Once again I have joined a bunch of other stitchers -
In Daffycat’s TUSAL - HERE -
It's a Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long - ;))
To play the game -
I have to fill my glass container -
With saved thread clippings -
Or ORTS - Old Ratty Threads -
Fabric trimmings -
Stitching cast-offs -
And then -
On (or about) the New Moon -
Take a picture of the ORTS in my jar -
Post it to my blog -
With a link back to her TUSAL post - HERE -
Label the Totally Useless posts with “TUSAL” -
And then visit her blog and comment on her ORT report for that month's TUSAL - ;))
It's EASY -
It's TOTALLY USELESS -
And -
It's FUN!! - ;))
This year I decided NOT to empty my jar each time -
Maybe a year-to-date accumulation of ORTs -
Will make it look like actually DID something - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
Long time no blog - ;))
The last time we “spoke” - HERE -
My experiment seemed to be working - YAY!!
It seems to be working - YAY!!
BUT it takes time because the BASE is HUGE -
And the stitching lines are LONG -
And my quilting lines are about 3-1/2” apart -
But I’m no real hurry -
And I’m having a REALLY good time - ;))
And I was -
I forgot about the part where the lines got shorter -
As I got closer to the corner - ;))
I added more strips to the base - ;))
Following stripes is SUPER easy -
Just extend the lines - in chalk - to the ends of the base -
Marked with the pins - ;))
Added another strip to the base -
Stitched around the edge -
And trimmed off the excess fabric -
And I got the right side of the first BACK done -
Except for the corner on the right end -
Which will be covered with a chunk trimmed from the sides - ;))
===
And then I got some squishy, quilty mail -
A Box of Squirrels - and some plaids - courtesy of my friend LindaJ -
Of life, quilts and a cat too -
She tells you all about them - HERE - ;))
But I haven't made much progress since then - not much as in zero - nada - zilch - nor have I had a chance to play with my Box of Squirrels - but I have a really good excuse - ;))
I managed to slip in some dog vomit at the end of the hallway and smash my knee. We have laminate flooring down the hall - and it is normally not slippery when wet - but dog vomit is apparently VERY slippery and I didn't see it. I didn't bother to turn on the light to go down the hallway - why would I?? - I do it a million times a day on my way to the bathroom and hadn't slipped once until then. Anyway - hurts like a some beach - can't do much except R.I.C.E. - (Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevation) - the usual crap - and it makes me not want to do much. Thought that I would title a post A Box of Squirrels and dog vomit - but I figured people might get the wrong idea - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Looks like my photos are back -
Don’t know when they came back -
Don’t know why they disappeared -
Don’t know where they went -
Just know that when I checked again -
Just for fun -
And clicked on the “Insert Image” icon in Blogger -
That my Picasa Web Album was a choice once again -
At least until NEXT time - ;))
SO -
That means that I can show you -
What I have been up to lately - ;))
I’m still working on the back of the first B/W/R quilt -
And the experiment seems to be working - YAY!!
My Other Half helped me set up another folding table -
To the right of Lily -
Which is set up for quilting with her even-feed foot -
With my pressing board -
And SuzieQ - set up for piecing -
Both at sit-down height - ;))
All I have to do is choose the “chunks” -
Stitch them together using SuzieQ -
Press and pin the “chunk strip” to the BASE -
And then switch to Lily -
To sew them together -
And quilt some LONG straight lines -
Working my way from the center out to the edge - ;))
Rinse and repeat - ;))
It seems to be working - YAY!!
