Test Block

I saw this quilt on Pinterest a while back and fell in love with it. I decided I wanted to make it to enter in the 2021 Quiltfest. The pattern arrived last week, but I only opened it yesterday.

Above is my test girl block. I see I got one of her pigtails too high, so I’ll have to figure out where I went wrong and correct that for the next girl. But I think this will will pass inspection as is. Little girls’ pigtails aren’t always symmetrical, you know.

There’s also a doggie block, a kitty, a small house and the large center school house, flowers, and a picket fence. I think it’s going to be fun to make. I won’t have to buy much, if any, additional fabric. I have plenty of cute prints in my stash. 

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On 08/01/2019, Lisa Allen said ...

She's adorable!

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On 08/01/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

What a charming quilt this will be and is sure to make folks at the 2021 quilt show smile. Enjoy the fun of making it and with those two cute blocks, you're off to a good start!

I'm with you on the varying height of pigtails!

Hugs!

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On 08/06/2019, Judy Cloe said ...

Love this pattern. I look forward to seeing it in the next show!
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Puzzle Pain

All right now, this is getting ridiculous. I have had this “Starry Night” puzzle on my dining table for more than a month and here’s where I am. It’s not like I don’t try. I spend time with it almost every day. I calculate I’m getting about two or three pieces per hour of trying in. So I’ve decided that I’m giving it another week--and not just an hour a day. I’m going to devote lots and lots of time to the boring thing this week. No quilt making, no reading except when I go to bed at night. Only the very most necessary housework. If it isn’t finished by Sunday, I’m telling my sister she has to get it off my dining table. As Popeye would say, “Enough is too much."

In the past few weeks, I’ve discovered (and bought) these two puzzles that caught my eye. I’m very anxious to get going on them. Plus I have five or six more waiting in the wings that I’ve found at the thrift store.

By the way, Mr/Miss/Mrs Turtle was returned to the wilds of my back yard. When Jesse went out a little while later to check on her/him, the critter had absconded. It was nowhere to be see. Probably hiding somewhere from the two-footed monster who caught him and imprisoned him in a big white tub and let some cats stare at him. Live long and prosper, Turtle.

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On 07/29/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Sorry Starry Night remains more of an annoyance that fun. Feel free to remove this puzzle from your dining room table and our life as it's become a pain in the neck or southwards. The tow new puzzles look wonderful and hopefully the makers didn't make the pieces the same shale.

May your turtle have a pappy life elsewhere.

Hugs!
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Another Beak to Feed?

Look what Skipper and I found a little while ago in our back yard. I was afraid if I left him out, a dog might get him. I also thought he needed water. But I don’t need another animal. I’m waiting to hear from my turtle-expert friend, and owner of two turtles, to see if she wants to add to her herd.

I guess I could take him down to the creek and let him go. Which I will probably do if Greta (the turtle lady) doesn’t take him. 

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On 07/28/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

I'm not sure I'd want a turtle on a quilt, but it's your quilt and, for now, your turtle!

Hope your turtle loving friend will take him/her so he/she can live safely and happily ever after.

Hugs!

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On 07/29/2019, Judy Cloe said ...

I think the turtle will be much happier released by the creek to live in the natural world.
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By the Pot or By the Cup

I have wanted one of these for some time. But with nobody in the house drinking coffee but me, I felt it would be a needless luxury. Jesse says he likes to smell coffee but doesn’t like to drink.

Anyway, daughter Andy gave me a Mayfair gift card for my birthday back in March. I had been procrastinating about what to spend it on until I discovered that Mayfair has the coffee pot for the same price as Walmart with no shipping fee. So I ordered it, and it came yesterday. You can brew and entire pot of coffee or a single cup. For the single cup, you can use pods or you can use the reusable filter cup that’s included to make a cup using your own ground coffee.

I am here to report that both the cup that i made last night and the pot that I made this morning turned out wonderfully well.

