Friday - Shopping Day

This is just one of many, little lizards that roam everywhere...most of them are missing part of their tail! They aren't any bigger then 3 inches and cute. This little guy was on the window last year. Just wanted to post a picture of something!

Yep, just another shopping day today but this time with my better half. Bob didn't golf this a.m. so we went to WalMart for groceries and to a department store for him! Just did a lot of browsing but it was a relaxing day for sure.

Yesterday my three friends and I had a great 'girls day out' at the Villages. We arrived before noon and ate lunch at a Tai restaurant which was a first for me. It was really quite good and I'd try their food again. After lunch, we just walked all of the shops (and walked around and into LOTS of golf carts!) You have to see this place! Everyone has their own golf cart but they look like cars and folks drive and park them where cars are usually parked! It's just a fun place and everyone is always so upbeat! In addition to the novelty golf carts, there are dress shops, dog shops!, bead stores, furnishings, wine shops!...you name it and they have it. Some very unique stores which was fun and gives you ideas for decorating and for art! Of course, we had to take a break from all the walking and have dessert! And boy did we have dessert! I couldn't eat 1/4th of mine! It was flourless chocolate cake (I did take home a Mounds cake which was better!) and two of the ladies had a chocolate cake with cheesecake in one of the layers which looked and was agreed upon that it was the best! One of my friends bought some smoked white fish for her hubby (she stopped over today and said he ate some for lunch and thought it was good!). We'll stop back at this 'deli' again sometime for lunch & dessert!

I did get my background painted fabric sandwiched and ready for quilting and I quilted a small journal piece for one of my fiber groups (which is due the end of the month as well!). Frogs are just waiting for their water!

Tomorrow is the Florida Weaver's Guild meeting. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and to see what they've been working on for the past 9 months. It's also the 'unveiling' of our weaver's challenge so I'll have lots of pics to show what everyone did on Sunday.

It was quite cool again this morning but the day turned out beautiful, which is typical here in Ocala. It was 70.3 when we took Mandy for her golf cart ride @ 4:45 p.m. Until tomorrow...

Thursday - frost on the ground?

Temp this a.m. was 38 but it's suppose to get up to 70 and the sun is still shining! Today my lady friends and I are headed to The Villages for the day. It's a fun place and a city in itself. Lots of eating establishments, shopping, eating, sights and of course, did I mention eating! We do take our hubby's there once a year for walking around, dinner and then to one of the town squares (they have three or four!) to listen and watch dancing! It's a fun place to spend the afternoon or evening. Each year we are amazed at how much this 'city' has grown. They have their own churches, hospitals, etc. Check out the link above.

So no work on frogs today! But I'll be busy working on my background piece tomorrow. I did buy some Bamboo batting which I'm anxious to try. Appears to be a thin batt so I'll post some pics for my fiber friends and how it worked for me. Until tomorrow..have a great day!

Frog progress

I made some progress on my frogs and their 'pads' today..not much but some. I did get the background fabric painted yesterday for my water and I did some rocks and played with a log today. I'm hoping to put this frog a a log of some sort..but I'll have to wait and see.
Can you guess which frog is 'waiting to be kissed'! It's the little Orange guy! He doesn't look like a frog someone would want to kiss does he! I did go over to my friend, Susan's house today and I got to see some of her projects shes worked on for the past 9 months. Susan does beautiful work and has won several awards, including best workmanship. I certainly wasn't disappointed in what she's done. Her work is beautiful and she has a great eye for designing her pieces in addition to her workmanship. I did forget my camera today so I'll have to get pictures of some of her pieces on Sat. when we attend the Weaver's Meeting. It's also the day we turn in our grab bag challenge pieces from last spring. Can't wait to see what everyone has done.
Tomorrow (Wed.) is vet appoint for Grace to get her nails and beak 'done'. I do need to stop at the library and run some other errands so Grace will have a morning out! Until tomorrow! Enjoy. It was 78 today and a light breeze which made it feel cooler then yesterday when it was only 72 (did you get that 'only'!).

