HAPPY HALLOWEEN BLOGGER FRIENDS

CRUISING the Hill Country with Friends

This is another co-worker of mine named Cassie. She's very photogenic. She doesn't get to come out with us very often or hang out so I decided I'd take a picture of her hard at work. She was feeling left out. Can't have that. 





So this year we skipped making our usual trip to Austin or where ever for our anniversary because it's always so hot and decided we'd wait to see if we could catch some cooler weather and meet up with our friends the Jackson's. We did celebrate our anniversary back in September but just didn't travel. Anyway, wow did we luck out! We had beautiful cooler weather all weekend. We had a great time and lots of laughs.
Friday the 21st we got up and headed to Bryan to drop Lilley off at Pamela's to spend the weekend. 

When we got there the first thing she did was run in the back yard straight to Pamela new landscaping that will get mulch today. I just had her groomed the day before and she was just prancing around like a princess.
She is kinda pretty if I say so myself. Her and Sophie will be playing hard all weekend.
From there David and I drove to Sisterdale and we might have stopped at a winery. I might have bought a couple of bottles of wine and David bought a couple too. We went a different way and saw some pretty countryside and homes.  After a few sips of wine and our purchase we headed on down the road to Kerrville. The Jackson's arrive an hour and a half later. David took a nap and I worked on a quilt that's a gift. 
By the time the Jackson's got there we were all hungry and we headed to a place called the Pint and Plow. They brewed craft beer and made homemade pizza. Sounded like a good combination. I actually drank tea so I couldn't tell you how the beer was but I can tell you the pizza was delicious. We all had left overs. Thank goodness for the mini fridge in the hotel. 
Our next mission was to find a pub/bar that had TV's so that we could go watch the Aggie game and have some beer while doing so.
This is Kevin. We're at Wilson's. Like in the movie Castaway. Tom Hanks.. Wilson. It took us a while to make the 
connection. David noticed the picture on the wall and said I know that picture from something. That's when Pam or Kevin made the connection between the picture and the name of the bar.... Wilson's. It did have at least one TV so this place was an option. The place before this was way too smoky. We had seen another spot we were gonna try out but wow before we knew it it was 11pm and we wanted to get up in the morning and drive to Bandera for breakfast.
We got up Saturday morning and headed to breakfast in Bandera at the OST Restaraunt. So yummy good. Pam and I had egg enchiladas which consisted of ground beef, onions and eggs in a tortila covered with chili and cheese. 

While in Bandera we shopped the big antique warehouse and some other cute shops. We even stopped and watched several gun fights of how it was back in the 1800's. It's was loud and smoky. Made me jump a few times when they shot their guns.
The boys decided they didn't want to go into the one of the shops and sat outside. 
David amazed Kevin with his knowledge of all the different plants.

Kevin says it's a green plant with blue flowers and David told him he was close. 
It's called a blue plumbago. 



We made a quick stop at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar just down the way but it was getting close to game time and they didn't have any TV's on. 
The boys ran down the street to check out a couple other places while I drug Pam into Gone Quilting quilt shop. Poor girl was overwhelmed by the fabric choices. She's a Quilt store virgin but she was finally able to pick out 2 pieces of fabric out for me to sew up Bed Pockets for her Mom's bed. I may have to make some for me too. I always have too much debris on my night stand.

picture from chikin coop website

We ended up at a place called the Chikin Coop that had several TV's and David and I already knew the food was pretty tasty.
The gals there were willing to change the channels to the Aggie game so for the next couple of hours we ate, drank and suffered through the game. This was not the prettiest game we've played. Slight loss against Alabama. Grrrr. Pam and I tried to make the best of it. As you can see we were really having a bad time. Not. 



After the game was over we left Bandera and headed to Comfort to hit the Hill Country Distillery where I get my jalapeno moonshine to make my Bloody Shiners/Marys. David joined me in a Bloody Shiner while there this time except he skipped the dashes of Tabasco.
Yum. We sat outside at one of the table and ate pecans. They were everywhere. Finished our drinks in search of food back in Kerrville.  Mexican Food.  Someone got a Corona-Rita...You know a margarita with a beer stick in it. I got tea. Surprise I know. That some was rather tipsy by the time dinner was over. LoL never fear all is good.
Sunday we woke up and we all decided to head to Lost Maples State Park just on chance we'd see some leaf color change. This was one of the views we saw on our drive. We must have crossed the Guadalupe River 20 times or more on our drive.  It was a beautiful drive. Our last stop before going our separate ways was back to Bandera to have some BBQ. 

