A One Year anniversary, a Quilt, a Quilt class and more

 (01/18/26) Hard to believe it's been a year since Pamela and Kaleb got married. Crazy. Now they're celebrating their anniversary in Fredericksburg. It may be sunny but it's chilly.

And it was cold and windy a year ago too.

Once a cowboy always a cowboy.  There
was a video but I didn't capture it.  But Kaleb used to do roping competitions so roping these horns were a breeze.   The boy still has it.  

While they were off playing Bri came to stay with her cousins and have fun. Every evening they'd come in for supper and crash out.. But while outside they ran, barked, and played. Bruno and Sadie have Bri down then it's Bri and Bruno have Sadie on the ground. Never a dull moment when these 3 get together. 

So I finally finished the Bookshelf Quilt for our Exercise coach Sheri.  Sheri is a member of the book club. Last year she asked if any of us would want to exercise with her a couple days a week. And 5 of us said sure. Since that day we've had other gals come and go and others stick around. Sheri didn't want us to pay her anything for the class but we wanted to do something nice for her. And I volunteered to make a quilt. We shared in the cost and I got to work. It was decided that since we're in book club maybe use that as the theme and somehow tie in exercise.  

Sheri's Bookshelf Quilt

I finished 97% of the quilt at retreat back in October 2025.  I had it on the design wall before putting the finishing touch on it. The top corners made it look like a real bookshelf.  I embroidered on some of the books the names of books we actually read or a couple of the book titles fit the fabric.  It took me minute to figure out how to make it work but thanks to Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial I got the basic steps and adjusted her method to suit my needs. Sheri has a cat so I put a cat on the bookshelf and to get exercise included I pieced and embroidered a 5# bar bell on the middle shelf. And added a trinket box with her name on it. This was actually a fun quilt to make.  I might already have started blocks for me a quilt and another for fun.

I took it to share with the Bee I go to in Cameron before passing on to Sheri that evening.  All the ladies were hard at work on their projects

(01-19)Everyone was finally home from their holiday travel and we got together for dinner and surprised Sheri with the quilt.

She was thrilled and loved the quilt. So glad she did. It was well deserved. She puts up with all our grunts and groans.

Sunday (1/25) was a mess weather wise. Ice, sleet and COLD!

It's not as bad as a few years ago where the ice was so heavy it was breaking tree limbs and power lines but it wasn't safe on the roads. 

Sadie is checking out this crunchy white stuff in the back. She and Bruno kinda slid off the porch the time out.  and the 2nd picture is off the front porch.

My neighbors sister Tammy took a picture of house from the road and sent it to me.  Thanks again Tammy

She and her man were riding the 4 wheeler out and about town and sent me pictures of the hwy in town and coming out our way. The roads were definitely a mess.

This is the East end of our road. Very icy.                                                           Glad that weather has moved on now.

Monday morning (1/26) David went out to check on the cows and Jerry due to the freezing weather. Well our bull, Woolly Bully had blood on his horn from the tip to his head and David knew what most likely happened. He got on the golf cart and rode to the bottom of the property to check on Jerry and sure enough he had been gored on the right shoulder. And all Vets were closed due to the ice. 

We got a call back next morning from Texas Equine off hwy 6 and they came out.  We warned them there was still ice and in some spots lots of mud. This at our driveway.

The Vet Dr Henre and the tech with him was Very nice. They spent about 2 1/2 hours cleaning up the wound and giving him shots. We had a 50/50 chance of Jerry coming back from this. The vet was able to put his whole hand in the wound up to the wrist. No pictures to share. Too gory. But the good news is that as of today 2/8 Jerry is still upright and is moving around slowly but he's not really favoring his right side like expected. Odds are better. Wound still looks gross but better.

Oh and instead of poor David feeling better I manage to damage him more. We went out to feed the cow some hay but it was frozen together. I chipped away so we could break it apart. Then I started helping by putting the bale and I lost my footing and pushing power and David went down.  So now not only does his right side hurts, so does his left.  He's telling everyone I tried to kill him. Not good not good at all. I do feel bad.

