this and that the day after Thursday

I've canceled the paper,

but it still comes.

The rates went up to $15 a month,

which I think is just crazy,

especially when

for the most part

all that gets read is the comics.

One day,

the kids

will go down to get it,

and there won't be a newspaper in the box.

And they will be a bit sad.

~

Between the honeysuckle and the privet blossoms,
it smells divine outside.

~

Our pond is full again,
thanks to all of the recent rain we've had.

~

It's been a year since we've seen
Tony and Kacy and Hadley.

(thank goodness for technology!!)

Somehow,
even though it had been a long time,
when it was less than a year,
the ache wasn't so bad.

It's also been a year since we've seen
Lana and Luke and the boys,
but that ache has been familiar for a long time....

Fortunately
it hasn't been quite so long since we've seen T and his crew,
and hopefully we will be able to coordinate schedules for a visit soon.

~

We did get to see Milo recently,
so that was fun.

I always think he is going to miss the kids so much
 when we leave;
he sure does love to play with them!
And of course
they all adore him.

They taught him to say 'butt' on Wednesday,
so they feel quite fulfilled.

~

Speaking of Wednesday,
it was our turn with Gramma.

For 4 years now,
we've been driving up to NWA
every six weeks
to visit
and take her out for a meal
(usually lunch, so I can avoid driving at night)
When we get back to her apartment,
the kids will usually play go fish with her
 while I tend to her feet.
After about 20 minutes,
she's ready for us to go.

She's had memory issues since her stroke several years ago,
but there has been notable decline
in cognitive function in the past year or so.

This time,
before we made it to the ice cream shop for dessert,
she'd forgotten we even went to dinner
(an hour made rather unpleasant by her complaining
the. entire. time.)

That was a little disheartening...

~

I brought home a big bag of clothes from my sister in law,
which prompted a quick sort and straighten
of my clothes shelves.

I like it when my shelves are tidy.

~

Speaking of tidy,
there are quite a few spaces in this house
that are nowhere near tidy,
and we are having friends over this evening,
so I best remedy that.

for the birds

We've had multiple birds' nests
built in the new house.

The first one was when it was pretty much just sticks.

(the house; not the nest...)

I thought it was sweet.
And I left it.
The mama must've been killed;
I quit seeing her,
and the eggs never hatched.

The others were built
when we were a bit further along,
and I didn't want birds pecking at my wires and insulation and what not
so we removed the nests.

One went up in the garage,
and I figured - it's the garage,
it's practically outside.
And I let it stay.

Big mistake.

Huge.

We've relocated the nest,
but they've been quite happy without it.
The little buggars won't leave!

There is bird poop all over the place

and they make such a ruckus.

The only good thing about this 

is

they're quite friendly.

(But I'm never allowing a bird to build a nest in or around the house again!)

's up?

I am woefully behind on blogging.

It seems that,

in the rare event

I actually have some time to write,

I can't remember the things I intended to post about.

What's sad about that is,

without my blog to help me remember,

most of those things are gone forever : / 

I don't have the steel trap mind 

I once had.

I miss it terribly.

~

I figure I'll start with a house update.

Last Tuesday,

we finished everything we needed to get done

before drywall could go up.

wooohoooo!!

It felt so good to finally get that list completed!!

First thing Wednesday morning,
I went out and took pictures of all of the walls,
which I guess, if you wanted to get technical
was the last last thing on the list.

Tyler bought me flowers for my new porch :-)
I'm going to have to screw some hooks in,
which makes me terribly nervous, for some reason.
A sawhorse works just fine for now...

And then, it proceeded to rain all day.

Thursday morning, Tyler informed me that
the supply company said
before drywall could be delivered,
we had to beef up our drive with more gravel / rock)

They were concerned about trucks sinking or some such nonsense...

The kids and I spent hours moving about 11 or 12 tons of gravel on Thursday,
then Tyler got up early Friday and moved  another 1 1/2 - 2 tons before going to work.
It turned out that our dirt guy, could make it out Friday afternoon,
and he finished the job in less than 40 minutes 

Today, at 1:19

our sheetrock arrived!!

They were only able to get about 1/3 of it off the truck though;

the hydraulics went out,

so the crane wouldn't work.

They'll try again tomorrow...

pattern testing for a rock star

Okay.

So,

maybe Judi Madsen isn't a rock star,

but she is a rockstar in the quilting world!!

She's best known for her quilting

(which is a-MAZing)

but she's also a pattern writer.

And I got to pattern test for her this week!!

It's not like she hunted me down 

because she's heard I was a great pattern tester

or anything;

she needed a few people who could make a test block super quickly

and I was available.

(the fact that I even responded is kinda funny,

considering my IG post from earlier that day)

But still I was tickled to get to do it.

(and maybe even a little bit braggy - 

I told Tyler I couldn't do anything else yesterday,

because I had a gig with a really famous quilter! :-)

I'll share my thoughts on the pattern soon.

California Dreamin' - how I love you. I thought I had used up all but a tiny tiny scrap of this pink on Jordan's quilt
and then I found 2 yards in my cabinet. I'd totally forgotten I'd found it on ebay and snatched it up. Happy day!

Now..... how to quilt it.... hmmmm

yes. I drank the (Sleeping Porch) koolaid

I confess.

When I read the word 'lawn',

I was hooked.

