A little break...

I'm taking a little break from blogging right now.  Although I'll still post, I expect them to be more infrequent.  I'm going through another fibro flare (in part because of this cold weather) and it's making it harder for me to get around and do things.

But I did want to share this YouTube video that I saw.  I don't watch many things on YouTube but this was right up my alley.  I also watched the rest of his videos and got a kick out of them.  Go Jupiter!



Until later...

Reverence for God adds hours to each day. 

Proverbs 10:27 (LB)

An exercise in frustration...

I set myself a task today.  To finish making the valances for the bathroom.  Actually I set myself a bunch of tasks today because I figured that it would take no time at all to finish them.  Don't you love when a plan just falls into place?  Me too.  Except that's far from what happened.  Instead I was ready to tear my hair out.  I ran into one problem after another after another.

When the day started, I thought I was ahead of the game because I already had the fabric and lining cut out and I had even surged the edges on the focus fabric.  I kind of had to because the stuff was shedding like a banshee.  (Ever heard of that expression?  I used to have a friend that said it all the time in reference to everything.)  In any case, I managed to put together the valance for the toilet room pretty quickly.  Until it came time to install the grommets.  I picked up several packages of them from JoAnns, but had never personally tried them.

They were supposed to just snap together.  Easy peasy.  Except they weren't.  I struggled a good 10 minutes to get the first one in.  Fortunately the other 7 on this valance went together more quickly.  I hurried to the bathroom to hang it up and this is what it looked like...

 It was way too long.  I usually make my valances about a foot long but because I was using the grommets, I decided to research online and see what they suggested.  Everywhere I looked they said 18" and that's the length I made these.  So I had to take it back down and try to figure out the best way to shorten them.  After another frustrating amount of time, I hung it back up completed.

I think they look much better this length. I was glad I'd figured this out before assembling the longer valance to go above the tub.  So I trotted back to my sewing room to put that one together.  It didn't take too awfully long to assemble but when I went to install the first grommet, I accidentally cut the hole on the bottom of the valance and not the top. 

Oh crap!  Now what do I do?  All the edges were finished, so I had to do some wrangling, cut off one end and create a new side seam.  It's not the prettiest job I've ever done, but it's in the back so no one will see that it doesn't exactly match the other side.  Then I went to installing the grommets.  There are 16 of them on this wider valance.  It took me about 30 minutes to install the 8 on the previous valance, so conservatively it should have taken me an hour to complete this one.  But for some completely unknown reason, they wouldn't snap in!  I spent the better part of 3 hours trying to get these stupid plastic grommets attached to the fabric.  And in the end, I super glued the last 2 in place.  Yep, I was so extremely disgusted and frustrated with the whole thing that I pulled out the super glue.  And it worked.  So after hours and hours of work today, I've finally finished these 2 simple valances.  Here's the one hanging above the tub.

The stripes on the fabric are actually a kind of plush velvet and are very soft and rich looking.  It just so happens that the new hand towels in this room have the same vertical stripes on them.  Now all that's left is to recover a stool in the same fabric and to make some roll up shades.  Hopefully those 2 tasks go easier.  I can't remember the last time I was so frustrated and exasperated working on something.

Until later...

"If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong." 

1 John 1:9 (NLT)

Winter Wonderland...

It started snowing Saturday afternoon and it was so beautiful.  It's unusual for us to get snow this early.  We don't usually see the white stuff until January or February and then not very much of it.  We got an inch and a half at our house but the ground was so warm, we didn't have any trouble with the roads.  It was still snowing when I took these pictures.

Tree in our backyard

Can you see the deer eating in the forest?  They didn't seem too bothered by the snow (or the flash from my camera).

See the deer underneath the trees?

Even Gabriel went out for a short bit.  She came in with a light smattering of snow on her back.

Gabriel with snow on her back

Whenever it snows, it reminds me of how much Michael used to love it.  She'd run around energetically and then she'd lay down in it and let it snow on top of her.  She was a hot blooded creature so I'm sure it felt good to her.  I'll never forget the freak storm we got in 1999 with 22" of snow.  It was basically taller than her and everything closed down for a week.  But we had a ball playing in it together.

Michael in 1999

I do hope this isn't a sign that we're in for an abnormally cold winter this year.  It's nice to see snow once in a while, but here in North Carolina it usually means the roads are covered in black ice and dangerous to travel on.  I enjoyed these brief flurries but almost all signs of them have disappeared.

Until later...

God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  

2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

Stash Report Week #48...

November 26 - December 2, 2010

Only 4 more reports after this one !  I'm already starting to think of some goals for next year.  Like how about buying NO fabric all year...  Nahh!  I know there's zero chance of that happening.  But seriously I would like to set some realistic goals.  I'm still pondering and have a few weeks to prayerfully consider it.

This report will be short and sweet.  To begin with, this was another week where I bought no fabric.  I'm now at 18 out of 48 weeks (or 37.5%) where I didn't purchase any fabric.  That's up from 35% 6 weeks ago.

My big finish this week was the Charmed, I'm Sure quilt.  It's been quilted and bound and is ready for it's new home.  I used 5 yards for the backing and binding on this one.  I used another yard of fabric as the background for my mom's Winter Wonderland stitcheries.  And basically, that's it.

So...
Purchased-this-week: 0 yards
Used-this-week: 6 yards
Purchased-to-date: 250.5 yards
Used-to-date: 417.5 yards
Net used: 167 yards

Until later...

"He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness" 

2 Corinthians 9:10 (NIV)

Mom's November Package...

or at least part of it.  When she came up for Thanksgiving, I gave her the bulk of her package for the month.  There's still one more item to it, but I haven't finished it yet.  When I finally do, I'll mail it to her.  Hopefully that will be before the end of the month when her next and final package is due!

