Wednesday Hodgepodge

 
1. In what way are you your own worst enemy?
I am so hard on myself … too hard.  I have perfectionist tendencies, and of course, being human, I frequently fail to live up to my own expectations.
 
2. Jacques Cousteau's birthday was Monday, June 11th...ever been scuba diving? Is that something you'd like to try? What's your favorite 'under the sea' creature?
I’ve never been scuba diving, but it is something that I’d like to try.  I’ve thought about signing up for scuba diving on our cruise, but DH doesn’t know how to swim, and I’m reluctant to just go without him (or someone else I know).  Perhaps I’ll get to know someone onboard who will be my scuba diving partner??
 
My favorite under-the-sea creature?  Dolphins.  I love that there are always dolphins swimming not too far out from the shore at Hilton Head. 
 
3. On a scale of 1-10, how comfortable are you in and around the water? (1=not at all, 10=very) Do you know how to swim and if so how and when did you learn?
It seems like I’ve always swam.  I forget just when I learned how to swim … the park department in my home town had swim lessons at the city lake every summer, and my mom always signed us up.  I even took life saving classes when I was in junior high.  I love to swim, and I love the beach … but these days I only swim in pools … I want to see whatever is out there in the water with me.  ha!
 
4. What's something you do to motivate yourself to tick an item off your to-do list?
I rarely have to resort to doing something to be able to do an item on my to-do list.  I’m just OCD enough that if it’s on the list, I’m not going to have peace until I either do it (or else change my mind and cross it off my list entirely).
 
5. What makes a good neighbor? Are you a good neighbor?
Jesus tells us a good neighbor is one who shows mercy (Luke 10:37), and I pray that I am merciful to those around me.
 
6. Who loads the dishwasher at your house? Is there a right way and a wrong way?
No one here at Chez Nana has the responsibility of loading/unloading the dishwasher ... DH and I both do it.  And I am not very particular about how it’s loaded, surprisingly.
 
7. You know it's summer when_________________________.
Homegrown sweet corn, tomatoes and watermelon are plentiful.  They say summer to me in ways that nothing much else does.
 
8. Insert your own random thought here.
My sister, her S.O. and her grandson are here for a few days.  I enjoy having them here … we’ll be visiting the City Museum in St. Louis today and going to the Cardinals game tomorrow night.  Since DD and the Ts will be joining us, I’m the “middle man” (or “middle woman”) in making the arrangements.  

I was able to persuade DH to help me with getting a photo of the entire Irish chain quilt yesterday morning.  It was a little breezy and the quilt was a little too wide for him to stretch it out as much as I’d like, but all things considered, the picture turned out pretty well.


Ok, that’s two random thoughts … guess it’s your lucky day! 

Weekend Wrap-up

 

Whew!  I made it … I was wondering if I’d be able to get this posted today.  I wanted to take part in this new meme.

 

Saturday we went out to my dad’s to follow-up on him after his cataract surgery … he’s doing fine.  He was even able to get out and play a round of golf on Friday (with his doctor’s blessing, of course).  One of his toilets was running continuously, so DH and I replaced the seal … and that stopped the leak. 

 

Sunday I was able to sew the binding onto my Irish chain quilt.  Unfortunately, I finished it very late last night, after DH had gone to bed, so I had to drape the quilt on the couch to get a photo … I wasn’t able to get a shot of the entire quilt, but one of these days I’ll get a shot of the entire quilt … in the meantime, you’ll have to settle for these shots.   

 

I sandwiched together the backing, batting and log cabin quilt top, so I hope to be able to do a little quilting after I get this posted.

 

I also visited the garden center at the local Lowe’s and was surprised by a bird who was perched in the bushes right next to the aisle.  I was surprised that the bird didn’t fly away when we walked by. 

 

Friday Fragments

Once again another week is winding down, which means that it’s Fragment time.


