Saturday, August 31, 2013

NewFO August

For my August NewFO project I started a tumbler quilt.  I'd cut the pieces, way back in the earlier part of the year, but construction started in the second week of August.  I haven't made a lot of progress as other things have been cutting into my time.

I still don't have my design wall back, so will show some of the pieces laid out into short rows on my dining table so that you'll have an idea of how it will look.

Sets of twosies laid out just to get an idea, this of course will not be their final placement.
I think I'll head over to Barbara's Cat Patches and take a peak at what others have started in August.  Then I'll have to consider what to start for September, and does anyone else think this year is passing by way too fast?  I sure do think that it is.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

All I Want To Do, Is Dre-e-eammm

But then again, maybe not.

I awoke this morning out of yet another odd dream.  I don't always remember if I've dreamed or not, and when I do it's often those dreams generated by the reality that it's close to time to wake up and head to the nearest bathroom because, in the dream, I'll be looking for a bathroom and should I find one, it's usually inoperable or unavailable for some really odd, and strange reason.  This morning's dream, however, was a bit different, and I'm sure it has to do with Marty's current state of unemployment.

In this dream, my aunt, yes, the favorite Aunt Irene in the wet land, she and I were looking for work.  Not just any work mind you, but work in a corn field.  And, much like one sees depicted in photos from the 1930's depression of men waiting in long lines for a job, we too were in a long line to sign up to be able to work that day at this farm.  At some point, we were separated as we respectively approached different helpers to sign up; similar to tellers at a bank window.  My aunt got processed and I lost track of where she was, all the while I was trying to find, even with 'my' helper, the 1/4 sheet of paper on which was the form to sign up.  We could not find one, and she left her desk and I rummaged her desk to no avail, then went to where she was standing at another counter and asked again for the form to which she replied "Do you have a kitchen entity?" huh? "As in am I able to work in the kitchen?"  And then my alarm went off.  I never found my aunt again, never filled out the form, and don't know what I'd be doing in the kitchen. 

Ah well, just a dream that maybe includes the fear that I will have to look for work, even part-time, where I've been out of the paid with real money work force now for 15 years...yes, scary thought.  I'm sure my skills are near archaic for today's modern offices.  Not to mention being this grand old age of 60!  Well, it hasn't come to that yet, so I will continue trusting the Lord will provide Marty the right job, at the right time, at the right pay, at the right place in His time.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Progress and Project

The days have been busy adjusting to our new normal, which I pray is only a temporary new normal and that Marty finds re-employment soon.  He of course, has had to take time within his own heart, soul and mind to decompress from the loss of his job of 14+ years, and from steadily working for over 20 years prior to that without interruption.  Being unemployed and seeking work is an entirely new animal to him and he is having to trust the Lord in totally unfamiliar waters.  And me, I was doing pretty well with it until this past week where I found myself in the dumps for many reasons, but I AM better today and praying I stay that way.

I found / took some time for a little piece-work this week, but without my design wall I only have pictures of the parts.  It was the first time I'd sat at my machine since 8/12, so nearly two weeks without having sewn anything.  Again I'm working on a purely scrappy project.  This is my August NewFO so I'll post more on it in a few days.  For now:

The stacks of pieces I'm working from.

Two pieces placed together for first seam.

Sewn sets of two.
The quilt room has progressed to having all the walls and the ceiling completely painted.  Marty also lifted off all the old, original 1966 vintage square floor tiles that were under the carpet.  That adhesive stuff that held them in place sure is smelly! Even after several days it still stinks!  Now the hard part, deciding on what to put down.  Originally I was thinking a piece of linoleum would be just fine.  Who knew that in this part of the country linoleum is not plentiful in the stores, only a selection of a few styles which are pre-cut at that (the room is 9.5 x 10 so that could work).  But then I was sitting at a computer in the room directly beneath the quilt room as Marty moved the ladder around to paint, and it sounded awfully noisy and I started wondering about how a chair rolling around, or the sound of a sewing machine humming along might sound with little to deaden it between the floors.  Another product we looked at while at the big box hardware store was called "Allure Plank" which comes in wide variety of styles at a cost of around $2.00 per square foot which is certainly reasonable.  I liked the Antique Elm and the African Wood Dark styles in the wood-grains and the Ivory Travertine in a stone-look tile.  I really like the look of the African W.D. but it might be too dark for the small room. I suppose if we went with one of those, it would be easy enough to add a room rug if we found the sound to be too bothersome.

