Kath's Creations

Day 1 in the Parks 7-31-10

2010-08-11T20:05:00.000-05:00

Yes! We are really here! A real, all natural, real life FOREST! Big trees, lakes, rivers, water falls, bears, buffalo, elk, antelope, wolves, deer! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I was soooooo excited! So was everyone else, but this is my story! LOL

We barely got into the park and cars were pulled over looking at something! Ohohohoh! What is it? False alarm get back in the car! First let's take a picture!

Ok, back in the car, buckle up, keep cameras ready, let's go!

At Moose Junction there was a visitor center with a restaurant, convenience store and gas station and a place to rent bicycles. Not it! But what an awesome view of the Tetons! Of course it just didn't matter where you were or what angle - the site was fabulous!

Below is Wayne and Nancy at Moose Junction.
Isn't it breath taking?!!!!!!!!

We barley got strapped in and situated when we came upon another "Turn out". That's what they called the paved areas on the side of the road so that you can stop and take pictures. It will have any thing from an information plaque to explain what part of the mountain or scenery you are looking at, to a visitor center like above.

This one was on the river and this lovely little bridge crossing over which lead to a white water rafting place and hiking trails. NOT IT! I would have loved to have taken a nice easy scenic float trip, but as it turned out we just didn't have time. Maybe next time. Anyway - I started out with sneakers and socks on but at the site of this beautiful crystal clear water, I had to shed the socks and shoes and go for a tip toe in the water! It was fantastic! Cold, but not painful. Of course I only stood there a minute or two. Awwwww So nice!

View from the bridge (sigh):

Another turn out gave us this picture op. This one lead to a hiking trail, but the trail was closed due to a recent fire in the area that left some trees unstable and unsafe for hikers. A man and his son were all geared up for the hike when the man read the information and the son replied that he just couldn't leave without a hike! His father promised there would be another trail up the road that they would be able to take.

This is Nancy, Teddy and me at Jenny Lake Overlook. It looks fake! The mountains behind us look fake! But I guarantee you they are very real!

Here's another view

Ok - next we stopped at Colter Bay Village where there was a gas station/convenience store, lodging, boat ramp, Indian Arts Museum and Trailhead. The primary reason for stopping was for some bottled water and a bathroom. As we were pulling out of the parking lot we spotted these two little critters:

The guys decided they were mule deer fawns, because of their rather large ears:

Precious!

At this point we are nearing the northern part of the park and then entered the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway that connects The Grand Tetons National Park with Yellowstone National Park.

That's right! Next stop YELLOWSTONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WooooHooooo!

After going through the south gate we crossed over this river/creek. The sign said "Crawfish Creek". Just over the bridge was a turn out. From the looks of the water at the bridge . . . . we just might have ourselves a waterfall.

So we pulled in and parked, gathered our cameras and binoculars and followed the trail to this:

UhOh! Do they have any clothes on?

Yeah - they do

Now what is this guy up to? No!

You don't think . . . . .

Surely not . . . . . .

That's right! The clown JUMPED!!!! Can you believe it! No - I don't know the guy. He most certainly wasn't one of us!!!!!!!!

He survived, but I bet he was searching for at least one leg of those shorts where the sun doesn't shine!

A piece up the road we noticed the road side of trees giving way to this gorge. That is the Lewis River wwwaaaaaaayyyyy down there.

It had started to rain on us a little, but a little water can't slow us down, much.

Some of these turn outs were pretty scary. Wouldn't want to be standing around in a torrential rain! Could turn into a scene from Romancing the Stone with Kathleen Turner and Michal Douglas!

We made our way to Old Faithful by around 3 pm. I could not believe the amount of people!!!!!!!!!!! This was like it's own little city!! Parking area after parking area. Of course there are places to stay right there at Old Faithful area. Snow Lodge and Old Faithful Lodge. There's a visitor Center, Post Office, gas stations, picnic areas. Like I said there were people everywhere! We followed the signs to the basin where Old Faithful was and there near the front was a parking spot just for the Hughes and the Wells! We figured with an opening so close it would probably be an hour or more before it would go off again. But to our surprise it was posted that the next "blow" was going to be in the next 10 to 12 minutes. So we found a place among all the people and waited. It was pretty warm in the sun, so Wayne and I walled back to the trees and waited. I think the view was actually better back away from it a little so that you could see the whole thing.

