Quilting and Reading

 So last year my friend Kelli and I decided that driving to Navasota for a book club meeting once a month wasn't very practical so she asked me about starting one in Gause.. Sure we can and we did. We invited neighbors and people we had met since living up here and those people had other people we could invite. In By November 2022 we had 10 members and had a meet and greet and chose our books for the year. One of our members, Jennifer offered to have a holiday gathering with food and laughter. It was a lot of fun. We did a white elephant gift exchange with books.  By January before our first book discussion we had 14 new members. We closed the membership at 14. Our first meeting on January 12th was a huge success with 11 ladies in attendance. There wasn't a silent moment. Our book was Chasing the Boogey Man by Richard Chizman. This author never let on through the whole book who the boogey man might have been. Everyone loved the book except for the person who suggested it. LOL.  It happens.  This is gonna be fun.

Thursday 1/19, David asked if I'd man the gate so he could take a bale of hay to the cows and I said sure.  After that was done I stayed in the pasture to have some Jerry time.  He was following me like a puppy so I had to love on him.  After he got his fair share he went to eat some hay before the cows ate it all. But first we took some selfies. He's very photogenic. Before heading inside I decided to take a quick walk down the road. Got a 1/2 mile in and then I caught the beautiful sunset. WOW. Do you see an angel or the phoenix?

Saturday (1/21) I drove to Houston to attend my last official book club meeting with friends of 26 years this month.  It's crazy to think we started off as co-workers and a majority of us shared the love of reading. Over the years we've slowly left the company in search of something new but we continued to read together. The company no longer exists but the club does and we added people from other places when others left the club. It was fun. We laughed and joked, shared good food and even took field trips. Like to Savanah Georgia and Galveston after reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Issac's Storm. Good Friends, Good Times and lots of memories. At the meeting I said my goodbyes to those folks who were in attendance (emailed the rest) and said I'd make a surprise visit every once in a while when I could.  I wish them many more happy years of reading and memories.

Thursday 1/26, David and I needed to go pick up our wine from Texas Legato so off we went. We stopped in Thrall at the Thrall Cafe for lunch. The staff was friendly, the food was good but I thought it a bit pricy.

At Texas Legato we were greeted by Bandit the little Yorkie and a new dog named Belle. She's an Aussie. Super sweet and well behaved. She kept me company while I had a glass of wine.

On Friday David had some errands to run so he took off while I packed to go to a slumber party at our friend Sheryl's house.  While he was out he picked up Pamela's dogs so she and Kaleb could go to Fredericksburg for the weekend. 

All the pups were friends while watching David and I go out to feed the cows and put out a bail of hay. Especially Sophie, she isn't impressed the our to big hounds and doesn't put up with any pawing at her but while watching us you would have thought her and Bruno were best buds. LOL

So while poor David put up with all 4 dogs I went to Sheryl's for a slumber party with her and our other sorority sister Kathy for the weekend.  Once we got together we never stopped talking. Sheryl tends to go to bed by 10 but it was 12:30 before she got to bed on Friday. And Saturday it was 11:30.  LOL  We kept her up past her bedtime but none of us complained. She was good to us. She made a Charcutier board for lunches, Taco soup for dinner one night and Chicken parmesan with some yummy air fried Brussel sprouts.  It was a great weekend. 

Monday 1/30 David and I ran Pamela's car to a shop near us to get some repairs done before the weather turned cold and rainy.  By mid afternoon it was raining so I sewed. Today, Tuesday we went no where since everything is covered in ice.  One of the overpasses near us was closed due to icing.  Tomorrow isn't supposed to be much better. And it's COLD! Back to sewing.

Until next blog post..."It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish." ~S.I. Hayakawa

   

Stay Warm and Safe everyone.

Some Quilting and some Running the roads.

 Hey Friends and Family.  Can I just say thank you everyone for your kind comments and for reading about my/our adventures and life.  If by chance you comment anonymously I won't know who to Thank directly unless you sign your name on the comment. I appreciate each and everyone of you.  Thanks

I've been busy trying to complete 4 different quilting projects and now I've added a new one. The Bee I attend decided we'd all make the same quilt and see the variations. A majority of us are using Kaffe Fassett Fabric but some are using what they have in their stash. Kaffe is in my stash. They are bright and happy colors. Here's my first block. It's scrappy and every block will have various other colors in it.  

David saw an ad for some table chairs from the rustic furniture place in Buckholts that we've been to before. The chairs were on sale. Oh boy! Our current chairs at the patio table are looking kinda sad as you can see in the picture.  Road trip for chairs.. We decide to mix up the colors and not get just stained. Our new chairs....

