We're warm and windy this morning here, but rumors are we're going into freezing temps starting tomorrow. Sigh. Well, who wants 70* in January anyway.
First quilting class is over. Whew! Turns out 17 people came! Yikes! There was no registration process. Nearly half had NO sewing experience whatsoever and didn't own a sewing machine. And of the people who did have machines, only one brought it. Turns out that was OK since we were starting at the very beginning, discussing fabric, thread, and showing them the star we were going to do. The last 2 hours of class was learning to cut fabric. With only five cutting mats and 17 people, it was a bit chaotic. But people were patient. Amazing that the same number of fingers left the building at the end of the day as came in in the morning! I never thought you could use a rotary cutter the way some of these gals were trying to use it! The library purchased quite a bit of fabric, 2 sewing machines, five 8-1/2"x24-1/2" rulers, five Gingher scissors, five sewing kits filled with with threads, seam rippers, msrg tapes, pins, and more, all in a specialized carrying case. They also ordered cutting mats but they hadn't arrived yet so it was a good thing I brought all five of mine from home. It was hard to answer everyone's questions. They came thick and fast. I think everyone got their project cut out, and two planned to try to sew them at home. But next Saturday the plan is to sew them together and the last class will be quilting and binding. It's a lot for 3 classes. And Autumn told me they will probably want me to do this every year from now on. But it was overall a good experience for me and I hope for the students. Two people left saying sewing wasn't not their thing but everyone else was full of thanks and went home smiling. Autumn casually displayed about a dozen quilts. More will go up next Sat. She immediately confiscated my yo-yo quilt for her birthday present! lol! Bill took a few pictures and I posted them in Photos. A HUGE thank you from the students, the library, and myself to those of you were kind enough to share some of your own beautiful fabrics for this project. No one expected this kind of turnout and the fabric the library and I provided was clearly not enough! You ladies were life-savers!
IRISH - your sister is a real pistol! But, if she doesn't kill you, she is keeping you young! I could never keep her/your hours! lol! So you are getting new flooring, too! Well, talk to Mary Q and Chriss, who both got new floors recently and both are going to or did have them replaced. Mary's rolling chair ruined her floor. LYN is also getting flooring put into her sewing cabin.
LOIS - thank you for the vote of confidence. Are you starting your new project today or waiting until tomorrow?
BECCA - sorry you have to go out on errands and appts in such cold weather. Do you have snow on the ground? Phone business would probably put me over the edge. I so don't deal with electronics well at all. I was very proud of myself that I showed Bill how to use emojies. He is all about electronics of all kinds but he didn't know how to use emojies.
JANA - so sorry you and Michael are going through dementia issues. There are so many kinds, levels, causes. And the patience required by family and caregivers is phenomenal. My brother, Gene's wife had Alz and a friend recommended the following book for him. It's written for loved ones to read and explains so much in a conversational manner, with humor. So I read it, too. Even though I'd cared for many dementia patients in my pre-NICU nursing days, I learned a lot. It's called Creating Moments of Joy by Jolene Brackley. And thriftbooks.com has it for less than $5. Well worth it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264617705462?c ... gKpovD_BwE
JUDI - how was the party? What gift did you come home with? All that fun plus a new baby girl! What is her name? I told Bill your comment yesterday about pregnant rabbits in your basement and he's still laughing! But all the talk of purging is making me anxious to get home and do it myself! My DMIL had a lot of beautiful Christmas ornaments but after she died and Dad E moved on with life, his new girlfriend moved in and she and her daughter threw away all of my DMIL's ornaments. In fact, all of her everything! So I have nothing of hers. When we were growing up all my parents' Christmas decorations filled one cardboard box, about the size of today's plastic totes. That was it. Nothing outside. We cut our own tree on our own property and didn't put it up until about Dec 21. The tree, the chipped, mismatched nativity set with the shoebox it was stored in turned on it's side to serve as a stable, and a small ceramic Santa/sleigh were all we had. It was so exciting to put it all up! And some years we kids got to use templates and Glass Wax to decorate the windows. Those were big years for us! We had to be very careful putting the tinsel on the tree so it would hang just right - and then even more careful as we took it off, saving it for the next year.
CHRISS - how was your church meeting yesterday? Any decisions made? My mom made special pancakes, too, but they were her dinner pancakes. Sometimes she would add shredded cheese and cooked, crumbled bacon to the batter. Sometimes creamed corn. Now you've got me hungry for pancakes for supper! Maybe tonite.
MARY Q- You are right! The squirrels were on a rampage at your house yesterday! I actually like that Rocky Mountain High quilt, though I never made it and probably won't despite all the family I have in CO. So is today going to be more of the same or are you settling in on something? What quilt are you making the baby girl? You told us fabrics, I think, but is there a specific pattern? Did I miss it?
VAL - the same is true of most of the quilts I make - no plan, just want to make them. I tend to try something challenging - step outside my comfort zone - and then relax with an easy pattern. Then try another challenge. Bill got me Cinzia White's book, Dazzling NY Beauty Sampler for Christmas. Now we are talking Challenge with a capital C! But I'm going to give it a go in 2025.https://www.amazon.com/Dazzling-York-Be ... 9058&psc=1
TINA - I try to keep up with my dresser drawers but I don't dare touch Bill's because "I'm not his mother!" So his are a disaster and he never gets rid of old clothing - just keeps piling the old stuff up in the closet. I'm so tempted to sneak something out of the bottom of the pile about once a month and see if he notices. But he probably would and then we'd have to have a fight about it and it's just not worth it.
LORI - We also shred as we go through life. Do you do anything with your shreddings? I've been told they aren't recyclable, but some people use them in their flowerbeds and gardens in winter. In your climate you might not want to do that.
Today is relax day. Warm and windy. But our temps will be dipping drastically. I need to do some cleaning in the trailer. And I got out my Star Silhouette project which is composed of 374 4" blocks. Each block is two 2-1/2" HST's and two 2-1/2" squares. I have 198 blocks left to do. If I get nothing else out of this project, I've finally learned out to spell silhouette!
And now Chriss and Tina have me thinking about pancakes so that just might be our supper tonite. And I'll use Mom's recipe and add some shredded cheddar and maybe creamed corn.Seahawks play their last game today. I hope I can stay awake. Football tends to put me to sleep. They are out of playoff contention now but we still will enjoy watching. Or sleeping, as the case may be.
Have a great day!
mary z
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