Another Free Monday !

And I enjoyed spending it in my sewing room.

I've had these leftover pieces hanging on my wall catching my eye each time I pass the sewing room doorway.  I have little real need for a quilt this size, and I can hear the ghost of my dear departed  husband saying, "what good is a quilt that is that small?"  I love the man, but that question did get on my nerves.

Measures approximately 35" by 43".

What GOOD it is.......is getting me into the sewing room for a day's worth of mindless, peaceful sewing, cutting and pressing without any worry over WHAT FOR.   I needed just that.

And it's pretty, don't you think?  I get a kick out of hanging something different on my living room quilt rack every couple of months, but many of them, even though small, are big enough to atleast be a baby or lap quilt, so I didn't put hanging sleeves on them.  This means that I have to pin them over the hanging rod and that's a nuisance.

So I've decided that when I am in need of a quick 'quilting fix', I can just whip up something specifically for hanging there !   Sounds fun and opens up the possibility for all kinds of things that I wouldn't take the time to make if having to fit a bed.

Maybe I'll even hand-quilt this one, just to have lap-work.

I hope you're enjoying some 'stay in and stay happily occupied' time !

Back in the sewing room

On my second Monday off, I finally went in to the sewing room and cleared that piled up cutting table.  I started looking around for some little project to get into, and came across a picture I had saved on my computer.  These pieced birds show up all over the place, but I know that I have read about them on the patchy menagerie's blog.

I didn't use her tutorial.  I can just look at some piecing designs and figure them out on my own, and I don't intend to sell this design, so I just tried making one up for fun.

Besides making that block, I dug into some scraps leftover from a quilt that I made for my second grandson years ago.  These strips were just too intrigueing to throw away, and I'm so glad that I found a good use for them.  I'm wild about these hotpads that I made.

They're not thick enough for, nor are they intended to be used for, actual potholders.  I use them when holding a plate or bowl to eat in the living room.  My coworkers laugh because I take them to work with me, along with real dishes to warm my meals.  But, why not?  It's the little things in life that bring you daily joy, right?

So, that's my report for the new year's beginning.  Feels like it's off to a good start.  I hope yours is filled with little things that bring YOU happiness.

Last workday before Christmas !

I'm getting ready to go in to work in a couple of hours, but wanted to take a few minutes to catch up here.

I accomplished quite a bit on my day off yesterday.  I had two little quilts that I was trying to finish for a brother and sister up the street from me.  They are being raised by their great grandmother, Rose (I've mentioned her MANY times), and have become my 'surrogate' grandkids, supplying me with much needed hugs and lovin'.

 This one is for Elisabeth.......it is hand-quilted because I started it earlier this year, just wanting something to work on and keep my hands busy.  I think she'll enjoy discovering all the different things there are to discover in the blocks.  She's 6.

The dots on the back are from a fatquarter packet that I received as a gift from my friend, Wanda Gayle.  I'm wild about this back, but it didn't photograph well with my phone.

This second quilt is for Elijah......it is machine-quilted due to time restraints.  These fabrics were among the many that JoAnn sent to me when she was purging her sewing room.  It's not my best work, but I hope that it will give him fun picking out the animals and learning how to spell and read their names.  He's 7.

This morning I got them wrapped and ready to give to the kids when they come back from visiting with their mom and other family members.

Kelley sent a package FULL of gifts, and because she got a new phone with FACETIME, we're planning on opening gifts together on Christmas morning.

As far as work goes, I got my new schedule for the first week of the new year.  I asked them to take me down from 33 hours per week to 27 or so.  Well,.......they went down to 21 !  So that means that I'll only be working 3 days per week that week.  We'll have to see if it stays that way for consecutive weeks , but I'm looking forward to the time.

In the meantime, I want to wish a joyous, blessed Christmas to all of my blogging friends, and hope that 2018 holds wonderful things in store for each of you. 

Baby, It's COLD outside !

What a weinee I've become if I think THIS is cold !   This is just normal December temps....finally.  Atleast we didn't get the big snow that they predicted for the east coast and throughout Mississippi, Alabama, and even the state of TEXAS.   How delighted those kids must have been !


