Give me a push....

and watch me go...*VBS* I've been waiting and waiting for Blogger to be "ready" to change me over to the new format. I check in every few days and have been told, "sorry, not today". Well, in the middle of trying to get the winter night picture AND the winter night words publish(I would have preferred them together) I click on "update to the new blogger". And it went through!!! I was astonished! But I continued on, and with little or not trouble, I'm switched. Not sure if it's a good thing or not, but at least I'm not in the LAST lifeboat leaving the sinking ship....*VBG*

Driving home on a winter night....

a time of solitude. And one could add silence, but unless you are standing outside, alone, it isn't silent. The heater of the car hums it's soothing-making-warm . A little whoooosh of the tires on nearly dry pavement are what I hear.
All around me the night sky is a deep grayish blue with only a few stars making their way through the overcast. Snow has begun to fall, very fine snow, falling in wisps and swirles. The road home follows the little river, up and out of the coulee. It winds and turns and twists it's way up and out onto the state highway. That seven miles of twist and turns are best navigated slowly, especially at night, and especially in winter. No wolves in my landscape, but the possibility of deer, always, year round. I think about the silence and the color of the sky, so different than on a clear cold night when it is velvety black and sparkles with stars. Tonights sky is like thick, warm velvet laid across the curve of the sky. Without the car, I would wonder what time of night it was? And thinking about that I realize it's not very late, as many lighted window dot the sides of the road. Some yard lights, and my headlights reflect in the many curve ahead signs. I met no cars in the seven miles of the river road, it's as if I am alone in the Universe. One of the Ancient Wise Women, the Elders.
We have snow on the ground now, and even without the moon, there is a soft shimmer of light refected back up to the heavens. It's not really dark with snow on the ground.
The then around one last bend, past the cemetary and the stop sign for the state highway looms ahead. I'm not alone, here is civilization in the form of a well lighted church, and streets, a small park and small business places off in the distance. Two more miles and I'm home. As I come up and over the last hill, heading west, the security lights of The Cottages shine like a beacon in the darkness of the countryside. And here is my turn, onto Meadow Lane, and then onto Cottage Lane and into my garage. Inside my cozy cottage, Ebby waits to welcome me home again. Warm and well lit, it offers shelter, food if I need it and a secure place "to be" in the world. I shut the door against the darkness and cold, and smile at the memory of my drive home on a winter night.

Part 2..see part 1 below...

the finishing of the edge. She turned under the quarter inch(or there abouts) and did a running stitch that looks like quilting. The top and bottom edges
would have been straight. At this time, the backing has brought over and zigzagged down. Makes me think it's a fairly current repair to those edges. And since the damaged spots are at the top and bottom, it's probably from pulling the quilt up as you used it.
And here's Ebby....*VBS* I realized it's been a while since I snapped a pic of her. This is on the sheepskin that is in the hallway, right at the intersection of the bathroom door, and doors to the 2 bedrooms. She gets the warm air from all three rooms and it also gives her an excellent view of what's going on in the house..LOL She's getting to be a spoiled kitty with two sheepskins to choose from and all my quilts. She continues to adore TV, especially Animal Planet. She comes running for the Meerkat Manor series. Not sure what it is about those shy litle critters in Africa, but she doesn't miss a second of it. 

I wonder....

how many worries, hopes, dreams, plans, or problems this quilt could tell us about? I wonder if it's maker used new fabric scraps, or pieces from her mending basket? I wonder if it was made for the love of making quilts or necessity? I wonder what bed or bunk, in what state it began it's usefulness? I bought it in Galena, IL quite a few years back..probably 1988 or 89. I paid $70 for it, in an antique store, probably more than it was worth, in reality. It has the vintage fabrics
of the 1930's and 40's, a powerful lure for me..*G*
These pics should enlarge quite big with an extra click. The quilt appears to be machine pieced, but I'm not seeing well enough to be sure. It is hand quilted, as you will see if you enlarge the picture. It's a very, very, very thin quilt. In one damaged block(that I haven't repaired) you can find a very thin cotton batt. I thought it might be a sheet blanket, but it IS a batt.
This is the damaged block I haven't repaired. The black of the fabric is rotting, which is not unusual in old fabric.
Apparently there had been a hole or tear on the opposite end also, and this is how the former owner(who knows if it was the maker or someone else) repaired it. I plan on leaving
it as it is. The backing is actually quite pretty.
There is suppose to be one more picture of how she finished the edges, but Picasa has dropped that one. I will post it in a seperate post. The blocks are a FINISHED size of 2.5"(top) X 4.5"(bottom)
A few finish at 2 3/4" X 4 3/4". They are a finished heigth of 2 1/4". I think you could easily rotary cut these from strips. Kind of variation on the Tumbler or Waterglass pattern.
And I wanted to thank all of you for your kind words and for liking my blog just the way it is. I do feel guilty at times, because I don't follow the drummer of new patterns, planned quilts, new fabrics and more new fabrics. That's not the drummer I hear. But I'm happy to cheer you on your way towards all the wonderful adventures you have with making your quilts. Hope everyone has some sunshine today..*VBS* 

