Saturday, August 4, 2007

Scents and Music

Hi Gals, First let me say what a beautiful quilt Lavina has done. All the work that was put into it. Congratualtions Lavina. Then I want to comment on other things. Our local walmart has a large fabric and quilting supply dept. I do not often buy fabric from them but it is available. The Walmart, Joann's and Quilt shop are all the same distant from me. 25 miles. My local Janome dealer is 100 miles from me so he is not local. so when I do go to these places I always have a list with me an hope I do not forget anything. Now to comment on Jane and Rosey's bit about "scents" I avoid some stores completely because there perfume and makeup dept is in the front of the store. If you walk in you get overwhelmed with odors. MANY of THEM I might add. I even hate to be walking down the isle of a store and some one is bathed in cheap perfume. It annoys me to death. And the music they play, who picks it out??? Don't inflict more pain on me with what you call music. So there, we think alike. Marge who reads all labels before buying to see if it is scented.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

TY eric and sue

It took awhile, but I am back !
Just a note for now to say hi, I will be back to read up and post.
hugs
Katie in the woods
http://homemakerkate2.blogspot.com

A weather update

from Ontario, the southern part, that is: we had rain. A brief cell rolled through late afternoon and we had hail. We had snow pellets sitting around for 1/2 hour afterwards.
I have collected a gallon bag full of these little ice balls and they are in the freezer.
It is now 89 F again. The world has gone 'mad'.

Rosey

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

You are hearing from a puddle

Anna, for the life of me, I cannot imagine living in the heat that you do but I think you came from much further south than Canada so you might have been somewhat used to it. It does eventually cool down a bit overnight and by morning is actually quite pleasant but the day quickly heats up and it's now very humid again.

Friend Virginian and I went to see Hairspray this afternoon at the movie theatre and if you have a chance to see it, do. It is a musical...completely right through with some talking but once adapted to that, the music is toe-tappingly good and John Travolta, whom I inititally thought a lightweight as an actor, is absolutely superb. I saw him in a motorcycle movie not long ago and he was very good in that. Given that he appears to have a fairly quiet existance off-screen, my hat goes off to him for what he's achieved. It's a hugely energetic movie. Queen Latifa (sp?) is excellent as are the young leads.

I am delighted to announce the arrival of one tree toad at the B&B. I don't want to tell you what happened to our resident tree toad this year...too gory, but I found a lovely fat one in my window box and he got gently sprayed with water today. They make such wonderfully burbling noises that I've missed hearing it.

Was thinking of batiks...not tie dyes...brain farts occur.

Rosey

Ooops!!

I meant Lavinia in TN, not Lydia!! Sorry, overworked, not concentrating....

Don't talk to me about heat! ;)

Rosey, heat is 46ºC. :O Which is what we've had for the last several days, but thank God for AC! We shudder to think of the electric bill but we do keep it on the "warmest" setting...no need to be cold, we just don't want to pass out! The ceiling fans help distribute it. DH is finally learning the need to air the house in the morning and release the trapped hot air from the un-conditioned rooms and get in any cool morning air that's going (not much right now, but enough to be noticeable.) They say it's supposed to cool down today but so far no luck.

Good news, I got my bloodwork results and the Dr has finally grokked that I *am* hypothyroid. At last!! I had slightly low thyroid in my teens due to a growth spurt (and was given pills) and for years I thought I had it here, but Spanish doctors could never "see" it. I think it must be hereditary as my mother got very low-thyroid as she went thru the menopause.Anyway, the DR told me that low thyroid is an aggravating factor in high cholesterol--they often go together. This explains why my cholesterol is maxed out, though I am now vegetarian. At least now I can *do* something about the tiredness, poor sleep, leg cramps etc., and I didn't just hear, "Lose weight you lazy slob." I'm lazy because I'm exhausted all the time--because I'm hypothyroid. She also told me to eat a banana every day for the minerals. AND that vegism is a good diet choice!Hurray!! I'm just so glad I didn't get "It's just your nerves."

Lydia in TN: I posted the website you wanted in the comment section, under your comment on my first post. There are some others around too but that's the best one IMHO.

