A Busy Week

The past week was busier than any I can remember in a long time!   Starting out fairly early, 8 a.m., I went for a check-up blood test at a lab. Didn't get out of there until 9 a.m.! Everyone else in town decided to go early on Monday for blood work too, I guess.

After that I went to AAA for maps as my big bag of maps of everywhere I have ever gone was also a victim of the Christmas burgler. Unfortunately I didn't realize that until I was lost in Sacramento the previous Saturday.

It was already 9:45 when I got on the highway  to drive to The Grandson's. The weatherman threatened rain and the report I had early from artquiltmaker  was of rain on the peninsula.  Sure enough, as I crested the first pass, rain started and traffic stopped.  Being pretty much intolerant of stop and go traffic I got off the highway and got onto surface streets, made great time, got lost, and got back on the highway. Right behind the truck I had been behind when I left the road in the first place!

So I stayed in the slow traffic to the second pass where the rain was so hard I couldn't see five feet in front of me! Good thing everyone was driving 15 mph! At the junction wher I decide which bridge to take I actually picked the nrthern  one and everyone else took the southern one! Yea for me.  But by then, 11 a.m., I was frazzeled. My Starbucks radar kicked in and I stopped for a cuppa. Caffeine was probably not a good idea but the comfy chair, pleasant music and happy baristas calmed me down.  After a few minutes of Starbucks therapy I hit the road again  and made it to TGS in a half an hour.

By the time I got there driving was the last thing I wanted to do. The rain was very light so we decided to walk down to the shopping center to have lunch. On the walk home, before we were even off the shopping center area, I took a header, landing on my knees and right elbow! Perhaps this was a day when I should have stayed in bed!

TGS got me up, we got home, he got to use his scouting Red Cross skills and with an ice pack and a sit down, I survived!

Tuesday was election day and I had signed up to work in our precinct. Together with the three others from our precinct and four from another precinct, we arrived at the fire station around the corner at 6 a.m. and converted the firemen's den into a polling place.

Voting was mostly slow with pockets of frenetic activity.  My co-workers were a lot of fun. Except for the long hours (I got home about 10:30 p.m.) I enjoyed participating in the electoral process.

Wednesday morning we got up early to drive to Roseville so we could pick up Roller Derby Daughter.  She was going to visit us for two days.

We did really well finding her in an unfamiliar place - yea maps! Got home about four and sat around playing cribbage and catching up.  We remembered that Wednesday was Farmer's Market day in town so hopped in the truck and proceeded to  buy goodies, geegaws and comestibles.  Great fun!

Back at home we BBQd, cooked fresh beets, and pigged out on cherries. Then more cribbage until oh dark thirty at night.  I fell asleep as I hit the pillow - no communing with the goddess Insomnia that night!

In spite of planning an early day, we didn't get out of the house for breakfast at The Mangy Moose. After the usual excellent meal, we headed off to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf.  We ate, walked around, went in attractions and shops, ate again, and walked around some more.  Did alll the fun touristy stuff.

Around five we headed for the beach, having alerted artquiltmaker that we were going to descend, en masse, on her. RD had never met her nephew, TGS, and really wanted to.

After that we took the southern route to the east bay airport area where RD was spending the night in a hotel so she would make her 7a.m. flight.  And got lost. Again. No map. Drove around for 45 minutes trying to find the place. Finally did, despite the bad directions from the desk clerk and the wrong address on the reservation (H loop instead of H place).

We got back home around 1130 p.m too wired to sleep.  So I beat the Big Guy three games to none in cribbage!

We vegged Friday.

Saturday we were signed up in a booth at the senior center parking lot sale.  TBG was selling his concoction of 'Uncle Buck's Wood Butter' and I was face painting.  He did well, coming home with a profit. I had four customers which left me in the hole after the cost of the paints. But it was fun to be outside and talk to so many people.

