Readin', Writin', 'Rithmatic!

I've been on a reading kick recently... I read six or seven books by Daniel Silva over the past month.  His protagonist is a Jewish art restoration expert who also happens to be a spy for a group they just call The Office.  In very believable fashion he and his team manage to save the world from some act of terror or revenge in every book.  Mr Silva is a former journalist, so it's like these stories are ripped from the headlines, as they say.  I like his writing and the flow of the stories are so good that thus far I haven't been a bit tempted to skip over any of the middle to get to the end, like I do with some books where the writing is laborious or the story line is predictable.

I'm also reading quilting patterns.  I've said before that my church quilters make quilts and give them out to people who are ill, hospitalized, suffering loss or hurt, and to all the babies baptized at our church.  We've accumulated a pile and are displaying them in the choir area this summer, like the photo above from a few years ago.  

I'm reading patterns mostly to find some patterns that are fat quarter friendly and easy enough for anyone to sew... we sorted our cabinet last spring and have a good sized box of smaller pieces, half-yards and quarter yards, that need some thought before they're tossed into a kit or into the discard pile.

Many patterns need a yard or more of background to make up a kit, and while we have some background fabric, most of what we have in the stash are prints.  I do take some of our budget occasionally and buy yardage of neutral solids, so we need a sort-out day to see what we need now.

Hopefully the thinking process doesn't burn up brain capacity and we can actually find things that work!  Of course some of our ladies are busy over the summer going to cottages and lake property.  I'm just happy to spend these hot humid days in my air-conditioned sewing space!

I signed up for an on-line class last week called Math for Quilters.  I was pretty sure I knew where they were going (upsizing/downsizing blocks, figuring out half square triangles, adding borders) but the class was free so why not?  It was on Friday evening, and as luck would have it, that was the one Friday where I wasn't sitting around looking for something to do.  Yes, I missed it.  😒

However, I did come across some videos on YouTube about quilter math that were good, so I watched those over the weekend, and I don't feel deprived.

I bought a copy of Electric Quilter 8 and have been playing around with it.  Mostly I wanted to be able to mock up a quilt and change the sizes so I could recalculate the amount of fabric required, like when I have a pattern for a full sized quilt but I want to make it smaller for our donation quilts.  It's been an interesting proposition.  The learning curve isn't too steep unless you want fancy blocks or you want to draw your own blocks.  I started with some 12 inch blocks and simple borders and I think I'm getting the hang of it.  There are free videos, and more advanced classes that you pay for once you go beyond the basics.  Time will tell.

this week I'm getting over a cold.  It's weird.  I haven't had a cold since winter of 2019... I guess all the Covid precautions are good for keeping colds and the flu away too!  I couldn't place the feeling at first, the sluggish head and the sniffles quickly settled into chest congestion and coughing.  Now i remember why my kids hated the taste of cough syrup!  But we're almost over it, and thankfully DH didn't get it, because you know male colds are always more deadly...

Two quilts went to the long-armer yesterday.  The newest one which was the mystery quilt from the virtual retreat in February was finally finished.  I decided it didn't really need a border, it was big enough.  And  the other one was one I've been working on ignoring for the better part of probably 10 years.  It finally made it out of the box and onto the table.  The blocks were finished, and a few of the rows were done too.  Honestly, what made it so forgettable was that it had tiny sashing, 1.25 inches that finished at 3/4 inch.  All that sewing!!  And if you wobble it's so noticeable!!

Quodlibet, pattern by Judy Hasheider... the name means "A medley of familiar melodies" and the quilt is made up of many familiar little blocks.

I have to say that I make much better flying geese now.  

Going down to see what projects are awaiting!  Sew on...
 

Writing. Or Not.

Time was when I could write two or three postings in a day, and could not wait to publish them. 

<Sigh>

These days I can hardly bring myself to write a grocery list.  I thought I was handling things pretty well.  You know, the whole reduce your life to the necessities, don't go anywhere unless you have to, keep your circle of contacts small thing necessary because of the pandemic.  I was pretty emotionally healthy before so I could handle things just fine, right?

