December 26th

I did all these photos opposite, oh well. this was in the mail from "daddy". He made Tori this beautiful milo (rare hawaiian hard wood, sells by the pound not board of linerar foot). The hair is absolutely scarry. Spent hours this a.m. brushing out and braiding...she says this does not happen on Kauai...guess it is so dry here or something.

Off to the mail box...wonder if there is any goodie for Tori from her daddy. Snow Snow Snow

Tori collects porcelin dolls, this is her third. I got at a thrift shop for her. She is quite lovely. I will box up all her Christmas stuff and mail back to Hawaii. Doesn't need to go to California and get lost.....ah.....that hair!!!!!!!!!!!

The walk was about a mile in deep snow but was weel worth it. Now we want to go when the spring flood is on. There is a very nice fenced in board walk after you get to parking lot. Needless to say, they didn't plow the road down to the parking lot.....

Here we are at the top of the road at Bond Falls. The first thing Tori did was flop in the snow, she only is wearing jeans, not her snow suit. She is wearing my old sukuluki...she will take back to Kauai with her. She loves it! She loves the snow! Maybe when she gets a little older she will want to come back to ski.

The weather is funky today, about 22 with light misty rain, with more rain to come before it starts to rain sleet and then more snow. We are going to Iron Mountain cause Mark has big messy house project and he wants to get rid of us. Hopefully I can take her to a mantinee or something. More later...........

almost december!!!!!!

Well here I am, finally...it started to snow a little again Thanksgiving day, just enough for Mark to shovel the walk way and path to garage.

I love the snow...it looks so much better than dead grass don't you think.

Okay, here are a dozen blocks out the 72 needed for our wow bed quilt. Isn't it amazing? I am so glad i decided to float the colors on black, and that is Kaufman kona "premium" black which I have run out of and need to order more of from e-quilter. I have all 36 of the black center ones and 6 of the colored center with a dozen more black petals pinned to color center and that is it for now. I have some other stuff I need to work on anyway. But I have really enjoyed working on this one. I have some neat ideas for the quilting too.

This is a thread painting I started in the summer of 2002 and finished it 2 weeks ago. I am just going to stretch it and frame it. Turned out okay. This is all free motion straight stitch with feed dogs down.

These two wall hangings are from that Love Is book. They were really fun to do. Christmas gifts I think.

This is another hand embroidery I made for a Christmas gift. I just got into this hand embroidery jag. I really enjoyed myself. I want to do more. In fact, I have one I really love but need a bunch of DMC pearl cotton and they don't sell around here. Maybe the Ben Franklin up in Marquette does...more like a really nice quilt/craft shop than any Ben Franklin I have been in. No flat fold at this place.

In two weeks we will be driving down to Chicago to spend the day/night with Libby for her 21st birthday and then the next day........Victoria!!!!! I am so darn excited! I know it is going to be alot of work. I haven't taken care of an 8 year old kid for a very long time but I have been collecting projects and maybe, me and Tori will go to Marquette on our own, they have a Micheal's there...craft heaven...and pick some stuff up. Just looking through that place should tucker both of us out. I have to do all her Christmas shopping (her daddy will send me the money he would of spent on her) I haven't a clue! I haven't been with her for almost two years and she has grown and changed a bit. I think I will tell her we are going "window shopping" so she can help Santa out on what he might be getting her. So much to do and running out of time. Our guild Christmas party is Thursday night (making my turkey enchiladas) I am making some cute pressies for the active members...the ones who totally bust it out for all the charity projects we do. There is this one cute ol gal, i asked if anyone wanted to make Christmas stockings for the troops...i got info from a list I belong to...well, on her own she made 32!!!! Well, I better scoot and get in gear. Have a great weekend everybody!

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Okay, Dana at Old Red Barn is giving away, three, I tell you three very lovely quilts. Just go to her blog and make a comment and you could win one of these lovelies.

Monday November 10th

Well, no photo today, camera is being cleaned and repaired. Should be home in less than a week or so. I sure do miss that thing, I guess I took way more photos than I thought. But, it is snowing, snowing and more snow. I thought it was just going to be a couple more days of light dusting but it hasnt stopped snowing since last night. Only a couple of days of none snow and then more snow. I really wanted to get all the leaves out of the yard....at least they are in big piles.