We are vegging again today. Except my studio exploded! So I put away all the stuff which had accumulated and fell when I walked near it, last week while I was running around having so much fun.

Okay, I really am back in the blogosphere now! We once again have internet in the house. I have a working and reliable computer and maybe something to blog about!

Last week Debbie of Quilters Quarters aske me to sew a store sample quilt from the "Fairy Tale Friends" collection.  How that came about is a story for anothe post.  Sufice it to say I surprised myself by getting it doe in 5 days, only 2 1/2 of which were spent sewing!  Unfortunately I neglected to take a picture after I put on the borders. But the first border was one inch solid red and the second border was black with all the fairy tale characters on it. 

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Quilter's Quarters is my new favorite quilt store.  I love novelty prints and batiks and they carry tons of them.  I am usually able to resist buying fabric but I have not resisted the last three times I have been there.  But I am also sewing more so I will be using lots of fabric. So it is reasonable to buy more, right? Sure. Right. Uh huh.

 

In June I will be teaching a sewing camp for children 8 years old and up at A Work of Heart in San Jose.  I have designed a tote bag and have made two samples.   Have to find a place to stay near the shop because it is REALLY too far to drive everyday.  Anyone have an idea?

The Big Guy and I had our quarterly (it seems) Friday night date at the VA Emergency Room last week.  Lost half of Friday and all of Saturday. Friday was the drive to Sacramento - we went to Mather VA instead of Palo Alto (won't do that again) - because it is closer by twenty miles and no bridges to cross.  But the treatment left a lot to be desired in my opinion and the facility is not state of the art like Palo Alto.  Lost Saturday because I drank so much coffee to stay awake driving that when we got home at 3:00 a.m. I couldn't sleep.  Got some knitting done, read a little and got to bed about 5:30 a.m. Got up at 11:30.

BG had been up for hours. Of course he slept going, coming and while he was at the VA.  We went to lunch at The Mangy Moose - best diner in Manteca - then to Home Depot for supplies. Big Guy is making a Toby toy box.  For those of you without little boys, Toby is one of the engines from the Thomas the Tank Engine Series. I will post pictures when it is finished.

Have I mentioned that Home Depot is my least favorite place in the shopping world?  The only thing they have that interests me in the least are paint chips.

I received a great book from artquiltmaker for mother's day.  It is A.J. Munsell's Notebooks.  What a fantastic book!  I like the Munsell color system and have used it for years.  Reading this book is giving me a more complete understanding of the system and the language of color.  If you get the chance, get a copy of this book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in color theory.

Plan on posting three times a week from now on.  I look forward to your comments.

Lost week

Had a relapse of the miserable cold that I had three weeks ago.  Yuk!  On top of that The Big Guy got it, too.  So not only was I sick as a dog, so was he.  The last week has disappeared in a haze of cold medicine, dirty tissues, coughing up lungs, hot tea and all the other accroutrements of a virus.  In the meantime, I was/am also dealing with an infected eye - can  you say "poooor baaby!".

I have managed to read four books and start two new quilts (don't mention that in front of my pile of WIPs!).  As I mentioned last time I was really inspired by  the silk quilts on exhibit at the EBHQ show.  So I am cutting silk for a "Patch-it" wall hanging.  The hard part of that is the directions are on my stolen computer so I am relying on my memory - uh oh.  Am going to see if I can find them online while I am here at my daughters\'s and have internet access.

The other quilt is for my friend's granddaughter.  I made one several years ago for her older brother and the one I just finished is for her younger brother.  So she is next in line.  Her name is Kestrel.  I found a fabric panel with hawks on it.  The closest to a Kestrel is a Peregrine falcon so that is what she gets.  It is pretty scrappy.  I am using mermaids, monkeys, chickens, kittens, maybe puppies if I have any of that left, maybe food from my two food quilts.  I want to have lots of stuff a four-year-old will like and recognize.  The beginnings of it are up on my design wall and I have started piecing it.  The back will either be Disney Princess fabric or tea party (as in china cups and teapots, not the politics).  Haven't decided yet.

