Confirmation Quilt & What I'm Reading

Sunday was #2 Granddaughter's confirmation.  Here she is with the quilt I made for her to match her room.  I've never quite warmed up to that color combination but she seemed pleased with it. Anyway she was telling everyone she liked it and that it matched her room.

Little brother (there in the lower left corner) wanted to know when he gets his quilt. When I told him in four years for confirmation he was disappointed. His room has been recently redone so maybe he'll have to get his sooner.  The girls didn't get their rooms redone to their specifications until 8th grade so that's when they got their quilts.

Currently, I'm reading The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather. After she was divorced and lost her job she moved to rural Michigan and learned how to live on a $40 a week food budget and still eat well by using more locally grown foods. I've only read a few chapters so far and am enjoying it.  She admits that keeping the price down meant not going organic and that some things, like coffee and sugar, can't be produced locally but she goes out of her way to find the most natural products and buys "fair trade" coffee produced by coffee farmers who are paid a fair price for their product.


I'm making good progress on the next quilt....all the blocks are sewed.

Now to get them all laid out to suit me and get them sewn together.  The next part....borders... is where I lose steam. I did find a nice brown w/lavender flowers on it for the outer border. Inner border is still to be decided.  Maybe just a rather plain cream tone-on-tone to set it off from the cream print used as the background. We will see. I think the binding will be strips of the various lavenders sewn together. Backing will be the cream print, same as the background.

Cuttin' Up

Most of the day yesterday was spent cutting out the blocks for the next quilt and getting them all kitted up, ready to sew.

 

I think I'm going to have to go fabric shopping.....imagine that!!!!  My "good" browns are pretty much used up after making several quilts with brown in them.  I ordered some backing fabric for this quilt and now I need to get some for the outer border.  I know I saw a collection online of chocolate browns and purples. Now I just need to find it again.

I Told You......

...there was some quilting going on at my house!

 I call this one "Scrappy Stars".  It is being donated for the silent auction at my brother-in-law's benefit in Brunswick on June 1 at the auditorium. Fabrics are cotton, batting is Hobbs Polydown, 80" X 98", machine pieced, machine quilted.
 

This one is for my #2  Granddaughter for her confirmation. Orange & a teal blue with lime green binding. She will either love it or hate it. Haven't measured it since I finished it, but it should be a more-than-generous double-bed size.  I'm just calling it "Framed Nine-Patch", though I have called it "the monstrosity."   I must say I like it better with the lime green binding on than I did without it.

Now I'm on to the next one using the BQ Quilt pattern redrafted to a 12" size in dusty purple, chocolate brown and a light print with a cream background and some purple, brown & a little green. I wouldn't have thought to put purple & brown together, but that is what was requested. I think it will look fine in the bedroom it's destined for.

Happy Mother's Day

.....to all the Mom's out there

Yesterday was #1 Granddaughter's high school graduation. I just made like a grandma and enjoyed.  Didn't even take my camera.  Told my daughter she was the mom and could take the pictures. :)  Their ceremony was really nice and done in under an hour and a half; they had it all planned to move quickly.  The party was at their house and I love the colors they decorated with....purple, pink, orange and lime green.  Food and company were good too.

There's been some quilting going on but no pictures yet. #2 Granddaughter's quilt for her confirmation is finished and the one for the silent auction at my brother-in-law's benefit just needs binding.  I tell you, standing on a cement floor for a few hours at the quilting machine just makes my whole body ache.  Am I getting old?????

What I've Been Reading

A while back JudyL started a What Are You Reading? segment on Tuesdays. It's made a kind of irregular appearance on her blog but others have continued sharing what they read and it's kind of fun.  Here's a couple of books I'm currently reading:

 

Health at Gunpoint: The FDA's Silent War Against Health Freedom by James J. Gormley tells the story of how the Food & Drug Administration has, at the behest of the food processors and the medical & pharmaceutical industries, fallen down on it's original job of protecting the health  of American citizens.  It's allowed all sorts of unhealthy additives and chemicals to be put into processed foods and it's done it's best to prevent consumers from buying vitamins, minerals, herbs and other supplements to enhance their health without prescriptions.  If you have found a supplement that helps you with your diabetes, cholesterol, cancer, arthritis or other condition, the medical and pharmaceutical industry doesn't want you to have it. Certainly not without continual doctors visits or prescriptions so they can all continue to make their unrealistic profits.  