But, braving what felt pretty cold to me yesterday,  I dressed in a Christmas red sweater, red boots, and my Minnie Mouse boggin, 

and headed off to our church's annual Christmas outing for the widows' group.   I usually don't attend their outings because they always take place on my workdays, but I dressed for work, popped on a red sweater that could be removed later, and went and had myself a good time. 

I ordered a meal with blackened Tilapia, not knowing that it would have some HEAT to it.   But, thankfully, the sweet tea kept it under control.  We started the dirty Santa exchange of gifts just before I had to go, so I was blessed to get to keep the wonderful "Bless This Home" doormat that I picked when it was my turn.

Then it was a short night at work, one of my 2-9 p.m. shifts, that just flew by ( I love it when that happens !)

By the way, on Friday, I brought up my desire to work fewer hours, and the person who arranges the schedules wants me to come in on Monday and let her know what I want, and we'll see what she can arrange, starting with the New Year's first week's schedule.  I'm told by one of the other workers that they always start giving fewer hours in the first couple of months of the year, but this way, she'll know to keep me on that kind of schedule unless I say differently.

So.........my widow's benefits started with the first of this month, and hopefully things will go along well at work to allow me a little more time to enjoy life.

Christmas shopping is underway too, but the kids won't get to come here.   I surely had hoped that I would atleast get a few hours with my baby girl and her crew as they stopped over for a night while on their way back to his folks' place in Oklahoma.   But plans changed.  It's possible that they'll be relocating to a base only 2 hours away sometime next summer, so I look forward to that with great hope and anticipation.

My brother, John, and his wife, Deb, took me out to dinner on the Friday after my 60th birthday, to celebrate.  We had a delicious fish dinner at a little cafe near the Tennessee river.  It was a good night !
Then, on Thursday of last week, I went out to put my lunchbox in my jeep after dinner, only to realize that I had no KEY !   When I had gone to clip them onto my beltloop that afternoon after arriving at work, I had missed the loop and they fell between my legs onto the seat.   I always hit the lock button when I get out, so I locked it without realizing my mistake.  Thankfully, when I couldn't reach the brother that lives right here in town, John graciously agreed to drive in from 5 or so miles out in the country to my house to find my hidden spare set of keys.   I wasn't even sure that there was a jeep key included in that set.  I thought that I might have only added a house and storage shed key.  But I was blessed to find that there WAS one on there, thanked THE LORD, and John, and then, on my evening break,  had more keys made.  Now I have one in my jacket pocket and one in my wallet, too !

So, that's how my last couple of weeks have gone.   I hope you're enjoying a merry holiday time.  I'm quilting one small older project, and just finished piecing a new small one, hoping to gift them to the great grandkids of a friend/neighbor up the street.   They fill my need for little ones in my life and I want them to know that they are loved in return.    Hope I get time to FINISH these quilts !

Well, it's official......

.............I'm 60 !.............

Yesterday morning found me staying in bed, savoring a day of rest after 6 straight work days, including Thanksgiving day.  I was exhausted and worshiped God at home by being truly grateful for a comfortable bed and no commitments.  

I posted on Facebook, around noon, that all I wanted was a Buttermilk Crispy Chicken sandwich.  My dear neighbor/friend, Rose, called to ask where it could be found.   When I told her McDonald's, she sent her son, Don, to get me one.  I made myself decent really fast, and climbed out of bed long enough to take care of nature's call and answer the door for my lunch.  

I ate the sandwich, (again so thankful), turned on ICE AGE, the movie, on my IPhone, and lay back in bed again, watching and snoozing until 2:30 p.m., when my daughter called with birthday wishes.  I then decided to climb out of bed, and boy, was I refreshed !

I walked up the street to visit with Rose, and they asked me back up after supper to share some cookies and creme pie.  They are such precious friends !

Now, tonight I come home from work to find 2 birthday cards in my mailbox.  The one from my daughter just totally brought me to tears, both with the card's sentiment, and with the personal note that she wrote in it.  And, missing the one that always comes from my half-sister in California (she recently passed away), I found that her husband had gone out of his way to make sure that I still received one, this time from him.   He and I have talked by phone several times since she got sick, feeling that we could totally understand each other's sad situation.  

So, anyway, I have to say that it was a good birthday.  My biggest decision right now is whether or not to keep working.   It's really wearisome and yet it's a good time filler.  Trouble is, it's a little too time-intensive.  When my widow's pension starts in December, it will be almost the same as what I'm making by working.  And if I make more next year, (which I will if I work a full year, Social Security will withhold some of my income from them.  I need a middle ground, so I'm going to go to the LORD about it.   

But, the real fun yesterday evening was that I dug out a baby quilt that has been lying around my sewing room FOR MONTHS waiting for me to get back to hand-quilting it.  I figured maybe it would work like the old New Year's eve adage "whoever you kiss at midnight, you'll be kissing throughout the year",  I'm saying, " If you spend some time quilting on your BIRTHDAY, you'll be doing IT throughout the year!"  

It was SO ENJOYABLE working on it, and I forgot the magic that happens when you add hand-quilting to a project !   LOVE LOVE LOVE !

I SURVIVED working Walmart's Black Thursday

I want to go on record here in my blog that I worked my first Black Thursday sale at Walmart and came out totally unscathed.....glory to GOD !

I was told on Wednesday to dress warm for Thursday, because I would be working the parking lot, directing cars around to the side door where they could pick up their big items.

When I came in Thursday afternoon,  I was met by another employee, telling me that I was assigned to the associates working movies/games  INSIDE.
    Well, I ALMOST went and changed out of my fleece tights and undershirt that I was wearing, but I am so glad that I decided to wait.   The games and movies were set up in front of the long meat coolers, and it was COLD over there.   Thankfully, only my little tushy felt the cold when I would prop myself on the edge of a cooler.  The standing on my feet for hour after hour was the only rough part of the evening........mostly I felt wasted.  I had to be the bad guy that told people they were at the exit of the movie area, and that they had to go around to the other end if they wanted to shop games and movies.

I was happy when the time came for me to start stocking shelves again.

On the Thanksgiving side of things, I wound up having two different meals provided by friends and family.  I got to talk to my daughter and my brother and brother-in-law.  It was a blessed day, all in all.

I apologize to those who follow this blog for quilty goodness......I'm afraid there's not much of that going on right now.   Hopefully, more in the future !

I hope you're stuffed, blessed, and happy this weekend.  Enjoy your family time and God's goodness, and be sure to take time to be thankful.

Checking back in......

........as seldom as I post lately, this may be the last post that I make while I'm still in my FIFTIES !

For the first time since I started working, I have three days off in a row !   Next week, I have to work 6 days straight, mostly until 11 p.m.!  Then, the next day, on Sunday, the 26th, I (LORD willing) will 

turn SIXTY !!!

60 !

So, to celebrate this 3-day wonder, I drove all by myself to Columbia, treated myself to lunch at Long John Silver's, and then spent the afternoon doing some me-shopping

 and some Christmas shopping--only to find out that Kelley and the kids probably won't be heading this way for Christmas after all.

But I thoroughly enjoyed my day, and was more worn out at the conclusion of shopping than I am after a full day of work sometimes.

So, just incase I don't post again before Thursday, I'm hoping that you all enjoy YOUR time with family this coming week of THANKSGIVING.  If things get stressful, just remember that the flip side of that is very quiet and lonely.  Love the ones you're blessed to be with, and I'll try to do the same.  After all, I've found quite a sweet and fun bunch of people to spend my working days with too !

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

(especially you, Jan !)

Feeling puny

I've got my first cold of the year, and it's the first time in 40 years that I've had work to go to when I felt bad.  Makes me admire how MANY, many times my husband went to work feeling horribly bad.   He was such a good provider.

In the night last night, I coughed so hard my lungs burned and I thought that I was going to be heading out to the doctor's office.  But I managed to grab a nap midmorning, and I feel okay to go on into work right now.   My biggest problem seems to be that I don't have much appetite, so it's hard to keep up my energy; but God got me through yesterday, and I know I can continue to count on Him.

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the change in seasons.

Thoughts to ponder

I'd like to share this morning's devotional reading from the little publication, Beside the Still Waters.

"Cancer, that dreaded word!  It is an incurable disease today as leprosy was in Naaman's day.  Much research is done to understand the cause and find a cure.  Sin is much like physical cancer.  It slowly but certainly eats away at the soul of man.  But human reasoning goes to great lengths to classify sin as simply the result of our weakness or our environment.  God sees everything, but sometimes cancer escapes the most skilled surgeon's eyes.  In fact, cancer may remain hidden until nothing can be done about it.

Cancer cannot be cured, though treatment can cause it to go into remission.  In contrast, sin that is properly dealt with by the blood of Jesus, can be completely cured.  Once cancer starts, it often takes the victim's life.  Likewise, if we continue in sinful  habits, they will lead to spiritual death.  As cancer causes its victim to lose his natural appetite, so sin robs us of our appetite for God and His Word.

Cancer will cause people to suffer things they never imagined before.  Sin will also bring unimagineable bondage and suffering.  Though sin eats silently like cancer, God always has a remedy for it.  The remedy is to repent and find healing through the blood of Jesus.  For cancer victims to be in remission is a cause of joy.  Being healed from sin is reason to be very glad as Naaman was after his leprosy was gone.

Patients are generally careful to follow a physician's advice for treating cancer.  But many people are unwilling to do what Christ requires to be healed from sin.  May we be among those to whom He says, "Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague" (Mark 5:34)"

Celebrating and Mourning, praise GOD

It was with sadness and some shock that I learned that my sister passed away yesterday morning.

She was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer about a month ago, and while battling pain from Spinal Stenosis, she had begun chemo treatments.   But it was her heart that gave out yesterday, and she has gone to be with the LORD.

We had a wonderful, long phone conversation a week ago, and she told me that she was at peace with whatever the outcome.......healing, or passing into eternity.  I thank God that she did not have to endure a long, miserable fight with this vile disease. 

Praise and Glory to God !

Today I received my phone call from the Social Security Office setting up my survivor/widow's benefits.  I turn 60 next month and will become elible.  Of course, there is a percentage loss for taking it earlier than full retirement age, but I feel that this is the safer thing to do.

 The job that I am working is very labor intensive for someone of my age and weight, and I don't know how long I can keep it up.  For now, I will just play it by ear, and I may look into getting fewer hours assigned to me in the coming year, but would want to be assured that I would still be working the same position that I am now. 

Anyway, it feels good to have this taken care of.  I wasn't sure that I would also be eligle for Medicare when I turn 65, but the young man assured me that I am. 

I haven't gotten to do anymore quilting, except for making myself another potholder to carry with me for warming my dinners in the microwave at work.

Today is a beautiful, typical Fall day, and it is my day off, so I hope to clear some things out of that shed, and perhaps do a bit more 'clorox cleaning'. 

So, TA-TA for now............(where in the world did THAT come from?)

Home maintenance

I took a little time FINALLY to do a bit of cleanup around the place.

Looking out for that black snake, I stumbled across my 2 gallon sprayer, and came up with the idea of using it to clean the algae and mold off my back deck.  A couple of days ago, I cleaned the outside of my back stormdoor, and today, I used most of the clorox I had on hand, and cleaned the underskirt of my trailer around the deck.  I found that it works well on the lawn chairs, too, so I'll be buying a couple more gallons of Clorox, LORD willing.

Sixteen-patch quilt FINISHED

I finished binding this quilt just before going off to work on Saturday.  I just had time to wash and dry it before I left.

I'm very pleased with the finished quilt.  I have never tried to use an 'ugly' fabric as a neutral, but I just knew that I had to make use of these olive green 2 1/2 inch strips that were buried among the scraps that JoAnn sent to me.  I pulled out green prints to pair with them, and saved enough green strips for the quilt's binding.

The alternate blocks were made with leftover solid strips from several years ago's Black Friday sale at ConnectingThreads.com.  But most of the print scraps were found in the scrap boxes.

  Even the fabrics for the backing were a gift from Jo.