I'm also trying to draw more.  Our town is having an art show and sale and I want to enter it.  I have been doing a couple of sketches in the sketchbook the grandson gave me for Christmas and driving over here today I had an idea.  So will work on that and hopefully finish it in time to enter it.

Our town had a big trash pickup today.  Yesterday afternoon we went through a big pile of stuff on the patio and tossed out a lot of it.  We also found my cast iron griddles!  I have been fussing about them since we moved.  When I couldn't find them I thought I had left them in the trailer.  But no, they were in with stuff on the patio.  Now I can make more than one pancake at a time!  The patio looks so much better.

It is raining again.  So glad, we really need it.

That is it for the week.  My camera is on the blink, poor old thing so still no pictures.  Soon I hope.

Miscellany

Well, I finally got my ten year old laptop back from the repair person and it came home with a different problem!  The hard drive comes on, I get the first screen then the hard drive stops!  Bummer.  I have decided not to spend any more money on it but that leaves me without a computer.  Saw one at Office Max that I just love but can't afford so have been shopping for a cheaper one.  In the meantime, I am using the computers at the library. 

The downside of the library computers is I cannot download pict ures (which really doesn't matter as all my picutres were on my stolen and broken computers anyway.

I have been quilting!  Had a top that was finished and am machine quilting it.  Halfway done and my sewing machine foot pedal bit the dust!  My very handy man husband tried to fix it but it is caput and unfixable.  So, I have pulled out my little feahterweight and will finish it on that machine.  Good thing I have more than one sewing machine!

As I may have mentioned I visit my grandson every week.  We had been visiting on Thursdays but when he joined tennis club and stayed at school til five on Thursdays we changed to Tuesdays.  Now he is preparing for a tennis tournament and stays at school til five every day.  So we saw each other for about five minutes yesterday.  So we will see how next week goes and then re-evaluate my 164 mile weekly drive.  I love watching him grow up but don't love watching him grow away.  A natural thing, though.

On a brighter note, The Big Guy and I have been going to concerts!  The first one we went to in January was The Sons of the San Joaquin.  They sing western songs, most of which they wrote.  Very mellow and upbeat.  We went out to Angels Camp to the Bret Harte theater for that.  It was lovely.  Afterwards we had dinner in Copperopolis at an Italian restaurant whose name escapes me.  But they had gluten free menu items which were delicious!

February first we heard Judy Collins at the Gallo Theater in Modesto.  We were in the nosebleed seats, third balcony, second row from the back! But the sound system there is wonderful and they have an elevator.  If possible, Judy Collins, at 72, has a better voice than she did in the sixties and seventies!  The warm-up act was Amy Speece, a new artist from Nashville.  Her voice was gorgeous and her patter was hilarious!

Tomorrow night we are going to the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley with friends, Dave and Sandy.  Can't decide if we will drive or take BART.  Am afraid The Big Guy will not be able to walk the two or three blocks to the venue.  We will see how he feels tomorrow.

Thursday will be a late night.  I have a Birding field trip to go on Friday morning at eight a.m.  I really want to go but will give myself some slack if I am not up to it.

So you are now caught up with my life to date! I hope to soon get my own computer so that I can blog regularly again.

She's Baaaaack!

Yes, I am indeed back.  My blogging ability is quite curtailed, however.  My mini computer was stolen and our internet provider went belly-up so I am using my daughter's ancient desktop once a week when I visit.  I sent my antique laptop to be repaired and should have it back in a few days.  Then will have to find a reasonably priced internet service provider,  I looked at ads for Clear 4.  Has anyone heard of that company?  It seems to be reasonably priced and have the service I want.  There is also an office for them in the next town over so it is pretty convenient.  Am going to check it out when my computer comes home.

