Question.......

the question is .....are you guys having trouble with blogger doing this? I download my pictures and while I am posting it just shows them as a bunch of letters and scrambled words in one big paragraph and I can't write in between them. This has been happening to me for about a week now. What have I done? What has blogger done? How can I fix it? Help!!!

Well I guess you can read the pictures....afterall it isn't rocket science to understand that I painted a few things and I have posted before and afters. A cute picture of some baby goats!! They look hungry in these pictures but trust me that they are healthy! Then the last picture is of my beautiful snowball bush from last Spring. I was wondering if you guys know whether it should be trimmed/pruned and how much to trim it back if any. I have had it for maybe 4 years now and year before last it got caught in a Spring freeze but then the next year it was gorgeous! I am almost scared to mess it up if I start to trim it back now. It is rather bushy/dense right now. What ya think??

I did get a few things scratched off my list today!!!! woowooo now I am off to take a nice hot bath to soothe these aching muscles.....Spring will kill ya!!!!!

I won an award!!

My sweet friend Linda over at Prairie Flower Farm picked me for this Sunshine Award!! It truely bought a little more sunshine to my day too. Thank You Linda you are the best!!

I sure hope my blog adds a little sunshine to my readers day!
I know it's impossible to impart a sunshiney attitude upon my readers when all I have spoke of lately is my suffering from the flu (now with a sinus infection belecky!!!) but be patient I will be back to normal (well my normal that is) soon. I found a totally unsuspecting Dr friend of the family who was kind enough to call me in an antibiotic today all the way from his family vacation in Las Vegas!!! Now it pays to have friends like that doesn't it??? He may just be surprised with a Homemade Blueberry Pie one day this summer!! Ssshhhh don't tell him my little secret!!

I had listed earlier my huge list of outdoor chores and I have been thinking about that list and added a slew of things to it. I am not so sure if that was a good idea or not. I am historically not a list maker. That got me into a lot of hotwater in a position as a Director Of Nursing one time too. My boss, the Director of the facility was a list maker and expected me to be also. He made list of his lists!!! I never could get the hang of it tho. I have over the years used lists to accomplish several tasks and to help me stay focused on accomplishing those tasks. So I thought it may be a good idea for me to make a list of outdoor chores that I could get crossed off and out of the way this year cause it seems like I got "Nothing" accomplished last year. I am now thinking that I have listed too many things, maybe all this doesn't need to be done this Spring/Summer. I am afraid that this big ole list may intimidate me and cause me to run the other way. I will give it a try with the list and hope that I can see some things being crossed off of it soon, if not I will tear the list up and go about my summer as usual.....jumping from one thing to the other!! Like gardening....I will start weeding in this one section and before it's finished I will be tilling or replanting on the complete opposite side of the garden!!! Never fails!! My gardening friends tell me they do the same thing!! Do you guys do that?

After making this list this morning I went to hunt my new pruners that Danny bought me last year and Lo and Behold I could not find them. How was I to do any trimming or pruning without pruners? So off to Lowes I went and bought a pair...swung by the pharmacy for good drugs, came home and opened the package of my new pruners, stepped into the garage and there were my other pruners!!!!!!!! Now I have 2 pair to help me with that list!!!!!!! Maybe I need a new eye Dr???????

This is what farm girls do.....

They go fishing when they want to be outside enjoying the new sunshine but they are not feeling up to pruning blueberry bushes, hanging laundry on the line, cleaning off the porches, cleaning up the flower beds, cleaning around the pond, painting the outdoor furniture, tearing down the pergola,cleaning out the root cellar, cleaning out the garage, making curtains for garage, cleaning out the chicken coop, cleaning out 2 goat barns, painting a goat barn, building a new goat barn (oops that's on his list) cleaning up all the broken trees and limbs in the yard from the bad winter storms, cleaning out the boat, deciding whether or not I can spray paint my stainless steel gazing ball, painting the concrete yard art, trimming goat hoofs, worming goats, cleaning the gravels out of the flower beds that the state highway dept pushed in there trying to clear my roads this winter, picking out new roses for the new pergola, (building the new pergola is at the very top of his list), wash the cars and the list goes on and on and on and on .................see why I went fishing this morning instead of working on this list. There is no end in sight!! Don't be jealous of me I didn't get a single bite!! I did see a lot of great big fish though!! I'll be back to get you soon!!

It's amazing.....

how good you can feel when you still feel so bad! You know the feeling after you have hit rock bottom but are suddenly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday was my rock bottom day and it was truly rock bottom for me. One other time have I been in a situation where I really wasn't sure that I would live to see the next day or not, and that was the day that Leslie was born. I had no idea that I would live thru labor with her nor did I feel that I was going to live thru day gazillionteen of this flu. I had chest pain so bad, I couldn't breath in or out, I had zero energy and I was making funeral arrangements!! I mean it's to be my party and I want it how I want it!!