Well, I DO live with an OCD, neatness-obsessed curmudgeon who doesn't talk a lot.  And lately neither one of us seems to be able to retain things for more than 20 seconds.  Two times in the last two weeks I've put down my travel mug and done a task, and then left the building I was in without the travel mug.  Neither time did I remember I'd had it with me until someone found it!

During the summer last year I temporarily quit my part time job, which lasted through Christmas (the quitting part, not the job).  I went back in January, enduring the wearing of a mask during my four hour shifts, checking people out from behind plexiglass, sanitizing everything anyone might have touched or even looked at.  It was hard, and I don't even work in an essential industry.

I gained weight.  My Dr visit brought the sad news that I really needed to start moving more...  As if!

I hate exercise.  Truly.  I don't mind walking from the back of the parking lot to the stores when I go shopping, but working out?  Sorry, no.

Maybe I should try harder.  But then it was too hot for such a long time this spring... yeah, that's why.

So, back to writing.  I love to read, and I used to love to write.  I guess I've touched the wall that makes all things during the times in which we live hard to deal with.  I still love reading.  But doing the actual activity of writing is very hard these days.

So, apologies to anyone who might be checking here to see what's happening.  I've been reading, sewing, cleaning closets and scrubbing things, checking on other people's blogs, watching a lot of YouTube videos... even doing a little cooking and baking.

But writing??  Not so much.  Don't worry, I'm sure things will improve, eventually.

Right now, I need to go clean the bathrooms and brush the cat.

Rock on...

How To Get Views For Your Video

 Our church does a live stream of a service on Sunday, and during Lent we've been doing the mid-week service as a live stream too.

Technology is very good when it works, and very bad when it doesn't.  There doesn't seem to be any kinda good or kinda bad with it.

A couple of weeks ago there was some difficulty with one of the services, and the live stream didn't work.  But our tech director did manage to record it and put the recording out on YouTUBE later.  However, the original video stayed there, where it was posted.  You could begin to watch it and then it flipped and froze up.

The tech guy must have been very frustrated.  I can't blame him.  But he titled the video DON'T WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!

When I opened my subscriptions on YouTube the next day I saw the unsuccessful video next to the subsequent upload.  The successful video had gotten 12 views.

The one that was entitled DON'T WATCH THIS VIDEO!!! had 53 views!

People can't look away from a traffic accident either.  :-)

Don't go looking for it.  We've retitled it, but at least now we know how to boost viewership!

Rock on...

The End -- of March!! Whaaaatt???

Three months into 2021 I'm wondering what the heck happens to time as you get older.  It seems to telescope, or zoom past.  Zooming used to mean going fast, now it's meetings where you only worry about the state of your hair and what kind of top you put on, and you're wearing pj bottoms or fuzzy slippers!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!

And another month has disappeared.  What have I accomplished?

Finish it February is over.  I managed to finish a couple of old stinker projects.  A sweater I don't even remember casting on; a cowl I started at least three years ago; a pair of socks that only requires the closure of the toes.  What I didn't manage was to figure out why I ever stopped knitting on these items in the first place.

I have decided I need some fiber therapy.  I'm tired of people and meetings.  Well not ALL people, just a few select people.

I recently had an encounter that was very upsetting.  Someone with whom I work did something they shouldn't have which made extra work for me, and I was angry.  I encountered said person not intending to speak to them, but they spotted me and started justifying and explaining.  I said "I can't talk about this now, I'm still too upset."  This person just ignored that statement and continued their diatribe.  I said again "I don't want to talk now".  Same result.  

I should have walked away.  I deeply regret not walking away, because I spoke up, listing several reasons why I was upset about what had happened.  The other person was smiling and nodding like you do when someone else is talking, but obviously not listening because immediately after I stopped talking they went back to more of the same stuff as if I hadn't spoken.

