January 26, 2011

It's a cloudy day today.  20F although it feels like 10F with humidity at 91%.  Pressure is 30.02 in. and the wind is from the WNW at 8 mph.  We have a 10% chance of precipitation today and tomorrow we might get 1 - 2" of snow...of course in time for me travel out in.

Last night I figured out how to do paper piecing.  It took me a bit but between three or four sources I did it.  Not perfect but I will do better in my next attempt.  I was using up some fabric that wasn't large enough for much else so only did one block.  The next project I will plan out so I have enough material to make four blocks for a small wall hanging.

January 25, 2011

24F this morning.  It is another cloudy day and it feels more like 18F.  Humidity is at 88% with pressure at 30.09 in.  Wind is from the WSW at 5 mph.  All that means is that it isn't too bad of a winter day considering we are getting at the end of January. 

Two more days before I get to meet up with one of my people from the Quilting Board.  Connie says she can't go now but that is ok.  I am going to push myself and go.  For those who know me, that is outside my comfort area.  If I get along with this person though, I will probably make the trip more often and perhaps go shopping at the quilt and cross stitch stores.  Mendota is about 40 miles away (50-60 minutes) and if I remember right, not THAT difficult to get to.  I just have to tell myself I can do it.

Today I am having a person come into the office to teach them how to do English Paper Piecing.  As most people, I will show her how to do the hexagons first.  I also brought in some extra patterns to show her that English paper piecing isn't just hexagons.  Hopefully it will inspire her to continue on.

I finally sent off pictures to my partner in the January swap.  I can't decide if the flowers look better with or without leaves and how many to put on.  I'll let her decide.

This is with as many stems as the pattern calls for.  I've tried to take one or two off but didn't like that either.

 I sent her this pix and then also the pix of it without the leaves on it.  I'll let her decide if and how many she likes.  :)  Yeah, that's it.  I'll let HER decide.

January 24, 2011

Another day at the office.

The problem with not taking classes anymore is that I have time to do my crafts.  I LOVE to do my crafts - even if I am not very good at it.  NOW I don't want to work though.  I would more than happy to be able to spend more time at home working on my crafts.  Is that bad?  Perhaps since I still have 8-10 years to go before I can retire.

Yesterday was the football play off games.  Even though the team I wanted to win didn't, it was enjoyable to watch since Dan was on the phone with me and we chatted during them.  I heard him and his roommate talking about different plays, etc.  It was fun.  Sort of the online version of my old football group that would get together to watch Monday Night Football.

In between comments, etc. I managed to get more work done on Dee's quilt.  Still a long way to go but it is progressing.


This is how the block should look if I put all the leaves in it.  I'm not sure I want that many leaves though.

I also did a quick tutorial for Shawn so she could see an easy way to do the half square triangles.  She said she liked it so hopefully it will help to expand her "block" library.  I will be sending your some "free patterns" that I got today.  Two of them are nothing but the squares and half square triangles so she could practice on those.

Today is a foggy day and we are expecting "drizzling rain" for this morning as well as tomorrow morning.  Hope the weather is good for Thursday.

January 21, 2010

Compliments from my friend Connie who has the temperature thing in her car.  She took this on her way in to work this morning.  The Wind Chill has us at -25 to -30F. 

It will warm up in a day or two but not by much.  I'd almost rather have the cold then the snow though.  My car, Rhea, started up nice this morning and I just ran her until the windows cleared.  I wasn't going to go out in this weather to clean off the windshield.  I keep a blanket in the car also that I threw over my legs to keep me warm until heat kicked in.  Of course I layered and looked totally ridiculous but I was warm and that was the main thing.  :)

January 20, 2011

Another chilly morning but not as chilly as it will be tonight and tomorrow!

There is a wind chill advisory starting tonight (well there is one going on now but this will be a different one) around 9 p.m. until 11 a.m. Friday.  An arctic cold front will be moving into the area during the late afternoon and early evening hours.  Gusty northwest winds of 16 to 25 MPH will accompany the frontal passage and will persist throughout the evening and daybreak Friday.  Temp will fall quickly during the evening and will be near or below zero by the predawn. Wind chill values will be between 20 and 29 below zero!!!!!

Hopefully the car will start.

One week from today and I will be driving down to Mendota, IL for a quilting meet and greet.  There will be around five of us there so hopefully the weather will cooperate.  If not, I will go another time.  I have been chatting with Harmony on IM (the hostess) and we hope to become friends.  She seems like a nice lady and if we like each other after meeting in person, we might go on more shopping/quilting expeditions.  That would be nice.  So far I know that she has three children (youngest is 2) and her husband stays at home.  She is a member of the oneline Quilting Board that I am and that is how we 'met'.  She likes cross stitch which I also do so it might lead to another great friendship.  Mendota is not that far away in good weather. 

According to google maps, it will take about an hour (in good weather).  I can take the interstate but really hate too.  Goes back to when my car would always break down on the interstate.  I'll see how it goes.  As you can see from the map, it really is a pretty straight shot.

January 19, 2011

Here I am again.  We have storm warning and it's a chilly 19 degrees at 3:13 p.m.  I remembered to bring in my lunch and breakfast this morning so at least I didn't have to go out in it much.  I was sitting in my car running the defroster on the windows and sipping hot coffee this morning.  Not an overall bad start to the day.  Of course all that changed when I got to work and had to walk across nothing but sheets of ice on the sidewalks!

I am in a middle of a quilting swap (actually swapping with two different people) and totally ruined one of the projects.  Connie helped me fix it but it is only by using different fabrics.  Oh well.  I will finish it and it looks very nice.  Shel said it was my best effort.  Sigh.  Ok, partially mine anyway.  Now to figure out how to finish it.

This picture was taken by Ev using my cell phone.  I just realized that the colors of my outfit at work today matched the wall hanging.  Thought it would be fun to have the pix taken.  I don't think it turned out too bad and even thought I'd post it.  Wow, two pictures now that I don't mind terribly if I show people.  What is the world coming too.  LOL.

Made couscous at work for lunch today.  I realized that since all I *really* needed was to boil water, I can do that at work.  So I put my box of garlic couscous in my bag and brought it in.  Must remember to bring in a measuring cup next time to make it easier.  I also brought in some leftover chicken so mixed that in with it.  Didn't turn out too bad and it was filling.

Tried to put a youtube nav bar app on here and didn't like it.  It didn't want to show what *I* wanted to show except for the first two and then picked something up that I didn't want.  Perhaps I'll try just linking to youtube directly in this blog and see how it goes.  Here are some of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj_TqTEU9qg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZewrJ5ACKOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km6EZ2IUQIg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45wmyMgyZuY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjgdBPGdL7E


Enjoy.

Where did the time go!

Here we are already in January 2011 and I have no idea when we got here.  Of course I was aware of all the holidays and the break, etc but it just seems that life is rushing by so fast it is getting harder and harder to slow it down.

The weather has been semi decent this winter.  Haven't been snowed in, which is both good and bad, but we are having a bit of rain.  The coastal regions seem to be getting more unexpected and unseasonal weather than we are.  I did have a great Christmas.

The whole family was in good health and I managed to get some quilting done.  I will wish and pray for more days like that!

Hopefully I will get to post more often.  I must remember that.

I cam back after lunch today to some bad news.  One of my friends in Utah died this morning.  I had only met Michele once and talked to her perhaps only a dozen of times but felt comfy around her and we could talk.

 I will miss her.

May you be at Peace Michele.