Inside waterfalls?

 Ahh, what a day.  Dan overslept so I didn't get to the grocery store today.  We will try again tomorrow.  But that is only one part of the whole day.  

I was busy printing up some of the patterns for my BOMs and then checking that they were put in their place.  Then there was dishes but decided not to do the clothes since my  dryer wasn't fixed yet.  Not bad.  Next up today was paying online bills or at least scheduling the bills to be paid.  I was glad to see that my annuity check was deposited today so I didn't have to worry about it.  That certainly tired me out so I decided to lay down and read a book.  A nonsense book that would take me away from my reality.  It was a good book.  One about a Christmas cruise and there was a waterfall on the ship.  Wait!  What?

I closed my book and sat up.  Oh oh.  There was the sound of gushing water coming from the kitchen.  I got up and went to look and saw water GUSHING and SPEWING out from under my sink.  Ummm.  That wasn't happening before I laid down.  So after a couple of minutes, to find my phone, I called my landlord Shalom.  He came right over, especially since he could hear the water through the phone even though I wasn't in the same room.  It didn't take long to fix it (reconnect a hose and put a good clamp on it) but by that time the floor was drenched and so were my towels.  

Since Shalom had to go to the store to get the clamps, he surprised me by bringing back the dryer hose that I needed.  Before he left, I had both the water problem fixed as well as having my dryer operable.  I had mixed feelings about the last since now I don't have an excuse not to do laundry.  I'll do that tomorrow.  It's 8 p.m. and 92 degrees so I don't want to run the dryer right now.  

That's about it for my news tonight.  In my keeping of trying to end on an up note, Here is a picture taken tonight  at dinner time with the kittens.  Shalom says he will mow the lawn on Sunday.  That's good.  The kittens have been hiding in the grass and playing pounce the littermate.

That's it for now.  Everybody have a great night.

July is almost over - really?

 We're getting towards the end of July and I'm still wondering where the month went.  Today I strted to get organized again.  Sometimes I almost think that a person can get too organized.  You know, get everything organized and then you can't find what you want?  Why get organized then because you couldn't find it before you got organized either.  Might as well take that organizational time and put it toward crafting, right?

Of course I don't mean all of what I just typed.  It is good to get organized but I do get too organized sometimes and end up with lots of folders, binders, and other storage devices and sometimes can't remember what is in each one.  Some are labeled ad I'm getting better at that so in the next month or two I will have to figure out when is too much organization just...well...too much.

I started today with putting some of my stitch along in binders.  AQS - Let's Quilt Class 5;  Applique and Ruching is now in a pressboard binder so i can add to it and easily (hopefully) find it.  I signed up for another test pattern to do so that has joined others in their binder that is marked "Test Pattern - HOLD until they appear in magazine".  I have a couple of binders for various Civil War blocks, as well as Summer Solstice by Pat Sloan.  Well you get the idea.

I did pick up my Quilt As You Go Hexagons to work on.  I found where I had put the background material so I can get back to it. 

I am using this template from Missouri Start Quilt Company and I have to say it's not bad.  I don't use any paper with this so it is a little different but I don't mind sitting down and tracing out the patterns once a week or whenever.  I could use the template to trace out on paper but I don't.

Who knows what it will end up being.  I'm not sure if I told you that Smudge hasn't been around but a couple of days ago, the kids started to show up again.  They are eating the food and drinking water now so I put out food for them too.  I'm going through the cat food more but that's ok.  I am able to walk up to them every once in awhile before they scurry away.  They still like to sleep sometimes on the porch and, of course, do surprise attacks on their siblings.

Oh, almost forgot.  I saw this picture.  I have lots of those patterns around (just have to find them) so I might make something similar.  It will probably  have to be next year.

I hope everybody has a great day and try to stay cool.  I have 91F right now (1;15 central time) but it will start to cool down (eventually).

Oh, another thing I almost forgot.  My friend Dan was in the hospital after suffering a mild heart attack.  He is out now and doing well.  He needs to be on blood thinners and cholesterol meds but he can do that.  Thank you for everybody's well wishes for his speedy recovery.

NOW I can say that's it.  :)  See ya next time.

Happy Birthday to me!

 It's official.  I'm a senior citizen starting today.  I mean a REAL crazy old cat lady compete with Medicare card.  Well that's it for MY big news.  LOL  I have already had lots of good birthday wishes and sometime today I will be enjoying Dutch apple pie and ice cream.  :)   Apple pie is my favorite pie and so much better than cake.  How will I be spending my birthday?  Grazing on snacks all day and deciding on what to quilt.

