lesson in precision

See how the middle strip is longer than the two pieces that will be attached .... well, that means

a do over ...  from scratch.

My second attemp turned out much better.  I have to do better making my seams a "scant" quarter inch.  I figured out today -- always move my needle 3 clicks to the left.

have a wonderful fourth of july

mmmmm veggies

I'm excited .....

fitovers are

sunglasses that are awesome for those who wear glasses and don't like clip-ons or don't like constantly taking off glasses and putting on sunglasses then taking off sunglasses to put glasses back on and so on.  Why?? Because they fit right on top of your regular glasses and are quite comfortable.   I'd never heard of them til recently and when I did I went straight to Amazon and found a nice pair on sale for half price.  When they arrived I decided I wanted something to put them in so they didn't just sit in my purse and get all scratched up.  Thanks to a great tutorial, this is what I started out with

and this is what I ended with

the big double header

We watched Avery play ball while Grandmother and Donna were here.  Those girls do a great job for seven and eight year olds.  Between the three of us we managed to leave all the cameras at my house so Donna got to practice using her new Iphone to take pictures.

 the ball player and her assistant coach dad

 the (grand) aunt, grams and great grandmother braving the heat to watch the game

 Avery plays pitcher position but the coach pitches

 the girls are ready to field the ball

playing defense

Okay everybody, look to your left.

Some grandmother love.

In the end I think we won one and lost one but for sure, everybody had a great time.

wordless wednesday

company

My MIL and SIL came for a quick visit.  They arrived Monday afternoon and left Wednesday morning.  When they got here, we brought their stuff inside, they stretched their legs a bit, freshened up and we headed up to the east side of Nashville to see Avery play softball (another post on another day).  It was a double header so we didn't leave the ball park til after eight o'clock.  We stopped for a bite to eat and got home at 10:15.   

Watching Avery play ball accomplished the main purpose for their visit  so Tuesday we just enjoyed visiting. At lunch time we headed to Franklin to  meet Uncle Brian and Avery and took them to eat some good Mexican food at Oscars.   Then we took Grandmother to see where my son-in-law Matt works.  He gave us a tour of Financial Peace Plaza and we saw Dave (Ramsey) in his studio doling out financial advice  and met some of the guys Matty works with.  His group is in charge of one of the websites.    Avery came on back to the house with us and eventually her dad, uncle Brian and uncle Matty showed up too and we ate dinner.  Grilled pork chops, roasted veggies and strawberry shortcake. 

Avery and Aunt Donna played chicken foot while we were waiting on the guys to arrive.  We also played  a few rounds of scattergories. 

Avery, Michael and Aunt Donna

Brian, Michael Grandmother and Matthew.  She loves all her boys(and these are only part of them) and they all love her too.

the garden

I decided to try a raised bed garden this year.  Don't want to jinx myself but after a slow start, it is looking pretty good right now.  My tomato plants and one of the squash are looking the best.  The other squash and cuccumbers not so much but I planted them later for one thing.  I'm going to feed them when I water them later today and we will see how that goes.

I inherited some blueberry bushes with this house - 3 to be exact.  The first year I discovered them, I managed a handful of berries before the birds got them.  The next year I traveled a good bit and so the birds got all the berries.  This year I wanted to try to keep the berries for me and not share with the birds.  Well, when I was in Atlanta with my mom, my son Brian found the birdnetting I had bought and some old wooden stakes that were by the back fence and covered one of the bushes.  The birds got the berries from the other two bushes within 24 hours.  How do they know???  The berries were not even ripe yet!!  Anyway, now that we know what to do, we'll do all three at the same time and earlier in the season -- just not telling the birds.

a digital postcard

A few weeks ago Jennifer, Matthew and the kids went to visit friends in Georgia for a week.  At some point during the week I received this via email.

My favorite kind of letter :)

travels and visitors

Mother came to visit.  She spent a week at my sister's and then Beth brought her down here. She spent the night and then returned home. After a day or two of rest, mom and I  went to Georgia to visit my brother Jay and his wife. The trip was uneventful as far as the drive.  While there we got the tour of their new digs.  Love the house and what they are doing with it.  We did a little antiquing and saw some really neat things.  They live north of Atlanta and there are lots of junktique places around there.  It was a lot of fun.  Of course I took no pictures.   Had my boys over for a meal when we got back.  Brian stayed and showed his Granny how to play games on the Ipad.  She was pretty impressive with angry birds.