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On 07/27/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

How interesting. We use a Filtron cold water coffee system that we've had for about 35 years only buying new filters and such occasionally. It make concentrated coffee that is kept in the 'fridge and you put about an ounce into you mug and pour hot water over it. You get a fresh cup of coffee every time. We gave one to my parents as Mom would brew 8 cups of coffee in the morning and they drink it rehated all day. Ick!

I'm delighted this works for you!! Enjoy!

Hugs :)

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On 07/28/2019, marie said ...

i'm glad you got this and hope you're enjoying your coffee! yum!
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Fixed!

It wasn’t difficult at all to fix the Stegosaurus. The seam ripping was the hardest part. I never have been very good at taking out seams. But once I got the offending pieces out, it was easy peasy to put the correct ones in. For the tail, that meant just adding one half-square triangle. For the front leg, I actually made a new unit and replaced the old one.

I’m considering not adding borders as I had planned. I like the size it is now. I think maybe a binding made either from the leafy fabric or the dark green will be sufficient to frame the piece.

Now to get in a little afternoon reading.

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On 07/27/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

Way to go!!!

Hugs!
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Curses!!!!

I thought I had the Stegosaurus top finished except for adding the borders. I photographed him then came downstairs to download the photo and write a blog to post in the morning. While I was writing, I kept thinking “something doesn’t look right.” Then I looked back at the illustration in the instructions and about had an aneurism. Both his front leg and and his tail are wrong. Back to the drawing board--er, uh, I mean sewing machine.

I normally love this kind of piecing, where you cut out only squares and rectangles and sew them together in such a way as to create your design. This one, however, gave me some periods of frustration. The instructions were pretty awful. Some pieces were labeled incorrectly in the instructions and/or diagrams, one diagram was missing. And the instructions were crammed together in great chunks of type instead of separating steps into bullet points or at least separating them with line spaces. Now that I’m looking at my finished piece, I see that I didn’t catch all the mistakes in the instructions. Or maybe I added a couple of mistakes of my own.

Below is a photo of the diagram. You can see where the errors occur.

I don’t believe it will be too difficult to fix. Redo the front leg unit and replace the dark triangle in the tail with a background triangle. Easier said than done, probably. 

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On 07/26/2019, Barbara Anne said ...

What a bother to be faced with bad instructions and then to have some annoying mistakes, too. Your Stegosaurus looks good to me, so perhaps he/she can stay as it is?

TGIF!

Hugs!
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So Here’s the Deal

I had a nice visit with my primary care doctor and his nurse practitioner yesterday. Somebody (namely them) had the guts to tell me, straight out, what the other doctors I’ve seen have beat around the bush about. I cannot expect to ever be totally pain free again.

Strangely enough, that’s somewhat soothing. I’ve been worrying that there’s a cure out there somewhere that I just haven’t found yet. Turns out, that’s one thing I don’t need to worry about. 

But the news isn’t all bad. Dr. G thinks perhaps we can get the pain to a manageable level, a level at which I can go about living my life without having to stop every few minutes and lie down.

We’re going to start with physical therapy. (Note: This hasn’t helped in the past, but I’m willing to give it another go.) We’ll give that a chance to bring help, how ever long the therapist thinks I should give it (or however long my insurance will pay for it). If that doesn’t get me to a level where I can function more comfortably, Dr. G. is going to refer me to a pain specialist. He promises he knows one who doesn’t just give you a bunch of pain pills and send you home to bed. He didn’t go into detail as to what the pain doc does do. I guess we’ll have to see if and when it comes to that.

I believe I’m going to actually make it to the sewing room today. So here I go.

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On 07/25/2019, Denise Fischer said ...

I am glad you have a better picture of what's going on. I would suggest trying a different physical therapist than last time, different ones might have some slightly different training. That worked for me. Also a pain specialist can do wonders. My daughter was referred to one at Stanford when she was a teenager and that guy had some great techniques that were not meds.
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