Life's Little Speed Bumps and Other Road-Related Oddities

Kind of a weird title, I know, but I was thinking about some of the miscellaneous things I wanted to write about and that seemed to tie them all together in a somewhat ragged little bow.

So Sunday, with about 45 minutes left before we had to leave for dinner with friends, I wrote out the directions for the Gardener's Touch quilt. I went back and tried to justify (pull the text out to the right margin in block format) the paragraphs and all of it disappeared. Just then, I saw Blogger save my blank page. Now, I should tell you that I've done this before by accident a couple times when I was new to blogging, and I swore I'd never do it again. Argh! One of these days before too long, I'll muster up the patience to write them all out again, so if you've been waiting for me to post these directions, please be patient a little longer. Of course, this whole incident was the complete and total reason why I NEEDED three margaritas with dinner.

Daylight Savings Time has totally messed with my schedule. I'm a night owl by inclination, so having to get up earlier just isn't right. (And why can't we just turn the clock BACK 23 hours?) Saturday night I stayed up until 2 a.m. playing with fabric, and when I went to bed, I had to turn the clock ahead to 3 a.m. Then I read a book until 4 a.m. before I turned out the light. Perhaps it's not surprising that I slept until something like 11 a.m. on Sunday. Sunday night it was sure hard to go to sleep, but I managed it around 2 a.m. Getting up at 7 a.m. Monday was a struggle, but I really, REALLY didn't want to be late for work. So just as I was about ready to leave and running only a couple minutes late, my older cat (who was sitting on the kitchen counter looking at me) puked up a stomach full of water all over the edge of the counter, down the front of the dishwasher, and into my other cat's food dish and the surrounding floor. ARGH! Well, of course I was late to work.

As I was driving from work Monday night to the quilt shop for the Christmas List BOM class, I saw a car driving down the street with what looked like a wobbly tire. It got me thinking about how cool it would be to have a car with hubcaps that are mounted in such a way that they appear kind of skewed and off kilter. Just as a joke. Wouldn't that scare all the other drivers to death, thinking you were going to lose a tire at any second? I bet you wouldn't have many drivers pass you--or maybe they'd speed up and pass real fast. At least none of them would just lurk in your blind spot! I'd really love to buy an older, cheap, but still running car and paint it to look like a quilt. With lopsided hubcaps. That's not weird, is it? Did I hear someone mutter "poor white trash"?!

And speaking of which, a little further along, I passed a house decorated for Easter. It's a small house with a small yard. This is one that was all done up for Christmas awhile back too. For Easter they have a 15 foot tall blow up Easter Bunny! Or maybe it just looked 15 feet tall because I was so startled. Do you remember THIS POST? I'm thinking with some bunny ears and a puffy tail . . . . Anyway, this yard had more than a ginormous Easter Bunny. The entire front yard was jam packed with Easter decorations. So many that I really didn't get a good look. Maybe I'll need to go back--with a camera.

At the quilt shop, Lindy (the owner) had displayed a male and female bunny sitting on a bench in the shop window. She always has the coolest stuff! This pair was holding hands and dressed up in people clothes. I think I could see a tag on the back of one, so maybe they're for sale. I really need to get a photo to show you because I don't know how to describe them. The faces were made with what looked like maybe leftover pieces of moth-eaten fur and suede. The hands looked kind of skeletal--I'm not sure why, but I kept thinking of an armadillo. Two other gals and I were standing out front admiring these creatures, unable to quite decide whether they were the coolest things we'd ever seen or the most grotesque. Well, sometimes it's just about the same thing, isn't it? Or is it just me?!

If you haven't done so already, don't forget to leave a comment on yesterday's blog post if you want to get into the drawing for the rabbit wallhanging! Be sure to comment on that post before Thursday at 6 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time because I'm hoping to draw a name and post the winner around 7 p.m. that night. Thanks for stopping in!

A Belated Blogiversary to Me!

