FRIDAY, January 10th, 2025

[purrfect-lady]

Good morning,

Today is Autumn's 48th birthday. And my dad's who would be 113 today. And also one of our past shelties, Shamrock who would be 40. We used to have some fun family parties with the three of them! We're babysitting today and will be staying a lot later than usual so A&A can go on a birthday date.

JUDI - What a smart little genius you have in your crowd! I know you had a fun day with her. And we got the same gift from the A-Team - A calendar with a special photo for each month. What a great gift to be treasured! How is Gramma Val doing? Sounds like you and Ken have some clothes shopping to do! Together, you've lost about the equivalent of a first-grader!

TINA - You have a ring side seat to some of those wrecks with your view of I-10! Hard to know how to drive in the snow when it so rarely snows there. But people have to slow down. Speed is usually what causes most snowy wrecks in our area and it only takes one speeder to crash everyone. Did you finish your Valentine placemats?

LORI - I'm glad you're safe from the fires, and hope none start near you. Are you sewing?

MARY Q - I used to have several pantos for quilting and they worked great. But when Bill insisted on buying the Q-bot and started doing the quilting so I gave my pantos away. But after a few years he got bored and now it's a struggle to get him to quilt anything and I don't have any more pantos, so when I quilt, I just do a freehand meander. Though I did use the needle like a pen once and 'wrote a letter' to my DGS in the quilting on his special 21st birthday quilt. You bought your DEX's clothes? That would never happen at our house. Bill wants to try on everything. And shoe shopping with him is painful. He can never make up his mind so he goes through everything in the store and usually ends up getting the first pair he tried on or else walks out with nothing.

VALERIE - sorry you are having little success teaching your DD to quilt. Is she really interested in quilting? Neither of my girls has any interest in sewing at all. Did you get the binding on your Starry Night? Pictures please!! We all want to see pictures of these beautiful quilts you are making. A trip to look forward to will get you through the rest of the winter! It will be here more quickly than you realize. As for a route, I guess you mark your "must sees" on a U.S. map, and then make a list of your "wanna sees" and see what fits in. Planning can be as much fun as the trip itself! Do you know when your new machine et al will arrive?

LOIS - you know, you can make your own pantographs. There are books of quilting patterns. Plus any pattern you see anywhere - color books, pictures, the rooster on the corn flakes box - anywhere! You trace the pattern you like on a long paper. Tissue type works best which is what Golden Threads is like - comes in a roll. But you could tape any sheets of paper together. You then fan fold the paper the width of your selected pattern, and stitch through all layers on the design you've traced, but do NOT use thread. You unfold the paper and the stitching marks your pattern all across your paper. You secure the paper across your quilt and follow the pattern with your laser. If you decide to try this and if you tape papers together, try to place the tape where the needle won't go. Tape and needles aren't a good mix. This pattern you've made is reusable. Does this make sense?

Our new hitch is supposed to arrive today. Though the big storm might delay it a little bit. But that's OK, we have time. And we finally got the police report yesterday from our accident (which happened 4 weeks ago!). And the officer filled it out wrong, naming us as hitting the other guy! Arghhhh!! Supposedly it will be corrected today. We had to pay for this report in order to see it (on line) and I sure hope they don't make us pay for it again but we expect they will. At first the officer didn't even write the report. We had to go to his lieutenant to get this done. So I don't suppose the officer is too happy with us. But we need that report.

Yesterday was a sewing day for me. I am almost done making my blocks! I should be able to finish the last ones this morning before we go to Amara's house. Whew! Now that didn't take long, did it. Just 7 months! Now I guess it will take me another 7 months to get these 347 little blocks together! lol!

We were going to grill Yankee Dip Sandwiches last night, but it was 35*, windy, and pouring rain. Bill wasn't inclined to BBQ, so we ended up with grilled cheese sandwiches for supper. Tonight we'll be babysitting while the kids are out for the birthday date so I think Bill is going to run to Whataburger for us. He gets a hamburger and I'll have a grilled jalapeno chicken burger. We'll share with Amara or make her whatever he folks might leave for her.

