I was so excited to cull though my emails and find that I had won something!  I won the thread giveaway from Patty the Quilt Lady!

I am getting a pile of stuff ready to send to Peg.  Won't she be surprised when she sees a ton - load of stuff coming in to her mailbox!  All that and new friends to boot!

Thank, Patty, for a fun give away and a fun new friend!

glen

Design Wall Monday 4-30-12 and the Finish Up Fairies

The last day of April finds me home for the first day back from the beautiful Caribbean Cruise to Nassau, St Thomas and St Maartin.  We spent 7 glorious days with friends aboard the Carnival Dream, which is the largest ship I have seen.  Until we hit St Maartin and docked next to the Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.  It makes our ship look like a toy!

We kayaked in mangrove rivers and on the ocean, we snorkled on two diving wrecks and we segwayed across Nassau to the old fort to look out as did the Spanish/French/Dutch/English/American/Pirates

Our ship held 3600 passengers and 1600 crew while theirs held 3200 crew and 6500 passengers.  Talk about huge!

The Zig Zag Quilt was a complete sucess!  It got completed and given to Patsy and Chuck on the last full day of our cruise.  She gave me one of the highest compliments a person can give a quilter.  She was overwhelmed when she saw I was opening up a quilt to give her, and she said, I have really wanted one of your quilts, but I didn't want to ask for one!

Yes, that is worth every stitch I put into the Zig Zags!

And I am sad to report that no Cleaning Elves came into my house when I was gone.  No Finish Up Fairies did anything with the unquilted tops and unfinished blocks.  So I still have all the work I did last week.  And it may never ever get done.

I need a Quilt-Natrix to beat me into submission everytime I start a new project.........


glen

Home and WOW! the blog sure looks different!

 We boarded the Carnival Dream in Cape Canaveral and sailed to Nassau in the Bahamas











Where were rode segways all over the island.

We sailed to  St Thomas, Virgin Islands.  and kayaked through the mangroves and hiked up through the island and snorkeled on a coral reef and into a wrecked ship.  

 Then we sailed to St. Maartin and kayaked again out into the ocean and planted new baby mangrove trees as an ecology group.

We were rewarded with a swim in the sea.  Frank, however, was too busy complaining that his feet were sunburned.

Chuck wins the trophy back by excelling at Putt Putt.  Well, he only beat me by one point! But he claimed the trophy for that event.

There were some dogs aboard the ship.  Naturally we had to fool with them.

Red Sky at night, Sailor's delight!

Our ship, the Carnival Dream is the largest class of ship for Carnival with 1600 crew and 3600 passengers.  But here it sits next to Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas which is their largest with 3200 crew and 6500 passengers.  Makes our huge ship look like a sailing yacht!

 

 Really, it wasn't that kind of cruise!

Here is Chuck loving up on Patsy!

And me loving up on the buff guy with the Dutch accent who lead the kayak tour.

Where am I?

You may have figured by now that I have been on the cruise. I will be posting some beauteous photos soon, but first I must unpack and get some of these clothes washed!!!!

Glad to be home and I know the bassets are more glad!!!!

glen

I scream, You scream, We all scream for Frozen Yogurt!

Several have asked about the yogurt machine.  And if it was easy and was it good.

The answer to both is a resounding YES!  And cheaper.  And healthier.  And lower in sugar and fat.

Here's the deal.  To make it is easy.  You definitely need a candy thermometer.  It was at that point in the making of the yogurt that I realized I had three meat thermometers and not a single candy therm.  But I have since remedied that fly in the proverbial ointment.

My research showed me there were several features that vary on the major YMs.  The top YM was the Salton at $189.  And the #2 was the Waring Pro, which is what I found at that shop on deep discount! Yeah!  You can make yogurt without a YM but you need a good heating pad and you can't disturb the culture for a long time.  I wanted to be able to make Frank comfortable eating it.  He is a really phobic guy when it comes to food and germs.  He constantly thinks I am trying to kill him with some odd food thing or something that has been left out too long or even in the fridge too long.  He is difficult sometimes.  So with him it was well worht spending them money to get the real machine.

So first you need either a starter or the freeze dried yogurt culture.  I started with the yogurt culture but will save some yogurt from the next batch to make the third batch.  I wanted to have all 5 of the active cultures and not miss any.  Most yogurts have two or three of the active cultures but they recommend Stoneybrook Organic to start your yogurt with.

And you need to decide on your milk.  You can use soy, skim, whole or low fat, but the lower the fat the less thick the yogurt will be.  I decided on whole for my first batch.  You bring it up to just before boiling, and then cool it to add the cultures, and then put it into the YM.  If you want creamier yogurt you can add some powdered milk but it will make the yogurt culture faster.

People do different things with their additives.  Maple syrup or honey can be added when the cultures are added.  If you put preserves, you can add them to the bottom of the jar before you add the milk mixture and not stir it up.  Or you can add everything later when you eat it, like fresh fruit.  I will add some of my expensive mexican vanilla into the warm mix next time.  We live smack dab in the middle of giant strawberry country.   I want some now just thinking about it.

