Messy corner

Here's a picture of a corner of my sewing room. I really should straighten things up, but I've really been into sewing so I think I'll save the cleaning part for when I'm not really motivated.

Today has been a productive day so far. Although I intended to do some sewing last night, it just didn't happen. This morning I was up early to go have the MRI done. I also stopped at the grocery store and got a nice beef roast and some seasoning that we like to put in the crock pot and make Italian Beef. The seasoning is Louis Italian Beef and is really good.

I also ran over to the vet's office and picked up some dog food. Then got home about ten a.m. and started sewing. Sewed for two hours on the string quilt. Then dear hubby and I had to run a couple errands. Before we came home we stopped and got lunch to go. I was very good - even though I really wanted a hamburger, I ordered a salad! I was saving my calories for some Italian Beef later! I sewed for about an hour after lunch also. I may or may not go back upstairs to sew some more tonight.

So far I have lost 11 pounds. I am at 217. I have been trying to get on the treadmill and walk at least 15 minutes. It seems to me, whenever I eat things that aren't good for me, i.e. fatty foods, I have been getting sick to my stomach. While I do not enjoy getting sick, this is a big deterrent.

Darling daughter is spending the night with a friend of hers in the dorm at the college they both go to. She started talking to me about her ex a little bit today. She says she is over him already. I have no clue, I just know that she is my priority. While I feel sorry that the guy may be hurting, he has his family and friends to support him.

Darling son is working tonight until 9:30. He's been at this job for a few weeks now and seems to really like it. It's at a small store, right here in town. I'm sure he is happy that it isn't fast food.

What a difference a day makes!

Wow. I think I am finally back to myself. I appologize to those who had to put up with my off beat postings the last couple days. I certainly did not mean to be depressing, and hopefully am over that!

Back to quilting! This morning I went upstairs and took a picture of a quilt my grandmother had made me many years ago. It was embroidered squares done in what was called 'chicken scratch'. It was very popular at one time. There wasn't much of a pattern, you just used gingham fabric and crochet cotton to create the design. Grandma made a quilt like this for each of her granddaughter's. Mine was purple and my cousins' was pink. I don't remember what my sisters were.

Gram passed in 2004. She had boxes under the bed with names on them full of stuff for different family members. In my box was some purple material that matched this quilt, and maybe even a couple of blocks. I am going to have to take a look at that stuff and see what is there. May have to make my daughter a quilt like this - something from Gram. Gram also crocheted two baby blankets and earmarked them for each of my children to give to their firstborns.

I have to say, though, that I use the quilt Gram made, and I would hope that when the time comes the baby blankets will also be used. I never was one for putting things away 'for good'. I feel they are made to be used, although Gram did put things away at times...

Tonight I plan on working on my quilted squares. I have a couple rows pinned and ready to whip through the machine. One sticking point for me with these blocks is a tiny bit of finishing I'm not quite sure how to accomplish. On the back sides of the squares I have overlapped material and stitched it down, up to within a half inch of the edge. I left this half inch because I will need to stitch the rows together. But I think I will have a little bit of material not stitched down, so I guess I'll go back and hand stitch these areas, unless I can figure out how to machine stitch them easily.

Roller Coaster Ride

Up, down, up, down, oh I'm just a mess. I'm getting sucked into my kids' breakup. Last night I thought was going to be better, then around 1:45 in the morning it just tailspinned. So my emotions are on the surface again, I'm leaking at the eyes at the drop of a hat, and it's driving me nuts!

On the quilting side, I did get to sew down the back of the seams where I joined the quilted squares together on one row. Got two other rows pinned, so hopefully I can get them sewn tonight.

I have to go for an MRI Saturday morning.

Day is getting better

My first post today was earlier, and I really didn't have it all together. Well, since then it has gotten better. My dear hubby came up to have lunch with me, where we talked about a lot of things, and kinda cleared the air. It helps so much to talk to someone who understands you. My husband and my mother are both great sources of strength to me.

