Journal: Quilting, Birthdaying, and Popcorning

I backed up all my data again last week, including 109,363 photos, which equals about 429 GB.  And then there’s all the scribblings... the quilt patterns... etc., etc.  Sometimes I merely add the new data to my external hard drives, but when I’ve done extensive revisions to old documents or photos, and haven’t kept track of them all, or replaced them individually on the hard drives, then I overwrite the whole works.  It took longer than I’d expected; I had to leave my laptop on all night.  Next time I revise or edit old documents or pictures, I shall keep track, so I need only overwrite those particular files.

Lydia sometimes asks Jonathan (age 2) if he’s having ‘strife’ when he’s having troubles, such as perhaps getting some toy to work properly.  So the other day when he was a bit upset, she asked him, “What’s the matter?”

And Jonathan replied, replied he, “I’m having stripes!”

Last Monday, Memorial Day, a friend sent me a touching patriotic video with old songs and hymns, along with some statistics that we don’t bring to mind nearly often enough.  Just look at those numbers: 

Manila American Cemetery:  17,201 buried, World War II

36,285 names missing in action

My father was on a ship in the Philippines – and he saw a third of their convoy go down one night.  Those big ships would burst into flames... split... roll... and go down faster than one could hardly imagine.  His ship and the others that got away could not return to help, because, first, there was little use in doing so, as most likely all aboard the doomed ships were already dead from the explosion, fire, and heat; and, second, they would have doomed their own ships by turning to go back.  It was all they could do to save themselves that night.

American Cemeteries, WWII:

Brittany, France:  4,410 buried

Aisne-Marne, France:  2,289 buried

Henri-Chapelle, Belgium:  7,992 buried

Normandy, France:  9,387 buried

American Cemetery, WWII:

Meuse-Argonne, France:  14,246 buried

These are by no means a complete list.  The total number of Americans killed in WWII was 405,399, and in WWI, 116, 516.  War is a terrible thing to any people and any nation.

Victoria, who spent the day with Kurt and various members of his family at various times, wrote and ask me for a picture of Larry with his gray and white Dodge pickup.  I found it in a January 2007 folder, sent it, and asked, “What makes you assume I’m always able to put my finger right on one or two certain pictures amongst my 110,000 photos??”

She thinks that, of course, because I usually can.  So long as I have not neglected to label my photos properly, I usually can.

That evening, I placed an ordered with Schwan’s for one of my blind friends.  I rechecked the order one more time before clicking ‘Submit’, so she doesn’t wind up with bird nest soup or pig’s snout and toenails by mistake.  In her order was a box of ‘Doggie Sundaes’, a beef-flavored frozen treat that she’d ordered for her little dog – something I’d never noticed in Schwan’s inventory before. 

Reckon Larry would notice if I’d accidentally get them for him? 

Some years back, Larry and I made a late-night run to the grocery store.  We got a few necessities; then, since we were both hungry, we grabbed a couple of jerky snacks, some chocolate milk with which to wash them down, and away we went again.

Once in the vehicle, we tore open our packages of jerky and commenced to eating.

We chewed.

We picked a few odd pieces of … something … (bone?) … out of our teeth and went on chewing.

We took a couple more bites.  Chewed.  Picked … bone fragments? … from our teeth… chewed…  Suddenly and belatedly, a thought occurred to me.  I scrambled to find the interior light switch, flicked it on, and peered at the front of my package.

“Jerky Treat”, it said on the front.  But that’s not all it said.  In its entirety, what it said was, “Canine Jerky Treat.”

If anyone had’ve been watching our vehicle as we drove away through that dark parking lot, they would have wondered why windows on both sides of the car rolled down simultaneously, and why, simultaneously, driver and passenger both stuck their heads out opposite windows and went to expectorating vigorously.

We have henceforth read labels with a bit more care before consuming ‘Jerky Treats’.

After church Wednesday night, Larry and I went to Wal-Mart, where we got an ‘Ugly Stik’ fishing pole for Kurt for his birthday.  We also got a card that has a puppy and a cake covered with candles on the outside, and inside it said, “Try to behave!”  We like Kurt. 

While we were there, we picked up some Memorial Day flowers at a good discount; we’ll save them for next year. 

Later that night, Lydia wrote to tell me Jonathan was singing away:  “♫ ♪ Just a closer walk with Thee ... ♫ ♪ Grant it, Jesus, is my pleee..ce cars!” ♫ ♪

Hee hee  He’s such a funny little guy. 

Joseph, at age 3, was once singing boisterously, “♫ ♪ Standing on the promises  ♫ ♪ of Christ my Lord! ♫ ♪ “ ... then he looked down at his feet and said, “Only it’s Daddy’s socks.”  And he was standing on a pair of Larry’s socks that had tumbled out of the clothes basket.