If you like tart yogurt, you just leave it in the YM up to two hours longer and you will have thicker yogurt as well.  And if you want Greek Yogurt you hang it in cheesecloth.  Some people discard the whey but some cook with it.

There are lots and lots of recipes to make various flavors of yogurt but the best is the frozen yogurts.  You will need an ice cream maker of some sort.  I have one from my Kitchenaid mixer that I ordered from Direct Buy last week.  I can't wait to have Almond Amaretto Cream Frozen Yogurt.

And you can make gelato in the Kitchenaid as well they say!  When we were in Rome, we didn't get a chance to eat the gelato this time because we ran out of the necessary money to purchase it and it is so expensive to change money now.  They want a 100% exchange rate in those small shops.  And it was not going to happen no matter how badly I wanted gelato!  Although it would have been nice.

I guess I will just have to make my own!

glen

My To-Do list grows and grows and grows.......

It has been a while since I mentioned the Tiny Tiny Houses.  And if you go to the House blog you can see how far these people are.  The houses are well over 100 now.  109 to be exact.

I am still back at 42 but after this next vacation I will get into the swing of things.

Let's see.....what do I have to do when I get back......

Most important is the Cotton Robin piece I need to sandwich,  quilt and embellish and get mailed off for May 31.

Then..........
Dan's quilt needs quilting.
Amber's Quilt needs Quilting.
Frank's quilt needs finishing.
Matt's quilt needs to be made (but the good thing about that is I saw a Saint's quilt I want to recreate just the other day! So procrastination is a good thing sometimes.)
The Elephants need to be quilted.
The Neighborhood needs quilting.
The Paint Chip Challenge needs to be completed and quilted.
The River City Mystery needs quilting
The Leaves need to be sandwiched and quilted.
The Shirt Bargello needs to be bargelloed and put together and then quilted.
The Challenge from last year on the Modern 8 Create needs to be put together and then quilted

I actually need t finish the Patch No Work Beth had me start two years ago.  I want that quilt!
Then there is the denim, remember that?  I lost the red thread I was going to quilt it with, it has never surfaced.  Every once in a while I look for it, can't find it, and forget it again.  But that is not getting that darned quilt quilted.  I was going to hand quilt it.  With a large needle since it is denim.

So, you get the picture?  I will be chained to the quilt room and quilting machines for eternity!

Oh woe is me!  What a fate!

glen

What Makes You You?

I recently read a great blog post that asked this question. I had to think about it a bit and thought you might like to give your brain matter a bit of exercise too.

I am rarely late and if I am I get obsessive about getting to where I need to be.
I love my dogs with all my heart, and they love me as their god.
I am proud to be Italian and from New Orleans but would never move back.
I wish my dad was a
I've but don't miss him.
I wish my mom peace, somewhere in her mind.
I swore I would never be like her.
I love my fabric and want to keep it forever.
I HATE to drive more than a mile from home, which is tough these days!
I can't jog, but I could ride my bike anywhere
I love my friends totally....until they turn on me, then I can walk away.
I love to cook and taking cooking classes then cooking for my friends.
I love the guy I married but he drives me crazy so I really have to work at it.
I love my daughter and her husband but they do things without realizing that they hurt.
I love traveling with the friends wo love to travel.
There are days when I am the center of attention and there are days when I still quiet,
There is not a day goes by that I don't hurt, knee, head, back, hip..you name it.

I love this blog. It has opened a whole world for me and brought so many beautiful people into my life.

So......what makes you you?

Write your thoughts about you. Come on, play with us for a minute.

glen

The Mississippi River – Flood and Low Waters

  It is so drastic to see the differences in the River I live near.  The Mississippi has long standing tradition of floods and low waters.  Towns and cities were often at the mercy of the raging waters until the levee system was built in the 1900's.  Now we seek to control the river for our benefit, commerce - shipping and chemical plants.  By the time the water reaches New Orleans down river from us, the water is full of  chemicals from hundreds of plants along the river.  Many of these plants intake water to cool their processes and discharge back downstream changing the water temperatures.
Such is progress and modern times.  Feast or famine, as they say.  Good and bad.
Here are pictures from the 2008 flood



These are pictures from the recent flood May of 2011. This is next to the River Boat Structure we were on Sunday.    In fact, here it is on Sunday…..
Big difference!  See the trees caught in the bottom of the one on the right?  Those were some pretty large logs.





Here is the Baton Rouge sign on Sunday with Low Waters. 

And here it is during the 2011 flood in May last year. Well, I couldn’t find that photo, but the Kidd is on the other side of the River Boat Structure and those levee steps are the same height as the one by the Baton Rouge sign.  You couldn’t see the Baton Rouge on the levee because the water was too high anyway!
glen

Flowers from The Louisiana State Capitol Park

Canna Lily

All the flowers in the LA State Capitol area are varieties that were tweaked or created here in Louisiana, most likely at the LSU Horticultural Station or at a place like Burden Center or Mary Brown Center.

I have no idea what the names of these guys are, but they were so beautiful in the sunlight and the spring weather that I had to share what beauty we have here int he spring.  If you think Louisiana is all hot and humidity, you are so wrong.  We have beauty too!

