DARE Graduation

The youngest grandchild has hit this local milestone.  It's a program that is so needed in this day and age IMHO.  The program is about Saying NO to drugs, No to under age drinking and builds self confidence and what to do in certain situations to keep your self safe in skit mannerisms.  The local Sheriff's Department has an employee at the school for Fifth Graders, getting to know the children and build a rapport with them and lead as a prime example of community involvement.  Many children treated this Deputy as the Pied Piper.

I love these Boys!
PGS#3 on the left with his BFF, RS what a great kid! on the right
Congratulations Guys!  

 

Week 4 of 2020

Continuing on with my drive and seeing progress in many areas.  VBG and TG!!
Each year I tally my "Dream of 100" where I track projects finished, hiking, biking, trips, museums, movies, books read etc... as a way to reflect at year end and to visualize/remember  how my time was spent. 
For the past 5 years I've happily excelled the "self proclaimed 100"
Each.
And.
Every.
Year.

Such as the category of reading  books.  I love to read and will have 2-3 going at one time.  Currently am reading the Bible (daily with prayers and meditation),  Atomic Habits by James Clear (on my night stand and during the day/errands and wait times), and When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi  (an audio book to listen to when I'm doing my Kitchen chores).  Right now I am really enjoying the Bible and Atomic Habits so far.  I thought I'd write my 2019 list of books read here for my personal reference as I continue to try to empty my shelves.

1. Dead Watch
2. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
3. Memory Man 
4. Coffin Dancer
5. Lady Killer
6. Today Will be Different
7. King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table
8. Think Twice
9. Firefly Lane
10. Fly Away
11. The Panther
12. The Almost Sisters
13. The French Gardener
14. LaRose
15. Someday Soon
16. Lilac Girls
17. Magic Hour
18. NYPD Red 3
19. The Things We Do For Love  
20. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
21. Blue Gold
22. Lost City
23. Exclusive
24. The Lost Girls
25. The Hit
26. The Curated Wardrobe
27. Comfort and Joy
28. Shadow of Night
29. Demon Seed
30. A Dog's Purpose
31. The 5 Secrets you Must Discover Before you Die
32. Undercurrents
33. Radical Kindness
34. Mad River
35. The Stars Are Fire
36. The Talbot Odyssey
37. When Organizing Isn't Enough SHED
38. Notorious Nineteen
39. The Best of Daily Wisdom for Women
40. The Never Game
41. Polar Shift
42. Organizing From the Inside Out
43. The Dry Grass of August
44. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
45. Overdose
46. Backseat Saints
47. The Girl who Stopped Swimming
48. Where the Crawdads Sing
49. Become a Better You
50. The Collectors
51. The Art of Dying Well
52. Deliver Us From Evil
53. Keep Quiet
54. Year One
55. One Second After
56. One Year After

Would you believe my shelves don't seem to be getting any emptier either as family and friends will share a "good Book" or suggest another book to read/lend besides the titles my book clubs' selection for the month.   But with 56 read last year - it is a great number and I'm satisfied.  

8 - )

Roaring 20's coming through..

Working on my spool quilt I started in October 11, 2019.  The thread winded sets are all made, now only need to iron, cut and stitch on the background bars on each side before figuring out which the spool ends to use on each and where.  Fortunately  I saw Edyta Sitar's quilts at our guild meeting in Glens Falls the following day and they are even more fabulous in person,  as is she.




What a talented, kind and beautiful woman with her quilt Common Bride- One quilt pattern I love.

My humble spool bits being shown below:  

   

 Being the third Thursday of this new decade finds me streaming on through my wishes.
Actually making time to sew in my studio though it's still a mess, (must be my normal)   ;~/

Eureka!  A new to me concept.   But it instills my creativity to try to "sew my way out of the mess" and that hasn't been working for me so I'll just try embracing it from now on,.....  we'll see.

TTFN
Jane

Two cabins near end....

Second week of 2020: 

Feeling blessed and happy.  

Intention is key and my current project for 2020

"A good intention clothes itself with power."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Always having the best of intentions, though I seem to falter in the completions arena.
So to bring in a very happy, healthy yet productive 2020 my current focus is Two Cabins design from Nancy's Needle.



My word of the year is "record-breaking".
Keeping it simple and now that my computer is back and running, post weekly, simply and proceed.




TTFN, Jane

 Living with simplicity, and steadily share more routinely are my 2020 intentions

July's wip

It's been quite hot and we're still running the roads to ballgames for the youngest grands.  A couple of nights away and then back home for more games still and family connections.   I recently tried a new to me coleslaw that was yummy.  It was a slaw with peaches.

Asian Peach Coleslaw:

1 Cup coleslaw mix
1/4 English Cucumber Chopped into bite sized pieces
1-2 fresh peaches- peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
1-2 green onions, chopped use whatever color and parts you desire or both
1 Cup snow peas cooked and chopped into bite size pieces
1 Cup bean sprouts if desired (I omitted this since DH can't have sprouts since the heart transplant)

Ginger Mandarin Salad dressing
Soy Sauce

Toss all together and then drizzle with the last two listed, soy sauce and mandarin ginger dressing to taste.

It was unique, good and pleasant.  For left overs, I threw in a bit of nuts and leftover grilled chicken to make a bowl meal, YUM!  Cleaned it up very quickly.  I tried to find the original source for this recipe but didn't have a any registration marks with my print out and couldn't find this specific one to link it up, never knew there were so many on the internet, oh where have I been?!?.

Last evening we hosted a small gathering with our direct offspring along with my Mom and one of my brothers,  Tom and his wife Eileen.  Dh cooked the whole bit outside as it's too hot to cook inside.  Thank Goodness we have the appropriate tools for doing this with his Electric Smoker (I bought for him years ago) for the pork loin roast (He also cooked up the Kielbasa as I love it smoked to use for appetizers and for breakfast).  Then with his propane burner stove (he had in from ice fishing and maple sugaring days) we precooked whole potatoes which were kept warm by the induction cook top that I purchased a few years ago for chocolate making with out the children helping being able to be burnt but it's also been so handy to use when we travel. The meal also included corn on the cob which was done after the potatoes moved to the warming area.  All perfectly timed!
We ladies of the family set up the buffet area and managed to get some crudites assembled for simple sides to go with.  It was so nice despite the heat and the timing with everyone's schedules.   I love watching the interaction of the grands as they tease and poke a bit at each other.  Makes my heart smile.

My next focus will be another salad made to bring to the Family BBQ being held at my brother Doug's house tomorrow, am thinking of a broccoli salad for that BBQ  that's why I thought of the Asian Peach Salad and figure I'd share it here as a resource in case I can't find that sheet of paper some time in the future, LOL.

My Mom is up for the week and I know the time will be flying. 

TTFN
Jane

PS: My focus this month is that WFQG quilt and needle roll.    Later gator!

May and June have gone by....July's hopes

PGD#1 ready for her semi formal, June 2019 

Again, I've been super busy and tending to all my priorities, nothing major just the house, yard, gardens, and traveling and regretfully for me my sewing tasks have slid . farther .  aside. : ~ (


The only grand daughter had her semi-formal eighth grade dance so all the females in the family spent the day together getting her ready for it. 




Lunch out at her choice- Arnies in Plattsburgh, pedicures and manicure at A Plus nails and then the hair dresser arranged to do her hair on her day off, thanks Michelle!  It was an enjoyable day and she looked really nice.  She actually agreed to wear a couple of my bracelets for accessories which she kindly returned. 

The back side of her semi up do

Since the camera was out to document this milestone, I had her brother and their dog jump in for photos.

PGS#3 with their 3 year old dog, Scout.

lil miss talking to her brother

And just so you know we are totally normal some "real shots too"!  They get along great and then like oil  and vinegar, typical siblings.  One would smile and the other would act up and vise versa.

He's not into getting pics taken, it's too hot!

On another post I'll share about my trip to Florida to visit with my Mom and sister.  It was such a nice visit and I enjoyed my time with them thoroughly while getting some much needed warmer weather and some sunshine.  So back home for a couple days and then back to Boston for DH's 1 year post heart transplant check up.  Thankfully all is going extremely well. 
Then came the end of school sessions with a BANG!  Concerts, National Junior Honor Society events and sporting events.   Both of the youngest grands played ball, (softball and baseball) with an assortments of 5-6 different teams, modified, city league, All star and both are on Traveling ball besides the town summer league.  SO many games and so many miles traveled while we supported their activities with our presence but phew!  We're glad many of them are now over,  just the traveling ball teams and the town team are left.  It's been so busy that we haven't yet opened the pool as we were gone, or when we were home the weather wasn't cooperating.

AS for projects I've been dawdling around with my needle roll that I started while in Florida while visiting Mom.  It's been great stitching it, but when I ran into the bees wings, I've done them twice so far and now have ripped them out twice as well.  Perhaps I'll play with my angelica fibers to see if that would be an improvement.   What's that?  theh third times the charm, crossing my fingers here. 
Here's it is in it's present state:

in progress Sue Spargo kit - needle roll, I've embroidered  stitches around the labels to coincide with the color of spools relevant to the different weight threads (3,5,8,12)  to help me stay organized down the line. 
FINGERS CROSSED
My plan is to use a straight pin to denote which needle I've pulled out to work on.  I may use different colored heads for counted cross stitch, needlepoint and wool work, TBD!

It's was a kit I purchased through Sue Spargo.com and I've changed out bits and stitches to suit me.  She had excellent instructions and designs slated for it, the problem is me, I can't seem to follow the main stream.  Yet I am having fun stitching it.    The de-winged bee closeup.

bee detail sans wings

Section showing some of the lupines and poppies.

So I'll post the needle roll as my July OPAM focus.





I'll end this post with a couple of photos of my garden.    It's been my  focus for May and June to get the gardens done.  Everything got in despite all the travels we've been on there just remains more weeds and now to finally open the pool this week.

The darkest colored lilacs next to the butterfly house were fabulous!

Just now the Missouri primroses and lilies are flowering. 

TTFN,
Jane

Q3 FAL list - 2019

I started the year out with a bang getting some smaller UFOs and pigs done.  So my intention with this post are a few more bits I'd love to see pushed into the fini pile so I'm linking up my desires with Leanne at She Can Quilt.

1- Needle Roll completely done.

2- WFQG Community Quilt finished then turned in.

3- This quilt is one my Mom made into the top from a kit I purchased to make for my daughter that also needs to be finished.

4-  BQ 2 quilt I made into a top for the grand daughter and then it sits there and needs to be finished.  Next step is piecing the backing. 
(R U Seeing a theme here?  I am!)

5- The Radiant Quilt finished, here again the top is made, I've been percolating quilt motif ideas and it sits.

6- A fall Diva Wallet that I actually can't find.  I  will be back to post a shot of the gorgeous fall leaves digital fabric with the cork-like lime green fabric  I cut out  2 falls ago for!

7- Nelson Mandala wall hanging, I haven;t been happy with it, but with this shot it doesn't look too bad, hummmm...

8- The 3 dimensional wall hanging from a VQF class in 2017.

9-  2 Nylon Chair bags- currently in progress...



10 & 11 - PIGS for 2 Sofa table runners for Summer and Fall.  Again, I don't know where that fall PIG went, so I'll only share a photo of the summer version pig in its place but I plan to use border fabric for both of them.

12-13 This NEW  PIG,, a stack of fabrics that needs to be finished as a baby quilt with a complimentary baby doll blanket!

14 through 16 or 17 - An Orange, a Red and a lime and/or? Aqua project vinyl bags made, still need to select the appropriate fabrics for them to use this pattern.

Hopefully these will become my vision(s) with a one and done step ....then NEXT!


TTFN
Jane

PS:  While hunting to take pictures of these I ran into other set aside UFOs and pigs I'd like to get to as well,  Note to self, slow down Janie and focus dear, focus ...   VBG!  Here I go again!

Love the depth of this quote:

Idleness makes hours pass slowly 

and years swiftly. 

Activity makes the hours short 

and the years long.

— Cesare Pavese

Sliding my...

OMG to be my Feb-Mar OMG!  Fingers crossed with that timeline too!

Okay, since I did so well with a few of my goals in the past 3 months I listed four projects that I wnt to be done with this month.  I just realized last night (I know, slow learner here!) that I won't be able to get them done as I'm heading to Florida for two plus weeks to visit with my Mom and sister who lives an hour or so away her.  Am bringing some of my Buttermilk Basin Homestead Hearth blocks to work on while I'm with her. 

The only project that proceeded along was quilting with my domestic on the community quilt for one of my guilds.  I "pulled the trigger" and finally decided how to quilt it and I'm loving it so far. 







TTFN, Off to pack my bags. 

See you next month. 

Jane