I finally just turned and left the room, which is what I had intended to do in the first place.

Later I received an apology in email in which this person said they were sorry they were not 'communicating well'.

COMMUNICATION:  NOUN

the imparting or exchanging of information or news.
  the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings.

Obviously I believe communication is a joint venture, where two or more people exchange information or ideas.  Each listens to the other.  Obviously I was the person not communicating well because the things I said didn't penetrate into the conciousness of the other person.

CONCIOUS:  ADJECTIVE

aware of and responding to one's surroundings; awake.

 

The apology was long and wordy and ended with a classic passive-aggressive statement that was probably intended to make me feel guilty over the anguish I had caused the person by being upset.  But instead it made me even more upset.  I lost a couple hours of sleep and thought of all sorts of things I could have said if the conversation had continued.

However!!  I didn't say any of them.  I responded to the email saying that the particular martyrdom offered up was not required, but that in future the proper thing to do would be to blah-blah-blah for the protection of all parties involved and let's leave it at that.  Phrased very diplomatically and omitting all emotion.

After that I resolved to try to learn not to react or say things that might momentarily feel good but don't solve the issue.  And to limit the interactions with this person to only the very necessary.  The apology offered is basically worthless because the person completely missed the point, and hasn't enough respect for me to listen when I speak.  The thing they're sorry for is that they've been seen to be wrong and someone other than me knows it.

Ah, Reader, it's sad for me to realize that some people just have to be avoided in order to retain sanity!  Is it Pandemic Behavior, or is this something that this person has always done and I just can't tolerate it any longer?  I retreat from this type of behavior, it's exhausting to deal with and I don't want to do it any more.

Can I just stay in my house forever, and not deal with difficult people?

Sadly, no.

So I'm spending some time with my knitting projects and trying to avoid stinky people with bad personalities for a while.  Wish me luck!

Knit on...

 

Finish It February

 A YouTube channel that I watch regularly is hosted by a woman in Minnesota named Roxanne Richardson.  She is a Certified Master Hand Knitter, and a techie and teacher.  

One of the January videos was about the month she calls "Finish It February".  I loved the concept!  If you have UFOs (unfinished objects) you take the month of FEbruary and try to finish them off.  Out go the UFOs, in come FOs, or things you can actually USE.  

What a concept!

She hosts a group on Ravelry.com and invites people to discuss and post their UFO/FOs in February.  Not being brave enough to do that, and be shown up, I posted mine to Facebook.

I picked out several things that I wanted to complete at the end of January. Ugh, January, can any month be more depressing in Wisconsin, and then the whole post-election thing!!  But onward we go, and things got calmer.

First up, some socks.  I knit top down, four double pointed needles, one at a time.  I had two pairs in process, one regular and one yoga socks (no heels or toes).

The yoga socks were easy, since the heels and toes take the most time.  I think I actually had those done before the end of January.

These are now finished, that loose end and other ends have been woven in, and I love wearing them around the house.

The other pair has slid itself to the end of the line, I have both toes and heels done, but the toes need to be finished off with the Kitchener stitch, and ends woven in.  Make Up March??  LOL!

Next came two cowls.  One was started in like late 2018 or early 2019, the other more recently.  Last to start was first to be finished.  This was knit with a free pattern from two balls of Chroma from Knit Picks.  I love red!

You can get a different look by twisting one color or another around to the front.  I don't remember the pattern name and I can't locate it right now.  It was a Knit-Along on Ravelry I think.

The other cowl is the Toolbox Cowl.  It's a paid for pattern.  It is specifically designed to feature several mini skeins in various colors.  I think you're supposed to do seven or eight, and I might do that for a second one, but I stopped after I had used each color that I had one time.  Two times would have made this too tall for my short neck.

I love this yarn, it's called CoBaSi, for Cotton-Bamboo-Silk.  It's not fuzzy, but it is warm and colorful.  See for yourself:

All the ends are woven in and it's blocked and ready for wearing.