This morning we met with a financial counselor, something we should have done a very long time ago, to get ourselves and our assets aligned in the best possible way for now and for the future.  It's a process, and the Lord will take us through it in His way, and we can be thankful that His way is far better than any way we could arrange for ourselves with all our plans or schemes.  We may not understand it now, maybe never, but it will be good however it looks down the road.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Hard at Work

Since we had the quilt room ceiling re-shot with knockdown, which looks great I might add, Marty has been busy with calking the joint where the ceiling and wall come together.  It gives it a nice finish. He then primed and painted the ceiling and primed the walls.  Today he's busy painting the walls.  It's a color I chose and purchased the first gallon of back in 2008, and with which I used to paint the stash closet a couple years ago.  Surprisingly it's supposed to be a gray shade, but it clearly has a sage or tan hue to it depending on how the light hits it.



While I am most grateful for his hard work, I'm a little disappointed at the same time.  My plan, back when it was my plan was that once the ceiling issue had been taken care of, and the walls insulated and re-boarded, it would be me doing the painting of the walls while he was at work.  I enjoy painting.  But, I'll let him work, while I do other chores around the house.  It gives him something to do since he hasn't any job prospects yet, and provides that much more work for me in cleaning up after him.  I asked him today to not use the year old, somewhat expensive bathroom sinks, counters and faucets for washing up the paint brushes, rollers etc.  I just cringe seeing paint on those nice things and can only imagine what's going on in the drains when that stuff goes down it.  It's water-base, yet even so, it just isn't good to have it going down the drains and into the sewer and its processes down the line.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

On Tap For Today

Nope, no beer here ;p

Today's the second day of school for Nick.  When I picked him up yesterday I asked how it went, his reply "I don't want to be here." groan.  Though an excellent student, he has never 'enjoyed' going to school.  Sorry kid, it's one of life's necessities.

The guy who will be fixing Marty's attempt at spraying the ceiling and then doing the 'knockdown' will be here soon, so finally some progress on the quilt room - there's been none since Marty worked on it in July while I was on vacation.  The guy said it'd take 5 - 6 hours...he has to sand down some of what Marty had done before he can respray and then do the knockdown troweling.  I had Marty tape plastic within the door frame of the stash closet to 'hopefully' keep the dust out of my fabric because it would have been very difficult to empty the closet.

At 12:30 I have a dentist appointment, and have to have an old filling drilled and refilled due to a thin spot in the old filling that's developed a cavity.  Oh joy, I still have issues with dentists thanks to the one that left a piece of her drill so far down in the root during a root canal, that it had to be entombed - even a specialist couldn't retrieve it.  I lost count of the hours of sitting in the dentist chair with my mouth propped open and the amounts of numbing agents used.  PTSD anyone?  I like my new dentist very much, but still don't like even having them cleaned any more.

If there's time, I'll swing in at my Padawan's (my quilt student) to see how she's doing, even if only for a few minutes to chat.  I've missed meeting with her.  It's been since April or May due to various things.

And by then it'll be time to pick Nick up at school - these days are going to pass in a flash.  Due to Marty's layoff, and being home 24/7, I rather enjoy my alone-time outings of sorts.  But at home, there's also paperwork I need to gather and submit by the end of 90 days from his termination (since I handle all that type of thing), so now within the next 76 days it needs to get done.  Nothing promising on the employment scene yet, but remaining hopeful, and trusting the Lord.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sunday Happenings

I've no quilty anything to report, so I'm not linking up anywhere.

