Busy days

Here I am with Monty, our 12-1/2 year old Scottie, sitting in my new Adirondack rocker in front of our house. I'd been wanting a place to sit outside, read a book, or just watch the world go by. A local nursery had these chairs in knock-down form on sale for $40 each, so DH bought one for me and put it together. It is chained to a tree in our front yard, as anything not attached tends to walk away in our neighborhood. I'll probably paint it in a few days and make some cushions for it.


I'm also posting some pics from my last Red Hat get-together, for St. Patrick's Day. This is me on the right, with a friend. We had a blast. Below is a photo of our group taken by one of the waiters at the restaurant. Wait persons always get a big kick out of us, and we get lots of comments from other patrons, as well. Don't we look like a fun bunch?


I'm still working on the quilt top. I have two borders on, with mitered corners, which are a real pain. I have the last border left to go, and should get it put on tomorrow. Then I have to find the backing fabric and piece it to be large enough. I'm ready to get on with other projects. I have a demonstration to do at the next quilt group meeting, of a new set of templates for cutting half-square triangles called CATS-Cut Accurate Triangle Squares. I need to work up step-by-step samples for that, which I will do in black and white prints. I should be able to use all those HST's to make something afterward. Maybe a table runner, or placemats, or both.

I also want to embroider the Eastern Star symbol on some light-weight canvas for a couple of ritual covers, and maybe some simple canvas aprons from the craft store. Since I am on the refreshments committee for OES for this next fiscal year, the aprons would be a nice touch for the committee members. I may also embroider it on a couple of tote bags, too. I figure if I'm going to go to all the trouble of loading the design onto a card for my machine, I may as well do a bunch of embroideries while I'm at it.

I have a cake to bake for the spaghetti luncheon we're having at OES next Saturday. We bought tickets for ourselves and DS and DIL. We went to a dinner Friday night for the 150th Anniversary of the Lodge that we meet at. The mayor was there, as well as the WM of the Grand Lodge of Texas, who both gave very nice speeches. The food was good, Filet Mignon and Potatoes Anna. A salad, rolls, and some underdone green beans rounded out the menu, and a big ceremonial cake cut into 2" x 2" squares. I'm sorry, folks--but I like my green beans COOKED, thank you, not al dente. Maybe I'm just an old country girl, but what's up with the crunchy vegetables, anyway?

Making progress

The quilt blocks are all sewn together into one piece, and the borders are cut and ready to attach. I hope to work on that tomorrow. The new washing machine arrives in the afternoon. It will be nice to have a washer that doesn't break down as often. We bought a 4 year extended warranty on the new one.

DH and I went to our OES meeting Tuesday night, and I played a part for the first time. I did okay, even though I had to read the part rather than recite from memory. DH was impressed that I actually agreed to fill in, as I am very introverted. The best way to learn is to do, so I just took a deep breath and jumped in. This time next year I will be studying for a regular part, and I hope that I won't have to read it, although I'm not sure how much I can memorize. Luckily I'm starting with an easy position. This year I am to arrange the refreshments. I think I can handle that!

Better now

Sorry about the pity party yesterday. Today has been a little better. I finally finished the last 15 blocks, and pre-sashed them. Here they are:


They turned out pretty well. I've put the sashing and cornerstones on the left and bottom sides of each block, a la Fons and Porter. I've run out of fabric for the last strips that go on the top and right sides of the quilt top after I have all the blocks sewn together. It's a good excuse to go to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow.

The electrical problem is still a mystery, although we discovered that if I only plug in one item at a time, it will work. So when I want to press something I've just sewn, I have to unplug the sewing machine and plug in the iron. At least I got these done. Tomorrow I will get them laid out with the others (which are already sewn into rows.) Then I'll sew them all together. Next week: borders!

The plumber came today and couldn't find any leak. That cost us $70. But DH has found the leak--in the washing machine. So tomorrow the appliance repairman comes to fix that.