BUT it takes time because the BASE is HUGE -
And the stitching lines are LONG -
And my quilting lines are about 3-1/2” apart -
But I’m no real hurry -
And I’m having a REALLY good time - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Here’s to the makers of coffee grinders -
May they rethink the design just a bit - ;))
===
Santa brought me a VERY nice new toy -
A Krups Coffee Grinder -
Model F-203 -
With GREAT reviews - HERE -
That he found at a local store -
For HALF the online price - ;))
It’s EASY to use - ;))
You take the lid off -
You put some beans in the top -
Put the lid back on -
Plug it in -
Press down on the lever -
For a few seconds -
At a time -
Until it’s the way you want it - ;))
Then you unplug it -
Take/wiggle the lid off -
And the oval shape makes pouring the ground coffee -
Into whatever container you have handy -
EASY -
If you are Right-Handed -
BUT -
Since I am LEFT-HANDED -
I have to turn it around -
And -
The cord is in my face -
Which tells me -
That there were no LEFTIES on the design team - ;))
Now don’t get me wrong -
I understand why they designed it that way - ;))
If they put the cord -
On the OTHER side -
They would probably get complaints -
Like mine -
From those who are RIGHT-HANDED - ;))
But why discriminate? - ;))
Why make it awkward for LEFTIES only? - ;))
If they put the cord -
On the END where the lever is -
Opposite the pour “spout” -
It would be in the way - kinda -
For EVERYONE -
When you pressed the lever -
But not when you tried to pour - ;))
But then again - it’s probably just me - ;))
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
I’m showing you the same photos -
That I showed you last week -
For a couple of reasons - ;))
First of all - I haven’t done any sewing lately -
So where I am this week -
Is EXACTLY where I was LAST week -
And -
Second of all - like I said yesterday -
I need to figure out what Google did with my Picasa Web Album -
Where my photos went -
What the hell "Google Drive" is -
And how Blogger wants me to upload a photo -
THE NEW WAY - UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! - ;(((((
I copied the HTML code for these photos -
From last week's post -
That's the ONLY reason that there are any photos on this post at all -
And -
My posts for tomorrow and Wednesday -
Were written last week -
BEFORE Google and Blogger decided to change things - AGAIN!! -
And because they were pre-scheduled -
They have photos attached -
But after that -
I don’t know -
I need to figure it out -
But I am getting SO tired -
Of having to RE-LEARN how to do this stuff -
That I may decide not to play with my blog anymore -
And just SEW instead - ;))
I'm curious -
Is anyone else out there -
Having trouble loading photos? - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Then I realized that I goofed -
Funny thing - the quilts came out to 68 x 84 -
So I got five TWIN-size bedspreads - 80 x 96 -
Figuring that I could add a six-inch border on each side - ;))
BUT the tags say FULL - 96 x 108 -
So each quilt would need -
Another horizontal row at the bottom -
And another vertical row on one side - ;))
I figured I could "unsew" quilt #4 and #5 -
And add those blocks to #1 - #2 - #3 -
To get them up to size - ;))
SO I "unsewed" #4 -
Got it into 10 sets of two blocks -
Then I pressed the sets -
And laid out the first top on the bedspread -
With a "still-to-be-attached" extra horizontal row at the bottom -
And some of the sets of two blocks along the side - ;))
Guess what? -
It doesn't NEED extra rows -
The tag is WRONG -
It's only 80 x 96 - the TWIN size!! - ;))
The original six-inch border on all sides should be plenty!! - ;))
So now I have to sew #4 back together -
Because I think that I have enough fabric -
For the fronts AND backs of all five again -
But I won't be SURE -
Until I finish the first three - ;))
===
Then I changed my mind -
After stitching down one seam of the top to the FRONT -
And seeing the stitching line on the BACK -
I realized that all of those seams would be covered/hidden -
When I sewed the chunks onto the BACK -
And all of the BACK seams would show on the FRONT - ;))
So I decided to do it backwards -
Flip-and-Sew chunks diagonally to the BACK -
Turn it over and stitch down the top to the FRONT -
Flip-and-sew some borders -
Trim it up -
Bind it -
And DONE!!