The mini SD card and reader I’d order for Larry’s phone arrived, so I filled it with about 25 GB of music.  He wants to have good music to listen to while he goes on his bike rides, or even while he’s driving his truck, and he doesn’t want to use up all his phone data listening to underpar music online.  The SD card can hold 64 GB, so it isn’t even half full.

((flouncity-blounce))  Teensy just landed in my lap, and now he’s kneading and purring away.

Thursday, a friend sent me some charts showing various aspects of U.S. financial status by FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data – economic research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis).  Student loans have gone way up quite rapidly in the last 6 years.  The federal debt has risen greatly in the last 7 years.  Health insurance costs have jumped enormously in the last 4 years.  Labor force participation has gone steadily down for 7 ½ years.  Median family income, after an upswing in about 2007, has plunged.  Home ownership has been falling for 10 years.  Money printing has taken a sudden upward jump in the last 5 years.  Workers’ share of the economy is way down. 

I went to FRED’s website, probed about, and finally found a chart showing revenue and employment have both gone up quite a lot in the last 10 years for one particular business: 

Nail Salons.

Good grief.

Several days last week, I worked on the twelve 9-patch pinwheel blocks, the next step in the Buoyant Blossoms BOM.  (Those who choose to do the smaller size quilt need only do six of the blocks.)  While I sewed, I listened to The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman, Jr.  It’s a 13-hour audio book.  How would you like it, if every time you visited Indian villages, they were so honored, they slew the fatted calf for you – only it was a puppy, instead of a calf?

Late Thursday night, I finished the 60 little pinwheels, each measuring a finished 2.83333333... inches square, and began sewing them into ten 9-patch blocks, with every other patch either a pinwheel or a plain square.  Each finished block measures 8.5” (hence the odd size of the pinwheels and part of the reason I am paper-piecing them). 

When I was too tired to sew another stitch, I retired to my recliner, turned on the heating pad, sipped a steaming cup of English tea, and did a bit of computer work for a few minutes before hitting the feathers.  Teensy landed on my lap, smushed his face against me, and made bread on my leg.  I therefore forgave him for throwing up in my quilting studio that morning.

Why do cats who are perfectly well-trained to never use anything but a litter box or the Great Out-of-Doors insist on throwing up in the house?!!

We were invited to Kurt’s house Friday night for his birthday party.  Victoria therefore spent the afternoon making brownies and an old-fashioned vanilla cake.  When she fretted that she couldn’t find the sprinkles to scatter over the white frosting, I remarked, “You should have planted violets and buttercups in your garden; then you could just pop out, gather a few handfuls, and decorate your cake with those.  They’re edible, you know.”

She looked at me thoughtfully, and I thought, Uh-oh.

Sure enough, the next time I came through the kitchen, the cake sported a beautiful corsage of variegated leaves, with a full-blown old-fashioned rose in the center.  It was pretty.  Victoria assured me that she had washed each leaf and petal carefully.

There were tall thunderclouds in the east as we drove to town that night, but the bad weather stayed some distance east of us.  There was heavy rain, high winds, and large hail along the Missouri River.

A lot of people were at Bill and Ruth’s house, a friendly bunch of very nice people.  I ate some Ruth’s scrumptious homemade cheesecake with blueberries.  I just wish my eyes would be normal!  But... since they aren’t... well, at least I can smile, and I can still talk to people.  And listen.  Listening is good. 

Here are Kurt’s brother Teddy, Kurt, Jonathan, and Victoria, playing ball in the back yard.

Later that night, I finished putting together the ten full blocks of pinwheels and the four diagonal half-blocks.

I’m making a large personal-throw-sized quilt, but am also writing instructions for a smaller wall hanging.  Saturday I wrote up all the instructions for the nine-patch pinwheel step.  I sure hope I can do it up right; it’s aggravating when one purchases a pattern, and the instructions aren’t quite right, aren’t detailed enough, or are just plain wrong!

Here’s a sneak peek of the Buoyant Blossoms quilt, with the blocks done so far laid out together.

Saturday, I spent several hours writing instructions, making pdf files of them and of the designs in EQ7.  They are just about ready to post, though I think I need to add a little more explanation about those diagonal half-blocks.  How’s this:  “If you can’t figure out how to make those half-blocks, you shouldn’t be making this quilt in the first place!”  Will that do?

No?

Well, alrighty then, I’ll keep working at it.

My designs don’t always turn out exactly as I’d intended.  I’ve often been glad I had not yet posted a pattern when I spotted something that needed better clarification.  I can tell you this:  after drawing up my own patterns, I will from now on be a little more tolerant and understanding of other designers who post patterns – and then shortly thereafter post a correction.

But only a little.  ;-)

Later that night, I started on the corner blocks.  I’m paper-piecing them, as I did the pinwheels.  32 pieces are all trimmed and ready to be sewn together.

Teensy’s trying to sleep in my lap, and every time I start typing, he reaches up, wraps his paws around my arm, and brings it back down to rest behind and around him, probably so he doesn’t feel like he might possibly tumble off.  As soon as he has me in the proper place, he closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. 