I have been doing some hand embroidery for Christmas gifts, finishing up old projects. One was a thread painting of a yellow hibiscus I started on Kauai in 2002 and I just finished it Thursday. It was fun, I think I am going to design a new floral one to thread paint. Mark likes them...just straight stitch free motion sewing. I use polyester embroidery thread, can never remember the maker...not the ususal ones you hear about but I really love there product.

Really need to get some quilts done before guests start arriving...cannot have them keeping us awake with their chattering teeth... :-) Looks like winter is here. The hunters will be happy with the snow, opening day is on Saturday.

Will blog latter on in the week. Hope everyone is well and keeping safe. Aloha nui loa....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Okay, this is what I woke up to, it is 7:30 a.m.

Little bit later, the backyard off deck.

It is now about 1:00p.m. and there is a bit more snow and you can see the snow flying.

More snow flying. When I came home from guild meeting the most snow was still up here in da tobin, and it is still snowing. At least it is not sticking to the streets yet but there are some scarry icey places out there in the yard...especially the deck.

October 26 2008

That is a black rug and that is NOT salt it is HAIL!!!! I was out raking leaves and it started to rain and by the time I got into the house it was a bit chunky. We are supposed to get 2-4" of snow tonight and another 1-2" tomarrow. I have a guild meeting tomarrow night, hope it doesn't snow and the roads aren't icey...I am not a very good driver under those kind of conditions.

You have heard me rant about "Wool Pets"...well here are my first two at temps. That is a piece of my hand dye in the background....anyway...the bumblebee turned out great and so did the lady bug. They do take a bit of working, but I found tucking the wool in places and then poke poke poking did alot to help shape. I need to find those rare earth magnets so I can glue on bottom and hide with more wool. Then I can put on my fridge :-) One of my black kitties is here too...the eyes, nose and mouth are needle felted (free hand). I have one totally made and several others tacked to this board waiting for completion.

Glenna of Quilts n Things designs her own patterns and this is "Pansies", the one I did for her shop using two batiks she picked out (the background and large border print) all the rest is my hand dyes. I made two and this is the one Mark liked, so it now hangs in our bedroom. This type of hand dye works great for applique because of the mottled mix of colors and shades. I really like it. I had so much fun I did another one.........

I thought the grapes were appropriate since a picked a bunch of them to make grape jam. Only the brown and purple are my hand dyes but if you enlarge the photo, the green is from the packet of goodies I got from Cinnamongirl93...thanks Barb...when I saw this fabric I just grabbed it, took it upstairs and started cuttin away, it worked out great! This hangs in the hallway just before the bathroom upstairs.

I am finishing up about three months of a nine patch exchange I belong to. I usually do several months at a time. It would be good to do it monthly but I always seem to find something else to do. I was down in the basement looking for something and my gammill was glaring at me. Poor Mark probably wonders why he spent so much money for the upgrade and repair...I know I know, I really need to get quilting. I just have to piece the backing for Libby's quilt and then I will quilt that one. I cannot wait to see it finished. I want to get some thread from Signature...it is called Lava....red and black...the quilt is red and black batiks with a kona cotton black. We will be taking it down to Libby on December 14th when we go and pick up Victoria. We are going down the day before, take Libby out to dinner for her birthday even thou we will be a week early. She turns the big 21!!! She will probably have a drink since she has had a fake id for three years...kids! :-) I better get back to sewing before I poop out. I have to help Mark make the manacotti for dinner. I mix the grated cheese, ricotta and sauce in my kitchen aide and then I got a pastry bag and large tip to fill with...I was using just a cone I made from wax paper. It will be so yummy.......

October 20, 2008

Another week blown by....as you can see, the leaves have blown out of the trees too! Hard to believe that just three weeks ago they were green and just starting to change. We went to Escanaba yesterday, thought maybe they would have more leaves over there but it rained real hard for three days and washed all the leaves off the trees. Did go to Glenna's Quilts n Things, they had a big shop hop but nobody wanted to go with me, so I got Mark to go to Escanaba, a nice Sunday drive. I delivered a wall hanging that I did out of her pattern, two batiks she picked out and the rest was my hand dyes. Turned out really nice. I made two, one for me and one for her, I let Mark pick out the one he liked. Will photo tommarow and post. Glenna was happy with what I had done and she has my hand dyes displayed way better now, looks like she sold about half.

