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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #37 - 1/31/18

So.. Raise your left hand if you got to watch today's Blue Blood Super Wolf Moon Eclipse LIVE and in person...

Now...Raise your right hand if you also got to watch the Total Solar Eclipse LIVE and in person last summer...


Great! Now I know who not to talk to anymore out of sheer jealousy! Just Kidding!

On the other hand, the next total solar eclipse will be passing over my house on Monday, 4/8/2024 at 3:20pm and I'm planning a party. Anyone want to come visit?

Back to the present...

We had more wacky weather this week and I bet the next week will be more of the same. I remember as a kid that there was one thaw in January and otherwise it was solid snow for 5 or 6 months. No longer...

19 - 22 - 39 - 50 - 43 - 32 - 16F

"Button" in the middle is my rare earth magnetic needle holder that says
 "Hexagon's are a girls best friend!"





Friday, January 26, 2018

Feline Friday - 1/26/18

Yes...my head is in my crystal bowl.
Momma's *making* me post this picture today...

Momma calls it "Cat Having a Tantrum".

I call it "Starvation".

And neglect!

It's not my fault I was still hungry after breakfast and a snack.

I guess all those 3am in-your-face snuggles get me nothing.

Harrumph!





Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #36 - 1/24/18

I'm afraid I haven't accomplished much in the last week, sewing-wise. That is mostly thanks to the start of my EMT refresher course. This year I am "challenging" the class - that means I can take several tests and if I do well enough I can test out of portions (most?!!!) of the class. I did well on the practical/skill challenge but I am still waiting on the results of the written exam. We were told we would have the results by tomorrow...I'm trying to be patient...

I know - it's a horrible picture but I already had them bagged
when I remembered that I needed to photograph them.
Sorry!!!

When I wasn't studying or catching up on the much ignored housework, I was working on Kaleidoscope parts. As you may recall, my Hexie Club exchanges basted hexies for our birthdays. This year we are doing the Kaleidoscope block.

I am gifting each birthday girl 8 large and 4 small purple triangles. My goal is to have them all basted by the end of this week so that I'm not scrambling last minute to get them done.

And of course, I finished my hexie temperature rosette for the week. I apparently missed the 2/3 mark and I'm not quite to the 3/4 mark but I'm thrilled to say that I am now 69.2307692 % done. Woot! Woot!

17 - 19 - 32 - 43 - 41 - 41 - 36F

I am once again behind on sewing the rosettes to the background squares and I doubt I will have much time to catch up this weekend as I have an 8 hour CPR class on Saturday. Funny thing is, one of my challenge exams was on CPR/AED/etc and I passed it. Am I the only one who finds it ironic that I will be trained after I passed the exam?

Sew....how are your temperature rosettes coming? Are you thinking of joining in? It's never too late to jump in! If you're making a quilt this year have you thought of making another next year so you can compare the 2? I'm starting to think but in rather vague terms...




Friday, January 19, 2018

Feline Friday - 1/19/18

Look at that - I'm still in my window box.
This might be the only kind of picture you see for the next 3 months...just saying!


Last weekend I hung out here for the gold finch infestation. There was like 50 of them and I couldn't get to them but it's ok cuz they were cold outside in that storm while I, on the other paw, was quite cozy!

Now I just need to get Momma to refill the feeders cuz the deer finished off one of them and the finchies are about to finish the others.


On another day I worked on sunning my belly furs.


It was very tempting for Momma to rub my luscious belly furs but she knows better. I has claws and I knows how to use them - just check for the scars on Momma's hands. Instead she tucked me in yet again. Think I could convince her to use a different quilt from my dolly bed for a while? I has so many quilts that it would be nice to rotate them.

TGIFF!!!!





Wednesday, January 17, 2018

HeLP for Hexieaholics & Wedesday Weather #35

It's my birthday! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!
Hopefully most of my regular readers will remember that this is why we hold our Hexie Linky Party for Hexie-aholics on the 17th of each month!

