Quilt in a Day Forums

Good morning,

We are on the road again today and will be in Yuma this afternoon, parked out on the desert IF the government hasn’t closed down the BLM lands. No power but for our generator that we will run a few hours a day to keep our batteries charged. I may have time to do a little bit of sewing while the generator us running. I have a few more blocks to make for the bow-tie swap. I am loving this swap so much that I’m doing a second set of blocks and it’s tempting to sign up for a third! But I won’t.

Chickie, how is the quilt coming along? Would love to have been able to deliver it to your friend for you. Yay for your tooths being purrfect!!

Becca, so happy to see you back with us! Hope your BP stays stable now. Was this from a reaction to your usual allergy shot?

Velda, your supper sounds great to me! When we were little about once a year Mom made tapioca pudding for supper -a huge pan and we could eat as much as we wanted. that was all there was. Talk about some delighted little girls!!!

Last night we made grilled chicken, boiled, buttered and parsleyed red potatoes, and french cut green beans all on the outdoor stove/grill. Yum! Tonight - i think dinner is in my sister’s court. Probably red beans and rice. If I’m making it then it will be pasta in pesto sauce. And I’ll add nuts, sliced olives, bits of fresh tomatoes, sliced pepperoni, artichokes, and anything else that sounds tasty. Asparagus sounds tasty but i dont have any.

What’s steaming up your kitchen windows tonight?

This is the view from our current campsite-a forest of saguaro cactus. They reach 20 to 30 feet tall and don’t grow arms until they are 50 to 75 years old. There used to be one cactus in Quartzsite with about 50 arms. It finally fell over about five years ago but it was majestic. Probably 200 years old at least .

Good morning! We are cool here today, and “Winter is coming” yet again and just in time for the weekend! Fortunately, the forecast is for only an inch or so of accumulation. Of course, I have seen 12” on the ground of “partly cloudy,” so I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m planning to go to the store tomorrow morning, meet my friend for coffee and have lunch with Mom. It’s supposed to rain all night, turn to mixed precipitation, then turn cold and windy tomorrow morning.

I would love to be in Arizona on the desert! Those cacti are beautiful!!!

Yesterday I worked on basting my quilt. It’s slow going as I’m trying to match the seams of the blocks on the back with the blocks on the front. I hope to finish basting today (if I’m lucky), and I’ll start quilting tomorrow afternoon or Sunday. I think I want to mark stencil designs for my quilting, so that will take longer. I’m enjoying the bright batiks of the quilt in the winter gloom—no sun yesterday. It was 30 yesterday when I walked to see Ava, and the wind chill was 23. I didn’t stay out any longer than I had to! Today will be warmer before turning nasty cold tomorrow.

As I was doing my yoga this morning, I looked across the pond and saw a coyote running across the pasture. There’s always something to see out the back windows.

Dinner tonight will be more Chinese! I made some Moroccan pink rice to go with it, and the rice is delicious. I’d never had it before and picked up a package at the health food store last week. I’ll be getting some more. It’s pretty and flavorful.

Becky and Shirley Mae—hope you don’t get a bad storm! I’m sick of what we’ve had, and it’s nothing compared with yours. We have so much mud! I saw a white cow walking across the pasture, and she had mud up to her knees! We are either too wet or too dry here. There’s never “average”.

Bon appétit!

Good morning!

It is snowing here. The mountains across the valley are getting dumped on. I am sure that Aaron was called out early this morning. Here we only received a few inches of snow overnight. But yesterday, we got over a inch of rain. Like we say here, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it will change.

Class was wonderful.

Need some invisable thread. The spool I have is OLD! It is breaking every few inches. I was sewing merit badges on Aaron's BSA uniform when he was 18 with this spool. He is now 32! A bit later we will run out to my LQS to get a new spool.

Aaron is stopping by to pick up a piece of brisket, or I should say slab of brisket to cure and smoke into pastrami. We all love pastrami here, so this will be a treat. It won't be done for a few days.

Dinner - I think chicken will fall out of the freezer. I have some broccoli that needs to be used.

Mary - I have always loved those cacti - would love to see them sometime. Watch the weather and head home between those storms. Here in Utah, the state government and private donors are keeping the National parks open. Haven't heard anything on the others.

Chickie - that quilt wil be a masterpiece matching both sides. More patience than I have!

I have the log cabin half assembled. Just need to sew all the horizontal rows together. Amazed Michael that I didn't mess up the pattern as I took them off the design wall and sewed them together. He sat there and watched, making comments that how do I not mess it up. I showed him the method El taught in my teacher training class. It works! So on to the borders. I will assemble the four pieces into one strip of border, then add it and miter the corners. Then down to the other end of the Batt Cave to the quilting queue.

Well, better get going,

Enjoy!
Jana

Good Morning Ladies and gents if out there.

