I got an email from my friend Kathy. She lives about 5 miles from me, in the middle of an orchard. It can get pretty dark at her place at night, because, well, she lives out in the middle of an orchard! Anyway, I got this email from her. Just had to share it.
"Last night, my alarm system started sounding and woke me up. I just figured the wind may have blown the side garage door open, because I didn't lock it secure enough. That darned door has swollen and is hard to get in the lock just right. But that was not it. Called the alarm company, because resetting the alarm wouldn't work. They said they would send a tech out today.... great. Tried to get back to sleep, then the front driveway light sensor went off... called the Sheriff at this point... Two officers showed up and said there were two rabbits in my driveway... 5 minutes after they left, there was banging up on my roof. Called the Sheriff again. This time, I asked the officers to go check out my garage, so they had to come through the dark house, as I had all lights off, not wanting a possible bad guy to see me. They turned the corner............ drew their guns and............
almost shot John Wayne!!!! They grabbed their chest from near heart failure, as they thought he was real!! Nothing was found, and this morning a technician will be here to fix my alarms. Whew!
I sincerely hope those rabbits and raccoons enjoyed themselves!"
I'm back from my sewing weekend. We all had a great time..... once we got there. Want to hear the story??? Wellll, I left home late Friday afternoon, went to my sister's place, and loaded up all our stuff, which by the way, was tons! Then we drove to pick up my niece, Patricia, from school about an hour away. At her apartment, we talked a little, and then split. We walked out to the car, where we saw a really big, really wide, and very bad looking leak coming from under Linda's car. It was some sort of oil, and it was doing a really good job of leaking out quite fast, too! A few hours later, Linda and I were the relieved passengers with a very nice tow truck driver, headed back home.
Saturday morning, we loaded up my hubby's commute car, and started again. Hubby's car is much smaller than Linda's, so we had to ditch stuff. Lots of stuff. We were sad. We each left our backup sewing machine, and 3 tubs of sewing stuff. And still it all barely fit. But we were on our way! Here we are, loaded to the gills.
Good thing for Patricia she's not claustrophobic! We would've had to tie her on top if she was. That might have been a little chilly.
Linda had to hold a few things on her lap, we were so short on space. But she had Minnie Mouse to help her, so it was all ok.
The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was crystal clear, and we could see forever. We took a walk, and saw this really cool barge looking thing. I think it was for the neighbor who was replacing their dock.
Of course, we sewed. And we sewed. A few of us ripped, but don't worry, Linda, I'm not naming any names. We even finished a few things! Here's a purse Jerilyn made. And finished!
Here she is, working on a baby quilt.
Here's a purse I made. And finished! It's a little smaller than the pattern said to make, but that was due to my reading the instructions incorrectly. Still turned out cute, though.
Patricia started this snuggle quilt. It's made from silk shirts, believe it or not. She got pretty far, don't you think?
Here's a quilt Linda started. The fabric is called, "You Go, Girl!" It's all horsey. She loves horses. When we were little, she had it all figured out how she could keep a horse in the backyard. We didn't have a really big backyard, so unfortunately for Linda, she never got her horse in the backyard.
And here's another quilt she started from Girl Scout fabric. So cute! There's one with lots of cookies, all over!
All too soon, it was time to go home. We said our goodbyes, and started on our way. Coming out of the hills, this is what we saw! The fog was light enough to be easy to drive through, but heavy enough to be pretty. Come to find out, when we were having beautiful, sunny, warm weather, everybody back home was.... well..... not!
Tomorrow I leave for our annual sewing weekend. A whole weekend spent sewing, talking, watching movies, and eating chocolate. My sister, niece, and I will be meeting one other woman at, "The Cabin," which isn't really a cabin. It's more like a house. A really nice house. It belongs to the family of my sister's college roommate. There, we will spend a long weekend not worrying about much of anything except when we should start fixing dinner, or which project to start on first. Since we'll be quite a long distance from any quilt store, we need to plan ahead and take any and all necessary items. Here's my pile of stuff. See the pink bag? That's my clothes. Most everything else is my sewing stuff. Good thing we're taking Linda's car. It's bigger than mine!
I was going to work on the binding on my Round Robin, but I still can't find the extra fabric, so I'm taking enough to finish a few UFO's, and also the stuff to start a purse. And I tossed in my knitting for good measure. And some magazines and books. They'll be nice for sitting next to the fire first thing in the morning, drinking tea in my jammies and slippers. I don't know what everybody else is bringing. I'll be sure to take pictures and show you after I get back. For now, would you like to see a few from last year? Here's what the back of Linda's car looked like after we got it all loaded.We had things stuffed all over, including under Patricia's feet!
Here's the back of Jerilyn's car. Her back seat was empty! What's up with that??
And this is what it looked like after we got it all in the house. The sewing stuff just sort of sprawls all over the place.
Well, I'd better get back to a few things I started to do around here. I'm leaving in just over 24 hours! I wonder if we'll have enough chocolate? Maybe I should make some brownies. Or fudge. Or both??
I really need to organize my sewing stuff. I know it's getting bad when I can't find things. I showed you my Round Robin quilt. It's been made.......it's been quilted.......and now, all it needs is the binding. I have my cutting mat, rotary cutter, and rulers ready. My machine is set up, I know where the walking foot is, and my sewing space is fairly open. I even have the time to put the binding on. I have the really comfy chair next to the really nice fire, and a new movie from Netflicks. You know what else I have? Shall I tell you? Ok, I have no clue where the binding fabric is! Yeah. Organization...... it's not one of my strong points.
And it's right outside my bedroom window! I think I might be getting Spring Fever.
Here's Sierra. She's a sweetheart. When she was younger, she would chase anything that moved. Shadows, birds, reflections, dragonflies, and little red pointer lights. Sierra has given us almost 16 years of entertainment. For years, I would look out the window and watch her jump in the pasture when the dragonflies were swarming, or run after the shadows the birds made flitting back and forth from one tree to another. She still greets us when we come home, although now much slower to get up, of course. Sierra loved to run out front when somebody drove up. No, not necessarily to the car, although she was excited to see us. You see, on sunny days, the side mirror made a reflection that was just her height on the house. So, she would run up to the house, and wait until the driver opened the car door. She gave herself more than a couple scratches on her muzzle in her excitement to bite the reflection! So now, years later, here she is, much slower, older, and alot grayer, but still our sweetheart!
It's been cold lately. Really cold. So cold, in fact, that I've had to go outside and start my car about 15 minutes before I intend on leaving for work. It's either that or pour cold water over my windshield to get the ice off. It's been so cold, we had the fire going all day long this past weekend.
Uhhh, do I hear laughing from some folks out there? Do I hear people calling me a pansy?? A sissy? Yes? Well, let me just say that we live in California. The very sunny part of California. The part of California that doesn't get much under freezing. We get snow only once every 20 to 30 years here where we live. And we had our inch 15 years ago. Even made a tiny little snowman! Schools closed. Nobody went anywhere. Total craziness. So anyway, when it's cold like this, I tend to want to be warm. Today, I came home expecting to have to build a fire in the wood stove, since, even though David is home from school, he doesn't appreciate being warm like I do. But guess what?? I walked through the door, and the house wasn't freezing! David had started a fire for me, and then kept it going all day. Awww, what a guy! And look! Sassy likes the fire, too! Thanks, David. We both appreciate it.