No pictures for this blog as they were on my computer.  Also, my yahoo password seems to have been changed because I can't get in with any of the passwords I use.  Probably the skinny bums who stole it.  I say they are skinny because they got into the truck (where I had stupidly left my computer) through the shell window which is only about ten or twelve inches wide.

We had really nice holidays.  Spent Christmas with our NoCal family and New Years with our SoCal family.  Everyone is well and seems happy.  A nice thing this year is that gifts were not excessive. I was glad to see moderation abound!

Our puppy has a  hot spot so The Big Guy got a cone for her so she wouldn't lick it.  She hates it.  Refuses to walk around.  When I left to pick up the grandson today I realized I had forgotten something and went back home.  The Big Guy gave in and took her cone off. :(

The grandson gave me a sketchbook for Christmas.  It is my favorite kind - black hardbound with acid free paper.  I painted the front cover and spine and have started applying gesso to the pages.  I plan on painting in it and the gesso will keep the paper from falling apart.  It feels like painting.  Anybody remember the artist who paints everything white?  His name is not on the tip of my tongue but I remember seeing his work at SFMOMA years ago.

Well, it is late and I have to make the 82 mile trek back to the Central Valley so I will sign off.  Will try to blog again soon and will hopefully have sketchbook pictures to show you (not all white!:})

Little Red Dog - my new granddog!

As posted a few months ago, my favorite (plug your ears Roxy, Bob and Cloe) dog in the whole world, Red Dog, moved on to that great dog park in the sky.  I know he is chasing pregnant angel mini-horses to his heart's content with Truman at his side!

So, my daughter, who now only had two dogs, and VERY old dogs at that, adopted a little pit puppy.  After much debate on face book she decided to change Thelma's name to Jayne.  Jayne came home from the SPCA in San Francisco with aspiration pneumonia as the SPCA insisted on spaying her (at 6 weeks!!!!) before she could be brought home.  

 She was an instant hit with the boy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cloe decided she was the mother! And the real mother made sure Jayne had plenty of toys!

The big old dogs taught her how to escape and then come back in and redecorate the kitchen with a kitschy faux dog print theme!  I wonder what the carpeting looks like? :(

I am looking forward to meeting Jayne, hopefully before she reaches her weight limit!

This 'n That

Have been wanting to post a blog for several days but have just now found the time to sit down and do it.  Today I had planned on, with the help of my talented, handsome and strong grandson, moving some furniture out of storage. But, alas and hurrah, it is raining so that odious activity has been cancelled.  This leaves me at my daughters, in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere conducive to writing.

I have been home almost a week from a two week trip to SoCal where I visited my darling mom. We generally and thoroughly wore ourselves out doing important stuff and fun stuff! All that activity left me no time to write.

So now I have been home almost a week.  My bags are unpacked, but the laundry isn't done because it has been so cold the clothes don't get dry.  I have been hanging one load every day and a half in the house.  So the accumulation of the Big Guy's dirties and the few I brought home isn't going down very fast! Oh well, it isn't going anywhere, either!

Tuesday the Big Guy woke up in the early morning hours with a swollen knee. We spent the afternoon at the VA getting that looked at - pure torture for him as the Rheumatologist did a needle biopsy without anesthesia.  He held really still but bellowed like an R rated, gored bull.  I watched without passing out.  Diagnosis is pseudo-gout.  His second bout, the first one was four years ago and through misdiagnosis and lackadaisical care landed him in the hospital for nine weeks with MERSA.  So, we didn't wait this time.  Hopefully the outcome will be better.  He researched gout in his extensive medical book collection and is convinced cherries will cure him.  A trip to Trader Joe's for dried cherries is in order on the way home.  At least they won't hurt him!

I finally finished the top of William's food quilt and sent it off to my friend Judy to be quilted.  I'm hoping I get it back in time for his birthday the end of the month.  In the meantime I took out a repair I've had for several years and plan on finishing that.  It is an old quilt which belongs to our friend Hugh.  Hugh and his wife, Consuelo, live in Brentwood.  We are going to that area next month for the second of the Big Guy's Santa gigs and I would like to deliver the quilt then.  But in the meantime I also have to make a Santa jacket for the Big Guy.

