Block 10 for my Block of the Month is DONE!

Yes, I have finished my block of the month for tomorrow. I did not get much house cleaning done, or any laundry, but my husband, son and I worked out in the yard for several hours. We chopped weeds (we used a whole spool of line in the weed whacker), and I got a 6-pack of dusty miller, and a 6-pack of portulaca planted. I think I need a few more plants, but will wait a couple days before getting anything else. So at least we made a little bit of progress in the yard.

I'll post a pic of my new block tomorrow. I'm heading to bed now.

Just kind of blah...

I keep thinking about quilting. I need to finish the quilting on Heather's quilt, and get it bound. I have the label created (it is in the shape of a quarter note), but have not written on the label yet.) I also need to sew my BOM for the meeting tomorrow. Guess I HAVE to do that today.

But I keep looking around, and realize how much needs to be done in the house... and the yard. It is depressing. I am making progress. I've got some of the laundry finished, but more to do. And the house needs vacuuming and dusting.

I guess I just need to make a plan. Maybe I should do some work, and then reward myself with some sewing?

Any one have suggestions on how they handle it when they get in this mess? Or how do you avoid getting into this pickle to start with??

Wish me luck!

Finished Cleaning at Camp, and found a Grass Fire!!!

Well, I went to camp this morning to finish cleaning up the trailer, and haul the remaining stuff home. I wanted to be home by 1 pm so that I could attend my quilting group I had not been to in the last 7 weeks. We got just over a mile out of camp, and saw smoke. Lots of smoke. Around and behind a house. No one in site.... I sent my youngest (Chris) over to see if someone was behind the house. I think he was thinking I was over reacting, but when he got around the side of the house, he hollered at me to bring the shovel. Yes, there was a grass fire, and no one was around.

It was still small, probably no more than 6 -10 foot across, but the flames were a foot high. Chris started beating out the flames with the shovel and trying to make a "line" to isolate the fire. I couldn't find anything to help with, Chris hollered for me to go back to camp and get Ranger Bob. As you can guess, Ranger Bob was out, but I got the Trading Post Director, and her son, and stopped by Ranger Bob's shed for shovels. By the time we got back, Chris had stopped most of the advance of the fire, but we helped him put out the spots that kept flaring.

At this point we finally called for help. (Cell phones have limited coverage in this area, so you sort of have to walk around to get a good connection) The burn area was about 15 by 20. Then we noticed at the edge of the burn area was... matches.... a BBQ lighter... other things... We pointed these out to the fire dept when they arrived, and they called the sheriff. Some kid drove by on his bike, but instead of looking at the fire trucks, and showing a lot of interest, he kept his head down, and sort of peeked at us. I pointed him out to one of the fire fighters. When he went by the second time, the sheriff was there, and stopped him to talk to him. Yep, the little sh*t (as my father would have called him) probably did it (innocent until proven... but I understand he confessed, and I understand that the shoes he was wearing matched the imprint that someone had left on the BBQ lighter handle.)

I'm so glad we stopped and checked the smoke. The wind was gusty, and kept changing directions. The grass and pine needles are so dry, even if the rains have started again. And there was a horse farm across the road. If we'd left 10 minutes earlier or later, it might have been a very different outcome.

Well, my hubby will be going to Phoenix tomorrow for some meetings, and I will stay here to do some cleaning, laundry, flower planting, weeding, maybe sewing??, and visit with my son before he heads back to school this next weekend.

Take care, do some sewing, enjoy your friends and family.

Post Card, Baby Quilt, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

HOME! It is a nice place to be. Sure needs some attention by the housekeeper tho. Guess I need to do a little of that in the next few days.

When we got home, I had a quilted post card in the mail. It is the first I've ever received, and I'm very excited about it. My picture has washed out the colors some - it is a very striking card. It was sent by my good friend Brenda! Thank you so much Brenda.

I also want to show you some baby quilt tops that I made at camp. They were really simple, a yard of each fabric, layered on top of each other, cut into a nine patch, and then sewn back together with each other.

I got the pink and the yellow fabric for 80% off, and found the green to match. The colors were just calling out to me. You can see the pattern of each fabric in the pic below. Should make quick baby gifts when I need one!

My eldest son Jeff is getting serious about bicycle riding. He plans to ride in the El Tour de Tucson, and is fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Check my side bar for a link to his web page. If you want to support Jeff, or one of your fav's is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, you might want to consider a donation.

I guess it is time to go to bed. I have lots to do tomorrow. Take Care, and have fun sewing something!!

Today was the last full day of camp!

I can't believe the time has flown by so quickly! We had our closing campfire tonight, and tomorrow we have the staff dinner, and we are done. Of course, it will probably take my husband and myself another day to get all the last stuff done. But almost all the staff will depart tomorrow after dinner.