In typical fashion, I'm late for my blogiversary! A couple weeks ago, I looked to see when I had started my blog, and for some reason, I thought it was March 10th. I just looked again and it was actully March 7th. So, I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! But instead of the White Rabbit, I'm celebrating with a small brown rabbit hopping through the tulips--

Leave a comment on this post. If you're commenting as "anonymous" or just don't have a blog, make sure to include something to identify you--mother's maiden name, guilty secret, whatever. First name, initial of last name, and city should work well. I'll have a drawing Thursday night to celebrate my one year anniversary in Blogland and the person whose name I draw will get the rabbit wallhanging, which measures 24-1/2" x 19"--and I promise it WILL have a binding on it by then. Interestingly enough--to me anyway--I think my post on Thursday when I announce a winner just might be my 400th. That's a whole lotta talk about not too much of anything!

Thank you all for stopping in, reading, and commenting on my blog this past year--I've enjoyed getting to know a bunch of kind, great, and/or crazy people who I wouldn't have otherwise met!

Thimbleberries "Camp"

I mentioned yesterday that I had attended Thimbleberries "Camp" at one of our local quilt shops and had changed the pattern I was making. Here's the kit I bought and didn't make because I was tired of trees--

And here's what I made instead, using mostly the fabrics from the kit. The pattern for the star block pattern is from the new Pint Size Traditions II Thimbleberries book.

I was a little too tired last night to tell you much about the camp, but it was a lot of fun. They fed us--corn chowder, 9-can soup, jello fruit salad, bread, and brownie sundaes--yum! We also were given Easter goodie bags that contained a few pencils, a packet of fabric wash, and a couple Tootsie Rolls. Quilt shop ladies always seem to understand the need for a few sweet treats to keep us going, don't they? And speaking of treats to keep us going, they also suprised us with charm packs of the Lakeside and Lodge fabrics along with a Miss Rosie Schnibbles pattern. Cute stuff!

My weekend projects are coming along. Besides that Thimbleberries quilt top, I finished another small top--I'll show you that one later. And I got my house cleaned. It used to be that I could take a good part of the day cleaning and procrastinating along the way, but I found that if I only allow myself a specified period of time, I get it done much faster and can get back to playing a lot sooner. We have a small house but I have a lot of very valuable (not!) "stuff" that needs to be cleaned and dusted, so I figure two hours is enough to get it all reasonably clean. Whatever's not done at the end of two hours, just doesn't get done--so far, I've managed to get everything done by the end of the two hours.

Tomorrow my husband and I are meeting our friends, Terry and Lisa, and taking my sister-in-law Kathy out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATH!) I might not get quite as much done this weekend as I first thought, but I'm sure looking forward to getting together with our friends. Oh, and not having to cook dinner--did I mention that I'm really looking forward to not having to cook dinner too?!

A couple of you were interested in the measurements for the Gardener's Touch quilt blocks, so I'll try to get those posted tomorrow (Sunday). Don't forget to spring forward if you're in an area that goes to Daylight Savings Time!

Yes, I'm One of "Them"

"Them"--the overachievers. But I guess I don't have to tell you this news flash because although I don't really think of myself that way, I think some of you do judging by the comments I get! ROFLOL!

Tonight I went to a local quilt shop for a Thimbleberries "camp." We had received our kits for the quarterly project a few weeks ago and we were supposed to cut them before class. Last night I got out my kit, and as much as I think the project is really nice, I was just darn tired of making trees--a main element in this particular pattern. So I pulled a couple of Thimbleberries books off my shelf and searched for something that appealed to me a little more.

The colors in the kit were green (yep--trees!), red, blue, white, and a floral border fabric that has a lot of blue in it. Mindful that summer will be here before I know it, I decided to set the green aside and just use the red, white, and blue fabrics along with the floral border fabric. Then I got busy making two and a half trillion half square triangles. Okay, maybe it was just 144 half square triangles--it just seemed like two and a half trillion. Tonight I assembled them into nine blocks. Tomorrow I need to decide how I want to set them, because they're WAAAAY too busy butted up against one another.