Cotton fabric is darn near impossible to get here anymore. Except in super-expensive (import) quilt shops. Sigh. Maybe if my classes keep up, I can afford something pretty, but $2o a yard does go against the grain! Right now I don't have time to quilt anyway. Sigh. Can't have it all though, I am not complaining, definitely not! Even though one student slept through her class (noshow) and another is still waiting for her bus to come...I believe that, being a "victim" of the RTA myself.

I have learned though, not to use the phrase "welcome to my world" when DH complains about bus travel, irresponsible plumbers who don't show up, and any of a dozen things that I've had to deal with on my own for the past 24 yrs. Unless I actually Want an argument--then I can use it. ;) It makes him mad enough to spit in a heartbeat!

Hope your heat isn't too awfully humid...it's very dry here,like living inside an oven. BUT they have torn up all our sidewalks so it's dust an inch thick on any surface, where they're cutting the cement tiles (different system entirely, no poured concrete.)

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Must be the heat!!

Doris, there are no markings on the fabrics other than the first word Bohemian...and I've cut through the rest. You know, there is no way you can applique a good clean edge with most of the cottons today and I'll tell you why...whether you want to hear it or not...lol....I was going to give you my 2 cents worth anyway...there are too many softening resins put into the 100% cotton today...as has been the case since the 1980's when 100% cottons came back onto the marketplace after the decade of the cotton/polyester broadcloth. Why in heavens name the manufacturers decided to give people cotton that did not wrinkle, I don't know...the quality has gone so far downhill it's sliding on gooseshit. Did consumers really not want cotton that wrinkled...well, the answer is, yes, and we are paying for it now. There is no way you can get a good edge now with cotton unless you back it with paper. I find the cotton used for the tie-dyes and that's not the word I want (I've been swimming in chlorine for the past few days and my brain cells are fried with toxins I guess) is a tighter weave and more like the old cotton of the 40's,50's & 60's before the poly fibre was put into the cotton. I LOVE the old wrinkly cotton quilts. That is what makes them so charming. I don't mind if my clothes get wrinkly either but less so and so there is a use for the resins they put into cotton to make it less wrinkly but in so doing, the body of the cloth is lost. It's like handling jelly-cloth. In the old days all I had to do was press the edges under and they'd almost stay. I basted my edges under and I did not have all these little points and if I did have some, I could easily run my needle under my edge and smooth it out. Now, it's a major production without paper backing, which drives me utterly and hopelessly bananas.

And talking about that, my friend Margaret, a locum in a pharmacy in Toronto called tonight and some gentleman wanted 40 Viagra. I asked her how long that would last...thinking a year maybe, as there are 52 weeks in a year and if he needed Viagra maybe he was too old for all that jiggy jig anyway...She said, three weeks. Cripes, can you imagine how many 'sessions' that would be or do some men take more than one Viagra at a time. She could only find three and sent him on his way and said that she hoped that didn't compromise his plans...the rest would be in later this week.

It's so hot that bunnies are getting hit with golf balls on the nearby resort greens. My friend and Geordie's breeder, WendyP, is nursing a wee bunny back to health. He was hit by a golf ball and she brought him into the pro shop in a cardboard box. She worked late, by the time she got back to the shop, it was locked up and Roger Rabbit was left there overnight. When the pro shop opened the next morning, Roger had recovered and was racing around the office and escaped out the door and back to the golf course. By that evening he was laid out by the swimming pool, not feeling well. Wendy now has him at home. Also rescued yesterday were two painted turtles and one snapping turtle making their way across the golf greens on their way to the ponds down over the hill. They too got a lift in the beverage cart to the other side of the resort.

Geordie, Ceilidh and Hope all had a spa day today and lost a pound of undercoat. They now have their furry bikinis on...(not really...but they smell a whole lot better and have less coat to deal with in this hot weather).

And so much for the hot weather here in Ontario...imagine if we lived in California...I'd be whacked out most of the time...I can't stand this heat for too long.

Rosey

baaad fabrics

ROSEY P - was that by any chance Kona Cotton? (Not to be confused with Kona Bay) Kona is awful for handwork and applique. I recently purchased some quilting fabrics for a project and ran across the Jodi Barrows made by Sullivan. Eeeew. Gross stuff. Shrinks like mad, too.