On a final, and exciting (for me) note, one day last week I was poster child for the Munsell Color facebook page!  They saw my Sept. 19 blog post "Color Obsession Using Color Theory" and anointed me poster child.  Woo Hoo!

Vacation!

The Big Guy and I are on vacation in central Oregon, east of the city of Eugene.  This is a lovely farm on the road in to the resort where we are staying.  As you can see from the view of the sky, the weather is typical for Oregon.  We have been here a week.  The first two days were sunny and warm - perfect.  Friday afternoon I picked our 'dinner and dominoes every Tuesday' friends up at the airport.  It began to rain in the middle of the night Friday.  Of course, all the rain keeps the area green and beautiful.

On Tuesday we went to a yoga class - my first in eight years!  I was surprised at how flexible I still am!  I also really enjoyed the class and will go again tonight.  And maybe I will even go to yoga when I get home!

Yesterday the weather was cloudy in the morning but beautiful in the afternoon.  The grounds here are beautiful and the Big Guy and Roxy are enjoying all the trails.  This area is also rich in fallen branches which he uses for his new hobby, making walking sticks.  He has made about eight since we arrived and they are beautiful!  Some of the wood has blue streaks in it which are highlighted by his wood butter (last years hobby).

The other spa class available is water aerobics.  I went both yesterday and today.  Yesterday it wiped me out but today I did much better.  What a fun way to get in shape!  Maybe I'll move our pool repair higher up on the looooong list of stuff left to do on the house!  Or it might be easier to find a class somewhere!

The resort we are at has beautiful gardens but the foxglove in the above pictures grow wild all around!  They are droopy because of the rain.

It would be nice for the sun to come out so I could lay by the pool but even if it doesn' it is really good to get away, meet new people and relax!

4th of July rant

In celebration of the Fourth of July Lathrop sounded like war had erupted!  The town sold (un)safe and (in)sane fireworks for seven days before the holiday.  So, for the past seven days, fireworks have been disturbing our peace and quiet and Roxy's nerves.  I've given her benedril so many days in a row that it no longer works to calm her down.  One night she was shaking so hard I felt like I had put a quarter in the box by the bed to make it vibrate!

Sunday night, after returning from the family BBQ about seven p.m., to an hysterical dog, we put her in the car and drove out past Oakdale in search of a fireworks free space.  Rox calmed down pretty much so we headed home a little before nine.  Unfortunately, all the towns from Oakdale to Lathrop started their commercial fireworks displays at nine p.m. and that turned the vibrating dog on again!


But last night was the worst.  Many people in the neighborhood had purchased the previously mentioned unsafe and insane products and set them off for more than four hours! 

So, again, I took her out for a ride.  The Big Guy stayed home as he had worked at Rail Town all day and was wiped out.  Roxy and I drove out to the country towards the Stanislaus river.  Once out of the city limits of Manteca it got pretty quiet.  I made an interesting observation while going through town, though... many of the home fireworks displays were presided over and viewed by men! No women or children - well unless the men were really just big children?!

Once again the drive calmed her down until we got back to Lathrop - land of the free and home of the stupid - oh, I meant brave :={)

Back at home Roxy hunkered down in the master bath where it was quiet (relatively as I had closed up the house) and fairly cool.  We all survived. I hope the fools have used up their stash of trash.

Railtown 1897

Welcome to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, Jamestown, California

The Big Guy has a new hobby - volunteering at Railtown!  I have gone up there the past two weekends with him.  Two weeks ago I went because I had been in Santa Barbara for three weeks and wanted to spend as much time as I could with him. 

The Big Guy is a Car Host - a storyteller - the ideal job for him!

