camera test drive

The kids and I went out to Custer state park today to give the new camera a test drive. I think we came home with some rally neat pics too! The lily was in a friend's garden.
This is the Horse crossing of French Creek. See all the debris left in the fence from teh high waters we have had this spring/summer? The out of focus barbed wire was not intentional but i think its pretty neat.
The Black hills really are mostly red....at least in this area.
South Dakota Traffic Jam!
How ya doin?

more finishes

Two more little finishes. I started these 2(and 5 more with the same pattern) last December. I knew then they would not get done in time for Christmas last year but i think they will make great gifts this year.

Happy Birthday to ME

Friday was my Birthday....bad day. I was PMSing, the sitter cancelled and nobaody had a gift for me. I was really grumpy by bedtime so i was very surprised and happy to se my gift sitting on the table when i came home from work on Saturday(yest). http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665315453 This camera was sitting on the table for me! Of couse i was thrilled and had to go start playing around with it. This little marigold is in one of the pots out front-I thought it made a good "star" of the show when i took its pic.

check the ticker-1/2 way!

I got several more quilts done in the last 2 days, i'm so glad too. These first three are big baby/small lap quilts for babies that have already arrived in the last couple months. I used the dissapearing 9-patch pattern for all three. Started them all in june, finished in july-thats fast for me! I dont know if you can tell or not but the yellow one has a money print fabric-that baby's daddy is a banker and his mom is a CPA. It seemed pretty funny to me to use that. The red and green one is valentines prints for a little gal born on valentines day.

These last 2 are older quilts. The Indigo and Double Pink was started at least 3 and probably closer to 5 years ago. Beth got it quilted for me and its finally on the "done" pile! The Christmas table runner was started last fall-much harder than it looked and i do not believe i'll use that pattern again! I've got 2 more finishes to show but they can wait till tomorrow.

finally quilting again

I've finally gotten to get back to quilting! I finished this ufo from about 4 years ago late last night. When i looked at it up close i saw pink and teal stars, when i look at it in the pics i see tan woven ribbons. Its amazing what a little distance can do to a quilt. This one is about twin sized. I did a meandering quilting on it on my little domestic machine. I'm getting better at that so now i might be able to work on that back log of tops that i've got hanging around.

Fireworks

The first 3 were taken at Mt Rushmore-amazing display but incredibly crowded. We sat for an hour at the car after the show with out even turning the key. The last pic is from the city fireworks, i have a light pole inthe middle of it because i did not know exactly where it would be coming from and by the time i figured it out it was too late to move. I had never taken fireworks pics before so this was a new trick for me. I bought a little bitty table top tripod for the camera just a day before the fireworks just so i could try this.

Happy birthday little guy! This is the cake i made and ds blowing out his candles. We just had a few neighbors over for burgers but he thought it was a great day.

And since ds did not get a cake or party for her birthday last december we made her a cake and sang for her too. She did not get any presents cause she did get those last winter. She said an "unbirthday" was more fun because she could take her guests out and go play in the sprinkler, which is not something you can do in late december!

another local trip

We went to "reptile gardens" on ds's birthday last monday. The kids wanted to see the critters-i just wanted to see the flowers. They have some amazing orchids and other tropical flowers in thier indoor displays. They also have some pretty brave folks working there as you can see by the guy pulling the gator/croc out of the pool. I'll admit i am a wimp when it comes to reptiles, i dont mind them as long as they are waaaaaayyyy over there! But the kids had a great time and i'm guessing we will end up back there at least once before we get transferred out of here.