Can It Be?

Do I dare hope?

We got a sprinkle, it looks like, the other night but nothing like what we need. I've just been straightening up my sewing room and ironing some fabric with the back door open and the wind blowing like mad. There's a nice constant rumble of thunder, and I can't keep from going to the door and letting the wind blow in my face - cool wind too.

I have nothing to show for my days of non-blogging.

Well, I may have made a bigger mess on the guest room bed. It's a pretty mess though.

I think I mentioned the Bottled Rainbows quilt before. (I go to Rachel's blog just to get my daily dose of looking at pretty things.) I'm not admitting that I've started a new project before I finished all 35 other ones. I haven't cut one little square or rectangle.

I did get all the Kona cotton colors and laid them on the bed and then started throwing scraps and fat quarters at them. It's addictive. Every time I see a fabric that's interesting, I have to run it by my colors and see it it fits in one of the rectangles.

Here is the result of some of my fabric flinging.

Some of the colors are easy to match and some of them I've found nothing yet. Barbara is bringing me some of her scraps Monday to see what they look like. I know. I'm bringing in more fabric. Maybe I can send some home with her.



Those birds just might show up in 3 of the rectangles




These 2 blue fabrics below, the cone-shaped ones, are from my late mother-in-law's sewing basket that I inherited. She had cut out a good many fabrics in the Sunbonnet Sue pattern, maybe when she had her first grandaughter back in the 70s, but she didn't get it made, and I have a beautiful treasure chest of what I guess are now vintage fabrics to some. They're small pieces but perfect for projects like this.



Speaking of vintage - we're counting the days for Social Security and Medicare. Mike has filled out the application on line, and he's actually going to quit his job - retire! - and move back here. What we know about the process would make a very thin book, but we're trying to learn. He will quit the end of August, and I'll go part time the end of September. I can't quite give up my fabric money, as meager as it seems.

I've crept back into the couponing world and decided to see if I could do it with less stress, and I did enjoy my couple of trips to Publix and Walgreens. At both places I spent around $60 and saved $45 - plus I have $14 in Walgreens money to go back and buy something else. I don't want to talk about my CVS trip. I'll remember now that just because an item has a sign hanging under it that says "Buy 1, get 1 half price," it's not necessarily talking about that very item. It may be a store brand with almost the same labeling that's on sale. I still got a $10 gas card for buying things we need there. Mike's 3 Schick and Gillette razors (with 15 cartridges) for 33 cents apiece were definitely worth spending some extra time clipping and sorting. I tried to get them free but failed.

I'm going to check on that rain, but it's not sounding rumbly any more.

I just noticed the comments from the last blog entry - long time ago. I'm flattered that Gaby thinks I might have grown the strawberries. If she could only see the little bird-pecked ones in my flower bed!

And I'm also flattered that I've inspired Lalobe to start crocheting again. I'm a bad influence like that. Her blog is another one that I have in my favorites under "New Favorite Blogs." It's worth checking out to see the cute guinea pig she trapped. The blog is in German, but there is a translation beneath. So, I guess guinea pigs are pests there? I need to go ask. {I wasn't able to leave a comment, so maybe she'll comment here.} Blogger/Google/FB have all been ornery the past few days.

Looking for something cool

Not much is happening around here except it all of a sudden got hot. Really hot. I was walking around with my camera seeing if I could find anything interesting to record and thought the strawberries would be a welcome sight to take the place of those crocheted hats.

I can't even complain about the heat much because the Texas folks can top anything I have to offer. Think triple digits. And the ones in Washington are just a little jealous right now. They don't have summer yet.

I'm not gardening much at all this year, and it's a good thing with the lack of rain. These Althea trees just bloom and bloom without seeming to care about rain. There are 2 colors at the front of the house. This purple one is just covered with blooms, but the pink is not blooming at much.

I discovered Stella/Molly's new sleeping place, although why she would choose a steamy garage instead of a cool house is one of those things known only to cats.



This is going into the garbage.


I went to make a cup of coffee the other night and didn't see those comforting blue lights or the "Ready to Brew" message. When I punched the button, there was nothing except the icon for the largest cup, the travel cup. I pulled out the manual and tried everything they suggested but still nothing.

I did a Google search and found hundreds of testimonies about how badly manufactured the Kreurig brewers are and the company knows it. In fact, they don't mind replacing them because people love them and are going to keep buying them and, more importantly, buying the K-cups.

So I went to the web site and e-mailed my complaint. Got a message saying to call this telephone number. So I did. The customer service person went through all the steps of finding out why it wouldn't work, all of which I had already done. Then she asked for the serial number and told me to mail back a small plastic part to prove I actually had the brewer and they would send me a new one. It's sad. I was pretty attached to my it and had taken such good care of it. But I'll love the new one as well, I guess, as long as it lasts.