I had hoped to do more sewing this summer, but I mostly embroidered names on bags for the directors. I think I did all but 2 of them. And I made this purse - The pattern is called Jester Satchel, and is created and designed by Elizabeth Starr. It is a very easy pattern, (no pockets in side - both a plus and a minus). Do the beads and tassel look familiar to you?? They should. I needed SOMETHING to trim out the bag, and as I rummaged in the small amount of stash that I brought with me, I ran into the end of the trim that I used on the flag quilt I finished recently. I was shocked when the tassel and beads went so well with the fabrics. I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Tomorrow I will give the bag to the young lady who gave me the friendship bracelet. I never managed to make her a bracelet, so I hope she will like the purse. Here is a photo of the purse...

take care, and do some fun sewing! Now that camp is almost over, I hope to do more sewing, and blog more often.

I should have posted this on July 4th...

This is a picture of a Garrison Flag that has been suspended over the canyon by camp. The flag is 20 x 30 foot in size so it give you some idea of the size of the canyon. It was beautiful hanging over the canyon and blowing in the breeze. It was placed there by a man who was on staff in the Mountain Man program years ago. Very nice, don't you think??

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.

Today I managed some sewing... I purchased a yard of 3 different fabrics that were green/yellow and pink/ and pink and green; cut them up into large 9 patches, and mixed and matched so the center of the 9-patch is one fabric, the corners are a second fabric, and the sides are the third fabric. I've sewn all three quilt tops together, and will need to layer and quilt them when I have time. I'll post a pic of them later.

Sharing where I've been working...

I thought you might like to see where I've been working for the past month. This is the building that houses the camp office (door in the center front, on the porch). On the right side of the building you can sort of make out the first aid red cross in the red circle. The door for first aid is on the right side of the building. The window you see on the left side is the Nurse's room. Behind that room (On the back of the building) is the room we stayed in last year, but decided this year we needed to stay in the trailer park to be able to "get away from it all" LOL The stairs to the porch is on the right side of the porch, under the first aid sign. You can also see the white board hanging from the porch that lists the Troops that have mail. You can also just make out the hummingbird feeder hanging from the roof of the porch. It is fun to watch the hummingbirds fight over the feeder. We have two types of humming birds - Rufus (an orangy-gold colored, and mean) and the other is a broadtail. The broadtail is green and has a red throat. OH, I almost forgot. You can also see the typical ground cover here at camp. What's that? You don't see any? Sure you do, it is DUST. It is very dusty right now, and we are waiting for the afternoon rains to start. It really helps with the dust, but then we have mud. Hmm, can't win, I guess. LOL.


The next picture is of the inside of our office. the door to the left goes to the nurses area, and further left is the kitchen area. You can see Dorothy who works with me. She is on the phone in this picture, talking to one of the Scoutmasters that is coming next week. Our bulliten board looks messy, but we can find everything we need on it, and my flag quilt is hanging up above the bulliten board. Our counter to serve the scouts and scoutmasters in at the bottom of the picture. It is a little higher than a normal counter, and is made of a beautiful wood. I have no idea how old it is. The cash register is on the counter to the right of the picture, and a gate with a sign that reads "office staff only" is on the left, between the counter and the wall behind me as I took the picture. Oh, and my beta fish is in the tall vase on the far desk to the right of the picture.


So now you see where I spend my days. It's not very exciting, and the carpet on the floor should have been replaced a few years ago. But we make it work, and serve our customers with smiles as they come into the office. It is time for bed, so I'll say good night for now. Have a great evening, and have a great 4th of July weekend!

Having had only Boys, I don't know about "Girl Rules"

One of the young ladies on our staff at camp is making friendship bracelets and asked me if I wanted one. I said yes, thinking I would wear it for a few days, and then add it to my small collection of mementos from camp. Then I found out from Nurse Debby about the "RULES". Friendship bracelets are to be worn until they break!! OK, I can do this. The colors are blue, yellow and white, and they are my favorite. So I've worn the bracelet for week now, and will wear it until it breaks. Here is a picture of it:

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a "nice" picture of your hand?? Either the fingers look stupid, or the thumb does weird things. I solved that problem in this pic. LOL

As to being "friends", I don't feel that I've been a very good friend to those of you who have taken time to comment on my blog. Please know that I have enjoyed everyone of your posts (even the one from my son chastising me for not calling him about my mom). I will do my best to answer your posts for now on.

Friends! Gotta have them! Take care, all my friends!

My Flag Quilt is finished

I'm hoping you can click on the picture and get a larger version so you can see the bead work in the blue field. I quilted that area in gold glittery thread, and added beads to the ends of each line of the fireworks. I also added small bursts with those straight long beads. I've hung this up in the office at camp, and several people have commented on it that they really like it. Even the camp ranger liked it, (It's not too girly for a Boy Scout camp!!)

My mom will be in the hospital for another few days. She has a clot in her foot of the side that she injured. They are giving her meds to dissolve the clot, so keep her in your prayers as she is recovering.

OH, and all that free time I THOUGHT I was going to have while the staff was at the Grand Canyon.... nope, it didn't happen. I did bookwork in the am, and then got a little cleaning done in the camper trailer, then people started arriving. Besides the staff members, we had two commissioners arrive, with their kids. So I spent time showing everyone their tents, etc. About the time one got settled, and I thought I'd start on my stuff, the next arrived. I'm lucky I got the dishes done (and there were only a few of them!!) LOL. Anyway, it was nice when everyone got back, and they had a good time.

I hope you are all making time to sew. I can't wait to get home so I could have a little more time for my sewing also.