Working On:

Neutral string blocks for Jamestown Landing.

Black/neutral quarter-square triangles for Orca Bay.

Got all those triangles cut today and a good batch of the string blocks sewed. The pile has built up pretty good and I need to count them to see how many more I need to make. I know there aren't nearly enough triangles cut so I have more strips matched up, ready to cut more.

Dog-sitting

Such a dirty little face.

This May Not Look Like Much.....

....but it's keeping me cool!  Not quite as cool as the old one did, but it was a 10,000 btu and this is an 8,000 btu and I was lucky to get it.  (It doesn't spew smoke so that's a plus.)  Quite a few stores were sold out and most of what was left were 6000 btus which just wouldn't do the job.  One store told me they probably wouldn't get any more in because it's the end of the season. Haven't they been listening to the long range forecasts??? It's supposed to be hot & dry until Halloween.   Anyway, I absolutely LOVE Sears because they at least had one close enough to what I needed at a price I was willing to pay.  And a big thumbs down to Alco that wanted $400 + tax for a 7800 btu.  :(

It Fought The Heat......

and


     the


         heat


              won!!!





Yep, when the AC starts smokin' that's a bad sign.  That's what the big window AC in the living room did earlier this evening.  So I've cranked up the little window AC in the sewing room/guest room as high as it will go and have a box fan trying to suck some of that cool air into the rest of the house.  I hate the thought but I'm going to have to go AC hunting.

Wow! Second Post Today

Maybe I'm just making up for weeks that go by with none.  Actually I'm having a hard time typing with my fingers crossed because the window AC is making a strange noise. Now would be a heck of a time for it to die.  Bet there isn't a store in the area that has any left.

Just wanted to show some quilting progress. These bags represent 892 blue/neutral HSTs...plenty for Jamestown Landing, with some left over.

Next up is making 168 neutral string-pieced 4 1/2" squares for setting pieces.

I love string piecing. I already have the string-pieced parts of Orca Bay done so I guess for that quilt I'll have to start cutting and piecing MORE HSTs. To be honest, my sister Quilt Club members think I'm crazy making quilts with so many little pieces.  :)

In the last post I mentioned the power co. calling last night about the possibility of shutting down the power for a while. I forgot about the other interesting call my DH answered.  It was from Trans Canada wanting him to press "1" if he approved of the Keystone XL pipeline which is slated to come through about 3 miles north of us. I asked him if there was a number to press for disapproval and he said he didn't think so.  Why on earth would we approve of something with  its potential for pollution?  When the company won't even tell us what chemicals they're putting in that nasty tar sands oil to make it flow?

In my opinion they should build their own refineries in Canada and build a pipeline to the coast so they can do their exporting to China & India without the United States taking  the risks for very little return.  Or are government officials getting a good return for selling out the middle of our country? We sure won't see any of it. The landowners along the route are supposed to be satisfied with a one-time payment.  How about annual rental for the use of their land??  Jobs? Big lie. Certainly not for people along the route. Tax income for local areas?  The first Keystone pipeline hasn't lived up to the estimates in that area either.  What about pollution in the areas of the refineries when this chemical laden crap gets there?  People who are stuck living near the refineries are already sicker and have more cancer than other places. They don't need even more chemical fumes.

Well, I guess now the world knows where I stand on that little issue doesn't it??  I think it's important that people speak out. It's time for our government to man-up and tell Canada they can deal with their own tar sands oil and leave us out of it.

Just for good measure, they need to man-up with Mexico too and send the illegal aliens packing. This country is in bad shape financially and we can't afford to take in everyone.  Mexico doesn't. Just ask the Central Americans who get caught there illegally.  There's a saying in rural America, "Good fences make good neighbors." Might be something to think about.

Is It Hot Enough For Ya????

Yep, that's the kind of silly question we ask each other when it's this hot. Like anybody has to ask. It's been around a 100 here the past few days, tomorrow is supposed to be 105, Sunday 102, right on through Tuesday.  The heat index warning runs from this afternoon to Tuesday night.

