The one that caught your eye

A couple of people mentioned this quilt when I posted pictures of the sewing room the other day.  It has become a permanent wallhanging in the sewing room, matching the wall and the sofa upholstery perfectly.

This was a kit.  I haven’t done many kits.  I prefer to pick my own fabrics and pay for them over time, as I find them, instead of getting it all at once.

Anyway, you bought the three pieces of fabric and each piece of fabric was striped in four gradations of the color.  So, there were four shades of green on one piece and four shades of blue on another and the same with the brown.  You cut between the stripes to separate the gradations and then sub cut that into strips to put the blocks together log cabin style in quarter block sections.  Then, you just assembled it, selecting whichever quarter blocks you needed to create that overlapping effect.  It was a fun quilt.  But, you can see how little of the light blue you use in relation to the dark blue.  While it was great to get the four exact gradations together, I was also left with a whole lot of the lightest colors.  So, in my mind, I bought more fabric than I needed.  I guess it was a trade off and of course, it’s not a problem to use these nice shades in other projects, so it’s not really waste. 

I’ve only seen one other one.  It was at a quilt show and I was drawn to read the maker’s comments.  Turns out it was the sample from the shop that inspired me to buy the kit. 

I quilted it with feathers.  Lots of feathers.  I used plates and saucers from the kitchen to mark the curving spines and then put the feathers in around that, letting the spines actually touch the boundary lines that I was quilting inside of.  It worked out really good and I’d do that again on another large log cabin style block quilt. 

No, those aren’t ribbons this quilt won.  Those are ribbons for a quilt in storage and I’m not sure what to do with the ribbons until the quilt goes on display at the holidays. 

Besides, I kinda like looking at them.  There’s another set on the bookcase and another set on a quilt that earned them, hanging in the living room.  Who says you shouldn’t toot your own horn?

Everybody have a great Thursday.  Sydney didn’t dally on this homework project that’s not due until next week.  She had to make a collage about her and she was done by supper last night.

Beauty, eye-shadow, strong women…some not so strong, good sayings.  And, ice cream.  When she showed it to me last night, I was all ready to give feedback until I really looked at it and saw how well she had actually completed this assignment, putting a little bit of herself out there for all her classmates to see. 

Oh, and there’s a picture of an iphone, front and center.  Subliminal messaging perhaps?

Just pointing out how convenient it is that homework is always over at the exact second that I pull the plug on the dishwater.  Just pointing out that it’s convenient.  That’s all.  Very, very conveeeeeenient.

Lane

That didn’t take long

You didn’t think that blank piece of floor space yesterday would last long, did you?  Actually, it’s fulfilling its intended purpose today; a space big enough to pin baste a small quilt or block one. 

And, here is the first quilt being blocked in the space.

This is the quilt I started quilting when Sydney had her surgery.  And, it has some of the tiniest stippling work I’ve ever done. 

I don’t think it would win any awards, but I do think it’s a pretty quilt and is going to look great on our wall, to give us some nice Indian summer color, just before the golds and browns of fall. 

It’s almost dry now and soon it will be ready to take up and put a sleeve on it.  I may have to wash it again, tho.  There’s a little bit of blue marker left in it; just a trace of a shadow and the drier it gets, the less I can see it.  If it’s not all gone this evening, I’ll pull it up and wash it again and block it again and see what happens.  But, this time, I’ll toss in some oxy clean to get the last of the blue out.  Unfortunately, i don’t remember if it’s water soluble ink or blue ceramic pencil, so I don’t know if drying is going to take care of it (ink it should, pencil it won’t.)  So, whether it is ready to hang or not is still undecided.

Syd and I have had breakfast.  I love having Rob around, but I also love these breakfasts when it’s just the two of us and she can ramble without having to stick to a train of thought or make sense.  I also pointed out that not everyone can pull off salmon pink.

This is all the pose she was up for this morning.  Some days you feel like a model.  Some days you don’t.

