Joe and Laurie

Jacob and Dan



Paul



John 





Eva




Bekah



Abe

Blessed, indeed!

Getting ready to leave for the airport.  Headed to Arizona for the week.  Figure I'll be able to enjoy their sweet faces when I get online out there- and maybe I won't miss them quite so much. Maybe. Have fun while I'm gone!  But not too much fun- that can wait 'til I get back! 

jacob in his manly apron

 Forging on...

How do you spell goof-balls?  J-o-h-n and J-a-c-o-b.  Paul... not so much.

The guys are building a forge in the old barn ruins.  They've salvaged some handhewn beams and lumber from the old structure and are getting all settled in.  Will and John tore down an old "shed" for a friend and they were able to keep the metal in trade for the work.  (Only in Indiana do they call a building a "shed" when its bigger than some folks' home.) Walls and a roof will go up soon.  They've been pounding away but the forge is far enough from the house that we really don't hear anything.  They've been staying up late working on their projects.  They all smell of woodsmoke. Right now, it seems that rebar is the metal of choice- good for beginner blacksmiths, I suppose.  They have a friend who is all pioneer-y and he's been able to give them words of wisdom and advice from time to time.  Jacob didn't want his picture taken in his apron, but I said it looked cool and so he started  posing for the camera.  My dad would be in his element with those boys- only he'd make them pick things up a little better.  And I have to say that they have been ingenious making do with what they have.  A certain satisfaction in that, isn't there?   The forge is on the backside of the milk house.  The floor is concrete. Two of the walls are original to the barn and the other two they are making from old wood.  The cross beams will come down once the walls are attached to stabilize everything.  See that one sticking out in the foreground on the right of the picture?  There's a drain ditch in the floor and I was stepping ever so gingerly over it and wasn't looking up- banged my head so hard I broke my glasses(fixable) and nearly knocked myself out!  Even got a hug from John for that little trick.  They're using an old blow dryer of mine that no longer heated- seems to do the trick for bellows- where does one acquire bellows?
  

forge in the works

Necessity, the mother of invention- blow dryer bellows

 Speaking of making do with what you have...  Sandy came over last week and spent the night.  We did a little sewing and generally had a great time.  We usually try to think of projects to work on ahead of time, but I was drawing a blank.  Then, I found this nifty pattern- Simple Star by Bonnie Blue Quilts.  When Sandy saw my meager stash I do believe I heard her gulp.  She said that she would be all panicky if her stash got that depleted.  Yeah, it's pretty lean in there, but I was determined.  Sandy sat back and watched me audition fabric- I needed 11" WOF X 8.  Four lights and four darks.  Sounded pretty simple.  That, my friends, was a real challenge.  But I think the quilt came out right nice.  You might notice that the 4 corner squares are a tad different(gray instead of green)- and I had to do some creative piecing a couple times to make things work.  But it's all good and I like it all the more because I just used what I had.  I "made do."


I like!  Wish I had enough fabric for 4 borders... 56x63"



 A couple more "make do's"

Hand dyes in the collection 20x24"

Sampler- perfect for little bits of fabric 19x23"

I quilted a few things the other day.  I was on a roll. Got three floaters done and one small.  A floater is what I call a small piece that doesn't need to be pinned onto the bottom leader.  Quick and easy.  I'm teaching that class on Quilts Without Corners, Saturday.  I stopped in at the shop, today, and they had enough interested in the class that we lined up another one in April- already full.  Who knew?      


tree skirt- still needs its ruffle and binding



rerun- 'cause it makes me smile





36" of makin' do



floater quilted

My Mundane Monday...

Great day, today.  I got to stay home and sew.  Not that I'm complaining- much- but I haven't actually been home all day for a couple weeks, I'd guess.  And I do so like being home.  So, I sewed.  Had a grand time.  Got some quilting done- not too much or I'd stove up my old arther shoulder- but enough to feel like I accomplished something that needed to be done.  Then it's play time for Nines!