Despite the fact that it was after 10 p.m. when I left the quilt shop, I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got my shopping done. Now I'm set to hunker down in the Sweat Shop all weekend and sew my fingers down to nubs. See, this is how I get a lot done! LOL!

Remember that bunny quilt I mentioned the other day? I have about a half of a bunny left to applique and then I'll be ready to get the borders on it.

Since I haven't cleaned house for nearly three weeks (another little trick for getting a lot of sewing done!), I guess I'll have to take a few hours out of my weekend to take care of these pesky little chores.

Then there's another little project I'm thinking about. And did I mention that I'd surely like to get the Gardener's Touch quilt top pinned and quilted? And did I mention that if I have even a slim hope of getting everything I'd like to get done, I'm really, really going to NEED that hour I'm going to lose this weekend because of Daylight Savings Time?!

Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, would anyone be interested in me giving the cutting sizes for the alternate (Irish Chain) blocks in that Gardener's Touch top? I know there are a lot of nice largish florals out right now that could be used for the plain floral squares, so if there are a couple of you who are interested, I'll post that info.

Time for me to go to bed. I figure maybe I can afford to catch an hour or two of sleep this weekend. Tomorrow I'll post a photo of some sort of these blocks I worked on tonight so you can see what I'm yammering on about. Happy weekend!

Disgruntled Again!

Remember last week I mentioned that I was a disgruntled employee because I realized that 29 days in the month of February meant that I was working an extra day that I hadn't had to work in the past three years? Which, of course, effectively reduced my rate of pay when my monthly salary was converted to an hourly wage?

Well, today one of the women I work with told me that Daylight Savings Time starts this weekend. You know what that means? We spring forward! So, not only did we work an extra day last week, but this week, we lose an hour of our weekend! ARGH! I mean really--is that fair? You'd think that if there was any justice in the world, the powers that be would put into effect a law that says during leap years, Daylight Savings Time is to commence at 3 p.m. on the Friday before the date when Daylight Savings Time would normally begin in non-leap years. Is that really too much to ask?

Now I have to figure out what hour I want to give up this weekend. Normally I'd be happy to give up an hour of cleaning house, but since I haven't cleaned house for the last couple weeks, I'm pretty sure I can't give up one of THOSE hours. I guess I could give up an hour of sleep, but those hours are pretty minimal as it is. Well, I WAS going to shave my legs this weekend; I guess I COULD give that up, so there's a good 15 minutes gained. And maybe if I don't change out of my PJ's all weekend, I could recoup another 10 minutes. Brushing my teeth? No, I think I'd better not try to skimp there. Cooking? Well, that's possible. Obviously this is going to require some thought and planning.

What hour are you planning to give up?

Bloggy Bits

I don't know if you noticed Sharon's comment on yesterday's blog post, but she called me a heifer. Now I checked, and according to my dictionary, a heifer is a young cow, so I guess I won't take exception to the term. At my age, any kind of insult is acceptable as long as it includes something about being "young." I guess I should tell you, too, that in a heretofore private email, Sharon DID offer to come up here and do my hysterectomy for me. I'm still kinda pondering the meaning and intentions behind that one. Could be I'll forgive her if she draws my name for that Mary Engelbreit fabric. And just in case you haven't visited Sharon and seen that she's got a giveaway going on, check it out!

Tonight was my monthly Jo's Little Women Club meeting and, as usual, it was a fun meeting. Another of our members brought a couple "vintage" quilts with her to share with us. These were found when she and her husband went to help his siblings clear out things from his parents' home. Lucky for her, no one else wanted them! I was kind of preoccupied with trying to take photos, 'cause you know I'm challenged that way, but I think she said she's not sure who made them because I don't think her mother-in-law was a quilter. I guess that's another reason why we're always being told to put labels on our quilts!

This first one was found in a closet. There's some interesting horseshoe fabric used as one of the backgrounds--it's the second block in from the right on the top row. Lindy, the quilt shop owner, roughly dated the quilt to the early 1900s--I believe she said it was probably around 1910 or so.