Add to that, the colors are so bold and summery

and the prints are just plain fun.

But

we aren't really spending any money right now,

unless it's for building the house,

food,

or other necessaries.

Every time I would see somebody get their grubby hands 

on a bundle of  Heather Ross' Sleeping Porch,

I tried to figure out a way

that I, too,

could get my grubby hands on one.

Then,

one morning, 

(the morning I saw this picture, actually)

I walked by my dresser

and noticed the envelope holding last year's birthday card

from Mom and Bill.

With money still in it!

I hadn't spent my birthday money yet;

I could buy a Fat Quarter Sleeping Porch bundle!

And so I did.

It arrived last Monday.

I starched and cut fabric for 2 baby quilts on Tuesday.

Wednesday, when my Art Gallery Specktacular in gold arrived

(yes. I totally copied Gina's brilliance.

Why recreate the wheel?!)

I starched and cut it, too.

Thursday, I sewed and trimmed half rectangles

(I should have done a few test blocks first. 

my points are nowhere near perfect : /

but I decided the fabric shines enough

that it's okay.)

and laid out the quilt.

For someone who likes 

using all the fabrics

limiting ones self

to just one fabric line

(especially with lots of repeats)

is tricksy! 

Friday

I sewed the blocks into a completed top

and Saturday,

when Tyler ran to the hardware store,

I ran outside with it

and snapped a few pictures.

to be continued....

fun with a friend

I got to go up to NWA today 

to a quilt show

with a quilting friend.

We looked at quilts, and fabric,

and talked quilting for 8 hrs.

It was so much fun!

We even tried out an Innova long arm.

Nice!

We tried out a smaller Babylock long arm (mid arm?) too,

but neither of us were impressed.

It wasn't smooth and the stitches didn't look nearly as nice as the Innova's.

My favorite quilt was a reconfigured rendition 

of Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage,

made by Barbara Hamernik

and quilted by Darlene Szabo

We got to talk to the maker for 10 minutes or so,

which was great.

I recognized it right off as (sort of) Lori Holt's pattern,
which I am not at all fond of
as written
(sorry, Lori)
but  made up like this,
with differently sized blocks,
(and some of the most 'country' blocks eliminated)
and in all reds and whites,
beautifully quilted,
I really like it.

(the judges really liked it too,
because she won first place in Judges Choice category)

We also visited for several minutes

with a spunky 75(ish) year old lady

who just recently started quilting.

I liked her!

😊

That's all for now;

I'll share a few more pictures later...

won't you be my neighbor?

Back in November,

when I was finishing up collecting fabrics

for Jordan's quilt,

I found City Block in turquoise by Micheal Miller.

It was a touch on the bright side,

but I figured it'd be the perfect fabric 

to add to the collection of prints anyways.

Jordan loves big cities,

and her (new at the time) fiancee was living in Chicago,

so 'city' really needed to be represented somehow...

no - you haven't missed the 'finished quilt' post :-) we're waiting for the full photo shoot :-)

The problem was,

the gal only sold it by the yard.

I had already bought waay too much fabric for this quilt,

and I knew I would only use a very small bit,

as the plan for that quilt was use all the fabrics!

so I couldn't really justify buying a whole yard.

(Plus,

I had recently purchased a different 'city' fabric

and the scale was too big, so I was especially gun-shy.)

I sent a convo to the shop
and explained my situation 

and asked if she'd be willing to sell me just 

a half of a yard or, even better - a fat quarter.

I also asked what it would cost.

Sally wrote back simply,

'what is your address?'

I kinda thought 'what does it matter?!'

but then figured she probably needed it 

to give me an accurate shipping quote.

So I gave it to her.

She wrote back and said,

I'll send it out tomorrow. It's on me. 

Good luck with your quilt!

Y'all ~ she blew me away!!

This was right after the election

 and there was just meanness everywhere.

But here was this person,

choosing to be kind.

(to a stranger, at that)

She could have sold me a FQ, or a half yard,

and that would have been plenty kind,

and I'd have been pleased,

but she went totally 'above and beyond'

and sent me a half yard cut 

for free.

I knew right then

that I wanted to do something to honor Sally,

and 'pay it forward'.

This week,  I sewed up a zip pouch

using a bit of the fabric she so graciously sent,

and I want to give it away.

To be entered in the drawing,

simply leave a comment

(make sure to leave an email if you're a no-reply blogger)

and tell me about a random act of kindness

that you've witnessed,

or been the giver or receiver of.

Or tell me about an idea you have 

to bless an unsuspecting person,

but you haven't had a chance to carry it out yet.

(or just leave a comment and say 'nice bag'

but I do love a story... ;-)

There is one tiny little catch.

If you win the giveaway,

I'd like you to 'pay it forward', too :-)

Make it a point 

to make someone's day,

like Sally made mine.

Shoot - you can do that

even if you don't win the giveaway ;-)

Sally has graciously given me a coupon code to share with you,
good until May 15th.
For 10% off
 your entire order in her shop (Fabrics by Sally)
use code: tracylou
😊

Thank you, Sally,

for being such an excellent example of kindness and generosity,

and by your actions - reminding me to love.

linking up with Spring-y Amanda Jean :-)

Edited to add: Giveaway is over;
the zip pouch goes to Tami,
and I will make Sally a little something, too :-)

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories!