Some Fresh Air and Exercise (complete with Flora and Fauna)

Good Saturday afternoon all you Blogland Neighbors! Well, this morning when I dragged my carcass out of bed I just could not face the mess of a house and the pile of paperwork (leftover from my job and due by Monday) ... not to mention the frustration of having a WHOLE bunch of sewing projects just lingering in "half way done land" that I just can't seem to get at ...you know .... just feeling BLAH! So, let's just toss all that aside and get some fresh air and exercise... might just be what the doctor ordered to kick me out of the SLUMP! Let's go out in the woods next to my house for a walk... BUT,uh oh ... before we even leave the backyard, look at this.....

...the birdfeeder is on the ground .... which usually means Mr or Mrs bear has made a visit for a midnight snack .... hmmmmm, should I venture into the woods?


......yeah, why not.....here we go!


.....hmmm.... a fork in the path ..... let's go to the right....(I think)








Now I know I mentioned this before, but it seems we're having a very premature fall around these parts! I looked back in the Moonbeams archives and found this post from Sept 25th of last year. Today is only August 30th right? Seems Jack Frost is a bit ahead of schedule .....just look what's out in the woods.....
yellow leaves....
orangish (well, brownish) ferns...
.... and red whatever this stuff is .... looks like FALL to me!











Well, let's continue with our hike ....
....oohhhh....pretty ferns...(not brown yet)
looks like a squirrel was having lunch ....


.....oooooohhhh .... moss! ... I just love moss!










OK .... let's keep going (don't tell me you're tired! I'm the one doing all the hiking! You're just reading!! We'll take a rest when we get to "The Point"....it's just down this path ....

..... and up over the top of this hill....
....and here we are! "The Point"
...we're up pretty high...
...That's the Lehigh River down there .... and if you click on the picture to make it bigger you'll be able to see the white water rafters down there (that's what those little blue things are in the river...)

OK is everybody all rested up? I guess we should be heading back home .... there's still that list of stuff to do....


......shhhhh......look over there .... a deer (just a little below and to the left of the center of the picture ... click on the picture to make it bigger). How's that for some fauna?!?! ...I'm glad it's just a deer and not a bear!! Even so, let's just scurry along in case the bear family is still in the neighborhood!

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little hike in the woods ... now it's time to get back to "the list". Be back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

TGIF !!!

Happy Friday and Happy 3 day weekend Blogland Neighbors !!!! I don't know about you, but Daisy and I are POOPED! I have lists and piles of stuff to do, but right now, getting into my pj's and crawling in bed to read is about all I can muster the energy to do .....and odds are half way through the first sentence I'll be snoring away, mouth open, catching flies (I know, doesn't that paint a pretty picture!).

OK.... back to my book! Be back soon! Sweet Dreams!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Along came a spider ......and a tea cup for the jolly green giant!

Good afternoon Blogland Neighbors! I've been trying to change my blog over to my new email address ..... so this is an experimental post ..... and I'm sincerely hoping I don't totally screw the whole thing up and lose it all in outer space!


.....and, so not to totally bore all of you (and to see if the pictures come up on here) I grabbed my camera and went outside to take a picture of .....

......this guy....he's been hanging around in the potted plant at the foot of our front porch steps for a couple of weeks .... through rain and wind and plant waterings .... he's pretty resiliant I must say.... it looks like he'll be staying for awhile so maybe we should name him ....(I'm not sure he's a him .... I suppose he could be a her....)

Well, whatever ..... now on to the next bit of trivia on our agenda ....I was out doing some shopping at Walmart yesterday and I came across this.....


.....a GIANT tea cup (talk about your Big Gulps!).... actually, this was in the gardening dept because it's a planter .....and at first I was going to put it on the porch with a pot of yellow mums in it , but then I thought it would look cute in the kitchen holding fruit .....hmmmm, maybe I'll go get another one and put that one on the porch with the mums in it..... I know, such riveting decisions ..... giant tea cup on the porch.... giant tea cup in the kitchen .... or both..... and maybe I should take the oranges out of that red plastic net bag thing they came in .... ouch! more decisions..... my head may just explode!