Well Thank goodness I made it thru that horrible 24 hours and today was a lot better. Not perfect by any stretch but I have a feeling I will not be needing that red casket with white roses and carnations....for a little while longer!!

Yesterday was spent on the couch or in the bathroom but in my mind I really wanted to work on my quilt. I went to the bottom of the stairs and I would look up towards the sewing room and get dizzy and go straight back to the sofa. It felt like it was a million miles away and up hill all the way. I did make it up those, what 13 steps?? tonight and when I got to the top I needed a breathing treatment but I just sat in front of my sewing machine until I gained my composure and then I was able to find the strength to work on my quilt a little bit. I think it was in my plans to finish this up ....like ..maybe ...."soon" was the word that I used......ha! The jokes on me! This baby will take a while. Well if I ever get to set things like I had mentioned in assembly line fashion it should go together really quick.

I did a lot more cutting out and quilted a few more blocks tonight. I just had to put a few blocks together so I could see if this was going to work after all....good idea? I am very happy with they way the blocks go together.....whew! burden lifted off my shoulders here!!!! I have decided to use the rose fabric on the back and I am sashing the back with coordinates of pinks, cream and roses fabric. The front is being sashed with the Alexander Henry pear and apple fabric. I love love love this fabric. It may not be the most desirable print for a bedroom but you know I don't care! I always color outside the lines. If you come to my house and you don't like my quilt made with apple and pear fabrics just flip it over and you will have roses!!!!

I have no pictures to show you tonight because blogger doesn't feel they are worthy of being shown!! Maybe tomorrow! Thanks for all the well wishes from you guys! I don't think I would have made it thru this with you!!

I am about to get desperate here.....

I am about to get tired of this being sick ordeal.

I have been relying on store bought meds until today.

I am still eating the acetaminophen and guiafenisen sp?

with very little relief.

I have been wanting cold fluids on my sore throat.

Enough Already!!!!

So today I have resorted to the web for homemade

cold and flu remedies. Watch out! I watched The Good Witch and The Good Witches garden on Hallmark last night!! Too cute!

Yes I am a nurse but this sorta stuff always is supposed to happen to others

not me!!

I have started a witches cauldron of Vicks Vapo Rub

in my big yellow pressure cooker pot simmering on the stove.

I stood over it for a while, now I go by and take a deep breathe occasionally.

I have steeped Herbs de Provence in boiling water............yucky!!

It has lavender, garlic, lemon peel, and sea salt that I know of. I added rosemary to this brew.

We were fighting over sniffing on this stuff for a while!!!!

Good stuff!!

I became very aware of the bases of my lungs!!!!!!!! woowoooo!!!!

That's a really good feeling!

I also felt the outer layer of my brain at one time because I took such a good sniff!

Talk about a head rush.

I have sipped on hot tea all day too.

I have got to whip this stuff before it whips me.

I have a quilt to finish.

Not too much done in that dept yet today, I have done some more cutting and I have several blocks quilted.

I need to get me an assembly line of sorts started in order to whip these blocks out.

I hate to say it but this flu has stepped in and hindered my plans for that happening yet.

I am armed and ready though.

I will be gargling with the concoction that I have brewed up.

We may never have to worry about being kissed again due to bad breath but it will all be worth it to get rid of the cooties around here.

I also can't wait for a warm dry day to be able to open the windows and fumigate the home.

I always have to do that after we have been sick.

Out with the old stagnant air and in with the fresh new air!

What sort of advise do you guys have for us?

Please don't tell me to use this Onion Syrup!!

Please stay well!!

I had a vision..........

I wish I could say that I feel better but I can't lie about that. I feel horrible today. We both have had our worse day yet. While my SIL Eric is out winning bike races, and I am sure he rode for about 8 gazillion miles too. Also my dear friend and neighbor Amanda of Lovin Country Livin ran her first 5K today!!! My hats off to both of you!!!! I have to say that I won the "Who can take the most cold medicine in 24 hours" and the "Who can take the most cat naps in 24 hours" contests!! Yep that's me number 1!!!!! There were some other things I was very very good at today but this is a semi not gross blog and so I'll leave those snotty things behind closed doors and off the world wide web. OK?

I did however get into enough state of confusion due to the hypoxia I am sure, to start yet another project! Hey don't start talking bad about me yet. I really got a lot of it done today!! You see I was hyped up on cold meds and I had a vision, an epiphany of sorts! As you know I have been wanting a king sized quilt for my bed.............well his bed, cause I have been in the guest bedroom for almost 2 weeks now cause I can't sleep with him snoring or coughing and he can't sleep with my coughing either...........so anyway for "That king size bed we own". I decided today that I would make a Crazy Quilt As You Go Quilt. I googled it and found out that I didn't come up with this idea first!!!! Imagine that.....someone else was high on her cough meds a few years back and came up with this idea and wrote a book about it and has a blog and has tutorials on youtube.......unless I dreamed all that up in my cat naps today that were medically induced!!

