Back to sewing

Between all the sickness and finally having our Thanksgiving meal, I got back to the sewing room.  I've dreaded putting my applique blocks together for some reason, but once I got into the swing of things, I'm enjoying it.  Here's the first row:

The sashing is 1" (finished) squares.  All strip pieced.

....and since I'm on the subject of flowers:

My Christmas cactus bloomed for Thanksgiving.  It's never had this many blooms before.  Mom always had one and we would talk about it on the phone.  Hers always bloomed.

I gave my mom a basket of miniature rose bushes for Mother's Day in 2009.  It turned out to be her last Mother's Day on earth.  She transplanted them into pots and when she passed away, I took them and planted them in my flower bed 300 miles away. They're always SO beautiful but this year has been exceptional.  I guess they've liked our extreme Oklahoma  weather.  They're still blooming even though we've had several frosts.  They're a nice reminder of Mom and what a wonderful person she was!

Thanksgiving.

Yes!  We DID have Thanksgiving today!  A day late, but everyone was well. We're SO thankful for our family.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to take the time to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in blogland.  May you have the blessings of family close to you and take time to thank God for all He has given you.

We're postponing the actual day of the get-together due to a stomach virus that has been "running" (literally) through my family.  We all got together last Friday night to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  My youngest grandson (who has tummy troubles all the time that are currently being diagnosed) apparantly had a virus.  I couldn't resist kissing his precious little face (or maybe lips....yes, probably lips).

He got worse.  By Sunday I was VERY sick.  His dad was VERY sick.  By Sunday night his brother Timothy was sick.  On Monday night his Auntie Dre got it.  It only lasts about 24 hours but leaves you "wiped" out (Pun intended) with no energy or appetite.  Today is the first day that food really sounded good to me.  So after5 days of cleaning up after 2 sick kids and a sick husband, my other daughter came down with it tonight.  And did I mention that my son had it, too?

That only leaves husband, other son-in-law and oldest grandson who haven't had it.  So we're going to wait a day and see what happens.  So in everything I'm (trying) to give thanks.  I'm thankful that my Operation Christmas Child party fell through last Friday night and that the only people who showed up were my family.  Otherwise, all of my guests would now be sick for Thanksgiving.

I have SOOOO many things to be thankful for!  As my son said tonight when I asked him if he minded postponing the day "It's the people, not the day"!  Happy Thanksgiving to all you people who help round out my life!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

This week I've cleaned out three cabinets, two piles of clutter, one freezer, the junk drawer, did some mending, cleaned the oven and survived two earthquakes.  (Well, the survival part wasn't THAT hard, although they did really shake our house and scare the @*#% out of me).

And I FINISHED the LAST block of my hand applique project.  That's 24!  Done!  I've started the bottom border and have it halfway finished, but the borders are going to take a long time.

My last appliqued quilt has been sitting around since the fair.  Today I put a hanging sleeve on the back of it and hung it using the "Hang It Dang It" method.  http://www.hangitdangit.com/
I was able to hang it all by myself and was quite impressed with it.  I saw it demonstrated at the Houston Quilt Show last year and ordered through my local quilt shop (Cotton Patch).

Here it is hanging on my bedroom wall.  It's level even though the picture may not convey that.

Amid all the things that I'm doing this week to get ready for having company for Thanksgiving, I looked out the window and noticed this:  (It seemed to have happened overnight)

And this: 




We've had a few frosts already, but the roses are still blooming.  Despite the terrible drought we've had this summer, the trees around Tulsa are beautiful.  The local weatherman says it's because of a few late rains that added sugar back into the trees.  Whatever the reason, I'm glad.

 So....with all the busy-ness that we'll all be having the next few weeks, take time to smell the roses...or to look at the trees.  There is beauty all around us!

I've been away

Wow!  Does time ever fly by!  Tim and I took a 10 day vacation to the beautiful hill country of Texas.  We stayed in a lovely house on a golf course (no, we don't play golf).  And did I mention that we took my bff and her hubby with us?  Yes, Leslie and I bid on the use of this house at a Little Lighthouse Fundrasier last April.  The Little Lighthouse is a school here in Tulsa for children with disabilities.  It's operated through donations and support of the community.  It's a wonderful, wonderful school and many children have made amazing progress there.  So....anyway a generous man owns this house in Kerville, TX and donates the use of it to several worthy causes.  We bid on it and we won!  So that's how we ended up in Kerville, TX.

Our husbands really needed a vacation so we didn't really plan any activities that were set in stone.  We ate a lot...we watched the World Series (Yeahhhhh Cardinals!!!!  I'm a Missouri gal, by birth!)...Leslie and I stitched...the guys played a bit of pool...we got pulled over twice for speeding (umm...I'm not saying who was driving, but no tickets were issued)....and in general we had a great time.  Oh I forgot!!! Leslie and I visited at least 6 quilt shops.  We had to ban our husbands from going in them after a while because they caused too much of a commotion.  When we went outside to check on them we discovered that they were sitting in front of the door demanding beer or a dollar from anyone who tried to enter.  Don't know if we're welcome back there.  haha

Here we are on a walk along the Guadelupe River in Kerville.

Always the rebel...the sign says "Keep off Dam".  Guess where he is.

This is also on the Guadelupe when we took the scenic drive into the hills.

This is at the James Avery Craftsman "compound" in Kerville where Tim bought me something shiny for my birthday.

Did I mention that I had my birthday while we were gone?  Leslie baked me this lovely angel food cake.  Yum.

On our scenic drive we had to stop at this little hole in the wall place.  Not only did they have the "Best Dang Jerky in Texas", they also had one of the best barbeque brisket sandwiches I've ever had....

...and since Tim is the slowest eater in Texas (or anywhere else) he got to finish his sandwich with a Peacock.  Weird place.

Here we are working on our applique projects.

This is the entry way to the house that we stayed in.

Bff's in Texas

This is in Fredricksburg.  There were more pies than quilts.  The guys were touring the WWII museum.  We tried to get some German food in Fredricksburg, but all the restaurants shut down.  We think there was a city water problem...but more than likely it was just the Marler luck.  It just happens that way.

This was a great quilt shop in Bandera, TX (not so great picture).  We left the guys without a car to fend for themselves that day.  They managed to walk over to the country club for lunch.

Here are a couple of things I've mangaged to finish lately.  I'm working on the border of my applique quilt now but still have the last block to make. 

This is the 23rd of 24.  Almost there!

This table runner idea came from Nancy Halverson's new book.  I made it to fit a table that's been in our family since 1990.  Calista has it in her new house.  Is that a little giraffe standing beside her?

Close up of the quilting.  I appliqued  and quilted it at the same time.

No early November post would be complete without pictures of my favorite "Halloweeners". 
This is Timothy the famous Jedi.

 Ninja Gabe

And there's that giraffe again.


Now on to the rest of the holidays.  Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before I know it.  Time to get busy!