Picture Perfect Corpse by Joanna Campbell Slan is the latest installment in the Kiki Lowenstein mystery series. I've enjoyed all the previous ones and fully expect this one to be just as good. (Haven't finished the first chapter yet :) )  One thing I will say about this series is that you DO need to read the books in order as the characters and the story develop a little more in each book.

Three Quilts for West, Texas

These three tops, complete with backing and batting, had been stacked in my sewing room since well before Christmas. Finally they are quilted, bound, and sent off to JudyL  for giving to folks in West, Texas who lost homes and loved ones in the big fertilizer plant explosion.  I forgot to take pictures before I boxed them up, so thanks for the pictures, Judy.

 

Some of the blocks were pieced by my quilt group and the rest were pieced by Jennifer T. and her daughters. They also put them together into tops and provided backing and batting. 

On Their Way

Three quilts on their way to JudyL for the Quilts for West (Texas) project.

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of them.  :(  I wanted to get them mailed today, our Post Office window closes at 2:30 and I suddenly realized it was already 1:45.  Hurriedly got them boxed up and an address label on. That's when I realized I hadn't gotten any pictures of the actual quilts.  Oh well, you've all seen the Heartstrings type of string quilts before.  Just remembered, you can see part of one on the machine in the previous post.

Quilty Post

Finished quilting this one early in the week.  Love the colors.

Donation quilt on the machine.

That one is finished now and the next one is loaded.

Not much else going on. Snow/ice storms two weeks in a row and more forecast for next week. I'm doubting that Nebraska has Spring this year.  We'll go straight from the furnace to the air conditioner.

Makes For An Interesting Search

A library patron saying something like this always leads to an interesting book search....and sometimes they have the color wrong.

Today has been designated "Tax Day."  Bah, Humbug!!

Some Days Are Better Than Others

Some say all in one day.

This Should Keep You Feeling SO Much Safer

The gun control contingent is trying to pull another fast one on the American public.

From:  http://ourrvadventures.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/dont-you-feel-safer-now/

Please keep reading.  I consider the writer of the blog where I found it to be a reputable source.

The Senate is suppose to start debating the ‘‘Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013’’ very soon now. This is the ‘Universal Background Check’ that many people are in favor of.
Here are a few ‘highlights’ of the Bill.

• Take an unloaded rifle to a friend’s house, for instance, because the friend is thinking of buying a gun and wants to learn more about guns. The friend handles the rifle for a few minutes before handing it back. You’ve both committed a Federal Felony.
• Lend your gun to your niece, who takes it on a camping trip for the weekend. You’ve committed a Federal Felony.
• You live on a farm and occasionally take friends or relatives out to a safe area to target shoot using your guns. You’ve committed a Federal Felony.
• You loan a rifle to your brother-in-law so he can go target shooting. You’ve committed a Federal Felony.

Here’s an article from National Review Online by David Kopel, Constitutional Law Professor at Denver University

Turning Gun Owners into Felons
A new bill would make it a crime to “transfer” your gun to a spouse for more than seven days.  By Dave Kopel