Mother and I  hung out here til Thurs when we returned to Beth's and the next day the three of us made the five hour trip back to mothers.  We spent two nights in PA to get her settled back in and then headed back to Ohio and after a good night's sleep I returned to Nashvegas.  This week I was babysitting so I've stayed fairly busy until today. 

I have family from MS coming for a short visit the first of the week and after that I hope to spend a lot of time in my sewing room. There are lots of projects in there to finish and lots of ideas to get started on if you know what I mean.

My one blueberry bush that got covered with netting is about ripe for the picking.  I will probably score two or three cups of berries.  I've been researching how to care for them.  Next season I'll cover all three now that Brian has helped me figure out a good method and I plan on pruning and maybe putting some stuff in the soil if it needs it.  I may plant a fourth bush too since it looks like they had one originally that died as there is a bush, a blank spot and then two more bushes.  My garden is looking pretty good.  I'll post on that in a day or too.

like it but I don't

Facebook can be fun but it invades your life and starts growing like a bunch of weeds. People want to add your birthday to their calendar and you end up with the calendar too. People invite you to play games -- which I ignore and then feel bad. I find myself getting on FB 3 or 4 times a day so then I don't get on at all for a week or even longer. Wish it was easier to find a happy medium. I'm just sayin'

never forget

As you relax and enjoy family this Memorial Day remember why and pass the meaning of the day on to your children

what's happening

 Gibbs and I said goodbye to our buddy today.

It was easier than I thought it would be.  I guess because I know he is going to a great family that already has  two dogs so they should know what to do with a big ole tail waggin, floppy eared, falling all over himself puppy.  He will get to New England tomorrow morning sometime and they say they will post pics on FB.  Guess we will find out.

I've been working on this x 2

and have a little altering to do so it will take me through the weekend to finish as I'm doing other things too. The pattern is Maci Giggles and it is pretty simple once you decipher the directions.

I put some plant food on my tomato plants today when I watered them.  They are not growing like I think they should but then I don't know a whole lot about gardening :)

Jen and fam are leaving tomorrow to go to Virginia to visit friends and then on to Disney World for a couple of days.  I'm keeping Jed (the boxer) for part of the time but will hand him over to their neighbors mid week.

My mom and sister are arriving Wednesday so I'm hoping to get my front door painted and a new spread finished for the bed in my guest room.  I won't have to quilt it and it is started so hopefully I can make it happen.

  I played around with a new signature after reading a tutorial someone had on their blog.  I did it in photoshop elements which I've had for several years but have never really learned to use it.  It took me a while to figure out how to add the picture to my text and I don't know if I did it exactly right but it worked so that was good enough for me.

Well, it will be tomorrow soon so I am going to call it a day.  Hope everyone has a nice holiday weekend.

 

mother's day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. It started Friday when these were delivered to my door by Mr.

UPS.   They were just buds when they came but have opened up in the last two days.  So pretty and I am really enjoying them.   Thanks Billy and fam: :)   The kiddos here took me to lunch after church.  I had some lobster ravioli - deeeellish!  Then we went to Jennifers for dessert and some cards including a gift card (woohoo) and visited awhile before heading home for a quiet afternoon.  A very enjoyable day thanks to all my wonderful family -- far and near.





 

Learned how to make one of these. It's just plastic mesh (all the black) and 2 coordinating fabrics.

It was fun and fairly easy. These may make some good Christmas gifts. What do you think?


 

quilting stuff

I have finished two more blocks for the Kisses From My Beloved quilt I'm working on for a total of six. I have two more to complete and I'll be caught up.

 I've also been working on finishing the Raggedy Friends quilt that has been a stack of blocks sitting in a basket on the shelf for more months than I care to think about right now. 

I'm going to try to finish the top today by adding the horizontal sashings and the corner blocks.  I'll need to add a border or two also.  I really like the blocks.  Looking forward to getting it finished.

Before the sewing, I need to do a lot of  little vacuuming and go to a sewing class that will last til after lunch.  Better get cracking.