Vacation continued

I guess all casino's are extra beautiful but this being the first one I've ever been too, I was really impressed. We were on the 94th floor. We had to take 2 elevators to reach our floor.

The outside steps were lit up with red cut glass flowers

The chandeliers that lit the escalators were huge...the sparkle was so bright I had to close my eyes

  Tomorrow I'll try and show you my greatest find in the basement of the Hotel.

Vacation

It's time to let you see some of my vacation. Unfortunately we both came home sick. My son is finally getting better but I'm having trouble this time pulling myself back on my feet. This vacation was GREAT! We could have stayed much longer just to do things we missed and to walk around the Hotel and enjoy it's beauty.

I'll start here......greeted by this fellow

Arriving at the Taj Mahal this was our first site of it

The Lobby...oh my, I can't tell you how beautiful it was. Flowers and glass chandeliers, big and bold and making good use of the colors of India....red and orange. The lobby was like standing in line at a large airport.

 Marble everywhere...walls, floors tables all in beautiful colors.

We'll stop here today. I'm hoping for a serge of strength in the next few days.

A Vacation surprise

It's been years since I've been to the Sea Shore in New Jersey. It was our big vacation when I was a kid and then it was the vacation of choice when my kids were little. My son wanted to surprise me with this vacation and pump it up with staying at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino. I've never been to a Casino and most likely won't give up more then one dollar at this one but people watching is always interesting!  I'm looking forward to all the things I remember before they tore Atlantic City apart. Fudge, cotton candy on a stick, salt water taffy, hot dogs and french fries served in a paper cup and a ride on the Ferris wheel!

Then of course there is the beautiful Hotel I've seen in ads over the years and could never afford the prices. Now that Atlantic City is trying to have a come-back after the closing of many casino's the prices are inviting. But as things go, this vacation is having a surprise my son didn't expect when he booked the rooms. STRIKE

Everyone said they won't do it and who cares any way you're only going to sleep there. No one can take away the beauty and all the photo's you can take. It's on the beach and boardwalk and I can even rent a sand going wheelchair. Well, while thinking that over, they went on strike. Let's hope when I come home all I have to tell you is good....and I didn't have to make my own bed!

So we'll be off on our adventure on Tuesday. Just think of all the calories I'll be eating..Oh, as I remember it the Fudge goes down much too easy!

Confused

I hope this all passes. I am confused and can't remember what I said last. I wrote an email, fell asleep at the computer and woke to the letter H on the screen...now did I send the email or delete it and who did I write it too???  I can take all this sick stuff but it's scary when your mind doesn't work.

When things get too much for me to handle I go shopping and this time I needed out of the house so we headed off to Wal Mart to get medicines filled. It was my day after all. They were marking a cart of fabric's down to $1.00 a yard, not the quilting kind of fabric but the fun stuff you end up making neat things out of. I got yards and yards of red velvet to make a new cover for the train platform and muslin for the liner to make it have some body.

Then the fancy reds and green velvet's for those fancy stockings...maybe some crazy quilting too. Heavy brown and yellow suede that I use for the bottoms on pincushions so they don't slide all over and plastic that will make nice rain coats for American Girl type dolls.

I can never pass up a Goodwill so next was a visit to one in the same parking lot. Always check out the craft section first. Wow...a bag filled with Joann fat quarters and some other cuts of fabric, price...$1.97!

By this time my compression stockings were feeling too tight and I needed to get home where I could put my legs up and go through my bags!  So a day that started out with bad thoughts of what will happen to me if my mind goes ended with thoughts of things I have patterns for in our magical world of sewing and things I can create just from looking at the color and design of the fabric.

Whom ever said sewing was out of fashion hasn't had the thrill of putting their makeup in a bag they made or picking up that hot pot with a pot holder created for them by a friend. I didn't need that $200. an hour counselor after all. The magic of sewing fixed all that was wrong for now...yeah!

Working on the bucket list

I've jumped all over my bucket list. Nothing like taking one step after another. After the flower  garden quit, I moved onto my shower curtain. I've been replacing a lot of things so when I'm gone my son won't be surrounded with pastel flowers and worn out appliances and bedding. I talked him into a new mattress and then we moved onto colors. Since he is working with the military and is waiting for a home on the base, he picked red, white and blue. The first thing was installing a 9 foot flag in the living room and photo's of him, his grandfather and brothers. I can't take photo's of that area right now since it's being washed, painted and of course the train platform is taking up the center and needs to be worked on.

I went to the bath room to start. First I replaced the towels, hand towels and wash cloth's in shades of blue and tan and red. I also replaced the bath mats and a new rubber maid mat for the tub. Now it was onto the shower curtain. I wanted to keep with the colors but wasn't feeling stars flying all over. I found one on Amazon that looked good. It had embroidered flowers on one section and was fancy shiny fabric. Only one problem, the bottom section was not blue. Instead it was dark brown.

I ordered it anyway. Got my son to take me for a trip to Joann fabric and picked up a yard of blue fabric. It didn't take but a little over an hour to have the right color scheme. Now all that is left is finding a soap dish and brush holder.

                                                                                                                                                                     A little too much light in the room. The new blue is not so bright and the red is more a cherry red.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Six years later!

Today I finished one of the quilts. Many mistakes later it is finally done!  About 6 years ago a friend from Russia made a beautiful quilt she called The Flower Garden. She graciously said I could copy the quilt. The last time I worked on the quilt was when I was living in Texas in 2010.

My Amish friends told me not to worry about the mistakes. After a washing they would find a place to hide in the soft folds of the quilt...and they did!

  This is Roolen's beautiful quilt.

And this is mine.

I used points on my quilt.

One more large quilt to finish and then I'm done my life time of quilt making. I'll be doing piles of pot holders, purses and totes that I already have cut out and some lady pin cushion's.

April 9th..Spring??

Spent the past days in Pittsburgh, Pa. at the RA doctor. It poured cats and dogs across the state and back again!  But....this morning rain would seem pleasant compared to what we woke up too...an all day event!

Looks like today will be a day of quilting on one of the quilts and reading my new book, Killing Regan. I don't think I'll need an excuse to take a nap too when it's 28, windy and snow is blowing against a heavy dark sky.

Last week was national crayon day. I've always loved crayons! Getting a box of 64 crayons was always on my list of things I wanted. When my boys would empty their school bags on the last day of school every June, the crayons that were in good shape went into a tin can. Over the years I managed to gather 2 cans of crayons which eventually the grandchildren used up one can. I still have one can. I noticed many of the crayons were pink or from the pink family...laughing...with 4 boys pink crayons were just not used to color GI Joe or Ninja turtles!

I've just decided, as I sit here, to take advantage of the winter's last stand. I'm going to get dressed warm and take a stroll in the yard and look and see if the blue birds are in their house staying warm.