Is tomorrow REALLY the last day of May??

It sure enough is and I'm still trying to figure out where the month went. Though I'd get some things done since I had four days in a row off work. Didn't happen. It seemed like every time I thought about loading a quilt on the machine the clouds would turn dark and the thunder would rumble. I don't plug the machine in if there's any lightning going on.

I have had a really good genealogy week. Made some new contacts, found information on the Klatts, Veenkers, Wragges, Races & Baileys.  Sometimes it just seems like every click of the mouse turns up something new. The thing I'm most excited about is finding pictures of DH's Bailey great-great-grandparents.  I stored quite a few files on my computer and printed out a bunch more. Now I just need to sit down with all of it and get it entered into my genealogy program and set up some file boxes for the paper stuff. Actually I bought the stuff I need to do that two years ago, shoved it under the bed and there it sits.

One can always hope I'll get more done in June. :)

Beautiful Memorial Day

After several days with rain & chilliness, then hot steamy days with thunderstorms and the possibility of severe weather, it's about as perfect as it gets here in Nebraska today.  Blue sky with fluffy white clouds, sunshine, temp in the low 70s and a gentle breeze.  A real day to enjoy.

What have I been up to since the last post?  Nothing memorable enough to blog about apparently. LOL  Just the usual everyday stuff, plus I've spent time cleaning strawberries, got some flowers, tomatoes and peppers planted, have a quilt ready to load on the machine, read a few books, read some blogs....and let's not forget vacuuming up cat hair, it's that time of year.

Yesterday we got going in the morning on the cemetery rounds, before the thunderstorms could set in again. When we got to the Creighton cemetery I really wished I'd taken my camera long. They do quite an impressive display with flags flying to honor all the local veterans. Just beautiful.

Just Finished Reading

I just finished reading a rather interesting book:

The gist of it is that modern wheat has been so hybridized and genetically tinkered with during the last 50-60 years that it really doesn't qualify as a "healthy whole grain" any more.  Of all the carbohydrates it raises blood glucose the highest and fastest, leading to diabetes and obesity...hence the title, Wheat Belly.

The author also discusses his observations that wheat can contribute to a host of problems that can be improved by getting rid of wheat in the diet.  In addition to celiac disease, diabetes and obesity he sites studies about the effects of wheat consumption on cholesterol, bone density/osteoporosis, acne, arthritis and a host of other ills and complaints for which doctors can't always find a cause.  Unexplained aches and pains, sinus issues, fatigue, foggy thinking, etc. could be the result of a wheat sensitivity and the best way to find out is to quit eating wheat. And that can be difficult because wheat is in almost every processed food....just read the labels!!

I'm sure this book will be soundly criticized by everyone from wheat-based agribusiness to diabetes educators to the junk food industry since they all want the consumer to believe wheat is about the perfect food. Anyway, it might be worth a read.

Finished!!

This one will live on the back of the couch.

Happy Arbor Day

Is Arbor Day observed all over the country or just in Nebr.?  I should know that, but I'll have to look it up.  I like to say that as a librarian I don't really need to know anything, I just need to know how to look it up. :)  Update:  Just read that it's observed around the globe. Thanks, Mike Johanns.


There hasn't been too much going on around here except the ordinary, every-day stuff so you haven't seen much from me. Tuesday & Wednesday were beautiful days so I got some quilts washed and hung on the line outside, including these two QOV quilts that will be sent off as soon as I get a third one ready to go. (The box holds three, and it's cheaper to send them all at once instead of one or two at a time.)

That third one is in pieces on the sewing machine table so it will be a while before it's ready to go.  At my last Quilt Club meeting I demonstrated making the block in the first picture above. Since then I've made enough more blocks to get another top finished and got it loaded on the machine Wednesday, ready to start quilting today if the thunderstorms hold off so I don't have to unplug the machine.

I'm keeping this one. It will be my "back of the couch" quilt.

Tuesday night was Book Club at the library. (Don't you just love the original names of these clubs?) My book was American Sniper by Chris Kyle & co-authors Scott McEwan and Jim DeFelice.  It's the story of the Navy SEAL who has had the most sniper kills in U.S. military history....all during his four deployments to Iraq.

