My Shirt

I'm packing my favorite shirt and Kipper and I are off for a short visit. See you soon.

One More

I have finished one more redwork smiling tea pot. They make me smile. I don't know why the pics aren't good color. The background is really very white.

I also played with some of the small HST that I already had cut. It is sure a lot easier to make them from strips. Just playing. No plans for a quilt.

I have been working on editing and organizing my pics on my computer. They are such a mess. Last time my computer crashed, I had a store copy my files from the dead computer. Yes, I had many of them backed up but wasn't sure if I had them all. When the copies were put on my new computer, the files went to all kinds of strange places. Many times they also made multiple copies. I'm not good with computers so have just left the mess. Well, this week I've been trying to make some sense of it all.

The spell checker for blog posts is still not working. I found the place to notify them about this and discovered that they had a box to click on so it must be a wide spread problem. Sure wish they would fix it.

Another Redwork

I'm smiling just looking at it. You too?

There is a one word mime going around. This is my version.

1. Where is your cell phone? table
2. Your significant other? nope
3. Your hair? long
4. Your mother? teacher
5. Your father? photography
6. Your favorite thing? quilts
7. Your dream last night? lists
8. Your favorite drink? tea
9. Your dream/goal? author
10. The room your in? cluttered
11. Your ex? nope
12. Your fear? heights
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
14. Where were you last night? here
15. What your not? efficient
16. Muffins? chocolate
17. One of your wish list items? health
18. Where you grew up? MI
19. The last thing you did? trash
20. What are you wearing? shorts
21. Your TV? on
22. Your pet? Kipper
23. Your computer? laptop
24. Your life? good
25. Your mood? reflective
26. Missing someone? yah
27. Your car? runs
28. Something your're not wearing? shoes
29. Favorite store? fabric
30. Your summer? MI
31. Like someone? you
32. Your favorite color? yellow
33. When was the last time you laughed? today
34. When was the last time you cried? movie

Progress
It was cloudy and rainy yesterday (today too). So yeterday I sewed. Also, this accounts for the poor indoor pictures. I made two Painted Bricks quilt tops. Each is 48 x 60 and I have some bricks left over. They are bright and full of cheer. I decided they would made great lap or kid's quilts. I dont' expect to finish them until after I return to MI.

How do you handle your goofs? I just throw them all in a pile and eventually I sit and rip them out. I hate to do this as I'm sewing. It stops my rhythm. So today I turned on The View and took out the mistakes. I had some with the wrong side up, some where I sewed both ends and one where I picked up three bricks and sewed them all together. I keep tape handy and pat off the small pieces of thread.

Do you watch The View? I have a friend who doesn't like the show because the people talk over each other. This was bad when Rosy was on the show, but I think they have curtailed it some now. I like it because it is like people really talk. They were saying today that because they are not scripted, they don't use writers and have not been affected by the strike, which by the way is over today. Hurrah! Oh, the people on The View did say they had two writers for special segments but not the talk part.

I also finished another redwork block. The background is white, even if the pic doesn't show it.

I've been talking to friends in MI. They sure have had the cold and snow. My neighbor says she paid $500 for heating gas and it only lasted two months. And she doesn't have a big house and keeps the thermastat low. They have not had the terrible increase in food prices that we have had here in FL. I wonder why.

Spell check is still not working. I am a terrible speller and my fingers love to get ahead of each other so good luck reading this.

Quilt Pattern

Kimberlyn asked about the pattern I'm using for the quilt I have named Painted Bricks. See my last post. The pattern is called Conzetta's Courtyard and was in the May 2005 Quilt Almamac. Today's pic is one I posted in May 2006 showing the first quilt I made from this pattern. It covers the bed in my sewing room in MI. I love the colors and fabric of the first one and have been looking for more fabric that would strike my fancy to make another one. I had bought the current fabrics with this in mind but was never overjoyed with either the fabric quality or the colors.

Anyway I am working on Painted Bricks but I got side tracked yesterday. Last week I was exercing in my park pool when I met another lady. Turned out she was from Wheeling, West Virginia. My ancesters are from there. We talked and she said she would have a relative of hers send me some info. It came yesterday so I spent the day reading and comparing what I already had to this new information. I gained a little new information and hope this will lead me to other sources. I am wanting to find informaton about my great grandfather who I believe was in the Civil War. The story that my mother passed on to me was that he was 16 years old and lied about his age and joined the army near the end of the war. His birth date supports this story. I have just learned that two of his older brothers were in the war. Do any of you know how to get infomation on service in the Civil War? I've written about my family history and need to get back to it. The statistics on birth and death are interesting but I love the stories and pictures about their lives. I have made three books about my life and now want to get my family history book done. I can't do much until I get back to MI where I have the old pics locked in a safety box in the bank. I worked some on my Dad's family last summer. I'm not able to follow them back so far. I am able to trace my mother's family back to before to before the Revolutionary War when my ancester came to America from Germany.

