Category Archive: Life
St Patrick’s placemats; 2/10/17 stash report
Finished 4 St. Patrick’s placemats for our own use. All the fronts were from scraps and I used one piece of fabric for the back, which also made it easier to quilt them all at once.Added this Week: 0.00 yards
New Yards to quilt goal: 271.875 yards
Donation quilts, fencing, new socks
Donation quilts:
I finally put together a pile of quilts for those with fewer resources than we have and took them to the church. It’s cold out there. The secretary said they have men sleeping in the doorways at night now. I need to make some simple, but warm quilts as she said at this point, anything helps them.
Then it was lunch time. I like a simple tostada with a shell, beans, and lettuce, and of course guacamole throughout. I found that if I order it as a side, I get a bit more.
Fencing:
Remember the fencing, I spent an hour repairing yesterday with baling wire? Since the sheep have nothing better to do than to eat and then figure out how to dismantle things, they achieved the dismantle by pushing the 2 x 4s down. So today I dragged a cattle panel to the pen. It completely fit that area, so we tied it up and hope that it will last until Sunday and we can get it put up more securely. But one never really knows. These sheep are small as they are Shetlands, but they are mighty when they decide they want to be somewhere else.
Knitting:
That was enough fun for this crazy day. So I spent some time knitting a new pair of socks. These are on a size 3 needle and 100% wool, so I will add nylon to the heel and toes to reinforce those areas. I put the socks on hold that were needing more attention. These are going fast because I don’t have to think much and it is a larger yarn. As you can see from my note on the page, I’m only working on 48 stitches. Maybe, I’ll get these done before the month is over and can go back and work on January’s socks.
Hang on tight and enjoy life’s crazy roller coaster ride.
Why I got out of bed today
Today I got out of bed to face challenges – several of them. I started by bringing a bale of hay by wheelbarrow to the sheep. That was enough. I decided that the roads were too dangerous to have me on them yet and I had just had a workout, so didn’t get to the gym. When I went to add bedding to the sheep night quarters, I found that they had for the most part taken these two panels apart. So taking twine, I jury rigged this and hope it holds until the snow melts so I can bring a new panel with which to repair this.
And here is part of the crew supervising. OK, sheep taken care of, time to quilt.
And here is the quilt that does not want to be a quilt. It was paper pieced and that went good. Quilting it was another story. The first thing that happened was the thread jumped out of the disks and I had a big mess on the bottom. This happened not once, but twice. I finally conquered that and the next thing was the machine tried to eat a hole in the fabric when the needle got stuck. Eventually, after a few hours this little 33″ square is quilted and tomorrow I will put the binding on and some little baby will be wrapped snuggly in it.
Why did I get out of bed this morning? Sometimes, it’s hard to know why these challenges are in our day, but I’m hoping that meeting them makes me a better person. They sure do wreak havoc with my plans.
Stronger than you think!
I would urge each of you to view this film. As some of you know, I was badly injured in 2002. So much of this film brings that back. But more than that, I think it helps someone who is “on the outside” help understand the person going through these issues.
the film will be available to watch for free from Wednesday, February 8, until Friday, February 17.
Scrap play; car trouble
Scrap play: This is the box of green scraps after I’ve used the scraps to make these 4 placemats. The lid fits easily, but there are enough scraps left to make another 25-30 placemats.
I made the 4 placemats 14 x 19 and have the binding ready to put on them as well. After they are quilted, each will get a green shamrock in the corner.
Car Trouble:
I know that some of you mothers who read this blog will enjoy this photo. Dear son thought the snow would be nearly non-existent as it usually is when forecast. However, he opted to park by the barn under a tree – just in case – so he wouldn’t have to deal with the hill. Note: The tree is bare. You see two sets of tires. DH had snow tires put on before Christmas just in case. The tires are usually kept under the deck. DS realized his mistake in not having the studded tires put on and grabbed the first set of tires, dragged them up to where his car was parked, got a tire off the car and realized that the tires he had dragged up there were his father’s normal tires. Back to get the studded tires, he went. He dragged them up there and mounted them. Then tried to get out. He did get to the paved road, but the snow was too high for the car to go over. He came back home very tired and vowing to get the tires changed before Christmas next year. Now just to make things really good, all this happened on his 50th birthday. Maybe the birthday was just too exciting to think clearly. But I did enjoy a good laugh.