Monday, July 30, 2007

computer woes and technical issues

I've been trying to get my computer running for what seems like weeks. I've been able to read enough to keep up, but posting was out of the question. I'm describing the situation for those who might be interested in case it happens to them. Scroll past otherwise.
For the last week, my computer (windows xp) has operated only in safe mode. It seems that the latest security patch, automatically downloaded and installed, totally confused my computers display software. We'd get nothing but static or a black screen. We were sure that the video card had gone out, but a tech friend suggested trying safe mode before buying a new computer, and it worked. Obviously, at that point we knew it was software, and not hardware, so we started checking options. "Restore system" was an option, but not a good one, because either the new security patch had to be blocked, or we were back in difficulties. We ended up copying everything off this computer (which we've had since 2001) and re-formatting the drive. I've been reinstalling software all day, and I'm not even close to finished. I would not recommend trying this unless you are at least moderately skilled with locating the files you need to copy, and have kept copies of all the software that you have installed on your machine. Eventually, I'm going to have to buy a more recent copy of XP Professional; I hope I can get one used. I had to download more than 150 security patches to bring my 2001 XP back up to date, and it made things very unstable while all of that was going on. I think a more recent version of XP will be the way to go if my problems recur. It seem to be stable now, but I'm not sure I have all the updates yet!

Kitty was always very kind to me when I first discovered the board. Pass my good wishes and prayers on for me please.
Anna, it's great to see you finally made it, and great that your life seems to have improved. Welcome to any new folks I've missed.

Laura in (hot!) Alabama

Labels:

Phew ...!!!

Do I detect that you are irritated by the poor quality of the fabric Rosey ?????(nothing gets past me !) You've got a wonderful way with words !! I nearly fell off my chair when I read your post !!

Welcome back Anna ! So good to hear that life is less stressful for you these days. Keep posting ! We need your input here ! We can't get Broadband here either and by the time the form comes up I too, have often forgotten what I was going to comment on !

We are having a brief respite from the cold, wet weather. I was able to hang the washing out yesterday for the first time for a few weeks. It's so nice to see the sheets blowing in the wind and they smell so nice too !

DH has gone off to golf today. His "grandfather's back " recovered almost as soon as the grandchildren left...

I plan to revisit a little place I "found" two weeks ago. A small place with "Quilting and Coffee" over the door. I thought that was worth a look. It's all new, very nicely appointed and has beautiful bags of all sorts and sizes, as well as quilts, displayed on the walls. I spoke to the lady in charge. She is Japanese and her English isn't too good. However, I managed to get from her that she has been quilting for 15yrs and always hoped to have a place where quilters could go to see her (beautiful)work and enjoy a coffee. I asked about classes , she said "soon" I asked about kit sets (or at least instructions) and she said "coming".. The fabrics she had there were very different and quite lovely. Her work was displayed in custom made recesses. It was all beautiful. I think I will celebrate this sunny mid-winter day by revisiting...

Have a good day
Marion.

Welcome back, Anna

It's nice to see your posting and to read that all is sorting out well for you both. I cannot imagine your heat without an airconditioner so you do well to cope.

Getting onto this site takes more time and therefore is less spontaneous and perhaps fewer people take the time to post because of this. We are in the country and on slow speed dial up and therefore it's a matter of a minute or two before I can post. That wouldn't seem long but when you are an aging old fart like myself, thoughts disappear all too quickly and I can't remember why I signed on and what for...

Rather than go through the whole rigamarole over on the Bulletin Board site...I'll post my observation here. I'm working with a pattern that I designed many years ago for a dog breeder who wanted a dog on a quilt. Not wanting to do just that, I incorporated a shih tzu head and face in the centre of the quilt and placed sprays of flowers around it. No, I don't have the shih tzu head pattern any longer. But I've tried the newer methods of paper applique and it's darned near driven me crazy. So I'm doing it my 'old' way, the traditional way and I know now why people try to paper applique...the fabric is not worth a pinch of coon shit, if you'll pardon my language. I started quiltmaking in the early 1960's. The cotton, 100%, back then was of such a good weave, not full of chemical crap and resins and it didn't wobble around under the needle. This cotton now isn't worth the powder to blow it's brains out. Can you tell I'm frustrated?! @#*%&@ The quality just isn't there in the cloth we are using now.

Rosey

At last!! At last!!

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! anna's back!!