My first interview for the new job is next wednesday.  I have a project I have to complete and the informal interview is to discuss that work and knock out people that don’t do well on the project.  The project is exactly the stuff I work on, so I’m feeling pretty good about it.  I just have to find time to do a good job at it.  After that, the interviews will get more formal until someone is chosen.  Oddly, I’m too busy to feel nervous.  Maybe that will change when I start the project today.

Be well.  Have a great Wednesday.  Lane

See it while you can

Well, the eight week cleaning project in the sewing room is nearly done.  A place for everything and everything in its place.  So, I figured I should show you pictures before I mess it up really good again. 

The goal of my project was to weed through the junk and move it on and find stuff that needed to be sold and move it on and find stuff that needed to go to a new home via Goodwill and move it on.  And, in the process, do some really good stuff with my really good stuff.  And, take an assessment of how much really good stuff I have and get it where I can use it.

One of my high priorities that required a lot of planning and moving and repacking stuff was to get all my yarn supplies out of the armoire and refold and restack the quilts in a better order and in bags to protect them from light, dust and the acid that leeches out of wood and destroys paper and fabric. 

I have quite a vintage quilt collection, plus all the stuff I’ve made.  All these quilts were folded and stacked in the right side, where clothes would have hung.  But, I couldn’t get anything out of the pile and they were all touching the wood sides of the cabinet.  The left side has three shelves, so I can stack the quilts in, but in sections so I can pull them back out again and get one without unstacking the whole pile…because the one you want is ALWAYS on bottom.  The top shelf has a quilt we might use, so it’s easy to get to.  Below that are the vintage quilts.  These are getting their own pillow cases made to store the quits in.  Below that is quilts from my era; either made by my Mom or by me.  And, below that is quilts in the collection that need repair.  The right side, because it is nice and tall, will hold quilts rolled on pool noodles.  These are the wall hangings.  Each quilt will get a description on its bag so I can find what I own for a change.  And, in the top shelf of the right side, there are all the holiday quilts. 

So, that’s still in progress, with more pillowcases to come, but it’s a long term preservation project and it’s going to take a long term solution. 

I also wanted to show how neat and tidy the sewing room is.

Ugh, doesn’t look like it, eh?  But, all my really cool “collections” are in my sewing room and that takes space and I’m not ready to give up any of my collections, so I live with them all crammed into this small space that they share with my sewing machines.  My space.

But, if you ever come over, we can move just a couple of things and get you a seat on the sofa for a change.

Again, doesn’t look nearly as tidy as it really is. 

And, finally, the open floor space.  8 weeks ago, there was no open floor space.  In the 8 weeks, it sometimes appeared that there would NEVER be any open floor space.

But, here is the proof that there is a floor under all the quilting supplies.

Yes, there are still a few things that need to be put away.  There likely always will be.  The real question is, how long can I keep it this neat and accessible?

Just thought I’d close with thoughts from the memorial service last Friday night.  It was the memorial service everyone would want.  Lots of laughter and visiting.  A couple of speakers, who only spoke for a few minutes each and represented Steve’s work family and his outside work family, both of which were well represented at the celebration.  Then, there was a bit of sad music and then Rob made a joke and we were sent in for food.  It was all perfect.  A chance to celebrate Steve in visiting and laughing and catching up with old friends and meeting new friends.  A reminder of our focus and reason for being there.  And, then more celebrating.  Quiet, informal, free flowing. 

That’s what I want.

Okay, so have a great Tuesday.  I’m the parent of a 10th grader.  Yowza.  And, like Elizabeth blogged on her kid’s first day, I wanted to know what happened yesterday.  And, knowing Elizabeth wanted to hear it made it okay for me to want to hear it, too.  So, I sat through all the disorganized conversation and pieced together all I wanted to know about her day, while we were having dinner out to celebrate.

It all would have been perfect, except for the lady with the three very badly behaved small kids.  It really bothered me and about ruined my first day celebration, but Rob had the right idea when he pointed out that one day soon, those kids were going to eat her alive for not standing up to them now.  I think everyone on the restaurant was happy to see them leave.  And, maybe I was a little too happy.

