I did a thing this week - I got my hair permed.  It's been probably 30 years since I had curly hair, and I like it!  I'm sure it will calm down a bit, but I love the curls!  

 

A new challenge, a new quilt....The Riley Blake Designs challenge.  The RBD Challenge is a weekly block pattern, 16 in total, and should finish near the end of May.  I cheated this year and bought the fabric in a kit instead of making my own fabric selections.  Here are the first two blocks:

Now that winter has turned toward spring and the days are getting (slightly) longer, AJ and I have been able to walk the dogs after work without needing flashlights to get home.  We had a beautiful sunset the other evening.

I got half of my IKEA units put together, and I never could have done it without help....

And the quilt top is finished and sandwiched up, ready for quilting (along with 2 other quilts....)

I need to get the quilts quilted soon - they are beginning to pile up!  If I want to use this one for Valentine's Day, it needs to go first!

I didn't get my storage units put together, but AJ got his display cabinet put together!  (I did get the laundry done, three + meals for Alli, dinner for us and Pat, some house cleaning, and almost all of the heart blocks done, so not a bad day in all for me - just no work on my IKEA projects).

IKEA trip!  (almost as good as a road trip, but usually more expensive....)  Cindy M and I went to Sac yesterday to IKEA.  I am adding storage to my sewing room, and she came along for the ride (not that she didn't get stuff while she was there, lol!)  AJ also had a couple of items for me to pick up for him, since I was there.  It was a fun day, with lots of time to meander around and get ideas for "things to do" for both of our places, lots of time to chat and catch up on the drive, etc. Lunch was disappointing - chicken salsa that was very bland and they were out of rice - not nearly as good as the salmon the last time we were there.  They were very limited in menu options, were out of several items that were listed, etc.  It wasn't a bad lunch, just not what we were hoping for, which was disappointing.  (Yes, I tend to travel on my stomach....I was starving after all that shopping!)

I now have 4 Callax units to put together, and AJ has a couple of things.  The small white box on top was the hardest thing to find - per the website, they had 18 in stock, but when I finally found the display in the Marketplace, they were all out.  I checked with staff, and they suggested they were upstairs in the display area.  That meant going backwards through the store (aka swimming upstream against the salmon....) all the way back through both the Marketplace and the display area.  Even then, it took me three staff associates to help me find the item.  It wasn't up on display, it was just one more white box on a shelf...and of course the name of it (Harvmatta) doesn't lend itself to identifying it.  Luckily, the staff had at least an idea where it was....and new it was in a white box.

 

 

While I was swimming upstream looking for AJ's item, Cindy was waiting downstairs and remembered something she forgot, so she texted me she was going back to the kitchen area.  I had, by that time, found a shortcut that bypassed the kitchen area, and so once again, was swimming upstream to meet up with her.  All in all, a great trip, and now to go put together my Callax units!

I feel like it's slow going on the quilt, probably because I want it finished already.  (I have two other quilts waiting to get started...)  Since I had something after work almost every day this week. it's actually coming along quite well.  I have 6 of the 11 blocks done.

And one more heart block completed last night after Alli went to bed.  At this rate, I'll be done by Valentines Day (probably not!)  

Progress on the heart quilt - all the pieces cut and semi-arranged.  There are a total of 11 hearts, and I only have room on the design board for 7.  I should have really thought this one through - it's a lot of pieces to sew together, but...I'm still liking it!

From the blog's history:

In 2021, AJ moved out to the guesthouse to live, and Koori wasn't sure she liked the new arrangements...she kept waiting for him to come back to his old room.

Last year - a walk in the field:

What happens when you don't want to work on any of the projects you have started, and you go to the quilt store (my monthly Bock of the Month meeting...)?  You start a new quilt....I'm already regretting it, but I really like the quilt.  I just hope I actually get it finished.  It's a scrappy heart quilt and I'm using a lot of scraps that I have, but still needed augment with new fabric.  I'm hoping to get it done by Valentine's Day.

AJ did his obligatory birthday swim yesterday. Luckily for him we were a balmy 63 degrees and sunny.   

He was also hot and sweaty before the swim because we had just finished digging out the septic tank lids - we are having septic issues. The septic companies are backed up (no pun intended) due to the saturated ground, so they said if I did the work of getting the tank uncovered, they could squeeze me in on Friday.  They are scheduled to be here at 9:30 this morning.  Septic issues are my nightmare.  The back-up only flooded part of the garage, so clean-up is easier, but I'd rather not deal with it at all.  I just had it pumped in March 2023 too, so it's just that all the rain this year isn't letting anything leach out.

From the way-back machine....this is one of my favorite photos of Ralph and AJ.

January 10, 2014 - Koori and Luna
 

Snow pictures from January 7, 2017

Christmas photo from 2019 - almost more dogs than people for dinner.

A quilt top from 1/6/14

And from 1/5/19

I got a new Instant Pot yesterday, and I'm not sure that James was impressed.  She looks a little disapproving....but my old one had had the lid dropped too many times, the pressure knob didn't want to work correctly.

Look backs for January 4th...

Ralph playing with is new toy - a knife sharpener in 2009

Koori in 2010

 A walk on the River Trail in 2015
 

 

 

 

 

Ripley helping me in 2023

 

And some quilts I finished in 2023 - I was working on getting them sandwiched up, with a little help from my friends.

I started (and almost finished) making the other chicken quilt - using the last of the panels - on New Year's Day.  Obviously I didn't do much more than sew, now did I?  I have all the blocks done and sewed together, just a few more seems and the top is done!

A quick look-back to 1/3/2018 - AJ was in Japan and was building a snow fort/igloo with his host family.

 

I finished the Diamonds in the Rough quilt over the weekend, and it was immediately claimed by AJ. It's all flannel and is very soft and warm.

I like how it turned out - both the pattern and working with flannel.  I can see another flannel quilt in my future....

For a quick look-back, on this date in 2023, Ripley and I went for a walk at the park.  A beautiful day, especially compared to are cloudy/drizzly winter now.

Happy New Year!  

It seems like the world is full of possibilities on the first day of the year - to quote Dr. Seuss "Oh, the things you can do...."  I jokingly make resolutions, because they are more of a wish list - things I want to do.  Here are a few for 2025:

• Make time to get outdoors more
• Go to the coast this year
• Revisit my past blog posts - what was I doing 1/2/5/10 years ago?
• A repeat from last year, take on more do0it0yourself projects
• Learn to play pickle ball
• See friends more often (aka - get out of the house more!)
• A big one is already in the planing stages - visit Japan 
• Reorganize my sewing room
• Finish painting the inside of the house (just the living room and dining room left...)
• Start my Christmas crafting earlier this year.
  

And I'm sure I could find more, but....not real resolutions, just a wish list... 

As a start to fulfilling my resolutions, here's the happenings on 1/1/2013 - we were recovering from floods, fire, and locusts.....a sewage backup that  flooded the garage and the guest house, the HVAC unit had caught fire, and friends over for New Year's Eve dinner....two teenage boys being the locust.....I had made hats for them....