I went to church "online" today, and it was a really good sermon from Ecclesiastes 11 & 12.  Marty drove in to church, staying for both "hours", which is really 3.5 hours.  He was meeting up with some of his guy friends after 2nd hour for lunch....needs all the encouragement he can get right now.  He didn't get home until close to 4:30 then decided to go for a drive to try to get some photogs of some clouds that had formed over the hills nearby.  On his way back from there he stopped and brought home dinner.  We've been trying to cut back on the take-out meals.

Today I've also cleaned up the kitchen and done a few loads of laundry, and played on the computer, cleaned the litter box, made sure we had all the necessary supplies for Nick's return to school on Tuesday - there are still some items that need to be purchased, and I covered all five of his big, heavy textbooks, using brown grocery bags.

It's been a busy week with getting things done before school starts.  Tomorrow is orientation day and we'll lug those heavy books and supplies to the school, and meet the teachers for this year, get his locker assignment, and all that stuff.  


Monday, August 12, 2013

Design Wall Monday

My design wall this week has held the Tessellating Ts project I started in July at quilt camp.  

I decided to not do any shuffling around with the placements and delved right in to sew the rows together.  

Completion of the piecing and rows of Tessellating Ts.  It still requires borders, but they will wait until another time.  Flame was checking to make sure all my seams matched up.

These are the bonus half-square triangle sets that were gleaned from the Ts project.  When trimmed, these will make 1 3/4" squares.  I've already pressed them open and begun the trimming process.  I've not yet decided what I'll do with them all, but eventually, it will be something.

Here I have the T quilt folded and packed up to await borders.  I also bundled the remaining pieces I'd cut into full row sets, grouping them together in the needed light/dark sets, banded & marked them, and though not in the photo, added a sheet notating how many I have, and how many I still need to cut for a second T quilt.  This project has been well-liked on my 'real me' social media page among friends and family.  I have not posted it yet to my blogger i.d. social media page.
There's a whole lot of activity from the week shown over on Judy's Patchwork Times where some very busy bees have already posted their projects, so don't forget to check them out.

I've already started my next project, but haven't taken any photos yet.  I'm really feeling a bit out of sorts with not being able to use my craft room yet.  There's been no further progress as Marty's waiting on hearing back from others who might be able to remedy his attempt at the knockdown texturing of the ceiling which didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped.  With his lay off this past week, I've suggested we even leave it as is until, and if, such time as we need/decide to sell because we still have three other rooms and a few closets with the old ceiling crud that also needs to be removed and sprayed with new knockdown and all of that is easier when there's little to nothing in the rooms and right now, we're wondering if a clutter intervention could be in our future because the other rooms are a mess.  OK, that IS a bit of an exaggeration, but there's a lot to be decluttered to really make things look good.  Well, enough of that, head over to Judy's and check out the links.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Stash Report Week 32

There have been no changes to report for my stash this week.  Hopefully soon.

Used This Week: 0 yards 
Used Year to Date: 10.25 yards  
Added This Week: 0 yards  
Added Year to Date: 46.375 yards  
Net Used for 2013: -36.125 yards

How'd you do this week?  Staying focused by linking up at Patchwork Times.

Vacation Moments IV, Final Installment

As promised, some final images and remarks from our vacation.

After arriving in the wet land, Nick spent from the night of July 3rd, until we transitioned to my aunt and uncle's home, at my parents' home.  For the time I was at quilt camp (7/10-14) he was with them alone.  That's the longest amount of time spent with his Grandparents without me.  I think they did some spoiling with taking him to DQ, Wendy's and getting pizza.  I think he got bored though as he really didn't have a lot to do.  When I was a kid, my one set of grandparents had a farm so there was plenty to do, but my parents live in town, and Nick isn't very outgoing and we'd brought his computer, so much wasn't a whole lot different than had he been at home.

