Week 34

This has been a layed-back sort of week. I’ve had to work a lot of days going in at 5:00 am.  I’ve mentioned before that it really wipes me out to go in that early. So about the only thing I’ve done this week as far as crafting goes is cross-stitching. No, I’ve haven’t worked on “Willie”. If I’d spend all my stitching time on him instead of starting new kits, I’d have him a lot further along than he is. Ya’ll say along with me, “Work on Wil-lie, work on Wil-lie!” Why does my craft projects  always wind up becoming UFO’s? (Well, that’s a silly question! Because I’m scatterbrained, me thinks!)

I have finished a couple of kits, however, even if Willie isn’t one of them. I started these snowflake coasters several months ago. Before the rush to get Fair projects done. I’ve got them off the table now. DONE, yea!

I picked up this little picture next. It came with it’s own little mat paper and frame. Isn’t it cute?

I thought I’d just open it up, sort the floss, and get it ready to work on. Then I would go work on Willie. NOT! Didn’t happen! I got the floss separated and thought, “hey, this really might not take too long to work up.” I got to looking at it closer, and before I knew it, I was working on the new kit and almost had it done!! Poor Willie, he must be getting lonesome sitting over there on the table all by himself.

I’ve knitted a few more rows on ‘the sweater’. Good grief! I wish time would go as slow as this sweater is to knit!! But, persistence WILL pay off. (I hope)

I made another batch of each of my blue-ribbon winning cookies for my friends’ last day at work. I bought him a nice platter and arranged the cookies all over it, covered it with plastic wrap and got a nice card to go with it. He acted like he liked it and he told me later that his boys actually fought over the cookies!! I’m sure going to miss him. We exchanged e-mails, though, so hopefully we can keep in touch.

I guess that’s it for this week. I just have a few more days to work the 5 am to 2 pm shift, then it’s back to my two days a week for that shift. I’m ready! They gave his shift to a person who’s worked in the office before, so she won’t have very much training at all. Just enough to show her the changes we’ve made.

 Keep those fingers busy. See ya next week!

Weeks 32 and 33

I skipped a week. Sorry about that. I could say that I’ve been extremely busy and blame it on a number of things; but unfortunately, I’m a believer that if you really want to do something, you will find the time. So I guess the truth is, I just put it off. I’m telling ya, I’m the queen of procrastination!!!

But I’m here now to catch you up on the last two weeks. My life is pretty common and dull most of the time. We’re empty nesters you know and, except for my job, I rarely get out of the house. Consequently, there’s not much to talk about except our daily, boring, routine of life. However, my mother once told me that I could write some of the most interesting letters when I start out by saying, “Not much happened around here this week.” I guess I do tend to ramble on…….

We’re getting a much-needed rain today. It’s been soooo dry and H-O-T the last few weeks. Kind of like August-time in the summer. (Oh, wait, it IS August!) It started raining last night and we have over two and a half inches in the rain gauge right now.

According to the radar, however, the rain is leaving our area. But, thank you kind heavens for the rain we got. Everything sure needed that drink! Hubby’s been pouring the drips from our air conditioner on my flowers and plants to help them stay alive during this dry spell. Boy, it’s amazing how much water comes out of the air in our home! It’s several buckets a day!

Well, enough rambling….maybe. I should continue….

After I got all my crafts back from the Fair, I took all the tags and ribbons off and put the crafts away. Some went into a container to be saved for gift-giving at the appropiate time, and some of the crafts went to their place in our home for our own use. The ribbons and tags will go into my scrapbook along with the pictures I took of them with their ribbons attached. This is my second scrapbook of ribbons and it’s almost half full! It’s fun to go back over the years and remember what all I’ve made and entered into the Fair. It’s been A LOT!

I’m still on a mission to get some of the thousands(?) of craft kits done that I’ve accumulated over the years. I’ve already mentioned that I was working up some of the kits that I dragged out of the closet. Well those kits are still spread out in the sewing room. I’m afraid that if I put them back in the closet, they won’t get done. You know, “out of sight, out of mind”.
 
“Willie’s” still on the worktable.

But, being in cross-stitch, he’s taking a while. So I’ve been working on some little kits in between just to get one finished and feel like I’ve accomplished something. That’s such a good feeling knowing that one more kit is out of the way!

This is a set of coasters in plastic canvas. I’ve worked on it in the evenings in front of the tv. It’s not that I watch a lot of tv, I don’t. But we rent a lot of movies and watch one almost every evening. Plastic canvas is good to work on then because it doesn’t take a lot of concentration. 

After I finished the coasters, I picked up another kit in plastic canvas. It’s a snowman bookmark.  Again, this was a quick kit and I’ve already completed it. This would be something to make more of and include them in Christmas cards.

It’s really cute, don’t you think?

Besides working in my sewing room, I’ve had to work a lot of days this last week. I’ve had to work in place of the regular guy because they had him working somewhere else. Then he came up with another job and is leaving us, (good for him!!), so I’ll be working his hours during the day until they find another person to take his place. (NO, it’s not going to be me! It’s hard enough for me to get up at 3 am two mornings a week not to mention doing that five mornings a week!)  That really wears me out for the rest of the day. I get off at 2:00 in the afternoon, but I’m so tired that I can’t make myself do anything around the house. Then I’m in bed by 8 pm, so there goes our movie time!

