St. Patrick's Party

Some pixs from yesterday's St. Patrick's Day Party! THANK YOU so much Marilyn & John! You are the best!

Our host and hostess, O'LaPlantes, had favors at each of our place settings along with name tags. I think Verna made the name tags since she took calligraphy class and is doing a beautiful job.

Our host and hostess at the end of dinner!

Mingle time before dinner
Connie, Jan and Patricia
We sat in the Lani for dinner - 20 of us!
Jan & Larry
Mary Ann & Rich
Pat & Patricia
Mac & Jan
Connie & Tom
Harvey & Susan
Ron & Verna
Bob & Sue (Sue took most of these photo's Thanks, Sue)
Oops...caught us!
We had a great time, as usual, with everyone and we'll certainly miss the friendship...but we look forward to coming back next year already! John mentioned that of the 20 who were at dinner 10 of us are leaving Florida to head back up north. I think Susan and Harvey are the last to leave around May timeframe.

And speaking of Susan...she's a winner again with her quilts! Susan's feathered star quilt took 2nd place in pieced wall quilt category & her 256 block quilt took an honorable mention ribbon in same category! How cool is that!! I've posted pics of her 256 block quilt here. I don't know if I have a pix of her feathered star...I'm sure I do. But CONGRATS! Susan!! Job well done as usual!

We never did get our rain yesterday and temp reached 68..it's looking like a nice day again today but I'm going to get started on my April BJP. Susan gave me my idea/inspiration for March and after talking to my friend Carol T. from Michigan yesterday I've now got my April idea/inspiration!! So wonderful to have creative friends!!!

My version of 'green'

I figure most blogs will be covered with Shamrocks, Leprechaun's and what not so thought I'd not do that this year (I did put a cute Leprechaun on my blog post last year!). Anyway, you'll see my 'green' for this year further down on this post.
Check out what was on our door step last night when we got home from dinner! My friends Carol & Mary sent me these tulips! Aren't they bright, cheery and just make you think spring!! Thank you ladies! What a surprise!

So here's my 'green' for today! Yep, I'm endorsing a few products! A few weeks ago, Carol mentioned a new product she saw advertised for sponges so we each bought a few. These buggers do work really nice and don't feel like the normal dish sponge when wet. They feel quite sturdy and it's the "greener way to clean" since they are made of 50% agave plant and recycled paper - all natural products!

OK, S.O.S. pads have been around forever and probably the one I use most often but I thought, heck, I'll try their soap 'scrubber's too. I'm hooked on these! You know how those little Brillo pads can rust (ok, so maybe mine sit around too long??). Or how the little Brillo can poke your fingers (I really hate when that happens!) well, these don't do either! They are made from recycled plastic bottles! Go figure! You have to try these the next time you run out of S.O.S. pads! Plus, you're going 'green' for a little portion of your life! You can check out more about their products here. And no, I'm not a paid endorser BUT I can be bought!

Have to finish off this post with some art work. Check out the zentangle card Betty (aka Queen Mother of the weavers group) sent me. Is this cool or what!!!

I love what she did and I'm going to email her to see if I can copy her pattern. Betty noted on her card that she "wasn't too impressed when she first saw it..but now...WOW! It's almost like a mediation." That's what zentangles is all about!

It's going to be a week or two of eating out a lot so I'm going to have to catch up on my walking and exercise (or just don't eat so much!). Tonight is the LaPlante's annual St. Patty's dinner feast!, Thursday and Friday are already planned out with friends...next week kids are leaving Indiana to head to sunny (let's hope!) Florida for their spring break and we'll be meeting up with them for lunch or dinner one day. Of course we'll be meeting up with Carol and Tony for more than one evening out (I'm hoping!) and I know Carol and I have a few more days planned of playing, quilting and a lunch or two! Just to name a few of our activities!

So I'll end with a Happy St. Patrick's day to all! Overcast today with rain coming later this afternoon or tonight. Temps only 55 right now but good walking weather so I better get moving!

Laughter is always the best medicine!

Yes, laughter is the best medicine (next to fresh air!)...Sunday, Carol and I attended the Master Garden show here in Ocala as we have for the past several years. It was a beautiful day out and we had fun as usual! More on that later...
This is a Hawaiian Volcano Plant I purchased at the show. If you look closely, you'll see it's actually growing out of a piece of lava rock! Talk about easy to care for but so unusual. I purchased it for Larry and Jan...Larry found an item I was trying to find via the Internet and Jan had flowers all over the house when we arrived in Dec. Just a little thank you to them both!
This is just one shot of some vendors at the show..doesn't really mean anything to anyone but I thought family and friends would like to see sun and flowers for a change!

Ditto!
Every year there's a great vendor with the orchids. Good thing I don't live in Florida because I would purchased a new orchid plant every year!
Same orchid vendor booth.
OK, so here's the fun part or cure all....I've been under the weather and actually didn't feel so hot heading out to the garden show..but I really wanted to get out in the fresh air and I always enjoy attending this show with Carol. So our first stop was at Starbucks for coffee then off to the garden show to walk around and breath deeply! Sun was shining and just a beautiful day to be out and about...

Now we're ready to leave after all the fresh air and sun and head out to the car when we both look at each other hoping 'the other one of us' remembers where the car is at! Here's Carol telling me she remembered there were only 3 spots to park and that's where our car is at...hmmmmm In this next pix you can see just a few of the cars....and this is Carol hitting the alarm button..we heard an alarm but it turned out that another person (a man this time!! YEA!) also had the same idea! He couldn't find his car either!! And we did see him leaving just ahead of us when we did find out car!
So we're searching.....
and searching...........
and YEA we finally found it! I think we laughed so hard we both had tears in our eyes. You see the really fun part is we did this same thing last year but at WalMart! Only problem then we both had grocery carts we had to lug up and down aisle to aisle because I was embarrassed to hit the alarm button. We did have a friendly retiree sitting in his vehicle laughing while watching us go up and down the aisles. At least we shared our laughter that day!
So after a rather good night's sleep, I was and am still feeling pretty good today. Finally...just my normal aches and pains which I can handle. Carol came over and she worked on her quillow for her grand son. It's turning out really cute and she should be done this weekend sometime. But...more 'medicine/laughter'.....

It seems Carol cut her finger rather badly last Thursday on a can. She's been keeping a rather large bandage on her thumb to keep it from bending and to try to make sure it doesn't start to bleed or open up again.

To make a long story longer...I mean shorter, last summer my beautiful daughter cut her finger on a bagel knife and the pharmacist recommended she use SuperGlue to hold the cut together. It worked perfectly...so last Thanksgiving I had a rotary cutter accident and I ended up (after four days of still bleeding) using the SuperGlue on my finger. Again, worked perfectly! You see where this is heading....so I recommended to Carol she use some SuperGlue on her finger too.....she asked me to put some on and I did! Well, we got to laughing quite hard about the SuperGlue finger and how was she going to put on antibiotic ointment on it now? And will the darn glue ever dry? OK, so I might have put on too much but it's all sealed now! I did see Carol later and she said her finger actually felt really good and she thinks the SuperGlue was a great idea! So another convert!! Yea for SuperGlue! Oh, check out the beautiful bracelet Carol is wearing...we bought this yesterday after the garden show...a girls got to shop you know!

So that's my Rx for illness...fresh air and laughter...the best medicine! Thanks, Carol for making me feel better!

March BJP finished!

My kite for the March BJP is finished. I've been under the weather the past two days but I did manage to finish this Thursday a.m. before I became a complete couch potato. Grrrrrr Joint pain was bad and fever (101) were the only symptoms, which just got progressively worse as the afternoon wore on. Yesterday I was a couch and bed potato all day! What a waste of time. Today I feel better..joints still hurt but almost at the 'normal' daily hurt which I can tolerate.
So enough complaining...here's my kite string holder. I made a peyote tube then I took tile spacers (hubby saves me everything too!) and painted them white. I cut off one of the prongs so the 'handles' would lie flat and added a bead to hold them on.

My kite tails were made with the peyote triangles that I learned in my last bead class. I finished the edges off with #11 seed beads just using all of the primary colors in a random pattern. I'm happy with the way this one turned out. Now to plan April's project!

Post about nothing..

Not much going on other than beading, beading, beading...kite is coming along and I hope to have finished by this weekend to post. So this is a post about nothing special just things going on in my life.
My friend, Mary, sent me an email invite for an Art Swap and I figured if Mary was going to play I would too. So rather than make something new I had a 9" x 12" journal quilt I made that I sent on to the person on my list. I had hand dyed the green background fabric and decided to bleach resist by stamping areas then cutting apart and sewing together. I happened to have had some hand dyed beige fabric that matched the bleached area which worked perfectly. Then I stenciled the flower and added some painted fusible web on the leaves. It was fun to work on and I hope my 'swap' lady gives it a good home and likes it!

Last night grandpa and I were 'SKYPEING' with the kids. Several times I've taken snapshots via SKYPE but I couldn't find them on my laptop. Geezzzz Now, I'm pretty computer literate but those buggers were hidden!
So finally I found them! This is Amber from a few weeks ago taken on SKYPE. Hi sweetheart! What a great smile!

and here are 'my boys' from last nights visit! Aren't they handsome! Talk about a happy family! I love seeing their faces and SKYPE has sure made our stay here not feeling like I'm missing what the kids are doing! My DIL is usually hidden but I always hear her in the background. Hi Kris!

I did finish my pouch from our weaver's meeting this month! I thought I took a pic of it finished but guess not! Anyway, here's the pouch all woven. I did take it off the cardboard and I'll take a pic and post with my kite this weekend. My first woven piece!!! Woohoo!

Temp got up to 80 yesterday but we had a nice breeze so it was a beautiful day. Carol came over and she started sewing her grand son's quillow. It's really cute and I think everyone will be happy with the end result.

So more beading today and maybe a run to the P.O., bead shop and hardware (with hubby).