Within just a couple of days of our arrival we had an annual family picnic in a park in a nearby small town where also on the day before we left to return home, we went to a pancake breakfast where there was also a display of old cars and a group of square dancers on the basketball court.  

We had trips to the coast, a trip to an aquatic park, visits to fabric stores, quilt camp and shows, breakfasts/lunches/dinners with family and friends we only see one once a year, drives to rural areas of my childhood, drives past properties for sale that I could only dream of buying and moving to (any one of which could become a reality if Marty were to now find employment there - software engineer), conversations filled with lots of memories from past years, birthday celebrations including my own!  And we had time just hanging out with family doing 'nothing' but just enjoying their presence.

In my mom's garden...a Batchelor's Button.  Loved seeing these along the sides of road during my childhood.

Nick with my cousin's daughter Kathy and her daughter Isabelle.  Nick and Isabelle share the same birth date though different years.  We met at Lil Cooperstown, where we had met last year and I had enjoyed a garlic burger.  I was so disappointed that it was no longer on the menu.  I had really looked forward to that burger.  But it was still so much better to enjoy the company of my family :)

I forget the exact location of this view, but there's a little gift shop right there as well.

Nick and Aunt Irene.  Nick decided it would be fun for us to do some shopping at all the tourist traps gift shops at Depoe Bay, and of all the things he could have bought, he found this knit camo hat with attached mustache and beard and HAD to have it.  And for Marty he found a pair of socks - one had "Marty's Sock" written on it, the other had "Marty's Other Sock".  Keep in mind this youngster is middle-teens, lol!

The bridge at Newport taken from the ocean side.  This is the first time I've viewed it from that side.

And from where I took the picture of the bridge, there's a path that leads down towards the ocean and who knew that these little sand dunes were there?  I sure didn't.  These shown are really not very big, but there was one that we had to hike over to get this view that was, and for this totally out of shape person, it was quite the trek in water shoes that filled with sand...just walking on sand is quite a trek!  My muscles were letting me know they'd been used abused for several days afterwards.  What a wimp I am!

A beautiful quilt at the Coburg quilt show on 7/27.

Another stunning depiction put into fabric.

A lovely bargello layout.

I love barns, especially old design barns, and this quilt was great.  Notice the animals and such.

When I was a teen, I lived on a ranch, and life was all about ranch, cattle, horses, etc.  Then I foolishly left home at 18 and moved to the big city (ultimately) and this just reminds me of who I should have been: a cowgirl!

This store is in Corvallis.  It was my first visit.  They had lots of lovely fabrics, and this is  where some of the increase of my stash reported last week came from. 
If you're doing a cat quilt, is this not a great fabric for a border, or a backing?  I thought of Barbara at Cat Patches when I saw this.  It was in the back room where all the discounted fabrics are.
We saw osprey in the nest.  I'm not sure if this is one of at least two youngsters in the nest, or one of the parents stopping in to tend to the young 'uns.  We drove by here on two separate days.  I thought I video'd but it seems I may have experienced a case of user error as the video is not to be found on my disc.
Family and my birthday cake :)
Family

Nick and younger cousin viewing one of the old old cars.  No idea who the other three adults are.

A shot of the square-dancers.  I had video'd, I thought, numerous videos here too, but again, they seem to be missing on my disc due to that user that apparently didn't know what she was doing.

One of only a few deer we were fortunate enough to see.  This was zoomed in as much as I could, and unfortunately in the shadows.

And oh my, what is that growth in my cousin's wheat field (actually not his wheat field, but his property which he leases out).  My aunt had the sharp eyes that spotted the deer's ears poking up amongst the wheat.

