THE NICHE OF A QUILTER, READER, PET LOVER, AND GARDNER

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

HOW SWEET

I just had to post some pictures of my trip to South TX . The little girl is daughter of a my cousin's daughter who I consider my younger sister. I cared for her for so many years when she was little.We are still very close to this day. I love her kids and being around her young daughter fulfills my desire for a granddaughter. She wanted to come home with me. Hopefully she can spend it me with me during school vacation. Seeing her 14 year old who is 6 foot 3 really made me feel old and tiny. Her middle son is my godson and boy does he look like his grandfather,my cousin. I love those kids.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

AFTER IKE

Fleeing IKE At the out of town hospital Only the stilts left where houses once were

Boats on street One of my favorite antique places.
I finally have electricity and the internet again, I'm so happy. My husband, son and I left to get away from IKE on Thursday the day before it hit Galveston. There is no way I wanted to stay for that monster hurricane. I went through two when I was a kid and I remember my family taking shelter at a school and just seeing the trees swaying and branching flying by the windows. My family and I headed to south TX and had no problem with the traffic. Everyone in Galveston and Houston were evacuating north. Why, I don't know. My in-laws live in that part of TX so we got to visit with my sweet father-in-law. One of my chihuahuas was so stressed out she got severe bloody runs and I had to put her in the animal hospital. She was terrified and wouldn't eat nor drink so they had to fill her up with fluids. The vet and workers at Border Animal hospital were great. We came back home on Friday a week after the hurricane and it was and still is a mess. Thankfully, nothing happened to our house. All the shingles are on and the arbors and patio are still in tact. We did have a lot of tree limbs and debris in the front and back yard. Oh, but what was totally disgusting was the rotten food in my fridge and freezer. There was a 15 lb. turkey and 3 boxes of ice cream in my freezer so you can imagine the smell. The lady who lives two houses from mine had a tree fall on her roof. Seabrook and Kemah which are about 3 miles from us and where we go to enjoy the sail boats and buy seafood is terrible all of those seafood places are no longer there and there are boats on the street. Oh, my three cats who were left outside to fend for themselves made it through the hurricane. Don't get upset with me but they say animals are safer being free than locked up. I'm pretty sure they spent the hurricane under our shed. They learned how to hunt for their food while we were gone. I have two friends who stayed through the hurricane and they say it was a nightmare and will not ever do it again. Galveston lost four feet of the beach sand and I mean four feet deep.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

GREAT BUYS

I have found some really good finds lately and when I think it's something some thing other quilter will like I'll post it in my blog under "Great Finds" The first thing I found at Michael's,well, my husband spotted it and told me about it, is this great lazy Susan letter holder, brush holder, sew gadget holder, etc... it also has little drawers on the bottom right above the black band, i just haven't removed that paper band. I love, it and what was even better is that I got it with a 50% off coupon. I'll be using these two fabrics for a baby boy's quilt. I'll do some free motion quilting on it for practice. I got this for a niece's daughter and I had great fun picking this fabric. Sonia, the little girl is into princess stuff big time. I don't make girl quilts often because I have three sons so any time I shop for little girl stuff I have a blast.

When I saw this iron I just had to buy. It's 4 inches long and it's electric which is what I liked. I think it's great for ironing small pieces of fabric but I bought for spreading melted wax on paintings by ironing it smooth. I already have another small iron for fabric. I'm a big gadget freak and usually buy anything that will make my life easier.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

DAY IN GALVESTON

Yesterday my husband and I spend the day in Galveston Island. The weather was just beautiful with a very nice breeze. We walked the Stand which are many blocks of old beautiful buildings that were made into shops many years ago. The buildings are old Victorian style and most of Galveston has old Victorian homes as well. I'm standing in front of a small eating place called The Wall. There is a huge brick wall with a waterfall. You can eat inside or outside and on weekends they have live music. The prices are reasonable and the food is great.

Monday, September 01, 2008

QUILTING ALMOST DONE

I am about to be done with this baby. I am quilting 1/4" around the border. I will probably be done today. I have moved my small pvc frame into my computer room where I can be close to the computer and t.v. I had it in the living room but I'm more comfortable in this room. I swear I don't know why it's taken me so long to finish this little quilt. I'm ashamed to even say how long it's been. I spent most of the day yesterday organizing some drawers in the room that had all my computer/desk supplies. Everything was kind of just thrown into the drawers and it was driving me crazy. I also went to Micheal's to see if I could find a marker that's made by Pentel. You remove the tip and fill the tube with water so you can go over water color drawings. I didn't find it but I did manage to buy $64 worth of stuff and that's because i used a 50% off coupon on a stamp. I bought more acrylic paints, water color paper, oil pastels, and blenders. If my hubby had gone with me we both could've used a coupon but he didn't want to. What a waste of a coupon UGH! Is it any wonder I can't finish my little quilt, I can't seem to sit my booty down long enough.