My friend and I had our lunch date this week again. We only do this once a month. I can’t believe how fast a month can go! We talked quilting again. I have the rest of the material to finish my green quilt, but I have to cut the strips for it, and I’ve never done that before, and I tend to procrastinate something when I’ve never done it before. I know she’s just itching to show me how to use her quilting machine and see me finish my quilt. I REALLY need to make myself get started on cutting the strips. I KNOW that when I get started on it, I’ll enjoy working on it and I’ll get excited about getting to use her quilting machine and get it finished. Ahhhhh, it’s just getting started that’s the hardest part!

On my day off this week, I got to spend it with my four oldest grandsons. The two that live in Jeff City was spending the week here with their dad. I begged for a day with them to take them to the movies. We went by and picked up the two grandsons that live here, and off to the movies we go. They all get along so good together. We saw “The Simpson” movie. It was really funny, but it’s mostly adult humor. I’m not sure the two younger ones “got” some of it. It was pretty violent for a cartoon, too. They’re all old enough to know that it’s only make-believe, though.

I bought them shakes and popcorn and took them for a root beer afterward. We all had a nice time. I love to spoil my grandsons!! I understand that they all spent the night together with #1 daughter the next night. I wonder how late they stayed up!?!

That just about brings you up-to-date until next week. Have a great week and keep cranking out those craft projects!
 

Week 31

More Fair news: 

Monday was the judging on quick breads. I took Banana bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, and an apple coffee cake. My pumpkin bread didn’t turn out too good–I didn’t cook it long enough, so I knew I wouldn’t get anything on it. I really shouldn’t have even taken it. I got a ribbon (2nd place) on the other two breads and a third place on my coffee cake. That was fun. Sorry, I didn’t take any pics of them. Just the ribbons!

This is the ribbons for all my baked goods and the pie plate that had my second-place apple pie in it!!

Monday was also the day they had a special contest called, “Think Pink for the Cause.” We had to take crafts made in pink. There were two classes–one was for needlework, and the other for crafts. I entered both and got two ribbons.

 

The pink knitted socks is what I entered in the needlework one and got an honorable mention. 

In the craft class I entered a shirt that I painted on at the last minute.

 

When I sent in the form to be in this contest, I thought and thought about something to enter but couldn’t think of anything to put in this class, so I pretty much decided not to take anything. But the day before we were supposed to take them to the fair, I suddenly thought about my Colorpoint paints and painting on a shirt. I LOVE to do that and why I hadn’t thought about it before is beyond me! I looked in my closet and found a pink long-sleeved shirt to use, searched through  pattern books, found the paints I needed, and literally finished the shirt the day of the contest! I got a third place ribbon on it!! Whew! Talk about last minute! The shirt’s really cute, though, and I know I’ll enjoy wearing it.

Here’s some more pics of my crafts with their ribbons:

The afghans,

  

and all the other stuff

Tues. was Senior Citizens day at the fair. It was also the day for the special contest called, “Grandparent’s Cookie” contest. I made two different cookies for this contest.  The first one was “any cookie made with chocolate or chocolate chips.” I made peanut butter cookies and chopped up a king-sized milk chocolate bar to add to the batter. Oh, if only you could taste these!! The other class was for “any cookie without chocolate.” I made oatmeal cookies, and put two together with buttercream icing sandwiched between them. The kids judging the contest liked both, because I got the blue ribbons on both of them!

Hubby went with me this day because we had tickets to get in free and also to ride the ferris wheel free. It’s the only ride that he’ll ride and we rode it twice! We also got a corn dog, nachos, and root beer, looked at the exhibits again, got a free ice cream cone, and watched the judging of the cookies. By that time, us ol’ folgies were ready to come home.

The next two days, I didn’t go to the Fair. It was nice to just stay home and relax. I got the kitchen back in presentable shape, caught up on the laundry, and finished the Christmas cards that I’d been cross-stitching on.

I picked up another kit and started on it. It’s a snowman that’s made of felt with a wire hanger.

It didn’t take a long time to make, so I’ve finished it already.

Hey, I got UFO done that’s been sitting around for at least a year and a half. It’s some little magnets made with clothespins. They have a little wooden painted flower on them. (I did the painting.) They could be used to clip a bag of chips closed or hang on the fridge for notes.

I’ve also been knitting a little on the blue sweater, and then picked up another cross-stitch kit. (I get obsessed with one kind of craft until I burn out on it.) This is a wall hanging of a snowman called “Willie Melt.” (Isn’t that cute!) This will take a while, but it’s nice to pick up when I sit down in front of the tv or just to rest a bit.

Fri. #1 Daughter and her two boys picked me up and off to the Fair we go. It was HOT — mid 90’s, and humid! We rode one ride, and #1 got sick. We went back to the building with AC to cool off and let her get her stomach back in the right place. The boys and I ate lunch while we were there and soon she was feeling almost like herself again. But, NO MORE RIDES FOR HER! One grandson gets sick pretty easy, too, so he didn’t want to ride much either. I rode The Scrambler with the other grandson, and then I felt a little uneasy too. (I had even taken a Dramamine!)