It was rather hard to catch it with a camera. I did a video of it, but for some reason, it would not upload here. So pictures will have to do for now. All these people were on the board-walk that forms a semi-circle around the geyser but there were hundreds more under the trees and roaming all around the complex. There were other smaller geysers smoldering around this area, but I didn't get any pictures of them going off. To be totally honest, I was not that impressed with the geysers. I expected more noise and maybe a little ground rumble. I did read somewhere that Old Faithful is not the biggest or the badest or most regular, but it is more regular that the rest, therefore being the most famous. I must admit that it is quite amazing the heat, pressure and such. It's just not my cup of tea, I guess you could say.

Now! Back to my cup of tea! Water Falls! I love water! This was called Kepler Cascades. They had a board walk built out to a large landing over the river. Way cool!!

Here is a zoom! Those are full size tree logs down there!

And here is another one - it is Lewis Falls: See it way up in there?

And here is a closer shot - there was a cool trail up to it.

Who are these hoodlems that got in my way!

Oh, Wayne, Nancy and Wayne. HeHe

There. There is a peek.

Pictures just don't do justice! But they are great once you have been there and to look back, you are there again in all those beautiful places!

Ok, we are headed back to camp as it is getting late and we have a long run ahead of us. The south gate of Yellowstone is 64 miles from Jackson and our campsite is another 12 miles south of town. We have to go through the Grand Teton park again to get back to Jackson and along the main road are many places to stop and watch for wildlife moving as night begins to fall.

Here are two large Elk.

This is one of about 5 deer that crossed the road in front of us. There horns are in velvet.

This was a very large herd of Elk coming down the mountain. As we stood watching them you could hear the cows calling to the calves. So very cool and a little eerie.

They were a long way off from the road - my 26x zoom or binoculars was the only way to really see them very good. But you sure could here them!

An awesome end to an awesome day. (deep breath, sigh)

Ok On To Jackson, WY

2010-08-10T20:16:00.000-05:00

Alrighty then, where were we? Oh yeah, we were in southern Wyoming.

When we got to Rock Springs, we took Hwy 191 north to Pinedale. Here we saw some more landscape changes! From rocky slopes to thick forests. Very much of the landscape is left wild. There were the occasional hay fields/pastures, but even the yards were small areas which looked somewhat unkept.

This beautiful little river ran all through and around this area. It was so clear you could see every little rock and pebble! Even at 60 mph!

Sorry about the bug guts there, but there was no slowing the man down! We were getting close!

These antelope were grazing in this pasture as the guy was trying to bale it! They didn't seem too concerned about the equipment!

These were the only fences they used to keep cattle and horses in. It sure wouldn't be enough around here. We did see signs from time to time that said "Free Range Watch for loose livestock." I think anyone with livestock had large parcels of land. Livestock was always in large, wide open areas.

Here is another shot of the river. I just couldn't get enough of it! Every bend was more beautiful than the last!

Then we spotted this fire. When we got to the camp ground, they said that it was fairly small and was under control so the park was letting it burn. Trying to let nature take it's course. I guess it was started by lightning the night before.
We were near Hoback Junction where "Margaret" (our GPS) messed us up, so that was the end of the picture taking until we found our way to the KOA. About 4 or 5 miles.

I was a little disappointed in the KOA. The sites were "postage stamp" size. And they had planted a tree in the middle of our site so we were unable to open our awning. But what the heck! We didn't spend that much time at camp anyway!
Wayne and Nancy weren't too far behind us. They flew into Salt Lake, UT, rented a car and drove 6 hours to Jackson! We got to camp about 4 CST and they got there around 6:30 CST. Wayne had the grill going with pork chops and I opened a can of baked beans and fixed some mashed potatos! First night - GREAT! Off to the Grand Tetons in the morning!

Woooooo Hooooo! What a ride!

2010-08-09T20:47:00.000-05:00

That was some trip! I had wanted to blog every day about all that I saw, but each day started around 8 a.m and didn't stop until 10 - 12 pm! So I'll go back and fill you in!

I did post the first day 7-28-10 Mexia to Amarillo. Wonderful day! My level of excitement was VERY high! Slept like a baby!

7-29-10: Amarillo, TX to Laramie, WY

The Texas and Oklahoma panhandles were full of these Wind Farms! They were everywhere! We could defiantly understand why too! There were times that the wind about blew us off the road!
Colorado had a few too but not like Texas and Oklahoma.

Wayne was rather nervous pulling the car, so we chose to stay on 287 all the way to Limon, CO, took I70 to Bennett then secondary roads around Denver. All that would have been just fine if we had gotten on I25 north of Denver, but we went on west to catch 287 again . .. . . . and well . . . . first it started to rain . . . . . . then it was one town after another . . . . . . one stop light after another . . . . . Lafayette, Longmont, Loveland. All lovely towns, mind you, but very busy and scary in a motor home, pulling a car!
But we arrived at the KOA in Laramie all in one piece. Got the motor home plugged in; took Teddy for a walk and ordered a pizza! LOL It was very good and delivered right to our door!

