What a time we are having!!!!!!

Well, here it is Saturday and we will be heading home on Sunday.  It has been a wonderful week and I am sad that it has gone by so fast.

We arrived in Washington DC on Sunday night.  We had a late dinner with Nick and spent the night at his apartment.  Got up Monday morning, ran some errands and then headed to Maryland to check out the house.  We unloaded our car and then went back to DC for an evening dinner with Nick.  We picked up some things from his apartment and headed back to the house.  It was raining the whole way there and we got lost once, but finally got back on track and made it OK.

Alex and the boys, along with Alex's parents arrived Tuesday afternoon.  Let the fun begin.  We played and played...so much fun.  Carlos is 2 yrs old and what a fun little guy.  Andres informed me he is 5  1/2  and so grown up from last summer.  We made a pinecone turkey for the Thanksgiving table and then he made a couple of robots.

Around 8pm Jeff, Alex, and Alex's Dad left to pick up Ellena at Baltimore airport.  Nick took the metro out of DC and met up with them.  They all finally got back to the house around 11pm.  Of course, we stayed up until 2am talking.

Well, that is all for now.  Internet time is over and headed back to the house.  Will post more later.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend and staying warm.


Blessings.....patijane

Heading to Maryland

We are headed to Port Republic, Maryland for Thanksgiving with two of our children.  We left this morning at 8am and drove to Lebanon, TN where we are staying the night.

Up bright and early Sunday to hit the road again. My Mom and a good friend of ours, Laura, is riding with us.  We are meeting Laura's daughter at Bristol to drop her off and then on to Wytheville to meet my brother to drop off my Mom.  We will pick them up on Sunday, Nov 29 to head back home.

No pictures yet, but please check back in a couple of days.  I hope to have some to post.

Happy Thanksgiving to all....enjoy your holiday with family and friends.  There is a lot to be thankful for.

Blessings.....patijane

Almost Turkey Time!!

Well, it is almost here. I can't believe that is already the middle of November. Seems like we just had Halloween and trick or treaters. It was rainy and cool today. Nice day to stay inside.

The past week flew by. Jeff had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder on Wednesday and is recuperating nicely at home. He has to wear a sling with the pillow at his side for a month, so he is adapting to using his left hand. Doing quite nicely, I might add. Goes back to the doctor on Thursday to remove stitches and talk about physical therapy.

We are leaving for Washington DC on Saturday to spend Thanksgiving with Nick. Ellena, Alex and the boys are flying in from Puerto Rico to spend Thanksgiving with us. Alex's parents, who live in California, will also be celebrating with us. It is going to be a great time. Can't wait to see them all.

I participated in a retreat this weekend with my ebay group, AAPG. You find all your UFOs and see what you can get finished. I can actually say I got quite a bit done. Here are the ones I found to work on.Then here are the ones I finished.Then I found this Santa to finish, but forgot to buy stuffing when I went to the store today. Maybe I can get him done this week.I did also get the binding on the maple leaf table top quilt that is in the first picture but forgot to take a picture of it finished. Will post a picture next time.

I also received some wonderful RAK gifts this week from my AAPG friends. Jo sent a cute Halloween card with some awesome spun silk thread. It is sooooo soft.
Pam also surprised me with a box of goodies. I can say, I haven't eaten all the chocolates yet, but give me another day or two.
AAPG is such a great group of women to be a part of and they are always full of surprises. Thanks Jo and Pam for your random acts of kindess to me.

Well it's late, so guess I better close. Busy, busy week ahead.

Wishing everyone a great week ahead. Smile and think positive.

Blessings.....patijane

Fall leaves everywhere!

Well, it's about time to rake the leaves again! Jeff worked last Saturday (10-31) raking leaves from the yard, driveway and street and a week later it looks like this again. So we spent the biggest part of the day doing yard work. But the weather was beautiful. Temperature in the 70's and 10-15 mph wind and lots of sunshine.
Ashlee came by to walk on the treadmill and then fixed lunch for us. She is such a sweetie!!! I came in around 4pm. After a refreshing shower, I decided to get some Thanksgiving decorations out and set around the house.I set the pilgrims on the dining room table with the pumpkins and turkey. The ceramic man pilgrim will be moved to the kitchen area and will hold a small plant in his pot in the back.

When my children were small, I always tried to keep the things they made at school. These pilgrims and turkey were made by Ashlee when she was 7, so that makes them 17 years old. I guess next year when they turn 18 they can leave home.LOL. I just love them. The pilgrim man has that surprised look on his face and the pilgrim lady just sits there with a big grin. It looks like the turkey is trying to escape. They are sitting in a wooden bowl with vegetables made of wool felt. They are very special to me. Hope you all have some special memories like this. Our children grow up way too fast too soon.I made this pumpkin from sandcastle fabric and hand-dyed wools. It sits on the wooden bench by the front door. A reminder to always "be thankful". The pilgrim couple box holds little cloth pumpkins. It was made to hold candy, but I like the pumpkins in it.Oh, I also did an online scavenger hunt with my ebay group before I went outside to do yard work. You know, first things first :-). It was lots of fun and neat to see what the ladies participating found. Tomorrow we get new clues and get to look for some more stuff. I can't wait.

