short (10 minutes) conversation but it was so good to hear her voice. Love that accent. We figure I have to win the lottery (oh I need to play?) so I can go visit her. That is my dream vacation.