A good weekend

Late Friday afternoon I got my car back.  It drives very nicely and I am pleased with it.

Saturday we went to Springfield for a little shopping and dining.  Went to a new store that had opened a while ago and to a micro brewery.  Had a real good time.  Nick, Johanna, and Ben all met us up there so it was a lot of fun.

Here's the tee shirt quilt I have been working on for a customer.  It's not very large, about 50x50.  I just did a simple meander all over it.  The quilting part is finished but I haven't taken it off of the frame yet.  I am using the rest of the backing to work up some quilting samples for my friend who would like me to quilt a top for her.  So far I have done simple loopy loops and a meander.  I would like to work up a couple of pantos to show her also.

I had a lot of trouble with thread breaking.  If I remember correctly, this particular thread gave me fits last time I used it, so I just muddled through and have decided that I am going to take that cone of thread upstairs to use for piecing.

I also accomplished something I have been wanting to do for a long time.  I have learned to knit!  Years ago I played around with knitting, but I never really figured it out.  This time, with lots of help from my friend Marla and a couple of You Tube videos, I think I got it!  My main goal is to be able to make a simple dishcloth... not a very lofty goal, but that is the reason I wanted to learn to knit.  I have always loved those knitted dishcloths!  I tried to duplicate them in crochet, but was just never able to come up with something I liked.  I have a huge cone of cotton yarn, so all I had to get was a set of needles.  Well, once I got in the yarn aisle, I did see some pretty colors of cotton yarn and had to pick up just a couple.  Here's what I have done so far:

It will certainly not win any beauty contests, but I doubt my dirty dishes will care.

Ev and I made a trip over to a furniture resale shop on Saturday morning.  I have been wanting to get a table that I could cut a hole in to set a sewing machine down on a shelf below so that it was flush with the table.  There is one at Ikea, however it is $65 and I just cringe at the thought of paying that much for something I am going to cut a hole in and possibly mess up.  The table we found is larger than the Ikea one, which is fine, and I was able to get them down in price to $30.  Ev is going to pick it up this morning. 

The machine that I would like to put in it is one I don't have yet!  haha.  I am seriously considering buying a new machine for piecing, but just don't have the cash for it yet.  So until then, I am going to hold off on cutting any holes in tables...

Still waiting

I am still waiting for the shop to get the parts and get my car fixed.  Could end up having this loaner over the weekend, which means I had better put gas in it because I am riding on fumes... 

In one of the local papers there was an article about a furniture resale shop a couple towns over.  Tomorrow Ev and I are going to take a ride over there.  I would like to find a table that is sturdy but not expensive, and not real large.  I would like to use it to turn into a sewing table by cutting a hole in it for a machine and dropping the machine down on a shelf below.  This is not my original idea, and if you want more information you can google Ikea hacks sewing table.  Go to the one on the blog frommartawithlove.  The table just needs to have a front and back apron to attach pieces of wood to for the shelf.

This morning when I was waiting to leave for work I went upstairs and made a couple of crumb blocks.  My friend, Sandy, asked me about them yesterday and I wanted her to see the technique.  The are so easy and brainless to make, I really should do more of them.

Maybe this weekend I will get the last blocks made for my swap with Mary (as well as finishing the tee shirt quilt).  I was playing in some scraps and came across some animal prints and thought it would be cute if I used one of the animals in the house block.  It could be looking out of the window.  Since Mary has always liked giraffes, that is what will be looking out of her window.  I have a tiger for mine.

Car woes

So I know my car is older and things are going to break down, but why do they have to cost so much?  Sigh.  My baby is in the shop getting a new ball joint, alignment, and a new tire.  There's no question about having the work done or not, because it has to be done.  I'm not going to buy a new car any time soon, so the amount that we have to put into this one in repairs is definitely less than a car payment would be.  Oh well, gotta do what ya' gotta do.  On the upside, I do have a nice new Ford Escape to drive as a loaner car.  Pretty nice ride.

On the quilty side, I got the backing and batting loaded for the tee shirt quilt last night.  I am going to float the top, since it isn't very big at all.  If I have time tonight, I may even be able to get it all quilted.  Will have to see how things go when I get home.  Tonight is my night out to dinner with darling son.  Probably go to Sunset for dinner, as I think he is kind of burned out on Tilley's right now.

I also have to sew up some quilting samples for my friend Sandy.  She has a top that she might want me to quilt and would like to see some samples to decide what she wants to do.  It's kind of exciting now, doing a little bit here and there for other people.  I'm also waiting on another gal to give me a top that I promised to quilt for our church raffle.  The lady who always made the quilts has stopped, so one gal is making the top and I am doing the quilting.  She is going to do the binding, also.  Works for me!

