Here We Move Again!

Well, we did it.  We lived our 12 year old dream of living in the big city.  I have been in San Antonio for one year and two months.  Markley has been in San Antonio for six months.  And it just ain't home.  And we really have tried.  I found all the quilt shops and scrapbook stores.  He joined a tennis club and team.  We found a wonderful church...with a pastor from Sudan who talks about Amarillo and Lubbock (first hint).

Then we did the K-Love Love Dare for the 40 days leading up to Valentine's Day.  And it changed our lives!  We grew closer to one another.  And the Lord.  And then I asked Markley, "Why are we here in San Antonio?"  He didn't have an answer.  So we prayed.  And came the peace and the answer from the Lord to go home.  So we prayed some more, to be sure.  And it came back the same.  Go home.  But you know, we have this wonderful house that we love.  I said we were going to stay.  That was Monday.

And then comes in Dave Ramsey.  I listen to him every afternoon and on Tuesday he mentioned that there are houses on every corner and I remembered that in Canyon--home--there are houses there too (second hint).

                                    

So, on President's Day, I made the hardest call of my life.  I called my boss from WTAMU, and I asked her to be a reference for me so we could start looking to go home.  She said yes and asked why we were coming home.  I didn't really get into all of this, but told her about the traffic and the busy-ness of the big city and that it just wasn't home.  She understood.  Then the Lord stepped in and made room for me to come back to WT (third hint), in the position I left in 2009!!  I start back May 3rd!  On, On, Buffaloes!

Markley and I trusted in the Lord with all of our hearts and He is taking such good care of us!  Praise Him!

1 Down, 16 To Go

I finished WIP# 3 on my list!  Why #3?  Well, I'm not ready to rag quilt Markley's t-shirt quilt or the ugly color quilt yet.  I can handle the 5 1/2" blocks on the Christmas tree quilts or Julie's baby quilt, but those 12" and 16" blocks kinda scare me to be honest.  So I moved on to the watermelon Bull's Eye.  Ta-da!

I am so excited to be finished with one...especially since all it needed was the outer border.  I'm not a fan of cutting or sewing borders, but I love what borders do for a quilt.  My next WIP will be #4, the brights on black:

              

If I remember correctly, most of the blocks are completely sewn down.  Now it's time to decide if I'm going to cut them apart (like the watermelon Bull's Eye) or just arrange them as is.  I think I'm going to cut them apart but put them back together in a random pattern, something like this (source unknown):

Markley and I had a lot of fun for Valentine's Day.  In fact, we made it last two days, both Sunday and then on Monday when we were both off for President's Day.  We slept in and then went to the Tower of the America's for lunch.

                   

              

This is the third tower that we have had lunch at.  We have also enjoyed Reunion Tower in Dallas (our first), and the Space Needle in Seattle.  Comparing the experiences and the food, Reunion Tower in Dallas is, by far, the best.  It was an all-you-can-eat buffet with a chef who did made-to-order omelets.  I enjoyed that!

On Sunday, Markley and I made Sweetie Pies from the Farm Chicks website.  It was so much fun!

               

I must say that you have to try these!  It's a little messy, as anything with flour is, but they are so much fun!

Too Much Paper...No Way!

When Carla and I went to Arkansas in October, I saw the coolest scrapbook cookbook in Hobby Lobby and decided it was time to update my recipes.  I don't want anything too fancy...something that wouldn't be practical to use...but something that would be cute.  I bought my binder at the Scrapbook Cottage here in San Antonio.

Then I started buying food-related background paper, two sheets at a time.  You know how it goes, you buy a couple here, a couple there, then you go to cut down the 12X12 sheets into 8 1/2X11 to fit and you find out just how many sheets you have...

                             

Um, just a few.  Here's one of my favorite sheets, it reminds me of my Grannie:

                                      

I also bought the "From the Kitchen Of" stamp set from Stampin' Up!.

                                

The little food category stamps are going to be perfect to label and separate all of my recipes.  I plan to type my recipes in Word and print them on a half sheet of paper (so you can see some of that cute background paper!), and then take a photo of the item after Markley or I cook it.  A real-to-life cookbook.  Now, there's an idea!  I'll keep you updated!

Happy cooking!

C :)

All It Needs Is A Border!!

Last week, Markley joined a tennis club and practices on Wednesday nights. So, now Wednesday night is craft night at my house. YEA! After Wii Fit Plus-ing last night, I pulled out WIP# 3, the watermelon Bull's Eye.