Look what arrived in the mail today from CinnamonGirl!!!! I totally forgot, lucky me, and it was a welcome surprise on this cloudy and cold afternoon. 4 very nice fqs; pretty note cards and yummy......chocolate...dark with blueberry; cherry; and almond ... that is, three different bar flavors. Have to hide from Mark. Will take up to sewing room...ya know...when I need that boost of energy when I am up there slaving away! :-)

Lastly, Mark said he wanted indoor plants this year. I love plants and in Hawaii didn't have to bother to bring them indoors. But it adds a bit of color and warmth. This is just the start I do believe. From left to right...snap dragons, petunias and the two smaller pots are HOT peppers. I dont know what kind, a friend gave to me. They do have pretty little purple flowers though. I am going to get some full spectrum light bulbs for my pole lamp and am going to start to grow another pot of flowers and see what happens. Maybe I will pick up a couple of miniature roses and put in a decorative pot. I absolutely love roses and have always grown them, but I think they would be such a challenge up here, so the small ones will do for now. There are such other beautiful flowers and plants to grow! The sun is out! Of course it is 4:30 and 39 outside....it is supposed to get down to 29 tonight and it has been raining=snow?!! When I looked up the extended forcast for this area, they had the first "scattered snow showers" sometime latter in the week. SNOW!!!!! I need new tires!

I got the greatest book last week, "Wool Pets". I ordered a kit for "Ski Sheep" but do believe I will attempt the bumblee bees and lady bugs first. They are so darn cute and will make killer Christmas ornaments and great gifts. I am addicted to wool pets and I love her blog! Check her out!

October 13, 2008

Another Monday, another week and with the wind blowing, these leaves will be gone fast! But today and yesterday it is/was in the 70's. Yesterday not a hint of wind and today it is a nice brisk breeze, warm. This will not last, a friend said we are supposed to get snow this week from some big storm. It won't stick, but snow already?!! I am going to have to check out the weather page I use.

I wish I would of taken this photo last evening. With the setting sun shining on this maple it literally vibrated with color. There is this pink/orange the leaves change to...before they turn red. I don't know what color it actually is but I love it!

I made another batch of concord grape jam last night between homemade enchiladas. Yes they were scrumptious! and........I have in the freezer two more dinners. If I am going to make enchiladas, I am making enough for several meals. This jam really turned out great! I gave two jars to a friend of mine, and her son and his girlfriend ate almost an entire jar Saturday morning for breakfast on their toast.

This Thursday there is a shop hop....Gladstone, Escanaba, Minominee, Mareinette, Oconto Falls and Crevitz. I have allotted myself $100...hopefully I will come home with $ and maybe one or two nice things. This year they are giving out 2 first prizes...$50 gift certificate and $50 gas card. Same with second place...but $25. Shows you how they know how hard times are and the gas card would come in handy. The gas prices have really dipped here...yesterday in Iron Mountain $3.24 and down the hill it is $3.39 and $3.37. I am glad my car gets from 33-35 mpg...I love my little Ford Focus wagon...wonder why they quit making them...if it is a bad reason I don't want to know.

Now it is upstairs to sew. Have a great week!

October 6th 2008

It's another Monday and I cannot believe it! It is about 46 outside right now. We had three really bad frosts this past week...buy buy to Mark's peppers. I had him bring in my pots of snap dragons and green peppers. They are back on the porch for now doing well.

Isn't this pretty...if you enlarge you can really see the fence...just up the road from our house. I think it would make a lovely quilted wall hanging.