Dear hubby just sent me a text from work. He is going to keep the same rate of pay on his new position. That was one stressor on my mind since he came home last week saying he was going to have to bump someone. He had to bump because they shut down his shift and the third shift on his machine - hopefully temporarily. At any rate, there was a good possibility that he would be taking a 70 cent an hour pay cut, but this did not happen. And even with the pay cut, we would still be grateful that he has a job, not like the four people who will be without one when this bump process is finished.

An emotional train wreck

That's what I feel like today, an emotional train wreck! And it's really silly for me to be that way. It's because of my darling daughter's rocky road right now. It is so stupid, but I am feeling really bad for her ex. She was his first real girlfriend, and I know he's in a world of hurt, so being the sappy fool that I am, it bothers me. Now, darling daughter doesn't seem to be too worried about it and is moving on. And of course, she is my main concern here, not the ex.

Maybe part of my problem is because I'm uncertain about what is going on with my health at this time. I was at the doctor yesterday and he wants me to go for an MRI, just to rule out a couple things. I really think the whole episode was brought about because of the meds and diet, but I'll go for the test when he schedules it.

So that's probably why my emotions are so close to the surface today. At least I hope so. And I hope it goes away real soon!

Tonight we have Ash Wednesday services at church at 7pm. I don't think I'll get much done in the way of sewing tonight, but I may get upstairs and do a couple blocks if I can.

We had spaghetti last night for supper. Was pretty good stuff. I made the family garlic bread like I normally do. For myself, I spritzed a piece of bread with 'I can't believe it's not butter' and put some garlic powder on it, then toasted it in a hot cast iron skillet. It worked for me! Tonight I think it's just going to be frozen fish sticks.

Ready to go home

Didn't do any sewing last night after work. I made a meatloaf for dinner and put together some spaghetti sauce in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I just didn't have much energy after that. My stomach just doesn't want to settle. I'm thinking it might be the bp meds and it will take a while to get used to them. Going to the doctor today at 3.

Since I had lost ten pounds, yesterday I decided to treat myself to a few clothes at Salvation Army. I was able to find a brand new pair of slacks with the tags still on them, original price $40, that were marked $4! Snatched those up real quick. Also found another pair of slacks and two tops. Then I went over to the mens shirts...

I found two dark colored shirts and one light colored shirt in the color scheme I have been collecting for my next quilt from shirtings. It's rusts and burnt orange, colors like that. Just something different to work with. Anyway, I have enough now to start the quilt on one of the other blogs that takes 7 shirts and is done in 7 steps.

Darling daughter has pretty much broken up with her boyfriend. It's been coming on for a few weeks now. They dated for almost 3 years. It's kinda hard for her, and I'm sure it's difficult for him, but my words of wisdom have always been 'you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find prince charming'. Not that this fellow was a frog...but she's young (19) and has her whole life ahead of her. Not too many of us find the person we want to spend our life with at 19.

Darling son is stil working on his grades. He only has a couple months to pull them out of the you know what so he can graduate high school. And you wonder why I have high blood pressure??? He's doing well at his job. He doesn't get a lot of hours, but it's right in town and really is perfect for him. Gives him some spending and gas money.

The dog that was so sick is now finished with her antibiotics. I sure hope whatever it was that made her ill is out of her system. We dodged the bullet on that one. I though for sure she was a goner. Glad she decided to stick around for a while yet. She's a good old pup.

It's funny because each family member has an animal that is attached to them. This dog is attached to me, and I'm attached to her. She wants to be in the same room as me, or at least have me in her sights. At night, when I get ready for bed, she patiently waits for me to get in, then gingerly climbs in next to me. Then when dear hubby comes to bed, she moves to her pillows on the floor next to my side of the bed.

Is it really Monday again?

I worked on some of my quilted blocks yesterday for quite a while. I'm pleased with the way they are coming together. Here's a picture of them, front and back.