MaryZ-----You sure took a nice pic of those cactus. Brought tears but happy memories. Pics just don't do them justice. To see one or dozens of them in person, is so inspiring. They are huge, weigh tons, and will crush a car or house if it falls on them. I always thought they kind of look like people and I named some at one RV park we worked at. LOL (I know, I am totally nuts but I am happy most of time)

The arms fascinate me. They actually grow arms to balance the cactus but it takes yrs to get that first arm. Those prickly little needles are actually like leaves, and provide a tiny bit of shade to the plant. If the cactus looks all fat and lumpy, it has rained a lot and they are retaining the water for a dry spell.

Have you ever seen them with a dusting of snow? Truly a wonder to behold, snow in the desert. The blooms are huge, up towards the top, and so pretty when opened up all over the desert in the spring.

I loved the cactus when we lived or worked at an RV park in AZ. The saguaro only grow in that part of the country. If you see a cactus like this in a movie about Texas cowboys, it was actually filmed in AZ. They don't grow in Texas. Other cactus do but not this variety.

So there is your cactus lesson for the day. Thanks for the memories. So you are heading for Quartzite. Been there so many times over the yrs. What a fun place. Come up over a hill and the whole desert is covered with rvs and tents and whatever for the big event in Quartzite.

The rest of the yr it is a tiny little town on the side of the road. But come winter and people from all over converge on this little town with a huge flea mkt atmosphere and so much to see and do. And we always ran into someone we knew while we were there. Hope the BLM is open. Never thought about that with the gov shut down. Have fun.

Farmchick------Hi, your weather sounds nicer than mine. Our 11" from last weekend is mostly melted except for the huge piles from plows doing the sts and driveways. Those dirty piles will be there until summer. Snow finally melted off trees and bushes and some popped back up but look straggly. So many trees and branches are down on the ground. Lots of folks were without power for a few days and some still are I think. Had snowstorm and 4" during football game last weekend. Made for a nice traffic snafoo all over town.

And, another big storm on its way. Chiefs game this weekend on sun at Arrowhead stadium. We live a few miles from that stadium. Telling folks to dress in layers, lots of them. Temps could be very low and wind chill will be below zero. Takes brave dedicated fans to go to a game on a day like that.

We are expecting rain starting tonight, then freezing and changing over to snow. Saying 2-4". Last week they said that too and we got 11" so not sure I believe them. Telling people not to travel on sat. Blizzard warnings and high wind conditions so expecting more power outages, trees down, and poor driving conditions. Not sure when the storm will end but then dropping dangerously low temps here.

Carpet cleaners came this am. We get a free one each yr when we renew our lease. They prefer to just go thru middle, high traffic areas since they don't move furniture. Cleaning guy doesn't much like us. WE move furniture and they are supposed to clean wherever they can. I completely emptied dining room and part of living room. They know us tho and always visit and very nice guy and his son. But we just take longer. LOL Looks nice tho but fans on now and a little cool in here.

Supper is in crockpot. Beef stew and Rod makes a really good one.

Rod can't walk around some days now, neuropathy in feet really bad so borrowed wheelchair from friend to get him to drs and inside. VA is a huge place when you can't walk around. So are groc stores so I am doing more and more of what we used to do together.

Sorry so long. But I do so enjoy reading about all your lives, your families, travels for the travelers like I used to be, and even your troubles. I pray for you all each day.

May God bless you, each and every one. Take care and Happy Quilting or whatever you are up to today. Love and hugs across the miles, Shirley Mae (and Rod and Domino the cat too)

Hi Jana, guess we were typing at the same time. Be glad you got rain instead of snow. I heard that 1" of rain equals about 10" of snow. I love hearing about Aaron and his HWY adventures. Prayers for all those who do jobs like his and other first responders.

I sure smiled about all the trouble those kids got into at your house. Kids are kids and they can invent fun things to do that adults would never dream of them doing. With four of my own, and always other kids around, I couldn't believe some of the things those kids got into. Groups dream up more trouble than just one kid will do. LOL

WE are getting both rain and snow (blizzard warnings) and high winds this weekend and will be a big mess. WE had freezing fog in this area for several days. Causes black ice and lots of accidents. Bridges are especially slick but can't see the ice until you slide on it.

Floors are slowing drying so I need to get busy. Poor Domino, the cat. I tried to get her to come back inside. She was asleep in closet when carpet cleaners were here. Door was open a gap, guy with hose got close to closet door and she come flying out and almost took off the door trying to get out of house. The hoses were blocking that door open so she could escape. Surprised the cleaning guy, I told him she was in there but he didn't expect her to come charging out and tear past him.

Gotta scoot. Shirley Mae

Hello,cloudy here.Temps are todip here too.

Maryz Thanks for the cacti info.I have never been out west.
Shots were cortisone shots.Cannot take steroids but I had a prednisone once & it never hurt me.Learned a valuable lesson.The hard way.

I have chicken pie to bake.With Cole slaw as side.

Tallulah,Wren &Sawyer & DGD are coming . Becca