You may have to zoom in on this one to see that there are 4 antelope on the feeder road! They are just strolling along, without a care in the world! I love nature! Most of it.

Here is another shot from somewhere in Co. Can't remember where now - but I was very happy to see some mountain-ouse-ness (not a word? Oh well) LOL

Ok! On to Jackson Hole!

7-30-10: Laramie, WY to Jackson, WY

Now this is where things got interesting! This looks like a post card! I just couldn't believe that I was seeing it with my own eyes! Excitement level increased a little more!

I think we were between Rawlings and Rock Springs here. Not sure. How 'bout somewhere in Wyoming! That works!

Here is something interesting -

That is a snow fence to help keep the snow drifts back off the road. The trees have been planted there as a "living snow fence". Not all places were like this. There were many that were putting up new fencing. Miles and miles of it!

In other places were signs with flashing lights that said: "Road closed when flashing". On the interstate! You better have your snow shoes packed!

The following pictures were a little eerie! Were they really there or was it some kind of hallucination?

Yeah! They were there!

Here's a little place where I thought I might like to live! During the summer!

I would even consider this one if the price was right! LOL

Ok, I'll quite playing around and get you to Jackson, but I just can't do it tonight. I'm off to the shower and on to bed. Pleasant dreams all! More to come tomorrow.

And We're Off!

2010-07-28T22:15:00.000-05:00

Wayne and Randy took the motor home and car for a test run yesterday evening and filled them up:

Here we are ready to hit the road at 8:00 am this morning!

How on earth I got everything loaded into this thing without blowing out the tires - I'll never know!

About 50 miles from Amarillo these great looking clouds showed up but only dropped a few little sprinkles on us. It was a pretty smooth journey to Amarillo. But for some reason "Margret" (our GPS) told us our camp ground was on the right instead of the left so we had to make a LARGE U-turn! But all is well, we made it safely.

The Overnite RV Park in Amarillo is home for tonight. Quiet, lots of trees and landscape to help cover the sound of the highways. Even Teddy likes it!

Now for some chow! Oh, Darling! Call the limo please!

The Limo is here!

Here we go! Off to the Big Texan for a delicious steak! And maybe a drink or two.

Oh yeah! A much needed drink! As we watch a guy eat a 72 oz. steak, a baked potato, salad, roll and a glass of iced tea.

He wasn't that big of a guy, but he ate every bit of his food in 37 minutes, therefore it was free! THEN he had desert! A huge bowl of ice cream! Unbelievable!

Dang! That's a lot of meat! We shared a steak dinner and still brought half of it back to the camper! Mighty good!

Pretty cool place! What a rocking chair! Does this remind you of our friend EdithAnn? That's the truththththththththth!

Now it's night-night time!

We are headed for brand new territory tomorrow! I am so looking forward to a landscape change and of course a change in temperaturs!!!!!!!

Packing!

2010-07-26T20:17:00.000-05:00

It's been pretty hectic around here the past couple of weeks! We finally traded off the ol' Expedition on this 07' Jeep Liberty so that we would have something we could pull behind the motor home.

Saturday, Wayne and Lloyd took the front bumper off and put the brackets for towing on and she is ready to haul!
Now for the loading of the motor home! Crap! What to take! Weather forcast for Jackson, WY is for highes in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 30s! WooooooHooooo this is great for me! BUT that means I have to have both cool cloths and warm clothes!

Just tip your head a little to the right . . . . there ya go - I was trying to show you all my crap without showing that the bed was not made - oh well. Anyway, that's pretty much everything I own! LOL

This here is Teddy's ride. Isn't it cute!? Shoot - he may not even let me put him in it. Hopefully once he sees that it means he gets to go with us, he will settle down and enjoy the ride. That pile of stuff behind it is more stuff to go in the motor home! Sheets, towels, at least 3 quilts! Wayne is afraid he is going to freeze! If it were up to me we wouldn't even bother with a heater - just blankets and quilts and kick the doors and windows open during the day!

I'm so excited! Can you tell?

Working My Way Back

2010-07-20T18:02:00.000-05:00

My husband and I have been planning a trip/vacation to Wyoming! I'm so excited! We have talked about wanting to go to all the National Parks for years now! This country has so many wonderful things to see and do, we want to do and see it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's finally going to happen! We will be leaving Texas on 7/28/10 in the motor home, hopefully pulling our "new to us" 07' Jeep Liberty. (That is, if he can get the parts he needs to put on the car in time to have them put on!) The first night Wayne wants to stay in Amarillo and have supper at the Big Tex Steak House. The second day will get us to Cheyenne or Laramie. (This will depend on which route we take - I guess he will surprise me! Not sure I like surprises.) Friday afternoon we should be pulling into and setting up camp at the Snake River Park KOA just south of Jackson, WY.