Not much different than what I do each day but that is what retirement is to me.  Days where you get to do what you like to do.  At least that is what my retirement has been.  If I want to look at pictures of Hayley, I can get them off Facebook and look at the.  That's mostly thanks to my niece in law Jessica, Hayley's Grandmother.  Kids grow up so fast, it won't be long before she'll be behind the wheel and ...

Oh wait....Wow!  She must be brilliant as well as beautiful. You go Hayley!

Of course there is my quilting and other crafts to keep me busy also.  I am in the middle of working on a layer cake terrace wall hanging.  It was going to be a larger one but then I am cutting it back and going to make a table runner out of the blocks I took off the wall hanging.  Pictures of that in a later poster.  It's not done yet so I'll show it to you after I get them both done,  I am thinking, perhaps, to adorn the wall hanging with some buttons  Today I might play with the buttons to see if there are enough that I can use as I want.  So far I think the butterflies might be winning.

I did get back tostitching some BOM blocks.  This one is block 5 from the Ladies Aid - Hands all around BOM.  Block 7 comes out this week so I'm still behind but am slowly catching up.

I did manage to finish and hang up my tumbler flag.  I think it turned out pretty good.  There are mistakes but I know where they are and next time I might not make them.  Quilting is a learning process.  

I don't think I've ever heard of anybody say that their quilts are perfect.  I do have, however, quilts and such that I'm proud of even with their imperfections.,  Block 5 of the Hands All Round BOM is one of those.  I am proud I pushed myself to make that block.  

It's time for me to sign off because my birthday pie just came out of the oven,  It's making me hungry but I have to wait for it to cool down a bit first.

It appears that I'm not the onlyone getting hungry.  Mini here is having her brunch also.

I hope everybody has a great day!  

Hugs to all.

Getting back into my routine

It is almost 1;30 a.m. and I find myself unable to get some sleep.  Oh  went to bed at a reasonable time but that was evidently a sign for my body to sleep and then wake up early also.  sigh.  What does one do when they can't sleep?  For me it is getting back into my habit of trying to  be productive when I'm awake.

I am somewhat productive this time.  I didn't want to sew since I'm not THAT awake but I did go into my stash and try to decide what to use for backing material for a couple of projects.  Before that, however, let's see some kitten pictures.  

The kittens are till skittish but slowly they will warm up to me (insert a non evil laugh).  I have to pull myself away from all that cuteness but I managed it. 

I added a border to my tumbler flag and now it will be ready to sandwich after I decide what material for the back.  The binding will be white and I have some trip from a white jelly roll that I can use for that.

Since the fabric for the backing wasn't decided yet, I switched projects.  I picked up another UFO to work on - the gnome table runner.  It seemed like  a good thing to pick up since July is just around the corner.  It can be my Christmas in July UFO project.

I added the border and now this flimsy is ready t join the tumbler ranks in "what do I us for the back" pile. 

In order to get the picture, I folded the middle over by 5".  This will probably go as a table runner for the kitchen bar area.  It is long and should work out nice.

 I do have some white fabric which has Christmas words all over it.  That might be an option.  I think I might use that fabric for my cross stitch "Christmas words Stocking" that I am cross stitching.

The cross stitch is a work in progress since it is all words and it takes me a bit to do it.  It is good that the backstitching can be done at the same time since it too uses the same colors as the words and also two threads.

Slowly but surely, the UFOs are getting tackled.  Now I just have to work on not picking up any more UFO, I mean projects, until I finish up a couple more UFOs.  :)

I think it is time for me to try and get some more sleep.  Everybody have a great day and try to stay cool.  It is currently 77F which isn't bad.  Tomorrow/today the high should be low 90s.  Thank goodness I have a good window a/c unit.

Until next time....happy stitching...happy life.

Quilting stalled until after Monday

 I won't be working on quilting for a couple of days due to a new (to me) dryer hopefully being delivered and installed by my friend Dan and my landlord Shalom.  How does that affect my quilting?  Do I love doing laundry so much that I have to stop everything and hunt up laundry to do?  Hardly.  My house is small and the rooms and doorways are small.  That means needing a clear path and as much as possible to get the dryer inside and through the living room, through the kitchen, and into the laundry room.  Oh yes, and also to get the old dryer that doesn't work out of the laundry room, through the kitchen, and then through the living room.   That doesn't sound so bad until I realized what that actually means.  I have to take down my sewing station in the living room including my ironing board.  Moving the table the sewing machine is on isn't that bad but then I also have to move my box fan, my rocking chair and cross my fingers that I won't have to move the love seat since it sticks out a TEENY bit into the door frame of the kitchen.