Happy today! That's all, Folks!
mary z
>^+^<

[grammiequilts]

Good morning , we had a nice dinner last night, food was ok. Ken took the leftovers to work for his lunch today.
We made some plans but basically what we already knew...We wil wait til we get to florida to see what my sister and my cousins have in mind. we are leaving a day esrly to go down through Alabama and go around the gulf coast...Ken hate driving through Atlanta and we have been caught in many traffic jams there and the by pass also/ so we will take another route this year...( once a truck full of toilets over turned and left its load on the freeway tying us up for over an hour stopped in traffic...)
Yes I had a fun visit with Miss Smarty Pants..she is fun to talk to and she would be ready for preschool early if not for one big problem...she refuses to potty train,,,2 and a half and its a no go. She will sit on the potty but tells her Mom she went in her diaper.....so each child has their talents,,,and their short falls..
Her gramma Val ( DDIL who just go back fro mexico and her stem cell treatment) works with her as much as she can. She was a talker from day one but a late walker and a late potty goer. My DDIL is doing well thank you for asking...Her immune systems seems to be recoverong and she feels good...is able to do her therpy and will walk with a walker some of the time...She doesnt expect a miriacle cure but is hoping she does not get any worse right now...we of course are hoping for a miracle from all the prayers we send,,,
I am heading to the cutting table today to work on the quilt...it started before my knee surgery, A lot of sewing and cutting to assemble the finished blocks. it is a fussy quilt top..hope you are all getting something done today too...XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

[fabricgirl]

Good morning,

We had an early chiropractor apt so now we are back and I have already put a load of clothes on I think we have more wash in the winter then the summer.
Yesterday I sewed a but 3 rows on the second half of the quilt so thats what I will do today then I will press each half and then put both halves together in between wash loads.
Mary thank you for all the advice but now I don't know if I'm going to try this.
Judi your navy sounds like a little adult and yes some kids don't want to go potty maybe be by the time she is 3.

Well thats it for me I hope you all have a great day.
Prayers go out to all.
Lois

[auntjana]

Good morning!

As per normal, it's cold! A bit of heavy frost, with snow coming later. I believe snow when I see it!

Ethan is doing much better as the antibiotics are helping tremendously. We're betting that he had a case of pneumonia that they missed.

A small word of caution about the wildfires in California. Yes, many homes are destroyed and lives disrupted and lost. But much being said over the main news outlets is disinformation, setting up for their spin on truth. On the how's, when and why's. Daniel has his old strike team on the ground in the biggest fire and is getting direct eye witness reports from them. Not matching up to what is being reported. Just a word of caution to all of us.

Not much here. A normal day, PT and a few groceries. Yesterday I got all the boxes that are stored in Mr G's office closet, re-tetris-ed back in place. It's a jigsaw puzzle to make everything fit and still have things accessible. So I have 2 rooms to spring clean today. I can do everything but windows, too cold!

Enjoy your day! Fun stuff is the menu of the day! Guess you could say, sew de jour!

Hugs,
Jana

[gershwin64]

Good morning everyone
We're to get to 40° today. It snowed all day yesterday, it was great! Holly said she showed her students the pictures I sent her on Wednesday and they were so excited! She let them look outside when it started at the school, she said she's pretty sure some had never seen snow before. Some of the teachers took pics of the kids at recess on the playground, they were having a blast! They were covered in snow!
Maryz, you're going to have quite the pile of quilts done when you get all the ones quilted that you did on this trip! I have all my kids on the placemats, today I'll work on quilting them, not sure if I'll get All of them quilted today but I'm going to try... the 1 yesterday took me allllll days, it has 2 kids on it and I had technical difficulties and bobbin thread problems so I limped through that all day. I also had top tension thread problems for 2 days.....I was beginning to wonder if I was supposed to be making them! I think the kids are adorable though and I love them and they're for me..... they make me think of Easton every time I look at them, he was my stick kid artist, he was always drawing my pictures You're today sounds like so much fun! Enjoy! Happy birthday to Autumn are you going to bake her a cake?
Judi, sounds like you have a plan for your trip, it'll be so much fun. Oh my goodness, another twin thing with Navy and Elijah LOL they're having no luck with potty training him either. He will go in the potty and they set a reminder every 30 minutes and he's good about going in the potty for pee but he also goes in his diaper and he won't tell them when he has to go. But it must be too early for him because he quits going number 2 and gets himself backed up and big problems. Maria tries every break they have so she said next will be the 2 week Spring break. Both of mine were a breeze and were potty trained before 18 months but I was a stay at home mom so it was different.
Lois, have you thought about ruler work for quilting? Chickie does amazing ruler work..... well all her quilting is amazing she watched YouTube videos, she just uses her regular machine. I have rulers and I'm hoping to use them on my Heart of Home one.
Jana, glad the antibiotics are helping. Sad how many times people are being misdiagnosed or things just missed these days. Oh that's sad about the misinformation about the fires.
Well I'm staying inside again LOL I love the snow but I love from inside where I'm dry and warm
I'll be working on my placemats.
You all have a great day! Prayers for all in need
Tina

[maryq]

Hi Gals

Did it again... spent too much time watching the news---especially on the fires. So now I'm behind and need to get to work. Laundry awaits me and I think it's probably time to mop a couple floors and vacuum up the threads every where!

I'll try to sneak back in later!

[WeeOne]

Chilly, breezy morning.

