What a day!

Sunday was filled with "Old Folks Fun" as I call it.  We went out for lunch (Wendy's dollar menu and senior drinks) and as we drove through Folsom, we went slowly past a grove of eucalyptus.  That's it! That's the fun stuff.  We love the scent it puts in the car for a few minutes.  We open all the windows and turn on the A/C and breathe deeply.  You young un's don't know what fun this is.
Oh, and then later on the way home we drove past the local park - soccer fields and a vast field of natural grasses, vernal pools (now long dried up) and studded with ancient Valley Oaks.  He says - all excitedly - "there's a fox".  Well, we had to double back because I did not see a fox... Turns out he didn't either.  It was a coyote.  Quite a tame fellow, too, cause he didn't run when I rolled the window down and had a little conversation with him.  It's quite unusual to see one this near to a road, especially in a residential area, but then it was quite near the river and the wilds surrounding.  We have seen them before, but always from a distance... get out the binoculars kind of distance.  This one wasn't 30 feet from us!  (Once, down on the river walk, we saw a baby coyote.  So cute.  And  Hobby  has seen a mountain lion when he went for walks along the river walk alone. That scares me.  For a while we called him "lion chow", mostly to impress on him how dangerous walking by himself really is. 
He's had quite a few "Indian" names.  The first was "Hunts with Tissue" because of the spider killings... and since his sister, Wonderful Woman, took up the naming practice there have been a whole series of funny names for him.  She named me Woman of Courage or WOC, but we won't tell why.
Well, for you youth, there is a glimpse into the world of fun-to-come.  Enjoy all that other stuff while you can.
No pictures today... gotta get to the laundry and the current quilt - more old folks fun.
Love to all you followers,
Terri

over 200!

Hi again,
So we were sitting on the back patio and enjoying a day that didn't even get to 80!!!! in August??? unheard of!  Anyway he starts to count up the Halloween plants... Just counting ones that actually have green shoots (not the ones where a seed was planted and has not yet germinated) there are over 200 - if you count the ones in the house, too.  We usually get close to 200 trick or treaters, so I should be done.  Oh dear... that is just too final.  I have lots of plants I want to make cuttings of yet, and decided I now know why the cherries, etc aren't germinating, so I've hatched a plan to put a few into the refrig for a few days to see if that'll help.  Picked some day lily seeds today, and planted them into yogurt cups.  I tell you it's alot of work, and I love it!  How can I stop now?  I guess I'm one of those obsessive personalities.
We had lunch at Costco and then shopped.  Got a few of those lids from boxes that will be really nice for the little plants to be conveyed to the garage.
Here is a bit from the past - one of my UFOs.  It is almost sewn together, but not in this picture.  It is only 8+years old.  9 patches in orange, yellow and red.  That'd wake you up, wouldn't it?  Again I'm having trouble getting it to go extra large.  Do you see a blue shadow around the picture?  I think that is where the image should be.

So that's all today.  Have a great weekend.  :~)
Terri

Pocket ID

Hi Friends,
Today I have scanned a picture of the pocket I put on the back of Granddaughter II's quilt.  It's paper pieced and I use the pocket to house the birthday card, and to be the label on the quilt.   Here's the pic.

   

I don't know what caused this long break, something to do with the photo and wanting it to be extra large.  Maybe it will rectify itself once published???

 I'm catching a whiff of rosemary on myself.  I've just been out in the garden/patio putting my neighbor's name on a pink rosebush.  Last week or so I told her hubby that I had a rose with her name on it, and had to make sure it did.  Anyway, any time you brush against rosemary she scents you.  I picked beans before lunch.  We got some for supper and to freeze and to give away with the rosebush.  Carrots are doing okay, and there are more tomatoes - still green - and one of my peppers is turning red!!!!!!!!!!  Transplanted a 2" tangerine for S & E, today.  Gotta transplant a bunch of other Halloween plants.  They are getting root bound in those yogurt containers. My little ones are growing up.  Sniff.  Soon they will be off to find their own way in the world.  Hurray!

    Found another quote I like:

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."    ~   Helen Keller

This one is so true in my life.  I've been looking at a closed door for over 44 years!  About time to turn around and see the beauty in this other doorway.

