New cuties............

I'm having fun making some new little goodies for my Etsy shop. I'm creating things that are small and cheap less expensive so people can afford them for gifts. 

Here's a set of two shabby chic (paper I've been hoarding for about 5 years!) tea themed notepad holders. The pads are pretty pink with lines... two holders and 5 pads total. Love these! And I have a bunch more made.... just have to photograph them and add to my shop. Find them HERE in my shop.

Here are two more post-it-note holders that I'll be putting in my shop soon. They hold 3x5" post it notes in many different colors. Love them........

Thanks to Roxy at her roxyfur YouTube channel for the inspiration for these darling post-it-note holders!

Great little "matchbook" album for TWELVE 4x4 photos.. with pockets in the back that hold little sweet tags for writing on. The papers look like old vintage wallpapers! Find it HERE in my shop.

I'll definitely be making more of these! They are SO FUN TO MAKE and I can use my older hoarded vintage papers.

Love this bright and shiny 6x6 photo album.... lots of gold and brown and it just sparkles on every page! I think it will hold 15 photos 5-1/2" x 5-1/2" in size or less. I made this little album using envelopes of all things! Love it... and there are 4 pockets that each hold a pretty photo mat for two more photos. Find it HERE in my shop.

Just wanted to stop by and say "hi" and thank you everyone for the wonderful and heartfelt comments concerning the quilt I made for my son!  

Hugs to all............

~Marilyn~

The Quilt - finished!

I really DID get my quilt finished - the one for my son's 40th birthday. It's amazing that I actually completed a project! I'm just a little late getting the pictures posted. My son's birthday was Sept. 13th.... we finally made it up to Astoria where he lives, on October 12th - better late than never right? Due to my husband's illness and me not feeling well with my bouts of vertigo, we delayed our trip, but finally did make the 5 hour drive. It was a BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT weekend for the drive.

Mt. Hood from the car.

Heading down from Mt. Hood to Hood River. Great places to camp here!

Mt. Hood on the way home...... this is part of the glacier that tends to flood in the winter and cause huge landslides over the road. This entire gravel area is usually full of rushing white waters.   We need some snow on the mountain!

The colors of trees over the mountain were stunning... but I never did stop to take any photos! What was I thinking???

We had a great time visiting with my son and his fiance (Miss T.), and her son. They are "officially" engaged and hoping for a wedding next summer! I'm so excited! It will be my son's first marriage and he has found a wonderful, loving lady.

We celebrated his birthday with pumpkin cheese cake. Yummy! Opening of his gift (finally)........

He got teary-eyed when I told him all the strips were from 43 years worth of my sewing. I also made him a little photo book with pictures of various things I'd made, clothing for him, his dad, me, house decor, etc. Each picture had a piece of the actual fabric by it. He loved it!

We went outside for the best pictures.

Can you see that striped binding? Took me about 10 hours to hand sew it on.

Close-up of the binding. I love the "racing stripe" look. He was a motorcycle racer in his younger years, and I thought the black and white stripes would remind him of the race flags.

My sister did a BEAUTIFUL job of the quilting on her long arm machine.

Look at that beautiful border my sister quilted!

Reverse side of quilt. I used fabric I've had for at least 10 years, meant for a king quilt that I've never made! Glad I finally found a use for it.

Here is the quilt on our bed - before the trip to Astoria. It shows the block quilting really well. I chose the designs of the quilting from looking at Pinterest for ideas.

My son has already told me they are going to use this for their main quilt, on a new King bed they will be getting soon. It is supposed to a "queen" sized, but it fit really well on our own king bed also.

PUMPKIN CARVING:

While at my son's house, we did some pumpkin carving. I haven't carved a pumpkin for at least 20 years! Needless......... it was very fun and I enjoyed it. Only the girls and her son carved.. the two guys watched..... party poopers!

I used a pattern, which I've never done before, and carved a castle. I've never done fancy carving..... it's quite an art now, with people painting them, inscribing them just below the surface, etc. I always just did the triangle eyes, nose, and mouth with teeth. It was fun to try something different.

Notice the nail in the head on the left-hand side pumpkin? Of course, that was her son trying to make his pumpkin look gorey... he also added some blood oozing out! What a kick.

NEW KITTY:

There's a new kitty in my son's family. He brought to the mix a big orange tom that he already had...... and now they've added a sweet little gray kitten. Her name is Willow and she's a doll. My son's fiance and her son are both allergic to cats..... but somehow they are managing to enjoy this sweet little kitten (taking their allergy meds every day!). Miss T. said she's never felt such love for a little kitten before as she never could even get close to them. I'm happy that she can enjoy this very special bond with Willow.

While in Astoria, we also made a trip to Miss T.'s store in town, called Terra Stones. She moved her store from across the street in a big old, ancient building... to this smaller, newer building. What a difference she said the move has made. She has much more business as she's now on a corner, and her store is on the "sunny" side of the street. It's very modern and classy looking.

Very popular bear - many photos taken here as all of the customers love it!

My son built many of the glass cases (stands) for the store. This carved wood was around a skylight in his bedroom at his dad's house growing up (the beautiful house that was just sold recently). I was so surprised and glad that he salvaged those hand carved pieces (by his dad) for the store.

So many gorgeous and unique items in the store.

Gourds carved by a local craftsman.

