My favorite Easter basket

I love decorating for the holidays; all the holidays.  For some of them, I have tons of odds and ends to put out while others have only one or two.  Easter is one of the celebrations for which I have plenty of decorations.  They range from rabbits and eggs to baskets, to chicks and candy dishes.  Of course, I can’t have candy dishes out without any candy.  That spells T R O U B L E.  I  can’t have candy out without eating a piece or two (or three, or four, you get the picture) every time I walk by.  It doesn’t matter how far out of the way I have to walk in order to “walk by” the candy dish.  It could be hanging from the ceiling and I would find a way to be near it as I pass through the house.

There is one Easter decoration that is my favorite.  It is my Jim Shore “Gathering Joy” basket.  Wendy gave it to me a couple of years ago when they took a trip to Texas and we were the dogsitters.

"Gathering Joy" Easter basket

This is an absolutely lovely basket with “The Cottontails” perched on top of a flower garland and five eggs decorated with quilt motifs.

Bunny and Peter Rabbit aka "The Cottontails"

Aren’t they just the cutest couple!

Basket detail

Five fabulous eggs

It’s my favorite not only because its beautiful but because it came from my beautiful, thoughtful daughter.

This week’s Doodle was paisley. I haven’t ever doodled a paisley but it was fun.  I liked the way it flowed off my pencil and I think I’ll do more of them.

Doodle Day...Paisley

I’m behind on Today’s Title is…I tried “bubbles” tonight but they were all blurry.  GRRR  That was last week’s title.  This week’s title is “slice of reality” for which I have an idea, I just have to get my camera outside when the liquid sunshine stops falling and I’m not at work.

We are leaving Thursday for a road trip to TN.  It is touted as being very retirement tax friendly, I have never been there and we want to scout out the area.  *fingers crossed* for good weather conducive to being outside.

oooh, last by not least…Greg called last night and told me that Ella has started pulling herself up.  Exciting!

Thanks for stopping by…

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Check out Millie’s Giveaway

If you want to visit a great blog and enter her giveaway, check out Millie’s Quilting. She is giving away a cute little quilt along with some handmade carrots.  I came across this after reading a post by Jodi from Simply This, That and the Other, another wonderful blog, full of inspiration.

Inspiration, creativity, novelty…there is so much to see, learn, try, read.  I could spend an entire day going through my list of blogs but then, how would I ever get my own work done.

Thanks for stopping by…

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Working out of the box

As a rule, I have a really difficult time NOT following directions.  I don’t consider myself “creative” either.  I decided to make a serious effort to change both of those characteristics.  First, I joined Project Improv which you can read about here.  It’s all about “quilting outside the lines”.  I have made two squares for the charity quilts and I have finished a small quilt top for my granddaughter.  I found it quite liberating and have posted about it previously so I apologize if you have read any of those earlier posts.

Somewhere I came across two blogs by Helen Suzanne.  The first one it called…”Today’s Title is…” which I have also posted about but you can read about it here.  Subsequent titles have been Indian Summer, Meeting of Opposites and Bubbles.

Today's Title is...Indian Summer

Today's Title is...Meeting of Opposites

The most recent blog by her is called…”Doodle Day“.  You can probably imagine what it is all about.  Again, she posts a subject and the idea is to doodle something, anything.  I don’t think I have much drawing talent but she encouraged me and said it’s not drawing, it’s doodling.  Luckily, the first subject was Daisy which worked well for me because most of the doodling I do includes these dumb flowers and I thought they could pass as daisies.

Daisy Doodle

The newest subject is dog but I haven’t had much luck doodling anything that looks even vaguely like a dog so I gave up and just doodled the word…dog.  It’s not great but the next time will be better.  At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Dog Doodle

The idea of all these different sites is to open my mind and attempt to be creative and not follow the rules.  Sometimes it’s a real struggle, working against the grain of being a follower.  However, I’m convinced that if I keep trying different ideas and techniques, feeling creative will start to become the norm and it will get easier and easier.

What about you, does creativity and spontaneity come natural for you or have you had to work on it?  Do you have any secrets that you want to share or maybe another site?   Please feel free to share what works for you.

Thanks for stopping by…

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My Ella fix

Yesterday Bill and I drove to MA to visit with Ella and her parents.   Her dad (and my son) Greg offered to keep her home from daycare for the day.  We arrived around noon and were able to spend the afternoon “babysitting” while Greg got some work done from home.

