Thursday, January 29, 2009

Winter Wonderland!

We had ice and snow Monday and Tuesday, yesterday some melted, but I got up this morning after having fog last night on top of the ice and snow that hadn't melted and this is what it looked like. Pictures do not do the look out my windows justice!!

The tree branches had ice crystals that looked like a beard. :)

Sort of blurry but you get the idea, maybe a porcipine.

The huge oak that survived the ice storm in Dec. 2007

Looking down the driveway...


Thought this was just too neat looking. :)


Just a tree stump that has some type of fungi growing on it.

It was all very pretty with the sun just coming up and standing under all the trees it was like it was snowing with blue skys above as all those ice crystals on the trees were falling. I just wish I would have gotten up earlier and traveled out on the back roads in the truck to get more gorgeous pictures. These were all from my digital camera but I took a whole roll of pictures on my good 35 mm camera that should be awesome when I get them developed.

Stay warm!!

Ang

Monday, January 26, 2009

Need I Say More....

As I sit here waiting to see how much of this ice storm we are going to get I just had to share this.

Do I really claim them as my daughters???? LOL

I am also thinking if we get as much ice as they say and we lose our power again moving to Texas will be out! I will be moving to a desert somewhere where there are no ice storms! But then I would have to put up with the sand storms. Hmmmm.... I think this is a no win situation. LOL I guess I will stick with my goal of moving back home to Texas to be with family. At least then if the power goes out for 12 days I would have someone to call to see if I can come take a nice hot shower!!

Waiting.....
Ang

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Just Sharing

I am a little on the bored side right now even though I could be working but why?? LOL So I thought I would look in my picture album on this computer and see what pictures I have there that are still UFOs and need to be finished. Here are a few:

This was a Round Robin done with quilters on a Yahoo Quilting list. It was a blast to do. Each of us did the center and then mailed our center off to the next person, she added a round, and it went on until the last person worked on it and then sent it back to you. The ones I received from the other ladies really challenged me with color and design and it was great to do. I just now need to figure out what I want to do with it and finish it either as a quilt or a wallhanging.


This is one that I will NEVER do again! LOL Those horses have so many small pieces to applique it is unreal. It is machine appliqued. This is all batiks also. I will be adding a few more borders on to it and then quilting it as a wallhanging.


This one is from one of the Elm Creek Quilt books. It is all paper pieced which I love. I do know what I will be adding to it, another pieced border and then some solid ones and then quilt it. It is one of my favorites but I got stuck after that last border on what to do.

Then these are just some that I want to share. :)



This is a quilt that my mom almost threw away!!!! She found it in a hope chest when my great-aunt died. It was made by my great-grandmother. It is worn in spots but still in wonderful condition for the age.



This one was also in that hope chest made by my great-grandmother. And to think mom was going to throw them away because she didn't think anyone would want old quilts!!!! Boy did she get a lecture from me on that one. :)

And last of all since Indy made the blog yesterday, Junior needs to make it today. :)

This is an old picture of Junior as Sam is laying in the background. Sam was put to sleep last year due to old age and waking up blind one morning. He was 16.

And then there is this one!!! LOL This shows our fat cat that has a personality like no other cat we have ever owned. He is named after Dale Jr the NASCAR driver. :) Do you see a trend here with pet names????? Indy.... Junior.....


Until next time,


Ang

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Learned something new.... Maybe! LOL

I was reading blogs yesterday which is one thing I like to do when I get the chance and on a blog somewhere and I don't remember whose, she was giving tips on taking pictures. She said not to use the flash on your camera and it would show better color. So I tried it on my sweater because the picture from yesterday just didn't show the color.

It this any better at all? It still doesn't show how ultra blue that blue is. Maybe I will try reading more somewhere else on how to get better color in my pictures. :)

And while playing with no flash I took these of the Princess of the House or Resident Sheriff depends on if FedEx or UPS is in my driveway, Indy. I just realized I have no pictures of her on my blog and she is a huge part of my life.

(Is this a good pose, mom?)

(You said Stay but for how long? I can't hold this look forever!)

Ang

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Catching Up

The month of December came and went like a blink of an eye. Where did it go?

We had all plans to go home to Texas for Christmas but that didn't happen. We ended up staying home and celebrating it with just us and Amanda and Cassi and Cassi's boyfriend, Buddy. Then on Christmas day we enjoyed a huge meal and then a trip to see 7 Pounds with Will Smith. If you haven't seen that movie it is a must! Very good.

David surprised me with this for Christmas!
My Grace Frame with BabyLock machine!! I was shocked but he made me promise I would get to work on all those wallhangings and quilt tops I have collected over the last 20+ years!! LOL
(As you can see in the bottom picture the rails make a nice place to lay strips for that new quilt top I am currently putting together!)
















And so I finished this with just freehanded quilting:






This was from a swap of leaf blocks from a quilting list I am on. This swap was probably done 4-5 years ago. It was fun to just play with the machine while also finishing something. I did practice on a scrap before I did this.

Then I loaded this one and finished it which is done with a freehanded design with stars in it. Sort of a stiple with stars added.

These are Friendship Blocks swapped over a two year period on a quilting list also. They are signed by the person who made the block and some are from other countries. I wasn't really crazy about the sunflower border I put on this one but i figured for a quilt just to have around it wouldn't matter. Now that I see it, it sort of goes with all the color in the quilt. It does not have the binding on it yet as that is my next project.

Then the last thing I finally finished over the past month and a half is my cardigan sweater:

This picture does nothing for the actual color of this cardigan. I haven't blocked it yet and the buttons are just laying on it for this picture, but I really enjoyed knitting this one and it fits perfect. Now my next project of knitting is a pullover sweater that is knit from the top down like this cardigan. Easy to do and no seams to sew.

It amazes me sometimes of what I have accomplished over the last month after the long hours I have been putting in at work. We landed a HUGE account but then after we got it all started they decided that our secure FTP server was not secure enough. So we spend a small fortune to get it how they want it and then they say it still is not secure enough. After a long grueling month of traveling to Ohio, many meetings with this client, we have decided this account is not for us and we are pulling the plug on them. I know IF we ever got it to where they were happy we would start hearing them complain about something else and believe this is just not worth it. I love my job and what I do but I don't like working 24/7 just to make someone happy who will never be happy. So on to the next open door with work where the client will appreciate what we do for them. It hurts to pull this one but I always have to remember there will be some that are just not for us.

Until next time!

Ang