Monday, November 26, 2012

Blue Tailed Norther

Came through before sundown today.  The weather has been "chamber of commerce" as they say.  Just lovely. Just no rain. We need rain. 

Thanksgiving was great. We traveled to San Angelo/Ballinger to gather with Hog Man's family to celebrate.  On the way home we stopped by and picked up DGD Aimee and she spent several days with us.  I helped her to complete her quilt she had chosen to do for her Bronze Award in Girl Scouts.  I showed her how to do things and she did the work.  I showed her how to do the "quick turn method" (page 5 on this link tells an excellent way for a newby).  It worked really good for her.  Then she turned it and whipped the opening closed.  Then the next day she tied it.  And she did it!  She is a quilter! Woohoo!

She looks pretty proud of herself as she should be! Good job, sweetie.

 
 
I hope your Cyber Monday started out better than mine.  I had a cup of water in the microwave heating it to heat Hog Man's thermos before pouring the coffee in and out from under the microwave came a SCORPION. It was a small one but none the less a scorpion.  It quickly crawled back under when I started trying to whack it with the fly swatter. I hauled that sucker out of their with the fly swatter and splat -- no more scorpion. 
 
Then- THEN! Hog Man went to work. Telephone rings about fifteen minutes later.  Conversation went like this--"Hello, are you the ones with the hogs?" We get that a lot so I didn't think much about it UNTIL.  "Yes, we are."  "Well, I'm your neighbor and I've got one in my front yard."  "We will be right there." Guess what--Hog Man forgot his cell phone this morning. I wasn't dressed yet. You know it's Monday morning when things happen like that. Before I could get completely dressed another neighbor was knocking on the door.  Long story short, I got in touch with Hog Man; he came home; the two sows who got out got put up; and things settled down real quick. A feed bucket works wonders! Thank goodness!  Never a dull moment.   
 Blessings from Catering Quilter

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Good News

Hog Man had the Doppler sonogram and the blood clot is gone! Woohoo! And--he went back to work on Monday morning. No TV blaring all day = bliss! He was a tired fella when he got home. It will take a little while to get accustomed to the routine.

When we were in Denton Thursday we went by Harbor Freight. Our first visit to one. I had to remind Hog Man of his appointment time. He did find somethings he was needing and for a good price. I picked up a couple packages of rotary blades to try. At $1.99 plus tax I sure hope they work. It will beat paying quilter's prices. Has anyone tried the blades and do they work for you?

Well, they are sure doing their part to make us independent of foreign oil around here. I think they have put in more than seven wells in our local area in the last couple of months. Truck traffic! One of my elderly neighbors said they stopped counting at 100 trucks one day. I believe it! There were days that it was night and day. Like in all night. And all day. I have seen more equipment go by and turn this corner! It used to be quiet when we first moved out here from town. Not anymore. Before the drilling we had noticed an increase in traffic. Now that there are wells there will always be tanker trucks going by.

Blessings this Sunday from the Catering Quilter

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Time

I saw on Facebook the other day one of those things you often see on friends pages. It had to do with time. It went something like -- Time flies but you're the pilot. How come I don't feel like I'm the pilot? It's more like sand flowing between your fingers.

I guess it could have to do with HOW I choose to spend my time. Really?!! That could explain a lot. There's always the Gotta Do stuff like cooking meals, cleaning, laundry, bathing, paying bills, feeding the animals, etc. Then there is the mindless stuff -- reading emails, facebook, blogs - when there is time. Included in the mindless stuff is TV. Very mindless. Mostly just background noise in our house.  Then there is the Love To Do stuff and I always seem to find time to squeeze in lots of it. Stuff like quilting. I was just telling someone the other day I wasn't going to start another quilt. Lasted about as long as butter takes to melt in the microwave! I'm going to blame Bonnie Hunter on this one. Yes, it's her fault--mostly all her fault. I've been watching her on her Quilt Cam. Reading her blog about sorting and folding her fabrics. I started feeling guilty about the bags of unsorted scraps by my sewing table. I pulled them all out and sorted them by size. I now have a BIG bag of scraps that I am cutting down while I watch the mindless TV. I have a TV tray set up with a cutting mat and I am cutting 1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" squares and thin strings. The thin strings will be used to make more fabric covered clothesline baskets.   The 1 1/2" squares are being sewn into nine patches -- read ----- new project. I fell in love with one of the patterns in Bonnie's book Scraps and Shirtails 2.  I brought the sewing machine into the living room a couple of weeks ago so I could be in the same room with Hog Man in the evenings. I will cut for awhile and sew for awhile. I get up first thing in the mornings and sew for a few minutes. It doesn't take a lot of concentration to sew little squares together. The blocks finish at 9 inches.  They are so cute! Don't you think?


I have other things I need to be doing. Don't we all? But sometimes I think we just need something to focus on other than what there is in our lives to focus on. You know what I mean?