Okay, you really have to enlarge this one to see the bald eagle. We were driving along and there were many many eagles in the sky. We saw this dirt road and turned into a sand quarry and yep, dead dear, before this shot there were lots of bald eagles mature and immature; turkey vultures; ravens...as we walked closer this was the only one who held his ground and then we got too close and off he went. I wanted to park in this little side place in the shade of the trees. I believe it was far enough away they wouldnt feel threatened but Mark is so freaking impatient that he just drove away...creep... :-(

Finally made it to Ewen and Richard and Kimberly and SweetPea were home. Sheri was out working like usual...hardly ever see that gal! We did walk down to where she was working before we left for a quick visit. Was very nice to see her, looks like she has lost more weight, she looks great, a little tired but great! After a nice visit, Richard brings out his old gun and since Mark has never fired it, off to a rock quarry for some target shooting. Mark hit the target his second shot...went right through 1/4 steel...pretty scarry. The dog didn't like at all and begged to come into car with me. She sat quietly behind my seat for the rest of the shooting. The guys had a grand time of it!

and finally....I picked some concord grapes at my friend, Rebecca's house on Thursday...about half or more of a large brown paper grocery bad. The first half are in the bowl (that is the largest mixing bowl tupperware makes by the way) and now the sink is over half full with more grapes. It took several hours to pick them all off the stems and disgard the old ones and stuff. I am going to put them through my juicemanII...it gives me the juice, about half the skins and spits the seeds and everything else out the back...works perfect. I think removing the grapes from the stems is the most tiring and time consuming part of the deal. But nothing tastes quite as good as fresh homemade concord grape jam...welshes doesn't even come close!

I have all my blocks cut out for my new WOW quilt. It will be about 72" x 108"...it will acutally be a bit larger since I will add the half blocks all the way around so it will have a scalloped edge. It took all of my hand dyed fqs I had...took one fq for each 12" block...I have a queen size sheet set zippered bag full of scrapes now...which will force me into applique, by machine of course :-) Still working on the 6", that one will take awhile to finish but when it is completed it will be a real stunner for sure. Better get to the juicing of the grapes.

September 29 2008

Another week gone by and the leaves are turning fast! Last Friday was georgous, so we planned a drive up north a bit on Saturday to go to Bond Falls and also to photograph the changing leaves and wham!!! Losey day! and yesterday wasnt much better but at least Mark had planned to watch football all day.

I started a new quilt for our bed using 12" WOW blocks...they sure are big and go alot faster. I am only using my hand dyes from my stash and each block takes about a fq...I have started a scrap bag because some of the left overs were just too big to throw away...now I will have to do an applique or two or three. I have one big pile to iron and then cut out today and then the fun starts. I am just going to slap them together and see what happens. I was concerned about the background maybe not all being the same but Mark has really encourage me on this one. Not so sure if he really believes I can pull it off or just wants that new quilt with a wool batting on the bed real soon.

It is supposed to be pretty darn nippy this week and next week doesnt look that much better. If the sun comes out it makes all the difference in the world. Still cold but somehow the sun makes it seem less ominous :-) Have a great week everyone!

Fall is here

It is hard to believe but here we are again. I will take a photo off my front porch every Monday morning to show you the change. This is a tree tunnel that is about 1/4 mile long. It is also the place where the neighbor parks his trucks and stuff but the path is mostly for walking and maybe an atv or two. I absolutely love this time of year. Alot of people in this neighborhood use wood burning stoves so they are just starting to light them...the smell of that first wood fire up the chimeny. We will be going up north sometime where they have a sort of apple harvest festival and lots of fresh cider and pies...yummm...used to drive up to Julian(in California, was devestated by fires) for the fall apple harvest. You could smell the apple pies a miles or two outside of town. Must of driven the wild critters nuts! :-)

I am on my way back down to the basement to cut the last six yards of fabric...I am only going to dye 6 tubes (18 yards) for my class. I dont think eveyone wants to use hand dyes. I will be taking them up to Marquette tomarrow after my dr. appointment up there. If by chance they want more, will bring with me on Friday. Maybe I will photograph the pressed stash before I take up with me. Then I have a guild meeting tonight. Yikes! This week is just slammed. Well, I better get down there and start dyeing.....

cloudy sunday

I know these look huge, but they are actually snapdragons...very pretty. Mark said he liked them, I planted them a little late, from seeds, in large planter and these are the first blossoms. Looks like they will bloom one spike at a time, so we will have snapdragons in the kitchen for awhile.

