Update time

It’s Pinwheel month on Delaware Quilts.  I’ve added several new pinwheel blocks and variations, and updated several more block pages.  Check the updates at DelawareQuilts/BOMs 

 

Still sewing

Just need 576 of these, over 3/4s done, more tomorrow.  

Today’s funny

I stopped at a local farm stand while out running errands today, good stuff at great prices.  I purchased 5 fresh juicy peaches, yummmm.  When I got home I found only one in the bag.  One was next to the bag on the floor, and the other three….

One was under the car seat on my (drivers) side.  Since I was in the garage and couldn’t get to the other side, I didn’t see the other two. 

I pulled the car out of the garage, walked around and opened up the back door.  I looked under the seat and found one.  Still missing one.

So I looked way under the seat, no peach.  I put my hand under and felt around, surely it had to be there somewhere.  Wait… what’s this, up under the seat stuck in the springs… yep the missing peach.  And not bruised or smushed or anything. 

Was talking to the peach, telling it how happy I was that it didn’t get hurt, stood up, and a man and lady were standing behind my car… wanted to ask me questions about the house next door which is for sale… and boy were they giving me strange looks. 

I explained and they laughed and he asked me a few questions… the wife kept giggling.  

I think they’d make nice neighbors, especially her!  

 

Sewing progress

This becomes 

this 

which becomes this 

which eventually..

well you'll just have to wait and see.  

My week

Bet you thought I’d do better after losing internet for almost three days, sorry if I let you down.  Actually it’s just been a busy week.  I’m working on a project I started a while back…  November 7, 2012 to be exact.  At that time I started what I thought would be another Scrappy Trips from Quiltville.  However I didn’t like it when I laid it out on the bed so I put it aside.  In March this year I decided to take them apart and do something else with them, but didn’t really know what that something was.  

In May  I decided what I wanted to do with them for sure, but needed some fabric to finish them.  That fabric took forever getting here, well too long to start before my surgery anyway, so the project kind of sat there a little longer. 

Earlier this week I decided, since I didn’t have internet I might as well sew, so I started cutting up the fabrics I needed for the last part of the quilt… 576 little four-patches.  I’ve been cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing and cutting and sewing and I’m still not finished, not even half way yet… 

I’m not starting anything else until this one is done…

Wonder how many times have I said that before? 

 

I’m back!

Miracles of miracles, the repair man came early, real early if you consider that my original date of service was August 4th. 

This morning while I was sewing… you know, that thing you do when you are not on line, watching TV or yacking on the telephone, my cell phone rang.  It was Bob from Mediacom and he asked what was the problem.  I said I had no service, nothing at all.  Two minutes later he called again and asked me to turn on the TV… TWO minutes and it was all fixed. 

He came in the house to make sure everything was working, and it was, and I thanked him a hundred times.  He laughed and said it was an easy fix, someone had cut our line somehow, most likely the line men working in the neighborhood. (get it?) 

So I checked voice mail, only eleven calls (Cindy I will call you back shortly).  Checked email, only a few hundred, and I think I’ve replied to all as needed.   And facebook… only there is too much to try to catch up on here, but I do see a few recipes I might save for later.

Now what am I going to do… go back to sewing that’s what! 

 

A few things you may not know….

When you are totally digital and something goes wrong, you lose all contracts with the outside world.  I know this for a fact because it has happened to us.  When I got home from an appointment yesterday we had no internet, TV or telephone.  And since I live in a dead zone and have very poor cell service, I might as well not have a cell phone as backup. 

What do you do?  First you pick up the phone to call the cable company… only you don’t have a phone anymore.  So you call them on your cell phone, and after pushing ten buttons and finally get to a person….. you move your arm and lose the call.  So you call them again from the back yard where you have two bars instead of one and push same ten buttons again and get a different person and start all over again. 

As that person is writing up your service call she explains they will call us to tell let us know when they are coming.  I say they can’t call because I don’t have a phone.  “Can we call your cell phone”, and I explain the dead zone thing and tell her they can leave a message, and when I leave the house I will get the message, or if the gods smile nicely on us that message might come in sometime in the middle of the night.  Maybe. 