I almost skipped the Red Hat luncheon today, but I'm glad I went. It was fun, the food was great, and I won a couple of prizes. Nothing much, a set of purple plastic flatware in a cocktail shaker, 2 purple plastic tumblers, and a set of purple swizzle sticks. I think it's frozen daiquiri time! My DIL urged me to go, said I needed the break. She was right!

March Madness has started, and we've been watching all afternoon. Our local team, Texas A & M- Corpus Christi, made it to the NCAA tourney, but they play #2 Wisconsin tomorrow afternoon. Go, Islanders!

a bad day

So...15 blocks to sew. I got started yesterday, and today they're just going together like gangbusters. So far, so good. 12 done. 13 done. 14---I get halfway through and the power goes out to my sewing machine, lamp, and iron. So I try to pin down the problem, and the power comes back on. Great! I get started again, and the power goes out. What the??? On again. Off again. On. Off. Arrgghh! So my DS brings home a new surge protector and plugs it in. Everything works! Yea!! Nope, off again. So he plugs it into another wall socket. Ok, we're in business. Uh, wait--off again. So he unplugs everything except the phone, and now it doesn't work. We think it must be a bad fuse in the main breaker, but it will have to wait until tomorrow....

Tomorrow, after the plumber comes to figure out why the garage has two inches of water in it. It appears to be a leak in the water heater or in the outdoor faucet line, or maybe rainwater backing up through the washer drain, we'll have to wait and see. Not the time to work on the electrical box.

My karma must be really bad. Everytime we think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, it turns out to be an oncoming train. Life has not been kind to us the last few months.
It's really hard to keep up our spirits, and both DH and I are feeling pretty demoralized right now.

Tomorrow I have a Red Hat luncheon to go to, but I will skip the funeral of one of the Red Hat ladies tomorrow afternoon. She had only recently joined our group, and I had only met her once. I really don't need any sadness right now. I probably should stay home, but at least my DIL will be here to greet the plumber.

Friday my oldest son turns 27. Time goes by so quickly--and I feel much older than 51. I think I'll go have a good cry, that should make me feel a little better. Maybe things will look better tomorrow.

Quilt blocks are red, violets are blue...

Time passes so quickly, and by the time I get back on to blog, a week has gone by. I really intended to post more often. At least I've kept with it!

Today I picked up a 4 foot shelf at Michaels, and DH put it under the windowsill in the "dining room" where I now do my sewing. My African violets have gotten too big for the windowsill, so now they have more room to spread out. I started out with 3 violets, but they keep having babies, so there are now six. They are in special 2-piece violet pots which keep them watered.


For my red and green quilt, I've got the additional 15 blocks cut out and ready to sew together, and I have 5 strips of 7 blocks put together with the sashing. I hope to get the top ready for the borders by next weekend. I've already contacted the woman who machine quilts for me, so she knows it will soon be heading her way. She does a beautiful job and is reasonable in pricing her work.

In the mail today I received a new set of templates I had ordered. These are CATS templates--Cut Accurate Triangle Squares templates. I saw these demonstrated on QNN, and it was a real DUH! moment. Why didn't someone make these before now? They are for making half-square triangles, and using them you can whip out dozens of perfect HST's in minutes. The set makes 5 different sizes, from 1" to 3" finished. I have tried triangle paper, speed-piecing methods, almost any way of making HST's but this will speed things up considerably, and because you don't cut them out until after they are sewn, they end up perfect every time. I might even try to demonstrate these at my quilt group for a program sometime. No affiliation with the product, but when something really works, why not spread the news?

In the interest of fair play, I also can recommend the Fons and Porter triangle rulers. I have three of them--the Half and Quarter Ruler, which makes great HST's but also makes QST's
(quarter-square triangles,) the Flying Geese Ruler, and the Easy Diagonal Sets Ruler, which makes the setting and corner squares for quilts where the blocks are set en pointe. I also bought a CD that shows each of the rulers being demonstrated by Fons and Porter, so if I forget how they work, I can refresh my memory--although there are simple directions printed on the rulers themselves. I bought these rulers at JoAnn and Hobby Lobby.

