Mango Man

I get up early, usually very early, like between 4 and 5. Once I'm awake, and it's morning, I seldom fall back to sleep, and so rather than toss and turn, thinking about doing stuff, I get up and do it. Usually though, that doing is sitting in front of a computer, responding to email and checking in on a variety of blogs. That all leads to an early, early breakfast, and lately I've been heading out to the sewing room after a couple of hours.

My husband, who enjoys sleeping in and getting up at a more reasonable hour, has his breakfast later. While my breakfast is the usual coffee with manually frothed milk and a slice of toast with peanut butter, his is hot cereal, which I find rather repulsive. My daughters both love hot cereal since he used to fix it for them. I'm not opposed to cooking it, just eating it, and there are a lot of foods that fall in that category like applesauce and canned peaches and pears. (Yuck--he likes the soft Bartlett pears.)

Lately his morning cereal has featured fresh mango, and since they've been large he has shared some with me, bringing it out to the sewing room. All he needs is a cape, and he'll be a real super hero. In my book anyway. What could be more super than a man serving me mango in a Fiesta bowl with a lime slice for garnish?

Lucky You!

My older daughter's fiance gave me lots of labels from his clothing, Lucky Brand, which inspired me to make some things. I made some coasters--which he covets and doesn't use for fear they'll get ruined! Silly boy!

The new love stamps gave me an idea for a wall hanging. They are decorating their bedroom in "primitive" style fortunately for me...

Plum Jam

We got home and were surprised at the ripe plums on our little plum tree. It's really quite productive for not being more than a bush.

I picked all the fruit and it was just enough for a batch of plum jam. I tasted one---yuck! Most definitely better suited to jam rather than eating. I'm hoping to score some apples and peaches in the coming month.

Wyoming rocks...

We had a wonderful camping vacation. My cortisone shot in my knee enabled me to hike and enjoy it, lasting just long enough. It's worn off now and I'm on the queue for a total knee replacement. It should be sometime after December. Picture at right is actually in the Dolores River Canyon in Colorado on our way home.


Our close encounter with a bighorn sheep, which liked to hang out in the campground and walked through our campsite. I was a little concerned that he would knock over our solar panels. Found out later that they had a pair of sheep that liked to hang out in the campground and they relocated them, but one managed to return. I was respectful of his wildness, and didn't get too close. We enjoyed cooler temperatures and beautiful scenery.

Summer in a blur

June is gone, and we're half past July. I had surgery on my right thumb, and read the month of June away with my thumb in a splint. I read the entire Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, and then went on to the first two books of the Twilight series. Now waiting for the third book from the library or paperback edition whichever comes first.

The best laid plans...my right thumb surgery didn't go as easily as the left, with an infection after the pins were removed which put me in the hospital for several days on IV antibiotics. It's now healing nicely, and I'm slowly regaining strength and motion.

Back to sewing. I made some postcards, and finished up another couple of donation quilts. Looks like we're going to take the camper out and head north, to cooler temperatures and maybe some hot springs. I need to get some more books, but my thumb is also well enough to knit.

It's raining, it's pouring

There was a nice reward this evening for the an entire day of off and on showers, an awesome, bright, double rainbow. I convinced everyone to go see it even though it was still sprinkling a bit.

We've also had a little early morning visitor. Not the greatest picture quality, but he was busy going all along the fence line checking out plants for insects? grubs? I wouldn't mind it if he found another place to hang out. They are so pretty, if only they didn't stink! We're getting lots of migrant birds now. Western Tanagers have found the oranges I put out there, and the hummingbirds need air traffic control for the feeders!


Pat is here and we are having a quilting holiday, trying to get a bunch of quilts done for Dr. Kaufman. Together we are so much more productive.

WIP Wednesday

Hard to believe another month has passed since I last posted. Spring is a busy time of year. There is so much happening outside and new birds keep arriving every day. I finished another pair of socks, and started on my third. So now, no matter whatever else I'm doing, I have a pair of socks in the works as well. I enjoy the knitting, and can knit while riding in the car or watching TV. I don't have to be fast, just keep plugging along on it.

These are both made with Panda Cotton, 59% bamboo, 25% cotton, 16% elastic nylon. I'm hoping they will wash well, and shouldn't shrink like my wool socks.

I'm trying to whittle down my UFO pile. This is a quilt I started last summer for a friend. It's a Nine-Patch Pizzazz, which I don't tire of making. While working on this one, I also cut focus fabric for a donation kid quilt. I won't bother saying I'll try to post more often. Maybe after I have surgery on my other thumb and won't be able to knit or sew as much.

Windy, windy, windy

The wind has been blowing for the better part of a week--seems even longer. It's wearing thin. Tomorrow we're going to town. Thanks to the generosity and help of friends, I have another five quilts to take to Dr. Kaufman. I also finished a couple of baby quilts for gifts. This is another quilt top from Sophie, to which I added borders. I decided to go with more girly colors since the previous one was predominantly blues. I also have a stack of I Spy squares to make up into more quilts.



The blocks in this quilt were from Tonya's "fungly challenge" which seemed rather hideous and destined to become a UFO. With help at the retreat in Phoenix, I was able to put them together into a bright, not too hideous child's quilt, and I did give it a milder back, so that it could be loved at least one one side! I still have quite a few of the fungly blocks left--enough to make another quilt. Some of my blocks had little contrast. I was trying to make the fabrics play nicely which was a mistake, so they may not find a home.

Seems I was a bit premature with my assessment of the peach tree. Since not all of the blossoms had opened, it seems like it's trying hard to keep the remaining blossoms from freezing. It's been tough, and now only time will tell if we get any fruit. I'm ready for spring.

Spring storm

Yesterday early morning I just had to snap this picture as I was putting dishes away. I love my Fiesta dishes. They are bright and add color to any day. This morning I need the color!

The predicted snowstorm arrived while we slept and we have a couple of inches on the ground and it's still coming down. Our poor peach blossoms! I don't think they'll recover from this. It was the last of our fruit trees to blossom but unfortunately it didn't wait long enough. This is our fourth spring here. We've had just one bumper peach crop.

Tah Dah!

Well, I just finished knitting my first pair of socks! The picture is tastefully arranged to so that the first sock is hiding beneath the second sock. I'm just amazed that I was able to do this largely without personal instruction, and depending on the wonderful resources available online.

I couldn't believe it had been the end of January since I last blogged, and now we're coming up on the end of March--okay so just a few days past the middle really. I attended the annual retreat in Phoenix. Our guest speaker this year was a very entertaining Patrick Lose.

Thanks to wonderful donations from Sophie and Pat, I was able to get some quilts done for donating to Dr. Kaufman upon my return. I have another couple ready to load and quilt.
As I sit here and try to account for the past two months, I realize my time has also been occupied with doctor visits. I started and finished a round of shots of Synvisc in my knee. So far this seems like it's going to help. Perhaps when I go back in another four months to assess the efficacy, I'll be wanting to do the same for my other knee. Also am on the queue for surgery on my other thumb. While it's not the miracle cure, the "repaired" thumb is a lot less painful.
This quilt started life as a table runner, and I think it will comfort some newly diagnosed diabetic teen as it turned out to be a generous size after adding my big borders.
Spring seems to be just around the corner, and I hope we don't get any late frost that wipes out the fruit blossoms. We have yet to see apricots from our trees, and our lilacs haven't survived a bloom killing frost since we moved here three years ago.