A Life Well Lived

Yeager, you always did manage to bring a smile to my face.  We sure did pack a lot of adventures together into just seven short years. I know that you would want me to smile again....maybe tomorrow.  Just not today.
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                                                               Yeager, 2003 to 2010

I'm a Packing Maniac!!

Hey Guys--


We have started packing for the next trip to Simi.  Jerry bought an enclosed trailer to tow with our truck and we are going to just fill it full of our stuff....things that we can do without for at least a month or so.

Isn't it amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 16 years of living in one house?  But most of it will be used sooner or later so we kind of need to keep it.

I have old sewing patterns...I call it my COLLECTION...you see, that justifies keeping something that serves no serious purpose.  I just love them, sort of like my Superman comic collection when I was ten years old.  Oh, how I wish I still had those comics!  And not at all because they are now worth some real cash.  But my sewing patterns will never be worth anything to anyone but me.

I have a couple of dozen really big plastic bins of fabric, sorted lovingly by color or type, and folded unimformly so that they look so beautiful!  I am really compulsive about sorting my fabric for maximum eye candy.  Unfortunately, it does take away from the time actually making something out of the fabric.  Oh, well.  Another COLLECTION!

And then the quilting magazines, who could part with even one?  It might be just the one to inspire my next quilt.


Speaking of my next quilt....its theme is going to be DOCTOR WHO!  If you don't know about Britain's most popular TV show... hey, check it out on BBC America.  You just might become a hopeless fan girl like me!

A Mothers Day to Remember Always!

Hi to All--

We had the best Mothers Day party yesterday at the Simi Valley house.  Even though we haven't moved in yet, and all the rooms are empty except for a sofa that the sellers left, that did not stop us from having a great time, great food, and the best company: my boys and their families!

We had ribs, chicken, Polish sausage, baked beans, corn on the cob, salad, guacamole and chips, and oh, yeah, a carrot cake that was heavenly!

While the grown-ups visited and looked at the new house and yard, Jonah and Danny basically went wild, running, playing, wrestling, and sliding down the playground playground slide.

Here is DDIL Sherry with baby Miles, who is now 11 lbs. and six months old.

I have to show you  the darling Mothers Day present that Jeff, Sherry, Miles and Jonah gave me.  (Sherry, however, gets all the credit for picking it out, and she has a great eye for the wonderful and unusual.)

The most beautiful measuring spoons and cups I have ever seen!  Thanks, you guys.

Lately, I have been appliqueing the handles and my little Teapotz wallhanging.  I have been trying all different methods of applique to see what I like the best.  To my complete surprise, needle-turn is the front runner.

 

I felt like all thumbs when I first started to do needle-turn.  But guess what?  By the time I was on the second one, it got much easier!  I just cut a rectangle big enough for the handle I was making.  I machine basted the edge next to the teapot under 1/4".  I drew the handle on the rectangle and machine basted it to the teapot. 
Trimming as I went along, I turned the edge under and hand stitched it down.

I have temporarily set up my sewing machine in one of the bedrooms that has a built-in desk.  I call it the Betty Boop room, for obvious reasons:

The former owner is a talented artist, who paints on a variety of surfaces, including walls!  She left us wall paintings all over the house and even on the stucco exterior.  More of her art will be showing up on future posts.

I hope all you mothers out there had a great day yesterday.


Genie

New House Bliss!!!

Hi Everybody,

I know that I haven't posted for a while, and I feel guilty about it every time it comes to mind, but you know it isn't every day that my fondest dream comes true.  Yes, my dream of having a house in glorious Southern Cal and living the good life surrounded by lush greenery is now real..

You know that house that I posted about eight months ago., the one where the sellers had to find their next house before selling theirs to us?  They finally found their house!  Even after we received the news, I wouldn't really let myself believe our good fortune until the day escrow closed.  But it did....on April 21.

Since then we have been Simi Valley working on the house, replacing light bulbs with energy efficient ones, reinforcing closet shelves, and getting bids on the workshop that Jerry wants out back.  The workshop is the only major project for now.

I have been getting some piecing done on my plaid Smokey Mountain Stars just to keep from going into withdrawal....that would be no fun, to be in paradise but not able to sew.

I'll keep you posted on when we get to actually move, but in the meantime we will be visiting often.  And getting to see the grandkids every time we come out.


Genie