Started a little mini-sampler.  This block is 4" finished.  And I am loving the colors.  The other blocks are earthy reds, greens, rust and even a little teal.  What fun.  I've a beautiful rust colored fabric that's been in my stash for almost a year and I plan on using that for the border- I don't know why I'm telling you all this- I'll show you in a couple days, I hope.

And lookee there!  Some one made little ole me some lunch.  How tremendous is that?
  Can't even remember the last time that happened and I enjoyed every bite of the PB&J and chips- even got a little dip!  John was so sweet to do that for me.  I actually made an occasion of it and stayed seated for the duration of the meal- another rarity.  I'm usually on my feet and just swing by the plate and grab a bite periodically.  But it just seemed so luxurious to have food prepared for me, I wanted to savor the moment.

Now my other son...  When I finally did leave the quilting room, I found that some kind of trash slinging elf had vandalized my kitchen!  It looks like something out of a Grimm's fairy tale- you know, the ones that rarely have a happy ending. Honestly, it was clean when I left it.  Jacob(18y- and old enough to know better) was rushed for time, it would seem.  He overslept and then remembered that he'd promised to make some of his famous coffee-biscuits for a co-worker.  He showered and dressed while they were baking and didn't have time to clean up the mess.  I don't wonder... it would have involved washing two sinks full of dishes, putting up the ingredients, wiping down the counter and sweeping the floor.  And then he took all the biscuits with him!  Talk about insult to injury.  I hear they were very good.  I should hope so.  I know I should be outraged by the whole mess, but I was honestly more...amazed... than anything.  I think John was traumatized as the counters and the floor are his chore.  I thought about waiting for Jacob to come home from work to clean it up... as laid back as I am, that mess just couldn't wait.  I did stack the dishes for him to wash, but the rest was put to rights.  See?  I'd like to ground him from cooking his biscuits... but they are soooo good.  I just can't win here.

Signing off.  Have a great week!         

The other side of the tracks...

I was told that if I visit French Lick, I wasn't to miss seeing the French Lick Springs and the West Baden Springs resorts.  So, on our way out of town... 

Come on, as quilters, don't tell me you don't look at floors like this and say to yourself, 'Hmmm... wonder what that would look like in a quilt?  And I like that color combination- I'll have top try it in a quilt."  It's all about the quilts.  Even though these mosaic floor tiles are circles, I think this would work with hexagons.  How unusual would that be?  No, I'm not going to try it, but I have seen some insanely time-consuming hexagon quilts being sewn up and finished out there- you know who you are.
   

This following picture is actually squares.  That I might try.

I would love to try this one as a border.  Sorry it's on it's side- the photo program is giving me fits.  It's all Lisa's fault 'cause she could have set me up when last she visited but no...

The next couple pictures are of of the West Baden Dome in the West Baden Springs Resort.  It is truly impressive.  The kinda impressive that makes you go, "whoa" when you walk through the door.  Fun to watch the looks on everyone else's faces when they come.  Its a universal reaction.  Each of the french doors/windows open out to the atrium. The atrium space is surprisingly quiet.
  



the "small" lobby

 The lobby at French Lick Springs follows.  Enough gold for ya?  Lots of naked Greek mythology- I'll spare you.

 And then the funny occur ed to me.  I felt like an impostor, like I should slink around behind the pillars. I smelled of smoke from the fireplace.  But take a gander at the differences.  No wonder it was a culture a shock. 




Theirs holds 14' logs

 



"my" fireplace holds 2' logs

 


their front veranda



"my" front porch

 And ya know what?  I felt so at home in the cabin- like my true self.  But I could see where a couple days of make-believe would be fun!  Get out the costume box.  Hope you enjoyed the mini-tour.  Take care.

old homestead on the property circa 1900

 Ummm...

The cabin was a little more primitive than we had anticipated...Just kidding!!



