Purdy flowers, quilt gifted, more dresses and trucks oh boy

 My Valentine went to Houston on Valentine. Before he left He had a card and a box of chocolates on the counter and then he gave me flowers when he got home.  They're really pretty. He's a pretty good guy so I guess I'll keep him.

 

I have another great nephew and of course he got a quilt. His Momma said this time she wasn't going to find out the sex so I made a quilt for a boy and one for a girl and the rest is history.

 
 I actually got to deliver this one in person. Ramsey was sound asleep and so tiny. I hope when he woke up he liked his quilt. My niece Shelby smiled and said she loved my quilts.  All her babies have one from their great Aunt Carla. The quilting theme was wild life. You can see the tree, moose, and a bear . Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest did another great quilting job for me. Thank you Donna.

I came home taking quilt pictures and my neighbors goats were out exploring on our side of the road. They're cute little escape artist. I knew as soon as I drove close they'd start darting across the road to get home to safety so I slowed to a stop. Life in the country. Love it.

Yahoo I'm done. Mother of the Bride dress options can be overwhelming. Do you want this style, do you want this color, do you want beads, lace and on and on. LOL So Thursday (2/15) Pamela and I went back to Brick and Mortar to look at the dress that most everyone liked me in the best (black sequins) plus one other I thought I liked maybe better (gold sequins) and to try on 3 others that they modeled at the Open House we went to the prior Sunday. Well wouldn't you know it we saw two other dress we decided I should try on too. So now I have try on 5 new ones. You see Pamela wants me to sparkle. LOL. So then sparkle she gets. It's crazy when you try on these dresses that you have to visualize what it will look like in the Merlot/Wine color she wants when the dress is Sage, Teal, etc or the size is smaller or bigger than you need.  I'm a visual person so it's hard for me to see the final product. Does that make sense? So of all the dresses I tried on I had narrowed it down to 3. 

So now I'm left to choose from the black sequin, the brownish scoop back  or a gunmetal color dress with a sweetheart neckline under the rhinestone/sheer fabric. Lord help me. 

I put this one on 2-3 times and Pamela was like I really like this one better than the black. But I wasn't sure I liked the front neckline. But the back was cool.

Then I put on the other dress I found today to try on. I liked the neckline (front & back)on this one and so did Pamela. Plus she liked it better than the black dress. So I decide against the black sequin dress and now this brown sparkle dress and I pick the one that has a neckline front and back that I like.  I won't mention how many times I put each of these 3 dresses on trying to decide and getting the opinion of the girl helping us.

Oh wait you want to see a picture don't you of the one I picked? Welllll all you get is a glimpse of the neckline. And the picture of the color it will be in.  I won't be sharing a picture until the big day in January 2025. Sorry but not sorry.

Here's the neckline. 

But it will be in this Merlot color.The dress has been ordered but won't come in until sometime in July.  Every dress you try on is made for someone 7 foot tall. I'm a lot of you have already been through this process. LOL Obviously it's easier to remove the extra and not so easy to add fabric. So the hard part is done and sometime before the dress gets in I'll find some shoes but for now I'm done and happy.  

A friend of mine told me to enjoy this time and making the memories and I laughed saying... "You mean memories of us trying to kill each other"  Okay so it's not really that bad but......   Today was all about wedding stuff. Dresses, invitations, and other details we needed to cover. 

I came home the other day and my neighbors goats were out exploring. They're little escape artist. They're cute. I knew as soon as I drove close they'd start darting across the road to get home to safety so I slowed to a stop. They're very entertaining. Life in the country. Love it.

 

And these two chow hounds are at David's heels waiting for their food bowls. He's putting pumpkin in the food to hide Sadies pills she has to take for a few days.  Of course they know he'll let them lick the pumpkin off the spoon.  Oh yeah!

On Tuesday (2/20) I had Jury Duty in Cameron. What difference from Houston!  No traffic to fight, No parking fees, and not hundreds of people.  I had to be there at 10am. Saw a fellow quilter from Bee there too. As we stood there and talked she said they we in chambers working out a deal and we might get released.  Nice. And at around 10:45 they came out and a deal was made and we were released.  David came with me for moral support. LOL So we got lunch at the Cameron Beer Market. We shared a pizza and it was good! We left with full tummies and headed back to the house to pick up David's car so we could head to Cypress and drop it off at our favorite car shop, Autoscan on Huffmeister. They do good work and they're honest. Hwy 6 from Navasota to 290 was a mess and under construction so we decided to come home via Hwy 36. Well were rolling along and David asks if Hwy 390 doesn't cross hwy 50 and said yep so we took right on 390.  We're enjoying the countryside, turn left on Hwy 50 and just short of being half way home a dump truck decided to turn around in front of us and stalled he truck. What dumb butt. I mean we're going 65 and he backs up and stalls out. So that was avoided to only have to stop again because and 18 wheeler had bottomed out his trailer carrying an excavator on the trailer.  He couldn't go backwards or forwards. He was STUCK.

