wrapping up the month

It is hard to believe that November is almost gone with one more month to go til 2009.

Pictured at left is Mr. Skyler a few days ago hopping in the underwear drawer on laundry day. He does this quite a bit in my dresser but likes to dig his way through to the back and gets on the stuff on the drawer below. No such luck with Kitty Daddy's. Tonight he is napping in his little cube I got him. In the day time it serves as a play thing (a tunnel) but lately he has settled in for his evening cat nap. Later in the evening DJ's lap or chunk of the recliner willprove to be more inviting.

I have gotten the last of the kitchen appliance sections done as of Sunday evening. I had fused all the applique and buttonhole stitched on the 3 pieces. I shifted gears a bit on this one as I thought it would be a bit tricky on the tight curves on the circular piece. Instead of making them a solid shape, I drug out some templar and made a modified yo-yo for the "bowl" of the spoon. The spoon handle has a slightly rounded end on it so I used templar there as well. I just drew up some basting threads over the distal 1/3 of the handle and used spray starch to set it. I am pleased with how it looks as it gives it a raised appearance. I was supposed to embroidery the ring and and make a french knot to look like the ring hole but just broke out the pigma pen instead. So I am closer to done but not quite there yet as I still need to spray baste and quilt both front and back panels and assemble and bind all three.

I had a Doctor's appointment just before lunch and in between time I have been cleaning house. His golfing pal is expected late Thursday though DJ has tried to reach him to head him off at the pass. DJ had sick with some sort of intestinal bug during the night and has not had a good day either, poor guy. If it is contagious, and even if it is not, he thought it best to inform his friend what he might be walking into. I feel fine so I don't think it was a food related illness. I'm crossing my fingers though as he was sicker than a dog. Anyway, I let him rest while I took care of the dusting and vacuuming. He hates to dust and I hate to vacuum so normally we swap those duties. I left the bathrooms and kitchen for tomorrow.

Monday afternoon I was in a cooking mood. Hot cocoa mix--we are about 20 degrees cooler than we should be lately so the weather is perfect for it. Made a streusel cake--tastes good but that darned Bundt pan stuck and I had to sorta stick it all back together in some semblance of order. Pan of corn muffins for our evening meal along with some candied sweet potatoes (to go with the ham slice and peas) Lastly, I made some pumpkin butter using a recipe Pam had shared with me. You put the stuff in the oven and bake it once it has come to a boil, stirring every fifteen minutes, up to two hours of time. Yummy!! I put most of it in the freezer since I don't have the stuff to can it but the bit I saved out was delish on an English muffin this morning.

I had not planned for us to have a traditional Thankgiving meal---there was a possibility that we would be joining a friend and her family for dinner but that is not going to happen. I had fixed a turkey breast not all the long ago, we had ham recently. We are having steak instead--part of the meat package we got last year and we are down to 1 porterhouse and 1 t-bone left that I was sorta saving for a special meal. What better time than now? Of course, this will all depend on how DJ is feeling by then. Play it by ear, I guess.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday in whatever you plan to do----------

some progress

I have made some progress on the long postponed appliance covers though I still need to join the three sections together and bind the bottom edge. I am thinking that a serged seam would work well to do that and I no longer have mine but a girlfriend does! Just the blender cover to go. I have made the pattern on both sides rather than one plain side so they would be reversible.

Some of this fabric has been around for about 11 years but I added a few bits from Theramae. The green check is leftover from my kitchen curtains. The quilty looking piece is old too and I am making a dent in the yardage by using it for the lining. Some is new yardage but I'll have a lot leftover for other things. Wish I had more of that green plaid piece--old favorite.

The food processor covers were re-sized to fit my appliance better and the picture was taken before I rounded off the corners.

This obviously is the toaster cover---the bread and jam was a dead giveaway, right? The green strip in the back is the gusset fabric.

I was using an old almost empty can of 505 temporary basting spray which I seldom ever use unless it is small project. The stuff was making sticky strings of goo on my hand. I don't remember it doing that before. After picking the adhesive, the batting fuzz and loose strings off, I ditched whatever remained and tried some Sulky that I had on my carry around sewing tray. I'll have enough to finish this job but I am not so sure that I want use 505 again if that is what it does. Reminds me a spray rubber cement----maybe it is. Not crazy about that rippled area about the bowl on the one of the left but I am not going to put more quilting on it either. What do you use or do just pin these smallish things??

Not much else going on here--errands, household duties, nothing new.

you know it has been a while...............

when you get a call from your family asking if you are okay since you haven't updated your blog in a week, LOL. I have been having "up and down" days both physically and to honest mentally. The tests I have had done so far have only shown what is ISN'T versus what is causing it. While I rejoice that the worst case scenarios are ruled out, I am still frustrated about the symptoms that are still present several months later. Enough about that..............

