Sitting in the Dark

It was raining very hard this morning.  I could hear the wind blowing things around out in the backyard.   It was because of all that wind and rain (I guess) that our power went out.  I was composing some emails on my computer when there was a huge 'boom' and everything went black.  It was only around 8:00am.  But without power there is not much I can do. So I cut some little scraps for my OMG quilt. 

And when the power did not come back on, I went back to bed and fell asleep.  Kind of like Oscar here.  But he is faking it.  He's awake. Really he is! He just doesn't want to get up.  Kind of like me. 
But now I am going to do some kind of quilt-related activity.  Otherwise it would be a waste of a day. Wouldn't it?

Keeping Busy on a Rainy Wednesday

A busy Wednesday.   I spent the first 15 minutes of today doing one block of this Disappearing Nine Patch.  It is a kit from our guild and is intended to be donated to a long-term care facility.  I am planning on making one of these nine patch block every day, so that I can have it done by the end of May.  I am cutting the blocks and sewing them together as I go, because these are the only fabrics in this quilt and I don't have to worry about the layout.

I am also working on the next section of my hexie Wannabe Quilt.  Haven't worked much on this quilt over the past few days.  There just seems to be too much happening around here.  I'll show you what I mean........

My kitchen got worked on yesterday.  The guys were here for 13 hours!  But look at how much is done!  I love it.  My nephew is doing an amazing job!  Hopefully we will get a few more rain days and he will come back and finish the cabinets.

Then the counter people will have to come and take measurements for the counter top.  That blue on my fridge is just the plastic protection.  I haven't removed it yet.  I want to wait until all the work is done so that the fridge won't get damaged.

Two of the cupboards on the top don't have doors.  We ordered this cabinet without the wood panels  so that I can make a couple of stained glass inserts for them.  They will have glass shelves and a couple of lights so that the stained glass will 'light up'.

And last but not least is my Thimbleberries project for today.  It is Thimbleberries Sew Day and I am joining Barb so that I can finish this one.  The entire centre is done in rail fence blocks.  The blocks are set on point and there are triangles along the sides with appliqued apples.  Right now I have nowhere to put this quilt so that you can see it all.  When I have more space I will take a better photo.

10-Minute Block

I apologize for the bad photo.  We have rain, lots of rain, for probably the rest of the week.  It is dark, even in my solarium.  I actually needed my flash.  This is a 10-minute block which Barb of Bejeweled Quilts showed on her blog a few days ago.   I really liked it and wanted to try it.  I made my blocks with 8-inch pieces because that is what I had in my stash.  There are 4 blocks in this top.   I put one of the 'on point' pieces in the centre of the 4 blocks.  It was very easy, but I had a lot of interruptions today. I plan to make this a bit bigger when I have time.

My second set of kitchen cabinets finally arrived.  We were told they were being delivered today between 8:00am and 1:00pm, but they didn't get here until 3:30pm.  Now my whole house is filled with boxes of cabinets because the guys who delivered them would not take the first set back.  I have no idea what is going to happen now.  And frankly Scarlet, I don't give a damn.  Now I just want my kitchen installed so that things can get back to normal.  Yeah, okay, semi-normal.

Happy, Hoppy Easter

I waited all day for the sun to come out.  But it never did before we had to leave to go over to my DD's house for Easter dinner.  So I took the picture anyway because  my little bunny just wanted to wish you all a Happy, Hoppy Easter!    

Journal Quilt

This is a journal quilt which I started several weeks ago, before all the problems with my sewing machine and computer.  It was back when the crocuses were just coming up and there was still snow on the ground.  All the snow is gone now, but it is still cold, wet and windy.  We are patiently waiting for spring and wondering if it will ever get here. This quilt measures 8 1/2 by 11 inches.  

Creativity out of Chaos

The computer guy came at noon today. He played around with my machine and then went on the internet to find the download for my printer. Apparently my printer had not been downloaded correctly by the store. Then he played around with my camera. He had to go to the internet for that too. It seems that my beautiful camera is 'old'. What's up with that? At least the fact that my computer wasn't working had nothing to do with my computer skills.

When the computer guy left I tried to blog about my predicament. I couldn't get blogger to work. And even though my computer's problems had nothing to do with my skills, I was feeling very computer illiterate by that time. I felt tired and fed up. My bed looked very inviting. I could have slept all day. Then my sister phoned me. She convinced me to leave the computer for awhile and try my sewing machine.

So I didn't go back to bed. I went to my sewing machine instead.

It seemed to work okay. It was greasy and dripping oil, but I wiped it clean and started putting some little scraps together - my favourite past time. And I came up with this little journal quilt. It measures 8 1/2 by 11 inches. It represents the chaos in my life over the past couple of weeks. But out of chaos comes creativity. And I found it. I also found this catnip plant. It's just starting to grow. Spring is taking a long time to get here. But this little plant will grow and grow as the weather gets warmer. Mimi will be happy!

My Favourite Toys are Broken

Edit - This is the post I wrote yesterday. Blogger wouldn't let me post it. I had the computer guy here last night, but he couldn't get my new computer to do what I want it to. Another guy is coming today. I hope he can fix it. I want my old computer back!

The birds are singing in my backyard so I thought I would put a photo of them on this post. But I can't download them from my camera. So these will have to do. These are my indoor birds. They don't sing, but they provide hours of entertainment for my fur babies.I haven't posted in a long time. My computer was giving me headaches. It sparked and zapped me each time I turned it on. So I just left it on for several weeks because I was afraid if I turned it off I wouldn't be able to turn it back on. But that idea backfired on me. After an extremely heavy rain storm last week, the power went out in my area. My computer turned itself off and I could not restart it. I took it to the shop. They said that they could fix it, but it would cost me a lot of money and since it was an old machine, I decided to put the money towards a new computer. Trust me, this new computer is great, but now I have a new problem. This computer does not recognize my camera. So I can't download shots from my camera. I can't post any new shots.

Not that there are any. My sewing machine was in the shop last week too. They tell me it's fixed, but I wonder for how long. This weekend I am going to go to the Creative Festival. My DD is taking me. I hope to check out all or many of the brand names that will be there. I hope I will find a nice new machine that doesn't put me in the poorhouse. I want to get back to my TAW!

Please be patient with me. I will return as soon as possible. Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. My scooter is not working either. I am under house arrest.

Blocks of the Week

Just wanted to show you some of my latest Block Party blocks. This first one is 'Honey Bee'. It is a 10in. block and it was last week's block. This week's block is called 'Pieced Tulips'. These are very easy to make. The instructions make a 9in. block. Because most of the blocks that folks are making are 10inches, I changed the centre strips and made a 10in. block. The centre strips are cut 2 1/2in. by 4 1/2in. The centre square is 2 1/2in.

Now it is a 10inch block.

I was having some more problems with my sewing machine. I couldn't figure out how come my pieced units were too big for the straight un-pieced strips. I measured several times and just couldn't figure it out. Until I looked at the needle. It was in the centre position, but in my machine that was a little to the right of centre. So I moved the needle position to the left of centre and got a better seam allowance. But it still isn't perfect. I am not going to take my machine in to have it fixed any more. Ever since the top jammed, I have been having problems. I think they are unfixable. Maybe I should be looking out for a new machine. Any suggestions?