Lane

First Day Jitters

It’s the first day of school.  And, boy am I gonna miss my little chore monkey.  I started doing my own chores again this weekend and I already miss her being home all day, every day.

She’s a little nervous; first day hair, first day makeup, first day clothes.  Apparently, everybody dresses good the first day and then you can “trash out” after that if you want.  But, she’s feeling pretty good today. 

It all seems to have come together in that perfect “doesn’t look new” way that everybody wants.  She spent all of yesterday doing stuff to her hair and then coming and asking me what I thought.  After about 8 styles (including a couple of disasters), I was pretty tired of bad hair experiments and just said that plain is how it looks best, and if she wants to do anything different, she’s just got to pick and practice.  I swear, I couldn’t think of anything any more motivational than that on such short notice.

Right now, she’s consoling the dog, who already knows that something is up in the routine of the day.

That little dog is going to miss her most of all.

I wanted to do something to give her confidence, but all I could think was to ask her what happens first today.  She has a very good plan.  A good plan is confidence, right?  And, I made sure she has cash.  Because with a plan and some cash, you can go a long way. 

Everybody have a great Monday; first day jitters and all. 

Lane

Girls and clothes

So, I must have gotten lucky, or I did stuff right in the beginning, but instead of it getting harder to shop with Sydney, it’s getting easier.  There was not a negative comment spoken, nor a disagreement to be had, during our lunch or our shopping. 

We had planned to go three places, but we found everything we needed, including a “first day of school” outfit, which has to be really special, in the first store. 

So, I got really lucky and she got really lucky and I just had to come here and brag about it.  Everybody have a great Friday.  Lane

Follow-ups from yesterday, nothing new here

We’ve solved the spool of thread mystery from yesterday. 

Karen suggested we weigh them, just to make sure they really are equal.  Rob took them to work today and put them on his digital postal scale and they are equal in weight.  One just must have been mislabeled.  And, I paid about the same price for both, so I don’t feel cheated. 

But, I do feel a bit foolish for not realizing that this is what 200 meters of 100 wt silk thread looks like.

It’s a small spool and not even completely full.  Last year’s quilt took 5 – 200 meter spools of thread, so I thought I’d get ahead and just buy a thousand yards at once.  Now, I have enough for two quilts.

Okay, so nobody remembered Ron Popiel?  C’mon.  Ronco Records?  The Popiel slicer?  “it slices, it dices, it even makes julien fries.”  The Popiel pocket fisherman?  Ouch, my aching birthdays.  That man spent more time on TV than Walter Cronkite when I was a kid.

This afternoon, Sydney and I are taking the afternoon off for clothes shopping.  We are going to use the “to the tips of your fingers” rule.  We will battle like very polite knights, like we always do, neither of us willing to cross a line because I have put everything down and walked out before, proving I will; more ignoring one another than actually crossing swords.  And, despite the tearful eyes for something I won’t budge on, and at least one pronouncement of “you don’t have any sense of style” (hurled at me), it will be fun.  Because this is the stuff that relationships are made of.  Honestly, this is the stuff I wouldn’t trade for the world.  Yeah, sweet Sydney at Christmas is fun, but Sydney under construction and finding out who she wants to be is the one I enjoy the most. 

Tomorrow night is the memorial service for Rob’s friend.  Casual, so no black dress…I would have been a really good scout; always prepared. 

Everybody have a great Thursday.  I’ll try to post about our shopping expedition.  Now, where are those valium?

Lane

Just a Wednesday

So, I’m going to meander through some thoughts. 

Remember that I was growing cucumbers for pickles, even going so far as to pollinate my own when the bugs got sparse?  I finally hit the tipping point on Sunday, where I was going to start losing cukes if I didn’t use them. 

I ended up with 4 and a half pints of the best bread and butter pickles.  Yum!