Saturday the 7th I signed up for a class to make a throw by hand knitting. Something new to try for fun.  Samantha was a great teacher but she had a challenged student, ME!  LOL The throw doesn't look so bad in pictures. Even driving by at 30mph I think folks might notice an error or two. Then maybe knot.  😁

• I got to meet some new fun ladies. Who were told to behave by the retreat owner, Christi.  LOL. They were all very fun and friendly. They only slightly misbehaved and I acquired a nickname... Snitch. Who me?
  
• I got learn something new. Of which I'm not so good at. I made a few boo boo's.  Aggie colors of course.
• 
• The below Pictures were taken by our teacher Samantha Sweezy. This is Bobbi with her variegated throw. Everyone used different colors and how tight they made their stitches (not sure you call it stitches) changed the look. Sorry I can't remember everyone's name.

 

And I got meet the retreat owner, Christi and tour the venue where I will be having a private retreat this October with 11 quilty friends.

If you're looking for a place to have a retreat this is a great place. It's well laid out, workroom is bright, there's a kitchen & sitting area between the workroom and the bedrooms. Each bedroom has a theme.  Do my friends know which room I'll pick? They are all great. One video is of the bright work room.  Each table has a cutting mat and nice light.

The second video is the Kitchen/social area.

  
And here are the room themes.

So which one is going to be my room.  Each room has it's own bathroom. I can't wait until we go to quilt here.

While working on some quilting Projects David came and asked if I wanted to get out and go for a ride. Sure! So we jumped in the car and headed down 79. He was looking for a new place to go check out called The New Oak Club. Found it.  We'll come back soon to have a bite to eat and a drink soon. We also came across Bud Adams
Ranch...  Wow who knew. 

Pamela had asked if I might want to make quilts for the twins and of course I said yes.  Killian likes the color green and Braxton likes the color blue and they both love dinosaurs. So there you have it. And if you just reading about the boys... they belong to Pamela's boyfriend Kaleb. They turned 3 a couple of months ago.  I'll the quilts to Pamela & Kaleb in the next few days so that when the boys come back on the 20th they can give the boys their quilts.

 

Close up of the Dino fabric and the quilting theme of Dino's by my sweet friend Donna Moore at Donna's Lavender Nest

 

 

And to close this post I'll show you my ornaments that Pamela got me for Christmas....  Aren't they cute. Sewing themed ornaments.

Well that's it for now.

Until next blog post...Each new day is a blessing. Let go of all worries and be grateful for all the positive in your life.

2023 has arrived! Ready or Not.

 The end of the year got here before I knew it, but I can say that I got my Christmas shopping done before the 20th and my cards/letters in the mail before the 15th. That's saying a lot. Haven't done that in forever. LOL.

Christmas was a little different this year now that Pamela has a man in her life and he's a keeper. She had to split her time with his family and us. 

On Friday 12/23 they came to have dinner with us and open presents. We had planned on going to them the night before but with temperatures dropping into the teens we decided this time it would be easier for them to come to us because of the dogs. It all worked out.

We bought them a couple of gifts for them both. They're opening a new sink. The one that came with the house is like a funnel.

There is no flat spot in it. Everything slides to the middle.  Now the fun begins... someone needs to install the new one. :o)

David had put on his wish list that he needed a calendar for the garage. Pamela was gonna get him a wildflower calendar but Kaleb picked out a car calendar. He and Kaleb love cars.

 He got some other good stuff but I can't share everything or you'd roll your eyes. The Oreo mini's came out of Kaleb's stocking.  I got a new wine sippy cup.  Perfect!  LOL   It was a great evening. 

They got the twins Christmas Day and celebrated at the Green's (Kaleb's parents). Pamela and Kaleb decided to join the trend and got matching jammies. They're so cute.  I guess the addition of a draw string to all the pants worked. The first time Kaleb tried them on he had to pull them up and hold on to them. The elastic was worthless.

It was quiet at our house for Christmas day except for all the dogs. We're watching Sophie and Bri while Pamela is at the Green's.  Sophie was missing her furless mom so I picked her up to love her. She's the little princess and she was tired of Bruno and Sadie pawing at her. LOL  She's so cute.

So I ended my year 60 pounds lighter. At first I have only noticed it in the clothes I wear but not in pictures, but these pictures show I'm winning but I have a long way to go before I'm done.

The first picture was taken on 12/21/18 during my last days at Cyfair. The other picture was taken 12/21/22. I can see the difference.  This is a gift to myself. A gift of health.  Oh and the hair is a lot whiter.  LOL

And on that note I'll end with these two mutts. They just want some love. We wish you the best in 2023.

Until next post..