Now it would have gone a lot faster if only they could have heard David in the car telling what they needed to do.  Now I won't give you all the details of what they did do after almost an hour they must have got the message telepathically. LOL  They unloaded the excavator and surprise the trailer popped up and the 18 wheeler could move.

There was some big gouges in the blacktop. What a mess. Quality time in the car with my man. LOL We finally made it home safe and sound.

Wednesday (2/22) I went to the gym and the trailer was parked in front of my car. Now I could see donkey ears and before I could get my phone out to take pictures I had about 5 donkey's of all colors looking out at me. Dang it. They were so cute. All I was able to get a picture of was one's ears. LOL. I wanted to want up to the trailer but I didn't want to get in trouble either.

Well that's it for now. It's that time of year and the birthday shenanigan's are about to begin.

Until next post..When I give to you what I make with my hands, I share my heart

Somewhere over the Rainbows...are some spoiled pups etc

 We've finally been getting some rain and on Friday(2/2) I think everyone was out snapping shots of the rainbow. Rainbows are supposed to be a sign of hope, love and friendship. And of course at the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It was a beautiful sight to see.

Wouldn't it be grand to find a pot of gold!

I finally made another birthday card. Missed 3-4 birthdays but I'm trying to make them. This one was for Kelli.

I put little rhinestones for each of the candle flames and a couple at the cake stand base.

I added an Angel wing for her and John's pup Quinn. She crossed over the Rainbow bridge on her birthday.

On a happier note.. all the kids came up to celebrate with her.

Now can you say Sadie, Bruno and Bri without saying spoiled. NOPE. Our two think they're lap dogs and jockey for the David's lap. And then when we went to Pamela and Kaleb's Bri was stretching out for some loves from her furless grampy. LOL

On Monday (2/5) I went the Sassy Stitchers quilt bee where Connie showed her blocks that she started on 20 years ago when another member of ours Carolyn was teaching her how to make the blocks. She did a great job! I think everyone's favorite was the house with the lace curtain.  

Then Donna Kim showed off her finished quilt top. Love it and the colors. She did an excellent job.

Bri got a new hair cut. Her skin was irritated and they're hoping this will help. She's feeling kinda shy with no fur.  But she's getting used to it. The groomer did a nice job. She didn't scalp her.

Thursday (2/8) we met up in Navasota for lunch with Gary and Lynn at the Whitehall Ice House and Cafe.   Great burgers and a special sauce and for later I got a Oreo Cookie Cheese cake pie and David got a Chocolate chip cookie. They were really good. This place is on the corner of 362 & 306.  There's another Whitehall Cafe on Hwy 362 and 2988. A little confusing. That's where Gary and Lynn ended up but they found us quickly a mile down the road.

That evening the Gause Girl Guild aka G3 had our book discussion at the Pony Express. We discussed a great book called Beyond That, The Sea by Laura Spence Ash. The book followed an 11 year old girl whose parents sent her to American to live with an unknown family. It was 1941 and bombs were falling in Europe and her parents felt that was the only way she would survive.

For super bowl All Around the Block Quilt shop in Giddings had a sale for a couple days so on Friday (2/9) I headed down the road to check it out. I was looking for a bluebonnet fabric with a yellow background and wouldn't you know it they had lots of bluebonnet fabric but the one I wanted was gone. But I did find a substitute. Hope to use it on my Texas Flag quilt that I will be working on at quilt retreat in March.  I left there with a couple pieces of fabric and decided to go down the road to another shop in between Giddings and Dime Box called Meme's. I managed to snap up some Aggie fabric that I did't have.

On my way I saw this majestic guy in Milano. He was standing on a mound and looked like the Hartford Insurance Elk.  He and his lady friends moved but I snapped a picture I could get.  He's a big guy

On Saturday (2/10) Pamela sent me a picture of her new man. LOL Well not really new.

Kaleb was tired of his long hair and took it off. He looks thinner with his new doo. The boy cleans up Good. Poor guy he didn't realize when he met Pamela he'd end up on her Mom's blog ever so often.

Sunday, Pamela and I met Kaleb's Mom, Sister and her Fiancee' at the Brick and Mortar Open House. Pamela already has her wedding dress but Tori and I still need Mom dresses and by attending we got a 20% coupon to use if order from them. And the girls were hoping to win bridesmaid dresses for up to 6. But doesn't look like they won anything darn it.  I saw a couple of other dresses I'd like to try on but I think I know which one I'm leaning towards.

These are the colors I'm looking at but not the dress.  Pamela wants me to sparkle. LOL

I'm working on it. So many choices and styles. Uggh but I go back to Brick & Mortar this Thursday to try on a couple more that the models were modeling and then I'll decide. The top runner is all sequins so I'll sparkle. 