I really liked it and breezed through it in a couple of days. I thought it was refreshing to read a book about the Iraq war by someone who was actually  on the ground fighting and isn't afraid to tell it like it is, though I think he toned it down a bit to make it more palatable for the reading public. That said, if you can't handle guns and some bad language, this may not be the book for you.

Bad Day

Yesterday was certainly a crazy weather day throughout the middle part of the country. We were lucky once again and only got some rain, which is much needed. Other places not so far away weren't so lucky. Here are some pictures of the hail in Norfolk, NE.

Hail drifts near Woodland Park

Hail on 13th St near McDonald's

Our son's house on the acreage south of Meadow Grove also got hit badly.

The pictures show the north & west sides of his house. The outside of the house was totally redone last summer and fall. Only one window on the north side was left intact.  The new shingles are full of holes too and will have to be replaced.  His 5th wheel was so badly battered that he figures the insurance co. will total it. I only hope he gets enough out of it to finish paying for it. His brother-in-law's travel trailer was parked out there too and also got trashed.

It's so sad to see all the work he put in last year destroyed. They had hoped to get the inside finished by mid-summer so they could move in, but now they will be back to working on the outside again.  It would be good if the rain quit now, until he gets a new roof on, so it doesn't leak and ruin the insulation and drywall he just got up in the upstairs.

Keep you eyes on the sky, everyone.

Easter Greetings

Nice Surprise

Today, as I was inspecting the contents of the dairy case at the local grocery store, I got the nicest surprise. One of the owners came over and handed me an envelope, telling me I had won the March drawing for a $50 gift certificate. Nice!!

As you can see, it's already spent. The certificate never even made it home with me.

Got the taxes all e-filed today and the checks written. I'd sure like for us to get a nice big refund back some year like so many people do.  I started out using the same free site I used last year for the federal form. Input all the information and when I hit the "e-file" button they wanted $39.95. No way!!  So I deleted that and went to the IRS fill-in-able forms that can be e-filed.....and it actually WAS free.  Then did the state free e-file. I just can't see paying for the privilege of finding out how much money we have to send the "guvmints."

Big Day

Whoo Hoo, today the 1940 U.S. Census was released. Genealogists have been eagerly waiting for this. As a matter of fact, they were so eager and wrote so much about it on their blogs that I got a little sick of reading about it. Now the great day is here and the blogs are saying the hosting servers were overwhelmed and getting blank screens wasn't unusual.

I want to see if a couple great-uncles are in the census, but I think I'll wait a while to check until all the furor dies down a little. Those great-uncles aren't going anywhere.

Here's the next quilt all loaded on the machine and just waiting for me to make that first pass.

I always like pictures on blog posts, don't you?

Little Old Proofreader Me

Anyone who's known me for any length of time has probably heard me comment on complain about the errors I find in books and newspapers. I'm more forgiving of the newspapers because they do need to do things quickly. Still, journalists should know better than to use the wrong form of a word such as to instead of too, or my personal favorite, peak instead of peek or pique. Too many errors in books just plain irritate me. Typos are bad enough, but when the characters are mixed up and nobody notices, that is just uncalled for. Don't publishers employ proofreaders any more? For some things, the grammar and spell checkers in word processing programs just don't quite cut it.

Now I've gotten my very own chance at proofreading something other than my own writing....a friend's masters thesis. I don't know anything about the subject, but I can spell, punctuate, find repetitions and sense when something is off with the timeline... or at least I hope so. :) One thing I'm learning is that it is much slower going when actually looking for errors than it is when just reading along and stumbling on them.

New experiences are good, right?

A Long Dry Spell

I checked back in the blog to see when I last used my quilting machine.....before Dec. 15th. After that I was getting ready for Christmas and then doing a lot of cutting for three different quilts as well as some string piecing. February was pretty much a lost month for me, but today the Premier got a little exercise. (Too bad I can't say the same for myself.)

Will be donated.

Tomorrow after work I'll either load the next one or put the binding on this one.

Progress

It's not much, but it IS progress. Just needs to have the borders sewed on...that makes two at that stage now.  Next up....making backs & binding. Hoping to get them quilted and bound during the next two weeks.

