Hurry back............

These dear friends just left after a wonderful visit.  I will miss the chatter and laughter in my house.  It certainly was an eventful week. 


The fun part:  We went to the theater, out to eat, and shopping. 


The problem part:  My refrigerator stopped working, my hair dryer also stopped working, one of the husbands had a medical emergency, a mother of a dear friend died, and a knitting project had to be torn out twice.  Then we discovered that the designated driver did not have her license with her!  


Each problem found a solution, we had each other for company, and there was plenty of laughter.


Yes, we watched some of the royal wedding, gathered around two separate TVs in our PJs.  


I shed a few tears as they pulled out of the driveway, but can look forward to October when they will be back.  We are planning to do at least one craft day in the fall even though two of the gals do not do crafts.  They will bring their electronic devices to surf the Internet and play angry birds while we craft.


And in the mean time, three of us have decided to do a monthly postcard swap.  I'm forcing myself to be creative as I belong to a monthly artist's trading card group, monthly writing group, and now a monthly postcard trading group.


Now it is back to my normal routine, and finishing up the end of the goodies.

Absolutely Free

A young man, in a uniform shirt with the name AMP and Guardian Protection,  just came to my front door.  He asked me if I knew about the recent break-ins in my neighborhood and proceeded to tell me about four or five homes within a few blocks that had break-ins.  Then he told me that even though my house was not technically on the corner, it was the first house facing the street and therefore he could install an alarm system in my home completely free of charge if I would display a small sign in my front yard.


I am old enough to bristle at the "absolutely free of charge" phrase because in my experience there is always a catch.  He kept assuring me that there was no catch.  Hmmmmm.


He went on and on.  I listened politely for a while, then told him I had company coming - which is true.  I told him I would be glad to read whatever literature he might want to leave, and that I would look up this company and his "deal" on the Internet.


First of all, I do not appreciate him using scare tactics with the stories of local break-ins.  I read the local newspaper every day and there has been no news of local break-ins.  Secondly, the two houses behind me are occupied by local policemen.  Thirdly, I don't think a Guardian Protection sign is going to stop criminals from deciding to break into my house.  They would be sorely disappointed in what they would find in my house anyway.  I have no jewelry other than cheap costume jewelry.  I have no big fancy TVs, just small cheap ones I bought at Wal-Mart.  I do not keep money in my home nor on my person.  All my furniture is inexpensive or hand-me-downs.  There simply is nothing worth stealing, except fabric and that is slowly getting depleted.


Does anyone out there in blogland know about Guardian Protection and their "free systems"?  I am very skeptical.

Easter

 Happy Easter from me and my blue bunny. 

 (Little quilt made by my friend, Aline)

Our church had a beautiful service this morning preceded by a scrumptious breakfast.

And the our wonderful pastor sent everyone home with a daffodil plant.

Bonnie

Backing and Binding

Today I pieced a backing, using old fabric from my stash, 

for this quilt that I finished the other day.

And also made binding out of some bandanna fabric.

A little more progress on my stitching project too

 (Country Cottage - Book Store)

Now it is time to get ready for church and the Good Friday Tenebrae service.

Pictures of me

Do you like pictures of yourself?  Well, I don't like pictures of myself.  When I smile, my eyes are slits.  When I don't smile I either have 62 chins or a mean look.  


Today I got my hair cut and asked my hairdresser to take a picture of me.  I knew she would keep snapping until we got a good picture, but it sure was a challenge.  None of the pictures are stellar, but of all the pictures we took I picked out these three.

My hair is cut off on the top one and my eyes are slits on the bottom one, but believe it or not, they are the best.  Sigh.  So I chose the middle one for my profile picture.  What do you think?

Ever changing.......

Today I discovered that my niece has a blog - Mustard Seed - and I was disappointed that I could not post a comment to her blog.  Why?  Because my blog (Soaring On Wings) that I have used for years was created when I had a non-google account. In order to leave a comment I needed to use a Google account (this blog) which has been a more personal account about food/weight struggles.  Hmmmm.  What to do.

Well, I made the BIG decision to change this blog to include everything - my quilting, stitching, knitting, AND my personal life and thoughts.  I'm going to try and import all the postings from my old blog.  Wish me luck!

* Later - Successful ! ! ! !   All my posts are now in one spot.  Now I have to inform my family and friends of the change.  And I will post a notice on my OLD blog to come over here. *

Stitching on The Book Store

Moving right along on my stitching of The Book Store by Country Cottage Needleworks.  It has been cold and rainy and grey where I live, so sitting in my cozy home and stitching has been delightful.

A little of this, a little of that........

While listening to Car Talk and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on public radio this morning I did a little red work.  This afternoon I spent some time on my Book Store counted cross-stitch.  It doesn't look like I made much progress but you didn't see all the stitching I did on the tree to the left of the house and then discovered I had missed a whole section so had to take my stitching out.  Three steps forward, two back.  Then tonight I worked on my knitting.  It was a day of making little bits of progress on three projects.  

It was a good Saturday.

Book Store

Are you the type of person who works on one project until it's done?  Oh how I wish I could stay that focused.  Not only do I not finish projects that I start, I don't even stick to the same craft.  Right now I am working on four zillion quilts, several knitting pieces, some red work, some yo-yo's and I have picked up one of my many counted cross-stitch projects again.  Eventually I finish most of the projects, but because I go back and forth between projects and crafts, it seems like I seldom finish anything.  All this does not take into account the reading I do and the writing, and did I mention I like to sleep?