Start of another week

Here it is Monday already and we've been here almost a week! Seems like we've been here for months! It certainly does feel like home here in Florida which is a good thing! Other than I do miss my family and friends but sometimes I'm so busy it's hard to miss anything or anyone! Anyway, here are some pictures from the back of our house.
This is a picture of what we see each morning having our coffee, reading the paper and eating our breakfast. Our rental house sits on the 2nd tee of the golf course (gee, don't I sound like a golfer!). The tee box is actually to the far left at the top of the picture. It's quite a pretty sight each morning and fun to watch the golfers on the course at 7:00 a.m.! Crazy aren't they!

This next picture is looking from our lani on the other side of the kitchen (it's a room off from the formal dining room). For you northern folks, lani is just a fancy name for a screened in porch..but it's quite nice. It's where I do most of my painting on fabric. I can sit at the table relaxed and look out at the pond and golf course. It's really relaxing to hear the fountain in the morning and at night (they do shut it off around 8:00 p.m. and turn it on around 7:00 a.m.). The pond is actually a DRA where they catch all the rain water and use it to water the golf course.

So that will give my family and friends an idea of what we see from the back of our house. I'll get around to sending pics from other angles of the house as well. Today I did some painting of my 2nd frog and did play with making some cat tails for my piece as well...but that was about it. Lots of computer work, talking on the phone, going for my walk, taking Mandy for a golf cart ride and making a nice dinner of Chicken Enchiladas and Margarita's! What a life!

Some fiber work in progress

For my fiber friends, SAQA has an exhibit as part of the Houston 2009 Festival called 'Sense of Humor' so I started to work on my piece today. It's due (postmark pics/entry) by Jan. 30th so let's hope I can stay in and work on it instead of being a 'social butterfly'. Anyway, my entry has frogs in it so I started to paint some today. Here's my painting in progress. You can click on the picture to see them better. One frog will be standing in a tree (he's the one in all green)...the other two will be somewhere on the quilt! If I don't get it finished in time for this exhibit, I'll figure out something else to do with it. I'm having fun designing it and so far painting the frogs. I'll continue to keep you posted on my progress.

I may not do a blog entry for Sunday since I'm doing this entry on Sat. evening. I'll take a day off from blogging! Oh, I bought a tool in Houston this past fall called 'Grip-n-Grip'. It's a non slip matt that you can use to hold your fabric or papers while you paint, stencil or mark your work on. You can see more of a description here: Grip-n-Grip . This matt really works well holding fabric while I'm painting. The only thing I did notice was some of the black came off onto my table but it did wipe up easily. Maybe it just takes time for the 'loose' black material to wear off?? I would still recommend buying this matt if you do a lot of stencil, crayon or paint work on fabric. Pretty cool product!

It's a tough life!

Boy, I thought I was busy back in good old Michigan but it's always go, go, go here in Florida! No wonder some folks travel back to their 'home' states for a month or two! They have to rest up for the remainder of the year they live here! It's quite warm today mid 70's already but I'm not complaining! Nice to have the windows open and fresh air. Bob and I took our walk this a.m., read the paper, had our breakfast then he went golfing and I ran errands. Had to take 'Nickie' and 'Jack' to the library with me! Have to have my books on tape to listen to and my books to read!
Well, no pics today...just too busy to take time out but I am starting on several art projects so hopefully I'll have some work in progress to post! Enjoy the day!

Another day in paradise..

This is Jack and Nickie who traveled to Florida with grandma and grandpa! Each week while in Florida, I send Amber and Nick postcards so this year I decided to do something different. This year Jack and Nickie will get their pictures taken while doing different things with us. I'll send pics back to the kids and they can see what we've been up to. This picture is the two of them sitting in the car on the way to Florida. They kept grandpa awake while he was driving!
Ah, retirement...guess it's worth it putting in those 30+ years of working to be able to retire and keep busy doing what we what rather then what we have to do! Bob's not golfing until later this afternoon so our morning has been very relaxing with coffee and reading the paper. Temp was 53 this a.m. and high today should be in the high 60's, which is perfect for me!

Yesterday afternoon, we went to a wonderful buffet at one of our friends house with 8 or so other couples. The food was fantastic and the company was such fun. I got to see a few of the ladies I know from here and I did get to see my quilting friend, Susan. She and I are getting together next week to see all the projects she's completed since I saw her last. Susan's workmanship is spectacular! She's won several ribbons at some of the big quilt shows and I'm looking forward to spending time with her.

Haven't seen my friend, Carol, yet but we'll be off shopping and eating soon I hope! We do want to get to the library to get our books and tapes we have on order so that should be on the agenda for Sat. Carol and I always have fun in Florida and we can usually talk the 'guys' into taking us to dinner! So until tomorrow..enjoy the day and I'll try to!!

Happy New Year's from Florida!

We made it! We're in sunny Florida and feeling like we've been here for months already! We settle in so quickly, except for Mandy, she's not sleeping well at night so that's keeping us up. We did have quite a nice visit with the kids in Indiana on the way down. Kayla's friend Josh was there and he's very a nice young man. Josh is a rescue/fire volunteer and is kept quite busy even in the small town of Mitchell. The kids are sure growing up fast and it's still hard to believe that Kayla will graduate in the spring. Ian is a great kid too and fun to be around.

Today is big golf tournament for Bob that he's in every year. It was 47 when we got up but it supposed to get in the mid to high 60's which is perfect weather for this grandma and perfect for golf! So today I'll set up my sewing room so I can start to think about getting creative again! I've had lots of ideas but now to put them in place and create something! Until later, Happy New Year's!!

See you in the spring!

50 degrees and thunder storms...must be a Michigan winter! You just never know what you're getting here in good old Michigan but guess it's better then a foot or two of snow.

We're packing clothes and loading up the car today. Everyone is ready, even Mandy! She follows Bob and I around and, of course, Grace is screaming already! Our Florida neighbors always know when we are in town, when they hear Grace! And they do hear her! So this will be my last post until we get settled in Florida. Be good my little ones! Gram will be posting pics of Jack and Nicki (stuffed animals kids gave me to take to Florida!). See you in the spring!

Some Christmas presents to look at

This is a wall hanging I made for MaryJo for Christmas. This one can replace a piece I made her a few years ago. It's machine appliqued, hand embroidered and free motion quilted.

This is a table topper I made for Kris this year. It's a hand dyed piece I did that was folded and wrapped with rubber bands, dyed and overdyed.

I made this wall hanging for Dawn from pictures she took in Italy. I painted the background fabric then played with the photos in PhotoShop Elements. I printed the pictures onto tissue paper (yep, tissue paper) and on organza. I was given newspaper from Italy which I transferred onto the background using a gel medium. After everything was dry, I machine quilted and then added some embellishment using my hot glue gun. Look at the detail to see the glue around the edges of some pictures. I colored the glue with some embossing powder. I think it's a nice remembrance for her of her Italy trip(s).

Here's detail of Dawn's. Look at the glue around the edges of the prints.

Well, our countdown has REALLY begun now! We're leaving on Sunday so it's time to start packing up the car. We had a nice visit and food with Diane and Don on Christmas Day. I did manage to get all my decorations packed away so that's behind me too. So here are some pictures of the Christmas quilts/presents I finished this year.

A Very Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas Eve with the family! We had a great time with food, conversation, more food and of course playing all those games that Santa brought! This was one of the best Christmas Eve's yet. I appreciate the times we have together so much. We just need to do more of this in 2009! Happy Holidays!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From Amber & Nick and the rest of our family, Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!
3 more inches of snow yesterday but it's already 31 degrees and holding!

Countdown to Christmas!

Just wanted to put something to look at on my entry today. This is a fiber post card I made this past fall. It's called a 'mono print' for my non fiber family members. I painted thickened dye on a piece of glass and then drew a pear into the dye. A piece of fabric is placed on top of your design, carefully lifted off and you get a print. You can do this same process on paper using acrylic paint.

For this piece I scanned in the large pear mono print I had made, reduced it to smaller size, then printed it on a piece of organza. I sewed the pear onto my background piece, trimmed the pear, then embellished it with beading. Fun to do.

Amber called yesterday morning to tell us she lost a tooth. Actually, she 'removed' it on her own as she said it was bugging her. Darrin or Kris are supposed to take a picture of her so I'm anxious to see our little girl minus a tooth.

It's 8 degrees and gray so today will be a good day to cook, after I meet some friends for coffee that is! Starting to get ready for Christmas Eve with kids and Christmas Day breakfast with Diane & Don (Bob's daughter and hubby). At least we'll eat good before we head to Florida! OK, so we eat REALLY well in Florida and we eat out often! So different then when we are in Michigan. But that's why we feel Florida is like a 3 month vacation. You do things that you don't normally do at home! Five more days and we'll be on vacation!!