Wishing everyone a great rest of the weekend and spend some time outside if you can with your family and friends.

Blessings....patijane

October Happenings!

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted. It has been a very busy time around here. Finally finished the October 15 tax filings. Glad that is over. Now on to home stuff.
Some pine trees in our front yard died and needed to be cut down before the wind blew them down. Sunday morning, October 18, was the designated day. Jeff got all his tool together and proceeded up the tree to start taking it down a little at a time.
Lots of help from the neighbors. May not be able to see it, but there is a rope tied to a branch and attached to the back of the pickup in the picture. The person in the pickup is keeping the rope tight as Jeff saws so that when the tree starts to fall......
it will go down in the yard. It made a loud boom when it hit the ground.
We headed to San Antonio this past weekend for the grand opening of a business venture that Jeff (husband) and Ashlee(daughter) are involved with. It was a nice time with family and the weather was perfect. For San Antonio, the weather was a perfect...70's during the day and 60's in the evening. Got home late Sunday night.

Monday came and started some long overdue house cleaning. Cleaned and cleaned and finally finished in the evening. Good now for another couple of weeks.

I worked at the office Tuesday and Wednesday and plan on taking Thursday and Friday off to play....sewing, rughooking, or maybe carving my pumpkin for Saturday trick-or-treaters.

I did participate in AAPG weekend retreat Oct 16-17. The theme was stockings and I decided to rughook a stocking. I did finish hooking it; just need to put the lining and backing on.
I started reorganizing my sewing room and came across this wool pillow kit. I finished it in an evening...getting a head start on Christmas presents.So that is my week thus far. It is starting to rain this evening and may continue thru Thursday. Weather like this is nice for staying at home.

Have a great rest of the week and happy trick-or-treating on Saturday. Daylight savings time ends Saturday night. Don't forget to turn your clock back.

Blessings.....patijane

Rainy Sunday!!!

Well, fall is definitely arriving here in Oklahoma. The leaves are falling from the trees and ready to be raked into piles for jumping in. I was driving around town yesterday and some of the leaves on the trees have started changing to red and oranges. Beautiful!! Today is cloudy, cool, and rainy. Really a great day for staying inside and rughooking, sewing, or reading a good book. I am opting to sew. I have a couple of wool projects I would like to do so I figure today is a good day.

Jeff and I spent Saturday morning at the Czech Festival in Yukon, OK. It was sunny, but cool. Perfect weather for walking around the craft booths, enjoying kolaches and sausage rolls and watching the parade. However, I did not get any pictures because I forgot my camera. I didn't realize it until we got there. I was not a happy camper. I took some pictures with my phone, but I can't figure out how to get them to my computer. So no pics of our Saturday outing.

Saturday afternoon I went to the market and got some pumpkins to finish my fall decorating. I just love the fall. It is my most favorite time of the year.
I even put out some of my Halloween decorations. It is already October and I want to enjoy them all month.
I did finish a wool project I had been working on for Country Collections shop. It turned out really good and I may have to do one for myself. I love all the different wool colors of the pennies.

I opened the windows to listen to the rain. It is very soothing and relaxing. Guess I better get busy to my sewing or I might just sit and stare out the window all day.

I wish everyone a good Sunday and a wonderful week ahead. Try to get outdoors and enjoy this beautiful autumn weather with family and friends. Until next time....

Blessings....patijane

Three Days of Fun!!!!!

I'm back home from three days with the girls. I had an awesome time and lots of fun.

We started out on Friday morning and headed to Gore, OK for the Fin & Feather Resort 26th annual craft show. We stopped in town and ate at Garden Gate Tea Room. Homemade chicken salad and tomato basil soup was the special and it was delicious. After lunch we headed to the craft show. We spent the afternoon walking around looking at lots of crafts. The weather was beautiful...sunshine, cool breeze and 75 degree temperature.
Found some things I just had to have, mostly Halloween decorations.
Enjoyed a cold glass of lemonade and then headed down the road to our final destination for the weekend...Western Hills Guest Ranch for "Quilters PowWow". Arrived in time for dinner. Unloaded our car and then went to the evening program. Cynthia Regone from Houston TX was the speaker and she had some beautiful quilts.

I didn't have a class until Saturday afternoon, so I spent the morning stitching on a project I had brought with me. My Saturday afternoon class was called "Jake's Quilt". An easy "I spy" quilt. And yes, it is very easy. I have done an "I spy" with the hexagons template and it was NOT an easy quilt. This one is super easy and really fun to do. Here is a picture of the teacher's quilt.I got one row completed and the rest of the pieces cut out. I will work on it this winter when the weather is cold. My friend, Shirley and I went for an afternoon walk and came upon some deer grazing. They let us get pretty close to them before they ran away.The rest of the weekend was spent sewing and enjoying time with friends. Sunday morning we took our yearly picture.This is most of the PM Quilters group in Central Oklahoma Quilters Guild. We had lunch and then all headed home.

It was a great weekend and fun was had by all!!!

Hope everyone has a great week. Enjoy the nice autumn days. The weather has been absolutely wonderful here. They are talking even cooler weather and rain later in the week, but still need some rain.

Blessings.....patijane