Public-opinion polls about “universal background checks” for gun sales show widespread support. While President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg talk about “gun sales,” the actual legislation moving through Congress aims to regulate far more than sales. It would turn almost every gun owner into a felon. The trick is that the language under consideration applies not only to sales but also to “transfers,” which are defined to include innocent activities such as letting your spouse borrow your gun for a few hours.
Consider, for example, Senate bill S.649, which the Senate will soon take up for debate. The background-check portion of the bill, Charles Schumer’s “Fix Gun Checks Act,” is based on model language that the Bloomberg gun-control lobby is pushing all over the country.
To see how the Bloomberg bill makes felons of people who do not sell guns, consider a woman who buys a rifle when she is 25 years old. She keeps the rifle her entire life. Yet over her lifetime, she — like most gun owners — engages in dozens of firearms “transfers.” She brings the unloaded rifle to a friend’s house, for instance, because the friend is thinking of buying a gun and wants to learn more about guns. The friend handles the rifle for a few minutes before handing it back. Another time, the woman lends the gun to her niece, who takes it on a camping trip for the weekend.
While the woman is out of town on a business trip for two weeks, she gives the gun to her husband or her sister. If the woman lives on a farm, she allows all her relatives to take the rifle into the fields for pest and predator control — and sometimes, when friends are visiting, she takes them to a safe place on the farm where they spend an hour or two target shooting, passing her gun back and forth. At other times, she and her friends go target shooting in open spaces of land owned by the National Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management.
Or perhaps the woman is in a same-sex civil union, and she allows her partner to take her gun to a target range one afternoon. Another time, she allows her cousin to borrow the gun for an afternoon of target shooting. If the woman is in the Army Reserve and she is called up for an overseas deployment, she gives the gun to her sister for temporary safekeeping.
One time, she learns that her neighbor is being threatened by an abusive ex-boyfriend, and she lets this woman borrow a gun for several days until she can buy her own gun. And if the woman becomes a firearms-safety instructor, she regularly teaches classes at office parks, in school buildings at nights and on weekends, at gun stores, and so on. Following the standard curriculum of gun-safety classes (such as NRA safety courses), the woman will bring some unloaded guns to the classroom, and under her supervision, students will learn the first steps in how to handle the guns, including how to load and unload them (using dummy ammunition). During the class, the firearms will be “transferred” dozens of times, since students must practice how to hand a gun to someone else safely. As a Boy Scout den mother or 4-H leader, the woman may also transfer her gun to young people dozens of times while instructing them in gun safety.
Under S. 649, every one of the above activities would be a federal felony, subject to precisely the same punishment a person would receive if he had knowingly sold a firearm to a convicted violent felon. S. 649, like other Bloomberg-model bills, has a few exceptions to the ban on transfers, but none of them apply to the situations described above.
You can make a “bona fide gift” (but not a three-hour loan) to certain close family members, not including aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in-laws, or civil-union partners.
You can let someone else borrow your gun for up to seven days, but only within your home or its curtilage (e.g., the porch or deck).
You cannot lend your gun to someone on any open space you own. And even your husband can’t borrow your gun for more than seven days.
You can share a gun at a shooting range, but only if the shooting range is owned by a corporation — not if it’s on public lands or on your own property.
You can share a gun while out hunting in the field. But back at the hunting camp, you can’t clean someone else’s gun.
This is not “gun control” in the constitutionally legitimate sense: reasonable laws that protect public safety without interfering with the responsible ownership and use of firearms.
— Dave Kopel is an adjunct professor of advanced constitutional law at Denver University, Sturm College of Law, and also research director at the Independence Institute, in Denver.

And here’s the bill itself from the GPO website. -Senate Bill S.649 

Of course, the major part of this bill is the fact that EVERY firearm transaction (selling a pistol to your neighbor, for example) will have to be done through a Federal Firearm License holder for which you will have to pay a fee.

One kink in this idea is a report that some FFL’s are being told by their insurance companies that their company liability insurance will not cover these transactions. And their lawyers are also recommending that they not process these transactions due to the possible liability in case something happens using a gun they transferred.
Don’t you feel safer now?

Whatcha Reading Tuesday

I guess you could say this is another one of those odd books I was famous for reading in my book club. Sadly, the book club has faded away but I still like books a little on the strange side. I've always liked the James Rollins books, but now that he's teamed up with Rebecca Cantrell they are taking off in a new direction with a new series.