Well, time to throw dinner together! Be back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Hula hoops are BACK !!!! (and so is school)

Good morning Blogland Neighborhood on this last Sunday of summer vacation ... well here at MBIAJ headquarters it's the last Sunday of summer vacation ...... yep, Matt starts his first day of COLLEGE ....AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! .... yes , COLLEGE tomorrow morning .....how can that be when I'm still 29? .... AND, my baby, Evan starts school this Wednesday ..... he's in 10th grade this year (and he's STILL not finished that book report that's due on the first day back ..... my migraine begins.....)

Anyhow, here at MBIAJ we are on a never ending quest to find some sort of fitness activity that is not a total drudge and BORE , not to mention cruel and unusual punishment ..... now, I usually don't mind walking .... I try and walk for an hour 3 days a week .... but, to tell you the truth, lately I'm a little bored with it all not to mention a little nervous about running into a bear, a skunk, or a snake when it starts getting dark (now that the days are getting shorter again) before I'm close to home! So,anyway, a couple of weeks ago I was watching some morning show (I forget which one) and they had Hoop Girl on. Well, back in the day (like 40 years ago!) I was quite the hula hooper (nothing like Hoop Girl) ....


....just the basics like this bunch ....










So, being inspired by "Hoop Girl" AND by this Cirque du Soleil hula hoop performance and what a fun way this would be to exercise, I trotted off to Walmart and purchased a jazzy hot pink hula hoop with little flashing lights!!! OK! I was ready .....how hard can this be? Just like riding a bike.... right? .......



......wrong ..... this thing keeps winding up down there by my feet .... and trust me, it really , logically should stay up around my waist just because of the size and magnitude of my butt (you wouldn't think the hula hoop could make it past it!)

Well, I wasn't the only one who wanted to give hula hooping another try .... Kitty has been watching Rhythmic Gymnastics on the Olympics and thought that it looked like a piece of cake to run around on a gym mat with a hula hoop.....

.........hmmmmmmmm....
....not really......

....and off she drives over her hula hoop in a SNIT!


......well, the judges, especially Sam, did not look kindly on that show of unsports-man like conduct and he took her hoop away from her!


....so she just flung herself down on the mat and wouldn't move until the judges called for security ..... (all I can say is the US Olympic Team can count their lucky starts that they won't be stuck with Kitty !!)
Well, anyway, it looks like I should just stick with walking as my exercise mode ..... and Kitty should too ( or in her case, I guess she should just drive everywhere!)

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

The vine that took over the chair & some dancing men!

Good morning Blogland Neighbors!! It's another beautiful summer day here in Pa.....bright sunny days and low humidity!! .... and the NIGHTS!!! cool and clear with a BRIGHT full moon!!! I'll be quite happy if that humidity stays far away!! Anyhow, a few days ago I accidently knocked a hydrangea bloom off of the tree, so I put it in a mason jar and set it on this chair on my front porch......
....then a couple of days later ....... "IT" appeared ... "IT" is that vine ( technically I guess it's a weed )......anyhow....

.....it's a rather pushy plant and it has wrapped itself all around the chair back so I decided I better move the hydrangea to higher ground before it gets taken over by the vine! But ya know what? I kind of like the way that vine/weed looks with that chair, so I think I'll leave it that way ..... like they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
Now, let's see .... next on the agenda .......

...DANCING MEN !!!!(if you click on the picture you'll be able to see it better)

.....and what were these guys dancing about???? well, they were thrilled that I finally found this !!......