So she sets up a service call for the next available date….  August 4th.  “WHAT?” I exclaim, and she says she will see if she can change that and will call us and let us know.  I remind her to call my cell phone and leave a message.  She tells me she has written on my service call to call customers cell #, reads it back to me, and then reads customer has poor cell reception, leave a message. 

I go about my day… need to find somewhere that has Wi-Fi so I can check email since it is retreat payment time and someone might need to know their balance… other than that I don’t really need internet, I can survive.  I open up my lap top to check where locally I can find internet and… no internet.  Well I’ll call around a few places… no phone. 

I read till John gets home for the night, and he informs me that since we have no internet he has to go back to work to finish something important.  So we eat, and he goes back to work….. no hubby. 

I finish my book and go to read the next one in the series, which hasn’t downloaded onto my Kindle yet.  I start a different book.  

This morning I decided to go to McDonald's but from the cars in parking lot, probably too noisy, so I head to the library... which didn't open for another half hour, but I waited.  I need Wi-Fi! 

And a PS…  while here in the Wi-Fi world I check phone messages, and the cable company has called the house phone which doesn’t work and which they should know and left a message that a repair man would call us Wednesday to set up an appointment for some time that day.  

Bridal shower....

Yesterday my daughter-in-law Kelly and I hosted a bridal shower for my almost daughter-in-law Steph.  It was a fun shower thanks to all the games Kelly came up with, and it looked festive thanks to all the decorations Kelly brought with her, and the food was great thanks to the Greene Turtle kitchen…. Actually I’m not sure what I did… Oh yea, I brought the balloons.  But what was most important to me was accomplished, Steph had a good time. 

Thanks to everyone who came and helped make that happen, and a BIG thanks to Kelly, I honestly could not have done it without you.  

 

Done

Kitchen floor mopped!  Finally.... aren't you proud of me?  Only took four days...
 

Two days later…

What can I say, I’m just meandering and getting things done, but not that kitchen floor yet.

I got up my almost typical time of 7:30 this AM and went right out the door… well I did get dressed first.  I had an errand to run, took care of that and stopped at the store to pick up a few things for the weekend.  I wished I didn’t have that errand since it was nice and cool out this AM and it would have been a good morning to work on that garden.  But… 

When I got home at 9 I had to check in on line and now an hour and a half later I’m ready to get to work.  I will mop that kitchen floor today… might even do it now just to get it over with.  Maybe… 
maybe not…
time will tell. 

A typical day in the life of…

I get up in the morning about 7:30 and make my cup of coffee and then sit down to read email and catch up.  After about an hour I get up to go to the bathroom to start my day.  (Wait, how did it get to be 10:00 already?)  In the bathroom I notice the mop and bucket, put there to remind me to mop the kitchen floor.  I get my shower and get dressed and get a text message to check email for an important question.  (Since I’m hosting a mystery and this person is a member of the mystery group I assume the question is about the mystery) 

After answering her question I check email again, might as well since I am on line, right?  Then I get up to go back in the bathroom but take a detour when I notice the hummer feeder is empty.  I make a batch of nectar and go out to fill the front feeder and break it…  So I have to go to the garage and find the spare feeders, last one.  I fill that and put it out and then come in to see how much Amazon is selling the kind I like for.  Hour later I have to “go” and again notice the mop and bucket. 

However as I finish my business I hear the phone ringing (no I don’t take it in there with me).  I rush back in the LR to answer, but that person has hung up, so I call her back.  She asks me if I have a certain fabric, and I think I do, and I tell her I’ll check and call her back.  I go upstairs to the un-air-conditioned room where my fabrics are hidden stored and look.  I find every pink Aunt Grace BUT the one she needs, sorry Kathy.  Then I think of another place I have Aunt Graces, so I look and there is a little less than a FQ which is enough, so I call her back with the good news.  Then I put that in an envelope and rush out to the mailbox. 

Since it isn’t raining and I wanted pictures of my Stargazers while they are still fresh I take a few photos.  After walking the whole yard snapping pictures I come in, and post two to the blog.  Of course I check email while on, but nothing, good.  

While out I noticed the grass is over taking the front garden again, so I go back outside and do some work in there, until my back and head are screaming at me.  I listen to them and come inside, and go straight to the shower… again… and guess what, that mop and bucket are STILL sitting in there. 

