I was found out

My darling daughter cracks me up.  I always try to make the kids bags for each of the holidays.  Well, this Valentine's day I kind of cheated.  I had picked up a king size pillow case at the thrift shop and cut it in half, then made it into two bags.  Very quick and easy.  When Johanna got her bag, she opened it and oohed and aahed over the contents, then reprimanded me for remaking a pillowcase into her bag!  She said she keeps those bags and a used pillowcase would not do!  Smart alek kid.  I didn't think she would notice.  Sigh.  I guess I know better now.

Last night I went upstairs to wind a few bobbins and ended up staying in the sewing room over an hour!  I cleaned and oiled the sewing machine, replaced the needle, wound several bobbins, then proceeded to start machine quilting on the baby quilt!  I really love it when I get lost up there.  It's good for my soul.

Harrisburg

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people in Harrisburg, IL who suffered through a tornado overnight last night.  When we go to Paducah we travel through Harrisburg to get to Golconda, where we spend the night.  We pass right by all the shops and the hospital that were hit.

If anyone reading this is closer to Harrisburg than I am, please let me know.  I would like to donate some things to there, possibly a quilt or two. 

Pictures...finally

Here's a few pics of the Jacob's Ladder quilt I made for my dad for his birthday.  The pattern doesn't really look like a traditional Jacob's Ladder because of the way I set the blocks.  I know that those two corner pieces look somewhat out of place, but once they were made, I was not going to remake them in different colors.  Time was running out and it wasn't a museum piece!

I made a label to go in the corner on the diagonal, but it was just too large.  Even this label is bigger than I would have liked, but it was good.  Got a close up of the quilting on the back and on the front.  Just did some loopy loops. 

I have to say, I know it's not perfect, but I really have come a long way on my machine quilting!  This was a pretty good size quilt for me to do free motion quilting on!  I think it finished around 72x72 or thereabouts.  You could not have convinced me I would be doing more than a straight line with a walking foot on something that big on my domestic machine a short time ago!  I'm so glad I stuck with it.  And it really is fun!  And rewarding.

Tonight I pin basted the baby quilt for the shower I have to go to on Sunday.  Decided on the thread to use, so just have to get to it now!  Then it will be on to the tee shirt quilt for my coworker.  After that is done, my time in the sewing room will be my own again.

Today I almost won a bid on Ebay for a Featherweight sewing machine.  At the very end of it, there was a bidder who kept driving the price up, up, and up, so that I ended up losing it at the last second.  Well, I looked at the bid history, and, even though they don't show the full names of the bidders, there was something odd about what they did show.  Several of the bidders had 'names' that started and ended with the same number, with the spaces in between blacked out as usual.  There would be one like this:  3****3 and another 7****7, and a couple others with different numbers.  I didn't think too much about it until I got an email from the seller, a short time after the auction finished, saying that the winning bidder was unable to complete the transaction and would I like to purchase the item?  At the highest bid amount, of course.  I have not responded yet, because it just seems odd to me.  I don't trust it.  It's like they found a way to drive the bid up to see how much I would spend.  I don't know, maybe I'm being too suspicious and should take it.  I'd sure like some input on this one.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Similar experiences?

I took pictures, honest!

I have pics of the quilt on my camera, but the camera is in the kitchen and I'm in the bedroom and my feet are cold!  I'm not getting out of bed to get it, but will try and remember to upload them tomorrow. 

I also made a large hot pat.  I think it's going to have to be more of a pad for on the table under a dish rather than one you use to pick up hot pots with because it's just too large.  I was thinking of giving it to Dad, but I'm rethinking that it might be too hokey.

Had a great dinner at Olive Garden.  Nick went with us.  Johanna had to work.

Going to dinner tonight

Darling hubby is taking me to Olive Garden tonight.  I'm going to convince him to stop at Joann Fabrics on the way home.  There is a new superstore right near the restaurant I want to check out.

A finish!

I finished the Jacob's Ladder quilt tonight.  So glad it's done.  I did remake the label from what I had made yesterday.  Will try to get some pics up of it tomorrow.

Thinking I might make a few pot holders for Dad for his birthday, too.  Just maybe.  I have other things to do in the sewing room tomorrow too.