At least that's the plan -
With five them to do -
It may take me a while - ;))
===
Then came New Year’s Day -
Happy New Year!! - ;))
I heard the saying about what you do on New Years Day -
Is what you do the rest of the year -
So I made sure that I got some sewing done that day - ;))
I was still on the first/center strip of the first B/W/R back -
And it was taking a while -
But mostly because it was/is so HUGE -
And no matter what I did - it was DRAGGING - UUUGGGHHH!!! -
So I switched out my old White/Jeans machine -
Which was set up for FMQ -
Then "in-the-ditch" -
And put in my Husqvarna/Lily 555 -
And her special even-feed foot -
Hoping that THAT would work - ;))
After I took a break -
Lily seemed to want to play nice -
So I finished the bottom half of the center strip -
And decided to tackle one of the sides in the morning -
Hoping that it would go faster -
IF she continued to cooperate, that is - ;))
===
But then I had to deal with some ”ducks” instead - ;))
===
At some point I will take inventory and update my UFO list -
And I probably have more now that I did a year ago - ;))
I have a head full of ideas for scrap quilts -
And projects for my strips -
I have jelly rolls and charms and layer cakes and books -
And sooooooooo many UFOs -
But first I want/need to tackle -
That big pile of stuff to be quilted - ;))
===
AFTER I figure out what Google did with my Picasa Web Album -
Where my photos went -
What the hell "Google Drive" is -
And how Blogger wants me to upload a photo -
THE NEW WAY - UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! - ;(((((
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I had a plan -
But needed to tidy up a few loose ends first- ;))
===
I had a stack of Halloween fabric pulled for the October Sudoku that I never made. Some of it wasn't washed yet - so I washed/pressed/folded that and put it away -
I put away most of the big stuff left over from my Floral Applique and LHQSQ and the other Sudoku Quilts -
I still have the scraps - but that is for another day - ;))
I don't have a longarm and have a heck of a time wrestling with a big top to get it pinned all by myself - so I had spray-basted some of the smaller tops and have them in a big pile to be quilted -
I re-arranged my room a bit and set up the big folding table to the left of the machine/table that I have set up for quilting - to hold the bulk of the quilt -
I changed the foot on my sewing machine to my walking foot -
And decided to start with the FIVE for the kids -
The Black/White/Red - Big & Bold from Connecting Threads - ;))
I was told (not asked) by our daughter years ago not to make any more "blankets" for the boys because they had too many. My feelings were hurt at first - but that's when I decided that it REALLY freed me up to do what I wanted to do - when I wanted to do it - at my own speed - with no deadlines or any - "Gee, I hope they like it!" - ;))
The B/W/R ones were/are to be one last quilt for each - ;))
They have been hanging in the closet for years and are now too short for the boys - those guys grew a bunch!! Anyway - I need to get them enlarged - and quilted - they are taking up valuable space - ;))
I already made matching pillowcases - HERE -
And I finished the last top - HERE -
And I am going to cheat - BIG TIME - ;))
I got some cheapo quilted twin-sized bedspreads - and I'm going to use them as a base for a Flip-and-Sew/Quilt-As-You-Go style quilting marathon - ;))
Santa brought me some "Pinmoors" -
Check out the site and video - HERE -
So I figure I can fold the top vertically at the center seam - pin and stitch it to the base - fold it open - pin at the next major seam - sew - fold over - pin - sew - until I get to the edge - and add a strip at the edge as a border to finish it off. May piece the strip or not - don't know yet. Then when the top is covered - flip it over and do the same to the back - only on the diagonal with whatever fabric chunks I have - and I have a BUNCH - ;))
To be continued -
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
It got to be around the end of the year -
And I took a quick inventory -
Floral Applique -
After 16 years - TOP IS DONE - HERE -
This one has its own page/tab up top - ;))
===
LHQSQ - Left-Handed Quilter Sampler Quilt -
After almost 2 years - TOP IS DONE - HERE -
This one has its own page/tab up top, too - ;))
===
Sudoku Quilts -
October - Halloween - cut and kitted
November - Thanksgiving - cut and kitted
January - Winter/Snow - cut and kitted
===
4-Patch Stacked Posies -
Started in September 2013 - HERE -
A photo of the last block is scheduled to “go live” on Wednesday - 1/15/14 -
===
Easy Street - HERE -
LAST YEAR’S Bonnie Hunter Mystery -
Is on the other design wall in the hallway -
Just waiting it's turn to be out -
Front and center - ;))
===
Celtic Solstice - HERE -
I finally decided on Christmas colors -
RED - GOLD - GREEN - and BLUE -
And I need to decide where to put my BLUE - ;))
===
And then there’s -
Another scrap quilt that I want to make -
Samantha Claire - HERE -
And all of my favorite UFO’s -
And all of my other Works in VERY Slow Progress -
And all of my other TuiTs - ;))
So -
I had My Other Half help me move around some drawer units -
And set up a folding table - ;))
I wanted to try an experiment -
To see if I could get some of my stuff QUILTED -
And off my UFO list - ;))
I had a plan -