I am almost finished with it, but the borders need finishing and I don't like to work with borders. Especially 2" borders. Especially two 2" borders. But it is the closest to being finished (the t-shirt and ugly color quilts are finished, I just have to rag quilt them).

So, I got it out and found a wonderful surprise! The first 2" inner border was on--Yea! And three sides of the second 2" inner border were on and the forth was pinned on. Yep, just one seam. Now all I have to do is add the 4" outer border then it's off to the quilters!  And I will be so glad b/c it takes about an hour to iron this thing having raw edges on both the front and back.  And guess what WIP# 4 is...a black one!

In other news, and this may seem silly to you, but Markley and I are having a hard time NOT finding things to do here in San Antonio.  One of the reasons we moved here was for all of the fun and none of the drive home, but we didn't think it through to the "which do we do" part.  Like, which rodeo concert do we go to?  We are going to 4!  That's right, 4.  And this weekend will be only the second weekend since Thanksgiving that both of us have been home.  Darn those Cowboys!  We love to go and do--both the San Antonio Symphony and Bill Engvall this last weekend--but we never imagined having so many choices.  We love it!

Happy Crafting!

C :)

99 Things...

An interesting list I found on twiddletails.blogspot.com:


Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font


1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland/world (both!)
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an amish community
36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen michelangelo's david in person
41. sung karaoke
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistene chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud--to my Moma's dismay
54. gone to a drive-in theatre
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies--1,000+ boxes
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason--but I wouldn't count Markley's love as no reason!
64. donated blood
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt--several!
73. stood in Times Square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job--but met Markley there, I call that a winner!
76. seen the changing of the guard in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire Bible
86. visited the white house (3-7 years from now)
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the alamo in person--shoot, I live down the road!
96. swum in the great salt lake
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

Have a happy weekend!

C :)

Check One More Off The List!

Well, this long weekend we went back home and while we were there, I finished my Christmas stocking! Sandy was asking me when I started the stockings (remember now, her stocking and Markley’s stocking have been finished for a while now—pics of them tonight). Let's see, I remember working on them when Markley was at MD Anderson in July 1998 right after we were married. And I know I bought them at the old Wal-Mart in Canyon after Christmas one year. So that puts them at least 6 months older than that, but they could be as old as January 1996 which is right after my first Christmas in Canyon.

I am so excited about getting things finished up this year! My next project will be a cute little tote for my supervisor Charlotte. Then on to the watermelon bull’s eye quilt. I have attached the top and bottom of the first inner border already; just need to finish that; add the second inner border; the outer border and send it to Country Corner Quilt Shop in Arkansas to have it quilted. I know that sounds so cheesy to only need to add the borders, but it’s the truth and it’s sad.

Happy Short Week!

C :)

A Finished Quilt, Ghosts of Crafts Past, and Unfinished Projects

First, let's start with the finished quilt. This is Mary’s Christmas quilt. She brought me the fabric in JULY (didn’t she buy beautiful fabric!!) when we sold the Canyon house. I finished the quilt Christmas Day. It’s a rag quilt, but it’s not clipped in this pic. I love this pattern—it reminds me of a cross-stitch pattern. Lots of little blocks of color going together to make a picture. My third quilt ever was this pattern and I made it all by myself, no class.

Now, on to ghosts of crafts past. Y’all know my first craft was cross-stitch. I have about 6 framed and 13 unframed FINISHED cross-stitches at home. Then there are the 3 that needed to be finished (we aren’t going to talk about the 35 that I want to do). The first one is the SHAWN cross-stitch designed by me. Shawn was my high school sweetheart and I finally decided that even though I designed it, it needed to be tossed. And it was last Friday. I call that finished.

I started the wedding couple in 1998 for my wedding…and it is now finished! I’m going to make a pillow out of it for the guest bedroom. I have my wedding flowers, candle sticks, and cake topper in the guest bedroom, so why not add this? I can always use new pillows. Also, Markley bought me the actual figurine for my birthday that year and it’s in there too.

The last cross-stitch is my Christmas stocking. I finished Markley’s and Sandy’s years ago. Mine has hung by the chimney w/o a name. Luckily, Santa knows that I haven’t finished anything. But, now, I have finished drawing the pattern and picking the DMC thread and it’s in my desk drawer to work on each day at work.


