Spring?!!!!!

it really snowed last night and it is dark and cloudy and we are supposed to get more snow...i dont care cause i am going upstairs to sew some more. they came by and plowed the street so your car doesnt spin out. those trucks were snow free and on dirt yesterday. i slogged thru the snow to get the mail. just another day in da UP

its snowing....again

can't sleep and the wind is howling and it is really snowing, again. i don't mind too much since i plan on staying in and sewing all day tomarrow but i feel bad for mark...he puts in heating in new homes and has to work outside in this stuff alot. i think he is getting tired of it...i remember when we first met on kauai and he told me how he couldn't wait to move back to da UP and how much he missed the snow and cold...well, he isnt missing it that much any more :-) i will take some pictures tomarrow a.m.

i got eight blocks done, the butterfly ones. they look really nice. tomarrow i have to cut out and sew at least four more butterfly parts. i may make more butterfly blocks to make this quilt bigger than originally intended. will probably work on the wheels one too...wonder when i will ever get that one finished. next time i will use at least a nine inch block vs the six inch...

back upstairs and maybe i can sleep

March 24th

they say it is "spring" but not yet here in da UP! it is supposed to snow again tonight and it is barely 25 outside which is way up from 4 this a.m. i am still trying to remember the time difference with this day light stupid time. mark likes cause it is light when he gets home now, well the days are getting longer too. in the summer it seems like it never gets dark which makes up for the long dark days of winter i suppose. kauai is almost on the equator so our days were long and filled with lots of sunlight and warmth....

i got a photo in the mail from max today, it was his 6 month photo taken at some studio. he is so darn cute. it seems like forever that any of my boys were that small or young. mikko, my youngest, is 30 and bernie, my oldest will be 39 next month. geez........where did the time go?!!

i m supposed to go to a guild meeting tonight but i really don't like driving at night here plus it is supposed to snow. i will go to the sewing group on wednesday and get whatever news there is then. i am also really into sewing today (well, i am taking a little break right now). i have resurrected some background blocks i thought got ruined by kauai insects (poop) but with some spray and wash and putting thru the washer all but two are fine. i am working on "lisa boyer's " butterfly pattern...i think i took the class at her house in '91 when she first made the pattern...was it really that long ago. anyway, i had the antennae on all the blocks and about eight of the bodies (5 pieces per butterfly) done, so i am machine appliqueing them to the background blocks and they are turning out really neat! i have already decided on the name of the quilt "puuleileihua" (pooh-ou-lay-lay-who-ah) which is butterfly in hawaiian. i also worked on some more of those wheel of mystery blocks too.

well, i better get back upstair and sewing before i get distracted by something else. i hope everyone had a pleasant easter...very quiet around here. my first easter without victoria...oh well there will be others ahead.

Here is my sweetie pickin and a singin at a bluegrass jam we went to in Rhinelander...that was the night of the blizzard and white out conditions...miss the regular jams on tuesdays nights in kekaha but we do music together. got tickets for charlie daniels, 38 special and shooter jennings for april 11th. should be fun...gonna spend the night at the hotel at the casino where the show is at. we have front row seats.

close up of Max's quilt

Just a close up view of the quilt.

Max's quilt

So here it is, this is his "little genius" quilt. I just pieced the three stripes together and then the panels and border. It is backed with bright yellow "minke" and is so soft and cuddly even with lots of quilting. I had fun doing this...it was a kit and was shorted on the backing. When I called the shop owener, basically she said I was a liar and just make bigger seams ?!! Turns out she will be a vendor at our quilt show and I will personally show her the photos of how the back did not come near to fitting the finished top...even without borders. Oh well, I am sure Max will love it.

