Women!

Why are we so mean to each other? So passive aggressive? Is it in our DNA? Or learned?

The Yahoo! Quilts 4 Military mystery group is yet another example. When the past clue was posted on Friday, an ambitious quilter got right on it and posted a picture in the Photos section of her completed clue. The photo section is for that purpose. Prizes are drawn based on these photos. But, alas… Controversy. She had them set similar to my blog post. Someone said the mystery was ruined for her because that photo was posted. Others chimed in! Really? Ruined? Get on it and piece it yourself quickly. Don’t look at the photos. Who knows if that’s the correct layout – there is one more clue left. The original poster apologized and removed the picture. Why? She had done nothing wrong. Is there some kind of hidden protocol that was breached?

Sheesh. At what point do we learn to eat our young?

That’s a primary reason that I quit the quilt guild I belonged to. Women just knit picking at each other when someone had a new idea or expressed themselves differently than what was some imaginary standard.

Why do we do this to each other?

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EDIT:  I wasn’t going to post anything to the group but now the quilter in question is being reprimanded for saying (after she said she removed the picture) “Wow.  What a group.”  She is being accused of being SNARKY!  Really….  Here is my post to the group:

 

Andee, I don’t think you did anything wrong. You were enthusiastic. You got
right on the clue and posted pictures when you finished. I saw no protocols
posted before hand on this subject.

I think I’ll keep in mind that I’m making this quilt for a person who is
probably not having fun defending my freedom. I think keeping that in mind, a
little spoiling of our fun is rather a minor detail.

 

I’ll probably be banned from the group as a result…  Sheesh… again….

Binding

I attached black binding to a quilt I finished quilting way back in May but just never got around to binding. It’s not my favorite quilt but I need to finish it and get it out the door. I have a wall hanging that needs binding attached also. I like binding about as much as I like going to the dentist. Yes, it’s that painful. But once I get going I don’t mind it at all. This black solid left much to be desired. I think it’s Kona black which means its thick and not so easy to needle through. And it requires my cheater glasses to see what the heck I’m doing! I’ve got 2.5 sides done (I always start with a long side so the last side goes quicker). I should have the quilt bound by the end of the night.

I made baby back ribs for supper tonight using this recipe. They turned out to be the best that I’ve ever made. corn on the cob for a side dish and now I’m officially fat! But happy!

Clue #4 Is Finished

And I have to wait a whole week to see how it’s going to be set!

Here is the only possible layout that I can see. I’m intrigued. The quilt policewoman in me says you shouldn’t put a 3 X 3 gridded block in with a 4 X 4 gridded block. And that’s essentially what they have here. So nothing is going to line up. No points will match. Will that look okay?

Will there be sashing? (Spell check – quit changing that word to smashing!). The instructions didn’t say anything about sashing. It mentioned borders – either pieced or plain options.

Oh well! I have to wait and see!

Clue #4

Clue #4 was posted yesterday and I’m halfway through it. There are 10 blocks that look like this:

And 10 more that have to be completed yet. The variable star blocks are good however there is quite a bit of bulk where the center meets the inner star points. I played with pressing that seam open, but it didn’t make it any better.

On the other quilt, I made a few more great granny blocks.

And have two more ready to go.

I’ve noticed that I’ve been “tailing off” my ending seam allowance lately. What I mean by that is that the end of whatever I’m piecing doesn’t have an exact 1/4″ seam allowance. It’s quite a bit narrower. I’ve been paying particular attention to that these past couple of days and it’s really made a difference in my piecing quality.

Off to make the rest of Clue #4!

Start-itis

I have a case of startitis. But I’m justifying it. Listen to the justification and you’ll agree that it’s okay to start a couple new quilting projects.

First…. I said my next quilt would be a donation to the military. I belong to a Yahoo! Group called Mystery Quilts 4 Military. I look at their projects but have never done one. Why? I’ve never done a mystery! I’ve taught mystery quilts but never pieced one. First of all, how do I know I’ll like it when it’s finished? Second of all, I have never (or at least I don’t remember ever) cut out ALL the pieces for a quilt before I start piecing! I cut out enough for a couple of blocks, then l piece those, cut, piece, continue. I mean who cuts everything at once? People like my sister Sonia, that’s who! Hmmm… She has no UFOs. Maybe that’s the secret! So I thought I’d try it. Who cares if I like it – I’m giving it away! Right? They just started a mystery so I fished out some red, white (it’s actually cream), and blue fabric and pieced the first two clues.

I guess those are actually clues 2 & 3 since clue 1 was cutting the fabric and storing the pieces in ziploc bags. Clue 4 is due out today! So I can totally get this done! A clue a week… Everything is already cut and ready to piece… And the pattern is called Starry Path – I’m bound to like it by that name!