 

On Wednesday 1/28 the weather and the roads are clear so I got to go to a quilting class on curved blocks at the Railroad Cotton Exchange. It's a really cute shop in the country. The address says Bryan but feels like it's in Hearne. It's off Hwy 6 and FM 2549.  I got to pick any pattern out of the Fabric Cafe' Curve Appeal 3 yard quilts book.  I choose the pattern called Voyager and let Christine the owner know prior so she could have the templates ready for me.  Christine was my teacher. After showing me what I needed to do and giving me any advice as the day went on we sewed and talked away. It was a great day.  Her husband came and checked on us a couple times. He's really nice too. I'd like to catch another class one day. Either something new or something that will refresh my technique which I can always use.  If you haven't checked out the shop you should.  Click on their name above get their address and scroll through their website. They limited hours their open currently but that will be changing at least during the The Texas shop hop in March. They'll be open more days than usual.  Anyway I finished all my curved blocks while there and said I'd finish the 4 patch at home.  Okay so not right away.  LOL I got sidetracked while home

But I have got 2 rows sewn up now. As soon as I finish this post I'll go sew some more.  In the mean time here's my two rows.

Friday (1/30) My long time friend and sorority sister Kathy picked me up and we headed to our friend Sheryl's (also a Phi Mu Sorority Sister) to spend the weekend. Once we were together we talked, we laughed and talked some more. We either solved the world problems or created more.  LOL  That evening Sheryl made some kind of delicious chocolate martini to toast a Happy Birthday to her husband Ross in Heaven. You wanna talk about a great guy he'd be on the list. He is very missed by all who knew him. 

 

We might have had wine too while hanging out. Now Sheryl and Kathy are usual in bed by 10 but when the 3 of us get together it midnight or a little past.                                               It was a great weekend and time together.

And January is over.

Until next blog post...   “Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” ~ Leroy “Satchel” Paige

2026 is here - Let the adventures begin

 

Before taking down the tree I took a couple of pictures of us and the fur babies. 

Can't see much of the tree from the way we took the picture but oh well. The fur babies wanted the treat I had in my free hand.  At one point Bruno was watching my hand with the treat and he bent his head all the way back. But I finally got a pretty good picture of them. Sadie will always sit pretty when asked Bruno doesn't like sitting still for long.

I went down to see the boys one day after the new year rolled in and we went over to the park.  They had a good ole time. Their Cici (me) was anxious while watching them climb around. I kept seeing a broken arm and such. LOL  Killian is a little monkey and Braxton is working on it.

They are just like their Dad. They have to make faces when I'm taking a picture. LOL Or one will make the funny face and the other one smiles.

They are all boy.

The boys went on their first camp out with Kaleb in their backyard. The boys had a blast but poor Kaleb woke up stiff after sleeping on the hard ground. He thinks he's getting old. LOL

3 out of 5 days of the week (1/5-1/8) was spent on the road to doctors and dentist appointments except Tuesday and Friday. Spending Quality time together. LOL   Not much time for fun stuff but then poor David is struggling with back pain. Hopefully the MRI Thursday will give the doctor enough info to make a plan for the pain management. Which will start with possibly a shot in his back but that won't happen until 2/2. Geez

Thursday (1/9) was book club night. We met at Pony Express to discuss our latest read.. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It was a good book and provided plenty discussion. To recap anything about the book would be to spoil the story should you decide to read the book.  We gave the book 4.5 out of 5 being the best. Three of the girls saw the movie with Cameron Diaz and were very disappointed. It was totally different from the book. Read the book. The movie might not have been so bad had they not read the book. 

I think I caught Linda just as she put food in her mouth but Peggy was ready. Sorry about that.      And Emily was ready.

We have fun 99% of the time. Lol

And the discussions never stay on track. It's like squirrel. The food is always good where ever we meet at except maybe a couple of times. Wouldn't trade the gals for anyone else.