Another trip back to the AC so #1 could eat a bite. We walked around a little so I could show them my exhibits, rode the ferris wheel, a trip through the Duck Pond, (a tradition), then we left. It was just too hot to have a fun time. Also, #2 Daughter and her boys didn’t get to be with us, and it just wasn’t the same. The boys said that they had a good time, but I think they were just trying to be nice to Grandma.

The last special contest I signed up for is called “Chocolate Sunday.” It’s the last day of the Fair, which happens to be on Sunday, and the contest is for food items made and baked with chocolate. I decided not to participate in this contest. I think I’m about Fair-ed out for this year. I’m back to work this weekend and just out of the mood, I guess. But it was fun to enter my crafts and baked goods, and even more fun to win some ribbons on them. Now I need to start thinking about what to enter next year!!

Have a great week and, even though it’s h-o-t, stay in the AC and make something! Keep those fingers busy!

Week 30

I’m on vacation!! I’ve been enjoying every minute so far. It’s so nice to sleep till you wake up and not have to watch the clock to be at work at a certain time. Of course this is fair time, and I’ve signed up to be in some special contests; so in a way, I’m still having to watch the clock to be at a certain place at a certain time. But this is the Fair!! This is soooooo different than having to be a WORK!

My “stuff” is still spread out all over the sewing room. I picked up a little cross-stitch kit, worked on it a few days and got it done. Isn’t it cute? It came with a plastic bag to put goodies in,  then you use some of the left-over floss to make a tie to close the plastic bag.

 

Then I picked up another kit for some cross-stitch Christmas cards and have been working on them. It’s nice to sit down after my few daily chores are done, knowing I don’t have to go anywhere, and spend a few hours just sittin’ and stitchin’. Especially the last several days because we’ve been having some beautiful, below average-temp weather. I’ve been sitting in the sunroom

because I can see a lot better with natural light and get the added benefit of listening and watching the birds, squirrels, and even a baby rabbit playing around in the yard. This is the ideal vacation!!

My UFO’s are still looming, like a dark onimus cloud, over my head. I picked one up the other day, looked at it, and then said, “ah, I don’t want to work on that now…..” and put it back down. What’s up with that?!? It must be some kind of problem, but I don’t have a name for it! However,  I do feel better that I got some of them done so I could enter them into the fair. Thank goodness for the fair. If I didn’t have that to modivate me every year, the UFO’s would grow way out of hand and ……..Ooooh, I don’t want to think of that!! (Shutter!)

I can’t say I’m not working on any of my UFO’s though. Remember the sweater I started out of the Symphony yarn in blue? I guess I can officially call it a UFO since it did take the back burner for several months. Anyway, I picked it out this week and have been knitting a few rows on it every day. It’s really slow-going on #4 needles in stockinette stitch. (BOR-ING!)

Sat. is the pie baking contest. I hardly ever win anything on my pies. Not that mine aren’t any good, because I HAVE won a time or two. BUT,  we have a lady that enters pies every year and she enters every class and wins 1 st in every class. Then the judges choose a Champion pie from the pies that won the blue ribbons (1st place) in all the classes. Of course, there’s no contest because this lady has them all. The only surprise is to see which class she’ll win the Champion ribbon in this year. It’s a little satisfying, in a pathetic sort of way, to know that if you win 2nd place, you would have won 1st if she hadn’t entered this year.

I’m glad this lady can enter her pies and get ribbons, though.  It seems like the pies is the only thing she’s really good at doing. She doesn’t seem to get too many ribbons in anything else she does. Besides, it makes the rest of us work even harder to make better pies. That can’t be a bad thing, right? Hubby says I make some really awesome pies! What better judge is that?!?

Update: Here’s how pie-baking Sat. turned out. I entered three pies this year — an apple, pecan, and mixed berry.  I enter an apple pie EVERY year, and EVERY year–no ribbon.

W E L L, I got a ribbon this year on my apple pie!! And it was the second place ribbon!!! I just about fell out of my chair. Guess who got the Blue ribbon? Yep, our favorite pie maker. But this year she didn’t win first on all her pies. AND, she didn’t win the champion ribbon either! She must have had a bad year. Anyway, I need to try just a little harder and maybe, just maybe, I’ll win a first place on my apple pie next year. It won’t be any fun to win, though, if our pie lady doesn’t enter. I want to compete with her apple pie and THEN win the blue ribbon. I don’t want much, do I? I’m on a quest for that blue ribbon!!

The other two pies didn’t take any ribbons, but that’s ok. I’m still on cloud nine with my second place ribbon. If the pies don’t win anything, we have to take them back home with us. Plus, I could take half my apple pie, too, so the whole thing doesn’t wind up in the trash. Hubby went with me, (I’m glad he got to see the judging), and we took the pies by his folks so they could help us eat them.

Both his sisters and his brother and sister-in-law were there, too, so we all had pie. Mmmmmmm

More about the fair next time. Have a happy week!!