Some Stats for winter past...

I was looking at my journal for 2007 winter temps...December 19 & 21st it was in the high 30's. We still had snow on the ground but 30 degrees seems like fall compared to the zero and single digits we're having now. On Dec. 23rd, 2007 it was 40 degrees @ 7:00 a.m. but dropped to 20 degrees by 5:15 p.m. Oh, today's temp @ 8:00 a.m. is 14 degrees. Enough for winter stats. We're off to WalMart and Mandy has her 'hair' appointment today. Lucky Girl!

I found this saying and thought I'd pass it on. I don't know who wrote it so until I 'google' and find out who it's by we'll just say 'anonymous'.

'In order to have a friend, you must be a friend'

You build it and they will come!

OK, so we didn't really build anything except an 'invisible' sign that says 'Food Here!'. These deer came calling last night. If you look closely at the the first picture, you'll see a huge, 10 point buck! It was starting to get dark but you can still see this fine animal. Click on the pictures to see a larger version.

The head of the pack!

Here's the family feeding!

Deer in motion! Enjoy!

It's quite windy out today and more snow expected! It was in the mid 70's in Florida yesterday and the folks were having a Christmas golf cart parade! Pretty soon, we'll be there!

Just a tease

Here is a partial look (left corner) of one of the 9 fiber post cards I've made recently. This is for the Fiber Art Valentine promotion that is held yearly. I'll be posting pics in February but this is just something to look at fiber related. I have many, many projects to work on in Florida and

I'll be posting pics then.

It was ZERO out at 7:45 a.m. today! Bob is out snow blowing now! With all the wind and blowing snow yesterday, it just didn't make sense to work on it then. Today there isn't any new snow, it's just plain COLD and another snow storm is due in on Sunday! Hard to believe that winter won't be here until tomorrow! One thing for sure, we'll be watching the weather closely for next weekend to determine if we leave on Sat. or Sunday! We've been fortunate not having bad weather when we leave for Florida but there's always that first time!

More snow pictures

Look closely at this picture. It's one of the (20+) wild turkey's we have who visit the bird feeder. This girl was actually walking in the snow! As soon as I clicked the picture, she and a friend took off. But they'll be back.

At leat the birds are eating well! Look at the amount of snow on the bird bath (lower right)

Not too much snow! HA I just took these after the snow stopped falling! Anyway, appears we've had at least 10" of snow. More expected Sunday..let's hope none for later in the week for holiday travelers on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Winter Wonderland

These are pics from our downstairs looking out back and are for our Florida friends (in case they forgot what snow looks like!). Yep, it's a Michigan Winter Wonderland for sure. It started snowing here about 5:00 a.m. and it's supposed to continue through late this afternoon. We've already had a few inches and expect to get up to 8-10. Dawn is in Baltimore and not expected in until 8 tonight. Hope she makes it!

Looks like it will be a 'stay in' day for both Bob and I which is just fine with me. One of the perks of retirement, we don't have to go out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! 12/18/1939

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOB! This is Bob's high school picture! I couldn't find a good baby picture to post so this will have to do. His BD present today is a visit to the Dr. for a quick checkup! He's already had his 'other' test(s) so this is all he gets! Have a Happy Birthday!!! Love ya!

Now it does look like Christmas!

This is a picture of my friend Carol & I at the IQA Festival in Houston this fall. It was so cool to see our panel hung at this prestigious show! We didn't win any ribbon but just to be juried in was a thrill. This panel was made by the six of us: Mary Andrews (orange), Lois Ann Fulton (yellow), Judy Dunnett (purple), Karen Olson (green) and Carol Tamasiunas (red), mine is the blue panel. Our theme was underwater fantasy and we each did a blind draw on a color from the color wheel. This was quite a challenge to work in one colorway but we did it and we're very proud of our effort.
We did get over 4 inches of snow so it's back to looking like Christmas here in Michigan! It's only 21 degrees but I don't expect it to get too much warmer. It's my babysitting Wed. with the kids...my last Wed. for 2008. Next Wed. is Christmas Eve and we'll have a wonderful time with presents from Santa. Now I'm getting excited for Christmas or is it Florida!