With those three projects, I am going to be about at the end of the roll of batting I currently have.  Good thing I am going to Paducah soon!  Whee!  Hancocks here I come!

Wednesday

Just a normal Wednesday today.  I sewed together the backing for the tee shirt quilt last night and took everything downstairs to Gemma.  Hoping to get it all loaded up tonight and ready to go.  It's pretty cold in the basement still, but this weekend it's supposed to warm up. 

Still feeling a bit queasy and so is Ev.  No clue what we had now.

Johanna asked me if I could sew little quilted runners for a couple of her window sills.  No problem.  Told her to get me some measurements.

Cheese Recall from Aldi

***UPDATE***
I probably should put this at the bottom, but whatever...  I have all of my packages of Happy Farms Cheese ready to be returned for a refund at Aldi and decided to call Parkers Farm to inform them of our illnesses.  Well, the customer service person told me two things.  1.  She said that Listeria takes 70 days to show up and 2.  Parkers Farm does NOT provide the shredded cheese to Aldi under the brand Happy Farms.  So, once again, I am stumped as to why we both were sick. 

This was my original post, but the information in the first paragraph is wrong if Parkers Farm does not provide the shredded variety:

Okay, dear readers, I might have solved the mystery.  Happy Farms Cheese, which Ev and I both liberally sprinkle on our chili, and recently ate, is made by Parkers Farm.  Parkers Farm is recalling it's products due to a possible listeria contamination.  I would venture a guess that the word "possible" could be dropped from that sentence...  The products were not just sold at Aldi and were sold under many different brands.  I just saw this recall on the local news tonight, March 24th.  Here's what www.parkersfarm.com has on it's front page:

VOLUNTARY RECALL

On March 21, 2014 Parkers Farm is recalling all of its products within code date due to possible listeria contamination. If you currently have any of our products at home, please return them to your local retailer or discard. Please do not consume. Customer Call Center Hours: Monday - Friday 8am to 5pm CST. 1-800-869-6685

DEAR CUSTOMER:

Parkers Farm Acquisition LLC., Coon Rapids, Minnesota, is announcing a voluntary recall of all products because they may contain Listeria monocytogenes.
This action is being taken as a precaution in response to testing conducted by the State of Minnesota. None of Parkers Farm products in the marketplace have been associated with any illness.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infection in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individualls suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

I have returned

I am back.  Not 100% but getting there.  Still not sure just what I got sick from.  Now I'm even wondering if it really was food poisioning because Everett got violently ill last night.  I've had f.p. before and this was exactly like it, so I am still leaning to that being the culprit, but can't figure why hubby would get it a few days later, except that maybe his digestion is slower than mine?  I don't know.  If it was a bug, it was one heck of a doozy.

So, another lost weekend and no sewing, which makes me aggravated.  I probably won't feel like doing much tonight after working all day and being up half the night with Ev last night, so will just have to shoot for tomorrow and roll with the punches.

The only good thing that came of all this is that I lost 7 pounds over the last few days!  Not the way anyone wants to do it, though, that's for sure!

Just a few more weeks until Paducah!  Getting closer every day.  Hope we have nice weather.

Three words

Food poisioning sucks.

Ready to load

After the excitement settled down last night, I was able to get an hour of sewing in.  I put the rows together for the tee shirt quilt and picked out material for the backing.  Have to prepare the back, but that won't be a big deal.  Would like to get it loaded tonight at least.  That was kind of my plan for tonight anyway, as my cleaning gals weren't supposed to come until tonight, however they ended up coming last night.  That was fine (it's their usual night, but they thought they were going to have to switch - not a big deal to me at all, just so the house gets clean!).  Nick teaches lessons tonight and will be stopping over around 7:30 so if I get right to it when I get home I should get everything I want done before he wants to go get a bite to eat.

So that's the plan.  We will see what happens!

I have decided to do some research on pricing these tee shirt quilts.  I may just jump in and put it out there that I am open for business.  I'm just so gun shy about this, though.  I know I can do the work, because I've done it enough times now, I'm just still nervous about taking in things from people I don't know.

Hallelujah!

Darling Daughter Johanna passed her state board tests in nursing!  She is now a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor's Degree.  I am just busting at the seams!  WOOHOO!

Making headway

Last night I was on a roll!  I made dinner, which was bacon and French Toast, then I also made a pan of Italian Sausage with onions and peppers.  The night before, I made chili and a batch of stuffed peppers.  I really don't have to cook now for a few days!  After doing a couple loads of laundry, I went upstairs and did some sewing.  I had prepared the fabric Monday night for the smaller blocks of the tee shirt quilt.  Last night I sewed them together and trimmed them to the same size as the other blocks.  Then I sewed them into rows.  Hopefully tonight I can get the rows sewn together, maybe even the backing ready if I have energy.