WHERE AM I????

I thought I came back home and that the hurricane was over--
But the wind here is still heavy--and the waves on the river are still high--
and on Monday and Tuesday--it was heavy overcast and no sun--
I live in Florida so I can have some sunshine every day!!!!

I did get two Thanksgiving wall hangings finished
 before I had to leave cause of Matthew--

I will use one as a gift--
these 2 turkey blocks were made a couple three years ago and they were for a table runner-
but decided to make them into wall hangings instead!!

I got lots of prep work done to take on the trip--
never touched even one of them--
so now it is time to get busy on them--they are Christmas gifts!!!
I did work on some counted cross stitch (still working on September one)
yesterday and some knitting on a baby sweater--

DOCK NEWS--
you all know how much I love going down to the dock every day--
and feeding my 'critters'--
I was sooo worried that the weather would hurt the dock--
but the dock itself is fine--

but a couple of my critters favorite trees did not make it--

the water just plain pushed it over--

and there is no shore/beach line left--it is a foot or more drop off before you can step onto some sand--all the way up and down the river side--
the one thing that I had secretly hoped would fly away--

was the new wind chime that a resident nailed to the roof a couple weeks ago--
cause if it is even a bit breezy down there it is loud--can't hear my birds singing!!!
but it is still there!!!!

And up here by the building--
when I looked out my bedroom window to the south--
there is a long tall wooded area--
now there is a hole in the middle of it--

and now I get to look at this light pole--
at night now I can see 2 night lights !!!
But I am not complaining--
we were very lucky--and I am grateful for that--
it's just that I love trees and natures and will miss those that got broken,
or uprooted!!

love and laughter, di

GOING HOME

We have decided it is time to go home--
and will be leaving in the morning to do that--at least that is the newest plan--
we are happy to report that is well for both of us back in Fl--
and there is power back on for us both--
In the meantime we spent today at the Georgia Aquarium-
What an amazing place--

I only took about 550 photos in the 4 hours we were there!!!
so have lots of editing to do when I get home--
It was very crowded there today--
In fact we learned it was a record number there today--
talk about wall to wall people and kids--but we did get to see it all--even the dolphin show--
and there I could not take photos--

so just think about how many more photos I would have by now---
I am ready to go home--

Everyone be safe==
love and laughter, di

a billboard coming into Atlanta

ON THE ROAD

DD and I have left the east coast of Florida--
we are on a road trip--
at least that is what we are telling ourselves--

we left home at 8pm or so and drove to Gainsville, Fl and spent the night there--
luckily DD had did the booking early Tues morning or we would not have found one--
and this morning we left there and drove on to Macon GA--where we are tonight--
it was a good trip-lots of traffic--but no hold ups--this was a 3 hour trip from Gainsville--
where gas was coming hard to find--

talk about billboard alley==huge billboards--all along the way--
kept me entertained for sure!!!
that and looking at all the license plates--

I took alot of photos with my small camera in the moving car!!!
this is a cotton field--with a neat white church in the background--
love seeing all the cotton fields--

after we checked in here this afternoon--
my DD was looking out the window and seen this--

That is not a dog at the end of that lease--
it is a pet pig--how cute!!!
after a short rest we finally gave in and went for supper--

to the Cracker Barrel --just down the street a bite from  here--
We are tired--
and we are very worried about our friends and our homes and how long it will be before we can go back to even see if we have places to live--sooooo
need to go for now--
tomorrow we are off to Atlanta, GA--have 2 nights booked there--but haven't figured out where we will go after that--
in the mean time--we try to forget for a few minutes at a time our worries that ---??????
love and laughter, di

LUNCH TIME

I spent the morning doing laundry--
then I was on this computer trying to figure out where  my photos go
when I import them--
it seems they jump down a rabbit hole every time that Windows 10 does an update--
then the phone rang and it was DD and she had to go over on the beach strip to check out a lot that someone wants her to design a house for--
so she invited me along for the ride and to go to one of our favorite lunch places--

I can never remember the actual name of this place--but you order at a window and eat here under the hut--we always get the black beans, rice  and pulled pork plate and share it--
we had a visitor while we were eating today--

Then on the way home we did make another stop--

Friendly's--for ice cream and there was NO sharing here--
we each had our own Sundae--
So it was a nice surprise treat--
Then came home and went to coloring group and the mobile library came--
so been busy--
this morning we had a big Thunder storm and lots of rain--
talking about rain--wonder how much rain and wind we will get from Hurricane Matthew????
waiting to see where he decide to go later in the week-they say it will be here about Thursday-Friday!!!

Be good and surprise someone with a Lunch date--
love and laughter, di

THIS AND THAT--

Here is a photo of my friend Ruth on her 94th Birthday--
yesterday--

Ruth is the young looking one in the middle!!!
She is the first one I made friends with here in this new senior place in Florida--
a year ago--can you believe that --
it has been a whole year (actually 12 1/2 months!!) since I moved here from NY state--
it went by really fast let me tell you--

and I think the thing that I loved watching from the first day here--
was-- and is the clouds--how they can stack up and up--
there is sooo many different kind of clouds here--

look at this one--it looks like a space ship is going to land!!!