Here is the counted cross-stitch project I picked up the other day.  I'm really enjoying getting back to some stitching.  This little Book Store piece will fit nicely in my home.  Everyone who knows me knows that my favorite retail therapy is going to a book store!

Quilt top done

Finished this colorful quilt top today. 

 (Pattern name - Hometown Parade, designer Avis Shirer, in AllPeopleQuilt.com, June 2008 issue.)

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Also started working on Yo-Yo's for another quilt I plan to make.  I decided that I want to use white for the background.  This will be a hand project for the most part - a good project for taking on my vacation this year.

When I go on vacation I always take three or four books, a few hand sewing projects, some counted cross-stitch and at least one knitting project.  Now ask me how much I get done!  I'm ALWAYS optimistic.

Bread Machine

Hmmmm.  My last post to this blog was on Feb. 12, 2011.  By now I'm sure everyone thinks that this blog is done - kaput - fini.  Well, I thought so too.  I'm back to old habits and have gained weight.  Ugh.  The cycle continues to cycle.  


So what brings me back to post something?  A bread machine.  I was just perusing the Amazon website looking for a bread machine.  Let's take a look at my thought process...........


Yesterday I volunteered at church - a very fun job - and when I left for the day I didn't feel like going home.  My go-to place when I want to wander is Barnes & Noble.  There are several Barnes & Noble stores in my area and I chose one of the larger ones.  I went up and down almost all the aisles and back to several sections to re-look at books I might like to read.  After an hour and a half of standing and slowly meandering, it was time to go home.  


As I drove towards home my stomach was growling and I thought about supper.  My mind went immediately to warm bread - homemade warm bread - bread like my mother used to make.  There used to be some of those wonderful bread stores in my area, but alas they are all gone now.  There is a bakery near my house, but I'm usually disappointed with their breads.  BUT, I stopped there anyway.  


One good thing they have is toasted coffee cake.  I thought I would get a package of that and perhaps some good dinner rolls.  When I pulled up in front of the store, there was a sign in the window announcing that they had Limpa bread.  Smells and images of my mother's Limpa bread had my mouth watering.  


Ten minutes later I walked out of the store with a loaf of Limpa bread, a package of toasted coffee cake, one small sweet roll for breakfast, and one free Easter Egg cake (like a cup cake).   The Limpa bread was a big disappointment.  Nothing at all like my mother's wonderful bread.  It was commercial and bland tasting.  I had the sweet roll for breakfast and was not impressed.  It was just OK - but not worth the extra calories.  The little egg cake was just a piece of pound cake heavily frosted.  I removed the frosting and ate the little piece of cake for my dessert last night.  The toasted coffee cake I know is good and a piece now and then will make a nice crunchy snack.


The desire for some good bread did not go away.  That is when I started thinking about a bread machine.  My cooking skills are not good and the thought of trying to make bread on my own is like deciding to become a star ballet dancer.  It isn't going to happen.  The bread machine seemed like the perfect answer.  Yes, I used to have a bread machine back when the craze hit in 2000, but I eventually got rid of it when it was taking up too much cupboard space.   


Whenever I want to research something I might want to buy, I go to Amazon to check on the range of prices. Would a bread machine cost me hundreds of dollars or under a hundred?  Should I venture out to Target or Wal-Mart and invest in a new appliance?  Would I use it enough to justify the cost?  Would it save me grocery money?  Would the bread be healthier?  Or would I just end up eating more bread than was necessary?  And did I really need another appliance?  


Absolutely crazy.  I'm absolutely crazy.  I'm looking at bread machines on Amazon! ! !   Where has my common sense gone?  


Every day is a struggle with this food addiction/problem.  Every day I struggle with being hungry and making good or bad choices.  Every day I rebel against dieting and yet want to lose weight.  I'm still waiting for the magic answer and do NOT want to hear that all I have to do is cut down on calories and move more.  I'm a spoiled brat and I want to eat good, comforting food, sit in my chair, and still be slim and fit.  And if you can't give that to me, then leave me alone.  


Crazy, spoiled, rebellious, and not ready to change.  That is the situation on April 7th, 2011.

What's going on here.......

Yesterday I posted pictures of checkerboard houses and log cabin blocks.  The idea and instructions came from a June 2008 magazine article by designer Avis Shirer of Joined At The Hip.  I cut it out of the magazine so I'm not sure what magazine except that the name in the lower corner is "allpeoplequilt.com".


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I saw this magazine cover and fell in low with the quilt - made with hundreds of Yo-Yos.  

The Yo-Yo's can be easily made using Clover's Yo-Yo maker.

I have an overflowing container of 5 inch scrappy squares that are perfect for Yo-Yo's.  

This is a great take-along project and a project to pick up at odd times when I have a few minutes.  I can make a Yo-Yo in less than five minutes - and that's at my slow leisurely pace!

Checkerboard houses

Today I finished cutting strips for some log cabin blocks.

Sewing the blocks together didn't take as long as I thought they would.

And here are the checkerboard houses I made previously.

Here are the blocks up on my design board.

The pattern is from a magazine.  I am upstairs and the magazine is downstairs, so I will have to give the credit tomorrow to the designer and the magazine.  There is a pieced border yet to be made.  Stay tuned.

Binding done

Finished the binding on Moe's flannel quilt.

Binding day

Today I worked on binding a quilt for my friend Moe.  It was cold in my basement Quilt Studio, but draping this flannel quilt over my lap while I sewed kept me nice and warm.