My aunt Irene, and uncle D.L.  Aren't they a lovely couple?  I love these two!
And so ended our vacation.  That last picture was taken about 6:15 a.m. right before we pulled out of their driveway to head home. 

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Prayer Request

It was bound to happen, we've been living on borrowed time.

God's timing is just that, HIS timing, and not our own.

We've held on remarkably well in this economy, and with the sale of the company Marty has worked for for over 10 years (to a company from India about a year and a half ago), but the day has finally come.  Around 10:30 this morning, I hear an unusual rustling of the garage door for the time of day and the closing of a car door, and Marty walks in and says that it's finally happened.  He's survived numerous layoff rounds over the years, but today was the day the Lord planned to shake up our world of comfort and put us into the category of the unemployed.

What the plans hold for the future, we do not yet know.  Though it's been a bit of 'day-by-day' for a couple years, we really didn't hold our breath about that day waiting for it to happen.  I think Marty's still in a bit of a haze and doesn't know what to think about it yet.  Me, the reality sets in very quickly.  I've lived on a shoe-string before, in fact, many times before, so my mind immediately goes into the thoughts about what can be cut back, how soon should we cut back, how does this impact keeping Nick in private school, about relocating (something we've desired to do but not put in place), and a million other things which include the 'what ifs'. What if Marty can't find a job before funds from lay-off pay out and unemployment run out (he's almost 59), and what if we have to dig into our savings, and what if we DO have to move, even out of state to accommodate a new position, and what if that doesn't pay equally, or what if any one of us gets really ill.  So many things racing through my mind, yet believing God is not caught unaware, and has ALL things under control.

As yet, we haven't told any family, and little family knows of my blog, let alone visits it, so I feel reasonably safe in voicing this here.  We will of course be letting family know fairly soon.

I know many of my blog-friends pray, and those prayers would be coveted.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Vacation Moments III

It dawned on me a couple days ago as to why, at least in part, the years are flying by.  My years are only about 11 months long compared to the normal 12.  That's right, only 11 months, give or take a few days.  How is it they're only 11 months you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'll explain.  With my annual summer vacation trip north to the wet land, which is nearly a month out of each year, it's like being outside of time so it doesn't fit in with the other 11 months.  I usually leave in one month and return in another so that whole block of time is just something else, but it's not part of the year.  Makes sense to me, hehe.

Here are a few more photos of vacation with the Sisters Quilt Show thrown in, as well as quilts from an outdoor show in Coburg, OR which, by the way, was a great way to spend the morning of my birthday :) 

An entire wall of a building covered with quilts.

A quilted 'ball'.  I was told there was a car that was also quilted but we didn't see it.

This was at a vendor and I thought it was really neat, a great idea for a bird house.

Love all those windmills.

At another vendor, love the horse shoe art.

A Dear Jane

A very nice red, white and blue.

I loved the fussy cut vignettes in the alternating blocks.

Lovely piece, amazing peacock.


Nice pattern.

And who can miss this Easy Street?  This was within the walk way of some shops, so lighting wasn't as good.

Suttle Lake

"Boo" my mom's cat.

My cousin Liddy and I.  Liddy is the daughter of my paternal grandmother's brother.  That entire branch of the family was 'lost' until I found Liddy about 10 years ago and oh have we connected, right from the very first phone call.  She is a real dear and I have been blessed to find her.  Since then, we have uncovered a few other 'lost' cousins from that branch and I met them for the first time last year.

My mom and I.

Nick and my mom.

My 92-yr old cousin once removed, Arlene.  Nick and I visited with her and had lunch with her at the retirement apartments where she lives.  She was my biological dad's cousin and is now the oldest remaining from that side of the family, and only one of two remaining from that generation of cousins.