Painted Bricks

Just do it. That's what I told myself. I picked up a pile of various colored fabrics all with the same pattern. Not the best quality fabric but don't make excuses, just do it. I put a new blade into the cutter and a new needle into the machine and just did it. These are 3 1/2 by
6 1/2 bricks. I have 36 blocks of nine bricks each. The bottom pic is four blocks together. I'll try to get a natural light pic later. I don't think the colors go together so well. That is why I hadn't used these fabrics before. But I bought them with this brick pattern, which I like, in mind. So with audio book playing, I've been quilting. Yay! I really don't want a big quilt so may not use all the blocks. Actually I still have bricks left, too. What size should I make it? Each block is 12 inches square.

Where did it go?

I wrote a nice long post and for some unknown reason it wouldn't post. And it isn't saved either. I thought they were supposed to do that automaticly now. First the spell check won't work and now the post. Is anyone else havng these problems? I remember that when I had problems posting from picasa before, I solved it by having my blog site open when I posted. How do you post?

I guess I'm just having one of those Murphy days. The other day I made a specific trip to the store to get some special cards. This morning I could not find them. I checked everywhere, even the car and refrigerator (I also made a quick grocery stop.) Do you suppose the mess shown in the first pic has anthing to do with my dilemma? Look at the good dog. He is trying to help me find whatever I'm looking for. I'm sure Kipper thinks it must be food, maybe popcorn. I finally did locate the cards under another pile of stuff on the dining table/cutting table. And as a bonus I cleaned some of the paper clutter. S

Recently I posted the second picture. Before Christmas I decided to join Bonnie's Mystery quilt. I knew I had to make mine with larger pieces. This is as far as I got. They are 6 1/2 inches square and I have a bunch of them. But I'm not inspired just now and have put them aside.

I have completed another redwork block. This is a very mindless sewing activity that I enjoy. No decisions to make. Just follow the lines. Several years ago I was told that such activities, including knitting, and whittling, occupy just enough of your brain so it can't dwell on worries. I don't know anything I'm anxious about so maybe I'm doing some preventive care. S

I have been unable to get enthused about a quilt project, either one that is started or a new one. Finn to the rescue, again. She is spending an hour per day cutting out strips, squares and triangles. I thought I could do that. I sure like her scrappy quilts. The last pic is my progress. There are also some strips that didn't get in the pic. Makes me want to start sewing but I don't have near enough yet. Stay turned.

What are you eating?

Popcorn is one of my favorite foods. I like a brand and type of microwave popcorn that I can buy in MI but is not sold here in FL. I bring some with me but now it is all gone. I tried buying another kind here but it was so bad that I threw it out. Here is the best kind - cooked on the stove with some oil in a pan. When it starts popping, just shake the pan and then lift it off the stove as it finishes popping. Keep the cover ajar to let the steam out. It was very good. Last year I had a lot of trouble finding plain popcorn to pop this way and this year the store only had one brand. This was the only way to make it when I was a kid and I think it is about to be a lost way of popping corn.

Another thing I had today was a homemade Rubin sandwich. Sorry no pic. I fry the sauerkraut. First I buy the best kraut in a plastic bag, that I can find. Then I add a little butter to the fry pan. I drain the kraut and add to the pan and fry slowly so as to brown but not burn it. I add the thousand island dressing, especially if it has been stored in the refrigerator, to this browned kraut. I spray butter flavored cooking spray on either a fry pan or George Forman grill and grill one side of the light rye bread. Then I layer the fried kraut with dressing, thin sliced corn beef, swiss cheese and toasted side of the second slice of bread. Then I respray the pan and toast both outsides of the sandich. It was really good.

They had the ingredientes on sale this week for the Super Bowl. Very hard to believe those prices were discounted. Have your food prices gone sky high this last month? Eggs were just over a $1 a dozen and now are at least $2. Milk is up to $4.29 per gallon. Everything is way up. Many items have gone up 50%. I don't buy much ahead here in FL and this is pinching my budget. I don't know how young families can do it. I'm afraid they can't.

I finished reading John Grisham's paperback book The Innocent Man. It is a true story of an innocent man's life. Ron Williamson was tried and sentenced to death on tainted evidence, if it can even be called that. How could so many people, including police and attorneys, be so inadequate, to say it nicely, or rotten, to say it honestly? I realize there are good police officers and attorneys out there but this book, Grisham's first nonfiction book, sure made me wonder about the horrible ones. I have seen many changes in my life but until now hadn't thought enough about how important the discovery of DNA was. Good book and I highly recommend it.

I got out some fabric to look at. The pic shows some UFO blocks. They are put away for now. I had two other pics to tell you about today but I see they are lost somewhere so will save that discussion for another day.

By the way, any idea why my spell check is not working? Anyone else having this problem? My fingers to their own thing so forgive the mistakes.

Shears Info

These shears, that I found in a bag of sewing goodies at the rumage sale, do have bandage shears ends but do not cut fabric. They have a perferated top blade and cut paper very well. Could they be for kitchen use?

I'm sending you some beach pictures. When are you coming to visit? Hang gliding, anyone? The coconuts had washed up on the beach. You can also find them under lots of the palm trees. Some still have their meat and milk. There are also lots of date palm trees around. Kipper loves to eat any of them on the ground.

I'm working on another redwork piece. The local Florida Hancock has lots of DMC. And I have a big bag of it that I carry back and forth between here and Michigan. But I still think WalMart should not have discontinued selling it.