I’ll do that again, even if I have to buy the cucumbers.  They didn’t take too long, just some time slicing, and I used my Dial-O-Matic food slicer, as advertised on TV by Ron Popiel (please don’t tell me I’m the only one that remembers Ron Popiel).

I never really took the thing seriously, but I sliced my way through a whole pile of cucumbers in about an hour, and while I thought that once I’d taken the end of my finger off, I had actually barely scratched myself.  Lucky me.  Because stuff from the 70’s didn’t have all that safety crap that comes on all the kitchen tools now.  You had to risk life and limb to cook.

Anyway, it’s slippery, so I put it on a damp dish cloth and just went to town until it was done.  Then, they had to sit in salt for several hours and after supper, I mixed the vinegar and spices and brought it all to a boil and packed it in the jars and that part was done in about 35 minutes. 

So, what is up with these two spools of thread?

I bought them from two different sources.  They look just alike.  They’re silk, 100wt thread mini-cones. 

But, look at the bottoms.

 

One says 200 meters and one says 1000 yards.  According to the internet, 200 meters is 218 yards.  I got the metric one first and was pretty upset that I’d bought a minicone that didn’t specify how many yards there are on a minicone (I got that information from the YLI website, which I thought would be reliable, right?), so I decided not to say anything to the vendor, someone I’d never used before, and ordered another cone from another vendor.  It came in saying there were 1000 yards, matching the YLI website, and looking just like the one I already had.  So, now I will have plenty of brown silk thread to start another heavily quilted project.  I have plans.  A pen and ink in silk and thread.

Be well.  Sydney said the yard was full of buzzards yesterday.  They don’t usually actually come down in the yard.

She kept the dogs in the house until they were ready to POP!  This buzzard is as big as Sydney’s dog.

Lane

The theme for today is Small

I don’t know why…okay, almost deleted that because it’s not true.  The best thing I can do when I am stressed out is focus on little bitty detail stuff.  Big project?  Nah.  Quick quilts?  Nah.  Lets work on the teeny tiny details.  Hey, I even made sliced pickles on Sunday.

So, you can imagine how much relief I’m getting from the six extra rows of checkerboard border for the Raspberry Irish Chain quilt. 

If I had been smart, I would have sacrificed some of the variety and strip pieced this from my inch and a half strip bin and sub cut it.  It would have saved a lot of time.  But, sometimes, it’s not about the time.  Sometimes, it’s about something to wrap the brain around.

And, the hexie quilt is still moving forward.  This is the first outside border section.  I haven’t really pieced this quilt from the center out because I needed to know how long this border had to be before I could fill in the gap between the center and this outer border. 

I guess I could have figured that out on graph paper, but that’s no fun.  It’s 49 inches long.  Two hundred and twenty eight hexies.  I need six of them total.  Yikety-snickersnoopits!  What have I gotten myself into?  Maybe for the 2016 quilt show?

And, remember that sewing room pile I was dealing with last week?  The last big pile of stuff that didn’t have a home after my 6 week cleaning jag?  Well, it’s gone and I’m left with this pile.

Small.  Much more manageable.  loose patterns on the left.  Tools on the right.  And, there’s a really big box of stuff for Goodwill.

Last night, we did the big fashion show with Sydney where she has to try on all her clothes so we can weed out what doesn’t fit anymore.  She did really good, though, and agreed when we said it didn’t work; too tight, stripes in the wrong places, seams hit wierd, please make that go away!..what was I thinking when I paid for that?  We are in negotiations about shorts length and, let’s call it “wearing ease”.  There will be another shopping trip in our very near future for jeans and shorts. 

Thank you all for your good thoughts for Rob.  He’s doing really well.  The Memorial service should be at the end of the week and life can move on.  I think he’s been surprised at how shocking it is to go from “hospital time” to real life time.  He said the day just flew by yesterday.