I have a quilt I need to finish and a couple other projects but I keep getting sidetracked. I need focus.  Can't find it. Soon though I better get busy.

The Day of Coordinator for Pamela's wedding had a baby a couple of months ago. Karina posted the cutest picture of Pamela and her at the hospital so I'm sharing it here. Pamela was her nurse for at least a 2 different days. Hey I'm bias'd okay. I think they're cuties.

Sadie was so tired she couldn't keep her eyes open. Her and Bruno had been running and playing outside this day. She kept trying to watch me but her eyes kept closing.  There was a progression of 5 pictures as her eyes kept getting heavier and heavier but I spared you from all the pictures. LOL

On (1/17) Saturday I went with David to the VTRA  awards banquet where they handed out trophies and awards for points, rookie of the year, etc and they auctioned off the the quilt I made for David to donate for Breast Cancer Awareness. VTRA is an association/club for the drag racers. The folks that did the cooking did a great job. There was steak, bbq chicken, potato salad, beans and deserts. In fact I made David's moms applesauce cake recipe to take buuuuttt it got left on the counter. Ooops.

This is Monte. He's the founder/president of VTRA. He with the help of Justine they book a track for races of different bike classes and send out a racing schedule to the memebers.

The guy in front of Monte in the 2nd picture is Chris and he was the one who started the auction last year for Breast Cancer Awareness. And the third picture is of the winner of the quilt, Bill.         

Here is a picture of the quilt and the label I made for it. Since it was going to be auctioned off I didn't put my usual who pieced and who quilted and some saying so instead I embroidered the Breast Cancer Awareness symbol and the date.  Folks I didn't expect what happened at the auction.

 I was blown away and felt honored. The guy running the auction was funny but he kept after the guys and at least one gal bidding by saying "come on we all like titties"  It cracked me up. So the bids were coming quickly. I heard $200 then $300 and thought that'll be it. Nope. The numbers kept going up. Final bid and winner was $1000! The young man Chris, who wanted to earn the money for Breast Cancer came over and thanked me and David. 

The racers were all really nice and very generous. Good thing they didn't give me a test to remember all their names because I'd fail. 

Okay so that's it for now.

Until next post...Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple

December moved along too Quickly.. Dang

December had got here but I'm wasn't ready and it felt like it was speeding by. On Sunday 12/7 I had a visitor from Houston. My friend Samara along with her daughter and grandson stopped by on their way home from her sister's place in Groesbeck. She had a purpose for stopping besides saying Hi. She was here to pick up the adorable Teddy Bears my friend Bekki made out of Eva's Dad's shirts. He passed in October and they wanted something made for the grand kids from his shirts and I suggested teddy bears.  Aren't they adorable?  

On Monday 12/15 I ran some errands and stopped by the Sassy Stitcher's Christmas Luncheon.  No sewing today. They could have but today nobody brought anything to work on. Everyone decided to come socialize, eat and do the white elephant gift exchange.  I just went by to say Hi and Merry Christmas.    From here I went to the post office and the Cameron Coffee Co. but they closed at 2:30pm.  ughh ! They used to close at 3 or 3:30.  Next time I'm in town I guess.

I had a quilt in my car I wanted to get some pictures of but holy cow the number of deers I saw driving home was crazy. I caught pictures of two different groups but there were more that I didn't catch.

I know they can be a nuisance but they are so cute.

The last few months have been a little rough. We've lost two family members. David's cousin Greg and his Aunt Linda, the last of his Mother's siblings. And then we lost our close friend Sylvia. She fought a long hard battle of cancer. Then a secondary cancer attacked her body but her brother donated stem cells and she was in recovery. She and I were texting about getting together and she said that by the end of the year she'd hopefully get her hip replaced.  But just a few days after our texting the family and her friends lost her due to a tragic fall.  May she rest in Peace now. She was such a sweet, faithful and very strong woman. She is going to be very missed. 

