I Never Knew

I never knew that apparently I am in need of much help in my daily activities. Thankfully, Mr. Finn is ever ready and present to give me all the "help" I need! :)

Here's my boy helping with the laundry:

Apparently I hadn't pin basted this quilt properly and some of the pins needed to come out:


Here he is acting as my stylist as I was getting ready for a party:

Not sure why he thinks I need help reading? Maybe by staying put he thinks he will keep me on task:


Of course, even a super fantastic helper needs to take some time for himself! A good nap is in order.

Thanks, Finn. You make my days much more fun!

Swap Blocks

I'm in a block swap with a small online group.   Each month we send directions for a block we want made plus a part of the fabric for making it to whoever is assigned that month.   This round we are actually making each person two blocks....normally two of the same pattern but with different fabrics.  That person makes the blocks then mails them back to us.   At the end of this swap I'll end up with 18 blocks.  I love doing this swap cuz its a great way to get a good scrappy look with many fabrics I don't have!

 The above blocks were made for a gal who is making a redwork quilt.  She requested any star blocks but to only use the the red fabric she sent or reds we had with white for the background.  In other words...one color.    That made it interesting when searching out star patterns.    Anyway, the two I decided on look pretty good.  Both are from Judy Martin's book called "Knockout Blocks and Sampler Quilts".  The one on the left is called "Fiery Star" and the one on the right is called "Virginia Star".   I hope she likes them and that they work well with the collection she receives.  

ABC Wednesday

J is for Jigsaw Puzzles

I have lots of memories of puzzle making. My Mom was a whiz at it. She could sit for hours and work on one. I’m more like my Dad…come in for a 5 minute stretch and then off to do something else. There was often a puzzle going at camp in NY when we’d go there in the summer. It’d be set up folks would stop by as they passed and put in a piece or two. By the time our vacation was over it’d be done.

Here’s a pic of my hubby and son-in-law seriously at work on a puzzle at our lake vacation this summer:

Even our cat likes to get in on the fun:

J is for Jewelry Making

This is something new I get to do. I have a friend (one of the Yaya’s) who has been making jewelry for a long time. She’s really good at it. Well, due to a conversation about earning badges we Yaya’s had, it was decided we’d make charm bracelets to commemorate certain events and to symbolize meaningful things to our friendship.
I’m so excited about this project! And I’m so glad I have a close friend who already is good at this hobby and can be our teacher.

Lovelies to choose from:

Some of our homemade charms and objects to add:


I'll have to remember to post a pic of our finished charm bracelets once their done.

Lots of folks participate in ABC Wednesday, be sure to check out more J blogs!

Feet Friday

I'm tired of being cold!!!

Wishing for flip-flop weather. :)

ABC Wednesday

I is for Ice Skating

I couldn’t think of any hobbies other than things to do with ice….ice sculpture….ice hockey….ice climbing…that sort of thing. I chose ice skating since it’s the only one I’ve had any experience with. Can anyone else think of hobbies that start with “I”?

When I was little I loved watching ice skating when the Olympics came on. I dreamed of being those girls in the pretty outfits…twirling away on the ice. My parents even signed me up for lessons! I loved the pom-poms on my white skates and my cute little skirt. I was sure I was the prettiest little girl ever. It was a short lived hobby. Like everything else I tried growing up…I’d take a class, love it, but want to move on to the next thing. I’m such a dabbler!

I’ve skated on and off since I was little. Mostly outdoors when I lived in upstate New York and in Montana. There’s an indoor rink here and I’ve gone a few times. We took our kiddo’s skating too, mostly when we lived in Montana….unfortunately I have no pictures.

They had the cutest little double bladed skates and I do have a picture of Jenn’s:

Check out other "I"s this week at the ABC blog main site. See you next time.

Rest

This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.

-Captain J.A. Hadfield

This was my theme for today. To rest. It’s not that I’ve been particularly busy. I know what busy looks like and I don’t think I can consider my week to be like that. Ya know how some times you need to come home from vacation and rest? Well, it’s more like that! I did lots of fun things and I visited with friends more than usual. So I took a day to just be quietly with myself. It was a books, magazine, tv and knitting kind of day!

And soon I will cap it off with a good nights sleep! Here's to rest...be sure to get yours!

ABC Wednesday

H is for Hiking

We have always loved hiking. We hiked even when the kids were little….short ones, but still the mountains called! It was easy when we lived in Montana cuz the mountains were so close…20 minutes of driving and you’d be somewhere beautiful. Here in Washington there is a lot of wonderful hiking too…but it’s always a drive. Which has made it become more of an event than a spontaneous “what’cha want to do” sort of thing.

All my pics of hikes are fairly recent ones. I looked all over for some from the backpack trip hubby and the kids took over the Olympic Mountain range….their longest hike…but couldn’t find a single one. Shoot!

Anyway. Here are some others to peek at:

Hubby and kids camped at Lake Ozette and hiked out to the beach. Miles of boardwalks.

Hubby and I at Glacier National Park. This was a beautiful 5 mile or so hike that ended at that half frozen lake. Gorgeous!

Saguaro National Park in Tucson. My first look at the desert and those amazing cacti! And my first non-mountain hiking experience.

Hiking in Mesa Verde, Colorado.

Hiking in Scotland. On this particular day we were hiking along a bay to get to that little castle in the distance...in the middle of the picture. Its the castle ruins on the land that belongs to the MacLean of Lochbuie clan....my Scottish heritage.

Lots of folks participate in ABC Wednesday, be sure to check out more blogs!

Feet Friday

Catching a movie with a little one snuggled on your lap. Priceless. :)

ABC Wednesday

I thought of a few hobbies that start with “G”: gardening, golf, graphology and genealogy. Since we’ve only done one, it was a no-brainer on which I’d choose.

G is for Gardening

Our early gardening experience was a small bed in the back of the house we rented when we first moved to WA. Our landlords were wonderful people who even let us have chickens on the property! We grew the basics and our kids had their first tastes of home grown vegetables…nothing like it. When we bought our first home (on acreage) we could expand our gardening vision. So the little bed became a plowed up spot. We tried many more types of vegetables….success with some (green beans and peas grow well in the Northwest) and not so much with others (our asparagus bed never did take off). For me, my favorite gardening method was the “square foot” way. A plowed up field was too big to take care of. I’m so visual that all I saw was this HUGE job of weeding. I couldn’t break it down into small portions in my head. Square foot gardening allowed me to concentrate on one little bed…which never seemed like too much work.

Hubby and I haven’t done much gardening since the kids left home. We talk about it every spring. One little four foot bed. Just one. Maybe this year?

Lots of folks participate in ABC Wednesday, be sure to check out more blogs!

Quilters Dream

I've made a lot of quilts and I have to say this is a picture of joy to this quilters heart. Someone enjoying one of my creations. I love the fabric search, I love ironing, I love cutting fabric up into all those little pieces, I love sewing it all back together again.....I love it all. But I love this more.
Snuggle up, my sweet jewel and know Nana is hugging you via fabric and thread!
xxxooo