Lane

Sydney and the LBD

For a few weeks, we’ve been anticipating the passing of a friend, waiting for the end of his pain.  He passed yesterday afternoon.  He was one of Rob’s two best friends and the three of them were together in the room when it happened.  I believe that Rob is good with his good bye and that’s really what counts. 

But, it became obvious that our family needed to be prepared.  So, we talked to Sydney and while Rob did what he needed to do, I did what I was taught to do in the face of death; shop, cook and clean.

First priority, a dress and a haircut for Syd.  I don’t think I need to describe dress shopping with a 15 year old.  If you haven’t seen the movie Texas Chainsaw Massacre then you don’t quite understand.  She’s too old to make her come out with each outfit on, so she takes my camera in and takes pictures of everything and then comes out and we decide.

This one didn’t make it.

This one, that she claimed she found in the dressing room, was a stern NO.  Think funeral.

The one below would have worked for a daytime memorial service.

I think we were both disappointed here.  It didn’t look that short on the hanger.

But, this one was the one.

And, when I saw the picture, I knew it.  She said she knew it when she tried it on.

Then, we went next door for shoes.  And, we ended up with four pair.  After I told her she could have the fourth one (at this point, she had black pumps and we were shopping the clearance aisle), she grabbed me and squealed about how much she loved me.  Who knew.  When I’m feeling blue, I’ll take her out for shoes.

I let her try this pair on.

She looked great in them.  She even knew how to walk.  One foot in front of the other…

hips left

hips right

hips left

hips right

this was a sight

to give dads a fright.

Everybody have a great day.  This is part of life.  Life lasts a long time and you can’t get too bogged down in any one part of it.  You have to remember to find stupid shoes to try on and laugh when the sadness is all around.

Be well.  Lane

Happy Birthday, Mom

It’s my Mother’s birthday today.  I’ll leave it to her to share how young she is and how she wasn’t much more than a child when my sorry old butt was born. 

She still works in the yard, and while she doesn’t keep as good house as she did when I was a kid, she also doesn’t have two young helpers there all the time anymore, and it’s not fashionable to keep that kind of house anymore.  She has beautiful flowerbeds, based around her collection of daylilies and got Rob and I started on our own collection. 

When I compare her to other friends of her age (and my Dad, too for that matter) they’re very active.  Dad is still very involved in church activities and he and my Mom keep young by doing afternoon child care for my third grade niece.  They still care for themselves and keep up enough with technology that they have as nice of a TV as we do (and can use it, which I can’t) and they email and web search and my Mom facebooks.  And, just this year, they went with my sisters and their families on a cruise to Alaska.  I’m not sure my Mom always sees the blessings and celebrates what she can do. 

But, today, it’s all about celebrating who she is and that she’s still here to celebrate with.  So, here’s to you Mama.  Have a great day. 

Oh, and that raspberry Irish Chain quilt is your gift.  I’m following the longstanding family tradition of being a little bit late.  Sorry.

Everybody have a great day.  I guess I’d say think of your Mother today in celebration of mine.  I think that is a great gift to my Mom, to get a couple hundred people to think of their Mothers on my Mother’s birthday. 

Be well.  Lane

Pieced and ready to quilt

Did you notice that I left out the word “pressed” in the title, which means it’s not really ready to quilt.  But, nearly.

Anyway, I got the last borders on yesterday morning. 

I wish I had another half yard of that raspberry fabric.  A yard would be better.  But, considering it was started on a lark, I’m pretty darn happy with it. 

Except I have to finish the neighbor’s quilt before I can start the quilting on this one.  All my pins are tied up and my bobbins have the wrong thread and there’s really no way around being late delivering both of these gifts, so better to just suck it up and do my best work. 

Life is like that when the days pass so fast.

I used up all my “niblet” nine patches in the border.  Ya’ gotta’ love a quilt that uses up stuff you already have on hand. 

Now I get to start over and try to fill that drawer up.  Four patches made with 2 1/2” squares anyone?  I’ve got buckets full of those.