I checked out her style and decided it was close enough to what I was thinking about and got started. I knew it was a far fetched idea for me to get a king size quilt quilted in my frames and I sure wasn't going to attempt it by machine with out frames so a quilt as you go method was the only way to turn. I have quite a stash of fabric that I thought too lovely to cut for a long time now. If I love it enough to buy it without a project in mind to get started immediately on I tend to do that and never want to cut it. I bit the bullet and whacked right into some great fabrics today. I hope I remember what I was doing when I am out of my stupor!! I have used some Alexander Henry, Amy Butler, Moda and Heide Grace fabrics to name a few! They are all so summery too. It does my heart good to see these fabrics coming together.

I think I will need 81 blocks maybe more to cover my bed really good and hang down just right over my long white cotton dust ruffle. I made that ruffle last year and it has something like 36 yards of ruffle around only 3 sides of the bed! It sure does cost to have such a roomy bed .....for one little man to be sleeping in all by himself. I have 64 blocks done..tops only. I will have to cut a backing and batting and quilt them together before putting them together with the sashing that holds all the layers together. I also have a slew of shabby pink fabrics that are mostly rose patterns and I am contemplating backing the blocks with a variety of the rose fabric so the quilt will then be reversible. No harder to make 2 quilts than it is one!!!!! I can then have 2 very different looks out of one quilt! What ya think? Let me know soon cause I plan to still be on a roll tomorrow and get this baby finished in no time. I can't wait to see it on my big cherry 4 poster bed. I have had this bed for over 10 years now and planned to make a quilt for it as long. So I am pumped about this epiphany!!!!!!!! Good cold medicine huh?

This made me feel goooooood.......

see this computer screen and all these buttons?

quilting in progress....


moving right along....
rather nice stitches.......

pretty even stitches......right?.........

and just as pretty on the back!!

Well girls there is a story behind this post..............

Where do I begin? OK....remember I drove all the way across the state to get this machine that I thought was such a good bargain, that I found on Craigslist?

I played with it at the ladies home that I bought it from and when I got her home she sewed beautifully!! I was so looking forward to getting a quilt ready for my frames and give her a try in there. So several weeks ago I slapped a layer cake (40 ~ 10" squares of fabrics)
together that I have had for a while. I am using a thrift store sheet that has some special detail that you can't see in the pictures yet, for the backing. I wrestled with my frames and getting this quilt in the frames for almost half a day that day.

I was so excited to see how my baby would do. She has a longer arm than my other machines but she is still not a long arm. I was hoping the difference in the length would be tolerable and make the job a little easier on me.

I played with the machine on the table first, wound all my bobbins and stippled on some scraps and it was just lovely.

When I got her in the frames it was "Katie Bar The Door" all you know what broke loose in my sewing room!!!! Not kidding! Everything that could go wrong went wrong with this machine.

The needle just fell out! I broke needles, I broke threads, The stitching was absolutely horrible.

I took the machine out of the frames and worked with her for at least 3 hours that afternoon and I couldn't get her to hardly sew a stitch. Robin was sitting beside me with the manual and we tried everything in our power to get her sewing. Nothing worked.

So I just got up and walked away from the sewing room and I have not been back until today.

I told no one except for Terri of this ordeal because it was too painful to talk about.

I was ready to give up quilting and throw everything out the window into the fish pond.

I left it all out of sight and out of mind for all these weeks now.

When I went up there today......I didn't feel like doing much of anything, so I thought I would just sit down and see if I could make her sew one final time.

It worked!!

It was sewing beautifully again in no time.

I said a big prayer asking the Lord for patience as I put her back in the frame to not lose my temper and shoot her.

God is good!!

I have over half of the quilt finished and I am so pleased with the results!

Apparently I did not know how to change the thread tension and save it in the computer. For some reason it just fell into place today. I did not even pick up the manual either!

Maybe I can think clearer with a foggy stuffy brain???

So I am not ready to throw her in the pond yet. Danny was happy and came upstairs and watched me quilt for a while and told me several things he can do to the frames to make them a litlle easier for me to work with....woowooooo!!!!!! Now just getting him to do that!!!!

Yes this really made me forget for a while that I was so sick.....then the Excedrin wore off again!!!! I am going to finish this quilt, that is just for me...maybe for the midnight boatrides that we have every now and again. Then I have to get to work on some other UFO's and some new projects that I have in mind....like a log cabin quilt like Terri's!!!