I am so happy with the finished look!  I even had my first nap under the quilt today, but it was odd as I pulled it over myself and saw the pieced back.  This one truly does come off as a fully reversible quilt !

Lottie enjoyed the time that I spent hand-quilting it, snuggling on the  edges while I worked.  She seems to approve of the finished product, too .

**************************************************************************

 NOTE:  Just for history's sake, I want to note that I found a shed snakeskin when I reached for the container that holds my mowing gloves.

 Kindof freaked me out then, and that feeling remains when I re-enter the shed now.  I put 3 mesh bags of mothballs out there, though I think that I'll go back and cut one open to spread around the floor.  I am going to have to devote a day for purging much of the contents, because I WANT TO BE ABLE TO SEE EVERYWHERE out there in the future !   I always keep it organized, but I want things SEALED and thinned out.

16-Patch, quilting finished

This will be a short post just to document the timing on having finished hand-quilting the Sixteen-patch quilt.

I have several of the ugly solid olive green strips left, hopefully enough for binding.  I am so excited to have quilted this one so quickly !  I'll squeeze the binding job in when I can.

16-patch quilting has begun !

I've begun the hand-quilting on the Sixteen-Patch quilt, and I am enjoying these snatched hours of crafting pleasure.  I'm not worrying about the size of the stitches......this quilt is to ENJOY the process, and the product !

UPDATE:  Today at work, I received a "happy to help" pin, an acknowledgement of a job well done !

I AM SO BLESSED !

I won !

Our local county fair took place this past week, and they only brought back exhibitions last year, having cancelled them for many, many years.  So, last year I entered 2 quilts, just to get my foot in the door.  There were several entries, and I had hoped that it would pick up every year, with increased participation in the quilt area.

I never made it in time to see the exhibits this year, but from a picture that I saw on Facebook, it looked like there was even less participation this year than last.  With entry hours conflicting with my work hours, I thought that I would have to miss entering this year, but at the last moment, they allowed some morning entry, so I got up there in time to enter my string quilt on that last day's opportunity.

I had no idea if I won anything.  I went to pick up my quilt yesterday, and I was too late.  The lady had taken it home with her.  So I went to her office to pick it up this morning, and she had accidentally slept late for the FIRST time in many, MANY years !   I was beginning to wonder when I would see my quilt again, but was told that she would bring it to my house this morning before I had to leave for work.

When she brought it over, it had this nice, BIG, BLUE ribbon on it, and I was a happy camper.  Big competition or little, those ribbons get me everytime.

In other news, I showed Jodie Ann (my bff that calls the quilt ugly) a picture of the quilt in the basting frame,

 along with a picture of the backing that I pieced, .......(she's in the hospital with pneumonia again, and started showing everyone the pictures)...........and she texts me that her husband wants me to NAME MY PRICE so that he can BUY IT !    That has got to be the funniest news I've heard all week !

The HARDEST news I've gotten was just tonight.  My brother-in-law called to let me know that my sister has been diagnosed with a Pancreatic Tumor that contains cancerous cells.  They just got that information, and have to follow-up to find out more.  She was already suffering terribly from Spinal Stenosis, and, so, is in great need of prayer.  She's way out in California, and I'm here in Tennessee, so I can't be help to her physically, but I'll pray for her, and thank you for doing the same for Mary Honaker.

Sixteen-Patch backing made

Today was my day off, and I decided right out of bed that today was the day that I RE-ENTERED my sewing room !

Woo hoo !   I got an idea for making a backing for the sixteen-patch top, and went right to work on it.  I had already put together enough extra blocks to widen a 42-inch piece of fabric so that it would be wide enough to extend a couple of inches past the top on all sides.  This 'ugly' fabric was my beginning inspiration when I first went through the box of fabrics that JoAnn sent to me.

Blessedly, I also found, in that box, a gold-colored fabric that would work (it's only going to show for a couple of inches at the top and bottom of the back of the quilt), so, it didn't take me long to cut and piece it all together.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon getting a haircut (DON'T ASK !!!!!!!!!), and getting the backyard mowed.  After that, I was ready for ANOTHER shower and some recliner/t.v time.

Sabotage?