The call of the sewing room

Jack London has nothing to worry about, I'm not recreating his novel...  haha.  This morning before work I went upstairs to talk to my son.  To get to his room, I have to pass through my sewing room.  When I passed through it, all I could think was how I really wanted to just stay home and sew.  Being in that room makes me so happy.  I love what I'm doing while I'm in there.  I feel good about myself when I'm sewing.  There is such a sense of accomplishment for me when I complete a project and it gives me a feeling of self worth.  My paying job doesn't really do that for me.  Once in a great while I will discover that someone I helped got a job and is successful.  Most of the time, people don't come back to tell me any good news.  I just hear from them again when they are unemployed. 

The reason I had gone upstairs was to see what was going on with my laptop.  Nick had run some programs on it last night and said it looks good now.  So we will see what happens!  I hope it's okay now.  That's always an aggravation to deal with when I have computer problems!

Done with machine quilting on JL

I finished machine quilting the Jacob's Ladder quilt tonight.  Made a label, which I'm not sure I'm going to use...might make a different one.  Also trimmed the sides and squared it up.  Just have to cut the binding and attach it and the label.

Had a scare with my laptop tonight.  Kept getting a black screen instead of Window's booting up.  Hope whatever it was has fixed itself, but Nick promised to run some diagnostics on it and if anything is wrong, I'm sure he can fix it.  I'm so proud of him and how good he is with computers.

I'm proud of Johanna too.  She is doing really well in school.  She's going to make a fine nurse someday soon!

No sewing tonight

I still have that small section of the Jacob's Ladder to get quilted then to bind it.  Tonight I came home about 20 minutes early because I had such eye strain from staring at my computer all day.  I'm thinking I might need new glasses.  Anyway, I didn't feel like going upstairs, just wanted to laze around, so that's what I did.  There's tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday to finish it.  It will get done.

Got the package mailed off to Mom today.  Nick took it to the Post Office for me.  I did get the humidifier cleaned tonight.  I didn't get to it over the weekend and it was needing it pretty bad.  Did a couple loads of towels, but really have another batch of laundry to tackle.  Just never ends...  haha.

Tomorrow I have a second interview for a different job.  Will see how it goes!

More on paczkis and less on politics

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday, the day we use as an excuse to gorge ourselves on pastry and other fattening foods, just because the season of Lent is beginning.  Paczkis are a pastry, Polish in orgin, similar to a jelly doughnut, but with a lot more filling and different flavors.  I heard one of my friends saying that one of the morning television shows was talking about them yesterday.  We even stopped at the local bakery and picked up a few of them for the office in the afternoon.  While they were good enough from this local bakery, I'm sure they were excellent from the bakeries in the Polish neighborhoods of cities such as Chicago.

My whole point of bringing up paczkis is that I would love to see more stories about tradition and celebration on the news and a lot less about politics.  One of the people I seriously cannot stand was on this morning, spouting some garbage about someone else in politics.  All I could think was "Why does the media give this person any attention?"  The media is just giving them a platform to propagate their stupidity.  I'm not going to turn this into a political blog.  In fact, all the political rhetoric on television has given me incentive to quilt more, because I have no desire to sit down and watch t.v.!

Okay, that's off my mind, at least for now.  I went upstairs after 9 p.m. last night to make a last minute pot holder to send to my mom.  I baked some of those big heart shaped cookies last night and put icing and sprinkles on them and wanted to send her a package with one in it.  That poor cookie looked lost so I decided to make a pot holder and put it in the envelope.  I also added some home grown popcorn a friend gave me a few weeks ago.  The pot holder was cute.  I did some string piecing with red and pink scraps on muslin, cut out a heart shape, and machine stitched it onto layers of material and batting.  Then put a binding on it and called it good.  I think she will like it.

Just a little bit more....

I quilted for a little bit today and am really close to the finish line on the Jacob's Ladder.  I had today off for President's Day and intended to do more sewing than I did.  I got involved in some household projects and didn't get as much sewing done as I wanted to.  I ended up cleaning off my dresser which was piled high with clothes, and putting them away, or in bags to give away.  I made two pans of lasagna, and washed and dried all the bed linens.  Oh, and also went to the store and bought a lot of fruit.  Just had a taste for some good fruit so I went to Aldi and stocked up.  They have the freshest produce, I guess because there is such a quick turnover.

So I'm hoping to get back upstairs and finish the quilting, but if I don't there is such a small amount of it, I should be able to finish one night this week without any problem.

