Saturday, September 15, 2007

quilting and threads

Hi, I agree with Judy Pete about thread etc. We are all quilters of different styles. We have different machines to work with. So we need to find the thread or the fabric that works for what ever we do. You are going to have a certain amount of "lint" buildup no matter what you do, and working with flannel or batting creates a lot. So keep you machines clean, put a new needle in frequently and just go for it. I too, do not use polyester thread in bins that sells for 5 for $1.oo but thats my choice. I just recently attended a large quilt show in Harrisburg Pa. and the machine quilting on the quilts was amazing. I could never, nor will I try, do that. The metallic threads really do a beautiful job. My quilts however, are made to be used, loved and comforted. I love to sew and thats what I do. No quilt police in my house. Marge

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Where did my post go?

OK, I'll try this again.
The 90th birthday party for my Mom was a hit. About 40 people showed up in her little house. For about 2 hours it was global warming in there. Several neighbors brought her roses, as they knew she used to love to grow them.
We had cake and icecream, and took lots of pictures. One neighbor did her hair, and she looked more like 75 than 90.
The only glitch was DH coming down with food poision after eating crab cakes (we think that was the thing) It could have been the Mexican food we had on Sat. night.
On Tuesday AM I called the health dept. in the Daytona area, and we are waiting to hear. We had eaten at the seafood place many times before and never had a problem.
DH stayed on the couch all day on Monday, but we did kayaking on Fri. Sat. and Sun. mornings. One morning we saw a dolphin and a sea turtle in the intercoastal. The sea turtle was amazing, he was so big, I didn't know they went into brackish water, maybe he was lost.
This morning I got my hair cut, and a much needed Chiropracter adjustment. I must be 2 inches taller now. It had been Feb. since I'd had an adjustment.
My DD and I went to the NFL football game together on Sunday afternoon. It was lots of fun, but hot, hot, hot. Too bad our team lost. This was to make up for the 5 years of not being able to do things together since she was home schooling. The boys seem to be adjusting well. She is takiing a bit longer, but hopefully will adjust by the end of this week.
Another change. DH is working from home every morning now. That means I don't have access to the computer except in the afternoon.
I tried Rosey's receipe for pie crust this morning. It is "resting" in the fridge now, and will become pie tomorrow. The red hat ladies are coming over for a fall party.
There was more yesterday, but I've already had it deleated from my mind.
Sara in Fla.

long time

hello all,
It has been a very long time since I have posted. I try to keep up with reading, but only get here once in a while By the time I read something it is rather old news. It had not been an easy summer and I am so looking forward to a nicer season for the winter. Even if it get colder and we get snow. I do have a nice trip to look forward to as w are scheduled with a trip yo Texas some time in the New Year. we both are so looking forward to that.
I see that Thea from the Mountain has posted and I was so sorry to read about your faithful friend. Anna so glad life is easier for you now. Enjoy the better times. Congratulations to all those who are losing. It has to be a real accomplishment and you are to be congratulated on the achievements. Much applause from my corner of the world.
ther has been no quilty session here at my house and I do hope to remedy that soon.
Now I wonder if there is still interest in the quilting retreat for Sept /08.
It would be the weekend of Sept 26/272008. Please e mail me if you are still intersted so I could do a count and start working on some arrangements like blocking a section of rooms, etc.
kuiken@nrtco.net. I still have the list of those of you who last year said they would like to come so please just acknowledge that the interest is still there.
Looking forward to hearing from you. This retreat would be held in Pembroke, Ontario.Write for more info .
Time for bed cause I am making way to many typo.
Tomorrow is a Red Hat day.
Later all Hugs
Grace in Ont.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

afternoon of Sept. 11th in Florida

Feeling sheepish, anyone?

As some of you know, I prefer goat's milk, having been raised on it, and when I am in work I treat myself to a quart now and then. Well the other day we went to a superstore and I treated myself to a quart, as it was much cheaper than in our local supermarket. What was my surprise to see quarts of *sheep's milk* next to the goat! Here in Spain we use sheep's milk for making cheese, but never have I even heard of drinking it! It was a bit dear but I bought some to try.
Result: it tastes pretty much like normal 2% cow's milk though it has way fewer calories. But I still prefer the goat. Goat's milk *does* have a distinctive, though not strong, taste (not strong if you don't buy full-fat milk, which is gross) but I can't justify the almost-double price for something that I can't tell the difference from our normal (watery) cow's milk. Skimmed milk here is like water and chalk. I don't bother.