This is my second batch of home made "suet" althou I made with lard. It is a great receipe and I make from stuff I get for free...base is lard and peanut butter and the birds seem to love it. I have two feeders and they empty them about every other day. As soon as the grackles leave, it will slow down, but with the cost of suet going up like everything else I prefer to make my own.

I cannot believe these babies are still going strong. They get hit with almost freezing temps and die away and then come back. Its a nice splash of color in the yard. I wonder if I brought them in the house if they would survive or are they just short lived.

These are Marks Hungarian Wax Peppers. He thought they would be mild like the banana type but nooooooo....they have quite a nice kick to them. Of course nothing like the little Thai ones. I am already planning out next years garden. It is going to be way bigger. Going to really straighten out the raspberry patch this fall and remove a few rows. It is fun getting to plan ahead for the "spring" planting. Hopefully next spring/summer will be a bit warmer. I did enjoy the cooler summer but it didnt help with the growth of the veggies. Mark made the best spagetti sauce with veggies all from the garden except for the two cans of tomatoe paste. We discovered if we use his tomatoes need extra paste or the sauce is to thin. Anyway, it was excellent!

I am going upstairs to finish up Victoria's outfit...just the little jacket left. I need to shorten the pinafore...I accidently cut the dress a little too short so it is shorter than the pinafore...easy fix. Will photo after I am done. Hope everyone has a great week!

blueberries........

Well.....I am done making blueberry jam for this year! Now the anxious wait starts. I know the jam will set, cause it is way thicker than when I took out of hot bath but ya never know. The first batch yielded 7 1/2 pints (half of the berries for this batch came from our little patch in the back yard) and the second 3 pints. I am very pleased. :-)

Now I need to go upstairs and start quilting the sample for the WOW classes I will be teaching up in Marquette the last weekend of September. It is all pin basted and ready to go, so all I need to do is get up there and start quilting. I still need to cut out and do the bias binding. Then on Saturday we will drive up to Marquette, maybe take the long way around through Lanse, along Lake Superior. Have to see how I feel Saturday morning. I also need to put together the supply list for the class.

I got to talk to Victoria yesterday, so sweet. We always talk about what we will do when she comes this winter. We will be making raspberry jam this winter. I am hoping the township decides to flood the ice skating pond at the bottom of Ski Hill Road. Last year they didn't because they said it cost too much. Give me a break...my water bill is only $25/month and I am a water pig. Maybe have to start bugging them and get other people to do so also.

Well.....time to go upstairs. Boy! I sure do miss my camera! That is another thing I will be getting back on Saturday, my camera. I still cannot believe I left it up there. Duh....
Happy Trails

just another Sunday..........

Took the neatest class yesterday! A friend, Karen from Pembine; and myself drove up to Marquette and took a silk "paper" class. Why they call it paper I don't know since there is only 100% silk fibre used, diluted dish soap and Jones Sonja's...which holds it all together. It was so much fun and I have four beautiful pieces of silk to play with. As I was painting the sonja's on the last piece I was doing yesterday I thought how kool it would be to make a really beautiful piece for Libby (Mark's artist daughter) and sending it to her and seeing what she does with it.

The weather is cold as usual...barely 50 again! Friday night was absolutely miserable, I thought I could not breath it was so warm and stuffy...and then it is cold again, Mark doesn't like an open window above his head and he insists on sleeping on that side of the bed...something has to change :-)

I would of posted a photo but I left my camera at class. I will go back up on Tuesday...a long drive but I will drop off class sample for the Wheels of Mystery classes I will be giving at the end of September...two classes of 6. I made the sample with the 9" block...I decided the 6" might be a bit of a challenge for the first time. I have to quilt today/tomarrow. I also asked Kat if she would mind if I put together fabric pacs to make the top in my hand dyes...she said yes. Yipee! If both classes are full and I sell kits should give me some spending money on our trip to Texas, which we have had to postpone to October. When I get my camera back will post photo of 9" sampler and silk.

