Promised pictures and south Texas ducks

 I spent an uneventful day grocery shopping, baking brownies and looking at photo albums with my dad. I said I would take some pictures of Mr Wazoo's handiwork, so I ventured out and did just that!

Along the side of Dad's driveway, Mr W weeded and straightened out the plants in pots.

In the front, more weeding, some new plants and fresh pebble mulch.

This plant was being squashed by the address sign, so Mr W moved the sign and cleaned out around the plant.

At my sister's house, weeding, edge trimming, a little redistribution of the pots and mulching.

This plant is growing along the side of Dad's drive as well as next to my sister's house.

 It's called Peacock Flower.

It looks like an orchid, don't you think?

Everything is neat and tidy at both houses, except for the dead tree...a victim of the recent cold snap.

At the grocery store I am reminded that we are in Texas, the land of Tex-Mex. This is the row with salsa and hot sauce. Yup, an entire row.

Hot sauces

Salsas. Wow.

While sewing, I heard quacking. Thern, I heard a bunch of high pitched squealing. I went outside to see what was happening, and a flock of these type ducks landed on the roof! They are Black Bellied Whistling Ducks, and they travel in groups (flocks?...) There were a few on the roof and some more in the trees. They are so pretty! Bright pinky orange bills and feet with the stark black and white stripes on their wings. Some of them have little mohawk hairdos. Must be the males. I didn't get a picture, so I found some on Google.

Isn't it cute?

This is just how they look flying in for a landing. It looks like they are about to crash land, but they really are agile.

How they travel...with an entourage.

This shows the mohawk hair. So funny.

The only sewing I even came close to doing was bringing the repair project out to my place in the living room. I really need to get on the stick and get it done! I'll try again  in the morning!

Computer woes and a bit of sewing

Yesterday was the day I took on my Dad's computer, trying to untangle the mess he was in with passwords. I managed to reset  his mail and Facebook, but the patient portal just wouldn't cooperate. Dad keeps his house at a toasty 85 degrees, so I was sweating the whole time. I finally cried 'uncle!' and determined I would need to call the Doctor's office to straighten it out. I needed to sew!!

Back at the house (a wonderful 75 degrees) I cut out and sewed a charity quilt top. That felt nice. Sewing will be my equalizer when I get frustrated.

I picked up the fabrics at Hobby Lobby last week.

Mr Wazoo held it for me so I could get a picture in natural light.

Last night, we used the gift card from my son and daughter-in-law to have a wonderful meal from Longhorn Steakhouse! I got the card for Mother's Day, and since my Dad was off to his pool game, we decided to 'eat out'. The curbside service was great! Right on time, and perfectly coked. Thanks to my kids for the meal, flowers, and wine!

Mr W has been working hard cleaning up the yard at my Dad's house, so he deserved the meal as much as I did! I'll try to remember to get a picture of the yard today.

I think I'll go sew something...

Another day, a few more blocks

I only sewed for a short time yesterday, and made some progress on the blue and white quilt. Nancy leaves today to visit her daughter in Michigan for two weeks. Mr Wazoo and I are keeping an eye on her house and watering her plants.

Last night around 2:00AM we were awakened by a doozy of a thunderstorm. Penny was a good girl, cuddling close to us and watching the action. The power went off for a while, but I drifted back to sleep and woke up to everything as it should be. The area got a good soaking and will certainly benefit from it.

Here we are at Nancy's,  having our last sewing bee for a while. I will miss her company, but I am happy she gets to see her family after over a year apart.

Nancy finished a charity quilt with the cutest owl focus fabric

I'm working along on the blue and white blocks after fixing the one I sewed wrong. 

So far, I am pleased with how its coming along.

More rain is predicted today. The woman who cleans for my sister will also come today. I have some errands to run between rain showers, so sewing will be in fits and starts. As long as I make progress, it is a good day!

 

Just checking in

 This is a short post to fill you in on what's happening here. Dad has a major leak under his kitchen sink that Mr Wazoo was unable to fix. The plumber came out this morning and has to install an entire new drain. Oh goody.

Mr Wazoo has gone to the grocery store with a list, and I am watching Penny and monitoring the plumbing progress.

I started a new project yesterday and immediately sewed a block wrong. We decided to quit and take a swim in the park's pool instead. Refreshing and nice.

I take Dad to the foot doctor this afternoon for nail clipping, so there won't be sewing happening. I guess I have the Monday blues. And not just the new quilt!

The last corner of the block is sewn together wrong, so I need to do a bit of un-sewing before I can continue. It will be a blue and white scrappy quilt.

Mr W has been occupying his time with yard work and maintenance. Here is the side he's done...

and this is the front. It keeps him busy and out of trouble!

As usual, Penny stays close and goes with the flow. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Mr Wazoo and his Mom

Me and my Mom

Mr Wazoo and I have lovely memories of our Moms, and hope you all who have lost your moms will remember them with fondness today.

 To all my friends who are Moms, have a wonderful Mother's Day. Mr Wazoo secretly ventured to the Mexican pot store and got another  wonderful coffee cup. He said it is for when he accidentally breaks mine. You see, every time I get a cup I really like, it gets broken while dish washing... It will take longer to break two. ha!