Since I started them ages ago, I had done the machine quilting on 2/3rd's of them on my old Kenmore. I just did symetrical lines, same shapes, on the blocks when I used the Kenmore. I had about 11 blocks left to quilt so when I started doing them this time I decided to practice free motion on the old industrial Singer. It took a little bit of practice to get in a groove, but I think once I got the tension issues resolved, it went well.

I still need to practice more before I do a full quilt on the Singer. I'm sure that is the key - practice, practice, practice!

My weight loss to date is 10 pounds. This is a big deal to me - to have put double digits in the loss column! woo hoo! Now if I could get my blood pressure issues regulated. This lightheadedness could go away any time now. I have a call in to the doctor this morning about it.

Yesterday we had a pork loin that I made in the rotisserie. Wow. It was very good! I bought a whole loin and cut it into thirds. Froze two sections and put the biggest one on the spit. I rubbed it with garlic powder and season salt. Towards the last half hour of cooking, I brushed it with a mixture of sweet/sour sauce, worchestershire sauce, mandarine orange juice (from the can of mandarine oranges - would have used pineapple but didn't have it) and a little lemon juice. That glaze really made the flavors pop, I think. Everyone liked it. We had fresh asparagus, mashed potatoes, and gravy with it. Good dinner.

Weekend took a strange turn

This weekend took a strange turn last night. Not one for the better, either. I ended up in the emergency room last night. I thought I was having a stroke. Thankfully I'm okay, but it was very scary. I don't know what happened, but the e.r. doc says it could have been an anxiety attack or something blood pressure related, or even have to do with my diet. I don't know, but it sure scared me beyond belief. I'm still feeling lightheaded at times, so I am thinking it's something to do with the blood pressure medicine. Going to call the doctor tomorrow.

I did get some sewing done on an older project. It was paper pieced string blocks I was quilting as big squares. I put them together into rows today. Don't have all the rows done, but it's going quickly. It's just going to be a big scrap quilt I'm going to use on the couch to snuggle up in.

Saturday

Here's a picture of my quilting journal. It was a real simple cover to make. I just took a piece of material about an inch wider than the journal is tall. I wrapped it around the journal and added about three inches for each inside flap. I finished the edges on the flaps, then sewed the top and bottom edges to make the flaps and turned it right side out. Done! It looks nicer than it did with just a black cover.

We are going to Wal Mart today to pick up a few things. I am trying to piece together enough batting to finish some squares, then I will sew the squares together. I haven't done one like this before, so I hope it turns out okay.

Friday, Friday!

Last night I made up a block for the Sunshine Sampler project on Stashbusters. Here is a picture. It's the Old Maid's Puzzle block using the fabric pictured below and a yellow and an orange. It actually turned out okay, but is really really loud!

The cabbage rolls were excellent last night for dinner. I only had one small one and some baked sweet potato for dinner. I have lost another pound, total lost 7 pounds, and I am down to a svelte 221. ha ha. Seriously, I do feel better already and I also have been on the treadmill the last two days for 15 minutes at a time.

Tonight I'm going out with my friend Diane to see a movie. We are going to Subway for dinner first, so that will be good for me. I actually like their veggie sub sandwiches with the fat free onion dressing.

Darling hubby is having a rough time at work. The company is shutting down the machine he works on on second and third shifts. He works second shift so he has to bump someone else off a job. Hopefully he will be able to bump into a job at the same rate of pay and hopefully no one gets laid off because of this. I doubt there will be no lay offs, because it's affecting four people and his company runs pretty lean. Thankfully he still has a job and so do I. We need to keep all the unemployed in our prayers. And thank God for what we have.

Thursday is one day closer to Friday...

I finally decided on the final colors for the baby quilt. I had bought two lights and a medium purple, but needed another medium. Pulled it out of my stash and now I'm ready to start making pinwheel blocks.

I also pulled out some really really loud fabric. Here's a picture of it. Think that might keep you up at night if it were on your quilt? ha ha. I'm going to use it in a sampler block project that started this month on the Stashbuster Yahoo group. Kinda excited about it. I need a little motivation right about now.

