Interlude............

I think my "sewing roll" is done! Sorry to say.... maybe I'll get back to it one day (soon I hope).

In the meantime, I've been busy with company and play. My son and his fiance came for a visit from Astoria, OR to our house the last weekend of April. What a joy to be able to give my big "boy" (age 39) a big hug!

Can never get too many hugs!

Their favorite place to go is the Richardson Rock Ranch here north of Madras. My son's fiance, Terra, has a rock, gem and jewelry store in Astoria, OR called Terra Stones. So of course, they both LOVE to go rock hounding!  And Richardson Ranch is THE place to go for Thunder Eggs. They also have exotic rocks from all over the world. It was a fun day of enjoying rocks (who would have thunk?) and a nice picnic.

The countryside and "ranch" are beautiful, and it being Spring still, everything is still green.

This is one HUGE Oregon agate!

Piles and PILES of rocks everywhere...... they are sold by the lb. and most of the piles have the types of rocks/gems (in the rough) these are, and what part of the world they come from.

We didn't do the actual "rockhounding" where you drive out away from the main store (about 8 miles into the countryside) and actually DIG for Thunder Eggs. My son and Terra have done that before and they love it. Me... not so much. I'd rather look here and go into the store to see the finished products, which have been cut and polished.

This ranch has been around for many many years, originally as a cattle ranch, and then after the Thunder Egg beds were discovered, the owners and family, have turned it into a rock hounders' paradise. Over 60% of the Thunder Eggs sold around the world, originate from this ranch!

Watch this 5 minute video if you're interested in finding out more and seeing people digging for the "eggs".  Grant's Getaways Visits Richardson Ranch.

Some of my favorites:

Chrysocolla from Morocco.

Mookaite from Australia.

Lavender quartz from Madagascar.

Of course, I LOVE the rose quartz, which is pink! I bought a tiny rose quartz "apple" to match a larger apple I bought last year (but now can't remember the name of the gem).. for my pink and green bedroom.

Raw piece of the Rose Quartz that my son gave me for my last birthday.

 

Here, a big cylinder piece has been cut out of this rock. The inside of it is GORGEOUS but now can't remember the name of it. It would make a beautiful fountain! There were smaller rocks all around that had the cylinder cut out. I'm not sure what they're used for but sure was unique.

There are two HUGE rooms inside the store with rocks and gems that have been cut and polished... many many agates, small animals and figures carved from the different stones, jewelry, polished Thunder Eggs, crystals, and much much more!

LOVED this peach colored stone (below), but now can't remember its name. I can imagine how beautiful it would be all polished. All around the piles of rocks, there are water bottles, so you can spray the rocks to give you an idea of how they would look after being polished. 

I saw this last year before we had painted our house, and thought to myself..... hum.m.m.. I want my house this color!

 Well......we came close in color!

Another favorite:

WOW was this stunning!

One other small excursion:

As my son and Terra left to go home, we followed them up to The Dalles, OR which is about 90 miles north of us. They were stopping to see my son's dad (my ex). Hubby and I were invited to dinner there (yes, we are all sort of friends!).....  their backyard was absolutely envious....... huge 20 foot tall lilac bushes and a stunning pink flowering tree in the front (dogwood?). I was in Heaven.

On the way home, the moon was just coming up from behind the sagebrush covered hills and it was enormous and yellow/orange, but I couldn't get hubby to pull over in time to get a picture of it in that state. We finally pulled over but by then, it was too far up in the sky and just "normal" looking. Oh I wish I could have taken a picture of it when it was in all its glory!

Have a nice weekend everyone. It's been warmer here so I've been planting a few things and trying to spruce up our yard. I'll show you in another post. Still SO MUCH to do!

~Marilyn~

On a roll #5!

HAPPY MAY DAY everyone! 

I thought I'd better post my last "on a roll" project! Plus, I actually sewed one more wonderful, pretty project (pillow cases) a few days ago, but FORGOT to photograph them... and I gave them away as a gift. Darn it! I can' believe I forgot to take pictures!

Here are two other UFO's that I actually finished........ first is a "strata star" table centerpiece mat.

I took a class with my sister a few years ago to make this. I don't know why I picked these colors! It doesn't match anything I own..... but..... I had all these fabrics in my stash so I know I just pulled out some to use for the class, figuring I could always make a better one if I liked it. Well I DO like it,,,,, but it was alot of work, so another one will probably be non-existent.

I had fun "colorizing" this photo.

Look at these glasses! I LOVE them.... they belonged to my grandmother... and the crystal pitcher belonged to my aunt.

This looks complicated to make, but it actually wasn't that hard, just time consuming.

The next finished project was this table runner I started at least 7 years ago! It was almost all done except for putting the backing and binding on and quilting it. I love the colors in this one, but decided to finish it and give it to my "baby" sister (age 61) for her recent birthday. It matches her log cabin so well.