• “As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.” ~ Donald E. Westlake
   
  
  
  
  

A Merry Christmas to all

  December has flown by quickly. All the prep and shopping and it's over in minutes.   I kept meaning to post something but blogging wasn't on the agenda so here I am to wrap up the month. mmm can I do in one post, I'm not sure but you're about to find out.

We figure that Bruno and Sadie like each other, even though Bruno doesn't always like to share toys or attention.

They are like this or curled up in separate little balls.  We notice Bruno does shed some but not so much Sadie, but when they're cousins Sophie and Bri come up we notice extra fluff on the floors.

Kelli the other Kennedy (lol) we both like to read and were driving to Navasota about an hour away to the Wildflyer Meadery to enjoy their book club but decided to see if some ladies in Gause and surrounding area would like to start a club and we did. We got book suggestions from the members and then drew a book for each month. We won't officially start until January but for December, Jennifer, one of the members offered up her shop called Harold's Mercantile for a Christmas gathering. Not everyone showed up but 

We had fun! Laughing, talking, eating fun foods that Jennifer created and Kelli contributed too. We had a white elephant gift exchange. Of course the theme was books. Great group of fun ladies and just added 3 more ladies and that closed the membership for now. 
 

On Saturday 12-10 we headed to Houston to attend a wedding reception for one of the David high school buddies daughter. AKA The Taco Bell Gang.  All of the guys worked at Taco Bell in high school and still meet for lunch once a month. Anyway it was fun and we got to hang out with the guys and their wives.  We were missing one of them but the rest of us enjoyed the celebration of Meredith and David Symonds union. It was nice to be included in the celebration.

Robert Hartye Band was the opening band and they were good. Wide variety of songs and they sounded really good. And after a while out comes Cory Morrow.  A Texas musician. I enjoyed his music. I know I've heard him on the Radio before but never really thought about it I guess.  Fred and Kathy were dancing up a storm. She swears she's not that good. They looked good on the dance floor.

And here's the Bride & Groom. 

Mr. and Mrs. David Symonds 💔 

The Bride was dancing with her Aunt Erin here. They were having fun.

Great Evening

Bruno and Sadie had to be boarded for the night so when we picked them up Sunday afternoon they were ready to go home with us. Look at Her face. Aww

They said they were ready for Christmas. Was worried if we'd have a tree left. We don't think either one of them had been around one.  Of course Bruno being a boy he thought " Hey it's a tree" So he tried to Christen it twice. NOOOO.

With the family growing and extended families I started having a Family Gathering the weekend before Christmas. Which so far seems to have worked out well for almost everyone.  The kids all stepped up and offered to bring food which was a great help. One day us older generation will depend on them to hold the gatherings. mmm wonder if that will happening. I was so busy getting things ready as folks were arriving that I never took any pictures but some of the others did Thank Goodness and we didn't take a group picture and I had my iphone tripod pulled out setting in my sewing room.  I guess I should have putting in the kitchen so I wouldn't forget. Grrr.

 

Pictures of my SIL's and nieces                                                    

The Ladies.. Front to back

                                        

Jessica, Glenda, Kendall, Pamela, Alyssa

Back to Front Left to Right  Lynn (SIL),  Jordan  Jessica  Glenda (SIL)  Kendall 

Nephews & Great Nephews -Phillip has his boy Patrick and Nathan has his youngest boy Vance.    And Pamela with her man, Kaleb.T

Sooo I won't make it all the way through Christmas with this post.

Last thing I'll share here is the great group of ladies I found in the area that quilt. They're called the Sassy Stitcher's.  They can be sassy sometimes but we have fun and stay creative. LOL On Monday (12/19) we gathered to sew of course but we also had a potluck luncheon. Good food, good friends and a white elephant gift exchange.

This is Sam. He is Tammy's husband. Sam keeps us entertained with stories.

He's a deputy sheriff out of Cameron and is recovering from being shot not long ago in the face and a couple other places while doing a wellness check. He's one of the lucky men in Blue who survived a bad situation. We thank him for his service. He has a great attitude and is a super nice guy.  The ladies told him to pick a good gift for his wife and he did good until someone stole it from him.  LOL

This picture was painted by one of the quilter's named Brenda. Not only can she quilt but she can paint and not by numbers. The quilter holding the painting is also a great painter. Her name is Donna Kim.  She also is a member of my quilt retreat girls.

Check out the cute gift bag someone made and filled with a gift.

Judy decided to steal the gift for herself instead of picking a gift under the tree.

All the gifts were nice and it was a fun day.

Okay I will stop for now and finish catching up next year. 

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. And I hope you have a safe and Happy New Year.

Until next blog...May the Blessings of Christmas be with you today and always.