Better get back to work. I have lots to do. Hope everyone has a great day and upcoming week! Aloha nui loa............

flowers

These are the flowers Mark picked for me last week...arent they pretty? It seems more flowers bloom every week. It amazes me all the wild flowers around here and that Mark likes to pick them for me :-)

It's an 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, here it is ... Mark's first Thai pepper...when we bought at Wal-Mart there where red signs all over the pots and display that this was a very hot pepper. Okay.........

As you can see, it is quite small...but as it turns out, this one is not even fully ripe...there are some ripe ones on the bush and they are fire engine red!

He takes the bite and.............

Ah..........is it hot dear? Can you talk dear? Are you okay?

Still no comment, but some sounds are coming from his body. He did dance around a bit too.

Now he is trying to get air in the mix...doesnt oxygen promote fire?!! Needless to say, on the pepper scale of 1-10 (there is one ya know) Mark states this little Thai gem is a full 11! His eyes waters for quite awhile. He can't wait to harvest more the maniac :-)

Wooktick Jamboree and Rainbows too!

Our campsite at the Tick...couple really good bluegrass groups and some pretty terrible stuff too. This is my first time camping in da UP, or anywhere for that matter in a real long time. My little station wagon really can pull the load. We had a good time.

This was actually the biggest brightest rainbow since I've been in da UP. It was almost gone before most people noticed it. As Kauai rainbows go, this one was maybe a 7. It actually doubled! The night before, Friday, sever cloud to ground lightning and thunderstorm warnings and they had a tornado in Escanaba which was only about 20 miles away. It also rained but we kept quite dry in tent. Then it got really clear and very very cold...probably down to low 40s that night.

My Bobanjo and "tubaman". This guy was real cute, gotta be over 70. He would walk around asking to jam with people and then he'd say, okay, let me go to my truck and get my "tuba"?!! a different kind of "bass" instrument to say the least. We had a couple guitars plus this guy for awhile and got quite a crowd. We had a good time at the tick and will probably go next year but it was good to get home.

This week I will be sewing for Victoria. I have several outfits I want to make, of course I will take photos and post. I decided to freeze all the raspberries I harvested this year, and me and Victoria will make jam together this winter. Plus, it is kinda warm to make jam, well, not today but it makes the house pretty hot and humid. Can use both this winter.

Bobanjo and Tubaman at Woodtick

This old dude was walking around and came up to Mark when he was playing and asked if they could jam, well yeah...let me go get my "tuba" from my truck. Tuba?!! Well, Mark has never jammed with a guy playing a tuba before and it kinda works. They played together for an hour or so, it was great. He is getting a band together...the tuba and about 12 guitars...should be interesting if nothing else. :-) Sorry video is not so sharp but I was "inside" the tent. Enjoy!

acorns

On Saturday we drove all the way up to the Porkypine (i know i spelt that wrong, my brain is fried) mountains and they had this great boardwalk (300') to the look out for Lake in the Clouds. It was so beautiful and there was an oak tree that had this acorns. Mark says oak dont grow alot up here but it was neat to see one. Anyway, was a very nice day.

Dana is giving away another quilt!!!!!

Our friend, Dana, at Old Red Barn Company, is giving a way the most incredible quilt! I want it! I want it! But I will share this with you cause I am soooo nice plus I want those extra chances :-) You need to go to her blog....oldredbarnco.blogspot.com and make a comment. She also tells you how you can get more chances to win. Good luck everyone, but I think I need it here up in da cold UP. Summer? what summer?

its 52

Just a couple shots of another new wild flower in the fairy circle. It continues to change and bloom with new colors all the time. This fall when we divide all the bulbs I think we will make a little bigger and add a bit more color. It is a little after 5a.m. and I am enjoying the quiet. The birds are singing and very pleasant.

I finished up another sample top of WOW. This time I used two batiks, the same but one in red/pink and the other blue...they both had very small white dots. I used the 9" block and it felt strange using such large pieces after doing the 6" block for so long. I did design with scalloped borders. Today at the stitch and bitch group will pin baste to quilt and then I will bind with some wonderful binding I made with a handdye I made recently. I will post photos of the completed 9" WOW and the 6" WOW table runner/wall hanging. Tomarrow diffenately down to the basement and work with me gammill. Big Smile!