The kitchen!  Yeah, ok.  Looing around I see that I need to take things off of my staging area (card table) and FINALLY find room for some of the stuff.  Take down the card table and get it out of the way.  Not too bad.  Next up is the laundry room.

Hmmm.  Nothing to do about the washer.  That has to stay where it is.  I will have to move my three tiered shelf which sits next to the dryer.  Of course before I move it I have to empty it out so I CAN move it.  Then I'll put the shelf in the pantry which is off of the laundry room.  Just have to repeat the process after the newer dryer gets installed. 

Oh yeah, one more thing.  I have some of those interlocking foam pads on my floor from my kitchen through the laundry room and then into the bathroom.  Need I say more?  At least they are easily taken apart and put back together.  

I'm tired just typing all of this up.  I think I'm going to have to get part of it done and then do some cross stitch.  Even though I'll be working on some cross stitch, I did finally figure out what to use as a border for my tumbler flag.  I will need to measure things out though before cutting so I know if I have enough of it.  THAT will also have to wait until after Monday since my cutting table is also my sewing table which means it got moved.

Now on to some brighter things.  No Hayley this time but I do have a Smudgette and a Mini Orange picture. 

 ALSO...a picture of mom eating out of the same bowl as T2!!!!!!  Hmm.  Makes me wonder about those two.  I even saw T2 lick Smudges fur a couple of times and she allowed it.  Such Scandalous behavior on Sunday morning.  I would have told them to get a room but they don't pay rent so they can't use my rooms. 

I will stop now before they give us a good case of the vapors!  (grins).

Everybody have a great day and I'll let you know how the dryer moving day goes (if it happens) after Monday.

What I've been working on...

 I finally finished my test project so that  has been submitted and could start to work on other things.  The first two projects were finishing up Welcome Bunny and then starting on a tumbler flag wall hanging.  

The tumbler flag still needs a border put on and then to the quilting part.  I won't have it finished by the Fourth of July but it will be done shortly after that.

With those two projects finished, as well as my test project I thought what else can I get done?  I looked around and pulled out a UFO.  It is a Layer Cake Lattice wall hanging.  I had most of the blocks done but now decided that I need 3 more.  Here is a picture but it will change.  It is up on the wall so  I can look at it and rearrange the color blocks a bit.  

I put it up on the wall but then had a disaster happen!  I as stepping down from my step ladder and turned too quickly.  I bumped into something and my soda, which was in my hand, flew out of my hand, turned upside down on top of my SEWING MACHINE!  Talk about a mess.  It got into my bobbin area, on top of it, underneath it, etc.  Plus I had other things on the table that got soaked as well.  I had to wash out the extra triangle blocks for the lattice quilt and they are drying now.  My notes on how to make it are all ruined.  I also had to wash/soak my wonder clips which had gotten drowned (ok, maybe too strong of a word) and more.

I cleaned it up as well as I could  I will try the sewing machine out later or possibly tomorrow to see if it still works.  :(

It won't stop me from working on something.  I have enough hand work that I will pull out in a bit.  One of them might be my hexies. A friend was wondering about EPP and I could stand to work on it more too.

Everybody have a wonderful last weekend in June!

Cuteness Galore

 I think that this post will just be to brighten up my day.  More about why I need the brightness in the next post.

So let's see some cuteness  Namely Hayley and my cats/kittens.   :)

A smudgette sighting. Hard to see since he blends in so well.

T2 coming out from under the tree to eat.

BC's turn to guard and yard.

T2 has eaten and now starts to roam.

And Roam...

BC making sure that nothing happens.

Tort imitating BC on guard duty.

BC ignoring everybody.

Mama Smudge wanting some petting time.

Tort on Guard Duty

A smudgette sighting!

T2 heard a dog so went into hiding but is finally coming back out to eat.

Of course no cuteness pictures would be complete without pictures of Hayley.

Hayley with Mama

Hayley with Grandpa

Hayley with Grandpa

Hayley with Grandma.

I hope these pictures brought a smile to your face.  Time to stop here and get to my next pot on what projects I'm working on.

SMILE and have a GREAT day.

I'm tired!