I had the Ts yesterday.  Mama has been having a little trouble with what she thought was an irritated eye … went to the eye doctor and turns out she’s got an eye infection.  I got to watch the littles while she went to the doctor.  We stopped at the Dairy Queen on the way home … I didn’t know that they played Christian music there!  What a blessing that was.  Although I don’t think everyone there was paying attention to the message of the music … there were a couple of older women with a young boy a few tables over.  At one point, we heard one of the women bark out a very harsh “shut up” to the boy … it made me sad.



I did get a little quilting done after the Ts went back home.  I’m on the last block, and then I’ll quilt the outer border … I’m doing just a straight row of stitching on the border, so it shouldn’t take too awfully long.  Then it will be time to bind it and start quilting the log cabin quilt.



Tomorrow we’ll go back to my dad’s to check on him and have a nice visit.  He’s got a couple of minor repairs that we hope to help him with.  Neither DH nor I are very handy with repairs, so we’ll see how that goes.  Ought to be interesting.  ha!



We had to water our ornamental cherry tree last night … it was really drooping.  It’s been so dry and unseasonably warm (even hot) here that everything’s suffering.  The leaves on our dogwood are scorched.  Our grass is already brown and crispy in places … and it’s only early June!  We sure could use some rain.



My sister, her S.O. and her grandson will be coming down for a visit next week. I'm not sure right now just what their plans are ... the only thing I know for sure is that they’ll be here on Thursday because we have tickets to the Cardinals game that evening.



Fed Ex and UPS are both scheduled to make deliveries here today.  I just love getting packages delivered.  It’s like Christmas in June! 

Wednesday Hodgepodge

 

Another week has flown by … and it’s time for the Hodgepodge once again. 

 

1. How many students were in your high school graduating class? Did you know most, if not all of them?

There were approximately 150 students in my H.S. graduating class.  I don’t remember exactly how many students there were … the memory, she ain’t what she used to be.  And I knew all of them, not personally, but I knew who they all were.  And thanks to Facebook, I’ve reconnected with several of them.

 

2. What was the last thing you photographed?

My grands when they were here last Thursday. 

 

3. Pickles-love 'em or loathe 'em? If its love what's something you eat that needs a pickle?

I am not a fan of pickles, but I don’t hate them.  I do have to put sweet pickle relish in my chicken salad … does that count?

 

4. What's a stereotype you seem to perpetuate without meaning to?

I cannot think of one right now.

 

5. Ever been horse back riding? If so is it something you enjoy? If not, do you have any interest? Did you watch the Kentucky Derby? Will you be watching the last leg of the Triple Crown this weekend?

I went horse back riding once … and that was enough.  It seemed that the horse and I could never get in synch … when the horse/saddle went up, I went down.  Ouch!  I’m not a fan of horse racing, so I will not be watching the last leg of the Triple Crown this weekend.

 

6. What's your favorite 'wedding' movie?

I like Steve Martin, so I’ll choose Father of the Bride. 

 

7. What is one 'tourist attraction' in the USA that you'd like to see in person?

That seems to assume a “tourist attraction” that I’ve not already seen.  DH & I would like to visit the coast of Maine.  I don’t imagine that we will ever make it there … we prefer to hit the beach when it’s warm and before/after the busy season (when it’s not so crowded and the rates are lower). 

 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My dad’s cataract surgery went well.  I’ll be leaving in about an hour to get him to bring him down for his follow-up appointment and then back home.  We’ll stay out for the afternoon, getting home in time for a quick dinner before heading to see T#2’s softball doubleheader.  Another busy day at Chez Nana.

Miscellany Monday

I got a good bit of hand quilting done this weekend.  I’ve still got a bit to go before I can bind it and call it done.  I ordered the backing fabric for my log cabin quilt – online.  Like I said Friday, it’s backing, so it just needs to coordinate … it doesn’t have to match perfectly. 

Saturday evening, we went to a minor league baseball game.  It was quite a change of pace from attending a major league ball game … smaller stadium, smaller crowd, easier parking (free, too!), seats closer to the players.  But it was hard to get “into” the game since we didn’t know the team/players. 

