A nice trip and quiet week!

We had such a nice time in Havasu last weekend.

The drive there was an easy one. Made good

time, and as predicted I snoozed on and off

the whole way. We stayed an extra day

too which really helped put us all at ease.

Saturday Bob and I went and walked around

the walk under the London Bridge. It was

busy as there was a boat race going on.

Not just any boats, the huge big ones.

Ones that have to be loaded on the trailers

with cranes. Crazy~so BIG!! There was the usual

boat parade on the canal, lots of people, sunshine...

oh it was nice. It felt so good to have the sun on

my shoulders. I think I got a few hundred more

freckles on them too. Bob could have spent the

day watching the boats/people. Or maybe it was

all the bikinis? hmmmm?

Being with family was the best though. In this

picture are my sister, step mom Faye, Dad

and me. Dad couldn't get his smiled timed

right so we settled with the opened mouth

grin?! ha!

Dad and Bob took off in my dad's jeep for a cruise

in the desert. Faye and I stayed home and

napped. ha! They said it was beautiful out.

It is a good time of year for the desert.

Each day there the temp climbed a little.

Monday it was 96, and was supposed to reach

98 Tuesday. When we got home Tuesday

night it was 66. ha.

We drove home on Tuesday. Man it was a long

drive. Seemed to take twice as long to get

home as it did to get there. Ugh. I was so

uncomfortable and ill feeling. Even though I hated

leaving my family, I was more than happy to get

home to my own bed.

Im trying to get into the projects I left behind.

No go so far until late last night. I managed

to sit and do a little hand sewing which I love.

I could hand sew everything. I have been

told to do a hand sewn quilt. But they are so

intimidating to me. All those little

pieces.....yikes! But I am going to make my

grandaughter a strawberry shortcake blankie

for her bday. Its such cute fabric,

Very little girlie.

I just bought a nice piece of oilcloth. Now what to

do with it? A raincoat for olivia? A tote for me?

oh the decisions! ha...

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and

have plans for a fun weekend!

I am thankful for my family!

I am thankful for the ability to travel

and see them!

I am thankful for birthday cake!

I am thankful for sparkling lakes.

I am thankful for children on swingsets.

I am thankful for children snuggled safely in

clean crisp sheets.

I am thankful for my sister and I FINALLY

having a relationship.

I am thankful for today!

Off to Arizona!

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, when Bob gets

home from work we are leaving for Arizona! And

what or who you ask is in Arizona? My dad and

step mom!

I do not get to see them very often. In fact,

last time I saw them was the beginning of

last December. We stopped there on our

way to Texas. And I feel guilty we do not

get there more often, but geez, what can

you do? So I'm looking on the bright side

and I get to see my dad! Yippeeeee!

I sound like a daddys girl or something. I'm not.

At all. My dad is really not that kind of dad. Oh

that sounds bad. But we have a great relationship,

lots of laughs and relaxing close moments in time

when we are together.

Our phone calls are ritual, He says HI Mabel *its Melissa*,

he always asks about the weather *its sunny or raining*,

and 'ya heard from anybody'? *its a no, our family is

not close what little there is of it*, and have you been

up to the lake *no, but he lived there a long time so he

has to ask*. It never changes and I love it the way

it is. Its my dad.

Just before we arrive *we always call just before we get

into town*, Faye *stepmom* says he paces and looks

out the window constantly. That tickles me, and I am

just as anxious to get there, sitting up straight and commenting

on how much this and that have changed and how beautiful

the hills are in the setting sun.

Family always asks how on earth I am able to travel

so far. *another post for another day*. I just say, I

take my pillow and blankie and a pill and sleep most

of the way. Thats just partially true. We listen to

books on cd while we travel, and I do nod off alot

but try not to cuz I hate waking up completely lost

in the story thats on. Oh, Dad and Faye live in

Lake Havasu City, Az. We are in No. Cal. just outside

the bay area.

That drive down central california is booor~ringgg.

As bad a driving through the middle of New Mexico.

a snooo~ooze. Yea we travel alot. But did I mention?

I get to see my dad!

My dad, his name is John. He will be 82 this fall. Loves

a glass of wine. Still works on his boat and jeep. Loves

to go for jeep rides in the desert. *they stop to look at

mines which scare me to death*. Is that not the greatest?

But he is slowing down which is all good but a little

bit sad for me. He is my dad and I think he is perfect.

the other big mouth in the house!

We have more than one big mouth in this house.

But I do not think I have talked about the

biggest of all!

Her name is Lew, actually Lewis, but we did not

know she was a girl for a while. When we finally

found out we just kept the name because she

seemed to know it.

She is a most unusual character. Doesn't

have a big vocabulary, but most definitely

knows how to use what she does know loudly!

She is quite welcoming to anyone saying

HI HI HI to who ever comes in! Even

when she gets up in the morning you get

a HI! She waits not so patiently for her

breakfast. When you get it to her she yells

hot hot hot in your face. It usually is to hot

when we walk it over to her and she tells

us so until we give her her bowl.

One of her favorite pastimes is playing in the

warm clothes fresh out of the dryer.

Unfolding my linens for me, throwing them,

playing peek a boo and laughing hysterically

when I throw a hand towel over her head.

If I laugh, she laughs. I laugh soft she laughs

soft. I get loud, she blasts us. whew.

She adores Bob. Loves on him, rolls her

head against him. And jealous! Wow!

She comes at me at a run....sometimes

even hissing at me! I'm not

scared of her, much. ha!

Somedays when she is yelling for

attention, she will yell..."Help Bob" Help!

Cracks us up! But man she can get loud

with it. When we tell her to stop, she will

back talk and say uh~oh.

over and over. and over.

Some days she NEVER shuts up.

She hates the vacuum. Hates change.

Hates to be alone. Typical female!ha!

She is so afraid of the meter man. OH my.

She will bust your ear drums. Makes a good

watch dog of sorts. Nobody can get through

the back gate with out her seeing. And

she lets us know.

And who is this big mouth female:

Lew is 10 years old now and will outlive us all.

What will we do with her when we are gone.

We will will her to the kid of ours that has

given us the most grief over the years! ha!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Good morning~Its nice and sunny. Gonna be

a really nice day! Have fresh roses from my

bushes on the counter, husband doing

grocery shopping, laundry almost done,

lots of fun sewing projects in the works.

It can't get much better than this for

9am! Feeling mighty blessed here.

There is so much I am thankful for. I used

to put that on my blog whenever I wrote.

Infrequent as that was. But now as I am

doing lots of blog hoppin' I see more and

more people writing what they are

thankful for. I like that. Alot.

So maybe,I will start doing that again. It

always did make me smile when I wrote down

my 'loves and thankful fors'. They were

right off the top of my head, from

what was going on that day in my life.

And no matter how bad my day was

going, I could always find something

to be thankful for, and that I loved.

On another note, I am working on this

cute little momma diaper bag. Turning

out good so far. Except I cannot get

the trim on it! I have cut the trim 3

times. Pinned it. Unpinned it. Trimed,

ironed. Pinned unpinned. I'm sure

there are many that know how frustrating

that can be! ha! So today I am going to

start fresh. Cut some strips from the fabric

the main bag is made of, put it through

my little handy dandy bias tape maker

and see if I can finally get the right size.

ha...I can't believe I am keeping my patience.

and~

I'm thankful Bob will go to the commissary

bright and early

I'm thankful he ALWAYS gets all on my list!

I'm thankful we have the commissary to shop at!

I'm thankful for our beautiful roses this year!

I'm thankful for their wonderful aroma!

I'm thankful for the blooms on the apple tree.

Its gorgeous! So's the cherry tree!

I'm thankful for my washer and dryer.

I'm thankful I am still able to do the laundry.

I'm thankful Bob will help when I need it!.

Hope you are all having a glorious morning, and

the rest of your day will be great!

Friday already?

I can't believe this week is almost gone already!

I've tried to keep busy and I guess it worked

cuz time seems to have gotten away from me!

I spend the week doing this and that, dinkin'

around, readin', sewing....anything to keep my

mind off of back pain and stomach nausea.

Both of which plagued me pretty much every

day.

Oh well, at least I had my 'sewing supervisor'

along side when I would put my feet up...

His name is Elvis. And yes he does act like he is

the king.

Cuz when there ain't no place to sit

with momma, he will sit where and

on who he wants. This time, it was

poor little Dawber. Dawber doesn't mind

though. In his eyes, Elvis is just keepin'

him warm!

I am in the middle of making a cute

little diaper bag, sized for a little

girl to carry all her baby treasures

in. I dug some fabric out of my

closet I have had for, ahem, almost

20 years. ha! I can't believe it.

I used it on my daughters baby

doll clothes, then an outfit for

my grandaughter 10 yrs ago, and

now this. Talk about stretching a yard or

two out!!

So when its all finished I will do a pic or

two. Its time to go put my feet back up.

I did a stupid thing this evening. I was

digging through one of my sewing

baskets for pink thread and instead of

bending at hips, I attempted bending

at waist which I cannot do. Lets

just say spasms are on the menu for

tonight.

sleep well everybody!

baby stuff

One of my favorite things to sew is stuff for

baby. Love it!After making two crib sets, I was

asked to make a caddy to old wipes and a few

diapers. This is the end result. The only pic

I have, sent to me by the mom on her cell

phone. *sigh*, I will not forget to take pictures

again!

It was so easy to make. Just got a fat quarter,

cut four corners off and saved them. Made a

box, lined it with contrast. Added handles,

cardboard for solid bottom. With the left

over squares, I made a little tiny box and

stitched it on the front to hold pacifiers

and such odds and ends. I put a few yoyos

on with crochet flowers in the middle.

OH I wish I had pictures to share. It just was so

cute in person.

I have never really sewed patternless before.