....the new Fall issue of "Quilts and More" ....featuring 2 great projects that I just love designed by none other than Monica ..... that Happy Zombie ! Monica has designed 2 different styles of tote bags for us ..... one is a nice sized tote with 6, count em SIX outside pockets .... now I don't know about you, but it seems like I went from diaper bags (quite a few years ago) to purses that are equal to or bigger than diaper bags because it seems the men in my life can't seem to hold their own keys, wallets, checkbooks, sunglasses, water bottles, ipods, cameras, and cell phones!..... so, I'm always looking for a cute purse/tote that has plenty of compartments to put all of the paraphernalia that I just can't live without when I leave my house! (now I realize that I should just tell everybody to carry their own crap, but with Monica's pretty and functional tote, I guess I really won't mind being the pack mule !)
Anyhow, Monica's other tote is a pretty alternative to those plastic grocery bags! .... and, actually she says she originally made these as a gift bag to put a finished loaf of Amish Friendship Bread in, along with a jar of the starter batter and the recipe printed on a pretty recipe card. I wish I had thought of that .... being the "no frills " gal that I am (translated as too disorganized to bake the bread AND think of a cute way to wrap it up AND then acutally sew up a tote bag too!).... I just gave out the starter batter in ziploc bags with the recipe printed out on a piece of paper with the dates scratched out a few times .... hmmmmm..... I like Monica's way better!

OK ..... I guess I should tell you who those dancing guys really are .... they are the Kozaks who were appearing at the Ukrainian Folk Festival at the Ukrainian Homestead in Lehighton, Pa this past weekend. They were very entertaining to watch but I'm thinking they're all gonna need total knee replacements in about 15 years!!!!!

Gotta zoom! Be back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Catching the Olympic spirit !!!

Good morning Blogland neighborhood! Have you been watching the Olympics? Kitty and I have been staying up late all this week to watch that amazing Michael Phelps collect gold medal after gold medal .... and then last night we were on the edge of our seats watching Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson get the gold and silver for the good ol' USA in women's gymnastics!!! WOO HOO !!!! Now, a couple of nights ago Kitty and I were intrigued by a sport that is new to us ......


.....synchronized diving .... (excuse that lousy picture .... the MBIAJ photography dept tried to take a picture of the tv.... bunch of amatures!) ....anyhow ...synchronized diving!! I'm thinkin they spied on my friend Suzy and I at the Bungalow Pool in Tamaqua when we invented the synchronized cannonballs off the low diving boards back when we were kids!!(talk about your graceful splashes!)

So, just in case you're wondering .... no, Kitty did NOT win any Olympic medals .... she borrowed Evan's soccer medals and I think one was from the Science Fair (the school colors are red, white and blue because the mascot is "The Olympian" .... Jim Thorpe Olympians .... as in Jim Thorpe the Olympic Athlete ) ....anyhow, Kitty started thinking about all the fame and fortune that goes with being an Olympic athlete/gold medal winner ..... like....

...having your picture show up on BIG greeting cards ....





.....and t-shirts !!!! (Oh BROTHER !!! she's a nightmare as it is ..... just think if that really did happen there would be no living with her!!!)









By the way, that "Kitty" card and t-shirt were a fun surprise from my best pal, Beth .... THANKS BETH!!!!! Kitty and I LOVE them!!! (Beth and I have a significant birthday coming up WAY TOO SOON .... but Beth's birthday is 2 months and 12 days BEFORE mine so even though she sent me a card first she is still OLDER THAN ME !!!!HA!!! Anyhow,.... thanks again Beth and have a fun vacation !!!)

Well, as usual, I would rather get another cup of tea and visit with all of you here in Blogland a bit longer, BUT I must go and try and make my hair look presentable to head out the door for work.....

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Already?!?!?!!!!

Hi there Blogland neighbors! Neighbor Mary Anne reporting live here from Moonbeams headquarters (that would be the computer sitting on the desk in my kitchen). Anyhow, being your friend and neighbor, I feel it's my duty to inform you that (cue theme from "Jaws").......



.......FALL is right around the corner!!!! YEP! I took this picture yesterday afternoon (as in AUGUST 8th !) I couldn't believe it but there it was .... a green leaf turned RED and already fallen from the tree!!!! I LOVE fall, but isn't this a bit PREMATURE?!?!?!?!!!!! .....and, actually , the weather this weekend is feeling a bit fall-like .... I'm even sitting here with my ratty cardigan sweater on... it was in the 50's this morning ! But, sure as I'm bound to start another new quilt project today before finishing any of the other ones, it will be STINKING hot and humid again when school starts in 2 weeks ... always happens!!