 Here's the description from Amazon.com:



"In his first-ever collaboration, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins combines his skill for cutting-edge science and historical mystery with award-winning novelist Rebecca Cantrell's talent for haunting suspense and sensual atmosphere in a gothic tale about an ancient order and the hunt for a miraculous book known only as . . . The Blood Gospel
An earthquake in Masada, Israel, kills hundreds and reveals a tomb buried in the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators—Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist—are sent to explore the macabre discovery, a subterranean temple holding the crucified body of a mummified girl.
But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tomb's sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christ's own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. The enemy who hounds them is like no other, a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning.
From crumbling tombs to splendorous churches, Erin and her two companions must confront a past that traces back thousands of years, to a time when ungodly beasts hunted the dark spaces of the world, to a moment in history when Christ made a miraculous offer, a pact of salvation for those who were damned for eternity.
Here is a novel that is explosive in its revelation of a secret history. Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? And why does Catholicism insist that the consecration of wine during Mass results in its transformation to Christ's own blood? The answers to all go back to a secret sect within the Vatican, one whispered as rumor but whose very existence was painted for all to see by Rembrandt himself, a shadowy order known simply as the Sanguines.
In the end, be warned: some books should never be found, never opened—until now."

Action, adventure, archeology, revised history, vampires.....it has all the elements to keep the pages turning.

Happy Easter

 

Happy Easter blog readers. I hope you're all having a nice day with family. Our day will be quiet. Just the two of us, the cats and the grand-dog. :) We'll be having Easter and our grandson's birthday next Sunday.

We finally had a nice rain on Friday night. Reports are anywhere from half an inch to an inch. It rained steadily for several hours here so I'm leaning more towards an inch accumulation.  Plus a quick shower yesterday just as I was taking the grand-dog out for a short walk after work. It quit almost as soon as we got back to the house. :)  Funny how that works!

Here's a picture of the two new grand-nieces with the quilts I made for them along with the rose plant from their other great-aunt.

Adalene & Ainsley

On A Lighter Note

 

Probably trying to fill out one of those USDA Census forms.  :)

Another Goody You Should Read

THIS is why amendments should not be allowed to be tacked on to legislation that MUST pass.

http://www.naturalnews.com/039668_Monsanto_Protection_Act_Obama_deception_GMOs.html

Does Congress run this country or does Monsanto? It's getting real hard to tell.

Being Political Again....

But really, what business is it of the government as to exactly what is on each farm if they don't have plans to help themselves to it?  Please read this article.....especially if you're a farmer. Pass it on to the farmers you know.

http://www.naturalnews.com/039652_USDA_agriculture_census_government_surveillance.html

Actually, I wish each and every farmer in America would just burn this multi-page form when they get it. They don't need the added burden of filling it out and besides, whatever happened to privacy?? America...land of the free. Yeah, right!!!

I'll step down off my soap box now. Stuff like this just ticks me off. If we don't start rebelling, the next thing we know we'll have to report how many times we use the bathroom in a day or how many glasses of water we drink......And be taxed on it probably.

What's Cooking?

The ingredient of the week over at JudyL's site was butternut squash.  In 2011 our garden produced an overabundance of squash. I had canned a lot of squash the year before and didn't need more so went looking for butternut squash recipes.  All of mine were for desserts or breads and I wanted more of a side dish or main dish. This is one that I found that I've made many times since.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Potato-Squash-Casserole/Print

After making it for the first time I quit doing the microwaving step (the T. of water can be left out).  I brown and drain the sausage and skip layering. Just mix it all together.  Leave out the 2 T. flour. And I rarely put the shredded cheese on top....don't worry, there are plenty of calories without it :) If I bake it in my small round dark enamel roaster it takes about an hour at 375*.  In a glass pan it takes longer.

This is very good even if it is on the unhealthy side.

What Am I Reading?

This week I read The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs.  My cousin had recommended it to me and last week I said I needed to read something lighter, so this was it. It's a fast read about a mother and daughter on their way across country to the daughter's college. Daughter is driving so mom has plenty of time to work on a memory quilt she's making for her daughter and to remember the past and wonder what the future will be like for her and her husband now that they will have an "empty nest." I enjoyed it even though it's not my usual style of book.....mystery, suspense, action.

