April Furtle and Such

April here on Vine (and elsewhere, as it happens) was filled with lots of different comings and goings. It was very wet, weather-wise - April showers bring May flowers, etc., etc. Because of the chill and rain, I spent the first part of the month down in my work space putting together the other ten basketballs for the Slam Dunk quilt for my great grandson. By the time I got to those, I'd come across a neat trick for making half square triangles without having to mark each square with a line (No Mark Stitch and Flip). Marvelous, especially since each "ball" had four HSTs!

Just a simple strip of cardstock makes an accurate stitch line.

By Monday, the 8th, I had all twenty basketballs completed, ready to sew into rows with sashing in between.

Twenty bouncing balls.

I managed to get the top row and top sashing done before leaving on a trip to visit with my dad in California. Because I was planning on staying a week with him, I packed my sewing machine and the basketball project in the car with a couple other maybe-to-do projects.

Sunday, the 7th, my daughter-in-law made an Easter wreath for our front door out of a pretty grapevine cross and fake lilies. She is quite clever in arranging holiday decor and I love how this looks.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

I left Friday morning headed over the Nevada desert to Northern California. Of course, I made a stop at the Quilt Parlor in Battle Mountain, Nevada (of all places). I hung around there for about an hour and managed to acquire fabric for a queen-sized quilt I'm planning on making for our grandson who is getting married in August of this year. (This will most likely take up a whole month of furtling news!) Anyhow, once I left there with my fabric goodies, I drove on to Reno to spend the night with my cousin; it's a good stopping off point before heading over Donner Pass to my dad's in Grass Valley. She gifted me with this beautiful piece:

A crafty gift from my cousin.

My cousin is good friends with Phyllis Cullen who is a renowned artist currently living in Hawaii. When my cousin visits there, Phyllis encourages her to get crafty (my cousin actually is quite crafty on her own, making beautiful jewelry); this dyed, quilted, and embroidered piece was one that she created on one of those occasions. I love it!

I set up my sewing machine on Dad's kitchen table and in between walks on the four acres he calls home, I managed to finish up the basketball quilt top. I discovered that insuring cornerstones and sashing all matched up was a real challenge; there again, the 1/4" seam comes into play.

Slam Dunk top done. Dad helped me hang it out on his pulley clothesline for an optimum photo.

I've gotten it quilted and ready for binding, labeling, and sending. That will happen in the next few days since I was interrupted (in a nice way) by a visit from my youngest sister - she flew from her home in Silverado, California to Dad's and then came with me back here to Utah - and helping my daughter-in-law put together a T-shirt quilt top for her daughter, my granddaughter.

What we came up with sans borders.

My daughter-in-law had gone ahead and cut out all the designs from the shirts, in some cases, way too small, so it was a real puzzle getting everything to fit. With the addition of cotton fabric, I think it turned out pretty darn good. However, after helping with this, I am not too sure if I will pursue making other T-shirt/clothing quilts, even though I have boxes of baby clothes my granddaughter gave to me to do just that. I suppose that if I'd been involved at the outset of this project, I may have enjoyed the process more. ;)

Just a note about the granddaughter that this quilt was made for; she was active in student government (served as a senator for the College of Humanities and Social Science in her last year) all four years of her time at Utah State University and graduated this last Friday, May 3rd, with Bachelor of Science degrees in Political Science and Journalism & Communications. Grandma and Grandpa are very proud of her indeed!

Besides being smart, she's a beauty too!

While my sister was here visiting we furtled a bit in my yarn stash. She has been knitting some wonderful items for the last year or so and was working on a lovely shawl (using a pattern and yarn from here) which she is going to gift to ME. Anyway, I have a collection of yarns I purchased a few years ago from a local yarn store that went out of business and thought my sister would find something useful. She didn't but we did come up with many needles and crochet hooks which got us inspired to try our hand at this amigurumi crochet bookmouse. Having never heard of amigurumi and needing (ha!) another project, I took the dive and got halfway done by the end of April.

Poor thing doesn't look like much! My bloem basket makes a very good crochet project holder.

By the way, here is a photo of my sister knitting with Chester, the cat keeping her neck cozy with his tail! 

In the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to put the finish on at least three projects - the basketball quilt, the crocheted bookmouse, and a foundation paper-pieced pillow top (photo below). That means that there should be a mid-month post! Stay tuned . . . 

"Sisterhood" - a pattern from Happy Sew Lucky

I'm making the Sisterhood pillow for a young friend who recently graduated from Utah State University and who, for her four years there, was very involved with the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. In fact, she is going to be a counselor for the national organization this coming year.