My son sent me this link a few weeks ago and I forgot to post. You have to watch it all the way through. It's a wonderful tribute to our military and the little girl shaking the young man's hand at the end is priceless. Do watch the video here.

Another weekend

A busy weekend as usual. Sat. was weaver's meeting, Sunday was running with Carol to Michael's, JoAnne's and THEN to the library where I got Under the Dome on CD! Now I can listen when I take my walk, sew or clean! Then, if I have time and just want to read, I go to the chapter where I left off while listening. Works great!! I think I'll be able to get this book finished before we leave! I did finish the outline beading on my kite BJP! Now on to make the string and kite tail!
I made these peyote triangles that I'm going to use for my kite tail! At least that's my plan! I'm also working on making a peyote tube to hold the string for my kite!

Our weaver's meeting on Saturday was so much fun! My friend, Susan, brought her stain glass applique she's working on. She's getting close to the end then just needs to hand quilt it! Just! I can't show pix until she's entered it in a show! The items I brought are on my blog already so I'm not including here.

Onto some of our show and tell from others. This is a flag Mary made for the conference the end of this month. Isn't it a fun piece! Plus, you have to look for the 'word' or initials she included in the piece. FTWG (Florida Tropical Weavers Guild). Mary is so clever and a fun lady.

Betty showed this cool purse she was given. We were all trying to decide how to make one! It slips over your shoulder and across your chest. One of those really comfortable purses to carry all those goodies from the shows we attend or other shopping we do.

Betty showed a heart bead she made. I think this was a technique one year at our meeting but I must have been in Michigan or I would have made them for sure.

Betty's better half gave her this very cool necklace with the little charms in it. She has some more charms coming..they are so tiny! The first pix I took was too dark and this one the flash makes it hard to see the cute charms. There was a heart, ying/yang, a dog and I forget what else. Very nice present!

Our own Queen of Purple was busy weaving some towels with matching dish cloths. The dish cloths were made with the same yarn as the matching towel! Interesting! Jan also brought a really cool bead she made but I can't find the bugger! I was moving pix and now it's gone! When/if I find it I'll post it. It was really cool too.

This was our project for the day! A woven pouch. Betty was so nice to make us all kits. We had a great time weaving our little hearts out. I should have mine finished tonight and I'll post my picture then.

The 1st video shows how to take the woven pouch off the board. Thanks again Betty!!! The 2nd video should be first! I'm not able to move the video's around now in blogger. Betty shows how to put the tie in the pouch! Again, THANKS so much for an interesting day, Betty! So nice of you to prepare our kits to make the pouch. And to all the other ladies, thanks for a great afternoon of friendship!

Catch up time

This is a fiber card I made a few days ago. I mailed it to my secret Valentine exchange, Joetta! She never received my original fiber Valentine that was sent in to Fiber Arts magazine. You can see a sampling of the fiber Valentines on their web site here. We have done this exchange for the past four years and it's fun to receive them in the mail. Joetta's original fiber card is in the sampling above (as are all of our fiber cards our group sent in!).
I talked about the process of using the sticky back canvas on my previous post. I cut a heart shape out of the canvas with the stamped tissue paper; painted some of the quilted flowers, add two crystals and stitched the edges. Hope Joetta likes it and sure hope she gets this one!!
Wed. afternoon I took my last bead class for this year!! sniffle, sniffle! I've had SO much fun learning different peyote stitches from Lynn at The Bead Strand in Ocala. Lynn is a very patient and fun instructor!!
Check out my beaded peyote triangles! Lynn called this her 'Tip Top Bracelet' class. I'm not going to make mine into a bracelet...but maybe! I just wanted to learn the stitch. Here are some of Lynn's triangles which I think are beautiful!!
This is how they look sewn in a bracelet.
Here is another one Lynn made! I just love the look and she did make it easy to learn!! I'm looking forward to some more of her classes next year.
So, Thursday was another Girls Day Out with Jan, Marilyn, Verna and Verna's friend, Lisa, from Tenn. We went to a great tea room for lunch called The Veranda Gallery and Tea Room. What a great lunch and of course, dessert! We all had half chicken salad on croissant with a cup of soup and salad! I had coconut cake for dessert and Jan and Marilyn split an orange cake, really good too (I had a bite!). Of course, we had to do some shopping at the gallery! Fun items, jewelery, you name it and they had it...BUT the most fun part happened when Jan, Marilyn and I started looking at some cards by Laurie Mitchell. They are called "Listen Doll" and they are a hoot!!! Click on the link and just check some of them out.
The inside of this card says: "Last time I took my bra off for a man he screamed because he thought I had four arms. Happy Birthday "

I'm sure you get the picture as to the humor this lady has!! We laughed so hard and I wish i would have bought a dozen of these cards! Maybe next time!

Had my roots dyed today and just finished making a new chicken dish from Cooking Light magazine...Blue Cheese Stuffed chicken with buffalo sauce. i even found some lot fat blue cheese! Hope it's good!