Well, as much as I'd like to make another cup of tea and sit and visit with you all a little longer, I've basically piddled away the majority of my morning visiting Blogland already while ignoring my usual Saturday chores ..... which will probably get ignored a little more because, like I said, I've got a bee in my bonnet the past few days that's shaping up to be a quilt idea (maybe) that , so far is scribbled onto the edge of a piece of paper from work and it's bugging me to get it off that edge of a piece of paper and into/onto a piece of fabric .....(besides, I can't hand in that progress note with that doodle on the edge of it ... the hospital I work for may look down on that .... they're such a bunch of party poopers!)

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Mom.....I'm BORED !!!!

Hello Blogland neighbors .... yes, we're into August and the "back to school" countdown begins .... (after all, Walmart has had back to school supplies on their shelves since about the 4th of July, right?). Anyhow, Evan has decided to take a few days off from working for dear old dad in order to , in his words, relax and finally enjoy his summer before he has to 1)start reading that book for the book report that's due on the first day of school (8/27) which , I might add, he's known about since the last day of school in June.... and 2) start soccer "two-a-days" this coming Monday (that's soccer practice from 8-10am and from 4-6pm Monday thru Friday until school starts .... along with the first scrimmage on the 16th and the need for parents to work in the concession stand AND sell 50 raffle tickets .... which the kids are supposed to sell, but somehow it always seems like I'm the one begging the grandparents to buy stuff....)

OK, anyway, it was inevitable that Evan would utter those late summer vacation words...."Mom, I'm bored..." Of course it would NEVER occur to him to maybe READ the book report book .....and he definately didn't want to go back to work,even though brother Matt was working and not available for him to hang out with, and none of his buddies were around yesterday ..... so, Evan announced that he was hungry for cinnamon raisin bread .... HOMEMADE cinnamon raisin bread .... and decided to try and make it ..... at first I begged him not to, knowing the huge mess this would cause, but then I decided I shouldn't hold back the next possible Emeril AND I would be working close enough to home so that I could pop in and out and make sure the house wasn't on fire .......so Evan found a recipe on the internet , asked me a few questions about it and off I went to work ..... when I came home for a quick check, I found....
...3 loaves of bread ready to go in the oven and ....
....Evan staring at the mess on the floor (and those SOCKS!!!.....I'm pretty sure that those socks would NEVER pass inspection in a real commercial kitchen .... at least I hope NOT!!! .... guess I better go buy another vat of Oxiclean!)
So, after I praised his baking skills, I told him to clean up his mess, or there would be no dirtbike race on Sunday ....
......as you can see, he seems to have forgotten his apron AND his shirt .... I think that would definately be looked down upon in a commercial kitchen ... but maybe he's not meant to be a chef .... maybe he's destined to be.....

.....a PLUMBER!!! (he's already got the pants for it!)



Anyway, here's Evan's bread ..... VERY YUMMY!!!!








Well, I must go and clean up Evan's version of cleaning up .... be back soon!

Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)

Oh so easily distracted ..... ( or "Quilt Guilt")

Well hi there Blogland neighbors!!Are you one of those people who can stick with something until they get the job done, OR are you easily distracted ..... swayed by a passing thought that just mushrooms out of control and you get just a TEENSY bit obsessed and OFF COURSE? Well, we can refer to it as attention deficit OR we can refer to it as "following your muse" ... now doesn't that have a nice ring to it?!?! OK, so anyhow....over the past 2 or 3 weeks, I've been trying to stay focused on ...


.....this little stitchery project that I had in my head for about a year (I finally got it from a drawing on a piece of scrap paper to fabric while we were at the shore a couple of weeks ago...) HOWEVER, still being in shore mode when we came home, I couldn't help myself and I dove head first into some fun beachy fabric and started working on ....


....another quilt.....(while Matt's yet to be quilted graduation quilt sits there staring at me with those big "please finish me" eyes) ...and, yes my quilt guilt runneth over !!!)

ANYHOW, yesterday started out dark and thunderstormy, so I decided to treat myself to a few hours of sewing (the heck with the laundry pile, gross bathrooms, piles of dishes in the sinks, and inches of DUST and cat hair all over everything .... the male contingent around here doesn't seem to have a single worry about these things ... so I'm forcing myself to also blissfully ignore all that crap too!!!) anyhow, as I was saying before I got off on yet another tangent ... I decided to sew (with the full intention of working on the above projects) and watch one of my VERY FAVORITE MOVIES ....