Nick and I and my aunt Irene went to the coast one day.  This was on a path near the bridge that spans the bay at Newport, OR.  Nick barely fit under that low-hanging branch he's coming up on.
And I think that is enough for today after all.  I'll leave the quilts from the Coburg show for the final installment of our vacation moments, which I'll post in the next two or three days.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Design Wall Monday

I have not been very energetic today.  And since I wasn't, I spent the better part of the day thus far, de-cluttering and organizing my email account.  You read right, my email account.  My main email account I've had for about 13 years and even with all good intentions to delete as I go, it's amazing how much stuff stays in the account.  I'm sure there's still way too much stuff, but I've now transferred most of the 'saved' emails into separate folders as needed which will make it that much easier to go through and glean the info I truly want to save, most of which pertains to genealogy records and family happenings.

Now having done that, I just remembered it's Design Wall Monday and I haven't even looked at a single blog today!  So I'll do my post and then browse for awhile.

On my design wall, er, the dining room wall which is subbing for the design wall in its absence, is exactly what I posted about yesterday, or was it Saturday?  Told ya', not very energetic today so I'm not going to look back a day or two.  Anyway, it's this:

Tesselating Ts, McCall's Quick Quilts November 2005

I did finish the last row and have taped it to the wall too but it isn't in this photo, and I'm thinking I'll leave the rows that I'd already sewn together as they are after all.  It's a scrappy quilt and that's how scrappy quilts are, scrappy, not 'designed'.  The pattern calls for a 2" (finished) border, so will need to pick the fabric for that once I sew the rows together.  Maybe I'll have reached that point by next Monday.  Or I'll have worked on something else, hah, maybe even nothing at all.  Oh, and I need to decide on a NewFO for August while I'm at it.  I certainly saw plenty of possibilities in my new books and magazines.



Linking up at Patchwork Times.  I wonder what everyone else is showing today?

Sunday, August 4, 2013

July NewFO

One last Sunday post and I'm somewhat caught up on my necessary posts, those where I link up to other sites.  This one is linking up to Cat Patches for the NewFO Challenge.

As I went to quilt camp in July, I was able to get sewing on more than one NewFO.  I'm not giving consideration that I actually cut the fabrics in June.  That was rather necessary given that I was leaving for the wet land on 3 July and quilt camp started on the 10th, and that I'd be taking all my sewing gear as well as suitcases and other paraphernalia needed by myself and Nick, all in one little ol' vehicle.  

Before I show my projects, I have to tell about something I found funny.  I was being very stringent with the amount of stuff I wanted to take to camp: sewing machine, SewEzi table, folding cart, 2 project bins (9x14x7), a bin of supplies, laptop, personal clothing, etc.  The day arrived to go to my aunt's and pick her up, I walked into the house, saw her pile of stuff which was quite substantial I thought until she showed me even more stuff that was going with us.  I think she recognized my surprise at the amount of 'stuff' because she said I would be even more amazed at the amount of stuff some of the others bring!  It was truly a learning experience.  My stuff was sufficient, perhaps more than sufficient!  But all of the stuff filled my Highlander to the gills leaving very little room to see through the rear-view mirror, and that with the seats folded down!

Now to July's NewFO projects:


Bow Tie blocks.  I started these as leaders / enders but am excited about them and will likely do them more quickly.  

These are the current remaining "T" sets from my main project: Tesselating Ts.  As I only need 13 more sets to finish the last row, I apparently over-planned or maybe thought I'd make it bigger, or make two...I really don't remember my original plan, but ended up following the pattern.
These will at some point become a third quilt.  These are the bonus half-square triangle squares made from the intersecting light/dark "Ts" that otherwise would have gone to the trash bin.  As you can see, once trimmed, I can easily get a 1 3/4" square from each piece set...and they're already sewn on that bias, and that's the best part!

And at last, the main July NewFO project.  Since I don't have my regular design wall, these are taped to my dining room wall.  Some of the rows may be switched around, and four rows were sewn together at camp for benefit of show & share, one of which I've already removed and I'm thinking I'll separate the other three in order to get a better placement.  It still needs one more row to have all required rows done.

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