Wayne and Nancy Hughes are going to fly into Salt Lake, UT and drive to Jackson, WY were we will be camping. They have a cabin reserved.

Sunday we have reservations in Cody, Wy for the night, so we can tour some of the cool stuff there.

This is just a preview and something for me to get a grip on! It's so unbelievable that we are really going! I want to post every day as to what I have seen and experienced during our travels. So check back often! You can go vacationing with us!

2010-02-15T17:54:00.003-06:00

Oh me! Ol' Kath has not been very creative lately! Actually I have been pretty busy - just havn't been talking about it! So sorry my Wacky sisters! You have inspired me to get to it! No promises here - just going to try!

Hang in there - I will be trying to get up to date!

Final Count - 12 Inches!

2008-12-19T16:58:00.005-06:00

Well, the final count is 12 inches of snow from 5am to 4pm! Wheeeewww! I had forgotten what it was like! I'm glad I don't have to deal with it every day all season! Having to go to work would really stink!

Are you getting sick of looking at snow? Too bad - there's more coming!

Worst Snow Storm of the Season!!!!!!

2008-12-19T09:01:00.003-06:00

We are expecting 10" of snow today!!!! My brother called this morning and said "Are you happy now!???!!!!" Well I am excited about the snow, but I do hate that many people have to make their way to work in this mess. Once it stops the main roads will be clear.

There is a paved road just beyond the pine tree in this picture.

This is looking off the side porch, the street is just beyond that pine tree.

My sister has been out to sweep off the porch twice since 6 this morning it is now 10:30 am and it needs it again.

She cleaned this off just minutes ago - it is covered again.

There is more to come Sunday and on and off all next week. I may be stuck here till spring.

Looky What I Did!

2008-12-18T11:01:00.003-06:00

I was just looking at all the pictures that have collected on my camera and I realized I had not shown everyone some of the projects that have kept me off the computer lately.

I made Koozies for everyone I work with at the Post Office. For all the ladies I embroidered this little vintage blue bird and flowers on one side and

Monogrammed their initial on the other side.

They sure turned out pretty. I hope they like them.

The guys got one with something that they enjoy doing on it. Danny talks about playing golf, Johnny and his wife go camping, Henry is a preacher, Larry S. and Minwell like to deer hunt and Larry M. said something about Poker Night so I jumped on that for him.

I didn't get them in bags and labeled before leaving for Michigan, so they won't get them until I get back. Oh well, they didn't know they were getting anything from me anyway. I'm always a day late and a dollar short! Sigh!

There's No Place Like Home!!!!!!!

2008-12-18T10:39:00.002-06:00

I have two! Michigan where I was born and raised and where my brothers, sister and all the kids live. Then there is Texas where I have spent the last 27 years of my life with my soul mate and many wonderful friends! Both are home to me, but being 1300 miles apart sure makes life rough!!! When leaving Texas Monday morning, I was very sad. I was already missing my dear husband and silly little dogs! But I was so looking forward to seeing the family! In a few weeks I will be missing Texas, my husband, dogs, and my Wackies and I will be ready to be home, but not wanting to leave everyone here! Oh the agony!

For now though, I'm going to enjoy everyone here and call Wayne every day to tell him what all we did and find out how Texas is surviving without me and be happy for all my wonderful Blessing!

I'll keep yawl posted on my goings on. Hugs - Kath

Praise the Lord!!!!!

2008-12-18T09:39:00.007-06:00

God sure does love me and watches over me! Again, just like last Christmas, I arrived at my sister's house in Michigan just hours before a snow storm!

This picture was taken Wednesday morning. I arrived Tuesday afternoon.

I left Mexia Monday morning about 7 am. The only hazard at that time was the wind. By 4 pm I was in northern Arkansas just crossing the border into Missouri and it started sleeting! What a mess! In the next two hours I saw 5 accidents! After crossing the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois everything started clearing off. Unfortunately my car was not running very well. Missing and chugging here and there. So I decided to shut down a little earlier than planned (7 pm) fill up the car and give the ol' girl a shot of gas treatment and get a room for this old body! After a bite to eat at Cracker Barrel and checking the weather, I put myself to bed. The weather channel said the whole mid section of the country was under a "Winter Storm" warning. Could I possibly sleep a couple of hours and head out early enough to be in front of the storm????

