Following Directions

I did sew today. Finally

Two things had made me not as enthusiastic about getting back to the sewing machine.

One is that the light above the machine had burned out, and it's one of those special kinds that takes a lot of expertise to change, i.e., a husband on a ladder. So Mike changed that for me last week.

Nice. I have a couple of lamps/lights at the machine and windows, but there's nothing like a good overhead light.

The second is that one of my blocks didn't match up like it should, and I just didn't want to take out the stitching and fix it. So I did that this morning - 10 minutes at the most - 5 minutes figuring out where the discrepancy was and 5 minutes actually picking out the seams and resewing.

So now I'm good to go and did these 4 blocks in what time I had left. I cut out a bunch more, but these were the ones I got sewed.

Elise had picked out this sweet blue print for the outside triangles. It's been around so long, she may have once had a dress made from this - something was cut out of it. It's a softer blue than the picture shows.


The directions said to cut 11-inch squares and then cut them in half diagonally to make triangles. I did that and then couldn't wait to try them out with the blocks. Ummm. Not what I expected. It took a few minutes of wondering and then going back and reading the REST of the directions - cut those triangles in half to make smaller one.

That's more like it. I think that will work.

I spent a little more time sitting outside in the wind and watching the clouds swirling around.

While we need some rain, I feel bad that it's raining in the northern section where they're trying to recover from last week's damage. I'm keeping one eye on the Weather Channel.

I hear the rain now. Perfect for working this afternoon with the back door open and a nice cup of coffee - Rain Forest Nut, of course.

Oh, today is my mother's birthday - 88. If she didn't have osteoporosis and back pain, I would be having to hide the car keys from her. She says she could drive anywhere if she could walk to the car without her walker. She still does a lot of things. She's the one who brings in the mail every day and empties the dishwasher when it's full. She locks the doors and turns on the lights at night. She keeps her own rooms and bathroom clean - and half the time mine too. She's now threatening to pull the weeds in the front beds. She's the unofficial neighborhood watch person, and those weeds could seriously handicap her seeing every person who walks by the house and keeping up with how many days the neighbors have been on vacation.

I guess that's my job for tomorrow morning.

Maddy speaks

We need to talk.

Meow Mix is NOT the same as Fancy Feast. Not in the least. And if we don't eat it, you don't really save any money. Are we on the same page here? Fancy Feast. Seafood only.


It's always nice to have heart-to-heart conversations with your pets. I sometimes don't speak or listen to mine individually for days at a time.

But this one holds no grudges and thinks I'm just wonderful.

Stella/Molly? My mother tells her every day she's the most beautiful cat in the world and how wonderful she is, so she doesn't have much use for me, especially since she suspects I'm the one the water spray comes from when she scratches on the carpet. She's not sure, but it sure seems to come from my direction.

You can't trust that Stella. Maddy knows.

See? These cats have lived together for 5 or more years and get along so-so, but they delight in sneaking up on the other one and attacking.


Getting back to blogging made me to decide to look around and see what things I'm taking for granted. I may not get much done today (I still haven't had breakfast after being up an hour), but it was worth it to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful May morning.

This is Darby's doghouse lantana. It's blocking her door, but I can't seem to get rid of it. Barbie bouquets, as Elise and Emily call them.



These gardenias smell so good I just had to bring a few inside.


Along with some mint leaves.

I planted this Easter lily we got as a gift last week next to the rosemary that I had to rescue from the basil and mint. This is the kind of gardening I like - easy to dig hole, fragrant "weeds,"and instant results.

One old friend left wandering around from yesterday. He got Windexed. I really have to get some ant spray - although Windex seems to work just fine.


My new vow to sew every day is going to be challenged today, but I did press my latest fabrics to cut out for Elise's quilt. I had the squares laid out on the bed last week for her to pick and choose, and she didn't reject one of them. Either we have the same taste, or she's just tired of talking about it and wants me to get it sewed!

I love this stripe. Instant bias.


Elise is such a traditionalist, I didn't think she would like some of the more modern prints, but she surprised me.



Her rules: No pink. No paisley. No stars. I did sneak a little pink in there but not too obvious.

Tornadoes and Ants

Here is an interesting/awful web site (if it works) that shows aerial views of a couple of areas of Tuscaloosa before and after the tornado. You can pull the bar back and forth to see the before and after pictures.

It's just hard to comprehend something that awful and just 3 hours from us. I'm a weather watcher and love a good storm, and when I look at the Weather Channel map, the rain and storms seem to always miss us and concentrate in this very area. I will never be envious of them again. Naturally we had warnings all day, and I was keeping an eye on things and enjoying the brisk wind, but all the rain kept just missing us.