In addition to blogging, I keep a journal of time spent in the sewing room and what projects I'm working on. I found a cheap journal at the beginning of the year at the dollar store. I glue snippets of material on the pages from the projects as well as write a little description of what I worked on and for how long. The journal I bought has a black padded cover. The padding is nice but I wanted something a little brighter than the black cover. So last night I pulled out a cute piece of material and whipped up a quick cover to go over it. The cover I made wasn't padded or anything, but it just brightens up the journal.

Last night I made a chicken pot pie for supper and put together cabbage rolls in the crock pot for tonight. I put them on this morning before I left for work. It will be nice to have dinner ready when I get home from work.

I also got back on the treadmill last night for 10 minutes. It wasn't much, but it was something for me anyway. I don't want to overdo it until this blood pressure medicine is completely regulated. I feel pretty good, so I hope it's working.

Since darling daughter is going to college and aspires to be a nurse, and since she has worked as a CNA, she knows how to take blood pressure readings manually. I'm going to pick up a manual cuff and stethescope tonight so she can check it at home for me and for her daddy. The doctor told me that the automatic bp machines were not correctly reading me and I should always ask for a manual reading. Now, I'm not putting all that responsibility on my teenage daughter, and I'm definetely going to have it checked at the doctor's office as he suggested, but it will be good to have the ability to check it at home also.

I also went to the high school last night for a FAFSA workshop for darling son. He had to work, so I was there without him, but it wasn't too bad. I'm hoping we will get something this year because we now have two in college. Darling daughter has to fill her's out also.

Sometimes it's so hard to be nice...like last night. I ended up seated next to one of the mother's of a senior girl in son's class. This mother spread viciuos rumors about my son a while back. Some things are difficult to forget. But I'm working on it!

Better day today.

Didn't get any sewing done yesterday after work. I was just too tired. Tonight I plan to get something done, even if it's just for 20 minutes. I guess it's weird, but it makes me feel like my day is complete if I can accomplish a little (or a lot!) sewing!

This is a picture of the orphan blocks I received from my friend. I have lain them across some pink baby fabric that I'm considering pairing them with in a baby quilt. Not sure yet if that's the route I want to go with them.

I wanted to put a sidebar on my blog about my weight loss progress, but I'm not sure how to do it, so for the time being I will put my progress in a regular post. I have been watching what I eat carefully since February 8th. So far I have lost 6 pounds! This is a big deal to me. I've set my goal to be at and maintaining a healthy weight in two years. I am not at a healthy weight now, that's for sure. I am 5'4" and when I started dieting I weighed 228 pounds. The weight, in my mind, is what has caused the high blood pressure problems. I don't like to take medication, so I'm hoping I can get my bp down enough that I don't need to take meds when I lose the weight. But if I have to, I will.

So as of today I am 222 pounds. Last night I made sausages for dinner for the family and I had tomato soup with baked pita chips. Not sure what we will be having tonight. I stil have a lot of the chicken leftover. In fact I added some to some lettuce and brought it for lunch today.

Darling son is going to be in the senior play at school. He is playing the part of 'Og, the caveman'. Perfect for him... ha ha.

Oh, and I should mention I guess that my interview was cancelled. I am not very happy about the circumstances that led to it being cancelled, but suffice it to say that some strings were pulled to get a person into the position, therefor cancelling all interviews. That said, I try to live by my own words - everything happens for a reason. And God has other plans for me. So I will have to let go of this.

Is it Friday yet?

This feels like a Monday to me because I was off work so many days! I'm just dragging today. Didn't sleep well at all. I took the first pill for my blood pressure last night before bed and I was up constantly going to the bathroom and a couple times with leg cramps. The doc also put me on a diuretic, hence the bathroom calls. I'm hoping that levels off after I've been on it a while.

Don't know what, if anything, I will work on tonight. Here is a picture of the purples I'm planning on using in the baby quilt. I might just go home and crash. Think we will have sausages for supper.