That shouldn't be a surprise.  I'm retired, I'm getting older, and I'm doing more outside.  No wonder people who retire have to watch what they do so they don't overdo it.

Today was the day that my friend Dan took me for the first of the month errands.  It started around 9:30 and off to the races (I wish) we went.  The Post Office, the Food Pantry, Dollar Tree, and Walmart.  There was a stop back at the house to put away what I got from the Food Pantry and also to adjust my Walmart shopping list.  Overall I did pretty good.  Only forgot one thing and it wasn't necessary.  I just will leave it out of the recipe  it was intended for or wait to make the recipe until I get the missing ingredient.

If that wasn't tiring enough, the pathway to the backyard caught my eye.  Or perhaps I should say that the weeds caught my eye, perhaps because they were pretty, and I knew I wouldn't relax until I started to pull them out.  Sigh.  I knew there was a reason why I didn't like to work outside in the lawn or gardens.  I'm basically lazy and don't want to work up a sweat.  Couldn't help it today.  

Here is a picture of my backyard.  Slightly overgrown?  Yeah, I thought so too.  The pathway to the backyard was just as overgrown.

After an hour I managed to get the pathway to somewhat look like one.  It still needs work done but at least I can see the path now.

Of course that meant that I needed to rake up what I pulled and cut out.  Of course I needed to put it by the curb out front.  I didn't think that would be a problem because I knew I had a wheel barrel.  Oops.  I forgot that the wheel barrel had been left in the back yard the last time it was used.  Ummm.  Perhaps I could do a version of Where's Waldo in the back yard to try and find it?  Sigh.  I guess I'll just carry armloads of the weeds to the front.

Once I started I noticed that I had an audience.  Tort reassured me that she would hold down the porch so it wouldn't get buried or lost.  BC also had taken up her place underneath the tree in the front yard in the shade.  BC, of course, left as soon as I got the camera to take a picture but I did catch Tort still lounging.

Today's total of cats came to 5.  BC, Tort, Smudge and two others.  I couldn't get a picture of the other two since they are still skittish.  One I am calling T2 since it is hard to tell the difference between that one and Tort from a distance.  I've seen T2 around before but not as a regular.  The other one is more of a patchwork of white, gold, cream and maybe brown?  I think I'll call that one Patches just to be able to give it a name.  Patches did manage to get some food before it got too busy around the door.  Hopefully she will hang around more often.

So that was my busy day.  My body is feeling the weed pulling now so I'm going to stop and take some Ibuprofen.

I hope everybody has a great evening.

Memorial Day 2021

 There are so many things that I want to remember and acknowledge but my fingers and brain get al tied up and nothing sounds right.

Today is Memorial Day.  When I Googled Memorial Day, it came u with 

"Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. ... Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971."

That might be the technical definition or explanation but I grew up with a more extended version.  When I was growing up things like parades were still possible and looked forward to.  Memorial Day and Veteran's Day were two of the biggest parade days.  The local organizations would put on a parade complete with marching bands, marching Vets in their uniforms and people standing on the sidewalks screaming their thanks and applauding.  The Vets and band would lead us to the local cemetery where a service would be held and then it was time to mingle at the local park and listen to the stories.  It was both a good time as well as a sad time.  Still it was good that the soldiers were not forgotten.

In today's society, it is easy sometimes to forget that.  To forget the simple things  like saying thank you.  It is a small thing but means so much to most everybody.  So, let me say Thank You to all who served whether it was in a combat situation or just a desk clerk.  Thank you also to the families that stayed at home and help support our soldiers.  It wasn't easy for either group.

Picnics are aso associated with Memorial Day.  That was the theme (semi) for my Memorial Day meal.  I asked my friend Dan to come over and we sort of had an indoor picnic.  That meant sandwiches and salads.  My meal also had to be made from what I had on hand since I wouldn't be able to go to the grocery store until AFTER Memorial Day.  So my meals consisted of:

Sandwiches - Sloppy Joes and BBQ (Pork)

Dips - Garlic Ranch Dip, Salsa and Sour Cream Dip

Ritz Crackers and another type of cracker for the dips

Macaroni Salad - a new recipe (Thanks Connie).  I will use less sugar next time

Deviled Eggs

Apple Pie with Whipped Topping for dessert.

It is time for me to sign off for now.  I have a pipe that sprung a leak and my landlord is here to see where the leak is at and where we need to shut off the water at.  I can't see where it is leaking but it sounds like a mini Niagara Falls.  I'll let you know what happened in my next post.  Everybody have a great day.