Wanna talk OCD?  When I pieced the border, I pieced more than I had to so that I could get the leftover pieces of the background fabric where they needed to go, to complete the pattern.

But, in a long tradition of not being happy with my work, I wish this was bigger and am thinking about adding a narrow border and then another three rows of checkerboard to the top and bottom.  I’ve been through everything I own trying to find a border I could add without it looking like I just slapped on a border for extra size, as Alex Anderson would say, and that’s the only idea I’ve been able to come up with that I actually like.  It would certainly give me something to build at quilt bee on Saturday, since I’d be starting from scratch.

We’ll see. 

Just in case anybody is inspired to try to repeat this and doesn’t want to just wing it, I started with 2 yards of the background fabric and wish I’d had a bit more.  The quilt is 61x51” right now.  I’d prefer another 8 inches long so it would cover both feet and neck, but am satisfied with the width. 

Be well.  Have a great Thursday.  I am officially a candidate for a different job in a different department of the same company, doing what I’ve been doing for years, but doing it for more money.  Ya’ gotta love that, right?  So, wish me luck.  I don’t know how much competition there will be and it may be 6 weeks before I know whether I got the job and I’m going to do my best to try to forget about the whole thing until somebody reaches out to schedule the next step.  In the meantime, my boss has gone crazy with projects. 

Oh, and special shout to the kid, who has been cooking dinner on her own this week while I’ve been working late.  She cooked baked chicken with mashed potatoes and a salad on Tuesday and last night, she made a jerk pork tenderloin on the grill with homemade mac and cheese and steamed broccoli. Most importantly, she’s listening to the feedback and taking it in for later instead of arguing against it.

Could this finally be the thing that she likes enough to put all of herself into it?  Or, is it just that when she cooks, I clean up the kitchen?  Sometimes it’s better not to ask.  Just enjoy the peace.

Lane

Do as I say, not as I do

This is the post I wrote for last Tuesday.  I’m posting it now because significant progress has been made on this quilt since and I wanted you to hear this part before you see the rest, which I’ll hopefully be able to post tomorrow. 

Okay, so that’s always been sage advice.  And, I give that advice to Sydney all the time. 

If you’ve been following the progress of the Irish Chain quilt, then you know I attacked that quilt with no plan.  I didn’t know how big it was going to be or how much fabric I should have or how many 9 patches I would use or how far the piece of fabric I had would go. 

But, I didn’t let it stop me.

This morning, I realized I couldn’t live wild and crazy and on the edge anymore.  I had to know. 

Or, maybe I just needed to do some math.

I had a bunch of the 3 1/2 inch squares cut, but I was about out of uncut yardage.  I knew that for every pair of blocks, I needed one 3.5 inch square, 4-1.5 inch squares, and 4 rectangles at 1.5 x 3.5, plus the 9 patches and assorted dark/light squares to complete the chain blocks (which I have aplenty).

So, I cut the rest of my yardage down and paired it up.  After I ran out of yardage, I started to cut the 3 1/2 inch squares down to smaller pieces so I could complete blocks.  I ended up with enough pieces to make four more rows.

And, I only had this much fabric left over.

Talk about cutting it close.  I did want the quilt to be 11 rows by 11 rows, but 11 x 9 is still going to make a nice sized sofa quilt for cuddling under on cold days.

I haven’t even made a dent in the 9 patches.  I’ve even disqualified some for not being shaded correctly, pushing them to the back to use in another project. 

Sydney is finally over the disappointment of not getting to play basketball next year and has perused the class schedule to see which two classes she wants to take as replacement. 

I like her choices and am nervous at the same time.  First we looked at her schedule and she has three advanced placement classes and geometry (per Elizabeth, not math, but rather something invented by some dead buy to ruin your GPA…I guffawed out loud when I read that…thanks, E.)  She is also taking choir and Health (equivalent to sex ed…yay.)  So, we encouraged her to take classes that would let her find out what she wants to do in her career.  Well, turns out, right now she’s interested in gardening and cooking…same as me…coincidence?  I think not!