   Well, I'm off (really - off my rocker, literally) to work on the latest quilt.  Gotta go cut some more fabric...

Cut, Sew, Quilt!

Lotsa love,

Terri

Adding an element...

The quantity of civilization is measured by the quality of imagination.


Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
 
I have always liked quotes, and for this first addition of a quote to my blog, I chose one of my favorite storytellers.  There are alot of well known quotes about imagination. (I'm thinking especially of the Albert Einstein phrase: "Imagination is better than knowledge.")  It is a quality that is not taught, neigh, even encouraged by schools or parents, for the most part.  I say spend a few minutes every day to imagine a better world. 
 

And here is my quilty picture of the day - scanned from a photo (I'm an expert now), a bit blurry... sorry. (Can you guess what the green blob is?  Why, you are right!  It is me!)  It is the first quilt I made from the snowball pattern I found in a magazine.  I've made 6 more since, and others that were mixed with other blocks.  This one went to Project Linus, too. 

 
Love to all my followers... you know who you are!
Terri

Quilts Past

Two for one!

Hi Fans!
Well, the Hobby came home for lunch and "fixed" the camera... So hopefully here are the promised pictures.

This is the modified 9-patch currently up on the design wall. See the alternating block with only one
smaller square of color?  That will create a secondary design once the blocks are all sewn together.  (Notice my Grandma's pin cushion hanging on the wall.  It is so convenient right there.)

The rest of the pictures are just some of the little plants earmarked for trick or treaters.... There are some trees started from seed - catalpa and one acacia - there is spearmint, wisteria from seed, mother-in-laws tongue, Christmas cactus, friendly cactus, and these aren't even the ones that inhabit my window sills!

Part of the project is to reuse and recycle containers to use as pots.  (The kids last year were impressed that they could identify where the containers came from.  A good lesson to learn, I'd say.) Some of the containers are from yogurt and for the ones outgrowing those "pots" there are 2 liter soda bottles with the tops cut off. They work great for the larger plants like trees or vines.

Some seeds are not working... I'd say I have as much success as failure.  If the seeds don't work in a month or so I use the pot for some cutting.  At the front of the table here you can see Mimosa trees that were growing (as weeds) in my veggie garden.  I just plucked them out and planted them into a yogurt container.  There are very few plants in my yard that I haven't yet tried to get a cutting off of.  Honeysuckle works great!  If you look closely at one of these pictures you will find a soda bottle with a palm tree that was growing right next to the garage.

Okay, you'll have to tilt your head... don't laugh... I can't figure out how to turn this one.  You can see some of the larger plants here.  I have 2 roses left over from last year and some devil's claw.  Near the right about half way back is one of the California Buckeye.  I picked seeds in the woods and started them in pots.  I don't think anyone has one in their yards because they go dormant in July... Just a mass of interesting sticks until March or so.  It is a tree with the shortest growing season I have ever come across.  I'm going to suggest that the kids plant them into the walkway near us... they can watch it's progress there.

 Last picture today.  Behind my couch are plants!   Doesn't everybody grow plants in their living rooms? These are in a "tray" (box lid from Costco).  Some plants just can't handle the extra light outside.  There are a couple of hoya and a couple of hoya leaves... see if they will root.  It is all experimentation. All the friendly cactus - they turn bright yellow and then rot if left outside - are inside, and all the MIL tongues.  If I knew how to edit the photos I take out the dust catching walking machine next to the plants.  I like plants - not exercise.
    So thanks to Mr. QuiltNCards you have some pictures today.  I'll try the window sill ones tomorrow.
    Let me know what you think... I'd love to get some comments!  Until tomorrow.
    Terri

I missed you yesterday!

Hi Follower Friends,
    I did miss you yesterday, but I got alot done on the current quilt and I did get pictures, but somehow our camera made the pics into movies!!!!!!!!!!!  Is nothing simple in this world anymore?  I remember my first camera... no multipage manual to work it.  Put a bulb in the socket, film in the insides, and point and click.  Done!  It made good pictures and there was  nothing frustrating about it.  Now in order to show you the little plants and the quilt I have to go read up how to use the camera and how to delete the movies, or learn how to make movies (for things not moving) to put on the blog.   I think that will be another day.  I have quilt making to do. I still understand how my sewing machine works!
Terri