Find out what others are reading at JudyL's site.

Here's an update on the baby quilts in the last post.  The baby's themselves, born yesterday.

 

Adorable twins.

Two Baby Quilts Finished

And just in time too.

 

My grand-nieces are scheduled to make their appearance tomorrow.

 

Busy Week

It's been a busy week. Got the e-Rate paperwork for the library caught up on Monday.  What could be done on postcards requires filling out five forms through the year.

Tuesday was dentist day. Expensive, but no cavities. Yay!!! That evening was Quilt Club. Both our original hostess & our substitute hostess were out of town, but that was OK, we muddled through. I got fourteen more star blocks done for my Orca Bay.

 

At this rate it will only take a few more months to finish. :)

Wednesday morning was the Antelope Co. Library Assoc. meeting in Elgin.  I got to drive over the new bridges south of  town that washed out in the flooding going on three years ago.  The first time I was on that road since they washed out.  In the afternoon I got one of two baby quilts loaded on the machine and quilted.

Thursday was another work day and I put out hundreds of books for the used book sale that will start tomorrow (Sat.) and run until the end of the month. Hope we sell lots of them because I hate the thought of boxing them all back up and disposing of them.  My back is still protesting from putting them out.

Today I got yesterday's quilt off the machine and squared up. Then loaded the second one and got it quilted, removed and squared up too.  Binding them is on the agenda for the weekend. Just in time to since I hear my niece is supposed to meet her twin girls face-to-face on Monday.  With a bunch of laundry and dishes also done today, that was the week that was.

To finish up here's a picture of DH at his retirement lunch a week ago.

 

Just think, we've already survived a week of his retirement. There's hope.

 

What Are You Reading?

Yeah, I know I said I should swear off this kind of book. But where else are you going to find out about what the industries are trying to sell you and say are good for you when they really aren't?  Testing is lied about or not done at all. Scientists are silenced. Negative effects turn up years later.  What a great system!!!

Maybe next week I'll try to read some mindless fluff. I don't think science has said that is bad......yet.

Just Say NO! to GMO Food

Thinking about eating healthier?  Avoiding GMO foods might be a good place to start. Here's a website with lots of good reasons why:

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/blog

The more I read about the negative side of GMOs the madder I get. Just what the hell does our FDA and government think they're doing by allowing this?  Other industrialized nations got wise to it at least ten years ago, but here it's still being stuffed down our throats whether we want it or not. Maybe people in those other countries really are smarter than Americans....that's what educational statistics are showing anyway.

On another note, the baby quilt tops are done, the backings and battings are pieced and the bindings are made. Now to dust off the quilting machine and get them done. I have quite a bit of quilting to do and need to get off the procrastination trip.

Isn't It The Truth?

 

 I'm finally getting back to putting the frames on the last batch of blocks for the teal blue/orange quilt.  The "nekkid" 9-patches are there at the top of the piles.

It always seems that if I get away from something for a while it's hard to go back, and needing to cut more pieces is the worst!! Now I can SEW and that always goes better.

Question:  Why do we always wait so long to change the cutter blade?  I was positively sawing the fabric to get it cut and when I finally broke down and put the new blade in it was like a hot knife through butter.

Weekend Buddy

This is Max, my weekend buddy. His family went to the girls State Basketball tournaments this weekend. He's such a sweet, happy little guy. So good. He'll probably be here until sometime tomorrow since the girls play for the championship in their class at 4:30 today.  Granddaughter #2 is a student manager for the team and I can imagine just how excited she is to be a part of this as an eighth grader.

Not much else going on. Just getting paperwork done to have an income since hubby will be retired as of this coming Thursday.  That might be a good thing for him. For me?  The jury will still be out for a while on that.

Have a good weekend everyone.

It's No Secret.......