I come out of the shower and go in the bedroom for clean clothes, get dressed and then decide I should throw in some laundry.  While sorting I find a receipt I’m sure I haven’t recorded, so I come in to the lap top check… no it wasn’t recorded, I take care of it.  While there, I might as well check email again.  Good thing, another important question that needed to be answered.  That’s all taken care of and I …. Wait what was I doing.  OH yea, laundry.  So I throw in load one and then notice a strange car in my driveway.  Man gets out and comes to the door… I will not answer the door since he’s most likely a salesman, but he doesn’t knock, gets back in the car and drives away.  I look outside on the stoop, he was delivering the new phone books. 

As I am putting it away I notice there’s a pretty big stack of phone books so I go through them.  I toss any older than this year, which fills the recycle bin… there was other stuff in there before I started… so I take it outside.  When I come back in I say to myself what else can I get rid of, and open up another cabinet, tossing stuff we haven’t used and most likely will never use again in a box.  I go in garage and hide put box in my car to take to thrift shop next time I’m out and I find a package of toilet paper I bought a few days ago.  I bring that in and put it in the bathroom closet and notice the mop and bucket …. 

And walk out.

I’ve done enough today and I have a good book to read! 

Whoops

How come I keep forgetting to blog?  What has happened that this important part of me has slipped from my daily routine… I wish I knew. 

However, I honestly have nothing to say right now, LOL!  I’m keeping busy, doing lots of nothing and enjoying every day.  We’ve had more rain, lots more, and things are pretty soggy out there.  I haven’t seen Chuckie and family this week, guess they are hiding from the rain too.  My flowers are blooming away, but it’s too went to go out and take pictures… I really want to show off my lovely Stargazer lily, it must have six blossoms on it.  Maybe if the rain lets up I’ll dash out and get one, if the rain ever lets up that is. 

And the latest mystery will conclude tomorrow, I sure hope everyone likes it.  I plan to make this one myself as a wedding gift for a special couple… as soon as I can get the fabrics I need.  In the meantime there are 42 other quilts I could be working on… if I wanted to…  

Rain let up so I ran out and took a few pictures.  

I wish you could smell them, oh so lovely

Rain anyone?

I know there are parts of the world that desperately need rain, so I almost hate saying this....  we got rain yesterday, lots of rain, four inches to be exact.  A cell got hung up over us and dumped and dumped and dumped.  Made for some soggy ground around here, and some flooding too.  Today is dark and dreary again, but comfy (except for the humidity) so I won’t complain.  I’ll just turn my light on and get to work. 

Laundry is finally caught up, everything is clean again.  When I opened my t-shirt drawer to put away my everyday t-shirts I realized how long it had been since I did my own laundry, there was just one shirt left in there.  (I only did John's since the dryer was broken.)  Of course I have my retreat t-shirts in another place and I could have worn them, I have about two dozen… giggle..

Facebook frustrations

Yes it’s a fun way to keep in touch with people, to know what’s happening in and around you, but…

I don’t watch TV much because of all the violence and trash, and I don’t mean the news either.  I mean the shows themselves and often the commercials.  I do watch the news so I can keep up with the world, I just dread what it shows.  What ever happened to good news? 

And shows, OMG there is hardly anything on worth watching anymore.  Yes I am super sensitive to things, like murder and violence but tell me why that is entertainment. 

And I could give a hoot about who married or divorced who.  Unless it’s immediate family it doesn’t matter to me.  Hollywood news should stay in Hollywood. 

Lately on facebook I’ve seen friends like things that I don’t like, things that disgust me.  I unfollowed those “friends”… in the last month I’ve unfollowed many.

But I can’t give up, if I do I will miss seeing things I do enjoy, watching nieces and nephews families growing up, seeing the new stuff the local quilt shop is getting in, seeing the beautiful photos friends take on their travels, keeping in touch with those friends who I can’t see often, and those I’ve never met at all. 

No I’m not giving up facebook, but I am scanning a lot faster, and unfollowing as needed.

  

Back in business

Laundry business that is.  I haven’t had a dryer since June 21st and believe me the laundry has piled up. 

I don’t have a clothes line and I’ll probably never get one.  My dear husband is a city slicker and he’s afraid the birds might poop on his clothes.  A day or two after the dryer went out I put a small load of his undies out on the drying rack to dry in the fresh air.  I was sure that after he smelled them he’d agree to put up a small line somewhere. 