My vertigo is somewhat better as I've been having some "Epley Maneuvers" by a local physical therapist. It's a maneuver where they have you turn your head, and then they lay you down really fast - you lay there for 30 seconds, and then they sit you up really fast. There are several different ways they perform this maneuver. He says I still have a little residual "floating" of particles in my ear, which are still causing me some lightheadedness, but not the horrible dizziness and nausea I was having. I'm so thankful. I can live with this and hopefully it will go away on it own.

Now that the big project is done (the quilt), I'm ready to head back to my paper crafting!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. It is still GORGEOUS here with temps in the 70's, and blue sky and golden days. I'm not ready for snow or winter yet.

~Marilyn~

Orange......... (and a little green)..........

It's been awhile since I posted............ life has been just busy....... and I've been a little sick....... and my hubby has been real sick........... and the time just continues to speed by! 

My old friend "vertigo" from about 10 years ago, has come back to haunt me!  I think going to a new chiropractor (for my lower back and neck), who uses some sort of "thing" that vibrates against my bones in my neck and back caused the vertigo to rear its ugly head. I never thought of that when she was hammering my neck bones with this "thing" she uses... she said it really helps. Yah right. Mine is the type of vertigo caused when little crystals break loose in your ear and float around and cause you to be dizzy and nauseaus... not fun at all.  It has really curtailed my activities.  I have had two Epley Maneuvers (done by a physical therapist for this type of vertigo) and they have helped me alot.

In the meantime, while vertigo has been happening (and hubby got sick - see below)........... there is ORANGE, and GOLD and yellow, and lush greens (and a little pink left) everywhere in my yard it seems!

Nasturtiums came back to life after the horrible heat wave we had!

Tomato flowers by our bedroom window.

 We have picked alot of cherry tomatoes and regular sized tomatoes from our two plants.

I think this is a Sumac but not sure. We transplanted it from a friend's place up in SW Washington 3 years ago and it just blazes in the Fall! Love it!

My new rose bush has had beautiful peach flowers all summer long... even after the little buck ate some of it a few weeks. ago.

My marigolds came back after our heat wave and are falling all over themselves.

Hubby became very ill about 8 weeks ago when he got mold in his lungs while (attempting to) work on an old 5th wheel RV that was practically given to us. ............ (now I know why as it needs TONS of work).......... as he tore down moldy, yucky rotted wood and insulation, all WITHOUT wearing any sort of mask! He didn't really do that did he? (I asked myself)......... yes he did........... so he got horribly sick and ended up in ER because he was having trouble breathing. 

After several doctor visits and tests for his heart (of all things), being given asthma inhalers, and meds for water retention, and then more blood tests, etc., with nothing helping, we finally convinced the doctor to give him an antibiotic, because he had contacted this very same thing about 5 years ago after going for an ATV ride in dry dirt and moldy dust. It's called "Valley Fever" that people get sick from the mold in the dust in very dry climates, so it made sense to us that the mold from the trailer was doing the very same thing! Within THREE days of starting the antibiotic, he was feeling way way better. We are so thankful! At my insistence, he will no longer STEP FOOT INSIDE that 5th wheel RV without a good respirator on!

THE 5TH WHEEL:

The 5th wheel is another story......... we sold our little truck camper.  Hubby wants this bigger 5th wheel that we can still pull with our smaller truck. It's very "cozy".... the body is only about 13 feet and the part in the gooseneck has room for a queen bed... the layout is nice and there is actually a full bathroom! That's what convinced me. 

These pictures were taken by me before it's even been touched or cleaned inside or out. It's quite a mess still.  These are TRUE before pictures!

Dusty and dirty........... sorry.

I think it's about a 1978 model.

I like the full shower. The Bathroom is actually in pretty good condition.

But.............. it had mold and rot and needs the entire ceiling replaced and part of the floor. And again........ neither of us are very handy! Hubby did do some work in the little camper so it was looking pretty nice.. and almost ready to use. So now we/he start(s) over.

YUCKY!

Some pretty green in our garden too:

My Coleus plant went CRAZY, until one of the neighborhood cats used it for a bed and shade.. now it's all smashed down.  I sure enjoyed it while it was upright!

Tons of green tomatoes on our larger bush now... will bring them all in pretty soon before a big frost hits.

Our front  yard looked pretty nice this summer, even with us both not feeling so well..... we managed to plant two trees (which I showed in a previous post) and the Quaking Aspen I swear has grown 8 feet this summer!

See the tall tree on the left side of this photo? When we planted it last April, it was about the size of that other little tree over to the right. 

MY SON'S BIRTHDAY QUILT:

I've also been spending every spare moment trying to get the strip quilt done for my son's 40th birthday. His birthday has past..... I didn't quite make it... so we pushed back our trip to Astoria to give it to him. I just finished the quilt 2 days ago as we "were" going to go this weekend, but my vertigo is still making it so it's hard for me to travel. We have plans to go next week and I hope it all works out. I'll post pictures on my next post... I just haven't had time to get it hung outside in the nice light for it's official photo shoot.

So that's an update for now. It's been a long hot summer.... of not feeling too good...... of a sick hubby.. of lots of company.... and getting my quilt done, which I"m very proud of. I usually don't finish many of my projects, and this one is a rarity!

Until next time... be well my friends.

~Marilyn~