A Visit From Ofie!

Howdy all! I have the most wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Ofie, my International Sister, and her friend (well mine now too!), Mair, came to visit me! We had a great time, although, their visit was much too short! After their visit, I have decided that I must go to Costa Rica to visit her now! Hubs and I discussed it, and it looks as though it may be possible! YAY!

Anyhoo, I wanted to share some pics from their visit, and yes Mair, you are on here too!

Sunday night we all went out to dinner, and Texas Roadhouse was the chosen place! Great food as always!

On Monday it was shopping time! We went to Hobby Lobby first, and we had a blast! I think between the 2 of us, we have 1 of everything in that place! HA!



Hmmmmmmm.....I think she was happy! I know I was!!!!!!!!!!

Browsing for notions.....so many choices!

I believe Mair was trying to keep out of all of the photos.....hee hee hee.....Robert got you!

Next we were on to Jo-Ann's! They were so busy!

Aren't we fabulous, Daaaaaahling???After all this shopping, it was nice to sit and relax for a few minutes. Ofie and Mair were making Yo-Yo's while Robert and I got things cooking on the grill!

A toast to friends!

Mair, Ofie, Me and Robert, right before the girls made their trek home!

What a great experience this was! I have many great memories of their visit, and they will stick with me for a very long time! I have to thank Crazy Judyth for pairing us up as International Sisters, because I truly believe that she created a match made in Heaven! Thank you Judyth!

I hope everyone is having a super Thursday!

Christy

Red Hat Wild

Good afternoon!

I have spent the better part of the past week working outside in my gardens and I must say, they are looking great! I can't wait to get this all finished so I can enjoy the rest of the summer. Today's chore is trimming bushes and pulling yet more weeds! Sheesh....I swear, I've pulled enough weeds to fill up a dump truck! This is what happens when you ignore your gardens for a complete year.....and that's exactly what I did. I spent all last summer raising baby birds and that doesn't leave much time for anything, including sleep!

I finally finished Jenny's Your Choice Round Robin block! YAY! I think this block is beautiful! And FULL! The ladies before me sure did a great job, but they didn't leave me room to work! So I did a little, and I'm passing it along to the next gal! So here's the pics!

This is the full block....


I added the shoe, purse and hat along with the seam treatment right below it......

Here I added the long vine with red beaded flowers.............

I hope Jenny likes the work that I did to her block, I know she'll love it when she get's it back! It really is looking great!

Well, I guess I should get to work outside, Memorial Day Weekend is getting closer and closer!

Have a super weekend!

Christy

I've Been Tagged

Okay! I've been tagged by JK, and well, I don't know what I can tell you, but I'll part the weeds and see if there's a bloom somewhere in this head of mine! Gee thanks JK, now I have to THINK!!!

Here goes:

1. I was a Girl Scout for 13 years. I did it all, sold cookies, (Tagalongs are STILL my favorite!), sold calendars, went to camp, did Father-Daughter overnights, learned how to ride horses through the Horsewoman program, and I have even spent weeks at Camp Munsee clearing trails, cleaning up the camp, and even helping to build the M&M bridge. A couple of summers were even spent as a co-leader!

2. I love nature. I can sit and listen to the wind blow and the birds sing and the squirrels bark all day long! I do NOT like thunderstorms. That is the one thing about nature that I can live without! I garden in the spring, summer and fall and I birdwatch (and squirrel and coon and bunny and oppossum) year round!

3. I am very musical. I love to sing! I also have played violin for somewhere around 20 years, and I have just recently started playing piano and guitar. And there are vast differences between the violin and the guitar! I will listen to any kind of music except rap. I don't like it and I probably never will! My favorites are country, classical and classic rock!

4. I love cars! Not these new fandangled things either, REAL cars! I have a '65 Mustang and my Hubs has a '50 Chevy pickup that has been slightly customized. I have gone to many a car show with my 'Stang and won a few as well! (Never first, but hey, a trophy is a trophy!) We go mostly now to visit with the good friends that we've made along the way and to see all of the amazing cars out there!

5. I don't have a lot of friends. I have never had a lot of friends. I have a couple that I hang out with once in a while, and lots of online friends, but it just doesn't seem to be the most important thing in my life. It is hard for me to make friends that understand that my home and family come first. The ones I have now seem to get it, and appreciate it!