..."How to Make an American Quilt"










So, there I am all set up with my movie and my projects when I remembered my McCall's Quilting magazine that came a couple of days ago that I didn't really get a chance to look at yet .... so off I go to get my magazine from the kitchen where I left it .... and I went into slobber mode when I saw the cover !!!!!


(oops, sorry about the glare and lousy picture ... the MBIAJ Photography Dept dropped their camera a few days ago and it's not working at all, so they're using their old camera .... not that they took any better pictures with the new camera ... but they thought this could pass as a handy excuse ... !!)

ANYHOW , back to the quilt on the cover of the magazine .... don't ya just LOVE it?!?!?!!!! Wait, let me open it up to the page it's on....


.....this is Sandy Klop's "Merry-Go-Round" quilt .... and it's a WINNER in my book!!! and looky who made her own version .....Monica .... another WINNER !! OK, so there I am just slobbering all over the picture of this quilt in the magazine and I then recalled that a couple of years (yes YEARS ) ago I saw a crocheted hexagon aphghan in some catalog and I thought that I could do something similar with wool ...so I started rummaging around in the zillions of storage areas (translation ... plastic grocery bags .... which , I know , you're not supposed to store fabric in .... but I leave the bags open so the fabric can get some air and hopefully not rot by the time I get back to that particular brainstorm...) and found the pieces that I finished so far ....

... as you can see, right now this is only big enough to cover somebody's feet (or in Evan's case .... one foot) .... anyhow, it's really easy to make .... just a hexagon shape cut out of wool and another smaller hexagon shape appliqued on it (and also, that little snowflake looking doo dad appliqued in the center) .... then I just butted the pieces up against each other and zig zagged it together (so far I only have the 3 blocks on the left end stitched together .... if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see it better.) Anyhow, seeing Sandy Klop's hexagon quilt and Monica's hexagon quilt in cute cotton fabrics, I , of course, wanted to start one in cotton fabrics, too .... RIGHT NOW! Sandy's instructions include making strip sets , then using a triangle tool to cut 3 triangles from the strip sets for each half of a hexagon. This looks quick, easy and fun .... if you have the triangle tool .... but I don't .... and I had ants in my pants to get started on this quilt so I thought I could just make a hexagon pattern and cut it in half (because Sandy's pattern ingeniously has you sew 3 triangle sets together to make a half hexagon to sew to an adjacent half hexagon to make long rows of half hexagons that eventually get sewn to another row of half hexagons which totally eliminates those pesky "Y" seams!!! BRILLIANT!!!) .... so, why mess with a great idea ... so like I said, I just made a pattern for a half hexagon and another pattern for a smaller half hexagon ....
...I traced the bigger half hexagon onto freezer paper (2 for each fabric)...
...and I traced the smaller half hexagon onto light fusible web (2 for each fabric)
...iron 2 freezer paper half hexagons to the right side of the fabric you want for the larger hexagon and...
....iron 2 fusible web smaller hexagons to the wrong side of the fabric you want for the smaller center hexagon.

....cut out your fabric hexagons from the freezer paper and the fusible web .... fuse one small half hexagon to the center of a large half hexagon .... do this again on a second set of half hexagons...

...next, I machine appliqued the smaller hexagon halves onto the bigger hexagon halves....

....then I followed Sandy Klop's instructions to sew the side of a bottom half of a hexagon to the side of a top half of a neighboring half hexagon ....














....anyhow, after I got it down to a system, it went pretty fast .... so this is what I've got so far ....

....another UNFINISHED QUILT that's what!!!!!....oh well, that's OK ... it was fun to figure out and work on ! (so there piles of stinky laundry and piles of dirty dishes that are still waiting for somebody to clean them up..... you can just wait a little bit longer ... I think I feel another idea coming over me!!)

Be back soon! (I hope ... we still have to switch our email address and I'm hoping that when we do that my blogging fun doesn't get screwed up!)
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)