Now, the multitudes of unfinished projects. I have 17 (two aren’t pictured). My goal is to finish all 17 projects THIS YEAR, 2010. So, here’s the list (pattern or name; fabric line or store)
1. t-shirt; Hard Rock Café & Planet Hollywood t-shirts (not pictured)
2. ugly color quilt; various (not pictured)
3. Bull’s Eye; red, pink, and green to look like watermelons
4. Bull’s Eye; bright colors on black
5. Folk Art Log Cabin (Thimbleberries); various Alco
6. Cake Stand; carnival blooms
7a&7b. Watermelon Log Cabin; various Sisters’ Scraps
8. Christmas Table Attire; Holly Jolly—bright
9. Crazy 9-Patch; French Gardens
10. Crazy 9-Patch; Garden Market
11. Lucky Stars pillow shams; Wal*mart
12. A Slice of Summer; A Slice of Summer
13. sun glasses holder; Cherished Teddies
14. Crazy 9-Patch; Figgy Pudding
15. Crazy 9-Patch; pacific point, wild wasabi, sahara sand colors
16. Texas flag rag; various Sisters’ Scraps
17. Crazy 9-Patch; Debbie Mumm gardening

P.S. This doesn’t count the ones that I have fabric for but no pattern. Or a pattern and no fabric. Maybe I will look at these next time or maybe I should just think about the 17 above.


Happy New Year!


C :)

Monday Night Lights & Resolution Update

We had our first celebrity encounter last night while we were in line to get into Avatar. First, let me say that it is totally ridiculous to stand in line for over an hour to get into a movie...when you already have tickets!!! But it was made so much better because we were waiting in line with Scott Porter of Friday Night Lights (TV) fame!!! He is the nicest guy--he visited with Markley while I was driving to the theater and took this pic with us and even signed Markley's hat. Dude, it was like totally cool and thank goodness b/c the movie wasn't! Trust me, if you have seen Dances with Wolves, you have seen this movie. I know I promised pics of the house, but I haven't taken them yet, so here's my cube. I have a new addition to my mini work village this year (the little house on the left). I got it at the last Canyon garage sale we went to with my sister Carla the day we left with the U-Haul truck.

Some of you might be asking about the cube when you saw pics of an office...this is our temporary location. We moved to campus in June to the John Peace Library while they are renovating University Heights where we normally office. We hope to be back in March with all of Disbursements and the Controller. If not, it will be to another temporary location then b/c the JPL is to undergo more renovations for re-accreditation.

Here's a pic of the house with my new, expanded village. Most of the buildings are my Moma's. She had 9: 6 businesses, 1 church, and 2 houses. I added Christy's Restaurant a few years ago but asked for some new HOUSES this year b/c I decided those two families were having a hard time supported all those businesses! Markley got me 4 new houses and a craft shop. The craft shop is the one on the far right; the church is next to it; and the next four are the houses from Markley. I call the blue one the Hudspeth House.

And now, for those resolutions:

1. decorate for Christmas done!

2. finish Mary's Christmas quilt working on; will be done tomorrow!

3. write budget down and determine total of monthly expenses next week

4. get all of the San Antonio bills drafting automatically from the bank account done

5. get a daily/weekly routine down and stick to it still in progress

6. work out every weekday that I'm home done

7. make/take tea to work to drink instead of Dr Pepper check with me in January

8. fix both breakfast and lunch to take to work--no more fast food ditto the January thing

9. finish wedding cross-stitch (yes, my 1998 wedding) almost done

10. finish Christmas stocking cross-stitch haven't touched, but there is that 7 hour car-ride home...

I think I have done pretty good considering this is me we're talking about!

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

C :)

'Tis the Season for...

December Resolutions!

I know that sounds strange, but I haven't been getting much done here and it's time to put a stop to that. So, I thought I would do the resolution thing early, and with a shorter time frame. So here we go:

1. decorate for Christmas
2. finish Mary's Christmas quilt (you know, like before Christmas 2009!)
3. write budget down and determine total of monthly expenses (yep, we're on the Dave Ramsey band-wagon!)
4. get all of the San Antonio bills drafting automatically from the bank account (almost done, thanks Markley!)
5. get a daily/weekly routine down and stick to it
6. work out every weekday that I'm home (done!)
7. make/take tea to work to drink instead of Dr Pepper
8. fix both breakfast and lunch to take to work--no more fast food (really want to use that nice big kitchen)
9. finish wedding cross-stitch (yes, my 1998 wedding)
10. finish Christmas stocking cross-stitch

I have 25 day to do this. I'll let you know how it's going and get a new list together for January.