Also the park was running a wildflower train and that sounded like fun. 

This past Saturday our grandson visited and The Big Guy wanted to take him up. It is a long day, starting with a drive of over an hour, then seven hours at the park. 

The Big Guy and Grandson in the caboose

We rode the first train at 11:00 a.m., went on the caboose tour, had lunch in the picnic area with The Big Guy and then ran out of stuff to do at the park.  So grandson and I went into Jamestown and walked around.  Neither of us likes to shop and as we passed the (it seemed like) the hundredth antique shop we looked at each other and asked who had thought this was a good idea?  We stopped at a place for drinks (coffee and a smoothie) that had been owned by the same family for four generations and was the biggest antique store in town.  I think the drinks business was keeping it afloat!  The coffee was really good.  They made each cup when it was ordered.

Reinactors at Railtown 1897

 It was a long day. The last hour seemed as though it would never end.

We did finally say good-bye to Railtown.

It's been a year!

This week it has been a year since Super G fell and since the oil well in the Gulf caught fire.  Two life changing events, Super G for me and the oil well for the Southern Coastal states.

Super G was released from the doctor last week and declared healed!  She has lots of exercised she is supposed to do everyday.  I hope she is better than me in keeping up with that but I'm afraid she is who I inherited my ability to sit for long periods of time without exerting any energy!

Mom (Super G) and her friend Bill

 So that was last year.  This year, I am helping SB Daughter (http://apaperaddict.com/) with her ward and cousin, my nephew, Jim.  SB has to go out of the country for work (she is the worlds best Personal Assistant) and Jim needs a ride to school, food cooked, constant nagging (he is 16) and company in ambulances (that truly happened last month!).

Jim leaving for Europe via LAX

In addition to Jim, SB has three dogs - my beloved granddogs - who need to be fed and cleaned up after when they dump the trash.  So next week I am driving down to Santa Barbara again to stay with Jim.  I'm looking forward to hearing about his Europe trip (he returns from London and Paris tonight), and interacting with him again.

Nixon, Red Dog, and Cherri

 Do you think Jim gets his penchant for hats from his Uncle Buck (AKA the Big Guy)?

Inspired by strange things (or the Brothel Blog!)

Went to a wonderful panel discussion on Sunday at the San Francisco Main Library sponsored by Contemporary Quilt and Fiber Artists  (CQFA).  The title was "Primal Green: Environmental Art Quilts" and was held in conjunction with the library's Earth Day programs.  There was also a display of CQFA's quilts and fiber art on the fifth floor in the Wallace Stegner Gallery. 

The four women on the panel were Jaye Lapachet ( http://artquiltmaker.com/blog), Julie Stiller (http://jzs.homestead.com/), Nancy Riffle (http://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyriffle) and Soyoung Lee (killerhobbies.blogspot.com/2011/03/primal-green.html) and the panel was moderated by Delores Miller.

So what does all this have to do with the Brothel Blog?  And strange inspiration?  One of the members of CQFA, Bronwen, gave Julie Stiller a lovely piece of fabric, it was sheer and iridescent and changed color, from green to orange, with movement.  After the program we were sitting around chatting and the subject of what to do with such fabric came up.  Someone suggested it would go well in a brothel!  Another mentioned the (former) brothel in Mountain View and how interesting the building is (apparently tours are given?) and another mentioned that prostitution is now legal in New Zealand! (who knew? who cares?)  We talked about how the fabric would be used in a brothel and the discussion segued, with much laughter, into other topics as such chats do.

Anyway, if you have the opportunity, go see CQFA's exhibit at the San Francisco Main Library (http://sfpl.org/), it was thoughtfully hung in a wonderful space.

Sorry, no pictures - copyrights, you know :).

This and that from Santa Barbara

Wednesday afternoon I drove down to Santa Barbara.  My favorite nephew lives with my daughter here.  The SB daughter has to go out of town for work for about a week so here I am, spending time with the nephew.