Almost all quilted

I have only two more sections out of nine to finish quilting and the Jacob's Ladder quilt will be ready for binding.  Been quite busy today working on it, but have enjoyed it a lot!  Hope to finish the quilting and the binding tomorrow. 

I need to quilt that baby quilt for a shower in two weeks and then get busy on the tee shirt quilt for my coworker.  Got a lot going on, but I think if I get the Jacob's Ladder done early enough tomorrow I might give myself a break and make a few Farmer's Wife blocks.  I'm terribly behind again on them.  Oh well, it's not a race.

Made breaded pork chops, mashed potatoes and frozen peas for dinner tonight.  Yesterday I made mini burgers and even made the buns from scratch!  I used the white bread recipe I have been using to make loaves of bread.  Instead of two loaves, I made one loaf and 8 rolls.  I also put 8 balls of dough the size of the rolls into the freezer.  It's my little experiment to see if they will come out good when defrosted and baked.

Sunday afternoon

Just taking it easy on a Sunday afternoon.  Going to do some sewing pretty soon.  Ev is watching hockey and I am not a fan of hockey.  I'm ready for baseball season to start.

Good day at the fabric store

This morning my friend Donna and I took a road trip.  We stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel then headed down to Joann Fabrics.  I had a 20% off coupon and desperately needed batting.  As luck would have it, there were cotton batts on sale for 50% off that would work just fine, so I bought four of them.  I also bought several yards of different neutrals.  I can use them with my scraps.  I also needed some #14 machine needles, so I picked up four packages of them.  I got a neat little gadget on sale for half off also that is a magnetic seam guide.  It has a real strong magnet and you put it where you want it on the throat plate of your machine.  This works well for me, because I do not have computerized machines, but I don't advise it for those who do. 

All in all, after the sales prices and discount were figured in. I saved as much as I spent.  That felt pretty good!

Started quilting the Jacob's Ladder quilt today.  There are nine large sections in the quilt and I got two of the sections quilted.  I could have kept going, but made myself stop because my shoulders were getting tight.  Tomorrow I will be satisfied if I quilt three and then again on Monday quilt three.  I have also given myself permission to not finish it if it gets to be too much.  I'll get Dad something else for his birthday and give him the quilt some other time.  But I think I'll get the quilt done.

I talked to my uncle out in California tonight for almost an hour.  That was the highlight of my day.  I don't get to talk to him near as much as I would like to.

And my great uncle here in town called me tonight.  He was having trouble with his new answering machine and phone and wanted me to help him with it.  I give him credit, though.  He is trying to keep up with technology in some ways at least. 

Why do people steal?

I don't get it.  Why would anyone steal a quilt?  How could you sleep under something every night knowing that you didn't come by it honestly?  Here's a link describing the most recent missing item:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/02/help-get-word-outanother-stolen-quilt.html  I really hope it turns up soon.

Bobbin winding and petting

That's what I did last night.  I wound six bobbins, gearing up for some big time machine quilting on the Jacob's Ladder quilt.  Then, since I wasn't going to start right then, I cleared space on the tables surrounding my machine that I use for support when quilting.  I also petted the quilt a little.  Just to make it feel loved.  Haha.

Nick did not bring the space heater home in time for me to do anything for very long upstairs last night.  I'm hoping he remembered to get it and that I can be up there tonight. 

The Farmer's Wife quilt/book has really been enjoying a moment of popularity.  I joined a blog group called the Sisterhood of the Farmer's Wife, which is making one block per week from the book.  Well, today I discovered another group, The Farmer's Wife Sow-a-Long (sow as in plant, not pig).  This group is doing three blocks from the book twice a month.  I'm going to piddle around with both of these groups and hopefully get all the blocks done from the book.  Eventually.

It looks like it wants to rain this afternoon.  Not cold enough to snow anymore. 

I'm not cooking tonight.  I have had the taste for Chinese food since Monday.  Told the guys were were ordering it tonight for supper and to put in their requests!  Nick teaches lessons in the town where the restaurant we order from is at, so he will pick up the food when he's done teaching.  Unless I get hungry and go get it before then... like right after work...  haha.

One of the two diner's our small town lays claim to, both of which are outiside of town about a mile, close to the interstate, had a kitchen fire last week.  They are not saying yes or no to if and when they will be reopening.  It will be a shame if they don't.  They made real good fried chicken.  And you know how I love fried chicken!