I woke up a couple of times and checked out the window to make sure the storm had not caught up to me and about 4:30 am I couldn't stand it any more. I got up and showered and hit the road again. And Praise the Lord! It was dry roads all the way! I made great time and was at my sister's by 4:30 pm! They had been predicting the snow to start around 5 pm in the "Thumb" area of Michigan. But it didn't start until 7 or so.

This is the view from my sister's front porch on Wednesday morning!

Very beautiful! The roads were fairly clear - the salt trucks and snow plows had been out all night. All is well for right now, but there is another storm coming in on Thursday with freezing rain and more snow. I can do without the freezing rain, but I do love the snow! I feel like a kid again - hoping for a snow day! TeHe

Home-Sickness

2008-11-11T19:19:00.015-06:00

I have been feeling a little sad lately - missing my family. As some of you know - I was born and raised in Michigan and all of my family is still there. I have been here in Texas for 27 years and have been home once every year until I retired in 2005. That year I went home in October for 3 weeks and again at Christmas for 4 weeks! It was so wonderful!!!! I have tried to make it home twice a year since. Although, I haven't been since last Christmas and when the price of gas kept going up and up all summer - it was looking like it would be next year before I could go again. But now with gas prices going back down and the deep ache in my heart . . . well . . . I'm going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm thinking I will leave around the 15th of December and stay until around the 4th of January. I'm afraid Christmas in Texas just isn't Christmas. Don't get me wrong . . . the reason for the season is Christ's Birth and no matter where I am that is what I celebrate. But it just seems that what makes the holidays even more special, are the childhood memories. Texas has much beauty and I love many things here, more so, I love many people here, but family is family and Christmas requires SNOW!

Let me introduce you to my family:

This is my big brother, Lee, (he's 10 years older than me) his wife Florence and their youngest son, Arend (who is in his late 20s and works for Edward Jones in New York City). The little guy at the bottom of the picture is my great nephew, Jason.

This is my "older" sister, Jan (she looks younger than me and she is 8 years older! Not fair!) The boys are her grandsons, Jason II and Cole. Little Cole has some very serious medical issues that Drs can't seem to diagnose.

Isn't he the cutest?! He is 10 and little Cole is 5.

This is Jason and Diana. Jason is Jan's son and the little boys, Jason and Cole are their little boys.

The pretty young lady seated is my sister's daughter, Jennifer. She is a nurse practitioner. The handsome young man behind her is her husband, Claudio. He is from Italy.

This is my "little" brother, Paul. He is 5 years younger than me. He is holding his grandson, Andre.

Here he is with his two daughters, Leah, 18 and Amanda 19. Amanda is Andre's mom.

Now, get this . . . this is Jerry and Andre. Jerry is Andre's uncle. Yes, Jerry is Paul's youngest - age 5. Andre is 3.

This is Andre's mom and dad and Aunt Leah.

See why I want to go home? I need to go every 3 or 4 months to be able to keep up with everyone! I am missing so much!!!!

Ok, I'll shut up! Just wanted to introduce you to my gang. It gave me a good reason to spend some time looking at pictures!

I'll get back to some quilting stuff tomorrow.

Good night!

Opening Weekend Retreat

2008-11-01T09:44:00.010-05:00

Oh! We are having SEW much fun! With Hollowen this weekend the creatures have come out!!!!!!
Kathy has a little visitor on her machine - no more Janome chirp!

Can you believe Rhonda would let this little feller' sit on her finger?
What the heck?!?!?! They seem to be a little surprised about something!

Ok, Ok, put your eyes back in your heads and GET TO WORK! Quit playing around!

Ok - first we have Molly working diligently. She wants those RWB Wacky blocks done! It's time for something new!

Well, Kathy has quite a string of pieces there. Do you have any idea which end is up?

Who me? Well, I have decided on this border . . . well, maybe this border . . . . no I don't like that one either . . . How about. . . Well, bother!

Oh Annie! Your blue and yellow is beautiful! You go girl!

Here is a two year old project - blocks were done but not put together. It's called "Buck A Block" from "Thangles". Just love that border!

There! Borders on another project - ready to go in the "To Quilt" pile!

This one is made from "charm packs" and "jelly rolls".

Lookie Here Now . . .

2008-10-22T19:36:00.009-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I posted and I have been busy! So get a drink and a comfy chair and take a look at what I have been up to. . .

First I want to show you what I got in the mail . . . it is awesome!