  

I'll stop for now. We'll see what happens.

Until next blog...My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. ~Maya Angelou

Design, Friends, Wedding stuff, and food

So I had been seeing this advertisement on FB for Felt Right products. It can be used as a acoustic sound damping, custom design with multiply colors, and shapes. For me it's being used as a design wall. They remove easily and won't damage the wall and there's no nails. I only ordered 12 - 12" tiles in the color latte.  I wanted simple lines and no elaborate design. This is mine. I can place fabric on it and it stays without pins or you can stick pins in it if you want. I may add a few more tiles to make it slightly bigger but my space on this wall is limited and they're not cheap but this system works nicely. 

 I use the Cheryl Ann's flannel design wall on the bigger area i have for now. This is the flannel design wall I use as I start laying out quilt blocks.     This is not mine. This is an example off their website using color and making a pattern.  Pretty cool.

 I have to share this. My sister Barb and Cresia went to NY recently and they went to the Today's show and actually got their picture taken with Al Rooker. Now that's pretty cool. They saw all kinds of cool sights.

 Recently I had a chance to get my hair cut by someone new and close by. I don't like changing stylist because you never know what you'll get but I was so very pleasantly pleased.  This was my inspiration cut.  And my cut looks like the inspiration pic. YAY  I have layers that work. Now as long as I can dry it like he did I'll be great. LOL

On Monday 1/29 my friend/sorority sister Kathy and I drove up to Groesbeck to have a Girls Slumber Party with our friend/sorority sister Sheryl.  We talked, and we laughed for hours. We even found solutions for the world's problems. LOL. We might have share some wine too.

Tuesday would have been Sheryl's husband birthday so we toasted to Ross and shared a piece of his favorite kind of cake, German Chocolate in his honor. Ross is dearly missed by his family and his friends.

 I got to sleep under this bright and beautiful quilt that Sheryl had our mutual friend Donna Lynn quilt for her. 

 This was our chaperone Dixie.  She loved being the center of attention.  And she got plenty of loves from all of us.

January 01-31 2024 Kathy  Sheryl and Me

 It seemed like our time just flew by.  Before we knew it, it was Wednesday and it was time to go to our respective homes but before we left we had to take a group picture.  2024 vs 2023.

January 2023

2022 01-30

2020 12-31 David  Mark & Ross

   Thursday 2/1 I had to go into College Station for a cardiologist follow up after the ER visit back on 1/20.  All was good. Now to see the Heart Rhythm Doctor for further follow up but not until March. Such fun.  From here we ran errands and stopped for lunch at a place I'd never been for tacos called Don Chente on Villa Maria. I had a beef fajita street taco and a fish taco. My fav was the beef fajita and I could only eat half of the fish one. I got full. They had loaded the beef fajita in that small taco.

Next we headed to the Brick and Mortar Bridal Boutique for me to try on Mother of the Bride dresses. They had gotten in some new styles since we were there in October. Oh man the choices. I tend to be a visual person so it's hard to visualize the dress I'm trying on that is black in a Merlot color. Or the gold in Merlot. 

Plus the dresses aren't always in your size. The photo below is one of the ones I tried on that was not in the color I need and it's too big but that part was okay. Before the weight loss it would have been probably too small. They have big clips pinching it tighter. LOL  But after today I am closer in choosing the one I want to wear. The picture is not the one I'm leaning towards picking. I have a hard time also wanting to wear a dress that doesn't have much sleeve because of my arms. Between losing so much weight and just being older my arms aren't so pretty. Oh the decisions. One nice thing we found out is that they are having an open house with mimosa's and she'll be giving discount coupons to those who show up (YAY) for dresses and there will be prizes. One prize is free bridesmaid dresses. Wow Wouldn't that be nice! Pamela's bridesmaids would love her for that. 

One of our errands was picking up a grocery order for Pamela and then we had to stop at Kroger for a couple of things she forgot and that I needed to get before heading home. Pamela was having a couple nursing friends over for wine and a charcuterie board that she volunteered me to help her make. LOL Funny how that worked out.

The simple cheese board of a couple of their favorite cheeses and crackers. 

I went to a class on the basics for putting together a charcuterie board at Lissa's Restyled and Sip in Caldwell and this is how mine turned out. The salami was smaller than the slices we worked with at the class so my rose buds were harder to make but I made it work. That hot spicy honey in the bowl with the spoon. The olives had blue cheese stuffed in them. Once I got all the meats, cheese and fruit laid out I chopped up some dark chocolate and sprinkled it randomly over the board. Pamela went to a class a while back and she made the board.  The blue leaf pattern continues under all that meat and cheese. It's a beautiful board.  So how'd I do for my first board? I felt pretty good about it. Look at me being all fancy. I might have changed a couple things but I needed to get home so this is the final product.

Until next blog post... When you can't control what's happening, challenge yourself on how you respond. That's your power.