The last thing on my list was a gray UFO that was on the 8 year plan.  I'm not even sure when I started it, but it was a while ago, at least one house before this one!  The yarn is a crinkly 90% acrylic 10% wool that I bought ages before I started the project.  It was probably cheap because I wasn't a yarn snob when I bought it.  But it was a pretty shade of gray, dark and charcoally.  

The pattern is called Allegra from either Lion Brand or another yarn company and it was free for downloading.  It's knit side to side.  The pattern shows it being shorter than it turned out, and I didn't do that purposely.  I think I knit a gauge swatch but maybe not!  Who can remember that long ago?

Anyway, all done but the blocking now.  Although whether blocking makes any difference with that much acrylic content who can tell?  But finished is better than perfect!

Not to worry, I haven't run out of UFOs!  But it's nice to have these done.

On other notes, I got a mammogram this week, and a first dose of the Covid vaccine.  Take care of yourself, because if you don't, who is going to do it for you?  It's important, especially these days.

Knit on...

If You Can't Say Anything Nice...

My mom used to say "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".  

I wish some public figures would learn that!  I know that's an impossibility, but a girl can dream, can't she?  LOL!

I think MOST of the people on TV these days hold more with 'if you can't say anything nice, come sit next to me".

Now that 2020 is over and people are looking toward making New Year's Resolutions, I've been thinking about the effect 2020 had, and what we can look forward to in 2021.  Did you know most resolutions are forgotten by February?

Right now, just more of the same old - same old stuff.  As the engineers I worked with used to say, Same S**T, Different Day.  Truth.  It's going to take a while before things go back to anywhere near what used to be normal.

Normal? 

I hope not!  I hope we learned some things, and make some permanent changes.  Make America great again??  Ha ha!  I hope we can make America SMARTER.  Make America be nice again, read again, be sensible again.  If only!

Wishful thinking again?

If you're one of those who makes resolutions or chooses a word for the year, here are a few random thoughts of mine.  Remember, these and $5 will get you a coffee at Starbucks...

The word I'm sick to death of is unprecendented.  

[ˌənˈpresədən(t)əd]  ADJECTIVE

1. never done or known before.

   "the government took the unprecedented step of releasing confidential correspondence"

   synonyms:

   unparalleled · unequaled · unmatched · unrivaled · without parallel · without equal · extraordinary · uncommon · out of the ordinary · unusual · outstanding · striking · exceptional · prodigious · abnormal · singular · remarkable · unique · anomalous · atypical ·
2. As you can see, there are approximately 20 synonyms but how many of them did you hear on the nightly news??  Don't get me started on the vocabulary of today's news people!!

The word I tried to use in 2020 was FINISH.  I wanted to finish projects in a reasonable time.  I wanted to finish up my UFOs, I tried to be better at this, and I only really achieved anything like a reasonable finish rate in November.  Maybe the holidays were a good motivation.  Maybe I work better with a deadline.

Focus.  I like that word a lot.  2020 was a hard year for me with regard to personal focus.  I learned that if I don't make lists and set deadlines, I slide way down the focus meter.  I said to myself too many times, I can do that tomorrow.  Then I spent today doing not a lot of anything productive.  Hence the Covid 10 - that's pounds I gained from sitting on the couch eating M&Ms.  😒

1. 

2. I hereby resolve to continue to reach out to my people in 2021 like I did in 2020.

3. Well, I didn't do a great job at that, so maybe my resolution should be to do it better.  With being homebound for so much of the year, we learned, each in our own way, which of our relationships were most important to us.  Did we get closer to our significant other or wish to smother them with a pillow at night?  Just KIDDING! But you get my drift... who was it that we ached to see, and to whom did we send texts or make phone calls most often?  Those are our significant others.  May we cherish them in 2021 even better than we did in the past.

4. 
   