Snow, snow, snow; little sewing
Snow is rare in the Pacific Northwest
And when we got up, there was 7.5″ of it! So we made our way through it to feed the livestock while thinking what a challenge this must be for those in areas where snow is common. While we gingerly picked our way through it, these two thought we had bought them a whole new playground. As the internet was down, we watched snow.
I did get this put together, although, I still need to cut all the threads between the words and finish off the back.
I have misplaced a piece of fabric and a project that I wanted to get to the flimsy state this month. I have looked where I KNEW they were and they have gotten up and changed places. So tomorrow, there may be a big hunt.
“Before they call, I will answer”; bag; yardage to date
I have been working on this Babylock “Love of sewing” Challenge, Nancy Zieman bag most of the week. Jen, who was to get the bag, was coming over at noon. I needed grosgrain ribbon to complete the handles and had none. I checked to see what time JoAnn’s opened this morning and found that would be 10 AM It was snowing and I don’t drive in snow. What do I do? Then the thought came to me to check my mother’s leftover trims box. In it was exactly the amount of the color I needed with not so much as an extra 1/2″ of ribbon. Amazing God! So the bag was finished with the miracle ribbon and done just before she arrived. 
It’s fun when Jen, Bob and the boys come over to play games. This is Rummy and involves colors and number sequences.
I’m linking up to Elm Street Quilts@gmail.com with “One Monthly Goal” which is the four paper pieced hedgehog placemats.
And here is my yardage use to date
Used this Week: Feb 5 1.0 yards
Used this Month (Feb) 1.0 yards
Used year to Date 26.25 yards
Goal: 300.00 yards
Yards to goal: 273.75 yards
Added this Week: 3.00 yards
Added Year to Date: 3.00 yards
New Yards to quilt goal: 276.75 yards
Net Used 2017 23.75 yards
Quilt found plus shopping day
I started this cute little wall hanging last fall and then it disappeared. I looked everywhere I could think of and didn’t find it. Last weekend when I was rearranging in the studio, I found it had slipped between two stacks of drawers. So now it is all together, but only held with a thin layer of glue. I need to applique all the pieces on and quilt it. That will happen in my free time because this little quilt didn’t even get found in time to put on my ufo list – though it belongs there.
Today was run around day after gym. I went to Nordstrom’s rack to return a shirt I purchased before Christmas and found the black pull over shirt (with long sleeve) that I like for 5.00 a piece. They had 2 of them left, so both came home with me. Then off to the hardware store for an idea of how to feed the sheep salt in a way they won’t spill/waste so much of it. I failed on that score, so went to Fred Meyer to do minimum grocery shopping. Late this afternoon, I picked up chicken I had ordered to feed the dogs. So the day was complete and now I am ready to enjoy the Sabbath. Tomorrow we will have company and Sunday we will again have company, so it will be a wonderful weekend.
Less than exciting day
For my less than exciting day, I worked on these Zigzagular socks – a pattern from Prairie Girl – this morning. However, there were so many interruptions that when I picked them back up this afternoon, I had made so many mistakes, I took them back just over an inch – just pulled all the stitches off, stopped breathing, unraveled and put them back on again. And that is where they will spend the night. Tomorrow is errand day, so I doubt I will get back to them. I think they really want to be a two month project.
New month – new projects
As today started a new month, I was more than ready to start new projects. This is an embroidery project that I have had on my “to do” list for several years now. It is to be a wall hanging designed by Anita Goodesign that I’m planning to get done next week.
I also started a rather large handbag, but I’m not far enough on that to take a photo of anything but fabric.