6. I am curious. I want to learn everything! And when I do start learning, I really get into it and learn everything I can about it! I believe that is one reason why I love crafts and especially CQ so much, it's a constant learning process. My Mom taught me to have a thirst for knowledge at a very young age and it has stuck, so much so that I think I drive her crazy sometimes!

7. I love animals. All animals. I have no standards, although, I'm not real crazy about the hawks that have been feeding on my songbirds in the backyard, I still couldn't kill them. Trap them and move them, yes, but kill them no. I have taken in so many animals over the years that this place has literally been a zoo! Right now I have 15 pets....5 cockatiels, a lovebird, a robin, a mouse, a rat, 4 guinea pigs, a bunny and a cat. I'd love to have more, they are my life! I can spend a whole day just piddling around playing with my kids! Oh, and they are spoiled. VERY spoiled! Especially the cat, as she has been with me the longest!

Well, I hope I did this being tagged thing justice! I guess maybe there are some things about me that others may not know.......

Now I'm supposed to tag some other folks, so I'm gonna tag Lori K. at http://love2quilt22002.blogspot.com/index.html and Flora at http://florasbeecrazyquilter.blogspot.com/

Thanks JK, I kind of enjoyed sharing!

Christy

Spring Fling!

Howdy!

Just finished up my Spring Fling block for the swap over at CQ for Newbies and I wanted to post a quick pic of it before I head off to bed! I love this block, it turned out so pretty! And that cute little ducky.....I swear.....just adorable! LOL! Anyway, I hope whoever ends up with her keeps feeding her lots and lots of blueberries and raspberries....as that is what she enjoys most! She also requires a HUGE pond to swim in, HA!

Here goes, Enjoy!

Okay, I'm off to bed! Have a super Thursday!

Christy

Row, Row, Row Your Boat!

Hello All!

Hello rain! It is finally raining here! Woo Hoo! We needed it very badly, the ground was so dry and hard it was cracking! For that to happen during spring around here is surely not a good sign of things to come. Could we see a drought this year? I'm thinking it's very possible. And what little rain we did get was soaked up immediately. My poor seedlings are so pitiful, they sure don't like city water!

Well, I finally got around to starting my Spring Fling block for the swap, and I must say, it is cute! I love it! I don't have much done on it quite yet.....so I'll take a pic of it when I have more to brag about!

However, I've been working on Ati's, 12 Dancing Princesses round robin block! I'm not done with it quite yet either, but I wanted to post a pic of what I have done so far! In her notes to the group, Ati had mentioned a princess boat. I have never read this story, or saw the movie, so I had no idea what she was looking for. So, after a little bit of research, I gave her a princess boat. I hope she and her Granddaughter both enjoy it! I've named this little gal Selena Swan, and I think she turned out rather well!

Now that I have gotten this done, I need to work on the seam treatments, and I have a few ideas for those too! I'll post pictures when I have them finished!

Now, for an update on my recent visitors. I've not seen hide nor feather of any of them since! ACK! I'm so disappointed! However, I got a report from my neighbor yesterday.....he leaves very early morning, and he said that he saw a fox running away from my house! Oh WOW! Yeah, that's a pretty strange sight in the city, but for some reason that didn't surprise me too much. We are losing so many citizens and businesses in this city, that it is almost a ghost town these days! So, seeing a fox doesn't surprise me one bit. I just hope my bunnies stayed hidden when he was around!

Well, Friends, I'm off to the grocery store today, and for those of you who don't know, that is a fate worse than death for me! I swear, you will never encounter a ruder folk than at the grocery store that I patronize. However, we all must eat, including the piggies, birdies, bunny and kitty~so I go, faithfully, every week!

Have a great day,

Christy

Flowers and Weeds and Ants, OH MY!

Good morning!

After working in my gardens all weekend, I have sore muscles and a few stories to tell!

First of all, I had some excitement in the yard over the weekend, and of course, I didn't have my camera. I had a couple of new visitors that I am overly excited about! First, I glanced out at the feeder and saw a Indigo Bunting! Wow! Those little birds are gorgeous! And then about 10 minutes later, I looked again and I had a White Breasted Nuthatch! Now, I don't know if they are regular visitors or not, but I've never seen either of them before! I hope they come back! This morning, I arrived home to find a baby gray squirrel dancing around on the sunflower bin! Now, this isn't too big of a surprise for me, as I have been seeing Momma for a while now. And she's obviously a Momma.....if you know what I mean. I sure wish I had the camera!

I have pulled weeds, and pulled weeds, and pulled more weeds! I swear, my fingertips are so sore from grabbing on to those short little things and getting them out of my flower beds! UGH! I hope it's worth the work! I wanna see some blooms before long! Of course, no trip around the yard pulling weeds is complete unless I find a nest full of fire ants. Oh yeah, I found them and they promptly found me! I didn't realize that I had gotten into them until I felt them crawling all over me! Oh-My-God! Those little things can bite!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ended up dancing around the yard flapping my shirt doing the fire ant dance! Sheesh! I bet the neighbors thought I'd lost my mind at that point! I need a sign that says, "Beware the crazy fire ant dancer!" Oh and speaking of weeds, I have the smartest weeds in Indiana! They have all planted themselves right smack dab in the middle of a plant or right beside one. Just to make it inconvenient to dig them out. Why is that? Are they really that smart???? Ugh...they are gonna get a BIG fooling in a couple of weeks, as I am gonna dig out a lot of my flowers and revamp my flower beds! HA! Hide from me now, Weeds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't have any blooms in the yard to speak of, but as I am getting ready to haul my houseplants outside for the summer, I happened to notice my cactus is in full bloom! Now, I've been told that this is a Christmas Cactus, and I've been told that it's an Easter Cactus. Either way.....it is a cactus! It blooms around Christmas time and Easter each year, so maybe it's just an every holiday cactus! LOL! Anyway, I love it, it always has such pretty blooms! Here's a pic:

Well, it's getting to be that time....have a great day all!

Christy

Gasoline Boycott on May 15, 2007

Hello Friends!

There has been an e-mail circulating about a gasoline boycott on May 15, 2007. I wholeheartedly agree with this action! We need to ban together and put a dent in these oil company pockets! If we ban together as a nation and even across the world and boycott gasoline for just one day, imagine the reaction that we will get! And don't run out and buy on the 14th or the 16th either, buy a few days ahead or afterwards....giving them record profits the day before a boycott isn't going to do much good. If we can space things out so that they don't see too large of a difference in the other days that week, we can really hurt them like they are hurting us each time we fill up to get to work or school.

For those of us who unfortunately have to rely on gasoline to get from point A to point B, or even for our jobs as delivery drivers and truck drivers are really paying the price for these tycoons' weekly price gouging! Where I live, it is nothing for gasoline to jump 20 cents a week, as it did this week yet again. The current price for Regular Unleaded is $3.19 per gallon and this is absolutely rediculous! Why? Because oil companies are posting record profits as we pillage to pay these prices!

So Americans and friends around the world, ban together and put your foot down. If we don't take a stand, who will look out for us?

Remember....Say NO to gasoline on May 15, 2007!

Christy

A Tail of Two Kitties

Good Morning!

As you know from previous posts, I am hosting a Kitty Kitty Round Robin over at CQ for Newbies. As these blocks landed on my doorstep the excitement began to stir. When I opened the packages the creativity started running wild! These are two of the most gorgeous blocks I've ever had the pleasure to put stitches on! Being the first to work on a block is usually a hard place for me to be, but this time I didn't have any trouble at all! As soon as I sat down to work on them they started talking up a storm to me!

The first tail belongs to Julie. This block is just so art deco! She is hoping to use this block as a tribute to one of her kitties that she lost to feline leukemia. I had so many ideas for this block, but this little black and silver kitty just jumped right on there! I then added the white silk ribbon roses and butterflies. The seam treatment just fell right into place after that!



The second tail belongs to Flora. This block is so fun and light and airy! I actually have some of the same fabrics, but I ended up not using them. After seeing this block, I wish I had! They sure made for an adorable block! I outlined the patch of the kitty climbing the heart tree, and done all of the seams bordering it. I also added the silver kitty charm underneath it. Beside that patch I added the pink paw print ribbon and the stitches along it, with the cute little suncatcher kitty charm.

I had so much fun working on these blocks, and I can't wait to get started on the next ones! (Yes, they are already here...LOL)

Have a great Friday!

Christy