On to further furtling . . . 

(For more information about this Furtle Around the Blogosphere, see Mini Archie's instructions here.)

Aging and Being Okay With It

Today Clare and I went into the City to have lunch and close out 2017 with Clare's three remaining siblings. Clare, at 70 years old, is the youngest of the eleven children born to and raised by Frank and Esther Allred. The three other siblings at the table were James Milton at 85, number seven, Anita Gwen at 80, number eight, and Burton at 73, number ten. Myself, 68, and Burton's wife, Vee, 74, are the only two spouses alive. Why I'm bringing this up is that it struck me that not only are we aging but of the six people gathered together today, to a person, we are okay with it. Oh, sure, each of us has his or her aches and pains, and grievances about how things just aren't like they used to be . . . but all six of us wear the laugh lines of having led happy, blessed lives. Another thing that struck me was the genuine and deep love that each has for each other, for our children, our children's children, our families and our friends. I am sure that many people have these same traits but I am reminded that, even though we don't get together very often anymore, there is always a glow left when we do. It is just good to know that with aging there is the comfort of being loved.

On that note, here are two older people grinning into the IPhone camera. Happy New Year!

Hazel and Clare - December 25, 2017

After a full couple weeks prior to Christmas Day, it was lovely to spend a restful and fun weekend with each other and some of the children. The week after Thanksgiving and visiting with Dad in California both of us had a head cold that lingered until just before we left for Las Vegas on the 11th. I used my illness as an excuse to not do any crafting (Christmas card-making in particular) and very little Christmas decorating. And then we were away from home from the 11th through the 18th, and then, POOF!, it was Christmas Eve and the start of the last week of the year. I had gotten gifts posted to my sisters and three of our out-of-town grandchildren and managed to wrap gifts for our children and grandchildren here in town. The only card I made was a special one for friend Judy (our daughter-in-law Jennifer's mother). She is fond of giraffes and I just couldn't resist making a funny card for her:

Dashing through the snow . . . 

Giraffing all the way! Hahaha!

The giraffe is a cut pattern from the Silhouette Design Store,  #109957. 

This is short but I wanted to say "HI" and send out wishes for a worry-free and happy new year. I don't generally make resolutions but after opening my fortune cookie at the end of our lunch today, I thought it was funny that the one thing I want to do this new year, DECLUTTER, would be spelled out as an adventure . . . "You will discover an unexpected treasure." Hoping!

    

So Much Life

Hello, hello!

I'm recovering from a really bad case of the stomach flu (I guess) yesterday and figured that since I'm still feeling a bit peaky I'd sit down and talk about good things with you.

Today just happens to be our 31st wedding anniversary; incredible! And what a lovely 31 years it has been. Love this man of mine more each day!

May 22, 1986 - So happy together

Three decades later . . .

December 25, 2016 - Still so happy together

 Grey hair, wrinkles, a bit more weight but upright and taking nourishment! Everyday is an adventure.

Speaking of adventure . . . March 18th our family was blessed with a new addition, great grandbaby #5 for us! Here's how he's growing:

Text from new mom Brittany announcing the birth.

Great Grandpa, Granddaughter Brittany, Great Grandson Dawson (one day old)

April 18, 2017 - One month old with his first toy and quilt made by me.

April 30, 2017 - First visit to grandparents and great-grandparents Allred (one month, 12 days old)

May 18, 2017 - Two months old. Bright-eyed boy.

We are so very happy to have this little boy in our lives. Although we don't get to see him often enough, we do get regular updates from our very thoughtful granddaughter via social media anyway. There is one good thing to be said for Facebook and Instagram and cell phone texting, I guess!

While on the subject of great grandchildren, I was missing the three Arizona greats and so took myself to them last month for a short (three days) visit. I was originally going to fly down but then got to thinking of the hassle of getting to the airport, security checks and waiting at the airport, and having to get picked up, so decided to drive the 683 miles from home to Queen Creek, with a stop in Flagstaff. I left on April 4th and arrived in DaviJo and TJ's driveway at about noon, April 5th. DaviJo got me settled in before TJ got home from work and the three children got back from school. I took a short nap and then went outside with a cold drink to soak up some Arizona sun - glorious!

The kid's backyard - wow!

Me and Easton having a hug in the sun.

Once the kids got home, the busy-ness began! It was Lucas' 6th birthday and what he wanted for his birthday was to go the Phoenix Suns basketball game on Friday rather than have a party. Aubrey had softball practice and Lucas had basketball practice, so TJ took Aubrey and DaviJo, me, and Easton took Lucas. I had made a special shirt for Lucas which he wore for practice.