Good days and bad

Today is my mom's birthday.  I sang happy birthday to her over the phone before 8 a.m. today.  It's kind of a tradition to make a fool out of yourself singing to the birthday person in our family.  She's going to lunch with a couple of coworkers today.

Today is also the anniversary of my sister in law's untimely death at age 26.  I will have to make a call to my mother in law this evening.  I am not looking forward to that call, but it's the right thing to do.  She lives alone in a retirement community.  She has three sons besides my husband who live close to her, none of whom are married.

I watched the dog show last night.  The Pekinese won Best in Show.  I was disappointed.  I really wanted the German Shepherd to win.  And if not him, the Doberman, or Dalmation, or Irish Setter!  I would even have preferred the Doxie or Kerry Blue Terrier over the Peke, but I really like big dogs best.  That's just my personal preferrence.  I like big dogs best.  I will say that the Peke was a very pretty dog.  Hey, there's always next year for the German Shepherd...spoken like a true Cub Fan...  hahaha.

So now that the dog show is over it's back to the Jacob's Ladder quilt.  It's pin basted and ready to rock and roll.  Nick lent out the space heater we use to heat the upstairs a couple of days ago, but was supposed to bring it home last night.  I hope he did, because it gets pretty chilly up there in my sewing room without it. 

The reason Nick had to take the space heater to his friend's house was that they forgot to order propane to heat their place.  Only two young guys batching it would forget to order this kind of thing in February!  lol.

Happy Valentine's Day

Not the fanciest cookie, but the first big cookie I've made in a long time!  It's a fourth of a roll of premade cookie dough shaped into a heart.  Could have used some fancier icing, but this was just for fun!

Hope everyone has had a nice Valentine's Day!

Putting on the dog

Okay, that was a corny title...  Last night the Dachshund, Pekinese, Dalmatian, and German Shepherd won their groups at Westminster.  Tonight there are three more groups to be judged then Best in Show.  I am really pulling for the German Shepherd!  When I was a little girl, my very first dog was a German Shepherd.  His name was Clyde.  I'll never forget that dog.  Sure loved him lots!

Almost time for the dog show!

Okay, I'll admit it - I wait all year for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.  These two nights my family all know not to call or bother me.  It's six hours, over the two nights, of dog show bliss for me.  I even gave Ivy a bath today. 

Since I had the day off, I was able to get the Jacob's Ladder quilt pin basted.  It only took me a little over an hour.  I was pretty pleased with that and I'm glad it's done.  Now I can sit down and machine quilt on it whenever I get a few minutes.

Been snowing here for a couple hours.  We might end up with a couple inches.

More pics

Here's another basket I found at the thrift store for my thread.  It's nothing fancy, but I like the way I can put things in them. 

This little basket has some cones of thread that is for my serger.  I hardly ever use my serger, mostly because it's only a three thread machine.  I could start using that thread for machine quilting,  But I like my pretty colors better!

This little gem of a basket is one of those you get produce in.  My great grandpa used to have some wicker baskets like these in the 'peck' size.  Maybe even in a half bushel size, too.  Grandpa didn't keep thread in them though - they held goodies from the garden, mostly the absolute best tomatoes I have ever had in my life.  These cones of thread were a bargain at a dollar, yes, only a dollar each.  Now, I don't use cheap thread as a rule, but I can get away with it in my older, mechanical machines if I clean them a lot as I sew.  And I could not pass up a huge cone of thread for a dollar.  I just didn't have it in me....  lol

Design Wall

My design wall has a mix and match group today!  I've got several scrappy houses from Bonnie Hunter's site and I've got a few Farmer's Wife blocks made from the sew along.  Probably not going to do too much with either of those projects today.  I want to work on pin basting Jacob's Ladder and maybe get started machine quilting it!

A lot accomplished

The house really smelled good tonight.  Can you guess why?  I baked two loaves of bread!

 I had made a pork roast for dinner with all the trimmings, too.  Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, corn.  Yummy!

Here's my Jacob's Ladder quilt top so far.  I think this is going to be all I'm going to do in it.  I was considering putting another border on it, but I think this is enough.

 I'm not real pleased with those two off color greens in the corners, but I am not going to take it apart now.  Just going to leave it and hope for the best.