Part of the reason for not posting is I got "nuthin'" to show you though I have been doing a little hand quilting. That's a slow process with little to show for the time involvement---oh, but I love it! No sewing going on here unless you want to count re-doing the the velcro on something of DJ's and reinforcing the seam on a pair of jeans. Just not in the mood.

No cutting either or I would have those darned appliance covers started and/or a firm decision of what to do with the FABS challenge fabric. Haven't found a pattern that excites me enough to head to the stash. I need Norma to point out something SHE is excited about as that usually does it, LOL. Truth me told one of her recent quilt show pictures sent me on a hunt for the pattern source--that card trick looking one? Two of a Kind from the April 08 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I could see trying that one.

My stash just got augmented a bit though I do not plan to keep it all here--just some of it, for now. I found just enough places to stick the additions. Homespuns, greens (that kitchen project) and reds, neutrals for heart quilts. Another stack that would make a lovely fall themed quilt for donation to work on later. The leftovers will be cut into strips for bowtie blocks, triple rail fence blocks, faux log cabins and so forth. The Belles need to take what they want to work with too. You see, a few days after Theramae's memorial service her family called and asked if I could come pick up her sewing supplies and such. While they had extra hands on deck, they were clearing out what they could so it did not all fall to the family member who lives locally. I came home with the back end of my car loaded down.

She had left little undone--I know I couldn't begin to say that! I found a few odds and end blocks that we both were making. There are also leftovers from a previous project that can be worked up into another quilt. Strips, strings and squares to make more scrappy quilts. In fact, I think she almost had enough blocks for a small string quilt with more foundation papers cut out. I sorted through the magazines and put the most interesting of them in a notebook. That and the books went to our meeting place this week. I sorted through some fabrics over the weekend--washed and pressed 4 loads of fabrics. By Monday Lois and Nancy joined me to finish up--with some of it passed on for them to do the honors.

The quilt group met this week on Veteran's Day. I think we had 11 or 12 of us there. The power button on my camera quit working before I got all the pictures of the turned in quilts taken. Linda C let me borrow hers to finish the job and will burn me a CD for our records. Two days later I replaced the camera with one by the same manufacturer so the memory stick was still viable. The strippie quilt shown is one that Aline made from her batik scraps which I quilted for her. It probably does not show up well but I did just a zigzag through the pieced bands and SID in the plain ones.

While at the meeting some were sewing, some were pinning. I had brought the red and white fabrics from Theramae's stash and asked the girl's to make some heart blocks for her quilt. This is a tradition that we started in honor of the members we have lost or a member's immediate family.

Me personally? I found room for the fabrics from Theramae, marked a quilt top to be pinned, put the books up, sewed enough batting scraps together for two tops. I also talked to the church secretary about a tshirt quilt she would like me to make after the first of the year. That and the usual consultations about this and that quilting related or not plus a lot of visiting and catching up. What to do for the Christmas party, etc. Most of us went out to Quizno's for a quick lunch. Next thing I knew it was 3 p.m. and time to go home.

Here is Linda C with a quilt she had just picked up from the long arm quilter. Pretty. huh? And big!!

Theramae had a huge stack of pictures of her quilts that her family passed onto me with her things. Her family said she would always share the latest photos with them when they came to visit and I would suppose the quilts she was working on at the time. They pulled out some of them but it represents a pretty big body of work but it wasn't all of them. Joy and I took digital pictures early on but just posted them on our yahoo group. Later it became my job to take the pics and since that time, I always get double prints made. One goes in our albums and the other to the maker. (We are on our 4th album.). We looked through the pictures and shared some memories. These should probably go in their own "Theramae" album or scrap booked in some manner.

I had fallen down on the job with quilt documention this year---not sure why but maybe because there was no big push to get 50 or 60 of them for one specific location so I had to know how close to goal we were? We mailed out a bunch to WTIL earlier in the year and a pile of them to Pam for her M2M project after that. I had those entered on my document but not the ones that had were in my closet or on the armoire. The pile I had quilted through last month is starting to come in after binding with a few more out there to be finished. Well, yesterday I quit procrastinating. I pulled all the quilts on hand out and piled them up in the sewing/computer room and took care of that documentation. I made sure that we had pictures taken of each one and cleaned out the monthly files a bit but had DJ standing by to be quilt holder. I uploaded a pile of pictures so we can get prints made for the albums I previously mentioned. I ran to Walmart for some packing boxes--17 packed up and headed to WTIL headquarter. DJ helped me get those to the post office a bit ago.