Fuschia

I bought these plants last spring and they were glorious. I have had people tell me, most everybody just tosses them by fall...yikes! i paid $32 for the one on the left, no way, I am throwing them away. I went online and got some info on fuschias...i wacked them to ugly sticks and wintered them on back porch...not insulated but small floor electric heater keeps it around 55-60 (so my pipes for washer doesnt freeze). They slowly started to get new leaves after months...three weeks ago I brought them into the kitchen for a bit warmer climate and this a.m. there was my first bloom of the year! Yeah...it's been snowing like crazy for the past two days but I have fuschias blooming in my kitchen! :-) The other one is very dark pink and purple and big ruffely blooms...quite gorgeous!

Me and a friend, Sue, are supposed to go to Escanaba for a fun day of fabric fondeling and a few purchases. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. It is supposed to stop snowing tonight or tomarrow a.m. Now, up to my sewing room to finish Max's quilt...from a kit and not much piecing but I had fun quilting it. Will post photo(s) latter. Happy sewing to all.

the sun is out

Well, the sun is out but it is only 6 above and with a little wind it is brutal! I just filled the feeder...the sun brings the birds out and I even heard one singing...havent heard that since the fall. Even thou it is so cold, the "sun" is melting snow which will turn into ice tonight which makes walking and driving trecherous. We are going to Marquett tomarrow for the NMU game and havent decided which car to take...if it is going to be icy, we will take Mark's little acclaim...he rather put that in a snowbank instead of the newer ford. We should have a blast...looks like we go on daylight stupid time this weekend...didnt have in hawaii.....

Mark and Susan please send me to Hawaii

Well surprise, surprise....somehow the lid to the black seed was off and who do we find at the bottom on top of the seeds....frozen of course but this little (he is pretty fat) mouse. I grabbed him by his stiff little tail and just tossed him and he landed just like this...pretty classic I think....that is what you get for stealing the bird seed. Geez, the ate through the last plastic trash can i had and through the plastic bags. I guess I will have to go to Ace and get one last metal can plus bungy cords incase the squirels are museling the lids off. Hope no one is offended but I just love this picture :-)

lets go skinny dippin'

Keewana Bay, Lake Superior on March 1, 2008. Pretty amazing huh? I stayed in the car for this shot...was maybe 25 above...and Mark is running around in shirt sleeves. Mark got me a new car on Friday, we didnt really mean to buy, but we left feeling like deer in the head lights. I got a little Ford Focus wagon with only 23,000 miles on it and it even smells new. I have never in my life had a car this new plus a car payment, oh, it is a 2005. It gets about 30-35 mpg which is great since gas prices are out of control and we just never know what we will pay from town to town day to day hour to hour...all you guys know what I mean.
Anyway, I just thought this was a kool picture...not what i am normally used to, ya see, on kauai...it would be the warm pacific with lots of green in there somewhere..... :-)

last one

batman? you could see all the way to the back of his throat. These things were all over town, even in front of a church...next year we will go up the weekend afte the contest to get some better photos...some were in pretty bad shape.

and another one

looks like godzilla eating a car

another one

Obviously this is a transformer

another creature

Frozen Creatures with Frightening Features

These are snow scuptures left over from Winter Festival...there were so many and they were awesome. The best one was from ghost busters with the stay puff marshmallow man and the caddy ghostmobile, but we couldnt pull over and take a picture of it. This is from pirates of the carribean. I dont know how to get more than one photo per post so I will just have post them seperately (gosh, that doesnt look right).

I paper piecied!!!!!

I cannot believe that i paper piecedthis thing. Whenever I paper piece it makes me feel so retarded! I did have to take out and redo some areas more than once, but, all in all it turned out great. It was a kit with the little hanger and everything, but the piece of batting and backing was way way too small. I had gotten this apple fabric fq from some exchange. At the time I thought, ugh, what on earth will I ever do with this...taa daa...makes a perfect backing and binding for this little apple quilt. I hope my sil will love it, a thank you gift for letting us stay with them after the hockey game me attending in Houghton at Michigan Tech last Saturday night. Mark, had created a monster!...I love hockey!!! I got us tickets for a playoff game with MNU and Ohio State for this Saturday night and we have tickets on the blue line ON THE GLASS!!!!!! Anyhway, I thought you would get a kick out of something i successfully paper pieced and completed.