I have been haunting the thrift shop lately for baskets to use in the sewing room.  Here are a couple of them that I found and put to a good use!

If I don't have my thread all out in front of me I tend to get stuck in a rut, just using white for everything.  Boring.

A quilt to love

Have you ever made a quilt that you just absolutely love?  If you are a regular blog reader of mine, several months ago you may remember my 36 patch quilt.  It has been finished for quite some time now and holds a place of honor on my bed.  Every day I look at this quilt, and every day I fall in love with it all over again.  I see the combinations of fabrics that I used and it simply makes me happy.  I think that's a good thing.

And you know what else?  We USE this quilt.  It's not just there to be pretty.  Yes, there was a lot of work that went into it, but I didn't make it to be put away on a shelf.  We sleep under it, lay down on top of it, and let the dog and cat on it.  I'm not saying that I am letting it be destroyed, I'm just saying it's getting put through it's paces.  The cat has a daily ritual of pouncing on you in the morning, with claws extended, and she regularly does this on the quilt.  There hasn't been any damage, but if some does occur, I'll just patch it and give the quilt even more character!

A couple of years ago the dog chewed holes, yes HOLES, in my husband's favorite quilt that took me three years to create and hand quilt.  I put patches on them and put it back on the bed.  What else could I do?  Beat the dog?  Not going to happen.  She was a pup at the time and had those sharp puppy teeth.  I guess I could have put the quilt away while she was teething, but I didn't, so it's my fault. 

My point is, if you love what you create, don't hide it in a closet or drawer!  Use it!  If you can't stand to use it, display it!  Hang it on the wall, or frame it if it's small.  Why spend all that time, energy and love to create something then not enjoy it?

Had to make more blocks

I finished putting together the Jacob's Ladder blocks today and laid them out on the bed to see how I would set them.  After trying several different combinations, I decided I needed four more blocks to set it the best way.  So upstairs I went and made four more Jacob's Ladder blocks.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to put them together into a top.

I want fried chicken

There.  I said it.  However bad for me it may be, I want fried chicken for lunch today.  I've been thinking about it all morning, and on my lunch hour I am going to go to KFC's drive through and get a two piece wing dinner.  With mashed potatoes.  And a biscuit.  Sigh.  I feel like Pavlov's Dog, because I'm just about drooling over the thought. 

I can't wait to get home from work today and get those Jacob's Ladder blocks done!   This quilt is going to be for my dad and his birthday is only a couple weeks away.  I'd like to give it to him then.  And then there is a little bit of the guilt factor here because my mom's birthday is next week and I didn't make her a quilt this year.  It all evens out.

Been waiting for the Farmer's Wife quilt group to announce the next block to make.  I'm thinking of trying to get a friend of mine to work on this with me.  Kind of doubt she will though, because she is expecting a grandbaby in August and has baby quilts to make!  Speaking of baby quilts...

After Dad's quilt is done, I need to hurry and get the pink baby quilt top quilted.  The baby shower I'm giving that one away at is the first weekend in March.  Then there's a little lull between babies, but in August two of my friends are expecting grandbabies, so I had better stay on top of that!  I've got a lot on my plate!  Loving it!

I had to laugh this morning.  My friend who gave me the tee shirt pieces yesterday called me this morning and said she found one more and would I swap out one she gave me for this piece?  Cracked me up!  She has really helped out in making this quilt by prepping the tee shirt pieces.  She cut the shirts apart and then ironed light weight interfacing to the back of all the pieces.  I need to trim them up, but the majority of the work is done.  It should go together pretty quickly.  There are 16 large pieces and no sashing or borders.   

Climbing the ladder

Been working on those Jacob's Ladder blocks.  I have one more seam to go and all the blocks will be finished.  Then the fun part of deciding how to set them comes.  Will want to do that Saturday and have Ev help.  He has a good eye for things like that.

I have a stack of tee shirt fronts from a friend of mine at work.  She wants me to make a quilt for her from her son's old shirts.  Going to get started on that soon. 

Caught up

Okay, I'm all caught up with the Farmer's Wife blocks!  This one is called Economy.  Pretty simple - a square in a square in a square.  I have had that tan material with rosebuds for a while.  It's a really pretty piece of fabric.  I have an unfinished top somewhere with a lot of it in it.