So our drive home was fun. Yep real fun. We only had to travel 15 miles on I 35 to get to San Marcus but lucky us it was the longest 15 miles ever. There was 2 wrecks ahead of us and they had closed a section of the freeway. Awesome. It was an hour and a half sit at least. By the time we got to Pamela's to pick up Lilley we were tired and hungry. Well David was actually exhausted. 

When we got home Lilley was happy to be at her own home. It didn't take long for her to crash out. 2 days of playing with Sophie wears her out. Our sweet girl. 

This weekend was the Vintage Market Days at the Waller County Fairgrounds. David and I went 2 years ago but this year Pamela asked if we could go. So she met me at the Fairgrounds to browse the market. It was a little bigger than when David and I went. Sorry I'm slacking I didn't take any pictures to show you of the market. But I can tell you there was lots of pretty's to look at and buy if you're inclined. I might have bought something. LOL. You see

David posted this cute little miniature donkey on my facebook timeline knowing I would want it. Yep he was right I did. It was cute and cuddly looking. So since he said no I thought this was a 
good substitute. What do you think? I got plenty of comments walking though the market with him. Everyone thought he was adorable and he is but he's not so cuddly.  LOL

and I got a rustic tree that I hope to use for Christmas on the front porch. Maybe I won't kill it like I did the tree last year. I need to figure out how to fix it up. Pamela bought one too and she's already got ideas. She's such a smartie. She's good at all this crafty stuff.

That's it for now.

Until next blog....“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight; and never stop fighting”

- E.E. Cummings

Wow we finally have a complete deck and cover on the Mini Mansion and on the barn we now have an over hang in the front and a lean to on the north side. It's great having the shade.

Let's see poor David started this adventure what back in November 2015 which turned into a fiasco. Then in May he found someone else who said he could do it but couldn't start right away because of prior commitments then that kinda stretched longer and longer but it's finally complete. Now we can go back and put the outside lights on the barn and start the electrical on the cabin. I think that's the plan anyway. We pulled the table out of the cabin and ate lunch on the deck this last weekend. 
David had gone to Pamela's to help her get some landscaping done in her back yard. Of course the night before it poured and it rained the morning before he got up there. But the work went on. Together they hauled a yard of dirt to the back and built up her flower bed that she had put in back in the spring I think it was. Actually they were playing in mud. I went up after work and cooked dinner for them and we stayed the weekend. Pamela had been getting multiple calls from the hospital to come in to work the next day so her Dad told her to go ahead and go in. Go make money so we can spend it on plants. LOL.

So the next day while she went to work for a few hours he and I went to the nursery and bought some more plants to go with the ones he had already bought and came back to the house and got to planting. She even got a Red Oak tree planted so she'll have some shade one day.  I found a little. LOL 

David has a pretty good eye for landscaping and knows his plants. Before we could even get the plants in the ground the butterflies were attacking the drift roses and lantana. Pamela got home around 3 and we were all done. She was so excited to see her flower bed and new tree planted. She goes "Now I have Daddy landscaping".  Next time they get together they need to get some mulch to spread. She's got 2 crimson red crepe myrtles to plant on the side of the house but David left those for Pamela's yard guy to plant.

These two fur balls got to have the weekend to play and have fun. Pamela had sent me this picture before I got up there. They're so darn cute and loveable.

I have two quilts I'm working on and I can't share either one of them darn it. 

One is my round robin medallion that I have to add borders too. Well I can show this picture. This is Mildred and the medallion she made. I'm the first one to get to add borders. Yikes but I got my idea and the math of the border worked out thanks to my friend Donna Marie and EQ7. Gotta finish before Nov 5 for our next hand off. Can't wait to see what everyone else has done. Of course I don't get to see what Robin Mary Jane has done to my medallion. Shucks.
The other quilt I'm finishing up the binding this weekend while traveling to Bandera to meet up with some friends. We usually meet up with them on our anniversary on labor day weekend but decided we'd wait for cooler weather and we got it. Should be beautiful this weekend.  Anyway this quilt is a gift to a friend so until I pass it on I can't share the actual quilt but soon I promise.  
To be honest I have 2 other quilts I'm working for babies in the oven. Then I think one popped out yesterday so I guess I better get busy on that one too.  These babies are coming faster than I can produce the quilts. LOL

Now for my small info-mercial
MesotheliomaLawyerCenter.org

If you are a Mesothelioma Cancer

Survivor or recently diagnosed with

It, you may find the above link useful. 

The link was provided to me by Katherine

Keys. She has been fighting mesothelioma

for 9 years with the help of MD Anderson and

is now cancer free. She was helped greatly by the

Patient Advocates at Mesothelioma Lawyer Center.