After many weeks of waiting, at last I can play in the big girls' sandbox again!! LOL For the last couple of months I had the technical board sorted, but no invite to the chat page. And since quilting is at an all time low over here, all the news I had belongs here and not on the other page. I'm sure you're all thrilled about this (or not! ;) but it's good to be here. I had stopped reading because it made me so sad not to be able to say anything.

Well ladies my life has done a complete turnaround, for the better but the busier!! DH FINALLY got disability! He is on a pension now, although it's not "absolute" (for that you practically have to be a vegetable!) which means that a) we will have to pay the rest of the mortgage) and b) he won't be eligible for a free bus pass till he's 65. That part I don't understand, because if he's entitled to free prescription meds, why not a free buspass? Though I do know that the local RTA holds out the "free" rides as a political look-good, and attach so many prerequisites that nobody can qualify!!
It was funny--he had been denied disability twice, and had appealed all by himself (since we couldn't afford a trial), and had given up all hope after 6 mos of silence. So he took dismissal from his job in order to get a little (very little) severance pay (about 1/5 of what they actually owed him but they had him over a barrel, and didn't they just know it!) because he couldn't keep working the way things were and no one would actually tell him whether he was damaging his eyes by continuing to strain them. The very day he got his first unemployment check, he got the letter stating that he had disability. So then he had to go get OFF unemployment! He also discovered they had paid him his first pension check 2 days before into the other acct so he returned the unemployment money, not wanting to be accused of fraud (and yes, they would have.)
So he's home with me, and is a great help. He has taken over the dishes and running the sweeper (choir of angels here, please--Handel's Hallelujah!) For some reason he actually likes running the sweeper.Now if I could just teach him to iron I'd be set!! LOL

And it's a good thing he's around because I have had so many students this last month I could hardly draw breath. All university but one, all adults. There are days I'd have 6 hrs of class! This month will be slightly less as my one non-uni adult is going on vacation to Bali and Oz (hence classes). But I could do with the rest.

So I haven't quilted a stitch. I did finish quilting the fan top Ginny in FL gave me, and posted it about a month and half ago (I think). There were some extra squares so DH suggested I sew them together to make enormous "sunflowers" as a lap quilt, two flowers surrounded by the 9-patch squares.

I've had my head tightly wedged in the 17th-18th centuries all month, and I did speak at church yesterday. How I kept from qu0ting John Donne at them, I don't know! (They don't speak English so it wouldn't have gone over large).

Thanks to my efforts though, we now have a small AC unit in the bedroom which is enough to cool my office as well. Hopefully next yr we can put another in the lvg room. Yesterday it was 46ºC out and I didn't even get short tempered! Hopefully in the fall we can access his retirement fund and finally redo the bathroom. Ginny's seen it...it needs doing.

So I write, I tutor, I try to quilt and I am very, very grateful for where we are now. I've gone back to being a vegetarian (ovolacto) and found a great website for that...but no quilters there!

AND I can post here!! Hello to all my lovely friends: Brenda in CA, Terter if she's around, Ginny, Ciel in CA, and everyone else. I'm soooo glad to be back!
It's good to be home.
anna

Sunday, July 29, 2007

It has been very quiet around here. Has everyone been out on vacation?

I don't post much, I don't have much to say. I love to read what everyone else is up to. But I thought I should post once in a while to let you know I am still here.

I got a quilt done for my sister's 40th surprise birthday party. Well, it is quilted. I will but the binding on today. I have a QOV, (Quilts of Valor) that is pieced and needs to be quilted. I have a Bailey on a Little Gracie frame. It goes so quickly, to machine quilt. I am getting to like the look of machine quilted quilts.

I have a 6 inch block, underground railroad to put boarders on and also get on the frame for quilting. I must have about 7 to 10 tops made that need to be quilted, but working full time cuts into my fun time. I just keep pushing along. I have been doing a lot of hand work. I can take it along to work on it anywhere. I can take thiings to work and if it gets slow, I can work on things t here. The boss is great. As long as I am there for walkins and answering the phone, he doesn't mind if I am quilting. I have made him many pillows and wall hangings over the last 10 years.

Well, I hope Anna gets her invite soon. I guess Eric has been rather busy these days, like everyone else... And I am so glad to hear that her DH got his benefits...
Happy quilting,,,,,
Donna, LEH,NJ