I also sewed some of the Jacob's Ladder pieces tonight.  Could have done more but Criminal Minds came on and I wanted to watch it.  And now I'm ready for bed, so tomorrow is another day.

About me

On one of the chat groups I belong to, the question was asked of our group "when did you learn to sew?"  I answered the question briefly online, but I think I would like to answer it even more detailed here on the blog.  I'm going to pick and choose different things to tell about the journey I took to get to this point in my life with my sewing/quilting.  I think it's only fitting to start at one of my earliest memories.

My childhood was filled with mostly older relatives, not just older as in my parents, but older as in my great grandparents and great aunts and uncles.  If you can believe it, even today I have one great uncle still living.  I digress, back to the sewing story....  My Great Aunt Leah was my paternal Grandpa V's sister.  She was elderly when I was very young, as Grandpa V. was the baby of the family.  Aunt Leah lived with Little Grandma, her and Grandpa's mother.  It probably goes without my saying that this household was a quiet one.  Two elderly ladies don't generate a lot of excitement and energy for young children.

My cousin, who is a year younger than I, stayed at my grandparent's house a lot, and we would frequently visit with Aunt Leah and Little Grandma.  One of my earliest sewing memories was at Aunt Leah's, sitting on the floor threading a needle.  I remember that I wanted the thread to be really long because I didn't want to have to thread the needle any more times than necessary.  When I look back on this, it was probably before I entered Kindergarten.  In Kindergarten it was discovered that I desperately needed glasses.  I think my cousin and I were just sewing some scraps together for doll clothes, but nothing really ever materialized.

We would also use paper towels when we couldn't get ahold of any scrap material to make our doll clothes.  They were usually recycled back to being paper towels when we were done, and we weren't allowed to use a whole lot of them, either!

Somewhere along the line, at my maternal great grandparents, a box of linen type scraps were found.  I remember those white pieces were the oddest shapes, but I tried my best to put them together to make something, anything, for my Barbie doll.  I also remember my Great Grandma S. had a blue and grey shaped sewing basket that I loved to paw through.  It had some of those old needle cards with the bright picture of the lady on it and the words "Sewing with Susan".  That gal looked so happy to be threading a needle....

Kitty pic, again

She really does think she's royalty, you know....

Today was a fairly trying day at work.  I'm pretty certain it was a full moon.  I don't understand how some people can be so rude.  It's not my fault they are out of work.  It's not my fault they didn't get their unemployment insurance.  It's not my fault their last employer didn't pay them.  It's not my fault they have to go to the doctor.  Or are homeless.  Or don't want to get a web based email because that would mean putting their name out there on the internet.

I'm sure you get the picture.  It was sooooo one of those days.  And I'm grateful and thankful to have a job.  Amen.

I did get upstairs to pick out some fabric for the next Farmer's Wife block.  I found some pretty scraps and pressed them.  That was about all I did up there, though. 

Gentleman's Fancy block finished

Another Farmer's Wife block finished!  Now all I have to do is this week's block and I'm all caught up.  These blocks are interesting and fun to make.  I need to go back and read the stories associated with each block.  That was the reason I purchased the book in the first place, really.

I also pressed the sections of the Jacob's Ladder blocks tonight.  They are all ready to be sewn into complete blocks now.  I will have a total of 32 blocks when I'm done.  They are 12" square.  Not sure how I'll be setting them yet.  I have some nice options for borders, plus quite a few left over four patch units to incorporate somewhere, either in the borders or on the back.

Cute kitty cat...maybe....

 I think Shadow cat was telling me to back off in this picture above!  She had hopped in the laundry basket and I kept disturbing her because I was taking clothes out and folding them.

She was content when I decided to stop and leave a couple tee shirts in there for her.

Did a little sewing on the Jacob's Ladder blocks today.  Getting ready to watch the Superbowl.

Catching up on blocks

Here's the block Mother's Dream from the Farmer's Wife collection.  I finished it today.  I'm only a week behind on the blocks now.

I also worked on the Jacob's Ladder blocks today.  They are coming along nicely. 

I made a pot of chili today for dinner tonight and to eat if we want it tomorrow.  Since it's the Superbowl game, I am going to make some snacky stuff to eat whenever we want.  Going to make a pot of clam chowder and a homemade pizza.  I know, that's a weird combo, but it's for us to just eat whenever and the leftovers will get eaten through the week.  I also have three portabello mushroom caps that I want to stuff and broil. 