"I'm not a little kid anymore - I'm SIX!"

Unfortunately, there was no chance to get photos of everyone together but I just tried to keep up with the craziness without getting in the way! I had made shirts for Aubrey and Easton too.

Softball shirt for Aubrey, dinosaur shirt for Easton, and basketball "6" for Lucas. 

Thursday, the 6th, DaviJo and I went shopping for fabric to make a First Lady Dolley Madison dress for Aubrey for a school event in May. It was no easy thing to find a pattern that would duplicate an 1800's dress for a ten-year-old but I figured I could finagle something. We found a pattern and fabric on sale at Joann's and then took ourselves to a local restaurant, Queen Creek Olive Mill, for lunch and a glass of wine. Very nice! Thursday evening was a softball game for Aubrey so the whole family loaded up and went to that; Aubrey's team lost and there was a little meltdown but after we got home and the parents had a chat, things looked brighter. The kids went to bed and DaviJo and I had a glass of wine out by the pool - perfect way to relax and put me right to sleep.

Friday I spent cutting out the dress, reading to Easton, hanging out with DaviJo, and napping because that evening I was home alone with Aubrey and Easton while TJ and DaviJo took Lucas to the basketball game. An active ten-year-old and four-year-old are a bit much for this old lady but we managed alright with a visit to McDonald's, making Easter bunny bags, and watching a movie which I cannot recall but looked like The Flintstones but wasn't. 

Saturday morning TJ cooked breakfast, I hugged everyone, and headed back to Tooele. I got all the way to Panguitch, Utah, by 5 o'clock and didn't feel at all tired, just wanting to be home, so I just kept on going. Clare texted and said that there was a storm brewing and to be careful and sure enough, when I got to the turnoff west at Meadow, the skies had darkened and big raindrops were falling. I hit the turnoff at Eureka right as the rain turned to snow and all the way to Tooele, it was a whiteout but I slowed down and white-knuckled reaching our drive at about 9:30. Here's how it looked here Sunday morning, the 8th:

By Sunday night, all of this (except on the mountains) was melted.

I want to share a few more things but will save those for later. Looking forward to an anniversary dine out this evening. :)

Northern California Road Trip Adventure - Part III

Good afternoon from Dayton, Nevada! We are now into Day 5 of our autumn road trip but this post will regale you with photos from Day 3 and Day 4 (maybe) only. I take many more photos than there are hours in the day . . . in the waking day at any rate!

Thursday morning saw us pretty much just visiting with Dad and spending quiet time on the property. Dad had made it clear that he wanted to go out to breakfast as it is not often that he has someone to go with, so we drove to the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) in Grass Valley. Of course, the waitress knew him and loves him so we had excellent service, a few laughs, and a pretty darn good breakfast! When we got back to You Bet Road we chilled, like I said.

Sun just touching the tops of the trees. By the way, that extremely tall tree in the foreground is a tulip tree gone wild! :)

Next up are four random photos of the property's flora:

A fallen oak leaf on the branches of one of the many incense cedar trees on the property.

The incredibly huge holly bush at the junction of the driveway and upper pad. Every year for Advent and Christmas, the Grace Lutheran Church members come out and cut branches to decorate the sanctuary. They have been doing this for over 20 years.

Toyon berries - I looked this up to make sure and yes, that's what they are. Kind of pretty but, as I found out, quite poisonous!

An almost dead oak leaf on dead oak leaves.

The next photos show some of the industry that goes on here. Dad has made his four acres a virtual park with mowed grassy slopes, "logging" roads, and just plain organized beauty. He has a small herd of deer that pass through which we didn't see much of since there was the scent of dog around. On that note, though, Clare had gotten up early Thursday morning to let Rango out but because there was a doe standing right at the steps, he waited!

Clare and Dad at the tractor shed where the 1954 Oliver Cletrac and 1929 Cletrac tractors are housed.

The log splitter and chipper. The logs on the cart are from a Douglas Fir that Dad cut down this summer.

I thought this was a really "artsy" shot - Dad and Clare discussing engine stuff.

Dad driving up to the motor home on his 1947 Farmall tractor that he's had for nearly 40 years. He built the roof on it because he got tired of getting snow down his neck when plowing the drive in the winter.

There were naps taken and snacks (grapes) eaten during the afternoon and then Dad wanted to take us out for Mexican food at Margarita's in Grass Valley. Before we left though, there were a few more photos taken most particularly of our motor home on the upper pad taken from the house. We really wanted to see how steep the driveway actually is!

Our home away from home at You Bet Road.

The driveway - narrow and steep but manageable, even for a 34 foot motor home!