The quilting was done in straight rows, plus I did some "stipling" in the little rectangle areas.

 Here's a picture of my sister's "log cabin". 

I did the binding the same as on the recent jelly roll placemats I made. Those corners were a little tricky! But all done with machine zig zag stitch. 

Dressed up all pretty with my mom's hobnail vase. I remember this sitting on her dining table from when I was a little girl. The sweet creamer and teapot, my mom brought me from England when she visited there years ago.

I'm trying to keep this post short, so will end it for here. 14 photos..... that's not so bad! 

March and April have been super busy for me. I've had two three sets of company, plus I made a birthday dinner for my baby sister in mid-April... so lots of house cleaning, rearranging, cleaning up the clutter.... and cooking! I don't love to cook so much anymore, as I worked full time for over 40 years, raised two kids and did tons of cooking for family over the years.... so now..... I'm pretty much done with cooking, except on a special occasion here and there. 

I DO love to bake though.... desserts! But......... am trying during the month of May, to quit eating sugar and desserts entirely. I've gotten into the habit of eating too much sugar and carby things... so trying to lose a few lbs. by my birthday in late June! I'm not setting a "goal" or number, just would like to lose anything! We'll see how well I do.

That's it for now dear friends. I still have NO PICTURES to post of our yard or flowers. It has been a very cold and cloudy and unpredictable Spring so far.

~Marilyn~

Slowing down....... but still on a roll.......

Just stopping in for a quick wordy as usual post! It has been a very busy week, but I've managed to make a few of my "fabric boxes" that I saw on YouTube. They are so fun and so neat!

I'll jump right in and show you the first one I made.

Isn't it cute? The funnest thing is that these are all made with quilted or fabric (heavy) placemats! Yes... placemats! So easy, so quick. I'm addicted, but can't find any more of the kind of placemats I want to use at the thrift stores around here. I've scoured every one. This is a great quick, easy and thrifty project. 

No putting on binding, no quilting, no sewing on the ruffle!  I bought this sweet little placemat (above) at Wal-Mart. It's a Pioneer Woman placemat. It came all lined and with the cute ruffle at each end.

The polka dot "lining" is inside... I did make a little tuck in each corner so that it would be a little sturdier. This mat was fairly light weight but did have some sort of stabilizer inside, so it stands up fairly well.

The video I watched is by Lorrie Nunemaker and can be found here.  She used the cutest Pioneer Woman placemat with pom poms on it. They are SO SO EASY. I mean, it takes about 5 minutes to make one, if you don't get all fussy like I do. I always have to tweak it somehow or add something, like this one:

I added some lace to the top and gathered the edge, as the fabric was not very stable. It was very floppy. And, this was not a placemat, but was a square table mat, about 22" square, and really was too big and too floppy. I was trying to tweak it enough to stand up on its own, but needed to add some pelon or stabilizer inside.  I sure love the fabric though!

It stood up OK after I filled it with some towels. Now if I had a nice big bathroom with alot of counter space, this would really look cute. But I don't... no counter space whatsoever, so not sure what I'm going to use this for. I was experimenting and added some cardboard inside so it would stand up better. If I were to keep it, I would probably make some sort of liner for it, covering it with a pretty fabric to match.

Cardboard added inside... not really a "finished" look at all..... just experimenting.

These next two were two placemats I got for 25 cents each at the thrift store. I wasn't sure they'd work, as again, they were very floppy and not lined.. but thought I'd give it a try. I couldn't stop making them! 

You can change how tall they are by turning the edge down further.

Perfect for cans of tea or little towels.

The fringed edge was at each end, so that when you sew it up the sides, the fringe becomes the trim on the folded over edge. Pretty nifty!  You do have to kind of shape them so they'll sit straight and not kind of fall in on themselves.... but..... I think next time I may put some sort of a stabilizer on the back, even though it'll take a few more minutes.

And of course, I COULD make my own placemat and then make the "box".. but that kind of loses the point of this being a quick and easy project.  It's so great for little gifts.

I have one more to make.. I found this at another thrift store in the next town over.. you'd think they'd have tons of placemats! but they didn't. It's very floppy so will definitely add some stabilizer to it with another pretty fabric on the back.. although I DO love the stripes on the back.. as they will be the turned down part.

Look at this cute towel a friend gave me. Has nothing to do with fabric boxes, but I used it inside one of them, and it reminded me how much I love it.. with that darling crocheted edge.  Hubby loves biscuits and gravy!

I'm still trying to finish up my second set of placemats! I'm so bad at finishing things if I lose interest or move on to something else... and right now... it's looking for more placemats to use! But then... what will I do with all these fabric "boxes"??? I have absolutely no counter space or dresser tops or table stops left in my house. I'll figure out something............

Have a Blessed Day..........

~Marilyn~