   And what didn't you miss?  I found that I can live without actually going into the grocery store.  I am perfectly happy to send my hubby with lists 95% of the time.  It's only when he spends $17 on an organic whole chicken that I regret not going myself.  Because he would NEVER think to comparison shop nor call me from the store.  And he'd rather buy an organic chicken than disappoint me by coming home without one.  I think I like that about him most of the time.

5. 
   

   
   And guess what, it was actually no better (or worse) tasting than the $6.60 non-organic one I bought this week!

6. I don't miss shopping for other things, first because, well, Amazon.  And secondly because I don't need anything else.  Really.  I learned that this year.  The different between need and want was always an intellectual thing.  This year I learned what it really is.  I need nothing that I don't already have.  A nice home, warm clothes, food to eat, a great family, a church home, Jesus in my heart.  Everything else is, as they say, gravy.

7. So here's to 2021.  May it be everything you want it to be, but be careful what you wish for:  you might just get it!

8. Keep calm and carry on...

9. 

Quilting, or How I Bit The Bullet

 I self-define as a piecer, not a quilter.  Let's be honest, I think I KNOW how to do it, heck I've even taken a few classes.  But it's not really my thing.  I always tell people that I quilt by checkbook.  And I'm not sorry.

People outside the quilting world often think that 'quilting' is the whole thing from buying the fabric to having a finished quilt.  To them I probably look like a 'quilter'.  I start with fabric and end with a quilt.  But I prefer to think of myself in the purest terms as a piecer.  I so love the process of choosing pattern and fabric, cutting the parts and sewing them together.

Then, I'm done.  Literally.  I have a tub of tops to prove my point.  

Now being a piecer has its drawbacks... dollars for one.  You normally have to pay someone to do your quilting for you, unless you can barter or trade for it.  So each quilt sent to a long-armer ends up costing somewhere from $75 to $100 and up as they get bigger.

Of course they are very worth it.  They come back looking fantastic!  The woman who is doing my quilts these days has a real flair for matching her pantograms to my fabric choices.  She is a jewel!

But I have done some small items.  This table runner I made for my son was a Quilt-As-You-Go project, all straight lines.  I can handle that.

But recently I have been making a real effort to get some of my UFOs finished without spending a ton of money.  Honestly, some of the early ones are not works of art, not long-arm worthy.

So it doesn't matter if the quilting is expertly done, right?  As long as they hold together.  They'd be good practice, and my sewing machine comes equipped with at least two different types of quilting feet.  OK, so I decided to give it a try.

This holiday table runner was purchased two years ago at least.  The fabric is gorgeous, and it could not have been easier to make.  A friend and I bought them together on the same shopping trip and hers has been done (and expertly so) for probably the whole two years.  So I got brave and jumped in.  I did a decent job in the center panel, quilting on the lines of the leaves and swirls.  The next two borders got really wonky figure eights.  Whatever.  The outside border got loops.  I figured it was going to be hard to see against the print.

OK, bound and done.

Next was this family quilt.  My sewing family decided to do a block exchange.  Aunty Sunny wanted a Christmas Quilt.  She started it.  She made the Christmas tree with instructions from our Friday Night Sewing sisters.  Everyone made twelve blocks of the same type and we swapped.  We were short on people so cousin Shelly and I each made two blocks, and got two quilts.  That was a while ago, because two of my cousins who participated have since passed away.  I decided to layer and quilt this one myself.

There are lots of blocks that have buttons or trims on them.  Santa has a pompom on his hat, and his beard and mustache are fringy.   I made the top left block and the bottom center block.  My theme was wreaths.  My quilting leaves something to be desired.  Hopefully I'll improve on quilt number 2.

This quilt was made from scraps left over from other projects.  To me it looks kind of Dr. Seuss-ish.  My daughter's father-in-law agreed.  Maybe he'd like it!  

My quilting is actually improving... at least it feels a little more comfortable, and my shoulders are not attempting to disengage from my arms!  So there might be light at the end of the tunnel.  Or is that the train!!??