Markley and I went home this last weekend for his birthday. He's now 3 dozen. We left after work Friday evening and got in between 1and 2am Saturday morning; but we did get to sleep until 10am. That was nice! Then it was off to get the oil changed in Tekky. Markley, Sandy, and Lonnie headed to the Big Texan for his free birthday lunch and I headed to Carla's to stamp.

I decided to crank out some snowflakes on the Big Shot. If it won't snow for real (and stick) here in San Antonio, I'll make my own snowflakes. I'll post pics of those this week. Angela and Cynthia came also and it was a lot of fun! Markley and Sandy came back by after their lunch and helped with the snowflakes. It was a real blizzard upstairs.

For dinner, we went to La Fiesta on Coulter at 7pm and met with lots of friends and we had a great time and leftovers. You know, leftovers make the best breakfast.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

C :)

Things ARE bigger in Texas

Things really are bigger in Texas--like cinnamon rolls.

Markley took me to the Cowboys game for Thanksgiving. We drove home after and got home about 1am. Sandy and Lonnie drove down from back home and got there just a little before us--you know, for turkey and shopping. We all got up at 5am and were at Office Depot at 6am. We did Thanksgiving Friday shopping--which is so much easier in a big city--for 13 hours!

When we got home, it was turkey time. Tom was beautiful if I do say so myself. They settled down to board games, I took a nap. That's where the cinnamon roll comes in. They went to Lulu's at 11pm on Friday night to get it, they were hot our of the oven then. Notice I said they. Yep, they just left me asleep on the couch. It took the four of us two days to eat it.

Saturday was to be board games day, but Angel (our kitty) had emergency surgery for a blocked gland in an uncomfortable place. But she's all better now thanks to Dr. Anne James.

Merry Christmas everyone!

C :)

New Quilting Table

Let me start by telling you that I have the BEST husband in the world! Since the garage sales are not the easiest to find here, each Saturday morning we go to Sally's (the Salvation Army Family Store) to check things out. We have the best one just down the road from our house.

Last Saturday, we found the perfect quilting table for my craft room. I was wanting a better second table for my friend Regina to use when she comes over to craft and if we could find one that was counter-height, bonus! I prefer to cut my fabric at counter height b/c it doesn't hurt my back at all.

We didn't get the table last week since we just replaced the gas tank on Tekky--we were trying to be good. But when it was there again this week, we got it. It was a good price and it's solid wood. It holds my cutting mat, ruler, and rotary cutter perfectly PLUS my fabric and my sewing organizer all at one time with no problem!

But as you can see, my dining chairs are a little small. We are looking for a couple of tall chairs or maybe a tall task chair that rolls and turns for Christmas. I still need to hang my curtains and better organize my stuff. It's coming along and I LOVE having a room where I can leave my projects out and where I can work on them while being close to Markley. I know that sounds silly, but I do still like him and like to be able to talk to him w/o having to stop what I'm doing. And we talk a lot! Have a happy thanksgiving!

C :)

Sisters' Shop Hop

WARNING: LOTS OF WORDS AND LOTS OF PICS

So, tell me, what are sisters to do when one moves 500 miles away? They create their own shop hop! In April, Carla drove down to see me and we did the Bluebonnet Patchwork Trail Shop Hop. And we had a blast--12 shops. What more could you ask for?

So, we decided that we would keep the tradition of going to the October Affair of the Heart craft show in Oklahoma City alive. I flew back home 10/21 and we headed out early Thursday morning for Arkansas. Now that only makes sense if you know me, but follow along and everyone will understand. I promise.

Our first stop on the Sisters' Shop Hop was the Cordell, OK Alko. The fabric hasn't been very good, but the baskets were great--and on sale! I was able to get the four I needed to hold all of the DVDs on the new entertainment center. YEA!
The second stop was K's Quilting Studio in El Reno, OK. This quilt could become my tablecloth in my crafting room. I need to make one to cover the green card table that works perfectly as a quilting table but doesn't match the decor. I was able to get most of my fat qtrs on this trip too!

The next stop was a real cute scrapbook store in OKC called Just 4 Keeps. Lots of great ideas and lots of vacation supplies. I loaded up.

Then we hit our favorite quilt shop: the Oklahoma City Quiltworks. Yummy! But you know, I just can't get away from home, even in OK:
This pattern is a fav. I bought it here in San Antonio along with 9 prints (can you say crazy 9-patch) from the fabric line. I just love this line b/c it's brown, blue, and green and matches my living room perfectly!