My colorful cup

The sewing of the "easy"  quilt is nearly done. The pieced top is all together, and the borders are to be determined. I have enough of the grunge from the BQ to add a small inner border, but couldn't decide on an outer border. It is a pretty good size already, so I may stop where it is.

While I was building the quilt on the new design wall (wow, is it nice to have!) I completely messed up the neat piles of components to get just the right bits in each row.

It progressed over a couple of days

Penny gave it the seal of approval.

The next day, I had it to this stage.

Then, it was done! It ended up only one row less than the pattern called for, and is still a hefty 54X66. A big couch size or a small twin. Borders would bring it to twin size, but I don't think I'll do that. We'll see.

Here, you can see the colors and some of the prints of the fabrics.

On to the next!

On Friday, I got a package delivered to me in Texas! My daughter sent a box full of beauty and joy for Mother's Day. 

Two dozen red roses and a bottle of wine. I had to wait for Nancy to bring a corkscrew to test the wine, so I will report on that later.

A dozen HUGE chocolate dipped strawberries!! (I tried one right away to be sure they weren't poison...wink, wink) My Dad (who loves dessert) chose the giant one in the left upper corner for his prize. He oohed and ached the entire time he was eating it. Mr Wazoo, Dad and I have each had two so far. We save them for dessert. Yummy berries and primo chocolate. A big thanks for a wonderful gift. 

I wish a Happy Mother's Day to my daughter and my daughter in law. I couldn't have a better family.

Happy Mother's Day from Penny and her pig.

Another day in the books

 Today went by quickly because I was kept busy. We started the day at the dog park here, where Penny got in her morning romp. Dad had a doctor appointment for the late morning, followed by a trip to the grocery store. If you have never shopped with a 98 year old who wanders all over the store like a ninja, let me tell you, it is an experience! We got there right at noon and the store was packed. He had a list, a man on a mission, so he didn't listen to me when I said I needed something n a row he wasn't interested in.  I did a lot of hunting for him. The list wasn't in any particular order, so he would go from one end of the store to the other to get each item in the sequence of his list. I think he got his steps in for the day! We got home at about 1:30, had some lunch and then Penny and I went to Nancy's to do a quick sew.

Penny loves riding in the golf cart, and she has a royal seat for her outings!

Mr Wazoo taking Penny for a ride to the dog park

Once more around the park, please.

After her run at the dog park, penny is too pooped to walk home.

The grocery store we went to is huge and has a big variety of peppers and other produce. My friend Henry back in Georgia would be in heaven here.

Here are the dried varieties of peppers

The bins are stuffed with colorful peppers

People were filling bags with handfuls of jalapeños. I got one. ha ha

I sewed a while at Nancy's, still making the components for what I thought was going to be a simple quilt. The instructions are less than stellar, and I cut a whole batch of strip sets wrong!! Then, I spent the next hour sewing the cut bits back together. I won't have enough to make the quilt the size I wanted, but it will be okay. Duh...I felt so stupid!!

The middle pile is made from the bits I cut wrong and re-sewed. They were supposed to look like the ones on the left. I will press them tomorrow after we get home from Dad's next doctor appointment. The pile on the right are correct. Whew!!

These bits don't have partners and will become orphan 4 patches.

Nancy kept the music playing from her iPad, while I finished up at my sewing station.

Penny talks to Maggie while we sew. She doesn't understand why Maggie isn't interested in playing with her. Maggie is old and wants Penny to get out of her space...Aaahh, puppies!

Back at home base, I admired Mr W's handiwork in the yard. He is as happy as a pig in mud messing about with landscaping. 

I bought the chicken planter at the pot store. She's going home with me.

Mr W sunburned one knee. How weird is that? 

He sits on the cooler to work, and had one knee in the sun.

Maybe tomorrow he'll change to the other knee. Stay tuned!

Another sewing day

 No appointments for Dad today, so I was free to go sewing at Nancy's. It took until almost 10 AM to get out the door though. Walk the dog, tidy up before the bug man came, do a load of wash, and get out the fish for dinner. Mr Wazoo was out the door ASAP, ready to do some yard work. He is in his element.

I finished sewing the quilt from yesterday, and got a good start on cutting out the one I will work on next. Nancy made her baby quilt for her niece, and before we knew it, it was 4 PM and time to go start on supper. Penny is getting to be a pro riding the golf cart to and from Nancy's. Beats walking in the heat!

Here is Nancy's baby quilt. She was so excited to sew it together using Eleanor Burns' Swiss cheese method. 

Smiles for a job well done!

Here is my finished quilt from the book Happy Hour. There are so many cool, but easy quilts in the book...I think I'll be making another one soon. And I'm sure Penny will photobomb that one, too.

 

The fat quarter bundle I used was small animal prints. Llamas, bears, owls, foxes and birds.

Aren't they cute!?

Taking Penny out at night is a challenge. There are small beetles everywhere. Really. They're everywhere!! Penny thinks she needs to catch them, or at least get a good close up sniff. Between butterflies in the daytime, and beetles at night, it is a wonder she ever gets her business done.

She is all worn out from her bug follies and ready for bed. So am I! Dad has an early appointment tomorrow morning. Sewing will have to wait.

Zzzzzzzzzzz...