Ev put a new light fixture on the ceiling in my sewing room today.  The old one was one of those with a pull chain and the little clicker for the chain had long ago bit the dust, so I had to screw and unscrew the light bulb when I wanted the light to come on.  We will see how long this fixture lasts...

Another Farmer's Wife Block

Here's my Honey's Choice block for the Farmer's Wife sampler:

The color in the picture isn't very accurate.  It's really much nicer than this.  I didn't intend to sew this block when I went upstairs tonight.  It was after 9 and I had been napping on the couch most of the night, still trying to get back to normal from this sinus thing that's working on me.  I was just going to go upstairs and pick out the fabrics for the block, but then I just got involved and went ahead and made the block.  It's so cute! 

I have to say, it's going to take a LOT of six inch blocks to make a quilt of any decent size, and that is what the Farmer's Wife blocks finish at - six inches.  Maybe I should be doing two or three or even four of each block...  I'm going to have to look on the companion cd to the book and see what layout they suggest, so that I have some idea what to expect.

It's raining here tonight and has been pretty much since it got dark.  Made Ev some Italian Sausage for supper.  I had a bowl of soup.  Not much in the mood to eat, I guess 'cause I can't taste anything with my nose all stopped up.

Bits and Pieces

These are the pieces for the Jacob's Ladder blocks.  I have two thirds of each row of the blocks sewn together.  It's so much easier to do these by chain piecing, so I try and find ways to match up blocks that way.

 And this, my friends, is a six inch block named 'Contrary Wife'.  This is one of the blocks that the Sisterhood of the Farmer's Wife group has already made.  I'm playing catch up and this is the first finished block I've made, but no fear, this Contrary Wife will get there!

I like the brown and deep red colors in this block.  The green is just some material I had to lay it on so it wouldn't fade away on the table.  I have a big scrap bag I got some time back from a friend that I'm picking through, in addition to combing through my own scraps to make these blocks.  That's a lot of fun!

Feeling a little better, but not pushing my luck!  Sinus are still all yucked up, so tonight I put some Vick's in the vaporizer/humidifier.

Just do it...again!

That's the mind set I have to have tonight when I get home from work...just do it!  Ev called and said he didn't need me to make dinner because they were having a meal at work.  That means from the minute my feet hit the floor when I get home, I can quilt until bedtime if I want to...woohoo!  So you know what?  I'm going to just do it!  I might make a detour stop at our local Dollar General Store (love the folks that work there!  Great people!) and pick up a box of good cereal.  I'm out of cereal at home, at least out of any kind I want to eat, and I'm thinking I'll just have a bowl of cereal for dinner.  It just doesn't get any easier than that, folks!

Quick post

Just a quick post then I'm going to sleep!  I ended up coming home from work at noon today and immediately took a nap.  Got up for probably less than an hour then took another nap!  Sleep is the best medicine for a lot of things, I think.

Anyway, I did go upstairs and sew together four Jacob's Ladder blocks and pick out the materials for one of the Farmer's Wife blocks, but that was about all the energy I had.  It could be worse, so I'm really not complaining!  Nighty night!

I refuse to get sick

Last night was full of good intentions.  I intended to go home and work on the Farmer's Wife blocks.  I intended to work on the green Jacob's Ladder quilt.  Well, you know that old saying about intentions...  haha.

Ended up having to go to the grocery store, then made dinner.  After that, I spent the entire night trying to get warm!  I guess I had a little bit of a fever, because I was just chilled to the bone.  When I went to bed at 8:30 I had four quilts on me and still couldn't get warm.  Added another quilt and two rice bag warmers, plus the dog layed on my feet and the cat curled up next to me before I could even start to get warm! 

Long story short, I think this sinus thing is working on me and I'm a bit angry that I'm getting sick.  Isn't that the silliest thing you ever heard?  But I am!  I don't want to be down.  I have things to do, places to go, people to see, quilts to make!!!!

So today I am at work, plugging along, trying to stay warm.  If I make it through the day, which is about a 50% chance with the way I feel now, I want to go home and sew tonight.  I think I will do the Farmer's Wife blocks in brown and tan colors.  I'm usually a blue person, but trying to step outside my comfort zone a little more these days.

Wish me luck.