So I did a thing. I was actually commissioned to embroidery some aprons for a friend for her work team. 

Plus I did one for a friend as gift. She's a talented painter, shopper, blogger and author (biography). And an overall super nice person. Her name is Linda from Linda's Life Journal blog. Now I have to hope the one I just mailed to Linda gets there before I post this blog. LOL We met through her son in law who worked with David at one time.

  

At retreat one of my new retreaters, Dottie made/makes T-shirt decals. She's very talented in designing them, embroidery and quilting. Anyway I bought a couple of her decals then went and bought a couple of t-shirts at Hobby Lobby in colors of my choice then I went to my special friend who happens to have a heat press that would seal the deal.  I supervised. LOL    

I finally wore the blue one but managed to drip coffee on it before getting a picture but did have David snap this picture of me in the pink one.  I may have to get more decals one day to make other t-shirts of my liking. The photo don't do the colors any justice. They very teal and pink but they look faded here. Oh well.  

 I don't buy quilt patterns too often but I couldn't pass up the MSQC deals on Black Friday. The patterns were like $2 and I couldn't resist.  I bought a couple more after this. I guess I better get to cutting and piecing.  LOL Wish me luck. But first I need to finish one for a baby that is already 3 months old. I'm way behind.

By 12/21 I was ready for Christmas. Just in time. I got the stockings hung with care for all of us including our 2 fur babies and Pamela's.

My newest ornament I got from friend Kelli is on the tree and the presents are wrapped and ready.

On Tuesday 12/23 the bookclub gals got together for lunch & a movie in College Station at a place called Atami Steak & Grill. It was really good and they had a reasonably priced lunch menu. We had lots of fun and the food was yummy. Lots of fire and steam.

  

While sitting outside the restaurant waiting for everyone to arrive my friends Samara and Eva came by to pick up the memory T-shirt quilt I made from Eva's dad's t-shirts for her mom. He was a big Astros fan so she asked for the fabric to be Astro's colors and found the perfect fabric. My friend Margie taught me how to make t-shirt quilts thank goodness. I think she'd be proud of this one I did all by myself. It was made with 25 blocks that would fit a queen size bed. 

  

I loved the t-shirts I put down the center. And my quilter Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest picked an awesome quilting theme. Eva had bought a heart patch that I added to the label. They loved it.  Yay

Now I'm in trouble though because they want me to make more t-shirt quilts. The hardest part for me now is picking the right fabric for the sashing and back.  

Christmas is here and Santa dropped off a few things for Braxton and Killian and Pamela and Kaleb brought all their gifts up here.  The presents have exploded.

They picked up the boys at noon and headed our way for presents and food. Now I didn't actually get but basically two pictures of the day. It was a whirlwind with these two boy ripping through presents. LOL 

Braxton opening up presents as fast as he could. I couldn't see Killian behind some big boxes. LOL But I got a picture of all four of them before they left in front of the tree minus all the presents.

    

It was a great day except for poor David. Never fails he's usually sick but this time he was hurting and has been for a couple weeks. His back is trash. Doctors terms. Waiting to see the Pain Mgmt Doctor in January.  So long to wait when he's in so much pain.

Even though he's not going anywhere at the moment he sported his new hat from Kaleb.  He'll wear next time the Bell Gang get together and have lunch. Not sure it'll be the January luncheon since it'll be February now before he sees the doctor again. They sent him for an MRI this past Thursday (1/9). Maybe an injection is in his future directly in his back. 

That's it for now. Our New Year's Eve was spent quietly at home just watching TV. I had been up for some dumb reason since 3:30am that day and by 11:30pm I couldn't keep my eyes open. Yes I know it was only 30 more minutes but I didn't make. David was right behind me but I'm not sure how much he really slept.

Sure hope 2026 brings many more adventures and no or minimal back pain for my man.

Here's hoping your 2026 brings happiness and good health.

Until next post...  Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” – Christian D. Larson