I think they said this second one was likely from around the 1950s. The lavender and green shades are really nice, and we're seeing these same or similar shades in our fabrics today, in both the repro fabrics and the "newer" colors. They found this quilt folded and stored between a mattress and box spring on a bed. It's really in nice condition except for some fading down the center. Wouldn't it be a great Easter/spring quilt with those yummy colors?!

It tickled me to hear that several of our Jo's ladies have been keeping up with my blog--hey, gals! You know who you are! Thanks for stopping by to visit when we can't get together in person! I'll be seeing a couple of them next week at our Thimbleberries Club meeting, if not before. One of my friends mentioned that she liked what I was doing with the Thimbleberries Gardener's Touch quilt, so I thought I'd post a photo of my progress.

Tomorrow night I'll get the last border on--that's the fabric pinned up on the design wall to the left of the quilt. Then I'll need to cut a kit for the quarterly Thimbleberries project and pack my "stuff" up for a "camp" I'm going to on Friday night from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. I know I'll be busy tomorrow night and I'll be out a bit late on Friday night, so if I miss posting to my blog, you'll know I'm just having some major quilty fun! But you know me--chances are that I'll be here with something to say, even if it's all about nothing! Thanks for checking in on me--and, by the way, I'm feeling much better and able to withstand, once again, the McDonald's sirens' song of fries and a double cheeseburger!

Why a Cow Reminded Me of Sharon

I suspect quite a few of you read Red Geranium Sharon's blog, so maybe you're wondering why I would tell a weepy menopausal woman that a cow reminded me of her. Good question.

Back when Sharon first started blogging I came across her blog early on and I was struck by this paragraph in one of her first posts:

"Took a break from sewing to bake lasagna for dinner. Hubby said it was the best I have ever made. Does this mean he didn't like it all these years I've been making it? My secret was lots of Ricotta cheese. I used to use Cottage cheese but switched to the Ricotta and I guess it made a difference. I follow the directions my mom used when I was growing up which used Cottage cheese. Did they even sell Ricotta cheese way back then? Maybe California cows produce Ricotta and I grew up in Missouri where cows produce Cottage cheese."

Well, you have to understand that I grew up in California where cows produce ricotta cheese. Not only that, but my father's parents were Italian. Cottage cheese in lasagna? Blasphemy! No way! So I left her this comment:

"You're right. There's a big Italian influence here in California, so our cows just squirt that ricotta right out on command. Of course, the New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Nevada (Las Vegas) cows are much the same. Special breed known as Paisano cows. Then we also have the "Happy Cows Come From California" cows that you may have seen in advertisements. Another special breed known as the Stoner cows. Mostly they live around college towns like Humboldt State and Chico State. I won't tell you what kind of cheese they produce, because you don't really want to know, but if you used it, it would probably make your husband eat the whole tray of lasagna as well as a batch of cookies for dessert."

So, there you have it--the beginning of a great bloggy friendship. And THAT'S why a cow reminded me of Sharon! And can I just mention that if she doesn't get over the hormonally-induced tears, I just might have to make a trek up to Humboldt State or Chico State and get some of that Happy Cows Cheese to send her! ROFLOL!

GOT RICOTTA?!

The Cosmic Diet

Red Geranium Sharon has blogged a couple times lately about her struggle with menopause while I have the opposite problem--I can hardly wait to get past the monthly cramps that ruin an otherwise perfectly fine three days or so a month as well all the other physical, emotional, and hormonal weirdness that occurs. In fact, I'm thinking about looking into a DIY hysterectomy. Do you think a person could do a hysterectomy with a rotary cutter and a 3X makeup mirror? But then I remember there's also the clumsiness that seems to go along with the weird hormones, so maybe a DIY hysterectomy ISN'T such a good idea after all. But really, 40 years of this is about 20 years too many at least, and it just seems to keep getting worse.