Finally have my appt with the endocrinologist on Tuesday and I hope they can help. The small dose of thyroxine has helped some but I still feel exhausted by day's end, almost shakey. Hair falling out, and apparently the excema-type eruption on my face can be linked to low thyroid as well. Not to mention the complete inability to lose weight over the last yr or so. I am TIRED of being tired!

DH best friend arriving tomorrow for a flying visit, so I must clean out my office as he wants to use my computer to compare with his own. Somebody call a dumptruck...LOL

It actually rained a bit last night,we had thunder, and for the last 3 nights no AC on! Roll on Autumn!

Hugs to all who need them.
anna in spain

Bed frame

Hi Brenda...My Aerobed mattress did not come with a bed frame. I bought one, finally, last year, but it's a heavy frame and I keep it upstairs in a guest room. Too heavy for me to bring downstairs and not enough room to put it up in my studio where I made room to sleep...the dog and I on the floor. I'm just not going to let our bedroom out for guests any more. I'm too old and too creaky (and cranky when I don't get a good night's sleep!). Every B&B and lodge, motel, etc. was overloaded this past week-end due to the Taoist temple opening, plus weddings, plus two horse shows in the area. It was a conscious choice on my part to try and accommodate everyone. We had two Aerobed's going over the week-end. But it's past and we got through it all. Those mattresses are great for grandparents who need to have a cot for grandchildren to sleep on as it just rolls up into such a small roll and can be stored easily in a cupboard. My grandchildren love sleeping on it. Grandma's too old.

Rosey

Monday, September 10, 2007

leg cramps

Rosey, I grit my teeth and try to bend my toes up touch my knees. It hurts momentarily and then eases off.
About the air mattress: we bought a queen-size (actually only 55" wide) one that comes with a frame, so that you aren't getting up off the floor. It's great and quite painless to get in and out of.
Brenda in Nn Ontario

First off, why did the name 'charley horse' ever get attached to leg cramps?

I had forgotten entirely about potassium. I don't eat bananas on a regular basis...find them almost too sweet but one I had several weeks ago left my lips tingling. It was a mainstream banana. I obviously reacted to whatever chemical sprays were on the fruit. I often buy organic bananas and will do so and be more mindful of eating them more often. That aside, Bee, you had me chuckling with your 'reaching your toes' comment...I'm that desperate when I have one of these things that I'd reach the moon to lift my toes in the air. I will try that too. But for whatever reason, that air mattress, and it's the size of a single bed mattress and just as thick, is like swimming on a waterbed....I roll from one side to the other trying to climb out and have no idea how the cramps strike but dollars to donoughts, I get one everytime I have to maneuvre myself out of one.

Any other suggestions welcome.

Rosey

Rosey

I will also add my bit about bananas. I eat one per day and so far haven't had cramp since I started eating them every day. Also if you can reach your toes pull them towards you as hard as you can. Personally I find as I get older anything past the waist,the one I used to have, is bad news . The floor gets further away each year LOL . Bee in NZ

Charley Horses

Rosey, I have problems with them also. Sleeping with a pillow under my knees helps. As does straightening my toes to point up. Eating bananas (potassium) seems to make a difference.

My dear friend lost her husband to cancer this summer. I've been emailing her daily and calling. Any other suggestions to help? She lives 5 hours north of us. We are planning to spend several days together next month. She is very active, working and has family nearby = all of which help.

Found a pickle dish pattern that is calling my name. Now to finish 'Follow Me' first...

Blessings,
MJ

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Sun. night

Hello, MJ, it's nice to see your posting on the bulletin board...post more to the chat board when you have time.

Any advice of how to handle a charley horse when you are in the grip of an over-the-head muscle spasm? I can get up from hard surfaces but this aerobed, a blowup mattress, twin bed size, wobbles around like jelly when I try to get off it and unless I can roll off like a slug and hit the hard floor, it seems to leave me open for a bad leg cramp. It's happened before but it happened this morning as I've slept on it the past two nights due to an elected overload of guests here. The Taoist Centre had the opening of their temple this week-end and people flew in from all over the world and needed places to stay...as well, had a wedding party here all week-end, still have guests here till Wed., with one day off and then another wedding party. It pretty much ends at the end of Sept. Guess that's the last of sleeping on the floor in an aerobed. I'm no spring chicken but I can get them in bed as well. I take calcium, magnesium, eat well, don't eat crap..am on my feet a lot during the B&B season though which I don't think helps but who knows...it can happen in the midst of winter when I move around like a snail in hibernation. Some people say apply heat, some say apply cold. I say apply cognac...to my insides..helps relax my muscles but I'm not usually able to get much beyond the next step when my muscles cramp.

