Lazy Afternoon

What could be better than sitting out on the porch swing with Gary and Katelynn?  A soft, cool breeze and the smell of rain.  Can I spend every day like this? 

I took this week off from work.  We had plans to go camping….but things didn’t work out.  We don’t dare take his truck too far because we’re not sure how reliable it is.  It’s hot and sticky which makes tent camping a little miserable.  And then the money factor.  Is it whining if I say I HATE being on a tight budget?  I’m relearning how to clip coupons and becoming a pro at creative financing!  Gary has applied for a lot of jobs…but nothing yet. 

We are  making lemonade out of lemons.     The glass is  half-full.  Positive thoughts most of the time.  I hate to pour too much of my feelings out here in  blog land.  When people ask how things are going you just have to tell a little white lie sometimes. 

Jamie and I started a booth at a local Craft/home decor store.  Hopefully I can make a little extra $$ that way.  The car seat covers/canopies have been selling pretty good. 

Got 6 all bagged and ready to go today. 

My project for this afternoon is my butterfly quilt.  It’s been on hold long enough. 

More shoes…and a note of apology!

I lined this pair with fabric.  I little tricky..but not so bad.  The pattern is Simplicity 2491 if anyone is interested in making some shoes.

Now, the apology.  If you have a little white square on your blog you might have gotten it from me….so very sorry!  I used a picture from that site.  I learned my lesson….never doing that again.  To get rid of it I just went in and replaced my background.  

A little fun with baby shoes……

I’ve been wanting to try making some baby shoes/booties for a couple of weeks.  Yesterday I went to the fabric store for a few things.  While there I looked through the pattern books and found a cute pattern for them.  It was sold out (of course!), but I ran to Hancock’s and found it.  The lady there told me they keep selling out of the pattern, so I felt lucky to have one clutched tightly in my hands.  While I was waiting in line to check out the lady behind me saw it, loved it, and ended up buying a pattern too. 
I crocheted the little flowers and added a button.  I really love this black and red pair…my favorite so far!  How cute would it be to make a little sundress with shoes to match??As you can see….I totally hooked!  My new obsession.  I can assure you I will be posting new ones all week.  I can’t wait for Katelynn to come visit so I can try them on her. 

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P.S.  If you noticed that the post on our 30th anniversary disappeared….no we are not calling it quits.  I didn’t get mad at Gary and delete the post.  I had a weird white box show up in the middle of my blog.  In the process of trying to figure out how to remove it I accidentally deleted that post :-0 

I. Can’t. Resist.

I saw this butterfly quilt over at Nedra’s blog and she posted it on Stash Manicure.  I’ve been resisting doing it.  Waiting for a time when my other UFOs were under control. Well....I just couldn't wait any longer.  I had to give it a try tonight.I wanted to try different colors down the middle for the body to see what it would look like.  I think I like it…and it uses up some of my smaller scraps.  I’m so in love with the look of this quilt that I might get up in the middle of the night to work on more blocks.  Seriously...if I toss and turn again tonight you can bet I'll end up at the sewing machine.

It sure makes a mess, though!  And I must admit that I’m a messy piecer when I quilt.  I cut and throw to the floor.  I figure it’s much easier to get the blocks made and then clean up the mess when I’m done. 

Back to Quilting

I had a little time tonight…and actually felt like quilting…so I put on Tracy’s wall hanging.  I’ve been stressed out lately (I know…..just part of life) and it felt good to get lost in the quilting motion for a bit.

I got the binding on my pink and brown quilt.  Now it’s ready to take up to my bedroom to bind while I’m watching TV.

Dunes Day Two

I surprised myself this trip....taking rides and hills I never would have before. I wanted to get pictures of some, but needed both hands for driving. I've never really wanted to go to the dunes before. I associated it with wild parties, crazy people driving everywhere and LifeFlight! Didn't sound like too much fun. Wow....am I wrong. So much fun (if it's not too crowded).

We got skull flags for the trip to match the skulls on our bikes.

Gary's flag.

Jaycee's Hot Pink Flag.

We had one little rain shower Sunday afternoon. We saw it coming and hurried and put up the tent and cleaned up before it hit.


Gary, Jaycee, and I didn't ride in the dunes much. Our bikes are more mountain bikes. We had to stay on the top ridges when we rode out there.




The edge of the dunes. We rode through trails on this side. It's like a roller coaster on sand. You go up and down and right and left sideways. It was a blast! I could do that all day.



Jon and Bekkah riding the bowls. That's where you find a big hole or bowl in the sand and ride around the rim.....sideways. It took my breath away just watching them. If you don't do it just right you will roll down with your bike into the bowl....ouch! It's really a bigger hole than the picture shows.




We found a little trail up this mountainside. It was cool to see all the trunks from burned trees. Kind of spooky looking area.

This is Sand Mountain. It's way bigger than it appears. The two little dots in the lower left screen are 2 wheelers going up the face of the mountain. It's really steep, especially towards the top. Jon has been up the face of Sand Mountain. He says it's an adrenaline rush. I'll take his word for it. That's something that will never be on my bucket list!!

Sand Mountain.

The trees down here are cool looking.

And good shade in the dessert heat.