They helped her obtain financial compensation

which helped with her treatments and the quality of life.

She asked me if I would mind posting this link on my

Blog and I’m finally doing so. Hopefully the link might help anyone

else who might read my blog and that might need the help.

Can’t do this for every cause but at least every once

and a while I’ll try. The first time I posted for Mesothelioma was

for Heather Von St. James. She too is a survivor and shares her story thru her blog. You can click on the lick 

for the Mesothelioma Lawyer Center above and you can click on Heather's name for more 

information.

The big "C" is a scary word in whatever form it comes in.My family has been affected by it. It affected my mother-in law and father-in law, it took my Dad, it took my step Mother, and my sister Nancy is a Breast Cancer Survivor now. It took my best friend in 2011.  The list is long and could go on forever if I start including our friends who are battling the big "C" or currently in remission. Take a moment to count your blessings and then say a blessing for those who are affected by the big "C" and their families.

Well that's all I have for now. Hugs
Until next blog.....Ready ..... Set.... Sew

A Quilting I went....Retreat Time

Photo by RR Retreats

Two Weeks ago I was so busy trying to stay caught up at work and at home all while I was trying to pack up fabric, and necessary equipment needed to sew for a week long retreat at RR Retreats by Margie. 
Friday before I left work we surprised my co-worker Ashley with a little Graduation party. She's the first one in her family to graduate from college. She ran into a couple of obstacles a long the way and having a two year old running around made it interesting but she succeeded and she should be proud of herself.  
So while I was busy packing my car and grocery shopping for me and for David she was walking across the stage in Austin getting her BS in Information Technology. I was there in spirit for her.
Way To Go!



I headed out on Sunday the 17th to spend the week with a few of my quilty friends.  Yep I left the Husband and my Fur Baby to hold down the fort at home while I went to sew, laugh, drink some wine and try to finish up some old projects that have been sitting on the shelf, the table or machine for way way toooo long. 
Plus I had to finish my Round Robin Medallion before our hand off on Tuesday. 
As I was driving along thru Fayetteville I saw this little self serve Library. Too cool. I had heard about them on the show Day Tripper and Country Reporter but never seen one until now. When I go through next March I'll have to stick a couple of books in there and if there's one I just really want to read maybe I'll help myself to it but for sure I want contribute a couple books to their library. What a great way to share the love of reading.
Whew I did it. I finished 97% of my medallion. LOL. I won't see it now for a year and then it will be a finished quilt top.  I knew I wanted a more rustic kind of Santa and I found this picture on pinterest but couldn't find the pattern. Of course not. That would be too easy. So I had to trace the pieces I wanted and figure out how to applique it on my fabric.  I left the rabbit off and I wanted a different type of truck. Thanks to my friend Sandy B. for finding a picture of a truck that was more to my liking. And here's how my medallion turned out. 
Now I was asking Margie how to put bows on my Christmas packages and the cactus and she started showing me but then she stopped and said just make a note in your book for "me, Margie" to embellish the packages and cactus and then I add to added the please embellish the windmill too. 

Then David came up with a good idea and asked if I could somehow put our Rockin K symbol on the truck. Mmmm and I thought yeah I can embroider it but I'll need to do that after I get the quilt top back since I forgot to do it before the hand off.


Wal-Mart and HEB got plenty of business this week from us at retreat. It seems everyone either needed or forgot something. I went with Donna Marie the first night while she picked up a couple of things and I looked for the dice game Left-Right-Center. A must have for this week. I was feeling silly and the display of silk flowers called my name and well a crazy picture. And No I did not have too much to drink even though that's what many thought. I hadn't started yet. LOL. 







The next morning Sandy was up early as usual and took these great pictures.  She said at one point you couldn't even see our cars in the parking lot the fog was so thick.







Here's Denise working hard on her medallion. She just started it Sunday evening. Holy crap and we're doing the hand off on Tuesday. The girl is crazy but good.

And here is part of a block that Sandy is working on. Can't wait to see how it all comes together and by the end of the blog I will have a picture of her putting the block up. This girls completes more quilt tops I tell ya.

And now it gets real. The last 2 of our 6 member Round Robin team arrived. Margie has helped us all sort though our fabric and complete our books,  fill in any blanks and now it's time for us to talk about our block and pass them and our suit case full of fabric off. Oh Boy here goes nothing.

So this below is how it's gonna work. I'll pass my medallion and suitcase of fabric that I bought to be used in my quilt to Mary Jane and she'll add the first border to it no bigger than say 2-4 inches. She can piece, applique, whatever floats her boat. And she passes to Margie and so forth. We won't meet again until November for the next hand off but we're not allowed to see our own medallions from now on. We'll see everyone else's but not our own at the next hand off.

