Hashtag this

I asked a question on facebook this morning and started something.. again.  Simple question, “what’s with all the ‪#‎s?”  I added I didn’t want sarcastic replies, but got a few anyway, and expected it. 

SO.. after my hashtag lesson I think I have it down.  If you have something important that you want to be able to find again, you hashtag it.  Then it goes to your tweet account and any social networking account you might have. 

Say YOU wanted to share this post with all your friends, you could hashtag Marge’sStupid#post and it would go where you want it to go.  That would link (like in linkedin?) to them all at the same time. 

All what, DON’T ask me, I do facebook and that’s all.  Well facebook and quilting and very little housework.  I mean come on people, life is too short for all this stuff.  You read or write something important so you hashtag it so it goes on all your social networks and then you share it so it stays on your facebook page and of course you have to pin it somewhere too so you can find it pinned along with the hundreds of other things you’ve pinned. 

And Carol asked if I knew about vine..  I followed my son’s advice and googled it.  VINE is either “Victim Information and Notification Everyday” or “Vine app allows users to create a short video clip up to six seconds long while recording through Vine's in app camera.”  Or it is “A weak-stemmed plant that derives its support from climbing, twining, or creeping along a surface.”  I think I’ll leave it at that… 

OH and for the record, I don’t hashtag or tweet or link or vine whatever that is.  I don’t pin either although I am pinned several thousand times. 

Update time again

If you are new to this blog, welcome.  If you are not new, it’s Update time again!  The first (or last) of each month I update my web pages and let the www know what changed here in the blog and in facebook. 
This year rather than a block of the month, I’m sharing projects each month, related to a project done in a year of my quilting history.  This month’s year is 2003 and the project I’m sharing is Folk Art Hearts  It's one of my favorites from that year. 

More finishes

At the Spring Retreat this year I started a project.. I had two bolts of flannel I planned to make baby quilt with for Bob’s Blankie Brigade.  At the retreat I did a lot of learning, along with some whining, griping, probably some under the breath cursing too… I have never used flannel before and …
well…
I don’t like it.  Or else it doesn’t like me, LOL! 

At the retreat I finished five and started another one, and had pieces cut for yet another one, AND had what seemed like a whole bunch more flannel. Yesterday I got it all out and finished that sixth quilt, and made three more. 

I’m declaring the flannel a done deal and have nine charity quilts, seven for Bob’s and two for someone else. And I am done with flannel… forever and ever and ever… no more flannel for me!

 

A finish!

Happy to say I finished another quilt, this was one of last year’s retreat samples. 

Island Punch log cabin, off set on purpose. (about 56 inches square)

I’m selling this one and it will go to the best offer.  It was made with just forty 2 1/2 inch strips.  Cost to make this was about $105 including the fabric (front and back) and the quilting. 

If you would like to make me an offer, leave a comment.  (As of 9:30 AM 7/27/13 I have a $150 offer.)  I will accept offers through Monday morning. 

My stash

The Curious Quilter asked  "When you look back at your stash, does it lean towards one side of the color wheel? Do you have three batiks for every one calico, or no batiks but a super-selection of large-scale florals? No modern fabrics but lots of vintage and reproductions? Or is your stash all about balance?"

Let’s take this one question at a time…  When you look back at your stash, does it lean towards one side of the color wheel?  Well honestly I had to get my color wheel to determine the answer to that, and it’s no.  But there sure are some empty spaces on my stash color wheel.  I have zero pinks and my yellow stash is pretty low right now.  Otherwise, my stash is all over that wheel! 

Do you have three batiks for every one calico, or no batiks but a super-selection of large-scale florals?   I probably have equal calico and batiks right now… and I wonder how that happened?  And I have no large-scale florals at all, not one.

No modern fabrics but lots of vintage and reproductions? Or is your stash all about balance?  I have modern fabrics and I have vintage and I have reproductions… isn’t that balance? 

 

Really?

I just had a startling realization… for months I’ve been getting mail about signing up for medicare. All kinds of companies seem to think that I’m closer to medicare age than I think I am.

Yesterday I got an “official” letter from medicare itself.

Wait, I’m not old enough for that yet. I still have years to go.

I’m only… wait… how old am I?

Uh … hmmm… Oh crap!

 

I goofed somewhere...

Do you know what happens when you don’t sew constantly?  Do you know what happens when there are long periods of time between step 12 and 13?  You lose your chain of thought, that’s what. 

I made a top, love it.  Needed borders.  I decided to do piano key borders.  Measured sides, calculated and discovered I didn’t have enough scraps for a piano key border.  So I decided to do just squares, that way I could use pieces that were slightly smaller. 