......that some things just really aggravate me & then I like to share. :)  Today I came across this article about the United States' health care and insurance systems. Is it any wonder this great country of ours is on its way into the dumpster? Forcing people to buy insurance isn't the answer. I really don't know what is, but that isn't it. Maybe going from an overly medicated, disease treating system to a prevention system is the answer.....though of course not as profitable for hospitals, clinics, insurance companies and the pharmaceutical giants.

Read the article for yourself and draw your own conclusions as to why health care is in the situation it's in.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/50-signs-that-the-u-s-health-care-system-is-a-gigantic-money-making-scam-that-is-about-to-collapse

Wednesday....

Wednesday is "What's Cooking?" day over at JudyL's blog and last week's ingredient was Cinnamon.  I use a lot of cinnamon in pies, crisps, oatmeal, french toast etc., but my favorite recipe using cinnamon is this seasonal one, French Pear Pie. We have our own pear tree so most years I have a good stock of pears on hand in the fall.  It's a pretty easy recipe to make, so here's what you need:

9" or  larger unbaked pie crust

Filling:  

Enough peeled & sliced pears to fill  the crust level full
3 T. frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 t. grated lemon peel (I use the dried)

Mix well and pour into unbaked crust.

Topping:

3/4 to 1 C. flour
1/2 C. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/3 to 1/2 C. softened butter (Not melted)

Mix thoroughly and spread over the filling, covering well to the edges. Pat down gently.
Bake at 400* for 40 minutes.  (I usually bake for a little longer at 375* so the crust doesn't get too dark.)  Cool and serve topped with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

French Pear Pie

And this is what it usually looks like before I can get the camera out. :)

 That pie plate is a humongous vintage one that is at least 10", maybe 11", so I get eight good sized pieces when I make this pie, adjusting the amount of pears and topping ingredients accordingly.

What Am I Reading?

This is what the start of my day looked like:

Frosty view.

Close-up.

Right after this the wind started blowing a little, knocking the frost off the branches. Looked like snow.

Saturday night I stayed up way too late to read the Obamacare Survival Guide by Nick J. Tate.  It puts into understandable language what citizens can expect. It will be available in the local library as soon as I can get it cataloged and processed.

 

The other book I've been reading is Ready Scrap Shoot by Joanna Campbell Slan. It's the fifth book in the Kiki Lowenstein mystery series. I've enjoyed all of them so far, though I thought the fourth one was the best to date.  The sixth book in the series comes out in May.  If you have a Kindle, she also has some Kiki Lowenstein e-book short stories available on Amazon.

Block Piles Growing

The piles of blocks for the teal blue/orange quilt are growing. When the upper pile gets the frames sewn on they will be ready to set together.

The pattern is a variation of the QOV quilt designed by JudyL.

I Had Plans...

.....for my

I was going to watch a
movie.

I was going to sew.






Didn't happen!!!!  The snow didn't even start till after 2pm and I get off work at 3. Bummer!!!!!   I didn't go back for the evening hours so I guess you could say I got a 2 hour Snow Day.  I did make some yummy homemade veggie beef soup and homemade biscuits for supper. Perfect for a snowy night.

And today I finally got to sew.
No movie though.
Scalded my thumb pressing
seams. Looks like it will
even blister.  :(





So if you were one of the lucky ones to get a snow day today I hope you made one of these.

What I'm Reading

Here's what I'm currently reading:

All about genetically modified seeds and the REAL story of the effects of GMOs.  BtCorn, Roundup ready soybeans, BtCotton,  and Roundup ready canola are the most common.  If you read food labels you will find that corn and soy are in almost everything. I always thought canola oil was one of the "healthy" fats; now I know better.

GMO products have been linked to various negative health effects from allergies to cancer.  They have never been tested for safety beyond ninety day studies until a French scientist did a two-year study on rats. The rats fed GMO grain developed horrendous cancers and 70% of them died before their natural life-span was up. The GMO industry has tried to smear this scientist's reputation and say his methodology was faulty but it isn't working very well. 