I went to Saginaw to the Thursday Quilters last well, Thursday, of course.  I was running a little late to begin with that morning. I should have loaded my stuff the night before but I was tired and Hog Man said he would help me in the morning. Long story short--I was a few minutes later leaving than planned. Not that it was going to make any difference. Right before I left my ears perked up at the TV when I heard two things-Rhome and Hwy. 287. Seems there had been a bad wreck early that morning involving two 18 wheelers and the road was shut down. Oh, no. Oh, yes. And right before my turn off to Saginaw--there was another wreck. Well, I got to Saginaw but just 45 minutes later than planned. But they were very understanding. I always enjoy visiting with quilters wherever I go. These are hand quilters who meet in their local communtiy center once a week and quilt on four quilts each week. They have enough room to have four quilting frames up at one time! The first time I visited them that blew my mind. And to have 29 members! They take a break mid morning and have refreshments and go around the table with show and tell and also what is going on in their lives.  One lady there is a very prolific quilter. She makes charitable quilts for the homeless. She has made over 60 this year! People give her scraps and she makes these quilts. Wow is all I can say.  Another lady was going to go on a quilting cruise this week. How exciting! And I'm sorry I forgot my camera.

Hog Man is-- bored. And you know what a bored man is like! Not fun. He will be getting another Doppler sonogram or whatever it is called to make sure the clot is gone. He has the okay to go back to work since he doesn't have anymore pain. Finally! Bless his heart-- patience is not one of his strong points. Anyway, I'm not sure which one of us is going to be the happier one on the first morning he goes back to work. : )  Sissy aka "Little Doggy" is going to miss him something terrible.

Anyone else having trouble with allergies. Mine always act up in the fall of the year. I heard them say something about ragweed on TV tonight. All I know is I am so ready to feel better. Some years it doesn't bother me and other years it is bad. Coughing, sneezing, drainage. Yucky. Nyquil is my friend. Best sleep. 

I'm been making my sourdough bread. The kind that you feed the starter every ten days or sooner. I experimented with making cinnamon bread using the sourdough. Oh, yeah. I've been making our bread now for months and haven't bought any. At first, I was eating too much of it. I mean--what is better than a fresh loaf of bread -- make that warm fresh loaf of bread-- with butter. But I have slowed way down on it. Several years ago I was given a long loaf pan. I like to shape one of our loaves (the recipe makes two) in that pan. It makes for a smaller slice of bread. We generally eat one and I share one loaf. Now that I am making the cinnamon bread I make a plain one and a cinnamon one. 

Blessings and warm cinnamon bread to all,
Catering Quilter

  

Thursday, November 08, 2012

Bonnie Hunter has asked for our help

And here is her post from her blog

Help for Sandy Survivors!

 


This is an urgent post.

I’ve been emailing back and forth with Victoria Findlay Wolfe of bumblebeansinc.com
over the past several days trying to line up something that we can do to help those left in the wake of Super-Storm Sandy’s destruction.

So many are still without power, having lost their homes or having experienced severe damage ---

So much is needed!

As quilters, what do we do best? We Quilt!

Here is what V sent me to pass on to you:

sandy1
Super Storm Sandy and my area of the world.

Having missed the entire storm, by being in Houston for Market, I felt helpless as my family were in NYC without me. I started to organize a quilt drive for our area while I was still in Houston.
Once home, I realized how seriously the storm affected my neighborhood, my friends, and fellow New Yorkers, CT, PA and NJ... Homes have been wiped off the face of the earth, people are cold, and wet, and we have rain and snow coming. I need to be able to help NOW.
I just had a call from Raul Russi, Head of the Acacia Network, whom I had previously partnered with on myBUMBLEBEANSBASICS.com Quilt Drive for homeless families being taken out of shelters and put into transitional housing.
He said, "We have 150-200 quilts here, right now. And since the rest of my families are INSIDE already, can we deliver these quilts in our medical trucks to the people in the Rockaways, NOW?" I said, "YES! Let's go!"
Once we have more quilts, we will continue to set up more distribution points around our area including Staten Island, Long Island, NJ, CT.
QUILTS AND BLANKETS are needed ASAP.

Home-made or Store Bought QUILTS AND BLANKETS: ANY SIZE.

Quilts will be accepted, and handed out as quickly as they come in.

Give Selflessly.

Thank you cards will not be sent out due to the urgency of the events of SANDY.

REAL THANKS:

LABEL YOUR QUILTS, Name, address and email.

The person who receives your quilt may want to thank you themselves.

Send Quilts & Blankets to:
Basic Housing, Inc.
Attn: Robert Gonzalez / H.SANDY
540 East 180th Street, Bronx, NY 10457
PLEASE Include INSIDE THE BOX CLEARLY WRITTEN
your name, email & address & Phone

Please ship them with delivery confirmation.

Any questions, Please email:

Lane Falcon: lfalcon@acacianetwork.org

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe bumblebeansinc.com
More from me:

We’ve received the call. It’s time to act! When Hurricane Katrina hit and the Red Cross was calling for twin quilts, the most versatile of sizes, I put up the directions for a very fast and still very attractive Trip Round The World quilt. It takes 5 fabrics, and winds up at about 72” X 85”. I can sew this top in an afternoon, and so can you. It doesn't have to be quilted -- tying is fine!

If you are looking for an idea and want to dig in, give this one a try --- even if you are a very experienced quilter who likes more intricate patterns, this one finishes up nice and quick.

Let’s see what we can do to help each other.

While we are a nation divided over the outcome of our recent national elections, this is where the “We The People” come in ----it’s time to forget about the politics and waiting for the government to take care of things. WE THE PEOPLE need to just get in and do it.

I'm asking your help in getting the word out. Can you please forward this post to your email lists, your facebook pages, your message boards and online groups to spread the word? We need many hands ---help me spread the word!

Now go sew!!
Bonnie
 
 
 
I'm with her. It is going to take "We The People".  Can you help? My heart goes out to these people who have lost everything and are facing winter temperatures NOW.
 
Blessings,
Marilyn