Last night we had chicken I made in the rotisserie. Here's a picture of that birdie going round and round! Oh, it was so good! I'm going to use that rotisserie a lot, I think.

President's Day

This was the last day of my mini vacation. I have gotten quite a bit accomplished on darling son's graduation quilt. I have all the strips sewn together and even put the tiny inner border around them. I am going to add a couple more borders, incorporating his name and graduation year into one of them.

My next project needs to be that baby quilt for a coworker. I am going to use the purples that I have already.

Today I went to the doctor and found out I have high blood pressure. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, because of how overweight I am. All the times I have had my bp checked it hasn't been high, but these times were when it was taken on one of those automatic machines. My doctor's office even took it today on one of those machines and it wasn't until the doc took it manually that it was discovered.

Restless Night

I didn't sleep very well last night and now here I am, up at 7 a.m. Ugh! All week I have been trying to really watch what I eat and even have been exercising a little. So far I have lost 4 pounds! This is a MAJOR accomplishment for me. The exercise part has only been a few minutes on the treadmill, but I'm working up to being on it longer. I am so out of shape it's not even funny. And I am really overweight.

I've set my goal to be a healthy weight and in good shape in two years. I know that's a long time, but I want to do this right. So enough about that for now, but it is going on in my life, so I wanted to mention it.

The dog seems to be all back to normal. She is still taking antibiotics, which is good. She's acting normal and eating and drinking. Guess we dodged the bullet on this one.

Yesterday I sewed the squares for the graduation signature quilt into strips. I have three groups: light, medium, and dark. The strips are going to alternate. I think I'll be able to finish the center part of the quilt today or tomorrow. That will be a relief to have done because I don't want to have it hanging over my head and have to rush at the last minute to get it finished!

After it's done, I should make a baby blanket for my co worker. It's going to be something quick and easy. I'm thinking it might even be that large nine patch. If I feel more into it, I might make pinwheel blocks and alternate them with plain squares. I haven't decided yet.

Didn't really do much cooking yesterday. Kids ate out and dear hubby had a sandwich late in the day, so he didn't want much dinner. I'm thinking today I'll just make tacos. I can make the taco meat anytime and put it in the little crock pot. Then whenever anyone wants to eat, it's ready.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's my darling son with his Valentine's bag. Darling daughter's is up on the piano.

I got up early this morning and was able to sew for an hour and a half on his graduation signature quilt. I'm sewing the squares into strips now. So far I'm liking the way it's coming along.

Lincoln's Birthday

I had a day off work today. It's the start of five days off for me. Today I haven't done much sewing but I did do some hand quilting last night. Tomorrow I plan on sewing in the morning. I'll do some hand quilting tonight while watching one of my t.v. shows.

The dog is still not 100% but she seems to be feeling better. I have not seen her eat anything, though and that is worrying me. I know she's at least eating two bites of cheese a day because that's what I have to put her antibiotic in to get her to eat it.

I did get to a small quilt shop in the next town over. I don't like to patronize this shop because the woman who runs it is a snob, but I needed a fix. I bought three pieces to put into a baby quilt for a coworker. They were on sale for $3.25/yard so I bought a yard and a half of each. I thought I'd find a nice two color design and use the third piece for the back.

Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!

That's what it looks like darling daughter is thinking in this photo. She was on her laptop and came across a long lost cousin on facebook. I think she is pleased at finding him.

Well, the dog went back to the vet this morning. She's doing better, but has lost a little weight and still has some blood issues. Vet gave her another shot and some antibiotics to take at home.

I did some hand quilting last night on Tennessee August. It seems to be such slow going. I was going to cut squares for darling son's quilt but hubby said he might get off work early and I didn't want to have everything all over the front room. I watched the rest of the dog show and quilted. The Sussex Spaniel won Best in Show. He's a cutie at 10 years old! His name is Stump. hee hee. Last year the Beagle, Uno, won. He was adorable. My mom and brother have beagles. Good dogs. My two are just plain ol' mutts. They are good dogs too.

