I'm a Winner!

I had an appointment this morning with the doctor who is going to do my cataract surgery.  Bad news - surgery has to be put off because my previous eye doctor did not provide my records.  Now I have to have tests to find out which lens implant I need.  Since I have to have my surgery at the hospital (due to having hospital insurance) and the doctor has limited time at the hospital, they said it may be after the first of the year before we get to do it.  I guess I can wait.  Now - to get to how I'm a winner - while I was waiting in the doctor's office I got a call from MSN, that is, Mountaineer Sports Network.  They said I won!  During the WVU game last Saturday they had a Listen To Win contest where you text  MSN to a certain number when they said to.  I had the text all cued up on my phone and when they said to I hit SEND.  I really didn't think any more about it, even when I noticed that the call this morning was from Morgantown, WV.  Everyone in the waiting room was listening to my side of the conversation.  I was so excited!  They said I won two tickets to an upcoming home game at Mountaineer Stadium, a year's worth of lottery tickets, and a year's worth of Pizza from Papa Johns!  Woohoo!  I can't wait to go to the game!  Richard and I are super fans of WVU football, and we haven't been to a game in years and years.  This Saturday the WVU football team is taking on the Terps of Maryland at Baltimore.  Kickoff is at 3:30 and I work until 4 but I can listen to the game on the radio and then watch it when I get home.  Go Mountaineers!

String Blocks

Finished String Blocks

This is what I've been working on lately.  You take a piece of paper; phone book paper, almost any thin paper that tears easily.  I like the glossy ads in the Sunday newspaper the best.  Anyway, you have paper about a half-inch larger than you want the finished block to be.  Lay a strip of leftover fabric across from corner to corner face up.  Then lay another strip face down on the side of the first strip.  Sew with 1/4" seam allowance and flip the second strip over.  Finger-press over the seam.  Add another and another until you cover the paper entirely.  Then I press the block flat.  I turn it over and cut the block into the size I need for my quilt.  Because I shorten the stitch length before I sew the blocks I can tear the paper off the back easily.  Then I have blocks I can use for almost any solid block in a quilt.  They can be cut in half and used as triangles.  String blocks make use of fabric that would normally go to waste, being long and too thin to cut for blocks.  I think I am going to make an entire quilt of these blocks, using sashing around them to make the bright colors pop.  The strings seem to multiply in their bin so I am never close to running out of fabric. 

Top - Paper on back of pieced block.  Bottom - Front Side

Bad day today

I had to put one of my kitty cats to sleep today.  Missy was 18 1/2 years old.  She has been with me since she was six weeks old.  We got her and her brother Peanut from one of my daughter's friends on St. Patrick's Day in 1997.  Peanut had a congenital anemia and died at age 2 1/2.  I am so happy to have had Missy with me for a long time.  I will always miss her, just as I do Peanut.

Ruler Bag Made

I made this Ruler Bag today to carry my rulers to sewing classes.  The first picture shows the bag empty, with no rulers in it.  The second pictures shows the bag loaded down with about seven rulers, including an 8 1/2" X 24" very large ruler.  You can see it at the top of the bag.  There is a pocket on the bottom of the front with three sections.  I have a rotary cutter in one and some small rulers in the larger one.  I love this bag, but the next one will have longer handles.  I strip-pieced the front and the back is a teflon ironing surface.  The bag is big enough to carry a small cutting board.  I found the pattern on an old hand-out from JoAnn Fabrics, but I did change it somewhat.  I strip-pieced the front using the Quilt As You Go method, when the instructions said to piece the front and then quilt it.  You put the front together with the lining and the pocket at the bottom, and the back ironing surface together with the lining, and then bind the outside edges.  The instructions didn't give any details about how to bind the corners and the top edges.  It's a good thing I could figure it out on my own.  I think we will offer this as a class at work next month. 

Can You Believe It - Another Finish!

This is probably the fifth 3-D Bowtie quilt I have finished.  I love making these blocks, and they use up lots and lots of scraps.  I used a cheddar dot on white for the background of all the blocks.  I couldn't decide what fabric to use for binding so I used the little bit of background fabric I had left.  I think it made a beautiful binding.  This quilt has been sitting and waiting for binding for probably a year.  I finally decided to get it done!  I bound this quilt and the last quilt, the Cheese and Crackers quilt, at the same time.  I think I have all my quilted quilt tops bound at this time.  I have at least three quilt tops waiting to be basted to batting and backing.  Two of those are lap-sized quilts and I will do them myself.  But one is king-sized and although I had wanted to quilt it myself in three sections I think I will have Vonda Cochran do it for me.  I have not yet chosen the backing fabric for that one, although it is done except for borders. 

Finally - Another Finish

 This quilt is called Cheese and Crackers - where it got the name I don't know.  It is from Atkinson Designs.  Any time you want a simple but striking quilt Atkinson Designs is the designer you want.  I used scraps from my small scrap bin (small scraps, not small bin) but the tone-on-tone white I used for the background came from the back room at WV Quilts, my favorite quilt shop.  The bottom picture shows the back of the quilt.  The fabric I chose for the backing was a little short so I made more bricks like the front of the quilt and pieced down one side.  It's the first time I've done that and I will undoubtably do it again.  I really like the way it looks.  This quilt is lap-sized.  The kitty cat in two of the pictures is my kitty Sascha.  Every time I lay out a quilt I get a kitty on it.  Usually it is Rosie but she must have been asleep.

Adam and I visited the farmer's market this morning and I got green beans, new potatoes, corn on the cob, cucumbers, bell peppers, and some peaches.  We had a wonderful fresh vegetable dinner!  I also fried some squash (I ate it all!) and baked cornbread.  Richard and I really enjoyed it.  I also have a cantaloupe that I am going to get into in just a few minutes.  We have been overrun with tomatoes.  I only have six tomato plants out back but they are producing a lot of tomatoes.  One of them is growing way too many grape tomatoes.  Richard has been taking them to work to share and I shared some with neighbors.  I only eat tomatoes out of my garden because I hate the gassed things that pass for tomatoes in the restaurants.  I also have a green pepper plant growing but it is not producing very well.

Storm Clouds

I was sitting on the porch the other evening when these storm clouds started closing in.  They were coming from the east, usually they come from the west.  I already had the first picture on my computer, but quickly took the others to show what it looked like.  I sat there until it was raining hard and I started getting wet.  Usually I can sit there during a storm and maybe get my feet wet but that time the whole porch got wet.

Notice, also, the roof on the house across the street.  My neighbor put a new metal roof on his house.  He must have liked our new roof because he got the same people to do his.  He had a tin roof (very old!) and when they took the sheets of metal off there was nothing under it except for some studs.  They put sheathing on, then a layer of rolled felt, then another layer of sheathing, then the metal roof.  I'll bet it makes a huge difference in his energy bills!

My brother lives in the house directly across the street with the big yard.  The yellow fence encloses his above-ground pool.  I call it the yellow monstrosity.  They tie a big dog out there daily by the deck and then let the grandkids play there.  One of them does her gymnastics there.