Googling my corner of the world...

you would find below zero temps and new snow. A brillant sunny day, but cold, cold,cold. A minus 1 degree is certainly not a record for January 28th.
Zooming in on my house, you would find a gift of both time and love in the seat of this chair..*S* A Thursday evening gift from my friend Jean. DD#1 wants one of my rugs*S*and it should have a "Tuscan" feel about it. So the collecting has begun, I have greens, gold, tans and browns, but purples and
lavenders elude me. She also wants one in periwinkle. Wish me luck!
The next picture is of my new beginnings. As Vera of KCQuilter says, it's so relaxing to sit and crochet, and I can do that without much light and when my eyes are tired in the evenings. This one grew by one more color yesterday, lime green! I'll show you more later. If you are a 'word' person, or unusually perceptive, you'll have noticed that I chose NOT to use the word "quilt" in
my blog title. I told in my personal stuff that you'd get questions, ponderings, memories, musings, the occasional 'amble' down the lane, and 'stuff' that is in the scrapbag of my life. If you are "all about quilts" or quilting, you may or may not be happy reading my blog. What I give you is 'pieces'. Sometimes they are a finished product, called a quilt, sometimes not. I don't foresee that changing. If my blog disappoints you, it's probably one that you should skip. The one thing I can guarantee, is that what you get is me. And I don't have a one track mind or ever follow the path just as it lies before me..*VBS* Is this the road less taken...I don't know, I never asked. Oh yes, the last pic...my(favorite) cousin Ross, and Finn the summer of 1945. Our fathers are brothers, and you can see the Smith resemblence.
P.S. Thanks for all the lovely crossed fingers, toes, etc. It seems to have "worked"! I am feeling better each day, and didn't even need ONE nap yesterday, much less 2 or 3..*G* Now the blood work isn't quite as big a factor...maybe I can manage this after all.

Returning.....

from the Land of Point, where everything has a point, and if you don't....you are pointless. A very long, long time ago, I watched a movie(or a program?) called The Land Of Point, where everyone had a point but the main character and his dog, Blue. The whole concept of "pointless-ness" stuck with me. I don't believe for a moment that if you don't have a point(the same as everyone else) you are pointless.*VBS*
I like round, all manner and sorts of round, circular, dotted, rings...what have you, as long as it connects to itself and is continous. Maybe that's why I make my rugs round..*G* For whatever reason, I like what I do. Thought I'd bring you up to date on rug production...or adventure.
The first rug pictured is # 3. You saw rug #1 and #2 awhile back....before Christmas. My friend Jean got rug #2 for Christmas. I call it Fiesta. Rug #3 is 30", and I may add more. Rug
#4m the pink and blue one is 24 X 28"..again, not sure if I'm done or not..*G*
#5 is another totally scrappy one, just a bit of this and a dab of that. Not as pretty as fiesta, not as bright. It's 28" at this point and I may add 2 more rounds to make it 30". And to put some dark at the outside.
I don't really have any explaination or excuse for being missing this week(since Saturday), a trip to the Dr on Wed. and a few other commitments, but mostly I've been "stalled" in a quiet place. My meds have been keeping me way too tired and needing a lot more sleep than what is reasonable. I had another abnormal thyroid test in Dec, altho not quite low enough to being any therapy for it. We reconsidered that again at my appointment, and she had blood drawn for a thyroid enzymes test. And we switched a couple of med from a.m. to p.m...hoping that might help. Guess we'll know by Tuesday. Blood has to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for analysis. I'm not sure about any of this, but I am way, way past being tired of being tired all the time....keep your fingers crossed for me..*VBS* 