We fed her lunch and found they she loves vegetables.  They buy frozen veggies then heat some up in the microwave.  She enjoys feeding them to herself as finger foods.

feeding myself veggies

We read some new books that were delivered by Amazon.  We took movies of her new crawling skills as well as sitting from crawling.  We played with toys, fed her a bottle (which she absolutely inhaled) changed a really disgusting diaper (don’t miss that at all, they had given her asparagus the evening before…P  U!) and put her down for a nap.

Vanessa arrived home from work about 4 while Ella was napping and the three of us were chillin downstairs.  Bill and Greg were reading and I was kind of napping.  After Ella woke up, G & V went for a driveby to look at a potential house to purchase.

Greg prepared a new fish and mushroom entre for dinner which was very good and was served with quinoa, a grain cultivated in Chili and Peru.

We left about 7 while V was nursing Ella to put her to bed.  We had both driven down and left my car on Rt 1 so that Bill didn’t have to drive back from ME for work today.  I headed home from there and he drove back to the firehouse.

I’m still dealing with conjunctivitis, 2 weeks now.  Went back to the Dr. on Wednesday and got another prescription for eyedrops.  She advised me not to wear makeup (ARGH!) for 5 days and buy everything new.  Great…it is going to be hard to keep my “no discretionary spending” pledge for the month.   I have to admit, I can’t go out and about without makeup; however, I’m home today and tom and I will be makeup free.

2 1/2" black and white strips

I finished cutting the black and white fabrics into 2 1/2″ strips for the improv border that I’m going to make for Ella’s FM quilt.  My plan is to get started on that today, right after I pack up my good china to move to Bill’s shed.  Then I can get rid of the piece-of-junk hutch that sits on the wall opposite the dining room table and that will open up the room and make it look more spacious…appealing to potential buyers.  *finger crossed* I hope.

Happy Spring everyone; thanks for stopping by…

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“My” holiday…St. Patrick’s Day

Wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I call it “my” holiday because my great grandparents on my father’s side came to this country from Ireland.  I think that makes me Irish, don’t you?  My first name is Kathleen and my middle name (Allyn) was  an Irish movie star that apparently my mother liked.

I have to work at 5:00 tonight so I cooked myself corned beef and cabbage for dinner the other night.  Everyone knows that the traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner is corned beef and cabbage.  For some reason,  in New England it’s referred to as  a New England Boiled Dinner.   Maybe that’s because it is sometimes cooked with ham rather than corned beef and they throw in carrots, potatoes and an occasional turnip.  Call it whatever you like…it’s darned good.

For breakfast I’m eating a couple pieces of Bill’s homemade Irish Soda Bread…yum.  It is also darned good and he only makes it for this holiday.  He is very generous, making a loaf for Brian (a fellow firefighter and my daughter’s ex-fiance…long story) and my best friend, Su.

The weather is decent today, the sun is out and temps will be in the 40’s.  I looked back at last year’s post and it was very cold!  It was nice and warm over the weekend, melting quite a bit of snow.  It’s beginning to look like spring, which arrives on Friday.  The only part of the garden that is free of snow is the bleeding heart so I check it every day to see if there is any sign of life.  Once the ground gets good and warm it won’t be long before the shoots will peek out of the ground.

I have been to the gym already so the rest of my day is free, free, free.  I’m going to pick up the house a little, then attempt to piece a black and white border for Ella’s quilt.   Bill and I are traveling to MA on Thursday to spend the afternoon with her.  I had conjunctivitis last Friday and even after10 days on the eye drops, my eye is still bothering me.  Thankfully, I have an appointment tomorrow so I can get it rechecked.

Once again…Happy St. Patrick’s Day…enjoy and be happy.

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go.

Thanks for stopping by…

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Woohoo, 1200 and counting

Today I notice that my blog has been viewed 1200 times!   Next time you visit, please take the time to leave a comment or two; even better, leave your blog address and I’ll take time to visit you back.

Thanks for stopping by…

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Anticipation to Trepidation

This is my second post today but I need to get this off my chest.  I have posted several times about my desire to retire in the fall.  As of today, my countdown clock says I have 186 days until I work my last shift.  I listed my condo last fall and it remains on the market today, with only one offer in December and it was laughable.  I have lowered the price $10,000 and still no one is looking.  I have taken new photos and had them posted on the real estate website.  Still…nothing.  I have had the realtor rewrite the description on the website in order to highlight some of the remodeling and updates that have been done.  Nothing! I cannot afford to give the place away; nor can I afford to retire if it isn’t sold.  What a dilemma.

