I AM Still Alive

Hi there! I have missed you all sooooooo much. My knee replacement surgery took place on December 12th. It was successful in every way and I got to come home the very next day. According to my doctor and physical therapist I am doing not only well, but much better than normal. Truthfully, it doesn't feel that way to me, but I trust them so I will try to be patient and do the things I need to do to fully recover. Mr. Muddling is taking the best care of me every day. God bless him, his patience is something for which I am eternally grateful!

I went out in the back yard this afternoon and took a few pictures. As you can see there are still bits and pieces of prettiness out there. Top left was a pleasant surprise for me - one of the Christmas cacti has a bloom! There is an lot of brown not-so-exciting stuff out there, but the chickens have been having a glorious time rampaging all over the back yard and digging up everything they can get their little claw-y feet on. I don't care. They make me laugh, and you know what the Bible says, A merry heart doeth good like a medicine!

Our dear friend Dawn sent us these beautiful flowers for Christmas. At almost two weeks they still look gorgeous, just like our Dawn. We got to "meet" her through Ruthie. Dawn lives in London, and she and Ruthie were great friends. One of the last quilts I made while Ruthie was still here was a quilt for Dawn.  I am thankful our friendship has continued.

I tried very hard to finish this quilt before I had the surgery. I wanted it to welcome me home, but alas, it was not to be.

Chloe tried her best to help me finish it.

I even had a little Christmas tree next to the sewing machine to encourage me.

But this is as far as I got. And that's where it is now. I have a couple of borders I'd like to add and then there's the quilting and all the rest to make it into a real live quilt. I'm very sure it will be next year before this one is finished!

Still and all, it's been a good year. I believe next year will be a better one for all of us! I do wish each and every one of you the best and that your dearest wish will be granted.  God is so good to us all!

Hugs and kisses and lots of love,

Almost the End of November

This was at one time a full bushy plant. But. Chickens. I put this "protector" around it and I have one lone little flower. It's not that they want to eat the plant, they just enjoy digging all around them until they die. 

I wanted to show that a few of the yellow angel trumpets are still blooming.

But lest you think all is well and happy with the plant, here's how the rest of it looks! Our time to enjoy these flowers is fast drawing to a close here in Houston until next year.

As you can see, there are a few hardy souls still glowing and growing out there. And of course chickens! I do love them, even though they frequently frustrate my gardening ambitions.

I am still doing a little sewing. I decided I needed to make another red quilt for our bed. I've actually made a little more progress since then. I have the first twelve vertical rows sewn together, labeled and taken down off the wall. It could get finished before my knee surgery next month. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I am so thankful for my African violets in the kitchen window, blooming and making me smile every time I see them.

And you know I'm really thankful for Buddy. He is a continual delight to me.

Mr. Muddling is taking good care of me and spoiling me unmercifully, and I love it! I am a blessed woman.

Life is till good. God is still on the throne. And I'm still believing for good things for us all!

Hugs and kisses,

Adventures in Muddle Land

I worked on this very old quilt top, made by a friend's mother, grandmother, or maybe both. We're not sure. 

It is a big quilt. My friend Tracey had done the washing and some of the prep work on the quilts, and I found a backing and got this one quilted. I had to return the others. With knee surgery looming and lots slower movement on my part, I'm just not "there" for that kind of project right now. The mutual friend we're doing this for was unaware I had planned to quilt them, and Tracey was very understanding about my failure to complete the mission.

I had loaded a piece of men's shirting for her to try out the quilt machine when she came over, and though she was a little hesitant to play with it much, she did manage to spell her name! I thought she might enjoy a mug rug made from it, so I played with it a little and will get it in the mail to her this week.

We may have some slight freezing weather this week, but for now I'm really enjoying these beautiful hibiscus outside the office window. I also enjoy that bird feeder. We have quite a parade of them some days.

I found this little mug warmer on Amazon and ordered it. I have to say, I love it! It is so nice not to have my coffee or tea get cold before I finish it. You just plug it in and it keeps the hot drink hot!

I've been making lots of 4-patches from two inch strips. So far I have over 300 of them. It's a nice little game for me to play and I can take my time. 

Sewing has been a real blessing to me for a lot of years now. It has helped me process many things that happened that I had absolutely no control over. Somehow it helps to work on something that will behave pretty well if you do it as you should!

I hope you've had a really good weekend and that you have a wonderful week ahead. With all its many and varied challenges, life is still good, and God is till on the throne.

Hugs and kisses,

It Started Out Very Simply

Our niece's boyfriend asked me to make a quilt for him back in December when they visited from Arizona. I knew that he would be overseas until this month so I was not in a big hurry.

As is frequently the case, time flew and it was October and no quilt! He wanted one in his university's colors - red, black and yellow. I thought about it off and on all this time and never quite decided what I wanted to do. 