1840 log cabin

 This is the cabin and it was absolutely perfect in every way.  Will was...amazed into speechlessness!  I kept it a secret until we pulled up in front.  He says he'll never be able to fully trust me and I've assured him that I can't see me ever doing this kind of surprise, again.  Fun, but exhausting.  Plus, this quickly became our favorite place on earth so I figure we'll be back and with his full knowledge.  The entire place seemed custom made just for us.  Full of our favorite things.

complete relaxation

 Does it get any better than this?  Fire blazing, feet up, reading the good book.  Ahhhh... how wonderful it felt to be warm!  Funny how I have to go to a primitive log cabin to get warm.  The willow branch rockers were intensely comfortable and we spent hours relaxing in them. The cabin was built in the 1840's but a small addition on the backside contained all the modern amenities. Very nice kitchen and bathroom.  Central AC and heating. The bedroom was in a loft above the living room.  Down pillows and mattress pad.   

ye olde gate



It's very secluded on 40 acres of woods and up against a national forest.  At night, when you turn all the lights in the cabin off, walk a 360 around it- no lights to be seen, anywhere.  Do you know how rare that is?  The stars were brilliant.  My favorite element was the lock on the front gate!  The drive meandered back into the woods about 1/4th a mile.  We locked the gate when we went in and never unlocked it or left the property.  No interruptions or intrusions.  No possibility of interruptions or intrusions. No phone, no TV.  They had a nice CD player and we did listen to some music, occasionally. 



into the wild

There were Turkish robes by the back door for trips out to the hot tub.  Lost count of how many times we took a dip out there.  Sitting in perfect 102* water while the snow is flying...sublime.  At nights, the skies would clear and make me wish I knew more of the constellations.  They had a guest book on the coffee table and I got a good laugh out of several of the entries. The one about the extended tick inspection brought a chuckle.  But my favorite entry was by a self-proclaimed "cry-baby."  Her favorite author was Stephen King.  You see where this is going, don't you?  Her husband kept teasing her by saying, 'What was that?"  "Did you hear that?"  It would seem the cabin was too quiet, too isolated and too dark at night for her.  And she boldly said that no way was she going outside the cabin at night, "You guys are CRAZY!"  Funny how some folks feel safer around people and some folks feel safer away from people.  There's a story behind that, I'm sure.     



ye olde hot tub

   We had the best time of our lives- absolutely giddy.  I'm so glad we discovered this little log cabin in the woods- and so glad there are people willing to share it.
  www.alittlelogcabin.com/patoka-lake-cabin-rental/index.htm



25 years of being married to the world's greatest guy.  life is good



Hey guys!

Just grabbing a couple minutes before Will gets home from dropping one of the boys off at work... I've been planning a romantic weekend away for the past few weeks.  And actually been keeping it a secret.  I know my family and friends are amazed at my newfound self-control.  I blab everything to Will.  Everything.  Can I just say that I won't be doing this again.  Of course, I have yet to see the expression on his face when I reveal my big secret.  I have the car and the cooler packed and told him when we would need to go and "pick up" our surprise.  I've rented an isolated cabin in French Lick, IN.    http://www.alittlelogcabin.com/patoka-lake-cabin-rental/index.htm  Ask me if I'm excited.  So excited that I've been miserable.  I've told the kids and they've had an easier time keeping it a secret than I have!  Will will be especially surprised as I've hardly spoken to him over the past week for fear that I'll spill the beans.  Poor baby.  I got his clothes packed without it coming out.  I've been following him around canceling his plans behind his back when he makes them.  Exhausting! Everyone's been very understanding and I think they enjoy being in on the surprise, too.  He has nearly stumbled over my secret a dozen times.  I'm traumatized, you guys!  More than ready for a little vacation! 

Made that table runner this week- still need to add the side borders.  "Tulip Bells"  And look at the malt ball!  Dark chocolate and huge!!  Quadruple coated and oh so yummy.  Gotta get!  Catch you up on the details of our "runaway" when I get back!