I also recently bought a new Quilt in a Day book--Still Stripping After 25 Years by Eleanor Burns. I saw her on QNN demonstrate a really neat method of making nine-patch blocks, and the instructions are in this book. I want to try making baby quilts with this method--each block starts out with only two 8" squares, and they seem to work up really quickly. There are, I think, 16 quilts in the book, all made with 2" strips. I think Eleanor Burns is the main impetus behind the resergence of quilting in the 80's and 90's, and I don't think she gets the respect she deserves. Her teaching style harks back to her days as a special education teacher, but the beauty of her classes is in the simplicity. Anyone can quilt using her methods--anyone. She got me interested in quilting, although as a child I watched my mother hand-piece many quilts and hand-quilt them to boot. I swore I would never do that, but watching Eleanor on PBS, I decided her methods looked a lot easier. She is the perfect teacher for beginners. I have many hours of her early programs on VHS. If my DIL's or GD's ever decide they would like to learn, I am ready! My DH has even started reminding me, in his best Darth Vader voice, to press things
'to the Dark Side!'

I'm just a social butterfly!

I made these ten string quilt blocks for a friend's charity group. The paper pattern is in the lower left corner. I just used the lines to help me keep the strips straight. I will take these to the quilt group meeting next Monday night to give to her--if she can't use them, then I will use them for something eventually. I wasn't too sure of the rules for these. Hopefully they'll be okay.

I'm hoping the TV will be fixed by tomorrow--they say that they have gotten the parts and will be putting them in tomorrow. The smaller TV we're using is showing signs of a bad picture tube. Sometimes the left side inexplicably turns green. That can't be good!

We have an Eastern Star initiation tomorrow night to go to. It's also a potluck dinner, and I'm taking a turkey and dressing casserole. It's easy to make, and most people like turkey. It is simply layers of Stovetop stuffing and sliced turkey, with gravy poured over it and baked. The tough part is keeping it hot, but I have an insulated casserole carrier that should work. I made the carrier from a pattern I got on Nancy Zieman's website.

My next Red Hat Society meeting will be on the 15th for St. Patrick's Day. I plan on wearing green instead of purple; with my red hat it will look like I'm ready for Christmas again!
We have so much fun at these meetings. The ladies are all so friendly, and we treat each other like family. For someone as introverted as myself, that is very important, and keeps me coming to the meetings.

Things are looking up

Remember the challenge I entered for my quilt group? I finished it today. It measures 4-3/8" x 3-1/8", and is a complete quilt. The square in a square blocks are pieced, it has sashing and cornerstones, a border, batting, backing, binding, and is quilted. It fits inside the name tag holder I was issued for it. I even put a label on the back! I am pleased with the way it turned out.

The TV is still in the shop, but we are using a smaller set. I hope we hear from them on Monday. The computer problem has, I think, been solved. DS cleaned it out (it was filthy!) and set the internal fan to run continuously instead of cycling on and off. It is a lot noisier, but seems to be working better.

I laid out the red and green quilt blocks on the bed and found I need 14 more blocks to make it a king size. Now to come up with more blocks, and hope they come out to be the right size.

Next I plan on making a few string blocks for a friend's charity group. They are simple flip and sew blocks, so they should only take a few minutes each to do. I have until the 12th to finish them, that's when my quilt group meets again. I'll turn them over to her then.

We got our taxes done professionally this last week, which ended up saving us about $200.00, as I had missed some deductions we are entitled to. That's a big load off my mind. I wish we didn't have to pay anything in, but at least it's not as much as I had thought.

The peony that DH planted for me is doing well. It is about 6" tall and looks very healthy. I am keeping my fingers crossed--I love peonies, and they don't normally grow here. DH's plants are all doing very well. He is working hard to expand his business, and has great plans for us to move to an acreage where he can plant more extensively.