So see how I justified that?

No justification on the next one though. I tried long and hard to think of a justification but nope… Can’t come up with one. This is called The Great Granny Quiltalong. It’s on this blog and is supposed to represent those old granny square crotchet blankets from the 70s.

I kept seeing other quilters’ blocks and just fell in love with it! It’s scrappy, obviously, but I have blue somewhere in every block. I’m using my 2.5″ strips to make the 2.5″ squares. It’s simple and I’ve whipped up those 10 blocks in nothing flat. It will have 1″ white sashing between the blocks and a white background border. (Spell check keeps correcting sashing to smashing! Ugh!)

The only justification for the granny squares is that I’m piecing leaders and enders for the Irish chain quilt. I need more 4-patches for that quilt so I can build up more blocks for that one.

Final grading for my summer class needs to be completed today. I better get going on that!

Working

I’ve started to prep the networking lab for the fall semester. I brought the kids with me. We took all the removable drives out of the machines and ran a “kill disk” program on them. Next we will repartition the disks and apply an image to the disks so they are all the same. After 5 hours of work, the kids and I have blanked out 95% of them. I am paying each child $2 an hour to help me. Dj is paying down a debt with his money. Gianna is saving hers for a rainy day. I’m not being paid at all. :-(. This task used to be part of our lab teacher’s job, but it got handed to me last year for no additional pay. I have a student lab assistant who can assist in this process but he can’t start until school starts, so its my job to get it done.

There is a lot of wait time while blanking out the drives even though we are doing 15 at a time. I brought my sock knitting. Sock knitting is the ultimate travel project.

Especially when it’s a simple pattern that is easily memorized and can be picked up and put down often.

A little forewarning… I feel a case of quilting startitis coming on. I wish it was finishitis but unfortunately it’s not.

My Husband, The Kid

My hubby cracks me up! This morning I’m sitting peacefully drinking my coffee. Dan has the day off so he’s drinking his coffee in the basement. He’s also working on his day off but that’s another story. What he’s not doing is talking to me. Cuz it’s too early, that’s why! I have to have at least one cup of joe down before you approach me. Two if you want legitimate conversation.

Anyway, he comes upstairs to get another cup of coffee and looks out the window. He yells (and I mean YELLS), “Gina, come quick! Look what’s on the pool cover!”

I come running and this is what I see.

It’s a garter snake. The man is tickled pink. I’ve never seen him so excited! I took the above picture from inside the house (of course). He runs outside to catch the beast. He can’t wait to show the kids.

Now, I’m thinking, “no way is that snake coming into my house!”. I know him. So while he is catching the snake I get a bucket for him to put it in. Outside. It stays outside. I’m adamant about that! I put a net over the top of the bucket. The snake bit Dan and actually drew blood in little scratch marks. So much for garter snakes being harmless. But he was so excited! My adrenaline was spiked. I don’t like snakes – harmless or not. They are creepy.

Sad ending. The kids get up. Dan is like a kid in a candy shop. He can’t wait to show them the snake. I stay away because I don’t want to convey my fears to the kids.

THE SNAKE HAS ESCAPED! Yep, it’s gone. Thank God it wasn’t stored in my house! I have no idea how it slithered up the smooth surface of the deep bucket and lifted the screen/net. Luckily I had the one picture so the kids could see a blurry stick-like snake on the pool cover.

My hubby was disappointed but is sure he’ll find another soon enough. I’m hoping that snake was an orphan with no living relatives.

The Rest Of The Missouri Trip

Be prepared for a long, negative post! I’ll try to keep the negativity to a minimum but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to.

First, we had a good half day in Sedalia. We visited the Bothwell house/mansion. It was built in the early part of the 20th century. It has 31 rooms and is very plain but has a great view and setting. The docent was informative and it was a good tour.

Just the kids and I went because Dan was still working. I looked up quilt and yarn shops and we tried to find them next. The yarn shop was out of business and the quilt shop was located in a house – or my GPS was incorrect. Either way, we didn’t stop. We did hit the Sonic for lunch. The kids voted Sonic as the best restaurant of the entire trip! 🙂 They liked the car hops and ordering system. It was just like the old A&W root beer stands of my childhood.

I downloaded a license plate app for my phone. We were on the lookout for state plates throughout the trip. Luckily there was a BMW motorcycle rally in Sedalia during our stay so we were able to see a lot of different state plates right from our hotel parking lot. We ended up finding 36 different state plates throughout the trip.

