No Magic Wands

I sure WISH there WERE magic wands. If I had a magic wand, everything would be clean, organized, put away, free of DUST...there is so much dust in this house. I don't know if it's because we live in a dry, hence dusty, land. Or because we live so near a freeway, which the Lord only knows what is getting kicked up and tossed around into the air. Or if it's because our carpet is over 20 years old and the padding is DUST. Or if it's because the furnace/AC unit is on the roof and even with filters brings in more dust from outside. Or if my housekeeping skills, well, they just may need a little help. What I do know is, I hate dust. I just know that one of these days I'll be featured on "Hoarders" but it won't be stuff I'll be buried beneath, it'll be DUST. I could dust the entire house every day, and it'd take me all day I think, and I'd have to start all over the very next day. Oh, I just thought of something else that causes dust...working with my quilt fabric! Yup, I want a magic wand.

Fina-Lee Friday

Just a mish-mash of some things in my week since I didn't spend much time in Blogland this week:

• For whatever reason, Marty has trouble remembering our son's middle name. Since I use our middle names here in blog-land, you all know I call him Nick (for Nicolas). Marty, when filling out forms, puts it as "C" for Christopher(?). I don't think we even had that as a name in our naming pool. So with this current year's medical forms at work, he did it again and I prodded him to get it fixed. It isn't fixed yet, so I i.m'd him at work and asked if he did anything and his response was "it fell through the cracks". I responded with maybe we should just change his name to Christopher, he said "cute" and I stuck my tongue out at him with that little smilie. :P Maybe he meant we should change his middle name to Cute - it begins with a "C", hehe. But then, a LOT falls between the cracks around here.
  
• Not much progress on that bathroom problem. On Monday, Nick said the water flow was wimpy (I'd gotten up too late to shower!). On Tuesday, I showered and agreed, very wimpy! Nick went to take his shower and the shower wouldn't work at all and made gurgling noises in the wall/pipes. The leak may be in the pipes as the only time the water shows on the floor (from under the tub) is after Nick showers, yet we've run just the shower even and had no water show. Nick isn't splashing water out...it definitely seeps from under the tub, and it isn't the drain. Then I noticed the actual faucet (where the water actually pours from) has a big gap between it and the tile where the caulking should be and I keep forgetting to tell Marty - maybe that's the culprit in all this. My actions are 'on hold' until Marty finishes his investigation and determines what we need to do next.
  
• On Tuesday I was feeling a little like Balaam (you know, the guy that got off his donkey and beat it because he, Balaam, couldn't see the angel blocking the donkey's path). It seemed every incredibly slow putsy driver was in front of me and I'd finally get by only to have another one at the next turn. Was wondering if maybe God was using the slowpokes as messengers to slow me down (I wasn't speeding, not even close to the speed limit), but maybe He was preventing me from an accident, or ticket, or just changing the whole timing of my day. One has to wonder sometimes.
• On Wednesday I finally got the bulbs potted up that should have been potted by the end of last October...oops!...but in my defense, I had a wrist problem that's only been better the last month or so. I'm not sure what all they are, some tulips, daffodils, miniature daffodils, maybe a hyacinth or 3? Most of these bulbs were already sprouting, some a good 2", but I potted them all in 4 large pots and didn't leave a huge amount of space between each. I'm less concerned with whether they produce blooms or not than I am in just getting them into soil where they'll at least survive and come back for 2013 blossoms. The ones I planted in 2010 (also late, but not this late) gave me lots of blooms that year, but then didn't bloom much last year. This year, they're coming up nicely and I have one yellow hyacinth, and one yellow miniature daffodil in bloom. I'd prefer to have them in the ground but we just don't have a good spot without digging up the backyard which is full of huge tree roots from our Ash tree that's probably 50 years old.
• Today was a vet day for the kitties. Raven's caught up on all vaccines but goes in on Monday for her spaying. Flame's already spayed but needs one more vaccine which will be in 3 weeks. Flame does NOT travel well, she cries the whole time and even starts huffing - high anxiety...and she's the mellow one of the two (Raven clearly has Oriental/Siamese genetics) Raven loves the car, just lays down in the carrier and soaks it all in quietly. I think Raven would be fun to travel with even if she weren't in her carrier.
• I didn't get to attend my quilt guild meeting last night though I'd planned on it. Seems Nick could get extra credit in a class he currently has a C in (he never gets grades that low!!) IF he went to the school's basketball game and said hi to the teacher during half-time. I want to know what extra credit I get for missing my meeting and driving him 22 miles round trip so he could do this. I have to say it was kind of fun seeing our school team play; I haven't been to a game since I was in high school myself (grad. in 1971).
  