Measured again.  Made squares from all the scraps I could find, and some that weren’t in the quilt to start with, but that went with it.  Measured again.  Counted again.  Was pretty sure I had enough. 

Two weeks or more later I added the inner borders. 

Then I added the outer, square block border.  I had square blocks on all four sides.  And I had leftovers, a lot of leftovers.  So I added another round of square blocks.  And there were still leftovers.  So I added another round of square blocks. 

Are you counting?  That’s three square block borders.  And guess what… I still had leftovers.  Not enough for all four sides, but enough to add another row of square blocks to each side. 

Me thinks me counted wrong.  Or measured wrong… or something. 

I went on an adventure…

Well it was an adventure for someone who hasn’t left the house for a whole month. Unless you count my visit to the ER and follow up at the Doctor’s office a few days later that is.  And this wasn’t a new adventure, but it felt like one, getting out of the house after being inside for so long.  Actually it was a fun adventure and I’m glad I went. 

We went upstate to visit someone in the hospital, well John visited someone in the hospital.  I went to Jon and Steph’s and visited them instead.  I had a request to bring the sewing machine, and I did, and we put it to use too.  They’d bought sheer curtains for the kitchen which went all the way to the floor, and you certainly don’t need curtains going to the floor in the kitchen.  So I hemmed five panels and made a window valance and café curtains from what I cut off. 

Of course we talked the whole time I sewed, catching up on things in their lives.  And of course we went out to eat after John got back, he was hungry. 

My sister-in-law Pat took this of the storm we drove through on our way home. 

We left after dark and had a light show half the way home.  It was pretty and spooky too.  Fortunately just a lot of rain for about a tem mile stretch, then dry the rest of the way home. 

Question

Question of the day… when it is hotter than H-E-Doublehockeysticks outside, do you still sew?

I know we have air-conditioning, but when it’s this hot I just don’t feel like it. 

Our baby dove

I was back in the office and John yells at me to grab the camera and hurry.  So I grabbed my little camera and went out on the back porch where he was looking out the window.  There were two doves making a big fuss, and behind them, sitting on my antique sewing machine, a baby dove.  He looked quite content just sitting there watching the other two, not a care in the world.  He was much smaller than the other two and the wispy feathers told me he was a baby.

What was odd was that he just sat there. When the other two noticed us watching, they quickly took off.  The little one just looked at us but didn’t seem afraid even when I opened up the back door to snap a few pictures.  I told John he probably had an unsuccessful first flight and wasn’t going to try it again.  Later who I was assumed was Momma Dove came back and sat down next to him.

I kept checking until I went to bed around ten, and he was still there.  And he was still there early this morning when we went out at 7AM.  He’d moved from the sewing machine to the deck and fortunately was sitting in the shade.  (We’re in the middle of a extreme heat wave right now) 

When I checked on him a little before 11 he’d moved up to the bench, which means he flew a little.  He had to have flown up there, no other way.  And either Mom or Dad was up there keeping him company.  I love how he’s so nicely lined up in the shade of the railing.

 

 About twenty minutes later I heard a bang on the window, and was afraid to look.  Apparently he’d tried that flying again and didn’t get too far before the house got in his way.  But he didn’t look hurt, and he was in the shade still. 

 I went out to peek again around 1 when I could hear cooing coming from the back.  One adult (Dad I assume) was sitting in the grass calling to the baby and Mom was up on the deck sitting next to him.  I took this photo from a distance so not to scare them. 

Next time I looked, no doves on the deck, no doves near the house at all.  But… there  he was, hopping, skipping and kind of flying once in a while towards the trees in the back yard.  I watched him flutter his way to the safety of the trees, hopefully where he will recover from his first and second and third flight…. I wonder if he’ll ever come near the house again… 

I kind of miss him... (You can click on the pictures to make them larger)

Hummer photos

I’ve been taking pictures of hummingbirds and posting them on facebook a lot recently.  One of my friends asked me how I was getting such great pictures.  I had to confess to her, and now to everyone else… 

When you aren’t feeling well and can’t do a lot, you sit in your recliner with your feet up, it really helps you feel a little better.. at least more relaxed.  And when you sit in your recliner for such long periods of time, you get bored.  So you read books, play games and watch what’s happening outside in the world.

Outside my window are two hummingbird feeders, and I love watching them.  This year I set up my good camera on a tripod and snapped photos as they flutter around the feeders.  The camera has a remote shutter which I use so I don’t have to move and startle the birds, and I credit that for most of the good shots I’ve gotten. 