 Wednesday night at midnight the power company shut power down for a while....due to more demand than they could meet I heard.  They called customers last night to announce that it might be shut off again after 10pm  for a while. It never happened so I'm assuming customers were conserving power or a few irrigation systems got shut down.  The electric grid is overburdened already yet farmers are given grants to switch over from diesel or propane to electricity. Does that make any sense?  We're also under water restrictions, voluntary so far, but if the irrigation systems keep running 24/7 it might become mandatory.  If we can't water our garden and have to watch it burn to a crisp while those systems keep running I will be POed for sure. Running them every other day would be plenty.






Go outside any time after noon and you kind of feel like the fellow pictured to the right. My remedy is lots of lemonade and not doing any cooking in the house after breakfast.  Told the DH the other night that it would be nice to have a grill with a burner so I could cook more than two things at once for supper. I do have an electric hot plate, but using it and the toaster oven at the same time might not be such a good idea. They're both on the the same circuit, along with some other things, so probably all I'd accomplish is to throw the breaker. The gas grill and the toaster oven in the garage get used every night.

There's been a little sewing going on. The bags hold HSTs for Jamestown Landing. I'm hoping that the strings of HSTs will be enough after they get pressed and counted. Pressing is an issue in this hot weather too. I just hate to add more heat to the house. The window AC struggles in the late afternoon as it is, but I've turned the one in the sewing room on too and will chance it as soon as I post this.

So long until the next post unless I melt into a puddle of goo.

The Start of Another Week

Ah....Monday....what can you say?!? I spent a good part of the day at work putting together the library's annual report to the Village Board. It never ceases to amaze me that I can have the year's spreadsheet and the state report in front of me and come up with a third set of figures. So I just picked one and went with it!!! Ended the work day with a Library Board meeting at 4:30 and then the Village Board meeting at 7:00. I'm happy to say that the library is fully funded for another year and I still have a job.  Now on to the rest of the week!!

Let's see....Club meeting at the coffee shop in Creighton in the afternoon tomorrow. Antelope Co. Library Assoc. meeting at the library on Wednesday morning and a potluck for Quilt Club in the evening. Work on Thursday. Maybe I can sew again on Friday. Hope so. I have about a 100 HSTs left to do for Jamestown landing.

Hope you're getting to do the things you want to get done this week.

Big Bang Boom!

Hope you're all having a nice 4th. It's a hot one!!!  Read a post on FB about a family driving around last night to see fireworks. The first ones they saw set a ditch on fire. She said it was exciting.  Could get way too exciting way too fast!! We'll enjoy the neighbors' fireworks again this year. They always have really good ones.

So far my 4th hasn't been overly exciting. Slept in. Went to the library and installed the new blinds on the new storeroom window. Moved the shelf unit back in. Sorted through some stuff in there & in one of the storage closets. Made a few trips out to the dumpster. Stopped at the C-Store and got a sandwich for lunch.  Now I'm trying to decide what to do with the rest of the day. Nothing outside, that's for sure. Just too hot. And I'm a weenie, I like my AC.  There are HSTs that need to be pressed but I hate to add to the AC's job by having the iron on. The poor thing struggles to keep up by late afternoon anyway.  Oh well, I'll think of something. :)

Your e-Book is Reading You

Here's a kind of creepy article I came across: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304870304577490950051438304.html  It looks like "big brother" just might be watching after all. Apparently, when readers download books to their e-readers the e-readers are sending information about the owner's reading habits back "home." It makes me real happy that my Sony doesn't have either wifi or 3G connections. 

BIG Quilts!

Here's the two BIG quilts, all quilted. I showed them on the machine before but here you can get a better look at them. Very eyecatching.

I asked my friend about the pattern name. She said one like the bottom one was hanging in a quilt shop where she took a class. They were selling kits, but she didn't want to buy one. They wouldn't let her take a picture so she memorized it as best she could and re-created it.