Our “cold” snap is over … we got into the 80’s this weekend … with 90’s in the long-range forecast.     And no rain in sight, either.

I thought I was going to have to call our cable company to have a tech come out to check out the new router they installed in April … my iPhone kept losing the connection with the server, websites would take a little longer to load on our laptops, and our wireless printer wasn’t recognized by our network.  I spent a good part of Sunday afternoon trying to get the printer issue resolved … my last resort was to reboot the laptops, the printer and the router.  And that resolved the printer issue … and the other connectivity issues.  Whew!

The next few days are going to be busy ones here at Chez Nana.  I’ll be watching the 2 little ones this afternoon.    Tomorrow my dad will be having cataract surgery.  I’ll be getting him to the ophthalmologist's office and then back home after his surgery.  And on Wednesday, I’ll go fetch him and bring him back for a follow-up visit. 

I’m on a watermelon kick.  I cube it up when I get it home from the store … quick and easy way to grab some watermelon after a meal or for a snack.  I’ve always enjoyed watermelon, but who knew that it was so healthy … rich in Vitamins A, B6, and C as well as  Lycopene.  

I'm not sure what's up with Blogger ... my Miscellany Monday button shows up when I try to edit my post ... but when I view my edited post in Blogger, it doesn't show up.  ???

Friday Fragments

 

It’s Friday again … which means that the weekend is here!

 

I had a wonderful day yesterday with the grands.  I picked them up at 7:30, so our first stop was to pick up donuts for breakfast.  Each one got to pick out whatever he/she wanted.  T#4 won the hearts of the checkers when she blew them a kiss to say goodbye as we were leaving. 

 

 

I explained that I pieced my log cabin quilt in the “fields and furrows” setting, instead of the “barn raising” setting that I’ve used in the past.  I didn’t stop to think that those terms might be confusing to non-quilters … and that I owe them an explanation.    Probably the easiest way to explain the setting terms is visually.

The setting I used on the quilt top I just finished is called “fields and furrows” because the placement of the blocks result in what appears to be rows (or furrows).

 

The setting I have always used in the past is called “barn raising”. I’m not sure why it’s called barn raising … maybe if I knew something about how barns were raised/built in the “olden days”, I’d know why they chose that name. I can’t find anything online to explain why that name was given to that setting.  Maybe someone reading will have an explanation.

 

There are other settings as well, but these two are the ones that I liked best, with the barn raising setting my most favorite. But I’d already made several in that setting and wanted to try something a little different. 

 

 

Speaking of my log cabin quilt, I need to find some wide backing fabric for the backing (the underneath fabric).  Since I hand quilt, I prefer to use the extra-wide fabric so there’s no seam to have to negotiate.  I’m looking for a blue that will coordinate nicely with the blues in the blocks, and I found one online that looks like it’ll work.  I’ve always been reluctant to shop for fabric online because colors don’t always show true in photographs.  Since I’m going to be getting backing fabric (which won’t show when looking at the quilt top) and since there are several blues in the top, I don’t have to match exactly … so it’s not going to be a huge problem if the color of the fabric online isn’t 100% true. 

 

 

I hope to get some time with needle and thread today, but I’ve got some errands that I have to run and I need to spend some time out in the yard, watering my flowers (since we didn’t get enough rain yesterday to do any real good). 

Finished

 

I got the quilt top finished.  I finished this in the fields and furrows setting instead of my usual barn raising setting.  I like this setting (I wanted to try something a little different) … but it’s confirmed that I really do prefer the barn raising setting.  But I’m  not going to rip out all those stitches to re-set it.    Now it will sit waiting for me to finishing the hand quilting on my single Irish chain quilt.  I’ll be sure to share pictures of both of those once they’ve been quilted and bound.

 

 

I won’t be getting to that hand quilting today.  I’ve got the 4 Ts coming over for the day.    I love to quilt … but I love spending time with my Ts even more!

 

It looks like we’re going to get some of that rain that I thought we were going to get yesterday.  I certainly hope so … we need some rain.