Last night in the rain and mud the four dogs came home.  What fun!  Two of them, the oldest (my favorite) and the youngest are huge. The oldest is a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix and the youngest is a Newfoundland. There is also the biggest 14 inch standard beagle known to man and the smallest is Cherry, a Maltese (she's the boss).

They woke all of us up at least once during the night.  We each got up to take them out.  Needless to say, we are a tired and grumpy group this morning.  But the nephew showered, ate breakfast and got to school on time.

In my next post I will discuss tints, shades and neutrals.

No pictures today as I am not on my personal computer.

The sun is shining!

The Red Sketchbook and other ramblings

I met the mailing deadline for the Red Sketchbook.  Before I sent it off I decided to scan all the pages into my computer.  Unfortunately I didn't look at the scans before I sent it!  They are pretty bad!  I think the book was too thick and skewed the light.  Or something.  But I did pay for digitizing once the book arrived at the Brooklyn Art Library, so I will have a record of it.  I miss having to draw all the time to fill up the book!  For all my complaining, it kept me drawing.

 

Sadie - Roxy's cousin

I have another project - a drawing of Sadie, Roxy's doggy cousin.  Can't seem to get started.  Although I did print the picture I am going to use, I guess that's a start.

Drawing of Sadie from The Red Sketchbook

This week I got out my WIPs (works-in-progress)  I have four (!) tops ready to be quilted.  One of my friends is a long arm quilter and we did an exchange last fall, I did some work for her and she will long-arm a quilt for me.  She is moving to Colorado soon so I want to get this to her to do before she leaves.  She told me the last thing she will pack and the first thing she will unpack is the long-arm machine!

Sampler quilt top - ready to quilt

The other day, while quilting the border of Ozzy's quilt I wished for a long-arm of some kind.  Remembered the Flynn system and looked it up on the internet.  It is reasonably priced and designed to work with a home sewing machine.  I have tried this system out at quilt shows and found it easy to use.  Looking at the pictures on the internet I wondered if the throat on my Featherweight is deep enough to successfully use this system?  So I e-mailed the website and asked but have gotten no response so far.  In February Artquiltmaker and I are going to the SF Quilt Guild show.  Perhaps Flynn will be there and I can ask.  Perhaps they will have a show special and I can get a deal. At least avoid shipping charges.  I will measure the throat of the Featherweight and of my Emdeko machine (which may be bigger that the Singer) so I have that information when I look at the system.

The next thing to think about is the size of the system.  I currently have my Featherweight set up on the table designed for it that Artquiltmaker gave me for my birthday, and that is surrounded by boxes not yet unpacked.  Sounds to me like it is time to unpack a box!

Current WIP Food Quilt - indigestion, anyone?

Quilting

I finally finished repairing Ozzy's quilt!  He was very happy with the job I did.  Now on to the next thing....

Detail of Ozzy's quilt

Today's stars.  New fabric is the yellow on the right.

I made two blocks for San Bruno Stars today. That makes five in the last two weeks.  I'll take them to Artquiltmaker tomorrow.

As I was searching for fabric I realized that my shelves were poorly organized.  I had an unpacked box on the bottom shelf where I could reach it and a good part of my fabric on the top shelves where I can't reach.  So I opened up the box and cleaned it out.  Only one thing in it went back on my shelves and I think it will get moved into the closet soon.  Unless one counts the light that was in the box - that is now clipped to the shelves and shining on my sewing machine.  Much easier to sew with light!  Aren't the shelves The Big Guy built great!  They are just what I needed.

While rearranging my fabric I came across NINE (!!!!#@%@#) WIPs (works in progress)!  Not one of which is in the LARGE bin with my 11 previously discovered WIPs.  Geeze, I have a lot of quilting to do.