Either because of hormone-driven food cravings or just because I was feeling sorry for myself, all morning today I had visions of a McDonald's double cheeseburger floating around in my head. And fries. Salty, yummy fries and a greasy double cheeseburger. Eventually, I headed to the office kitchen to see if I still had any diet lunches in the freezer. Yep, one left. So really I had absolutely no good excuse to go to McDonald's or anywhere else for lunch. I headed back to my desk to sit back and observe the battle between my conscience and my cravings. I guess I should mention that since my husband and I decided to cut back on junk food and make more of an effort to eat healthy foods back in August, I've only given in to McDonald's cheeseburgers maybe twice, and as far as I can recall, I passed up the fries on both occasions. So succumbing to a craving for grease and salt is not something I do lightly. Still, those darn burgers and fries WOULD NOT leave my head!

I finally gave up the fight around 1 p.m. and headed out to my car. I started the engine and put the car into reverse. It moved backward about a half foot before the engine died. I started it again, again I put it into reverse, and once again I moved about another half foot before the engine died. When I started the car a third time, the engine was slow to turn over, and the smell of gas tipped me off that much more of this would cause the engine to flood. With a fair amount of resignation, I put the car in drive and pulled forward a foot or so, back into my parking place. I locked the car and went back into the office to microwave my less-than-satisfying frozen diet lunch.

Obviously cosmic forces were at work today, ensuring that I did not weaken. Of course, at the end of the day, the car started right up, I reversed out of my parking space without an engine sputter, and I drove home without a problem.

My car is about due for a maintenance check anyway, so I'll have to get this problem checked out. I wonder if I can find a repair shop that's next door to a McDonald's? Why yes, as a matter of fact, I WOULD like fries with that tune up!

A Couple Accomplishments!

It's always nice to get to the end of the weekend and feel like I've gotten a few things done and enjoyed myself along the way! I know several of you were pretty worried about my ironing board cover, so I took a little time today to make a new one:

And the tulip and bunny quilt? DONE and up on the wall in the kitchen:

I added a couple butterflies and a spider in the quilting--my compromise on the butterfly question. And I think once I trimmed it down a little, the problem I was seeing with balance resolved itself.

After I finished those two projects, I wasn't sure what I wanted to work on next, but since I had a small pile of the spring Thimbleberries line, Gardener's Touch, I decided to get busy and make something with that line:

I still need to add some borders and quilt it, of course, but it's on its way to being a cheerful lap-sized throw. Does anyone have any suggestions on quilting it? The obvious would be stitch in the ditch for the chain blocks and then free motion outline the floral blocks but that sounds kind of boring. Still, maybe I'll just do something along those lines unless someone comes up with another suggestion.

Do you remember that other bunny quilt I started a few weeks back? This one:

I've been taking it to work so I could applique the bunnies during my lunch hour, but lunch hours were at a premium last week, so I haven't gotten very far. I'll keep on carrying it around with me and hope for the best. I'd love to get it finished to use as a tabletopper for my Easter table. I'll also need some fabric for a border--I don't think I have anything suitable in my stash. But I'll be going to the quilt shop for Jo's Little Women Club on Wednesday night, so maybe I'll find something then.

Back to work tomorrow--the weekends go by so quickly! I hope you enjoyed yours as much as I enjoyed mine!

Spring's On The Way!

It was a beautiful spring day here in Northern California. I thought I might get out and wander around the local flea market today looking for treasures, but for a number of reasons, I decided to stay put and enjoy a relaxing Saturday at home. Instead, I wandered out to my own backyard to see what was in bloom.

Usually just as the star magnolia comes into bloom, a storm will come along and batter all the blossoms. That hasn't happened this year--so far!

I love when the spirea starts to blossom! Besides blooming bulbs, it's one of the first signs that spring is nearly here.

Besides quilting the tulip/bunny quilt, I played around with some blocks from a previous block swap. These were made using some spring colored fabrics. My next project perhaps?

Despite the nice weather during the day, the nights are still chilly enough to appreciate a good bowl of beef stew simmering in the crockpot. See that frilly double daffodil in the background? I found it kissing the soil under the weight of its blossom, so I decided to bring it in the house as a reminder that spring's on the way!