February Photos

Monday, April 16, 2018

Journal: A Blizzard... and a Tiny New Baby


With the upheaval and uproar over Facebook the last couple of weeks, I figured the Quilt Talk group I started on MeWe was bound to gain some users. 
I was right.  In one week, we gained over a hundred members.  There are now 277 members, while the quilt group still struggling away on Yahoo groups stands at about 250, as it has for over a year.  Furthermore, the new members are quite active, and many have been posting pictures of their quilts right and left. 
I can’t keep up with everybody!  Can’t read Quilt Talk posts all day.  Sooo... I read for a few minutes... maybe answer a few posts... and let the rest fall by the wayside.  Can’t be helped, even if I am the ‘owner’ of the group.
Last week, Teddy got an ewe and a couple of one-week-old lambs.  One little lamb didn’t make it through the first night; perhaps the journey home was too traumatic for it, or perhaps it was injured, who knows.  But the other lamb seems to be hale and hearty.
Last Tuesday, I went to Hobby Lobby for batting for my customer’s quilt, then loaded it on my frame.  And then I was stymied until my customer found her email I’d sent her with pantographs for her to choose from. 
I looked up her name in the White Pages to see if I could find a phone number.  I found 964 ladies with the same name, and half a dozen of them live in the Tampa area, and none of those six matched her address and/or family member names.
She works full time... and her car has been on the fritz, and she was having troubles getting here and there, and needed to look for a new vehicle.  I sent her a message on Facebook (that’s how she contacted me in the first place).  She would answer me soon, I was sure.  And it wasn’t as if I had nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs.  But... I wanted to work on her quilt!
She found the Facebook message first.  heh  Some people check Facebook before they check their email messages!  I must remember that.
After getting the quilt loaded, since I couldn’t start quilting it yet, I put a buttonhole and a button on a blouse... cut apart three XL men’s shirts to use in a quilt someday... took a zipper out of some riding pants of Larry’s and started putting a new one in (and then Larry came home from work, and it was time for supper, and I didn’t get back to the zipper – I finished it the next day)... and listed my older Canon Rebel XSi whose shutter quit working and a set of Cokin filters on the Ugly Hedgehog photography forum.  I offered the items free for the price of shipping and gas money to get to town – $20. 
A couple of hours later, they were taken.  I mailed them off as soon as funds came through PayPal.
Loren had a nice little jaunt with his brand-new camper Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tuesday night, he went to Minden, stayed overnight last night in the campground at Pioneer Village for $30, which gave him free access to the museum.  Wednesday he walked through the museum grounds, until he knew he needed to head for home, if he was going to get back in time for the church service.  Pioneer Village is really a two-day museum.  Maybe three.
Loren is very happy with his new camper.
It got up to 67° that day.  It was in the 70s Thursday and Friday – but a blizzard was heading our way.
After finishing the last seam on the zipper in Larry’s riding pants, I pieced together the backing for the Americana Eagle quilt.  Since the fabric was only 42” wide, and the quilt is 65” wide, and since I only had 3 ¾ yards and needed 4 ¾ yards if I wanted two full lengths to put together, I had a lot of piecing to do.  I cut the first 42”-wide length at 85”, as the quilt is 75” long and I like 5” to spare, both top and bottom.  That left only 50”.  However, I didn’t need the full 42” width; 30” would make the backing 72” wide, which gives me 3 ½” extra on each side.  That’ll do.  Sooo... the 30” x 50” piece was 35” short.  I used the 12” wide piece I’d trimmed to lengthen it, though the last little bit wound up in several smallish pieces.  Furthermore, the backing is a directional print, so I had to be careful which way I sewed it together.
Did you get all that?  There will be a quiz later.
I now have a backing that is 72” x 85” – with an approximate 3” x 3” corner missing.  Hopefully, I won’t need it.  But if I do, I’ll just trim the backing elsewhere, and sew it into that corner.
Next, I cut long, skinny, rectangular pieces of a rubber rug pad and then, using Liquid Nails, glued the pieces to the legs of the little wooden chairs in the little library.  Now they won’t scratch the oak flooring if little kids scoot them.  I left the chairs tilted over backwards, the stuffed toys that had been on them strewn about, so the Liquid Nails wouldn’t run through the holes in the rubber rug pads and get on the floor (though some did, when I set a chair upright too soon).  😯 

One after the other, the cats walked into the room and then stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the strange disarray.  πŸ˜†
That afternoon, I heard an unusual warbling and trilling.  I crept over to the open front door, peeked out – and discovered a little song sparrow in the lilac bush, singing its heart out!  (Check out ‘Sounds’ in that link.)
Picture is from NestWatch.com.
I once played an audio clip of a Great Horned owl, and big ol’ self-assured Teensy, who was strolling regally through the living room, hit the deck.  He looked like a cat rug.  Haha  I tried consoling him for his error, which he figured out pretty quick-like, but his dignity had been seriously affronted, and he proceeded to sit down quite deliberately with his back to me.  (Probably because I couldn’t quit laughing.)
Unlike Socks, his pique never lasts long.  Socks could nurse a grudge all day long.
It would’ve been a nice day to work outside in the flower gardens, but I was all doodied up for the church service that night.  (Well, my hair was fixed, anyway.)  Anyway, since there were going to be a couple of hard freezes in the coming days, I suppose it’s just as well if I leave the old growth atop the new plants; that always helps protect them from freezing.
Then my customer, having found the email with all the panto choices, wrote to tell me what she had chosen.  I printed the panto, taped it together, got it positioned on my quilting table and ready for quilting.  And then it was time to go to church.
I thought I’d come home from our midweek church service and launch right into the quilting, but instead we made a deposit, then went to the grocery store and got a cartload of groceries – all sorts of things I can’t order online:  milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, rice pudding, sour cream, orange juice, sliced ham (for split pea soup), apples, bananas, tomatoes, lettuce, all colors of sweet peppers, grapes, a watermelon, and Campbells ham chowder soup.  Why doesn’t Wal-Mart.com have ham chowder soup online??  Oh, and we splurged and got Starbucks white chocolate mocha and dark chocolate latte (which I discovered I didn’t like nearly enough to make up for what we spent on the silly things).  And Scoops and Queso con Carne Cheese dip. 
Not my idea; I gain weight on those things. 
Maybe not that night, I won’t; I only had four scoops with a wee bit of dip.  And not a whole lot of other stuff.  Some cheese curds and little sausages and crackers on the way home... then, once we got home, half a banana, ham chowder, some grapes, and yogurt with granola on top.
After putting all the groceries away and then eating our late-night supper/midnight snack, I was too tired to quilt.  So... I sat in my recliner and did a bit of computer work – paying bills, editing photos, answering emails, etc.  (It’s the ‘etc.’ that takes the longest:  all those kitten videos to watch, you know, interspersed with a few Russian car-crash videos to balance things out.)
Thursday, after a trip to the post office and the Goodwill, I made a fresh pot of coffee, trotted upstairs to my quilting studio, and got busy.
On one of my trips downstairs to refill my coffee mug, I spotted a Redpoll at the bird feeder!  The Redpoll is a rare bird for this area.  It will soon be heading back to the far northern areas of the Northwest Territories, northern Alaska, and the southern shores of Greenland, where its breeding grounds are.
A few more pictures of cats and birds, including a Redpoll, are here.
