"Like a dog meowing..."

I don't know how my husband finds these things, but he keeps sending them to me and I have to share!

JMB

Midweek...and new visitors that are here to stay.

For 3+ years I have been talking and talking about my chickens...you know those ones I am "going to" get and have in the back yard?  I talk about the eggs and how great they are and how great it will be to have some slug eaters, and blah, blah, blah.  Well, I finally took the boys to the feed store and reserved some chicks.  I did it after school pick up one day.  I did it just so I couldn't back out again.... and here they are, come home to roost.
The little yellow ones are definitely the cutest, mostly because the black ones are always trying to poke their eyes out.  It must be the mother in me, I am very protective of them and I chide those mean black ones.  The yellow ones are Buff Orpingtons and so far their names are Chirp and Twitter (no, not the social networking site)
This one here is queen of the mean chicks.  I understand the need for a pecking order, but the eyes??  Can't you peck each other's feet??  Please?  The black ones are Barred Rock and their names haven't stuck yet.  My sister wants to name one Charlie, I don't know why.

When I told my husband that I FINALLY got the chicks...he kind of smiled in a strained way, I think that he probably thought that I was just a-talking about it again this year...  I totally understand where he is coming from...with two wild boys and another baby on the way plus a kitchen remodel...what are we going to do with these birds? 

Well, after a week, some thought, moving of chicks....he came to me today and said "Those chicks are really cute.  I held one today...even though I said that I wouldn't...they are really cute.  How about the boys and I clean out their box today?"  See, I knew that he would want to be a chicken farmer too...it just takes a little time!

JMB

Horseplay and DQS6, finished and sent!!!!

Here is my latest offering to the swap gods...  Man, I had such a hard time starting it, but once it got going, it was finished before I knew it.  I decided that I could share some of my vintage rickrack, because it was just the perfect color for that Moda repro fabric.  I love rickrack, my friend Emily recently posted a fancy way to zest up your flops.  I might do the same...love the rickrack!
Here is a tiny peek of another swap... I have to say that I felt like these two quilts were on the "sweeter" side of my quilting talents.  I don't venture over there very often, but I did like visiting for a while.

To be honest, I had picked my fabrics for these swaps and for weeks I got NO WHERE.  I just kept staring at the fat quarters and they were mocking me with their cute matchy-matchy-ness.  Finally, I just made some 9-patches, really a great block.  A wonderful block that has really stood the test of time....oh the 9-patch, I sing to the a song of thy greatness....

OK, lost myself for a moment.  But, if you are every having a quilting block (no pun intended!!) I think, MAKE a 9-patch---you will use it sometime!

Horseplay:

My mother-in-law has befriended the lovely Teddy (pictured here).  This is amazing only for the fact that she has been afraid of horses for the last... well, her whole life.  Well, she has been doing a bit of horse therapy and is loving it.  Teddy is an old dude, but very friendly and understanding of people who have been less than horse-crazy.  She goes out to the barn a few times a week and grooms him and enjoys the outdoors.  Last week we got to go out with her and the boys were just tickled to play with the horses.
They both did such a great job of quietly feeding Sparky. (a friend's horse)  We all liked him because he is a very delicate eater, he has very gentle lips and I was only a bit terrified that my blondie's tiny fingers would get munched off.
See, look at those lips...very delicate!
Here is my most recent horse crush.... Odin.  HE IS SO GORGEOUS!!!!  He is (I believe) half Friesian and half Mustang.  He is very young, but SO pretty.  (Small background... I always wished for a horse when I was a kid, I read every book and magazine I could get my hands on...I would even wake up in the morning and peek outside with the hope that my prayers had been answered and a horse was tired to our tree.  Long story short, when I was 11 (?) we moved to the country and bought a pregnant horse.  It was a dream to have a horse to ride AND a baby horse to train.  When my parents got divorced we had to sell them and it was pretty sad... I still miss them.  I love to go and visit barns and things like that for the great smell and getting to be around these beautiful animals.  Someday...someday again...)

It was fun to share my horsey love with the boys, but it also made me wonder how on earth my parents let my brother and I ride up in woods alone?  It was great, I loved it... but I don't know if I could let my kids do it.  It is probably all about baby steps... maybe after they learn to ride a bike.

JMB

Scenes from a sunny week!

Heaven is...

Laying in the hammock and watching the wind blow petals out of the pear tree...
Doing puzzles in the sunshine...in your pajamas.

Having unlimited time (and patience) with an "I Spy" book,
Watching a boy and a dog enjoy being together,
Eating graham crackers in the cool, cool grass,
Waiting and then seeing the garden wake up,
Having two boys that really enjoy the finer things in life...like trying out the massage chairs at Bi-mart.

Discovering on Thursday morning that you are going to have a little girl!

I hope you all enjoyed your week as well... there wasn't any sewing going on around here, but there were plenty of other things...

JMB

What the husband leaves behind...

Dancing monkey

Is that catchy?? Probably not.

Yesterday, in the 18 hours that my husband was home between trips he gave us presents... They were all purchased at the airport in Seoul and he said that they had to have a real Korean flair. My kids got these cute and funny stuffed animals that make whistle and kissing noises and I got my new best friend...

the solar dancing aqua monkey

He said I could put it in my craft room where there is great light and I can watch the monkey dance. I thought the monkey could help me with dishes and sit in the kitchen window. (Sorry honey, that is where I spend A LOT of time, WAY more time than sewing, and I want to enjoy the monkey's cuteness.)

So-- this morning he jetted off to the Big Easy, where I am sure he will be enjoying sugary beginets tomorrow morning....I will be right here waiting for his return, washing the dishes and watching my monkey dance!

Wiggle Monkey! Wiggle!
JMB

Things I have found lately...

Hi there friends!

This I read in the paper today.  It was in a story written by Bob Welch and is attributed to writer Barry Lopez,

"If you are polarized, you're paralyzed.  The loudest mouths are often people who have nothing to say to any of us."

That was thought provoking, I just hate the thought that you are EITHER right OR left, EITHER for us OR against us....

Wait, I just got interrupted by an email from my husband (he is in Korea on a business trip) and he sent us this, go watch it... ( it is worth it to see Simon Cowell's face during the performance) if you ever had a dream and then maybe thought that you were too old to see it through.  Just go watch it.  Thanks Sweetie!  Of course I cried, that is what I do. 

Then, I read something that a friend posted about and I just liked it and thought that others might like it too.

That is about it for today.  I am so excited to share my chair quilt for "Show and Tell" tonight at my guild meeting.  Hopefully you and I will be meeting up again soon!

JMB

Momma's chair, come and sit a spell...

Hello friends,

I have so much to say...how will it all come out?

I don't even know, I feel like everything has been oozing out the edges lately.  Because, I think, I have been stoppering up the creative fountain....and it has to come out somewhere.  I have been missing the ol' blog, but sometimes the words aren't there.  Sometimes you have to be quiet, sometimes your camera breaks, and sometimes you just don't know where to start.

Let's start here:

1)  I really hate cancer, just hate it.  I don't like it when it happens to people I don't know, but then I just really hate it when it happens close to me too.  I hate that doctors don't have the answers, just best guesses.  That I am old enough now to know that, OK, I have known it for a while.  I hate that the unknown brings up so many questions about the known.  I find it difficult to deal with the ways that others around me deal with their feelings and it is different from my way of dealing...I know that this is OBVIOUS, but I am always right, why can't people see this??

I have been thinking a lot about death and life.  I have come to the conclusion that you can't really prepare for death and that FOR ME, I need to just live in the moment of life.  Simply put, people are only in your life for as long as they are going to be, SO I am just going to appreciate what is happening right NOW, and live LIFE.  I am strong enough to deal with death, so I am going to use that energy when it is necessary.  I am not going to waste my strength by thinking that I know when death is coming and getting ready for it.  I have wasted many hours, probably days, preparing myself for catastrophes that have yet to visit me.  The only thing I have gained from these worries are 2 grumpy furrows that bisect my otherwise flawless forehead.  

So this is me living and moving on.

My friend Beth started chemotherapy this week.  She met up with some doctors in Texas and they came up with a plan.  She is hopeful and I am following her lead.  Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers they have been a buoy to her spirit and mine.

2)  I was feeling really low the other day and decided that I needed to just sit down and quilt... whether I felt up to it or not.  I was listening to the Creative Mom Podcast #126, which I really like, and there was a song by Joshua Kadison featured on it.  I have heard this song before and thought "nice", but for some reason this project I was working on, my chair quilt, the words to the song, and the desert I had been feeling internally...The words to "Sanctuary" really spoke to me.

Sounded like an angel singing somewhere.
Sounded like an angel singing,
"Sanctuary, sanctuary.
Let me be your sanctuary.
Sanctuary, sanctuary.
Let me be your sanctuary.
When you cannot find the light
of your own shining star
I will (let me) help you to remember
who you truly are.
who you truly are.
Let me be your sanctuary."

This chair quilt, when I started it, I was thinking about all the times that I just want to sit down and take a rest, find some time for myself.  It is a momma's chair.  I had such a hard time finding time to work on it that I finally started getting up at 6 so that I could work on it.  I put all of my favorite tiny scraps in it, some kitty fabric from a swap friend, funny round-faced symphony men, some errant strawberries.  I loved piecing it all together.  It is a vacation chair. 

I think I stopped quilting it when Christmas presents needed to be finished and entertaining needed to happen.  Other things came up...you all know the drill, I put it away.  Things for yourself can always be put aside for later, right?  Maybe not.  

Finishing it Saturday, in the depths of the 5th (?) cold of the season, I was giddy with excitement and so glad that I made time for myself again.  I was a much nicer wife and mom that day.  I really need to remember that the MAKING is a place I need to be often.  I am sure that I have written about this before, and I know that I will write it again.  For me the Creation and the Making are resting places for me, safe places, the place that my most genuine self lives.  TAKE NOTE SELF!!!  Remember, remember, remember....

(here is a blast from the past, 1/1/2008)

3) For the capper today...

(I even have more, but this seems like a nice ending for today.)

Currently, we are a family of four and a mango... come September we will be a "Table for 5, please!" 

Yes, my fatigue and some of the ups and downs of late are all due to the precious little mango growing in my belly....bigger and bigger everyday.  We are all very excited, the boys are SUPER excited...  I am kind of in shock (this was expected and my sweet husband says that I felt this way the last 2 times too.) but I just can't stop thinking about "Who the heck is this person coming to live with us??"  "I hope they fit in with all of our weirdness...." and "WELCOME!"

That is me today, what is new with all of you??

JMB