I was counting down the days with anticipation, excited as I got closer and closer to 8 months, then 7, finally 6 as of tomorrow.  Now that I’m down to six months, I look at the number of days till retirement and dread seeing the number get smaller and smaller.  There’s no excitement or anticipation, just dread as I look ahead and see an economy that’s in the toilet, people losing their homes to foreclosure everywhere, the unemployment numbers rising and few if any people buying property.

Being a firefighter is a young person’s job; I will be 60 in 3 1/2 months.  This is a very physically demanding job.  There are issues here that are on hold because I will be leaving soon and there’s no sense stirring the pot.  However, I know that if I don’t leave, these issues will have to be dealt with and I probably won’t like the outcome.  I know it is time for me to move on.  I know the days will continue to dwindle.  I know spring will come, followed by summer (yeah) and then fall.  I know I will eventually retire, maybe not 6 months, maybe not 8 but sooner or later, I will sell my property and I will say goodbye to the fire department.  What causes me fear and anxiety is the uncertainty of when.  How much longer will I have to stay because I can’t afford to leave?

I know there is someone out there that will buy my condo so I’m putting it out to the Universe to bring them to me.

Thanks for stopping by…

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Oriental Flower finished

Well, it’s been a long time since I actually finished a project.  I don’t remember when I started this one but it’s done.  Actually, there are a few loose threads I need to take care of and I need to add a hanging sleeve.  I had prepared a sleeve but it was not wide enough so I’ll do another.  For all practical purposes…it’s DONE.

Oriental Flower

Close-up of echo quilting

Because it’s my wallhanging and I can do whatever I want (it’s really Bill’s), I decided to quilt a “ghost flower” in some of the echo quilting.

"ghost flower"

I spent most of the day on Thursday working on the companion quilt for Ella.  It has one square of each of the Funky Monkey fabrics that are in her dad’s quilt.  I added the black and white because I know small children see them better and she is only 9 months old.  I used the improvisation technique which I really enjoyed.  I started to sew on the borders but didn’t like the fabric choice, AT ALL, so I took them off.  I’ll have to search for a different fabric to use as the borders.

Ella's FM quilt w/o borders

Yesterday Bill and I took a little trip in the car looking for a quilt shop that I have been to a couple of times.  I knew it was quite a drive and I knew the road but I didn’t know exactly where it was located.  We drove more than “quite a drive” and never found the place I was looking for.  However, we did come across another little quilt shop so we stopped there instead.  I didn’t find any of the FM fabric I was searching out but I did manage to find some bee fabric along with a pattern (POORHOUSE Quilt Designs) for a cute little tote that I may be able to sew together fairly quickly and put into my Etsy shop.  I like it because it has a lobster applique on the front.  There are also patterns for a crab and sand dollar. If I get it done, it may be the first item in my shop, which is currently set up but empty.

Thanks for stopping by…

"quilting bee" fabric

tote bag pattern by POORHOUSE Quilt Designs

photo of starfish tote bag (from pattern)

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I can’t believe I didn’t see it

Remember a few posts ago I lamented about losing my longtime favorite mitten?  Well, you won’t believe this.  Bill showed up at my house the other day with MY MITTEN IN HIS POCKET!

Me…”Why didn’t you wear gloves to keep your hands warm?”

Bill…”Because…I only had one and he pulled it out of his pocket.

Me…”AAHHH, YOU FOUND IT!”

Bill…”Yeees, I did”

Me…”Where? Was it on the side of the road?”

Bill…”Noooo, it was in the car.”

Me…”In the car? Where in the? I looked in the car.”

Bill…”Up at the top of your toes.”

Me…”I looked on the floor, it wasn’t there.  Really, I looked there.”

Bill…”Well, that’s where I found it.  It was at the top of the floor mat.  You probably didn’t see it because the mat is black, and it’s high and it’s dark there.”

Me…”I can’t believe you found it.  I’m soooo excited. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What made you look there?”

Bill…”I was helping the guy who is installing the remote starter and I stuck my head under there and voila, there is was.”

Needless to say, he got a big hug and a big kiss and I was in a good mood the rest of the day.  I still can’t believe that it was in the car the entire time considering I looked in the car several times over several days.

the happy couple; 30 years together and counting

Yeah, the sad story ends on a happy note.

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Want to win some selvages?

I know I could use more since I came across Karen’s Griska’s blog.  She will be giving away a really neat selvage pillow she made, so keep an eye on her blog.

Here is another blog to visit that is giving away a collection of Moda selvages…Moda Lissa.  Both of these blogs have some great inspiration when it comes to selvages.  If you haven’t started saving yet you probably will start after checking these out.

Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful week.

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