This is my Round Robin. Actually - I have not put a stitch into this piece! I joined a group of gals for this round robin and ran out of time to "build" a center, so I went hunting for an orphan block and ran across a "brown box" swap that I participated in about 5 years ago! My theme was "Cabin in the Woods by the Lake". Catchy huh? Anyway - I picked out a block that Molly made for me . . . a cute little cabin with a squirrel. I loved the fall-looking fabric she used so I loaded up my round robin box with some of my favorite fabric scraps and off it went. The first one to do a round was Monica. This gal is truly talented! The next round was by Erika - the fabrics she picked were fabulous! Then Carol did a creative round with canoes, trees, bear tracks and flying geese. One of the ladies in our group got very sick and was unable to do her round, so Monica asked if I would mind if she did another round. Well, I loved my little quilt just like it was, but I also knew that Monica would really add something wonderful to it, so . . . there you have it! Not only did she add another beautiful round, but she also put the design in EQ6 and sent me the file so that I can play around with more possibilities! What a gal!

Now for some stuff I've been working on . . .

Well, shoot! I didn't make any of these either! This is the Wacky Pac Quilter's 2008 string swap. I chose the middle fabric and placed it diagonally in the center of a 13 1/2" square of muslin and gave each of my 8 Wacky sisters 3 and they added strips of cream on one side and browns on the other. They were laying on my cutting table this past weekend and I decided to git-r-done! So I squared them up to 12 1/2 and set them together, then added a border . . .

Then another . . .

That is probably as far as I would have gone, but I was talking to Kathy E. and she decided I needed to be challenged. (Little did she know, I am very challenged!) My challenge is to have it quilted, the binding on and a label by our (Wacky Pac) "Opening Weekend" retreat. October 30, 31, November 1, 2. Well, I just have to have it done or . . . well, I had just better have it done!
I had to go to the Dr. Tuesday in Waco so I dropped by the nice little quilt shop - Tomorrow's Quilts - and purchased a backing for the quilt. That's not all I bought - but I'll cover that later. Hopefully I will have it loaded on the machine tomorrow.

Now, remember the barn block that I made and was going to have to do 13 more for a swap in January? Well, all 13 are cut out and ironed down! They just need to be stitched down. I will probably try to do one a week, until I get them finished. Stitching around all that makes me sleepy!

Well, you must be getting a little bored now, so here are some pictures of some stuff I have added to my studio . . . I put 2 long shelves up in the room where my quilting machine is. This is where I will store battings and quilts needing to be quilted.

Some of the tubs on the shelves have kits or projects in them.

This last one is of my embroidery area, which is the long part of an "L" shaped work area.
That's it for tonight - I'm beat! Hope you enjoyed my last two weeks of work! I feel good about all I have accomplished.
Later!

This is for You Monica

2008-10-05T10:49:00.003-05:00

Most of my other followers know all this already.

A. Attached or Single? attached
B. Best Friend? My sister, Jan
C. Cake or pie? Pie (Pecan)
D. Day of choice? Saturday
E. Essential item? FAN!
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? worms, I think - Kathy E. shared some with me once.
H. Hometown? Brown City, Michigan
I. Favorite indulgence? Retreats with my dear quilting sisters!
J. January or July? July in Michigan and January in Texas!
K. Kids? None of my own, but many by other mothers.
L. Life isn’t complete without? my family, my husband, and my quilting sister.
M. Marriage date? April 27, 1996
N. Number of brothers and sisters? Two brothers and One sisters
O. Oranges or Apples? Apples, Girl! You crack me up! -unless we are talking about those chocolate orange balls that you whack against the table then cram into your mouth like a squirrel on a 10 day starve.
P. Phobias? Under water, tight spaces, large crowds
Q. Quotes? "Blessings are like buttons; people seldom notice them until one is missing." I like that one too!
R. Reasons to smile? Reading your blog!!!!
S. Season of choice? Spring and Fall but I like Cinnomon too!
T. Tag 5 people: I never tag any one...I never like to pressure anyone except my husband. Dito
U. Unknown fact about me? My mother was from England, her mother was from Irland and my dad's ancestors were native Indian and German. Now tell me I'm not a confused soul.
V. Vegetable? Brocoli and corn on the cob
W. Worst habit? Living to eat instead of eating to live.
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Lets hope that I don't have to choose. Dito
Y. Your favorite food? Italian, Seafood
Z. Zodiac sign? Sagittarious

Building Barns

2008-10-01T19:53:00.005-05:00

One down and 12 more to go!!! Crap! What was I thinking! Same as always - I got caught up in the excitment. I guess it's not that bad.

Here it is before I stitched it.

After I stitched it:

Here's a little detail.

Another Project Complete!

2008-10-01T10:13:00.004-05:00

Here's another project ready to go! My Wacky Americana blocks:

Thanks

2008-09-24T20:28:00.002-05:00

Just a quick thanks to all of you that made comments. You are so very sweet! I will do better with posting.

Thanks again - see you in cyber space!

Deer Camp Koozies

2008-09-24T15:32:00.006-05:00

Here are the koozies I have been working on. On one side it says "Quality Drinkin' Time Sheffield, TX" That's the town that the lease is near. On the other side there is a deer rack and it says "Nothin' But Horns".

The story, as I understand it, is that, one very cold windy hunting day, 3 fearless hunters, Wayne Wells, Wayne Hughes and Brick Sullivan took one of the hunting vehicles (one with a heater) to a favorite hunting spot. They sat quietly, sipping on an icy cold beverage, waiting for "the big one" to show up in the clearing. When suddenly something came into view. Well's drew up the binoculars and one of the other great hunters steadied their gun out the window of the vehicle and whispered, "Whadoyasee, Wells?" To which he replied softly, "Nothin' But Horns, man! Nothin' But Horns!" Well, if you know Wells like I do, then you probably already know that he added something like "Shoot the Bastard!" Any way - that's where that little saying came from. There's probably more to that story than this - but you will have to ask one of the great hunters about it to get the real feeling of being there!

Anyway - on the bottom of each koozie are the initials of each man on the deer lease. That is to keep them from fighting over them! LOL

Bright It Is!

2008-09-24T15:14:00.002-05:00

Here's all 7! Ready to go!

Need your Opinion

2008-09-21T14:10:00.005-05:00

Here are two churn dash for my January retreat Aniversary swap. The center is to be silver or grey - like tin, the background different from the center and the churn dash should represent me. So which is it? The bright one or the dull one?

Fisher House Quilt on the Move

2008-09-21T13:14:00.006-05:00

Hey girls! I finally got a border on the Fisher House RWB quilt and will be taking it to Kathy L for quilting on Monday afternoon. Here is a picture of it and a shot of the back I pieced together for it.

Moving Along

2008-05-14T09:09:00.005-05:00

Alrighty then, looky hear now. I have made a little more progress on my studio. I have laid laminate flooring in the main room and the hallway. It looks so good I'm going to have to do something to the other room and bathroom floors as well.

We bought this flooring last fall for the bedrooms and did the guest bedroom - looks great, but when we pulled the carpet up in the master bedroom the wood floor under it looked beautiful. Just needs a little sanding and some polyurathan. So the laminate left was just enough to do my main sewing area and the hallway.

The other room will house my quilting machine. A Pfaff Hobby 1200 on an Inspira quilting frame. The work bench will be perfect for my other two hobbies - Scrapbooking and Beading.

As I move into the building, I will give more detail on what is where. I'm beginning to babble - I'm "sew" dang excited!!!!!!!!!!!

Making It Mine

2008-05-05T15:47:00.003-05:00

I have had my husband busily working on my building to make it "mine".

It was originaly divied into 3 rooms plus a bathroom. I had my husband take out the wall between the middle and the room on the left to make one big room.

I painted the paneling with a primer, then a pale blue. I have another, brighter blue that I may or may not use for the trim or maybe a sponge techinque over the light blue. I have not made up my mind yet.

As a matter of fact, I'm feeling like I should go take a look and see what else I can paint right now. I'll try to do better with the updates!

Where Have I Been!?

2008-05-04T18:55:00.008-05:00

I have been a busy girl! It has been over a year since I have added anything to my blog! Today is rainy, so I thought I would take this opportunity to do a little catch-up. I had a couple of drafts that I went in and finished and published. Here it is in a nut-shell:
I turned 50 in December, went on a 7 night cruise with my Wacky Pac Quilters Bee in February, went on a shop-hop in Dallas with a wonderful group of ladies from the Compass Centre and saw "Menopause, the Musical" in March and acquired a portable building for my quilt studio in April! Now I am renovating the building to suit my needs as a quilter! I have already posted some pictures from the birthday and Christmas, so let me catch you up on a couple of other things. Here are some pics:

February 24, 2008, The Wacky Pac Quilters went on a Royal Caribbean Cruise!!!!!!! Here we all are ready to go!

Here we are R E A L L Y enjoying ourselves!

Yes! That is our ship behind us! Captain Frank was very proud of his ship! And we were very proud of Captain Frank!!!