Nope! Wasn't driving for this one either.

The day started perfectly with a gorgeous sunrise and breakfast with "my" highway guys (coworkers). I have a dinner meeting tonight and I just know I'll squeeze some hexie time in somewhere today. But maybe I won't stay up way too late for the second night in a row watching Code Black Season 2. That show is positively addicting.



I've been plodding along on my birthday kaleidoscope blocks. If I recall, there are 12 or 13 of us playing so there are many more blocks to come. But first, I'll get on that orange there on the bottom right.

38 - 52 - 57 - 11 - 15 - 13 - 26F

And then there was last weeks weather. It WAS a doozy! From winter to summer to thawed and then back to freezing. Thing is, there is yet another thaw coming this weekend. It won't be nearly as warm but it will be in the 40s. I guess I'm ok with 40s.

OK - time for me to sew the rest of my lunch hour. That means it's time for you to link up to todays party. Feel free to link up any EPP project of any vintage or shape. And if you would like to start a temperature quilt with us please speak up!




Monday, January 15, 2018

Snow Day Sewing

So. We had this little snow storm over the weekend. Remember that it was a high of 57 Friday at lunchtime and when I went to bed there was barely an inch of snow. Not so when I got up Saturday! It certainly wasn't the 18" originally predicted but it was enough.


Luckily my neighbor likes to play with his snowblower and treated me to a blowout which probably saved a good 2-3 hours of shoveling this heavy snow. 


All I had to do was find my car! Of course that required getting into the car for the scraper. Remember the rain from Friday? Well it froze the doors a bit and I'm always leary of breaking a door handle by pulling too hard. It's just a matter of opening it enough to get a finger hold on the edge of the door and we're in.

My snoopervisor hates this kind of cold weather  - often growling or hissing at the cold when I open the window (at HIS request) to go out. If anything he does what I call Porch Patrol where he sits outside for 30 seconds before begging to come back in.


Well. As soon as the driveway was clear he Just. Had. To. Go. Outside. Immediately. He was thrilled to bits. I can tell he's been a little depressed being inside so much but this lifted his spirits.

Saturday was cold enough for me to stay home. The local quilt show was delayed a month and the roads weren't great so I skipped Guild sit-n-sew. Instead I sewed in my jammies. Perfect!


I finished making the brown and coral geese, married them and then got into making blocks. I've got 14 out of 32 blocks done for my smaller quilt. It shouldn't take too long to finish the remaining blocks and then make the rest of the sashing that I'll need.


Yesterday afternoon I made one last run to Sam's Club before they permanently close in a couple of weeks. I had a shopping list for me, my parents and the fire department (it's really their account). The guys teased me about how much I could really buy when I asked for a dollar limit, given my small car but they've never seen me pack to go camping! And really, it came down to how much space was in the shopping cart cuz I still had half a car left after this cartful. Thankfully a good Samaritan helped me get through a snow drift outside the store cuz this was a heavy load, mostly water bottles for fires that I hope we won't need . I debated going back inside again but didn't want to wait outside in the line again despite a good book on my iPhone.


I also went to several other stores while I was in the city (an hour from home) but I was less than inspired other than a new pair of socks. I know. Sad. Even goofier is that I realized this is my 2nd pair of socks with skunks on them. Not sure of the meaning behind that but what normal person has more than one pair of socks with skunks?

Happy Monday!




Friday, January 12, 2018

Feline Friday - 1/12/18

I loves me my window box!!


Hold that thought - I'm gonna test my eyelids for leaks.


I don't loves the weather today.


It's never good when there are this many weather alerts at one time.

Momma promises she was not driving when she took this.
I believe her!

And as much as Momma loves this color sky, it never means anything good is on the way.