Rosey

Hello again,

Just posted on the other page. Check in there....
Blessings,
MJ

Peeking out of the burrow...

Well ladies it's been awhile! Fortunately, I have been very busy tutoring for the last 10 weeks or so, much busier than I had ever anticipated!! There have been days when I worked 6 or 7 hrs doing classes! This was good, as the bank balance is happy...but it did get tiring along about August. I only had one unpleasant student, and though she griped sometimes about my "getting off the subject!" she kept coming...so it can't have been that bad. (I was told by a classmate that she even complains about and to her full professors...never a wise thing to do in this particular city, as the professors think they are gods unto themselves.)
I've been bemoaning my weariness for the last month or so and in the last couple of weeks it's gotten markedly worse. (I think the low thyroid has something to do with it, too). Last Sunday afternoon I decided I HAD to wash some laundry, but...I had a suprise student turn up for a last-minute cram session. She had her test the next day, and she's panicking, and she's a good friend, so I said, "OK come over," knowing I would have to just sit and hold her hand for an hour.Which I did.When she left I quickly stripped the bed and crammed a load of sheets in the washer along with a few other bits and pieces, and cleaned the kitchen, comforting myself with the thought of a day OFF on Labour Day while everyone does their make up exams.About half an hour later I glance at the washer, which is a front-loader...and what do I see through the porthole but an ISBN number!!I had washed my copy of The Colour Purple!!It was going round and round among the sheets, saying, "Help me, help me!"So...I turn off the washer, wait the regulation 3 min for the saftey catch to open (cursing all the while) and finally fish it out.Not so much a novel any more, more a sponge.I'll have to go down to the English bookshop and see how much they're going to "soak" me for a new copy, if indeed I can still get it.But....I won't be able to read it lying in bed tomorrow, will I. Note to self: Check DH's pockets for change, and the bedsheets for novels!

The joys of a bilingual marriage. When I tried to tell DH WHY I was lying on my back in the utility space, alternately giggling and cursing my idiocy, by saying "I washed my copy of The Colour Purple!" he said, and goodness knows I quote: "Well, you could bleach the sheets I guess..." Same guy who thought that "cervical cancer" was a disease that attacked the neck vertebrae...but he couldn't understand why only women get it... (Well, I laugh, but I don't really mock--not since I tried to buy a cabinet with four drawers in it, and mistook the word "cajón" (drawer) for "cojon"--which I believe needs no translation! The salesman got the giggles and retreated, sending someone else to wait on me!)

So anyway, this is me apologising for not talking to any of my quilty friends for three months. Sarah in FL, Ginny and Silvia among others. It's taken me about 10 days to really feel rested. And since I had to speak this morning...but it gets easier every time. (Not easier to write the speech, but easier to give it.)

I haven't quilted a stitch in all this time; haven't even picked up a needle. I won't be posting flyers again till the end of the month, as this house is a bomb site. It's a dern good thing DH was around home to take up the slack! He has been an angel, helping me with cooking, cleaning and shopping without a murmur. He's had a couple of culinary disasters, but haven't we all, when we were starting out! I just remember the first few meals I prepared here--I was an experienced cook *in the States* but everything was so different here, and Spanish tastes don't run to say, cream of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch! ;)

The AC certainly has been a godsend, tho we tried to be wise using it. The electric bill wasn't too awful bad, about $60 for 2 mos. But I've even allowed my hair to grow some, because I can sleep without feeling like The Lady in the Water or something. LOL
Looks like the year is finally getting the turn, for 2 days we haven't used the air except at night (it keeps the mosquitos at bay).
Roll on, sweet gentle October, roll on!

I miss having the recipe page and the prayer page. I found a good carrot pudding recipe and would love to share...but nowhere to post it. Sigh.
Hugs to all
anna in spain