Saturday, April 11, 2009

quilt show & the crazy dog

I just posted a link to my pictures from our recent quilt show on the Yahoo site & wanted to post them here as well. The 1st few pictures are of our best of show. It's a beautiful blue heron done by Barbara Shepel a great artist & super person.
The last 2 pictures are my wallhanging "Gum Blossom" a last minute rushed project that I'm not very proud of :)
http://community.webshots.com/user/easystitches

I love that dogwood Laura! What a beauty!
We have cherry's blooming but that's about all right now.
They just make me smile, don't even look real.

It's funny how plants become pests in certain places, we aren't suppose to plant butterfly bushes
because they are so invasive , but I just love the honey smell they have & of course the butterflies love them. I love Lantana, I know it spreads like crazy in Ca, but not so much here, There's a gorgeous one that is both peach & yellow, Divine!

So sorry about your quilting friend Karen, we cherish our quilting buds!

Jane, glad things are so much better, your a champ!
keep up the good work.

Here's a crazy dog story. The world's oldest Pit Bull, Dyna has become very idiosyncratic to put it nicely. She paces & paces all evening until she gets the sofa & then won't share it with anyone. So, finally I'd had it & bought her her own sofa at goodwill.
I really didn't want a second sofa & didn't even have room for it. Now the room looks like some fraternity rec room or something with all this mismatched furniture & I had to move the easy chair that matches the sofa into the dining room!
So we get the sofa in & she's not interested at all & continues to pace every evening. So we decide maybe it's a little too high for her to jump to, it's maybe 2 inches higher than the other sofa? So we decide to remove the short feet. Now it looks even dopier. So, she still doesn't like it & keeps pacing! So, end of story, I'm using HER sofa, my feet hanging of the end & my neck straining to see the TV, but the pacing is over & Dyna is a happy camper......
Jill

Friday, April 10, 2009

Blessed holiday


I hope everyone had a blessed Passover/ Maundy Thursday and will continue to enjoy the weekend and Easter to come.

I have the day off , and DH and I had hoped to go do some gentle hiking in the state park (Monte Sano). Instead, we're due for some possibly severe weather later today.

Last weekend we visited the local botanical garden. There were a few dogwoods in bloom, and the tulips and pansies were gorgeous, but it's too early for many other things. The daffodils were already gone. I am including a picture of the "historic" dogwood tree. It is over one hundred years old, and was moved from another location to the gardens in 1996.
I need to get going, as I have errands to run and I'd like to be back before the weather gets bad.
Laura

Lantana

Sara: it's been interesting to read about you planting Lantana, as over here in Australia it's classified as a weed, especially in the more tropical areas! I wonder if it's the same plant, or another with a similar name........

Also glad to hear that they have discovered what was wrong with your DH. DS#2 had a similar problem - feeling ill for months with dr prescribing antibiotics over and over without going any further. He ended up giving up his job and flying the 2,000 km home to us; 3 months later and a couple of specialist visits in Adelaide and he's back looking for a new job.

Karen: sorry to hear about your friend.

Jane: glad to read you're getting so much better and pain-free. That quilting retreat sounded like fun!

Lovely autumn weather here in OZ. I wouldn't mind a few more hot spells before winter sets in but I doubt that will happen. Time to put the inground pool to bed, I think.

DDIL-to-be, who re-located here in late January from Rochester, NY, has at last found a job in a law firm. She will be working one street away from DS, so they can go to and from work together. Couldn't have worked out better!

Hope everyone's having a happy Easter break.
Fran (Whyalla, Sth Aust)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Spring is back here in No. Fla.

JANE- so glad things are looking up for you. I'm sure it is beautiful where you are in the spring.
I planted about 5 more plants this morning, and got down on the hands and knees and pulled weeds, hacked at some tree roots with an ax, etc. Now I'm feeling it and the sinuses are on attack. A neighbor of my DD's is a retired plant science Dr. (not quite sure what the title is) and I bought some purple flowered plants from him last year. He swears they are Lantana, but my GF who gardens says that Lantana don't come in that color. I don't know what they are, but they survived the freezes this winter are look great. If only the grass would not grow in the flower beds life would be easier.
I've finished up the binding on a baby quilt. I got blue blanket binding from Wally-mart, and folded it smaller, I thought it might last longer than cotton binding. It used to be inexpensive, but now is $4.98 at Wally-mart, and $5.98 at JoAnn's. I guess nothing is inexpensive any more.
OH-forgot why I started posting--Jane and whoever else is interested-- we finally have an answer to DH's mystery disease. Don't know if I posted about it or not.
He had Mono! The family Dr. said that no one over 50 got Mono, so she didn't even go down that road. This was why his legs were sore, 101 temp, lots of fatigue. That evidently kicked up the latent TB that he had lurking in his lymph nodes.
Right now DH has a raging head cold via a co-worker, and is a total crab.
I feel sorry for him, cause I can take a nap in the afternoon, but he can't.