A strange thing is happening at work.  A couple of days ago, AFTER I had been there for a while, and sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m., someone went through and threw packages of toilet paper around and made a mess, damaging some of the packages.  I asked then if there were cameras on every aisle, and my supervisor said, "no", and I mentioned what had happened.

Today, it escalated.  I worked on that aisle soon after getting to work, and all was fine.  Then a couple of hours or so later, when I went to stock that aisle, I found the craziest disarray of paper products.  At first, it looked almost comical, and one of my assistant managers was on the aisle, so I commented about it and showed her, and she said it was probably customers that did it.

But, the farther I went, trying to straighten the aisle, the more complicated the disarray showed itself to be.  They had gone through 3 entire sections, moving them up and down the aisle, neatly but wrongly displaying the products.  It was obvious to me that it was not a quick joke, but must have taken 20 minutes or more, and NOT by a child, either.

I don't know if someone just enjoys this crazy joke, or if it is someone who is hoping to slow me down so that I am reprimanded by my superiors when I am not as productive as I should be because of having to take time to correct things.  I mentioned it to my supervisor later, and he again thought that it was just a customer.  I wish I had taken pictures with my phone, but then I probably would have gotten in trouble, because you're not supposed to be on your phone during working hours.

I've prayed about it, and am hoping that it ceases.  I like my job and I try to get along with everyone.  I'd hate to see it spoiled by something ridiculous like this.

Life moves on

I have now been working at Walmart for over 3 months.  This past week I completed the Pathways video training program and received my first raise.  I have to give praise to God for the resilience to do this job, and, hopefully, to do it to the satisfaction of my supervisors and managers.  I like the work, and it has been a God-send in keeping me too busy to focus on James' passing and the life changes that it brought about.

It does feel good to receive that paycheck and know that I am able to keep the bills paid on by own, by the grace of God.

I don't spend much time in my sewing room.  I guess I have time in my mornings, but have been so spoiled in being able to work on a project until it was completed quickly, that I just haven't adapted to sneaking in an hour here and there.

After completing the sixteen-patch top, I purchased a polyester batt to use in it.  I just wanted to get a light, fluffy quilt for Summer, but I'm afraid that time is getting away from me and it will become a Fall/Winter quilt if I finally get around to it soon.  I need to get it basted while I can still do that outside on the carport, but I haven't been successful in coming up with a backing that pleases me.  My girlfriend that provided most of the fabrics has already deemed the quilt UGLY, but I think it will be quite 'interesting' and pleasing to me when it is finished.  My tastes have always run contrary to popular likes.
Honestly, though, it does remind me of the kind of quilt that you find well-used, sticking out of a doghouse, or under a vehicle that is undergoing repair of some kind.   HA !

I still battle to keep the lawn mowed, only using my Friday's off, generally, to get it done.  My garden produced plenty of nice-sized tomatoes.  In fact, it produced more than I got around to using or giving away, and sadly, I have had to throw a few away that got over-ripe waiting for me to eat them.
I have only had one Moonflower bloom this year, and I surprisingly found it in bloom when I rounded the yard with the jeep this morning, heading for Church.

My cucmbers, only two hills, grew well enough for me to make up about six or so little jars of refrigerator pickles.  After that, I think that I damaged them while mowing inside the garden fence, because the ones growing since them have not been as good, some even turning yellow while still small.  But, boy oh boy, do those sweet  pickles go well with supper !

First Tomato of 2017

It's small, but atleast the tomato worms didn't get it !   I found 3 of them over the last 2 days, the worms, I mean, and I smashed them under my shoe !   I hope there will be no more.  I also picked a 3-inch cucumber.  I used to love them small and crisp like that, but my false teeth put an end to that.

And this pink hardy hibiscus blooms out at the edge of my backyard.......it is SO BEAUTIFUL, it doesn't even look real in this photo.

I bought another 2 Coneflower plants last night at work........ a lighter orange one, and a pink one.   They had finally marked them down $3 apiece AFTER I'd purchased 2 at full price of $6.72, so I paid $3.72.  Then, today when I went in, they had marked them to $3 even.  I don't plan to buy more unless they go to a buck or something.