We'll have to leave the room while they talk about our individual medallions so the final quilt top will be a total surprise a year from now. Oh our group is call the Reluctant Round Robins. We were Margie's Misfits but Margie said "No!" LOL

We each talk about our medallion, our inspiration, our wants and our don't wants. Margie went first. Her medallion is Mrs. Claus to go with her Bubba Claus that she did in another Round Robin. 

Then here's Mildred.  This is the medallion I have to add the first border on. I actually already have an idea and ran it by the gals after Mildred left the next day. She and her sister Mary Jane couldn't stay for the retreat. They just came up for the Round Robin hand off.  Now I have to figure out how to make my idea work.

Our 3rd Robin is Donna Marie. She did a pieced medallion. I'm not sure but I think she kinda getting into this Round Robin thing. She was giving me a bad time about even considering the possibility of liking this quilting adventure even as scary as it is.
What's scary you ask? The idea of messing up someone else's quilt that's what!





Then it was my turn to talk about my medallion. Here's what a couple of the pages look like in our book. Then there's a page for me to write about my medallion and then there's pages for each person that adds a border to write about what inspired them to add the border they added. 
This is Mary Jane and her block. She like me created a Christmas medallion. And the funny thing is that neither one of us typically applique but go figure that's the way we both went.



And our 6th Robin is Denise that I volunteered.  LOL  That's what happens when you don't come to a retreat and travel to Japan to see your new Grandson Henry. Who by the way is one adorable little guy. Any arguments? Didn't think So. Back to Denise and her medallion. As I said earlier she just started her medallion Sunday when we got here and she's left on Wednesday. 
In this picture on Tuesday the day of the hand off she wasn't quite finished but later that afternoon she finished up so she could work on something else for a while before packing up so she could go home the next day. Here's what the final medallion looks like. 
We had three new gals join us this retreat but 2 of them were leaving Tuesday and Alice one of our new gals wanted a group picture. Alice is the one on the far left and Debbie the one hiding behind her is also new. They were lots of fun but had to leave too soon. Now our third newbie wouldn't get in the picture because well she used to be an under cover cop. 

So I decided to make her our Mr. Wilson. Did you ever watch Home Improvement with Tim Allen? Remember the neighbor Mr. Wilson you never saw his face well you'll never see Ms. V's face either.  Problem solved. LOL
Cute bag!

Projects being completed or started.
I was able to make 12 wine bottle gift bags. And Ms V. work on her 4th or 5th friendship star quilt. She had gotten into a block exchange and had hundreds of them. She was on a mission to get them put into quilt tops.

Beginners luck. We played the Dice Game Left Right Center with Batik Fat Quarters and she was the last one standing and won the basket of fat quarters. And she loves batik fabrics.
Always have the greatest sunsets up there during retreat.

Donna is having laptop issues. Not a good thing. V. is trying to help. She's very helpful and so much fun.

Margie pulled out a Round Robin Quilt she had for someone to pick up. This is my kind of quilt.  Love love the quilting too! It might have disappeared if the owner hadn't showed up when she did. LOL

Here's some blocks by Donna Lynn. She was just sewing away. Couldn't believe how many blocks for this quilt and a flag block quilt she was working on and completed.  The flag was made out of 1930's fabric I think. Thought I had a picture but don't. 




A tiny block that Donna Marie was working on.

One Morning we had a Hoot of a breakfast. Jane gave us everything we needed to create cute little owls for breakfast.

It was all about OWLS

Someone decided to to go for a mouse. Sandy.

Remember that single block next to the iron in the beginning of the post? This is what a bunch of those little blocks together create! Cool block and look it also creates a cross in between each colorful block.

Every evening Margie cooks us a yummy dinner. This was Wednesday's dinner I believe. Sooo good!

We're so easily amused. Jim and Margie came in with a bubble coffee maker. It was very interesting little gadget. Looked like a science project.





By Thursday night we had two more new ladies join us. Linda and Rhonda.
Fun Gals. It was Great meeting them.
Rhonda hid away when we went out to take another group picture. The retreat had come to an end and it was time to go home. Bah hum bug. We still have projects to finish and wine to drink and stories to tell. 

I can post this now . This is Margie's Round Robin Quilt top that she got to see for the first time since Saturday after we left. It had been a year since she handed off her center medallion Wow! Awesome quilt. Not my favorite color of course.  It would have been better if it had been maroon and the horns sawed off. LOL. 
Just kidding Margie! They did a beautiful job on each and every row. I hope our Reluctant Round Robins live up to your expectations.

Until next blogging adventure....