It’s been fun, but I’d rather be sewing… 

Not doing nothin’

And that’s the truth.  I can’t blame it on the heat… well I could but I’m only going out for a minute at a time.  The only reason I have for going out is to fill the hummingbird feeders. 

Although today I had to go to the Doctor’s office.  I made it a double duty outing, went through drive through at the bank and then to the Docs.  The meds that the ER Doc put me on is making me nauseous and dizzy… ok dizzier. 

And that is why I am not doing nothing… too dizzy to sew, or read, or much of anything really.  Fortunately the Doc said that my toe is healing nicely and I can go off the antibiotic a week early… so I’ll only be dizzier until Saturday, then I’ll go back to being just plain dizzy again. 

Admitted klutz

On Tuesday night I trimmed my toenails.  I hate when I slide my feet under the sheets and I feel nails scraping which happened so I got up and trimmed them, then filed them neatly and went back to bed. 

Wednesday morning one of my toes was a little red, but it didn’t hurt.  I washed it off carefully and forgot about it, until I noticed it later in the day because it was a lot red.  So I soaked it in hot water and put some Neosporin on it.  Next day it was still red, repeated same and again on Friday. 

Then around 4 Friday afternoon my whole foot started feeling funny… no not funny, strange.  It didn’t hurt, but if just felt odd, and when I touched it, it was quite hot.  And then my leg started feeling strange too.  Of course none of this happened when my Doctor’s office was open.. and of course people had been telling me horror stories of toes being infected and what that means and my foot was going to fall off and more… so I made John take me to the ER. 

I’m not going to tell you what happened, it was too painful but I’m such a wimp anymore when it comes to pain.  I’ll just tell you it involved knives and red stuff… and antibiotics.  Sounds real serious but it isn’t, honest.  As I said before I’m just a wimp when it comes to pain, I just can’t tolerate it any more.   

Of course it’s my right foot and I tried sewing left-footed... can you say klutz? 

Desperate

You know I’m desperate when I’m digging through my batik scraps with a 2 1/2 inch square in my hand looking for any that coordinate, match or even slightly go with….

Just a few (80 or so) 2 1/2 inch squares short for the border. Sigh…..

Update, Digging paid off, I have enough for the borders!  YIPPEE!!

Yes I am sewing

Kathy and Sandy wanted to know if I’d gotten back to sewing again..  I sure am, remember I showed a finish last weekend, LOL!  But not only am I sewing by hand (which I hate by the way), I am sewing a brand new I hope quilt design.  It’s brand new to me and I haven’t seen anything like it on line, but that doesn’t mean some other clever quilter hasn’t come up with the same idea. 

I will reveal the quilt as soon as I have a completed top, and will be sharing the pattern with the fall retreaters and the Mysteries For Relay group this fall.  After the retreats are over I will add the pattern to my Patterns For Relay page. 

I personally LOVE my quilt and intend to make a second one, just so I can be sure it’s the design I like and not just the fabrics.  Sometimes it is the fabrics that makes the quilt, and not necessarily the pattern.  You can sew four beautiful fabrics together in a giant four patch and it will be lovely, but not so much a great pattern. 

 

Summer camp

My nieces are posting stories of their children heading off to summer camp and it has brought back many memories for me.  They aren’t all good memories, but regardless they are once again fresh in my mind.

To me summer camp was a part of summer.  I was in foster care during school, but most of the summer lived with my Grandmother.  That was no way a hardship for me as my Grandmother lived at the beach.  My normal routine was to get up and have breakfast, then make my bed, change into my swim suit and head off to the beach.  I knew I had to be home and changed into something proper before the church bells chimed at 6 or I would be in trouble, and I usually was.  (Usually was home and not in trouble!)

When I wasn’t at my Grandmother’s at the beach I was in summer camp.  Now I know I enjoyed summer camp, and I appreciated being there most of the time.  I even had to “work” to get to one of them, learning bible verses etc, but it was worth it.  One camp was close to where we lived, but there was never anyone I knew from school there.  I had to make all new friends, which back then wasn’t hard for me. 

The second camp was pretty far away, several hours by car and even longer if my Grandmother was driving.  We got lost going there every year for about three years, no GPS back then.  This camp was very special, in the Poconos and away from civilization which included city lights.  I think it was there I saw my first shooting stars, from the top of a hill in the darkness… we were told to lie on our backs and look up.. odd but we did as instructed and were rewarded with a meteor shower which lasted for hours (past curfew but it was OK that night) 

It was at that camp I started to realize I was different than most girls, I didn’t care what I wore and I certainly wasn’t into boys…. Well not at the beginning of camp but I seem to remember I was deeply in like by the end of one summer…   It was there I learned how to dive properly and not just do belly flops.  And it was there I broke my two front teeth and smashed my face on the bottom of the pool when I did a perfect dive off the board… I forgot to break and hit the bottom face first.  FYI, it was the lifeguard who was resuscitating me who I had the big crush on… wonder why?

