Christmas Tree Skirt...My Latest Project (Tuesday, August 29th, 2017)

I have been working on a Christmas tree skirt for our oldest daughter and her husband for about a year and a half now.  I'm not a very creative person, so I stick to things with patterns rather than trying to freestyle anything. 

Our daughter picked out this cross stitch pattern back in early 2016. I was hoping to finish it for them by Christmas of that same year, but I had definitely under estimated how much time it would take to finish the cross stitch portion it.

Cross stitch is done using a series of x's and straight stitches to make a pattern.  I believe that in this particular cross stitch that there were 256 stitches per square inch!  I didn't think to take pictures as I worked on it, but here is a close up of the stitches to give you an idea of how it's done.  When all of the stitches are done, you go back and outline using straight stitches, which is what really makes the finished product pop!

Once I finished the cross stitch itself, to had to turn it into a Christmas tree skirt.  To do this, you find the center of the cross stitch fabric, and using a string, mark an arc around half the perimeter of the cloth with pins.  Then fold the fabric in half and cut along the pins.







When you're done cutting you have a perfect circle.

I bought a light weight silver material for the lining.  I wasn't sure how my Sailrite sewing machine would handle it since it is a very heavy duty machine.  But here I go cutting it out.  Let's hope it works!

  

Once I had both pieces cut out for the Christmas tree skirt, I measured the perimeter and bought a trim that I thought would look good with the stitching.  When you put something like this together, you have to do it all backwards.  The outsides face each other, and the trim goes inside out between them.  That way when you turn it inside out, it looks the way you want it to.

Then you sew it all up, inside out.  It's not easy.  You have to watch the trim carefully to make sure that the bottom of it is getting sewn in, but that the tassels don't get sewn into your seam.

I think the finished product was well worth my year and a half of work, plus it was a lot of fun doing it!

I gave them their Christmas tree skirt when we were in Colorado this month, so they will have it for their tree this year.  Maybe I can get them to send me a picture of it in their house.  

My Sailrite machine handled the light weight fabric beautifully!  I really can't believe what that machine is capable of!

Now I'll have to figure out what my next project will be!  

Sometimes Life Hurts (Friday, August 25th, 2017)

We've been back in Arizona for a couple of days now, unloading, cleaning and putting away.  We thought we would be getting back to life as normal, but that isn't quite the case.  

Along with all of the joys of life, there also comes hurt and tragedy and unfortunately today we were given the news of both of those things.  On Monday night, after we left the cabin, Steve's mom fell and broke her arm, near her shoulder.  She's getting to the age where healing doesn't happen that quickly, and can be a long drawn out process.  Fortunately her break won't require surgery (we are hoping!), but it's still quite serious and she will be in a sling for the next six weeks or more until she is all healed up.  

We also received news that Steve's cousin's little girl has had a relapse in her cancer.  She fought it hard the first time and after three years went into remission.  She has enjoyed life without cancer for awhile now and was just given the news that it has returned.  I can't image going through chemo and all that comes with it as an adult, but I truly don't understand how a child can be asked to go through it...twice.  

Life certainly has it's moments when we have to stop and count our blessing and pray for those who are going through things that we can't understand.

In Search of the Adventure (Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017)

As soon as the eclipse was over, we packed up our stuff and headed toward Arizona.  There was a lot of traffic associated with the eclipse and we didn't want to be stuck in it, especially considering that we had 1,000 miles to drive.  We stayed the night at a rest stop just north of Las Vegas, NM and then hit the road again this morning.

Steve wanted some RZR parts, so our plan was to stop in Albuquerque, NM and pick them up on our way through, saving the cost of shipping and to see the people that we had met a year ago that sell the parts we wanted. 

ISOTA (In Search of the Adventure) is a small company, owned and operated by David and Lael Smith, that manufactures and distributes parts for side-by-sides. They are both super nice people and really work hard to be sure their customers receive top-self service, which we definitely did.  They had several things that we wanted, so we were excited to stop and see them. Their parts are incredibly well made, which is something that just makes Steve smile!  