Ok then. In March, only 7 days after we returned from the cruise, 4 of us Wacky Women spent 4 days at the Compass Centre (one of the most wonderful retreat facilities in these United States of America). We worked on a mystery quilt the first day and went on a shop hop the second day. The owner of the Centre chartered a bus and we went to 5 wonderful quilt shops in Dallas, then had supper at a nice restaurant down town, then went to "Menopause - the Musical" at the Majestic Theater. We laughed until we hurt! Good thing we went to the rest room before going in! It could have been bad! A wonderful time was had by all!

Rhonda and I pooled our fabric and made one big mystery quilt. These fabrics, though very lovely, are just not us. So we put it all together and gave it to Melisa, the owner/operator of the retreat center. She did such an awesome job putting together this wonderful retreat, we had to do something to thank her for all her work! If you have never been to a retreat at the Compass Centre in Mt. Calm, Texas, you are surly missing out!!!

And now for my current endeavor. My husband and I have made friends with a wonderful young couple. Brick and Alysa Sullivan. Two years ago they had a little girl, Emili. She was born a month early and had to spend a month in the hospital in Waco. (40+ miles from here) So we took our 5th wheel camper to the hospital parking lot so that they could stay there and visit when allowed. Something, we feel was just a given'! Well, they appreciated it immensely. Well, what does this have to do with my current endeavor? Well, through Brick's work he aquired a 2003 construction office trailer. He really had no use for it, or any use he could come up with was going to cost more money and labor than what he wanted to invest, so he offered it to my husband and I. We took a look at it and knew in an instant what it's purpose was to be!!!!!!!! Kat's Quilts!

Christmas Fun In Michigan!

2008-01-04T21:26:00.004-06:00

My family consists of two boys and two girls: Lee is 60, married and has 2 boys, Jan is 58 and has a boy and a girl, then there is me 50, married and no children, then Paul 45 divorced with 3 children - 2 girls and a boy. That said, we had a wonderful Christmas gathering! Lee's youngest, Arend-31, and I are the only ones that live out of state.

This is Jan with her grandsons Jason, Jr - 10 and Cole - 5

This is Big Jason's wife and mother of Jason,Jr and Cole, Diana

This is where it can get confussing. Jerry is Paul's youngest and Andre' is Paul's grandson. Got that?

This is Amanda, Paul's oldest daughter and the mother of Andre' and her husband Paul and Leah. Leah is Paul's second daughter. She turned 18 Dec. 5.

This is my oldest brother Lee and his wife Florence and their youngest son, Arend. (the one that lives out of state. New York to be exact)

Our typical Christmas is spent gathered around the kids while they open gifts. Of course there is always lots of good eats then the grown-ups play games all evening. Such as Taboo, Guesgures (sp?) Especially any new games any of the kids may have gotten.
Hope you have enjoyed my Christmas tour. I can get a bit long winded when it comes to family, since I see them only once or twice a year. We are all very close!

The BIG 5 0

2007-12-26T11:54:00.004-06:00

Oh what a wonderful 50th birthday I have had! First Wayne took me to Gilberto's on my birthday (12/06/07) and some of my friends joined us for dinner and drinks. It was wonderful to be surrounded by such a wonderful bunch of people! Then on
Dec. 14th I left for Michigan to celebrate my birthday and Christmas with my brothers and sister. I was a bit worried, the weather was looking bad for Saturday. So I drove Friday for about 14 hours, making it to Terre Haute, IN. With the help from the good Lord above, the storm had slowed down and I made it to my sisters home in Brown City, Michigan at 12:30 p.m., just missing the storm by about an hour! One other little problem was as I exited the freeway at Imlay City, (about 18 miles from my sisters) my car was idling very fast (2,000 RPMs) This makes driving on ice and snowing surfaces very difficult. I slid into my sisters driveway, slipped it into neutral and shut it off. Again, by the grace of God, I was safe! My younger brother took the car into a shop and it was a sensor and the total cost of repair was only $97. Whewwwww!

Saturday the 22nd we had a family get together for my birthday and my nephews birthday that was on the 21st. What a spread! Those pictured are my nephew, Jason that turned 38 on the 21st; my sister, Jan (Jason's mom); myself; Claudio and Jennifer. Jennifer is Jason's sister and Claudio is her Italian Fiance.

Quilts

2007-04-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of my quilts.

April Snow

2007-04-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

On Friday I was taking pictures of Blue Bonnets and 24 hours later, I'm taking pictures of SNOW! It looks like a Christmas Card!

2007-03-18T13:38:00.000-05:00

Well, where shall I start? My friend - the Wackypac - are starting a Blog and, well, I had never even heard of a Blog. So I figured the best way to learn about it, is to do it! So here I am, playing with my own Blog. Go figure!