I am going to pick up take out for supper tonight. I got some news about my upcoming interview that was not encouraging. In fact the interview may not even happen. That's life. At least I have a job.

A better day

It's a better day today. My dog is doing a lot better than she was yesterday. I guess those shots the vet gave her really helped. I have to take her back tomorrow morning for more meds. I hope she pulls through this okay. It's looking good.

Darling husband is trying to quit smoking and I'm trying to lose weight. Pity my kids...having to live with two cranky people right now! Actually, I'm not doing too bad. I'm eating sensible at work then eating smaller portions at dinner. And if I snack, I try to snack healthy.

Last night we had Swedish meatballs in a cream sauce over pasta. Tonight we are having baked chicken.

I haven't done any sewing since Sunday, and that wasn't really sewing. I just cut some squares for darling son's graduation quilt. What I should do tonight is bring the cutting mat and material downstairs and set the card table up in front of the t.v. while I watch the Westminster Dog show. Every year I watch that for two nights. My family thinks it's a riot that I watch it. They tease me unmercifully, but it's all good natured!

Not such a good day

This did not start out as a good day. My older dog, Nakia, is at the vet's office right now. All night she was waking me up to go outside constantly. She is passing blood. I took her to the vet at 8 a.m. hoping they could see her before they got to their regular appointments. They were very kind to us and saw her quickly. She's been given shots of vitamins and antibiotics. It's just a waiting game now. She is 13 years old and a fairly big sized dog, so that's pretty old. The vet said if we could keep her quiet at home we could take her home and watch her.

Her blood test showed she is anemic, on the border of being critically so. His first question was if she had gotten into some poison. That isn't likely as she is an indoor dog and our yard is completely fenced in.

So, I'm just trying to keep busy until I can go pick her up this afternoon.

Sunday afternoon

It's Sunday afternoon and I have yet to start any sewing this weekend. Friday night I was tired and didn't get anything done. Saturday my dear hubby and I went to the mall to exchange a pair of jeans that he received for Christmas that were too small. The mall was unbelievably crowded! I though people weren't shopping because of the economy? After we were done at the mall, we went to JoAnn Fabrics. Yes, I drug my dear hubby to the fabric store. To make it an even more enjoyable experience for him, hee hee, it so happens that the store is in the process of moving and was having a huge clearance sale. Everything must go! Unfortunately the selection was pretty well picked over already. I was looking for some purple material for a baby quilt for a coworker. I did not find any purple, but I did get three yards of pink material with baby bottles on it. It was only $1.60 per yard.

I've got a pork roast cooking with some sauerkraut on top of the stove. We will have it with mashed potatoes and gravy for supper. I've started watching my weight (again) so I probably won't be eating too much of it. I've been good so far today. For breakfast I had one whole egg and one egg white, scrambled. I had a small croissant with half a teaspoon of peanut butter. Then for lunch I had a piece of low fat bread, one piece of smoked turkey, with mustard and - guess what - Sprouts! it was pretty good actually. I also bought some skim milk which I'm going to drink instead of 2%.

I also sat down after church and started working on our taxes. We have had them prepared for us in the past, but since the kids are now over 17 we don't get much of a refund and I don't like to pay so much money to have them prepared. I think that I can figure them out okay.

Well enough blogging for today. I'm going upstairs to the sewing room and pick out the white material to go into the signature quilt. And try not to think about food....

Friday's are wonderful days...

I made it to Friday! It seems like it was a real long week. Next week there is a holiday on Thursday, and the following week Monday is a holiday, so I think I'm going to take Friday off and make it a 5 day weekend! I think I'll just have myself a sew-in for those 5 days. If I can get the family to let me - ha ha.

I did not do any sewing last night. There were actually a couple programs on t.v. that I wanted to watch for a change. I'm looking forward to the Westminster Dog Show coming on in the near future. I watch it every year. My family laughs at me, but I really enjoy it. One of the shows last night was a behind the scenes at Westiminster type show. It was interesting.