And now, the explaniation of the whole Arkansas thing: Country Corner Quiltworks in Harrison, AR. This is where Carla and I send our quilts to be quilted. These very talented ladies take my scraps of sewn together fabric and make them into beautiful quilts. It was so nice to meet some of these ladies and to see the machines that do the magic!

This is one of the machines. I literally hugged it. It is my friend. You can see how the quilt top, batting, and backing are rolled up tight and stretched; not pins necessary. I will post a very short video next so you can see it in action. It is so cool!

We hit the season just right--all of the trees in AR were so beautiful and all of the fields were still green. Very beautiful! I'm glad Carla was driving so I could just look. We also drove trough Eureka Springs, AR. It was a very cute little town. Key word: little.
The best scrapbooking store EVER is in Rogers, AR: Signed, Sealed, Delivered. They had so much cute stuff and so many Christmas trees. This one is my favorite except for that money. I don't like sock moneys! But I love the bright colors...even the orange! They had a Santa tree that was all red, white, and black. No green at all.

The Rabbit's Lair was the final quilt shop. It was in an old bank that still had it's vault in the basement. It was very quaint. Carla really liked it.

Our last stop was the Scrapbook Bug in Pryor, OK. Very cute shop in a very cute building. She kept her ribbon in mason jars with fabric on the lids; just pull!

As for the craft show: no parking, too many people. We are going to switch it up next year and try for the February AofH and SA shop hopping in October.

Have a great weekend!

C :)

Back Home for Homecoming

Yea, I know that sounds funny. It should be home for homecoming but I have had to learn new words since I moved away. Home is where I go after work everyday (San Antonio). Back home is where we just moved from (Canyon). My home town is where I was born and where I lived with my parents when I was growing up (Amarillo). Confusing, huh? My friend, Julie, used to talk about going home on the weekends and it was confusing b/c it she was talking about going back to see her parents and I was like where do you go at the end of every work day?

This is the lighthouse at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the largest canyon in Texas and the second largest canyon in the US. It is the prettiest place to visit in the Panhandle.


Okay, so I leave San Antonio and go back home to Canyon for homecoming and we visit the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and guess what the traveling exhibition at the museum featured? Home! Visit it here.

And then we went back to campus and took pics of all of the buffaloes. This one will always be my favorite b/c he's named after my favorite university president, Dr. Russell C. Long!

This is Thunder X, the live buffalo mascot. When full-grown, this is the largest live mascot in all of sports. The running of Thunder, Jack, and Sadie were my favorite part of any football game!

And the Buffs did win the game! The wagon wheel stays with the Buffs for possibly the last meeting again ENMU. The final record is 12 Wins for the Buffs, 11 for the Greyhounds. On, on Buffaloes!

C :)

Do we really have too much stuff?

I never really thought so until we moved. We have garage sales every summer to get rid of things we no longer use and toss broken things. But with my first major move behind me (moving from my parents house in Amarillo to Canyon doesn't really count), I'm beginning to think we do. Maybe it's the WE?
This is the 10' X 10' storage unit we rented, filled to the roof, that did NOT hold everything. Several items went to my apartment--you saw those pics. Let's just say that crafting completely stopped once all the stuff showed up. And we are not going to talk about the fact that the bill box was in the back under everything and we had to have it for the mortgage application. Thank goodness this unit was air conditioned!

Notice the pile of unpacked boxes behind the couch? We are making progress!

And I tell you what, Christina and Mary know how to pack a kitchen! This pile is all the newspaper that was used to safely transport my dishes, glasses, china, and other kitchen stuff. In the upper left-hand corner, you can see the bubble wrap. And not one thing broke--you ladies are good!

This is the formal dining room (my craft room).

This is the formal living room (the other end of my craft room). I unpacked it this last weekend. Markley built my desk the weekend before and my Canyon dining table is my new work surface.

This is the manroom. I left it for Markley to carry in since I didn't want to leave him out on the fun! haha Also, the manroom is upstairs.

I am not going to the Cowboys game this weekend, so I will be able to put some cleaning/organizing into our new house and take some nice pics! All SEVEN boxes of the entertainment center I ordered from Crate & Barrel finally showed up and Markley was able to assemble it--it looks sharp! He also built my desk, like I said. He had the dishwasher installed, and after a major fiasco with the dish people, had the dish set up. I went w/o TV for two weeks! (understand why I got so much done now?).

Have a happy weekend and it should be back to crafting soon!

C :)