Now, the negativity. The drive from Sedalia to St. Louis was “the trip from hell”. I was tired and Dan drove. My boss called and there was a problem with my online class and the students contacted her because I forgot to check my mail in the two days in Sedalia. So that made me even crabbier. We got into St. Louis right during rush hour only to find out that our hotel was located right next to Busch stadium and the Cubs were in town playing the Cardinals in two hours. Not only was it wall to wall people downtown, but wall to wall traffic as well. Downtown St. Louis is a lot of one way streets so we had to keep circling in order to find the entrance to our hotel. The entrance was blocked with a sign that read “Valet parking full”. What do you think the chances are of finding a parking spot in downtown St. Louis right before a Cubs-Cardinal game? I would have had a better chance of winning the lottery. Dan got out and talked to the valets. They gave us a voucher for a parking garage and we had to hoof it to the hotel.

The hotel was wall to wall people. Our room was right outside the elevator. No Internet access from the rooms. The business center kept logging me off before I could correct my problems with the online class. I was not a happy camper!

What are the chances of finding a restaurant to eat supper? Did I mention hordes of people? Multiplying by the minute? We were, apparently, the only people without tickets to the game. We could have purchased them for $175 each. Not happening!

Not a great start…. Loud room… All night long… No sleep… Too many people…. A good view though.

Fast forward to the next day. I managed to get my online class problem fixed enough that the students could work. We decided to go to the arch. It was a four hour wait to get tickets. In line. Outside. In the 100 degree sun and heat. We were not doing that!

Dan and Gianna were brave enough to take a very expensive helicopter ride.

Dj and I chose to live instead. We people watched and thought positive thoughts so they didn’t crash. It worked. They survived.

We walked downtown St.. Louis. The old courthouse was closed for restoration. there wasn’t a single store open. Really. Not lying. In fact, many buildings were empty. TGIF for lunch was our second favorite restaurant of the trip!

To recap, our hotel held most of our interest. The kids swam. Gianna played two grand pianos that we happened upon while exploring the hotel. I knitted a lot. I got both socks done up to the legs. There’s only about an hour of knitting left on each. oh… And the hotel had no brochures on what to do in St. Louis. The concierge recommended the arch.

I have no desire to go back to St. Louis.

Hello MO!

Missouri, that is!

We left home at 5:45am and headed southwest to Missouri. Dan has to spend a day in Sedalia, MO and then we are headed over to St. Louis for the weekend.

Dan drove the first leg of the journey through Springfield, IL. I was able to get started on knitting some socks.

I also brought Sonia’s scarf to finish but the lace pattern requires more concentration than car knitting provides. I’ll work on that in the hotel. I drove the rest of the way to Sedalia so that Dan could work – on the phone and computer – to prep for this meeting.

It was four lane most of the way but one treacherous stretch was two lane through itty-bitty towns. It was speed up…. Slow down through this town of 300… Speed up… Slow down to take the hairpin curves. Ugh! The towns seemed to consist of a mix of old rundown houses built post-WW II and newer trailers on cinder blocks. But besides that stretch, it was four lane highway driving.

Missouri has seen drought similar to Illinois it seems. The corn looks like it should be harvest soon in some places – it’s that brown.

More later… We are going out to get water and snacks now. I picked up some flyers for “what to do in town” in the hotel lobby. More pics and updates later!

I Should Be Ashamed Of Myself!

I have so many quilting UFOs it’s not even funny!  Why do I do that?  I have a number of quilts that have the centers finished and are awaiting borders.  Borders only.  One day’s work….  Why didn’t I finish it?

Take this top that I found while cleaning my sewing room.

Scrappy blue nickels cut into four patches and half square triangles. Consistent background of white.

I had these borders already cut.  They just need to be attached.  Why didn’t I attach them?  I had everything in a pizza box including the fabric for the binding!  What the heck?  If that was the only UFO, then I’d say it was excusable.  But there are many… and I mean MANY!  Such waste.  Waste of time… waste of money… if it sits around unfinished and unused, what good is it?  I need to finish and donate.  Or finish and use.  Or finish and gift.  BUT I NEED TO FINISH!  Border it; quilt it; bind it.  I have two quilts that only need binding from the beginning of the summer.  The binding will be cut tomorrow and attached by machine.  Then I’ll hand tack them during TV time.   That’s my first goal.  Then attaching these borders will be my next goal.  I am going to start a list of what needs to get done and kick the simple ones out in the next couple of weeks.

On a different topic, we are starting a new family project.  It’s electronics based so we are all learning about electronics.  My job is programming the circuit board.  I need to read up on it and start trying it. Dan, Gianna and DJ are playing with LED lights and a breadboard as I write this.

Gianna has one light lit in the lower right corner. She has been learning about circuits, resistors, and voltage.