I'm hoping to get to work on darling son's quilt tonight. I have a digital camera now (thank you Barb!). My friend upgraded her camera and gave me her old one, so I'm trying to figure it all out. It's pretty neat. I have an SD card for it (thank you Del!) that my neighbor didn't want anymore and today I bought one of those card readers so I can plug it into just about any computer to see the pics. This is a big deal to me because I love to take pictures of the family and of my quilts of course.

Since I was in the Wal Mart electronics section on my lunch hour getting the card reader I went ahead and bought an RF modulator. For those who think this is something from a Bugs Bunny cartoon (which I did at first) it's a real item. It hooks up older t.v.'s with newer equipment like a dvd player. I received a new dvd/vcr over Christmas and haven't been able to use it because I needed this RF modulator thingie. Every time I say that I have to smile because I keep seeing the little martian in the Bugs cartoons saying 'where is the earth shattering kaboom? there was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom..."

Last night I made stuffed shells for dinner with garlic bread. I stuffed them with a mixture of ricotta cheese, mozzerella, cottage cheese, and chopped fresh spinach. Then I poured leftover spaghetti sauce on them that still had a lot of meatballs in it. It was pretty good. Tonight I'm thinking of just ordering pizza.

You should see the sprouts! I cannot believe how much they have grown! The jar is full now, and they are all in a tangle, but look really good. They may even be ready to use on a salad. If they taste good, and I can't imagine why they wouldn't, I'm going to keep growing them.

Conspiracy Theory

Here is a picture of the mastermind behind a complex conspiracy that occured in my kitchen between 5:45 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. today. How do I know she is the mastermind, you ask? There were four players: two cats and two dogs. One cat is too fat to have accomplished the deed. That would be Cheetah. Cheetah was the lookout. Pictured is Figaro, the oldest, wisest, and lightest animal in the house.

Here's the scenario: Last night I baked several chicken breasts and made a double batch of cheese and shells for dinner. I left the cooked chicken on the baking pan in the oven for my son and husband to eat when they each got home from work. When I got up at 5:45 to let the dogs out because Wrigley kept nudging me (she usually waits until 6:30 when I get up, but this morning she was insistent that I get up 45 minutes earlier - I think this was part of the conspiracy, but I haven't figured out exactly how it fits) there was one large piece of chicken on the baking dish, on top of the pot of shells and cheese which was on the back burner of the stove. Following this so far?

Okay, I let the dogs out at 5:45, use the bathroom, then let the dogs back inside. I don't have to get up until 6:30 so I went back to bed. I hear some noise in the kitchen, but don't pay too much attention to it. When I get up at 6:30 I stumbled to the kitchen and almost tripped over Wrigley who is now in the dining room under the piano eating what's left of the piece of chicken! Nakia, the other dog, is licking the floor in front of the stove, and Figaro and Cheetah are both heading to the bathroom sink for a morning drink.

Figaro is the only animal light enough to get on the counter and get to that piece of chicken. My guess is that she got up on the counter, ate her fill, and drug what was left to the edge of the counter where Nakia took her turn at munching on it until it fell to the floor and Wrigley picked it up and took it to the dining room. Poor Cheetah is too fat, too slow, and not bright enough to figure that he was used only as a lookout and wouldn't be sharing in the booty.

I'm speculating that the 5:45 bathroom call was a test to make sure I wouldn't get up before 6:30 because I would already have let the dogs out and wouldn't be in any hurry to do so again.
As it stands, my darling husband now only has shells and cheese to take to work for his lunch this evening (he works second shift) instead of chicken and shells and cheese. At least I know the shells and cheese are safe - I put them in the fridge before I left for work!

Last night I didn't do any sewing, but I did take inventory of the materials I have to make darling son's signature quilt. I have about 50 squares cut of music material and I need about 75. I also need 75 solid color squares, probably muslin or a white on white. I'm going to make rows of six inch squares, then offset the rows when I put them together. That will be the center of the quilt.