On Tuesday one of the residents here--Gwynne and I went to the Zoo--
it was the last day for the $3--entry fee--usually it is $18--each!!
we were sure it would be uncrowded and a good time to go--
but boy where we wrong!!
I think the whole county kept their kids out of school and took them there--
we did stay for about 2 hours--but then just had to leave--was too crowded to get around--
and talk about strollers--oh my goodness!!
But I did get some good photos of animals that I did not get in the spring when I went--
so it was a successful day--

The Meekats where out this time and they love playing and digging in the red dirt--

they dig huge holes and go in them--for a minute--then crawl back out and start another one--
just like us quilters--we start a quilt and then go on and start another one!!

Gwynne made a couple stops on the way home and one place is called Tuesdays Mornings--
and it reminds me of a Woolworth's years ago--a bit of this and than--
here is my treasures from there-

this is a large package of cardstock cards--of all colors for only $1.99
and the set of the 4 larger stamps was $3.99 and the Christmas stamps was only $1.99--
So I had a adventure this week--

Did you do something different or special this week????
love and laughter, di

WOOL--AT WORK

I just got another one of my wool projects finished--
for such a small project--there was alot of stitching and changing color of thread--
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and did get another Wool project, finished in the prep work--
(needed the back ground fabric--and then to cut out all the wool pieces that I had the freezer paper patterns ironed too)
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So the wool box is getting smaller--though I think there is still at least 2 more projects in there!!
But nothing fall--
need to find me a fall project--
though I am working on 2 Thanksgiving projects--

These will be "twins" when I am done--
one for me and one for ??????
One is all hand quilted now and have a good start on the second one!!
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And I did get some small fabric orders in this past month or so--

This order--the bali charm pack was only 50 cents-so ordered the Mojito charm pack for $6--
and with the $5 shipping--that still gave me 2 charm packs for under $6 each!!!

and this was 2 more orders--

and this large framed cat's head is the one my DD and I gave my son for his birthday last week--He is like me--loves black cats--and he has a black cat-!!!

Are you all cooler if you just hit Fall---
Or warmer if you just hit Spring????
Think we are still in Summer mode here in Florida!!!
love and laughter, di

A QUESTION--

I have a question for you--
but first I want to show you the 2 little projects
 that I finished the stitching on last night--

wool lamb--

wool rabbit--
Now the question--if I was to give these as gifts--
would you rather get them like this and then you can decide how you would like to finish them to use or display--
Or would rather get them already made into something--like a small pillow/pincushion, framed or a small wall hanging--or????
Thanks for taking the time to answer me!!!

love and laughter, di

AND NOW I AM--

Done with the Bee blocks--
here is my design for Block #20--

A house block--
every farm has to have a little country house--
I mean we got a barn and a truck and everything-- for the Bee Farm--
so we needed a house!!
Now to decide on the fabric to stitch all these blocks together with????
that is always a challenge for me!!!

And here is a photo of this mornings late sunrise--

Talk about 'golden' moments!!!

Have a great fun stitchy day--
love and laughter, di

MARK ANOTHER ONE--

off of my 'to finish' list--

A civil war quilt--
is now all hand quilted and has it's binding done--
Here is the center block--

It was pointy star stencil--
and then I used part of this stencil in the other areas of the quilt that had this color fabric--

and these blocks have a large flower stencil in them--
and I forgot to take picture of the borders--
This will probably be my last civil war quilt--
I did not bring any of those fabrics with me--
and that style does not really go in this apartment--
I do have my pile of small civil war quilts on one of the shelves under the fish tank--
so I do get to see them every day--

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Now the question is--
1. do I get the backing, batting, and top together and basted for another quilt top that is waiting in the pile--or
2. do I put together some blocks I have done in a top and then get that one ready to hand quilt--or
3. do I just work on Christmas stuff?????

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I am on the last Bee block for the embroidery work--
hope to finish that one today!!

Here is a photo of a sunrise a couple days ago--
taken from my bedroom window!!!

Happy stitching today--
love and laughter, di

SURPRISE SURPRISE--

down on the dock yesterday--
but first here is another Bee block--

Seee--I kept the barn the same--but had to have sunflowers growing beside the barn and have to have a lamb on the farm!!
Now just one more block to do--have it designed and traced--so now I just have to---

Yesterday I got a nice wonderful surprise when I was down sitting on the dock--
was watching my normal wild life down there--but was missing Rocky--
have not seen her in a couple weeks--
then as I was knitting away something on the bank under the pier caught my eye--
and look what I seen--

and guess what this is not Rocky--
it is--

one of three of Rocky's children--
they stayed out for a long time--
and of course I helped that by throwing them lots of peanuts--

and look at this one--

those babies already know to look up!!
and ask--hey lady--you got any more of those tasty peanuts????

Hope everyone is having a safe and fun filled holiday week end--
OH--and we did not get any of Hermine--just some rain a couple days before it hit--!!
love and laughter, di