MaryZ, Happy Birthday to Autumn! She's between my girls, age wise.
It would be wonderful if you stopped by, I'm kinda out of the way from that Winery though. Like an hour west, then your hour home and don't forget the almost hour to the Winery. We will be here. I'll wait to hear your plans. My friend is coming with me Saturday to look at your quilts. As for your truck, if you need a new hitch, isn't the back end and bed damaged, too? I have helped our friends load and unload their 5th wheel hitch, at the coast, there heavy!!

Judi, Good to hear DDIL is doing better.
There's some good books to read to kids about using the potty, I bought them for Maddox. He was much older than Navy. He still hesitates and Amanda has to get after him to go, knowing he has to by how he's acting. In his case, I think his dad probably said some stupid thing to him like, the potty will eat things, and Maddox thought that included him. His dad has a less than desirable humor at times. I've seen a video on FB of a boy about 4 yrs old walk up to his Mom with a diaper and said he'd pooped and needed to be changed. There was a discussion and she told him to change his own diaper. It had some humor in what the Mom said, but was too close to what Amanda was dealing with.

Valerie, That's some trip y'all are planning. Is the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, on your list? Hint, hint.

Lois, You are a busy lady sewing these days. Enjoy!!

Jana, Good to hear that Ethan is doing better. You sure you don't need a storage shed for all the decorations? Then that would leave closets for more fabric. News outlets spin lies all the time.

Tina, Enjoy your snow. Maddox did the exact same thing on #2.

I read yesterday's post, just never got around to posting. I was a little concerned that the bid for finishing the cabin was a little high. We have another couple that we'd met years ago at the coast, and their son builds houses west side of Austin. I called her and she gave me the son's number and I left him a message. He texted back and said that the bid sounded reasonable. So, hopefully the guy will start today. He was going to bring the sheet rock over yesterday, but it rained all day and we needed every drop. I'm headed out to vacuum up the stray bits of foam insulation and start a heater in the cabin, that is if my 2 extension cords reach from the garage. If not, I will run to Ace in Kingsland and get another cord.

Hope y'all stay warm and have a great day.
Lyn

[grammiequilts]

Just curious Jana How are we being misled? Is the fire not as grave as we are being told? The photos I have seen look pretty bad, The arial views look pretty big> I certainly hope those people really lost their homes that are crying on the videos....I am not quite sure about the mayor and all the political stuff being said..but the photos look pretty bad,,,I hope Danial would inlighten us on what we are being lied to about....thanks
Happy Birthday to Autumn,,,hope she has a marvy day...xxxooo

[auntjana]

Some of the misled facts were about water issues. And wind speeds etc. Daniel's strike team was placed at the head of a fire line in the Palisades fire, right at the beginning, and experienced just the opposite of what the news reported. Danil's team had the water needed,, and much of wildfires
are fought with shovels and aerial drops.. Much of the fires Daniel fought over the years, such a the Camp fire that destroyed an entire city, were human caused. There are numerous homeless encampments everywhere in California and Daniel fought fires there, caused by those, all the time. You won't hear much that a homeless encampment could be a cause - that's not PC in California. The political side is always passing laws to satisfy one side or the other of environmental issues. Often tying the hands of fire departments in California from preemptive measures to lessen fuel for these fires. Lessening the underbrush allows for what smaller underbrush to burn out quickly, resulting in a smaller time to catch the trees on fire.. The state loves to blame the utility companies for their complicity in fires. Hence the comments about turning off power. Much of the budgets of the fire departments in California are cut to bare bones, staffing and equipment. And it takes Calfire forever to pay the crews that are called in to fight these wildfires. It took months and months for Daniel to get paid for his strike team fires.

S0, yes, you are seeing the homes and lives that are destroyed, but there are many more areas that the homes were saved, by diligent fire personnel. Those guys have to look and access whose home can be saved and whose can't. By looking at the fire mitigation the home owner did before the fire broke out. The landscaping around the home- is it far enough away from the structure or will it fuel the outside. Being a fire fighter is a difficult profession, Daniel when he retired was a full captain, fighting fires for over 25 years. He was a volunteer fire fighter, called out at all hours to fight wildland fires and all other fires too and worked a full time job as a architect.

It's hard for him to watch the reporting, knowing what his strike team is actually reporting to him and what the news is saying. People are bending the truth and reports to fuel their side of the story. We need just straight up facts, no speculation or filters.

OK, you got the soapbox from a mom of a fire fighters. And police too,, I'm slightly prejudiced.

Jana

[grammiequilts]

Thanks jana for your report it certainly helps to know "The rest of the story"/ My nephew is a firefighter,,he is now assitant cheif of his station. we dont have the fires here, and he is well staffed. but it helps to know all their is to know...xxxooo praying for Daniels team and all the other firefighters out there...xxxooo