More Prepping and My Big Birthday Splurge

Today has been the quiet before our storm.  We will celebrate Thanksgiving Friday when Julia, two boys and one dog join us.  I carved out a few minutes to do some more prep work on my applique project as I don’t expect to be doing much machine work for a while.  I still have some more petals to prep and glue baste to the second stem, but I should have enough to keep me busy for a while.

…and yesterday my big birthday splurge arrived.  I unboxed it today rather than wait until “my” day on Saturday while we still have company.  Yep, it’s an Accuquilt Go.  They are on sale right now and I made the plunge.  

Company Expected

We are expecting the grand kids later this week so this has been a day for housekeeping and clearing out the sewing room to make room for air mattresses.  We are well on our way to being ready for Thanksgiving which is a good thing because the grocery store is already a madhouse.  The only machine work I’ll probably be able to do this week will be tomorrow when I join my friends for our regular Tuesday sewing group.  It will be interesting to see how many regulars make it.

I decided to take a break from paper piecing long enough to make one potholder.  I’m still struggling with how to machine finish the binding on these little projects.  Wanda has some tips on how she finishes her mug rugs that help, but I’m just haven’t gotten to a point where I’m happy with my results.  Part of the problem may be that I use recycled terry cloth for the filler and that makes the thickness vary from potholder to potholder. 

We are expecting rain later this week, but for now the weather is brisk and sunny.  The dogs are at the fence begging for treats from the golfers.

It’s been a fun week with hubby and his hunting partner coming into town to take me to dinner one evening and the quilt club’s annual party.  The weather has been near perfect and I’ve even managed to dig around in the flower beds.  …and since it’s my birthday month, I’ve had an excuse for some indulgences. 

Every so often Wanda will list items for sale in her blog shop, Wandaful Quilts.  I couldn’t resist picking up these cuts from her prodigious stash of batiks.

 

This little scissor case was a gift from a neighbor who recently returned from a long cruise with lots of at-sea days.  She filled the time doing needlepoint projects and thoughtfully let me choose one.  I added the lanyard and my favorite embroidery scissors.  They will come in handy when I meet with my applique group.  The picture also shows my current applique project.  It’s taking forever, but I did manage to prep some more petals on one of the stems. 

Lately I’ve been listening to The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.  I’m half way through it and am really enjoying the story about nine American boys who competed in the 1936 Olympics.  I feel like I’m getting to know these young men personally and I had no idea how complicated rowing a boat competitively is.  The story line contains lots of technical details, and I think I’m enjoying it more as a “listen” than a “read.”  I am so grateful my local library offers this kind of service.

This and That...

I did make it to the “Club House” yesterday to spend a few hours sewing with my friends.  I have my vintage Singer 404 set up there and have found it to be a great machine for paper piecing.  I have really been enjoying it.  I was working on more triangle square strips for Sue Garman’s Good Golly quilt.  I think the pattern calls for something in excess of 280 of these strips and I have a lot left to do.

This is my birthday month and I am allowing myself some indulgences along the way.  I found this Kaffe Fasset book from a used book dealer on Amazon.  When we were preparing to move back to Texas 9 years ago, I thinned out my library selling online and am always willing to help out other used book dealers when I see something I don’t want to purchase in electronic form.  This book has some gorgeous quilts.

I made time this afternoon wrap the outside faucets.  No freezes are predicted in the long range forecast, but this year I don’t want to wait until it’s miserably cold to get that chore done.  And while the weather is pleasantly cool, I’m also tidying up the yard including attacking weeds in the flower beds and trimming up the rose bush and other shrubs. 

Like so many others, I am heart sick over yesterday’s brutal attacks in Paris.  I just keeping praying, stitching, trimming, and pressing trying to reclaim my serenity.

Of Triangle Squares, Rain and Kittens

I had to skip sewing with friends Tuesday due to a kitten event.  Whose heart wouldn’t melt looking at this sweet face? 

Monday morning my dogs alerted to this little fellow and at least one other sibling hiding under bushes in our flower bed.  I was afraid they had either lost their mother or had been abandoned.  My fear increased even more when Tuesday morning I entered the garage to load up my sewing supplies and discovered two of them had spent the night there.  After calls to Animal Control for a live trap, trips to the store for litter and kitten chow and repeated glimpses of them scurrying behind the water heater I was afraid I was in the kitten business.

Fortunately for all concerned, Mama Cat showed up shortly after dark and the two youngsters dashed out of the garage as soon as I raised the door.  The little family was reunited and I was most relieved. 

Maybe I can join the group for sewing on Friday.  I really miss it when a week goes by and I don’t get to join my friends.

My stack of paper pieced triangle squares keeps on growing.  I will need to make 48 six-inch blocks from these, so I have a lot more to do. 

We continue to have periodic rain events, and so far no serious flooding in our immediate area.  Since I last posted, we have received .75 inches in town and .95 at the ranch.  Yay!

Working But Little to Show

One of several reasons I began blogging in 2010 was it seemed to be the easiest way to keep a journal of my quilting journey.  Sometimes, though, when I’m doing repetitive piecing, it’s difficult to figure out a way to log it.  That is where I’m at, and will continue to be for a good while, on my Sue Garman “Good Golly” project.  Even though paper piecing a bazillion triangle squares is monotonous, I find it very soothing and have been enjoying the process.  I know I’ll reach a point where I have to set it aside and get some variety in my life, but until then I’ll continue.  Here are some of the triangle square strips that I’ve been working on.  They will be joined into 6 inch squares.

Since I last blogged, we have enjoyed a series of rain events and recorded an accumulated 6.61 inches.  Unlike the areas to our east and south which are still dealing with floods, the rain we received mostly soaked into the ground.  It wasn’t until Friday that the ground became so saturated that we had really good run off.  All the ponds in our neighborhood, including the one closest to our house, are overflowing.  My grandmother always said that in order to have pretty bluebonnets in April we needed rain in October and this year we got it.

I continue to purge through my collection of books reminding myself all the while, that if I donate them to a thrift store where they can be put back into circulation, I am not wasting them.  Every time I get my hands on a good box, I go to work again, and I think I’m closing in on what I’m ready to get rid of.  

These two old cookbooks I’ll hold on to for just a while longer, though.  One contained a menu written out by an aunt.  And I had to smile when I read this comment by the author from a recipe for Dutch Apple Pie:  “2 quarts apples, quartered.  The apples are important:  Greenings, August and fall; Winesaps or Rome Beauties during the winter months; Green Transparents in June and July.  You have no business having this pie in the spring.”