So, she’s taking a pre-requisite horticulture class that opens the possibilities into landscaping, farming, ranching, flower arranging…lots of options.  And, she’s taking Culinary Arts; another pre-requisite to lots of career oriented classes.  Worst case, these turn out to be flake off classes and she learns some bad behavior from the students that are looking for an easy pass.  Best case, she teaches me how to cook and becomes world famous for her books on growing and cooking your own food. 

I could live off the fruits of my child’s labor in my dotage.  Be glad to.

Everybody have a great Tuesday.  We are still struggling with internet.  Our DSL modem is dying and has to be periodically rebooted.  But neither Rob nor I wants the frustration of trying to get ATT to replace it.  I would rather start sending messages by smoke signal than to call ATT customer service.

Be well.  Lane

Have a great Tuesday.  I talked to a former employee of the lady that posted the job.  She says that she felt challenged, trusted, and supported as an employee.  She did caution me to manage expectations because it’s hard to keep up with such a whirling dervish.  I have updated my resume.  We shall see if this change is for me. 

lane

Yeah, well ya’ shudda’ seen it before

My sewing room should not be called a sewing room.  It does a disservice.  My room is all my stuff that didn’t fit into our neat and orderly lives.  I have a lot of stuff.  And, I’ve taken the smallest room in the house.  And, even that is an improvement over when my sewing room was the walk in closet of the room that’s now my sewing room.  So, I just need to accept that my room is going to be cluttered and get over it. 

mmmmmmm….

Now that I’m over that, I can celebrate the organization that I’ve brought to the space.  Over the weekend, I added a shelf to the walk in closet in my room and re-organized everything in there.

(And, just so the first picture you see on your dashboard isn’t my cluttered sewing room, Sydney took care of the neighbor’s cats while they were in Canada and they thanked her with Tim-Tams.  Okay, all you Aussies, I see what you’re talking about.

)

And, back to the room.

All my garment making stuff is neat and well organized (and vertically stacked instead of being stuck into empty space here and there).

And, all my portable sewing machines are lined up and I can just grab one and go, depending on the project.  I was able to do that on Saturday when I picked a machine for quilt bee.

Knitting and crochet and cross-stitch, all in one place.

All the batiks, together and ready to go.

Fabrics and patterns, kitted up but not started.

And, started projects, waiting to be finished.

Yes, there’s only those two hanging there.  Wait, please don’t move that.  Stop!  Please.

Um, UFO’s being used as a curtain to hide my UFO’s from myself.  But, hey, at least they’re all in one spot, right?

It’s rude to count.

And, all of my office and desk stuff in one spot.

You know that feels good, even it it looks cluttered. 

My next big hill to climb is this one.

I like to put my projects in containers; so handy; everything in one spot; just grab and go.  Or, more like pack and hide.  So, when I organized and combined everything, I ended up with this stack of about 25 empty containers.  I could put my projects back in them.  Or, I could donate them to goodwill and then replace them and put my projects back in them, because I know that eventually, I will repeat that behavior. 

So far, they’re just sitting there, mocking me, like that rain-stick in the center mocking the misting of rain we got yesterday and the chance that it might actually rain on Wednesday. 

It’s an August miracle. 

The mist yesterday dropped the temperature about 15 degrees, around 6pm.  Oh, so nice.  Don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining.

Okay, it’s Monday.  Today, I am looking at a new job.  I want to find someone that worked for this boss before, just to see what I can expect.  We’ll see.  Keep your fingers crossed.  This would be a really good thing, even though it would be lots of change. 

But, change is good, right?

Right?

Hello.  (tap, tap, tap)

Lane

Hello www. It’s nice to see you

Yes, we have internet again.  And, a hundred pieces of software have spent the morning showering in automatic updates.

The crowd roars Yay!

It’s the little things that you miss the most.  Wasn’t long ago that we didn’t have internet.  We sat in our rockers and listened to the radio or the gramophone.  Or read a book.  Or, in my case, sewed my brains out.  Under a single naked bulb.