• Signed Nick up for bowling again. In fact, have to remember to take him and his ball back to the bowling alley after 4:30 this afternoon so he can be re-fitted to his ball since he's grown and the finger holes will need it. He also needs to make up a game as this past Tues was the first day and we didn't sign up until yesterday. He had bowled since he was about 5 but then took off since last summer. That and golf are the only two sports he likes to play - he doesn't do team-sports well. golf and bowling, while you can be on a team, your individual score is what you work on.
  

Free Motion Quilting

The Quilt Show (Alex Anderson & Ricky Tims) has videos of free-motion quilting open to everyone, for FREE during February. How awesome is that? Here's the link. The lessons are by Patsy Thompson.

Quilting Dilemma

So I'm working on pinning the layers of the #1 UFO Challenge project and bummer, ran out of quilting safety pins and didn't get the quilt completely pinned. What to do, what to do? A) buy more B) unpin something pinned but not quilted C) quilt what's already pinned and I'll have more available D) try to find my container of regular safety pins.

Fina-Lee Friday

The best thing about it being Friday...after I pick up Nick from school, I don't have to drive until Sunday, and even then, I let Marty drive.

• Was this a week of full moons? It's probably a long-standing myth, but traffic ... or should I say drivers...get really weird when there's a full moon. I like the safety of my four (or more) walls!
• The precious kitties have discovered toilet tissue, and plants.
  
• Nick had some missing homework this week. Oddly enough, so did a number of kids in the same class - kids that don't normally miss handing in homework...hmmm, maybe the teacher lost them?
• I'm thinking that making a huge pot of a one-dish whatever, should cover a week's worth of dinners -- would sure save me time spent in the kitchen both in cooking and cleaning.
• I like Maxine, you know, of Crabby Road fame. Sometimes I think her name should be Lee. And of all things, a man writes the comic strip!
• Watched "Worst Kitchen In America"...hey, mine's as old as that guy's was.. and they called his small...at 10x10...mine's smaller, his sink was newer; his cupboard doors had the same pattern. Must've been the trend in the '60s.
• Marty's still trying to isolate the bathroom leak, one slow step at a time. I'm exercising my skills in patience - trying. Submission is willfully placing oneself in subordination. My parents weighed in with their 2-cents worth, as my dad did a lot of construction and has done a LOT of repairs. He suggested filling the tub with water and a colorant like food-coloring to see if, when it's drained, the leak comes from the drain which would show up on the wood of the flooring. I relayed that to Marty. I tested it a couple days ago - no color when the floor showed new wetness. My conclusion: the pipes in the common wall between the bathrooms.
  
• I wonder if I'm the only one who is annoyed enough with the JCPenney commercial ~ you know, the one with all the screaming ~ to avoid shopping there at all costs?
• When you're waiting for your son to get out of school, sitting in your car with the engine off and windows down on a beautiful 73 degree day, why is it that the biggest, noisiest, diesel, SUV parks next to you and leaves it running?
  

How Much Thread Do I Need?

I was asking myself this question now that I'll be getting started on quilting, as opposed to piecing the tops, for the Jan and Feb UFO Challenge quilts. My 'Dragonfly' quilt measures 72"x93", so I guess that falls into the double bed quilt size. I have a 2,000 yd spool of Superior's King Tut quilting thread, variegated, which I plan to use and was wondering if that would be enough. I Googled my question, and voila, Superior (link here) actually has a small chart showing how much is needed and explains some of the variables giving correlating thread amounts. So, even if I were to heavily quilt this project (that's not planned), I should be safe, even if I use the same thread in the bobbin. O' happy day! :)

February's UFO Challenge Quilt

My Country Charm/Dragonfly Quilt is the one chosen (#1) by Judy with the goal of completion in February. I've yet to finish January's #5 and both of these quilt tops are now in the exact same condition: needing the backing, layering, quilting & binding. At least for the Feb. topper I have my backing fabric selected, so I'm one step ahead on it!