And now, I’d like to send out a thank-you on behalf of those of all of us who do quilting for others – a thank-you to those who send us quilts with lots of blacks and navies, as by the time we are finished with the quilting and have sent the quilt back to the customer, our houses are lint-free, since all dust and lint that had once been in our homes is now on the quilt, and on the way back to the customer! πŸ˜†
Well, actually, I keep my lint roller handy, and use it every time I advance the quilt. 😜
I kept at it until a quarter ’til three.  In the morning, that is.  By then, I was about three-quarters done – and four-quarters out of steam.  Had to stop.  More photos here.
A friend wrote and asked, “When quilting for yourself, how do you decide what quilting designs to use?”
I close my eyes and jab a finger at one of my pantographs!  heh
Maybe that’s closer to the truth than I first thought.  I have several favorite pantographs... and I always like to try new ones, too.  If I’m doing custom work, then I look at my Quilting board on Pinterest, admire all the pictures I’ve saved, and then try to incorporate designs I really like into the quilt’s design.  
And sometimes I go by quilter Irena Bluhm’s advice: “When you don’t know what to do, just do... something!!” 
Friday, I hung out a new bird feeder.  For an hour, there were no birds to be seen anywhere.  For another half an hour, little birds sat up on top of the rebar feeder stand, cheeping and peering down at the new feeder with tilted heads. 
“What in the world is that?!  Does it bite?”
Finally, they gave it a try. 
The new feeder has a small perch on each of its four sides.  This is not nearly so nice as the old, dilapidated feeder with its bottom tray that allowed many birds to perch at once.  You ought to hear the commotion, when too many birds are trying to perch on too small a perch.  All those cute little twittering noises... are actually arguments!
I used #60 Bottom Line silver thread both top and bottom, just because that was the thread that matched, and that I had on hand.  The HQ16 wasn’t particularly fond of #60 on top, and I had to fuss with the tension to get it to look fairly decent.  But this machine, my ‘new’ AvantΓ©, is making it look soooo pretty!  I’m really happy with my machine and the Studio Frame, too.  Just look at these perfect stitches.
By Friday afternoon, the blizzard had already made it across the western half of Nebraska, and it was coming down hard out there.  The wind in our neck of the woods was gusting at 30-35 mph.
Amy sent pictures of Warren and Elsie with ice cream cones.  In one shot, Elsie had the waffle cone nearly upside down, and was biting off the end.  I wonder why the bottom tips of those cones are always so irresistible – especially when the cone is still full of ice cream?
Amy told me, “I put that magic shell stuff in the bottom just for this reason!  It’s liquid, and when it gets cold, it hardens. 😁
Shortly thereafter, Victoria sent pictures of Carolyn in a furry giraffe bunting, with a matching stuffed giraffe beside her.  In one shot, Carolyn is on her tummy beside the giraffe, head turned, staring inquisitively into the giraffe’s face. 
Victoria wrote a caption:  “Who are you, and why do you look like me?”
That evening, about the time I figured Larry would be getting off work, I wrote him a note:  “Do you think a big bag of black oil sunflower seed would be a good price from Bomgaars?  And if so, could you bring me one?”