But needed to tidy up a few loose ends first- ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
We have a few more Ducks to line up -
Before I can get back to my “experiment” - ;))
It seems to me that -
Our Medical Insurance Ducks are an unruly bunch -
And we seem to have more of them -
Than Tax Ducks this year - ;))
New year -
New medical insurance -
New Medicare Part D - RX Drug coverage -
New insurance cards -
New prescriptions -
New prior authorizations -
So we have to start over AGAIN -
Along with everyone else - ;))
While I’m waiting -
For the Ducks to line up -
I’m going to try to write the story -
To tell you about my little experiment -
And try to do a little more SEWING - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Here’s to those bloggers who do NOT moderate their comments -
May they reconsider the option - ;))
===
It seems to me that the Spammers are getting more creative -
And they seem to like leaving weird comments on older posts -
With links to who knows where - ;))
I think that Spammers are counting on -
Bloggers not checking their older posts and comments -
And are trying to sneak them in there when we're not looking - ;))
For some reason -
They seem to like my little blog - ;))
I seriously doubt that I have THAT many fans -
In some of those countries listed in my “Audience” stats - ;))
But I/we do have options -
I limit my comments to “registered users” -
I “moderate” my comments -
And I have enabled “word verification” - ;))
I discussed “registered users” before -
And talked about the difference between -
A Google Account Profile -
And a Blogger Profile - HERE - ;))
I started to "moderate" my comments -
When I first started my blog -
Simply because I didn't get many comments -
And I didn't want to MISS one - ;))
Now it turns out that it's not such a bad idea - ;))
It allows me to read ALL of the comments -
BEFORE they get published -
But even then sometimes I can't decide -
If a particular comment is Spam or not - ;))
And I have noticed that more and more blogs -
Have gone back to having "word verification" -
Even Bonnie Hunter has it now - ;))
I have always thought that it was there for a reason -
And that any "hassle" is minimal -
Compared to the Spam -
That gets through -
Despite Blogger's best efforts - ;))
And the next time you see the “word verification” box -
Click on the last icon -
The question mark -
It has some interesting information -
Especially that last part - ;))
Instructions
Please enter the words you see in the box, in order and separated by a space. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this service.
If you are not sure what the words are, either enter your best guess or click the reload button next to the distorted words.
Visually impaired users can click the audio button to hear a set of words that can be entered instead of the visual challenge.
Still need help? Contact us
Helping the World One Word at a Time
By entering the words in the box, you are also helping to digitize texts that were written before the computer age. The words that you see were taken directly from old texts that are being scanned and stored in digital format in order to preserve them and make them more accessible to the world. Since some of the words in these texts are difficult for computers to process, we are using the results of your efforts to help decipher them
Sure makes sense to me -
And I’m beginning to think - that it’s not just me - ;))
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
It’s a LONG story -
That I will tell you later - ;))
For now -
Let’s just say -
That I’m in the middle of an experiment - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I think that it is safe to say that everyone approaches a New Year in a different way - ;))
For me - when I was working - the last week of the year - the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day - was always busy.
Back then I thrived on the stress - now, not so much - ;))
Since I retired - I intentionally take that week to PLAY with new Christmas toys and just fiddle with stuff - no WORK is allowed - ;))
And I believe that saying -
“What you do on New Year’s Day is what you do all year long.” -
So on New Year’s Day -
As Gene said to LindaJ - HERE -
I sleep in -
I don’t go to work -
And I SEW - ;))
Then on Day 2 - I start to play with the “ducks” -
Those pesky little buggers that need to be put ”in rows” -
So that they behave -
Because I was taught that I had to do my chores -
Before I could PLAY - ;))
First of the month - first of the year - time to pay some bills -
One of the first things I do - and have done for years - since I still pay bills with checks and not online - is to go through the checkbook and enter the New Year’s last two digits - 14 - on every check in the pad so that I don’t mistakenly enter last year in that space. By the time I get to the second pad of checks, I’m pretty sure of what year this is - haha - ;))
Then I start to work on our tax stuff. I figure the sooner I get that stuff done - the sooner I can SEW. And this is in NO WAY intended to be tax advice - I don’t DO that anymore. If YOU need any tax advice - find yourself a tax professional who can advise YOU on YOUR particular situation - ;))
For our taxes - I go through the calendar and calculate the medical miles for the year. Checking the calendar is the easiest way for me to tell how many times we visited the various doctors - ;))