Other than that, a quiet day. Laundry is done for the week and dishwasher has been run. A few hours till supper preparation. DJ is out working on the stump from the apple tree he cut down, mild overcast day. Skyler is napping on his bedroom perch with an eye out for any birds up on the roof and gutters. Word from DJ's son is that he ran into DJ's golfing friend from IL recently who told him he plans to be here "around Thanksgiving" but so far, said friend hasn't told US that. I can only speculate if that means the wife too or just him. Enjoy the quiet while I can, I guess.

Hope you all have a good weekend in whatever you plan to do---------

On Election Day

This song from "Hairspray" the musical is so uplifting and well sung by Queen Latifah. I thought it was appropriate as it reminds me of just why it is so important for us as citizen's to go vote and let our voice be heard. Age, sex, race and gender--we all have struggles but there is hope for the future. I have to believe that..........


MOTORMOUTH
There's a light
In the darkness
Though the night
Is black as my skin
There's a light
Burning bright
Showing me the way
But I know where I've been

There's a cry
In the distance
It's a voice
That comes from deep within
There's a cry
Asking why
I pray the answer's up ahead
'Cause I know where I've been

There's a road
We've been travelin'
Lost so many on the way
But the riches
Will be plenty
Worth the price we
Had to pay

There's a dream
In the future
There's a struggle
We have yet to win
And there's pride
In my heart
'Cause I know
Where I'm going
And i know where I've been

MOTORMOUTH & ENSEMBLE
There's a road
We must travel
There's a promise
We must make
'Cause the riches
Will be plenty
Worth the risk
And chances that we take
There's a dream
In the future
There's a struggle

We have yet to win
Use that pride
In our hearts
To lift us up
To tomorrow

'Cause just to sit still
Would be a sin

ENSEMBLE
I know it, I know it
I know where I'm going

MOTORMOUTH
And lord knows I know..
Where I've been

MOTORMOUTH & ENSEMBLE
Oh! When we win,
I'll give thanks to my god
'Cause I know where I've been.


Lyrics: found HERE (listen through your favorite music download spot)

In loving memory of Theramae----

DJ and I had just returned home when the phone rang yesterday afternoon. Theramae's DIL was calling to tell me, as the quilt group leader, that she had passed away late Tuesday. The memorial service was scheduled for this morning at 11 but the obituary had not made the local newspaper in time for notification.

She had just turned 86 in June. Sarah was just a few month's older and we lost her earlier this year. What dynamic women they both were! I have shown this picture of her before--at the Christmas party 07 when we presented her with a friendship quilt we had made for her. Her health deteriorated over the months that followed and she was only able to come to one meeting this year for a few hours. She had three devoted caregivers that allowed her stay in her own home till the end. Not many people get to do that. Feisty!

Theramae was my "right hand" girl. Most of the time she sewed her tops at home so she manned the pinning table with an energy that I would wager we younger members wished we had. We are forever quoting her line "it will quilt out" --she was right about that. That and the caution not to be smoothing the quilt--pat it but don't smooth it. She was always taking quilts home to bind and sometimes quilt for one of the others. Since my dislike of binding is legendary, you know what a help that was.

She and Sarah both would really crank out the quilts like women on a mission! I always take a picture of each quilt and get two copies made--one for our photo albums and one for the maker. Her DIL said she would make a point to show the pictures to anyone she could even she didn't have the quilt on hand to show them. I know she spoke about them to her circle at church as well. The pastor spoke of it at the service today--not about WTIL necessarily but the quilts that she had made and given away over the years.

When Jane and I saw her recently she said she had not been able to read or sew anymore. You could tell that was very frustrating to her as that was two things she dearly loved. We were going to look into some books on tape for her as an alternative to TV viewing.

She was one of the original members of our little group. Joy and I met first in Aug. 1999. In Jan. 2000 Joy hosted a sew in for Wrap Them in Love at her house. I didn't know anyone other than Joy who quilted but Joy had owned a quilt shop at one time and knew some quilters. She invited Betsy who invited Theramae who attended her church and she knew quilted. The following month we had an organizational meeting---Theramae was one of the original Belles. With her passing there are just three of us left. We were naming the originals off at lunch today, those of us who were able to attend the service.

She had been all over the globe as her husband had been in the Air Force and raised two daughters and a son. When her husband passed away, she moved here to be closer to a daughter who lives locally. Theramae would tell you that she was "not from here" meaning Calhoun County. She didn't necessarily hold with the prevailing notions and was not afraid to share her opinion about anything. She had fairly progressive views--something you might not expect from a woman her age, actually. I don't know why that surprised me a bit but I found it very refreshing. She and I shared the same political and world views---without getting into just what those are/were. The stash ring is supposed to remain apolitical but suffice it to say, it is not necessarily what most of Alabama is or how they think. (If I hear "Alabama values" being touted one more time in a TV ad in this election cycle I might scream, LOL)

One of the last quilt pictures I posted here was one of her tops shown HERE. Jane picked up some quilts the other day before she left with some local quilters to go to the quilt show in Houston--Theramae's was one of them so I didn't get the chance to show her how it turned out with those Baptist Fans.

