Holy Moly! It's the sun!!! We were beginning to worry that we'd somehow been transported to a different planet, far from its warming rays, where tomatoes wouldn't grow, and there could be no salsa, and no marinara sauce, nor tomato jam. Gasp! (This is my idea of Armageddon.) As it stands, the clouds are gathering again. It's possible we'll get more sunshine today, but I'm not counting on it.
There was a brief break in the rain yesterday. I went out to fill the bird feeders. While I was out, I noticed our Andromeda is loaded with cascading white flowers now.
It seems there's hope. It was danged cold though. It was 42°F, but it seemed colder for some reason. My hands were frozen by the time I headed back inside.
After that I traced out the 5th of 12 sundresses. Not that anyone is wearing anything like this right now.
You would not believe the level of help I received.
More catnip, please!
Then I got to work on the quilt I'm making for Quilts for Kids. Quilts for Kids used to be sponsored by Downy fabric softener. Since "Downy" has disappeared from their name, I'm thinking that might have ended. In any case, you can find the website right here. There are some cute patterns on their site regardless of who the quilt is for. I'm making the one called Four Patch Pattern, but you can make whatever pattern you like.
So I went digging through my stash of fabrics. This one can only fall under the heading of "What Was I Thinking?"
It took me a while to figure out what this was. They're the Chinese Zodiac animals. I have three yards of this...and it was one of the first fabrics I purchased when I was building a stash, so that isn't surprising. Back then, I bought three yards of everything. Nowadays, I'm more discriminating since my bins have filled to overflowing. I can only think I must have purchased this online, and on sale, as a way to get over a threshold for free shipping. Here's what the selvage says.
Out of curiosity, I went looking for my own year...
Turns out I was born during the year of the Horse. It says the horse is "popular and attractive." (Guffaw.)
Once I had my strips cut, I thought I'd do some sewing. Smitty had other plans for my sewing chair.
We negotiated a trade of the chair for the pile of quilts to be quilted.
Then, and only then, was I allowed to sit.
Then I got started. I needed 15 of the four patches and 15 of the whole blocks.
When I had the first two rows sewn together, I laid them out. Not bad.
By day's end, I had the blocks all sewn together into rows.
When I get back into the sewing room, I'll add two borders, and this top will be done.
I'll use that same zodiac fabric for the quilt back...and I'll still have plenty leftover...probably enough for another quilt.
Today we're going into town. While we were traveling, the truck windshield picket up a couple of rock chips. One of them spread into a large crack that travels about 2/3 of the way across the lower portion. He didn't want to repair it until we got home, figuring we'd probably pick up more rock chips along the way. His windshield is a fancy-dancy high tech one that knows when it's raining. It also knows when you've been sleeping. It knows when you're awake. It knows if you've been bad or good...oh wait....maybe not. Anyway, it's getting fixed today, and we have to take it to a place that deals with fancy windshields. No mobile windshield repair for us.
So I'm hoping to get into the sewing room this afternoon, but sometimes these early morning starts turn into unexpected adventures. One just never knows.
11 comments:
The kids will love that fabric. I am so lucky that I’m about 5 minutes from their home office. Therefore I am over there quite often to pick up a kit, drop off finished kits or kits that I have made from my stash. I just finished one today on the long arm. Got to get it bound and delivered.
LOL....the more you look at that fabric the more it grows on you. If you cut it up small enough that is. It sure works to set your 4 patches. Today we have sun too...after 2'' of rain. Enjoy it:)
I love your quilt. I have made that pattern many times for Quilt for Kids. I think I'll go look through my stash for some fun fabric and make another one. Hope my windshield doesn't get dinged because I have one of those fancy ones too (which I like).
Fabric choices, I am sure, give insight into the buyer and . . . hmmmmm. I can say no more. Except that I am an ox. We are a simple folk and I had never even heard of fancy windshields. Now, of course, I want one.
I love what you did with the fabric, really made it into a fun quilt, the kids will love it.
Debbie
I can see that your 'helpers" are glad to be home and in a quilt room!!!
and the Sun is wonderful--but right here where I live--we need rain--the sun and heat is killing everything--but I do love the Sun--!
what an interesting fabric print--don't you wished though you could go back in time and remember your thoughts as to why you decided to purchase that print??
it is making a bright and cherry quilt --so good purchase--
give the furry ones a hug --
enjoy, di
Well, you'd think a windshield that can do all that could at least be able to repair itself. Geez. Max the cat has been his usual helpful self while I'm quilting these days too. And the looks I get when I ask him (politely or not so politely) to move - heh. That sunrise photo is lovely! I think we've all purchased fabric and later asked ourselves what we were thinking. You're putting a good dent in it, though!
I hope you have more luck replacing your windshield than I did. I had a rock hit my windshield that resulted in a 14" crack. You're right, these fancy "high tech" cars not only require replacement, they should be "calibrated!" We first had to contact our insurance carrier, AAA, who told us to call a windshield replacement company that handled the claims. They told us to check with our dealer(Toyota) to find a factory replacement, not just an ordinary windshield would suffice. All this had to be approved by the insurance company. Since the company doesn't replace windshields at the dealer, we had to schedule a day for them to come to our house. We don't have, at this point, a garage that can accommodate a vehicle, since all the left-overs from our remodel are in the new garage. Our daughter, who helped us with the remodel, has not been well, so she has been unable to help us sort through tile, paint, and other leftovers. In the meantime, she had our first grandchild, which has put us behind cleaning out the garage. Anyway, we finally got the approval from the insurance company, ordered the windshield, wait for it to come in and find a day when it has not been raining, not too easy in the unpredictable Bay Area lately. When they finally came to replace the windshield, a part for the interior didn't match the original, so that had to be ordered, another delay. Then when it finally came in, we scheduled a day for the dealer to recalibrate the windshield. Remember, I said how unpredictable the weather is here. The day it was scheduled, I dropped my vehicle off the night before. We had a huge rainstorm that knocked out our wifi/computers/television. The dealer had the same problem, only because calibrating uses wifi to calibrate the windshield, it would have to wait another day. Thank God we have our older daughter's old Jetta to use for just this reason. Having a "back-up" car has been useful. Good luck with your windshield.
Rosemary
The purple, green and yellow make for a very bright and fun quilt. Our windshield isn't as high tech as yours, but when ours cracked it turned out to be due to manufacturer error, which made our life much easier. Hope the new install goes well.
That is cute fabric for a kids quilt. Bright and cheerful.
Your Q4K quilt is great - the colors remind me of Marti Gras too. :)
Since I'm catching up on Cat Patches after my surgery, I will probably not comment on all of them - or start an email for comments on all of them.
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