Really wide pantos make for really wonky photos:

Far left is corner of Casa Grande (peach color), blue house is side neighbor,
house top right is behind Casa Grande and off the right side is the other side neighbor

Just look at my backyard. Momma drew in the water flow for you. It comes from the village park, flows through several yards until it gets to my yard. Normally the berms and valleys direct the flow away but today we were breached. I couldn't even walk around my Casa cuz the water was all the way up to the house. If I had a raft I could have rode it to either side of the house. Yes, the water was that deep and moving that fast.

It's ok tho - I stayed outside to keep an eye on it while Momma went to work. I'm sure everything will be a-ok when she gets home from work today cuz it's gonna flash freeze and then snow. When it's covered up we won't even know the water is there.

The snow must be coming soon, I mean it's dropped 15 degrees in the last 45 minutes...and it's raining again.




Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #34 - 1/10/18

The weather has been all over the place for the last week and it's not done yet...

22 . 13 . 1 . -1 . 12 . 35 . 30F

Yes, that was a negative 1F or -18.3C on Saturday!!!

Z's expression is one of surprise since I tricked him into being in my picture.

Today we are expecting 42F while tomorrow is 50F and Friday is 55F. Don't be too quick to say how wonderful that sounds because there is a lot of snow to melt so we also have flood warnings. Friday night will have a "sudden freeze" and a "snomagedden" resulting in a high of 13F for Saturday and 18-20 inches of snow. I have yet to decide if I'm really going to Guild Sit-n-Sew on Saturday since it's a good 30 minute drive in good weather.

In my spare time I have been working on these kaleidoscope blocks:


Each year in my Hexie Club we exchange basted hexies for our birthdays. This year each birthday girl is gifted 8 large and 4 small basted triangles from the other members, to which we add our own background fabric. That means 2 blocks from each member.

I'm storing the finished 4" blocks in my new M&M tin. Did you know M&Ms were first produced in 1941 as military rations during WWII? It think it's the perfect tin given the "candy" colors of these blocks.




Tuesday, January 09, 2018

The Bibliophile Files - 1/9/18

I was so proud of myself in the last couple days that I would actually have something to report for the first Bibliophile Files of the year. Except I just realized that TBF should have been posted last week. Oopsies. Hopefully all y'all will forgive me since it's January and one of my busiest work months. And lets not forget that it's time to renew my EMT certification which means classes for the next 5 months. Looking on the bright side, I'll be able to "read" more books as I drive back and forth and back and forth and back and forth to class.

On to this month's report...Despite having finished 98 books last year, I left this year's goal as 90. In past years, when I beat an annual goal I raised the goal the next year. I just don't know that I can beat this goal again. 90 is a lot of books! I'm currently on track with 2 books finished. At least one thing is going right so far this year...

FINISHED
     Breaking Silence - I generally like this series because it includes police procedural but also because I learn about the Amish culture. Not too much culture is this particular book...
     One of Us is Lying - this book is a riff on The Breakfast Club, bringing together students from different clicks. Clearly there is a murder (cuz that's what I read!) but the killer is not who you think it is.

IN PROGRESS
     on my home stereo - Origin - it's a Dan Brown book. Need I say more?
     on my iPhone - The Good Nurse - The true story of the "angel of death"
     on my iPhone - The Cuban Affair - this audiobook is on hold because I wasn't able to finish before it needed to be "returned" to the library. I'm on the wait list to check it out again...

And now it's your turn! What have you read recently? Anything counts - novel, magazine, quilt pattern or cereal box.



Monday, January 08, 2018

On Ringo Lake Linky Party

Wow! Those last clues for Bonnie's Mystery quilt came fast and furious on New Years Weekend!


I was a bit behind so I started the weekend by catching up on these pieced triangles.


Next was adding the coral triangles.

I didn't photograph the photograph the "married" brown and coral geese.


But I did feel the need to finish a couple blocks, just to see how they would look. Fabulous! Love these colors together!

I didn't want to make all the blocks until I had determined what size finished quilt I wanted. As you will recall I had been making half of Bonnie's allotment for each clue which would have ended in a square quilt. I've now opted to go with a rectangular quilt and have begun making the bits for 7 more blocks. The last bits tend to be a little low on fabric variety so I like to be able to mix the new bits in with the other bits before I make blocks.