I'm going to make some labels for the QOV quilts I finished and take a picture. Hopefully deliver them to a coordinator in Palm Coast after Easter.
Speaking of Easter--today is Passover, so if you are Jewish, blessed Passover, and Happy Easter for all the others.
We have been invited out to a lunch after church at some friends' house for Easter, the first time I can think of when we haven't gathered with family. DD has it in her head that she wants to stay home with just her family, so that's OK with us.
All for now, going to wash the yard clothes.
Sara in Fla.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

FEELING GREAT

Despite my having contributed to the temporary return of winter to the southern Appalachians, along with the return of pain requiring a return to pills, as well as Rosey's contribution to similar events in ON, I feel great. Why? you may ask. Well, it's because I have completed reconstruction of the financial records that I messed up big time for months after the accident and the post traumatic mental mess I suffered from. I am now ready to take the information to my tax preparer in the morning. Whew, that was a large and unpleasant hill to climb that couldn't have happened at a worse time. I knew for sure that my medical deductions would be larger than ever before and I didn't want to miss any. Now I understand why I'm so short of funds. I totaled up almost $15,000 worth of out of pocket medical expenses. That, despite having Medicare and a pretty good secondary policy which includes a drug plan. This was mostly co-pays but also includes the expenses for hired transportation to and from doc and physical therapy appointments. Unfortunately, due to my muddleheadedness I paid a lot of the transportaion cost in cash which I can't substantiate. Anyway, it's off my desk and mind and I can return to the newly usable quilt room and do what I love to do. I'm almost done with physical therapy too.

I did go to the rec center today and had a bit of a work out increasing my time on the elliptical trainer as well as some weight work. I intend to keep at that and try to lose the weight I regained in the past year.

It's supposed to be sunny with high temp at 70F tomorrow so things are definitely looking up. I'll post a picture on the board when I finish the very simply kid quilt for my neighbor's grandchild who will be a year old on mother's day.

Keep posting girls. I've been checking every day but things have been pretty quiet. I hope that's because you are all busy doing what you love to do.

Jane

Spring Jeopardy

Jane, it wasn't you who jeopardized spring, it was me. I put out my summer garden chairs and got out my gardening tools.

The next day we had a foot of snow.

Rosey

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

That's weird...

I posted a comment to Jane's statement about missing her appointment today, and now the original post appears to be gone. My comment has replaced it.
It's probably just a display problem on my computer.
The pollen counts here before the freeze were incredible. We got sleet, and my car had ice on it this morning. I'm hoping that this has not killed the fruit like it did two years ago. We'll see.
I hope all are well, and prayers for all in need.
Laura

Monday, April 6, 2009

Feeling Sad

Monday is our Charity quilting day at the church. Our small group of ladies have met for the past 10 years.

Today when we went, we learned that one of our group had passed away earlier this morning. She will leave a hole, not only in our group, but also in my heart. All the ladies are at least 30 years older than me, and I look to them for advice, and also for comfort the past 2 years since I lost my parents.

We spent our time today sharing and remembering our friend, Lucille. I know she'll still be with us in spirit.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

SO MUCH FOR SPRING

I should never have posted the previous comments about spring. On the weather report for this area I find that we are looking at snow and wintry mix for Monday night and Tuesday. I have a bone scan scheduled for Tuesday in Asheville and that means driving over Balsam Pass that reaches to something around 4,000 or more feet. That always means a skating rink experience. This scan was scheduled by the doc's office without consulting me. It could have been done right here in Sylva. Oh well, folks around here are very tolerant of appointment cancellations due to icy roads.

It's time to get going.

Jane