Day Lily

And you can't beat that Cajun food either.  Did you know that the use of cayenne pepper in food makes it hot, and thusly makes you sweat when you eat it, which cools you off.  Did you know that is why the hotter climes have spicy food?  YES!




 Here are some beautiful Day Lilies from behind the State Capitol, where the Representatives park their cars for a quick get away from reporters hounding they.

Petunias, brilliant reds.  So perfect for the spicy foods we serve here.  Liquid crab boil is used as seasoning in a lot of dishes.  We always have some in the pantry.  I need to do a pantry challenge one day, that would be fun!

Snap Dragons.  Bright Yellow and deep magenta in the same beds.  I am thinking they were trying some LSU colors, maybe?

 The Zinnias were pink as you can get.  Hot pink.  And they were hidden down in their deep green leaves so I had to search them out.  They must be a short variety, I am used to seeing them tall on long stalks.




Yellow and white pansy beds!  I got some close up faces.  But they don't look like normal pansy faces!

 Hope you enjoyed the flowers from Sunday's ride!

glen

Underwater Stripes bag from Sara at Sew Sweetness

OMG!  My Zig Zag Quilt Along Buddies will LOVE LOVE LOVE this one!  Take a look at what I found.

http://www.sewsweetness.com/2012/04/underwater-stripes-bag.html

This is amazing!  LOL.  Don't you just love it!

I want one for the cruise!

glen

Why My Quilt Room is So Messy All the Time

Why do I hate to put on labels?  They are way simpler than the entire thing of the quilt and the quilting.  And it is usually the very last thing I do to a quilt so that means it is finished.  Maybe that is it, the quilt is over.

By the look of my quilting room (and house most likely) we all know I am somewhat of a pack rat.  I get that honestly though.  My grandfather was a "collector" of things.  He was an amazing man who could make anything out of anything.  Like that guy they drop in remote places like the desert with only a bicycle, or the Arctic with only a parachute.  That was my grandfather.  And he did those things too.  With my grandmother by his side.

I called him Papa.  He was Midwest Kansas stock born in a "dugout" house on the prairie near Galena.  His family had come from the Northeast area with the Mayflower group.  And they proudly carried those stories with them over the generations.  And my grandmother came from Alsace Lorraine, that no man's land between France and Germany.  Her family was weary from generations of French and German and English armies conquering them.

So when they met, they saw the adventure in each other.  That did not stop my grandfather from taking a mistress, and my grandmother from ignoring it.  He gave up the house my mother grew up in on So.Liberty Street in New Orleans after my grandmother died and moved to my grandmother's Aunt's home on LaSalle Street in an upscale uptown neighborhood near Audubon Park.  He would take me to ride the flying horses in the Children's area.

The LaSalle Street home had a huge back yard that was exquisitely planted with odd yet fashionable plantings  that were the most marvelous playground a child ever had.  I could hide in one corner, live in the jungle in another, camp out by the "pond", swing from the huge oak tree branches that touched the ground.  And the stuff!  All the marvelous stuff he had.

He had a wringer washer he used until he moved from there to marry his mistress.  He would take boys from the street he found hitchhiking and bring them to live upstairs.  They would learn how to fix cars and appliances and make parts from nothing.  Then they would be able to find a girlfriend and support her as a wife.

Countless boys grew to manhood with my grandfather.  And I his only grandchild.  Imagine that.  My mother forbade him to get me dirty so I had to sit and watch when I really wanted to be in there "fixing" stuff.  She would put me in these beautiful dresses and I would go sit and watch my grandfather and his boys get dirty.

That is why I don't wear dresses today!  LOL.

One of the only pictures I have of my grandfather is one I took the day he met Carrie, his great-granddaughter.  He died shortly after that, at the age of 88.  Which is an amazing fact because he did not believe in doctors, survived smallpox as a child, and chain smoked his own rolled unfiltered cigarettes and drank a gallon of whatever was handy each day.  And at age 80, my father had to go bail him out of jail for soliciting a prostitute in the parking lot of his local grocery!

Yes that was my grandfather!  Adventurous, messy and a pack rat.  Describes me to a T!

glen

Have you lost weight?

Here is me in the parking lot before the meeting

Why, yes, thank you!

This was the conversation at the guild meeting tonight.  I told Frank that people just don't notice 10 or 15 pounds of weight loss on me.  I guess because I am tall and broad shouldered.  But I can tell you with certainty that it has taken 37.5 lbs for them to notice!  And I see most of these people two or three times a month at meetings.

Tonight for some reason, maybe the clothes I was wearing, they noticed.  It was a big thing for me, as it has been a trial to get to this point and still be active and alive!

Here is a photo of me
 Frank took just last week

So, thank you, all my quilting friends, you have made me feel wonderful tonight.  And thank you Patti J, you were so sweet to come talk to me.  And Norma, Lillian and all the other who congratulated me.  And Charlene, who sat with me, and the two new ladies, who just didn't know any better!  I felt like a super star tonight with you!

glen