Went to Thimble Creek in Concord yesterday with my friends Sharon and Becky.  And yes, I did buy fabric!  I just NEEDED 1/4 yard of yellow for a San Bruno Star.  And of course I had to buy a Quilter's Home mag that was 50% off because I pulled out a  page as I was flipping through it!  Just love that magazine.  It is so cheerful.  Got into a conversation with one of the lovely clerks at Thimble Creek and got on the subject of teaching and I went into teacher mode around the color class I teach!  It has been on my mind lately as I would like to teach again.  I guess I haven't lost it as the theory and all just came spewing out!  I do love to teach.

Also found my die cut red hearts while going through the fabric on my shelves.  And found an unopened pack of cool postcards.  So pulled out my gel medium and made valentines!  Hope I manage to get them written on and mailed :)

Roxy enjoying the sunshine.

The weather has been lovely.  Sunshine and relatively warm all day.  Have been able to hang laundry outside and it gets DRY!  POE, my orchid is loving the weather!  Her leaves are standing up and I think she is growing.  Considering my black thumb this is nothing short of miraculous!  I've been giving her orchid food every month so maybe she'll bloom.

Our grandchild came over Saturday and spent the night.  He made his first trip by himself on BART.  I picked him up at the end of the line and brought him home.  As usual, grandchild and The Big Guy had a great time!

The Big Guy was in the hospital, taken there by paramedics from his appointment at the VA, last week.  So having grandchild visit was especially nice.  Big Guy has developed congestive heart failure!  It is under control and as long as he follows orders he should be OK.  Need to keep him around to build shelves and play with grandchildren and nephews!  On his new salt free diet I have lost two pounds since Saturday.  Better scarf down some GF goodies so I don't loose my grandmotherly figure! :-))

SUNSHINE!

Woke up to sunshine this morning!  It is the first time in almost six weeks the sun has been out first thing in the morning.  What a treat.

As you can see, we have one orange on our tree!  Hate to pick it as it is so pretty.

Yesterday our friend dsfingers came over and helped The Big Guy clear tools and building material out of the Great Room (living room? den?).  It is really nice to see the floor and get to the couch to sit down!  I can reach the window blinds, too.  And, guess what?  They are OPEN!  The guys also taped the drywall on the ceiling and in the process dropped a scattering of plaster or something white all over the carpet.  So now The Big Guy is trying to find the bolt that holds the filter to the shop vac so that stuff can be vacuumed  up.  In the process he punctured his hand with a spiky thing.  Luckily, I'm home, know where the peroxide, antibiotic ointment and bandages are.  So I took a little break from blogging to do the Florence Nightingale wifely duty.


  I have been making "Stars for San Bruno", a project Artquiltmaker and I are sponsoring to make quilts for a family (friends of the grandchild) who lost their house in the San Bruno gas explosion last fall.  I made three friendship stars (the theme is yellow stars on a dark blue field) and wanted to try a different pattern.  I looked on the internet for free patterns and found a compass star that looked like fun to do.  It was a paper pieced pattern.  I enlarged it to 8" and picked fabric and pieced away.  Here is my result.

Imagine my surprise - this no way looks like a star!  I went back to the website and realized this patch is a border piece for the stars.  But that is not what it said.  Bummer.  So, only a little daunted, I went to my 1000 Blocks reference book, found another star pattern (Interlaced Star) and drafted that into an 8" block.  But by then it was late and I was tired so I haven't sewn it yet.  We would appreciate donation of blocks from you for this three quilt project.  E-mail me at peggycrrll@yahoo.com for directions to get your donation to us.

On the quilt repair front, all the blocks have been patched as have the  posts.  I decided not to replace the sashing.  I have started quilting it and realized that while heavy quilting will likely keep the fabric from wearing, it totally changes the feel of the quilt.  It is not as soft and cuddly.  When I realized this I had completed the outside border.  I have done most of the blocks, but not as heavily and still have the posts and sashing to do.  I think Ozzy will be on my list of people to make quilts for.  This repair has almost been a new quilt!