Groove In G | Weekend Report

I did as I said I would pretty much, stayed in the house away from the heat and the traffic. I sewed both by machine and hand and had one finish as reported. Company ended up staying elsewhere, someplace it was “more fun”. Can’t say that I blame them, it’s always more fun with friends. We did get a short visit when they stopped by on their way home to Maryland. They brought us a yummy lunch too. It was a short but sweet visit.

Today was catch up day, running the errands I put off last week because of the holiday. I went to the post office, bank and mail center to get rid of pins, money and quilts. It’s good getting that all done so early in the week, now I can concentrate on other things this week.

I wanted to share this with you all, “a global jam with its roots in the blues”. Not my most favorite kind of music, but this sings to my soul. I hope you enjoy it also.

 

A Finish!

I interrupt this weekend off to announce I have a finish!  Big deal for me, first finish since February and only the 4th one for the year!  But I decided since the year was half gone I needed to have some finishes, so that’s what I’m working on.

This quilt is a collaboration of two Marges, one made the blocks and the other put it together, had it quilted and put the binding on.  For that reason its name is 2 Marge’s Bricks and Blocks. 

I will either sell this one for Relay and/or donate it to charity if no one buys it within a reasonable time.  (Quilt is already SOLD!!)

Happy Birthday USA

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to us tomorrow.  Whatever you do, be safe and have a good time!  I will be taking the weekend off to spend time with my family. 

I’m losing it

The other day I was getting together some quilts to mail off to a quilter, smaller quilts which will probably be used for charity.  I was positive I had three to send her.  But I could only find two.  So I opened my trusty list of quilts, and yes, I had three quilts listed ready to send to quilter.

But here’s the thing, one of those quilts I didn’t remember.  I had NO idea what it was or where it was.  If it was on my list I had to have made it, and it said “ready to go to quilter” but what and where was it.  More confusing was the name, “Marge's orphan Batik squares”. 

Note here… when it says Marge’s, that doesn’t mean me, well not totally.  My friend Marge sends me orphan blocks quite often, which I greatly appreciate.  I love putting them together into quilt for charity.  But these I didn’t remember, not at all, not even one tiny little bit.

Another thing I do to keep track of my quilts is to take photos.  I have a folder called My Quilts and in that folder is almost every quilt I’ve ever made, been given, won or purchased.  But there wasn’t a “Marge's orphan Batik squares” in the picture folder. 

Next thing to do is go through the baskets and bins in the office, where I keep stuff I am working on or have plans to work on soon.  No “Marge's orphan Batik squares”.  I was just about ready to call Marge when a piece of fabric caught my eye, it had fallen behind a small cabinet right inside the office door.  I remembered the fabric, I used it in one of Jonathon’s quilts and I was pretty sure that was the left over piece from that.  And it was sewn together into a backing for… yep… for “Marge's orphan Batik squares” which was neatly folded inside.

And there was a picture of it but with a different name.  That’s been corrected, and I am working on my list to make sure everything is named and numbered correctly so I don’t have this problem ever again… my old gray cells need all the help they can get. 

SO, as an effort to correct future possible memory lapses I am triple checking my lists, excel and photo.  I decided to add to the spreadsheet who quilted each quilt, or at least everyone I can remember.  I do have a folder of letters and emails to the quilters, so I have those to use as reference.   However… there are quilts listed on the letters that I don’t remember and don’t have photos of but I know I must have made them, why would I pay for getting them quilted if I didn’t? 

And my favorite quilter, no records at all, I just dropped them off at her house and picked them up… shame on me for not keeping track. 

I may never get this figured out!

Half a year

Half the year is gone and what do I have to show for it.  I started the year with 41 UFOs and ended June with 44.  I’ve finished three of the original 41, but started and haven’t finished six new quilts. 

I have four quilts at the quilter’s, and five more ready to take/send to quilters.  Four need binding, JUST binding, which should be finished and then taken off the list.  17 on the list need quilting, I’d need to win the lottery to pay for all of them.  Seven have “some blocks done”… I wonder how many are “some” and if I have the fabrics for the rest of them. 

I really should get to those UFOs, but…  I have three new projects I need to make, possible retreat projects and/or future mysteries.  All three have all the fabrics, including the backings, packaged in plastic baggies waiting to be used.  And I have one new project I created in EQ over the weekend, one I’d love to try while it’s still fresh in my memory bank.