She will be missed but not forgotten.

you aren't helping!

The color is way off and the part under the light source too bright but maybe you can see why occasionally it is hard to get any "work" done. Skyler has taken to burrowing under the quilts whether they are on the bed or I'm quilting them. He got himself situated just under the hoop and begin gnawing on a safety pin. Once I got the camera out and few shots taken, he moved on.

I found some fabrics for the appliance covers yesterday. I told DJ to drop me off at Hobby Lobby while he went down to Home Depot. We both came home happy with our finds. This morning I drug out the green fabrics that might be suitable for my project. Now I don't feel much like cutting or sewing for our sewing date tomorrow----go figure.

This same quilt still has some machine quilting that needs done on the bands. I started on it and then had to set it aside in favor of the donation quilt stack so it has languished for at least three weeks. I am just hand quilting in the white spaces and SID on the print parts. I think I told you that I would like to give this to DJ for Christmas or our anniversary in January so I guess this could be a "nag" project as well---it is hanging over my head too.

I'll decide in the morning what I want to do for our sewing date--I think you know which way I'm leaning, LOL. Now if I can just convince Skyler to not be so helpful...........

finally caught up

I have finally managed to quilt my way through the pile of donation quilts atop the armoire as of Monday morning---11 total for me. Big woo hoo and happy dancing here! Took me about three weeks to get the job done with a few days off for good behavior, LOL. Shown are two of the last ones. Theramae's top that I did with Baptist Fans on the left and my challenge quilt on the right. I'll post better pics once the binding is done and the markings removed.

A shout out to Pat who was kind enough to quilt up this one for me in a manner far better than it my pathetic attempts to free motion would have looked like. Liz in SC volunteered to do one as well so I unpinned it . It is on its way to her now--spared me from a bunch of cross hatching around 12 dresden plate blocks. Thanks in advance for the quilting offer, Liz. Since it will be quilted on a handi-quilter now instead of my domestic sewing machine, I had to replace the backing. We trimmed it too close to use what we had on it when we pinned it but that can be used for something else down the line, no doubt. Stash busted a little more space off my shelf so Skyler should be able to get on the book shelf a little more easily, LOL. Quilt back sewing is the closest I have come to sewing in weeks!

I did try to do some outlining in the challenge quilt focus blocks but ended up taking it out---twice. Horrid! To be truthful the thread color was not right either and that accounted for failed attempt #2. I ended up just doing two simple lines of a serpentine stitch on my Viking 500 just to hold it down. The fabric is packed with color that it doesn't really show up anyway on the back or the front.

I am not sure where Theramae found the pattern for her little quilt to give a pattern source but it was really a simple, scrappy quilt. I know that she used a package of cut 2 1/2 inch squares that Finn passed onto the Belles for some of it as I recognize some of the fabrics plus some for the group's previous projects along with it. Hard telling were a bit of backing fabric might show up down the line! Sadly, this will probably be the last one she was able to make for the group as her health concerns are keeping her from sewing at this point. Once I get the binding done, I will take it over to show her before donating it.

I drew it up in EQ though not in the same colors and definitely not colored in a scrappy manner. There are no stars or Prairie Flower like blocks in the quilt but the 4 patches and star points are placed in such a manner that you see two of those type blocks. Good scrappy quilt that would lend itself well to leaders and enders, at least for the 4 patches that would be required.

And, speaking of Skyler--here he is in a quiet moment catching some afternoon soon. We have had some cooler days lately or that window would have been open.

DJ has been working off and on trying to replace the front door threshold and door sweep. We both went to the bedroom to keep the nosy kitty out of the task at hand. I think DJ has found that a replacement part is not so easy to track down 23 years after the house was built. The hunt has been made harder still by not being able to find who the door manufacturer is/was. He ended up putting both old pieces back down--for now.

Think I'll do a little hand quilting this afternoon. Tomorrow is pretty booked up with a doctor's visit for some recent test results late morning for me. DJ is coming with me as we will go out for lunch (probably at Cici's Pizza) afterwards and stop at a few more hardware stores in Oxford. I am thinking about having him drop me off down at Hobby Lobby while he goes to Home Depot as I need something for a kitchen project. Seems like there was something else going on this week? Oh yeah, now I remember.

Actually, Cher will be off on Friday and has issued an invitation to come sew with her online. I am thinking it might be a good time for a"nag" day project. I define that as a project that is nagging at you to get started or one that someone else is nagging at you to do--in my case, it would be a new toaster cover that DJ has asked me at least three times to get to. I need some coordinating fabric since there are few more appliances that I want to cover and maybe make some placemats.

Not much else happening around here----thanks for stopping by-------