Mama was watching TV and saw the warnings about Tuscaloosa and called my brother's house in Birmingham. My sister-in-law was oblivious and about to take a shower, but she naturally freaked out with my nephew living in Tuscaloosa. She got in touch with everyone, and they were okay, but Mitch didn't mind admitting how scared he was. I've watched videos of the storm several times, and I can't imagine dealing with something like that.


For my promised pictures of the day. Not very clear, but you can double click and see a close-up.





I had noticed a few ants earlier this morning but couldn't find any insect spray, so I sprayed them with Windex and went to get ready for church. When I went back to the kitchen an hour or so later, they seemed to be partying on the Windex. I found a can of ant spray finally with just 1 or 2 good sprays left, but that seemed to finish them off.

These weren't the little bitty ones either; they were the big boys, and they came ready to cart off anything they found. They had found their way down to the cat bowls and covered the few kernels of food in their dishes and were moving along the baseboards looking for more. They even made a trail down into the garbage disposal. What a mess. Guess I'd better grab some spray tomorrow.

Better in May

When I last came here in April, my last post was about struggling. I promise I didn't succumb to all my problems. All the "things" seem to be up and running fine - not that I've had a chance to use the embroidery machine. But the computers are fine, and I'm making some progress on cleaning out closets and the garage. A little progress but some.

My main struggles lately are with focus. I have way too many things running through my mind that I want to do and way too little time. I get frustrated and end up doing nothing, just wasting time.

Like reading other people's blogs.

I found a blog last night that I had never seen before,Stitched in Color, and the author Rachel started something huge. She started off by stating a few things - quilting related - that she shouldn't say - just a burst of honesty - and invited others to comment and vent along with her. Much to her surprise, people came out of the woodwork to state their feelings and say things in a somewhat anonymous setting that they wouldn't say aloud. Now there are more than 400 comments and still going, it looks like.

I noticed that many people have the same problem I do with sewing. There's so much talent and creativity out there, and there is now a means of showing it off, and it's kind of intimidating for me to read about.

There are people who do quilts in one day, or at least stick with them until they're finished, and do a great job. I feel bad that I will have a picture of something I started and then it just kind of ends.

And then lots of us are too hard on ourselves with this blog thing. I started this as a journal of sorts and not a showcase of my talents. Some days, just getting a floor mopped is blog-worthy, and I should make note of that. Instead, I've not seen anything lately worth taking pictures of - or more likely don't have my camera handy - and I don't want to just talk without pictures.

Mike and Elise were here last week, and he took enough pictures for us both. I'll steal some of those when he gets them ready.

So now that I'm back, I'm going to find a picture to post this afternoon and then write something every day in the month of May.

And if I don't, I'll come back and erase this and pretend I never said it.

Breaking a Commandment

Coveting. That's the one.

I want my neighbor's dirt.





Sunday afternoon, my neighbor Christy asked permission to park her dad's truck in my driveway to work on a vegetable bed for her to grow her tomatoes and okra.

Yes, it is beautiful and yes, I want one - or two. Mike gave me 2 raised beds for my birthday a few years ago, but they had to stay in Columbus. I loved working in the soft black dirt and being able to sit on the side and plant and weed. Here the soil is just hard clay, and it's no fun to dig in.

I had to laugh at Gaby's comment from yesterday. I wondered about the "old tires" around the trees and figured she had me mixed up with someone else, but then I remembered what is around the trees on my side yard.




I guess it is to conserve water. Keep down weeds? My father-in-law says it might be to protect small trees from the mower. I don't know, but I think they've outlived their usefulness and need to come up. Those trees are not the healthiest in the world, so I might try to perk them up soon - somehow. I'm not sure what they need.

I got a picture of that wonderful wisteria up the street when Darby and I walked early this morning. It's breathtaking even from my kitchen window a block away.
A couple of other pretty things. The weeping willow is huge, just beautiful. There's not much blooming on our streets right now.




Darby ready for her outing.
I've worked some more on the quilt and now have about 60 blocks out of around 100. I'm still enjoying it but running out of different fabric.




I tried to ignore the mistake on this pair and probably could have gotten away with it, but I knew.
Mama has to go to the doctor in Prattville tomorrow, so I think we'll come home the back way and visit this fabric place that she used to go to 50 years ago. It's mostly upholstery and home decorating fabric, but there are a good many cottons there too. If it's still open.

I took my embroidery machine to Opelika yesterday, and they agreed to look at it but that it could be 2 weeks before they got around to it. According to how much cat hair they find, Gaby!

I did do my first investigating of a possible new sewing machine. I've been saving my money, and now it's time to narrow it down a little. We have Bernina at the quilt shop here and Viking at the JoAnn Fabric store and then Janome and Brother in Opelika. I was pretty excited about 2 they showed me yesterday, the Janome Horizon and Brother Laura Ashley. Not too different in price but still pretty expensive.