Over the river and through the woods....

to dear son's house I go....*VBS* Color me tickled pink!! I got such a nice call yesterday, inviting me for lunch today with my youngest DS and his sons.
You've seen these two mischief makers before, several times. They are the ones who live the closest to me in miles. I don't know them well, because DS's ex pretty much cut me out of the picture. But now DS is settled in a new relationship only 20 miles from here, and he has the boys every other weekend.
I've spent part of the morning making fresh chocolate chip cookies to take with me..*VBG* Hey, have I got 8 grandsons or what??? I KNOW about fresh cookies. And I'm taking the youngest, Nathaniel his big boy quilt to use at his Dad's house. The older DGS got his when he was 3, but it lives at his Mom's(I hope). Both were the bargello pattern from Quiltville, and utility quilted.
I'm short on time now, but will be back with more, soon....*VBS* Little boy time is just what I need!
P.S. For Gail, you asked about the word on the folk art wall plaque. Yes, she stamped the word touch(about 1/4" high) onto the silver looking metal. The hand is cut from paper and machine meandered. It must be glued on the board I suspect.

Restoring Order....

to my sewing room...a much needed exercise. I'm running slow this January, and things are way out of control in there. In the process I came across this stack of 9 patches. I must have been working with 2" squares because they are 5" blocks. And I see that I used mostly dark and mediums. Like Bonnie and her "odd blocks", I wondered where I had been going with these and when?? No matter. I see 44 of them, counted and pinned into groups of 10. It
occurred to me this a.m. that I could set them with a
single hour glass(or broken dish) block and get some nice diagonals going.
If you are cutting squares specifically for hour glass, you get 2 sets of triangles from each paired off square. I don't want toooo much duplication in the broken dishes scrap quilt and using one of the pair in the 9 patches would work
fine. Two quilt tops from one set of blocks sewn..*VBS*
I also managed to find the first 3 heartstring blocks that I did. These will be going to Nancy. I'm in the process of cutting more foundation blocks and probably will keep putting a few more out for that project. I'm pretty low on 2" strips right now, and virtually NO red ones, so I'd better do that also..*S* I've been seeing such lovely quilts all around the Mavericks ring and the Stash ring too, wish I was part of that great creations effort. Makes me blue sometimes, this puddling along with a dib and a dab. Guess I need to remember to be grateful that I can see to do some things..*VBS* I think I am going to use the triangles cut off the heartstrings to make some wonky stars. Won't matter there if I get it straight or not...LOL

Agreement reached....

After a narrow escape, I rescued my ability to upload pictures. I had tried to load them directly into Picasa. It did NOT recognize my camera, and then promply told my computer "no more pictures". I switched something things around in properties and that worked! So I'm back in business..*VBS* Wish the eye trouble was that easy to solve. Visually, I'm still
limping along. Today I'm giving you one more piece from my folk art collection. A friend of my DD makes these. This one says "touch" below the metal and paper. I love it!!
The second pic is taken against a little doll quilt I made back in the 1980's. I was shop sitting for a friend, and things were slow. So I pulled some scraps from her scrap box, cut 2" squares, or maybe 2.5" by hand, sewed them together by hand, used a piece of flannel for batting, and made a small backing. I did it like a pillow case turn and then quilted it without a hoop. Really was one of those "play" time approaches...LOL
There isn't much quilting, and I should have done a more primative job with the stitching. That didn't occur to me..LOL

Third picture is the full view of it. I love the half heart that looks like a barn with silo..*VBG*
After seeing the little quilt Fiona made, over at http://scraps-in-progress.blogspot.com/ I decided to show this one.
Fiona's is much smaller, only 5" X 7".

And when Finn answers the questions....some were the same, but....

***You Are An ENFP***
The Inspirer
You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends.You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules.Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives.You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller!
You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.
What's Your Personality Type?http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourpersonalitytypequiz/