Who does this?????

Me! That is the answer. This morning I had a donation to set out by 8am. My husband had the truck parked on the left side of the driveway and I was sure I had plenty of room from where I set the donation. At 8:30am I went out and got in the truck to take it to the dealership for a bit of work; then I ran over the donation box--not just once, but twice. Curious about what was i there???? China--plates, bowls, etc. Not a full set, but enough. Not any more. The funny thing is that the china came to me in the same box, not packed properly and a bunch of it was already crushed. I had already thrown that away. I saved 4 tea cups--three for my mismatched tea cup collection and one to give as a gift. I am going to plant a herb in the teacup. So, I had a stern talk with my friend Leah who gave me the china. It was her grandmother's and the family considered it to be junk. Well, now it is junk. It was really crushed! Thank God for my son who swept it all up for me. I have a list of things I must do before the end of the month: challenge quilt not more than 36 by 36-inches; house blocks I am doing online; quilting some community service quilts; prepping wool project--Rabbits Prefer Chocolate Wish me luck!!!!

Life Is Full of Connections

I have had two funny connections come up. I was shopping at Sprouts, a fresh market with the best produce. As I was walking back to my car, I passed a man with a dog who was just sitting outside the store. He wasn't dressed badly, but by just sitting there I wondered in my head if he was homeless. I was shocked when, as I passed by him, I heard "Hey, Mrs. Sackett. How are you?" It was the man and the dog. He had gone to Will Rogers Middle School where I have worked for 19 years. He is 26 years old, so it has been a while since he was there. I have no clue what his name is. I usually just ask if they remember me fondly or was I really mean. Always it is fondly. While I am nice to the kids at the school, as a 12 year old sometimes it doesn't seem so, but no one has said, "you were so mean I ran home every day to cry." I have no idea if he is homeless or just resting while walking his dog...... The next connection was so not something I saw coming. I read some really good books this past week and emailed my sister to share them with her. She calls me almost immediately--obviously on her email!!! The books included Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury. It was so compelling, I was sure my sister would like it as I did. So she calls me to say that she knows Karen Kingsbury! Karen worked with my brother-in-law. I know now that she used his name as a character in one of her books. Don't know which one, but when I like one book, I usually like them all. My sister trades Christmas cards with Karen Kingsbury. WOW! I'm going now to google her books.

Embroidery

Yesterday I was at my friends house for 6 hours just working on one piece of embroidery. There is this quilt--Berry Picking Party--that three of us are working on. One of our group is on an around-Asia sailing trip and won't be back until April 2015. From past experience, she could have all the pieces embroidered and finished, ready to make into the quilt, by time she gets back from her trip. That is motivation for me to get as much done as possible. You can check out the quilt pattern on the Crabapple Hill Studio website. Wish me luck!

Ideas

I have so many ideas! I am hosting my 2nd Saturday group on the 12th. I wanted to surprise everyone with a field trip, but I can't think of a way to do it that I can drive everyone. I have 5 seat belts, but no air conditioning. That will not do at this time. I did hear about an exhibit of quilts at the Crocker Art Museum and that might be what we can do. It stops up from sitting all day and it stops us from eating all day. My plan is to have scones with jam and strawberries for breakfast, chicken salad on croissant for lunch. I will have mints and nuts out for snaking. Speaking of planning food, we are invited to an "over 50" party on July 5th. Funny because the person hosting the party is only 47! It really means no grandchildren ranging in age from 27 to 2 years. I was assigned to bring an appetizer. I have tried a few things including these toasts with a spread of ricotta cheese, pineapple, honey and orange zest. Nothing has worked out to my satisfaction so I am going to make my standby zucchini pie and possibly bring some hummus. Sewing project for this week: I made three purses for my sister and her two daughters. They're birthday presents and come with Euros for their trip to Europe. IN the girls purses I put journals, a pen and fruity tic-tacs. In my sister's purse I put a small notebook, pen and Altoids. Mints are the go to present for anyone leaving for a trip. There are unique features with these purses--they are worn over the shoulder and can be right in front of them as well as having thin wire in the strap to further prevent theft. I hear that you don't necessarily get pick-pocketed any more--the thieves just cut the strap and run off with your purse. So sad that we expect some of that in Europe. I sent the package off today. It should arrive by Tuesday. We are trusting the United States Postal Service. Speaking of the USPS, we finally have our own postman. He is a nice Indian guy (as in India not native American). I have given him bottles of water and my neighbor, Diane, has plied him with drinks too. It is really hot out there. For years we had great mail service, but then one day our postman (an old man actually) decided to retire. It has been years of horribleness every since. Apparently we live at the top of a hill. I actually asked them to tell where the "hill" was as I looked at the street. There is a slight rise and I mean really barely a rise. Once we got this one postman, Herb. He was great. He ran his route and our mail service was spectacular. Then some idiot let their dog run free and Herb was bit. Once you get bit, you never have to go back. Goodbye Herb. Since then our little space has been labeled an auxilary route. This meant we got whoever decided to pick up our route day by day. Mail came at really odd hours, sometimes not until 6pm. It was very annoying. This is why I always send our mail from work. I still use snail-mail and I expect something for my tax dollars. I am saying a prayer this guy works out. Have a lovely Sunday!

Auburn Retreat

I have been gone since 2pm Thursday at a quilting retreat in Auburn at the Sisters of Mercy Retreat Center. It is a very lovely and peaceful place with deer gracefully prancing around the gardens, waterfalls, private benches to relax on and really beautiful landscaped grounds. The food is fabulous. I finished a small baby sized quilt, the inside of my daughter's wedding ring quilt and a adorable little bag in pink. I started a twister and then made a wrong cut, but darned if I know how I did it. I have it tucked away until I find the time to really just look at it. I am thinking that I might just keep on cutting the 1.5-inch squares and see where it takes me. One of the items I really need to purchase is a tiny rotary cutter. It was very helpful to have it--as in borrowed from my friend, Val. The blade is about 1/2-inch which makes cutting the tiny pieces easier. Val has two of the squares and is thinking of giving the second one when she finds it. Her sewing stuff is everywhere and it could be a while I am thinking. Val makes the most beautiful quilts and makes them in all kinds of fabric colors. She has an eye for putting colors together. There is naught better than getting up in the morning and being able to quilt until breakfast, a breakfast that is made for you. All you have to do is go eat it. Then being able to quilt for the rest of the day, stopping only for lunch and dinner, which is done for you. The day only ends when you are ready for sleep--which for me is about 11:30pm-midnight. On Saturday we were serenaded by a singing retreat group. They sang a song in German which were the last words of a German pastor and dissident, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, during World War 2. I am so proud that I could pick out words and know the meaning after so many years of not speaking German. I started learning it in the 7th grade and then through high school and a few years during college. Since no one here speaks German, it went by the wayside. The voices of the singers were fantastic and I wish I could sing like that, but I am NOT a singer. Today was back to the real world. It is the darling daughter's 27th birthday. WOW! Am I really old now! We went out to breakfast and then I ran her around doing errands (hers). I took her to a concert a week ago to celebrate. She spent the rest of the day with friends and is out now with her friend, Anna. It is Bachelorette night here. My secret vice! So I'll say goodnight.

I am a crazy woman

I just can't resist telling this story. On Tuesday I was doing the dishes and I saw two women walking by my house. They had these purses that were just like what I am making for my sister and my nieces. I ran out of the house in my shorts, old tee-shirt, barefoot and my hair sticking out because I hadn't brushed it yet and got them to stop. The women looked really confused until I said, "My sister is going to Europe and I am making a purse for her. Yours look exactly like what I have in mind. Can I look at yours?" Turns out the sister of one of the women made the purses for them and they were both quilters. They didn't think I was strange at all. We had a lovely chat out on the sidewalk. I almost have the purses done. I only have to figure out a strap that I can feed some flexible wire through. I might have them done today.

One down.....so many to go!

I have the four kits put together. Whoo, one item off my list. I have a gift for each, the hostess gift and even a gift for the husband. Poor guy, he broke his leg and it was severe enough that he was sent to a nursing facility to heal and as I understand it, he cannot go home until he can stand on his leg. So, I got him a toy. All men need toys. All I need to do now for Saturday is to make my macaroni salad. Since I can't do that until tomorrow at the earliest, I am going to clean my bedroom. That should take me the rest of the day!

The Daughter is NOT moving home???

This happens to the Daughter every year it seems. She has a roommate and all is going well and then they decide to move back home. What is it with this moving back home thing??? The Daughter does not want to move back home. Her mother has taken over her room and the Daughter's things would not fit. The brother and the father who annoy her when she lives with them are still at home. She keeps me up-to-date on the roommate search. So say a prayer for her (I mean me!!!) that she finds someone suitable and doesn't have to give notice. She loves her apartment.

Good morning. It is 6:30am here and I am about to start my day. The plan is to make kits for my circle of friends. Five of us meet once a month and just sit ans sew together. We usually bring hand sewing, mostly wool projects. I think I will work on my Rabbits Prefer Chocolate squares. I also want to make a cute little mug mat for each of them--that means four, but I am thinking it won't take but an hour or so to do that. When I am finished, I want to start on my purses for my sister and nieces. That is a project that must be done by the 18th to be mailed. I will put money, small notepad and mints in my sister's purse and money, mints and a small journal in each of the girl's purses. As I contemplate my day (while my coffee is brewing), it occurs to me that I bought something to put that kit into for each of my friends and I have zero idea of where those darn things are. So now I am adding "find the bags" to my list. It grows as the minutes pass by! How does that happen? My husband just left for work and he came in a few minutes ago and asked where all his time went. Life will be better here today. It was 106*, then 103* and today an ocean breeze from the San Francisco Bay. We are so far away that the breeze cools so much before it reaches the Sacramento Valley. So, my son is providing my breakfast and I am going in to get my first cup of coffee to get started on my day. I wish us all a productive morning. Julie

Hello blogger friends out there! I have a computer to use now. After doing all I could to get my lap top working and failing, my son has come to my rescue. I now have his computer--a really nice fancy set up. My son likes his video games and this computer wasn't compatible with his ever increasing collection of video games. Nothing I do on the computer will stress this up. My keyboard is new because my son preferred his old one. It all looks so new. Hurrah. I have made at least three baby quilts in the past few months. I have eleven small quilts for community service ready to be quilted. Those are bothering me and I am going to quilt them myself instead of waiting for my aunt to use her long arm quilting machine. I am sorting through the unfinished projects I have. I keep finding new quilts to make. Still collecting patterns. Working steadily on the Berry picking quilt. I have twelve squares to embroider and I have one done. Hmmm, doesn't sound like I am working....but really I am. I cart my box around with me every where and I embroider where and when I find the time. I am spending time fixing up my sewing space--a place I haven't sewn one thing! I am still in the kitchen sewing. School is out for the summer. I want to get at least one project done each week until I am back at school for the new year. I figure that the three purses I am doing this weekend will count as three. My sister and her family are going to Europe this summer for two weeks. I am making over the shoulder bags for my sister and my two nieces. I have three different kinds of fabric that are scenes of Paris in three different colors--a light blue, a creme/tan and a red. They will fly to Amsterdam and go see family. My brother-in-law is Dutch and family still lives there about 100 miles from Amsterdam. Then they are going to Paris fora few days. My sister loves France. I give her French gifts every year because she was born on Bastille Day--the day the French peasants stormed the Bastille and Marie Antoinette was supposed to have said "Let them eat cake" when she was told the people were without even bread to eat. My sister has been to France before--she went for a D-Day anniversary once. After Paris they will go to London, spending a few days and then fly home to Los Angeles. Off to get some coffee. I will chat with you soon.

Hello. It has been a while. Probably only writing for me now. I have been spending my time cleaning out my daughter's room so I could get in there. Doesn't that sound so bad! I got it cleaned out completely on December 31, 2013. My sister was coming on New Year's Day and I had a deadline. When I was done I was truly embarrassed. I have two stacks of art boxes (13.5x13") floor to ceiling of UFO's. Most I admit are things I started on a whim or maybe they are wool projects--but whatever, there are at least two projects that I have all the patterns and fabric (wools) and haven't touched at all! As I write that I think there are more.....So, 2014 is the year of Unfinished Projects. I am going to finish all those block-of-the-month projects. I haven't yet begun any of that! I have loved hiding in the room away from my husband and his loud (but mostly nice) friends. I have read a few books. Right now I am reading Divergent by Veronica Roth. I have cleaned a lot and have really tried to keep it up. That alone takes away from quilting time. That cleaning thing might not last very long! News: My son did well on his grades from CSUSacramento. It was his first semester so he is proud. My friend's daughter is coming down from Seattle. Her husband is going to Afghanistan in March. This might be the only time to see them--or at least him.....until he comes back from the middle east. Sew, sew, sew! Quilt, quilt, quilt! Until next time, Julia