Dad - 93 years old and his 66 year old daughter.

So, that is it for Day 3, Thursday, October 20, 2016. Good times are being had by all!

Bye for now.

Wyoming Adventure, Part II-b

Oops! Blogger went haywire and I lost the back side of this post! I will now try to re-create it in all it's eloquence! Haha! :)

Visiting Mount Rushmore - I took many photos here because like Devil's Tower and Crazy Horse before, I felt like if I didn't keep my eyes on those presidents in stone, they'd somehow disappear! What an awesome feat! The Visitors Center (nice and cool) shows a timeline of the work on the carving, the geological facts of the mountain, and other related facts. The National Park Service Mount Rushmore website, here, has all the information about the conception, the funding, the carving, and the completion of this symbol of the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the United States of America.

Me, Clare, Jenn, and David and the four presidents in stone.

Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln.

Also in the Visitors Center, there was a display of small quilts, part of the "Find Your Park" challenge for the 100th year celebration of the National Park Service on August 25, 2016. I liked this one of Rocky Mountain National Park beautifully rendered by Marilyn Remboldt of Lincoln, Nebraska.

We were all getting quite wilted and hungry, so before leaving the park, we went into the Memorial Team Ice Cream Station to sample the TJ's vanilla ice cream, based on Thomas Jefferson's original recipe brought to the United States in 1780. . . delicious!

We left Mount Rushmore and journeyed back to Gillette, stopping in Custer so that Jenn and Cassie could look in a tee shirt shop they'd spotted on the way up, of all things! Made it back to the CAM-PLEX in time to grab dinner at the new Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom and then we settled in to watch a movie ("London Has Fallen" - very bad!) with Dave and Jenn. Thursday would see us staying close to camp to watch Team Utah in Performances 8 and 9, 2nd Round. 

 

Ah yes! A frosty Lemon Shandy.

Bright and HOT for Performance 8 (2nd perf of the 2nd round).

Friday morning was grandson Ty's second, and final, run at a steer; he made a good, solid 5.95 second run. However, with his earlier run of 15.05 seconds, he would not be in the top 20 for the Short Go Saturday evening. Clare and I decided to pull up stakes and head for home via Cody, Wyoming. Since this part of the trip was quite different and I took many photos along the way, I will post it as our Wyoming Adventure, Part III!

Wearing red in honor of our troops.

More later.

               

Wyoming Adventure, Part II

Here is one of many coal mines outside Gillette. This country is rich in coal, oil and cattle; and, wind!
When we returned from our trip to Devil's Tower, we grabbed dinner and headed back to the arena for Performance 5 of the First Round. I took a photo of this precious little baby girl for Alternate 2 of Rinda's 2016 Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt since I am uncertain that I will ever find #17, twins, before the September 22 deadline.

I did post this on Instagram too.

Plans had been formulated with our son and daughter-in-law and another Utah rodeo couple to leave early Wednesday morning for Mount Rushmore; since we were within 150 miles of this renowned monument, we figured that we'd take the opportunity to see it. Not far from Rushmore is the Crazy Horse Memorial so we took in that too. We entered South Dakota and the Black Hills 10 miles out of Newcastle, Wyoming on Highway 16. This country is truly beautiful forest and it was a curvy but very pleasant drive to Custer and then on to the two monuments.

Crazy woman at Crazy Horse.

The sculptor's, Korczak Ziolkowski, vision. More information can be found here.

We watched the video presentation in the Visitor Center and came away from that quite impressed with the determined effort not only of the original visionaries of this memorial, but with the continued dream of the family and the organization they have built.

Ziolkowski's original generator used to power the drills he used to make the first holes. According to his narration in the video presentation, it was not terribly reliable and would "kaput" just as he had climbed the stairs to get to the top of his drilling site; hence, the sign out of the exhaust stack.

It is difficult to describe the size of this monument although the crane boom seen at the top of the hand (which is currently being carved) looks very tiny and is, in comparison to the face.

We journeyed on through the Black Hills National Forest to Mount Rushmore - I spotted so many gorgeous wildflowers along the way but stopped myself from asking Clare to stop so I could photograph them . . . it would've held up the caravan behind us! There were White Yarrow, Purple Prairie Clover, Blanket Flower, Black-eyed Susan, Sunflower, Wild Meadow Rose, Lupine, Aster, and Green-headed Coneflower among many others. What a feast for the eyes! 

Arrived at Mount Rushmore along with hundreds of other summer tourists and made our way to the viewing point:

The flags depict all 50 states of the United States of America and the dates each entered the Union are inscribed underneath.