Three UFOs finished in December.  Wow!  I amazed even myself.  I also bound Woven Ribbons, which was quilted by Lynn about a year ago.  Can I count that as four??  LOL!  I need all the credit I can get.

Quilt on...

And Then...

Some days.  I just can't even.  I must have Covid Brain...

Do you feel like that sometimes?  There are days when I get up and think I have so much ambition and I'm going to get so many things done today, and then suddenly it's 4 p.m. and what did I do today?  Nothing.  Good heavens, it seems like the whole YEAR has gone that way!

Squirrel!!

Today for example.  I was going to go down to the sewing room and do some machine embroidery.  I put scallop shells onto linen napkins for baptisms at my church.  I have a stack ready to go.  I have thread and stabilizer.  The design is loaded up.

Instead, after I combed my hair (I really need to schedule a haircut!) and made the bed and took some antacid because breakfast didn't agree with me, I sat down at my desk and started cruising Amazon.  For what, I asked myself?  I don't need a thing.  Well, just let's check out any new books that may have come out since Wednesday... squirrel!

So I decided that I needed to figure out just what I DID finish this year, or at least since Covid made us all stay home more.

First, I made a few shop samples.  This was just a top, someone else quilted it.  There's a kit you can buy, at least there was before Christmas...

This table runner I pieced, quilted and bound.  Granted, the quilting is pretty basic, diagonal lines.

I also knitted a few things, finished completely!  The first big one was Miss E's Harry Styles sweater.

Then I finished a Wave of Change for a gift.  Sadly, no pic of the finished sweater...

This was a UFO that had languished for ages.  Finally finished both of the sleeves and I'm done.

This is a second Wave of Change, modified for stripes.  Again, sadly, no photo of the finished sweater, but it was gifted on Christmas Eve.

The same young man who got the striped WOC sweater got this quilt.   I actually quilted this one too,

with a wavy pattern and swirls.  My shoulders ached for days after doing this on my home machine!

Next thing I found a photo of was this pile of pillow cases.  It's what you do when you have 24 inches of fabric left over.

I completed two quilt tops for the preschool at church and passed them along to our quilter for finishing.  They were auctioned off as a fundraiser for the school.

This was a fun project, I actually did two of them.  Three strands of worsted held together, and crochet with a BIG hook for about three days and you get a basket to store your extra yarn in, or whatever have you.  They fold flat when empty.

I also did a blue top called Traffic Jam, it's a Pat Sloan free project on her website.  I donated this top to our church guild, but I'm so loving these blocks that I have enough for a red top and nearly enough for a green one!

I also knitted about a dozen kitchen dish clothes...

AND I finished this Camaro sweater, which was going to be for me but ended up gifted to Miss A, who liked it a lot.  No pic of the finished sweater yet.  Maybe she'll model it for me.

And masks...

OK, so not such a lost year after all.  Hmmm, I'm inspired to go down to the sewing room again!

Sew on...

Just When You Think You Know Anything...

So today (Wednesday, December 23) I'll be hopefully getting the last of the Christmas deliveries.

I read somewhere, who can remember, that there was going to be a problem getting quilt batting due to Covid caused shortages and shipping delays.  Our guild at church uses these rolls for all our quilts, and we generally go through two rolls a year.

I decided I'd better start looking to get another one on order, since rumor had it that the wait could be up to three months.

On Monday, I went on line to search rolled batting.  I found a roll of what we usually get on the Walmart website, and placed my order.  Delivery date?  

Wednesday.  December 23.  2020.

Oh my!  Well, I hope there's a spot in my garage to store it so it can sit until I can deliver it to church.  Having it delivered to the church building on December 23 was just not an option, because, well Christmas.  Services are being held on Friday and Sunday with the expected increased numbers in attendance of people who only attend at this time, and Live Nativity taking place on Friday afternoon.

Go figure.

Well, the good news is, there doesn't appear to be a batting shortage after all!

Sew on...