Returning to Normal (Whatever That Is!)

I've been out early this morning clearing the last of the storm debris off the street in front of our house. Big trucks and "scooper-upper-things" have been going through the neighborhood hauling off the tree parts we all stacked in front of our houses. It is SO good to have it all gone! Glory to God! The adjuster comes tomorrow bright and early and then hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled life!

Before all this happened I had almost completed this new quilt top. All it needs is sashing.

I'm thinking of backing it with this fleece. I love the geishas. This will be a new thing for me, I haven't used fleece as a backing before. We'll see how it goes.

I've painted this old armoire a sage green. (I know it looks gray, but trust me on this - it's green.) ;) It's in what is now our spare room, and I'm thinking I can use it to store some of the fabric I have acquired. Right now it is squirrelled away all over the place.


I just had to do something more active than sewing. Hence the long overdue renovation of that room! Don't you find that when you're all stressed out it's good to just do something violent? (Only not the kind of thing that will get you arrested.) :)


We went to a celebration for our niece Saturday night. She graduated from college! She's a single mom with two beautiful daughters, and I'm sure it wasn't easy for her. Everyone is so proud of her!



Have a great afternoon!

Hugs and kisses,

Moving Right Along!

I don't know about you, but flowers just make me feel better. Even one little flower makes me feel better.

You know, you really don't appreciate how accustomed you are to those little conveniences like electricity and internet access until you don't have them any more. Can I just say that I've been deprived?

But, Glory to God!!!, that at least is back to normal. I've missed my internet. The electricity has been back on for a week now, but internet just came back up yesterday.

Our neighbor has got most of his tree off our roof today, I'm thankful to say.

It is still leaning toward our house rather ominously, but he says he'll get the rest of it down soon.

Our insurance adjuster comes on Tuesday, and after that we'll see where we stand on repairs, etc. We are so blessed not to have major damage to our house and more especially no injuries to any of us! After all, "stuff" can always be replaced. People can't.

I want to get back to my quilting adventures, but I haven't been able to settle to that yet. I'm redecorating the bedroom that belonged to our baby. Since she has moved out of state, it was due for a makeover. Not sure what else it may turn into, but a spare bedroom for sure.

I'll leave you with these little bits of yellow from our yard this morning.

Have a great weekend!

Surviving Ike

We have been through such a week here in Houston. Lots of damage, lots of loss. Galveston and points south were hit much worse with Hurricane Ike. It has truly been a horrendous event. But I can honestly say, I am just thankful to the LORD! We are safe. None of our family has been hurt at all.

We have a tree on our roof.

Some of our pretty little trees uprooted.

Our sweet neighbors across the street had their next-door-neighbors' tree fall on their patio at the back of their house, pretty well destroying it.

As much as I love trees, you just never realize the destructive possibilities when they fall. She loved sitting out on her little patio and it was a pretty, peaceful place. I hope they can get it back somewhere near as nice as it was.

This is the back yard of the house on her other side. It was a HUGE pine tree. What you can't see in this shot is that it hit a power line and took a pole and transformer down with it. It went down with such force it ripped the meters and breaker boxes off the back of their houses.

We have a gas stove at our house, so we can at least still cook. Late one night we had some peach pies. Had to use up some of those peaches I froze earlier. The rest were a dead loss.

But these sure were good!

We have really good neighbors. I've been touched at how people have all gone out of their way to help each other. (And there was a LOT of barbeque spread around as everyone tried to use up all the meat from freezers before it spoiled.)

My Sweetie Pie and I are at our daughter's boyfriend's apartment. He has electricity and internet access (and air conditioning). So now I've caught up my email and updated my blog. My work here is done. :)

Hope you're having a good week! Mine's getting better.

My love to you all,

Elaine

By the way, my chickens survived nicely. As a matter of fact, when I went out to check on them after the storm there were a lot of sparrows sharing their shelter. ;)

Finished Log Cabin Quilt!

I did finish this log cabin quilt. It seems to have taken forever, but I'm pleased with it.

I have rather ambitiously undertaken to make a lot of quilts for Christmas presents this year and time will tell if I actually get them all made. ;)

I used a knit t-shirt type of material for the backing.
I think the print of it goes well with the ones on the front.

And I like the binding. I used jelly roll strips.

I'm taking a little trip this fall and wanted a case to protect my camera. I've been working on another quilt and had one of these blocks left over, so I folded it around some closely woven batting,

and added a velcro closing.
Yea! An easy project that went together in about an hour!





I chanced upon this book on our local library's search page, so I had to order it. :) So many interesting possibilities. I plan to have a closer look at it tonight.

I think you really have to be an optimist to be a gardener. So many times things just don't turn out as well as you had hoped, but then there are the times when it does and even more abundantly. Those are the times that make it all worth while.

Have a great evening!

Why Women Should Vote

I got this from my sister via email today. She did not write it, and I don't know who did, but I do thank whoever she may be for this very timely reminder. And like the writer, I think there should be more taught in our schools of the price these women paid to earn us the privilege of voting.

I know this doesn't apply to women outside of the United States, but I'm guessing you have your own brave women who earned the same rights for you.


WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting, and kicking the women.Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15,1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat, and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/prisoners.pdf So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie, 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was .. with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies, and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.' Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democratic, Republican or Independent party - remember to vote. History is being made.
Read more: http://memory..loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/tactics.html http://memory..loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/brftime3.html

I especially liked the quote from the doctor that courage in women is often mistaken for insanity. I don't think that is true today. I think women are expected to be at least as courageous as men. We even send women into armed battle today, and you would certainly have to be brave to go there!

Anyway, much food for thought. If you have time, look at the links above. Really interesting reading!

Enjoy your evening, and don't forget to vote!

Something Old, Something New

The something old is my grandmother's crochet hook. My Dad's mother was one of the smartest people I've ever known. She's my hero! Having survived The Great Depression, she knew how to do just about everything, or at least that's how it always seemed to me. And she never said anything bad about anyone. She just wouldn't do it. She was 93 years old when she left this life, and that has been years ago. I still miss her every day. She taught me how to crochet and though I don't do it nearly as well as she did, it comforts me to use her crochet hooks. I have several of them.

The something new is a dishcloth I'm crocheting. I was working on it tonight as we watched Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC. Like most people I had not heard of her until recently, but so far I like what I'm hearing and seeing. She faces some big challenges, but she seems to be up for the job.

It's a difficult time in a way for women today. We have more freedoms and more opportunities than ever, yet with all that there are such pressures on us to be everything and to do everything. And no one can.

I got in a lot more work on this latest quilt last night, and I might just finish it tonight. I don't know why I'm such a night owl, but I do my best work late at night. :)

This little sweet mouse was drawn by our younger daughter when she was very young. It was her signature for a while. I really miss her. She's moved far away from Mom and Dad, finding her own way. She'll be fine though. She's got a good foundation.

Have a great day!