Then suddenly it came to me - a half square triangle design, one that I've made lots of times and loved every single time. After that, I put my trusty Accuquilt Go! Cutter to work and cut those triangles out of lots of different mostly batik fabrics. Then up on the design wall it went. 

And before you knew it, it was on the quilt frame ready to quilt.

And here it is a finished quilt. 

Always my favorite shot - all cuddly and crinkly after a trip through the washer and dryer. I hope he likes it a lot. It will be headed to him tomorrow.

Now, I've started work on something that I am NOT enjoying at all. A friend asked me to quilt SEVEN quilt tops that belong to another friend of ours which were made by her mother and grandmother. They are not in the best of condition. This one is the best of the lot. 

It has taken me all week to get it to this stage. It is fully as long as all that batting hanging down there. I've decided this is not something I ever want to do again. Not fun. Possibly because I am once again having to use my walker. You can see part of its wheel there in the lower right. I'm seeing a surgeon on Tuesday. Knee replacements for both knees seems to be in my future. I've fought it long and hard, but. Enough is enough. We'll see what the doctor says.

Mr. Muddling and I went today for early voting. We found a new place to go where the lines were not quite so long. Seems there are a lot of motivated voters out there!

It is a beautiful day here, has been all day. I am so thankful to see sunshine again and to have a forecast of several days to dry out! We've had an abundance of rain.

I hope things are going well in your corner of the world. With all its challenges, life is still good and I am forever grateful for this life I live. Especially thankful for Mr. Muddling, the love of my life!

Hugs and kisses,

A New Joint Effort

Here it is fresh off the quilting frame. I had issues with my Tin Lizzie, and when I finally reached the people I had bought it from five years ago I found they had retired! I left a message and she called me back and gave me some suggestions for what the issue might be. Thank God, she was right and I was able to finish the quilting on this and the issue seems to be resolved. What a relief! I really appreciate their help. They did not have to help me. But they did..

My friend Sandy sewed the main part of this quilt and I did the borders, the quilting and the binding. It is such a blessing to have a good friend who enjoys being involved in these quilting adventures!

This is the final quilt we promised for the new boys camp our friends are starting. These three queen sized quilts will go into the retreat center planned for pastors and their families. They had asked for quilts that would be fitting for a ranch setting and I think all of these will. The backing on this one has a look of vintage denim. Very fitting!

You know I love that crinkly after washing and drying look!

I even like it in black and white.

I finished this little table runner last week. I had some leftover disappearing nine patches blocks from a long ago project, and backing fabric and batting still on the machine after my recent wall hanging, so it seemed fitting to use them all! I do hate waste!

I think I will work on some smaller projects for a while. There are always so many quilts in my head trying to get out! But that's a good thing. I'm never bored!

Hope you're having a wonderful week and that you're not bored either!

Hugs and kisses,

This One Is Purely for Me

As I said in my last post, I had made a quilt based on the cover of Kaffe Fassett's book, Glorious Patchwork. I gave it to someone I still love dearly, but I really wanted to keep it. Anyway, this one is for me. It's not the same, and it's still not according to any pattern. I just sort of made it up as I went along.

It is going to live here over my quilt frame. I love it there already. You may notice that I moved the one that was in that spot. It is now covering my quilt machine, so I still get to see it every day, too.

Here are some looks at progress as we went along.

And this is fresh from the washer and dryer after quilting. I like the way the aqua blocks seem to glow.

When I took Buddy out late the other night I saw this little tree frog between the screening and the hardware cloth. I thought he was trapped, so I woke up Mr. Muddling to come and free him. He just tapped on the screen and the little frog went right back out though that tiny little square in the hardware cloth. I was shocked. And sorry to have ruined Mr. Muddling's sleep. Fortunately he still loves me!

This is not a great picture. I was using a flashlight, but here is the frog, safe and sound.

Adventures and muddling, that's what we have here, as usual!

Hope you're having a wonderful week.

Hugs and kisses,

Muddling As Usual

I have been working on a quilt similar to one I made several years ago. It has always been one of my favorites, and I decided I wanted to make one to live here.

I've been making these blocks for a coupe of weeks now.

I've put them up on the design wall and then expanded to two design walls. I've remade blocks and rearranged blocks and it is beginning to look like the never ending project. But I WILL finish it. 

This sugary bit of deliciousness is a fried apple pie.

My sister Sue lives in Colorado and has an apple tree that has been very generous to her and her sweet husband this year. She decided to try drying some of the bounty. I was the very fortunate recipient of some of that and right away made some of these goodies. Mr. Muddling and I enjoyed them. Quite a lot!

Looking out into Ruthie's garden I see the althea is blooming beautifully. It is also called a rose of Sharon.

Mostly it's just a muddy mess out there. We've had lots of rain and more to come.

But, I need look no further than the kitchen windowsill to see my sweet African violets blooming their little hearts out for me! I do love them.

I hope there is something you love seeing in your world today!

Hugs and kisses,