Then I make a spreadsheet and go through the checkbook and list all of the tax-deductible stuff - Date - Payee - Amount - with columns for the various categories. I make a summary sheet and print out a copy for the accountant. And no - I don't do our taxes anymore, either - what's the point of being retired if I have to keep up on all of that stuff? - ;))
I keep a large envelope labeled - "Tax - 2013” - handy and put copies of tax-deductible stuff in it as I go along every year. I’ll add a copy of the DMV renewal when I pay it - so that I don’t have to go digging for it later. I’ll add a copy of the accountant’s bill when I pay it so that I don’t have to find that either. And no - I can’t rely on them to just add the amount themselves - I entered it one year on the “organizer” and they missed it - must have seen a “squirrel” or something - ;))
Then I wait for other tax-related stuff to come in the mail - make copies - and add them to the envelope. When I have everything - I fill out the “organizer” - and off it goes to the accountant - then it's their problem - they can deal with it - ;))
And it is SO much easier to quilt as a hobby than as a business - not as profitable, of course - but MUCH easier. I don’t have to try to sell people stuff and keep track of the income - and I don’t have to try to keep track of my stash or my travel expenses or the cost of all of the sewing machines that I bought - ;))
But then again -
If my quilting WERE a business -
Those expenses MIGHT be tax deductible - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
It’s Day 4 of the New Year -
And -
So far - so good - ;))
This post is going to be a bit different from my regular posts -
A bunch of stuff -
On a bunch of different topics - ;))
===
TUSAL -
Daffycat’s Totally Useless Sew-A-Long
Check out the link on the sidebar
I signed up again this year - but I think that this time I won’t empty my ORT jar every New Moon. Instead, I’ll keep adding to it - see if that makes it feel like I have actually accomplished anything - ;))
===
LTRTCWSA -
Leisurely Turtle Race To Christmas With Squirrels Allowed -
Type “race” in the Search Box to find out more -
KatieM was worried about catching up and I told her -
Don't worry about catching up, Katie - it's a New Year and a New Race. Besides, anyone who participates automatically WINS because we always declare it a TIE at the end. The Race is just about playing with Christmas stuff all year long and not waiting until after Thanksgiving to start - and whether or not you actually finish anything is irrelevant - it's all about the playing - ;))
===
Celtic Solstice - HERE -
I guess I wasn’t supposed to make this one. I wanted to use Christmas colors - red - green - gold - with blue as the fourth color and decided to wait to see where to put the blue - so that it would look like Christmas and not the Fourth of July. When Bonnie revealed the final quilt - I worked it up in EQ7 and tried various combinations of my colors - and didn’t like any of them. Besides - I haven’t finished LAST year’s mystery - and I have another scrap quilt that I want to make - HERE - ;))
===
YE - INVENTORY -
UPDATING TABS -
At some point I will take inventory and update my UFO list - and I probably have more now that I did a year ago - haha - ;))
And I heard that saying about what you do on New Year's Day is what you do the rest of the year so I made sure that I got some sewing done that day!! - ;))
===
KATERINA -
Left me a comment - with a bunch of links. The wording sounds a bit “off” and the links made me suspect that it is/was SPAM - so I deleted it - just to be safe. Even WITH word verification - this stuff gets through - UUGGHH!!! -
It is good article and in my opinion this one give many advantages especially for me and others.I do hope you always update the best article like it. If there is new article like this one again, i will check it as soon as possible. Good luck and thank you so much. (links deleted by me)
===
Now I have some “ducks” to deal with - tax stuff - and insurance stuff - then I can play some more - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
I'm a day late - but -
Once again I have joined a bunch of other stitchers -
In Daffycat’s TUSAL - HERE -
It's a Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long - ;))
To play the game -
I have to fill my glass container -
With saved thread clippings -
Or ORTS - Old Ratty Threads -
Fabric trimmings -
Stitching cast-offs -
And then -
On (or about) the New Moon -
Take a picture of the ORTS in my jar -
Post it to my blog -
With a link back to her TUSAL post - HERE -
Label the Totally Useless posts with “TUSAL” -
And then visit her blog and comment on her ORT report for that month's TUSAL - ;))
It's EASY -
It's TOTALLY USELESS -
And -
It's FUN!! - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! -
No resolutions -
No pressure -
All I want/need to do is -
Maintain my Slow Poke Quilter status -
Run the Leisurely Turtle Race to Christmas With Squirrels Allowed -
Also known as the RACE or LTRTCWSA -
With Linda - HERE -
Continue to post my TUSAL photos -
Also known as Daffycat's - Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long - HERE -
And deal with whatever Squirrels cross my path - ;))
So again this year -
What will be - will be - ;))
HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!! - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