Directly, I try to type again.  His eyes pop open, and up come his soft paws to grab my arm again.  :-D

Sunday, a friend on one of the online quilting groups wrote, “Have any of you ever spilled sugar water, a whole pint, on your floor?  I did that Thursday evening, making hummingbird nectar.  Hubby and I wiped it all up and mopped the floor only to find that the floor was still sticky the next morning.  I mopped the floor again.  And after it dried, I mopped it again.  Just seems to dilute and spread.  It’s better, but I have no idea how many times I will have to mop before it’s diluted enough to be virtually gone.  LOL”

I replied, “The same thing happens when the baby sneezes while you are feeding him pabulum.  The more you wipe it up, the more it multiplies, strengthens, and gloms onto everything in the whole kitchen, and, eventually, the entire house.  You might as well move out and have the place razed.”

After church last night, Larry and I had a late supper:  bagel dogs and cheese, broccoli, and golden fruit blend (papaya, peaches, strawberries, pineapple).  Afterwards, he went for a bike ride, traveling about 20 miles, and averaging 18.4 mph.  Now, that’s fast.

Kurt and Victoria have ordered their wedding invitations, and the flowergirl’s headpiece is on the way, too.  As soon as the chiffon for the various sleeves arrives, I’ll cut satin and chiffon and start sewing.  I’m making Robin’s dress; don’t know about any of the others.  I think our niece Katie will make Maria’s.  I have less to make than expected, and am thankful for that.

I had Bob’s Red Mill bulgur wheat for breakfast today.  I love bulgur wheat... it’s one of my favorite breakfasts.  I cook it with a little salt, and then when it’s done I add a little (or a lot, if no one is looking) sugar, pour in some milk... and...  mmmm, mmm. 

As I type, I’m looking out my window.  Oh, for a gardener.  I want to open my eyes bright and early some morning and find that someone weeded my flowerbeds!  I’ve called a few lawn services that supposedly do weeding... if I ever actually get a live human on the phone, they act all friendly and helpful, give me another number to call, and the process repeats itself.  Eventually I must leave a voicemail on an answering machine, and neither answering machine nor its owner have ever called me back.

My gardens look like a page out of ‘Naturalizing Your Landscapes’.

I love snow – ’cuz it covers up the weeds I don’t get around to pulling!  :-D

I have a problem, concerning the patterns I’m selling:  I haven’t the faintest idea how much fabric to tell people to get!  Maybe I could just say offhandedly, “Oh, 5 or 10 yards of each color will probably be enough.  And by the way, I’m using, oh, about 150 different colors.”  Ha!

I’m using scraps, and have no clue how much of each color I’ve used or will use in the future!  And they want to know.  :-\

I’ve just made a blackberry/raspberry/blueberry smoothie with vanilla Greek yogurt, milk, and coconut water.  I popped some seasoned popcorn to go with it, and poured V8 cocktail juice to wash the popcorn down.  Almost good enough to be my supper.

Almost.

Now... shall I continue with the corner blocks for the Buoyant Blossoms quilt, since I have them ready to sew, or shall I stop with that momentarily and make a rag-shag rug for my laundry room?  I do need a rug.  And I do have everything I need to make one.  The jar of brush-on Fiber-Lok non-skid rug backing I ordered just arrived today, so I can use a piece of heavy fabric for a rug backing, and still make it sturdy and non-skid.  If I don’t hurry up and make the rug, I’ll forget I got the goop.

I don’t have Alzheimer’s; I just sleep on my side now and then, and information tumbles out of the more southerly ear, since there’s too much information crammed in there in the first place.  There are so many things one needs to know, you see!

Did you ever want to get someone by the collar and shake him ’til his teeth rattled, if he ever had the audacity to whine, “I’m booooored.” ?

Wild Prairie Rose

There are things to DO, for crying out loud!

The sun is just going down, and it’s bright, bright, bright, shining right into my kitchen window.  The sky overhead is a light, bright blue, and there are a few jet trails over to the west, and the sun is turning them a pale salmon color.

As I look out the window, the sun is streaming onto the light white and green leaves of the variegated bush, making it look like it's illuminated from within, and the big pink old-fashioned roses next to it are practically glowing.

And in the time I wrote those two short paragraphs, the sun dropped beneath the western horizon and is no longer putting such a blinding beam into my window.  Now the whole edge of the earth to the west is very pale pink, and the blue sky overhead has darkened.

Continued and continuing and continual descriptions upon request.  And sans request, too.  Ad infinitum.

Want some Starbucks caramel coffee with that?

,,,>^..^<,,,       Sarah Lynn       ,,,>^..^<,,,

P.S.:  Popcorn hulls are stuck in my teeth.  I hate popcorn.  Why do I eat popcorn??  I hate popcorn!!!