It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since I started sending her a monthly quilting package.  My goal was two fold - to show her how much I love and appreciate her and to get her more interested in quilting.  I think I'm batting 2 for 2 right now.  She's really gone to town on learning new techniques in quilting.

A couple of months ago, I started adding the traced blocks for the Winter Wonderland quilt by Crabapple Hill to her packages.  She's completed them so quickly that I sent her 4 more this month.  Her background is a Bone kona cotton and she's embroidering them using a blue perle cotton thread.  She's already finished the first 3.

Four more blocks for Winter Wonderland

This month also saw the last of the Camelot Snowman mini hangings.  I gave her each snowman a month in advance so she would have them on hand when the time came.  This was the snowman for December.  He might just be my favorite of all of them.  (And I really think the color blue is growing on me!)

December Camelot Snowman

I printed out the patterns for these blocks for her because she now wants to make a set for her siblings.  Of course, she has ten brothers and sisters so it might take her a while!  I also bought a cute snowman tin and included sets of buttons that she can use on her versions.  There aren't enough to do them all, but they'll get her started.

As usual, I sent her block #11 of the Imperial Splendor BOM from JoAnn's and another quilting magazine.  And finally, I included a pattern booklet called Calendar Quilts by Kim Schaeffer.  It's a really cute collection of patterns to make themed quilts for each month. And like I mentioned earlier, there's one more item to this package.  I'll share it once I've finished it and given it to her.

Until later...

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me."

Psalm 51:10

Sam's Diet Update #4 (and other issues)...

It's now been an additional 13 days since Sam's last weigh-in.  Although I must confess that I did weigh her 5 days ago and she had lost nothing.  I tried again this morning and she's down 0.2 lbs.  At least it's something.

Although after dealing with a wicked case of Samsomnia last night, I'm a little disheartened.  As much as she and I are struggling with her weight, you'd think there would be more to show for it.  Or actually less to show for it.  I've talked to her vet about it some more and I'll now be trying her on a prescription weight loss food.  Or I will as soon as it comes in.

As if her weight and joint issues are not enough, she has now come down with another case of acne.  If you didn't know, cats get acne on their chins.  Usually it just looks dirty unless the acne gets really bad.  And in cats, it all shows up as blackheads.  About 6 years ago when we adopted Moses, both Sam and Jack came down with it.  It can be caused by stress and also plastic food dishes.  Sam had a really, really bad case of it with festering sores and all.  It was horrible for her and you could tell it hurt her.

Her case of it right now is very minor compared to that, but we've had to shave her chin again.  We figure this current case is caused by the stress of her diet.  Mr. Quilting Bug and I have to wrestle her every night to wash her face and apply medication.  I'll spare you the pictures because it's not pretty.  But for some reason, Moses has now become her champion.  The first night while Mr. Quilting Bug was holding Sam and I applied the medication, poor Moses was so distraught that she attacked my husband and bit his arm, breaking the skin and causing it to bleed.  Every night since, she shows up as soon as Sam starts crying and circles around the two of us.  Fortunately she hasn't attacked either of us again.

So today, Sam's new stats are...

• Starting Weight - 17.9 lbs
• Target Weight - less than 14 lbs
• Last Weigh-in - 17.4 lbs
• Current Weight - 17.2 lbs
• Net loss - 0.2 lbs

So please pray for her.  She's having a really tough time of it.  It always seems to be her that these things happen to...

• We're practically starving her while the others get to eat a lot more
• She has degenerative arthritis in her joints and can't walk or jump like the others
• She had the horrible case of acne before and now has it again
• She gets a shot every month for her arthritis
• I pry her mouth open and stick a 'happy' pill down her throat every other day or so
• She gets the lower half of her back shaved once or twice a year because she can't reach back there to clean it herself
• She used to have an unfortunate habit of marking things when she would get too excited and had to have her anal glands expressed every few months (luckily this no longer seems to be an issue)

I know, this is probably too much information, but I really feel for her.  She's such a sweet creature.  I pray that her face heals quickly and that she can finally start losing some significant weight and feeling better.

Until later...

"Give me relief from my distress, be merciful to me and hear my prayer."

Psalm 4:1 (NIV)

A quilty finish...

Despite all David's help, I finished quilting and binding a charity quilt.

I was calling this one Disappearing 9-Patch, simply because that's the pattern.  Then I decided to rename it Blue Patches, but wouldn't you know I've already named a quilt that?  It was a surprise to me too.  So after struggling with it, I've finally decided to call it 'Charmed, I'm Sure' because the blocks are all made with charm squares I got from swaps I participated in.

This quilt finishes at 59" x 74" and will be donated to Central Children's Home via a very generous lady and her birthday wish.  I quilted the Hedge panto on it from the Sweet & Simple Pantograph Packet.  I just enlarged it by 140% because I wanted it to be a little larger than it came.

I used YLI machine quilting thread in white for the top and a variegated purple for the back.  I believe this thread is a 40 wt.  I loaded the quilt on my frame sideways so it would take fewer passes to quilt the panto.  All in all, I think it took 14 passes to do the entire quilt.

The binding is completely attached using the machine.  I've finally found a method that gives me results I like without having to spend hours hand stitching the binding on the back.  Although I'll still do that for special quilts, I much prefer doing the whole thing by machine.

I really liked the look of this pantograph and will definitely use it again.  So now that I'm done with this one, I need to quickly load another quilt on the frame and get started on it.  This next one is also a gift so I can't share it until it's done and delivered.

Until later...

God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing. 

Ephesians 2:10 (NCV)