However one stupid bird had to drop a bomb on a few of John’s t-shirts.  Once I discovered the nasty mess I knew I’d never get that clothes line.  (He’ll never know that I washed undies twice and put them out in the fresh air to dry without any more incidents.. he wouldn't believe me if I told him.)    

Today the repair man was here all of five minutes replacing the bad part and now I am doing laundry…. Clothes first, then towels and sheets.  AND THEN I’m washing some fabrics so I can finish a quilt!

 

5 days again?

I haven’t posted for 5 whole days again, wow, what’s wrong with me?  NOTHING, honest, NOTHING at all… I just plain forgot to blog. 

However, the last five… well four of five days anyway we had company, and yesterday… I don’t even know what happened to yesterday. 

I last posted on July 3rd, early for the holiday because I wasn’t sure I’d remember to do it on the 4th.  Late that night, well the morning of the 4th actually Mike and Kelly arrived with Grandpup Roscoe.  He was so excited to see us he ran in and jumped on our bed… at 1:45 AM… to let us know they were here. 

Mike and Kelly live in Bethesda MD in a high rise building, so poor Roscoe doesn’t get to just run around off the leash often.  Oh sure there are trips to the dog park, but it’s just not the same as our yard, or the yard of his other Grandpeople, Terry and Merrill.  So when he gets here he’s a little excited, and it doesn’t matter what time of night or day it is. 

On the 4th we had another visitor, Hurricane Arthur.  He wasn’t a bad hurricane, actually brought us some much needed rain, and he left town in a hurry, so some holiday festivities could go on.  But you know us, we’re not into crowds, and I have never liked hearing the fireworks so we watched A Capitol Fourth as we always do.  This year we enjoyed almost all of the performers, especially Frankie Valli, Jordin Sparks, Kermit sang my favorite of his songs, Rainbow Connection, and oh well we loved them all this year.  Of course MY favorite is the 1812 Overture with or without fireworks it’s my favorite piece of music. 

Here's Roscoe looking at those creatures in the back yard  (Chuckie and family)  He really wanted to see them, so he climbed up on the bench.  Of course just as I snapped the picture, he jumped down, LOL!  The arrow points to where the groundhog family resides, and the circle is Roscoe's tail.  

Mike and Kelly spent the whole day on the beach on the 5th so we had Roscoe to ourselves.  John went to a family party (Pop’s 88th birthday!) and Roscoe and I went for a walk, on the leash.  All he wanted to do was go find those animals at the back of our yard (Chuckie and family) so he HAD to be on the leash.  Once he realized he wasn’t going to get closer to the groundhogs he enjoyed exploring the rest of our yard and some of the neighborhood. 

Eventually I got him to sit up there nicely so I could take his picture.  Roscoe is a pound puppy and we've always wondered what breed he is.   They've decided Roscoe is a Swedish Vallhund, sure looks like it to me too.  

Sunday morning they left to go home to Bethesda, and things settled back down to normal again… so normal I forget what we did, and yesterday… OH wait I remember yesterday, I updated my Quilts For Sale page with hopes to sell a few more quilts to raise money for Relay (and to lower my quilt inventory some) 

And now back to normal, whatever normal is these days…. 

 

And to go with the flag

Happy 4th of July everyone, and if you are in the path of the hurricane, celebrate safely at home.  That's what we plan to do.

 

Happy Birthday

Same or different?

Today’s email brought me an interesting question from a beginner quilter.  She said “On the block page you have two blocks that look the same but have different names.  They are Churn Dash and Double Monkey Wrench, one right on top of the other.  Which is the right name?”

Here’s my reply

“They are actually the same block just different names.  As to why I have them both on myweb page which I’m sure you will wonder…  last month someone asked me for the Churn Dash block directions and I sent her to the Double Monkey Wrench page.  She replied back to me that she needed the Churn Dash.  So I added a Churn Dash page just for her.”

I’ve come to realize that sometimes you need a certain block and maybe you can’t remember every name it has, and believe me some blocks have a lot of names.   I hope to add as many names as I can to each page and then provide links so everyone can find that certain block they are looking for.