In response to a request

Someone left a comment requesting to see what my china (or what's left of it) looks like. Here is one of the last 4 plates followed by a close-up of the rim detail.





I love the leaf design and I am thinking that if I can just find dinner plates with the same rim and maybe with some pink floral design...well, that would be just about perfect. I do have to take a plate with me when I shop because there are so many variations of "white".

I did go on-line and look for replacement plates from this manufacturer. There were very few plates listed and the price per plate was outrageous. Besides, I would MUCH rather add some new china to my collection!

If I only had a brain...

Y'all are gonna love this! I have a black cast iron frying pan. I made bacon in it and didn't pour off the drippings right away. Later this morning, I went back and turned it on to melt the grease so that I could dump it. Well, I wandered away. (Mind you the burner was on high.) I was sitting in front of my computer reading blog posts and suddenly the smoke alarm started screaming. I could not figure out why until I walked toward the kitchen and saw the pan smoking like crazy. The entire apartment had slowly filled with smoke and I never smelled it! I AM GETTING OLD!!

I pulled the pan off the burner and THEN IT CAUGHT ON FIRE!! I remembered what to do, grabbed the baking soda and threw it all over the pan. The fire went out but you should see the smoke. I have doors and windows open, a big window fan sucking smoke out the front door, the a/c blasting away and the cat is hiding under my bed.

I had planned to cut and sew the backing for "the special project" this morning. Now that won't get done, the apartment smells horrific and I now have to deal with a burned pan and baking soda all over my stove.

You know, when my grandmother did something like this they decided she shouldn't live alone anymore...

Nothing quilty to report

HOWEVER, I am so excited! I am typing on a real keyboard. Yes! My computer is back up and running. The power supply is a teeny bit noisy but it sounds like the fan is doing it's job cooling the unit. I surely hope so 'cause I am just sick to death of typing on the laptop!

I know I didn't mention it before so I am gonna tell you about a little incident the day I returned from my Mother's Day visit to Virginia. It was a long day and I was really tired. I was making a sandwich for supper and I honestly don't know how it happened but I hit my plate rack somehow and it fell off the counter. My plate rack looks a bit like this except that is is more ornate, kind of country French looking. Anyway, 13 dinner plates went crashing to the floor. (I have ceramic tile floors in my kitchen.) Needless to say, I was fortunate that one survived the fall. I had 3 others in the dishwasher so now I have 4 out of 16 dinner plates. I have every other piece of china from the set...cups, saucers, soup bowls, serving pieces, etc. Now, you know about my addiction to china so I have lots of other china to use. However, this means I NEED to go shopping for at least 12 dinner plates that are open stock and will look good with the rest of this set. Damn - I have to go shopping!

Another Fast Weekend

I have noticed something strange since my 50th birthday. Weeks go by so quickly and weekends seem to come and go in the blink of an eye. Is this a common phenomenon or is it just me?!



I spent this weekend traveling to and from the New Jersey shore. My sister and brother-in-law own a home at Stone Harbor. This was my first opportunity to see it since they purchased it at the end of last summer. Julie and I had a great time. We shopped, ate and sewed. We are working on a "secret project". The weather was absolutely gorgeous...blue skies, bright sun and a lovely breeze. My beach experience has been the beaches of North Carolina and Oahu in Hawaii. I really would have liked to have seen the beach at Stone Harbor. The house is only 5 houses from the ocean but we never made it to the ocean. Maybe next time...

I can't wait to show you the project on which we are working! It will be finished next weekend. Photos to follow...

Just another quickie...

No...not the good kind! I am back from my mini-vacation. I will post tomorrow as I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. Hope your weekend is super!!

Jen's having a sale!

The Cre8tive Quilter is having a moving sale. Just when I made a VOW to stop all quilt related shopping in order to pay off some of my debt to make my house purchase more pocket book friendly. Damn! See...this is why I could never have been a nun. I am too easily tempted. I was born to be a vow breaker!!

I mentioned that I was trying to quilt an hour a day. That isn't exactly working as planned but I am going to try to catch up this weekend. This is an update of the quilt I have been working on for Julie's birthday.



There are 3 large blocks that I could not get up on the "design wall" and also show the small blocks that I have finished. The small blocks are killers. I hate working with little pieces. I am going to quilt this on Jenny using the walking foot. It should be hand quilted but that ain't gonna happen! Julie's birthday is tomorrow so she won't get the quilt on time but I also bought her a huge antique cheese box and I am taking her out for dinner. (All just trying to avoid guilt!) Hey! Why am I feeling guilty anyway? She STILL hasn't given me MY birthday present!!

Just ask me about my weekend...I dare you!

Cute, right? Well, cute little puppies like this turn into DOGS FROM HELL when they are about 9 months old. How do I know that? Because I "dog sat" one of those over the weekend. She can (and does) jump completely onto the top of the pool table. How do I know? Because she did and then subsequently ate a remote control for the television. I always thought that the weekend before I left Seattle would be the worst weekend I would ever have to experience. Well, it doesn't even come close to this past weekend with the dogs. Maggie, a 3 year old sweetheart Brittany Spaniel, is delightful. Very sweet and cuddly and she even slept on the bed with me. Crazy dog, Ava (named after Hitler's girlfriend), slept in her kennel. Thank goodness.

Just ask me how much sewing I actually did...6 blocks. Six stinking blocks. And did I get my mother's quilt on the longarm? No. Not a chance.

My sister brought me fabric as a thank you. I love my sister, however, bringing me the entire spring line of all Moda fabric would not have made up for the weekend. (Clarification - she did not bring me the entire spring line. I am just saying that even if she had it would not have made up for my miserable weekend!) Sigh...

I've got ISSUES!

I still don't have my desktop computer and the laptop makes me crazy. I SWEAR I don't touch anything and the cursor jumps out into the twilight zone and I end up typing in the middle of someplace I don't want to be typing. I have not touched my sewing machine (or anyone else's!) for a week. I just look at the machine, look at what I need to do, get overwhelmed and do nothing. The loan approval/house hunting thing is taking off and I am only getting about 4 hours of sleep a night. I tell you...I have issues!!

I went to Virginia for my birthday/Mother's Day. It was really nice to get away. My DDIL watched the children on Saturday night and my boys took me out for dinner to a lovely restaurant in downtown Virginia Beach. (Other DDIL was in Ohio celebrating her mother's birthday/Mother's Day - we share a birthday.) We had a wonderful dinner. The boys and I spent a lot of years "just us" so it was nice having them all to myself to reminisce and hear all their stories of the stuff going on in their lives. They are both teachers so they have lots of stories. And, boy! Do these guys make me laugh?!?



(BTW - this wasn't my "evening out" attire...Sunday night it was crazy cold and I borrowed a sweat shirt...and no one told me my hair looked like a train wreck before they took the photo!)


My sister, Julie, and her family are all in Kansas for my nephew's graduation from vet school so I will be sewing this weekend at her house. I am babysitting dogs on Saturday and Sunday and since one is a puppy they need me at the house. I am going to try out her new Bernina with BSR. I want to make a quick table topper so this will be a good opportunity to use the BSR. I am FINALLY going to quilt my mother's quilt on the LA. I have lots of plans. How much energy I will have is the question!

I hate computers...

Seriously...hate them! Now I am getting a error message on my laptop telling me that a recent software installation is corrupt. The only thing I could think of is the drivers for the WIFI mouse and keyboard so I pulled the connections off the laptop and uninstalled the drivers. The laptop is working fine (for the moment) but I can't type on a laptop keyboard to save my soul! I end up laying the heel of my hand on the mouse touch thingamabob which, in turn, drops the cursor where ever totally screwing up my typing. It is so frustrating.

I will post again when I am not being such a whiner!!

Kristie's celebrating her 300th post!

Hop on over to Kristie's blog 'cause she is having a giveaway. Tell her that I sent you!!

I got goodies!

Regina, the Queen Bee, did a "Pay It Forward" giveaway on her blog and I was one of the lucky recipients. Look at the lovely note cards she sent me!



In response to receiving this gift, I must now "pay it forward" to 3 more people. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on the blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet (let it be known that I am a very crafty gal and I do have a little handmade jewelry business!), and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.
Now, how easy is THAT?!