I've made the additional 9-patches and this morning I finished the pieced triangles. I almost forgot to make even a few more pieced triangles for the setting triangles.


While cutting the turquoise fabrics for the pieced triangles I also started cutting squares for the setting triangles. It's really a very ingenious way to make setting triangles and I'm really looking forward to getting to the point where it's time to sew them! On the other hand, I'm being very conscious of how I cut into my remaining turquoise fabrics. I've been collecting them for a year because I'm also making another quilt with them and I'm trying to make the best use of each FQ.

Be sure to check out the linky on Bonnie's Blog. Lots of pretty quilts to gush over...


It was a little chilly here in Western NY over the weekend. I think the lowest I saw was -6F/-21C.

Everything is better with cheese on top.

The weather prompted trying a new recipe for Chicken and Biscuits in the crockpot. The recipe was a winner other than I'll be eating it allllll weeeeeeeeek loooooooong. I'm picking up some more freezer containers today...

Friday, January 05, 2018

Feline Friday - 1/5/17

Momma?


I think you gots enough hexie UFOs in this curio cabinet.


What say you we close up this door and prevent more from sneaking in?





Wednesday, January 03, 2018

Wednesday Weather Report #33 - 1/3/18

Happy New Year!!!!!

Certain people (altho Sharon shall remain nameless) were very confident that I would soon catch up on my temperature quilt. And I did!!!! Woot!! It feels good to start the new year with at least one project mostly up to date.

Week #32
29 - 28 - 32 - 30 - 28 - 23 - 13F

This is the block that I hadn't cut out or sewn last week. It's pretty dark - other than that last light purple which was a newly introduced color. And yet...just wait until you see the colors for Week 33!

Week #33
13 - 7 - 13 - 16 - 5 - 11 - 15F

Big change in colors, huh?! Maybe I didn't have my color scale as graduated as I expected but the colors really represent our change in weather - last week was on the precipice between whatever and cold and this week is definitely cold. You'll notice the pinks are a new low but you'll notice yet another new color next week  since this weekend our max temperatures will be below zero. Eek.

Don't forget the rows are serpentine to have the colors flow better:
Row 1 is left to right
Row 2 is right to left
etc.

Another aspect of catching up was to applique rosettes to background squares and sew those squares together. I was a bit ashamed to say I had to applique 9 rosettes but, hey, life gets in the way of the fun stuff sometimes and now this is all in one piece.

I'm also excited to say that this is the half way point for the quilt and it's officially too big for the design wall since I like to layout the next week underneath it so I can try to space out the various fabrics. I'll either need to fold this up to hang on the design wall, hang it on a wall upstairs/out of the way or I'll just have to wing the next few weeks for color placement. Either way my design wall currently has this huge white space that really grabs the eye every time I walk into the Quilt Lab. It's a little disconcerting...

And in an effort to share full disclosure...


I now have to catch up on appliqueing these rosettes to their backgrounds. Since I am past the half way point I'll now be duplicating the background fabrics. Yeah, there are 28 background fabrics so far. What can I say? I love neutrals! We can thank Quiltville for that little obsession...

Technically I only need one more rosette to finish this row. There are 52 weeks in a year but 56 blocks in this quilt. My original design was to have the 4 corner blocks just empty squares. I later decided that the "label" should be on the front and moved the empty blocks to the last column on the right. I eluded to this a while ago but haven't progressed the idea very far. I'll be taking my original colors/fabrics and creating/appliqueing a thermometer where I'll embroider (double eek) the temps onto the thermometer. I think it's a great idea but I'm worried about my execution. I just need to put on my big girl panties and do it cuz it is going to be cool! LOL!

For anyone who has been stalling to start a temperature quilt this is the perfect week to do so!! I hope you'll join in!Lemme know if you have questions or need help with your color scale.