But after spending hours blog hopping, reading

tutorials, I figured I should give it a try. It was fun!

This week I am trying to figure out how to make

fabric flowers. I have been trying to use my

cricut to cut out fabric, having a hard time

with that one. I have a heavy duty cutter,

just have not hit the right setting yet. I

will get there. In the meantime I have

made a few circle templates, done some

cutting, folding, stitching, sighing and trying

again. I will get it. Maybe I should proceed

to zippers. ha!

Daisy kingdom and dinosaurs!

First off, I forgot to put this picture in yesterdays

post. Nothing special, I just forgot. Its my cluttered

bookcase in my sewing room. Again more treasures.

The two sewing boxes on top were my moms.

She had them forever. As they were getting

rather battered up I thought I would put them

up for safe keeping, but up where I could see them.

I admit, I love going on ebay and browsing the

sewing notions section, in the collectibles.

Love it ALL.

But I restrain myself. My moms are enough for me!

I LOVE Daisy Kingdom fabric panels!

This was the first one I had sewn,

and before it arrived in the mail I was

a little hesitant not know what the

fabric would be like. I have sewn pillows

from panels before and never really cared too much

for the fabric. Surprise! This is really nice

fabric! You can almost put it together without

reading the directions too. And I got brave.

I admit it. I have NEVER, not once, make buttonholes.

Ta~da! I was determined, you see I had just gotten

2 bags of the cutest buttons, Daisy Kingdom of course and

I had to, just had to use them on the dress!

And here it is~~~~~

After I took the pictures I realized I should have

done a top stitch on the top. It looks good as it, but

I am going to do that top stitch. I love a nice

top stitch! ha!

Just love the little flower shaped pockets.

You can't really tell, but the buttons are

greener than they look. They match

the little animals in the bottom border.

OH Oh

AND on the sides, the fabric is cut so you can

match up the animals exactly. I LOVE that!

I had started this little raggy quilt of sorts

waaaay before Christmas. I felt so bad I never

finished it up. And its such a simple one at that.

Just big old squares. Can't get much simpler.

But just to give it a little more dimension, or

color, or whatever you want to call it,

I put the dark blue flannel squares staggered

down the middle. I think it looks ok.

I did the usual X that you do on the raggy

quilt squares but I used

a wiggly or snakey? stitch line. It looks

kinda neat. I'm going to tell him

they are snake tracks! ha!

I just got in a nice piece of quilted fabric so of

course first thing I dug through my patterns and

found the perfect tote style pattern. Got it cut

out and will get it together tomorrow. This is my

second red purse in the last few months.

I guess that is the color

of the year for me!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

My Sewing Room

I had read anothers blog a few days ago, and she

asked readers to show their favorite place to

create, read, sew, that sort of thing. I think. ha!

Really, it was something along that line. That stuck

in my mind, so this morning I clicked a few

pictures of my favorite spots

in my sewing room. Now, I did just the

favorite SPOTS because of course I

have a chair, a table a sewing machine, wheres the

fun there? But I have treasures around them that I

love and thats what I am sharing!

This is my mothers side board from long ago.

Its located right behind where I sit and sew.

I have some of my favorite old pictures,

glassware and odds and ends on it. I LOVE the

way my assortment of treasures looks! Pink glass.

I adore it. Old old pictures and frames,

precious. Attic treasures teddies,

make me smile.

And a pretty old bowl full of pretty buttons.

Gee what else would a girl want?

This next picture is of the area to my right,

or right above where I do scrapbooking.

I recieved the doilie tucked in a box of fabric

won on ebay. A hidden treasure!! I love

filling mason jars with ribbons and laces of

pretty colors. I think every room in the house

should have lavender in it. And of course,

tuck it in pink glass. Family pics are tucked

in a ribbon board along with other treasures

made by grandkids and their mommies.

Here is a close up of my mason jars and

ribbons. Love them! Just make me smile.

And see that little hand there on the right?

Its a traced hand of my grandaughter Olivia.

I was in the hospital for quite awhile

a few years ago, and my step daughter made

them for me with a little saying about holding these

little hands until I can hold the real ones.

Does that just not melt your heart?

Well, thats a glimpse into my sewing room.

I love this room. Its a small room to start with

and I have filled it with so many of my favorite

things it does not feel small to me. It just makes

me feel warm and safe and creative.

I like that!

I Always knew that Priscilla would be a good mommy

Easter 1982

Happy Easter! I hope everyone has a

wonderful day, finding eggs, eating

chocolate and being with ones that

you love!

This was taken April 1982, Priscillas first

Easter. This was at her Poppa and Gramma

Barbara's house in Downey, Ca. Poor little

thing was sick. She did great though,

Spending alot of time in mommy's arms.

Note she is loving on a bunny her Grandma

made for her.

It was a good day. Lots of family, cousins,

sisters, nieces, nephews. Home made goodies,

laughter and a yummy dinner. Nothing could

have been better.

Hope you all have the same kind of day.

A perfect one!