Okay, so maybe losing internet didn’t take us that far back. 

I was going to show pictures of the sewing room today.  But, when I took them, what looks clean in person looks really cluttered and still a mess…which speaks volumes about how much of a mess it must have been before.  But, this multi-phased project will enter phase 4 this weekend.  I’ve only planned through a stage 5. 

Everybody have a great Friday.  I’m officially working from home, so can’t spend time here, but wanted you to know that we had been rejoined with the force.

May the force be with you.

Lane

Life without internet

If you remember, I was complaining about our internet being spotty on Monday. 

Well, that was in the morning.  By evening, it was dead.  Dead as a doornail.  (Why do we compare dead things to doornails?)

Anyway, after much wrangling, my customer service correspondent Rob, who takes care of all the family's customer service needs has a new modem on the way.  Thank goodness for him because I'd rather be sending this to you with smoke signals than to have to call ATT customer service. 

Customer service (of all kinds) and I go way back and it's not a very friendly relationship.  I don't have any patience for stupid people and I don't have any patience with customer service procedures that mean I have to end my contact with the one that's been helping me to do something that I already know isn't going to work and then call in and talk to another contact who tells me to do the exact same thing again, which won't work and will end our connection, requiring me to talk to another contact...until I scream and hang up. 

Rob on the other hand has the patience of Job and that's why a new part is whizzing its way to our doorstep, even as I type this.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better internet day.

I didn't waste my time, tho.  Yesterday, I needed a mental health day and I spent it at home, disassembling my sewing room and putting it all together again...in reverse.  Yes, you read that right.  Everything that was on the left is now on the right.  Everything that was on the right is now on the left.  Rob said "there's so much more room".  I don't know how much of that is from moving the furniture and how much is from putting away the 912 things that I'd pulled out, used once and left laying around.

Sometimes, life just needs change and I like a change that I can control.

So, when we have internet again, and when I get that last little pile of junk put away, I'll show you pictures of the after...not the before.  Nobody needed to see that.

Be well.  Have a great Thursday.  Lane

Sometimes

There’s a favorite line in a song that is playing in my mind right now…

Sometimes, you’re the windshield.  Sometimes, you’re the bug.

Now, the only reason that’s relevant is because life is flying at me fast right now.  Not because I’ve gone, or will be going splat on it. 

Last week was stressful and excessively busy at work.  But, this Saturday morning, really early, we got up and went out to several plant nurseries, where I indulged in a bit of potted retail therapy.  I’ll have to show pics later, but I found the perfect blues for the front porch and another rose (like I need a hole drilled in my head) and some cacti. 

Honestly, I don’t remember what I did that afternoon, but it involved a lot of sewing and a lot of alone time and a lot of accomplishment. 

Yesterday, I worked in the yard in the morning, while Rob worked on our internet routers, etc, to move them to a more airy and cooler location.  They’ve been overheating in the sewing room and they need a better and more central place.  Neither of us can tell you what happened, but for seven hours, we putzed at it and tried different things and finally, at about 4pm, I got a type of internet working.  The true test will be whether this post will load. 

But, despite all that, I did manage to get a couple of border sections built for the hexie quilt.

Next border

Final border

There’s still a flower border that goes between those two.

And, I got 5 rows of the Irish Chain quilt assembled, although the three rows and the two rows aren’t sewn to one another yet.  But, they will be.

Soon enough.

The important thing is that we all lived through the stressful experiences and tonight is guild.  I find myself really looking forward to guild night.  And, tonight, I’m donating a box of books to the library, and they’re having a boutique sale, so I’m pumped because I have space and I have cash.

Be well and have a great Monday. 

Oh, and if someone finds the guy that controls this big merry go round of life, tell him I could do with a temporary slowdown.  K?

Cuz the older I get, the faster it passes.  Oh, for the days when Christmas was always so far off.

Lane