Ever the smarty pants, he replied, “I can check.  Should I get one for the birds, too?”
I finished quilting my customer’s quilt and two shams that night.
 Saturday, Hannah told me that they’d taken their dog Misty to a new vet, and learned that she has heart disease and allergies.  She’s extremely congested.  The vet gave her three medications, two of which she will be on for the rest of her life.
If she’d been treated for allergies a long time ago when she was licking her paws excessively, she might not have the heart disease, as these two things go hand in hand (paw in paw?), with dogs.  Hannah thinks if the disease is well-managed, Misty will be able to live practically symptom-free.
I hope so.  That’s a special little doggy!
By early afternoon, we were having a full-fledged blizzard, just as the weathermen had promised.  It was snowing and blowing so hard, I could scarcely see fifteen feet across the yard.  It was 27°, and with the wind blowing at 45 mph, it felt like 11°.  It had drizzled and misted before the snow began, so there was a layer of ice beneath the snow.
I like snow... but... I like spring, too! 
Some areas farther west lost electricity.  When the kids were little, they thought it was great excitement when the electricity went out.  We’d pull out all our kerosene lanterns... the cookstove... pop some corn in the fireplace... and read together or play board games.
One time we had all the kerosene lanterns on, along with a bunch of candles, and the living room was as bright as if all the lights were on.  I was sitting in the recliner, holding baby Caleb.  Behind my chair, I heard Lydia’s piping voice (she was 2):  “It’s darrrrrk!!!  Can’t see!” 
I turned around to look at her – and she had on my big, very dark, sunglasses.  haha
It was the perfect day to make split pea soup for supper.  Mmmm, mmm.  I love that stuff.
Speaking of soup... once upon a time, many years ago, my late sister-in-law brought us a big pot of 16-bean soup. I ladled it out for our then-only-seven children. Hester, age 3, picked up her spoon and pawed through her bowl like a cat with something nasty in its dish. Then, in a plaintive little voice, she said, said she, “Mine has more than 16 in it!!!”
When I stopped quilting at 9:30 p.m., I was getting close to the end of my customer’s red, white, and blue fireworks quilt.
We’ve been issued another winter weather advisory for tomorrow night.  We could get 1-5” of snow (with a layer of ice underneath), and some areas not far to our north could get 5-8”. 
Everyone is acting like this is extremely unusual.
They act that way every year.  heh
Okay, okay, maybe it is just a bit unusual.  But that’s nothing unusual, for Nebraska (or lots of other places, for that matter).  Unusual Weather Events in the Midlands
While we were having a rip-snortin’ blizzard on Saturday, with temperatures that dropped to 24° and wind chills of 7°, areas not more than 90 miles to our southeast were first at 86°, then about the time a thunderstorm hit, it fell to 55°, and they had golf-ball-sized hail.  I80 was closed from Kearney, Nebraska, out into Wyoming, a distance of about 270 miles.  There was a 30-vehicle pile-up on the Interstate out west.
The weather got the traveling weathermen all excited, that’s for sure! 
My customer’s quilt is on its way to Tampa, Florida.  I’ve been to the bank, then dropped off stuff at the Goodwill. 
This afternoon I was chatting with a friend about where she used to live – on Washington Island, Wisconsin.
When we went to Grand Rapids in 2012, and then on up through the Upper Peninsula before coming down through Wisconsin and on home, I wanted so badly to have a little more time (and money!) so we could explore lighthouses, the beautiful Painted Rocks on Lake Superior’s southern coast, some of the islands in Lake Michigan...  
I never, ever get to explore enough to suit me!
“Maybe this summer you can do it,” my friend suggested.
But I told her Larry would say, “They don’t have mountains!!!” (and I have to say, I love the mountains every bit as much as he does, though I like to explore new and different places better than he does.)
“Tell him they’re underwater,” said my friend.  “He needs a snorkel to dive to see them!”
Haha!  He’s an excellent underwater swimmer.  He once scared me to death, diving into a sandpit that had been turned into a big swimming hole.  He didn’t come up for just the longest time, while I stood on the bank in silence, five little kids beside me, all of us staring with wide eyes at the water.
By the time he popped up on the far side of the pond, in my mind I’d already thrust everyone into the Suburban willy-nilly, raced to the nearest farmhouse to call Fire and Rescue, planned a funeral, and hunted down a job to support myself and the kids.  (I’ve always liked to plan ahead – disasters just throw this penchant into Overdrive.)
Since he hadn’t drowned himself, I offered to do the honors.
Here’s the speed bump I have to step around whilst I’m trying to quilt in my quilting studio.
Our son-in-law Andrew called a little while ago from a hospital in Omaha.  Hester was taken there earlier and had an emergency C-section about 6:30 p.m.  They have a baby girl.  It’s only at the 29-week mark, two months early, and the baby weighs only two pounds. 
All this happened because this morning Hester had a doctor’s appointment, and they discovered that her blood pressure was over 200.  They immediately gave her medication to prevent seizures and/or stroke, and got her to Omaha posthaste.
She’s not out of the woods, and they are monitoring her carefully.  The baby was given steroids to help her lungs develop; they’ll give her more tomorrow.  It’ll be touch and go for a while, but they seem to be hopeful.  Andrew said the baby was active, waving a little arm before they whisked her off to the neonatal ICU.
Larry and I must get flu shots and wait seven days before we can see the baby.  Perhaps we’ll be able to see Hester in a day or two.
Would you please pray for our daughter Hester and this tiny little baby?  We all prayed long and hard for this little one, and it would be so terrible if they lost her.  Andrew and Hester will have their 10th wedding anniversary this year. 


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




No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.