During one of our mountain rides this summer, see 100 Mile Trail Ride (Sunday, July 9th, 2017), We got a little bit lost (just a bit) in the Hualapai Mountains, and a couple of the drivers almost ran out of gas before we made it back.  That was the point where Steve decided that he will always carry extra gas with us even if we don't think it's going to be a long ride.  But carrying extra gas can be tricky too, and definitely needs to be done safely, so while we were still in Colorado, he contacted David and Lael to see if they had their cargo beds and gas holders.  

And of course they did, so they became one of our planned stops on the way home.

As we were getting close to Albuquerque we called Lael and she gave us an address where we would meet her.  It ended up being the office where David has his "day" job. 

We all talked for a few minutes, exchanged parts and money and then we got back on our way to Havasu.  Super easy!!!

In addition to what we had ordered, they gave us a bunch of nice swag, so we will definitely be promoting their company every chance we get!

They are such nice people so it was fun to stop and see them.  We can't wait to get home and try out our new stuff!

About a week later, we had the chance to install some of our new parts.  It was super easy to install!  But 115 degrees today, and the garage is even hotter.  Wow it was hot!

The ISOTA mounting plate for the Rotopax gas cans...

Here it is with the two gallon gas cans attached.  They'll fit right behind the back seats, although we won't use it that way since we have the storage bin (pictures coming soon).

A Solar Eclipse (Monday, August 21st, 2017)

We were supposed to be heading back to Arizona by now, but Steve's brother and his wife decided to have an eclipse party at the cabin which is very close (96.1%) to the path of the full solar eclipse so we decided we had to stay and see this spectacular event.  
They had purchased eclipse glasses on Amazon, but just days before the event, Amazon put out a notice that some of the glasses they sold were not certified and therefore should not be used.  So Cyndi and Nancy called Nancy's son who is an optometric engineer to see if there was a way to test the glasses to see if they were dark enough for the eclipse.  They came back as not dark enough, so he gave us a UV protective file to add to the inside of them to bring them up to snuff.  Yeah, he saved our solar eclipse!

So we all put on our glasses and went out to enjoy the solar eclipse.

For picture taking, I decided to use a welding mask with the UV protective film inside.  It turned the sun and sky green, but it allowed me to take pictures without hurting my eyes or the camera. This was my practice picture before the eclipse stated.

In true party fashion, there were all kinds of munchies for the event.







When the eclipse started, we were all ready, even the dogs.





It was really fun to be able to watch the actual eclipse for the first time, using our approved glasses.

In the past, eclipses had to be viewed through a pinhole, shining through onto a  white background. Of course, that way still works.

But one of the phenomenons that we didn't realize would happen is that all of the shadows had the shape of the eclipse as well.

The shadow of an aspen tree.

The shadow of a pine tree.

The shadow of the wholes in my hat.

During the eclipse, the temperature dropped about 8 degrees, and it got dark enough that the automatic lights on the shed came on.

It was so nice of Dennis and Cyndi to throw this party, and we are so glad we were able to stay and see it and document it.  Thanks for a great eclipse party!

Golfing at Stoney Creek (Tuesday, August 15th, 2017)

We have not had much golfing time since we have been in Colorado, in fact, we haven't played a single game!  That is a problem.  I can't image how bad I am going to be when I finally get out there to try again.

So today Steve made us a tee time at a little course in Westminster, CO.  It is a short 9 hole course in what used to be a farm.  The pro shop is a converted farm house, the course still has all of the irrigation ditches running through it and from most of the holes you can see cows grazing in the background.

The driving range is very nice.

We thought this would be a nice easy course for two beginners that have taken way too much time off.  

But what we didn't realize is that there is a lot of long grass on this course!  We aren't use to long grass.  

We were able to lose a lot of balls, but as we were looking for them, we realized that other people have lost a lot of balls in the long grass too.   In order to play 18 holes, we had to replay the nine holes again, but we loved the course so much that we played it again a few days later.  It was just nice and laid back.  No rush, no fuss.  It was very nice golfing!