I'm wavering between using muslin (which I would have to wash and iron because I know it shrinks terribly) and using white on white material. My reservations about the white on white are that the pigma pens won't write properly on them, or will wash off because of the way the fabric is made. I think I'll test a little bit of the material by writing on it and then washing it.

I feel good knowing I'm moving forward on his quilt. If I at least get the center of the quilt done before graduation, that will be enough for people to sign at his party.

Double Delight Done!

Last night I finished putting the borders on the Double Delight Mystery! Yay! I like the way it looks. I still can't believe I put all those little pieces in it. Chain piecing and strip sets make it easier, but still - wow. The colors aren't my usual palate, but they do play well together. Now I need to get started on my son's graduation quilt.

I also have the instructions for that scrappy mystery printed out. Once I get the graduation quilt going I'm thinking of making a wall hanging size of the scrappy mystery. I need something to hang on one of the walls in my front room.

My interview for that job is three weeks from today. It's hard to put it out of my mind and not obsess over it. It would be so nice if I got it, but I have to keep telling myself that at least I have a job now.

I brought some leftover spaghetti and meatballs for my lunch today. It was sure good last night and I'm looking forward to having it again for lunch! Don't have a clue what I'll make tonight.
A couple weeks ago I sent a letter to the Amish store over in Arthur to see if they have or can get a large cone of Coats and Clark thread again. I bought one about a year ago at their store. It had 6000 yards on it and was reasonably priced. Well, it's about gone, so I wanted to get another one. Being an Amish store, I couldn't just call them up (no telephone) so I sent a letter. I received one back saying they could no longer get those large cones but if they came across them again, they would drop me a note.

So, I placed an order with Connecting Threads last week for a cone of their thread at a pretty decent price. I think it was only 5000 yards, but even that will last me a good long time. I should be receiving that order in the next day or two.

I like to use that cone thread for piecing. I don't have a thread stand, but what I do have works for me. My sewing table is upstairs in a converted attic room, with dormer windows and the roof is slanted. My sewing table is in front of the window and the slant of the roof starts just to the right of the table. I put a small cup hook right into the wall part of the slanted area. I put the cone of thread in a jar that was just a little larger than the cone and thread it up to the cup hook, then over to my machine. works like charm!

I also take advantage of the roof slant when I use my old industrial machine. It is pulled back from the wall that the roof slants down on (I wouldn't be able to sit right up against that wall because I would be hitting my head on the roof!). I have a table behind the machine also that is about two feet wide to hold up quilts when I machine quilt. Since I don't have a thread stand for that machine either, I have a piece of batting taped to the slant of the roof and run the thread from the table to between the batting and roof, back to the machine. This serves two purposes. It not only holds the thread up nicely, the batting removes some of the lint from the thread before it goes into the machine.

Guess I don't really need a thread stand after all... hee hee.

Sprouting Sprouts

The lentils are sprouting, the lentils are sprouting! Here's a picture, and not a very good one, I know, of the jar that I am attempting to grow sprouts in. I had my doubts that lentils from a bag on the grocery shelf would actually sprout, but lo and behold, today when I looked at the jar, there are tiny sprouts coming out of the lentils!

I'm hoping that they will be big enough in a few days to use in a salad or to put in a stir fry dish. Tonight we had spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and salad for supper.

February already

It's already February. I can't believe it.

Another thing I can't believe is that this quilt is almost finished. I have logged over 40 hours on this quilt top. This weekend I put together the blocks and setting triangles into the top. Tonight I put the one inner border on the quilt.

It's hard to tell, but laying to the left of the quilt is a piece of brown fabric that will be the second border. It's the same brown that is in the rolling star blocks.

Today I received a letter from a potential employer. It instructed me to call for an interview, which I did. I have one in three weeks. I am really excited about it, but I am also trying to keep a level head. I am telling myself that I will do my best at the interview and if it's meant to be, I will get the job. And if I don't get the job, I still have one, no harm done. I'm trusting God to guide me here.

Yesterday was the Superbowl. We just stayed home and watched it. I made a beef roast for supper and made enough so I could make beef and noodles tonight.