It's about time for some finishes for 2012.

Over and Done With!!

No need to worry about the end of the world any more....if you ever did.

So, no end of the world and yesterday's major solar storm didn't fry us either. What will the next crazy story be? 

And She's Back...

....to sewing, that is.  I'll admit I was going a little stir crazy just existing and trying not to move to much. I love reading, but you can only read so much.

Anyway, I saw this block on a Missouri Star Quilt Co. video on youTube and decided to work one up using strip sets with 5 - 2 1/2"  strips to see what size block I ended up with.

It made a 13.75" block unfinished, so setting it 4 x 5 with 5" borders all around will make a nice sized QOV quilt.

It's an easy block to make, but I don't think it would make a good group block since it depends on a very consistent seam allowance and you're dealing with a lot of bias edges. It definitely needs borders to hold all that bias in place for quilting. 

I'm going to make up a QOV quilt in R/W/B, but I think it would be pretty in multi-color scraps, or bright print/solids or baby prints/solids. A very versatile pattern.

Happy B-Day, Dr. Seuss

Kinda sad that that's all I have to post. Hopefully by next week I'll be all healed up and nothing will rub and hurt when I move.  Then I can sew again. I suspect the pain in my back where the virus first activated will be with me for a while. That's what pain pills are for I guess.

About those pain pills.....I found that Excedrin is the only thing that really works & when I blew through what I had on hand I found out there had been a recall and there aren't any on the store shelves. The stores where I've looked have even removed the generic versions. I finally ordered some of the Equate (Walmart brand) online. Hope they come today.

Heartstrings QOV Quilt

I finished the blocks for this at Quilt Group Tues. night and finished setting them together today.

I could go ahead and quilt and bind it as it is, but I think I'll cut some 5" strips of some sort of patriotic looking fabric and put a border on it. That'll contain the scrapiness a little and give it a more finished look...to my mind anyway.

It Only Happens To Other People....

....Not always.  A few days ago I mentioned a pain in my back that I blamed on too much fabric cutting with a somewhat dull rotary blade. Hah!!...if only.  That pain was the Shingles virus waking up. So now I have a lovely, blistered rash. Sore now, with itching to come, I'm sure.  

(Picture from the Internet)  Similar to mine. Wraps around to the front on the right.

Not as painful as I've always heard it is. Everything I've read tells about the pain from nerve damage as well, with treatment doing very little. So far, so good. I think my saving grace is that I've taken Alpha Lipoic Acid supplement for years to counteract diabetic  nerve damage. Sure hope it keeps working.

 One of the natural remedies I read about is Apple Cider Vinegar...both taken internally and dabbed on the rash. I'm trying that as well. I smell like a pickle but if it helps I really don't care. The rash is hidden by clothing so I've kept going to work, though I try to move around as little as possible while there since some of the clothing rubs cross the rash and I don't want it getting sorer than necessary.

Just one more experience in life, I guess. One I could have gone a long time without.

Stolen Quilt Alert

Please check this blog post for details:

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2012/02/help-get-word-outanother-stolen-quilt.html?showComment=1329443931411#c2507675859339920876

Spread the word.

Valentine's

Quilt Club tonight. If I was really organized I would have a special little treat for everyone. But, I'm not so I won't. Besides, we're all sweet enough already. :)

Don't you find the news depressing?

I sure do. Yesterday Greece almost had a deal on their debt bail-out and stocks looked good. Today the Greeks don't like the austerity measures that go along with the bail-out so stocks drop.

When will people, including us in the U.S., understand that when you are in the hole the first thing you need to do is quit digging?  That means NO MORE SPENDING unless it's absolutely necessary to stay alive. You simply can't have what you can't pay for. Duh!!!

I have no desire to ever have an elected office like President, Senator, Representative, Governor, or any other. But, if the position was open, I'd like a chance to wield the red pencil on the Federal budget and cross off all the pet projects and other wasteful stuff. Shouldn't SOMEBODY be doing that? And this business of tacking pet projects onto Bills that have to pass to keep the country running?  Use the red pencil there to. If it can't stand on its own it shouldn't exist at all.

OK, I'll step down off my soap box now.