GMOs are banned in many countries around the world yet have the full backing of the FDA and the U.S. government.  In fact, the U.S. government pressures these other countries to allow GMO products in. Personally, after reading even half of this book and doing further reading online, I think the GMOs should be banned worldwide and  GMO pushing companies should be fined into oblivion for what they are doing to unknowing consumers.....using us as guinea pigs for something that should never have existed in the first place.

In addition to the adverse health effects of GMOs the increased use of herbicides is creating "super" weeds.  Farmers may think they have the world by the tail because they can spray their fields and the weeds are all gone. But just wait, soon the sprays won't work any more and stronger, more poisonous chemicals will be introduced or farmers and their families will be back to walking their beans & corn, chopping out the weeds with machetes like we did in the good old days. Back to using cultivators. (Do younger farmers even know what those are?)  If BtCorn kills insects do you really think it's not doing harm to the animals and humans who eat it?  I'm afraid our farmers have been hoodwinked and they've joined in whole-heartedly because they've been promised bigger profits. In America money talks.

Really I should just stick to reading my mysteries. It would be better for my blood pressure. What good does it do to know about stuff like this?  Big business and the U.S. government says it's all good for us. So it must be, right????

See what others are reading at Patchworktimes.

What I'm Working On

Who needs a design wall when you have an ironing board???  Especially when you only have two blocks to show.

These are the first two completed blocks for #2 Granddaughter's orange & teal blue quilt.....though the blue doesn't look very teal in the picture. In looking through my fabrics everything was either too green or too blue. Finally I settled on three that were what I thought were about right and went with it.  Besides when it's done that orange is just going to pop out and hit you in the eye and no one will even notice if the blue is the exact right shade.

Sounds like this week will be good sewing weather. Supposed to have 6-10 inches of snow from Wed. afternoon through Thurs. afternoon according to Accuweather. Oh, please, please can we have a snow day on Thurs. ???  It's getting late in the winter and we all NEED a snow day!!!

P.S. I just noticed that this is post 400. How did that happen so fast?????

Baby Steps......And An Ooops!

Tuesday night's Quilt Club was a "bring your own project night," so I worked on putting together some of the star blocks for Orca Bay. These finish at 6".  Cute!

 

I was surprised that I got ten of them done, what with all the visiting and snacks and all. Now I see that the one on the lower right has a little "oops" that will have to be corrected. It's funny how I don't notice these things until I see them in a picture. 

A while after I got home on Tuesday night my throat got real itchy and I coughed a lot in the night.....and I'm still at it. Don't feel sick or anything, just keep coughing because of the itchiness. My voice has been croaky and my ribs ache from the coughing and the throat feels quite sore at times though it doesn't look inflamed. I've sneezed a bunch of times today so I sure hope it isn't working up into something. Last year at this time I was in the process of coming down with  shingles so this seems minor in comparison.  Maybe next year we can just skip February??? Guess I'll just medicate myself well before going to bed so I'll be ready to go to work in the morning.  Working on Saturdays....grrrrrrrrr!

Hope you have a nice weekend.

 

Hearts To You

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

What I've Been Up To

Well, let's see. I got my annual new ironing board cover. It looked so nice when I took this picture.  No stains, no scorch marks. Lovely.  It's already showing some wear.

 

I've also gotten two baby quilt tops put together. 

They're the same, but different, made from 30s reproduction fabrics for the twin girls my niece is expecting in early April.

Today I was playing with fabrics, trying to choose what to use for two more quilts. Big ones this time.

Orange, teal blue, cream & lime green accent for my #2 granddaughter.  Generous double size. Why she had to choose such a strange shade of blue to paint her room I will never know. If these aren't quite right she will just have to deal with it.

Queen size in dusty purples, chocolate and a cream print. I'm not really satisfied with these browns so might have to see if I can run across some I like better. I've made enough quilts with browns that the best ones are pretty much used up.

Looks like I'll be busy for a while. If I don't post you'll know I'm cutting and sewing like mad.