I know I would get good service and support here at the quilt shop but not quite sure I want to pay the extra money for a Bernina. I know they're probably the best, but I'm weighing my pro's and con's and might be just as happy with a cheaper one. I'm not sure how good the service and support is with the JoAnn shop. The salesperson has not been overly helpful when I've bought a couple of attachments there. She would probably get more interested if I were looking at a sewing machine though! That seems to perk those salespeople right up.



I'll have to test drive a few. Some of them cost nearly as much as a car.

Quilting machines are competing to see who can give you the most space for fitting a quilt under the arm. This is pretty descriptive.

I'm reading what I can and hope to make a good decision.

Life on Forest Edge

Good news is that the weather is wonderful - warmish and sweet-smelling with all the trees blooming in the neighborhood.

Not so much my yard. I wandered around the yard with my camera and found a few bright spots but more things that need a lot of work. The weeds have a head start already in the herb bed, but I do see the rosemary under them all, and a couple of others.

The rose has buds.
And the maple tree is putting out those sweet little leaves.

The strawberry plants are blooming along with the pansies, and that clematis that I thought had not made it through the winter is budding under the pyracantha blossoms.

This lantana is a problem. It's gotten so woody that I can't get it up without a lot of digging, and it's blocking Darby's dog house.

Not that she ever goes in it. She just sits at the back door and shivers and looks pitiful when it rains.

I've mentioned the tree before that the yard boys kept mowing down, but this past year it's gotten big enough to fight back.

I called it a ginkgo at first because I had no idea what it was. I made an Arbor Day donation once and received a bunch of little sticks that I started in various places. I grew the dogwood in a big pot for a couple of years until it died, and there is another one that's slowly growing. But this one seemed to like the place it was planted (in spite of the trimmings) and is rewarding me with blooms.

Alan told me it was an Eastern redbud, I think, or some sort of redbud, and I do believe it is. I think it's going to be pretty in a few days/weeks.

So what I have I done this week? Looks like break things. My computer keeps giving me threatening messages and blue screens in spite of about 4 virus protectors and anti-malware things I've installed. I have everything important saved, so I'll take it downtown tomorrow for the guys to take a look at it and try to revive it.

Mama's computer turned pale today, and she can barely read her emails. She said she was dusting it, so I've played around with the controls but can't seem to make a difference. She may need a new monitor.

And the 3rd in the string of bad luck is the worst of all. My workhorse embroidery machine.

It's worked so hard these past few months embroidering all those little designs for Isley's quilt without a glitch, but I tried to do a simple little applique last night for Emily with these fabrics

(so she doesn't lose hope on my starting her quilt) and it wouldn't go to the center of the hoop. I messed around with it a little bit and decided the carriage is way un-calibrated - maybe even broken. I don't remember doing anything different, but it sure looks a little wonky and won't go to its proper home when I push that button.

So it's off to Opelika to get that fixed but not until next week. I hope the repairman doesn't find a cat toy or something blocking it.

In the meantime, I made a few more blocks for Elise's quilt. It takes over 100 pairs of blocks, so I'll be working on this for quite awhile.

I made a trip to the library yesterday and decided not to go downtown and just take what the Pike Road one had. Not much in terms of audio books, nothing really. I'll try these 2 but don't have much hope for them. I started one of the books last night and struggled through a couple of chapters and gave it up. Boring. I'll start the Ken Follett one and see how that goes. The other 3 ambitious books I brought home are the interesting one about "Parenting Your Dog" with some good ideas for trying to get your ideas into their little brains. One is a sewing book that I read to Emily last night without her having the benefit of the pictures, and another is a landscape book - just for fun. No pressure on anyone. Not at all.

And since I had to make my weekly trip to Wal-Mart with Mama, I rewarded myself with these 3 bright dish towels.

And that's it for another week.

Creeping Back In

The lack of inspiration to write anything on this blog bothers me, makes me feel guilty, and makes me worry that I will wish in a few years that I had written everything down. I'll (as always) try to do better. I can't drum up any interest in changing the layout, making it look nicer, or anything like that.

BUT----

Big news. THE QUILT has its baby.

It got finished and mailed to Washington.



And here is Isley herself - in person. Parents Stacy and Kyle declare that she is perfect, 7 pounds, 9 inches, 21 inches long.



She's beautiful, and I can't wait to meet her.

I do have a little bit more to show on Elise's quilt. I'm trying to make a few pairs of blocks a morning.

Some work and some don't. Here's a reject. It just didn't get along with the others.

It's a fun quilt to do. Let's see if I'm enjoying it this much when it comes time to match up the rows and put it together.

The weather is finally getting nice after all that rain and wind. I'm hoping to start taking Darby out for walks in the mornings and enjoy some of it. Today it's church, quick trip to the grocery store and work until 7.

Later - Just saw this on Facebook. I have no shame about stealing pictures from Facebook!

Isley's going to have to fight dad for her quilt, it looks like.